#just bc i have a lot of younger people following me now and i don't feel like clearing out my follower list

[theneighborhoodwatch]

anyways in honor of welcome home now having its own proper nsfw tag i present to you: the worst edit i've ever made.

[dontbesoweirdkira]

howdyyy, what do u think of plat yan! dick grayson (or platonic yan father bruce wayne up to u) with a batsis who is very disinterested with him primarily bc when she was younger she idolised him a lot but now not so much. there are comics where grayson has cheated on his partners before so imagine batsis coming to realise as she aged and matured that her doting brother is a bit of a playboy…. a lot like a playboy actually—

You know, this is actually extremely realistic. There's nothing like the rose color glasses falling off and realizing just how messed up your family truly is.

I'd like to think that there was plenty of jokes and mentions about Dick being a playboy but Batsis would just be absolutely clueless. You probably just thought it was a reference to his charming appearance or the way he gets hit on at least once whenever he goes out. Not really that he was an notorious heart breaker.

Like i don't think the other batkids had serious talks about it in front of you because of your (then) age or maybe it was a request by Dick so he could keep on his perfect mask with you?

Ironically, he wouldn't want any man to treat his little sister (or any of them) the way he does to other women but he has a problem. I will say though, it makes absolute sense that Dick or even the others would have issues keeping relationships or even have sex addictions. I mean it's a real issue that many people are struggling with right now. But can you imagine your father constantly bringing home women and cheating your entire childhood? Like Bruce introduces some of these women to them, they get attached to this potential mother then it's ripped away to be discarded for the new catch. I think that definitely warped Dick's view of women and romance stems from that. *intense mommy issues* But also i mentioned before that it's hard for him to maintain relationships while taking on the fatherly role in the family. His obsession with making sure all of his siblings are cared for and protected(mixed with being nightwing), makes it all the more difficult. Maybe that leads him to just hooking up with and being sloppy in his relationships. Maybe its just a means of stress relief and that causes him to almost dehumanize/objectify the women he "romances".

I'm not saying this is justifiable, cheating is disgusting and his behaviors are something that needs to be corrected regardless of mommy issues but for headcanon sake we are entertaining the concept

I'm not sure how you'd exactly find out about it. Maybe one of the kids let it slip and didn't bother to do damage control because you're old enough now? Maybe you spoke to one of his exes that is still friendly with the batfam? Or maybe your brain started to develop and you realized he wasn't hanging out with that new super model as just friends all night...it was something more and his girlfriend definitely didn't know about it.

Regardless, I think when you finally found out about everything, your world crushed. I don't think you'd hate him but you just feel yucky about the whole thing. Now when you look at him something in your stomach just sinks. You might even wonder if you can trust him. I mean if he's got that much of a problem to be dishonest with his lovers, then why would it be so left field to suggest he lied to you too when he said he loves you or that you were his favorite? The transition from you idolizing him to being standoff-ish would be extremely noticeable to him. I mean it's hard to ignore when you were his mini me. Even as you got older you followed him around and never skipped an opportunity to be near.

He wouldn't think that it was because of the playboy thing, maybe just you needing some space as a teen. Everyone has gone through that phase before but when he notices your shift is only directed towards him, he's a little upset about it. He doesn't understand what he did wrong? One day you guys are eating ice cream together while having a sleepover in his room to you treating him like a disease.

Eventually your big brother corners you and makes you to confess whats bothering you. He apologizes if something he said rubbed you the wrong way but you couldn't keep treating him this way.

"uhm..i dunno, dick? I found out how you've been treating you partners and i think it's kinda gross. I guess i just don't really wanna be around someone who treats women like that right now..."

I think Dick's reaction would be complete shock....who tf told you?! He has no defense but he tries to muster up one before realizing this is just making him look worse when EVERYBODY knows how much of a whore he is lol. He'd back off of you and maybe even mutter an apology before walking away to go collect himself.

He's furious as well...whoever told you will be getting an earful because they just ruined something precious to him. (yeah they did. totally not his OWN actions) If it was one of his brothers, he will be throwing hands.

Dick does very much care about others perception of him, i've said this before. He knew he had a problem and his other siblings have spoken to him about it and it affected him but never enough to change. It's just a far deeper issue than wanting a quick fuck in the expense of his partners...But seeing his baby sister look at him with just so much disgust and disappointment was enough to cause him to spiral. He's not proud of his actions and knows he's hurt and discarded of many, many women for his own satisfaction. It's deplorable. I can imagine him taking maybe a few days to himself, he's just in his head while being overtaken by heavy guilt.

I'm not sure if Dick would actually change for you though? I think he is even debating it. Yeah he's a yandere for his batsis but is his obsession with you enough to kick the other one to the curb? That's up to you. A hopeful person would say, yes he would. Anything for his babybat! He's going to do whatever it takes to prove himself again, anything to make you proud. This habit isn't worth it if hes loosing you.

My opinion? No, he won't change after his guilt wears off. He'll just pretend like he's reborn. Dick would try for like a week and then go right back to doing his habits. He's a manipulative piece of work and yeah, lying to you is bad but he wants his cake and to eat it too. He's not willing to give up anything that gives him a euphoric boost. Shh...what you don't know, won't kill you.

[kyri45]

✨ShadowPeach Bio Parents Bio AU Q&A! 16/10✨

Welcome to the Q&A! A space where I can answer related or similar question about the Shadowpeach Bio Parents AU! If you submitted your ask anonimously, then you’ll have to check the whole post if it’s answered here, if it’s not, worry not! Your asks might have been used for a future comic or just in the queue~

Anonimo ha chiesto: i absolutely adore your shadowpeach bio-parents au comics they flow really nicely from post to post, and i looove the balance between angst & fluff i feel as if with shadowpeach, its always either angst or fluff- no inbetween, but somehow you've found a really nice mixture of both thanks for singlehandedly keeping me in the LMK fandom haha

Thank you! Fluff and angst keep going around each other like a microwave ahah

Anonimo ha chiesto: So like with mks monkey form does he have to deal with shedding during summer I think it would be funny if macaque and Mk got fluffier during winter. Wukong wouldn't complain about a fluffy macaque though probably like sleeping with the best plushy.

Oh man I think they do indeed haha. Pigsy would scold MK bc he keeps finding fur hair everywhere in the house

Anonimo ha chiesto: You seem like someone who knows a lot about the LMK fandom, so I must ask where does the idea of Princess Iron Fan and Macaque being sworn siblings come from? Like, is it from JTTW, and im just not aware of it, I'm still trying to learn as much as I can, and I need to actually read the book. The fact that people assume I know a lot about the fandom is so hilarious (not in a mocking way, I'm just very surprised) bc like- I watched the whole show in 1 day, speedwatched Overly sarcastic production recap of JTTW and read half of the book in a week. All of this in July. That's everything that I know from the fandom.

I think it's an headcanon. in JTTW Wukong, Macaque and DBK are all part of the brotherhood so.

Anonimo ha chiesto: First off I LOVE your comic but I have the animal autism and wanted to share some Monkey facts: monkeys don't sweat like humans do they mostly sweat on the palms and feet, areas they have no fur. For overheating monkeys mainly seek shade staying under trees , increase respiration (panting), seeking water sources. Also some species might shed for a thinner coat during summer. Sweating is an exclusively human thing and why humans have been so successful humans are persistent hunters. We would often follow herds for miles waiting for them to tire and overheat while sweating keeps us perfectly cool. Humans are also the only animal to blush. Lol Again no hate love the comic I love me some Flustered blushing gay monkeys. I just have the animal autism and wanted to info dump.

Thank you for the animal fact dump! Those were actually super interesting facts!

@draxeanlxia ha chiesto: Hey question that I have no idea if you already answered but how old is MK in your BIO Parents AU? I know people (usually) believe him to at least 18 due to China’s minimum driving age but others believe him to in his early 20s. Also Mac in your AU said was ‘grown ass man’ during the baby arc. So in your AU, how old is MK?

So. in the AU he's 21 y/o. Meaning that when he arrived to Pigsy door they saw him and went "yeah, he looks around 2/3" and from then they counted on. Buut there's also the thing that he looks a little younger than that age. I wont say anything else.

Anonimo ha chiesto: Who your Favorite Lmk character??

mmmmmmm... MK bc he's monkey now. Before season 4 probably Macaque or Wukong. But I have a "thing" for characters discovering they are actually a different species and slowly gaining new/different body features bc of that, so when I saw him flickering at the end of s4 I flew to a different universe. Literally the whole reason this AU exist is because I would die for this trope

Anonimo ha chiesto: What inspired your Human Wukong & Mac designs? Mostly because my brain looks at Macaque and thinks “Cranky middle aged pirate” meanwhile Wukong’s is “That chill gay uncle” (this is based off of purely looks by the way)

Macaque is drama queen so of course he would wear a trenchvoat during fall. plus he's old inside and outside bc of all Wukong bullshit. Wukong is your friendly neighbour who lives in a sketchy house and survives on peach sodas and chips (oh wait that's just canon Wukong.)

ainnur ha chiesto: You know I like how Wukong in your comic just compare something hot with Laozi's furnace. Like with spicy food and time he help MK created the weapon. Mk: You know Wukong you mention Laozi's furnace a lot. Must really tough 49 days for you... Wukong:Yeah worst 49 years *eating peach* Mk: Can tell- wait- years..? Wukong: Yeah a day at heaven is like one year here or so..Do the math, bud *continue to eat the peach* Mk:.... what..? Wukong just casually and accidently recall his trauma because he thought it never effect him like his other trauma. Also the brotherhood have 49 years to help him but they didn't do anything. "Yeah because normally you would rush into my rescue"

Thank you for giving me this traumatic info I didn't know about. Now I will never look at Wukong the same (why did my boy have to suffer so much)

Anonimo ha chiesto: Macaque: I think I'm in love with Wukong . . . Any thoughts. Chiyou: and prayers you're going to need them.

me too bitch, the fuck

@mirror-queen226 ha chiesto: I agree about the last ask you posted (about Wukong surely wearing a dress on a date), and I just couldn't help but say my own headcanon too (with a little bit of knowledge about the ancient times that Wukong was just a child on the jttw and lmk): I dunno if you agree but okay. Honestly, both Wukong and Mac/Mihou (like i usually call him) does not care about clothes, if they feel comfortable with them, be it for woman or man, they'll wear it, especially Wukong though, I feel like he'd act like a famous diva in a on a runway showcasing new high-class clothes from Victoria Secret, Channel, or something, whilst Mac is much more discreet but not too far from that too. And considering Wukong was wearing WOMAN clothes when he was in the brotherhood in the season 4 lmk flashback, it just made me believe in that headcanon even more :) Also, I am really loving your au, it's just so perfect the way you develop every character slow and patiently, keeping their personalities untouched, not changing but instead expanding and showing them a bit more, how they are really trying to improve (Wukong and Mihou in this case) and how satisfying it is to see. I always rush to see the new updates you post about the Biodads au every time i see too, and honestly, one of the 5 best au's ever, you draw so good too, it's adorable! That's all I wanted to say, have a nice day, drink water and take care of your health! 🥰🥰🥰

Yeah true! Like they are shapeshifter, they wouldn't care what species they are, even less the perceived gender norms

Anonimo ha chiesto: Little question, while the monkeys where at Chiyou's forge, shadowpeach where still sleeping together or not?

They were all sleeping in sleeping bags on the floor (but they all were close to each other.

