#might have to move out just so i can have my weird transformers stuff in peace lol

[wifeguycyclonus]

showed my sisters the bishoujo girls. they were understandably uh not thrilled lol

[majikkulu]

✮  having  a  stellium  in  your  5th  house  gives  you  a  total  boost  to  your  creative  side.  you  might  feel  this  sudden  pull  to  start  painting  again,  write  poetry,  or  even  just  have  fun  and  flirt  around  a  little.  it’s  giving  “main  character  summer.”

✮  if  you’ve  got  cancer  rising  this  year,  just  know...  you  might  cry  a  little  more  than  usual.  and  that’s  okay.  you're  probably  more  in  tune  with  your  emotions,  a  bit  moodier,  and  naps  might  become  your  best  friend.

✮  mars  chilling  in  the  8th  house  could  mean  feeling  way  more  in  the  mood  than  usual.  it  might  even  be  the  year  you  lose  your  virginity  or  just  explore  your  sexuality  more  boldly.

✮  when  i  had  mars  and  uranus  in  my  11th  house,  friendships  were  chaotic.  people  came  and  went,  and  betrayal  was  loud.  not  everyone  was  meant  to  stay,  though.

✮  moon  in  the  10th  can  be  kinda  overwhelming.  career  stuff  might  feel  all  over  the  place.  you’ll  probably  question  what  you  actually  want  to  do,  like  one  day  it’s  this,  next  day  it’s  that.

✮  venus  in  aries  is  bold.  in  love,  you're  not  waiting  around.  you’re  making  the  first  move,  taking  risks,  and  probably  shocking  yourself  with  how  confident  you’ve  become.

✮  scorpio  rising  =  full-on  transformation  mode.  you’re  changing,  growing,  and  maybe  even  switching  up  your  appearance.  it’s  a  deep  kinda  glow-up,  not  just  surface-level  stuff.

✮  uranus  in  the  6th  is  so  weird  sometimes.  random  health  stuff  might  pop  up,  or  you  could  end  up  with  a  super  unique  pet  you  didn’t  plan  for  (hello,  surprise  gecko??).  weight  might  fluctuate  a  bit  too.

✮  uranus  in  the  2nd  house  is  basically  financial  chaos.  one  minute  you’re  rich,  next  you’re  broke.  budgeting  becomes  a  survival  skill. 

✮  sun  in  the  4th  house  makes  you  wanna  dig  into  your  roots.  if  you  don’t  know  much  about  your  family  history,  this  might  be  the  year  you  start  asking  questions  or  just  spend  more  time  cozying  up  at  home.

✮  moon  conjunct  pluto?  intense  af.  your  emotions  go  deep.  like,  cry-while-listening-to-sad-music-deep.  but  it’s  also  super  healing  once  you  push  through  it.

✮  aquarius  rising  energy  is  so...  detached  but  in  a  freeing  way.  it  might  come  with  some  big  plot  twists,  but  you’ll  probably  handle  them  better  than  you  think.

✮  mars  conjunct  ascendant  gives  you  that  “go  go  go”  vibe.  you  might  act  fast  without  thinking  and  come  off  a  little  intense,  but  you’re  moving  things  forward.

✮  people  hype  up  a  1st  house  stellium  like  it’s  all  glow-ups,  but  it’s  more  about  facing  yourself.  you  learn  who  you  are  in  raw,  real  ways  and  sometimes  that’s  uncomfortable.

✮  sun  conjunct  neptune  =  dreamy  vibes.  your  intuition’s  probably  screaming.   you  might  be  extra  sensitive  to  energies  and  get  those  “i  just  know  this”  moments  more  often.

✮  mercury  conjunct  neptune  is  where  your  inner  psychic  is  coming  out.  writing,  talking,  even  texting.  you’re  picking  up  on  things  between  the  lines.  it’s  like  your  brain's  decoding  symbolism  24/7.

[egophiliac]

How do you draw your high contrast, shape-y pieces? I’ve tried something similar but it always end up off, any recommendations on brushes or exercises that could help with improvement?

(I wasn't sure what part was giving you trouble, so this is sorta an all-over smattering 😅 hopefully some of it helps!)

• the kind of brushes don't really matter, just what you're comfortable with using! more chisel-shaped or calligraphy-style brushes might be harder to control strokes with though. I do personally like using brushes that are like...Mostly Round But With a Little Grit to 'Em!

• work at a higher size and/or resolution than your final size (I usually work at ~3x final size). scaling down will smooth out little imperfections and some of the little aliasing weirdness that comes from raster transformations (scale/rotate/etc.)

• drawing with your arm, as in moving from your elbow while keeping your wrist pretty still, makes big smooth curves much easier (you can also go from the shoulder for BIG movements)

• most drawing programs will let you rotate the canvas -- drawing downward strokes tend to be easier to control (extra cheat: if a stroke is proving troublesome, I'll sometimes draw it as best I can on a new layer, move/rotate it into the exact position I want, and then merge it down again)

• instead of trying to draw a super precise shape and fill it in, I usually draw a bigger, shittier shape, and then use an eraser or layer mask to kinda chisel it into the shape I want:

• Always Check Your Values -- especially if you're finding your colors feel kinda muddy or not contrast-y enough, it's a good idea to make sure there's contrast in the light/dark as well as the hue/saturation! I usually have an adjustment layer set to 0 saturation that I keep on top of my document, and just periodically toggle on and off to check. (there's some debate about the most accurate way to check values, but this works well enough for high-contrast solid blocks of color.)

• on the same note, instead of using pure grayscale colors, particularly full black (#000000) and white (#FFFFFF), adding a little bit of color into them can give you a richer, more interesting and more cohesive result.

(and even when using pure grays, using slightly "off" from full black and white can be more interesting! and it's not to say DON'T use black and white and gray, more just...use them thoughtfully, instead of by default?)

• color thumbs/sketches/roughs, whatever you want to call them. people get SO weird at me about these for some reason, but they're literally just...a little sketch of figuring out colors before you start painting. they don't have to be final or detailed or any good or whatever, it's just to get a starting idea! working super fast and loose especially helps to get out of the mindset of Doing A Good Drawing and more into messing around with shapes and negative space and all that fun stuff. :> then later you can focus on the Doing A Good Drawing part, without having to also think too hard about the other stuff.

• Keep It Simple -- 100% the hardest part. I have absolutely not mastered this in any way. 💀 it's SO easy to overwork this style and end up too detailed/too unfocused/just too much going on -- half the time I spend on these things is just adding details -> squinting at it for a couple of minutes -> erasing all the details again. you gotta keep in mind that it's about getting an idea across more than anything else, and when it comes to that, less is almost always more!

(this is one of the reasons I sometimes make myself use SUPER restricted palettes; when you only have three colors, it forces you to really think about what's important to show and how to leave things implied. ✌️)

[alphajocklover]

I loved the story you did the other day about making a deal with a devil. Could I make a deal with him? You see I’m a huge fan of Zeb Atlas and I want to be just like him. A huge muscular alpha gay male porn star. You think he’d be interested in doing that for me?

Oh thank god. I don’t want to be unprofessional but I’m really glad someone asked about this. Since my last post with Nick, the one where he helped me turn one guy into five by splitting his soul, Nick has been in a bit of trouble. Technically speaking a lot of what Nick does, hanging out with mortals, dating my Uncle, helping me with my work, is kind of frowned upon by the forces of Hell. Hell is not as strict as you might think, since their entire thing is sin and doing what they’re not supposed to, but there are some things that a devil isn’t supposed to do, and using their powers during anything but a deal is a big one. I think making another deal could definitely help smooth things over, especially since he's been so busy with helping me and has kind of neglected his work lately. There is a little problem with your request though. I, personally, try to avoid anything with celebrities in them, not because they don’t use magic or tf stuff, but since reporting on them can draw a little too much attention. However, you said you want to be LIKE Zeb Atlas, not that you wanted to be him or transform him in some way. Plus he is extremely hot, and he isn’t a super big mainstream celebrity, so I think I can get away with it. Let's turn you into a Zeb Atlas look alike!

See, my friend Nick isn’t just going to turn you into someone kind of like Zeb Atlas. For the price you’re paying, you’re going to be turned into an exact copy of Zeb Atlas. From the manly jawline and cocky smirk, to the huge biceps and sexy, almost shockingly wide shoulders, you’re going to practically be his twin. To be clear, you aren’t actually going to be his twin, you’re going to be his doppelganger. I know that sounds weird, but it’s actually weirdly common. A lot of people have doppelgangers, and while both doppelgangers being bodybuilding pornstars is a little unlikely, it wouldn’t be the weirdest thing to ever happen. You won’t have a tattoo like he does, so you’ll have a few differences, but besides that the two of you are going to be almost identical. Even your personalities will be similar, and the same cocky, confident swagger he has will be in every move you make. The best part? You’ll actually get to meet Zeb! Two alpha males who work in porn, it only makes sense for you guys to do some scenes together. People love the ‘getting fucked by twins’ fantasy afterall. Even more, because of your similar personalities, you’ll spend time together outside of work. Soon Zeb Atlas and Zack Titan (thats your porn name) will be fucking inseparable. 

Of course there is a price to pay, and in this case it's going to be a pretty hefty one. You won’t have to give up your soul or anything, since Nick usually gets his souls indirectly, but you will still have to give him something. Two things actually. The first thing Nick wants is your original selves apartment. I can’t be sure why, but I assume it has to do with some sort of long game he’s playing. The second thing he wants? Your and Zeb’s autographs. It’s not everyday you meet the two greatest porn stars of all time.

