#like a whole other aspect of this piece is just me wanting to draw something that will look good on a wall

[fushic0re]

𝐈𝐒 𝐒𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐀 𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐘𝐄𝐓?

𝗗𝗔𝗗!𝗦𝗔𝗧𝗢𝗥𝗨 𝗚𝗢𝗝𝗢 𝘅 𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗𝗘𝗥

𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝟖 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝑹𝒊𝒌𝒂𝒏𝒆 𝑾𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑨𝒅𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝑪𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒓 ⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

𝐒𝐘𝐍𝐎𝐏𝐒𝐈𝐒 ─ in which you and satoru finally have some alone time…except baby gojo is vigilantly watching for santa’s arrival.

𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒 ─ 18+ ONLY; MINORS DNI. SMUT; penetrative sex, trying to keep it quiet, getting caught. baby gojo being an especially cute cockblock. 

꒰ ͜͡➸ 𝐈𝐅 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐄𝐍𝐉𝐎𝐘𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘, 𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄 𝐆𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐈𝐓 𝐀 𝐑𝐄𝐁𝐋𝐎𝐆! 𝐑𝐄𝐁𝐋𝐎𝐆𝐒 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐖𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒❜ 𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃 & 𝐁𝐔𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑! ♡

“TORU–” YOU PANT AGAINST YOUR HUSBAND’S EAR. 

Satoru grunts in response. His large hands tighten around the meat of your thighs, his fingers leaving an indentation against your skin from his grip. His hips move with more vigor, pounding into you wildly as he loses every piece of himself to pull of your velvety walls. Each thrust draws him deeper and deeper into your heat, a feeling he missed oh so much. While fatherhood was the biggest calling of his life and his proudest accomplishment, he definitely missed the spontaneous aspect of his relationship with you–quickies in places you most definitely should not be having sex in, watching you cook and deciding then and there to bend you over the kitchen counter to have his way with you, being late to commitments because he decided to spend an extra hour or two in bed with you, the whole nine yards. 

You were everything–a mother, the woman who birthed the first Gojo heir in years, an amazing sorcerer. But you were his girl before everything else. And now that your son was asleep after the sugar crash he had from too many cookies at the Christmas Eve party, it was prime time for him to remind you of just how much he loved you. 

“Hah…shit–” 

“Mama? Dada?” 

Time freezes for a moment as do you and Satoru, staring at each other as your bodies stiffen as if remaining oh so still will make your son unsee the sight before his innocent eyes. You quickly snap out of it, yanking the throw blanket hanging from the back of the couch and wrapping it around you both. To the innocent eye, it looks as if you and your husband were just having a cuddle. Satoru follows suit, lifting his blindfold off to stare at his son lovingly. 

“What’s up, little man? You should be sleeping that sugar rush off.” He chuckles, completely unphased by the fact that your son had just walked in on the both of you. 

The Gojo heir rubs his sleepy eyes with his small fists. 

“Is Santa here yet? Y-Yuuji said he would be here soon…” He mumbles, his little voice raspy. 

You look at Satoru with wide eyes for a moment before nervously laughing as you pull the blanket tighter around your bare forms. 

“No, baby. Santa doesn’t come until very, very late when all you babies are fast asleep. Go back to sleep, you have nothing to worry about.” You assure. 

Your son is just about to walk off when his eyes fully register what is in front of him. Under the impression that you have been fully caught, you slap your husband’s chest. 

“Do something.” You hiss. 

“I don’t know, babe, this is kinda funny–” 

“I told you too much sugar would mess with his sleep schedule! I told you!” 

“Okay, but how was I supposed to know Yuuji was going to get him all Santa-crazed–” 

“Because you are his dad! Dads know these things!”

“...You sayin’ I’m a DILF?” 

“A..Are you guys c-cuddling without m-me?” 

You and Satoru’s incessant bickering comes to a halt. Both of your hearts break at the sight of those big blue eyes welling up with tears, that pouty bottom lip trembling as he clutches his blanket for comfort. Just like that, your shared kryptonite had rendered you both fightless. When your son cried, angels cried for him. Satoru springs into action, pulling on his boxers and scooping your son up into his arms. You try your best to, but the ache and empty feeling in between your legs cannot be ignored. 

“I’m sorry, buddy. Your momma wanted daddy all for herself because she gets jealous.” Satoru dramatically wails, hugging your baby and rocking him in his arms. 

You gasp as you stare at him incredulously. Was he seriously throwing you under the bus? Turning you against your own son?

“Excuse me?!” 

“Come on, let daddy take you to bed for some snuggles aaaaaalll by yourself!” He cries out once more. 

With that, Satoru easily diverted the situation. He grins at you as he carries your baby boy back to bed, the latter falling asleep in the comfort of his arms as he does so.

“Bad mommy.” Your little one murmurs as his father descends down the hallway, leaving you floored. 

Satoru Gojo would receive one, and only one, gift that year….blue balls. And not in the form of ornaments. 

© all rights reserved to fushic0re — do not translate, repost, or plagiarize.

[yamujiburo]

Why I Love Hanamusa

I get this question very frequently but have never given a really in depth, definitive answer. All just kinda implied through my comics and spread out asks. So here's this I guess! Long post ahead:

First, as a Pokémon fan in her mid 20s, I love seeing a ship where the characters are both in their mid/late 20s. Already, they’re much more relatable to me and my current experiences. Most Pokémon ships are between preteens, which can be cute but ultimately don’t interest me as much as they used to when I was a kid myself. Not enough to get super invested in and draw a lot of fanart for anyways haha.

I’ll also start by saying that canon doesn’t always influence whether or not I’ll ship something. I’m much more drawn to potential. Could the characters work together? Do their personalities work together in a nice way? I feel like this so much of fanon is anyways. Especially with queer relationships because they’re rarely depicted in the first place. A lot of the context for these ships is usually up to the fans to piece together or make up in general. And that’s the fun part to me!

Jessie and Delia have only met in the anime a handful of times. Any interaction they’ve had has either been pleasant, or just a typical Team Rocket interaction, with Delia dismissing them/not seeing them as a threat. Already a great jumping off point for me since, truly, they don’t have any actual beef or true, ill feelings towards each other. It’s not TOO out of the realm of possibility for them to potentially fall for each other. “But Jessie chased Delia’s son around trying to steal his Pokémon!” That’s where that dismissive and aloof attitude that Delia has comes into play. I’ll go more into Delia’s whole deal a bit later but I do think this aspect of her personality is a large reason why this ship can work. It’s not that she doesn’t care that Jessie has a bad past, but she can tell that, on the inside, Jessie’s a good person. And, in a scenario where Jessie is trying to become a better person, is forgiving enough to give her a shot. I feel like this is such a solid foundation for a ship. A character who has done wrong but is trying to be better and another character who is willing to help them be better. A classic dynamic!

It’s not just one-sided though; where Jessie is the only one benefitting and learning from the relationship. I believe Delia could get a lot out of being with someone like Jessie. To understand why, I think it’s important to know these characters’ respective backstories.

Jessie is an orphan/foster child who grew up in poverty. Her mother Miyamoto (from The Birth of Mewtwo) was a Team Rocket operative herself, who went on a mission to find Mew. In order to do this, she had to leave Jessie when she was just a toddler. Unfortunately, Miyamoto went MIA on her mission leaving Jessie to more or less fend for herself. Jessie went through life with zero stability, evident by her MANY different careers and constant moving around. It’s implied in the show that she went from foster home to foster home, and later in life tried being an idol, weather girl, florist, wine connoisseur, actress, most notably a nurse and finally a Team Rocket field agent. And even while in Team Rocket, she, James and Meowth were always doing odd jobs to get by. We see that Jessie used to be a sweet kid, and even adult, but the world and her circumstances repeatedly did her dirty, leading her to become the character we know today. Hot tempered, mean, selfish, etc. But despite this, her soft side does still shine through for the people and Pokémon she cares about. She is incredibly loyal.

Delia, unbeknownst to a lot of fans, also had a rough past (see Pocket Monsters: The Animation). Like Jessie, she had a lot of dreams and aspirations like wanting to be a model and even a trainer. But when she was 10, her mother didn’t let her, telling her that she had to stay home and learn to run the family restaurant (she’s an only child). Delia’s father left her and her mother to be a trainer, and never returned. When she was 18, she married Ash’s father and became pregnant shortly after. But right after Ash was born, he also set off to be a Pokémon trainer. And soon after that, her mother passed away, leaving Delia with just the restaurant and baby Ash. This gives so much context to Delia’s attitude in the show. We see that Delia is pained whenever Ash leaves on a journey, but she never shows that pain to anyone. ESPECIALLY Ash. She’s very quick to shoo him off when he shows any sign of wanting to go on another journey and even when he returns home, she acts more excited to see Pikachu than him almost every time. Without all this backstory, it’s easy to just read this as a funny gag, BUT with context, I think it really shows how quickly Delia shuts down and detaches in order to not confront her own feelings. She’s afraid of losing people and getting hurt again.

All that said, I think Jessie and Delia provide each other with EXACTLY what the other needs. 

