#little bit of a tangent but like yeah it’s not the end of the world

[sweetest-honeybee]

Don't beat yourself up! Honestly, it's fine if a commission takes a little long, the last thing I'd want is the person I commission to stress themselves over a piece and getting frustrated. In my opinion I rather wait as long as possible for something that had time and effort put into it then receive a product the artist didn't have a good time working on!

I really appreciate it! It’s not for everyone to wait and that’s alright but genuinely, a lot of my best work comes out of patience and enjoyment. I put in a LOT of effort and fun details and take my sweet time cleaning up the piece when I know I’m gonna enjoy taking all that time to do it

Like hell, how I did the entire second version of that piece of the one oc and Frank? I had so much fun doing it and adding details that were harder to notice and taking the time to throw on some more layers to make a creepy one and I hardly minded taking that extra time to do it because I was in the zone and having fun 😌

[misc-obeyme]

Lesson 36 spoilers below, including the locked lesson & hard lesson...

Sorry it's a little screenshot heavy but there was a lot happening in this lesson and I was having a lot of feelings. I think I screenshotted my way through the whole thing lol.

SO. MUCH. LORE.

We got so much lore!??!?!

Things I'm freaking out about:

Mephisto's whole lecture about the underworld and its rings

the fact that trains were seen as commoner's transportation 'cause they were used by demons who couldn't fly

SOLOMON (as if he wasn't hot enough) walking through all the rings of the underworld

Solomon just kinda laughing about it and then agreeing that it's really just a tourist attraction now???? THAT'S THE UNDERWORLD YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT.

He talks about the city of Dis which is straight up from the Divine Comedy. Does this mean Dante has been their resource all along?! That could explain Diavolo's Italian name...

Because he also talks about Minos who also made an appearance in the Divine Comedy... I'm just sayin!!

They said they're taking Lucifer to Cocytus?!? (Which is also in... you guessed it, the Divine Comedy. Where it's stated to be the home of traitors.)

Isn't that the same thing as the River of Lamentation?!?!

What're they gonna do, drown him???

Okay okay my list should have ended several bullet points ago.

(Though on that last one, if they're going full Dante, then they'll bury him in ice instead.)

ANYWAY.

Mephisto buying all those sweets for his little brother was the cutest thing ever. He needs to stop being precious. I was resisting so well and then he had to go and be a good brother and also be concerned about MC and ask if they were all right and yeah he's annoying but it's kind of endearing too....????

This whole part where he was just asking MC questions & worrying about them being hurt. STOP THAT. This is exactly the kind of thing I live for, you're doing on purpose, aren't you??

You are not supposed to care!

I warned you before to stop making me like you...

THAT'S IT. HE'S A KEEPER.

Also do you think that when they say commoners are demons that can't fly... are they saying that demons with wings are the only ones that can be nobles? Or are they saying demons with enough power to fly whether that's with wings or not? Because isn't Barbatos actually like a duke or something? Are you really gonna tell me that guy is a commoner? Even if he does work as a butler... maybe it doesn't count 'cause he can portal himself around?

But also! We know Mephisto is a noble so does this mean his demon form has wings? I thought for sure they were going to go with a tail.

BUT ALSO ALSO do the bros not count? They should all be nobles, but they clearly aren't, but they also aren't commoners? Maybe they're neither 'cause they're fallen angels? And we know three of them have tails, so...? I'M CONFUSED ABOUT HOW THIS WORKS.

Okay, sorry I'm getting off on a bit of a tangent here. There's just so much info that we suddenly got in this lesson about the world! And while I've been wanting more such stuff, I was hoping it would clarify some things not make things more confusing.

So anyway, there's a whole lot of underworld which they've mentioned before but only briefly, so it was cool to get more info on that!

Don't worry, Luci. MC has to travel through time as well as space and I don't think a trip through the underworld is going to cut it. I like it when you compliment Solomon, though.

I don't know how to tell you guys that the idea of Solomon walking through the underworld and laughing about it later makes me insane. So I'm just telling you straight out. I'm insane about it.

Are we still talking about the underworld? Because when I hear "tourist attraction" I tend to think of things like the world's largest ball of twine, not playing chess with Minos, Judge of the Damned.

That whole phone conversation with him was just so good. I know I recently wrote a whole post about him being sus and he still is because it's him, but do not misunderstand me because I love that man. I love his cute little laugh that he always does.

Then again, he's clearly terrible at lying. Good at just not saying stuff maybe, but lying directly? I'm not so sure...

So anyway, Lucifer's gonna be executed, huh? I like how both he and Mephi were like nope Diavolo is gonna fix this. They have such unwavering faith in him, it's precious.

Also, I LOVED THIS ENTIRE PART.

Lucifer saying he knows? He knows, but this is home now for him and his brothers? And then MEPHISTO coming right back with then you should understand why MC wants to go home??

I was not expecting Mephistopheles to understand and be concerned about MC wanting to go home like that. It wasn't something like yeah you should go home you're a human and don't belong here. He didn't say anything like that at all. It was just immediately like you must miss your family. Mephisto confirmed family man!

HARD LESSON: Solomon was being a complete menace. He locked Lucifer's brothers in a room??? What's he gonna make them do!? Eat his cooking?? No, he gives his cooking to people because he loves them and wants to make them happy. So it can't be that. My mind... it goes to dangerous places... why did they have to cut off the lesson without telling us what Solomon's intentions were??

...

I wouldn't mind being locked in that room with them all, though.

Please take this selection of screenshots of him being insufferable with that cute lil smile on his face.

To be fair, he's not wrong... it was pretty funny.

I CAN'T.

Also in the LOCKED LESSON: Barbatos my true love. This whole interaction was amazing. Simeon and Luke are so cute. Diavolo clearly doesn't know Lucifer super well yet and it's so adorable watching him figure it out. And now he's all like Barbatos how can I fix this? And Barb is just like sorry it's too late. LOL he's so strict.

Dadbatos mode activated.

Luke my sweet baby angel, never change!

Diavolo's sad face is so cute, I don't know how Barb ever manages to resist it. I'd just give in to everything he ever wanted all the time. I also love how he is straight up calling Barb mean lol.

They both look so serious. Cut him some slack, Barb!

And lastly, I only wish to leave you with this:

Everybody knows nobody can make tea as good as Barbatos does. Not even Lucifer.

Don't be angry, Luci. You're no Barbatos, but I'm sure your tea is delicious.

[the-remainder]

Hello fellow dunnish, Ze here. I've changed the "title" of our devlogs yet again. I suppose that's a form of development, that things have changed, for better or worse. I've taken to call it "tangents", because that seems to be what I write in these things: A few factoids that probably doesn't mean a whole lot to anyone, and a bunch of anecdotes and off-the-cuff remarks that don't necessarily mean more, but at least one of us have fun with!(That's me, btw)

1. Kickstarter progress I spent most of my days packing prints and Nim spent most of theirs cutting them while listening to creepy stories about national parks. Did you know there are supposed to be staircases that go nowhere out in the wilderness? Foodprints that aren't identifiable? Things that scratch at the side of your tent, whispers to you in the voice of your loved one whom you know is miles and miles away from where you are? Yeah, national parks are basically the twilight zone, according to podcasts. Becareful out there, nature-loving friend.

2. Writing Nim wrote and published their first novella! It's a weird mix of romance, horror and erotica. You ever wonder what would happen if you were acosted by a fae in the woods, then decided to follow them and have a wild shag or two? Nothing we can call "good", I assure you. But then again, who wants good? We want interesting. And that's what Many Winters' Briar gets you, an interesting encounter with a fae in the woods. It's completely unlike the Remainder, no one lost their memories, no high magick and tall towers. No world-ending rituals or magick talking cats. Just a cozy time with someone not quite human in a hut who likes berries and pain.

3. The Longing All we did for the longing recently was I THOUGHT about working on it, or rather I felt the urge to work on it squirm quietly in my marrows. That's typical of my process with these things. First the urge squirms in the marrows, then it migrates into the hemoglobin and courses through my veins, then some energetic buildup occurs in the fibres and tissue, then at last the fingers gnarl and twitch and work appears. Yesterday I actually opened up the draft and LOOKED at it. I expect any day now I will be swimming in The Longing again. Watch out for updates; watch along the shoreline for my drenched and cackling form.