**I don't usually do TFs that involve real people, even slightly, but I couldn't resist something this hot. Hope you guys like it (and that I dont have to take it down lol)**

[bruhstation]

hello tumbled er

greetings and salutation. it is I, senja heterocaine, speaking to you through your favorite home screens. now you might be wondering: where on earth has senja heterocaine disappeared to these past 5 months? well the answer is as simple as it gets

I focused on my studies.

well yes that is the main reason. but that's like the nerd "obvious" answer. there’s other reasons too. some of which includes me getting into new interests, revisiting my old, hibernating interests, getting involved in university organizations and events, getting more involved in big family stuff since I'm the oldest and the only of-age grandchild of grandma from mom's side.... lots of stuff

so I just finished the third semester of premed school right. honestly speaking, with how I was losing motivation on drawing, the art block post-art fight, and lack of time, I decided to well, take a break. and it’s pretty convenient too since it was early on in the third semester. during the entirety of it I was feeling pretty proud of myself like "oh I've been studying a lot. I've taken a break from drawing and blog stuff. surely things will get better" and it did! not immensely but it's significant enough that for once I don't feel an indescribable sense of terror after the semester ends. the focus of this semester was about reproduction systems and growth and development which is pretty fun? we get to use models and medical phantoms hands-on and poke them with needles and other rube goldberg contraptions. I did miss breeding bacterias in petri dishes and seeing my friends burn the microbiology lab’s ceiling like last semester though. my grades are also improving… slowly but surely

(aftermath not pictured: me lounging on the couch scrolling through quora to see if there are people currently in college wanting to drop out)

maybe I was aiming too high. at least my grades are better than the previous two semesters and my social life is much better than it was back in high school. speaking of exams -- I went through my first osce exam around a week ago (practical exam to see if you can actually perform the skills labs lessons from the entire semester like you're a real physician). it was the most terrifying day of the month. my dentist said I have a big tongue and that’s why I can’t speak properly if I’m being too fast. ntm I WAS NERVOUS!!! MY FIRST OSCE!!! with how I memorized everything I needed, I was pretty confident that I'd pass, though. I didn't and retook the exam the next day. the prelude was the worst crash out ever

ah ptooey. I'll just take it like a champ. my tutor who's 3 years older than me and currently in the anesthetic rotation of co-ass told me that things will get easier but that's very subjective. he's a medical olympiad student after all. my parents are pretty happy though with how my academic life is becoming better so that's that

LETS MOVE ON TO SOMETHING LIGHTER. section B: what I've been getting into ever since bruhstation was put on cryostasis

you know Transformers One (2024)? the transformers movie directed by josh cooley? based on the Transformers(tm) franchise by Takara Tomy and Hasbro? most tragic break up movie of the decade? I watched it twice, squealed once, and left me broken and inconsolable for weeks on end. it made me revisit my dormant transformers interest after 5 years. I've reread the idw comics (mtmte, LL, taao, main transformers comic), and is currently checking out more (reading the wreckers saga right now). god it made me miss rodimus and friends' zany space opera adventures. I've always envisioned casa tidmouth to have the same tone as mtmte... the oftentimes dark humor, fridge horror stuff, weird magic/science, the roller coaster of emotions, confronting the past... its crazy good.

stories where misfits and knuckleheads band together in a confined space while having crazy doctor who-like adventures am I right. like I want casa tidmouth to be like that. remind me to thank 14 year old me for this trip down memory lane. and as usual, I tend to make self-indulgent crossovers of any interest I'm thinking about at the moment with casa tidmouth

a terrifying sneak peak on what's to come.

I've been working on my oc projects too. you may have seen some of them on artfight (graciela, saudade, altair, etc) but I've been focusing the most on graciela and saudade's universe, children's heterotopia. it has the largest amount of characters in any story I've created (not counting casa tidmouth), the most effort put into planning the stories and weaving in its themes about capitalism, patriarchy, period-typical bigotry, etc. there's human experimentation and they're given powers that range from punching super hard to time and space displacement. I also inserted whatever I wanted into the story. sure, yes, there's a lesbians-only organization of which its members are named off the knights of the round table, theres a mafia that focuses more on the family drama and attempted parricide from all angles, and tragic assassin maids of which their names are wuthering heights references. also if you've been following my main tumblr hajimedics for a while, you might've seen my three fairly oddparents ocs. well I've given them the tezuka star system treatment and inserted them into children's heterotopia as well.

I've also gotten into UTAU production! I've made a number of UTAU covers but haven't uploaded them to youtube. only shared them around with my friends on priv twitter. a good friend of mine assisted in the creation of my own UTAU voicebank! their name is TORKA (like "torque"), their voice bank has a slight accent when singing in japanese (because I'm their voice lol) and CV-only, their in-universe lore is that they're an intergalactic train conductor picking up wayfarers and outcasts trying to find a place in the vast universe, and I love them dearly

moving on! this is a thomas the engine and company blog THIS IS A LIFE UPDATE POST

I'd rather not discuss about how I'm doing mentally in deep detail BUT what I'll say is that I can't confidently say "I'm doing better" or "I'm doing worse" because it always depends on the days. things are okay-ish nowadays. some days are scary. some days are boring. I still experience delusions, (ironically) worried about my anhedonia, and believe that certain bouts of confidence will trigger a jinx, but I think I've been controlling myself well? at least? I keep internalizing the belief that I'm an adult. 20 years old. I have to act accordingly and my life in real life is ten times more important than the internet. things are going to change more and more once I graduate premed and began the co-ass program. I have to think 10 steps into the future. building successful connections before you turn 30. sigma grindset and all that. sorry that was my father using my body as a spirit medium

AND ALSO. ALSO. BACK TO THE BLOG DO YOU GUYS REMEMBER THAT ONE TIME I PROMISED TO MAKE A COMIC BASED ON THE RESULTS OF THE 1000 FOLLOWERS POLL AND NEVER DID UNTIL NOW. I'm terribly sorry. I promise I will get into it I SWEAR procrastination is kicking my ass. I have to plan the dialogue and script and stuff AND DRAW BUT

BUT HERE’S THE FUNNY THING

THE BLOG REACHED 2000+ FOLLOWERS A FEW MONTHS AGO

NOW WHAT DO I DO TO CELEBRATE?

I don’t know honestly. I haven’t done the 1000+ followers celebratory comic, and NOW I HAVE 2000+ FOLLOWERS. THERES 2000+ OF YOU NOW!!!!! THAT’S CRAZY (IN A GOOD WAY)!!!! I thank you all for sticking with bruhstation through thick and thin for around 2 and a half years. I’m glad for all your support, fanarts, asks, and such truly. like wow. 2k. in such a short time too! thanks guys. admittedly, I feel kind of guilty to leave everyone hanging for months with nothing to give, especially with such a high follower number. and realistically? I don’t think I’ll be able to draw as much as I used to. like I’ve said earlier, I’ve been busy with my personal life and oc projects. it’s not like I’m abandoning this blog any time soon? I’m just speaking from a logical perspective, given my status as a student and (possibly, hopefully) future doctor too. I don't want to burn myself out posting like thrice a week, answering asks daily, I want to take things slow. at my own pace. maybe I'll focus on designing side characters as well and thinking about their roles in the story! but that's for another day. I’m just glad everyone’s still sticking around and enjoying my silly stuff

I do want to draw more for this blog! I want to put thomas and co. in more situations. make them dance for all our entertainments. but when you’re an adult, you realize that you have your own priorities. you can’t always do the things you wanna do. you can’t just drop something you don’t like out of the blue. sometimes you have to sigh, scratch the back of your neck, and brave it while saying “I sure am getting old”

oh and also I'm a butch lesbian now. still he/they (heavy preference on he/him), still preferring masculine terms like "mr", "sir", "guy", still as crazy as ever. still aroace too and not interested in dating, something that's been a constant in my identity ever since I'm in early high school. little have changed I can assure you this. I am still senja. senja heterocaine from the net.

and thus concludes senja’s life update post! what will the next post after this be about? something gordon-centric again? serious colored art? old men yaoi? silent hill UK localization? place your bets. everyone loves a good laugh

[crimsoncandy04]

OH MY GOD YOU WRITE SO FUCKING GREAT!!!! Can I ask for a mouse/hamster hybrid reader and Kitty/Scaramouche. He's trying to catch us and eat us 😏 👅

Can I stick to canon a little? I might not be very imaginative so I usually work with lore and stuff to make my ideas flow a little easier for me.

And I think I know how to do this.

It was no secret that the harbinger known as The Doctor often tampered with human DNA in order to succeed in certain projects regarding his segments. However as one of his subordinates, you became increasingly concerned when he started involving animal DNA too.

And terrified when he picked YOU out of everyone else to undergo a sort of surgical transformation to see if weaker humans could be physically "improved" with animal genetics.

You went to sleep on the operating table, a woman.

You woke up in a similar body, however your eyes widened in shock as you noticed the rounded ears and long tail you had. You were in a small box sized room full of reflective walls. And in them you could see that you were now in fact a mouse and human hybrid.

You tried to yell but only squeaked.

However the experiment was far from over.

One of the tall reflective walls suddenly retracted into the ground. Revealing a long dark corridor made entirely of stone. The narrow walls Rose high into the shadows and as you stepped out the the tiny place you had woke up in, the opening slammed shut behind you too. Leaving you in the darkness of the weird maze/labyrinth all alone.

Or so you thought.

Suddenly a sharp tone cut through the cool air.

"Oh so you DID survive. Congratulations I suppose. But don't think this makes you any more of a useless pawn dear."

A figure leapt down from the top of one of the higher walls behind you.

His indigo eyes glowed. Marked by beautiful long lashes and striking red eyeliner. He looked so...catty and you'd definitely be right about that.

The young man's big fluffy tail suddenly began to swish behind him as he stalked closer to you slowly.

"now don't move, mouse. This is only going to be uncomfortable if you make it that way." His big fluffy ears twitched a little with excitement as he suddenly tried to reach out and grab you.

However you were faster than you remembered now.

And you ran.

Sprinting through the dim maze of nothing but more long stretches of hallways and sharp turns, you could hear the man in pursuit of you.

Every time you thought you put some distance between you both, you'd see a flash or indigo hair out of the corner of your eye and force yourself to keep going as he seemed to be able to scale walls and leap from high places just like a cat effortlessly could.

Finally you felt fear overwhelm you. And you panicked.

And you tripped.

Hands descended upon your shivering body before you could even muster up a scream. Lips silencing you as the man gently rolled you over onto your back and pinned you beneath him.

"you're fast my little mouse. But not faster than me~" he mumbled in a strangely seductive tone as he moved his lips down your body and stopped just above your pubic mound.

"please don't hurt me!" You wail. Your body shaking as you watched a devious grin appear on his rather lovely face.

"keep begging, mouse. You look even more delectable when you do~" you noticed something strange about his hands then as he ripped your panties off. His fingers resembled those of a doll. He wasn't human or cat...

Was this the sixth harbinger that was rumored to occasionally help out The Doctor?

You didn't have time to ponder this as you feel him dig his nails into your knees and force your legs apart as he leaned in closer to your sex and gave your clit a small kiss before roughly shoving his long tongue deep into your aching cunt.

"ah~ please stop! Please this feels so...good~" your body continued to shiver but not out of fear as you felt him moan and purr against your pussy. You felt a tiny squeak leave your lips then. Making his eyes take on a predatory gleam as he pulled you against his face even more and began to alternate between lapping at your heat and teasing your clit with his sharp teeth and cool tongue.