Anonimo ha chiesto: Generally curious what you think would have happened if MK had not been woken up and the stone wasn't broken what do you think would have happen. would he had grown up on FFM?

Aww he probably would have been raised by Wukong. I don't know if that's a good or bad thing.

@wolfsonic ha chiesto: I have question! Does Rumble and Sabage have sentience in your stories? Like, do they have their own personalities like MK clones do? If yes, what do they think of WuKong and MK? Also, will we see more of them? Cause I'd love Mk to meet them when he wasn't stuck as a cub and not remember.

Yeah I think they have a littel bit of personalities. They like both MK and Wukong, but would also do prank on him.

Anonimo ha chiesto: I think I won't say I'm in love from Hercules fits macaque very well

The little monkeys are the muse doing backup choir

Anonimo ha chiesto: Can we see what a courtnapping room typically looks like?

Courtnapping rooms are made specifically for the courted one, so they are all different. Basically, the room should include everything the courted person would need to live comfortable and also a collection of things they like / to pass the time /love.

It must show that the person courtnapping them is able to provide, care and protect for them. And also knows what makes them happy.

So it can be a huge castle full of jewerly and elegant clothes/ornaments or just a cozy room with some chips and video games.

Anonimo ha chiesto: Is LBD going to be a topic in your au again ?

maybe

@wolfasketch ha chiesto: We need MK interacting with his new found Auntie and Uncle please(we also new to see Red being flustered by MK while his parents are around and PIF being like "Ooohhhh")

We are VERY luky Red Son and MK didn't grew up together or we would have thier parents playing love-matching with them while they are toodlers

Anonimo ha chiesto: could we possibly get a traffic light trio and shadopeach grooming train at some point, i would love to see some bonding time between them all <3 and i would love to see mk grooming redsons hair since there's so much of it

Wait who would be the second person to be groomed? I assume RedSon hair are too hot to touch. (when he's flustered, at least)

Anonimo ha chiesto: So like how does Redsons hair/ fire work. Does it just feel warm to MK and Mei. Will it only burn/ hurt you if he doesn't trust you. Another note it must be nice having two fire demon friends during winter.

I think when he's relaxed, the hair is just- a little bit warm, then with his feelings and emotion it can go up to a bigillion degrees, so it's not harmful as long as he can control it.

[ideasarestuckinmyhead]

PLZ🙏🏼🙏🏼 can you please do more gravity falls AU with the YV boys🙏🏼🙏🏼

Fucking gnomes. It's always gnomes.

TW: Death threat (but like it's justified bc Boo almost got kidnapped), attempt at force marriage, attempt at kidnapping

Rip to Alphonse's car window

When Seth tried telling Sugarboo about the different entities, how they are all over the town. Alphonse at first called bullshit, not believing it since he hasn's seen any. However, the pinkette was about to start believing.

Jake, a man? Boo got to know during like the past month. Became friends and Boo was happy getting to know a younger adult, since it was a lot of old people in town. But there has been a lot of new movers here so Boo was happy to even meet Jake.

Alphonse was chill meeting him, not really caring just happy Boo had another friend. Seth, on the other hand was very suspicious of the man. How he moved his body weirdly, even telling Boo but they scolded him.

"Okay, Seth. He's not some entity he's just a regular man. Who's my friend so please don't just insult him." Sighing out, Boo was getting ready to meet Jake in the woods. He wanted to show them some flowers he found in the woods in a pretty clearing. He even showed them a picture, it was very beautiful and Boo was sure Seth took them there once.

"Sugar, please. I think he's something supernatural! I mean the way his body moves! Why does it look so weirdly robotic? Like something trying to look human?" Pleading Seth opened his journal, showing them the pictures. Pointing to a few he thought the 'man' Boo befriended might be.

"Seth, I even meet the guy. I think he's just awkward because he's in a old country town with no one he knows." Alphonse rolled his eyes as he gave Seth a unimpressed look. The brunette has been going on this for like a week now. Saying what tipped him off was Jake going to the wood and diapering quickly, like he vanished.

"Okay, I'm going to go meet my friend and if something happends I'll call you." Waving the southern man's worries, Boo walked away. Grabbing their car keys and going out the door, Seth groaned as he heard the front door close and the car start.

"I know I'm right...I have a feeling! Al please?" Trying to get the pink haired man to lskten, Seth grabbed his arm. Alphonse sighed and looked at him, then opened his mouth.

"Okay fine. If and that's a big IF, he is some entity you don't know which one. Explain that." Huffing out, the candy man then watched as Seth flipped through pages. Freezing on one and showing Alohonse quickly pointing at it

"He's a vampire!" Exclaiming, Seth then read out what he reasurched. "That would explain how pale he is! Also the bite marks om his neck? Along with he fact he loves eating bloody stakes!" Rambling Seth grabbed Alphonse's arm and rushed out the house.

"Ow! Seth- Don't drag me that hard!" Pleading, Alphonse then sighed. "Do you really think he's a vampire?" Questioning the brunette, who nodded grabbing the stakes and garlic he had in case of this.

"I'm sure of it now! Why else would he want Boo all alone?!" Frustrated Seth chucked the things into Al's car and grabbed the keys. Alphonse hurried to follow after him, getting into the passenger seat.

With Boo, they greeted Jake the man gave a big smile. The baker couldn't help but look at his teeth...They looked kinda sharp? Fuck was Seth right? Looking around they rubbed their hands.

"So, Jake, we gonna go to the flower clearing? It looked so pretty in the pictures you showed me!" Delfecting for their sake Boo put their hands into their big hoodie pocket. Clenching their phone to tell themselves if something happens they have a way out.

"No, I wanted to take you to this one tree! It's really pretty. Some of the locals told me it's the oldest one in the forest." Smiling Jake then grabbed their arm and guided them there. Boo nodded along as he started talking about the forest, the floral and fauna in it.

With the boys they hurried and got to the forest, Alphonse grabbed the stakes and Seth got the garlic. Both ran into the forest looking for Boo, then they heard their scream. Adrenaline rushed through them as they kicked into full gear to get to their baker.

"What the fuck?! WHAT ARE YOU?!" Screaming Boo stepped back as tiny men got out of the human clothing. They all looked at Boo, with different emrionins but the biggest one was love.

"Where gnomes and we've been looking for our Monarch. We all decided when we first saw you...you were perfect!" The leader spoke, coming forward from the group of gnomes. The others made a noise of agreement and Boo blinked at him.

"You WHAT?" Boo in disbelief shouted again. Words wouldn't comprehend how mad they were, the man they thought was their friend did this to them?! The gnome ignored their words and continue his talking.

"We also wanted to marry you! I, as leader of the gnomes nominate myself. Your Majesty, I would do anything to make you happy!" The small man kneeled as much as he could? Before Boo, who stepped back again giving a disgusted look.

"What?! You pretended to be my friend to trick me-" Growling out, Boo glared at the small group of men. But their angry words were interrupted by their boys finally appearing

"Boo, don't worry were here to-"

"Sugar, we'll kill the vampire-"

Both men paused seeing a group of gnomes, both blinking before turning to Boo. Who looked at the gnome leader and punt kicking him in the face.

"RUN!" Shouting Boo grabbed the boys arms and booked it to the car. Behind them the gnomes shouted in anger. The leader, after getting back from being punted, shouted out.

"FORMATIONS!" Comanding the gnomes all formed a big gnome. Alphonse, seeing this started cussing and Seth was opening his journal to try to see if something would help. Boo though grabbed a rock from the floor and chucked it at them.

"FUCK YOU!" Shrieking angrily, Boo then was yanked by Alphonse. All three could see the opening of the forest, but only one of the cars were there.

"Holy shit they took Boo's car?!" Shouting Alphonse was confused. Since they saw it like a minute ago when pulling up. The other two ignored this and looked a the forest, Seth holding the stake.

"Fuck why didn't I bring a long range weapon! Come on Seth you KNOW better!" Scolding himself, Seth heard rumbling and turned to Alphone. "AL OPEN THE CAR!"

"I'M TRYING?! FUCK I THINK THE DOORS JAMED?? WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT SLAMMING THE DOORS??" Shouting at the brunette, who cursed and went to the driver's side. Both men hitting the door, Boo hearing the rumbling getting closer looked to the ground and hissed.

"SORRY AL! ILL PAY FOR THE REPAIRS!" Grabbing a rock Boo smashed the driver's window. Unlocking the car and all three rushed to get in.

"SETH HOW THE FUCK DO WE DEFEAT THEM?" Asking as the punk swerved as the gnomes huge formation thing chucked big rocks on the road. Seth, flipped through the journal and groaned as he didn't figure out a way to defeat them.

"I don't know?! Maybe if we somehow take out the leader?" Questioning Seth let out a shout as a huge bolder appeared in front of them.

"HOLY SHIT-" Screaming Boo held onto the backseat the best they could. They've been getting thrown around back there during this car chase. Looking in the back car window, they shouted again. "THEIR THROWING ANOTHER!"

"FUCK HOLD ON!" Alphonse went faster and hit a hard right turn. Shooting down the main road to the town, Seth was cursing as he dropped the journal.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck??" Mumbling to himself, Boo behind him sighed as they got to the house. Getting out Alphonse tried running inside to get the gun, cursing himself for not keeping it in the car.

"ENOUGH." A booming voice was heard. All three froze seeing the huge figure of a gnome infront of them. Boo was covered by their boys are they glared at the gnomes.

"Fuck you! Ya ain't getting Boo!" Growling out Alphonse stood in front of all three of them. Seth was still going through he journal, getting more panicked not finding anything that could help.

But Boo sighed, placing a hand on each of their shoulders. "I'll marry you." Whispering sadly, the leader blinked a them. Smiling he clapped as he slowly came down.

"Boo? No don't-" Pleading Al looked at Seth, who shook his head. They had no weapons and the gnomes had the upper hand. Boo moved around their boys and looked at the gnome leader.

"If I marry you, you leave them alone." Demanding, Boo looked down as the gnomes nodded and kneeled. Showing off a beautiful ring, lifting it up to them.

"Of course your Majesty! Anything you want as long as you marry all of us!" This detail was new, Boo cursed him out in their mind and nodded. The gnomes made happy noises as they cheered finally eating a Monarch.

"Fine. I guess a kiss seals the deal?" Questioning, this made the gnome leader flush and fix himself a bit.

"O-Of course!" Stuttering slightly, the leader sprits his mouth and pucker a his lips. Boo gave a disgusted look and crouched down. Hands behind their back, that's when the boys noticed what they were holding.

"SIKE BITCH!" Screaming, Boo turned the leaf blower on and sucked the leader into it. All the gnomes shouted as their leader was captured, breaking apart the huge gnome form.

Boo glared at them all as they tried to figure out what to do. Alphonse laughed as he joined them on their left, Seth following on the right.

"You really thought that would work? Please, my partner already has me. Along with Seth!" Smuggly saying, the pastel punk laughed as the gnomes cowered with fear.

"Seriously you tried to take a person by force that isn't okay. Like at all." Scolding Seth glared at them. Boo then shook the leaf blower, the screams of the leader could be heard.

"NOW, LISTEN UP." Shouting Boo growled at them all. "I'm not marrying ANY of you! Your gonna take your tiny asses BACK INTO THAT FOREST! And if you EVER come back I'm putting you in this leaf blower! And then KILLING YOU!" Adding on, Boo smirked as they all nodded at them.

