#long post so sorry gang

[malfunctioningemi]

I watched Disney's wish and was... disappointed. SO I FIXED IT

I think the movie had SO MUCH potential. I went in with hope that it would not be as bad as critics were saying, that audiences were just being harsh because they didn't understand the art style.

Then I watched it. I have never felt more disappointed in a movie with such a high budget. The longer it went on, the more I was just SAD at the lost and wasted potential. ESPECIALLY for the movie released on Disney's 100th anniversary.

What makes me the most disappointed is that you could make ONE CHANGE and it would have genuinely improved the pacing, message and tone of the movie.

Make Asha a princess.

Make Asha King Magnifico's daughter.

Why would this improve things? Well, in the movie as it stands, we are told Asha has been taught about wishes from her father, who we never see outside of a single 5 second flashback, and we have no connection to. He's a needless character, really, as are her family.

Making Asha the kings daughter would recontextualize the entire movie for the better. Raised to love the kingdom, the people, the wishes, she would be raised to know how important wishes are to the workings of Rosas inside the castle and out. The song "At all costs" already sounds like a fathers lullaby, why not give it layered meaning? Make Magnifico be talking about ASHA, how she is amazing and his whole world and something that needs protecting.

Asha, in this new context, could be raised to be the next wish granter like her father, and that when she learns of the responsibility and lies that come with being the one keeping the wishes safe, initially she wouldn't see the issue with it.

Then we have her best friend (and perhaps in this world, handmaid) Dahlia, who could have told Asha her wish in confidence, and when she gives it up, Magnifico tells Asha that its "bad" for Rosas, even though to Asha, its a wish that was more than deserving enough. Then she realizes that her fathers way are wrong, uncertain if she wishes to follow his footsteps, especially when she sees the visible change in her best friends demeaner after giving up her wish.

From there, Asha, who could have always been fascinated with the stars and wishes, could take a step away from the castle to find the peaceful forest, making a wish of her own. Though rather than wishing TO a star, she more makes the wish to HERSELF, and the star answers in a way to help show Asha she DOES have the ability to grant her own wishes.

NOW.

with the context of Asha, the kings daughter, being the one to cause the spike in magic, Magnifico could HAVE SO MUCH MORE DEPTH into his frustration, anger and power hunger. We could explore his backstory, maybe he almost or DID lose someone important to magic and wishes, and is worried that his own daughter could get hurt, and THAT is why he wants to hunt down whoever could challenge his power. How is he meant to protect her "at all costs" like the song, unless he is the most powerful?

Meanwhile Asha is doing what she can to keep the star calm, but seeing the star interact with her people and grant even the simplest wishes would change how she has been taught EVERYTHING growing up under her father. Of course she has never questioned anything before, she trusts her father. maybe she is even SCARED of this strange magic star at first until it gains her trust.

Here, we could learn more about the magic of the world as Magnifico hunts down answers to questions of this strange magic. Seeing him go crazy seeking knowledge and trying to control everything, rather than trying to connect with his people and realise they are good, he trusts them less and less.

I do love the idea of crushing wishes being like grief, and I WISH they had expanded on that more, and the idea that the king with more power can alter wishes I WISH THEY HAD DONE MORE WIS=TH IT AS HE GOES MAD. If they wanted him to be irredeemable, he should have hurt his wife and her wish, but I think its implied her wish was the first he granted.

ANYWAYS as magnifico goes mad, Asha is connecting with the people, learning their wishes and dreams and hoping to help them. the more she and magnifico learn, the less close they become, and more spiteful towards one another's views, especially once Magnifico learns that Asha is the one working with the star, he could think her confused or that she had been manipulated by the star.

When they have their big confrontation, it would have SO MUCH MORE IMPACT

Father and Daughter fighting for what THEY see as right. The older generation (see: old disney, traditional and follows the rules and structures put in) fighting the innocent hope of the new generation (see: new disney and how they try and help talk through deeper topics (eg frozen, encanto, tangled)) and not realizing that they are strongest when together.

I'm still picking apart the ending, but i do believe that we could reframe the rebellion at the end between the people realizing they can help eACH OTHER grant their wishes, even if they cannot do it alone without the help of magic. The star's role in this should have been more like that, a helping hand.

I can imagine the star offers Magnifico a choice. Lose his magic, or become consumed by it.