He kept you on edge for the longest time. Seemingly enjoying your taste as you felt his purring get louder while you rocked your hips a little and felt your lower body tighten.

"don't fight it. Just let go little mouse ~" he hummed. You felt so good at that moment that all sense of shame seemed to have been lost as your body erupted and you squirt into the eager mouth of the man before you. He greedily slurps up every last drop and hungrily swallows your lewd juices as you lay panting and completely drained before him.

You struggle to sit up as you feel him pull away finally. Only to see him give you another sadistic and horny grin as he looks you directly in the eyes and starts counting.

You immediately feel nervous again.

Quickly getting to your feet and running away as he neared the final number.

You didn't know how long he planned to draw this out or why he was so hungry for you like this, but one thing was for certain. He would continue to hunt you.

And you would be devoured.

[goblin-the-clown]

pokes you. may i hear about katia? :333

AHHH YAY!! I'm so glad you asked about her she's my fav :D

Yapping under the cut

These are all the drawings I have of her (some of them are really old and I might change her design a bit if I ever draw her again but whatever)

I don't have a name for the story all my OC's are from but it's set in England some time in the 80s in an alternate universe with these Gods. Katia is one of the three god's (this is her human form, her God form is invisible to the human eye but she can transform into all kinds of weird creatures)

So there are three gods, the creator, the mother and the destroyer. Katia is the third God (the destroyer) and her job is to destroy the earth when the time comes. She was also given the power of chaos so if anything ever goes drastically downhill on earth she can do a kinda Noah's arch type situation and they can start again. However, since she's the youngest God, she's incredibly immature and gets bored of barely being able to use her powers very quickly. So what does she do? She goes down to earth as a human and decides to mess with a bunch of people, ruining their lives for fun.

So how the human forms work is that a human is sacrificed to become the vessel for a God (this happened like ages ago in ancient times). So basically she's puppeteering the dead body of some random girl from ancient times around. In her God form, her main state is invisible to humans but she can transform into all kinds of eldritch monsters and beings, she just can't transform into anything that lives on earth unless she's using a dead vessel. So she could become a deer or something if she wanted to.

As for the other God's, I won't go into too much detail about them because this is about Katia, but they're called Filippa and Xanthi. Filippa is the creator and has been in a coma like state since she first created the earth and Xanthi is the mother who is supposed to take care of the earth but he treats it more like entertainment and lets Katia do whatever she wants. They're all sisters and Filippa created Xanthi and Katia.

Anyway, there are two main ways she tortures humans. 1. She shows them weird god stuff that humans can't usually see and watches as they go insane 2. She recruits desperate, vulnerable people into a life of addiction, crime and violence and basically ruins their lives. All the other main characters are her victims, I'll give a very brief summary of them.

Milly was roommates with Katia for a while and developed a very unhealthy, one sided crush on her (something something she was a closeted lesbian and Katia was the first girl she'd ever been super close with). I don't have a lot about Alfie but he's punk and he has a very strong gambling addiction, him and Milly became roommates after Milly moved out. Yuto is the main character, he's a middle aged man who's ten year old daughter was murdered some time ago and he's been feeling lost ever since, when he met Katia he decided she was super cool and started acting and dressing like her. Jordan is a homeless lesbian who actually wasn't recruited into an unhealthy lifestyle by Katia but rather Yuto, her and Milly are yuri. Anyway yeah there are other characters as well but they're not directly related to Katia so I'll leave them out.

Personality wise, Katia is very energetic and outgoing, thus why a lot of people are drawn to her and tend to trust her. She speaks and dresses in a very eccentric way and she is very much inspired by Midori from yttd because of course I have to include her in some way. Besides torturing random people, her hobbies include: Making her own clothes, spending an insane amount of time doing her hair and makeup, listening to music, playing drums, doodling and beating little kids in arcade games. She is very silly and evil i love her <333

Also! Here's a very short story I wrote with my OC's (featuring Katia) a few days ago. It's the only thing I've written for them so far but I do plan on writing more, I'm just mainly caught up with doing stuff for my danganronpa rewrite atm.

Anyway I hope you enjoyed this yap session lol

[blackened-angel]

Netflix Devil May Cry episode 1 review

Although it's the first episode, I've mentioned some stuff that happens in the other ones and I mention stuff from the games and other materials, so be careful of spoilers.

When I began watching the episodes, I kept a notepad open to write the stuff that I personally liked or disliked. Also, it's difficult not to compare to the source materials because after all, I'm not judging an original work, but you will see that I have criticized parts based on how they were presented.

Even without using the name DEVIL MAY CRY, to me it was a mediocre show because of its writing.

To be clear, if you liked the show, that's great, I'm only expressing my personal opinions as a longtime fan that was disappointed on how the series was treated. If you'd like to know more context about my disappointment, it stems from the producer of the adaptation that you can read about it here.

I would like to say that this is a pretty long post. I might not do the same for others but I hope that I can get some feedback.

First off, when the adaptation was released, there were people who said "Since when did Devil May Cry take place in America?".

DMC takes places in our world and in the first game at least, it took place in America. This information comes from the manuals of the first and second games.

The Vatican was also mentioned in the manuals. There are pieces of texts from "Demon World's History" that belonged to the forbidden library of the Vatican. I think that Fortuna in DMC4 took the place of that location.

-Ok, so, my problem is, and correct me if it was mentioned, but I don't recall if there was an explanation... How the heck did Force Edge end up in a museum? Later in the episode it seems that the scientist dude and Baines seemed like they didn't knew much about it? Baines asked Enzo about the sword and Enzo told the legend of Sparda and it's then that the scientist figured out the purpose of the amulet?

Like, I dunno, to me it sounds like even they, who should know that stuff, didn't knew that part from the legend?

So yeah...moving on.

The scene with the woman and her baby.

Okay, so it was a setup to lure Dante in order to get his amulet.

First, we see that a Plasma changes into that woman's baby and purposefully drops a rattle that gets carried by shadows into an alley.

I can only assume that some of the demons were nearby and saw the Plasma transform and where like "oh look, boss threw that thing this way, I think he wants us to lure that woman over here"...

The woman begged them to not hurt her child and one of the demons said "What daughter?".

I dunno, it's weird, like the Plasma could have just transformed into anyone, wait in the alley and scream for help while putting on a show with those other demons, since they seems to have been part of the setup for Dante.

Regarding her baby, she might be dead? When Plasma explained how its power works, it said that the person it copies has to be alive, but...alive just to copy them and then it can kill the person? Or would the appearance be lost if the subject dies? I didn't get how it works...The mother and baby appear in the last episode too, so...Is it the actual baby? Another Plasma? I'd say it's a plot-hole...

Another problem I had was how the scene after Dante rescues the woman. I think it was poorly executed...

She looked at Dante who was trying to break free from the Plasma. Like, if you saw a stranger acting like that near your baby, wouldn't you shout and try to get the person away from the kid right away? It seemed like she kept looking until Dante pointed the gun at the Plasma, that's when she went up to Dante. And she didn't see at all that her baby looked like a monster? Dante blocked her view that much?

A lady hitting him with a handbag managed to outrun him, the guy who was able to save people when a huge truck was crashing into a dinner and in the next episode he was dodging bullets...Like WTF?

-A rare occasion where I say something positive.

First I gotta say : fuck the quantum physics trope! I'm not a fan of Marvel/DC but I think that's where I heard it used the most.

Ugh, okay like I said, despite that, It is true that lesser demons can pass trough the portals, but they still need a medium in the human world such as the Marionettes in DMC1, but that doesn't apply in this setting because…demons were a branch of homo sapiens that adapted in the Demon…ahem, "Makai". That's the reason why they don't need mediums?

However, in this adaptation apparently the big demons go back to Makai after the seal that separated both worlds was put back...isn't it weird? I mean, if they went back because of that, Sparda should have stayed there too, right?

Isn't this another plothole? I mean, the issue with the portals that were mentioned is that they would only allow lesser demons to go through them. They went through them and even if the portals closed, they would remain in the human world, but the greater demons, after passing through a portal that was strong enough to let them pass through...they would get transported back to the demon world of that portal was closed?

Yeah...moving on.

The dinner scene. So, Dante was able to to rescue people while a truck was crashing into the place but he couldn't catch up with the woman from before?

Oh man, I mocked the way "Vergil" looks here but when the real one showed up at the end, I'd say that this "Vergil" looks better here. He actually looks similar to Dante, unlike the..giga chad in the last episode.

Also, how come the Plasma knew how he looked like? It sounds like he was mostly using his Nelo Angelo appearance, so how did the Plasma, who was a minion working for White Rabbit, knew how Vergil looked like?

-Lucia! She got captured so easily...The Protector of Dumary Island...

They probably haven't given her the ability to use her Devil Trigger because if she had done that, she wouldn't let herself get captured that easily. Since the last episode showed Arius, they probably wanted to have her transform if she fights him or something...

Also, how the heck did the goon squad find her?

Baines said 'find every demon hunter that you can", but DARKCOM didn't go after Dante. Like they had his adress because it was shown that he was in their database but they found Lucia randomly in the city? I'm only judging based on the episode provided me with...

Moving on to the scene where the scientist looks up Dante's records.

Also gotta say it's so weird that Dante let himself get arrested…I guess since he didn't think of himself as a demon,, he might be obeying the law to some extant?

Whatever, so let's look at the records.

Note that on that profile EC, meaning eye color, it says "blue" however, they are green and Vergil is the one with blue eyes :/

Uhm, was it actually important for the government to include that he makes jokes and that he refers to his missions with video game terms? I found that weird...It's like those things are meant for the audience even though we, the audience would see if he's like that.

Five plus years of combat experience against demons?

So, Dante has been taking demon-hunting jobs since he was a kid? He's supposed to be 18-19, but these records say that they don't know his age...Well, he was arrested before but that's something they either didn't ask him or Dante refused to say.

Again, his and Vergil's designs make them look as if they're much older.

Next up is the amulet…

When I saw this I was like "Is this some Steven Universe bullshit?" Like seriously? I recalled that Shankar was asked why the amulets had different colors like the ones from the reboot and this was the reason? Geez…I think they are exaggerating the idea that each brother must have everything with their signature color.

Also, I think it was redundant that Sparda's legend was mentioned twice and like Enzo was the one who brought up the sword and the amulet, while Mary didn't.