4. Agnil's Design I began editing a short story I wrote for Ilar's Teatime stories ages ago, which was a tiny little thing about a magus college student sort of person who had some friction with her mother regarding personal hygiene. Whole thing was about 1 chapter-long if it were a book, and featured 1 character. I know, it sounds incredibly germain, but it's what occurred to me at the time. As I rewrote it, I kept feeling the story was supposed to be about more, and so I nudged it into a slightly different direction just to see what happens. A week later I'm four chapters into what I can only imagine would have to be a novel. Ilar, Vyn, and a few other semi-fleshed out characters were already aching to make appearances. And the threads of the Taldun lore came flowing in from all corners of the realm, and it keeps building. I still have no idea where it goes yet, but sink me it is fun to write. I expect I'll be teasing some of it on our socials soon. It's called Agnil's Design.

5. Other games I also started building another game, just for me, just for fun. It's going to be a rogue-like deck-builder, or as I call it, "body"-builder, where you do some dungeon crawling and collect the body-parts of defeated foe to build your character. I'm making it for no other reason than that I desperately want to play this game and it doesn't exist.

6. Social We are going to dole out bits and pieces of lore, character snippets, new-and-old art, and other enticing stuff over here in the coming weeks. Kindly glue your eyeballs to the bluesky, please. PLEASE, we need the numbers. XD https://bsky.app/profile/the-nim.bsky.social

There, that was less tangential than it could've been, but more tangential than most, I imagine. Big success?

Oh right, if you want to see these images in high res, and a few more sketches, as well as a sample paragraph from Many Winters' Briar and Agnil's Design, head on over to our ko-fi and patreon members section. Your support will help enable us to persevere in our wickedness. You have our infernal gratitude.

[wilsonphiggs]

I fucking hate mcsm btw (lying)

hey guys so I thought a bit too hard and I was thinking about how I would rewrite the story. one of my gripes specifically being with how they handled lukas and axel’s relationship. I went on a really long tangent on how I would’ve fixed it and I’ll paste it under the cut. (WARNING: IT’S A REALLY LONG RANT.)

so, I didn’t really like how they treated their dynamic. axel was so concerned for petra—and that’s understandable, considering she’s a friend—but they never gave a reason as to why axel SPECIFICALLY was worried so much, which caused him to lash out more. therefore, resulting in him mad at lukas for getting scared, along with the fact that he was the leader of the ocelots, yatta yatta etc. etc.

but my main point is: their mutual disdain for each other not only felt forced, but artificial. it felt so unreasonable, with axel shoving lukas around for seemingly no reason at times. not only that, but axel was just generally an asshole of a character. I get having someone joke around a little rudely if it’s all jokes and you know that—my friend group and I are like that all the time. but there’s a fine line between crude humor and outright bullying your “friends” or allies. not to mention he was just a frustrating character. “but… finders keepers!” when EVERYONE is in danger and he just refuses to give up the thing that would stop the witherstorm? a dick move.

and apologies, but lukas felt a little TOO nice at times in the first one or two episodes. yes, he’s generally a nice guy. and yes, he’s had some moments of getting frustrated or prickly. but considering that he was rivals with this group for so long, admitted that he didn’t really think highly of them for a while, AND petra herself called him arrogant? you can’t blame me for thinking that he was a bit too kind, even if he was trying to stay on good terms with everyone while the world was seemingly ending. yeah, he was awkward. and no, I don’t think he should’ve been outwardly hostile. but I don’t think he should’ve been quite as friendly as he was.

they should both have little quirks and flaws, but they should also both be lovable characters in their OWN ways. this is honestly how I would’ve written it:

it would’ve been better to make axel really stand off-ish because he doesn’t know how to really act around someone who was once “bad” in his eyes, but is now suddenly “good.” especially when the change is so sudden. distrusting, awkward, unpleasant interactions would feel much more natural rather than downright antagonizing lukas at every turn.

axel is really awkward and is a little distrustful of him because of so many factors, but maybe lukas interprets that as aloofness and detachment. lukas tries not to really disrupt conversations because he feels as though he’s intruding, but axel perhaps interprets that as arrogance and conceit. miscommunication, misinterpretation—these are much more natural ways of having animosity grow between two parties.

and hey, even better! this could allow you to have a choice ACTUALLY make a difference TELLTALE GAMES. (the company infamous for having choices in games that don’t Actually matter!)

maybe if you have axel stay behind with lukas to fortify the temple while also getting magnus, MAYBE you can see them actually visibly get along better! even if axel went off on his own to get magnus—which was him straying from the plan—maybe they agreed and decided it was for the better to get the order together again rather than just a few members. maybe you can see them having similar ideas, talking more, etc. etc.

and on the other hand, if you go with axel for magnus and choose olivia to stay, maybe axel feels a little more bitter towards lukas since olivia went off to get ellagaard. he feels bitter since he just let her go instead of convincing her to just STAY and wait for petra like the original plan was (even though he knows he would’ve broken that himself to go out for magnus, but moral highgrounds and such.)

yeah, sure. it’ll end in you getting both members of the order anyway. that won’t change. BUT, it still affects the characters! it fleshes out the characters more. makes them both have perks AND flaws! it HUMANIZES them, makes them more realistic.

and MAYBE, JUST MAYBE, if the conflict between them builds up enough, you might have to choose one side or the other at some point in the story! there could be several decisions that alter their relationship and how they function! one of your lifelong best friends who has ADMITTED that you’re one of his only friends, and you can tell he cares about everyone there (even if not entirely obvious,) or a friend that, while you once bickered a ton with in the past, is now genuinely making an effort to change and care and seems generally more agreeable now? they both love you and your friends, undoubtedly, but they’re too bitter to be around one another. there isn’t enough room for the both of them. one has to go, jesse. so, who’ll it be?

in fact, maybe there’s a scene where lukas and axel are in danger. in the ellagaard route (followed by more good decision making,) one actually saves the other from said situation and everyone lives. in the magnus route (followed by more bad decision making,) they both intentionally sabotage each other and you have to choose to save ONE. either that, or it’s as originally said, where there’s a story-changing fight and you have to choose one or the other.

this is a minor thing but I could not stop thinking about it. but oh well them’s the breaks pal /ref

[gold-rhine]

(can answer privately if u want)

how did you manage to write enjou stirring shit up. i need to know for Reasons

(Reasons being: i wanna write him doing that as well so i need to know how you figured that specific brand of Manipulation out)

oh, i love talking about Enjou, he's so fun to write.

Okay, Enjou's main rule is that he doesn't *technically* lie. If you've ever written fae with no-lie rules it should be similar. Everything he says should be true, even if he's seemingly joking - like when he tells traveler you never know what can happen in magic rituals, I could turn into a flame-throwing monster haha! He only lies by omission or by using leading questions. He often answers direct questions with his own questions, which lets him evade, or by what he makes look like a joke.

Like in Enka when traveler arrived and asked him who he is, he asked question in return, like Didn't they tell you there's gonna be a priest who will guide you? Traveler went yeah, they did. Enjou was like Great! You can't be expected to learn new language haha! i'm here to help translate.

He didn't say "I'm the priest who Kokomi said will help you," he asked a leading question to make traveler think about the priest with connection traveler trusted, then he didn't directly confirm he IS the priest and instead re-directed to his function "I'll help to translate", which is true!

Enjou's second rule is that he's a little shit and also a corny nerd. Like there's often a boring stereotype of manipulators being cool and sleek and charismatic, but Enjou is not that. He's a jokerified librarian. He consciously acts lame and corny to make the other person underestimate him and roll their eyes. He loves repeating how he's just a weak bookworm. He will go on info-dumping tangents to bury the lead of manipulation.

He also loves playing with his food, burying little inside jokes which only make sense in hindsight, like "I could turn into a flame-throwing monster". He likes doing the weak nerd routine, he enjoys watching the other person feel superior to him, while knowing he's in control of a situation, and he says corny shit on purpose to make it more pronounced. He should sound corny and just a bit unhinged. He says shit like "Exactomundo". I had to physically restrain myself, bc Enjou absolutely would say Exactomundo while watching a man's world crumbling before him, but I didn't want to ruin the tone for the reader.

So, to write Enjou's brand of manipulation you need to first formulate his end-goal, like what is the purpose of this manipulation? I assume you read my fic since you reference me writing enjou stirring shit up, so i'll use it as example of my thought process. One of the examples in my fic, he wants to convince rizzley that Neuvi gave him the title to buy his loyalty. What are the true facts here? Neuvi did fight hard to give rizzley the title, he says it in his own voice lines. What do we need to add? Malicious intent.