Magnifico was already mad with power, but I think it would be Asha that convinces him that power is not magic, it's the people, which is shown by how they all hold one another up. She tells him that the only reason she LOVES her home, her people, is because he showed her how to.

Magnifico gives up his powers, and nobody in Rosas is in control of the wishes.

They feel lost, but the star offers Asha a hand, and she realises they they are still able to do what her wish was all about: helping her people.

MAGNIFICO BEGINS HIS REDEMPTION, ASHA BECOMES A PRINCESS BELOVED BY HER PEOPLE, AND WE HAVE A SATISFYING END!!

anyway I just,,, WISH that this movie was given more time to be something better. It was so rushed and the pacing was horrid, there were too many characters (fuck the goat) and too many themes they were trying to follow to the point they forgot the MAIN RULE of animation.

show. don't tell.

In Wish, we only learnt things because they were TOLD to us, which i HATE in visual mediums. Take time to pause. Show and develop relationships in motions, movements, the quiet moments.

:)

[brotato-chibs]

I wanted some #osakita but also some osasuna interactions so---

"established OSKT with OSSN that used to date in high school but are still good bros"

w extra dooble from my friend

[lesbiamano]

the way i can see either enki, ragnvaldr, or cahara taking up the role of girl's parent/guardian EXCEPT d'arce,,, like ive tried but i feel like throughout the entire dungeon crawling experience she is too out of it to like be a proper parent figure to the girl. not to say she wouldnt take her in if she found her and protect her, i feel like she would, because its funny seeing her take in le'garde's child without knowing it. but either way she'd be too stuck in her own head and her want to reach le'garde as soon as possible/revive him that she wouldnt be able to give her the proper parental love im sure girl yearns for.

ragnvaldr used to have a child, he probably sees his kid in her, and he takes her in not just as some child he found that hed take care of until they got out or until she died, hed see her as HIS child and would truly care about protecting her and not letting anything come her way. she'd feel like a way to make up for the fact that he could not protect his own child and im sure that one day when he realizes shes the child of the man who ruined his life and family, it'll be extra painful.

for cahara, hes already expecting a child on the way, and so whats one more child to pick up and take home too? enough of cahara dying in the dungeon after girl ascends to godhood, he gets his treasure and gets out of there with her. he can give her and his newborn child the best life he possibly could, and i feel like hed definitely raise her as his own child, so his newborn gets an older sister. shes part of his family now!

for enki, hed begrudgingly take her along with him on his path to enlightenment. at first hes not really fond of her, but eventually, realizes he cant just let her go after he gets what he wants! i mean, gods, thats a waste of an assistant, right? as much as he hates admitting it, hes found some sort of fulfillment and contentment in teaching her spells and seeing her do them decently as she follows him around, and nosramus definitely wouldnt let him just sacrifice her or something. so he keeps her. and shes his child now, even though he only says shes his assistant/student.

but for d'arce, as much as i WANT to give her a happy ending where she gets out of the dungeon and live her life with her three weed smoking girlfriends, i feel like that just wouldnt happen. and even if she does care for the girl and keep her safe, its not the maternal sort of way that the girl probably desperately seeks, even if not specifically from d'arce, but from anyone. d'arce cannot stop and think that perhaps it would be better if she and the girl turned around and left the dungeon when she finally gets to le'garde and sees his corpse lying there. no. she absolutely loses her mind. she has to get le'garde back, he had so much left to do and she trusted that he knew what he was doing. and besides, shes never been one for the children. with the work she does as a knight, be it a knight of rondon or a knight with le'garde's group, settling and finding a partner and even having kids felt like a distant reality. even with le'garde, hes always been out of reach for her and she knew that she couldnt have something like this. she's committed to this. because if she does back out, where would she go? she abandoned the knights of rondon and her family for the sake of the knights of the midnight sun and for the sake of le'garde. she cant go back home. she cant give girl the life she deserves outside the dungeon. she digs le'garde out of his grave and lies in it for the sake of everything she chose to leave the life she knew for.

tldr. d'arce i will not allow you to have a happy ending

[dollettodraws]

HEY so I’ve been like super super dead and I missed so much AND chosen week omfg 😭 but I’m gonna post this art from last month

I made this for TSC’s bday and only posted it on my insta but never here cause tumblr was causing me so many technical difficulties so I took a longggg break from it lol

but I’m still proud of this so I’m gonna show it here too so SUPER LATE POSTED TSC BDAY ART GO

Tumblr better not be causin me problems anymore man I wanna get back to posting regularly again lol

[moonagedaydreamsofrhiannon]

casey “i still haven’t found what i’m looking for” mcdonald and derek “all i want is you” venturi

[em0-alpaca]

sick as hell, here are my only mouthwashing doodles for now

[sweetandglovelyart]

Knightfall in Dream Land - Page 6

Meta Knight begins his long fall to Popstar’s surface and passes by some familiar faces on the way down.