Like, there was that episode where one of the goons from her squad didn't even knew about Sparda, believing the others were talking about SPARTA the Ancient Greek city. Like shouldn't be common knowledge for DarkCom, but Mary had to give them a written report or something like that? So yeah, kind of weird that Enzo seemed to know more than even one of those members from the elite demon hunters...

groans

End of the episode I skipped the DDR part because I cannot stand flashing lights…

So yeah, this was the first episode. I might not do such a long post for others because I do not want to revisit them...

Let me know what you think!

[vroomvroomintomyroom]

Phantom Troupe x Reader Part 5: Team-Building Exercises

The void-therapy room had now transformed into a sad imitation of a corporate retreat. A few folding chairs were scattered in a circle, and a flipchart stood in the corner with “TEAM-BUILDING EXERCISES: LET’S WORK TOGETHER!” written in her best attempt at motivational handwriting.

The Troupe sat in various states of disinterest. Uvogin was slouched so low in his chair he might as well have been lying on the ground. Machi had her arms crossed, glaring. Nobunaga was twirling his sword like he thought it was a baton. Feitan hadn’t even sat down—he was leaning against the wall, flipping his knife in and out like a human embodiment of "don't talk to me."

“Alright, everyone,” (Y/n) said with forced cheer, holding up her clipboard. “Today, we’re going to do some trust exercises!”

“Kill me now,” Phinks muttered.

“You already tried,” (Y/n) shot back, narrowing her eyes. “Didn’t work, remember?”

Hisoka smirked, leaning forward slightly. “Trust, hmm? What a deliciously ironic concept, given our…shared history.”

“Exactly,” she said, ignoring his weird tone. “Which is why it’s necessary. Now, let’s start with something simple: a trust fall!”

“What’s a trust fall?” Uvogin asked, perking up slightly.

“You fall backward, and someone catches you,” (Y/n) explained.

Uvogin immediately grinned. “I like this one. Who wants to catch me?”

“Not it,” Shalnark said quickly, raising his hands.

“I’ll do it,” Nobunaga said, cracking his knuckles.

“No, you will not,” (Y/n) interrupted, horrified. “Uvogin, you are way too heavy for anyone here to catch. I was thinking we’d start small. Maybe Machi and Shalnark can—”

“No,” Machi said flatly.

(Y/n) sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Okay. Fine. Let’s skip that one. How about we do a communication exercise instead? Pair up and—”

“Pass,” Feitan muttered from the wall.

“You don’t even know what it is yet!”

“Still no.”

(Y/n) dropped her clipboard onto the table, letting out a frustrated groan. “You know what? Forget the structured exercises. Let’s try something simple. Everyone just…share one thing about yourselves that isn’t related to murder, theft, or violence. Something wholesome. Let’s humanize you.”

The room went dead silent.

“Seriously?” Nobunaga said after a moment. “You want us to play icebreaker games?”

“Exactly,” (Y/n) said with an encouraging nod. “I’ll go first! Uh…let’s see. I love coffee. I drink, like, way too much of it. See? Totally harmless!”

Hisoka’s eyes lit up. “How sweet. My turn?”

“No,” she said quickly. “Let’s skip you for now. Shalnark?”

Shalnark tilted his head, looking genuinely confused. “Um…okay. I used to be in a robotics club when I was a kid.”

“That’s perfect!” (Y/n) said, clapping her hands. “See? You’re more than just a sociopathic hacker!”

“Debatable,” Machi muttered.

“Feitan?” (Y/n) asked, turning to him.

“Pass.”

“You can’t keep passing!”

“Pass.”

(Y/n) sighed and moved on. “Machi? Something wholesome?”

Machi hesitated, then finally muttered, “I like sewing.”

“That’s great!” (Y/n) said brightly. “See? This is progress!”

“Yeah, she sews people back together,” Phinks said with a grin.

(Y/n) glared at him. “That’s not the point.”

Uvogin raised his hand. “Does it count if the thing I like is punching stuff?”

“...No.”

“What about food? I like eating.”

“That’s fine,” she said quickly. “Food is wholesome.”

“Good,” Uvogin said with a grin. “Because I was gonna say eating after punching stuff.”

(Y/n) let out a long, exhausted sigh. “This is hopeless.”

Chrollo, who had been silently observing as usual, finally spoke. “It’s not entirely hopeless,” he said calmly. “You’ve managed to keep us in the same room for an extended period without bloodshed. That’s progress.”

(Y/n) perked up slightly. “You really think so?”

“No,” he replied, standing up. “But I appreciate your optimism.”

[eyesofshan-if]

Kind of a long ramble spoiler for the last chapter but I have to talk about it to someone and give you your accolades

So when I start a new IF, I always make up OCs with different personalities because I don't like being personally involved in the IFs I read and also for more diverse choices but this one hits different.

First of all. The objectification of the clear eyes , the fact that an RO fucking ATE the gijeok, the micro (and macro) aggressions (especially the fucking guy at the pleasure house who made me paranoid during the whole chapter because I thought he was going to ambush us on the way back with Wooyoung being hurt if you see this you're on the list buddy)

You think it doesn't hit until The Empress asks the question and man.

The way I was lowkey ashamed of myself for saying I didn't know. And then I felt frustrated because how do you expect me to pick a side author ?? 😭😭😭

And when I tried to be The loyal commander as usual I had every little aggression, every little insult, every little objectification coming back like flashback especially the scene at the start with all the eyes and oathbounds gathered 💀💀

Now, don't get me wrong, I love The Empress, the Samjogo (Hansol my twin, my ride or die, my brother from another mother 🥹🥹), Wooyoung, Ahn, EVEN THAT BASTARD KWOK (raon you weird for that but you get a pass just this time 👁️👁️) but I just hate Hae because of what it represents, I just don't see how I can go to war for my oppressors against my people. It's kinda weird you know ??And I also don't want my people to die being gaslighted into war by some modern (not really) Jesus ykwim ???

Because war with Hae or not it won't bring back grandpa who was transformed into a gas station dick pill or little cousin who became a Vicks balm for some old lady with one foot who's already in the grave you see ????

And no matter how much I hate that shithead Jeong Taehoon (whatever his name is) HE WAS OCCASIONALLY COOKING SOMETHING 🗣️🗣️🗣️ 🔥🔥🔥

"Are you the commander because you're the strongest or are you the commander because it's convenient for the Empress' inner circle ?" type stuff (I will actually die if he turns out to be some kinda right and Hansol was in the know and didn't say anything 😭😭😭)

Having your strong ass (and easily disposable) slave that owes you life as your commander is a Battleship type move (and you realize that the RO presentation wasn't sugarcoating it💀 At this point I rather not entirely trust her to defend my interests 💀). I love the "no choice is right" stuff.

So yeah you cooked some major stuff author 🫵. Congratulations 👏👏👏. Impatient to see the next chapter 😚🫴❤️

TLDR : Good shit 🔥🔥🔥👌👌👌

reading this whole ask felt like a fever dream and an acid trip but thank you for taking the time out to just write so much LMAO

You think it doesn't hit until The Empress asks the question and man. The way I was lowkey ashamed of myself for saying I didn't know. And then I felt frustrated because how do you expect me to pick a side author ?? 😭😭😭

i'm glad that you felt that conflict!! this is only the beginning of a tumultous war and power struggle - and for the commander it'll be a matter of torn loyalties... you can't support either side without breaking some relationships, losing some people and hurting those you love!!

I just don't see how I can go to war for my oppressors against my people.

oh ho ho... are the shan really so innocent too? we'll find out more in the future :D

And I also don't want my people to die being gaslighted into war by some modern (not really) Jesus ykwim ???

is this referring to the high leader because i just died laughing

And no matter how much I hate that shithead Jeong Taehoon (whatever his name is) HE WAS OCCASIONALLY COOKING SOMETHING 🗣️🗣️🗣️ 🔥🔥🔥

jeong taewoo might be a little bitch but he is cooking a little... you'll find out more in the next chapter

"Are you the commander because you're the strongest or are you the commander because it's convenient for the Empress' inner circle ?" type stuff (I will actually die if he turns out to be some kinda right and Hansol was in the know and didn't say anything 😭😭😭)

oh... you'll have a lot to find out nonny!! both yongsun and hansol have their own agendas... and you'll either find out what these are or stay in blissful ignorance forever <3

[maxdreavus]

Falling Away With You | Ch. 48

Sebastian x F!Reader and M. Rasmodius x F!Reader

Rating: Mature/Explicit

Chapter Summary: Y/n goes a little apeshit at JojaMart lmao

Author’s Note: *Crawls out of a pit covered in dirt and blood. Slaps this chapter down in front of you, on a SUNDAY no less!*

My health situation hasn’t improved whatsoever, but I will prevail, damnit!!

I wrote most of this and posted to ao3 early this morning, and haven't had a chance to proofread really. I'll do my best to get that done soon ^.^ Sorry if there are any weird wordings. Also sorry for the complete lack of Seb and Magnus in this one, I hope the shenanigans make up for it <3

Table of Contents + Work Summary

Check it out on ao3!

Prev | Next

I hate that stupid, cryptic, blue note I got.

Ever since it came, I think about it every time I check the mailbox, without fail. I don’t want to, I kinda just want to forget it exists, but I just… I dunno. I have a bad feeling about it. A gut feeling. Like, something’s totally up with it. It’s just been sitting in my closet for safekeeping until I decide what to do, though.

For some reason, I’ve been too nervous to bring it back up to Magnus. He’s forgotten it exists, from what I can tell. I think I’ll do my best to keep it that way for now. It feels more like my burden to bear than his, and besides, he’s already got the whole region to take care of.

After today’s confirmation that I don’t have bills or anything important like that, I head inside to get ready to leave the farm. Reeeally hoping my routine will shake out my heebiejeebies.

I got the OK from Magnus to use his fancy shrine for Spirit’s Eve. Got an idea of what I think I want to make myself look like, too. Maybe a tiefling or something. If tieflings don’t really exist, I’m sure some sort of succubi, or imps, or some sort of creature that looks like one’s gotta, no? I suppose I could always fall back on just pretending I’m an elf… man, a tail and horns would be so fun though. 

Either way, tomorrow is the big day and I am so ready for it.

I mean, like, almost ready. Whatever.

Today I’m going to Magnus’ place to get some practice in. Just a precautionary measure to try not to, like, blow myself up or something.

I’m gonna keep my outfit cozy and easy to move around in, but I have half a mind to make sure I wouldn’t mind losing these clothes in particular if something goes wrong with the transformation. Just some leggings, some crew-cut socks, an old hoodie, and my favorite boots, since I won’t have my shoes on in the shrine anyway. All of it is in black. Sebastian cosplay. 