Turning the leaf blower back on, the leader got shot out. Falling all tattered in front of his group, glaring at the trio.

"Fine! You'd be a horrible Monarch anyways!" Screaming defeated, the gnomes formed again and ran to the forest. The trio then sighed as they finally relaxed again.

"Jesus fuck. Seth, please remind me to listen to you whee you say someones an entity or supernatural." Whispering Alphonse leaned on Boo. Who patted his back and gave Seth a sorry look.

"I should have listened. I was just so haply to have a friend I didn't see the signs. I'm sorry Seth." Whispering the apology, Boo got a hug from the brunette.

"I'm just glad you didn't get take Boo. Now let's go inside and take a nap that was....too much for today." Suggesting, Seth got noises of agreement. All slowly got into the house before Alphonse said something.

"My car window....my poor baby...." Mumbling out sadly. Boo then perked up, giving him kisses and they spewed more apologies about that.

[b0njourbeach]

Is Trey Cater a ship where Cater is an unhinged little freak and Trey is normal, or is it a ship where Trey gets to be an unhinged little freak and Cater is suddenly realizing in horror he's more normal than he thought.

Or are they little freaks together?

-@official-nrc-prophet

(Choosing Beetlejuice bc asking this is to me what is calling his name three times is to him)

Oh boy, I need a moment to get my thoughts in order. I do apologize if it becomes eventually hard to follow. There are too many thoughts running through my mind to capture them all in a sorted manner.

Actually 🤓☝️ They're two freaks in two entirely different directions who are both unleashing the others' freak but also taming it at the same time.

That is, if Cater would Trey allow to do so.

We've seen in canon multiple times that Trey looks through Caters Charade (two major moments I have in mind are Post-OB in Book 1 and the Wish Upon a Star when Trey asks Cater what his wish is) - Something we don't see often in canon.

But we have also seen moments where Trey has unintentionally gave Cater a little freedom to be himself: Not having to pretend to like sweets (Post-OB in Book 1), being Caters choice to "go for a little spin on the dance floor" (Firelit Sky Event) and given they've been roommates since their first year, I doubt those were the only times either.

I do like to think that Trey is genuinely Caters grounding point (as much as Cater allows him to be. He's got quite a lot of commitment issues which are indirectly confirmed in canon but that's another story). Caters type of freak is his fake self which gets fueled by whatever person around - But it takes a lot to make him drop the act or even just knock on the huge wall he has built up to shield his true self.

And Trey has built a camp in front of that very wall, prepared for Cater to let him in eventually (and he does seem to be quite persistent in canon).

Trey, on the other hand,, Where to even start with this guy? I can only imagine there are equally little people who knows how much of a fucking weirdo (affectionate) he is - One of them is 100% Rook. And I don't doubt that Cater is another one of those few people.

Unfortunately I don't have much canon to go on, so this is purely based on my own analysis and opinions (with a bit of HCs mixed in there but I'm trying my best to keep them out of the equation. After all, you asked for their dynamic, not for my silliness).

Trey is the prime example of the Oldest Child syndrome. Teaching his younger siblings, making sure they brush their teeth which lead to the point that he took this trained behavior with him to NRC where he's now conditioning Ace and Deuce (and I don't doubt others as well) to brush their teeth regularly. He most definitely helped his siblings in other ways too. He's the Vice Housewarden, the "Mom" as many twst fans like to call him (I truly dislike them for that but that's smth else) - A submissive position, especially if someone like Riddle is above you.

I'm going too much into a Trey analysis..

My point is: Just like Cater, Trey is rarely himself but they're extremely different in how similar they are. Cater is playing the act of that extroverted friend with too much energy and silliness, Trey is the quiet friend who is calm and friendly. In reality, it is Trey who would be the freak and Cater the quiet one.

So, to come back to your initial question:

If Trey and Cater would be alone in a casual fashion (no romantic intention, just two buddies alone in a room, chilling) and Trey would suddenly show a little spot of his true colors, I can only imagine Cater going something along the lines of "Holy shit dude, you're so much different than you show- And I thought you were the normal one between us." Trey would simply counter by pointing out Caters hidden true self with painful precision.

I tried to limit myself as close as possible to your question, or else I would've written a whole essay on why they're the best couple in twst.

[gl1tchr]

PLEASE I NEED MORE RIDDLER RAMBLES. I WANT YOUR THEORIES ON FUTURE RIDDLER

1. Do you think there’s more he knows/uncovered and will that play a part in Batman 2 (Batman goes to him for more answers on the corruption or something like that)

2. What’s his personality/potential future outfit gonna be like?

3. What will his dynamic with Joker be like?

4. Will he even have a big role again in a future movie or do you fear he’s gonna just be a cameo character now🥲

Any thoughts you have share with the class :))

I beg of thee, I enjoy your rambles so I need more‼️

pls I get just as much enjoyment being given the greenlight to yap LETS GO

Possibly! Though, given we pretty much watch him do all of his research in Riddler YO, I think he was pretty tunnel vision-ed in on the stuff particularly relating to Renewal. Now there's probably tons of top-down corruption he uncovered that didn't get explicitly gone over, we just didn't get told about it because his crusade At That Point was specifically about Renewal and the GCPD's relation to Falcone. Lots of people think the next movies are gonna set up Court of Owls, and I think it'd be kinda silly to be like "yeah there's a SECRET-SECRET organization not even the Riddler could uncover bc they're just So secret" but honestly if he had strong enough horse blinders on, it is possible he could've missed it. But given his paranoia causes him to follow almost any leads he can, I think he would've at least noted something. But that's all narrative stuff, he could have like, files upon files of topics not even touched on in the film because narratively, they didn't need to mention it, or he could've straight up not cared and been so focused on This specific rabbit hole he didn't see it. CAN'T SAY FOR SURE but I do know his knowledge is going to grow in Arkham.

I ACTUALLY DID A LITTLE DOODLE OF WHAT I WOULD PERSONALLY WANT A FUTURE 22 ED TO LOOK LIKE as we know I'm an Arkham Fiend so I want him to be very tinkery <33 I debate a lot on whether he would keep the mask. I think there's arguments for both, that he would still see his mask as something that allows him to be uninhibited, but I also see an argument for him feeling his mask connects him too heavily to Batman. The Bat wears a cowl, because he's a coward, but the RIDDLER shows his face. He's the TRUTH. So I mess around with both concepts :]

personality wise, like I've said I think he's gonna get Meaner. I think we'll see some more bite and maybe a sort of like - Young Justice Riddler where he's doing his best to express puffery and confident, transitioning into an Arkham Riddler's really deluded ranting and raving at any given moment because he doesn't like to sit with his own thoughts for very long.

3. THIS IS A TOUGH ONE. We don't know a ton about either of them, even with all of the lore we get with Riddler YO we still only have I feel a small sense of the way Edward interacts with others, and especially now that he's clearly going to change very dramatically, it's hard for me to say how I think he'll interact with this specific Joker. This Joker seems younger, bold, energetic, passionate, and SMART. And I think Batman showing him Edward's file gave Joker enough ammunition to either turn Edward into something even more dangerous, or turn him into a tool. OR BOTH. I sense a lot of manipulation on Joker's end, and I think Edward will, like he did with Batman, deeply enjoy the companionship for a time. But I think a moment would come where Joker is revealed to have been "using" him to some degree, and this would spark similar emotions to his perceived relationship with Batman. I think this is what would cause Riddler to realize "Batman is the enemy, these other criminals are Also the Enemy, I - the Riddler - am the only one I can trust or rely on".

4. I certainly HOPE he gets more major parts in the next movies. With how often Arkham is being utilized as a set piece in the Reevesverse, I don't think he's content with throwing his Rogues in Arkham and leaving them to rot away from the plot. Reeves seems to really enjoy his Rogue interpretations and wants them on screen, he WANTS to portray them. He was a huge reason Dano got the Comic made, he really fucked with Paul's dedication to Edward's story and wanted MORE content out there. I don't think we necessarily have to worry about him disappearing - more so, maybe worrying about him becoming something we don't love. BUT with what we've seen of the writing so far in Batman, Riddler YO, and Penguin, I think we're good :]

[venomroses]

Zones Fashion

Obviously we all know how killjoys dress, but not everyone in the desert is a killjoy. So here's my headcanons about how non-killjoys in the desert dress. Below the cut because this is gonna get long:

Note: Edited this so rb this version please!

These forms of dress are specific to smaller, more isolated groups where people are usually at least 1st gen zoneborn, and doesn't apply to neutral towns, killjoys, those who follow more traditional city styles, etc. Also I know I said I was going to do drawings for this and I might add those later but for now just text bc the drawings aren't coming out how I like.

Younger kids (2-7):

Both girls and boys have long hair because protects them from the sun without trying to get them to keep hats or hoods on since kids can be difficult about the required amount of clothes, let alone additional stuff. It can also be hard to find children's sized clothes, so many guardians don't bother with "unnecessary" items. Hair is usually kept long enough to tie out of their face because kids also make lots of messes, but sometimes hair will be a bit shorter (usually for boys).

Younger siblings will rarely have anything that isn't a hand-me-down, so if you have an older sibling of the opposite gender then you're probably going to be dressing like the opposite gender for most of your childhood. This is rarely an issue since gender doesn't usually have the same relevance as it does in the real world.

Long skirts are common regardless of gender because they keep the legs covered to protect from sunburn. Also, you can grow significantly before an ankle-length skirt becomes too short, unlike pants where you just have to get new ones when you outgrow them. When skirts get short enough to start exposing a lot of skin, extra fabric can be sewn on, or leggings can be worn underneath. Wraparound skirts are preferred because you don't have to adjust the waist at all when the kid grows, so you don't have to worry about buying/making new clothes all the time. However, other types of skirts work just as well.

A lot of younger kids get homemade shoes. They don't need to be great quality, they just need to keep the kid from burning their feet. Once a kid is old enough to begin helping with the family business (if there is one), go on trips with their guardians, etc. they get real shoes since it becomes more important once they're working or away from home for longer periods.

Then older kids (8-12):

At this age kids are old enough to want to have more freedom of expression so styles vary a bit more.

Since they're mostly still wearing kids sized clothes which are harder to find in the Zones and outgrowing things quickly, hair is still usually kept long to protect them from the sun in place of a hat or a hood that would either be too big or outgrown too quickly to justify buying it. However, sometimes they'll get their hair cut short, especially boys. Regardless of length, there's more variations in hairstyles, since it's a form of expression that doesn't cost any money.

Skirts often come above the knees in the front for more mobility/range of motion. Kids this age are old enough to help with work or chores, so it's easier if they don't have to worry about the restrictions long skirts can bring. At this age skirts are less about practicality. Long skirts are seen as a more childish style as the main point of them is to let kids grow without needing to buy tons of new clothes all the time, and skirts of any length can be impractical. Some guardians don't see the point of the skirt if the kid is just going to be wearing pants underneath anyway and the kid transitions into just wearing pants. For those who do keep wearing it, it makes their ages and allegiances clear. Since "adulthood" is pretty much "whenever you look like an adult" or "whenever you can do the same work as an adult" it makes it clear that this is a child, and that they're not a killjoy (since some killjoys can be this young).

Again, kids this age usually aren't working actual jobs yet, so sandals are more common than closed-toe shoes that might be required for a more dangerous job. Sandals are preferred over closed-toe shoes since they take less supplies to make so they're cheaper. These sandals might be homemade or might be made more professionally.

