#its not even them not knowing the other likes them tbh

[loulovingho]

I think I’m still just stuck on Oliver’s will they / won’t they wanting the audience to long for the relationship quote. As well as Tim quote about Buck figuring out who he is and who he wants. And Oliver’s quote about fighting to be together. I am still hopeful of the potential direction they can take this in. I do think this coming episode will be the make or break in a way. If we see villainizing Tommy (which I don’t think they will based on the way both Tim and Oliver sympathized his decision) then I think its over but if we see Chim and Maddie helping Buck to understand Tommy’s actions then I think there’s still a chance. Also to me having Chim and Maddie talk to him is very interesting. They were a couple that fought to be together, broke up and then found their way back to each other. Having them in the scenes with Buck post break up helps me to feel hopeful about the direction they’re going in tbh. I don’t think it will be resolved at all by the end of 8a. But I do think 08.08 may leave off with Buck deciding whether or not he wants to reach out.

Honestly, all the interviews are bullshit. That’s where I am now lol the actors never know wtf is going on. I think they’ve been told so many things and, like, 2 out of 20 have actually turned into something. There was a load of nothing with madney, henren, and mara. Tim had stated that Eddie would be a little left out while Buck and Tommy’s relationship grew and we got more scenes of Eddie with them than without. Buck struggled for like 10 seconds with whether or not he meant to hurt Gerrard, also nothing came from Gerrard taking him under his wing. The Ortiz storyline was meaningless, and Gerrard’s entire arc turned him into a joke. There was no “hurdle” in Buck and Tommy’s relationship, it was a fucking boulder that came through and splintered it into a million pieces.

Ryan even stated that Tim could change the script in an instant, so the actors have no idea what’s happening at any given time and neither does Tim apparently. I’m pretty sure he goes to ao3, randomly selects a fanfic with his eyes closed, then writes his scripts based off of said fic.

I know some people are being positive and saying Maddie and Chimney will help him see Tommy’s perspective, but I have absolutely no faith in the show or its writing whatsoever. I would not be surprised if we got a, “eh, Tommy’s always been distant. Always a runner and tough to crack. You dodged a bullet,” from Chimney. Not because I believe it’s actually something he’d say, but because the writing is so shit that they’d have him say it to further push Tommy out of the narrative. Then, idk, maybe Buck can go on his little fuck tour 🤷🏻‍♀️

[sepublic]

Manny Noceda Haunting the Narrative

We all speak of Caleb haunting the narrative, but what of Manny? Perhaps haunting isn’t the exact right word here, for its foreboding connotations; But he’s ultimately an unseen, unheard ghost whose influence can be felt. Whose absence is there, more clearly than others to be honest because we know that Luz had to have a father, it’s not ambiguous for witches like it is for humans.

From the very first scene, we have to wonder where Manny is if he’s not present during Luz’s conference but Camila is; He’s not even present for Luz to be sent off. He’s not mentioned or acknowledged.

But we have the book he gave Luz, the one that Luz is drawn back towards, and it’s what leads her to the Boiling Isles, and motivates her to stay there for her own sake. It’s what motivates Luz to think of herself, when by the second half of the show she begins to refuse that option as inherently selfish.

If Homesick had aired during S1B, we’d have gotten a glimpse of Manny, but specifically, curiously faceless; Until then, Luz sees a parental figure deteriorating from an incurable illness and is obsessed with handling it, offering medical advice to Eda at one point.

And in Yesterday’s Lie, there’s still no Manny or mention of him, but we see glimpses of his body without the face. And then finally, finally we get Reaching Out and realize; He died. There was no divorce, it’s not that Manny is dead to mother and daughter, only literally. He’s still very much alive to them, Luz is worried about paying tribute to him in that episode.

Camila mourns the loss of Manny, someone who was always better at her about being a weirdo, and without him she feels lost, falls back into what society demands of her, and in doing so hurts their daughter. She mourns that she misses him, but Camila can’t depend on Manny to be what Luz needs her to be; She’ll be Manny, for Luz but also herself too. And Luz herself struggles to be the unapologetic Manny as well, and must do it for herself especially.