I’ll pop my red studs in too, gotta commit to the bit. I haven’t had time to talk to The Emo and see if he actually did get his shit pierced last night, but assuming he did, and assuming he was able to use these for it, I wanna go all out, baby.

Now, before I head to the tower, I’ve got some errands to run around town. I woke up a bit late so there’s gonna be more people out than I’m looking forward to, but hopefully I have no creepy Alex encounters or awkward conversations with Shane again.

I promised Sam I’d visit him at work sometime soon, so I might as well head there first. He hates it there, and it’s been a while since we’ve caught up, so I’ll hopefully be a welcome distraction. I’ll bring him a coffee too to keep his spirits high.

After it’s done brewing, I grab two foam cups and pour the coffee in. Knowing Sam, he probably needs this stuff sweet, and I’m in the mood for sweet too, so I pour in a bunch of vanilla-flavored creamer. To make the beverages ~gourmet,~ I add a little whipped cream to each, as well as a light drizzle of chocolate syrup. After securing the plastic lids and giving Cannoli some well-deserved love, I head out.

While I pass by the bus stop, I make eye contact with Pam. I’ve never spoken to her, but… I dunno. I can’t tell if I like her or not. She gives me a nasty stink eye and I can only further assume she’s as mean as she outwardly appears. Unless she was just cursed with an intense resting bitch face...

I smile Pam’s way anyway. She doesn’t smile back, but that’s okay. It doesn’t benefit anyone to be so judgemental of her.

I pass a few local moms once I make it to the town square. None really mind me, which could mean they either didn’t notice, or they don’t care. Either is fine by me. I don’t hear what they’re saying, but Caroline talks very animatedly just before the rest of the group bursts into laughter.

I turn my attention back ahead as I pass by Pierre’s and nearly bump into Marnie as she’s leaving the shop.

We both squeak out a little “Oh!” before apologizing in unison.

“I wasn’t really paying attention,” I double down. 

“Oh, that’s fine. I rarely ever am!” She then motions to the two cups in my hands and adds, laughing, “At least the coffee’s safe!”

I awkwardly nod in agreement. Then, a brief flash of myself actually spilling coffee somewhere down the road raids my mind, my necklace tingling against my skin and my fingers practically buzzing.

Great.

“Everything alright, sweetie?”

That probably looked weird. “Yeah, sorry,” I try to recover, “just sleepy today!”

I take a sip of coffee to emphasize my point. Plus, I might as well drink what I can before these puppies go down. Hopefully I’ll be able to save at least one of them when the time comes.

“Aw, I’m sorry to hear that!” She puts a gentle hand on my shoulder. “I need to get back to the shop, but take it easy and don’t overwork yourself, you hear?” 

I nod, thanking her and waving her off with a shy grin before I continue moving. Once I get closer to the spot I’m supposed to be spilling these drinks — just before that little bridge over the river by JojaMart — I begin to walk more cautiously. If I can just keep these steady and focus on the ground… 

A sneeze creeps up on me. Oh god. Oh god oh fuck oh no.

Just as I’m beginning to carefully place one of the cups on the side of the bridge for safe keeping, the sneeze forces its way out of me. Luckily, one beverage — the one I hadn’t drank from yet — stays safely in my hand. Unluckily, the one I was working on trying to keep safe fell to the stones at my feet, opening up and dispersing its contents fucking everywhere.

God damnit. 

“Nice one.”

God fucking damnit.

I look up to the voice. It turns out Shane’s outside having a smoke. He’s at the opposite end of the bridge watching my clumsiness unfold with an aloof look about him. He’s bent over to lean on the stone wall, his right elbow propped up and his corresponding cheek in his palm. His left forearm is flat against the structure while his left hand lazily dangles his cigarette between two fingers.

Is that pink nail polish on one of them? I wonder if that’s Jas’ doing. 

I merely groan back my response, picking up the now-empty cup to discard in the trash bin near the store. As I proceed on my walk of shame past Shane, I point out, “At least my clothes stayed safe.”

Shane follows and asks, “How many ants do you think you murdered with that accident?” 

I grin a little at his dry humor. “Oh it was a massacre,” I bounce back. “The war in Gotoro pales in comparison.”

“Ha!” Oh my god, I made Shane — the grumpiest fuck I’ve ever met — laugh?! “Right on. Seems like pointless violence anyway.” 

I turn to see if I can catch him smiling for the first time, like, ever. It’s not there anymore, but there’s a residual brightness in his features.

Shane snuffs out his cig on the ashtray built into the garbage’s lid, abandoning it there before shoving his hands in the pockets of his bright blue shorts.

“Those sons’a bitches,” he nods in the direction of my carnage, “they had it coming.”

My nose scrunches as I laugh a little, giving him a funny look. “Damn, what’d they do to you?”

There’s a playful glint in his eye, as he deadpans me. “Exist.”

I shrug and nod — I get it, they can be pretty annoying! — and follow the man as he makes his way through the white-rimmed, glass-centered automatic doors. I try not to cringe outwardly at how many self-righteous pro-Joja fliers are on them.

Shane stops a few steps into the store. Turns around. I stop too and look up, tilting my head. What’re you looking at, punk? I think to myself. Dunno if I’d be pushing my limits by trying to say it out loud. Better not.

Shane gives me a weird look too, but I can barely see it. My senses are taking their damn time getting used to the obnoxiously fluorescent lighting.

“Don’t you shop at Pierre’s?” Shane wonders out loud.

I blink a few times as I adjust to the environment and then nod. “Visiting Sam,” I explain.

“Ah.” He nods too, in understanding, and then looking the other way he continues, “Enjoy.”

Shane makes his way towards a door to the right of the manager’s office. Says “Employee’s only,” so I’m assuming it’s a break room or something. I don’t miss the incorrect apostrophe, but choose not to linger on it either.

“You too.” He looks back over his shoulder, so I pair my well wishes with a lazy salute.

“Buh.”

…Buh?

I smile. I think he’s warming up to me!

Feeling a tad lost now that I’m alone, I look around before making any advances. Should’ve asked Shane if he knew where Sam would be around now. I dunno how the shifts work around here.

The cashiers to my left — a visibly exhausted red headed woman, probably in her late 30s or early 40s; and a scrawny, scruffy looking teenager, with thick-framed glasses sitting atop his freckled nose — both look miserable.

The boy is boredly leaning against the counter, zoned out on the ground in front of it. The woman looks totally spaced out on nothing in particular. It almost seems like she’s fighting off sleep, too. Poor lady. 

The woman and I lock onto each other. She looks away from my face before I can even register it, but I notice her eyes flicker longingly to the coffee cup in my hand a few times after the fact. I peer between her and the beverage twice before I all but scurry away into the aisles. I’m too awkward for this. My only option is to retreat. Never said I wasn’t a coward.

While I venture past the boatloads of boxed, bagged and canned foods in search of the resident dog boy, I observe some of the products. Some don’t look safe for consumption, while others seem like they’d be fun to try as a one-off sort of deal. It overlaps a few times as well. I mean, why wouldn’t I want to try this cereal which very explicitly states on the box that it’s more sugar than grains? It makes me stifle a giggle. I like the brutal honesty. 

I stop and stare at it for a sec. Gnawing my lip. Wondering if I should just…

No. I shan’t.

I break away from temptation and trek on. As I reach the end of the aisle, I pan across the back of the store. More shelf-stable products, a small produce section… ah!

Sam looks like he’s supposed to be mopping the floor near the freezers. To be fair, he is holding a mop, and it is touching the floor! But instead of cleaning, he uses the tool as a microphone; singing against the end of the brown wooden handle, both hands passionately gripping it as he bends his torso to quietly belt one part in particular. Sam’s eyes are shut, his bulky black headphones are secured over his ears, and he has not a single worry in the world. 

Holding his coffee in both hands now, I stop walking and lean against a nearby shelf. Observing. Waiting. Eventually he’ll have to see me.

He does a little spin move and carelessly bumps into the bucket of soapy water he’s working with, causing it to slosh around a little. Some of it lands on the floor, and some on the pants of Sam’s jumpsuit. Doesn’t faze him in the slightest. 

He does another spin the opposite way and nearly knocks over the conveniently placed display of sprinkles that are situated right in front of the ice cream freezer.

I feel like I should probably stop him before something bad happens, but he looks so damn content and so stinkin’ cute that I can’t be assed. 

Just as I’m thinking this, he opens his eyes, completely avoiding my direction while he immediately peers over his shoulder. Sam scans around, getting a full view of the proximate areas. It seems like he’s just making sure he’s not about to get caught by his boss or something, if I had to guess.

Eventually he lands on me. We both smile wide, and I triumphantly hold up his (unspilled!!) coffee in one hand, presenting it with a small flourish of the other and a bow of my head.

“For you, my good sir.” I make sure to sound extra fancy, dropping my voice an octave and annunciating my words a bit too much.

He looks around again before meeting me in the middle with a fist bump, completely ignoring my bit. Aw man.

“Hell yeah, thanks dude!” 

I shoot some awkward finger guns at him, “You got it, bud.”

“You didn’t make yourself one?”

I sigh, lamenting, “I did…”

Sam scans my face as we share a short silence. Then, the lightbulb almost visibly goes off in his noggin. “You spilled it, didn’t you?”

Pursing my lips, I nod. “I spilled it, yeah.” 

“Buuummer, dude.” He pats my head and I sigh, leaning into his touch. I’ll be damned if I don’t still love head-pats, even if it’s been a while since I’ve gotten one. “Wanna split this one then?” he offers, palm still on my crown. At this point he’s just trying to messy me up.

“No thanks, I’ll just grab another later if I’m really craving it.” Not having noticed the trance I’ve been in as my hair gets slowly and steadily ruined — it feels nice, okay? — I finally look up at him, cheekily glaring as I manually remove his large hand from me. I add on as I try to repair the frizzy aftermath, “Sick performance, by the way!” 

“You think so?” he beams. Makes me laugh.

“Of course! It looked like you were having a lot of fun.”

Sam’s face is a bit flushed as he takes the compliment, not even trying to hide it; he has a big goofy grin on his face, too.

It drops and Sam looks behind him as a deep voice with a bit of a southern twang booms from one of the aisles nearby. “Samson?”

“Shit, here.”

Sam hurriedly places his coffee into my hand and rushes back near his water bucket, looking around for his manager as he moves. I try to make things less suspicious by pretending to look at some nearby end caps. 