Enjou can't say "Your title was a bribe", bc that's a lie. Instead, he starts with "you know what I would do if *I* was the Hydro Sovereign with an ability to take human form? <...>I’d make sure I have people loyal to me in some key positions. Such as Royal Duelist… and the Warden of the Fortress.” It's not a lie, bc if Enjou was a sovereign, he'd probably really do that. On paper, he's talking about himself, but in context of overall conversation it will be obviously extrapolated to Neuvi. This is a form of switching the goal posts from Enjou to Neuvi without outright saying so.

Then, he says true facts:

“He didn’t make me the Warden,” Wriothesley gritted out. 

“No, but he did make you the Duke, didn’t he?” Enjou smirked with a wink. “Our sources say the Court was not thrilled to give the highest noble title to you. And if the Iudex did not throw his own weight behind it, it would have never come to pass. How generous of him.”

It's true, it was actually generous, he doesn't lie. But in context of previous implied accusation, it will be read as sarcastic, as saying it was done with selfish reasons.

And then he reinforces with “Ah, you’re starting to get it, don’t you?”, which is a leading question that again, doesn't say anything false outright.

he should also offer the person hes manipulating to beat him up repeatedly, bc hes a freak.

[askuemki]

So I have no idea if I’ll keep this post up, but…

A little rant abt re8?? (And cod.. kinda) maybe venting (just a mess :,)

Disclaimer, take my opinions with a grain of salt I just wanna ramble lmao

Also spoilers, maybe (update, definitely)

So I’ve been having fun dipping my toes into Donna Beneviento (god her last name is hard to spell) content. After watching the gameplays and to at least have a basic understanding for the game, I find myself really drawn to her, maybe more than Alcina tbh

By no means i’m a diehard fan or anything, recently it’s been hard to find a new fandom to get attached towards. As much as I adore cod, there isnt really much to get attached too… like sure, task 141 is a fun group and the there is some GREAT art about the ships- but I only got attached because of Valeria, I won’t deny it at all. I’m a diehard lesbian, but there isn’t really much cannon content of her?? It’s really damn disappointing sometimes, man… same with Laswell. I appreciate all of the fanartists out there though, I adore all of the content here, fanfics or fan art. With Farah, she’s a diffrent story.. personally I never really got attached to her, but as a character she’s pretty neat. Her story sort of brings to light the horrors happening today which is a bit of a benefit…?? But ever since I found out things about both Valeria’s and Farah’s actors I’ve been a little off about things here and there. I don’t think I’ll stop posting Valeria content at all, it just might be a little less offen to indulge in different things.

Some personal things have been happening to make me feel really disconnected from like.. fucking everything for some reason?? Like I’m drifting away from fandoms, I’m drifting away from people and I’m like alone again.. I’m lost in a damn dumpster fire. AI art doesn’t help with this at all.. like why do I draw?? I’ve been drawing since I was in kindergarten like I never really thought of the specifics of perusing art, more or so just that I want to. Like hey, I wanna make a game or movie series, and something in me doesn’t realize I need to put in the effort to learn shit with just ends up in me doing nothing but self pitting on something I can change and ugh.. wish I can slap myself to get out of it.

So I think I’ve been kind of finding myself relating to Donna. Not in her extreme way, more or so just her aspect of being isolated, and just being known primarily for one thing. Like.. our side of art? Damn. Shit. I think I’m worth nothing.. and with Donna we don’t really know much about her besides her being a cursed Dollmaker, and the bare bones of her past. And we both barely fucking speak man… both hide our faces too !! maybe I kin this woman or something I don’t know

But as I was looking through her tumblr tag, I saw a rant about how headcannons and stuff has been stripping away the interesting stuff about the re8 villains… and with the things I’ve seen so far?? I can kinda agree, honestly.

Don’t get me wrong, if it’s not too.. insane? (I know those boundaries are hard to define at times, but maybe REALLY immoral shit for our “normal” world) and people aren’t forcing these headcannons into other people? I don’t mind headcannons. You do you, boo!

But the fan content I’ve seen, people reduce Donna and Alcina (I’m surprised it was pronounced as AlCHIna and not AlSIna, but side tangent over) from the potential they really have. Yeah it’s definitely nice to see Donna more, especially in those intimate moments.. but sometimes I feel like people just depict her as some shy, easily gullible, girl, and not really the mentally deprived woman she is. Like I’d love to see ideas of the different dolls Donna could create, or unique imagery of her mental state outside of having porcelain skin. What about the kinds of plants she takes care of? Or the dolls she makes? I’d love to see more of it, whether she has favorites, or if it’s a situation where she has doll replicas of her deceased family. Man, I really wanna see Donna do more creepy shit, basically.

With Alcina however? She’s kind of reduced to that (I’m going to cringe at these words so terribly, god help me) “hot vampire mommy”.. I’ll take fault for not looking into her content as much, I’m sure there’s great content out there !! (I’m not sure if anyone would do this but.. feel free to send me any fic recommendations or art) With what I want to see for her? I’ve heard from the rant post as a man-hating woman she had primarily female statues in her castle, it would be fun to see what else she has cause of this worldview, as well as more whitty remarks from her; I really enjoy her throwback with Heisenberg. Just in general.. her being a comical villain.

Okay so, the reason why I made this post in the first place before all of this shit threw up from my brain. Belladonna. At first, this ship really interested me, I like the character dynamics, the art was neat. But then something came up in my mind.. (as well as another rant post on the ship..) isn’t the Dimitrescu bloodline related with Donna? Both are failed experiments from Mother Miranda, and technically adopted by her. Though from what I know, Donna is the only one officially adopted. So would that be family..? I’ve seen a few places where Alcina called Donna her sister, and it makes me feel really off.

And I’ve seen in a few fanarts, Donna technically older than the Dimitrescu sisters posed next to them like another sibling??

I would like to endorse the ship, but just the morality of everything is off centered for me. I rather not support weird incest…

So please if people could maybe clarify for me whether it would technically be okay for support this ship.. I’d appreciate it. If it isn’t okay, I have plans on making a fan character anyways, or I can take current characters and make a resident evil au or something, and ship them when Donna. (I have a character that honestly looks like a mix of Alcina and Bela, but by no means she’s relates to the franchise, lmao)

By no means I’m experienced in resident evil lore or the fandom, this is just coming from a newer fan of the series, and what I’ve seen so far.

If you read all of this.. thank you?? I apologize if I sound ridiculous here, this is like the only place I can rant abt things without being brushed off for other shit

Good night now!!! I need to stop pushing my sleep boundaries ugh

[king-candybug-backup]

Going to gush a little about a couple Kill Switch scenes that I appreciate because I think you're being too hard on yourself about whatever pacing issues you think you have :)

Every night, after the arcade had closed and the random roster race was concluded, Vanellope would sneak a heal kit out of Hero’s Duty, gather up some food, and then come to see him for a few hours. 

Whatever true reasons she must’ve had, she’d always hide them under the guise of ‘keeping him company’. Perhaps it was her sneaky way of torturing him, forcing him to listen to her ear-gratingly-annoying voice every night. If this little brat weren’t his only ticket out of here, he’d have tried to kill her a hundred times over by now.

This part I particularly love because it does a really good job at communicating how King Candy thinks in such a small, casual paragraph! He's only ever used kindness as a manipulation tactic, so it makes total sense that he'd see Vanellope's kindness as the same thing; not true kindness, but some sort of means to an end, something she must be doing to get one over on him somehow. He's completely and totally wrong of course but this small thought process fits his character really well! There's so much I could say about just this part if I were better at wording things, but ye, I just love this!

His head arose at the sound, blinking a few times to squint at her, as though he couldn’t tell if he’d actually woken up yet. “... You’re back?” 

“Well, yeah, obviously.” She replied, hoisting her haul against the bars of the cage. “If it took threats of violence to get ridda me, I’d’ve just left ya trapped in Diet Cola Mountain.”

Completely baffled, he just stared at her, slack-jawed. She really was a lot stupider than he initially thought.

