#like I have been wanting to make a like a proper sona for ages

[freddiemerqwerty]

I read a lot of Our Flag Means Death fics in 2024 and thought I would start the new year off my sharing some of my favs from the year!

Force Majeure (121362 words) by seularen Rating: Explicit Relationships: Stede Bonnet/Israel Hands, Edward Teach/Stede Bonnet, Edward Teach/Israel Hands, Edward Teach/Stede Bonnet/Israel Hands

This fic made me a Steddyhands truther. It changed the game, set the standard, and almost convinced me to get a carrick knot ring. Months later, I am still losing it. How did you know so exactly, dear author, what made these men tick? What must first be broken in order to be made anew? I AM LOSING IT. Read this please. I will never be who I was before Stede Bonnet read Shakespeare's Henry V to Izzy Hands.

Does the Body Good (21395 words) by zemph147 Rating: Explicit Relationships: Edward Teach/Stede Bonnet

A screenshot of one line of this fic made me want to read it. I did in fact throw my phone, and pace around the room in distress when I got to that line. Fabulous work, an all time favorite—I lost my my mind at these men. This is representation I look for in media, truly feeling like this is my allo-sona—if such a thing existed. I also love the deeply feral sequel to this fic: Does the Body Even Gooder. I will return to you through the ages dear ones, you are very silly.

in the wake of tales (44000 words) by zythepsary Rating: Explicit Relationships: Stede Bonnet/Israel Hands, Edward Teach/Israel Hands, Edward Teach/Stede Bonnet/Israel Hands

Your honor, these are their get-along handcuffs. Obsessed with so many of the choices in this fic. And I love the accompanying art! I think this fic truly made me understand what a Stizzy dynamic is. They are so perfectly the wrong people to be handcuffed together and I loved watching their undoing. I will be reading this again in 2025. This fandom needed this

To the Lonely Sea and the Sky (141270 words) by zythepsary Rating: Explicit Relationships: Edward Teach/Stede Bonnet/Israel Hands, Edward Teach/Stede Bonnet, Stede Bonnet/Israel Hands

The knifeplay tag definitely was a bit of a gamble for me, but I'm so glad I read this fic. I HAVE SO MANY EMOTIONS! The summary may read "Izzy decides Stede needs proper swordplay lessons" but it is so much more. They're figuring out what they need and want in the most backwards way possible and I love them. Give me more fanfiction where Izzy and Ed start their relationship by trying to kill one another, "propose", spend years fucking, eventually kiss for the first time, and then have submit to the mortifying ordeal of being known by admiting that they're friends. Also the Stizzy of this fic is so *chef's kiss*. I might have been scared of that tag, but now I think it's what they need. What is romance if not a stabbing your boyfriend's boyfriend like he stabs you?

Stranger on a Beach (46486 words) by zemph147 Rating: Explicit Main Relationship: Edward Teach/Stede Bonnet

What if they kissed in the Chauvet cave? What if they fucked in the Chauvet cave—with respect and awe? I read this fic for the Chauvet cave tag, but become obsessed with everything else that it is. Stede is sad in France and won't stop putting back wine and cheese so the crew take him to a gay nude beach and it fixes him. So much love for the queer joy of this fic. "I want to go to there" is the feeling I have about the emotions in this story. Very good vibes for something I read purely to figure out how Stede and Ed would make it into Chauvet cave

Discreetly Yours (254277 words) by BonnetPetit Rating: Explicit Relationships: Blackbeard | Edward Teach/Stede Bonnet

The fandom hype for this fic got me invested. Enemies to Lovers but your enemy is not only your "OnlyWangs" competitor but your coffeeshop crush? Ed, Blackbeard, and Stede, The Gentleman Reviewer, are rival sex toy reviewers. It is wildly on brand for Stede to be this much of a geek, and Ed to be this emotionally distant but needy. I lost it and have never found it since the scene about the dryocampa rubicunda lingerie. Gotta say though, this fic emotionally devastated me at points and I'm so glad they're in therapy now.

intimately rearranged (3395 words) by givemebaretrees Rating: Explicit Relationships: Edward Teach/Stede Bonnet/Israel Hands

I love how fucked/fucked up Izzy Hands is as a character. This little vignette could absolutely be canon, I see the author's vision. The tag that ultimately made me read this fic was "I read 2 articles on 18th century shaving to research this". Real of you

Slippery When Wet (7660 words) by chaotic_neutral_knitter Rating: Explicit Relationships: Edward Teach/Stede Bonnet

This was one of the first fics I read this year. It was cozy, sweet, and gay—with a wonderful twist/cliffhanger ending! So much of the setting and character dynamics felt so captivating that I completely forgot about the mystery at the start of the story. Even if you didn't know anything about Our Flag Means Death, it is the loveliest short story

For now, I will leave you with these, as they are the most general in terms of fic tastes for this fandom. However, I spent a lot of time in some very specific tags this year and gained favorites that aren't included here. How I love you tropes like Stede Bonnet thinking he's cursed but really he's just experiencing attraction to men for the first time, or Izzy Hands just being treated how he wants and it breaking him, or anything that makes Edward Teach make this 🥺 face.

Thank you OFMD fandom for some wonderful fanfiction. On to more adventures in 2025!

[nachocheezos21]

[THE DOCUMENT BELOW CONTAINS THE FOLLOWING:]

[Cannibalism], [Mentions of Death], [Minor Gore Mentions] // [IF THE AUTHOR HAD MISSED ANYTHING, PLEASE DO NOT HESITATE TO CONTACT FOR CORRECTION!]

[Z-257-2 — “Guilt-filled Appetite.”]

Description: Previously EXR-P #██████████, real name “Elizah H. Jekyll”, is a current and active member of the aforementioned ‘Yore Expendable’ team alongside others. She is ██ of age, standing 152cm (approximately 5 feet) with medium-length black hair and tan skin, with her most notable facial feature being her unnatural eyes; dark blue eyes surrounded by a neon yellow sclera — often switching depending on the subject��s emotional intensity. While it was easy for staff to recognise her from the rest of the team, many suspected (including Z-257-2 herself) that her unnatural eyes do not have any correlation from the regenerating properties of the team.

During the expedition observed by HQ, Z-257-2 is usually seen and/or heard by the site CCTV to lead the way for the rest of the team to follow. The only instances of Z-257-2 trailing behind are whenever the subject is in search of a hiding place or rummaging through for any files or data left by the staff. Similar to the rest of Z-257, Z-257-2 shares regenerative properties upon death by emitting yellow particles of light to scatter all over the corpse, clumping together to inhabit the heart (and missing limbs, if any). Despite this, the subject’s eyes are still not affected nor changed afterwards.

Prior to her arrest, Z-257-2 had previously worked as a junior researcher in the University of ██████████, Sweden, before being referred to the company by her late-father and one of Mr. Shade’s business partners, Dr. H████ Jekyll. By then, she was hired as one of Urbanshade’s junior researchers within the Botanical Division located in ████, ████████ and had worked for the company for about an approximate of 2 to 3 years — being later promoted as Assistant Senior Researcher.

In mid-2024 to early 2025, Z-257-2 was soon arrested for the murder of Junior Researcher, Dr. Verena Calyx, as the subject was found in her office with blood on the floor, surrounding the victim. The guards had also stated that the subject was also found kneeling next to the deceased victim’s body with chunks of flesh and blood on her hands and lips, signifying that the subject was in the middle of eating the victim due to guilt. A small trial was held and Z-257-2 was soon promptly jailed. It wasn’t until months later that the Hadal Blacksite had initiated lockdown due to the events caused by Z-13, resulting in the “Expendable” protocol taking place. The subject was then offered a second chance by retrieving Z-1, promising cash and a pardon on their criminal sentence, which was enough for her to sign up for the program.

Upon reaching the surface with Z-1 in the team’s possession, Urbanshade guards directly confiscated and detained the team of Z-257 before presenting the Crystal to Mr. Shade himself. But after recognising the members of the team from the numerous comments from one of the Headquarters’ Team Overseer, Mr. Shade had immediately requested for all members to be sent to a nearby Site for further testing.

[Notes from the author//artist]: OH MY GOD PRESSURE SONA REVEAL does it even count if it’s you LMAO. uh anyways YEAH !!! BRAINROT !!!!!! you guys would probably see me make more of these with some of my moots and pookies. if it’s not obvious, this is only an additional document detailing a member of z-257 >.:} – my end, at least (no i’m not actually jekyll irl i wish i was/j). also, the reason why this post and the previous were sent back to back for a day was bc this has been sitting on my drafts for so long LMAO i’ve been itching to post this but i wanted a proper introduction to our au/z-entity (in a sense, it is a z-entity; think of smth like the imaginary friend or the mindscape)

credits to @windthescorpionfanatic for the yore expendable concept once again – if they ever decide to share the file, i’ll be reblogging it for further context teehee

[shippyo]

Sona of Keroro Gunso/Sgt frog!

Name is still Shippy of course

Age: ? (But remains like an adult Keronian)

Gender: Yes(?) [Uses any pronouns]

Backstory of them:

They are an experiment on the planet Keron in order to create Keronian super soldiers and they gave the Keroro troop (without Dororo knowing it [they once again forgot about him]) the first prototype, as Earth was a safe place to test their capabilities.

The problem is that the prototype was strange to how they imagined it, very distracted, quite quiet, it got sleepy and when it came to having to answer it was very difficult for him, being very nervous about wanting to show her capabilities and not being able to do, so, the troops decided to stop this situation and they ended up leaving her alone, going to the base to report that they should return them to Keron, at that moment the prototype overthought things a lot and entered a state of uncontrollable overwhelming thinking that he had failed his companions and her creators, making him in that state, transform into her most savage version by her own most vile and crazy thoughts, she sought revenge to sink everything based on the brute force of their arms, thus demonstrating, according to her,superiority and worth for the army against the inept of the troop, being out of control.

It was there when the troops heard the noise and chaos that Shippy was trying to generate, from simple pranks to wanting to harm humans and things of the city, there they decided to defeat her because of the disaster that could cause and although it cost them a lot, thanks to the appearance of Dororo at the last moment, they managed to knock her out and save her from a fall.

There the troop went to notify their superiors while Dororo watched over her, and when they woke up, both sharing a small conversation, Shippy felt very sorry for what had happened and when Dororo asked her why he did all that, she explained that she did not want in true, but rather those thoughts of her own possessed her at her weakest moment, when she thought of having failed all, being a twisted side that she was not proud of having and he did not want to return to the planet because there they would surely throw her away. Dororo, very empathetic, understood and he went to the group to interrupt said conversation with his superiors so that they would give her the opportunity to continue, only for when he interrupted, his superiors said that the project had been canceled due to lack of a proper budget and that they would be left with Shippy and dealing with his problem, shrugging their arms when Keroro asked how they have to do that and hanging up the call after that.

So, Shippy stayed with the Keroro troop, living in the Hinatas' house, as it was the best place where they could keep him under watch and in constant company, since if she is left alone, that state of overthinking things returns and they would be out of control again.

Maybe one day she can feel completely in tune with her thoughts and find peace while adapting to the meaning of feeling happy with her friends and probably even more...

Hope ya all love the desing,ill still do art of the usual but i wanted to create a sona for this childhood series of mine as i been rewatching it,so,i hope you don't mind!💖

[amphiptere-art]

By the way the little cat fella I've been working on. He's not quite finished but I can at least share some information if people want to interact with him.

He looks somewhat like this. I'm still not settled on the colors but they're probably going to lean this direction maybe. Might switch it out for bluish spots I don't know. But this is his design.