Aside from becoming rich and famous, Jessie’s biggest aspiration is to get married. In my opinion, this is more so an underlying want for love and stability. There is no one more stable in the show than Delia. Delia’s lived in Pallet her whole life, she’s worked at the same restaurant since she was young and she is always there when Ash comes back home. She has all the love, patience and stability Jessie needs and craves. While forgiving, Delia’s not stupid and can keep Jessie in check. Delia’s also just an angel, which I feel, would make Jessie want to be better. And on top of all this, on more of a surface level, Delia’s a chef and excellent cook. She shows love through cooking and Jessie, who grew up poor, regularly starving and eating snow, happily receives that love. Jessie’s able to live a happy and healthy life with someone like Delia.

Delia, as stated, is very stable. Likely pretty monotonous and solitary, especially living in such a small town like Pallet. This isn’t a bad thing but it’s a little sad when you consider that Delia also had dreams of traveling, being a model and a trainer. She had to give up so many dreams in order to fulfill her duties as a restaurant owner and mother. And even now, when Ash is off on his journey, she feels the need to always be home and be that stable pillar, leaving behind any ambitions she had, thinking it’s too late for her (she’s only 29 btw). But then along comes Jessie, dangerous, passionate, an absolute firecracker. Someone who’s whole life has been about chasing dreams and either, never giving up on them or finding a new dream to chase. Upon learning about Delia’s past aspirations, I could see Jessie pushing her towards them, letting her know that life’s too short and she has nothing to lose from trying. On top of this, Jessie’s also loyal. She, James and Meowth are depicted as doing anything for anyone who gives them food or shows them kindness. Delia does both so there’s no way Jessie would leave her. This fulfills an essential need for Delia, who is afraid of the people in her life leaving her.

There’s so much potential for mutual growth and learning between these two and I adore that. They compliment each other, they help each other and they bring out the best qualities in one another.

I’m not really sure how to end this and I could truly talk about them even more but I don’t want this to be tooooo long haha. OH I could end it with maybe the most funny aspect of this ship that I've brushed over and also what drew me to it in the first place. Jessie. As Ash’s stepmom. THE END.

[thefirstknife]

Is there anything in Destiny lore that supports the idea that Ghosts are, well, ghosts? You know, of people? (By which in this specific case I mean humans.)

To me it seems kind of like a given. Either the Traveller created millions of unique personalities that have a knowledge of human cultures and norms somehow (they even have genders! Why else would they have genders?), or they collected patterns of actual dead humans and populated in them into Ghosts. It's in the name!

And yet to my knowledge there's no suggestion of this of any kind in the lore. Or is there?

Not to my knowledge, nope!

The closest explanation is that they're all pieces of the Traveler and reflect all of the complex emotions and memories of the Traveler itself. From Sagira:

"The Traveler was… wounded when it created us. That pain echoes. Some of us make choices we shouldn't. Some of us are scared. The process isn't streamlined." "Flaws." Osiris shrinks against the forest's aphotic density. If there are flaws in the Light, then it could be corrupted. It is not indomitable, and so in time would be challenged. "We're pieces of a whole, but distinct. Unique. You're not Mr. Perfect yourself."

Ghosts basically mimic aspects of the Traveler. This also makes sense then with Hive Ghosts; Ghosts who had this really strong and innate draw to the Hive, possibly reflecting the Traveler's ancient need to help them too. The problem is... Ghosts don't really know either. All of them have some theories of their own.

I think that their knowledge of human cultures and norms is just a consequence of them living with us, so they learned. Because early Ghosts and Ghosts of the warlords did not act the same. When the norms were "kill or be killed" Ghosts acted that way too. So it's more likely to be nurture than nature. The same could also apply to genders! A similar thing is also reflected with names:

"I want a name." "Is this because of Sagira? She is a terrible influence on you." "She has a name. People don't just call her 'Ghost.' It's insulting being called 'Ghost.' I'm not a thing. I'm me."

This is obviously not a universal feeling which means that Ghosts are made as individuals of their own and all of them have to learn from the world around them, which includes learning the norms and cultures and everything else. Like for example this idea that they should have a name because other Ghosts get names.

Even if there was something more literal to this (that they are ghosts of dead people, perhaps given form by the Traveler), they would still be their own individuals who still had to learn and develop their personalities because otherwise they would have memories of who they were before. It's an interesting thought though. If this is true, then they would almost sort of parallel Guardians: they both used to be some people, they died, and now they're risen in the Light as something else and don't have any memories of their past lives.

Either way though, we don't really know for sure. I think any option is technically possible and it's probably one of those things that they prefer keeping mysterious for as long as possible. It's really interesting to think about though.

[cochineal-leviat]

Anniversary A Royal Visit.

Last year I uploaded the first chapter of A Royal Visit, and to celebrate its anniversary and, coincidentally, also my birthday - I wanted to draw something special to thank everyone who supported me throughout its run. From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much. This fic is what made me fall in love with writing again, and I have everyone who read it and commented on it to thank for that. Even now, I am happy that although it has been a year, people still enjoy reading it. Writing this fic was so much fun, and I have a lot of fond memories from it. So this is kind of like a birthday present from me to you guys.

I made two versions as I first started on the gijnka version to get the positions right and then the puffball version. I like both of them. They have their own charm to them. Especially as I can show off my design for gijnka Water Kirby. Surf's up, my dude.

For everyone who does not know what this is about, please go check out the fic these drawings are based on.

Art rant under Keep reading

So, I started on this piece right before A Royal Visit was finished. But I got stuck in the background. I could have just posted Kirby and Fluff smooching with a grey background or a gradient, but that didn't feel right. I wanted to capture the grandiosity and vibrancy of the finale. So I stuck to my guns to draw a background. It was horrendous. The very thought of showing it to compare the two gives me hives. I was stuck for a whole year on what to do for it, which is why if you have seen my other art gijnka Kirby and Fluff looks a little different than how I usually finish my art.

There is something funny about taking a year to finish the Gijnka version but then to complete the version with everyone's canon appearance in a week. Sure, I burrowed some of the background aspects of the Gijnka one, but it ended up being more work getting the perspective right and painting extra houses. I'm sick of architecture for the moment. I love how the houses look but also, ugh.

The water shading was the most fun to paint. I almost went overboard with it and had to tone it down. I look forward to doing more pieces with water in them, as I am a sucker for water and the ocean. (And, of course, Water Kirby)

I wanted to add more characters, but I also know that the rest of the characters that appear in the last chapter come in later in the day and that the ones on the scene, like Taranza, Magolor, Susie and Marx, would realistically not join the crowd and cheer for Kirby and Fluff. They are sitting behind the crowd, watching the spectacle.

I put the most effort into gijnka King Dedede's design, but unfortunately, the crowd covers up most of it. What a shame. Oh well, I hope everyone reading this has a wonderful day further.

[pocketwei]

Hello !

As a fellow artist, I really admire your style, and would like to study it.

In that spirit, would you be OK to tell us a little bit about your process ?

I hope you have a great day and I look forward to seeing your future pieces !

Woah, this is high praise, thank you so much 🥹 And thank you for allowing me to nerd abt process hahaha, I love to talk abt this stuff! Drawing is so much fun honestly

For process, I'm not sure if you mean more the actual process of crafting the art, or rather the thought-process that goes into it, so I'll briefly cover both! I'll just talk abt my personal/fanart practice since I think this is what the "style" part refers to? As in, I won't mention process for, say, storyboards or backgrounds I make for animation.

Under the cut bc long answer!!

A piece usually begins with an idea, it's often inspired by something I see or hear, by something that comes up in a conversation with friends, by something I read in a fic, etc. And imo, the most crucial aspect of my creative practice is narration; it's the thing I strive to perfect and polish the most. What do I want to say with this piece, which story do I want to tell. Before I even start sketching, I usually have an idea of the intention I want for a piece, and with enough experience, at some point you start guessing what "visual devices" you should use to render that mood. E.g. if I have an idea that involves a really suffocating mood, a feeling of tension, one of the basic ways to go about it is to crowd your piece, have it more zoomed-in and in longer focal length so the perspective is flattened. Similarly, you'll often choose not to show your character whole (especially not their feet, with which they could flee!) or the floor (which is a way out for the character), you have many overlapping objects, etc. Knowledge of these "visual devices" honestly come with time, and sometimes they sound super basic, but they do the trick, and they're not hard to spice up and make more original when you keep your mood/intention in mind.

Then comes storyboarding/sketching! It's the most important part to me, because this is where you decide how you're going to tell your story. Sketching is the most exciting part, you can let your mind speak and find creative ways to spice up the "visual devices" you've figured out at the initial thinking step. I think one of the greatest advices I got, ever, was from my storyboard professor, who told us to always keep in mind that a picture (moving or not) is ALWAYS a 2D surface, and that it should be treated as such when storyboarding. I.e. when you board, think of your image as an arrangement of shapes on a flat surface, rather than a 3D scene. You can figure out the logistics and the perspective in lineart, but for storyboard, composition has to be prioritised over a well-constructed room, bc otherwise you'll just draw the same things over and over.

