#maybe its worth a poll at one point

[chimchiri]

Sometimes I wonder how it must be to follow me for one of my two big fandoms and then suddenly seeing art/posts about the other fandom, which is vastly different in tone and setting.

[swampyswan]

I’m surprised we don’t talk about the Polle statue more.

Anya sleeps next to the Polle statue post-crash because it’s sound activated, therefore alerting her if Jimmy tries to approach her in the night. This is already horrific because it leans into the idea that , even AFTER crashing the ship, Jimmy has not learned that how he treated Anya had consequences and continued to abuse her after the fact, only with no Curly to act as even a theoretical buffer. Curly didn’t do much, but at the very least, the idea of him finding out was enough for Jimmy to keep his abuse of her under wraps. Now he has no one to stop him from doing so as long as it happens while Daisuke and Swansea are asleep.

The Polle statue becomes a symbol of Anya’s safety; her last safeguard against Jimmy, because she knows he cares about his reputation and won’t dare approach her if it’ll attract the attention of the other two, or at the very least alert her in case he tries anything and she can ward him off.

And then, halfway through, we find it broken. Smashed to pieces.

It’s easy to point to Jimmy as the culprit. As his control over the situation starts to dwindle and bite him in the ass, so does his control over Anya. The reason he imagines Polle as a monster in his mind is because he acts as a barrier between him and his favorite punching bag. Destroying it is a sign to Anya that she can’t escape him.

But… maybe it was Swansea, in a drunken rage, who destroyed it, out of annoyance of its constant jabbering about a job he hates, out of desperation, out of the growing stress of starvation and subsisting on only Mouthwash that made him lash out. Maybe he didn’t even realize just how badly he screwed over Anya in the moment, maybe only regretting it when he sees her dead.

It could have been Daisuke. Maybe it was an accident; maybe he bumped into it one day and it shattered. Maybe he couldn’t have known what he did.

Or maybe it was Anya herself. Maybe she’d came to the realization that the Polle statue couldn’t protect her forever, that if Jimmy ever eventually decided the risk of exposure was worth the attack on her, that the statue could not actually stop him. Maybe it was slowly losing battery power and, one fateful night, might no longer work. Maybe it was the beginning of the end for her; her slow realization that there was ever only one way this was going to end.

[janus-cadet]

This card is brighter than the one I usually do- might even be the most colorful of the whole deck, so far! Which- fitting. Today, let's welcome Charlie Morningstar and Vaggie, double figures for the Ten of Cups!

(Now usually, the card also have one or two more people on it; I thought about adding Pentious, but our snake should have his card soon enough. Therefore, it's just the girls.)

Explanations under the cut, as well as a poll for the next card to draw, and the rest of the Hazbin tarot cards!

Upright, the Ten of Cups embodies happiness, joy, and emotional contentment. You have created an abundance of love and happiness in your life, and you now share this love with others, expanding your heart even more. This fits Charlie and what she created with her hotel, supported by Vaggie- together, they are the start of it all. You are now surronded by your loved ones (it's a fucking happy day in hell!), with whom you share a powerful and deep connection. You support one another, and you help other to reach their highest potential- on the path to redemption! Most of all, you do it because seeing others happy is the greatest joy you could have. It's the "happy family" card by excellence, as well as a positive card for romantic relationships- you're in a blissful one, if that's what you're looking for, to the point you may believe that you ar soulmates destined to be with one another (I do love them, mh, mh). When the card appears in your reading, it's time for you to take a step back, and appreciate everything you accomplished. You went through hard time, but look at that! You can do this, now we know it, and you actually did. Follow your heart, says the card, and follow your inner sens of Good.

Reversed, the card brings more subtility. You can see the Upright reading as mostly Charlie's idealistic view on the hotel and on redemption; but with the reversed Ten of Cups come the struggles. You may feel disconnected and disengaged from your loved ones, like your estranged father and your missing mother. You try to connect, but each times, something goes wrong, and the distance between you grows. Why does he forgets everything you say? Can't he pay attention? Why is he not calling more often? Or maybe you're afraid to trust, and you're keeping some secrets close to your chest. You don't open up enough, and you create, without meaning to, a distance with others, with her. You're too rash and too impulsive, but you mean well- surely, they can see that? It may have an impact on your relationship; you need to realise that nothing is perfect, and every relationship has its ups and downs. The Ten of Cups invite you to seek out a common ground with your loved ones, and rebuild the relationship from there. Talk to your father about why, exactly, he's so reluctant to help; talk to your partner about who you are, and where you came from. Open the lines of communication and be ready to hold space for one another. Be compassionate, understanding, and respectful. The card can also mean that you're starting to doubt yourself, and what you are doing. Is it really worth it? Are you up to the task? Are you letting other people down? You have to rethink those questions. Think about what makes you happy, what you believe in, and bring back your focus to that.

And that's it for today! I'm planning to do at least three more Hazbin cards- if the fixation does not die by then. Not that it shows any sign of slowing down, oh boy- they are all so fun to draw, too!

Anyway.

And with that, Hazbin Hotel verse is the most represented fandom in my whole deck of cards, right before Doctor Who. Ah!

If you have read this far- well done. So proud of you. You win a peach cider, if you're even able to drink this abomination. And paf, the rest of the cards!

[silverskye13]

how did you get the confidence to write fanfiction? i always worry that i won't portray the characters properly so any ideas or wants to write fanfics that i have go away or i talk myself out of it :(

Well! First and foremost: Most people don't start writing,,,, anything with confidence. Let alone fanfic, where you know other people are going to be looking at it, with their own ideas of how the characters are supposed to act and feel influencing what they're coming to the story with. My first fanfic I was very insecure, which I feel like was evident, reading through the author's notes now. Apologies whenever something that required a lot of suspension of disbelief happened, a poll so readers could decide the ending so I wouldn't disappoint anybody, only to end in me writing and posting three different endings. Long justifications for why I chose certain things in the author's notes. The fic nowadays reads to me like a very rough apology.

"Hi I'm sorry I tried. Be kind I'm very scared."

But the thing about writing that fic was, it was the writerly equivalent of jumping into the deep end of the pool for the first time. After I bobbed back to the surface and realized a shark hadn't like, taken my legs off while I was down there, jumping in again got easier. And kept getting easier. And now I just write and post things.

There's kind of two schools of thought that I've seen people subscribe to, when it comes to taking the first leap. The one that's really popular around here on Tumblr is: Do it scared. It is simple and straightforward. You are scared. You will be scared. You probably never won't be scared. So do it scared. Write your thing, close your eyes and hit send [either to post it or to share it with one or two friends, or even just hitting the "save" button and not deleting it]. Get scared, do it, close your eyes, finish. When you open your eyes again and nothing terrible has happened, you can breathe a sigh of relief and do it scared again. It's a little nerve-wracking at first, but the idea is giving your mind the association of jumping and not falling. I did it and I didn't fail, therefore it is safe to do it again.

The other school of thought [the one I specifically subscribe to] is: Do it once. What you think or feel about it doesn't matter. What matters is you did it once. Maybe it will be hell, or it'll suck terribly. Maybe you're really excited! And it turns out great! Maybe its a wild ride of ups and downs, and by the end you need a few months to catch your breath and decide if it was worth it. Regardless: you did it once. Now you know, if you want to, you can do it again. Now you can decide if its worth doing again. For me, the euphoria of finishing a project always far outweighs the trouble getting there, so the step forward of "Do it once" is powerful for me. And that can be broken down too. "Write one chapter." "Draw one drawing." "Clean one room in the house." There is no pressure to continue if its really that terrible, but you at least get to decide if one was worth it [and a solid 9 times out of 10, one was worth it enough to do it more.]

Now, all that said, if what you're worried about is writing the characters right and nothing else -- don't worry too much. Most people care less about how true to life the characters are, and care a lot more about consistency in the story. An example from RnS: In canon, Helsknight is a cartoonish villain with one motivation, and that motivation is taking over hermitcraft Doofenschmirtz style. To date, no one has come into my inbox demanding I change him, because he's so OOC he's basically an OC at this point. What people have come into my inbox about though, is "Hey, you established X in this chapter, but he said Y in this chapter. Was there a reason for that?" which is them saying, "Why didn't you keep your character consistent?" If you tell your audience what the expectations are for the story and you stick with them, they will stop caring about OOC moments and characterizations, and will trust you're going somewhere with your writing. Suspension of disbelief, your powerful friend! They put the world on their shoulders and carry and everybody watches and claps.

If you're also worried about consistency, then start out with one shots! There's a lot less room for error, no large, sweeping character arcs to keep track of. And stringing a bunch of one-shots together can give you practice with character consistency and progression without committing to something massive and overarching. If you're truly worried about making the characters exactly like Canon [or the Canon in your head], I recommend making little lists of character traits, or important things you want to keep in mind. At that point you're scared of your own consistency, and you just need a framework to keep yourself consistent enough for yourself, if that makes sense?

Hopefully! This helps! Sorry I'm a little scattered today :'D

[vampireimiko]

(The way I smiled when I saw your requests open RAHHH-)

Can I request the Lin Kuei trio with Liu Kang with an assassin! Reader? The thing is that reader is a drunkard and is pretty unserious but when it comes to her job, she does a whole 180?

Thanks!!!

Lin Kuei + Liu Kang, with an Unserious Assassin! Reader

warnings, alcohol mentions (obv)

note, trying to hurry up and get these requests out so i can finally start brainstorming on this series when my poll ends 😭‼️

Bi-Han

જ⁀➴ When Bi-han got paired up with you for a mission, he was so annoyed. In his eyes, you didn't take your job serious enough. Always coming around drunk, cracking jokes here and there, and just overall not being formidable enough.

જ⁀➴ It got to a point where he suspected you were bribing you targets to disappear instead of killing them.

જ⁀➴ However, Bi-Han's perspective shifted drastically after witnessing you in action on a real mission. Your inebriated state didn't hinder your skills; in fact, it seemed to enhance your focus and accuracy.