It’s the way Manny recontextualizes everything about the Nocedas. It’s the way he haunts the narrative himself, because we noticed, we had to, we had to ask where he was. Why is he not there for Luz or Camila, would he support her, is Camila also struggling from his absence? We don’t need his face or voice or an outright flashback to feel and appreciate Manny’s influence (Though I would’ve loved one).

And in a way, it’s like Dana Terrace’s own father is doing the same; With it being confirmed that Dana’s dad gave her a copy of Pokémon Red before he died, you understand perfectly that Luz is Dana, Manny is her father. Dana still likes Pokémon to this day, she’s done crossover art with Pokémon and her own show.

When it came out, Pokemon was targeted by Evangelicals as evil, it was absurd; And we see the Conformatorium perform similar absurdities in the same first episode where Luz is shown to hold onto her father’s last gift, and her fight with the Conformatorium is her fight with the system that made Luz feel ashamed of Manny’s gift and the profound impact it had on her.

The villain of the show manipulates Luz and makes her think she’s just like him, something Luz acknowledges means being a selfish, destructive force; Unsurprisingly, the villain is a Puritan, the ancestor of evangelicals, who agrees on the similarities but not on these things being evil.

And between Caleb and Manny, perhaps Caleb is defined incorrectly when it comes to how he influences things. Because Caleb does not really motivate Belos, Belos always wanted to be a witch hunter before he could claim to be betrayed by Caleb, he did it for himself. He made Grimwalkers but still continues the harm unto and through them that Caleb stood against. Caleb failed to do anything with Belos, tbh, and all that is passed on are empty genes that a racist would obsess over, but never the spirit as Luz did with Manny.

But what about Caleb’s child? Manny is defined as a father to Luz. What about someone Caleb was a father to as well? His unborn child, the ancestor of Eda. Caleb was a wood carver who loved Flapjack, and the Clawthornes had a tradition of carving Palismen. Could it not be implied that Evelyn carried on his unseen and unheard, yet felt love to their child, born after the death? And this love for the isles and magic and Palismen was passed all the way down to Dell, and then Eda.

And it’s Eda who helps Luz, another human, embrace her love for the isles and magic and Palismen. Evelyn’s descendant helps another human. Luz sees Eda in Manny, she’s his successor as someone who’s present for Luz when Camila can’t always be. Eda loves wild magic and her Palisman, gives Owlbert more autonomy than other witches, and helps the Bat Queen arrange Palismen to find new partners. And what goes around comes around when Caleb’s contribution to Palismen, started by Flapjack, helps Flapjack find a new friend and set in motion events that would lead to the Clawthornes’ injustice being rectified.

I’ve seen people argue that Hunter being with Willow makes him a copy of Caleb, but in addition to Hunter’s arc being him not caring what he does or doesn’t resemble… I think maybe the true parallel to Caleb and Evelyn is Manny and Camila; Both came to Gravesfield, the father was a weirdo with an open mind. He died, the mother mourned, but he passed on something to a child, who would eventually pass it on to Luz herself as both stories and families converge.

So Evelyn and Caleb’s child haunts the narrative; They’re Luz in a sense. Manny haunts the narrative too, since the start. He is Caleb, and so he is Eda who carries that spirit. And he is Eda because she carries the spirit for Luz. Manny is Dana Terrace’s own father, who inspired her to keep being a weirdo, which led to this show. So not only is Manny more important to the narrative’s framing and focus as the main character’s father, whose absence motivates both a disconnect between mother and daughter that leads Luz to the isles, but also motivates Luz to stay?

In a way, Manny represents the father of the series, the father of the show that reflects Dana’s own experiences and beliefs. One could say he haunts Dana’s own life, except… Perhaps the word ‘haunt’ is incorrect. Because it has a negative connotation. Perhaps the word is Inspire; Manny may be dead, we may know little of Mr. Terrace or Manny himself. But we can say that Manny lived, because of his impact, his life had meaning and it always will. Something is in motion, so we all know and understand ask what, or who set it that way.