I take a peek over when I hear Sam greet the man, “Hiya! What’s up, Morris?”

Crossing his arms and puffing out his chest to try and make himself look mighty, a man in a navy blue suit, a bright red bow tie, and a poorly-applied black toupee corrects him. “That’s Mr. Saxton, son.” 

I roll my eyes. Awesome to know the guy running this Joja is just as insufferable as the dudes who work on the corporate side.

Sam puts an anxious hand on the back of his neck, and halfheartedly smiles as he apologizes, his speaking patterns much more formal than before. Poor guy… it hurts to see him having to tone it down so much for this dipshit.

I turn my attention back in front of me so as to give him some privacy. Not sure he’d want me to hear him getting his ear talked off.

This display is full of holiday cards... I might as well waste some time with these bad boys. I pick up one with a cartoon beagle wearing a birthday hat on it, stealing a sip of Sam’s coffee as I read the pun on the front: “Have a doggone good birthday!” Alright, nice and cheesy start…

I flip the card open. It starts blaring Baha Men’s “Who Let The Dogs Out.” Fucking hell. Jumpscare me, why doncha! I shudder at how tinny the music sounds — likely made worse by its volume — then close the card and place it back in its spot, not bothering to read more.

“Excuse me, miss?”

I peer over my left shoulder, and see that Mr. Saxton is making his way towards me. A vein is popping in his forehead, but he has a toothy smile on his face that screams customer service. Not sure what’s going on and feeling a little anxious about the situation, I don’t answer with words — I just turn my body to him and watch him expectantly. 

My eyes flicker to Sam real quick, who’s closer to the opposite end of the freezers now. He’s looking over here though, and when his eyes catch mine, he mouths “Go!” and motions his arm towards the front end of the store. Maybe he got caught socializing or something… wouldn’t doubt that there’s probably heavy surveillance in here. Man.

I look back at Sam’s boss as he says, “I’m going to need you to discard your beverage.”

My brows furrow and I tilt my head. “Why?”

Ah, he’s the asking-questions-is-talking-back type: He huffs a deep breath and tilts his head as if to mimic me, clasping his fingers together in front of his ribs. The smile and vein are both still on his face.

“It is not only unacceptable to bring your own food into a grocery store,” he strains, “but I cannot have you spilling your drink all over our products.”

…I haven’t spilled anything. What does he think I am, some crusty little kid? 

Damn, this is bringing out a rage that I haven’t experienced since working behind a Joja desk. I didn’t know I was even capable of it anymore. Must be something about the overstimulatingly bright blues, or the blindingly white strips of lights. Same ones we had above each cubicle in the office.

My anxiety is rapidly replaced with a petty yearn to cause a ruckus as I realize that I don’t work for Joja anymore. I never have to even come here again, actually.

I don’t answer to this fucko! I don’t answer to anyone!

Screw this guy!

Feeling courageous, I put on my own customer service mask as I inquire, “Do you want me to spill this on your products?”

“E-excuse me?!”

I hover the cup near the cards, tilting it a little. Doing a little eyebrow wiggle too for good measure. “It feels like you dooo.”

“I— w-what are you doing?”

Seb would be so proud if he were here. Not sure how Magnus would react, but I’d like to imagine he’d support me too.

Completely on impulse, I bring the cup in front of me and splash a little coffee in the man’s direction instead of the cards’. The now-lukewarm liquid splatters onto the white button-down beneath his jacket and rapidly seeps into the fabric, leaving a light brown, unsightly splotch.

Sick, got him where it hurts and none got on the floor! Less work for Sam!

Making sure my voice is just as cheery as Morris was trying to keep his, I cap this off, “Stop treating your employees like crap and stop treating complete strangers like children, asshole.”

This feels so good. My heart is racing and my pits feel a little moist and I might just end up an anxious mess the second I walk away, but I’ll be damned if this isn’t cool as fuck in the moment. When Leah asked me last week if Magnus ever wanted to go apeshit, it didn’t even occur to me how badly I wanted to go apeshit.

I walk down the nearest aisle as Morris continues sputtering something about me leaving, paying for this, whatever.

Shane’s kneeled down in the middle of the aisle stocking shelves. He faces me for a moment and grins slyly. “That was cool as hell.” Why does this feel so validating? “A woman after my own heart.” 

HUH?

I blink that fucking flashbang away — seriously, the last time I saw him he was still being a dick, and today he’s treating every interaction like we’re fully acquainted, if not more, what the heck — as he turns away to scan items onto the shelf again.

“I really didn’t do much…” I really didn’t. Just kinda caused a minor inconvenience for the guy. 

My hands are shaking though, so it must be catching up to me.

“That still took some balls.” He glimpses at me briefly and adds, “Y’look like you might cry, though. Get outta here before I change my mind about you.”

I huff out a quiet laugh and steady Sam’s — well, my, now — coffee in both hands. “On it, boss.”

[quibble-auk]

So your art tutorial is living in my head rent free and it’s really helping me with drawing Sunstreaker in general (he is my besides Wheeljack) and I was wondering do you have any times with drawing transformers from like different angles??? I’m having difficulty with that even with references.

I’m so happy that my little tutorial has been able to help you!

I’m looking through my photos for a picture of how I draw them at different angles (jokes on myself I’m terrible at taking pictures of stuff in the process) and here’s what I found as well as some very scattered thoughts. This might be kinda long…

I really hope this is what you’re asking for haha

—

I will be honest and admit that this is smth I am still working on myself.

Here’s a really sad in the process sketch a drawing I did a bit ago. Here’s a link to the finished thing. Please ignore all of my comments on it….

I usually will try to look at human references for the pose and the general idea mostly stays the same. You just need to think a bit more about depth when making your shapes. If that makes sense?

It’s a lot of the same concepts as before with how you build the body and add the details.

Here’s some line art from an old sketch of a character I never finished.

Theres a lot of 3 dimensional stuff on it, and to be honest…. It’s far from perfect. But theres a good chunk of overlapping that can help with making it have more depth. I’d recommend working on studying 3D shapes to help with different angles and if you want to get more detailed with that.

Another thing I recommend (though I don’t perfectly execute it) is avoiding tangent lines. When two lines sit close to each other, they almost line up or they just barely touch, it can make the depth feel weird. It also can clutter the design. There are a lot of those in my drawing and it’s kinda weird ngl.

Once again. I still struggle with them so…. Yeah.

But if your more like me and doing a bunch of 3D shapes is a lot of work for one sketch (why I stopped drawing like that for the most part) then you don’t really have to make everything look like 3D. You just trick people into seeing it.

With sideswipe I only add a few lines to give it depth. I mentally map out (or draw it in the sketch layer) the dimensions to stuff. There are still some things that are awkward in it, but it generally works.

I am doing terrible job at explaining this my goodness. I’m so sorry.

Another example of a doodle that’s kinda at a weird angle. Once again, far from perfect lol.

I did absolutely nothing with trying to give the shapes depth. Instead I just worked on how things would overlap and how the angle affects it. Instead of making the upper arm long it gets shorter and wider because of the angle—stuff like that.

I’ll admit that I just do a bunch of guessing and winging it. I also accept that it’s not going to be perfect and move on. I’ll make small comments to myself and if I can’t fix it after several tries I continue with my life. Most people won’t see it and getting caught on small things like that can get frustrating quickly.

I feel like I’m rambling and not being very helpful.

I can try to make a more helpful version of this if you want I’ll just have to think about it for a couple days so I understand my own process. But I didn’t want you to be ignored.

[quilna]

im not too sure if this is the right account to send this ask to (very sorry if it isnt) but i was curious if youd be willing to chat/ramble about your own personal jekyll and hyde version? i remember having a small talk with you on artfight about your jekyll and hyde version (im dragondog from artfight if youre curious) and my curiosity has been peaked ever since. i need to know more. your own personal jekyll and hyde designs and story seem so interesting but i rarely see you talk about them which i think is just absolutely criminal.

:00000000

The sacred question has been asked - someone has asked about my ocs-

This is a perfectly okay account to ask this to! It's the closest I've got to a Jekyll and Hyde account after all.

Anyway, thank you so much for asking!!! This ask was gnawing at me in a good way for most of the day while I was away from my computer, considering what information to include and how to explain stuff. It was a lot of fun!

I'm also glad you found them interesting!!!

(Also going to say before I start is that my Jekyll and Hyde versions get very self indulgent which is why I usually keep them to myself so some factors about my story might sound rather weird or seem to come out of left field. Just a heads up.)

So I guess the best place to start would probably be with Jekyll and Hyde themselves?

Like the book, the two of them are basically the same person. When Jekyll turns into Hyde and vice versa, nobody 'takes control', it's more like getting high or drunk where they're still the same person but still act quite different or think differently from each other.

However, they do have differing opinions on each other. Hyde, being a less repressed version of Jekyll, understands a lot of Jekyll's emotions better than him. He knows when Jekyll regrets something or cares more than he wants to let on. Though, as much as he can have these realisations, when he turns back into Jekyll, he tends to dismiss them as 'irrational' thoughts brought on by the potion and not worth considering (aka, the repression kicks in and he refuses to entertain any conclusions he came to as Hyde.)

This leads to a lot of frustration and concerns from Hyde. The knowledge that he has to turn back into Jekyll, whereupon anything he's realised about themself, anything that could help them both, will be instantly dismissed by himself the moment he turns back. No matter how much he writes it down or tells it to himself again and again because it's not forgotten, Jekyll just doesn't want to look at it. And he can't just bother Jekyll as a hallucination ghost like most adaptations. When he turns back, Hyde is gone. Like a stain of breath on glass.

This also leads to fear from Hyde towards his alter ego - If Jekyll ever decided the potion wasn't worth his time and threw it away, Hyde would be unable to do anything about it, would be the one throwing it away in fact. He wouldn't be able to scream or protest or anything. And he enjoys being Hyde. It wouldn't really be death but he enjoys being Hyde so much and hates the monotony of Jekyll so much that it would be like a death.

Luckily, Jekyll isn't planning on throwing the potion out because they do feel the same way and Jekyll enjoys taking the potion and being Hyde just as much (even if he would never actually admit that's the reason). The fear is still there though, ever present.

...I've gotten so deep into explaining their relationship that I have not explained anything else yet, whoops.

Both Jekyll and Hyde have some inhuman traits about them since the first transformation. Jekyll has mildly reflective eyes like a cat but it can only be seen in certain lighting so nobody notices. He also moves with a little too much perfection, a little too graceful, a little lacking in the usual human clumsiness.