He's this little cat guy. His current nicknames are Stardust, scavenger, spots, and snow. He's got this little array of spines that can come out. They function the same as lionfishes, and are poisonous if pricked. His rays basically work like ears. Having two big ones that can flex around. The rest are flexible but not to the same extent. He's got an animalistic DCA body. Except unlike the bulky ones most of you guys know, his is much more limber. He's more agile and also more breakable. His little long tail helps him balance. But it also is probably one of the most emotive tails I've ever made. He also is very small and very young. He is definitely no bigger than a standard human, And he might reach the height of a medium sized dog when he's on four legs. He also is like upper toddler years to child years. He is basically the age of a child.

He doesn't quite have a story yet. Or at least not one I'm entirely happy with. But he does have a personality and a basic story. Basically he lives on the streets as a scavenger. Very very feral cat energy. Like I honestly don't need to say much more than feral cat personality. He kind of has the mannerisms of a child who had to grow up too early. He's incredibly terrified of people and other animatronics. He only interacts with him to get something out of them. Basically using trickery to get a better deal, or run off after they help him. He also has the beloved cannibal bug. Meaning that he usually uses trickery around other animatronics to put them in dangerous situations. Also because of how small his little body is, And also how young he is. He doesn't exactly have the strongest teeth for devouring metal. Preferring things like wires or thin circus boards, instead of full metal bars. Unfortunately he can't really defend much meals that he does get because of the same reasons. Also it's really hard to hunt or devour anything because of how drowsy he is. He really relies on his trickery to get by.

And I think that's all the stuff I really got? Like I said he doesn't have a proper story because he's just sort of a character floating in the void. He's a dream sona that I thought was so cute that I needed to make him real. So he's very much in the works. But he is slowly gaining life. And if you guys want to help me give him a bit more breath. Suggesting the crossover with him is always helpful.

[jajna]

Activity UPDATE

So I been getting back from art block and putting my best foot forward on most sites, mainly art related sites i feel need a proper chance again. By that I mean 1, post more art and 2, interact with others. Which I found highly rewarding before and find I STILL love even when I don’t get likes/reblogs/replies on my posts. Curious~ More of journals and expressive outlets by this point for myself. Course, I love when my posts make friends and others happy or interested xD can’t lie about that! lol But can’t take that for granted or you be disappointed. -shrug- \-(owo)-/ now...... *what do people tend to connect in posts more* ~

- Colors choice are a big one. I am not the best with pigment choices and patience slip up. When you have good color harmony people’s flock! xD - Fanart. Course, they don’t know your OC’s, Relate more to their favorite movie/book/etc. This works out great for me tho, tend to put OC’s or sona to interact with fanart characters. its great! More fun for ME! - Comics/active images. Easier to comment on then say a posing character. - Personal art. I tend to like art more when I know the artist, or at least find them funny, kind or somewhat relate to them emotionally. This is why I think personal art are extremely important. They are putting themselfs out there, connecting with their family/friends/audience despite all trolls/haters/AI and art thiefs. And If I think this are important. Then I bet. Most art lovers are the same. --------- BUT OF COURSE!!

We can’t create for others. no! well, maybe, if it’s your work and you have no choice and need income. o_o; still STiiiiiiiiiiiiiILL To protect you from art blocks and burned out!!!! - it’s important to sometimes like the idea of what you draw! Get it out there and even if nobody interacts with it’s creation, you, are happy its out. create for yourself. /^ U^/ When in an art block I rather sketch faces of all my OC’s, it’s relaxing. no rules about having to look good, surprising how creative one become with the I draw whatever i want mood. - Write a creative list: of things you would want to create for a blue day when the head is empty(butyoufffffSTILLwanttodraw). this goes hand in hand with the first one, but are soooooo fucking handy. ---------------

hum... thinking about all that I started ponder whyyyyyy i post stuff on the internet. like.... For me personally, - It’s mainly friends and art community!!! - I also like using these sites as journals/blogging/outlet. - and some sites are handy portfolios. ;)) not particular important for ME. but you know... people (mainly family lol) get’s curious what you are drawing. ------------------------ and after all that I want to turn to the subject of problematic interactions on the internet.... the creativity killers, trolls/haters/AI art/art thieves................. =____= I know................ better be done with this one quick. Bleeeh.... - Block if they make you uncomfortable, it’s your room. - Delete comments freely. - You don’t own them anything. ----------------------------------------------------- NOW.

Having said all this I am highly aware folks are working/going to school, rather be with family when free and the world are in a stressful position. Becomes even harder if your disabled, easily stressed and got frail income (and so much more!!!!!) Art is not your main focus. Only reason I myself can art every day and be be active online Is I made it a daily activity, to make myself happier. ^^ Because I was retired at an early age of 30. Could not keep up with today’s pressure of society because of my ADHD. Working 8 times a day, doing shores like shower/do dishes/bills/wash clothes and still have energy after for family and friends was impossible. ^^; Was lucky to have a mom who work in the health field so she noticed my difficulties just as I entering my teen years. To not mention, Sweden are one of those countries who take mental health rather seriously. Which is how I can survive without working full time and instead have meetups and the like with others like me almost every day to at least get out from the house. Daily activities or schedules are encouraged. Like going to the gym, hanging with friends an family, working on your interest.

SO YOU MIGHT SEE WHY IT’S EASIER FOR ME!! don’t beat yourself up. I can only do this because of all the support I have and, well, my own urge still wanting to contribute to society. Would not get anything done if I didn’t find art/blogging/journaling interesting. xD I dono If I ever get a proper job. If I have one It have to fit me personally rather then I fitting in a tight mold. I was so frustrated and felt trapped for years. Nowadays I accepted reality but have not abandoned my dreams. Dreams are important. Make art to make yourself happy you guys!!! <3

[messedupessy]

0wO 5, 9, 14, 31, 32, 33, 36, 40? (going thru all u answered already to not ask the same for like 10 mins xD pls appreciate

Awww bless Vass that is really sweet of ye UwU ❤ tho i did answer 36 on another ask just now so skipping it ye, also done 40 as well, but u tried man xD

5. What’s your favourite soundtrack?

Ohh I love them all hella lot, but my ultimate fave got to be Undertale, its the only one that has actually made me shed a tear xD but Bonetrousle, Spiderdance, Spear of Justice, Asgore, Megalovania, a song that might play when you fight sans, sans, dog song etc are also like my faves but Undertale got a special place ye

9. Favourite scene?

There are way too many??? Like srs I am so unable to fucking choose anything when it comes to fave scenes etc as there are so many which I love so much genjkgkjegkjekjge but I guess one of my absolute faves is when you meet Flowey the first time, and you evade all his magic bullets and he goes “You are doing this on purpose, you know what you are doing” and stuff like that I love it xD

14. Which UT character reminds you of your best friend?

I got several best friends, and well none of them really reminds me of them like at all?? like its hard these kind of questions as the asperger/adhd kid I am I like compare them in their entire personality instead of like some parts and in turn it makes it that there is none when in reality there probably is but since I go all in when it comes to the comparison it ends up with nothing xD like its way easier to compare myself to characters than others as well pfft

31. Would you want to fall into underground?

No?? Like firstly I would prolly not survive the fall, and then getting attacked by monsters is not what I call a good time xD I have no idea how I would handle it but would prolly not handle it well because I would be so out of my comfort zone I would shut down pfft, I wouldn’t even leave the ruins greknjgker so yeah no thank you I woul not want to fall into the underground, but if I could visit it and then be able to easily get home and then also not get attacked then I would love to visit ye UwU 

32. Describe or draw your undersona:

I do not have a sona, neither one for UT or for just regular, never had, did have a Sonic one but well it just never really stuck xD I prefer to just use myself with how I look when it comes to represent myself ye, so I am my own sona pff 

33. One reason why you love UT:

All characters are so well written and there is so much depth with all of them even when you just take a quick glance so is there still so damn much to all of them and its so great gekjrgnjekgjke

Undertale ask thingie here ye

[lilli-chae]

A mother and their 8 beautiful children :)

Click for better quality!

Like what I do? Consider buying me a strawberry milk! 🍓🥛

---

This is my BHC sona and my fan kids with Nox. I've been really missing Nox and BHC lately, so I thought I'd draw all of our kids together in a happy little family photo :)

Nox is voiced by @improvidence318, and belongs to @bonelyheartsclub

Arabella (16), Lucidia (15), Verdana (13), Corvallis (13), Cascadia (7), Italo (1), Andina (1), and Halana (1) all belong to me, as does my sona and their design. Fun facts below! 💖

Arabella is the oldest, and takes that role very seriously - and with pride! She loves all of her younger siblings very much, and often plans out when to spend special time with each of her siblings!

Bella's favorite color is lilac purple.

Arabella and Lucidia both take ballet classes and often help each other practice for recitals and other shows! It's one of the activities they bond over most :)

Lucidia's favorite color is orange, and her favorite holiday is Halloween. She loves letting her outfits reflect this fact - her wardrobe is full of black, purple, and orange articles of clothing. Her favorite piece to add to her outfits is her purple adjustable suspenders that Nox got for her birthday when she was 12!

Arabella's bow on her headband is the same bow she was given as a baby. After she grew out of her baby headband, Chae carefully removed the bow and sewed it to a larger, adjustable headband so Bella could continue wearing it as she got older :)

The twins, Verdana and Corvallis, are very in-sync and sometimes seem as though they're communicating through glances and expressions alone.

Verdana's favorite color is pine green, while Corvallis' is ruby red!

Corvallis was technically born first of the two, so he's very protective of his "younger" sibling. This sense of being a protective figure, like his father, only grows stronger as Cascadia, and eventually the triplets are born into the family.

Verdana was referred to as a female at birth, but as they got older they realized they'd like to be nonbinary! It was a change, and remembering the proper pronouns was a little tricky at first, but everyone in the family is super proud of them for pursuing their happiness and makes sure to gently correct those who accidentally use the incorrect pronouns ^^

Cascadia was born six years after the twins, but even despite the age gap between her and her older siblings, she feels very loved and protected by them.

When the older four were off to school, Cascadia was still home with Chae; as such, she would often meet her older siblings with a huge wave, smile, and several excited giggles as they got off the bus from school :))

Cascadia's favorite color is pink - any shade, it doesn't matter. If it's pink, she loves it with a passion. She says it reminds her of her mama's hair, and that's why it's her favorite color.

Like her mama, frogs are Cascadia's favorite animal. She wants to get a pet frog someday and name them Kermit, but she's having a hard time convincing her dad to allow a pet frog in the house...

Until she's able to convince Nox, Cascadia often picks up tiny frogs outside that are in dangerous spots, and places them in a safe space somewher in the yard or garden. She calls every single one of them Kermit.

Lola, the family dog, is a white and chocolate pitbull that has been in the family since before Chae and Nox got married. She is a sweet dog, and is very protective of Chae and the children. She's incredible gentle with them, and loved snuggling Chae's baby belly during every pregnancy.

Cascadia loved getting rides on Lola's back when she was younger, but now often crawls on all fours to play with Lola - both inside, and out in the yard.

The triplets were born six years after Cascadia. First was Italo, then Andina, and finally Halana.

The triplets are all AFAB, and will be given every opportunity to grow and be who they want to be as they get older; as they get a better idea of who they are, and what feels right for them, they may change pronouns.

Italo is the quietest of the three, while Halana likes to make the most noise. Andina sits in the middle of this spectrum, often enjoying quiet time for naps, and gets more energetic during play time!

Andina seems to take special interest in bears, while Italo loves trains :))

Halana is often the fussier of the three

Chae got a hat to replicate the subway bosses from Pokémon for Italo, and often puts on clips of Emmet and Ingo for them when they need them to sit still. The subway master catch their immediate attention every time without fail.