Younger teenagers (13-15):

This is the age where you'll see a lot of actual variation in style. First short haircuts are common at this age. Some kids might have a job, so hair length is usually depending on the job they have instead of gender. A job where they're often inside or where long hair would get in the way? Short haircut. A job where they're often outside? Long hair. Of course, some people will still pick a style they like over practicality, but looks over practicality is a very killjoy-esque mentality that most of the desert does not follow.

Outfits vary a lot, again based on what's practical for work, but it's common for their clothes to be a bit oversized, since they're usually still on the smaller end even if they are wearing adult sizes by now.

Some kids still wear skirts to indicate their age if their guardians feel that they're not ready to be seen as an adult, but many wear pants only.

Most kids have close-toed shoes now, but again they might be a bit too big. Rags can be stuffed in the toes until they fit properly.

Older teenagers (16-19):

Can pretty much look like anything! Just like for younger teenagers, haircuts and forms of dress are more specific to what you're doing, since most people have some sort of job at this age. Skirts are not worn anymore.

Jobs often work like trades, where you learn to do something and make that your career, instead of switching between them a lot. A lot of jobs are making necessities like clothes, candles, and food, or services like doctors/nurses, messengers, etc. Sometimes certain professions go together, like gunsmiths (who can make or fix guns) will work with artists for killjoys or anyone who'd rather have someone else paint their raygun for them. Markets are a great place to sell their wares so a lot of vendors there are going to be people like this.

If you're interested in other types of people in the Zones/time periods and how they dress send me an ask or something bc worldbuilding my beloved <3

[waltwhitmansbeard]

20. “What were you like before I met you?”

Hmm… let’s make this interesting. Keyleth meeting the Mighty Nein and getting to know them.

20. "What were you like before I met you?" so this happened bc, not for the first time, i read "mighty nein" and saw "bells hells," and, not for the first time, saw "bells hells" and thought "orym." so basically, this in no way resembles the prompt, but it is what i have lol

All of the most important people in the world are leaving, scattering and coalescing into their various war rooms and private councils. The Hells are getting sidelong looks, which Orym can understand; yesterday, they were strangers, interlopers, nobodies—today, they're heroes.

He watches Dorian fall into conversation with his father and tries not to use his keen lip-reading ability to follow every word. He imagines a thousand different ways that conversation could go, but it's up to Dorian to tell him about which one it ended up being, if he wants to. Chetney's been flagged down by one of the Sanctuary's scalebearers, and Orym just has to see the phrase "C-POP" on his lips to know he wants nothing to do with whatever that is. Braius is being reconfronted by Highbearer Vord, but Orym has learned in their scant few hours together that if anyone can lie their way out of trouble, it's Braius Doomseed.

So he takes this moment to find the Voice of the Tempest. He appears at her elbow silently, making the Dwendalian representative she's speaking with jump, but the Tempest doesn't even flinch. "Hello, Orym."

"Tempest." He ducks his head. "Do you have a minute? I don't mean to interrupt."

"Of course." She bids goodbye to the Dwendalian and leads Orym away. "What's on your mind?"

"Well, uh, first I wanted to thank you for those titles, the ones you gave my friends. It...means a lot."

The Tempest snorts ungracefully. "You should have seen the first six drafts." She smiles down at him. "It was my honor, Orym. I know what it is to have the fate of the world on your shoulders. The very least we could do is acknowledge it appropriately."

"What were you like before I met you?" Orym asks.

The Tempest laughs. "Orym, I've known you since you were the size of a housecat."

He flushes. "I know, I mean—what were you like when you were...like me? Part of a group with the fate of the world on its shoulders?"

She drums her fingers thoughtfully along her staff. "Hmm. Well, I was younger," she quips. "More optimistic, I think. Definitely more naive. I really thought that if we tried hard enough, if we cared enough, we could stop all the bad things from happening." She smiles again, this time wryly. "My secret, though, is that most of the time? I still think that way."

Orym's heart sinks a little. "So...you never had any doubt? You just always knew you were going to get the job done?"

The Tempest throws her head back and lets out a barking laugh that draws the attention of the surrounding dignitaries. "Oh, fuck no, are you kidding?" She crouches down then, gets to his eye level in the way that has never once felt to Orym like a parent condescending to a child, but rather someone speaking to their equal. "Orym, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the doubt is there literally all of the time. Even today, putting forth that plan with Vex and Allura, I had no idea how that was going to go, if the others would accept it, if it's even going to work. But the alternative is doing nothing, and I have never been good at that."

"Is that why you're so strong? Because there is no alternative?"

"I am strong, Orym, for the same reason you're strong." Her fingers dance briefly between them, and suddenly, she's holding onto the stem of a pearly white snowdrop. "I'm strong because there are people counting on me to be strong. People I love. People I couldn't bear to let down." She hands him the snowdrop. It is soft and alive in his fingers. "You have those people. I know you do." He doesn't miss the way her eyes flick over to Dorian, who is just now walking away from his father. "And a word of advice? From someone who waited and will carry the regret of that waiting for the next millennium?" There's a twinkle of something almost mischievous in her eye. "Do not take too long to let those people know how you feel. You and I know better than most that you never know how long you have with them."

She stands then, tall and regal, gives him a wink, and glides away, leaving Orym speechless and holding the flower. He watches her disappear into the throngs of the Platinum Sanctuary, and then his eyes catch Zeru Wyvernwind walking down the steps. He stuffs the snowdrop into his pocket and jogs after him, suddenly finding himself with quite a bit to say.

[huntershowl-moving]

SHIPPING INFO // ANSWER THE FOLLOWING FOR YOUR MUSES SO PEOPLE KNOW HOW SHIPPING WORKS ON YOUR BLOG.

WHAT IS YOUR OTP FOR YOUR CHARACTER(S)?

i don't have one particular otp — big ships change depending on the Era hellhound is in!

HOW LARGE DOES THE AGE GAP HAVE TO BE TO MAKE IT UNCOMFORTABLE?

nothing illegal obviously — other than that, aside from long-lifespan characters whose mental maturation is slower, i generally stay away from with 10+ year age gaps when the younger muse is under 20. just feels like a weird power dynamic i guess?

ARE YOU SELECTIVE WHEN SHIPPING?

yes! ships on this blog cannot be pre-established — i tend to lose interest fast if they don't build up naturally, either through lots of ooc plotting or through writing. on top of that, seph is ... piiiiicky. she has very specific Types. generally, ships with very gentle, soft, mentally well-adjusted characters are possible, but transient — seph falls out of love after a point, but remains staunchly protective of them.

the long and short of the matter is she's a freak, and you kind of have to match that to be compatible as a long-term partner. but even then they don't always line up perfectly! idk. seph's weird. simultaneously very easy to ship with and very hard to ship with.

WHO ARE OTHER CHARACTERS YOU SHIP YOUR CHARACTER WITH?

oh i've got lots of good ones going on right now!! pls forgive me for gushing. focusing on currently heavily-plotted and/or written ones for this bit bc otherwise it will be pages and pages!! if i forgot someone you have full permission to impale me on a pike i am SO SORRY. (all of these will be under a readmore at the end of the post for length!)

there are more sort of beginnings/potentials for ships that haven't been explored yet which i haven't included here, but i'm truly excited to see where each and every one of them goes!!!

DOES ONE HAVE TO ASK TO SHIP WITH YOU?

yes absolutely hahaha — at least communicating ooc about it is necessary! i'm much more comfortable shipping with partners i mesh well with as a mun and have an easy time talking to.

ARE YOU SHIP-OBSESSED OR SHIP MORE-OR-LESS?

LOOK I. LISTEN. LISTEN... IM FERAL FOR SHIPS. FERAL. even though seph is picky about them — and i promise it's not personal if it doesnt work, it truly is just her dumb creature ass being unable to normal.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE SHIP IN YOUR CURRENT FANDOM?

N/A for this blog, but as a fun trivia fact, i'm deep in satosugu hell rn

FINALLY, HOW DOES ONE SHIP WITH YOU?

it's all vibes babey. we just start writing their non-romantic dynamic buildup, and if it clicks (or even if u just think ur character would have a crush!) we talk about it ooc and plot some more, then plot some more and before u know it, the angst hammer looms over ur head

Tagged by: @bearratic (thank youuuu!!) Tagging: (points) do it

ship gushing below. <3

@vsagis' villain izuku— i had to put u first bc u kickstarted this shipping renaissance. seph and izuku clicked instantly and started a long-term trajectory that i don't think either of us writers expected. they're just freak enough to match each other, just soft enough to genuinely care. we're really putting these two through the horrors(tm) and watching them fall hopelessly, horribly in love. <3

@spiritcrown's pasha — how could i not mention pasha!! i was so happy to see you back, because pasha and seph's relationship was soooo formative for seph's development wrt romance. seph is absolutely, completely and utterly devoted to pasha. they worship at the altar of her. they would bend heaven and raise hell for her.

@crowshoots' jesper — UAHGHGBBHBH INCOHERENT CRYING NOISES. the first thing seph noticed about jesper was extremely respectable fighting skills, but even then they were definitely uhhhh touch and go for a while there before they started to simmer down and. pin each other down and — one thing led to another and jesper's being antagonized by her antagonists and they're too deeply in love to go back!! i love them. i l

@crowgreeds' kaz — HHHHHHHHH god. hi siri i know ur not around the dash much but idc im writing u into this. kaz and seph both have such a darkness in them that the other recognizes and not only feeds, but when necessary, balances. they're ruthless and violent and mean but at the same time, they have such a softness for each other that they both thought was dead. also, you're the recipient of probably the best rp reply i've ever written (that fucking. hellhound kill description. my GOD im feral for seph protecting him)

@tewwor.... goose is2g we really have the creatures ever. litho — FIRST SHIP!!!! FIRST SHIIIP i still cant believe it took 4 irl years for them to finally admit their stupid feelings. now they're soulmates and there's no turning back. he's the reason seph likes poetry in every verse. the softest snarkiest ship. probably the closest to a true YA-style soulmate seph has. she hasn't forgiven him for all the twilight jokes though tough luck jie & ricochet — the boys... the absolute chaos trio... i never expected seph and jie to fall for each other but honestly i should have. he falls so neatly into her "equally feral" type. ricochet is so calm and seph is kind of intoxicated by that. sheathed claws kind of vibe. just love these three their dynamic balances itself so well

@spungolden's dio — two femmes raised as weapons with deeply suppressed emotions, chillin in a murder alley, five feet apart cause theyre not g— (theyre gay. theyre so gay) these two are so sweet they sometimes make me tear up. they skipped the trauma stage and went straight into lesbian domestic fantasy with only occasional murder.