[awsugar]

speaking of questions that exercise very mcr specific muscles in your brain. i was perusing mychem tumblr the other day and came across a masterpost about the SS/mayo blog frerard lore (i’m aware frerard is not PC these days thanks obama). i’ve been a dedicated fan for over a decade now and my brain is an mcr lore bank but i had literally never heard of this. do you know about it and if you do what are your thoughts

omg yea. ss/mayo is crazy. and unfortunately a lot of it has been lost to time and its not even saved on wayback. theres some stuff thats convincing, theres some stuff thats not.

so like lets preface this by saying that the ft willz myspace? confirmed to be frank. and obviously the stuff posted on skeleton crew, those screenshots of ft willz works that look like theyre on burnt paper? yea so those are confirmed and those are real fully frank no questions.

i personally am a skeptic of other accounts that claim to be ft willz. like the tumblr? i do not think thats frank. and i think that came at a time when people had already really speculated or figured out that ft willz WAS frank. so like i think the tumblr is honestly just someone who was pretending to be frank and managed to sort of emulate his style but yea i don't think it's him. i think the reason some of the stuff hits so hard in a frerard sense is because that was intentional by the person writing it. you know.

anyway ss and mayo. there were two blogs on blogspot started in 2007 i believe that fans thought were frank and gerard. well it started with mayo (its-mayonaise.blogspot.com). that blog is still up and so are a lot of the posts but i think a lot of them have been deleted as well, and not saved anywhere on wayback. im sure theyre on someones hard drive out there but i haven't seen them. then a blog appeared called iamthemodernprometheus.blogspot.com. some of those posts are still up but most are gone. that was ss/sss/shitsubou shita/frank (allegedly). ss started interacting in the comments on mayo's blog. and i think i may have read some mayo blog posts back in the day but i haven't been able to find them to answer this one. i just remember when i joined the fandom most people thought it was gerard.

now here's a couple things of evidence. THIS is a blogspot comment thread where people who have saved some of ss' blog posts put them in the comments. and yes obviously it could be an elaborate hoax by two fans who were invested in frerard. but like these things were being posted as it HAPPENED. you know? idk i wasnt there in 2007. but 2007 was when the fanfic took off and we really informed a lot of our perception of what happened with frerard on things like ft willz/stuff that happened on stage/and a lot of these posts really fit into the timeline. i would recommend reading that because its kind of hard to believe its like. a teenager pretending to be frank. it really just SOUNDS like frank. and he's really writing blog posts. basically to gerard lol. it gives the impression that they were on tour together (projekt rev) and doing the Thing but like there was def tension going on behind the scenes and we already know that thats true. frank didn't like eliza and thought gerard was moving too fast, the imnotokay.net post came from someone in mcr's camp that ppl thought was frank (or maybe brian) and then tbh its happening again?? just months later? it makes complete sense that if frank thought gerard was moving too fast with eliza that he DEFINITELY thought he was moving too fast with lynz getting MARRIED to her backstage just a couple months? after breaking off his engagement with eliza. anyway just read the comments. its very easy to believe its frank.

and then the other peice of evidece i found in this reddit thread: x comment in particular by u/ReallyKapu. they say that they have always gone by Kapunua online and that they met frank at a lm show, gave him a hat with the inscription 'sss' inside and later on he thanked them for it on the blog.

sure enough:

from what i've read it seems like the blog was actually a community. there were people who followed it and made friends in the comment section. and it does seem implausible but it looks to me like frank saved all of his gifts from tour and then made this post specifically thanking people for them. the person who claims this is them also says that they don't think mayo is actually gerard but that frank thought it was.

and i've seen stuff saying that if it wasn't gerard it was probably someone close to the band because they had like information that was posted on the blog that wouldn't come readily available (or make sense) until the show the next day.

anyway, i wasn't there for this. i was on the forums and twitter and tumblr for a LOT of mcr history but this was a little before my time and i think if i had been there OR if the blogs had actually been preserved in some way that i might be able to form a better opinion. i think theres a lot of evidence for frank, not sure about gerard. but i won't claim that it's true either bc we really don't know and this one i don't think we ever will!

[animentality]

Tbh I think it's still legit if you read and like Blue Lock for being so gay (at least subtextually), despite being misogynistic Kaneshiro seems to have sympathy for queer people to a certain degree. Besides the gay sidekick, As The Gods Will also has some other queer side characters (a lesbian, a trans girl, a few more hinted gay boys and a non-binary villain according to my memory) even though not all of them are well-written, the good ones are good. Specifically my most favorite is the gay sidekick Ushimitsu, he's actually a pretty well-rounded character with very strong role as a co-lead in ATGW 2, I never feel like he was disrespected in the story (rather I think he's obviously Kaneshiro's favorite), sure he's got an open ending that can be seen as tragic but it's actually in line of the whole theme of the story and I respect Kaneshiro to commit to writing it rather than just give a copout happy ending and it also proves his gay feelings as real & deep despite heartbreaking.