Halana loves the smell of coffee and will more than likely calm down from a fit when she smells it - Chae and Rus often mention that this may be due to Nox usually smelling like coffee; therefore, being a familiar and loving presence that puts her at ease.

When they weren't on maternity leave during each of their pregnancies, Chae was working as musician and sound producer. Nowadays they work freelance, working from home developing music for clients.

Chae and Nox have a custom bed and mattress size that all the kids could fit in if they wanted to. They noticed after the twins were born that each of their children had a tendency to seek them out during the night after nightmares, and eventually they decided to upgrade their bed so the kids could crawl in and snuggle with their parents whenever they need :))

Nox and Chae never miss a recital, school play, choir/band concert, musical - anything. Any and every performance, they are there in the crowd cheering on their children with pride and joy!!

They often go Christmas caroling through their neighborhood during the Gyftmas holiday season.

During Thanksgiving, the family often celebrate twice; once with the Nox family and Rus, and once with all their uncles at the family house across town.

Arabella loves to help her mom cook during family holiday get-togethers.

Cascadia adores her Uncle Rus and his anxiety service dog, Sherb, who's been in the family a little longer than Lola.

Sherb is a German shepherd that Nox had specially trained to help Rus handle his anxiety better. She, like Lola, becomes very protective of the family as it grows.

The triplets can be often found napping near Lola and Sherb during the holidays while everyone is busy cooking, setting up, etc.

Whenever Halana is fussy during family functions, and Chae and Nox are not able to hold her and calm her down right away, Sans will take her and rock her gently in his arms. He has a very soothing presence that often lulls her right to sleep.

Papyrus loves his nieces and nephew, and is often the first one to offer his expert babysitting abilities to give Chae and Nox a break every now and again.

Blue and Red have definitely included the kids in a prank war more than once or twice.

Chae and Poplar do yoga together occasionally, which Cascadia loves to join every time.

For Gyftmas one year, just after the triplets were born, Ash gave Verdana a book on gardening, and they use it to grow several indoor and outdoor plants.

Ash and Verdana often spend time bonding over their love of plants and wildlife.

Corvallis picks up his love for leather jackets from his Uncle Boss - he loves going shopping for clothes and shoes with him on weekends occasionally!

Much like his mother, Corvallis loves playfully bantering with Boss. Because of this, and his desire to be more like his dad, he develops a very sharp wit.

Blue often facilitates family movie nights whenever the kids are at the family house. They usually consist of classic DreamWorks movies - the family favorite for the kids, so far, is Megamind. The Kung Fu Panda series is a close second for them because of their mother's fond history with learning and teaching kung fu long ago :)))

Nicknames and pronouns:

Arabella: Bella, she/her

Lucidia: Luci, she/her

Verdana: no preferred nickname, they/them

Corvallis: Corv, he/him

Cascadia: Cassi, she/her

Italo: no preferred nickname, she/her -> they/them (eventually)

Andina: Andi, she/her

Halana: no preferred nickname, she/her -> she/they (eventually)

[purplebass]

The maturity of The Last Hours characters

I really don’t know how to name this, lmao. But yeah. In this post I will try to rate (?) the level of maturity of the characters from The Last Hours. I’m only analyzing the young people, if you want a post about The Infernal Devices characters or The Mortal Instruments characters (since I still have to read TDA to this day), I can also do that. But this post will focus on the “children”.

I don’t like using the word children for these characters because they are not children so to speak, but there are some characters which are more childish than the others. I tried to outline some characters to also show how they are mirroring each other. You’ll see how funny that most of the characters who share similar storylines may not like each other too much and may also not have the same maturity, but some of them are also each other’s love interests.

I apologize for the length of this essay, but I tried to cover every character.

First, a disclaimer: I don’t consider these groups I made as strict, because of course, you can’t rate a person’s maturity. This is just a way to show you the careful planning behind the characters and I’m just trying to organize them based on logic and observation. 

The first “group” I’ll analyze is the one with the character I believe are the most mature, that we can also divide in “denied childhood” and “happy childhood”. In my opinion, in this group we have Alastair, Ariadne, Anna, Thomas and Jesse. They aren’t just the oldest, they are also the ones who have always acted maturely throughout CoG. What differs between the characters I cited above is their upbringing.

Rejected Children

Alastair and Ariadne always had to fight for their parents’ approval and Alastair also had to take his father’s place whenever he was “sick”. Alastair couldn’t live his childhood the way a normal child usually does. To add fuel to the fire we also have to consider the moment when Cortana rejects Alastair when Elias is also present: that’s the metaphor of Elias rejection of Alastair as his son. This also connects with the theory of Alastair not being Elias’ son and I already think Alastair has found out about this. Ariadne also has similarities with Alastair’s situation and mirrors his situation in the opposite way. Her parents were killed when she was young. She was adopted, yes, but I reckon that the Bridgestock family has also a lot of prejudices? And they also disapprove of Ariadne seeing Anna.

Alastair and Ariadne are the “rejected children” because despite they do everything in order to keep the harmony in their households (Alastair by cleaning after Elias and Ariadne by being a perfect smart lady), they always feel like they do not deserve to be loved, because their parents never make them feel truly loved or if they do, they don’t see it (because it’s evident to me that Cordelia loves Alastair very much and Sona does too, even if she doesn’t openly show it). On the other hand, they did so much as to agree to their family’s requests even if they didn’t want to, because that’s how what they believed they had to do in order to be loved.

Alastair’s first infatuation was Charles, with whom he fell in love but that he also idealized like he probably idealized his father. Alastair, who wanted to get Elias’ attention the most but also protect Cordelia and Sona from his father’s issues, fell for another man with a problematic ego like Charles. Ariadne’s first love was Anna, but Ariadne’s parents don’t approve of her. She is naturally well-liked by shadowhunters and downworlders alike because of her personality, her confidence. Ironic, but also not ironic, that Charles is the “link” between Alastair and Ariadne. Unlike Alastair who continued seeing Charles, Anna refused to keep seeing Ariadne after her engagement with Charles.

Both Alastair and Ariadne are mature people but they also have trust issues. They often see things in a negative way because that’s what they’ve been taught: no matter what you do, you are not valuable. You could know 30 languages but you’d still be useless. In Alastair’s case, I think we’ll soon see how Thomas, who is his love interest, will show him that he is worthy of love but he will also realize that is worthy of love, or he won’t be able to love 360°. In Ariadne’s, we saw at the end of CoG how she is going to show Anna that she’s going to win her back.

Anna and Thomas are the mature characters who had a happy childhood more or less. They grew up in a peaceful environment, with parents who always tried to do their best for them and who also showed them a lot of love. And their brothers and sisters as well are also very protective of both. Plus, they are cousins, which means that they are also protective with each other. But don’t think that they have it easier compared to Alastair and Ariadne, because they also had issues.

When Anna first realized that she didn’t like men and she also didn’t like to dress like a woman, and stole Christopher’s clothes, she tried to hide it. Why? Because as much as your parents seem lovely people and they also accept your wishes (like when Anna didn’t want to go to the Academy and she said she would become a mundane bullfighter if they forced her to go lmao), you never know what they would think about this. Anna, who loved her parents very much, preferred to keep her double life hidden from them. When her parents discovered she was genderqueer, they accepted her. I hope people realize how great this is, because at the beginning of the XX century many people had to lie to their family because they would never accept their daughter or their son going against the “respectability” of the time. Like I wrote on another post, you were considered devious if you were not straight. Anna didn’t want to burden her parents with the fact that she didn’t like men or wear pretty women dresses like society expected her to, but her parents were proud of her regardless. When Cecily discovers Anna’s orientation and gives her a suit as a gift, it’s the moment when Anna can truly be herself and she doesn’t care what the other people think, because that is herself. They either accept it, or they stay away from her. Anna is a very mature also because it’s hard to hear people whisper about you and spread rumors about the life you chose to live. She’s very brave.

Thomas is the last of three children, and his oldest sisters have always tried to protect him because he’s always been a sickly child. Remember that CC posted a cute Christmas story with Gideon and Thomas and Will and James where Gideon is concerned because his son didn’t seem to grow up like a normal child. This is why for years his family tried to protect him. They feared he could die, so Thomas was always under the watchful eyes of someone and he grew tired of this. He appreciated the attention but he also wanted to be alone, and after he got better and went to Spain after the Academy, he became stronger, more mature, and independent. Thomas is quite fatherly in my opinion, as that he is wise and kind, he always tries to see the positive in every situation.

Then we have Jesse. Like Thomas, Jesse was also protected by Tatiana and was a sickly child. In the Christmas story I mentioned above, we see how when Gideon sees Jesse, he reminds him of Thomas. Jesse is Charles’ age, but since he’s technically dead, he still has the body of a 17-year-old. From what we saw, it was evident that Jesse is a respectful person and that he is also selfless. He spent a lot of years in solitude and is a person with manners. Remember what Lucie says? “A ghost with a sense of property.” He also enters in the denied childhood group in my opinion, because as much as Tatiana seemed to have taken care of him and we see how she clings on his body to the point of trying to perform necromancy to bring him back, he also didn’t live a normal childhood. His mother never let him become a shadowhunter, she never let him meet his uncles, aunts and cousins. She never let him meet other shadowhunters. She probably never gave him proper education and all that Jesse knows he learnt it by reading books. Jesse is on the opposite side of the spectrum where Alastair and Ariadne are, but he’s also divided between his life (where he was very innocent and sheltered) and his death (where he matured because he could finally explore the world his mother denied him to see).

You see, aside from Jesse, it is no wonder Alastair, Thomas, Ariadne and Anna were paired together. Not only they are the mature characters, they are also mirroring each other’s journey: Alastair had a difficult childhood while Thomas was too protected. Anna had nice parents while Ariadne lost hers when she was little and her adoptive parents are probably racists and homophobes.

In the second “group”, which I called in the middle, there are characters I consider mature but also not. These characters have acted maturely in some occasions, while they were childish during other occasions. I’ll analyze the ones with happy childhoods first.

Unfiltered Childhood, Sheltered Childhood

James is often described as a responsible and shy guy. James hit the jackpot with his parents too, because we see how close he is with them and how they always support him whatever he does and try to protect him at the same time, when they can. But even James has issues, especially after he turned into a shadow in front of everyone when he was 13. This made him not only believe he is damned (“my father was cursed, whereas I am damned”). He was also bullied because he is part-demon, and he didn’t take this lightly, as we see every time, he risks to turn into a shadow he has a sort of panic attack. James is the older son and has the tendency to cover up for Lucie and all of his closest friends. Despite everything, we can say James had a happy childhood. He was wanted, he was loved, he was protected, but his parents also treated him as an adult and let him and Lucie into the rough stuff of their pasts, hence he had un unfiltered childhood. He knew about the gory details of life early on. In a short story Will gives James, who is 1-2 years old, a damn knife in his hands! If this isn’t someone who doesn’t use a filter with his kids, I don’t know what that is. I think that it was Jesse who was shocked to hear from Lucie that she knew about his grandfather turning into a worm. He didn’t think it was a story fit for kids. I believe that James is mature but he still has some things to face to really be mature, that’s why I put him in this group. But among the Merry Thieves, he is the second most mature, imo. He is the big wise brother. You could argue: and Christopher? I’ll explain later why Christopher is on another level of maturity, wait. Lol.