It depends on the pieces, but nowadays I prefer to just clean up the sketch rather than do a whole clean line on top of it, as not to lose the spontaneity and dynamism of the sketch. Lineart is about making things look pretty and nice to look at, but it's also a step where you can reinforce your initial intention with details. It can be details of anatomy (giving an expression, working on your characters' anatomy to make it expressive (what story does this body tell)), or of environment (what does this place mean for my characters, why are they here, what does it tell about them). For this I use truckloads of references!!!! Super important. Either from other artists, especially for anatomy details or line efficiency (matanai_ke, nisir0, nonebrainer on twt, whose styles I've been really digging recently), or from pictures/real life for enviros. No one's born with the ability to come up with a plausible baroque interior so get those refs! Lineart is honestly one of the steps I enjoy most, I spend the longest time on it because I need it to be perfect and tell exactly what I want to tell. I'm working on improving my linework quality because I feel terrible abt it ahjdsf

Then I do a coloursketch. My approach of colours is painterly (applying colours directly as they appear) rather than the neutral flats + coloured filters workflow, which do work great for beginners however, and I did my time in the mines with it as well asdjfh...... I usually apply an underpaint layer as shown below, usually then place lights first, and then work my way through all the elements.

Sometimes my underpaint is bright and saturated, sometimes it's more muted and darker: again, it all depends on the intention of the piece! I do this to visualise better and to contextualise the colours I'll paint on top of this base. The yellow in the top-left screenshot gives a warm touch to the wood-browns, even though they're not actually super saturated! With the bottom-right, the pink gives a colder aspect to the teals/greens and makes them more "aggressive", as it's their complementary colour. It also bears a narrative purpose: on the bottom-right screenshot, I wanted pink to seep from the edges of every shape, and purposefully left the edges jagged and rough instead of cleaning up the painting perfectly. Bright pink like this is not only a crazed colour, but it also represents Doflamingo, and in this case, it fit the intention to have him and this madness as the backdrop of a scene that doesn't involve him, but to which he is the unspoken key and center (Monet is hallucinating/projecting that it's Dof looking down on her, when it's actually Law). As if his presence was underlying the very materiality of the scene.

God that was long. Then comes rendering, which I hate with my guts because I don't know how to do it and if I could get away with only colour sketches for the rest of my life I would!!!! I hate spending time on colour details and rendering materials and polishing brushwork I just hate this step :')

And finally, compositing!! Slap some grain* on this bad boy, slight chromatic aberration in the corners if we're feeling fancy, perhaps a bit of field blur... chromatic aberration is to mimic cameras! it's a physical effect of the lens, and having it on illustrations give them a more cinematographic quality.

*in a non-destructive way I BEG!!!! Quick grain tutorial for the poor souls who still merge everything -> filter -> noise!!! 1. Create a gray layer with HSV at 0, 0, 50 2. filter -> noise as you'd normally do 3. set blending mode to overlay so your grain is more visible the darker your colours are (like for a real camera! grain is an artifact created when there isn't enough light in your captor) (I won't get into the maths of overlay but it's quite fascinating, basically it multiplies the value of pixels that are V>50 and "divides" the value of pixels that are V<50, while pixels that are V=50 like our initial grey layer, it doesn't change the value of the pixel underneath it) and 4. set opacity to ~20% depending on what you want or need

and tadah! you have an illustration. how cool!! there are still many things I need to work on, but it's a very fun exploration everytime :'D I feel glad that I've reached a point where I somewhat know what I'm doing, it made drawing so much more fun in the past year. Good luck w your own endeavours!!!

[yuseirra]

Seriously...(I need to find another word other than seriously hh)

I've never brought up the fact that I'm a psychology major but I feel the urge to when I read this comic, I never even felt the need to bring that fact up, but this comic makes me do a whole lot of what I don't usually do!!!

I've never gotten too off with reading feelings or seeing the emotional aspects of things, it's never something to be too confident to boast about, and I am aware I can always be wrong but it IS what I consider my forte and interest. I really have fun with it and I really don't have much of a hard time figuring out what the characters feel or what kinds of people they are overall (with real people, I don't try to judge them because they are alive and much more complex with different situations, backgrounds and individuality) it's something that comes off very clear to me, you see how I just pointed out Fatal must be Kamiki's song the moment the song dropped. I am right. I'm usually correct when it comes to these. I get very strong intuition and hunches that rarely miss. I take pride in those, you see..!

And I DID really see through Hikaru's true nature in this case, he had the kindest soul that could be described as "nobility" so I don't think I've been so off regarding my portrayals about him, I REALLY, really do my best with these, although I realize I look at things from my own perspective and lens and have my bias

Just..what is he though?? Maybe that's why I keep writing about this series. I want to make sense of him and get it over with but it's been so puzzling, it is an interesting puzzle but it's also quite frustrating because it doesn't match up??? I think he really is possessed guys??? He's so inconsistent, and he doesn't even appear so much. In that little screen time he has, he has split personalities and I've never given up on trying to formulate an integrated idea of a character before. I just can't with him. What is with him? I really think something's gotten into him. It makes sense. There ARE supernatural elements in this work.

I do have thoughts of what the author plans to do with this character if they intend to form some kind of meaningful message, but you never know with other's works so I can never say it on their behalf..

At least I DID get several things right. I did grasp what I deem as the most important part of this character's core: He does love Ai, and he never intended to harm her. He did not try to scare her. He can't...bear to live without her. The other pieces of this character; uhh... what I feel are solid enough to discuss is that he did use to be so kind. I think he deserved to be the guy Ai loved, there was a reason she found a huge liking to him, but he's certainly not sane now and I'm like, 'what's made him like this?' Something definitely drove him even mad than what he could become of himself on his own, that's the conclusion I'm drawing from this and I think I should be right. I guess what I need to do is to wait patiently but I see him drowning and being dragged off lol. SO WOULD THERE BE A CHANCE for him to be explored even more. Hope so because it's irritating how much they keep covered!! It's the final arc!!! When are they going to reveal it to us if they're planning to do so, or are they just going to sweep it under a rug and forget about it? If Ai is a reincarnation of the brightest star and a goddess like what she's said in the novel~~~ I hope she blesses him! From what I made out of him, he would have been a good father. He's... not the guy who'd try to kill his own daughter, this is so messed up it's getting funny. There is no way Ai dreamed of having a family and living forever with the kind of guy that'd do such things, as I always say, her takes on Hikaru must be right. It didn't have to be there but it is, and it does line up with what I've spotted out of this guy.. till this 162. But it was a planned chapter. I can see how that chapter does fit with the songs and I figure the scene itself is what the creators had in mind for a while, so I hope they come up with ways to make the whole thing somehow fit in together.

I really like the songs btw~ it's become one of my most played song in the playlist and I feel the record won't be beaten for awhile~

This is about something else but what's with boys falling and drowning in waters, I saw that happen in P3R too so I got a deja vu... it does give a totally different vibe though. I really should get back to that game too!///

[kaelio]

Macro/micro for the fetish thing 📏

Ok, I know this ask is because of that entry in Anne Rice's journal where she watched Jack & The Beanstalk (she misremembered, I'm pretty sure this was Jack the Giant Slayer) so she could mack on Ian McShane and was annoyed the giants in it weren't hot enough, but obviously this is relevant to me because I draw micro/macro applicable stuff for a couple fandoms, or I have anyway.

The answer to this is, however, complex! Yes, in a way, but also not really, in a different way.

So first off, I like to write pornography, but it can't really get me off if I was the one who wrote it. Same with fanart. It's a writing challenge with a smack of pay-it-forward, or the sex is inherent to something I am trying to capture, but if I write it myself I'm too close to it; I remember too much of the process or mentally go into editing mode.

But as a result I tend to think of fetishes as both multipliers and ingredients.

As a consumer, I tend to think of fetishes as multipliers. Like, something that you're totally neutral on is a 1x. Something you just can't stand at all, total horny-killer, is a 0x. Hypothetically there's no upper bound but, say, 3x would mean the story is 3x hotter to you because it features that fetish. An example for me would be scat. Hard 0x. The second I see it, I'm out. No matter what else is going on, the multiplier is 0; the story is at a level of 0 hotness. The earlier answer on oviposition is like a .1x. I haven't run into a story with it that was good enough to get me off, but Bloodchild got close, so I'm saying with the deftest of hands, it can work. Micro/macro is maybe like a situational 1.2x. It's a little bump but it's not going to be make or break per se. It could be in a story where it added nothing to me.

Because that's where we get into fetishes as ingredients.

When I'm thinking about an effective piece of erotica, it's got components, right? It's expressing some notion. It'll have different ingredients in it that make up the whole, that make for a cohesive work. I do think that micro/macro can enhance some recipes a bit, but more than that, it's a virtually essential ingredient to others. Let's say you're into werewolf porn. If the werewolf is like, same-entity-size.... I dunno. Like I guess. But isn't the werewolf theme usually leaning on some sort of power dynamic that the savage nature of the werewolf highlights? The werewolf is going to be 140 lbs? Sure you don't want it to be a bit more Big? Or, to make a different point, more Small? That might take you in a funnier direction, more like a comedy premise perhaps, but something's being communicated by the inclusion of some kind of noticeable size difference.