This part I really like because I think it's another short but effective way to show how his thought process is going to develop about the situation. He keeps seeing her nice gestures as her being foolish and dumb, which I think will let his guard down more as time goes on and he sees this more and more as "oh she'll be EASY to manipulate" even though Vanellope is actually smart and knows full well to be wary of him, and he just can't process how her kindness does not equal stupidity, so his flawed world view there is pretty much setting himself up for failure if he misleads himself into thinking she's a lot dumber than she actually is (That is, if I'm reading into that part correctly. Mayby I'm overthinking a little bit there. xD Bad at wording things)

She shot a snarky look his way. “Also, you literally tried to kill me in Rainbow Lane, I don’t think you have much room to judge, there.”

He looked as though he were about to object, took a second to think about it, then shrugged in a surprisingly nonchalant manner. “True.”

Vanellope rolled her eyes before continuing on her original tangent. “So, what, d’you think every single other racer on the track suddenly doesn’t matter if they don’t win every single time?” When she saw King Candy open his mouth to respond, she quickly held up her hand, remembering who it was she’d been speaking to. “Actually, don’t answer that.” 

And this part I don't have much to say about I just like because it's funny xD

Brb, gotta go have a cry real quick 😭

But seriously, thank you, that's so sweet! :') I'm honestly blown away by how much people seem to be liking the fic so far, it makes me really happy that you're enjoying it! 💗 Your ask honestly just made my day, like, THIS FANDOM IS SO NICE, WHAT IS HAPPENING

It also makes me very very happy to know that people are picking up on the vibes I am putting down, thank you very muchly

And what I mean by the whole "pacing issues" thing is really just, like, there were a couple of parts that simply didn't transition between scenes very smoothly, and it comes off as a little jarring (in my opinion). I didn't have the chance to finish the edits yesterday as originally planned, but basically all I'm going to do is add a scene with Candy and Vanellope talking a little bit more before the Sinistar attack, because I feel like that part happened too quickly before they had a chance to build up a bit more of a consistent dynamic, and I'm also going to add a scene before Candy tries to attack her to show his anger growing a bit more naturally, as I feel like that part was glossed over a little too much. Like, he went from "I'm going to bide my time and wait for an opportune moment" to "Actually f#@% everything I'm going to stab this child right now" without exploring his worsening emotional state enough, lol. Those were really the only two issues that were bothering me about it. Like I know it's not the HUGEST deal, but I feel like I can make it better, so I wanna try, lmao

[hana-bobo-finch]

FINAL PDBC POST OF 2024 WOOOOOO!! Yea so I loved a random background wasp I drew for a bug fables wip so much that I changed some stuff around and plopped her in pdbc as a bug person. meet my darling wasp child Gin

the culmination of my sudden wasp obsession and my undying PDBC obsession. This is just a rough sketch, ya gotta understand that she has only been in existence for literally one day lmao thusly there is hardly anything to her but HERE YA GO

HER NAME IS GINEVA!! I actually came up with it on the spot (more specifically her nickname, Gin) but it ended up fitting pretty well so let me ramble about that real quick:

It’s pronounced like Geneva. Like the Geneva Convention. Which she DEFINITELY violates on a daily basis but we’ll get to that. Her name is one R away from being the name Ginevra. Side tangent!! there is no R in the standard alphabet used on Fincg island, there’s a unique symbol that makes the R sound but don’t ask me about any of that special alphabet lore because that little tidbit is less developed than Gin herself. Point is, her name could very well be Ginevra, which is the name of King Arthur’s wife in some versions of the legends (according to Wikipedia at least!!! Yeah I know very reliable source but there’s no direct link to the source so I’m kinda just trusting Wikipedia on this lmao). That matters because if you don’t remember, pumpkin daddy is TERRIFIED of King Arthur. To an unhealthy degree. So I dunno I just thought it was a neat coincidence, not the most interesting thing in the world but I love adding small details in names like that so the fact that the name I chose on a whim is related to an already established piece of lore makes my brain happy. But MOVING ON her nickname, Gin, is also a reference to the fact that wasps are extremely sensitive to alcohol and can get drunk off fermented fruit which is the cutest thing in the world to me (I know drunk wasps realistically are just angry but I’m just imagining a lil wasp calling an uber for her and her lil wasp friends and awwwwww). So yeah she likes alcohol. a lot. she might have a bit of a problem but it’s FIIIIINE anyway I’ve yapped WAY too much about her name moving on—

She’s a queen Yellowjacket!! ALAS there are no other fully evolved wasp-people, so she is the queen of nothing. heartbreaking. She will still be a queen in all of our hearts. Though she miiiight be trying to speed up the evolution process a lil by messing around with the naturally occurring elements that are believed to have sped up the bugs’ evolutions but cough cough painfully underdeveloped lore cough coughI SERIOUSLY NEED TO THINK ABOUT THAT I CAN’T JUST HAVE THE EXPLANATION BE (IT JUST BE LIKE THAT SOMETIMES NOOOOO.

Being a queen she’s a bit taller and bulkier than the other bug people—most average around 3 and a half feet but she’s around four feet—though that was hard to portray in her design because…I don’t know how to draw buff wasps. but she is. she’s a buff wasp. She’s bulky compared to the other bug people I guess, they could probably be blown away by a stiff wind

She wears armor on her upper body as you can see, as bug people are quite fragile and are prone to injuries due to their rather rushed evolutions. And also it’s because she started off as a wasp soldier who had armor and I wanted to keep that but shhhhh be quiet I’m talking about my flawed bug biology lore. Despite a lot of people being scared of them, the bug people aren’t often outright attacked, but they do get injured a lot due to the standard societal standards of Fincg island. Aka people get punched. A lot. I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned it but fighting is a pretty big cultural tradition there, and it’s the norm to slap people over minor inconveniences. No hard feelings, it’s just the way it is (though it’s agreed upon that hurting relatives, especially your children is unacceptable, but for everyone else? fair game, go punch that old woman). But it results in the bug people getting hurt a lot, and healthcare for the bug people is understandably underdeveloped, so Gin wears armor as to not. Yknow. die. Probably a smart move. I tried to give part of her armor a sort of plated look, to give her the look of having abs without her actually having them because shredded wasps would look strange, but eh. Whether or not I succeeded is up in the air

the obvious question is why is she juggling bombs. The answer is because she wants to. Despite being over-dramatically fragile she has no qualms with attacking people just for goofs. Which I know I just said was the cultural norm but she does it with bio weapons so maybe take her little bombs away. Yes she’ll throw biological weapons at you but she’ll put on a little show before she does it! It’s like those Turkish ice cream vendors that play around with your ice cream before they give it to you if anyone has any idea what the hell I’m talking about. She could use her knowledge for good (helping speed up evolution for the other bugs) or she could use it for bio warfare. She chooses both, what a queen 🥰🥰 literally 🥰please someone get her a hive to rule over so she doesn’t spend her time throwing bombs at people. Also worth mentioning—although she’s a juggler, she is NOT a clown. Do not even imply she is. I won’t get into the whole lore here but clowns were exiled from the island, a corny joke about juggling being allegedly one of the leading causes, so any clownish behavior has to be done carefully as to not get exiled with the rest of the clowns.

Anyway that’s all I have for her at the moment. Will she ever get more development, probably not, chances are she’ll be a barely relevant character if ever relevant at all. Do I love her anyway? Absolutely

[rwby-encrusted-blog]

You know, I feel like if Fallout 4's Automatron DLC was allowed to be larger, it could've been really fascinating!

This isn't just going to be a "Nuka-World was dissappointing" Type post, just a speculative advancement of Automatron's base ideas.

I LOVE Ada!

Her, Preston and Codsworth are my favorite Fo4 companions.

Ada, unlike all companions except Dogmeat, does not have Affinity. She has no Loves, Likes, Dislikes, or Hates.

This seems a bit lackluster, because the other DLC companions do have affinity, and throughout Automatron we can convince Ada that she's alive and important, that her ability to 'simulate' emotions is vital to her as a person and the memories of her previous group.

And then I realized that Far Harbor and Nuka-World both have factions you can join; The Harbormen, The Children of Atom, and Acadia for FH, and the Raiders and the Traders of NW.

Given that in base Fo4 we have a Companion for every faction and then some; it would makes some sense to have that in the DLC's so that we don't just lose a big part of those stories with no gain.

the tangent in mind, you might be asking "Yeah, so? The Automatron DLC ends in one way."

Which isn't true - yes, you take over the facility no matter what, but you can do it Peacefully by talking down Isabela, or by killing her.

And it's a VERY powerful place, with a lot of resources. You have control of it.

It would makes sense for an evil character to use it for themselves, to take control of it, and not shut it off.