Now I wish Kaneshiro can have that same energy in writing Bachira as he's in a similar position to Ushimitsu in ATGW but somehow poor bee boy got pushed aside in bllk after U20 arc (probably in favor of more popular Isagi ship with Rin or Kaiser 🙃), I hope he makes good on the promise that Bachira will be a key character later in the series and this time since nobody will die in Bllk I hope Bachisagi will get a deserved happy ending.

well that's the thing, anon.

I feel bad for liking blue lock because it has such a misogynistic creator but it's hard not to cling to something so obviously queer friendly.

like honestly.

there's definitely Japanese media that's queer neutral or queer friendly but blue lock actually feels like it's always on the verge of just being properly queer.

it's not fanservice like free or yuri on ice. it legitimately feels as close to canon as it can get without changing genres. and I think the creator having queer characters in the past gives him some street cred.

i know what homophobia in a manga looks like. it's that awful rapist character from one punch man. this hyper masculine but also hyper feminine muscly man who sexually assaults other men.

it's tokyo ghoul having its only queer characters being pedophiles, rapists, and sex addicts/victims who get sexually assaulted until they're "corrected."

it's having no subtext at all and only ever using gay men as a one off joke and gay women as a fetish.

at least blue lock does seem to respect its characters enough that it takes their hinted at sexualities seriously.

it really doesn't go for the obvious "ewwwwww we're both guys" jokes. it's kept very ambiguous. it's subtle (except when it's not, lol).

the only character who really fits the usual offensive gay anime representation tropes is Shidou, but even him I wouldn't count as bad rep (as the closest to canonically gay character, aside from Bachira).

Shidou might be super flamboyant but he also gets to have the coolest fucking moments in the series. he's not just some pervert, he's a badass. he doesn't just flounder around like some useless weird loser who only exists to be the butt of a joke.

he loves to fight and play soccer and feel alive. he has the coolest aura in the series and everyone is constantly in awe of the ridiculous things he can do.

he's a proper villain, who's out of pocket and insane, but who's also intensely lovable and silly. and honestly portrayed pretty sympathetically. for all his faults, he can be very kind.

there's a lot of depth to him, and honestly, I think Blue Lock is pretty good at not doing anything to suggest oh hahaha homosexuality exists. isn't that funny

plus I think Bachira is canonically gay. we know he's canonically in love with Isagi.

kunigami and aiku are actually confirmed bisexual too.

Shidou and Sae were also highly suspect during u20, to the point where even homophobes cant deny they have something weird going on.

so to me... that's a lot of queer characters who are taken seriously and actually have characters outside of being a joke or a gag. they feel like real people. they have distinct personalities.

the bar is in hell, but it's more than most manga/anime manage.

so I have to give Kaneshiro credit. he's doing as much as he can, without overstepping the boundary I'm sure kodansha has set for him.

it's just a shame he's a sexist. also, I hope Kaneshiro grows a pair.

just have bachisagi get married in the last chapter you pussy.

let Shidou officiate!!!

[sunnydayaoe]

{Letting Go}

[CCCC FIC] Contains: Platonic Soul, Heart and Mind; sfw pet regression [~2,000 words]

kitten regressed Soul and dog Mind, with caregiver Heart at the very end. From the prompt: "id love to see 2 of HMS regressed at the same time tbh, imagine the chaos lmao" Soul doesn't like regressing in front of the others, but spending time with puppy Mind makes it impossible not to. He learns that maybe it isn't so bad to show a little vulnerability sometimes.

Fic under cut! or on AO3

Soul knew since the moment the day started up he was going to be having a rough day. 

He'd woken up late, something that had started happening much more now that he'd reached concord; no longer did he wake up hours before he needed to, panting and filled with dread, sure that something had gone wrong. His mornings were slower, now. 

The sun had long since risen, and warm soft light reached through his window. It seemed Mind had visited and opened them... He stretched, letting the blanket fall off him and exposing more of him to the sun beams. A slight fuzzyness took root at the back of his mind and he froze as soon as he realized what it was.