Let's now take it over to tentacle porn. God, I tried. I have on an occasional whim thrown my lot in with Kurt Eichenwald and it just does not take. I can't get off to it. I'd love it if I could. But anyway, let's say someone's being pointedly caressed by an octopus. You can't have that be just a regular-size octopus. Kind of pathetic. Obviously, that octopus has to be bigger than an octopus should be. "Well, what if you add more octopuses, like an octopus gangbang?" Sure, that might work for some people. But for me it comes off as lacking in confidence. Oh, you had to bring all your little octopus friends to nail this twink? Sad.

Now, I am a scaley straight-up. The only limiting aspect to this, for me, is that most scalies seem to have gotten into it from like... Spyro the Dragon? And they're really cartoony. Doesn't hit. As a kid, I had books on ancient Egypt, and I was intrigued by Sobek. Also we had a caiman. And my mother would find people in the classified ads who were trying to sell giant snakes and pay for her kids to go pet (but not buy) the giant snakes so we wouldn't be afraid of snakes, like she was, so as a child I was just overwhelmingly exposed to giant (16'+) snakes. My mother would go dump us off at places where big snakes were so we could observe big snakes, like reptile shows and the reptile house at the zoo. The result of this was super funny but suffice to say I am not afraid of snakes. (Not into vore though! Does nothing for me! Responsible owners don't live-feed.) I want to be super clear: I do not want to fuck animals, never have, but I did want to nail Bleu in Breath of Fire more than you can possibly imagine. However, if I'm doing scaley stuff in particular, one simply has to admit that micro/macro is the baking soda in that quickbread. It's not the part that makes that fetish work, but it's certainly more likely to turn out the way you intended if you put a little bit of it in there. When I made Cardassians huge in my DS9 redesigns, however, that was mostly in service of it being funny since I was a major bottom-Garak advocate, the bigger they are the funnier that is. Also like, whiny old queen giant lizardman is just fun and has room to spitball where like, I don't know, a more straightforward big hot lizard man would utterly bore me. It can't all be baking soda.

[beepboop260]

I remember that for a while you were pretty against v0re, what made you decide to give it a shot and make Bazil?

I do know vore used to be on my “won’t draw” list but I can never remember being like completely against it as a kink people enjoy but my memory is shit so who knows lmao.

I’ve always enjoyed vore on certain levels. The idea of swallowing something whole and then it notably bulging out someone’s stomach is very hot to me (like my ideas of swallowing pastries whole) as while I love fat kink stuff my heart truly lies in stuffing kink where the person’s stomach is notably distended and disproportionate to the rest of their body and vore has a lot of this (so does preg stuff but there’s other aspects of preg that kinda turn me off to it)

Also part of me only delving into drawing it myself recently has to do with seeing other artists do it in a way that I can really get behind (there is a specific piece I saw on Twitter that comes to mind ngl).

I’ve seen so many cocky preds but I’ve learned the idea of a pathetic pred can be so fun. I do this with Bazil a bit in my head where I will change his height/size depending on my mood and when he’s smaller I image he has more trouble swallowing people and it throws him off balance way more and perhaps he even struggles to keep them down.

It’s also just not my main kink. Stuffing is definitely my top kink but vore can fill a similar role. It’s definitely a much more situational thing to me and I personally enjoy kink stuff much more when there’s some semblance of plot to it and making vore work in any kind of worldbuilding is difficult imo.

Lastly I’ve just relaxed about a lot of stuff recently and have been trying to broaden my horizons. There’s not a lot of fetishes out there that I can’t understand the appeal of them on some level. Like am I personally into them? Nah. Can I understand why someone would be into them? Yeah. And as I said in my initial lore post I have been drawing fat kink for almost 10 years now so like why not try spicing it up a lil (and vore is like, literally stuffing kink adjacent so I’m not even getting that crazy lmao).

TLDR: I’ve always found vore hot as it’s stuffing kink adjacent and I’ve recently seen some stuff of it I really like that made me want to try drawing it myself and Bazil just happens to be a character I think it works with.

[sinfulequity]

Thinking about how what the implications are if "(Not) A Devil" is Mikoto's third trial song.

Specifically, about these two lines and how they contextualized the song as a whole.

It's preceded by these lines

My radiant halo is closing in around my neck It loosens when I lie, the “Mayday” I can’t call out Let’s cover-up in white paint, get lost in the part and play It gets easier when you lie go on, try it

And as we can see here, their lines are dyed in the others' colours, while brown/gold is them in unison.

(Incidentally, I decided to look up what patrician means, and uh.

That is certainly A Definition, when tied to Mikoto)

This implies that the angel's claim that they're dead and gone is part of the lies interwoven in the song. Isn't this a claim that sounds familiar~?

Mikoto: Please, forgive Boku. If you don’t… I’m sure he won’t be able to deal with this any longer. Es: “A sin committed by another personality isn’t a sin”... you’re telling me that’s how I should judge? Mikoto: Yeah. If you forgive Boku… I’ll disappear. Es: … Mikoto: That’s right. I’ll have to disappear eventually, anyway… Disappear, and take all of it with me. I… was born to protect Boku, after all. Es: You were… born for it… Mikoto: Yeah. If it’s for Boku, I’ll… do anything.

You see, I don't think that he will disappear?? We know that there's still a third trial. I doubt that Mikoto wouldn't be stressed by the prospect of being voted guilty for a second/third time. It would be one thing if it was a longer period of voting, or one vote equating to instant freedom. But the prisoners are fully aware of the fact that it's not one and done (and if they didn't before, I'm sure that Haruka's interrogation would give them that insight). As it stands, there's a very real possibility that the more guilty you get, the less likely you'll be allowed freedom. Furthermore, it's also a possibility that it's a two out of three system. Or, to draw on his relation to baseball, three strikes and you're out.

Mikoto would probably be able to piece that together, and even if he isn't outwardly stressed next trial, I'm sure the idea of that would linger subconsciously. You know, the thing that brought out "John" to begin with. This is regardless of the outcome of this trial.

A tangent, but the lines

this is just a silly joke song

(just kidding~)

(who cares~)

would also feed into the continued insistence that this is all just a dream/bad joke that needs to end. That, and this aspect of Mikoto's character that has been showcased repeatedly

Mikoto: It’s pretty tough, isn’t it? (laughs) Ever since I came here, so much has been happening that I don’t understand… Es: … You really… do laugh when you’re suffering, huh? Mikoto: Huh? Es: You don’t get angry. You don’t scream. You laugh, like it’s a minor inconvenience. Mikoto: Ah… I guess so. I might have that kind of trait. Es: … Mikoto: Usually, if you just laugh and pretend, things work out in the end, right? I’m pretty good at that. Making things work out to the best of my abilities. Es: Is that so… Mikoto: (laughs) …But… it’s not coming to an end. All of this. With things I’ve never even heard before, the whole ti—

His reaction to stress is to diminish it, or treat it as something ephemeral. Something that doesn't truly exist, just ignore it and keep going. Except as we've seen, it's not working in Milgram, and I'm pretty sure it didn't work in the circumstances before his murder too. And I don't think it will work as he wants, even if he's voted innocent this round.

I need to specify that this isn't a thing to sway the vote in any direction, just something I thought was interesting. And honestly, I may be interpreting it all wrong too! I'm not always great at looking at the evidence and drawing the right conclusions- sometimes I can convolute something that's really simple. Or to put it another way, miss the forest for the trees.

[periwinklemoonlight]

I AM VERY INTERESTED I LOVE HEARING THOUGT PROCESSES AND ITS SO CLEAR HOW MUCH PASSION AND CARE WAS PUT INTO YOUR ZINE PIECE

AHH THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!! i have so many thoughts i dont know where to begin LMAO ill start with the outfit designs first!!

to start things off, every design has one specific colour in mind to represent that hermit! pearl - blue, gem - green, impulse - yellow, doc - black/gray, and grian - red! (everyone's nails are painted their colour) every design was deliberately punk-inspired, since during the king arc the soup group was a force of resistance against the monarchy's tyranny :P therefore, the soup group are the main focus of the art and their designs are intentionally made so that they stand out more from the other two, though i made sure they were all unique in one aspect or another :] let's go character by character now! (i'm including all my initial design sketches + some inspo photos too)

pearl - she's the lead singer of soup group, along with playing the electric guitar! her design features a double tank top + low rise big pant combo, moon motifs of course, and two distinct shades of blue! The darker one is seen throughout her hair and outfit, while the lighter one in her moth antenna is reflected in her guitar. the main inspiration for her look was avril lavigne, which is also what influenced me to add those fun blue hair streaks :D on her shirt i wanted to have a sort of skeletal moth/butterfly design!!

gem - the keytar! i wanted to make sure that gem and pearl's designs looked very distinct from each other, so i went for a slightly different vibe with gem's! her design is based more off of the plaid skirts, big boots, and fishnet looks i found while looking through early 2000s lip service magazine scans (as well as some hayley williams looks!!) :D additionally, shes got vine tattoos over her body to call back to her nature elf vibe this season!