[the-van-der-linde-gang]

[Gives Javier a blue bow] dont ask questions :3

[He’s feeling very pretty, thanks anon 💙]

[bookishjules]

Hi hi!!!! I saw your sizzy HCs and I would love it if you did TMI gang HCs for the future when they have kids and all💗 How do they all interact with their kids/each other’s kids? That ask about Jace’s kids made me laugh I feel like his kids would have a jar for him to put money in whenever he’s too cocky, kinda like New Girl with Schmidt

simon and izzy are the go-to babysitter couple of the bunch for sure, given that they aren't running an institute or, you know, the entire clave. they're also the most likely to have a movie or game night, which the kids absolutely love

because the cousins span over a decade in ages, there seems to always be a baby to hold, and clary is always the first one to reach for them (followed by alec)

jace is stricter as a father than might be expected. not in a harsh way, but in a protective way. in a 'i want you to learn how best protect yourself and your family' way. he's definitely a teacher, in a very physical way, and loves spending time in the training room with his kids and niblings (not that this makes him any more mature or less ridiculous at his core hehe)

creativity and expression are very well supported by all members of the tmi gang, and their children develop a good amount of confidence when it comes to being themselves and not necessarily folding into shadowhunter (or warlock) norms

magnus loves taking the kids on adventures and showing them things they might never have gotten to see if they didn't have a very powerful warlock for an uncle, but he is also very protective, moreso than some of the other parents. he's seen too many people die to knowingly bear witness to human/shadowhunter recklessness in these kids he cares so much for

alec is the first one to suggest they let rafe go out on patrol, not without alec ofc. that first patrol is a fun one. jace is there too. he's muchhh less strict with his niblings than he is with his own kids, and he tends to treat them much more like how he treats kit. hence the fun hehe rafe has a blast, and the whole time alec's anxiety is through the roof.

all the cousins are scared of izzy's cooking. even if she's gotten better as the years have gone on, their parents have ingrained in them too much fear for the food she makes not to be wary when she holds out a wooden spoon with a questionable substance on it. usually the kids ask for pizza. or a delivery of chinese food (like parents like kids hehe)

[vickyt-mv]

Whipped up a quick relationship chart involving my summoner and her five S-supports 🤗💖

Additional notes/ramblings under the cut ✨

This was largely inspired by the recent Forging Bonds event, wherein Charlotte just fucking hates Virion apparently. I think the most exciting aspect of creating a Summoner OC for most people is letting them interact with their favorite characters, but making your favorite characters interact with each other is even more appealing to me. 🥰🥰🥰

As a Certified FEH Pass Subscriber™, Summoner VickyT gets the luxury of choosing five characters to S-rank. Since FEH is technically an isekai, I thought it would be funny to treat Summoner VickyT as an otome/reverse-harem protagonist - she isn't necessarily tied to any one character, but she is courted by many...or something like that. I'm using shoujo manga I've read as a guide. 🙈

Some extra notes on each character:

Lon'qu: One of VickyT's retainers. Warms to the summoner slowly. Respects Yukimura as the one calling the shots. Gets annoyed by Virion's antics but ultimately enjoys his company (even though he would never admit it). Extremely wary of both Anna and Charlotte.

Virion: VickyT's first summon and one of her retainers. Treats Charlotte and Anna like a gentleman would. Simps for the summoner. Plays chess with Yukimura. Becomes (one-sided?) buddies with Lon'qu but maybe also sees him as an obstacle.

Yukimura: VickyT's advisor. Protective of the summoner. Values Lon'qu the most since he's the best fighter. He also enjoys chess time with Virion, especially since Virion's tactics are reminiscent of the ones Yukimura used to employ when he was younger. Is very aware of Charlotte's true personality and strength. Purchases trinkets from Anna, but always negotiates a fair price. He's ultimately the one calling the shots, since he's a better tactician than the summoner.