He tried to shake it off all morning, of course. Going through his daily routine as best he could. 

Mind hadn't made breakfast, but that wasn't too unusual; sometimes his Mind just wasn't feeling in the mood for it. Maybe it had slept in as well. The customary bowl of coco-pebbles he went for instead only reminded him of cat kibble though, and the milk definitely made it worse. He had to resist the urge to try and eat it without a spoon. 

Even in concord, he didn't know how much he trusted his thirds with him, like this. What would they do if he wasn't at full capacity? A thought he didn't want to explore.

The cereal was done now, leaving only a shallow bit of milk at the bottom of the bowl. He poured it out. 

The rest of the day seemed to be similarly conspiring to get him down as well. Blinds were usually kept open in the house, not including the ones in Heart's room, and the weather was perfect. 

The entire house seems bathed in a warm glow, everything softer than it really was. The atmosphere just beckoning him to take a little catnap. For just a moment.

He shook his head. He really couldn't be having those thoughts. He could get through this. 

---

He could not get through this. 

He'd made lunch, his turn today. It wasn't much, he really wasn't in the mood for anything fancy: some sandwiches, ham and cheese. Heart readily excepted it with a few thankful words, grin sweet. {It always relaxed him to see its thirds, safe, unharmed. He couldn't let himself get too relaxed though, complacency led to mistakes.}

That wasn't what had gotten him though, what had gotten him was his Mind.

He couldn't blame it, especially with how embarrassed she looked. Shame wasn't a good look, at least not in concord. He was setting the plate he'd brought aside and reaching for it before he'd had a second thought. Falling to the floor and cupping its face.

It leaned into his hands after a moment, shushing its cheek against his palm, huffy. She always got a bit huffy like this though, so he didn't pay much mind. "Hey Soul..."

He smiled at it, at the cute little paw gloves it was wearing, the collar around its neck. He ignored the blistering jealousy, how hard it was becoming to stay in the right headspace. Now was not the time. "Hey Puppy. Didn't feel like getting one of us?"

It didn't answer for a moment, just pouting. He didn't really need it to answer, the question more for show than anything. Concord had been short so far, and he really couldn't blame it for having the same instinct as himself. 

With an indulgent sigh he pulled it closer, "C'mere Apollo. I'm sure you've had a rough day puppy, all alone like that. Something happen?" {He ignored how the words struck a chord in him as well; this was about Mind, it was the one actually regressed, who really needed someone with it right now.}

She let herself get dragged into his lap easily, freezing for just a moment before shoving her face into his neck. "Thanks Soul..." Her nose was cold, but her everything was always cold, so he was prepared. A moment more and she had her arms wrapped around him too. "Nothin' happened, just uhm- a bad dream."

He cooed, peppering a few gentle kisses across its cheek at that. "Oh you poor thing, I'm so sorry you had to deal with that. Don't worry though, I'm here now."

Relaxation slowly seeped into its frame, and its arms tightened around him. It seemed she was in a more cuddly mood and not a playful one. A curse and a blessing, because while a rambunctious puppy wasn't the easiest thing to deal with, it certainly wouldn't' be helping his own regression encroaching closer. Not like cuddling would, at least.

Productive, he needed to be productive; that always got him  Groping around the desk he managed to grab the plate he'd originally entered the room to give it and bring it back to the floor without pushing Mind off his lap. "Hungry?"

She lifted her face from his neck at that, curious at his shifting, and eyes zeroing in on the sandwich. It seemed the stress from earlier was melting at the mention of food, cute. He giggled, that single-minded focus it got like this was so cute; no longer overthinking things as much as it usually did, pursuing its wants like a bloodhound with a scent. 

"I'll take that as a yes," he giggled, letting it happily eat out of his hands. He didn't need to feed it, but he knew if he didn't it would probably tear the sandwich apart and only eat only the meat. It only took a moment, messy as it was, heedless of the normal manners Mind always prided itself on. 

Seeming satisfied with that, it went immediately back to trying to get itself as close to him as possible, a difficult task, considering the fact it was already in his lap. It pressed against him, putting more and more weight, and he let it. She seemed to have a plan, and who was he to deny her it? 

Now they were both splayed across the floor, and he let a little crooked grin cross his face. "The floor isn't really the best place for cuddling, bud."

