#lark thoughts

[sleeplesslark]

Notes on Kabuto and Naruto, just to type them out for myself.

Rereading "Writing your story's theme" by K.M. Weiland and thinking about my fav boys. The chapter I just finished reading was about incorporating character into theme. No screenshots because this is less analysis and more my rambling

I think part of why I find Kabuto so interesting paired with Naruto is that they kind of force change on each other.

Fundamentally both of them are very stubborn characters who jump to extreme solutions in ways that horrify and amaze others (I'm thinking of Kabuto injecting Orochimaru into himself and Naruto asserting he'd die with Sasuke, I'm thinking of Naruto stabbing himself to bleed out poison and Kabuto stabbing himself to bleed on Tsunade). Kabuto, due to his experiences, ends up believing that there's no point in resistance, safety and security are the most important. Naruto believes in taking leaps of faith and building his wings on the way down if he thinks the reward is great enough.

And like all good Naruto villians, Naruto could have ended up like Kabuto. Both Nonou and Iruka accepted and gave family to these boys, and if Iruka had died against Mizuki or if Naruto had somehow been made to hurt him, or if Nonou had survived and seen Kabuto under what she was made to see by Konoha, then we could have had a Naruto who doesn’t think risking himself for others is worth it and a Kabuto who embraced the side of himself that would give himself for the other kids at the orphanage.

I think Naruto coming to clash with Kabuto in the Sannin arc is fascinating. Kabutos unwillingness to really hurt him until the end and Naruto's refusal to see that, to only see what Kabuto is saying and not what he's doing. I think that Kabuto seeks Naruto out, possibly the first person he seeks out and at least the first on screen, after Orochimaru dies is fascinating. Does he want to be changed? Does he just want someone who might listen to him? They haven't been friends in years and yet Kabuto seemingly still finds their bond to be worth seeking out.

I think a clash between them, just them, would be fascinating. Can Naruto change him, this would involve forgiving a betrayal he seems to find personal, involve facing someone truly hurt by Konoha in a different way to Sasuke, and seeing if, maybe, the guy he befriended in the chunin exams was real. And for Kabuto, would he be able to take a leap of faith for the world Naruto wants to make? Could he look past the banal evil of the villages and trust Naruto to make something better? Could he let go of control and power and just trust someone else for the sake of a better future?

The fact they seem to fundamentally like each other adds to this for me. If they started out hostile idk if it would have the same effect but like. Kabuto never thinks of Naruto as the kyubi!! Kabuto throws himself between enemies and Naruto! Kabuto believes in Naruto's potential to become strong!! And Naruto listens to Kabuto in the forest!! He's so sad when Kabuto drops out and is eager to fight him! He calls Kabuto "big bro"!!! How can they not hold my entire heart and soul???

I know some of this was answered in other villians, Naruto facing Nagato, Kabuto vs Itachi in some ways. But ig that's the point of fandom for me. It's something I think is fascinating in part because of their history and personalities. Kabuto doesn't believe in any real goal beyond accumulating enough power to feel safe (he wants to destroy konoha in the war as a goal he inherited from orochimaru not for its own sake, for instance), and Naruto isn't going to be able to deal with kabuto the way Itachi did. It would inevitably end up being very personal, I think, opposed to putting Kabuto in a genjutsu until he figures it out.

I just. I love putting them together. I love how they might force change on each other. I love the themes involved in their dynamic and how they connect to the greater work. I love how deranged they both are about their people! How they both sacrifice so much and end up in such different places for it. I want them to go get Ramen together and talk shit about people because both of them can be so arrogant and sarcastic and can look down on people. I want them to bring out the best and worth in each other.

[alien-bluez]

Day 1: Campfire / Concert

Colored an earlier nark doodle to make it fit the concert prompt! Idk the idea was sorta a band au, wherein Lark is the lead singer (Songbird) and Nicky plays the drums!! Enjoy!

[macksartblock]

They were best friends

(bonus alt looks below lol)

[callisto-sure-loves-cartoons]

Neath the Grove is a Heart

[acaptainbyanyothername]

One of my favorite themes Midst is exploring is what it means for a person to become an idol, a symbol. How they and the narrative deal with that is FASCINATING.