Anna: Works alongside VickyT managing the finances for the Order of Heroes. Anna gets along very well with Charlotte. She wants to try to sell Lon'qu a potion to help with his fear of women, but AS a woman hasn't figured out how to approach him to initiate the sale. Easily scams Virion.

Charlotte: Additional bodyguard to VickyT. Charlotte hates Virion's guts. She has tried to court Lon'qu but failed on account of Lon'qu being Lon'qu. She gives up the pursuit when she realizes Lon'qu is just a regular swordsman anyway (even if he DID become a Khan someday, he'd still have to compete with another Khan for power eventually). She avoids Yukimura since he discovered her secret strength.

[lesbianfakir]

I could write a three hour video essay on tutu and gender but I really love how a show in a genre that’s primarily targeted towards girls explores how expectations of masculinity can traumatize young boys.

This is shown with Fakir especially. While the text never explicitly attributes his behavior to his gender, his arc over the course of the show is quintessentially informed by toxic gender roles. This got long and I have a lot of thoughts so I'm gonna put it under a readmore:

Fakir has one unchanging goal for the duration of the show: he wants to keep the people he loves safe. But outside elements twist this motivation into an identity. He is suffocating under the weight of a person he has never been and can never be no matter how hard he tries to mold himself.

Much of his personality is likely a direct result of circumstance. We are shown multiple times that when he feels in his element he’s inclined to a gentle disposition (ie how he acts with Duck as a duck or with Raetsel). As a young child especially he appears earnest and naive, his already innate desire to protect blinding him to the cruelty of the world. However, this sweeter side is near overwritten by the cold, domineering personality that characterizes his early appearances in the show.

We can infer that without the trauma inflicted on him by the story Fakir would have retained much more of this gentler personality as he grew up. Instead, his desire to protect others is twisted and warped by fear, becoming a desire to control.

Even before having his life upended, Fakir wanted to to take the weight of protecting the entire town all upon himself. He sees a true hero as someone who stands on his own without help.

So how does this tie into gender? Fakir deliberately crushes his "weaker" side--the earnest, sensitive young boy in the favor of a tough persona. He particularly views emotions as a weakness. It's notable that in one of the most iconic scenes in the show, Fakir has a breakdown over someone seeing him crying. This simple display of human emotion is enough to completely shatter the image he has constructed for himself. Fakir's harsh, impossible standards for himself are rooted in toxic masculinity, in the idea that men--real men--are never visibly sad or scared.

Immediately after losing everything as a child, Fakir was given a new source of hope and pride: the role of the Knight. He, of course, built his whole identity around this role. The Knight, like the Prince is expected to protect others without fear. This can be read as analogous to how men struggle under the expectation to be the protectors and the breadwinners, expected to take pain and hardship upon themselves so those under their care may live a comfortable life. However, the story's knight is doomed from the start: a failed protector. Fakir is growing up under literal impossible standards. He's meant to give everything and crumble under that weight without achieving anything.

It's worth noting that the Princesses' roles are meant to revolve seeking affection from men while the men's roles are colored by violence. Contrast the Knight and Princess Tutu who are both destined to accomplish nothing and be forgotten: while Tutu gracefully dissolves into a speck of light, the Knight is gruesomely torn apart. Here, masculinity becomes inextricably linked to violence in Drosselmeyer's world.

For as long as Fakir tries to be a knight worthy of the story he is confined by a toxic gender role. A protector relies on the idea of a weaker subset of person--the protected. Even without malicious intent, this strips agency. Fakir ignores Mytho's wishes all for the sake of "keeping him safe." Likewise Duck doesn't' want Fakir's protection. In several episodes she begs him to give up on fighting and search for peaceable solutions.

Even though neither Duck nor Mytho ask for Fakir to fight for them he feels personally responsible for their safety to the point his entire self esteem rests on his ability to protect them. Despite his guarded exterior, two of the three times he breaks down crying are because Duck got hurt --due to his own incompetence in his eyes.

Fakir can only grow as a person when he stops placing everything on his own shoulders. For all he clings to the sword his real strengths are found outside of battle. He only saves Duck by opening up to her in his first display of willing vulnerability.