Cordelia is the second mature character from this group and she is opposed to James. Why? Unlike James who was exposed to reality from a young age and knew about things that a teenager probably shouldn’t know; Cordelia was filled with lies because her family wanted to protect her childhood and didn’t think she should know the harshness of life early on. We see when CoG starts how she’s still innocent and how she had a sheltered childhood. Not only because it will be the first time in years that she will be around other guys her age, but also because until Alastair tells her what he had to cover so that she would have a childhood, she was clueless. Literally. She had been treated like a little girl by Alastair and Sona, when Cordelia was probably able to handle the truth. Cordelia didn’t grow up in a bad environment – besides her father’s problems, which Cordelia was mostly left out because Sona and Alastair kept the secret – but we may discover more things in CoI. Anyway, Cordelia is mature for her age, and she stands up for herself even if it hurts, which isn’t an easy feat.

Denied Childhood

The last of this group is Matthew. Alastair gave him the nickname “Mother Hen Fairchild”. You guys don’t know much Alastair understood about Matthew by giving him this nickname. Matthew is wealthy, wealthier than the others, but this doesn’t mean he had a happy life. On the other hand, Matthew’s only lifeline was his father Henry. You can tell Matthew loves his father, tried to protect him, which is a cute thing to do, but at what expense? For one, his childhood. Matthew is a sociable person, loves to be around people, but when he grew up in Idris, the main thing he did was take care of Henry. I don’t think Henry asked him to do it, nor did Charlotte, but he took it upon himself to do so. After all, Henry is disabled, he really needs help and Matthew just wanted to show his father he appreciated him, but I don’t think he or Charlotte understood that as a natural helper, Matthew would also be drained by this activity. He also didn’t want to leave Henry alone when he left for the Academy, which is also a sign he thinks that one of the things he has to do in order to keep his family intact (especially after the rumor about Charlotte and Gideon) is to take care of Henry. He is indeed a “motherly” figure in the Merry Thieves and to his own father, to some degree. Because of this upbringing, it’s like Matthew never truly lived his childhood like a normal child. And now that he is 17 and is using alcohol as a copying mechanism, it’s like he’s already become metaphorically old, because at that time alcohol abuse was something you’d expect from a middle-aged man.

As you see, these three characters are also expected to be in a sort of triangle, even if we don’t know the extents of this relationship yet. But we’ll surely have a lot to see.

Partially Mature (Still Innocent to Some Degree)

I’m finally at the last group!!! YAY me. I hope you read so far. These are the characters I still consider innocent and that in CoI will have a bigger storyline and we’ll also see them become more mature and face more harsh reality.

Happy Childhood

The first person from this group is Lucie. Lucie is 16, just one year younger than her brother and her best friend Cordelia. Like James, Lucie has been exposed to the harshness of life from a young age, since her parents didn’t keep many secrets with her. But Lucie is still innocent to some degree, and adventurous like a child, but we see that she isn’t able to stay calm whenever things get out of hand and people (including herself) get hurt, because one thing is hearing stories, another is actually being part of those gory stories. First, she has never been in love. I know this sounds silly, but a lot of teenagers start seeing the world differently after they fall in love with someone, truly in love. I’m not talking about infatuation here. It’s also the first time after years of dead calm that London is plagued by a new enemy, which means it’s also the very first time for Lucie – unlike James and the Merry Thieves – to finally face the stories she’s heard from her parents and the fantasy stories she’s invented as a writer. Getting to know Jesse has helped, because he is a very mature character who is opposed to her because he had a very sheltered childhood and he learnt about life just when he turned into a ghost. Since Lucie is on the cover of CoI, she’ll definitely mature more in that book.

Christopher is also innocent. He is smart, he is way more intelligent than everyone imo, but he lives in his own world sometimes. He, like Lucie, had a happy childhood and was very protected by his older sister Anna and of course his parents. But he was also let on in the secrets of the Lightwood family (like the Benedict Lightworm story), so we can say to this point that he is innocent but he also is mature because he uses his logic to make decisions. Of the Merry Thieves he's surely the youngest son, because the other guys always look after him – especially Thomas. In CoI we will probably also see his maturity journey, because so far, he appeared very absent-minded, lost in his thoughts, always trying to come up with solutions to save other people, which is admirable. I think that besides as a plot device, the fact that Belial/Tatiana hurt him with demonic poison was also a way to make Christopher aware that he should also be ready to fight as a shadowhunter other than cultivate his passion for science. I mean, he’ll probably have moments where he could use (like Henry in TID) what he invents as a useful tool in battle.

Denied Childhood

Last but not last, we have Grace. Grace is in this part of the spectrum because she is still very innocent, since she’s lived most of her life brainwashed by Tatiana/Belial. The person we see is not probably the real Grace, but a mannequin. She is also smart because her engagement to Charles was a way to escape her mother’s manipulation, but until she came to London, her whole life has been sheltered, Tatiana has told her lies, has molded her the way she wanted Grace to act as a mean to her revenge. Grace has suffered the same gaslighting Tatiana suffered from Benedict Lightwood, except Grace is aware of this and is trying to find ways to escape. Spending time with Ariadne and Lucie will only make her more conscious of who she really is, but it will be a long way because she still seems like a frail flower sometimes. She also seems not to have received training, so she’s even more in danger. CoI will probably feature a new side of Grace, and we’ll see her throw her innocence away (well, not literally, guys) and be more self-aware.

If we were to follow the logic I used so far, we’d see that Christopher and Grace might become love interests. If we look at the structure of the plot and of the couples we have so far, they are opposites but also similar. I know that many people don’t like Grace, but I believe that if she gets an arc where we see how she can give as a character, she may grow on us. Anyway, mine is just an assumption, I can be wrong. As for Lucie and Jesse, it’s only fitting the that the partially mature character and the character who wasn’t mature when he was alive and who became mature when he died, are going to be each other’s love interests. They are half-away. It’s only fitting because Lucie can also “call” ghosts who are still stuck in the living world (in the middle between life and death): understand what I mean?

Ok, I think I can close this essay by saying thank you for reading so far! But also, if you have ideas or comments etc, you can write in my ask box. As you see, I like to discuss about characters and plots, so I’m happy if you shot me a message, even in anon.

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any hayley or steve childhood headcanons hell add stan if thats ok!!

oo !!

hayley ones:

hayley was always bringing weird animals inside and trying to convince stan and francine to let her keep them. multiple instances of her running inside, covered in dirt, and holding a garter snake begging ‘please please can we keep her??’ while steve screams in terror.

that hc i mentioned of francine always standing up for the other kids ,, hayley inherited that trait. my god she was The Most protective kid during her school years, she absolutely refused to let anyone get walked over when she knew they didn’t deserve it.

hayley was a wolf girl growing up,, change my mind. and black wolves were always her fave.

hayley definitely read animorphs growing up. those books shaped her and her fave character was cassie,,, also once she got more comfortable with living with roger she bullied him for not looking as cool as an andalite or a hork-bajir.

hayley went through an emo phase during her middle and high school years. she tried really hard to get an emo fringe, she was always blasting mcr and the used and three days grace, and her first job was at a hot topic.

hayley and stan were obviously tight-knit buds back in the day. like ,, she’d set up tea parties for them in the backyard, going out to movies was almost a weekly activity for the two of them, they were always planning picnics together,, they were really close. also every time they went to familyland together, hayley was always trying to drag him along with her to the more Extreme rides. francine kept telling her she’d go since she knew stan wasn’t the biggest fan of those rides like she was, but hayley kept insisting and it’d always end with stan near traumatized. big cia man goes on scary missions daily but he can’t handle a little roller coaster.

hayley’s hair was . pretty often a Mess when she was young. it was staticky, always sticking up at some angle, she often got too excited that she never took the time to comb out her hair in the mornings. plus it’s always been a habit of hers to play with her hair whenever she gets too excited or nervous, so even if she got it all straightened out it’d still turn into a mess by the end of the day.

hayley was always covered in scrapes and bruises. there was never a day where she didn’t have a bandaid somewhere.

she was a really tall kid during elementary school. she was almost always the tallest kid in her class. around high school everyone outgrew her though and now she’s . really short compared to most people her age, but yeah when she was little . Tall Girl (2019).

hayley skateboarded in middle school, and she was really damn good at it. she got in loads of trouble for skateboarding on school property and she thought she was the coolest kid for doing it.

stan and francine tried really hard not to curse around hayley when she was little (once steve came around they gave up trying), but occasionally something would slip out and hayley would always parrot it. stan looking at a bill and muttering ‘shit’ and then in the living room hearing what is obviously a toddler screaming ‘SHIT’

hayley, like steve, was always kinda lonely during her school years. steve eventually found friends in snot, barry, toshi, and roger too once he moved in, but hayley never really learned proper social skills as she was often pushed away for being the loud rowdy ‘annoying’ kid, and they always viewed her attempts to try to get close to others as too ‘desperate’. she has found friends in her adulthood, but yeah during her childhood she mostly just stuck around her family.

hayley was That Kid who would always use those fake clip-on earrings you’d get from claires, as well as cutting up the spiral from her notebook to use as a fake lip piercing, and she’d spend all day trying to convince her classmates ‘yeah no it’s real’

hayley liked stealing her dad’s camera and using it to film fake vlogs. they have multiple reels that go from cute family videos, to hayley making lps vids and fake cooking tutorials.

hayley drew a lot growing up and francine still has dozens of her drawings magneted to the fridge. hayley’s always cringing and asking her to take them down, but tbh francine’s never going to.

hayley’s always loved being outside at night. occasionally she’d sneak steve out with her to play in the backyard and it’d always lead to them in the treehouse, and stan catching them because they kept shining their flashlight against their bedroom window.

steve ones:

steve’s definitely adhd, autistic, and dyslexic. (the latter’s literally canon, and the two former ones are hcs that to me feel so obvious that i’m always a little hesitant calling it a hc). i really like imagining his parents being really patient with him in this area, even stan learned to be more composed and gentle with him when it came to this, and the two of them helping him find ways to cope. francine especially enjoyed nights helping him read.

steve’s interest in birds has been with him for pretty much his entire life, i like to imagine it’s always been his biggest special interest. also i’ve noticed there’s random scenes where stan’s displayed a bit of an interest or at least an appreciation of birds, so i kinda like to imagine stan used to take steve to the park for birdwatching trips when he was young before steve started going with roger. sometimes francine and hayley would tag along, but mostly it was just stan taking steve out and listening to him ramble about all the birds he’s spotting,, every time steve had a bad day stan’s immediate solution was to take him to the park.

when roger first moved in, he and steve were inseparable. steve was obsessed with learning everything about him and his species and his home planet, while roger saw steve as the one safe person to be around (francine, hayley, and klaus were still anxious towards him while stan was too strict and controlling for him). for a good few months until he started bonding with the rest of the fam roger would get really mopey whenever steve would go to school or leave to hang with his other friends, and the second steve walked through that door roger would excitedly hug him and try to lead him off to go do something together.