Obviously we have Lark. Clara Mire was shoved into her symbol at a very young age— she became the poster child for Caneum, the boogeyman under Trustee’s beds, the universal villain. She has spent her entire life running from that symbol, adopting an alias and jumping from place to place. But her tragedy is that in running from her symbol, she has had to partially become it. Lark is TERRIFYING, and leverages that all the time, against Fuze, Phineas, even Tzila. Lark became dangerous to run from her symbol of Dangerous.

Then we have our buddy Tripotentiary Moc Weepe. Upon his transformation, he becomes the symbol of the Trust. He literally and figuratively makes the Trust translucent to show off its diseased, rotting insides. He is the true Trust, inside and out. No wonder everyone hates him.

Jonas Spahr is forced to be this golden idol— don’t show weakness, put on a media-ready smile, not a hair out of place and it’s showtime. He groomed to be this way like one of Costigan’s plants, and she’s snipped away all of his natural humanities. He is golden and perfect at the cost of his personhood, and it’s killing him.

Contrast that against Phineas Thatch. Phineas tries to become that golden idol, Spahr tries to cull his imperfections, but it doesn’t stick. Phineas is too messy, too human, he can’t become the untouchable symbol. So he’s rejected and abandoned by his idolatristic society.

I think even Hieronymous Loxlee could count as a symbol— if Weepe is the Trust, Harry’s the Breach. Secretive, in disguise, hidden in plain sight. It’s a heavy burden to carry though, causing him to have to make decisions as a symbol rather than as a person. He needs to maintain the Breach above his own personal relationships—drop the moon on Midst if it saves the Breach, even if it dooms his loved ones and his own daughter. He can’t afford to be a person, he has to be the symbol.

But then Midst episode 15: Breach comes and says they’re just people. Lark is just an old woman. Jonas Spahr is just a man. It’s a clash of these various symbols and ideologies and inflated idols but they’re all flesh and blood that can die in an explosion. Anyways

[samberrybay]

This part in 32 chp always felt kind of odd to me and this is the reason why:

The coward wolf boy, Lock. Until Choi Han found him, Lock had been hiding as the chief had told him. The Lock at that point is very much a coward, a weakling, and kind of slow. In simple terms, Lock easily took the position of the character that readers found to be extremely frustrating.

This has bothered me since I first read the novel, and to this day, even after several rereads, it still haunts me.

Cale simply isn't the type of a person to actually call a kid, no matter how they behave, to be "frustrating".

(When the text said "readers" it's damn well obvious of Cale being the one to think so.)

Pondering for some time I can roughly guess why the wording was so unexpected for his character.

At the time of the assassination/kindaping in the village, Lock was only thirteen years old. He also hasn't had his first berserk transformation yet. Therefore it is not surprising that Lock's uncle hid him and told not to go out, saying that everything was fine and he should continue to hide.

Now let's look at the situation realistically.

Lock (in tcf) jumps out of his hiding to protect his younger siblings. The adrenaline and inner Blue Wolf Tribe's instincts to protect turned on his berserk transportation one year beforehand, however if not Rosalyn and Choi Han, who came earlier than in the actual novel, i don't think it would help much.

Lock would possibly be able to kill a few people or at least seriously injure them, but CMON. They killed an ENTIRE village full of berserk Blue Wolf's and with almost-Wolf King (Lock's uncle). Do you really believe that a thirteen years old boy jumping into his first berserk transformation would be able to fight properly against strong organization that had holy water or some sort of holy artefact on their hands?

Again, if not for Choi Han's and Rosalyn's arrival... it would have definitely ended pretty bad.

In TBOAH Lock for some reason didn't jump out. Different circumstances, wrong wroted part in the novel, idk, but the fact is stated: Lock stayed hidden. He also most likely survived only because of Choi Han's help. Just with much worse scenario where he was left alone from the whole village.

And it wasn't Lock's fault yet again. He was a child. No matter if a Beastman one or not, the boy was just an innocent, naive and weak child.

So why would Cale, Kim Rok Soo at the time, find him frustrating? Extremely so even!

The answer is much easier if you think about it.

Because it wasn't Kim Rok Soo blaming a kid for being weak and cowardly in a fearful situation, it was a man who saw his own past that he hated so much.

A coward, a weakling and kind of slow.

For Rok Soo, who blamed himself for half of his life for the deaths of team one members, Lock was like a salt for still open, but ignored wounds.

KRS greatly disliked and maybe even envied Lock for a bit. The boy got a new family, he got friends and some sort of guidance from them even after facing so much despair.

While he was all alone, trying to understand what to do on his own.