impulse - the drummer of course!! for his look, i wanted to go a little more anarcho-punk (since its a much older punk style and hes the oldest member of soup group LOL), so his vest jacket has got a bunch of diy additions like patches, pins, paperclips, and chains, along with a bunch of spikes!! in my mind, the back of his jacket has probably got a whole lot more patches, spikes, and studs :] beyond that, i made sure to give him lots of piercings (though my options were limited since s9 impy has a beard lol), and stretched earlobes for fun!! ideally his pants would also have a lot more patches and fun bits, but since his legs would be entirely covered by his drums in the final piece i went for something simpler

doc - an opener and feature on the song! since he's not part of the soup group, his design is quite a bit simpler than the others in terms of both look and concept :] his look is monochrome save for his robotic red parts and green skin, but still looks interesting thanks to that fun leather jacket :D his look is purposefully more reminiscent of a 50's style greaser, i wanted to go for an older fashion style to make him look more intimidating/mature, as well as set him apart from the look of soup group since the perimeter was an independent nation in the king arc!

grian - another feature/opener! design wise? hes literally just green day i can't even lie like the pun was perfect and also the black shirt + red tie combo is iconic and also fits his look so effortlessly it had to be done LMAO also, if you look closely in the final piece you can see he's wearing eyeshadow! this of course is again because hes grian day /silly. but to be real, i think this style also fits him really well since the tie + spikes & studs combo gives the look that sorta rebellious vibe that was all over his videos during the king arc :]

AND NOW FOR THE INSTRUMENTS!! this segment is thankfully much shorter

pearl's guitar is of course a nod to my design for her and her moth wings! butterfly guitars are harder to draw than you'd think LOL

gem's keytar has got a vine design all over it to match her tattoos

impulse's drum set has got the soup group punk band logo! the logo design may honestly be my favourite part of the piece, i feel like i really nailed what i was going for :D

and thats it! i'll edit this post or rb with any details i missed if they come to mind! thank u for reading anyone who has made it this far <3

[madsnowstorm]

take me home for christmas | j. seresin | part six

all i want for christmas is you - hush kids

summary : jake wants to take you home to texas for christmas to meet his family.

warnings — series, 18+, fem!reader, established relationship, some angst, family dynamics (both healthy and not), mentions of therapy, no religious aspect to the holiday, dogs named after famous texans, anxiety, no use of y/n, little angsty, but mostly internal

notes — i think i got a few cavities writing this one. it's a sweet one. also, mistletoad is a real thing. there are like two installments left. i don't really want it to end because i love jake and sweet pea so much. (i call her that in my head, since that's what jake's mom calls her.)

series masterlist

“OH, come on!” Your boyfriend yelled at the large television, standing up, hands stretched out. Julie was on one side of him in a similar position and Will was on the other, hand covering his face and head shaking. The Cowboys Christmas Eve game was on and almost all of the Seresin’s eyes were glued to the screen hanging on the wall. You were sitting between Jennifer, who’d arrived earlier that day, and Luke. The three of you were discussing the Army-Navy Game from a few weeks ago. Jake would throw in a random, bitter, comment every so often. The man was not over Navy's loss. You were hoping the Cowboys could pull out a win, just so he could turn his attention towards that instead of the loss.

You could smell the barbeque that Matt (Jennifer’s husband) and Vicki just brought in from the back, so you knew dinner would be soon. June was sitting on the floor in front of you playing with Lily and five year old Oliver, who was Jennifer’s youngest. There were now children running all over and the house felt more like a home. The moment Jennifer and her family arrived a certain peace took over Tom and Vicki that you had not yet experienced. You had a feeling it was because all their children were home and happy. 

“Let’s eat!” Vicki called out and you hopped up without a fuss. The Seresin siblings stayed seated, Jackson mumbling something about the game being almost over. You chuckled and got up to head to the kitchen. “Thomas created monsters out of all five of them.” 

“Yeah, I can see that!” You thought back over this past football season and how all of your and Jake’s plans revolved around two things; UT and Cowboys games. She was taking some silverware out of a draw and you walked over to help her.

“Can I just say that I am so happy that you are here?” Vicki’s words were as warm as her smile. “You’re like a piece of a puzzle that I have been waiting for…Jake too.” The future was something that you and Jake had discussed before and you both were in it for the long haul. Vicki’s statement added another layer to those plans though. It gave you a sense of relief that you didn’t know you needed.

“It makes me happy to hear you say that.” As screams of all kinds were heard from the living room, she wrapped her arms around your waist and pulled you close like a mother would her daughter. You let your arms drift up to hers, giving her a squeeze. The two of you stayed like that until voices began to come closer. 

Jake and Cole were the first people to enter the kitchen. Jake’s frustrated frown disappeared the moment his green eyes landed on you and Vicki. His whole body instantly softened and gaze grew warm. You knew, just from the look on his face, how much he loved you. Even as everyone started helping themselves to food and grumbling about the game, Jake was quiet and only had eyes for you. Eventually you started filling up your plate, making sure to playfully bump his shoulder as you walked by him. You didn’t get too far past him though because he grabbed your hand and pulled you back to him. 

“I love you.” He declared as though it was the only statement in the world that could ever be true. Before you could return the sentiment his lips were on yours, no care for the family around you. Your cheeks grew hot, but you returned the kiss just the same.

“EW! Uncle Jake!” One of his nieces cried out. It sounded like Evie, who you met that morning.

“Gross!” Will gagged. 

“Honestly Jacob,” June spoke up from the entrance of the dining room that sat off the kitchen, near the back door. Through the doorway you could see Jake’s siblings all smirking at the table. Jackson’s shoulders were shaking with laughter as Sophie stuck her tongue out in disgust. “There are children around.”

“Don’t care.” Was his confident reply. He kept his attention on you, but discreetly lifted his middle finger to scratch his nose. June just laughed. You lifted yourself up on your tiptoes and pressed your lips to his cheekbone before walking around to join his family at the large dining room table.

You sat next to Jenni. Jake joined you a few minutes later, taking the empty spot on your right. As dinner progressed, conversations of all types flowing around the table, his left hand found your thigh. He was talking with Claire, Jackson, and their kids about what Santa may or may not be bringing them. You were in the middle of a discussion with June and Jenni about similar experiences the three of you had at work. June had an almost identical personality to her youngest brother, which you found amusing. As soon as you picked up on that, you knew you would have to invite her out and have the Dagger Squad over, knowing Rooster’s response would be highly entertaining. Eventually, Thomas excused himself from dinner and you looked at Jake, questioning if everything was okay.

“Just wait.” His tone was secretive and caused your concern to morph into curiosity.

When Vicki got up and started to carry things back to the kitchen, you and Jackson moved to help her. Jackson recruited his oldest son to help and while Vicki filled the dishwasher the three of you carried dishes from the dining room to her. June and Jake started taking mugs of all shapes, colors, and sizes out of one of the cabinets while Julie checked on some sort of liquid in a crockpot on the counter. After getting a closer look you realized that the liquid was hot chocolate. 

“Momma, where are the marshmallows?” Jake bellowed from deep within the pantry. Vicki turned to respond, but was cut off by a manly yelp. “Hey! What was that for?” You looked over your shoulder, closing the dishwasher door. Jake stepped out of the pantry, rubbing at his arm, a pout on his face. You laughed. June sidestepped her brother, shaking a bag of large marshmallows at him.

“They were right in front of you, moron.” Vicki shook her head and rolled her eyes at the childish antics of her two grown children. 

“Cut it out you two.” Her tone was exasperated, but turned so sweet when she set her sights on you. “Sweet pea, will you let the others know that the hot chocolate is ready?” You nodded and did as she asked of you. The kids were quick to heed your words, most of them running to the kitchen. You could hear Luke telling them to slow down. 

Once everyone had their mugs full of sweet, creamy, spicy, chocolate everyone gathered around the fireplace. Everyone was spread out over the couch and the floor. Vicki took a spot in one of the recliners, leaving the other one empty. The only person that was missing was Thomas. Before you could ask where he was, you heard heavy footsteps coming down the stairs. 

Thomas, dressed in a red Santa suit, stood at the foot of the stairs. There was a large green velvet bag that had some sort of goodies in it. While he didn’t have a beard on his face, the twinkle in his eyes definitely reminded you of the jolly big man. All of the kids seemed to enjoy it, even Will.

“Pawpaw!” Sophie squealed out. Claire took the little girl's drink from her before she ran to Thomas. Oliver and Evie were quick to follow her.

“Now, I think before I pass out these presents there is a story we need to read!” Vicki took out a thin, hardback, children’s book. The edges of the dust jacket were wrinkled with age. There was a beautifully illustrated winter scene and the words “Twas the Night Before Christmas” in a curly script across the top. Thomas sat down and took the book from his wife.

Like dutiful little elves the children followed him, sitting in a semi-circle around the recliner. Julie moved from her spot on the couch to join them, turning Lily around in her lap so she could watch. All eyes were on Thomas as he began to read. His soft twang made the old poem sound melodic and in the middle of the reading you found yourself growing sleepy. Jake noticed and pulled you closer to him; so close you were practically in his lap. He leaned in, pressing his mouth near your ear.

“Now don’t go falin’ asleep darlin’.” You rolled your eyes at him, turning your attention back towards Thomas. The inflections and animation he added as he described the physical characteristics of Santa left you in a state of awe like the children. You even giggled along as he patted his stomach and referenced bowls of jelly. 