@chaoslulled oh boy(s). toji — brutally in love. they saw and embraced each other's monster, refused to shy away, and now they somehow revolve in this strange orbit of violent and incredibly soft with each other. i think he's the first of the current ship lineup that seph has in-thread said the L-word to. this ship was so easy to jump right into, the chemistry was like lightning in a bottle. satoru — one of the most genuinely unexpected slowburn ships i've stumbled into. these two read each other for filth INSTANTLY as lonely motherfuckers who, in some way or another, had loved and lost. they haven't even gotten to the oh-shit moment in the slowburn yet but i'm lookin forward to it yakuza sukuna — THE PAIN. THE SUFFERING. AUHHHGHGGGG HOL YOU'RE FUCKING KILLING MEEEE. these two are mirrors in the worst possible way. they've got their throats stuck under their boss' boot heels; they've been disfigured, they've had their siblings used as leverage, they've been made into muzzled dogs. despite hating each other at the start, they can't not recognize that, and it's led to this fierce protectiveness that isssss whoops evolving into feelings. i'm sure nothing will go wrong

@eraserisms' shota — AHHHHHHH god okay most of this ship has been pure plotting vibes and responses to memes, but i truly cannot wait to get into writing more of them because they own my heart and soul. i think they know each other to the marrow in a way that's not super common for seph, and the gentleness and caution with which they're starting to explore revisiting their care for each other is heartbreaking in the best way

@sasouken BEE!!!! ok chronologically(??): deku — so precious and wholesome from the start. your honor he's just a little guy with a big dumb crush. when i tell uuuuuu some of our plotting has literally made me tear up a little??? the absolute bleeding heart on this boy??? HURTS ME??? one day they'll hold hands casper — slated to be our angstiest dynamic, i just Know it. two motherfuckers who love their siblings, inextricably involved in a tangled web of crime and violence. two people who have lost so much and don't want to lose anyone ever again. i will die i WILL satoru — such... a different vibe than i was expecting in an amazing way?? his dynamic with seph is so fuckin sweet? so much physical touch born of trust and comfort. also again: her first ever fwb (for now), which is truly a wild thing to experience. sukuna — i .. . dont even know what to say about this one. (affectionate). he unlocked an entirely new dimension of freak in seph's psyche and attraction style that i couldn't comprehend before we started writing them but retrospectively makes so much sense. what the fuck is going on with these two i have no idea but i am OBSESSED with it. also writing them getting down nasty has been extremely fun, i'm enjoying it a lot

[bumblebeehug]

I've watched season 1-3 of winx in less than 4 days, and I'm so glad I grew up on that instead of cocomelon. Even when the script seemed cringe and not as fleshed out as it could be, they never made the people watching the show seem stupid (they made Bloom seem stupid instead, lol (half-joke)). The dialogue could be simplefied and sometimes a bit naive, but at the same time they never made it feel very simple? Maybe I'm just blinded bc I'm a sucker for illustrated animations, but the fact that they could make a complicated storyline with a lot of character arcs, while keeping the dialogue simple enough for kids to follow, is just amazing. And as if that wasn't amazing enough, the show had good balance in the art - it was colourful, the characters were dynamic and unique with different siluettes (something i rarely see in kids shows today), while also appealing to the preteen audience: the winx girls are strong, stylish, girly girls, who can seek out love from men without needing them to save them. They show that you can be unique in your friend group, and you can still be loved and appreciated (thinking about Musa, Techna and later on Aisha/Layla, who all aren't the stereotypical sweet/soft/stylish girls, but who still find friends who love them for who they are). (More analysis beneath the read more thing - mainly a discussion on how family is represented in the show and how important it is for children to be able to look up to female figures that can represent them. + some other stuff.)

Winx also casts light on a lot of different family dynamics - something i've only really seen Bluey do well recently. Stella's parents are divorced, Bloom is adopted, Musa's relationship with her dad is strained ever since her mom died, Aisha/Layla is an only child who struggled with lonliness despite having both of her parents together (they were absent bc of their royal duties), Techna doesnt seem to have any mayor issues, nor does Flora. And the thing is - these struggles are shown in such natural ways in the show. All of these dynamics turn out to be part of their journeys - Bloom struggles as a fairy because of her unknown past, so she must resolve it and find out more to be able to become a fully fledged fairy. Stella has dealt with her divorced parents most of her life, but in season 3 the entire Valtor thing strains her relationship with her father, and she has to overcome it so she can save him from Cassandra or whatever that duchess was called (girlie practically gets banned from her home planet, don't you forget). Faragonda brings Musa's dad to her first concert, which once again strains their relationship, but then strengthens it when he sees how capable she is, both as a musician and as a fairy. Aisha/Layla displays how it is to have more traditional parents - as a child she had lots of expectations to be a proper princess, which she for a long time still had trauma from, plus that her parents wanted to pick her future husband for her (they were all lucky that the two of them matched well lol). And then we have Flora who showed off sisterhood in an amazing way - worrying over and scolding her little sister, but never doubting for a second that she'd risk her life to save her. To the point though - everyone faces difficulties that can be reflected in most people's lives, and the show makes these journeys meaningful and important. I personally never had a need to see myself represented in my family situation, but my friend had divorced parents, and she told me that Stella's viewpoint made it easier for little her to deal with it. If Stella could overcome it (reminder that she still allowed herself to feel sad about it) then so could my friend.

Now, while I'm at it, I might as well continue ranting:

Maybe I'm just not updated in modern shows, but isn't there an entire market of preteens who are missing these types of shows today? We're always talking about how clothing trends and social media is forcing younger people to grow up eariler, but let's not forget that these kids have nothing if they don't decide to grow up immediately. There's no shows, no "toys" (i'm mostly talking about merch that caters to young people - "H2O just add water" pillowcases and diaries etc) and no older teens in these shows setting appropriate clothing trends. Shows aren't cool enough nowadays for preteens to see the appeal of being young. Too many shows are changing their target audience to younger and younger children - and not only shows! Just look at the Nesquik bunny! He went from 100% drip and style, to 100% millenial.

Ik this isn't anyone in particulars fault, but this is just my way of saying: go back to unique styles and outfits! Shows aren't cool anymore, and removing the illustrated style and exaggeration is absolutely part of that.

I also saw someone on TikTok critique the pace of the earlier seasons - they said everything was too slow-paced and boring, and honestly? I couldn't disagree more. Now, I don't have any difficulties concentrating, so maybe it's a bigger problem for people with ADHD or similar diagnosis, but the slower pace gave more time for me to immerse myself in the winx world. They added amazing vocals and soundtrack, that could either showcase heartbreak or joy, and these details made the show reach much higher quality, despite looking like it was made in the cheapest animation program ever.

I went off on a tangent, but I'm getting back to winx now - what I mean is that kids nowadays have no authentic way of finding shows like winx, mainly because there aren't any! Most shows are made for kids under the age of 8 or over the age of 13, and there's almost no inbetween. Shows don't do it like winx did anymore - they don't make the art appealing enough (bc the shows are never illustrated - fair enough i'll add, bc illustrated animation is too expensive to be profitable nowadays, but not even the animation is appealing anymore, they're all rapunzel-lookalikes/wannabes), they don't trust that the watchers have brains and critical thinking, so they make the stories too dumb, they don't have the guts to make scary storylines, and they try so hard to be inclusive without actually succeeding at it (making all the fairies even paler than what they were in the beginning of the show).

I'm sure everything I've said here has been said before a trillion times, but I wanted to get it off my chest. I won't blame anyone if they decide that they ain't reading allat bc i really ran with this. If u did read this though, thanks! And sorry if i spelled things wrong, I'm writing this on a Swedish computer that insists that every single word is spelled incorrectly, lol.

[astxrailzz]

BSD HIGHSCHOOL HEADCANONS

FEAT: osamu dazai, chuuya nakahara, nikolai gogol, fyodor dostoevsky, sigma, atsushi nakajima, akutagawa ryunosuke

CONTENT: written from a british school pov!! mentions of vaping/dazai n nikolai selling overpriced vapes, atsushi n akutagawa scrapping, fake asthma attack (giggling writing these down)

AUTHORS NOTE: FIRST POST ON THISS ACCOUNT AND LOTS MORE TO COME!! will defo be doing another ones of these it was so fun to write (nikolai was my fav)

DAZAI YR11

dazai would defo be one of those popular boys who does absolutely NOTHING in class. all he does is piss around and fucks with chuuya

somehow he’d be in top set in a few classes and everyone else is like what???? HOW????

brings nothing to school and end up with a bunch of pens

i feel like in yr7-8 he was more introverted and quiet (like he was in the pm) but did a complete 180 change in yr9

LOVES the pepperoni pizza slices in the canteen, forces chuuya to buy a slice for him and throws a fit if they’re not being sold that day

”Chuuyaaaaaa! D’ya have any money- please please pleaseeeeee- they’re not even that expensive! You’re just broke, you seriously gonna let a poor guy like me starve?“

if chuuya doesn’t buy him it he gets atsushi to buy it instead

blows up everyone’s phone. please you’d think he lived in his phone if you texted him he’d respond in less than 15 seconds

had braces in yr7-8

started a business with nikolai scamming the younger years bc he was bored. they planned it out n everything in a maths class and not even a day later had set it up in the toilets. once people acc started falling for it and they were getting money he locked tf in

"It’s 15 quid for a vape.. hey bruv I don't make the rules! (he does) If you're gonna complain and not buy owt' you can piss off."

HAD RUMOURS GOING ABT HIM AND CHUUYA IN YR10. THEY WERE IN THE SAM CUBICAL PUFFING ON A VAPE AND SOMEONE WALKED IN ON THEMMMM, LITCH EVERYONE WAS SAYING THEY WERE GAY N HAD SEX. people still bring it up sometimes and dazai doesn't deny it

lowkey wishes it was true

ALL THE YR8-10 GIRLS THINK HE'S FIT

always has dts so he walks home with chuuya

CHUUYA YR11

does gcse pe bc he's super athletic

once again the yr8-10 girls think he's fit (he is)

got called a leprechaun and he started FUMING, same with being called scottish

got so pissed off at dazai once that he lobbed a pen into his eye which prompted dazai to dramatically fall off his chair and hit his head againnst the floor (chuuya didn't gaf)

every time he sees a yellow car he immedietly thinks abt dazai and starts looking around for him

"why's that car so fuckin' yellow- where's dazai."

50/50 chance that people know he is gonna punch the shit outa him or js think he's into him

stuck up for akutagawa once bc the poor boy was being dragged and now aku follows him around though he’d never admit it

EVERY TIME SOMEONE MENTIONS THAT RUMOUR HE GOES BRIGHT RED AND STARTS YAPPING AND SHOUTING

he denies it like his life depends on it

kouyou even teases him abt it please everyone hangs up on him

NIKOLAI YR11

Nikolai is 100% the class clown you cannot change my mind

owns all the school beef accounts and has videos of all the scraps (makes people pay to see them)

gets fyodor to help him with his homework

He’s the one who stuffs toilet roll down the sinks and blocks the toilets. He drags sigma along with him and sigma js attempts to get him to stop (it never works)

IF HE GETS CAUGHT DOING ANYTHING REMOTELY WRONG HE PINS THE BLAME ON SIGMA AND BEGS FYODOR TO BACK HIM UP LMAOAOAIAO

“WHAT?? no miss I would never- wha- why would I do that?? it was litch sigma miss please you gotta believe me, fedya was watching- weren’t you? WEREN'T YOU??”