It sure is irritating for Rok Soo.

Yet Team Leader Kim Rok Soo was probably unable to fully hate Lock for his weakness, because while the latter was still a kid, the same forgiveness can't be used on him. At least in his own head.

So with conflicting feelings Cale settled on "Extremely frustrating" description.

[miidown]

nark as teenagers sketches!!

[thegreatyin]

pros of multiple fallen london characters: trading hallowmas confessions has never been more convenient!!!

cons of multiple fallen london characters: how do three entire fallen london accounts not have a single confession of impropriety between them.

[babacontainsmultitudes]

Folks, I come with important news from a dndads patreon monthly discord chat.

Anthony thinks Terry would crochet.

This has been a public service announcement, thank you.

[cherrirui-official]

Friendlocke Violet Gijinkas (Part 1/7)

Since the edited episodes are starting to come out, I figured that bc of that and the fact that I've been keeping this in the back burner for a loooong while now, might as well complete all my friendlocke violet gijinkas!! Some are gonna stay the same while others are gonna have slight/ complete redesigns, so please keep that in mind!

I plan on posting them in order by groups of three, so there's gonna be seven parts in total, all of which I'll be linking here when done vvv

(Part Two) (Part Three) (Part Four) (Part Five) (Part Six) (Part Seven)

!! These will contain personal headcanons I have for the cast, little fun facts, and also spoilers for Friendlocke Violet (for both the edited vids and the streams) !!

@saltydkart-reblogs

And that's pretty much it, designs under the cut!

LARK:

HUGE nerd. spent most of his time during the Uva Academy studying different kinds of pokemon as well as different fighting styles he can utilize once he is able to go out on his own journey with his very own trainer! Too bad that didn't really help in the long run...

His entire wardrobe consists of McDonald's related outfits. It's fucking insane. He even has some from long LONG ago that aren't available anywhere else.

The bubble pattern on his hair is able to move and change. Nobody knows how this is possible, not even Lark himself. All Lark knows is that his hair looks incredibly stylish!

Speaking of bubbles, he has the ability to blow bubbles whenever and wherever he pleases!

Often keeps himself extremely clean and gets upset if even a small speck of dirt gets on him, despite this he somehow smells like McDonald's food and axe body spray. Disgusting. He's so cool!

Even after death he still likes to hang around the other team members as a ghost, often getting to know the newer members as well as reuniting with the old ones. Sometimes they see him, sometimes they don't. It usually depends.

SARA:

Due to being a human in her past life, Sara is able to actually speak with the other humans in the pokemon world. However she usually doesn't due to it being seen as extremely weird and out of place. She did slip up once while talking in the presence of Arven, who thought it was the weed making him hear things.

Oinkologne are usually unable to do much with their hooves but Sara spent nights practicing how to knit with her new hooves and now she's able to do it flawlessly. I don't know how she managed to do that but go queen!

When first joining the team she'd often have the urge to eat her food related companions. It was a strange time for Sara, but she managed to overcome it.

When Peppy gets sick, she usually is the one who nurses him back to health. She was a human once so she often is able to figure out whatever sickness Peppy has and treat it properly. I suppose she's like a second mother to him.

The bag she carries with her is full of thread that she collected from various Tarountula she encountered on the journey, as well as little things she knits together in her spare time.

For the most part, Sara forgives... but NEVER forgets.

Did you guys know that Sara has a new YouTube channel? Check it out!

Pastey:

Before joining the team, Pastey was a nameless wanderer. He's been down every road in Paldea and knows almost the entire region (except for Area Zero) like the back of his hand.

He's gotten hurt pretty badly throughout the run (ie. the Mikey fight, the Atticus fight, and ESPECIALLY the final battle), however, he does not gain any (physical) scars from those fights. This is bc he's basically an axolotl, and axolotls are usually able to heal without scarring.

Pastey's "arms" are, to put it simply, mud prosthetics. More info here vvv

Pastey HAS met Mall Bingo once before the run, however, he doesn't recognize her. The only reason he does not recognize her is bc she wears glasses. (You know how people somehow aren't able to recognize Superman bc he wears glasses in his civilian attire even tho his face remains the same? It's basically like that lmao)

Unlike the lightbulbs he eats, the gasoline he drinks isn't really mandatory to his diet. Gasoline is like alcohol to him and he drinks it like an absolute CHAMP.