By the end of the series he has entered a genuine partnership with Duck. Rather than a one-sided relationship where he sees himself as her protector, he writes her story and trusts her to guide herself through it. This is in direct opposition to the masculine ideals he clung so hard to. The knight and the prince --his role models--are both meant to be self-sufficient in the original fairytale. Instead, Fakir is able to be a vulnerable boy who gets scared and hurt--and doesn't need to hide it--but has friends he can rely on when times are tough.

Fakir's arc doesn't involve him becoming more feminine, necessarily, but it does show him breaking free of the standards placed on his shoulders by toxic masculinity. He was never meant to be a fighter; that was an unfair role he was forced into. At the end of the show Fakir was achieved his freedom. He isn't a knight. He isn't a protector. He isn't personally responsible for the lives of those he loves. He's just Fakir.

[sheyfu]

going on an indefinite hiatus bc college is beating my ass

[frogsndogs]

So I recently rewatched Scooby Doo Stage Fright and I have some thoughts. 

Now, I really enjoy this movie and consider it one of my absolute favourites! The first phantom? Amazing and weird but in a way that fits. All the contestants? Keeps everyone guessing. The “no dogs” rule that makes it a struggle for Scooby to get into the opera house? Hilarious. (Especially the old man bit)

But I’m not a really big fan of iterations of the franchise where Daphne is obsessed with Fred to the point that it’s her only character trait. And you might say that her love of Fred wasn’t her biggest motivator in the movie, but throughout the movie she makes it clear she only wants to win so that she can work up the courage to tell Fred how she feels. 

But she had one line really stood out to me, that didn’t have to do with her crush on Fred:

“Why do monsters keep showing up wherever we go? Is it something about us?”

There is a lot going on in this line. 

First there’s the sentence itself- what it points out. It is an in-universe acknowledgement that monsters go wherever they do. A couple series have done this, even Shaggy did it in the first part of the movie, saying “When do we go to a place that’s not haunted?” But what makes this different is that it isn’t trying to be meta and it isn’t sarcastic. It’s scared, and vulnerable. This sounds like a teenager who is trapped in this strange cycle with no real end in sight. Who’s not sure if she’s the problem.

In many different iterations of the gang what stands out is that they’re the outsiders. The weirdos. Daphne’s family history especially in some iterations makes it clear that she was pressured to conform to something that her parents wanted, something that society wanted. This seems like a line from someone who thinks that there is something wrong with them. Who hasn’t reached Be Cool Daphne’s comfort level with her weirdness.

So I think that the movie would be better if instead of Daphne having an obsession over Fred, she is worrying over why ghosts keep popping up wherever they go. And there’s a couple points in this movie where this would fit well.

First: All the other contestants. Are considered weird. What if Velma said that “A lemon-scented ghost would fit right in with this crowd” and Daphne lowers her head and says “Yeah” softly. Because she is part of this crowd. Talent Star seemed to have attracted a whole bunch of weird people, whose to say that this isn’t bringing up Daphne’s feelings of being different all over again? Like if you won a contest and all the other people who won were batshit crazy wouldn’t you doubt yourself? Just a little bit? Especially if you were a young girl who’s always been told she’s batshit crazy?

Then when Daphne wakes up at night crying? What if she wakes up crying because everything feels wrong? Because she feels wrong? Teenagehood is a time with lots of change and lots of transitions and lots of doubts. So she wakes up crying because she has a lot of existential questions about her life. 

And then the whole 5 different phantoms thing is obviously not helping. Just when Daphne thinks they’re done and can move on with normal teenager activities another phantom shows up to ruin everything all over again. This further reinforces the cycle that has been plaguing Daphne for who-knows how long at this point.

But then I think that this movie also presents the perfect opportunity for Daphne to realize that being weird isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Take Steve (the first phantom) for example. There is no way to deny that this guy is weird. He grew up in a sewer, has no idea how mirrors work, he is generally strange. But he’s also selfless. He’s ashamed of the hurt he caused in the past (but even then the worst he did was destroy the disco ball - no one actually got physically hurt), he saves Fred by attacking another one of the phantoms, when Brick gets arrested and no one knows what to do he steps up and takes charge. 

I would like to see a convo between the two of them - maybe Steve notices that Daphne’s feeling down about everything and approaches her, asking what’s wrong. Maybe all this pressure that’s been building up throughout the movie finally breaks and she confesses everything that’s been on her mind. And Steve listens. And he understands what it’s like to be weird, and maybe we could get a bit of backstory on him (why there is a random guy living in the sewer will forever haunt my every waking moment) and it could all boil down to yeah, I was weird like you but unlike you I was alone. Because maybe that’s what it takes for Daphne to stop being so caught up in her own weirdness but see every else’s as well. We have Fred who sleeps with a net, Shaggy who can eat a giant pizza like its nothing, Velma who is interested in stuff that isn’t very mainstream like the soap diamond, Scooby who talks.  