As the story came to a close, Jake was whispering again. This time though, he wasn’t talking to you. Instead, he was saying the last few words of the book along with his father. No one around seemed to notice and if they did they weren’t bothered by it. Your heart melted. You knew that Jake could be like this. He could put the Hangman persona aside and just be Jake, but it was very rare that you got to see that side of him with others around. The Dagger Squad and some of the other friends you had would think he’d been abducted by aliens. Rooster might even say he’d had some sort of reverse lobotomy.  As much as you loved this side of Jake, you knew he was only like this when he felt safe. When there wasn’t an ounce of tension in his body. When there was no need to be the strong and perfect Naval Aviator. 

You were pulled away from your thoughts by little giggles. Vicki was helping Thomas pass around gifts to the children. Each of them was being handed a set of pajamas. After all of the grandkids got theirs, the Seresin parents began to pass some out to their children and partners. Each set was different from the other, so no one would be matching. Yours were dark navy and white. The pattern was made up of geometric snowflakes. 

“I hate this part.” Jake said softly, looking at everyone holding their pajamas. He looked down at his own pair of pants that were a traditional Christmas plaid.

“No you don’t.” You scoffed in unbelief, lifting your hand to his face. Your thumb ran across his jaw. “You love this. You love every single cheesy, traditional detail for any holiday. Stop lying to yourself.” He just laughed and shook his head.

Everyone split up after that. All the children went to Jackson and Claire’s house to stay the night. You went up to take a shower and Jake told you to come back downstairs when you were finished. You didn’t take too long under the hot water, his request kept you curious. When you were finished you slipped on your new pajamas, admiring both the fit and style, and walked back downstairs.

The sight in the living room took you by surprise. The floor was covered in toys of all shapes and sizes. June, Luke, and Matt were working on putting together some sort of robotic toy, while Thomas and Vicki were looking over some instructions. Thomas sat on the couch with Jenni as they filled stockings. Jackson was wheeling a bike in the front door. Julie and Claire must have stayed at Jackson’s with the kids.

“Well, this is just Santa’s workshop, isn’t it?” You commented with a smile. Jake looked up at you and winked. “What can I do?”

“Help me with this box.” Jake said, standing up, brushing imaginary dirt off his hand. He led you to the corner of the room, pointing at the box in question. Just as both of you bent down to pick it up, Vicki laughed. It didn’t take even a second for the others to start laughing. Jake looked at them in question. June pointed at something above your heads. Looking up there was a stuffed frog, in a Christmas hat, hanging from the light. “Mistletoad.” Jake said, as though he were recalling a long forgotten memory. He then looked at you, a smirk on his face. Dimples were on full display. “Pucker up, darlin’” 

“Don’t ever say that again.” You said, leaning towards him. You could hear laughter behind you. He pressed his lips to yours and you sighed happily. You couldn’t remember the last time you felt this happy.  When you pulled back you bent back down, lifting up one side of the box. “Come on, Santa. We have work to do.”

[evony256]

Spoilers for drdt chapter 2 episode 6!!!!

So uh I noticed something about both episode 4 and episode 6 WWAAAYYYY back when episode 6 first came out. I honestly thought about making a post about it but social anxiety and all that shit. I also wasn't quite sure if anybody else had talked about it before, but since I haven't seen anyone mention it, ig I'll point it out. Eight months later.

Back in episode 4, right after Teruko talks to Arei, Teruko starts talking to Charles. Now, they have a silly little convo, some banter here and there. But there was one piece of dialogue from Charles that stuck to me.

"You make fun of me when I can't cook, and you make fun of me when I can. There really is no winning with you, Teruko."

Now, I want you to remember these two lines. Especially the first one. They might seem like nothing, but they will be important.

Ok so flashback to episode 6, right after Ace wakes up from his beauty sleep. Once Ace leaves, MonoTV enter the room and tells Teruko and Eden to leave. When asked as to why they need to leave, MonoTV prompts this response:

"You complain when *you* have to do chores, and you complain when *I* have to do chores! There's really no winning with you, Teruko!"

OOOOOO SOMEONE IS REPEATING DIALOGUE!!! SOUND THE ALARMS!!!!!

The similarities between the first sentences is shocking. Sure, they are about different things and use different words. Yet, they give off the same feeling and seem to have the same base. And don't even get me STARTED on the second sentence. They are literally the exact. same. thing. Now, this could be me overanalyzing every single bit of dialogue and every single aspect and design choice in this series, as I do. BUT this isn't the first time "dialogue repetition" has appeared in this series. A good example is in episode 5, when Arei breaks down. Arei says "I wanted... I just wanted to..." which is a direct paralel to Min's words in episode 12. Hell, Teruko even goes as far as to point out that "that pitiful crying" reminds her of something or someone.

This could be possibly drawing a paralel between MonoTV and Charles. Though, we don't have a lot of evidence for that. The only other evidence that we have is the detail that Charles definitely has had some sort of traumatic experience with dogs and MonoTV looking like a cat, yet stating that it's a dog. And that could also be used to link Nico and MonoTV together, considering the whole "cat theme". So that's why I don't have that much faith in it. Yet there's also the fact that Mr. Charlers has had a couple of interactions with MonoTV as well. Though, I am still very interested in this odd detail. I, personally, will be delusional and use this as "evidence" that Charles won't die in Chapter 3. If you guys have any other ideas, then... Say them? Or not if you don't want to. I literally took 8 months to post this, I am NOT in a position to tell you to talk about what you think

[i-can-even-burn-salad]

WIP Questionnaire Tag

Snatching it from @tildeathiwillwrite and since that was an open tag, I'll just leave it an open tag.

1. What’s the first part of your WIP that you created? 2. If your story was a TV show, what would the theme song/intro be? 3. What are your favorite characters that you made? Why? 4. What other pieces of media do you think your fanbase would share? 5. What has been your biggest struggle with your WIP? 6. Are there any animals in your story? Talk about them! 7. How do your characters travel/get around? 8. What part of your WIP are you working on right now? 9. What aspects (tropes, maybe?) will you think draw your audience in? 10. What are your hopes for your WIP?

Under the cut for my currently still untitled project:

1. What’s the first part of your WIP that you created?

As always, the first line of the first chapter :D I don't consider the brainstorming/planning phase a part of the WIP or I would have an intimidating amount of WIPs.

2. If your story was a TV show, what would the theme song/intro be?

I don't go there, but my personal current theme song is

Calum Scott, Leona Lewis - You Are The Reason (Duet Version)

3. What are your favorite characters that you made? Why?

I can never pick between the two leads. As always, they both have aspects I love very much, and they don't work without the other. Bonded stray cats characters, you know.

I'm really early on still, and I hope to see more of their personalities unfold when they're not uh. Currently dying.

So far, there are no (planned) side characters I like. What happens, happens.

4. What other pieces of media do you think your fanbase would share?

I really don't know. When I try to think of any kind of published media that hits the same way, I come up empty. And when I try to compare my stuff to something, all I can see are the differences. And not in a "look how unique I am" way, but in a "this is obviously not what they want" one.

Perhaps I should take a look at Anna's favorite books list to answer that 😂

5. What has been your biggest struggle with your WIP?

The chapter I finished last night. It has, let's say, graphical content of a nature I have not written before 😬 Took me over a week or more to get the whole scene down. I hope now things will get easier.

6. Are there any animals in your story? Talk about them!

Nope. Probably a few that end up in a cooking pot, though I don't think either of the two is as good at trapping as Eilis is 😅

7. How do your characters travel/get around?

Exclusively by foot!

8. What part of your WIP are you working on right now?

I think I'm about to be done with the first part of the story, and we're soon moving on to "escaping from the torture dungeon" :D

I did a very rough outline that would put those 20k words as 1/4 but we all know it won't stay at 80k total, don't we.

9. What aspects (tropes, maybe?) will you think draw your audience in?

Graphic depictions of violence.

Since I don't make anything off it, advertising isn't exactly my main job, but I seem to be rather unable to pull new readers in, no matter how many fancy posts and images I make with quotes and tropes and whatnot. So, in the end, I think most readers will read it because I wrote it and they liked other things I wrote - and I love them for it 💜 🥺

10. What are your hopes for your WIP?

Think of a fucking title. Finish it by the end of the year. Afford 2-4 pieces of custom artwork. Find some readers? 🥺

[sloshys]

HI I WAS THE FIRST ANON AND YOURE SO FUCKING RIGHT. GOD.