Kuai Liang

જ⁀➴ Kuai Liang observed your behavior and often wondered about your drinking habits, just like his brother.

જ⁀➴ He hadn't had the chance to witness you on a mission but was perplexed by the apparent disparity between your off-duty persona and your efficiency as an assassin.

જ⁀➴ Unfortunately for him, he wouldn't be able to witness you on a mission for a while due to him having a slight sprain. He instead asked to spar with you, and oh boy was he surprised.

Tomas

જ⁀➴ He was actually a little concerned that you were able to go on missions period with the way you drunk.

જ⁀➴ He attempted to discuss the matter with you, raising concerns about your well-being and the effectiveness of your work under the influence. Instead you brushed him off, assuring him that you could handle it. You even offered he should come on one of the bigger missions you had to take on.

જ⁀➴ Though, despite all the worries he had, he couldn't deny any of your success. That alone enticed him enough into saying yes to your offer.

Liu Kang

જ⁀➴ He had the opportunity to change the way you were when he constructed the new timeline. However, he decided to keep your unique personality.

જ⁀➴ He realized that there was more to your drunken demeanor than met the eye. Your unique way of operating had its own kind of effectiveness, and he respected that.

જ⁀➴ Sure, maybe it was a bit hard to deal with you when you were drunk, but to him it's all worth it when he gets to see you do a complete 180 when in kombat.

additional note ! nghhh the fnaf movie was so good

𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐲 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧

[instarsandcrime]

Returning the Favor (1/4)

Well well well, look who compromised with my current schedule by doing this story in little chunks! Thank you again to everyone who voted in the poll, and I hope Sick!Husk and Caretaker...everyone? was worth the wait, even if it's going to be spaced out in chapters. First up is Charlie and Vaggie!

I hope you enjoy! 😊

“ET’CHHHH’uh!”

“Bless you again!”

“HET’SHHHH’huh!”

“And again…”

“HET’SCHHHH! HEP’SHHHHUH!”

“Oh dear, that sounded–”

“HEP’CHHHOO!”

“--bad.”

A volley of honking nose blows echoed off slings and shooters as Husk fought another nagging itch, ignoring the way his boss leaned across the mahogany counter, thick brows tied in a worried knot. “Are you sure there’s nothing I can get you? Some medicine? Or blankets? I-I can make you tea–!”

“No need.” Husk interrupted, crumpling his well-worn tissue into a nearby waste bin, “I’ve got– snfff! Ugh, two hours’ve overtime left.”

“Two hours?!” Charlie yelped, pointed ears flattening in return. She quickly slapped a hand over her mouth, “S-sorry! Sorry, it’s just. Your schedule didn’t show– it wasn’t exactly brought to my attention–” she took a deep breath, flattening her palms together as if she were praying to God for patience. “that issss…a lot of time.”

“I can handle it.” Her bartender waved a paw, ignoring the way he wobbled as he reached for a clean rag.

“Oh, of course, of course! I have every bit of faith in you!” Painted lips upturned, grin so artificially sweet that sugar laced Husk's tongue. He raised a brow, counting down the seconds for what would inevitably come next.

Three.

“You know your limits, obviously!” Her black fingernails fiddled with a sleeve cuff.

Two.

“A-and really, there’s nothing to worry about! You’re one tough cookie!” They moved to her hair, twirling a blonde lock.

One.

“It’s just,” there it is, “as your manager I can give you some time off for tonight instead? That way you get some rest?”

“That’s a real nice offer you’re giving me, Princess. Tempting, even. But uh. I’m still supposed to be on the clock.” Husk elaborated, scratching the back of his neck.

“But I never ordered you to–”

“No. You didn’t.” Golden eyes flicked to a spot in the corner, at a dusty old radio surrounded by its immaculately cleaned resting place. Untouched, unbothered, unsettling.

“...Oh.” Charlie breathed. Melancholy mood immediately shattered when more gasping hitches filled the air.

“HUP’SHHUH!” A flurry of feathers snapped wide, flapping to keep any semblance of balance. Fangs sucking in a sharp hiss of air when dagger-sharp claws dug into the shiny countertop he just cleaned, neon lights accenting a sparkling mist of contagion.

“Oh! Oh! Maybe we can pass the time until a customer comes in!” It only took a second for his stubborn caretaker to shake off the outburst, patient suppressing a miserable groan in return.

“Don’t you have anything better to do? Like sleep? It’s been a long day.”

“Well yeah, but um. I’ve been practicing a magic trick and I thought you might want to see it?” Despite his better efforts Husk’s ear flicked curiously and, out of pure spite, he wiped and re-wiped and re-wiped the countertop until it was a mirror of its former self. 

Nope. Ignore her. Do not look.

“I’m busy.” He said to the near empty lobby.

“It’ll just take a moment! Please?”

You know what’s gonna happen when you look.

“C’mon Husk! I super duper promise that I’ll do it once! That’s it!”

Not if you paid him for the rest of his fucking afterlife.

“Come on, it’ll take five seconds and then you can go back to work like nothing happened!”

Biting the bullet he turned around and– 

–fought the urge to take off his hat and let loose a blood-curdling scream. He blamed it on the exhaustion that plagued him and definitely not the doe eyes that nearly blinded him with angelic light.

“Fine.” He growled, rounding the corner to pull up a stool. “But I’m givin’ you my spare pack. It's kinda dinky lookin', but it does its job well.”

Charlie wasn’t listening. Charlie was too busy vibrating excitedly, carefully cradling the beat up box like she was handling the deed to Hell. 

“Okay! Get ready…” Sticking out her tongue, she concentrated as she worked her magic. Magic being a loose, loose description considering the fact that she was stuck on the shuffling phase. Well, less of a shuffle and more like a mutation of a shuffle and a card flick. It was almost impressive– a magician’s trick that doubled as a natural force of chaos.

“Whoops!” Her hand scattered, and she hurriedly scooped them up from all corners of the carpet.

“Let me just–” Somehow defying gravity, they flew up into the air and fluttered down like snowflakes. 

“One more time!” The four of spades smacked her square in the face. Peeling the card off to shoot it a sour look, she turned to see her only audience member hunched over the bar, paws locked tight against his muzzle. Heart leaping in her chest, Charlie quickly abandoned her act, rushing over. Her hands hovered above his trembling frame like she was trying to find the right angle to lift a burning box.

“O-oh gosh, are you okay? Do you need to throw up? I could get a trash can but–”

All worries screeched to a grinding halt as loud, raspy laughter echoed through the lobby. Husk slapped a paw on the counter, letting out an exasperated whoop. “You– pff! Ahahaha! Y-you really know how to entertain a guy– kaff kAFF–!” Hysterics spiraled into hacking coughs, feeling comforting circles rub his back.

“You feel warm.” Charlie whispered, but her bartender quickly shook his head, reaching for a tissue to wipe at his nose.

“I’ll live. Now pass me the damb-- snff! Damn cards, I’ll show you how it’s done.” Husk smirked.

Charlie couldn’t help but soften, surrendering her cards to the expert. She watched as he cracked his knuckles. Flexed his claws. Took a deep breath.

“I haven’t seen you like this before. Not since Extermination Day, anyway.” Charlie hummed.

“Oh yeah? And what’s that?” Husk shot back a rusty grin.

“You're having fun! I'm so happy for you!”

The other froze mid-stretch, eyes widening. Shit.

“I’m just showin’ you how to do a damn magic trick. Don’t read too much into it.” He grumbled, tucking his tail between his legs before it could wag. He took the pack in one heart-shaped paw pad, testing the bend before it leapt to the other side in a blaze of red, black, and gold glory.

Or at least, that was supposed to happen. Instead, a strong tickle feathered his nose. It twitched wildly until–

“ET’CHOO! EP’TSHHOO! HEP’TCCCHH!” An encore of snow fluttered to the ground. He blinked once. Twice. Before Charlie’s wind-chime giggles filled the air. 

“One more time.” Husk said with untapped determination as he plucked the deck one card at a time, unable to swallow the spark of joy that came with it.

But he knows what Charlie is doing. What they’re about to do. 

He won’t let them win.

“Ugh.” Vaggie scoffed.

“Ugh.” Husk echoed the sentiment, shaking his wings free of the storm around them.

It wasn’t too bad of a job. A resident was struggling with their move, and prompted by an exercise to make more friends– aka unstick herself from Charlie’s side– the hotel's guardian offered to help. It was a nice thought…until she saw how many moving vans had piled on the roadside. And with more on the way, Husk was good muscle in any weather, rain or shine.

Because of course he was.

“ESHHHUH! ETCHHH’HUH! Son of a bitch.”

“I think you have a fever–”

“I’m fine. It's just a cold.” Husk snapped, prying Vaggie’s wrist from his forehead. He got an eyeroll for his efforts, and the ex-soldier stared into the horizon with a scowl, watching the downpour that fell from the Heavens. Ignoring the violent shivering and soaked fur that clung to the other like an icy blanket. Husk glanced her way once, twice– betrayed again by the flick of an ear.

“How come you’re not fuckin’ freezing out here?”

At that Vaggie’s hardened glare turned bashful. She scratched her arm, suddenly finding her muddy shoes very interesting. “Angel’s blood, uh, runs a little warmer. Because we live– or I used to– live so high up in the air–”

“HEP’SHHUH!” She jumped, clutching her chest as Husk let loose another near-deafening sneeze. She could almost mistake it for thunder if she wasn’t careful.

“Oh. Uh, bless–”

“HET’CHHH’CHEW!”

“Ble–”

“HET’CHH! HET’tshh! ‘Tshhh! ‘Tchh! ‘Tch! Tch’hhhiew!” His fit spiraled until all that was left were weak, squeaky kitten sneezes. He slapped a paw against his muzzle as he stifled, desperate to get his aching nose under control. “Heh’ntshh! Nt’tchh! ‘Nnt! ‘Nt! Hnt’chxt’hiew! Ghh– goddamnihhHH-! Het’SHHH’HUH!...hHH– HET’SCHHHHHOO! …Guh...” 