@a-d-lesbian got me into the hc that steve’s a theater kid and like ,, i’m always thinking about steve getting a tiny little background role in a 6th grade christmas show that they were required to do as a class, and he just loses his mind. he convinces stan and francine to let him invite the grandparents, he has francine film every scene he’s in where he just . Stands There. and then after the show when they get home he makes them all rewatch them all because he’s really damn proud of himself.

steve’s fave books growing up were always xenofiction. stuff like warrior cats and guardians of ga’hoole and redwall. he loved that shit. like i’m just imagining him trying to get his friends to larp warrior cats but none of them read it so they don’t know what he wants them to do, and he keeps assigning them warrior cat sonas and calling them by warrior cat names at school,, and he keeps calling god ‘starclan’ (which makes stan. Mad). am i projecting? that’s a secret, i’ll never tell.

steve was absolutely the Anime Kid in middle school. the amount of times he got yelled at for naruto running in the hallways was far too much. and his faves were fruits basket, nichijou, and k-on.

i’m so obviously projecting with my steve hcs here but i’m not gonna stop and i’m gonna say steve’s a trans guy. i know it makes no sense in canon, but canon’s dead it’s mine now. anyways he’s known since around the time he started middle school, and stan and francine love him and support him and i don’t have much else to say without getting Too Projecting, but yeah steve’s trans.

steve was pretty socially anxious growing up. he did get better as he grew older obv, but when he was little he was A Mess in school.

steve loved making flower crowns when he was little. he learned how to in his 2nd grade art class and just obsessed over it for a good few years and he was always making them for the fam. francine, stan, and hayley didn’t mind, they thought it was cute. i can see hayley learning to make them too and the two of them exchanging crowns,, and francine probably learned how to make some too during her college years and steve would always get really excited whenever she tried making some with him. poor roger though, once he moved in, steve took him as his new model and roger was forced to suffer through sitting in the hot sun while steve covered him in flowers.

steve never stopped singing. oh my god, stan loves him but he eventually reached a point where he started hiding their disney movies because steve would always loudly sing along and he just wanted some peace and quiet to work.

i like to imagine klaus has a sibling-esque relationship with pretty much the entire fam, but especially with steve. he was always pretty protective of him despite not really being able to do anything if he got hurt, and klaus was always there to talk to whenever steve needed it.

steve’s always liked to help francine bake. originally it was just so he could claim the mixer of batter before hayley could, but he quickly got really invested and he still loves helping out.

and in general for the both of them:

steve was the type of kid who bonked his head against the table a little and would spend the rest of the night crying while francine comforted him,, while hayley was the type of kid who could fly down the stairs and leave an actual dent in the wall and she’d still jump up assuring everyone ‘i’m okay!!’

hayley and steve used to play pokemon together growing up. hayley was more casually into it while steve was more obsessed (i like to imagine it was a special interest of his growing up). nowadays hayley doesn’t play it too often, but every now and then some big news will happen like new starters getting revealed, and steve will show her and hayley still can’t help but get at least a bit excited each time.

francine tried to do cute little family halloween costumes a few years. the idea of them doing an addams family group costume is precious.

francine always took them out for christmas photos every year. just dozens of photos of the four of them in the tackiest sweaters. they don’t do it as often anymore (or at least they don’t take as many photos outside of a few while they’re setting up the tree) but they still have framed photos of them that they set on the fireplace mantle every year.

listen …….. there were definitely multiple instances when they were really little of stan coming home from work ,, and steve and hayley excitedly tackling him,,,, and stan dramatically acting like he’s being attacked and losing ,,,

despite roger being a Dick, he was super protective of the two of them back in the day. either of them come home from school with a bruise, and roger’s already planning out an elaborate revenge scheme.

as for stan ,,

i’m adopting @stancine’s hc to say he was definitely a country boy. i kinda like to imagine his uncle on his mother’s side lived on a farm, and stan was really close to him growing up and it just sorta became monthly to take weekend trips to see him.

stan loved horses. he was definitely a Horse Kid, and his fave breeds are clydesdales and friesians.

sheep too!! one of his favorite yearly activities is during the springtime when his uncle helps him out with shearing the sheep.

also stan loved camping. he loved going out on walks through the woods and he especially loved fishing, but the second the sun went down he cowered in the back of the tent next to his mom because he was terrified of the noises coming from outside.

stan was a really quiet kid growing up. he sucked at properly standing up for himself, that’s kinda the reason he’s so harsh on steve for accepting mistreatment because he knows how hard it is and he doesn’t want his son to go through the same shit he did.

mother’s day was always one of his favorite holidays. he’d be obsessed with planning the whole day around trying to make it perfect for betty. making her breakfast in bed and saving up his allowance to buy her a gift, and he’d always make elaborate art projects for her every year.

stan . tried to learn how to ride a motorcycle in high school. it was this random obsession he got for no reason where he just really wanted one, but he always panicked whenever he got the chance to try one out. never even got his permit because he was so scared.

stan had a lot of pent-up anger as a kid that he never even recognized as anger until he got older. because of that he often broke his toys on accident because something wasn’t working correctly, and sometimes he’d snap at teachers on accident. obv he still had a problem with it but at least now he knows what’s going on and can at least try to work on dealing with it.

betty used to read to stan at night when he was really young. they didn’t have many books around so it was just stan listening to her read the same four dr. seuss books over and over. he didn’t mind though.

stan’s always loved writing and a good chunk of his free time was writing little short stories. he took a creative writing class in high school and he almost immediately became the teacher’s pet.

stan was a pretty lonely socially inept kid and i like to think growing up he tried getting a lot of his ‘advice’ on how to interact with others through television. one time he tried to get a girl’s attention by doing the ‘throwing pebbles at their window’ trope, but he fucked up and got too big a stone and threw it too hard, and just shattered this poor girl’s window. and stan spent the rest of the night crying in his room before caving and turning himself in.

i can see him being really into superheroes when he was younger. just him bounding around the house with a blanket for a cape, acting out random scenes he read out of the latest issue he bought.

stan was obv a dog kid. he’d often find himself going to the adoption shelter near his house just to see the dogs there whenever he was feeling down. and his fave breeds were golden retrievers, pit bulls, and shelties.

god i have tons more for all of them but i’m gonna stop because this is already long enough as it is.

[fantroll-purgatory]

I’ve been a little afraid to submit this one since it’s my sona and I’m a terribly flawed person but here we go, don’t hold back.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Albino Isn’t A Personality.

You shouldn’t be so self-depreciating! Don’t talk like this about yourself or about your creations. It’s not a good habit for your mental health (or to spout to strangers), as temporarily relieving as it can be. As for your characters- if you know that you’re having a problem with them, try to work on that problem instead of just throwing your hands up like this. You have creative concepts, so I know you can let your character development fly with a little more elbow grease! 

For this reason, I’m going to cut out all your additional self-depreciating jokes! No self-disparaging on this blog! 

World: Honestly? No clue. My memory of Beforus is a little iffy, so I can’t remember if it has/had limebloods.

Beforus does have limebloods! Though they’re called yellowgreens over there. I think we might lean into the beforus thing here just to give you some more wiggle room than being stuck with another Lime Rescued By Jade story. 

Name: Ablanc Canois  Age: 7 Sweeps

Theme/Story: So I kinda just made him albino for fun, because my sign is lime and regular old mutants are boring. I was thinking maybe some overly soft jadeblood hid him until he was old enough to survive deeper underground?

Like I said, I want to shift this more towards a Beforus Story than an Alternian one. I might keep the cave thing, though, and maybe consider the low-light adaptation angle? I Think instead of just being an albino troll, you could go with a Depigmented troll, like the condition arachnids get when they live in caves for extended periods of time but in fast forward. Maybe he was accidentally left in the caverns for longer than intended/got lost and had to survive on his own until eventually being rescued and culled into the hands of a jade when he was a toddler troll? Feral Wolf Child type of troll but with a cave crawler bug instead.  Goals: I’d say the sprite is pretty good for my standards, but I might be completely wrong so you can take a look if you really want. Mostly I just need help with [reworking the personality to make it stronger].

I think your sprite is definitely pretty good! My only recommendation might be changing the outline on the sweater to a lighter gray instead of black, since that makes the sweater detail hard to see. And maybe in inverse of that, turning the hair’s outline black so that it stands out better against the skin. 

Strife Specibus: Scissorkind, don’t ask me why because I have no clue.

Baby Ablanc: [running around the house with scissors]

Their Custodian: no! no!! get back here!! Fetch Modus: Probably something with memory since I’m really forgetful and irony am I right kids

It could be something the jade custodian gave him to try to force him to practice! Or you could do something even more blatant in that regard, like a Manners Modus where the jade custodian tries to get him to Practice Etiquette With His Modus.  Blood Color: Albino Lime, or just lime if you want. Symbol and Meaning: Cano Handle: concernedConfusion (My most common mood)

Relatable! But I think we should tug in the interests you have a little more. Maybe confusedProgrammateur? The latter part is a mashup of Programmer and Amateur, to reflect that he’s very new to the skill but still working on it!  Quirk: Er… I’m not very good at quirks.

You can probably just base what he does around your own habits or quirks! If there’s a particular piece of media you like or something, you could try to theme it around that? Since you like fluffy things, you could also consider adding *** around his sentences to create some Pompoms, For Fluffiness. **his sentences are soft and fluffy just like him*** Special Abilities: Since we don’t really know what limes could do, I’ll skip over that. He can see without any light though.

Limes are said to either have soothing abilities or have powers that let them manipulate the natural world! Like, firebending. Those are just theories, though, and not everyone of every caste has powers, so I think it can definitely slide. The low light conditions are accounted for in the backstory I gave! He can see well in darkvision hours. The tradeoff is that he probably can’t see AS well in the light. Still adjusting even after all these sweeps.  Lusus/Guardian: uuuuuuuuuuuh

Like I said above, Jade Custodian is probably the way to go.  Interests: Oh boy. Writing, drawing, programming, none of which he’s actually very good at. Also likes fluffy things.

Being “good” doesn’t matter as long as you’re enjoying it, that’s what hobbies are for. No Commodification Of Pleasures On This Humble Blog. You should try writing up a Homestuck Intro style introduction for yourself so you can see if you can remember more particular interests to add to the list. What kind of programming do you like in particular? What sort of stories do you like to write/read? Having an interest in writing usually comes from a place of liking a particular genre, right? 

Personality: Acts confused and annoyed by people to make them go away, wants friends but doesn’t think the ones he has actually like him. Very self-deprecating. Is this based too much on me?

It’s a trollsona, that’s what trollsonas are for! But you do gotta remember to try to integrate to the environment. What would you feel like or be like under these new circumstances we’ve imposed?  Lunar Sway: Derse

You need to put more emphasis on dissatisfaction if you want to play up the derse side. What do you want to fight against? What aspects of yourself do you hide or struggle to hide? Remember that the fight can be silly if you want. Is your rebellion against society or against your Troll Mom for not letting you run with scissors? Either one can a dersite make.  Title: Rogue/Page of Heart.

Interesting choices for sure. It’s always hard to classpect for trollsonas since I don’t know you or your Life Arc personally, but I think from this character writeup I might be leaning Page of Heart. You’re in that Potentiality Phase, now, where you’ve got to build up and strength your sense of identity before you can put it to proper work.  Land: You might know by now I suck at land.

How about… the Land of Honey and Drops, a cavernous planet that smells of honey, fragrant and floral and sweet, it is easy to lose yourself here, to walk among the caves forever and to forget who you are. The inhabitants of this planet are kept wandering husks by the perfumed honey and need your help to rally them and help them take back their identities. 

Anyway I’m going to go rethink my life choices. Thanks for tolerating all my requests. You guys are the best.

Don’t rethink your life choices, be excited you sent in a neat character. That’s what we’re here for after all! Thank you for sharing and I hope this all helped!

-CD

[ladybuvelle]

The Haunted House

“Mikael! Where did you go?!”

The young woman’s voice was soft, and to compensate she had to yell all the louder. Her heels made it hard to run so much. Yet their mother had insisted that if she wanted to be a proper lady someday she had to start dressing the part. That meant at least a small heel on her boots and more layers to her dress than she was comfortable with in the summer sun.

“Rosa! Look! It’s there!” Mikael was excited, his voice still high and his eyes still bright as expected of a boy his age. He’d ran all the way to the edge of the Buvelle lands before his sister had been able to catch up, and once the mansion was in sight he made sure to keep a safe distance.