(fyodor rats him out 9 times out of 10)

In class if he has a sub and gets told off he whines about it saying ‘oh it’s because I’m russian innit’

draws when he’s bored. doesn’t matter what on, he just vandalises everything

DRAMA/THEATRE KID FRFR (me), DRAMA IS ONE OF HIS FAV SUBJECTS ALONG WITH ART (HE TAKES THEM FOR GCSE)

drama teachers are the only ones that like him

sits with sigma and fyodor at lunch, some year sevens sit behind them so he spins around and taps them then spins back and acts like nothing happened (they think he’s weird and moves)

tried selling a yr7 a empty vape once and a teacher caught him, also hides behind toilet doors so when you open them he jumps out and puts you into cardiac arrest

for the business with dazai, he js pissed around the whole time. their business only lasted a week then they got found out bc some kid was pissy abt how it was extremely overpriced, they ended up getting suspended over it but pleaseeeee they went after that kid HELP

he sometimes put random stuff in the vapes like soap AHAHAHSHSHAH

FYODOR YR11

gets out of pe bc he's anemic. had to fight a war with the pe teachers to get out of it bc they claimed it wasn't a valid excuse, only let him out of it when he passed out playing badminton (nikolai took a video of it and constantly uses it as blackmail)

reads at lunch

got reported once bc somebody bumped into him and he threatened them saying smth corny like 'you better watch your back buddy' or ‘I will stab you at lunch’ and they got scared (tbh i would as well man is intimidating)

slt was called and a bag check had to be done, all they found were books (nerd 🤓)

sometimes quotes authors of the books he reads and completely denies everything if you mention it or question it

"hm? what? why would i quote that- i didnt even say that, what're you on about?" (starts sweating)

i think this is ooc buttt its funny so idgaf, watched deathnote in yr7 or 8 and acted like light as well as bought his own rip off book on temu, he'd wip it out if anyone got on his nerves and everybody took the piss out of him

THIS MADE ME GIGGLE SM I CAN IMAGINE TTHIS IS HOW NIKOLAI MEETS HIM AND HE JS BULLIES HIM

SIGMA YR10

so so soooo awkward

doesn't have ANY friends in his year, lingers around older years so his classmates stay AWAY.

only friends r nikolai and fyodor (nikolai dragged him to his table after seeing him being emo and fyodor tolerates him)

i think he'd be in middle set for most things, the exception being top in english.

common sigma phrase when anyone talks to him

"uh.. well- I uh- I mean-.. yes..?"

was walking behind atsushi one day and a pin off his backpack fell off (read atsushi's section for context). he picked it up for him and gave it back to him leading to atsushi buying him a radnor fizz as a thanks

lowkey wants to be friends with atsushi bc of how nice he was but IS TOO PUSSY TO TALK TO HIMMM

ATSUSHI YR9

has a bunch of cute keychains on his bag and people RIP THEM OFF ALL THE TIME he gen gets so upset over it

gets all his teachers small gifts like chocolates for holidays

most people in the school like him and the yr11s stick up for him bc he's mates with dazai

SCRAPPED AKUTAGAWA IN YR8 BC HE TOOK THE PISS OUT OF HIS HAIRCUT- DAZAI HAD TO DRAG THEM APART BC ALL THEY WERE DOING WAS WACKING EACHOTHER HELPPPP

waves and smiles at sigma every time he sees him

him and akutagawa eventually made up and they're semi friends purely bc aku doesn't want people to start saying shit like 'ooo the emo can make friends'

AKUTAGAWA YR9

he is so judgy he will fucking side eye you in the hallways and shit

EVERYTIME HE GOES TO THE TOILETS DAZAI IS THERE VAPING AND HE SWEARS HE GETS A ASTHMA ATTACK WITH THE AMOUNT OF SMOKE OR EHATEVA

follows gin and Chuuya around and gets them to batter people if they say anything to him

CONSTANTLY picked on for being edgy

"OI EMO! WRIST CHECK?????" or "barcode"

heard abt how fyodor got out of pe and faked having a asthma attack whilst running track, ATSUSHI THOUGHT HE WAS BEING FR AND STARTED SOBBING AHAHAHAHAH

watches horror movies with gin and buys her stuff occasionally (HEADCANNON THAT THEY SHOW THEIR LOVE THROUGH ACTS OF SERVICE)

semi friends with kaiji and higuchi (by this i mean he lets him yap and doesn't complain)

shaves his eyebrows off to seem edgy

[koreanbibliophilegirl]

Personifications of Dream SMP Factions

Okay so I came up with this idea during my exams. (Exams always do something to my brain lol) I was thinking about Pandora's Vault as a hot butch, then I remembered this fic about L'Manberg personified, plus this fic about personified countries, and it somehow spiraled into this.

(This is all based on personal interpretation & recollection of DSMP lore, please don't come at me for getting things wrong!)

The rest of the post is under the cut:

I gave all the factions it/its pronouns, since they're manifestations of, well, factions. I think they would have other preferred pronouns though, mostly related to the faction's characteristics.

(For instance, Snowchester uses he/him pronouns because Tubbo and Ranboo are so close & act almost like one entity.(I know, I know, c!Ranboo uses they/them pronouns too, but idk I thought this fit...) On the other hand, Manberg uses he/him pronouns because it's a dictatorship and Schlatt operates the country as the sole mastermind behind it all. Pandora's Vault uses she/her pronouns because Pandora deserves to be a butch because while Sam is its warden, Pandora is, at it's core, different from what Sam himself strives to achieve.)

Plus, all factions have an inherent love for its' members/citizens, since any faction is a collective of its people. Except Pandora, bc y'know, she's a literal prison.

Also!!! every name mentioned is c!, not cc!.

-

L'Manberg- (it/they/he/she) Dressed in L'Manberg soldier attire. Looks like a mix of all the L'Manbergians. Hair is auburn, kinda curly, and wears red-and-blue tinted sunglasses. Has fox ears(?), braces, is boisterous and kinda overdramatic. Enjoys growing flowers, beekeeping, and baking. Follows the L'Manbergians around, Wilbur and Tommy the most. Pretty young, but gets older and more serious as the war drags on. Manifested in the drug van.

Pogtopia- (it/he/they/she) L'Manberg's other form. Hair is darker now(more like Wilbur's than a mix of everyone's), has eyebags, sunglasses are gone, and dresses darker. Looks like Wilbur mostly now, but near-exclusively follows Tommy around like he's a lifeline. Is not manic like Wilbur, despite looking a lot like him now, and recognizes how far-gone Wilbur is. It tries very hard to cheer up the rest of the Pogtopia people.

L'Manberg(new)- (it/they/he/she) Dresses in red, blue, yellow, black and white again(not the soldier attire, but the flag design is incorporated into its clothes), is scarred all over and sadder. Hair is blond now. Tried to follow Tommy to exile but Tubbo stopped it. Cries every day & grows weaker.

L'Manberg(post-doomsday)- (it/they/he/she) A ghost. Invisible to most now, new members of the SMP can't see it unless they're told about L'Manberg. And even then, it's very hard to see or recognize them. Tommy sees him clearly though, and she still follows Tommy everywhere. Even more scarred and wounded now. Sad and quiet.

Manberg- (it/he) Wears a suit, has ram horns, and face is completely featureless, no eyes or nose or mouth. Has dark, slicked back hair. Follows Schlatt around silently. Usually follows Schlatt's orders without complaint, but absolutely refuses to hurt anyone, even at the expense of being hurt itself by Schlatt. Tried to stop Tubbo's execution and ended up being blown up as well. Didn't die(since Manberg was still intact) but his featureless face gained a huge scar like Tubbo's. This scar stayed even after Tubbo went to Pogtopia. Exact age is difficult to determine, but is physically quite small.

the Butcher Army- (it/they) Dresses in black clothes with the Butcher Army standard bloody apron. Face is shaded and unremarkable, just one face in a crowd. Doesn't speak much, and when they do, it's just general Butcher Army stuff like how they're trying to bring Technoblade to justice, or whatever. Doesn't seem to have much personality.

Snowchester- (it/he) Young, younger than L'Manberg was. Looks a little like it too. Has snowy gray hair(a mix of Ranboo's black and white), goat horns like Tubbo, and is missing an eye like Michael. The other eye is wintery green. Dresses in snow clothes, a black-and-white bomber jacket and a pale green-blue dress shirt with a tie underneath. Is quiet, has a shy smile like Ranboo, and is generally quite innocent like Michael. He likes pranks and chaos too though, like Tubbo. It's a peaceful little thing, but if you somehow get him angry its eye will turn purple and his body will start giving off a pale, eery green glow like radioactivity.

Kinoko Kingdom- (it/she) Looks like her namesake, Komori Kinoko from My Hero Academia. (Specifically, Komori's powered-up version with the chubbier cheeks and visible eyes, not her normal, emo version.) Wears light flowy clothes in earthy colors, soft purples and blues and ruddy browns and greens. Loves taking naps in the sunshine, reading old books, and exploring the Kingdom. Tiny mushrooms sprout wherever it walks, which is usually just inside the borders of the Kingdom. She never really goes far beyond that. Also likes training & sparring, though it tends to be relaxed about it, treating it more as a sport than anything else. She's usually sweet and kind, but also a tad chaotic. Bit forgetful. Looks somewhere in its twenties.

Las Nevadas- (it/he) Also looks somewhere in its twenties, though it looks a bit younger than Kinoko. Gelled-back jet-black hair, classy dark green beanie(beanie like Q, green like Slime, dark bc Classy™️). Dress shirt, tie, suspenders. Lots of gold accessories. Has a few purple freckles on its face, and orange highlights in his hair. Maybe green creeper markings? Give the boi some neon splashes. Acts slick and confident(and kinda manipulative) like a businessman with outsiders, but is super nice and sorta anxious when he's only with his members. Cares way too much about its citizens, even though it knows Purpled doesn't like him. Low self-esteem. Usually follows Quackity. Q flaunts its existence to people & is genuinely very proud of his country, but is also slightly unnerved by his knowledge of Nevadas's real personality. He knows personified factions reflect its people and the ideals it stands for, but he isn't entirely sure what Nevadas's nervous, slightly obsessive disposition is implying. Also, Nevadas has a crush on Kinoko. Kinoko is a bit confused, but thinks Nevadas is cute, so she might as well go along with it. Nevadas puts on a suave & slick act with Kinoko, though Kinoko can see right through it. She thinks he's sweet and silly, and also maybe a little lonely. Q doesn't approve of them flirting so much, and tells Nevadas to stop visiting Kinoko all the time. Not that Nevadas listens.

the Eggpire- (it/they/he/w̴͚̮͒̇̓e̴̺̬͉̅̋) Demon with red skin, white glowing eyes, two huge horns of red diamond sprouting from its head, and flowing robes. Has a missing arm, torn-up fairy wings, a red gold medallion, and a cat tail. Looks like a child, but you can tell it only looks like one. Unnerving smile with sharp predatory teeth(also red), sweet & melodious voice, silver-tongued and manipulative. Upon closer inspection, you can see that their entire body, clothes and all, is made of writhing, pulsing red vines.

the Syndicate- (it/she/they) Nicknamed Syndi by her members. Electric pink hair with a black-and-white half-and-half streak, tied in a short, tiny braid down one shoulder. Large black angel wings and enderman horns(one black, one white). Wears fingerless gloves, the opposite color of the horn on that side. Blood-red eyes. Anarchist, obviously. Snarky and deadpan, but smiles a lot too, and is generally quite a warm and kind person. Is nimble & fast on their feet, and is a quick thinker. A wise scholar and fearsome warrior, a sharp-eyed strategist. Enjoys reading, baking, and dancing with its members. Looks like a young adult. +Also, I haven't decided whether the faction personification thing is a general occurrence or strictly a DSMP thing, but if it's a general thing, Syndi is best friends(and possibly in a QPR) with the Antarctic Empire(it/he, fully-grown adult, nicknamed Antares, AE emperor attire, blue-and-white bucket hat with a wider brim than Phil's, thin and pointy white gold crown, snowy-white longish hair with ice-blue eyes, one emerald earring, giant white wings and piglin hooves, loves the thrill of battle, enjoys reading & woodcarving, makes lots of deadpan jokes, would like to just retire already please and thank you).