Sniffling thickly, Husk felt the nagging itch slow to a stop in time with the storm. Blinking moisture from his eyes, the sickly demon looked up to see a silvery wing hovering over his head, granting him a small, cozy sanctuary.  The fallen angel merely shrugged her free shoulder nonchalantly, “What? I talk your ear off at the bar. Might as well return the favor.”

And, completely unprompted and wholly against his will, another spark of happiness warmed his chest. He threw up his hands in defeat. “Alright, alright, I get it! You assholes want me to rest? Fine! I’m resting!” 

He marched off, ignoring the small smile that he left behind. 

“I didn’t say anything.” Vaggie retorted.

“Fuck you.” His angry growls were anything but, and he resisted the urge to throw his hat into a puddle.

So he caved under the pressure a little. Not his fault he's surrounded by demons dedicating their miserable lives to redemption. 

They’re too good at their job.

[befuddled-calico-whump]

The Revenge Stream: Part One

contains: Vic Shepard, red room setting, whumper turned whumpee, violence, beating, noncon nudity/forced stripping, adult language, third person POV

next

•

Normally it's common sense to avoid random links that pop up in your inbox.

Everything about it screams virus, from the restricted sender, to the jumbled string of letters and symbols that make up the link itself, to the subject line, a simple “gift for you”. Normally, you'd delete it immediately. Maybe report it as spam. But something holds you back. A single line in the message body.

Anyone for vengeance?

You're intrigued. It's not the typical line a scammer might use. After a few minutes spent wrestling with your own common sense, you decide to do the probably stupid thing and click on the hyperlink. The pull of your curiosity is just too strong to be ignored.

The link leads to a simple website with a layout that's almost laughably bad. Any sense of design is nonexistent, and the sole feature of the page appears to be some sort of livestream. Its screen is dark, but the timestamp in the corner is moving. Whatever camera it's attached to, it's rolling.

What is this? You wait a minute, watching the clock tick upwards, but nothing changes. Silence and a dark screen. Definitely not worth the risk of a virus.

Just as you're about to call it quits and close the tab, the screen floods with light.

A gloved hand fills the frame, holding what looks like a lense cap, silhouetted against a background of barren concrete. As the hand moves away, the room comes into focus, revealing a figure at its center.

It appears to be a man, barefoot and tied to a chair. He's slumped forward, graying hair obscuring his face.

You know you should feel dread. Panic, even. But instead, your interest only grows, and you find yourself holding your breath as the camera steadies. There's a small pop, and the audio of the feed crackles to life.

“This thing on?” a voice says, its owner stepping into frame. They're dressed in light grey sweatpants with a matching hoodie, a white mask obscuring their face.  “We've got oh… fifty, fifty-five guests by my count. Seems like a good place to start.” They move to the man in the chair, taking a fistful of his hair and yanking his head back, angling his face towards the camera. He's gagged with a twisted strand of cord, and his face is a bit cut up, but he seems alert. And pissed.

“Ladies and gentlemen, meet Victor Shepard. If you're watching this, it's because he's fucked up your life in some way. Maybe he killed a loved one. Maybe he destroyed your company, or provided blackmail material that ruined your reputation. I dunno. Jack of all trades, this one.” They loosen their grip, and Shepard's head drops. 

“Point is, I'm here to make him pay. For you.” You can almost hear them grin behind the mask.

Your hands clench, eyes glued to the monitor screen. Fuck. This is a red room stream, isn't it? And a personal one at that. While this reveal should have you reaching for your phone and dialing 9-1-1, you almost feel… excited. You want to see more. Even if the link reaching your inbox was a fluke, there's no way you're backing out.

“Well,” the masked figure continues. “Let's get this party started, huh? What's up first?”

In the corner of the screen, a poll appears.

Strip him, reads the first option.

Rough him up, the second one says. A timer is kicking down beneath the buttons. Fifty-nine seconds.

Should you click one? Does it make you complacent if you do? You’d almost feel better if you didn't, like you're just an innocent bystander, watching something you have no real power to stop. And that makes it okay, right?

Before you can finish justifying it to yourself, the poll ends. ‘Strip him’ is the victor, fifty votes to eighteen.

The masked figure moves out of frame again, and you hear them click their tongue. “Hope you're not shy, big guy.”

When they move back into view of the camera, they're holding a knife.

“Gonna have to cut some of the ropes, but I'm not too worried about it.” They grab the camera, rotating it to face the rest of the room, and for the first time you see its other occupants, two figures clad in the same grey as the speaker. They're also masked, and each of them holds an assault rifle at the ready.

“Michael and Uriel over here got me covered if he tries anything. Really hope he doesn't though. I do wanna give you a show.”

As they spin the camera back around, you catch a split second glimpse of the speaker's working area. A slim laptop surrounded by what looks like a bunch of weapons and power tools. If those are all for Shepard, you don't doubt they will indeed be putting on a show.

They re-steady the camera and step back onscreen, closing in on the man in the chair. Their knife slides through the ropes around his chest with ease, and they fall to the ground in a heap. The figure shifts so they're not blocking Shepard from the camera's view, then begins a slice down the middle of his shirt.

They cut away the cloth—chest, shoulders, arms—before moving to his pants, but Shepard doesn't struggle. If anything, his body language seems calm. Placid, even, though when you catch a glimpse of his eyes you can see a sharp anger. You imagine the only thing keeping him in place right now is the gunmen on the other side of the room.

The pile of discarded scraps beside the chair grows, and soon the captive is stark naked. Under his clothes, his body is all lean muscle and old scars, the dark silhouette of some kind of bird tattooed on his chest. You don't doubt what the speaker—the host—said before. This guy seems pretty capable of ruining lives.

The host steps back, admiring their work. “There we go. A canvas at the ready. Shall we move on? What tool should I grab?”

In the corner of your screen, another poll appears.

Electric sander.

Switch.

Seeing an electric sander listed as a potential torture tool makes your stomach twist, but you can't tell if it's disgust or excitement that’s behind the feeling. Again, you only watch as the timer ticks down.

Three…

Two…

One…

To your relief, (or is it disappointment?) the switch comes out ahead.

Behind the mask, the host’s excitement seems to grow.

“Ohoho, we have a winner,” they say, and you hear a light clattering offscreen. When they step back in front of the camera, they're holding the chosen tool; a thick, stiff strip of leather, metal studding one end. They give it a test swish through the air. The sound gets no reaction from Shepard.

“How many do you think he's good for? The metal bits are gonna leave a mark.” The host moves behind the camera, and from their comments, you can guess they're reading through viewer feedback.

“Ten? I'd call that light. Oh, twenty five is more like it— a hundred?” They whistle. “Okay, that might be a bit high. The night is young.”

You scan your monitor screen. In the top corner, there's a little message icon, which you assume is how everyone else is communicating with the host. You briefly consider dropping a request of your own, but then they speak up.

“Let's go with fifty. Happy medium, eh?”

Your eyes dart back down, and you watch as they stroll towards Shepard, smacking the switch lightly against their gloved palm as they move.

“Brace for impact,” they say cheerfully, before cracking the implement across Shepard's chest. His head snaps backwards, a pained noise escaping him.

One. A giddiness is growing in your chest, eager to count down until the man's first scream. The host seems just as energized as you, attacking Shepard’s torso like they're beating dirt out of a rug.

Several seconds pass before they come to a stop, winded. Their arm drops, and they sidestep, letting the camera take in Shepard. His torso is covered in welts, bleeding in some places where the studs broke skin. Aside from a few pained hisses and grunts, he's been silent.

“Fuck,” the host says. “I lost count. What was that? Was that fifty? Forty five?”

They shake their arms, as if to loosen their shoulders.

“We'll call it forty.”

Snap!

The switch comes down, this time cracking across Shepard's face. You wince at the impact. That's gotta hurt. The host continues the attack. Their strokes seem slower now, not as sharp, but they're aiming high, striking him across the nose, cheek, collarbone. Forty eight actually drags a yelp out of the man as metal collides with a welt on his cheekbone, and your heart leaps at the sound.

Forty nine swipes the corner of his mouth, drawing blood, and then…

“Cincuenta,” says the host, letting the switch drop. “Not impressed, hm Vicky? We can change that.” They stroll to their workstation, and you hear the clatter of the switch’s metal tip hitting the table.

A moment later, a third poll appears on the screen.

Whip him, says the first button.

Cut off his tattoo, says the second. 

Holy fuck. That seems a bit extreme, but… fun? Maybe? The guy's a piece of shit, right? He probably deserves much worse. Right?

“Cast your votes,” the host’s voice rings out, and you watch as the poll goes live, the clock suddenly ticking backwards.

“What do you think will make him scream?”

•

[savemeafruitjuice]

Lee raph spot feet maybe Mikey uses his chains against him

Alright, I'm using this prompt for the poll, so let's do this! I don't think this has any spoilers, so we're all good!

(A/N: I FINISHED IT. I sincerely apologize for the wait, but I hope you enjoy! 😌)

lee! Raph

ler! Mikey

TW!: Some swearing!

The sound of scuffling brothers bounced off the walls of the lair, yelps and war-cries reaching every corner of the sewers as training began. The turtles had been a bit agitated all day, leaving a very annoyed Splinter to send them all to the dojo to blow off some steam.

Per usual, a duo was sent to fight while the others watched until it was another pair's turn, Donnie and Leo going first, the leader of the team winning within a couple minutes, but now it was Raph and Mikey's turn. A cocky smile overtook each turtle's features as the smack-talk began.

"You sure you don't wanna surrender before I knock you out? You'd be saved a couple bruises if you do, you know." the two circled one another, tension creeping into the room. "Hm. I think you underestimate me, Raph. Because, if I remember correctly, I beat you the last time we trained. Yohou didn't see me coming!" cheeky giggles flooded from the freckled turtle's mouth.