After all, the place was haunted. Or that’s what some people said.

“How many times have I told you...” the young woman scolded him breathlessly, trying to clean off her nice boots on some grass, “We shouldn’t be here. Mother told us not to go near this place.”

“It doesn’t look so bad, though” the boy observed, almost as if he’d stopped paying attention to his sister entirely. Which he probably had.

The Buvelle Manse wasn’t as big or as old as some more prominent noble estates. The Crownguards, for example, dwarfed the building and acres of land both. There were no stables or outer huts or homes for servants, merely a two-story mansion flanked by tall outer walls and shrubbery that was over-grown. In the right like, perhaps, the place could look spooky. On a misty moonlit night, with the overgrowth and the cracks in the white stucco and brick that were long for repairs, maybe so.

But in the bright summer daylight the area looked inoffensive enough. Quiet. Still. Perhaps that’s what gave it such an eerie quality no matter the time or weather; by all accounts one would think no one lived there anymore.

Everyone knew Sona Buvelle did live there, though. But since the death of the polarizing Lestara Buvelle she’d become reclusive. The mansion became quiet. Mysterious. Scary. A subject worthy of rumor and ghostly tales on long winter nights; the Mute in the Mansion, a beautiful but unknowable foreigner whose adoptive mother died under mysterious circumstances. A musician of famed skill, whose songs could bring peace to whomever heard them.

“Do you really think a witch lives here?” Mikael spoke in a near whisper, hands on his knees and leaning down for cover. At though the ‘witch’ might spot him from his rather open hiding place.

“She’s not a witch, Mikael...” Rosa chastised him. “Lady Buvelle is a noblewoman. They don’t allow witches to become noblewomen, now do they?”

“But what if they don’t know she’s a witch?” he asked back in the simple way little brothers did.

“Are you stupid?” she cast a doubting glance at her brother, “Of course they’d know if they was a witch!”

“Then why does everyone say that?”

Exasperated, Rosa rolled her dark blue eyes. “Because people are jealous and mean! Besides, if Lady Buvelle really was a witch she wouldn’t be able to live in Demacia.”

“Because of the walls?” Mikael grinned, feeling clever.

Rosa nodded. “Because of the petricite. It protects us, right? So she can’t be a witch. She’d... turn to dust or something!”

“Whoa!” the boy stood to attention, “Is that really what happens?!”

“I-I don’t know! It’s not like I’ve ever seen it!” Rosa crossed her arms and looked away. It was such an unpleasant thing to think about. What if they did? “So anyway... can we please go back? I don’t like being here...”

“Why?” he tested her, in the way little brothers did, “You said she’s not a witch, so...”

“This is her land. So we’re trespassing if we stay here like this!”

“Are you sure you’re not scared?”

“No! Why would I be scared?!”

“You sound scared.”

“I’m not scared!!”

“What if she’s a witch who eats kids?!”

“I said she’s not a witch!!”

“But we’re outside the city walls, so you don’t know for sure! And you’re scared!”

“I’m not, Mikael! Stop it! We’re going home before we get into trouble!”

When Rosa was pushed too far she wasn’t afraid to grab her little brother by the ear and drag him along if need be. But being the clever boy he was he’d learned to dodge under her initial grab and run away. He knew Rosa couldn’t catch him. Not in those boots. But she certainly would try.

Though she called for him again and again, Mikael’s mind was set. He ran for the manse walls and around the nearest corner to escape from his sister’s sight. The vines that grew from large, overgrown shrubs were even longer on its east side with small, sweet little flowers that had begun to close as the sun had passed. They looked strong bunched together. Strong enough to climb, perhaps, if you were a young boy.

Of course he didn’t even think of the consequences. Mikael braced his feet to the old, textured wall and climbed right on up. By the time his sister had caught up only the husks of broken flowers remained where he had been, yet in her haste Rosa hadn’t noticed them.

“Mikael! Mikael!! Mother is going to be so angry at you!” she called, but the boy didn’t answer. His sister hadn’t looked up to see him at the top of the wall hanging over it, and he watched her run off and away to continue searching for him. It was all he could do to contain his own laughter.

When he looked up and behind himself, only then did he realize what he’d just done. He could see into the dense gardens behind the manse, with lush tress and overgrown rows of flowering bushes and patches of grass. Some flowers looked unfamiliar to him entirely - though Mikael didn’t really know flowers very well in general, to his own admission. Yet a curiosity took him all the same, and being young and fearless he jumped down from the high wall to the ground so he could better investigate.

Rosa had said Lady Buvelle couldn’t be a witch after all, right? So even if he was caught what was the worst she could do? He was smart enough to know his age would save him. Just a boy being a boy! He’d catch up to Rosa later and give her a good scare. Maybe he could find something to bring back and prove he went to the “Witch’s House”. He’d be a real man, then!

The pathways through the gardens were at least cared for and clean, for the most part. It was obvious someone still made an effort to maintain the grounds even if they couldn’t quite keep up entirely. The higher trees were a nice shade from the hot summer sun, and the heat itself made the surrounding flowers give off a wonderful scent. It reminded Mikael of his mother’s room years ago when he was still a toddler. When his father still lived with them, and his mother would perfume herself with this flowery concoction of oils and powders.

He missed his father. But sometimes a knight could be stationed somewhere far away for years. Mikael was starting to forget what he looked like...

The young boy rubbed his eyes. The smell was making him oddly nostalgic.

Pushing through a particularly overgrown spot, Mikael found himself at a greater opening. It looked like place where people could gather for a garden party, with some tables and chairs to one side and a fire pit. The pit looked like it had been used awhile ago, since it was fairly clean but slightly dusted with crispy leaves that fell from the tops of the trees nearby.

Someone really did had to live there, but Mikael didn’t understand why a noblewoman would live all alone. He expected to get caught by a groundsman at least, or maybe a maid collecting flowers for indoors, or an attendant who’d heard all his and his sister’s screeching - but nothing! There wasn’t a soul in sight.

It was just quiet. Quiet and still.

Then suddenly, softly, something broke the quiet and stillness both. A tiny bell, tinkling as the cat who wore it ran over to the boy like someone happy to see an old friend. “Maioooo!” he wailed, making Mikael jump back at first. It was a strange looking foreign cat with a very poofy little tail and kinda long ears. Though he’d never known a cat to just walk up to someone like a dog.

“U-uh... hi there, kitty!” he responded in a hushed voice, “Good kitty? Not so loud! I’m being sneaky!”

“Maaao?”

“Yeah, you know! Sneaky! So don’t tell your owner, ok? I won’t do anything really bad. I promise!”

“Mrroww...”

Realizing the ‘visitor’ didn’t have any food or interest in petting him, the cat promptly turned and went back the way he came - toward a large wooden gazebo at the middle end of the patio area. Curiosity again getting the better of him, Mikael followed after the furry fellow to see where he would go. It was possible his owner was there. Or was his owner Lady Buvelle? Witches liked cats, didn’t they? Maybe she really was a witch, then! His imagination pushed his legs forward eagerly into the unknown, excited for even a glance at a real witch.

What he ended up seeing wasn’t the kind of ‘witch’ he’d expected, though. When the other children in Mikael’s group of friends or his classmates spoke of witches, they usually came up with ugly, warty, dirty, disfigured, and generally unpleasant looking descriptions of old hags. The kind of granny that you could tell at a glance was bad news and would probably eat your soul or something after offering you something sweet.

But what he saw when peering over the rose bushes was nothing like that at all. Not even remotely. There was a woman there asleep in the gazebo with a book rested against herself. Her skin was on the pale side, cool against the mysterious blue of her long hair that cascaded down her delicate shoulders. She wore a fine dress as well of robin’s egg blue linen, embroidered with shimmering gold thread along its edges in the shapes of flowers and leaves. Even her slippers were beautiful, peeking out from under the hem of her long dress’ skirt. From where he was he could see ornate designs sewn into them, but they didn’t appear to have heels.

If he’d been of a mind to think it, Mikael would have thought to tease his sister later about how a noblewoman could wear flats if she wanted to. But in the moment the young boy found himself dumbstruck in a way he hadn’t really known before. Her face was so peaceful and perfect, with rosy lips and soft looking cheeks; she reminded him of paintings he’d seen when his class had been allowed to tour an artist’s gallery. The still life subjects were nice enough, though being young and full of energy they failed to really capture his attention.

But to see something - someone so beautiful in real life, right in front of him, who was as still as a statue save for her soft breathing... it made him forget about witches and ghosts and shapechangers and evil things. How could something so pretty be evil?

Very easily, he reasoned with himself quickly. If she was a witch, maybe she stayed young looking by eating children or drinking people’s blood! There was a softness to Sona’s face that he hadn’t really seen in other women he’d known. But he did remember hearing she was a foreigner. Maybe that was why. She lacked the more distinctive features of a Demacian. Like her nose. Too small. Not witch-like at all, really. And he couldn’t see a single wart!

There was only one thing to do, Mikael decided. He needed to bring back something as a trophy to prove he’d been there. And with the noblewoman asleep it was the perfect opportunity. One of her fancy slippers would do just fine. It would be perfect! Right off the witch’s foot! Even Rosa would have to be impressed by that, right?

Carefully - so carefully - Mikael crept past the rosebush, doing his best not to get caught in the thorns. If she awoke it would all be over. It was now or never. Slowly he inched his way closer, stepping into the gazebo and gritting his teeth at how the wood threatened to creak beneath his feet. Soon he was crawling to get close enough and make as little sound as possible, reaching and stretching his hand out for the closest little foot...

“Miaao?”

Crap, the cat! I forgot!

The bell collar of the cat rang excitedly as he ran up to his new ‘friend’ who was on the ground for some reason now. Maybe he wanted to play? The cat began to mewl and yell at the boy for attention, causing Mikael’s heart to pound and in fear. The sleeping woman stirred from all the noise, her head turning from one side to the other. She spoke not a single word nor sound, not even a sleepy groan passed her lips. So it was true Lady Buvelle was unable to speak too?

I have to get out of here!

Less quietly the young boy crawled backwards to his feet and quickly bolted from the scene. The cat, being startled by such sudden movement, also ran back and jumped to his owner’s side. But by the time Sona’s eyes fluttered open and awake to look about herself there was no one to be seen. Only the distant rustle of foliage. Perhaps an antlermouse had scared her cat again?

----

In the end, he felt, Mikael deserved to have his ear pulled all the way home. Rosa had completely soiled her boots while running around looking for him and had screamed herself hoarse. Even her dress was dirty, which would surely upset their mother. He’d likely be punished. Perhaps even grounded for a time. He deserved the ear pulling for sure, limping along as Rosa lead them back with all the fury she could muster in every pained step.

Maybe it had been worth it though. While Mikael couldn’t be sure if Lady Buvelle was really a witch or not, he’d at least came away with some good memories. She really was a beauty. He could at least say he’d saw her. He could say he’d been chased away by her familiar! That was something, right?

[comicteaparty]

November 1st, 2018 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party chat that occurred on November 1st, 2018, from 5PM - 7PM PDT.  The chat focused on Littlelight Asylum by Julian Dominguez (Writer), Esther Pimentel (Artist), and Toben Racicot (Letterer).

Featured Comment:

Chat:

RebelVampire

COMIC TEA PARTY- THURSDAY BOOK CLUB START!