If you were able to do this, perhaps Ada, who has been working with you to SHUT DOWN the operations to turn on you, and Isabela to do the same if you settle things with her peacefully.

AS stated; losing a DLC companion would suck, and Ada is different than every companion except dogmeat.

Which why I propose that Jezebel could have been the Evil Automatron companion.

Think about it - a single, verbally expressive, feminine robot needs your assistance to get out of their situation and modify them. They have information useful to you, and will offer it if you help them.

Ada accepts your assistance immediately; giving you the Robot Workbench schematics at your word.

Jezebel only helps you when you give her a body.

Ada is the Good Companion, she wants people to be safe, to survive and not suffer as her caravan did. She's thoughtful and kind and understanding when you pick up scrap for resource; outright giving it to you.

Jezebel would then be the Bad Comapnion; she wants to "Save" people, she's bitchy and self centered; she insults you (In admittedly Funny ways.)

It would makes sense, in my mind, if there was just a little bit more in Automatron. It bugs me that Ada doesn't have a Companion Perk when everyone else does (except Dogmeat.)

Yes I understand that a part of it is that Ada is the Questgiver and Besthesda wanted you to not waster resources on a companion you could lose; but fuck that. I want to Romance the Robot.

I want to romance ALL THE ROBOTS, THAT'S RIGHT! THIS HAS BEEN ROBOTFUCKER PROPA-

I'm joking.

I just wanted to speculate about a different kind of Automatron we could have gotten.

I like to imagine that Jezebel would give you Ammo to help "Save" People.

[chibimui]

The Apothecary Diaries LN3 Thoughts - Ch9-11

LN 3: Prologue-ch2 - ch3-5 - ch6-8

We are about to get to one of my most favourite moments in this novel for Consort Lihua and I am just going to say - it does make me really sad that we basically never see her again after this. I hope she's living her best life.

(Warning: These thoughts may contain spoilers from later light novels all the way up until LN15.)

Chapter 9 - The Clinic

I think it's so funny how much free time Maomao has in the rear palace. She's so bored. Someone help her.

Once again, one of the reasons I really like LN3 is how we get more details on the power checks and balances within the palace and how much of that is influenced by the occupants in the rear palace. Such as this moment here, where the standing of each consort and their families is very clearly spelled out.

Skipping ahead, this little interaction with Jinshi stood out to me.

Just another one of those moments where we see the misalignment between how Jinshi wants their relationship to be and how Maomao still sees things. Maomao bumps into him and automatically assumes he wants something from her, whereas JInshi just sees it as a happy coincidence.

More world building! We learn that women cannot be doctors in the Imperial Court. At first I thought it was interesting Maomao doesn't know this, but I realize that outside of the palace there probably aren't "licensed physicians" and the only reason women can't be doctors is because of stigma rather than actual codified law.

This is also the first time Jinshi mentions the need to fill out medical staff and our wonder boy will make this happen very shortly. I genuinely love how stuff like this always gets brought back in future light novels.

Also, Maomao, could you care a bit more about Palace rules and regulations? You know, considering you work in said palace and are actually directly affected by these rules and regulations. Just a teeny bit? So we the readers can understand more? No? Is that too much to ask? Maomao please T-T (her knowing about the regulations might also help her realize just how much Jinshi is basically bending over backwards for her sometimes, lol).

This moment is hilarious. Maomao praying for the loss of Jinshi's member and then the slow pan-up as she looks up to his face. This is one of those moments I wish we could read into Jinshi's mind - I would love to now what flashed through his mind in this moment.

And the chapter ends with Maomao discovering a new brief fixation - can she develop a medicine to grow Jinshi's little froggy back?

She says it's for the money, but the fact that Jinshi is the inspiration for this speaks volumes considering a) her father, Luomen is a eunuch and b) she hangs out with The Quack all the time c) Gaoshun is standing right there and also assumed to be a eunuch at this moment. Did those folks inspire her to considering growing their missing members back? No. It was Jinshi. Just Jinshi.

Chapter 10 - Third Time's the Charm (Part One)

I just want to do a brief translation appreciation moment again.

The Japanese title for these chapters is 「みたび - 水晶宮」. みたび (三度/mitabi) means "Third time" or "Three times" and 水晶宮 (suishoukyuu) is Crystal Pavilion. A more direct translation would be "Third Time (at) the Crystal Pavilion" but the sentiment being conveyed is absolutely the idea of "third time's the charm" and I love how the English translation directly zeros in on that part and just fully leaves out the Crystal Pavilion part.

If you left in the "Crystal Pavilion" tidbit it would've made the chapter title way too wordy, and I like how the English translation leaves things a bit of a surprise as well as makes it a fun "connect the dots" moments when you actually read the chapter and realize "oooh, yeah okay, third time's the charm!" So yeah. Just. Fun translation appreciation moment :)

Onto the chapter itself now!

This whole side tangent of Maomao wanting to live in a shed is so hilarious to me. One of the tiny character building moments that adds nothing to the plot, but absolutely helps to make Maomao such an endearing main character to follow.

Maomao truly cannot leave a problem ignored - especially if someone is suffering. Even if it means raiding another person's palace.

Also notice how she immediately realizes she will need Jinshi's help and thinks it so matter of factly - no disgust, no "ugh", no "asking him is out of place" - just, I will need Jinshi to help me or I won't be able to do it.

Chapter 11 - Third Time's the Charm (Part Two)

You have to love how much hub-bub Maomao's presence int he Crystal Pavillion causes. Oh the horrors. Lady Lihau's Ladies-in-Waiting probably have an entire slide in their "employee orientation" dedicated to Maomao and what to do if she is ~within the vicinity~ aptly dubbed the "Cat protocol".

On a more serious note - I find it interesting how this chapter opens from Shin's POV.

This highlighted line, right from the get-go, already reveals so much about Shin's motivation and character. It's very "blink and you'll miss it" but definitely one of those lines you remember once the conclusion to this particular mystery is solved.

Not going to lie though, one of the reasons I really enjoy Shin's POV is we get these delightful descriptions of Maomao from another person and it's so funny.

The sheer disdain dripping of this description.

And then how terrifying Maomao can be.

Shin's observations of Maomao from the events of LN1 to LN3 are actually very telling in regards to Maomao's changing demeanor in the rear palace. Yes, Maomao was scary in LN1, but she had a lot of reasons to be in that moment and Jinshi had been there to witness and vouch for the extremity of her behaviour at the time.

In comparison, the Maomao of LN1 would never have stormed Lady Lihua's palace the way she did in LN3, and it's kind of hilarious that after these events she's like "Oh wait, I do need Jinshi to help me." Yes Maomao, please realize how much Jinshi is subtly saving your ass whenever you go off the top, please.

Maomao dropping bars. Yes, Maomao knows The Quack is incompetent, but I feel like this line shows some sort of justice towards him. He's a bit useless, but Shin taking advantage of his incompetence to cause harm is a big no no.

I feel like I cannot stress enough why I love LN3 so much and the return to the Crystal Pavilion definitely ranks as one of the reasons why. In LN1, what occurred to Lady Lihua could be written off as incompetence, but I love how we get a return back to Lady Lihua and we learn that the maliciousness occurring around her is not due to incompetence at all. It's purposeful and planned. It connects to and once again highlights one of the prevailing themes of LN3--the rot that exists within the rear palace and how deep it runs truly runs.

We already knew from Lady Lishu that not everyone's Ladies-in-Waiting are as supportive as the ones employed by Lady Gyokuyou, but we really see it a step further now with Shin and Lady Lihua. Shin isn't just someone who doesn't like the lady she is serving, she is actively trying to supplant her. It really is disheartening, and ultimately probably another reason why Lady Lihua was not elevated to Empress. It's not necessarily Lady Lihua's fault that she's surrounded by vipers, and the ability to remain steadfast despite her misfortune is admirable, but it's not enough to choose her as a partner given the instability of the current court environment.

Much like Jinshi, Lady Lihua would be a great choice in a time of peace.

Gotta love how Maomoa will forever be a boob girl, and it takes her a moment to re-orient back to reality. Don't get distracted by the boobs Maomao!

So much happening here. Maomao once again dropping bars. Lihua taking a stand and not only slapping Shin, but then doubling down and preparing to punch her.

It truly saddens me that after this Lady Lihua is barely present in the series. Ah-Duo reappears, Lady Lishu reappears, and Lady Gyokuyou's presence is felt due to her relation with Gyoku-ou and everything that happens in the Western Province.