Raphael was getting fed up. Suddenly, he lunged at the younger and managed to land a hit to his shoulder with the handle of his sai. Mikey grunted, swinging his nunchucks out, whining as his brother dodged. The red-themed turtle swung his leg at the other's head, following through with another one aimed at the side of his shell.

Donnie and Leo cheered for their siblings, giving each one equal praise when a hit handed. Master Splinter took note of each move, giving guidance when it was needed. "Michelangelo, keep your leg straight. Raphael, do not focus entirely on offense."

"Mikey's lasting longer than usual, maybe he's been training more?" "Not likely. He complains when we go on an easy patrol around the city. He is holding out longer than I expected though, even Sensei seems surprised." Leo whispered back, head whipping from side to side as his little siblings ran across the dojo.

Raphael lowered himself to the ground and spun around, twisting his leg so that he bent his little brother's knee, almost making him lose balance. Mikey landed a few hits with his nunchucks to the sai-user's calf, making him wince before jumping back up.

The two seemed evenly matched for once, but as time passed Mikey started to lose focus. He took a few more kicks before deciding he needed a plan to win. 'Okay, this isn't getting me anywhere. Maybe if I think like Donnie I'll get the upper-hand? Wait, I want to win. Although..' A thought popped into the youngest's head. He wasn't sure if Master Splinter would approve, but it was worth bragging rights, right?

He waited for Raph to aim a kick high up again, gaining distance with a few swings of his nunchucks in the meantime. Soon enough, the older thrusted his leg up, and that's when Mikey struck.

He ducked and backed up slightly, swinging the chain of his nunchuck around the fiery-tempered turtle's ankle, smirking as a shocked noise pushed its way out of his throat. He pulled up, forcing Raph to awkwardly hop forward as to not fall. "Mikey! You can't do that, it's cheating!"

"Well, it's not my fault I found a vantage point!" still, the younger glanced at Master Splinter to make sure what he was doing wasn't actually against one of the super boring, excessively drawn out rules that he didn't have the attention span to listen to. His father didn't say anything, merely nodding in confirmation that he could continue. Mikey smiled, pulling back even more and snickering a bit when his brother struggled to not tumble to the floor.

After a few more moments, the orange-themed turtle raised his free hand, making sure Raphael could see it before wiggling his three fingers at him. He slowly inched towards his foot, and the other turtle's face flushed as he realized what was about to happen. Desperately trying to pull back, the sai-user soon came to the conclusion that he wasn't going to be able to escape. With that, he made a mental note to absolutely kick this guy's shell into oblivion later. "Mikey! I swear. I am so gonna- KGH!"

The inevitable eventually came, Mikey's wiggling fingers touching down on his brother's foot as a strangled shriek filled the room. The two seated mutants leaned to the side to see what was going on, smirking when they saw the tactic the youngest had come up with.

Raphael swiftly covered his mouth to prevent any more embarrassing noises from escaping. His entire leg jolted and kicked as Mikey kept scribbling away at his foot, making it increasingly more difficult to keep standing upright. His sais dropped to the floor, clattering on the mat. "MIHIkey! Stoho- Ihi'm goHONNA KIHILL YOHou!"

Eventually, the dam burst, a wide smile forcing its way upon the older's face, his shell meeting the ground soon after. Mikey, who at this point was having the time of his life tickling his brother, followed him to the ground and sat on his calf, using his knees to hold the sides of his nunchucks down, effectively pinning Raph's foot down in the process as he scritched along the flat surface.

The elder sibling screeched and flailed in an attempt to launch his brother off of him, but the tickling was sapping his strength away. His free leg was quick to hit into Mikey, trying desperately to stop the fluttering sensation building up.

"Ohhh Raph~! Looks like I'm winning again!" the orange-themed turtle smugly taunted, unfazed by the flailing limbs coming at him. "Maybe you need to practice some mo-"

The youngest was interrupted by a loud cackle, followed by the quiet giggles of his other brothers who were more than entertained at this point, watching their edgy brother being taken down. "ShuHUt yohohour MOHOHOUTH! DAHAMNIHIHIT! STAHAHAHAP!"

Raph threw his head back and desperately tried to squirm away, arching back into the matted floor as fingers scratched at the base of his toes. Mikey, on the other hand, was smiling like a dork, 100% enjoying the usually grouchy turtle laughing his head off.

"What's the magic word?~" Mikey was full of himself, sticking his tongue out in response to a rather rude hand gesture, retaliating with a sharp squeeze to the knee. Raph couldn't handle much more at this point, and though it was beyond embarrassing to admit defeat to the youngest of the family, let alone be found in this situation in the first place, he couldn't breathe very well, and he was too weak to really fight Mikey off anymore.

"MIHIKehehey! I cahaha- I gihive uhup!" the turtle's eye-ridges arched up in surprise. "Hmm? What was that Raphie? I can't quite hear you over your girlie screams!" the elder glared at his obnoxious brother through his laughter, but despite how much he wanted to punch him in the face, he still needed to tap out. Jeez, he was never gonna live this down.

"Ihihi sahaid stoHOHOP! PLEHEHEASE! AHAHA!" the nunchuck-user had began quickly scribbling over the ball of his foot for a few more seconds, before stopping his hands and jumping off his brother to avoid any attacks. As soon as his leg was free, Raph kicked the nunchuck off of him, sending it flying against the wall, and promptly curled up, wrapping his arms around his knees and caught his breath.

"Michelangelo, despite using.. unorthodox methods, is the winner." Master Splinter gave a look to Mikey, who only smiled mischievously. "A turtle's gotta do what a turtle's gotta do!" he shrugged, doing a little victory dance, failing to notice that Raphael had recovered, and was now creeping up behind him, a vengeful glint in his eye.

"I won, I wo- EEK! WAHAIT! RAHAPH I'M SAHARRY-!"

"Oh, but you don't know how sorry you'll be.."

[momo-crome]

( disclaimer : i made this theory with the intention of making it into a YouTube video so please excuse if that hasn't translated properly as a post on its own. also this contains spoilers for dialtown + the roger dlc, it makes more sense with the context of it anyway. that along with i use all pronouns for Gingi in this post (he/she/they/it) and uh Tw because i do bring up a few sensitive things like suicide and death but also some other things I'm forgetting )

and one last thing is that there are some pieces of information i didn't know so have been left out in this post but i may or may not make a follow up on this if i find enough to talk about

with that in mind : under the cut is my phonegingi and object head theory !! ♡

A while ago I made a poll on my tumblr asking what one of these theories you’d like for me to make a video upon and ‘figuring out what Phonegingi is ‘n’ their anatomy (or just phony anatomy)’ managed to win. It's a blessing in disguise if I'm being honest as the context of what I'm going to explain and set up in this video greatly helps with my Enc0unter and god theory. 

So without any further stalling : I think it's best to start with analysing the cryptid.

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Analysing Phonegingi :

So it doesn't take a genius to see that Phonegingi isn't like anything we've seen before. Not only does their species not really have an in-game name nor explanation, we also don't see anything else like it running around Dialtown. While there is a slim chance that maybe others like her do exist but we’ve never seen them and / or live in other places of the world, I really do doubt it from other characters' reaction to it alone. Not to even mention that Gingi doesn't have any confirmed origins along with the eggs that it lays and doesn't look anything like him. Obviously the whole ‘egg’ thing is a theory within itself but that's for another day.

Now if we’re going to get to figuring out what this thing is, we should analyse its features. We can see some human-like attributes but the list is rather limited when you take a closer look at him. So to make things a tad bit easier I've analysed some of the physical attributes from its sprites and art shown in game, along with a few not so physical things that are worth pointing out.

As shown I've decided to point out its green skin, six nipples, somewhat human body and tail. Some non visible attributes being how she can lay eggs, consume gravel and roadkill just fine, glans that burst when stressed(i forgot to add these two when making this) and teeth. two more noteworthy things being the fact he can speak proper English on top of hallucinations, but these are somewhat irrelevant as of now.

And for the sake of argument, I won't be taking the typewriter and phone heads into consideration as it's been proven by Gingi on multiple occasions that it had made it themselves and along with how it can change just complicates things. That's the same reason why I also won't be taking the scars into consideration as he was most likely not born with them (also it does change on occasion. No shade dogman) But don't worry as we shall return to it once it’s fully figured out what this thing is made up of.

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Analysing Phonegingi : The green skin

Now I feel as if we should start off with one of the most important things with Phonegingi, and one of the most prominent ones at that. That being the bright green hue of its skin, perhaps we could even describe it as being fluorescent. Obviously the claim on its own sounds quite outlandish until we take a look at what could have possibly caused this. 

Now there are many things that cause green skin in nature such as hyperbilirubinemia and layered chromatophores within the skin but one main detail i feel like is worth mentioning is that while Phonegingi does have certain reptilian like moments, simplifying judging by looks alone it is worthy to note that it appears to be a mammal of some sorts. Or a creature who's mostly covered in skin. This may seem somewhat irrelevant unless you remember that there aren't any naturally occurring mammals within nature with green skin. So maybe it isn't natural. And maybe this could be from lead.

While from the surface this seems rather outlandish, it is notable to say that there have been many instances where people had gotten their skin punctured by such things made from lead, leading to a long lasting green mark upon their skin. And the reason I bring this all up is in one of the endings for the Roger DLC we hear from Mingus herself that she's been putting lead into Dialtown’s lake. Presumably being the one within the forest. The same first that Phonegingi is from. Now I am no scientist but perhaps the led from the lake somehow found itself into its system though one of the main scars upon her body caused the green pigmentation. That or perhaps even radiation.

Side note here, my original theory was that this was entirely radiation until I looked into it a tad more. But we still have much to discuss with radiation as a topic.

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Analysing Phonegingi : six nipples / eggs

I was honestly pretty stumped when it came to this point, obviously this is one of the main features of Gingi and on paper wouldn’t seem all too bad but when we consider the whole egg laying thing this really throws a wrench into everything until we consider the possibility that perhaps that Phonegingi is more than one animal biologically.