Good evening, everyone~! This week’s Thursday Book Club is officially beginning! Today we are discussing Littlelight Asylum by Julian Dominguez (Writer), Esther Pimentel (Artist), and Toben Racicot (Letterer)~! (http://littlelightasylum.spiderforest.com/)

Remember that Thursday discussions are completely freeform! However, every 30 minutes I will drop in OPTIONAL discussion questions in case you’d like a bit of a prompt. If you miss out on one of these prompts, you can find them pinned for the chat’s duration. Additionally, remember that while constructive criticism is allowed, our focus is fun and respectfully appreciating the comic. All that said, let’s begin!

QUESTION 1. What is your favorite scene in the comic so far and why?

i think for me, my favorite scene is hands down when cthulhu shows up and lays the smack down. this might be biased from really liking to see cthulhu get around. but i also just kept being like "this squid kid reminds me of cthulhu" and then my assumptions were vindicated

keii4ii

Yup XD

I also liked seeing Eve get excited for the Crimson Archer

mathtans

That was pretty cool. I also liked just earlier when Eternal Flame was still the dork.(edited)

Yup, gotta imagine Eve squee face.

RebelVampire

yeah i liked the timing for it too. cause eve stonewalled for so long but then gotta have that little quieter squee when the actual hero showed up.

although i also liked when lilith was all squee but then immediately turned on the tsundere "its not like i like this at all" XD

mathtans

I like her personality. Vaguely Spock-like. She's sensible.

Eve, that is.

Also, MASSIVE bonus points for "drum roll". That was too good.

keii4ii

On a more subtle note though, I also liked that Eve hid the video games, AND that her gaming stash had both of the other characters' favorite games. Sometimes you wonder why/how some characters get along, and it's subtle details like that that grounds the relationship for me, by showing that they have more in common than it may seem.

mathtans

keii: That's an excellent point. She's a good friend.

Though how could you not get along with Hollow.

RebelVampire

i liked that moment too because i think it demonstrates both eve's intelligence and that for monster kids, taking away their stuff is really not that easy. so it was a moment that kind of did some subtle and excellent world building as well.

mathtans

I think Eve is the only one who can portal though.

keii4ii

Yeah

the person who took the stuff wasn't expecting it at all

mathtans

(And there's just this dude living in there, that was funny...)

RebelVampire

true but i dont doubt the others could find a way to hide their games. like lilith seems like shes 100% use magic....that would ultimately mess up in some fashion. hollow might be screwed unless he decides to bury his games in the backyard.

granted i wouldve thought headmistress light wouldve realized eve kind of has some op powers for someone her age

mathtans

Fair. I do think Light is happy so long as there's no destruction of property going on.

keii4ii

Though if the average monster kid is good at sneaking stuff around, I would think others would be more aware/skeptical

mathtans

I'm still trying to figure out my feelings about Lilith. She seems pretty self-absorbed.

keii4ii

She kinda seems like the meanie who hangs out with the good kids because she does get lonely, and no one else will tolerate her

RebelVampire

tbf tho their tolerance isnt the highest. since the first scenario they basically said "nope lilith has to clean up her own mess" until it wasnt possible for them to leave it alone

im interested in what shaped lilith's personality to be as it is

keii4ii

I found it interesting that she seemed to genuinely like Sona as a character, as opposed to just "I like her because her game is fun." Sona seemed like she had a decent personality (or maybe that's just my assumption based on "typical video game main characters" )

RebelVampire

nah sona had a nice personality cause she was all positive in the brief moment we see her. very opposite of lilith. so it makes me wonder if lilith has had a bit of a troubled childhood. like i mean dont get me wrong, shes mean. but given shes also a kid you always have to wonder how genuine it is and how much of it is putting on airs and acting in a way she thinks is expected of her.

cause i know her profile even mentions shes half demon or something. so she could be thinking "no im a demon gotta do the evil"

Superjustinbros

Hey there, just popping in to say hello since I'm a bit occupied with something else atm

if I can make it later I'll jump into the chat proper

(I do want to say briefly that this story has some appealing character designs)

keii4ii

It could be something like, she doesn't get along with the Less Evil of her parents (could be the demon, could be the other one), so she's latching onto evil being desirable. But that's a total stab in the dark at this point in time

RebelVampire

true. could be opposite in that the witch parent is more evil. or they could both be evil

QUESTION 2. The cast of the comic is colorful to say the least. Did any of the characters in particular strike you as interesting? If so, who and why? Why do you think Lilith is at the orphanage when she implies she has parents? Who are her parents and where are they? What about Eve and Hollow? Do you think they’re actually orphans or are there mitigating circumstances to why they’re at the orphanage? What do you think Eve’s implied connection to Cthulhu is? What about Hollow? Any theories that turn what we believe about Hollow on their head? Do you think the three main children will manage to stay friends despite their differences, or will one of them cause a rift?

keii4ii

I do think an "the friends have a fight, but realize it was silly and reunite to defeat a foe that they could not have defeated individually" episode is likely, though it's still early on and can't really say what might cause such a scenario

RebelVampire

i could argue thats sort of their whole relationship tho. the whole friends fight but reunite

cause even the first issue basically kind of does this

keii4ii

Yeah

But I mean something more... extreme

The first one seemed like a daily occurrence kinda thing

But like, something that makes them think, "great, I'll never talk to the other two again"

RebelVampire

actually what i hope happens is that lilith is the great ill never talk to the other two again

has a solo adventure but comes back

and eve and hollow are were like "what do you mean our fight and friendship breakup? we thought you were just being you"

keii4ii

If that happens, I would like to see it contribute to Lilith's character growth long term, even if very subtle

mathtans

Sorry, had to deal with little one here. Just to finish my earlier thought...

Lilith seems to have this need to prove herself to someone, so there's that, but she's not great at considering the consequences. Like even being forced to clean up the kitchen. It's an interesting counterpoint to Eve... and I guess since my personality's more like Eve, I have little issues.

I think Lilith was probably left at the orphanage by a relative who just couldn't deal any more... her parents were maybe going to come back to said relative's place at some time. Now Lil's trying to get their attention, maybe?

RebelVampire

maybe. i feel like something deeper is going on. cause normally if you couldn't deal with a child youre watching you just ship them back to their parents. not send them to an orphanage.

not to mention lilith is a bag of trouble

and if i was the headmistress and knew lilith had parents who didnt abandon her forever, i wouldve been like "oh whoops back to your parents you go"

although nobody might know where the parents are

maybe lilith's witch parent is as bad as magic

are trapped in a video game

mathtans

Yeah, I figured maybe it was a "no forwarding address" kind of thing. Possibly because one of them is wanted, and they don't want their ties to the kids to be an issue.

Heh, that'd be amusing, if Lilith's witch parent had the same trouble with spells. Came by it honestly.

As to parent/kid ties, I feel like Eve is maybe a reincarnation of Cthulu or something. Which is why she can channel subconsciously?

RebelVampire

or the secret child. cause i mean of course cthulhu would abandon a kid. not out of evil but cthulhu has evil cthulhu stuff to do. no time to be raising kids. but ya know, can make time to show up and say "dont you tocuh my kid weird demon fellow"

but reincarnation works too

never considered that

or maybe eve just is cthulhu

the only one

and that was just an astral projection of her power or something fancy like that

mathtans

Yeah, monster adults be busy and all. Speaking of, I wonder if the other beings are kind of in their own dimension somewhere? Or if there are pockets in the real world? I mean, seemed like a normal town not too far away.

Eve is a chibi-cthulhu.

RebelVampire

it could just be both cause this seems like one of them tricky magic worlds where every answer is probably plausible O_O

i want to know why hollow can breathe fire on a side note. like is this werewolf lore i dont know about XD

mathtans

They live in video games.

Hollow eats a lot of spicy peppers.

keii4ii

I'm not aware of fire-breathing werewolf lores, but now that I think about it, it'd be really cool(edited)

to see a howling wolf exhale a long stream of fire into the moon

mathtans

Maybe it comes from the human side. Born of one of those fire eaters in the carnivals and a werewolf.

keii4ii

Unlikely but not impossible: could be a loose reference to the eclipse dog that tried to eat the sun (and failed)

mathtans

Hm, not one I know of.

RebelVampire

QUESTION 3. The world of the comic is interesting to say the least. How do you think Littlelight Asylum manages to stay under the radar given its unique composition of occupants? Do you think we’ll see Mel again? Further, do you think Mel will manage to expose Littlelight Asylum for what it is, or will Mel’s efforts wind up in vain? How abundant do you think monsters are compared to humans anyway? What do you think would happen if normal humans found out about the orphanage? Will it turn out okay, badly, or do you think they have safety nets in place? Lastly, why do you think Headmistress Light continues the orphanage when it causes her many headaches and risks a lot?

RebelVampire

ive never heard of that one either but i dont mark it off as impossible either. it was just a weird detail that made me curious about hollow. granted tbf hes a wolf all the time so this def is a diff sort of werewolf

mathtans

Different rules and all... demons live in hats.

I think calling the place an "Asylum" is a good way to keep random visitors from showing up. Just saying.

Monsters must be more prevalent than one thinks though, if they're having relationships with humans? And if Mel has enough data to identify them as such?

I'm not sure about safety nets, btw. The best solution they had seemed to be get on the bus.

RebelVampire

well that orphanage alone was pretty populated from what it seemed. and having an orphanage implies that either 1) the population is large because generally you only have an orphanage that community raising isnt a viable option or 2) orphans in the monster world are extremely, extremely common and probably more orphans than kids with parents

thats a great point about asylum tho

that its used as a detterent

thats brilliant and i never considered that

mathtans

True, about the implications. It could also be that it's the only place on the entire Earth for them.

I wonder if anyone tries to send an actual human orphan to the place. Are they listed in the yellow pages?

RebelVampire

if they are actually using the asylum thing as a deterrent for humans, probably not

mathtans

About Headmistress Light... she may have inherited the place? It is sort of named after her.

RebelVampire

yeah her profile says as much

mathtans

Probably not. Unless you get a tax writeoff or something.

RebelVampire

that the place was her father's

mathtans

Ahh, I didn't recall the profiles.

RebelVampire

i assume she actually just cares about kids and knows that as monsters its not like they have anywhere else to go. cause you cant exactly send them to regular orphanages cause they might not understand the concept of not getting caught by a human lynch mob that well

mathtans

Yeah, I kinda feel the same. She also checked out the costumes before going into the town.

RebelVampire

i do think were inevitably going to see mel again. mel had too much potential as an antagonist

and i also think mel would be a good character way to show the human side of things

and how the humans might perceive monsters

and maybe actually show those preventitive measures

mathtans

Yeah, that does seem likely. I wonder what her damage is? Like, just give the weird monsters a chocolate and they'll leave you alone. You can then do all your plotting in secret.

Mel has her own issues, basically. ^^

I liked the explanation for why they went to her house even though they knew she was annoyed with them, btw.

Also, very topical for this time of year.

RebelVampire

yes. not even purposely timed XD

tbh tho i kind of also hope they turn mel into an ally

like show mel look we can go into the video games

and mel is like "ok this is cool i will help you now"

mathtans

Help them what though? Hide out? They've been pretty good at that.

Though it could be funny if Mel can cast spells properly, so Lilith gets advice from her.

RebelVampire

if not mel i do hope we get to see a more competent spell caster that can mentor lilith a bit. although i kind of hope all the kids get mentors. learn to become well-rounded ppl

QUESTION 4. The story is formatted in a way to offer lots of room for interesting scenarios. Are there any sorts of supernatural based scenarios you think might be interesting to see? Alternatively, is there something non-supernatural that you think it’d be interesting to watch the kids go through? Do you think we’ll see any of the antagonists from the previous scenarios again? If so, what do you think will happen? How many of the future scenarios do you think will be caused by Lilith’s magic going awry? Speaking of the supernatural though, what other sorts of cryptids or similar are you hoping to see character wise? Alternatively, is there a character you’ve seen already that you want to see more of based on their cryptid base?