And this doesn’t change the fact that they are her best friends, her family. That throughout the movie they have been there for her and supported her and Fred on this wild ride. And same goes for every mystery. And the fact that they’re weird? Makes them stronger in the face of these mysteries. Fred’s net saves Shaggy and Scooby’s lives (that dude was running around with a butcher’s knife - he should def be locked up for attempted murder). Velma’s love of the niche comes in handy when stopping Dewey. Scooby and Shaggy sneaking into the opera house reveals that Dewey is the 4th phantom. 

So maybe this convo really helps Daphne gain confidence to go on stage and sing her heart out. Then they have the whole chase with Dewey and they give up the contest for Emma and all that. And then, the final nail in the coffin that makes Daphne come into her own weirdness. Brick. 

Brick, who is by far the most “normal” person around. Sure, he says “Fantastic” a lot, but that’s not a guy who pulls an egg out instead of a card or a goth band that was a country act up until a few weeks ago, with 3/4 of them being honestly surly and the the other one being so cheerful. Earlier in the film Daphne says that she really admires Brick, and in this version maybe that could mean that maybe in this whirlwind of weirdness she admires how he’s so… normal. But then at the end of the film comes his confession - that he’s surrounded by all these talented people makes him feel suffocated. He feels pathetic. And Daphne then realizes that yeah - all the other contestants were weird, all her friends are weird, but that’s what made them talented. Thats what makes them so amazing. 

In the end, the movie ends with Daphne coming to terms with her weirdness - and maybe starting Be Cool Daphne’s list of everything she wants to do. In the end she comes to terms with the fact that monsters tend to follow them around, but as long as she’s got her weird friends she’s gonna be okay.

[nocentis]

Black Arum ┆ Siegrain

Content warning: main character death, cannibalism, gore, toxic/unreliable narrator, highly canon divergent character portrayal. Read at your own risk. You will probably take psychic damage from this.

╳┆A lure was stuck in the soot between his lungs. Many times he'd felt the tug — enough that the wire fray had worn a rut where his ribs met — and many times he'd found her on the other end, reeling for remnants of him that no longer existed. She would aim to break him open, sift around in the cinders for those specks of him she wanted to confiscate, keep for herself, so that she could finally be rid of him. Once those flecks were washed and panned, the remains would reek like plough mud closure. For that reason he would come to her whole, every whit of ash accounted for.

A cherry little game they'd play. Her with flint and steel, eager to reignite that paltry spark of "good" that flickered freely for a lapse before he remembered himself. Him with tinder and kindling, letting it light only to call on the rain again. Her with just enough hope. Him with just enough time.

That resolve was so very compelling. More than her beauty, her candor, and even that glow he so loved to bask in — that luster he wanted to hold between his teeth and bury under his nails — more than that, her tenacity was a toothsome temptation, and he wasn't keen to deny himself anything.

So when he felt the pull, he caved to the beck and spooled the lisle. That day, the line seemed lighter, thinner, than it ever had. It should've been strong. Tensile. Instead it felt gossamer fine and just as frail, poised to tear at an ill touch, and he wasn’t exactly renowned for his gentle hands. Still, he gathered it with both palms and wrapped it proudly around himself like a ceremonial sash, grin scrawled across his face something devilish.

╳┆He found her lying in the shade beneath a long-lived magnolia, still and silent as she never was, with the color of her namesake spread around her head in halo streaks. Battle-torn, as she so often was, and yet uncannily... passive.

Anything he'd planned to say went out the airlock. Instead, he stood there with an anchor in his stomach, reaping the benefit of doubt.

Not a frown nor a sigh when he darkened her sanctum, only heavenward eyes tearless and unblinking and a resigned breath just short of peaceful. That worn tether waned phantom thin, light as helium, and the tension in his chest went slack.

There was no definite snap. No dramatic severing or ear-popping moment of clarity. Only the vague sense of loss so fresh a wound that denial was a numbing salve.

“Get up,” his voice a command, sandgrit against whetstone, thickened by an unnamed antigen.