Hyde, meanwhile, is just very off putting in many ways. For one is his eyes as shown by this diagram that I made for artfight. (Also his teeth, and his insides being green)

His eyes change shape, a bit like a cartoon character. Other people can, in fact, see this and it is, in fact, weird for them. (He can also probably say <3 and everyone else asks how he just did that with his mouth.)

He also changes based on Jekyll's perception of himself and his 'evils'. This means he can get taller or shorter, or become more obviously monstrous or go back to just being a guy with an uneasy feel about him just based on Jekyll's opinions. If Jekyll starts to fear Hyde and view him as a threat, Hyde changes physically to reflect this.

Personality-wise, Jekyll likes to keep control over every aspect of his life, creating perfect schedules for everything that he's going to do in a day, timing each event down to the minute, designing contingencies in case anything unexpected happens. He can be friendly enough to other people for the sake of his image but he still comes across as rather cold and distant.

Hyde, meanwhile, is obviously free of all this and does whatever he pleases. He tends to be loyal and loving, to the point of being a little too obsessed, and is exceedingly open about how he's feeling. He's also incredibly truthful - he almost never lies about anything but will often fae-rule his way out of anyone realising the real truth. For example, he's very open about being Doctor Jekyll but nobody believes him because he'll just drop it into a conversation and won't elaborate or will elaborate in a way that just sounds even more like a lie. And, of course, Jekyll himself will obviously deny it, so...

Besides that, Jekyll keeps three lab rats, Noir, Spot, and Rose who, due to the potion being used on them, can also change shape like Jekyll and Hyde. As such, Hyde tends to take them with him when he goes out.

(Also, smaller headcanon but Hyde tends to repeat words or phrases twice, "Indeed indeed", "What? What?", etc. Just seemed like a fun addition.)

-

Next, Lanyon.

Lanyon and Jekyll are on weird terms because they had a fight years back. After seeing Jekyll's science get more and more dangerous over the years, Lanyon was afraid that he would some day hurt himself in a way he couldn't take back or even die from it. After trying to convince Jekyll to stop for ages, Lanyon finally put their foot down and said that, if Jekyll didn't stop, they would leave.

Both Jekyll and Lanyon deeply regret the argument but neither of them can take it back. Jekyll is too stubborn to admit that he was ever in the wrong and Lanyon can't take it back because then they don't have anything else to hold over Jekyll's head to get him to stop.

At least, that was how the fight was initially.

After the potion was taken, Lanyon, who was very close to Jekyll's mad science experiments and was very used to seeing the signs that Jekyll had done something to himself, was the only person who noticed the change. Seeing Jekyll's new changes terrified Lanyon deeply because he knew Jekyll had done something but he didn't know what. Being a rather skittish person, Lanyon was too scared to speak to Jekyll after that, doing all they could to avoid him.

Maybe things could have continued that way with the two avoiding each other. However, after the fight, Lanyon came out as genderfluid.

They had been meddling with their own gender before in quiet but the fight basically gave Lanyon the midlife crisis moment they needed to go "You know what? I don't care about anyone's opinions. I've seen what caring about ones image did to Jekyll and I don't want to be anything like that."

And so came Hastie and Hattie, two names for the same person, just using different pronouns and names based on what Lanyon felt like at the time.

Jekyll, however, was avoiding hearing anything about Lanyon and completely missed this massive piece of information. Jekyll is also notably, very wrapped up in his own very small world and opinions (also, no internet). He has no idea that transness is a thing.

Hence, Jekyll believes that Hastie and Hattie are not the same person but, instead, brother and sister. Lanyon, meanwhile, who was so open and so gossiped about when they first came out, doesn't even realise that anyone could??? not know????? that they're the same?????? Everyone else knows! They don't even look that different!

This all cumulates in one fateful night where Lanyon, going by Hattie, and Hyde meet. The two of them get along like a house on fire, neither caring much for society's rules and both of them being in some way being shunned for their peculiarities. Hyde is much more outgoing and often pushes Lanyon outside of their comfort zone while Lanyon is more level-headed and can often do the planning and thinking that Hyde neglects to keep them both safe.

All the while, Hyde has no idea that he's talking to Hastie and Lanyon has no idea that they're talking to Jekyll.

Personality-wise Lanyon tends to be very down-to-earth and prefers to do things by the book for the most part. Though this is only for the most part - in terms of dealing with other people, Lanyon gets much more expressive, dressing wildly and often doing strange things like taking live geese into a dinner party. While this does allow them to express themselves in some ways that are beneficial to them, like becoming comfortable with their gender identity, some of these behaviours, like the live geese in the dinner party, are very much a way to push away the people around them, afraid of something going wrong after their experiences with Jekyll.

Until they meet Hyde, Utterson is their only friend (which Utterson is quite concerned about, often trying to encourage Lanyon to make more friends.)

Besides that, Lanyon is fond of gardening, collecting crystals, astrology, and yoga. They dabble with a lot of relaxation stuff like chamomile tea, incense, lavender, etc.

-

Utterson, meanwhile, tends to be the most calm and collected out of the three of them, seemingly unbothered by most of what life throws at him and good at handling even the most stressful situations with ease. Not to mention, he has the most unexpected range of skills and knowledge. Whenever anyone has a problem, he's the number one person to go to for help.

However, for the most part, he fades into the background and tends to remain forgotten until someone needs him for something which leaves him lonely and often desperate for attention while being unable to get it. His work as a lawyer allows him to get fleeting amounts of attention, but it's not quite enough and that often leaves him vulnerable to falling in with bad people.

While Lanyon sees straight through Jekyll, Utterson has fallen quite a bit into seeing Jekyll as innocent and naïve, someone who doesn't fully understand how cruel the world can be and needs to be protected from it. This means, when Hyde shows up and Jekyll changes his will for him, Utterson is quite quickly defensive of Jekyll and aggressive towards Hyde, believing that Hyde has nothing but bad intentions. Hyde, however, is quite head-over-heels for Utterson and determined to seduce him or at least set him up with Jekyll.

While Utterson appears unaffected by anything that crosses his path, this is actually because he has difficulty expressing his emotions, his expression and tone generally remaining static. Only people close to him can generally tell what he's thinking and feeling as a result.

Personality-wise, Utterson is generally quite kindly and generous, often seen giving food and money to the homeless. Though, his morality can be a bit of a roulette wheel at times, willing to do questionable things at times if he deems it for a good enough cause.

In terms of hobbies, he will often bake things for his friends and carried the three of them through university as the only one who could actually cook. He also has a slightly more morbid interest in taxidermy and keeps a room in his house for his work.

(For another smaller headcanon, he and Lanyon tend to get into pun fights, much to Jekyll's agony.)

-

Then there's Lenore Carew (aka, Lisa Carew, she just got renamed along the way). She makes up the third member of Hyde's little friendship squad with Lanyon. An excitable lady with an interest in the occult and monsters. She and Jekyll were once set to be married but, due to a mutual realisation that neither liked the other in that way, they broke it up. Jekyll has been avoiding her ever since, finding the situation awkward, but Hyde is very much down to be friends with her again.

While she does her best to live up to her family name, being as much of a respectable and graceful lady as she can be, in her spare time she'll often sneak out to go running after whatever haunted house or cryptid sighting she's heard of lately.

The actual reason for her interest is because her mother, before she died, was a prophet, gifted with Sight and Lenore, raised with all these stories of her grandeur and powers, is determined to find a way to awaken those same powers in herself.

However, along the way, these powers actually do start to manifest and, as it turns out, a lot scarier and more difficult to control than she ever realised.

Most particularly, sometimes when she looks at Jekyll, she sees something - or someone - else in his place. She has no idea what these visions mean, whether it's a vision from the future, from the past, or something else entirely.

Personality-wise, while she can excitable and often gets ahead of herself, she can be very kind and compassionate towards others, always the first to slow down and check if someone is okay or to offer a hug to those in need. She can also often show a childish side, enjoying stuffed toys, getting along well with kids, or just playing games.

-

Uh, so anyway, there's a bunch more but this post is getting long and I've taken all day with this. If I take much longer, it's going to look like I'm not going to answer. I think this is the stuff that most people would be interested in anyway, Lanyon, Utterson, Jekyll, and Hyde. I'm still missing out an explanation of the worldbuilding itself and the antagonists, not to mention little details and side characters like Poole and such.

I fool around with these characters a lot and that means there's more information than I even remember most of the time until something pops into my head and I go "Ohhhh that plot point. That was fun."

Thank you again for the ask!!!!

[vixensdungeon]

Dungeons: The Dragons

What if Dungeons & Dragons was a Storytelling game in the vein of Vampire: The Requiem and such?

Obviously it would still be about adventurers going into dungeons to get loot, but with a new Chronicles of Darknessy twist. Why Storytelling instead of Storyteller, you might ask? Because the more formulaic structure of the former makes this easier, basically. Let's go!

So one of the things I struggled with while coming up with this was what the Inherent Type would be (see: Clan, Auspice, Path). The obvious answer might be race, but that didn't quite sit right with me. For one thing I wanted there to be an element of transformation, like a normal person can become an adventurer, and suddenly becoming an elf would be a bit weird. So by default your adventurers are humans who go through some transformation to become adventures. And my bestie @thydungeonguy finally cracked it when I was wondering what the obligatory skull logo would be like and he said "dragon skull." So it clicked: an adventurer has become infused with a dragon soul or something, and the five inherent types map to the five metallic dragons!

So next we have the Joined Type (see: Covenant, Tribe, Order), and this one was a lot easier. Going with classes was a bit too boring, so I just stole the five factions from 5th Edition, which can still serve to give you class-like abilities (evil-smiting abilities from the Order of the Gauntlet, for example).

Then there's the basic Powers (see: Disciplines, Gifts, Arcana). I think these come from the draconic type, with factions working more like the Covenants in Vampire where they can teach you miscalleanous skills like sorcery. I haven't figured out any particulars, including what to call these.

Onto the Power Stat (see: Blood Potency, Primal Urge, Gnosis). This is just Level, right? Like, you all agree this one should be called Level? Moving on.

The Morality/Integrity Stat (see: Humanity, Harmony, Wisdom) is a measure of how close you are to a Normal Man. The lower it goes, the more removed you are from being able to associate with people who have normal jobs instead of risking their lives going into dungeons for loot. If it's at 10, you can't actually go into dungeons. If it's at 0, they won't let you back into town, you're just too dungeonpilled now. Don't know what to call this. Normalcy, maybe?