Now obviously I'm not going to sit here and act like I'm all too sure about what exactly these animals are just yet but I do have a contender. That being the platypus. Or that's what i would say because google lied to me about them having nipples. Apparently they only have mammary gland ducts to feed their young but perhaps Gingi’s genes somehow got broken so this being had to insert itself into his system, it’s an interesting look upon this but perhaps it's caused by something else. That I shall explain in a different post if enough people care for me to look into it. Either way : at least we now have a current solution for the eggs too

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Analysing Phonegingi : tail / eating gravel and roadkill / teeth

So now that we've managed to identify one of the beings that makes up Phonegingi, that being the platypus, we still have a few things that are left still in the air. But it's very simply solved when we consider that the other animal that Gingi is made up of is perhaps an alligator.

One of the main attributes of this is probably its teeth, such teeth that Gingi has been canonically confirmed to have from under his face. Such as within text and achievement art. Also another ability of the alligator is the fact that it has been proved to be able to process such things like rock and fresh dead animals, two things that Gingi has also been confirmed to eat without much struggle.

And one final thing to add on, we can also note Gingi’s tail from being from an alligator if it wasn't for how it goes from hairless to having hair on the tip along with it sometimes not being shown at all. That mainly being in model edits of the character so perhaps it's not worth noting.

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Analysing Phonegingi : glans that burst when stressed

This one is quite the new development to say the least, I'm going to be honest when I say that I almost completely missed this as it's only a thing within one of the endings of the Roger DLC. Due to this I am quite honestly clueless, but I was able to find one thing that links back to the platypus point of this theory. Obviously this is quite different but male platypuses do produce venom connected to hollow spurs on the pack of their legs, but other than that I am honestly stumped so I hope that somebody can help me w this.

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Analysing Phonegingi : putting together everything to come to a conclusion

Now with this information we can come to the conclusion that somehow a platypus, alligator and a human came together and created Phonegingi. For how they combined : If we look at the real world for just a moment there have been actual real life mutations that have led to rats growing features of humans. Although all of these examples are strictly manmade and have never occurred in nature, leading me to think Phonegingi didn't just happen. Although radiation could also be an option.  While I plan on speaking about the human in particular that Gingi took over, I feel it would only be logical to now take a look at object heads to get a better understanding on how exactly Gingi is able to function. 

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Figuring out object heads:

So now we start with the big one. Some may know that dogman has been very useful with helping us figure this out. Okay I am being sarcastic for the most part but this doesn't change the fact that he actually has given us quite a few hints on how this works. 

One main thing we can reference is that within Randy’s route we know that object heads aren't fully wires, but rather are a mixture of organic and mechanical parts. And to quote the hound himself : ‘they have layers’. This could simply be a metaphor or an actual explanation but with this man we don't know. I personally think of this as maybe there is a shell that is around the remaining parts of the head that the object head is placed on top of, making object head transfers much easier.

 Also he had said within the past that phony’s have an ‘adaptor’ of sorts, so that does help a lot despite humans not being born with them as seen here  One more thing I would also like to add before we go in depth about the methods of being dialed ; it is very likely that the technological parts of these objects gain their power from the body, just to clear that up. Either way : I think we should go over all of the different kinds of objects' heads. That being ones given to normies, born object heads and animals n such who are simply born with them.

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Figuring out object heads: normies to objects

This part of my theory was by far the easiest but still wasn't quite that simple, obviously there aren't any real life examples of this happening so we are kinda making this one up along the way. 

One of the main things to keep in mind is that when the dialup happened it happened practically overnight. That means that this progress had to be somewhat quick and considering how little flaws that come with having an object head that aren't exclusive to having an object head, there has to be a clear method to do this. So i propose a possible example for how to do this type of surgery:

The skin would be removed from the face, then the musicales before the bones. Making sure to keep the nerves, veins and brain within place. Then a small incision is made within the neck around these parts to not damage them, this being the base for where the adaptor would be placed on the head. But with this a small hole would be left in the neck to be used as a man-made mouth. (this was wrote b4 knowing its in the base of the head so forgive me) Within this process the olfactory nerve is also connected to this hole or slightly above it from out of the adaptor to retain smell. Moving onto the main head now, the back and front of the object is connected and wires from the phone are connected to certain parts of the brain so it has control with whatever object it may be without having to touch it. For the eyes, the photoreceptors are salvaged and turned into optical receptors with small holes in the head to remain eyesight. And finally, the inner ear is changed for a speaker with a microphone on the outside that picks up on a digital signal that transfers to the speaker inside then back to the brain as sound. With that done the case is closed up with whatever object it is being placed on top.

Now obviously this is just a very early draft of this part of the theory. I am aware there are a few characters that contradict this theory such as Abel, Stabby and Shooty or Craig so i may change this part of my theory at another point in time.

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Figuring out object heads: born object heads

This is also pretty easy to figure out as dogman has actually answered this question before, as claimed here the hound has stated that after the dialup fetuses are born with thinner heads to make the process of dialing easier. although this still raises a few questions.

One of the first ones is if after birth they’re given the similar type procedure as normies, as that is the only solution I can think of. obviously there is the question of how this works outside of hospitals but if i tried to figure that out this post would be too long so it’s probably going to be a very boring post in itself.

The second question is asking how the head is altered in that way. my proposal for how and why is possibly genetic mutations caused by chemicals that would have been taken by pregnant mothers back during the dialup. These could possibly serve as a generational mutation to prevent normie children from happening. not an ideal answer but I'm sure i can put a tad bit more research into this later.

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Figuring out object heads: animal object heads

While I do believe this is somewhat irrelevant for this part, I do think it’s worth mentioning and possibly solving. Unlike humans who aren’t born with them, animals and such are. and if you know almost anything about biology you’d know that animals don’t really have the means to have non organic heads without human intermittent so i think I've finally came to a solution to my final point 

I believe there is a possibility that animals, bugs and whatnot have object heads created out of bone that simply mimic what they’re supposed to be. Due to the existence of horns and such we do know that this kind of thing can exist. but other than this there aren’t many alternatives 

the only reason i bring this up is for my theory it is known that Gingi is an animal so perhaps it could fit into the category of this but due to the whole ‘i made it myself’ line from them it’s very quick to dismiss 

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Figuring out how Gingi is made:

So now that we know or well have a somewhat understanding of how object heads function, that begs the question of how did Phonegingi have this information? How did such a primitive creature gain the knowledge of creating such a complicated head that mirrors the one of the former president that he had never seen before? This is where I propose the idea that maybe the human part of Phonegingi actually belonged to somebody before. That somebody being Milton r Wallace

Okay, I feel like I should explain myself a tad. I know it's quite an outlandish idea but it does explain quite a lot. After all ; it is quite a coincidence there is so much mystery around this character and no instance of him being mentioned in the game. I mean if there was a scene where he was mentioned and Gingi just said ‘oh yeah that’s me’ it would be pretty underwhelming. Jokes aside, Milton’s body being the human part of Gingi does explain one too many things such as the seemingly male anatomy, probably the scar on his chest, hallucinations along with connections to Callum, how he would know how to make their object head and even why he’s in the woods in the first place.

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Figuring out how Gingi is made: scars on the body

I'll start by adding on to my scars as I feel like the male anatomy speaks for itself. Not to mention I promised to return to this so I am now. So let's take a look at the scars that we can see. 

Visibly on the chest and right shoulder we can see two wounds. The one upon the shoulder is a supposed bruise from a gorilla bite (although i got this off the wiki and don’t remember this line from the game so feel free to correct me) and the one upon the chest looking like a gaping wound that was stitched up in a familiar fashion to their head. Since we know that Phonegingi made their head itself it is a possibility that he stitched up this wound upon her chest in a similar way but we cant be sure as it’s never acknowledged.

Second point I would like to add is that on multiple occasions Gingi has been called ‘blue blooded’ but these wounds have a more yellowish brown hue to them rather than the blue that you’d assume. Why is this important? Well if you've ever had the displeasure of seeing dried blood you’d know it eventually changes to a brown colour overtime. Now it doesn't take a genius to know that since the man died around 60 years ago his blood would have been heavily deoxygenated. Perhaps being the reason why when reanimated as Phonegingi his blood was blue form the same lack of oxygen. 

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Figuring out how Gingi is made: hallucinations and Callum connection

This part is a lot more simple to explain, while i am aware of these things only really occurring due to the cough stirrup consumed by it, i find it oddly strange that these things occur in the way that they do especially since presumably before meeting Mingus in bigfoot’s route, Gingi was never even aware of Callum's existence. Plus I don't feel like the hound would add these hallucinations just to write them off as nothing. Maybe somewhere in Gingi’s scrambled brain he had these memories from his previous life leak though. 

Additionally, while Milton being Gingi helps the Callum connection ; it also explains why he would be able to identify Mingus as a cat. For us it would be pretty simple but we need to keep in mind that in Dialtown all organic beings have object heads so Phonegingi would have only ever really seen cats with these heads. While this could be written off as her seeing one within a textbook or something I find that incredibly hard to believe considering they’re confirmed to be illiterate. It could also just be a joke not meant to be looked into like this but it definitely could explain.

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Figuring out how Gingi is made: making the object head

This part of the theory is actually what led me to believing that Milton could be Gingi as he would be one of the only characters who had a physical resemblance to it as far as we know along with having access to that knowledge. Considering we see Gingi make their phone head similar to Callum, maybe he was shown the pattern by Cal when explaining the dialup close to the end of their friendship. Same thing could be said for the typewriter variant of them, probably mirroring Marla’s head since the typewriter head was based upon her along with there being hints of them two having a platonic relationship but since she is sadly as mysterious as him so we may never know.

Either way, since Phonegingi presumably came from the woods it wouldn't make sense for them to make an object head within there. Especially since Theoroar had it in captivity in their early years so it wouldn't make sense for Gingi to create an object head with other animals while caged. If i may even say, i personally struggle to wrap my head around why Gingi would decide to conform with their head considering she certainly does not conform by wearing clothes.

Oh alright.