It kind of makes me wonder... given that Lady Lihua is from the maternal side of the family--which would be Anshi's family, and given that the web novel seems to be focusing a bit more on that side of the family..... could we finally have a short return of Lady Lihua's presence? Am I perhaps wishing too much? Maybe, but come on! I feel like out of all the four consorts we get introduced to, Lady Lihua is the one that got shafted the most and she has arguably had one of the most epic moments. :(

Anyway, that's that for this mystery! Let's end on another cute JinMao moment shall we?

Yeah Jinshi, learn to read a room would ya?

Onto the next few chapters which are also super fun and interesting. :D

[ch12-13]

[electricbluebutterflies]

“did you ever stop and think that maybe just maybe the person you’re looking for is me?” + eddie/chrissy

PG-ish and also on ao3. I haven't written these little bbys in a hot minute and I missed them.

Chrissy floats, after.

It makes an amount of sense. Something happened – she’s still not totally sure what happened – and she spent the end of senior year in the hospital, and now-

She’s not sure who she is anymore, but nothing will ever be the same.

No one from her old life wants to talk to her that summer, she knows that much. The circumstances of the incident are too damning, and she can’t say she blames them, but also screw them all, and-

At least she has the boy who was there when it happened. The boy who most of the nurses thought was her boyfriend, apparently, and she’s pieced together bits of what happened when her consciousness wasn’t reliable and it’s all so sweet and-

Boys like that don’t actually fall in love with girls like her. Chrissy knows how the world works better than that. She’s a little uncertain of herself right now but she can’t imagine she’ll stray too far from what she’s been, whereas he’s…

If she admits to herself that she’s had a secret crush for a couple years, that makes it worse, but she’s ignoring the issue there.

Regardless, there’s also the thing where Eddie is one of the few people in her life who doesn’t treat her weird now, and if anything he’s just… decided to stay present, probably out of some weird sense of obligation but whatever. Chrissy is a little too desperate to question this, and it’s nice to have someone go out of their way for her, ask her to meet him in safe neutral places and they just talk and-

He’s midway through one of his big daydream tangents, mid-afternoon at the overgrown park that’s becoming their spot, and she could listen to him for hours and she has so often and-

Summer is almost over. She’s almost stable enough to start trying to have a normal life again, and she thinks she’d be a decent receptionist since there’s no way she’s going away for college now that she’s fragile, and she doesn’t know what he’s doing and it doesn’t seem like he knows what he’s doing either, and she feels like they’re running out of time, and-

“Did you ever stop and think that maybe, just maybe, the person you’re looking for is me?”

She broke him. That’s her first thought. Eddie Munson, infamous for having no idea when to shut up (among other things), is currently looking at her like some wire got snipped in his brain and-

“Is that… an option?”

She’d kiss him if she thought that’d get her anywhere, and she thinks she’d like kissing him, he wouldn’t be weird about it like other boys, but it would be too soon and sudden and Chrissy has spent most of her life being told not to be that way and-

“Do you want it to be?”

“Weird enough you even hang out with me, so…”

Chrissy laughs, and she knows he thinks she’s extra-cute when she does that and it’s not the point and it’s entirely the point, and-

“You saved my life. Isn’t that already the most fairytale thing you’ve ever heard?”

“You don’t owe me-“

“I know. But it got me thinking about what I want, and… you’re sweet to me, you’re a good person…”

“You really-“

Okay, now she needs to kiss him. She does, most of her body leaning across the picnic table, and it’s awkward in the way that first kisses are always awkward but also fluttery like she’s never really had before and-

“I want that,” she says like it’s the most real thing in the world. “And we can figure out everything else later, and-“

“Okay if I move over there so we can hold hands?”

“Yeah. Please.”

[ask-postcrash-curly]

Hey Curl man! Uh, apologies for the silence, other stuffs been happening on my end. Y’know how it is. Or, the overall- yeah.

Anyways… So, I’ve been thinking lately on the whole multiverse thing. Multiple timelines and all that jazz…How it seems a lot of us are from different realities and stuff. I find it interesting.

I’ll admit though, I’m a little saddened that we aren’t in the same universe. I’ll never actually see you in person. Hell, I’m sorta not entirely sure of my own existence. I mean, I definitely exist, that’s the bare minimum I’m doing but sometimes it feels like I’m in my own world and other times I’m a simple voice in your head? Not to get existential but it’s certainly an interesting experience. I definitely have my own life, but other times I feel extremely attuned to your mind. Especially when I first uh, started hearing or seeing you. Might be because I’m a fae and some weird shit can happen with that- I’m still not entirely sure how I got here, in your mind. To communicate like this. I don’t mind it, though. Some things are simply unknowable. …uh, but what I was sorta getting at, is I’m a little curious as to how different our universes are. Of course you’re in an entirely different time from the rest of us, that seems to be the most consistent thing among us, un, ‘voices’. but I’ve also noticed some things. If I’m to be correct your universe- planet, whatever has primarily humans running it? I’m… assuming we’re all from earth? Or most of us… um. But yeah, Your crew are all human and you appear surprised at anything but. I always sorta noticed this but especially when I recently have sharing more about what I look like to you. You seemed surpised at the deer half of me and the six eyes. But thats alright, a lot of people seem to be a bit, uh, unnerved? If that’s the correct term? by the eyes thing. Not very common, much less for cervitaurs or any ‘humanoid’ creatures.

…hah, that reminds me. I’ve been asked a few times if I am “all seeing”. Pfft… Imagine. I‘ve already seen quite a bit, I wouldn’t wanna see everything, y’know? Last thing I’d want, really. Besides, I think I’d need more than six eyes to see everything. But I think that’d just give me a headache. More eyes means more things to process. …’sides I don’t think being “all seeing” really correlates with having more than two eyes? Has More to do with magic methinks. But, uh, yeah…

Oh, right! Uh, tangent aside, I’m just curious about your world. And possibly everyone else’s here- I’d love to know more. We seem to have similar-ish like.. well, obviously language and some music. Like the odyssey and epic musical. Makes sense since it’s a more human-made thing. I’m also curious if i could like. ‘Show’ you mine? Or at least myself. I saw the few times Robin in particular showed you herself, I think. Where one time it Almost looked like a, uh.. live action thing. Could see her in real time kinda. Where she was dancing. Like a video? So, That was interesting. I wonder how I could do that. Though I’m not sure I would. I’m a bit camera shy. Well. I guess it wouldn’t be a camera, more of.. well, being perceived. That’s also scary. Haha. I know I don’t have to or anything I’m just uh. Curious how you would do that…..

Hm…

Well- regardless of that.. I’m curious. You don’t have to tell me everything about your world that’d. Be a very arduous task, to say the least. Just some basics maybe. I know you’ve discovered other planets and such and space travel is common for you, right? Or it’s just generally a more explored place. We Don’t really have that where I am. Space is largely unknown along with the depths of the ocean (not that I’d want to know what’s in there. I’m staying on land thank you very much.) but I’ve always been mildly curious about space. I like the stars and constellations. Galaxies are gorgeous.

Do you have gods in your universe? We have some, but they’re just. More of forces of nature than anything. At least the ones I’ve heard of. Though I’m fairly certain I saw one once, I think it might’ve been Death. Or general grim reaper. Not uh. Not your death. haha… or, at least i don’t think so? It just was a brief brush with it, I dunno. Could have just been a shadow or my vision being fucked. I uh. Was sorta in shock at that moment cuz I was uh… ahem. Hm. …… um, Suddenly I feel like I should not be talking about this particular experience. Uh, don’t worry about it. It was a while ago. Sorry. Uh…

…..

Oh! Right I was gonna show you my cats- I completely forgot about that, my bad. Let me find some pictures……. Uh… ok, there we go!

The grey one is Mercury and the brown one is Ash!!!! They have that high energy/low energy dynamic. Mercury is an absolute menace do not let that cute little face fool you. He's such a little shit but we love him anyway. Ash is more chill and is a sweetheart and is friendly to everyone but really needs to learn how to unsheathe his claws, I swear… Theres a lotta pictures where he’s sleeping which isn’t inaccurate. He is a sleepy fella. Some people in my family likes calling them Speedy and Loaf, haha.

they’re such a silly duo they often unintentionally like.. mirror each other and I always think of yin and yang. If that’s a thing in your universe.