It just huffed, ignoring his words, dragging him a bit to the left and- oh. Right into a sunbeam, right on its soft fluffy rug. With that it flopped down beside him, head laid against his chest. It let out a little rumbly noise, and he knew it was just the voice modulator, just it breathing a satisfied sigh, that it was a dog not a cat, but all he could hear was a purr. He rumbled back before he knew what he was doing.

Once he started it was hard to stop though, snuggled up on a soft rug, enveloped by the warmth of the sun. It didn't seem to mind him falling out of that more in charge role. The productivity he was hiding behind was getting less and less required; it was getting harder to remember why he couldn't be doing this. 

The world seemed to grow fuzzy, and he let it. He curled up a little, bunching up to fit more of him in the sun than out, and his Mind seemed to take this as cue to stretch out, surrounding him. Safe, protected by his Mind. Maybe he could be a kitten... 

Eyes drifting half-lidded, he smushed his face into her chest and let his arms reach out, making biscuits into her side. It arched a little into the affection, maybe the motion was akin to bellyrubs for it? He continued, happy to be sharing the moment with his Mind.

It was a nice, almost ideal, stretch of time. 

The two of them just lazily enjoying each others presences on the rug. At some point he'd ended up curled up on its chest, happily tucked against its neck, a reverse of what they had been doing earlier that evening.

Why was he so opposed to this? Spending time with his lovely, darling Mind, cuddled up to her in a way he usually didn't allow himself...

Foot-steps startled him out of his daze though, and his flinch seemed to do the same to Mind, a low growl emanating from it as it curled around him. The sound was much bigger than he liked, but he reminded himself he shouldn't be scared, because Mind might be a dog but he was a dog that was nice to little kittens.

The door creaked open and he did Not like that. Something about being seen like this felt wrong, and he hissed and struggled in Mind's arms until it released him. Before its wide puppy-dog eyes could guilt him, he'd already shoved himself under the desk. 

Mind followed, completely ignoring the door to sniff at Soul's hiding spot. He hissed again, annoyed and frustrated with its lack of urgency. Sitting like that, the puppy was totally exposed and definitely making it so anybody who found it would find him next. 

"What's going on in here?" 

Both of their attention were dragged right back to the door at that, Heart peaking in. 

Mind wasted no time in bowling into Heart's legs, jumping up and trying to lick at his face. Soul did the opposite, pushing further back under the desk. A futile effort, because Heart was already looking at him. 

Heart gently pushed Mind off of themself, quietly shushing its whines at being ignored, "Just a moment puppy, I need to check in on Soul, okay? Be a good boy okay? Just for a little bit."

She didn't like that, but did quiet down. Unhappily trailing behind Heart as he approached the desk.

"Soul, uh-" They didn't seem to know what to do, drowned in unfamiliar territory. "You too?"

His face burned with shame. He didn't like getting caught like this, didn't like the stress that filled his Heart's voice. He let out a whine. Harmonia, what a mess! 

The noise only made it worse, Heart's face scrunching further in concern and panic. "No no no it's not bad! Promise buddy. Can you tell me what you are?"

Soul really didn't want to, but he'd already caused so much trouble, he should make it easier for Heart... "A- a kitten..."

Heart's face seemed to soften at the admission, a little coo escaping his lips. "Good boy, thanks for telling me, bud." He glanced at Mind, impatiently pawing at the ground and starting to whine, before looking back to Soul, "You had fun hanging out with the puppy?"

He nodded a little, it was pretty nice... "Bigger en' me..."

Mind seemed to preen at that, impatience winning out as it shoved itself under the desk with Soul and curling around him. He relaxed at that, that fuzzy safe feeling returning with it pressed against his side.

"Aww, you've got yourself a little guard dog, huh kitty?" Heart giggled, looking at the two of them, before a more serious look came across his face as he backed up, "Let's get out from under there though, it really can't be comfortable... how about the bed? That sound good?"

Mind didn't answer, just pressing its face into the back of his neck, a comforting weight. It seemed Soul was still going to be the decision maker of the two, even as a kitten. Of course that made sense, cats were way smarter than some dumb dog.

The bed certainly didn't sound that bad though, and Mind would definitely follow his lead on his... he nodded, crawling out from under the desk with Mind in tow. 