I just think that Daan has this kinda like. Need to be towered over? I think thats why he interacts with the people who are kinda cold/uncaring/powerful most. I mean. He's found himself almost in every aspect of his life in a position where someone was constantly telling him what to do, and I feel like strong characters (like O'saa or karin) kinda fill that niche of "I need someone to boss me around and tell me what to do because I've lived my life at others whims and while I can hold my own for a good bit after a while I'm not sure what to do but asking for help would be too vulnerable so having someone be a higher up towards me gives me a sense of security but i will also kinda be a little shit about it so it doesnt seem so vulnerable" and with O'saa he's super blunt. Very much "I will do things my way wether you like it or not and you will follow my lead or get out my way." and I mean, hell he was a leader! He very much outwardly has control and leadership tendencies, even if inside he doesn't feel like he can ever truly fit the bill. Which is what Daan is looking for yknow? And O'saa, i just kinda think for O'saa its one of those things of he cant for the life of him figure out why he likes him so much, but then Daan starts talking to him about scholarly topics and they have discussions of religion, medicine, science, war, and other things and theres this draw of Daan's Intellegence paired with this strange need of "i want to see him happy, because his whole life hes been miserable and part of it reminds me of me and if i cant be happy then perhaps i can make someone else happy to fill the void" (touching on the whole joking between the two) but being as O'saa has an enlightened soul, i feel like he would be incredibly interested in what Daan has to say. If the two ever got the chance i feel theyd definitely debate between eachother. Imagine that one reaction meme image of the two scholars talking to eachother. Thats them i think. I feel like the two compliment eachother but in a way of like. They fill a niche the other is searching for. Neither are good with words, much less pda, but alone? I feel like if there ever was time alone in a different time in a different place their intimacy would be intense, passionate, and wordless. Nothing would really need to be said, just intimacy, a smoke on the balcony, and dinner in a perfect world. Other people may find their relationship seemingly loveless, but they just couldn't understand the wordless display of trust, of closeness, and of tenderness. How could they? The two have only ever really been truly vulnerable with the other, and I feel if conflict was to arise, they may argue, take a heated break, and then come back with a wordless apology and cook for eachother. Acts of service, cooking, and gift giving i feel would be something that again, if given the chance, the two would indulge in regularly. I feel if O'saa was being particularly sappy he'd maybe get Daan some expensive alcohol he'd been eyeing. As for Daan, I feel he'd get O'saa a nice clothing piece the other had been admiring. But that's in a life they'd never get, I suppose... sorry for rambling in your inbox, I care for them dearly PFT

Anon rn:

BUT FR LIKE IM SOSO GLAD TO RECIEVE THIS RESPONSE BC YOU EXPLAINED SO WELL WHAT I WAS THINKING

I put my thoughts down there i hope i was able to cover everything

Im going to start off in a daan analysis tangent real quick

Daan has been neglected by his cultist parents ever since he was a baby. He probably never got the proper feeling of security or personal growth as a child because he was always living to survive. Which worsened even more after the death of his parents, and was doomed to child labour very young. Im sure he never got to properly play or express himself as a kid until he got closer to Elise. But The only thing about himself he found worth talking about were his insane cultist parents. His life at the Baron’s mansion was everything he had, as were his studies of modern medicine. That's why he feels attracted to powerful and determined people like O'saa and Karin (and Marcoh too, I believe), who seem to know exactly what their own goals are and think they still have control over what is happening. Despite trying to do things on his own, he still craves company. He also wants to protect the younger ones, like Levi and Marina, because his ass is projecting! But the sad thing is that Daan can't be too dependent on these people and doesn't want to share too much of his past with them because it's very traumatic for him.

If the discussion had taken place, I think O’saa would have been very interested in Daan and his upbringing. Daan never followed the religions and cults of Europa and is aware of their danger. He prays to Sylvian not as an act of worship but to help those who are sick. He also ran away from Pocketcat his whole life and never wanted to give himself to him until depression hit him harder than before. This makes Daan rational, smart, and inquisitive. Which seem to be attractive traits for someone who possesses an enlightened soul.

TOTALLY AGREE ALSO ABOUT THESE TWO HAVING BIG BRAINED DISCUSSIONS O'saa proves himself to be a good listener to others feelings in the booth; Daan can be a very open-minded person; and they both have similar views about the use of magic. I agree that the way they show affection is when they’re both very intimate with each other. O’saa does not trust people lightly because, in his case, his greatest fear is manipulation due to the fact that his country is being invaded and controlled by Europa's religions, wars, and cults. So he only ever relied on himself, which is why he chose to be a yellow mage. I imagine it might take a great deal of time and trust for him to share his vulnerability and feelings with Daan. But they seem to both crave social interaction since they're both lonely at heart, so there might be a chance (we’re winning, girlies!). Either way, I agree with sappy O'saa, that's such an adorable concept and somehow fitting since he finds his own jokes funny. I hc that he’s very genuine when he talks about his emotions, and no matter how embarrassing they are, he always says them with a straight face. But Daan is so sappy too. They would write each other love letters; you cannot tell me otherwise.

Also, I thought of an ending for these two surviving the festival: Daan confessing to O’saa that he doesn’t have anything that waits for him and O’saa noticing the true meaning of those words. He feels a tinge of sympathy because Daan has lost everything to war and religion, and he can't bear to see him give up after surviving the gruesome festival. So O’saa proposes to make a deal to be his personal doctor because he plans to travel dangerously, defy the authority in his country to establish his own teachings, and rise to the top. Since Daan doesn’t have anything to lose, he agrees to it. I think that it is during those travels that they will slowly fall for each other. They might also find some closure on their pasts during those trips.

[lupucs]

Do you have any recommendations for character modeling in blender?

Ooh boy I never know how to respond to questions like that, but I'm gonna try my best and list some stuff which helped me personally, so hopefully this will be helpful to you guys too.

A lot of what im gonna say is probably gonna sound really generic but generally speaking just watching one tutorial series and calling it a day isn't gonna cut it.

Something that helped me a whole lot was having a clear goal in mind (like I remember the first thing I wanted to do was translate my OCs in 3D). Picking something I was invested in is what pushed me to do my own research (and now its Deltarune fan animations lol). Knowing how to maintain motivation and going in with the right mindset is the most important thing imo.

I use Blender for my 3D work, which is free and open source. I personally prefer it over paid software like Maya or 3dsMax, especially for modeling and sculpting (I remember I had to use Max and Maya for a while but overall it was a pretty agonizing experience to be honest, so I switched back to Blender, which just feels a whole lot easier to use for me personally lol, but really at the end of the day just pick the software you want. This is just my personal preference). If you have a potato laptop like me, I definitely advise you to use Blender tho as it is very lightweight compared to other 3D programs, plus it can do the same things and then some. Not to mention there are way more free resources on Blender stuff so it's easier to get access to the info you need. Anyways Blender-simping over, moving on!

Tutorials are always a great idea, but you're also gonna have to learn how to do problem-solving. 3D can be a really technical and rigid medium, so being patient and knowing how to do independent learning is very important. Take a look at box-modeling, sculpting, texturing and procedural shading. Unfortunately that's gonna involve a lot of annoying situations and moments of immeasurable pain, but once you're more familiar with how things work, it's super fun and rewarding!

Don't forget to have fun and experiment! It's easy to get lost and overwhelmed by the technical aspects of 3D but it's important to just let go and make silly things. Also talking to other 3d artists with similar interests helps a ton, especially more experienced ones but I am aware not everyone has access to that (plus not everyone might want that, esp when you're an introvert like me haha!)

If you gotta sell your soul to a corporation then focusing on one particular subset is gonna be useful for animation jobs, as this is what most studios want. Some artists might like specializing into just one area, and that's totally fine but for me who prefers to be a generalist, it just kinda ruins my joy for 3D to restrict myself to just one part of it. Plus if you enjoy doing what you do, you tend to learn a lot faster anyway.

This might be a bit of an uncommon take, but one of the most stifling pieces of advice I have received from industry 3D artists is to only focus on one thing (as in, only skill up your UV-unwrapping, or only do rigging, only do hard-surface modeling, only do organic environment modeling and so on). NUH-UH! Just do what you want fam. Make the spoingle-boingles pet cats. Focus on the things you like. Make barney the dinosaur destroy the whole set. Model, rig and animate them if you want. Really, just have fun. Obviously you gotta do some self-checks and see where you need to improve, and where your strengths and weaknesses are, and focusing on those areas can be very helpful. Just make sure you're having a good time doing it, and don't be too harsh on yourself. Definitely take a break if you're overwhelmed.

You don't have to be able to draw to be good at character modeling but making turnaround sketches helps me a whole lot whenever I make 3D characters. Knowing how to draw will also benefit your sense of design and shapes, as you can use your drawing skills for texturing and adding your own flair to your models.

Another thing I would do is look at other people's 3D models and study the topology and the way they model things. This also helps a lot with motivation. Obviously you don't wanna copy, just study the way other people model things and see what other talented artists come up with! There are a bunch of free Blender rigs you can download and study on your own, not to mention useful videos and streams on YouTube. The Rain and Snow rigs are pretty awesome. Some of this stuff is behind a paywall but I recommend checking out the free resources of the "Settlers" project for highly cartoony modeling and rigging (this playlist is very useful, I didn't watch all of it but some parts have been pretty inspirational to me). Also just following 3D artists you like and looking at their art for inspiration will help you stay motivated.

Hope this is useful!

[crystallinestars]

"Bullying into submission" is unfortunately an excellent way to put it 😔 People really need to learn that while feeling the need to vent is more than okay (just look at how much I've complained so far lol), making posts / snide comments with the sole aim of creating Drama or Discourse or straight up jumping into someone's space to berate them for quietly enjoying themselves in a way you don't approve of is truly the best recipe if your goal in life is to be miserable 24/7, on top of being a huge dick move.