Hey, Ari! All good, mate.

It certainly is fascinating. I've never heard of someone connecting to other universes before.

Yeah, I get what you mean. That part's unfortunate. Still, I'm glad for what we can get. Huh... I'm not sure I understand? Ah— So you are nonhuman, then. I was wondering about that. I don't mind it either. It really baffles me, how you lot ended up here, but mostly I'm just glad it happened.

Hm? Yeah, no, Earth and all the colonies are human-run. There aren't, uh, fae. I wouldn't say we wholly control Earth. There's plenty of animals. But as far as society goes? Just us. So, wait, is your world more diverse there? Obviously, if you're not human, but— What else is there, if you don't mind me asking?

Hey, it's five more than me! Wait, so magic's just... a thing, for you lot??

It looked like a video to you? Huh. Well, if you do figure it out, I'd be happy to see you, but there's no pressure whatsoever.

Right! We've got humans living all over the galaxy by now. The ocean either, huh? Not my area of expertise... They are, huh? I'll admit working for Pony Express has abated my love of space a bit, but it's still... It's amazing, yeah? Just how much is out there? Hell, humans have never left the damn Milky Way, even in my universe. There's so much more.

Not that I know of. I mean, there's Death, but I don't believe she considers herself that way. I suppose the singular "God" could be real, or any given gods from any religion, or maybe some sort of God that no humans have recognized—? It's all something of a mystery. ...That sounds— Is your Death as kind as ours? You can talk about it if you want. I don't mind. Seems like it upsets you. You know you can come to me if you need.

...

Cats? Yes! Thank you.

Is Mercury named for the planet, the element, or the, uh, god? Speedy and Loaf, hah. Adorable... Thank you for these. Give them headpats for me, please?

I know what Yin and Yang are, yeah. That really is interesting. Thank you so much for the pictures. Really brightens my mind.

[future-dregs]

Hi Audie 😘

Wincest Wednesday question for you:

If you had to pick one character in the show that mirrors each of the boys, which do you think works the best? The reasoning is totally up to you—the show gives us so many, even side characters—and I would like to know which stick out to you the most!

~Rhea 🖤🖤

I see Dean mirrored in Ruby, Bela, and Anna.

Ruby is obvious, idk if you even want to count her because she was playing into Deanlike characteristics to make Sam comfortable with her.

Bela is because of their bravado and their fathers. Now, I don't think John abused Dean the way Bela's father abused her, but I think there is a comparison to be made between. I think Dean's feelings about John are complex. He loves John, respects the "Father" position. I, personally think there was a little bit of a one way thing between he and John on Dean's end, not that Dean was in love with his father exactly, but that he wanted the closeness of a partner with him. He's taking care of Sam, "the house" so to speak, he had a lot of responsibility at a very young age but was also almost entirely dependent on John and answered to him. Idk how much was discussed between the two about mundane scheduling but Dean was put into that partner position, but without the equal footing, respect or affectionate benefits. I think Dean often felt like a neglected spouse as well as a child. Now, this is not the same thing that Bela experienced, her father just straight up rapes her, but I think the comparisons are there and I think Dean recognizes them which is why he goes so low with "Daddy didn't give you enough hugs?" He doesn't like the things they share so he gets mean. Also they both try to play too cool for school, movie slick, to protect themselves from the things they're really scared of. They play into their archetypes, Dean is a Man, Bela a Femme Fatal, but they're always very aware of the act.

Anna, again, comes back around to the Father issue. She's an angel, child and soldier of God, who is questioning. Dean is also having to reevaluate his relationship to his father, his role in the world and his family, and just how much choice he really has.

Sam is more difficult. Early seasons Sam mirrors John and Mary of course. He has the anger of John, and when Jess, and then Dean die, we see he is driven by the same vengeance. He and Mary both wanted to get out of the life, both wanted to be "normal" both were brought back in by a death, they actually mirror each other almost step for step, except Mary had arguably more knowledge and more choice than Sam ever did.

But once we get to season six and beyond? I don't know. When Jack is introduced we see that he mirrors Sam quite a bit. There's a lot of beats that remind me of Sam's blood arc, but idk that you can also make the arrow reverse back to Sam. Jack is similar in ways to how Sam used to be, not the other way round. (Also not to go on a different tangent but its Wincest Wednesday so I'm allowed. When Sam is talking Dean around to Jack he uses the "for me" with his big ole eyes and I UGGGHHH I can't TAKE it. "For me??" "FOR ME?????" what kinda sappy ass romantic bullshit)

So yeah for Sam I'm not sure. As a child, teenager and a young adult he's much like his mother, in his twenties he has the wrath of his father, but then he grows up and becomes very much his own person, and aside from the fact that he and Dean sort of grow into each other as they age, and mirror each other, I'm kind of coming up short.

(Also going back I see you said one but I forgot.)

((Also I am SO SORRY it took me this long!! 😣😣😣))

[eddysocs]

West End Boys — Jamie Tartt x OC

Summary: While Brennan isn’t big on surprises, the one Jamie has in store for him might just change his mind.

Word Count: 1,035

Warnings: Bit of language, but really just fluff

Brennan Marks wasn’t used to surprises. He liked to plan things out, to know what was coming next. So, when Jamie Tartt texted him a cryptic message to “wear something nice, yeah?” and refused to elaborate, Brennan spent the afternoon half excited and half panicked.

When Jamie finally showed up at his flat that evening —dressed in a sharp blazer and that trademark cheeky grin that Brennan had fallen so hard and so fast for— Brennan knew he was in for something special.

“Where are we going,” Brennan asked, trying to keep the anxiety out of his voice as they climbed into the car Jamie had ordered.

“You’ll see,” Jamie replied. Not helpful in the slightest, but really, what else should he have expected. Jamie had planned this, obviously, and he wasn’t about to give the surprise away just because he asked nicely.

So, Brennan rolled his eyes but let it slide. There was something endearing about Jamie’s determination about keeping this whole thing a secret. He was usually such a blabbermouth that Brennan knew this must have been important enough to him that he'd kept it under wraps.

The ride was filled with Jamie’s chatter, probably to distract himself from outing the surprise before they arrived, Brennan thought. But, he was happy enough to listen anyways, hearing stories about training, Keeley’s latest business venture, and a brief tangent about how he thought Sam should start his own cooking show. Brennan laughed and nodded along when Jamie paused, feeling quite at ease despite the mystery.

It wasn’t until the car pulled up in front of a brightly lit marquee that Brennan realized where they were, and what Jamie had planned for the two of them.

“You got us tickets to a show at the bloody Savoy,” Brennan asked, turning to Jamie with wide eyes.

“Not just any tickets,” Jamie said, pulling two from his pocket and holding them up like they were golden. “Front row for Les Misérables. Thought you’d like it.”

Brennan’s breath caught, despite Jamie's butchery at the pronunciation of the name of the show. He’d made an effort at least. “Jamie…this is incredible. You remembered I wanted to see this?”

Jamie shrugged, but his ears turned pink. “Course I remembered. You were bangin’ on about musicals that one night after we watched that one with the cats, and you said you’ve never seen this one live. Figured I’d fix that.”

Brennan smiled, feeling a swell of affection for this stupid, charming footballer who didn’t know shit about musicals, but listened enough to get him tickets to go see one of the absolute best in the West End. “You’re full of surprises, Jamie Tartt.”

“Yeah, well, don’t get used to it. I’ve got a reputation to uphold.” Jamie smirked, and Brennan was still so in shock, he didn’t move, just kept smiling at Jamie like a silly git. “Go on, out with you. Don’t think it's good form to show up late to these things.”

The theater was buzzing with excitement when they walked in. Brennan couldn’t help but glance around, soaking in the grandeur of the space. The red velvet seats, the golden accents, the massive chandelier. It was like stepping into another world.

Jamie, for all his confidence on the football pitch, seemed a little out of his depth amongst the opulence of the theatre. When they got to their seats, he couldn’t seem to stop fidgeting, glancing around as though expecting someone to call him out for not belonging and throw him out on the streets.

“You alright,” Brennan asked, leaning close.

“Yeah, just…this is fancy, innit,” Jamie said, his voice low.

Brennan took his hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. “You’re doing great, Jamie. Relax. Just sit back and enjoy the show.”

The lights dimmed, and the orchestra began to play. Brennan felt a thrill of anticipation as the overture filled the air. From the first note, he was captivated, drawn into the story unfolding on stage.