Either way, I have two options why this would even be the case. The first option is that he was found by Mingus who forced this change upon them so they made the object head. But this doesn't make sense within the context of chapter 3 where Mingus hints at discovering Gingi for the first time. After all; Mingus would probably have just gotten rid of it earlier if that. So for the second option, which is much darker mind you, but perhaps their face could have been heavily mutilated by Milton’s early death along with the decades of rotting that he had to improvise by fixing it with a head made in the way that he had remembered from Callum. This also explains why it's a tad bit different from the norm too since Gingi’s brain would have been a tad bit screwed with this too. Either way, I'll let you decide what option works best with you.

Also a side note; i did actually consider Marla as a possible candidate for Gingi but there was one too many plot holes such as her dying of old age so her body would look a lot different, a lack of any comment by Mingus talking about Marla and her most likely getting a proper burial from somewhere that isn't the woods. 

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Figuring out how Gingi is made: why he would be in the woods

Speaking of being in the woods, I have a small idea for why Milton’s body would wind up being there. As far as we know basically every single person who knew him wouldn't have been around, plus as of making this post he has no confirmed family so it's hard to say. Perhaps his body was simply thrown into the woods? I suppose it would be irregular to do that but considering who Milton was it would make sense that this act would be covered up and simply not addressed at all. Perhaps even respecting him enough to dig him a proper grave would attract unwanted attention along with the fact that there are just not enough people who would care for him enough. 

︶︶︶ ⊹ ︶︶︶⠀୨♡୧⠀︶︶︶ ⊹ ︶︶︶

Putting this all together : 

With that all being said. Let me summarize all the information that I've proposed so far. We have theorized that Phonegingi has the DNA of a platypus and alligator that has been combined with the body of the former vice president, having some form of lead poisoning from the lake and radiation that has combined these creatures together. There are two questions left now, the first one being just how did these creatures find their way into the woods to combine with the body, and the second and by far the most important one being just how did this creature come to fruition.

The first one is easy, some may know that platypuses and alligators aren't native to Wisconsin but we need to remember that these creatures could be found within a zoo. And would you look at that, in Dialtown we do have a zookeeper, the same zookeeper that found Phonegingi mind you. It is possible that Theoroar decided to dump these two within the woods for whatever reason and they somehow wound up next to the corpse and got mixed up. I understand this isn't a perfect explanation, but it is somewhat logical for now.

Now onto my second point, it isn't as clear but I feel like I've found a solution for how this creature came to life. It doesn't take a genius to know that Milton is dead, meaning even if these animals mutated them it still would leave her dead so it's hard to figure out but I still feel like I have a solution. If you remember I did state that Phonegingi came together as one could possibly be man made so perhaps this same person brought their freakish creation to life. And perhaps that person is none other than enc0unter but this post is getting too long.

︶︶︶ ⊹ ︶︶︶⠀୨♡୧⠀︶︶︶ ⊹ ︶︶︶

I apologize for leaving this theory on a cliff hanger but this post is getting long and i have a lot more to say about Gingi and enc0unter. As stated in the same poll from the beginning I will be making a whole different theory / analysis about that stuff. With that being said, please let me know your opinions on this theory and if you'd like me to make the enc0unter one or a part 2 when i have the time. so yeah thanks for going though the effort to read this whole thing!! it means a lot

[yxstxrdrxxm-a]

And that... Is the end of Flawed.

Or the one I hosted for my silly event here anyway.

[ TL;DR under read more: The lack of interest and stress I got from irl matters led me to drop the event and ending it early, but! I have a blog made for the sake of continuing/restarting the event.

Please vote on the poll if you want it to be catered to the reader or stick to Yesterday, and be unbiased, too. Vote what you want, and I'll try and make it happen.]

CONTEXT UTC:

So, I know you guys have a lot of questions, and I can't blame you. I know the biggest one in your mind right now, which is:

Why did I end Flawed early?

The reason why I ended Flawed was actually multiple. Please keep in mind that these are for my observations, and overall I'm not blaming anyone for this. I just noticed it and thought I should bring it up lol.

1. Writing for days burnt me out.

Although Flawed is a passion story/project of mine, writing so much burnt me out. And by a lot. There were days I struggled to think of writing because I have other commitments to do, and sometimes its why polls came out super late or super early. I tried to compensate for it by posting 1 poll a day, but when it didn't work, I pushed myself to make more for 1 day.

I wanted so badly for the whole event to flow like a CYOA because by next month (April), I won't be free to host this as I used to with OLC. However, in that process, I burnt myself out to the point I needed to take longer breaks/forget this event.

It sucks. I would not recommend doing this if you think you want to (because it is NOT worth it).

2. Interactions were... Lacking.

This event is interaction heavy, and the reason why is because you guys control the story that Yesterday and others are in. Naturally, this also affects the characters and how I shape Flawed from start to finish. I have a plot line for it, of course, but the interactions were... Not there.

I noticed the usual ones from my mutuals, sure, but there were moments that I felt like I was simply posting to no one. It was unfortunate during the time with Diluc, where I had hoped that some of you would go, but due to complications (ahem, the votes weren't able to decide on going when the deadline was up), I had to write how it's supposed to go with some... Changes.

It also made me feel sad to see that there weren't much (if at all) interactions to Yesterday. Tinuvion received a fair bit, which is nice because he's a little shit (please bully him lol), but Yesterday after the first week and a half just... Didn't get any. At least, in my records.

I'm not saying this to guilt you guys to interact more, but I am saying this because it feels sad for me to see that unlike OLC, this... Flopped. I had a lot of responses + moments planned if it took off that much, but... Oh well. There's always that one story that won't hit for everyone.

And finally:

3. Maybe you guys wanted it to be catered to you, not to an OC.

I had a feeling that, from the start, Flawed may not take off.

Unlike One Last Call (which was a matchup event + story), Flawed was a CYOA but you guys aren't the main focus/MC, Yesterday (my oc) is. I was hoping that with this method, you guys get to play the omnipotent voice and see how far the story can go until it's conclusion.

However, as I hosted the event for the next few days to weeks, I realized that it was simply too difficult. Maybe I wasn't prepared to host this type of format, as ambitious as it is, but I realized that maybe, you guys don't deserve this format and I should've made it catered to a reader insert instead.

It was hard for me to swallow the pill that this event may not be fun for the majority. I knew that having an OC be the MC + canon characters interact with them may be flaky at best (esp the whole OC x Canon being... well. very much a huge "oh dear"), but seeing minimal interaction/interest than my friends were (and people I admire, too. Hi Harmony! o/!!) and realizing that maybe I shouldn't have done this just... Made me regret it.

For that, I'd like to say:

I'm so, so sorry that this event failed. I'm very sorry if you guys expected it to be like OLC: about the reader/reader insert format.

I know it's not right for me to apologize, but I feel that I have to. I let all of you down, and I don't want you guys to be disappointed in something that you all don't like to see in this blog.

So I decided that I'll run this event in its own blog, but here's the thing.

I don't know if I should keep Yesterday in the blog.

I have to open up a poll for this, so here's the options you guys have for it's fate:

If you guys want it to be a reader insert game (aka you are the main star, not Yesterday), I will set up a menu to BUILD your personal darling.

This means that you guys get to decide how darling will look, the gender, their preferences, and even their job. However, this will be for your darling, and if darling dies, you can't use them anymore.

PROS: This is catered to the reader, and thus, you guys are the ones to choose your own destiny. I won't be the one to decide this time, and if the majority agrees on a specific option, your darling will do just that. This is also more open for variety + reader/canon interaction because I know some of you would have a lot of fun being able to see yourselves in the story.

CONS: When your darling dies, you get the chance to restart. However, the game will continue on with a new darling you guys will have to make and the stats reset to zero. The characters will also mention your past darling, and you'll have to restart from scratch. I still need to tweak this, but just know that it is VERY tricky for you if your first darling dies.

If you guys want it to stay the same (Yesterday is the MC), the format will remain the same.

This means what you witnessed here in the blog WILL happen on the other blog.

PROS: You guys get to either continue or restart with Yesterday's story, and with newfound knowledge, you get to choose more options that were previously unavailable. This also opens up to you all being able to essentially shape Yesterday's outlook + what'll happen to them, because you are the one guiding them to their happy ending.

CONS: This one does not offer a restart like the reader insert (one try only), and this could result to another "this'll flop because many people aren't interested". We've seen it happen here, so please decide wisely.

If you guys want BOTH, the format will be different as you have the option to build a darling (reader insert) or stick to Yesterday's story.

This means there will be a new system for both options to be available, alongside new menus!

PROS: You guys get to have a chance of an 'easy route' or 'hard route' and all of you can use your experience/s to get your desired ending for either one <3 go crazy lol

CONS: If you choose one of the two options for both, the latter will be locked. That's the only consequence I have for this one tbh.

So yes, I'd like to say thank you, and sorry for the fail of Flawed on this blog. I wish I could give you all the quality like in OLC, but there were... Too many things to consider. Sobs.

If you guys still want to continue, please lmk. I worked hard on Flawed and I still want to continue, but this time, its a permanent event and will be on my own pace.