The silence felt like mockery. A placid scene void of chittering fauna, clouds' drum, or even the most timid breeze. It wanted him to hear the absence of her breath and the stillness of her chest. It wanted him to hear the hollow. The empty. The nothing. Wanted it to resonate; to find the furthest reaches of his mind and clean them out until all that was left was this icy, clarifying silence.

He knew the end when he saw it. This was something much worse. It was robbery.

Her life wasn’t for the world to take. It was for him to hold in his hands. 

Something wet and pathetic slicked his tongue — some whiny, pleading thing — and it was stubborn as oil. The authority slid to the back of his throat and left him choking, “You are the indomitable Titania. You’ve laced fingers with Death time and again only to rise and slay and conquer, so get up.”

Her warmth was set to a slow drip, spilling from her in tired beads and seeping soundlessly into her chosen ground. Little whispers of her lost to greedy loam, sullied, never to be returned.

A waste of precious love. The sod won’t drink of her as he will. It will take of her and give back what? New “life” so fragile and fleeting? A feeble weed will take root, bloom its days few, and curl itself inside out? Pathetic. An insult to her legacy. An insult to the diamond-split sharp of her bladesoul.

His heart boiled over — popping, sticking, simmering sicksweet saccharine. It colored him cloying, flooded his mouth, and forced him to kneel at her altar.

"Please," he keened, hollow and morose, and his own pleading sickened him, “Say something.”

The sun trickled through the leaves like ichor, lighting up her black-blown eyes and the thin ring of honey surrounding them. Dim, distant, and dead as the moon.

His hand carved a path to her face, fingers featherlight against her fading flush. He brushed her bangs from her eyes and forced an unbroken breath through his quavering mouth. He traced each scar too faint to see and the parts of her skin their star kissed. Memorized the map of her face — each curve and crease, each fine hair, and every eyelash. He would carve out a space in his mind in her shape and fill it with the thousand sweet nothings he kept in his pockets.

He gathered her hand and threaded it with his own. When he opened his mouth, a rickety twine escaped from the deepest point of his chest, so he forced his jaws shut to keep the grief corked. He uncurled her fingers and pressed his cheek into her palm, trapping her there against his own scarred skin. His eyes fell shut as he breathed in this borrowed touch — this moment fated, stolen from him by this world's insatiable avarice.

He kissed her palm directly in the center; held it against his mouth and felt his own ruined breath echo back to him from the deepest grooves of her skin. Again, he begged, “Please, Erza.”

Of the armors innumerable now haunting this hallowed ground, this one least befit her. 

He revered Death. If there was a god, surely it was Death, he thought, for Death asks for nothing but life. The dead don’t know that they’re dead. They know a split second of euphoria and then a sharp, definite end. Isn’t that the work of a gracious god? One last stroke of color whether in peace or peril, and then eternal rest. Back to the dust you sprouted from.

But now he couldn’t see any of that beauty he often waxed poetic about. All he could see was change yet to come. All he could see was her, and he wanted her back.

He wanted her back, yet he knew better than anyone that there was no such thing as resurrection. While Death might be gracious, it was not generous, and it was not to be reasoned with.

The thought of her buried deep, bathed by the dark and abandoned to rot — it washed his mouth acid sour. It ate straight through his tongue and lingered in the roots of his teeth, burning, raging redhot in his jaws’ marrow.  A grave didn't suit her anymore than a pyre.

Soon she would be cold. Stiff. A feast for flies and their insatiable young. In the days to come, she would bubble and bloat and sallow. Her skin would loosen and slough off. The sun would bleach her bones. The meat of her would melt into oil and fat and bogspit. She would mix in with the soil, the groundwater, and this thankless magnolia would thrive.

It was tall, thick, with branches spread in all directions. The lowest of its limbs showed off the varied deep greens of its large waxy leaves, their undersides a chalky brown. A few white flowers bloomed, palm-shaped petals open in praise like they'd come to witness and worship. There was no question why she'd chosen to crawl here. It must've reminded her of home.

Despite its beauty, it was hardly worthy of her. Nothing in this ravenous world was. Her grave should be carved within his chest. There, he could keep her warm. He could host her in his veins. One day, they would wade the waters of woe together. Until then she could live under his skin.

He wouldn’t allow her to spoil. Wouldn’t place her gently into time’s whittlesome hands only to lose her peel by peel by rotting peel.