RebelVampire

to answer one of those questions, id really like to see monster schooling. cause that must be a crazy mess

mathtans

I'm just trying to think of who'd be the mentors... might mix things up, have the wolves try to mentor Lilith...

I'm wondering if ghosts are a thing. Or contacting dead people. Particularly if parents are dead.

I hope the Lilith's magic going weird doesn't become a crutch... I liked how it was subverted a bit in the most recent one, where they were able to defeat the enemies.

RebelVampire

yeah. i do hope to see some character and skill growth

cause i really want lilith's magic to be useful at points

and for her to learn to maybe read the whole thing

and not invoke curses

mathtans

I feel like her learning might be a bit of a stretch. Could be interesting if they end up in classes though.

Like, are there spell casting classes?

RebelVampire

maybe

oh you know what i could forsee as a scenario

another witch joining the orphanage

that is way better at magic

mathtans

Ohh, that could be an interesting point.

Or even worse, like, gives Lilith a superiority complex.

RebelVampire

yeah that could happen to

unless the orphanage has that already, another witch. tbf id really like to see more of the kids in general. cause there were a lot of interesting and great designs already(edited)

and it could add to the kid's dynamic as well. like seeing how they interact with the others. cause lilith might not be the only one who's kind of outcasted from the other groups

mathtans

It's true. Maybe all three of the mains are kind of seen as the troublemakers by other kids too. So they end up by themselves.

Just looking at the character page again. It mentions that headmistress light has a power. Maybe she'll end up as a mentor?

Also, I wonder about Annabel there too.

RebelVampire

yeah. annabel i hope we get to see of more too. cause she looks sort of puppet or frankenstein like perhaps? so i want to know what her story is

granted i also want to know about bel too

i especially want to know how eve and hollow feel about bel

cause i assume they know bel exists

mathtans

Yeah, that would make sense.

Like, I would assume they figure he can't control Lilith any more than they can... so hmmm, what use is he?(edited)

RebelVampire

on the opposite end they might feel hes a bad influence on lilith

mathtans

Annabel could be a puppet, that might explain the pose after she fell off the ceiling, I hadn't considered that.

Maybe. Particularly if Bel's, like, reporting back to a witches council or something.

RebelVampire

he might just be a bad influence via not always discouraging lilith's crazy. you could make that argument at least

mathtans

Maybe he's really Lilith's dad in disguise.

RebelVampire

before the chat closes out, i want to add that i agree with super in that the character designs are really fantastic. theres a real great balance of detail and simplicity and i feel like all the designs really match the character theyre for.

mathtans

Dad's kind of a bumbling goof, doesn't want anyone to know. ^.^

Yeah, and I think the characters complement each other really well. Like, the more reserved sensible one, the off the wall random one, and the guy who's prone to excitement and is happy to be doing his best.

Even that second antagonist (if the ones at the start with the vines were the first), the Flame guy, he had some good motivations and things... and "eternal" wasn't just a catchphrase.

Btw, Hollow and Eve seem to share a room... does Lilith have a roommate, you think?

RebelVampire

well bel could technically be considered her roommate

probably just bel

lilith might spell another roommate into accident death

i liked eternal flame guy. he had the kind of over the top personality that is really fun

mathtans

There is always that danger.

RebelVampire

and i also liked that until cthulhu showed up he was op and able to beat children

mathtans

Extreme traits are interesting. Yeah, I liked the line "Oh, uh, are you with them" or whatever it was.

I suppose he could come back too, from the pocket dimension. Maybe he'll help to mentor them.

Anyway, should prove interesting to see what the next storyline is.

RebelVampire

COMIC TEA PARTY- THURSDAY BOOK CLUB END!

Sadly, this wraps up this week’s Thursday Book Club chat for now. Thank you so much to everyone for reading and joining us! We want to give a special thank you to Julian Dominguez, Esther Pimentel, and Toben Racicot, as well, for making Littlelight Asylum. If you liked the comic, make sure to support Julian Dominguez, Esther Pimentel, and Toben Racicot’s efforts however you’re able to~!

Read and Comment: http://littlelightasylum.spiderforest.com/

Julian’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/Boxboycomics

Esther’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/Gilly_thesilly

Toben’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/TobenRacicot

Comic Tea Party- Thursday Book Club

Next week’s Thursday Book Club will be about Anacrine Complex by Sae. For participants, you have the next week to read as much of the comic as you would like~! We hope to see you on Thursday, November 8th, from 5PM to 7PM PST for the chat in #thursday_bookclub!

Comic’s Main Site: http://pigeoncomic.com/

[ladybuvelle]

The Broken Doll

This place was familiar. Crunchy grass. Hard, dry mud. Sona recognized the sound of the wind as it rustled through the trees. An old air, as if it were a faded color somehow, passed over her. She was small again, sitting on an equally small stump of a long-felled tree. It had rained days ago. That’s why the ground was what it was. That’s why she was out here, trying to enjoy the air and sunshine after so many rainy days indoors. Not that she minded the rainy days. She was just fine sitting inside and reading books and practicing her writing.

But today she was with her roommate, Miho. Like Sona, Miho was named by the matrons since she’d arrived without one. They liked to keep simple names for children like that.

Miho had short, sharp hair that was black as a starless night, and dark eyes to match. Her face looked older than her age with a low-set, well-defined nose. She could have passed for a much older girl. Her personality, on the other hand, was just about right for her true age. And her taste in toys ran the same way.

Miho had a “stone doll”. The children called them that because these dolls had heads that were hard, smooth and cold like river stones, though Sona was sure there was a better name for them. A sweet yet simple little face had been painted on it, with two dark eyes and bright red lips and pink blush on gray-pale cheeks. The hair on her head was made of stone just like the rest of the face, just shaped and painted black to make it look like short, styled hair. The softer, stuffed body of the doll was dressed in a pretty green robe with a big pink ribbon tied around the middle as a belt with a bow on the back. Her little hands were sewn in lines to give the illusion of fingers. Her tiny feet had little green slippers. It was by no means a fancy doll, but it was certainly a nice doll. Especially for an orphan who would never have been able to afford one on her own.

But Sona had never liked dolls. She’d never had much interest in them. She’d rather play with a ball, or a stick, or read, or play marbles and gamble for sweets, or even play koi-koi with the matrons when they let her. Those were nice games. Playing with dolls usually meant playing pretend, and that was hard to do with other children since she couldn’t speak. No one could tell what she was thinking or trying to express.

Still, now and then she at least liked to be polite and sit with Miho while she played with her doll - whom she’d named Tsubume, because that was a fancy name and a fancy (nice) doll like hers needed a fancy name. But something was wrong about this memory. It was like a distant siren somewhere was warning her, but Sona couldn’t make it out clearly.

“|Tsubume! You’re so clumsy for a lady, you know?|”

Miho’s voice distracted her. Sona looked to the doll. Her pretty green robe was dirty now because Miho had dropped her on accident. It wasn’t the doll’s fault she was dirty, but she got yelled at all the same.

“|You should be more careful! What if the mud was still wet? Then you’d be all muddy! Did you want a mud bath? You’re so weird!|”

Miho often talked to her doll as if it could somehow understand her, and that too bothered Sona a little bit. The doll’s expression never changed, and being that it was just a doll it’s not as if it had any feelings or thoughts. Yet somehow it still bothered her to see something treated as if it could understand without being able to speak for itself in turn...

“|I wish Tsubume had real hair...|” Miho lamented, petting the black painted part of the doll’s head. It was shaped like a fine lady’s hair, with a painted in line meant to be a comb. Sona wasn’t sure how you’d put real hair on a doll, or why you’d ever think to. “|It’d be nice if she had hair like yours, Sona. So long and pretty and blue...|”

“... Ne, ne, Sona. |Let me play with your hair for a bit? I’ll be careful with it!|”

Again that warning sound seemed all too distant. Against her will, Sona felt her head nodding. She didn’t mind having her hair brushed so long as someone asked first. And that would surely be better than having to listen to Miho continually chastise her poor doll.

The moment she agreed, Miho set her doll aside and excitedly ran over behind Sona to play with her pigtails. They were somewhat messy and fluffy, not having had a proper haircut in years. She’d decided she wanted long hair at some point. She wanted to grow up and be like the elegant ladies she read about in books and saw in paintings. But her hair grew so fast, and no one had taught her how to care for it properly yet.

“Ehehe! |You make a way better doll, Sona!|” Miho gleefully exclaimed, her fingers combing through thick tufts of blue hair.

Sona’s stomach turned. That distant feeling was coming closer. She could hear it.

“|You have pretty, pale skin, and your hair’s so soft and blue like the sky! Even your eyes are blue. I dunno anyone else with blue eyes. You’re so pretty to look at. I’m kinda jealous...|”

She could hear it now. This was a dream. A very bad dream. Sona couldn’t move her arms at all when she tried to. She wanted to knock Miho away, but the little girl was tying Sona’s hair around her neck.

“|You can’t talk either. It’s like you’re not even human when you think about it.|”

‘Stop’ she tried to plead, but even her inner most voice fell silent. Even in dreams she couldn’t speak, no matter how hard she tried.

“|Maybe you’re a magic rock doll?|” Miho wondered, pulling on the sides of Sona’s hair that wrapped around her throat. “|You grow, and your hair grows, but everything else is hollow inside. Oh! I wonder if your head pops off, too!|”

The head on rock dolls was sewn onto the soft cloth bodies. If you played too roughly the seams would easily snap. You could then see that the doll’s head was, in fact, hollow inside. They had to be. Otherwise the dolls would be terribly top heavy. But it also made them very fragile...

‘I’m not a doll!’ Sona pleaded, struggling against the bonds of her dream. In real life the real Sona was thrashing about in bed.

“|You shouldn’t move around so much! You’ll get dirty and cracked! That’s what happened to my last doll...|”

And like a magnet’s pull, as if she had already somehow known to look, Sona’s wide blue eyes shot to Tsubume sitting on the ground. She was broken now. Her stone face cracked right down one of her dark eyes and through her tiny red-lipped smile. She remembers, vaguely, somewhere in the mist of terror and memories, how she found Tsubume in the yard one day broken like that. The real Miho said it was an accident. That Tsubume had always been clumsy. That it was her own fault.

‘I am not a doll! I am not a doll!!’

<I AM NOT A DOLL!!>

Finally, mercifully, Sona shot up and sideways and curled into herself in bed. Her arms, finally freed from their invisible bonds, felt around her sheets frantically. Searching. Feeling. She just wanted to feel something real. Her head was spinning with dreaming horror that it was up to her sense of touch to ground her, in that way. It was otherwise too quiet to rely on sound. Only Sona’s gasping, panting breath could be heard in the dead of night in her room. Her cat wasn’t even with her tonight to meow at her for waking him.

One of her hands found her throat. it felt fine. No marks, no strain. It was all fine. Just a nightmare. Miho, to Sona’s memory, was not some crazed childish killer. Careless at the time, perhaps, and maybe even a bit self-centered, but certainly not a murderer.

Though she had made comments on one occasion saying how Sona would make a fine doll. It’d always bothered her to be thought of that way. To be some object that someone could decide what she was thinking or feeling all because she couldn’t speak for herself. Or one of those mechanical turn-key music boxes from Piltover that played pretty little tunes while a tiny figure spun in circles.

She thinks, and she feels, and she cries a little, and she prays that she never cracks... As if that would be some kind of final, deciding proof.