He goes fishing when there's nothing else to do or when he can't sleep at night. He doesn't do this bc he thinks it's fun or anything, only bc it's a "good time passer" or so he claims. Other members of the team will often sit with him and vent out anything that's troubling them at the moment, and Pastey is always there to listen to them.

And that's pretty much it. Next is Joe, Hannah Ü, and Mykyie!

[q-theeccentric]

rappler (popular filipino news site) made an article about @yaelokre !

im very happy for them; im so glad that they're getting the recognition they deserve !

[alien-bluez]

raahhhh guh. another lineup, s2 kiddads. i love them so much they're rotating in my mind like a rotisserie chicken. god.

design notes for them under the cut if ur interested!

Grant

blue sweater bc blue is symbolic of titanic ep (something borrowed, something blue)

his tie color is the same color as Darryl's hat in my design

Wears Frank's watch that Darryl gave him, even if it's broken he doesn't take it off.

Green creeper socks because it's a Must. He wouldn't be Grant without them.

Sparrow

curly hair he got from mercedes' genes. he grew out his hair like lark

has a pink flower tucked in his hair like my henry's design

his jewelry and clothes are mostly borrowed from mercedes, he got really into crystals and other things like that growing up and got closer to his druid roots.

earrings are a feather and an oak leaf maybe i dunno i'll figure it out later lol

tattoos! there's supposed to be a bird outline there and other plant/nature related stuff on his arm. I'll draw it out better in the future mayhaps.

colors are brighter, more lifelike cuz he's closer to nature and all that jazz.

Lark

his hair has strands of white hair because of stress/trauma/Everything going on

hair is messier, unkempt because he cares less about appearances and doesn't have time anyways.

darker forest colors, less in tune with nature than sparrow.

his pants are the same color as my Henry's shorts :0) i needed a connection somewhere to his parents, and it just had to be henry.

Terry Jr.

purple shirt because his color is purple to me

fish motifs!! everywhere! i hc that when he and ron get closer bonding thru fishing they'd get each other fun fish printed shirts or something. This was Ron's gift to Terry. The colors of the fish are color picked from my Ron's design.

Fish tail tie and the shirt is also split like a fish tail maybe.

he's the tallest of the kiddads forever and always

Nicky

he wears glenn's sunglasses on his head

he grew out his hair long like morgan's because it's like the one thing he still really has of her. has her hair type and he takes very good care of his hair.

still has the ripped leather jacket from his time as nick and various patches of bands he likes (didn't want to draw them out yet.)

blue shirt because of his time as nicholas/reminder of jodie. blue holster belt and pants are also blue for jodie association

[macksartblock]

fellas is it-

[peppermintlark]

Tadershacourt is extremely hot I am not sorry to say

[artbyblastweave]

The way in which I know that nobody on this website gives a single solitary fuck about Marvel Zombies by Robert Kirkman and Sean Phillips is that I have never seen anybody, aside from myself, right now, acknowledge how Kirkman just sort of casually included a decades-long mutual-pining functionally-asexual rebound-romance between the still-living severed head of reformed mass-murdering undead cannibal Janet Van Dyne (she's better now, she's very sorry about all that) and the octogenarian demure introverted mad scientist who's spent 40 years doing iterative upkeep and improvements on her neck-down full-body prosthesis. So much going on with that. Utterly batshit thing to just drop in there as a romantic b-plot. Relationship dynamic focus-tested at in a clandestine laboratory to give half of this website's core user base covid if, and this is crucial, if it were to appear in a single solitary work of fiction that was not Marvel fuckin' Zombies

[lesmisscraper]

Thus his youth had been spent in rude and ill-paid toil. He had never known a "kind woman friend" in his native parts. He had not had the time to fall in love. - Vol. 1, Book 2, Chapter 6.

Jean Valjean had never loved anything; for twenty-five years he had been alone in the world. He had never been father, lover, husband, friend. In the prison he had been vicious, gloomy, chaste, ignorant, and shy. The heart of that ex-convict was full of virginity. His sister and his sister's children had left him only a vague and far-off memory which had finally almost completely vanished; he had made every effort to find them, and not having been able to find them, he had forgotten them. Human nature is made thus; the other tender emotions of his youth, if he had ever had any, had fallen into an abyss. - Vol. 2, Book 4, Chapter 3.

I know it's different kind of Love(Eros in the first and Storage in the second case.), it really gives me the thought of how a man who did not know Love became the one gives it.