Thank you for your support. Again. And I'll see you guys next time (be it a random fic or the next event <3)

[just-some-guy-joust]

Just Some Guy OC Tourney - Side A: Round 4

Rules:

do NOT be mean to anyone or any characters in these polls. you MUST clarify if you are joking/teasing or you will be blocked. if you are someone who entered an oc into this and you are mean to other contestants you will be disqualified

do NOT claim a character doesn't deserve to be here. yes including your own. be nice

if you are posting propaganda you have to @ tag us, including if your propaganda is in the reblogs. it is difficult to tell when something is or isn't propaganda. anything not tagging us will likely be missed

please don't hesitate to let me know if i messed something up!

have fun, hype each other up <3 thank you

Adan Botello | He/him | @rainecloud020604

Adan is a highschooler who is just looking to pass class, go home and play Minecraft. He doesn't want to be unique or special any more than he is, maybe being a Minecraft YouTuber would be awesome but that's all he wants out of life. No matter what is thrown at him he tends to run away from it, like a fantasy world trying to claim he's a prince, he wants nothing to do with it. He just wants to be a normal kid, graduate high school and play Minecraft. He's also got transgender and autistic swag

Promos: https://toyhou.se/17322997.adan-botello check out the comic featuring Adan on this blog @a-tale-in-a-bottle

~

Wally Rosette | He/him | @hershelchocolateart

Wally Rosette is a 15-year-old kid who was chosen (and then kidnapped) to attend the Elite Villainous International Learning facility. This position, however, is solely because his parents were world-famous villains. Wally himself has no interest in the business, and is often described as the sweetest person any of the cast has ever met. He spends most of his time in the background, helping out faculty and students with their homework or various tasks, and only ever becoming relevant when homework *is* the plot of the week. Wally is just a kind kid who knows better than to get involved in the plot and loves his friends so so so so so so so fucking much it's unreal

Promos: https://toyhou.se/8256045.wally-rosette <-wallys toyhouse profile! https://www.webtoons.com/en/canvas/the-villain-school/list?title_no=97541 <-the comic he's in (discontinued because I'm doing a different one - it is 6/40 chapters with a planned remake Somewhere in the distant future)

~

Tulip | It/Its | @joyfulness03

-Literally just a little tulip mouse -Caught in the middle of a monster war, but is entirely oblivious to anything happening (not privy to The Horrors, because it is literally just a mouse) -Day plans: curling up in the sun to photosynthesize. it is fully booked, indefinitely -The most neutral of neutral parties (group pet) and the most background of background characters (group pet) -very friendly to everyone that pets it and gives its treats. it only bites a little bit, just little love nibbles. Average rodent behavior but with slightly sharper, plantier teeth

~

Full images and descriptions under the cut!

Despite the fact all he desires to be is just some guy the universe keeps trying to make him more than some guy. He's supposed to be a hero, a prince, but he keeps running from the idea of it so much he ends up in another world entirely and all he wants is to go home and be normal, all he wants! He's not looking to save his sister, she can save herself she's strong. He just wants to go home :( that's all he really wants in life and he's getting really tired of the universe saying otherwise

THIS IS MY VERY FAVORITE BABY BOY So Wally is a sweet kid, but because his parents were world-famous, he never really got a choice in who they raised him to be. This resulted in him having a BUNCH of self-worth issues that he tries to deal with on the side because he doesn't want to get his friends involved. He has two (2) major points in the plot (OUT OF 40 CHAPTERS)- one plot point where he ignores the main antagonist to get a boyfriend instead, and one where his entire arc finally culminates in "Wally Learns How To Say No To People." Outside of that, he does NOTHING regarding the main plot and is a C plot character at best. He is simply involved and there in the background because I love him so much and he is my precious little baby boy and yeah sure maybe I loved him so much I made 27 alternate universe versions of him that all have plot relevance in all my stuff but *this* wally is simply a boy and he is blue and he is lovely and I would kill and cry for him every day

[no extra description provided]

[briarglenrp]

          𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐄𝐍'𝐒 𝐃𝐈𝐀𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐃 𝐁𝐀𝐋𝐋

❝ 𝘈 𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘢𝘳𝘦. 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘸 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘭, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘹𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘴 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘢 𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳. 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘸 𝘢 𝘻𝘦𝘣𝘳𝘢 𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦. 𝘋𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘢 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘻𝘦𝘣𝘳𝘢 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳? ❞

Ah, the sound of hoofbeats dances upon the cobblestones, as delivery lads tirelessly assault the grandest of thresholds with the vigor of hopeful romantics! With deft hands, they present elegantly scripted missives to the unsuspecting souls who dare to draw back the door’s ornate façade. It is now 1813, and lo! A new season unfurls before us, heralded by none other than the Queen's illustrious Diamond Ball. A most opulent affair to unveil the charming debutantes before the reigning sovereign and parade eligible daughters for the matrimonial melee. Thus, the season's grand tableau is set. As the lovely maidens curtsy in the presence of royalty, a gallery of eager suitors, attentive mothers, distinguished gentlemen, and those fortunate or unfortunate enough to have secured their prospects, scrutinize every charming visage. Yet, it is solely the discerning gaze of the Queen that reigns supreme. A mere glance of disdain can send a young lady’s worth spiraling into the depths of obscurity. Conversely, should she capture the queen’s favor, her fortunes may ascend to dizzying heights, though, as we are all too aware, the brighter the light, the swifter the flame extinguishes. So, welcome to the inaugural soirée of the season! Are you ready to twirl amidst the whispers? A gentle reminder, darlings — the Queen is not the only keen observer; for Lady Whistledown, with her watchful eyes and ears, remains ever vigilant.

𝐎𝐎𝐂 𝐈𝐍𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃 𝐁𝐄𝐋𝐎𝐖 :

𝐖𝐄𝐋𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐁𝐑𝐈𝐀𝐑𝐆𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐑𝐏'𝐒 𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐒𝐓 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐓 : 𝘢 𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘯𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘭, 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘺𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 ( 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 ).

𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞 ; August 30th, 2024 @ 8:00PM EST.

𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞 ; September 06th, 2024 @ 12:00PM EST. ( may end sooner/later upon group discussion )

𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐲𝐩𝐞 ; dash event.

𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐝 𝐢𝐧-𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞 ; one night.

𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 ; the illustrious English palace, shall unveil its grand ballroom for our revelries, whilst the enchanting garden will shimmer with twinkling candles and delightful decorations, enticing all who dare to wander!

𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 ; briarglen:event01. briarglen:start.

𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 ; a notice will be posted when the event begins, please refreign from posting starters / threads before this. however, please feel free to post outfits and such ( if you would like ) before and use the 'briarglen:event01' tag.

𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐒 :

the diamond of the season for this season will be a non-playable character to make things fair across the board. at some point, we'll discuss together when this season ends and the next begins and we'll chat about doing a little poll maybe or randomized selection for the diamond - or if you all prefer having it as an npc.

if your character is not participating in the season / not being presented, they are still invited to attend the party as a guest. the event will start at the ball after the ladies have been presented to The Queen.

as The Queen herself loves to show her magnificent Diamond Ball off - all classes of society are invited.

a thread for this event will be added to the ‘summaries’ channel for individuals to post summaries / the important points of the event for each of their characters.

[best-underrated-anime]

Best Underrated Anime Group A Round 1: #A2 vs #A7

#A2: Girls do DIY together, but after a new industrial revolution

This series takes place after the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Serufu and her childhood friend Miku/“Purin” both applied to an elite school, where advanced technologies are incorporated into the curriculum. The tech-savvy Purin is accepted into the school, but accident-prone Serufu is rejected and enters a traditional school instead, driving a wedge into their friendship.

On her way to class one day, Serufu encounters Rei, who has a passion for old-fashioned crafts and is the head of the school’s Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Club—which is in danger of closing due to a lack of members. Realizing that this may be her chance to repair her relationship with Purin, Serufu joins the club in hopes of creating projects that could bring them together once more.

#A7: Immortal being learns what it’s like to be human

This show is about an immortal being learning of death, life, and what it means to be human. They’re able to shapeshift into anything they create an emotional bond with, but with a cost: if they wish to transform into a living being, including people, that person has to have died.

Titles, propagandas, trailers, and poll under the cut!

#A2: Do it Yourself!!

Propaganda:

It’s just a really feel-good series with some really good characters. I adore all of the characters and their dynamics with each other, especially the main dynamic between Serufu and Purin as it develops. I’m a really big fan of the show’s angle on stuff such as do-it-yourself crafts following another industrial revolution, just because it does frequently bring up the question of “What’s the point of DIY if in a year or two/maybe even now a robot could recreate the exact same result?” through characters like Purin (who is the major character with the lowest opinion on these kinds of crafts at the start, since she’s in the technologically advanced school and has beliefs more in line with the efficacy of technology rather than the joy of human creation), with the short answer largely being because it’s just fun!

I first watched this show before I saw a lot of AI stuff intruding upon art and rewatching it after sure was fun, because I love its ideas on the worth of doing stuff that machinery could do much faster. It’s not super complex or emotional, but that largely goes in its favor, because it really doesn’t need to be those. It’s just a fun little anime about a bunch of girls having fun together through one shared hobby that some of them had from the start and some of them adopted. I also love the opening, and the ending is a massive comfort song for me. The series can also be very funny at points, and is usually super heartwarming.

Trigger Warnings: None.

#A7: To Your Eternity (Fumetsu no Anata e)

Propaganda:

I don’t think I’ve ever watched an anime that has meant so much. Fushi’s journey from being born as nothing and without emotions, to becoming a genuine, real person who loves and cries is so special to me. The constant war he’s in between being too human and being not human at all is written so well—for him to love so much it hurts, leading him to isolate himself for years on end, for him to want to make friends, to love, but too afraid of them leaving and eventually dying to meet anyone new. For him to get so detached from life and death and the cycle it perpetuates that he loses understanding of why human life is so special—why should he save people, if they will die anyway? Why should he save them, if he can just bring them back to life, if he can just become them? The constant cycle of him learning to love again, and learning to treasure life again, only to lose it once he’s experienced death in a new and agonizing way. It’s about love, and it’s about humanity. Always.

Trigger Warnings: Animal Cruelty/Death, Child Abuse, Graphic Depictions of Cruelty/Violence/Gore, Racism, Rape/Non-Con, Self-Harm, Suicide

All TW’s apply to the protagonists, except child abuse and the racism. The world itself has hints of racism/discrimination throughout the anime, and not directly towards the protagonist. As for the rape, an antagonist attempts to rape the protagonist. There is a ton of self harm (protagonist and side characters) and blood as there is a lot of wars also happening in the anime

If you’re reblogging and adding your own propaganda, please tag me @best-underrated-anime so that I’ll be sure to see it.