Pandora's Vault- (it/she) Ah yes, the one who started this whole ordeal. Despite me imagining Pandora as a hot butch at the start, I changed Pandora to be a teenager! Albeit a butch & pretty teenager. Looks like a creeper mostly, like Awesamdude, but her torso is made of crisscrossing obsidian bars that resemble a prison or a really messed up ribcage. Usually wears enchanted golden armor on top of it though. Has long hair that looks like dark curling smoke with lava-like streaks running through it, and a gold head guard that kinda looks like a tiara. Has a gold gas mask too. Stickler for the rules, as expected of it, and scarily efficient with weaponry. She seems stoic and fierce on the outside, all rigid ideals and indifferent cruelty, but it's actually really desperate for peace and order. Would go to extreme lengths to enforce order. Dislikes Dream and Technoblade. Also doesn't like Ponk. While Sam feels guilty about what he did to Ponk, Pandora is quite vocal about her opinion that Ponk had it coming to them. Is uncomfortable with opening the prison cell for Quackity, but thinks it's for the greater good that he gets the Revive Book away from Dream. Not many hobbies, it spends most of its free time patrolling/guarding the Vault. She does like inventing though, usually things to improve the efficiency of the prison. Sam was surprised when she appeared, since he didn't think Pandora counted as a faction. He still treats it like a daughter though. She's daddy's little girl.

Greater Dream SMP- (it/they/he) A child. Really. It looked like Dream at first(at least, people assumed that was what Dream looked like behind the mask), with straw-blond hair, bright green eyes, and pale freckles. It gained new features every time a new person joined the server. When they grew up, they grew up suddenly, aging in shocking speed during the L'Manberg War. He settled as a sad, serious adult with a haunted look in his eyes. It stopped following Dream after he went further and further off the deep end, choosing to wander the land instead- keeping well away from L'Manberg(and later, other countries) of course. Slowly loses the features they got from people who abandoned the Greater Dream SMP to create their own country/faction. Eventually people stop seeing him and think he's disappeared, but he's still there, just lurking. It looks unremarkable now, with next to no distinctive features. They hang out with Eret in her palace and museum(they love the museum), visits multiple factionless members of the SMP, and greets/sends off Aimsey on their little pit stop in the server. When the server loops & resets, he resets alongside with it, and returns to his original form. It kept all it's memories, but it never says anything, choosing instead to give its people a fresh start, with a blank slate.

-

I probably missed a few factions, but this is all I could think of haha.

Also I accidentally posted this as a draft a few days ago, panicked, and privated the post in record time. This is a repost😅

[aropride]

listened to a podcast from tumblr ceo matt mullenweg abt his plans for tumblr and such and wrote down some quotes i found Interesting . (some are not word for word bc auditory processing + memory etc but i tried to stick to what he said as much as i could)

(on being ceo of a social network) "it is as hard as being the leader of a country"

"it needs to do a good job at showing you things you want to see- so both the people you follow but maybe also exposing you to new things you don't know about yet"

"people want their own home on the web, they want it to be something reflects them, not the needs of an advertiser"

"how do we make this amazing and really give the tumblr community what they deserve, and also give the world an alternative from these closed-proprietary advertisement-driven social networks?"

"you can have custom themes, you can customize it every little bit .. what we wanna do is making it be the best of both worlds, giving you the full customization that u currently have on tumblr, that u also have on wordpress, but still provide a streamlined interface, particularly on mobile ... you kind of move in and out of that full customization"

"that's ultimately what we're about, is giving power in the hands of users"

"what people really want isnt what they say they want ... its kind of like expressed preferences vs stated preferences ... thats probably why [other social medias] dont give u total control over ur algorithm"

"i want to have a path where you can start with, call it 'just' a tumblr ... but if you want to turn that into an e-commerce store, or customize it in a different way, or build a newsletter, or a mailing list, or create a membership site- these are all things that are supported by wordpress today"

"tumblr's userbase are primarily young .. more women than men which isnt common in technology .. its a very safe place and vibrant community for lgbt+, i think its over a quarter of the userbase.. kind of a place for art and artists"

"how do we make that a path to the wordpress open source community ... excited about ..bringing a younger demographic into wordpress"

"[the amount of new users from twitter/reddit are] less than you would think in the long term"

(to reddit/twt migrants) "give us feedback! what do you miss from the old thing when you move over?"

"i'd definitely like it to be as big as twitter or instagram"

"for tumblr for example i think [AI] could make our developers a lot more productive, their coding could be checked/tested by ai, .. that'll allow us to do a lot more .. maybe our pace of development could increase."

"ai can be a huge help in assisting on moderation, if it could help flag things before people even report them, that someone could look at and review."

"the algorithm [for the feed/dashboard] is a form of ai- its really machine learning, people use the terms interchangeably- if we could make the feed a lot better, we could tweak it and really learn the things u want to see and the people u want to follow"

"it could provide some really cool tools, when u think of the generative ai stuff, whether its dall-e or midjourney. so much of what people do on tumblr is expressing art and creativity, and theres some people who are resistant to this, but im actually hearing far more artists that are like 'wow! this is another tool in my toolbox!' its not just like using it instead of doing ur work, it's helping with the first draft, or helping u come up with new ideas, or maybe accelerating part of a workflow. so i see it like a new type of paintbrush, or new colors they can use. they see it as a new way to express their creativity. to me that's also the future. .. just like any other tool, like when we moved from typewriters to word processors."

(asked if generative AI worries him) "bad actors using ai to do more bad things .. that's definitely smth that's gonna happen, that's true with any new technology. if u rob a bank before, u used to have to get away on a horse, now you can get away on a car [laugh]. so like, think of it like that. we don't say "oh, banks are gonna be robbed so much more cuz now people can drive away faster". the good guys have cars too, so the police have cars .. it becomes something that is part of society .. there's more good people than bad people"

[tantai-jin]

thouttes abt the boy and the heron

informal summary of some of my impressions and interpretations now that i've watched the film twice and want to put some of this into words... more like assorted notes than an essay with a refined theme or thesis. obv some spoilers ahead

p much the biggest impression i had after my first watch was that this film felt a lot sadder than many of the other studio ghibli a/o miyazaki films, and i think i pinned down some of the reasons better after a second viewing. main examples of this to me were

prominence of death in the story/worldbuilding

dreamlike elements were generally more unsettling and lonely rather than whimsical

music

protagonist's relative solemness

the finality of goodbyes and endings

want to expand on all of these a bit -- be warned that i will have some comparisons w other ghibli films, but since i have not watched all of them super recently and there are a couple i haven't watched (from up on poppy hill, porco rosso) my comparisons may not be that accurate. but i'm not writing an academic essay here, so bleh. for me, the point of comparison here is not to say which story did what better but to look at some similar elements and see how they evolved to serve this story. anyway!

prominence of death in the story/worldbuilding

i think actually the majority of ghibli protagonists have to deal with death intimately -- they may be orphans or have a parent who passed away or is on the verge of it. i think the difference in this movie is that mahito is still grieving for his mother in a more obvious (to the audience) way with his dreams, and then he enters another world through the tower that is "mostly" filled with the dead. kiriko and himi are not dead, but they seem to be more "liminal" than say natsuko or mahito -- younger versions of the people that mahito knows, around in this other world for a very long time, perhaps as long as they can remember, taking care of the warawara who will eventually become the living in the world(s) "above". it's not really clear (to me) if this is THE underworld or afterlife -- although it's filled with the dead, to me it felt like it was just a possible location, one of many possibilities. but then again it also hosts The Stone, which floats above a little island covered in blocks that are made of stones for tombs and tainted with malice. the source of power (and arguably life) rests directly above one representation/connection to death. i don't have a full thesis here but i am chewing on the thought

i thought it was really interesting that the dead did not have the power to kill in this world, and kiriko and himi seem to be the only people apart from the tower master who have powers (kiriko with that wand of fire) + the dead and warawara have to rely on kiriko for the fish catches. anyway i think death itself felt more prominent to me in this film bc mahito was always feeling the absence of his mother and then sunk into a world of death, even if death was not the only thing in that world.

dreamlike elements were generally more unsettling and lonely rather than whimsical

this movie felt a lot more liminal and generally "dreamy" to me, and while a lot of ghibli films are known for their whimsy and cute elements i felt that this one leaned a lot harder into creatures or sensations that were less pleasant. ofc i don't think it's the first one to do this -- off the top of my head, princess mononoke, spirited away, and HMC all definitely depict some "unsettling" stuff like gushing blood, goo, creatures or people melting, and so on. but in those works i feel like there are also a lot of beautiful or cute and whimsical creatures or moments to balance that out a bit, whereas in the boy and the heron it seems to happen less or it Feels less (to me) bc the unsettling parts have greater impact (to me) than the ~beauty~. the heron is beautiful and graceful at a distance, and then it follows him from window to window, interrupts his sleep, flies directly at him like an attack. you have the serene pond by mahito's house in his original world, and then there are the mobs of fish and frogs chanting at mahito and almost smothering him. you have the cutie warawara, and then some of them are eaten or go up in flames. you have the beautiful structures and gardens of himi's home and The Tower, and then you have the unsettling murderous parakeets in them. maybe the point is that they are all "tainted" or somewhat balanced like this.

also, the loneliness. again, not unique to this film, but i felt the presence of it more heavily, especially visually. in mahito's house in the countryside, most of the rooms are quite bare, save for natsuko's bedroom with its ornate wallpaper and carpet. mahito's room is quite sparse apart from the books on his desk. once we get into the sea world, it's wide and relatively empty -- an uninterrupted expanse of sea, eventually dotted with small islands, but those little islands are quite sparse too, mostly filled with trees. the lines of sailboats on the horizon, "none of which are real," as if they're all optical illusions. the rowboats powered by the dead, all of the rowers onboard appearing exactly the same with no way to differentiate one from another. inside the tower and near it, there are also these "bare" spaces -- that very illusion-like space of those arches, where you have to cross that empty and silent expanse from darkness into the blinding light that leads into the paradise-like garden. the island where The Stone is, just a hill covered in stones and grass growing over top. the delivery room, which is dark and bare apart from the mobile with the rotating paper strips. so much of it felt isolated and quiet in a lonely way to me.

music

to tie in with that last part, i think the music also felt generally more sparse and solemn than other ghibli osts, and i'm sure it was intentional. i've been listening to the ost for the past two-ish weeks and my impressions are that there's generally "less" orchestration and a lot more isolated piano sound. a lot of that piano is slow/drawn out and there's not as many chords, and the chords that Are there are simpler (maybe only two or three notes). there's a lot of intentional dissonance, both in piano parts And the parts with more instruments -- isolated piano is more obvious, but i can definitely hear it in the strings. it's hard to explain more than that without like, showing examples of specific clips or sheet music lmao but i think it definitely contributes to the overall moods of loneliness, somber tones, and unsettling vibes. like when you know you're having a really weird dream but can't wake up from it.