I was also thinking about what other anons have brought up (how they feel straight up alienated by popular hcs always being one 'extreme' or another with no in-between) and I feel like these discussions (including the ones on social constructs, loved your input about that btw) are all linked by a common factor: some people try to draw hard lines in the sand in order to neatly categorize stuff in easily identifiable boxes or tropes. Sometimes what we could call "the norm" seems so ingrained in people's minds that it does not even occur to them to try and question this status quo, and so a lot of nuance is either lost or not even explored to begin with. At least that's how I see it, I still need to think about this some more.

I'd say that these "hard lines" aren't only drawn between all we've mentioned, but between communities too. I'm going to say this kinda clumsily but like, why are we treating anyone who isn't "just gay / lesbian / straight" as if they were an enemy and/or a threat? Is it some kind of insecurity that can only be soothed by constant validation? Why is it that when someone dares to make something slightly different, we're bringing out the pitchforks?

This hostility (and just the fact that these discussions / this Discourse seems very cyclical) kind of reminds of a tweet I saw a while ago. I unearthed it for the occasion lol:

"People love to pretend it’s so weird that others get upset when you claim something they like is bad lol.

Slandering something that another person appreciates is akin to insulting/questioning their intelligence, especially when it comes to a piece of work."

The original post was about slandering works as a whole, but I think it can also apply to more specific aspects, like enjoying something in particular in a given work. Why are we pretending it's weird that people get upset when you keep telling them (explicitly or implicitly) that their fun is lame at best? I know people love to say "that's just how the internet is, Get Used To It" but honestly? It's such an empty excuse and it makes me want to bang my head on a wall, because why couldn't we just all keep our manners to begin with??

I feel like I'm answering everything in a weird order lol but about Welt, that's pretty much what I had heard about him! I've been thinking that I should at least look into Hi3 a bit, just to see the links between the games and Mihoyo's overall evolution 🤔 And I didn't know about that lore book! I don't even know if I'm surprised about this reaction but I do know that fandoms sometimes confuse the hell out of me because I've seen just as much Guizhong enjoyers as I've seen people shipping Zhongli with Childe??

I'm just going to say it bluntly: people should REALLY pick a struggle and/or another hill to die on, because having a meltdown for something like that is just embarrassing. It does prove your point about the shipping lenses tho, because I can't think about another reason why a LORE BOOK would have made them feel so threatened 💀 I had seen the tantrums about Dottore (apparently he's too evil??) and Raiden (she's not evil enough??) but this?? MAN.

Kind of makes me think that people are lowkey hypocritical with their need to have canon confirmations, because they love to brag about THEIR pairings but as soon as the possibility appears that the devs MIGHT offer some kind of confirmation on one they don't like, even if it's one as 'marginal', for lack of a better word, as this one, they break out in hives. And the Thoma and Ayaka situation is just another proof that 1) YOU SHOULD NEVER FULLY TRUST LEAKS and 2) the bar we talked about keeps getting lower in hell.

And YES! I also felt like there were a lot of things about Alhaitham that were there to tell the players that while it's true he comes off as odd, eccentric, blunt, etc., he's rather kind all things considered! He's letting Kaveh stay in his house even if they don't particularly get along, he sticks to his moral code, he recognized Dehya's capabilities, he helps Tighnari with Collei's education, and so on. He seems to be the type of person that won't go out of their way to be palatable to others, but he also never goes out of his way to hurt anyone? And what's more, if you're willing to hear him out and truly pay attention to what he says, you'll realize that he's actually quite helpful? In a way that he's giving advice and letting people come to their own conclusions? At least that's what I can think about off the top of my head, so it's kind of hysterical to me that he gets reduced to "That Asshole Feeble Scholar".

This ask is getting long again (and messy) but I still want to add that I've seen your discussions about Nilou, Candace and Kokomi with Kaveh and it might be biased and/or controversial of me to say this but honestly? I think people, no matter their identities, just don't like women / don't even acknowledge how much they dislike women. As you said, same-sex pairings (and i'd say BL pairings in particular) are that much more popular and I'm getting pretty sure that it's in part due to the fact people don't pay attention to the female characters because they might be assuming they'll be boring. I've seen so many people bashing Kokomi, especially her story quest, yet they praise characters like Itto to high heavens? I know that it's 'to each their own' but sometimes I do feel like people don't give some (female) characters much of a chance to begin with.

At least to me it's pretty funny to see the difference between how you and the others have talked about your ideas for ships, and how the fandom talk about haikaveh lmao.

Kavelou shippers: I think they could bring out the best in each other, they could bond over their shared love for the arts and share ideas for their respective fields of expertise!

Loud Haikaveh shippers: omg they're roommates lol, when do you think Alhaitham will impregnate his 'c a n o n' malewife?? Why are kavelou idiots such snowflakes, 'conflict' is essential to make a pairing worth it and we're allowed to enjoy some fictional toxicity

Also, a bit of a side note, but it hasn't escaped me that people love to say that "toxic pairings are valid" for their BL preferences, but Acheron and Black Swan get exactly 1 deadly dance video and suddenly it's the most disturbing thing they've ever seen??

Anyway, I've seen you mention at least twice that you're thinking about making either a different blog or creating a discord server for all these rants you receive, and I think it's a lovely idea! I'm pretty sure I have an account on discord that I haven't touched in years so it has probably been deleted by now 😭 If there's anyone else interested in it would be a great alternative for you to separate your writing from the rants :)

Once again, I hope you're having a wonderful day or evening!

🪻

There is a lot to unpack here, but I will try my best to respond to everything. I'm sorry in advance if I don't touch on every point.

Regarding your "hard lines" comments. It's true that people draw boundaries between what they find acceptable and not, and while this would ordinarily be a good thing, here it's more to do with controversial topics like race, sexuality, gender, etc... and I can't help but wonder if the reason for such behavior is due to politics.

Most of this behavior is present in the western and english-speaking parts of the internet where American politics reign supreme. From what I have heard and seen, the progressive side deems everything that is considered the majority (heterosexuality, white skin, male gender, etc) as the opposite of what they stand for, therefore it must be conservative, which is bad. There's a lot more at play here than just progressive vs conservative, but I am not well-versed in politics, so I won't speak on it too much. Plus, this is all just a theory. But as I've said before, the West loves to drag politics into every aspect of their lives, fandoms included.

The quote you found is actually spot-on. Acting surprised when you insult something people enjoy or relate to is surprised pikachu behavior. Though I suspect these people aren't actually surprised, but are just trolling the people they offended, and are gleeful they managed to get under the skin of those whose views they dislike.

I think the lore book tantrum is another example of people wanting their characters to be "shiny toys", as you put it. Having an indication for a NL relationship between playable characters is a no-no for gacha games. It offends a lot of groups of people. For example, those that want to pair Zhongli with Childe, or self-ship with him, and the same applies for the Guizhong side (even though we had no idea what she looked like at the time). For some reason, there's not as much negative reaction if the ship being teased is same-sex though. Might be because it offends less groups, but it's still a baffling phenomenon for me.

Which brings me to the point about female characters.

I agree with you that female characters get hated on. In the anime and manga spheres, have seen a lot of comments about female characters from various fandoms, and the main complain with them was that they are not as fleshed out as their male counterparts. Female characters lack complex writing and character development, and get reduced to plot devices or love interests for the MC. Even in media made by women for women featuring female protagonists, some of these protagonists are pushovers that rely on male characters to save them. There is a desire for women to be equal to men in media, but it's not common to see.

It doesn't help that in Genshin, the first three chapters had bad writing, especially for female characters. Though not all, majority were were one-note characters with not much complexity or plot behind their actions, unlike male characters. This has improved significantly since Sumeru's debut, but I doubt it's enough to change the minds of some people.

So to make my point; female characters get hate for being boring. I also feel like women are the ones who hate on female characters the most? I have seen both fujoshi and yumejoshi communities hate on female characters for being the love interest of their favorite male character and getting in the way of their ships.

I am hesitant to delve into the topic of why some fujoshi hate female characters since it's not something I completely understand. I did a bit of research into why they prefer BL over NL, and while the gripe about female characters being boring was a main factor, there was also a lot of misogyny. I'm sure there are some other reasons aside from these as to why women hate female characters, but this topic is too complex for me to navigate just yet.

I will defend Kokomi with my life 😤 She got a lot of hate even back in her beta, and her story quest came under fire, as well. I thought her story quest was decent, though maybe my judgement is clouded because I love her so much. Regardless, her character is awesome and I relate to her a lot, so Kokomi slander will not be tolerated 😤

Regarding the difference between haikaveh and other Kaveh ships, I can only think that one is a fetishization of a gay relationships, while the other is a genuine appreciation for the dynamic between characters.

I actually saw only positive comments under the Acheron and Black Swan dance video. Yeah, there were jokes it was toxic, but I didn't see anyone complain about it, though I believe you when you say some people found it problematic. BL gets a lot of special treatment, I would say. Everything that's deemed bad/boring in GL and NL pairings is often painted as being better/good if it's BL. I've only seen a couple of "omg toxic yaoi ❤️" posts, and while those were jokes, it's shocking how much people love to pair enemies together. I see a lot of depictions of abuse in BL, and the shippers love it, so I suppose it's not that surprising? I find it concerning, though.

Anyways, thank you for your well-wishes, and have a great day as well!