[hasarjunadoneanythingwrong]

That whole Gudako anime thread having someone treat me like an idiot when I pointed out their continuity argument is bunk (because apparently acknowledging that Camelot and Babylonia is incompatible because 100 faces and Touta are confirmed to appear in one and are completely absent in another is the "most stupid thing they've ever heard") will be the start of my villain origin story, maybe.

Oh it’s great how they shift their goalposts on why they don’t think a female protagonist won’t work constantly don’t they? 🙄

Like:

The statement: it would mess with continuity to make the protagonist female after having them be male for the other adaptations

The rebuttal: continuity has already been broken by having flashbacks that show characters that then don’t appear in the actual adaptation of that part, suggesting it’s a different timeline

The response: uh well that’s stupid (doesn’t actually address the continuity error or even acknowledge it)

The statement: switching to a female protagonist would confuse anime onlys

The rebuttal: there are plenty of franchises that switch protagonists out, while there may be some confusion the first time it’s done you’re vastly overestimating how much people will be bothered by it. If precure or sentai can hard reset their universe every season with the same core concepts carrying over and literal 5 year olds can figure out the same general rules for the setup still apply then adults should also be able to handle it

The response: hooooowwww dareeeew you act like all sentai use the same basic premise don’t you know ultra man isn’t even produced by toei (you did not mention ultra man) marvel is also tokusatsu I’m going to derail the shit out of this bc you made the rookie error of mentioning 3 franchises made by the same company. I’ve never heard of Warriors or guardians of gahoole or avatar and the idea of a media franchise changing its protagonist scares me

The statement: a female protagonist wouldn’t be profitable, there aren’t enough female players to make it worth doing

The rebuttal: at least 40% of fgo players according to surveys are female and by the most recent survey for the 7th anniversary they’re actually the majority at ~58%. You can’t say that they aren’t a profitable demographic when you’ve never tried marketing to them

The response: uh but that’s a famistsu poll they don’t count my 2019 poll saying it was 30% (still a significant number?) is from an offical source (no you don’t get to know what that source is)

The statement: well they can’t use her because then they’d have to pair her up with female servants and they wouldn’t want the gay implications!

The rebuttal: assuming that they suddenly get cold feet on lesbian fanservice if it isn’t ‘comedic assault’ like in lwm they could just…pair her with male servants? Those exist? Or, yknow, focus on telling a story instead of solely pandering to self inserts

The response: uh but they don’t want to pair her up with guys bc she needs to be a waifu >_<

My actual response to that: SHE ISNT SUPPOSED TO BE A WAIFU FOR THE MALE PLAYERS. FOR GODS SAKE SHE IS THE ONE CHARACTER WHO SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO EXIST INDEPENDENTLY OF MALE DESIRES AS A REPRESENTATION OF THE FEMALE FANBASE. ILL FUCKING KILL YOU

The statement: uh but she died in the fgo command room in the fuyuki anime

The response: bitch that was literally an Easter egg that wasn’t the actual master

The rebuttal: but she’s dead! They can’t ever reboot or disregard their own canon! Especially a franchise like fate, which is known for being super set in stone and never going back on events that have already happened

And repeat ad nasuem. Like we get it, as soon as a women does anything that isn’t hanging off the arm of a guy it pisses you off but god DAMN the shitty argument tactics piss me the hell off. Just say you don’t want a serious female protagonist with your chest and quit making these garbage excuses

[miscmonstro]

You Strike Me as Familiar (I’ve Never Met You Before)

Remember that poll? Now its time to fanfic! If you’re wondering how this fanfic + poll thing will work, check out this post. 

Current Characters: Tim Drake, Wes Weston

Summary: Tim forgot to change his shoes after PE. This creates more problems than one might think, but it also opens up a whole world of opportunity.

🪤 + 📱 - Segment 1 - 🪤 + 📱 

He’d forgotten to change his shoes, and honestly? Tennis shoes were more comfortable than the stiff oxfords the dress code required. Of course he’d try to get away with not changing his shoes at some point.

…or maybe he’d made the mistake after running on four hours of sleep. Not that he’d admit it. In any case, he couldn’t go to class like this. With a frustrated exhale, Tim turned sharply on his heel and marched back to the locker room. He tried the door and couldn’t hide his grimace when he realized it was locked.

Tilting his hand and raising his arm, Tim examined his watch and realized that he did not have much time before his next class.

He could still make it if he was quick.

Glancing around the hall to ensure no one was nearby, he pulled out a small, black rectangular box and used his thumb to pop it open. Inside was an array of slim tools with a variety of flat and curved and hooked tips, all designed just for this. Picking the lock and getting the door open was a quick process and he silently slipped inside, ready to grab his shoes and bolt. Instead, when he rounded the corner into the should-be-deserted room, he came across Wesley Weston.

Wesley was a classmate of his and was also the most unremarkable boy Tim had ever come across. Lean and stupidly tall, the redheaded boy had pale skin dotted with freckles and an obvious midwestern accent. He was a scholarship student from a small city in Illinois with two parents, divorced, and two sisters. Basketball and photography were his pastimes. He had a bit of a reputation for being a neat freak and he knew all the gossip, somehow. Wesley was very self conscious, however, and so while he was aware of the drama at any given time he was never really a part of it. Reserved and not-rich, no one paid Wesley much mind. He wasn’t worth much attention.

Or so Tim had thought.

He stared and wondered just how wrong he was. Automatically, he catalogued the sickly bruises dotted along Wesley’s arms. There were probably more under the tank top he had on.

One injury drew Tim’s attention more than the others. 

Wesley’s forearm was cut. It a long, ugly thing that started at the elbow and curved around to slice into and past his wrist.

It was the exact same injury Damian had inflicted on Spyris with his kusarigama two nights ago.

That was one heck of a distinct cut. Tim couldn’t call this a coincidence, not even remotely.

That meant he’d just discovered that Wesley Weston was Spyris. 

This was huge. Spyris was a vigilante? Villain? They didn’t know. In fact, they knew worrying little about the new player even through he’d been around for a good seven months. His movements were erratic after they’d confronted him initially and none of his actions had discernible patterns. Tim had spent many-a-night tearing his hair out as he searched for buried clues no one could find. The only thing the bats knew, besides the fact that he was a caucasian male, was that he had may or may not have had freckles. 

This was a golden opportunity to glean information- motives, goals, mode of operation, everything. 

Spyris was tricky though. Tim couldn’t afford to scare him off or he might never get another chance- he would have to approach this very, very carefully.

He could turn around and walk out. His reputation might take a hit if he showed up to class in the wrong shoes, but could he risk alerting Wesley? 

Or he could get his shoes and play it off, pretend the coach let him in. But maybe… he could dig. Just a little- they were alone in here anyway. And besides, it’s not like Wesley had any reason to be suspicious of Tim Drake.

[shivunin]

Post-Trespasser Emmaera

I wanted to make a quick post about Emma's prosthetic since the topic (re: that poll) is going around at the moment.

I based her prosthetic on the ones Götz von Berlichingen wore in the early 1500s. Götz was a knight/mercenary who lost his right arm at the elbow in 1504 when "enemy cannon fire jolted von Berlichingen’s blade against himself" (Source). He commissioned his prosthesis from a local blacksmith, and the prosthesis in question had hinged fingers which were capable of locking in place in blocks of two. von Berlichingen used his iron hand to wield a sword (rather successfully) and eventually commissioned a second prosthesis which was capable of grasping smaller objects (including a quill; he wrote a whole autobiography which wasn't published until 1731, well after his death).

But more to the point here: Götz von Berlichingen's arm was an incredible example of engineering even at its time. The design of its second iteration (pictured below) was driven entirely by his experiences with the first. He wanted the second version to have leather straps to hold it more firmly in place and fingers that were capable of more exact articulation as well as wrist joints that could pivot.

When I decided to write Emma post-Trespasser, I did a lot of research on what it was like to live with one hand, but von Berlichingen's story was the one that stuck with me the most. I spent a lot of time looking at these schematics and trying to figure out how Dagna could make something like this in the Dragon Age universe.

Because the off-hand motion in the game's animation is usually one that's supporting the staff, not specifically twisting it, I thought it made the most sense to conceptualize something along the same lines as the second iteration above. A mage would need something capable of pivoting/angling with the movement of the staff, and that's pretty easily achieved with hinges, as seen above, and (though ball bearings weren't invented until 1794) ball bearings could allow the hand to pivot 360 degrees (something you, uh, maybe wouldn't want if your hand is locked onto the staff). The fingers, elbow, and wrist are lockable using pins in the joints and a buttons on the back of the hand release each respective set of joints.

I like the idea of them having to go through several iterations of prostheses to find out what actually works for the Inquisitor (Dagna is a genius, but this isn't necessarily the sort of project she's worked on before) with consistent input from the person using it, just as von Berlichingen was able to adjust the second iteration of his own prosthesis to better fit his needs as a fighter. It is something she has to actually train with to use effectively, of course, just like using any new tool in combat.

Now---she does have a more ostensibly fantasy version that has hinged fingers which grasp when she manipulates the lyrium in them with magic. She doesn't use this version often because, frankly, the lockable fingers of her regular prosthesis can do anything she would really need them for and having to expend constant concentration to use the other prosthesis isn't really worth it to her (though she appreciated the thought).

The first one is for combat and when she is in her workroom (it's easier to grind herbs if she's holding the mortar still) and she uses it almost exclusively if she's going to be wearing a prosthetic at all. Usually, due to damage her residual limb has taken from the combat prosthesis, she just hangs out without any prosthesis. In her home, the chairs are modified with a mouthpiece so her hound can pull the chairs away from the table for her, and there are a lot of other ways the house has been set up as she needs. She has various other tools she can use to, for example, hold paper steady while she writes. But when she needs it---and since she went through her vigilante period, she has used the prosthesis to fight---she does have the arm Dagna made her.

Anyways---I obviously think von Berlichingen is fascinating (I haven't even touched on him kidnapping nobles or that his hand is part of his hometown's crest), so I recommend reading more about him in general. Sources: NIH, Atlas Obscura (which is the easier read), image source 2, and the Wikipedia article if you want the summary.