protagonist's relative solemness

most ghibli protags are precocious and have a greater sense of responsibility than the average child/teenager their age, but i really felt it with mahito. the sequence of him briefly in school was so interesting -- i really like how there was no dialogue in it and it was just music, bc the conversations didn't really matter when mahito was going to purposely isolate himself/make it so that he didn't have to go back and attempt to make friends there. mahito does have moments where he shows strong emotions: grief abt his mother, anger when the grey heron "disrespects" her honor with the illusion of her, more anger when he sees the warawara being burned, determination when he tries to get natsuko out of the delivery room. but in general those seemed like short bursts between longer stretches where he felt much more solemn and accepting of the current circumstances. when in the sea world, his curiosity about it felt restrained or maybe even limited -- he was there to find natsuko and nearly everything else was less of a priority. even when he decided to accept natsuko as his mother, it felt almost like he knew it was his fate and he simply had to go along with it without any other passionate conviction. he didn't seem to care about finding his own path or realizing any dreams for his future. i don't think this is a bad thing, but it was a different tone than i was used to for most ghibli films.

the finality of goodbyes and endings

again, certainly not the first time something has literally crumbled or been destroyed in a ghibli film: the forest in princess mononoke, howl's moving castle falling apart, the existing ravaged/poisoned world in nausicaa. however, i think the scale of it was much wider here: instead of an important structure or one contained place, the original stone was shattered and that whole world collapsed completely into space/time so that the pieces could not be rebuilt. the ending still has some hope - mahito chooses to return to this world so that he can be with his family and friends. but seeing how worlds could be built with two handfuls of building blocks and be knocked down just as easily, and then watching all of it shatter before his eyes? watching the (probably) only remaining version of his mother go through the door to another world separate from his own? a bigger loss to experience, imo. if the stone was destroyed and the tower collapsed, there's no other way to even try to get back to that portal space and other worlds (not that mahito would actually try to). that's the point, and despite knowing that, it still feels like a heavier blow to me that All Possibility is truly gone. unless another similar stone falls from the sky i guess lol, but the point is that it would never be the same.

as one friend put it, this felt like a goodbye from miyazaki. the possibility for a perfectly harmonious and peaceful world does not exist; those in power will seek to destroy what they cannot control and there may be no coming back from it; perhaps you must accept that you must live in a world of atrocities.

and one last thing i wanted to talk abt even tho this is so long already: symbolism regarding suffering & critique of society

not at all surprising that this film too shows some effects of war, but that was not the biggest impression of Suffering that i got from it. three main examples for me: the pelicans, the parakeets, and the building block stones.

pelicans: brought to this world by the tower master himself, unable to eat most of the fish in the sea, forced to eat the warawara to survive. doing something that others consider terrible bc they have to in order to live. no matter how they try to escape, they can only fly so high and it's not enough. birds that forget how to fly and/or are (symbolically) chained/caged to one place (there is prob more to be said abt how there are so many birds in this movie and they're all fucked up in a way but i don't have the thoughts/words to expand on it).

parakeets: normally(?) considered cute but kind of grotesque in this story, at least in the sea world. often moving in units like soldiers or as if an assembly line, mechanically and identically, having not much purpose other than guarding their territory, identifying and eating outsiders/intruders (the living??). seem to be kind of stupid -- can be tricked very easily. they unanimously celebrate their king, a parakeet that looks more like an eagle bc of his coloring.

speaking of which: the king himself, insisting on punishing transgressors even though they haven't done any tangible damage, holding rules/the current system in greater esteem than the situation in reality. claims to do everything for the good of his kingdom/people but haphazardly tries to seize control and build a new world himself when mahito won't do it. on the one hand, it makes sense that he would get mad that an outsider (mahito) has so much control over and responsibility of his people, rather than the parakeets taking care of themselves. but then he decides he'd rather destroy everything rather than rebuild? he does not wield his power responsibly here, and in the end he also has to escape. i feel like i'm barely scratching the surface of the potential commentary about this, and i definitely am not being precise enough with my wording. but it's not a very subtle allusion being made in the film haha

and then, the little stones! first, it's interesting that supposedly an entire world comes into being and continuously exists because of a couple pieces balancing on each other. perhaps more ironic that they resemble children's toys, simple shapes, but then are made out of the same material intended for tombstones. precariously stacked to make a new world, and they have to be rebalanced -- always shaped by someone's actions, not just something that stands on its own.

a whole mound/small island of them tainted with malice, and above them floats the ~divine~ stone, source of all power. mahito won't touch them, so the tower master searches through space to find pure ones. even stones untouched by malice cannot create a purely harmonious and peaceful world because the creator/master will always have some malice on their hands, some stain that makes them imperfect. he does have one piece with him when he returns to his original world -- sign of potential for building something new in the future, even if it's just in his own world? or is it just a momento of everything he experienced?

anyway. phew. how to end this. there are def some things i still don't understand fully - why natsuko was in the delivery room/why she felt like she had to have her baby in this world; what exactly made mahito decide to accept natsuko as his mother; the tomb behind the gate that said "those who seek my knowledge will die." there's probably more but i can't think of it right now. maybe an eventual rewatch in the future will unveil more for me! but i do think the mystery is part of the fun and part of the intention. it's hard to understand every facet of a dream.

[irusanw4]

Ok so bc of the hyperspecific poll I'm gonna explain my potato dreams. Currently I've only had 2 but I'm hoping that at some point I'll have a third, bc I really wanna see what my brain has to offer. Buckle in because this is a long post.

Dream One

(PT: Dream One)

There were Minecraft mechanics in terms of digging and building and sizing, but nothing else. I, and I think a few other people, were carving out 18 obstacle courses within the city-sized potato. Each one was themed around a different Pokemon type, and the one I cared the most about was the flying course. It required flying between close-together plants and was 2 blocks wide and less than 15 blocks long with a 90 degree turn to the left at the VERY end. Like, the first block in that new section was the finish line. I was super particular about where each plant went, and the real challenge was just how fast you'd fly through it!

That was what pretty much the entire dream fixated on, and it ended when I finally did it perfectly

Dream Two

(PT: Dream Two)

This one was much more lore-heavy! The potato had been split in half and there was a vaguely circular or ovular area set between the two halves with maybe 10, 20 meters of wiggle room max (I'm very bad with scale)

That round area never got filled in by my brain, but it was very clearly mentally labeled as Unsafe. Nothing was allowed to enter that empty area, to the point it wasn't even possible for me to consider walking into it. It was just. Not a space. However, laser cannons could fire through it! That's important for later!

The dream began with a guy, who I'll call uhhh. Boss. There weren't names in the dream but explaining this without names will get confusing. Boss found the essence of a weakened god. The essence visually was just a green fire, smaller than a campfire and floating a bit above the ground. We'll call the god Green because it's consistently associated with the color!

So Boss speaks to Green while his crowd of guys he had with him stand back! And Green tells Boss what boils down to "I'm weak now, but if you work to make me stronger then I will help you with that power!" and Boss agrees. It's unclear if this particular agreement was binding or if Green just kept its word, idk, my dream didn't explain itself

So Boss gets his many followers to carve out a shrine in the halves of the potato. Initially this shrine copied the obstacle courses from dream one, but over time it became huge rooms with defense systems in each one. I don't recall most of them, but the important one was laser cannons, which pointed inwards for some reason.

Eventually, some of Boss' followers betrayed him, shutting down most of the aforementioned defenses, so what was left would require manual direction rather than automatically activating. Boss still had younger, particularly loyal follower who we'll call Frank. Frank looked up to Boss a LOT and idolized him, so he was happy to risk his life using one of the remaining cannons to attack the half of the potato that had been taken over.

At the same time, Green was hit with a strong attack and was an essence again. And essences are very much able to be killed by laser cannons, the strongest of which was actively charging up to hit and kill both Frank and Green.

Boss decides in the moment to sacrifice himself. He makes Green promise to look after and protect Frank in exchange for taking over Boss's body, and Green agrees. It then teleports to Frank, grabs him, and teleports far away so it's just Green and Frank on a hill in the middle of nowhere.

The dream technically ended there, but there was a very clear impression left on me by the ending and some details I missed.

For one: that promise was binding. Like, Green HAD to protect Frank when it agreed to that. I'm unsure if Green knew that at the moment, but it definitely realized it at the end

Two: Green was also associated with rabbits, wind, and fast movement. Which. Haha. WindClan moment.

Three: Frank had VERY mixed feelings after he realized what happened and saw Green. Because Green was still using Boss's body! And Frank genuinely cared a lot about and truly looked up to him! And Boss cared about Green and also maybe about Frank? But Boss is DEAD now, there's no coming back from what Green did in that moment. And yet that's Boss's face.

Genuinely insane that my dream included this level of detail btw. Usually I'm lucky if it all has one plot line. Especially since I don't dream super frequently. I do like my potato dreams though! They're never scary or upsetting or uncomfortably close to a recent stressor, they're just. A story. I didn't add shit to that explanation. Hell, I cut some stuff out like the exact layout of the potato for brevity's sake. The only thing that's stopping me from making an actual story out of my potato dreams is that I want to see if I'll have more naturally. I hope so :)

[cqcandchill]

going absolutely crazy and i feel like i need a reality check

okay so. there was another person on this trip who was just a huge ass bitch to me the entire time, felt like she treated me differently than everyone else etc but it was so subtle (tho some people saw it after i mentioned it) and it makes me feel like a crazy person but like

she barely asked me questions, she barely listened to anything i had to say, she invalidated my feelings and continually corrected me when i was trying to very obviously make jokes. when she made dinner she didn't come out to tell me it was ready when she knew i was outside the cabin. and it felt like she went out of her way to avoid talking to me and overall felt like i was treated as an other. she basically only talked about herself and constantly inserted herself into my conversations. she had to be the centre of attention at all times - huge "i'm the main character" energy

not only that but she basically like... made it her personal business to flirt with the pilot and get the dudes attention despite having a boyfriend + being 14 yrs younger* - was constantly going out of her way to sit next to him, saying inappropriate shit, eating up the attention, following him around. and then... called him creepy and was acting like a victim??? despite her own behaviour?? bc she didn't want to say anything?? like... i don't want to victim blame when sexual harassment is real, but actively soliciting flirtation is really not the behaviour of somebody whose uncomfortable.

anytime i mentioned the pilots name she would talk like she was his best friend. i made a joke about kicking his ass if he didn't come back for us (there's only 4 open seats on the heli and there was 6 of us waiting for a pick up) and she said "i give you permission", constantly interjected herself to confirm she knew things about him etc, it just felt so... like she was acting weirdly competitive towards me especially because he was giving me a lot of attention at first (before i put distance btwn us bc of her weirdo behaviour making me uncomfortable)

(*disclaimer that i think age gaps are sketchy in your 20s only. after 30 it's different. but that's just my opinion based on experience.)

anyway i keep wondering if it's my insecurity that's making shit weird but like... literally don't know what else i could have done differently! i was polite and interested and imo kind, didn't treat her any differently than i did anyone else on the trip, besides keeping my distance for my own emotional health. but man. it's just been really uncomfortable and i'm upset about a lot of it because it made me feel personally unwelcome but eh. it's over now. never had to work with her at least.

didn't end up asking for the pilots number because i walked into a conversation where her and my other colleague were calling him "creepy" so it's just. not worth it. i'm pissed off about a lot of what happened and just wish it could have gone differently, but i think it's taught me a lesson on how to be a little more assertive.