But as much as he loved the musical, Brennan found himself sneaking glances at Jamie throughout the performance. He was used to Jamie being loud and brash, always the one in charge of the situation. Here, though, Jamie was quiet, his gaze fixed on the stage, his expression a mix of awe and concentration.

When the first act ended, Brennan turned to Jamie, who was blinking rapidly as though trying to process what he’d just seen.

“Enjoying it so far,” Brennan asked, suppressing a grin.

“It’s— it’s mad, innit? Like, how they can just sing and act like that at the same time,” Jamie said, shaking his head. “Proper talent, that.”

Brennan laughed. “You’re one to talk about talent.”

“Yeah, but this is different,” Jamie said, gesturing to the stage. “They’re telling a whole story with just their voices. It’s, I dunno, kinda amazing.”

Brennan reached out, resting a hand on Jamie’s knee. “I’m glad you’re enjoying it. I love seeing this side of you.”

Jamie looked at him, the usual cockiness in his grin replaced by something softer, more sincere. “Just wanted to do something nice for you, Bren. You deserve it.”

Luckily the lights dimmed again as Brennan felt the heat flush his cheeks to be almost as red as his hair. The second act was even more emotional, and by the time the final curtain fell, Brennan wasn’t the only one discreetly wiping his eyes. Even though he was witnessing it, he could hardly believe that Jamie had shed a tear.

As they stepped out into the cool night air, Jamie let out a deep breath. “Well, that was something else.”

Brennan smiled, slipping his hand into Jamie’s. “It was perfect. Thank you for this.”

Jamie squeezed his hand, his smile returning. “Anytime, love. Maybe next time, we’ll see that one with the witches you were on about.”

“You mean Wicked,” Brennan asked, his eyes lighting up as he laughed.

“Yeah, that one,” Jamie said, already pulling out his phone. “I’ll sort it.”

Brennan leaned his head against Jamie’s shoulder as they walked to the waiting car. He’d never been one for surprises, but when it came to Jamie, he could see himself getting used to them.

Forever Tag: @baubeautyandthegeek, @kmc1989, @curious-kittens-ocs, @fanficanatic-tw, @gcthvile, @immyowndefender

[theresa-of-liechtenstein]

it’s the final countdown (last rehearsal before concert)

retrieved my violin and folder from the arts basement because i was not about to haul my laptop and thermodynamics notebook across campus to get to the theater (which, funnily, is nowhere near the arts building) and found myself in conversation with the principal trombone of wind ensemble (whom i’ve interacted with not infrequently) as we mutually briefed each other on the general mood in our respective camps given the circumstances (joint concert)

summary: orchestra thinks they’re cooked, but are probably not; wind ensemble thinks they’re cooked, and probably are

the interaction taught me that people actually find tita conductor scary, which like. okay, yeah, i’ve been frightened by her before, but that was because of the trauma, not because of her. sure she can be firm enough that her ratemyprofessor rating is a 3.3 and she gets reviews claiming she doesn’t extend basic respect even up to last month, but tita conductor is at her core a deeply sentimental, kind, and whimsical woman and it’s very hard to be scared of someone like that—her tendency to stare at you with her big brown eyes aside. if anything my fear lies in disappointing her

okay sidenote because i looked her up on ratemyprofessor for that single bit. what the fuck are these people on. i may be biased because of the whole post-trauma thing or the whole i know stuff about her past because she told me thing or the whole accidentally becoming one of her special little helpers thing but like i’ve literally never seen her be anything but patient and kind to anyone even when it was totally undeserved (and i count in this too btw)? like idk if it’s just because my music director trauma was that bad that everything is frolicking through the daisies in comparison but hello? if someone is firm about getting the sound they want without taking fucking pot shots at you in the process i don’t think it makes them a cunt at all. might leave a review just to balance it out because wtf is going on here. anyways you didn’t choose to read the rehearsalpost for this. tangent over

got to the theater with my co-principal in tow (also was in the locker room), unpacked, and got settled on stage. we are so back in business baby

the professor who normally helps hold down the back stands emailed me on sunday night informing me he wouldn’t be able to play in the fall concert because he was just too stressed. i assumed he had also informed tita conductor so i didn’t tell her and just emailed back wishing him well.

while taking attendance tita conductor looked at my section, squinted at the back stands to figure out why there were empty seats there, and said, her tone a little lost, “who—who’s—um,” and looked a little desperately around before asking, “em?” and looking at me, to which i said in my gentlest tone, “dr. [surname] won’t be joining us for the fall concert” thinking i was just reminding her, to which she physically startled and said “well i didn’t know about that”

we are taking the two dvořák movements we’re playing out of order so we end our set on the first movement. which is so funny but tita conductor wanted the photo finish and the third movement does end kind of anticlimactically. this program is so goofy honestly

it was my co-principal’s first time playing anything in the theater and the first time we got cut off she made a face and said “it’s so dry in here” welcome to our world lmao

the brass misheard what rehearsal marker tita conductor was starting on (supposed to be G) and tita conductor waved us all to stop and called louder to the back “G! G as in gosh almighty! G!”

holy fuck the britten was actually good? unfortunately we have the goofy ass keyboard which i feel betrayed about because i thought we were getting a celesta. damn it. but other than that the movements actually sounded pretty good??? which i was shocked by

the goofy midcentury christmas opera suite has an opening that sounded hellish the first time we read it this quarter but actually sounds pretty melodic now

tita conductor turned to the firsts and asked them, “can you sing this melody by heart?” to which littlebrothercore concertmaster looked cherubically up at her and began singing his part. tita conductor hastily cut him off, saying, “i mean, i’m just asking if you can. if you do it in the shower or whatnot. i’d really suggest that you do” 😭😭😭😭😭😭

viola friend, ate dean, my co-principal, and i all lost it

however, tita conductor wasn’t quite done there; she turned to us and asked the outside stands to move with her so as not to obscure an interesting harmony by saying “let’s have eye contact there”. girl i already know at least you and i are having enough eye contact. more times than necessary i might add

amazingly enough tita conductor actually ended rehearsal five minutes early, saying “um, i think i’m gonna do something unprecedented in the history of my tenure at [university], which is: i think we’re done” girl help 😭

coming up: first concert of graduate school tomorrow. let’s fucking get it lads

[gothark]

Books I've read in February 2025:

And what I thought about them:

Inkspell - amps up the fantasy aspect of the series, really starts to shine even more with this book and that ending, man

5 Stars

The Empress of Salt and Fortune - super interesting, really loved the aspect with the item description, looking forward to the rest of the series

3.75 Stars

Six of Crows - I really wanted to love this but man do i hate everything around nina and matthias... i do love kaz though lmao

3.5 Stars

Tress of the Emerald Sea - did not like the narrative voice of this at the beginning but it grew on me, amazing world building though

4.75 Stars

EYETOOTH - ohhh this was a vibe!! really enjoyed basically all aspects of this

5 Stars

Little Mushroom: Judgement Day - i was very surprised by just how much I loved this one, i only read fantasy danmei before this so a dystopian one was new but i loved it, amazing, no notes

5 Stars

If We Were Villains - annoying as book lmao i was so annoyed the entire time reading this, never again

2.5 Stars

The Picture of Dorian Gray - such high hopes, loved the mystical horror aspect but everything around it was so much useless tangents

3.5 Stars

The Spirit Bares Its Teeth - ohhhh this was so good! uncomfortable af, so much dread but soooo good, time to read all his books

5 Stars

Innate Magic - made me want to skin myself, so much incessant catholic dick sucking, get out

1 Star

A (Non) Comprehensive Guide to Sea Serpents - damn just fell flat, read a bit like fanfic and not in a good way, characters felt super unnatural

3 Stars

The Mysterious Mrs Hood - yeah it was fine, a bit too long, a few too many unnecessary details

3.5 Stars

Vicious - you know this could have been just my thing if Eli wasn't a religious nut job with literally nothing redeeming going for him (also the glossed over assault, wtf?)

3.75 Stars

Weak Heart - surprisingly this worked pretty well for me! just felt there was a bit of an uneven balance in the character relationships

4.5 Stars

The Power - could have been so good if it didn't pull a 'gotcha' on the reader in the name of the patriarchy

3 Stars

The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System - is it even a surprise at this point that I'm down bad for literally every danmei i read???

5 Stars

Little Mushroom: Revelations - i miss them, i wish they would come back to me

5 Stars