Heart cheered, and through Soul hiked up his shoulders a tad in embarrassment, he couldn't help a little grin. The praise felt nice. He was on the bed a few moments later, settling down and trying to get comfortable.

It was pristine, and the sheets were cool; Mind's bed, so of course it was cold. Annoying though, and even as Mind crawled in too, eagerly getting settled for more cuddling, he pawed at Heart. He wanted something warm to cuddle with, and if Heart was going to interrupt their little sunspot nap, that made them the volunteer. 

Startled, Heart let out a little laugh. "And here I thought you were a shy little kitten!" He still joined them though, the perfect pillow to settle against, goofy grin plastered across his face. "I can't say no though, can I." Why didn't he do this more often...? Mind snuffling against his neck, Heart's hands gently carding through his hair, he was out in moments.

[stevie-petey]

also the fact that both of them are so STUPID.

like okay we get it both of y'all have some fair share of issues regarding loving someone again BUT.

how do you doubt if someone likes you or not WHEN YOURE LITERALLY KISSING EACHOTHERS NECKS AND SLEEPING IN THE SAME BED CUDDLING ON TOP OF EACHOTHER??!?!?!!

(well i deeply understand the doubts but i doubt there was a concept of situationships back then lmao)

and with stug, you are IN LOVE. GET TF UP.

STEVE AND BUG ARE JUST TRAUMATIZED PEOPLE DOING THEIR BEST THEY DIDNT ASK TO BE BORN STUPID

[lemongogo]

life of regret

[codesbyoctober]

Curious if there would be any interest in releasing work that isn't at all flexible and may require cookie-cutter forums set up in the way the skin was built? Like, I use the same formula in pretty much every skin I design for myself, and if you were to use it, too, you'd have to follow it as well (or know how to edit it yourself to make any changes).

For example --

Or is that just too inaccessible/unfavorable?

[moeblob]

So in the base plot she isn't really mentioned but there is lore that one of the bartenders (James) is the work dad to the hot bartender. And he's got a girlfriend who is never mentioned by name. Buuuut in the Royalty AU there's a young woman named Erin who is hired as the new head gardener at the castle and while she is getting adjusted to the role, she has some assistance from someone she used to work with at the flower shop in town. And that's the hot gardener!

So basically, Erin exists more in the AU than she does in canon/base but I'm stressed and wanted to design her.

For those that are new/don't know my OCs, Hot Bartender (HB) will never be given a name. That's just him now. He's the hot bartender. He's got a huge crush on Paul (another side character). That's Erin's work son vicariously in main and her work son directly in AU.

[skitskatdacat63]

Cannot stop thinking about how Fernando was the first one to hug Seb after Monza 2008:

[ganondoodle]

i often really do feel like an .. unwanted part of the fandom, i dont draw beautiful landscapes, i have unpopular but strong opinions im constantly annoying about and rarely change, dont like/dont draw the pretty young popular twinks and hot gurls to fanboi over nor do i turn characters into one, the opposite moreso, draw only one ship no ones heard of really, got little energy to interact with the few people that are nice to me and send me asks so it probably looks like im ignoring everyone and unfortunately but still rarely get so stressed i get overwhelmed and emotional about pehaps seemingly minor things and spiral almost into a breakdown feeling super embarrassed about it afterwards but the damage is already done and i look like a freak or agressive weirdo

[muchmossymess]

The ed greed ling dynamic has me in a chokehold and tbh I'm not complaining they are everything

[courtney-deserved-better]

telling myself i can't start another tdwt rewrite but dear god do i want to write one focusing on alejandro and courtney in this weird situationship thats a lot more nuanced than just alejandro manipulating courtney and her falling for it. like theyre best friends they dont trust each other theyre the same person they dont know anything about the other one theres a mutual attraction theyre pining for other people theyre codependent they dont care about each other theyre platonic soulmates like i just want to do a deep dive into how messy that relationship couldve been building off of their friendship that exists in my head except the line between romantic and platonic is so fucking blurred they have no idea what they are to the other person

[nabaath-areng]

mutual orbit

[floralovebot]

MADE EDITS i couldn't stop thinking about their outfits and like,, the aspects i liked and thought felt very winx and in line with the individual characters and the aspects i Hated and thought sucked dookie SO i made some edits :)

biggest changes are to musa, aisha, and stella! actually changed the clothes there. flora and tecna i just adjusted the colors (in flora's case to further unwhitewash her and saturate her clothing more and in tecna's case to bring back her pink hair and green and cyan).

explanations on changes below!