This world has taken much from you. Do not allow it to take her too.

A carnal ache etched itself into bone, a depth of passion he hadn't felt since he wrought for a false Heaven.

She is a fruit, ripe as a plum and twice the taste. Peel her open. There is a seed at her core. Plant it in your soot-field chest and watch her bloom anew.

What are these hands for if not this?

Flesh like sheets of silk. Muscle like rope. Blood like honey. Bone like an ivory trove. The splitting, the squelching, the straining, ripping, snapping; it burrowed marrow-deep and lingered there. Her chest peeled apart like jagged teeth, jaws croaking their rusted tune, and inside that redslick maw was the center of the universe.

The heart upon its throne, still as she, shielded by her precious lungs. It slid into his palm like it was always meant to be there. Raw, rich, and so very scarlet. Its sinews strained against his pull — those hollow vines that fed even the furthest parts of her — so he wrenched them free and draped himself in them like matchless finery.

Eat. Eat ‘til you’re sick. There’s a hole the size of her in the pit of your stomach. Eat until you fill it. 

What are these teeth for if not this?

Tough as leather; smooth as rubber. His teeth slid right off the rind and clicked together with nothing but metallic sheen between them. He gnashed at that ink-dripping muscle until he found a spot weak enough to tear apart. It tasted of rare meat and iron; a heady gore thick enough to drown in. He swallowed, gasped, and that first new breath felt like a blade.

The child inside him saw her split-open ribs as his cradle. He wanted to crawl inside, curl up, and die. He wanted to paint himself her color.

He lost his vision to the hot, angry wash. His own sobs were a distant sound, muffled by meat and blood and his own desperate fingers. He was numb in the mouth and in the shake of his hands, but he forced himself to eat, eat despite the choking, the gagging, the wet, weeping remorse.

Don’t you dare throw her up. Be grateful. Swallow and say thank you and finish what you’ve started.

He bit into his own palm, indistinguishable from her core, and he cried out in sour relief. His hands spread raw grief over his face, through his hair, and down his neck.

You’re no better than this starving world.

He curled into himself, hands clutching his own aching chest, and despite the cloudless sky, he called upon the rain.

[teethcake]

Been thinking about creepypasta again.... been wanting to draw them again.............. been thinking about jeffjack again......

Who is still interested in the Jeff the killer charms btw (I'm so sorry I took so long to list them, I have them made just life yknow)

[yaoi-yaoieverywhere]

"Cale is THE AroAce of TCF"

I (extremely respectfully, keep on sharing those delightful headcanons gang) disagree.

Choi Han is THE AroAce of TCF. No, I'm serious. Give me a few paragraphs of your time?

Cale is not Currently the AroAce of TCF... By virtue of how Cale hasn't thought about his sexuality or romantic alignment due to the partial curse he was under for 36 years (loving and immediately losing doesn't give you much wiggle room to categorize) and he hasn't had time to start now. He's either plotting for the survival of his family or disassociating. Cale is by virtue of not even assuming one way or the other while calling nearly everyone he likes that he meets handsome, pretty, beautiful, or making elves look like squids, still in the process of Questioning. He also excels in the art of lying to himself about love. Love that he basically gave himself a mental illness to trick the curse inside him.

I can see him ending up AroAce of course, but for now, he is using his favorite coping mechanism of Not Looking At It. That's called Questioning or Avoidance in my experience.

Meanwhile, Choi Han, who has been asked by his disassociating liege to break the bed, sneak into his room, and strip, has not once thought about sex or romance. He's not in the habit of remarking on the appearance of anyone with interest outside battle or general wellbeing... Or insults. Although he has forgotten much about his upbringing, he knows different forms of love as he was clearly raised with so much of it. He also is deeply aware of the fact he will live so much longer than other humans ever will, or most other races for that matter. The knowledge that the loss he thinks of is always friends and family, never the great angst of having a lover and losing them.

Raon is his great soulmate, the one he will live to the exact millisecond of life's end. Basically, he dedicated his lifespan to his favorite nephew! (As proven by the latest chapters of Vol 2, sorry Jung Soo.) He has no regrets about this- in part because it helped Cale, but also because he didn't want himself or Raon to live alone. Not for one second. And it never crossed his mind that in the future he might fall in love, to ask for that prospective future partner's lifespan instead. Or children of his own.

So, Choi Han is AroAce.