I'll start with the simpler edits!

For Tecna, I just wanted to play around with her og colors lol I actually LOVE her new look and I would love to see this be the final design!! It's SO tecna and fits in with the rest of the winx i love it soo much :') I do think they should bring back her pinker hair though! And again, would love to see the green and cyan make an appearance. I feel like neon green is just very classy techy character. And while it is cliche, I do love it akjgd plus I think it looks good on her and makes the other colors stand out more imo! (but maybe this new, pinker look will make people like her more idk :') justice for tecna my beloved :'))

For Flora, I darkened her skin more for obvious reasons. And then I added more saturation to the colors and added back the warmer tones they took out. Imo, the darker, desaturated, and cooler toned look for Flora only works in very specific circumstances. Color theory rainbow!! Bring back the brightness! The color!! The warmth!!

Which brings me to Stella ohmygod,,, please,,,, please stop desaturating her she looks so pale and sick and lifeless STOP please :') Anyway lol, obviously brought back the brighter orange! I also took away the random sleeve. It's cute but it just didn't feel very Stella at the time? The tube top look is Very Classic Stella (very much giving s3 casual but in orange). Tbh, I don't love the dress itself, but I do think it looks better once you add more of Stella's colors. I also tanned her skin more and made her hair more yellow + brighter! Just like with Flora, color theory is important for media!! This Stella design just does Not give sunny, optimistic character. It's giving the gap (aka BORING aljdhg)

Aisha's design stumped me for a bit, I won't lie. I couldn't figure out exactly what I didn't like. But I got it!! One, way too symmetrical imo. Yes, Aisha does have some very symmetrical looks, but like 80% of her looks are very asymmetrical. I also didn't love that it didn't incorporate more of Aisha's powers. It really just went for *vaguely sporty* and didn't try to bring anything else to the table. And some people might say that Aisha's og looks were like that too, but I disagree! They told a story! She's a brave adventurer, a dancer, a princess, etcetc!! This tells me "oh yeah this girl might like to do yoga. cool."

Anyway! So I made Aisha's pants baggier because let's be fucking real for a sec. Changed the design on the pants slightly to make it asymmetrical and incorporated a wave design. Took away that bottom shiny fabric of her shirt. I tried to keep it but it just wasn't looking great with the pants changes tbh. Added small waves to the bottom and made it one shoulder! Also added her classic little circle wave design 1. because it's cute and 2. so Musa wouldn't feel so out of place with a design. Tbh, I still don't love the pants... I think maybe that hem could be higher?

For Musa! I've spoken about this before but I do not like the bodysuit. I liked the concept and the vibe it brings, but it looks So uncomfortable and s1 Musa was alllll about being comfortable. It's why so many people think she hates wearing dresses (even though she doesn't). So I kept the vibe, but changed it to the same mesh that's on her right arm! Which like!! I didn't even see that until I started the edit!! It's so,,, unnoticeable which like,, isn't a bad thing? But also? I think the mesh being on her stomach too makes the design as a whole a little more balanced (and it's a nice callback to her og magic winx!). As for the color changes, really just wanted to go back to her reds and dark blues. I don't Hate the color scheme, but I also don't love it. And I think this feels a lot more like Musa yknow? Also darkened her hair cause fuck that dude

Anyway lol it's not the best edit so don't look too hard :') I just wanted to explore what I liked about the designs and what I didn't. We did get to see a little bit of Bloom's casual, but I want to wait until we get a closer look to speak on it/make edits. Also tbh, I don't really love Flora's outfit but I didn't want to completely redesign her and I concede that this is something she would wear (although it feels more like s4 cowgirl time/s5 casual and not s1 new student time but Fine). For now, I'm gonna pretend the trailer showed us my edit of Stella and not what it really showed. I can't get pale pinterest stella out of my head,,, aggghhhh

[oceanwithouthermoon]

people who say that theyre "the only one right about this character" and then u open their page and its the most horrendous, twisted, far-fetched mischaracterization youve ever seen