There's also the Resource Stat (see: Vitae, Essence, Mana). I think here we have to depart from the usual formulas a bit and, instead of giving characters a pool of points to use, give them spell slots! Maybe even call them that, in which case the powers would be called Spells.

The Advanced Types (see: Bloodline, Lodge, Legacy) are Prestige Classes, which are called that even though there technically aren't classes.

Tell me what you think, and suggest names for the stuff I haven't named yet!

[siriannatan]

It's not Always Sunny In California

I have no excuses for this story existing other than I find the idea of Jon 'absorbing' some of Damian's grumpiness funny. But that applies to many of my JOnDami ideas. I'm finally slowly going through all the DC fics I have in my google docs so I might be posting more random stuff than usually in the coming weeks.

“I was told California is sunny,” he said with an audible scowl. He showed the view of the stormy sea. “At least the kitchen is sunny if a bit damp,” he said smugly turning to Jon who waved at the camera with a wide smile.

“Can you stop, the poor bird has suffered enough,” Jon didn't even notice when Damian arrived. He hoped no one else did. He just looked up, five seconds away from crying.

“I'm sorry…. I know I should have refused. I tried telling Ma and Pa I don't eat meat anymore but they said it's nonsense and told me to pluck the chicken for dinner. Since everyone expects I'm about to introduce a girl and ....” With Damian around, the dam has broken. He was fully crying.

Damian stood there awkwardly for a second before sighing. “Let it all out Kent, but first let's get you inside and clean up,” he said, pulling at the least dirty with poultry part of Jon's hoodie.

“Dad will hear if I go in and then he'll see you and it'll be even more of a mess,” Jon shook his head and dragged Damian towards the barn. He used to love visiting his grandparents' farm. Now he'd much rather stay in Damian's painfully modern apartment.

Mostly because Damian was usually there too and he could cook what he wanted however he wanted. At home, everyone was weird about him converting to veganism. Damian ate vegan his whole life and was a picture of health. And with Jon being half Kryptonian sun filled any ‘holes’ more than well enough.

If only mom and dad at least could be normal about his preferences. Be it when it comes to food or lovers. 

In the barn, they sat on a hay bale. Jon kept a careful distance. Damian must have been so disgusted with him.

“Did you…”

“Kill that poor bird? Hell no,” Jon shook his head. He'd faint if he had to see it nowadays.

“No, I mean, did you tell them it's me you're dating?” Damian huffed fidgeting with his hands.

“I tried, Ma and Pa thought it was sweet of me to invite you but said I should focus on my girlfriend. Mom and dad looked ready to repeat the whole mess with Kon but turn it up to at least twenty,” Jon sighed and curled up. “I should have just moved in with you before they or B suspected anything.”

Damian hummed. Likely considering what they could do and pulled his phone out. “I have my car here, we could go to… umm… California? That should be far enough from Bruce at least,” he quickly proposed. “If your dad does the same as with Kon,” which, Jon thought with Chris around he just might, “we shouldn't have to worry about him. As for my mother… nowhere is too far and remote for her to find us. Hell, you don't even have to pack, I have enough of my own money to buy you whatever you want,” Damian's smile was borderline maniacal. 

Jon chuckled. That was a nice thought. Just the two of them and the sunny beaches of California. Scratch it. “I could try to sneak in a shower?” He offered.

Damian hummed. “Fine, but I don't care if you have to come out half wet and don't bother packing much, I can have Todd come in and grab whatever you want later, he owes me,” he said with a gentle smile.

Jon nodded and ran to the house.

Damian sat in the barn a bit. Looking at the door. He didn't need super hearing to know there was an argument happening. With a sigh, he went to his car. And waited. 

Jon soon burst out the front door. Tears once more welled up in his eyes. Hair wet. With Clark following close behind. That was enough for Damian to start the green Mustang. Could it outrun Superman? Hell not, but for Jon he'd do his best. 

Maybe he should have had some Kryptonite on him. Not that he arrived planning to run away with Jon. But he didn't regret the last-minute decision. They could try reconciliation later. When Clark and Bruce were willing to listen to them.

He wasn't listening. His blood boiling with anger and adrenaline. Why can't Bruce and Clark just accept them as they are? Together and happy? 

“Go, while he doesn't want to go Superman on us,” Jon said as he clambered into the passenger seat. Damian was already ready to reverse and get the hell out of dodge when Jon opened the door.

Clark yelled after them but didn't chase them, likely didn't want to cause a scene in Smallville.

“Seatbelts,” Damian complained as they drove out of town. Jon nodded, first tossing his bag to the back seat. And then fumbled with the seatbelts. “You okay?”

“Now? Who the hell knows? Overall? We'll see tomorrow,” Jon groaned, staring at the roof of the Mustang. “You?”

“I'll be fine no matter what happens if it's you I'm with,” Damian grinned. 

Jon cringed. “Sap. Don't you want to grab anything from the mansion? Or your penthouse?” He asked, one hand on Damian's thigh. 

Damian was silent. “I might have had a bag packed and ready in my trunk for months in case we had to vanish,” he admitted with that maniacal grin. 

Jon laughed. “Me too actually, just not in your trunk,” he chuckled. “Probably since Kon and Tim announced they're dating.”

Damian hummed. And both their phones buzzed almost at the same time. Kent's called Bruce. Who's probably looking for Damian who has long found and ditched all tracers B had on him.

“Let's drop by yours and grab anything else you want now, I don't think we're coming back anytime soon,” Jon groaned and only texted Kon.

‘On the run with Dami, let Tim know we're fine’ before turning his phone off. Removed the battery even. Same with Damian's. They'd probably need new phones to make finding them harder. Not that they could hide, Waynes were known all over the country even if they rarely left Gotham.

“Metropolis then wherever we want?” Damian asked, clearly relieved their phones shut up.

“I'm not opposed to California. Maybe not LA proper, but I think we can find a nice place along the coast,” Jon smiled relaxing into the fake leather seat. “Though, anywhere works if it's with you,” he added and they both laughed.

Bruce luckily didn't yet make it to Damian's apartment. Jon suspected Jason and Roy were playing interference at the manor. Damian packed more clothes, luckily Jon had a lot at his place. Anything they had in the bathroom. Meanwhile, Jon cleaned up his kitchen from anything that could go bad.

“How are we getting to California? I know you like your Mustang,” Jon asked, luckily Damian didn't get any pets since Titus and Alfred the cat’s funerals. 

“We could make it into a road trip?” Damian offered. “We never saw much of the world did we?” They didn't have much chance to experience normal teenage things. Like road trips…

“No, the biggest trip I ever had was rushing with you to fucking Lazarus Pits where I ended up having to fight your mother without most of my powers,” Jon admitted with a sigh. A road trip sounded great. “We could stop at any bullshit attraction we see,” he smiled, imagining Damian experiencing roadside attractions he saw only on TV.

“Test roadside motel beds?” Damian snickered, raising a familiar red bag. So Talia didn't give up even after Jon bested her in hand-to-hand combat. All thanks to Damian's training.

“Don't expect much unless we stop at a fancy one in a bigger town,” Jon joined with a smile. “Come on, whoever's keeping Bruce at bay won't be able to do so for long.”

Damian nodded and so with a couple more duffle bags and a bag of snacks they returned to the Mustang.

“Say Jon, would you retire with me? Not entirely. Just no active patrols, we'd help if aliens are invading,” Damian suddenly proposed. And Jon smiled.

“I fought your mother for you, I'd expect you're aware I'll do anything for you right?” 

Damian sighed. “You know I love you right?” He said with the most genuine smile an ex-assassin could muster. 

“I knew even before you first said it out loud,” Jon nodded.

First stop? Whatever roadside motel they got tired near. The bed? Two out of ten. Broke too fast. Damian covered it smugly as the poor front desk clerk tried not to die. It wasn't every day someone in a suit worth more than half of the building showed up and broke stuff.

They got new phones in the first bigger town they stopped in and Damian posted a photo of them leaning against the Mustang in the middle of nowhere. Not-so-subtle hickeys were still present on Damian's neck. Jon's arm loosely wrapped around Damian's shoulders. Damian's arm around Jon's waist. His hand dipped into his jean's front pocket. “Hitting the road with my special person,” he captioned. It quickly got a lot of traffic.

If Tim and Kon came by to check on them then they were telling no one.

It took Damian and Jon almost a whole month and many broken roadside motel beds to reach California. Montecito to be precise. In the meantime, they filled Damian's Instagram with photos from all over. Damian in a sun hat Jon got him as a joke next to random art installations. Random nice views they stopped near. Jon with his bucket hat covering most of his face but with a wide smile. Random animals they met at rest stops. Sunsets and sunrises. 

All in all the media loved Damian and his mysterious, but never tagged in any photo boyfriend's road trip. Called it the most romantic thing since Bruce proposed to Selina once and in response Damian posted a photo of his and Jon's hands connected into a slightly crooked heart.

Of course, his private messages and email were filled with messages from both of their families but he just ignored them. Well. He straight-up deleted them. 

“I'm not listening until they apologise properly and stop trying to force me to be someone I'm not,” he said solemnly one day. Jon was driving and Damian decided to clean up his email.

“Who's trying now?” Jon asked, internally betting on it behind Dick. He's been most vocal in comments on Damian's Instagram.

“Richard, I'm seriously considering blocking him on Instagram, he's annoying,” he scowled but didn't yet do it. Just shoved his phone into Mustang's glove box.

Jon nodded, humming in agreement. It was Damian's idea to leave Jon's identity secret even if everyone who was close to them…. Well once close to them. Knew exactly who Damian was with.

The public would have a field day if they knew a billionaire's son had run away with the son of award-winning journalist Clark Kent and Lois Lane. It'd be more scandalous than when Tim and Kon, Wayne and Luthor, announced they were dating. Not that they could hide forever. There were some posts by strangers who saw them with Jon's face uncovered on Twitter. Not that Jon cared about the whole hiding his identity thing. But he'd do anything Damian asked of him.

When they were getting close to Montecito, Damian rented a house for them for the first few weeks. Until they found a house, he said with a grin. They made it to the rental in the middle of the night. Bags barely in the door. Not bothering to change. A happy tangle of limbs, as they immediately passed out.

When Damian woke up Jon was already out of bed. He groaned in annoyance and looked for his phone. By some miracle, it made it to the nightstand. It was almost ten in the fucking morning. With a groan, he buried his face in the soft pillow once more. Just to hear the doorbell just a few seconds later. With an even more annoyed groan, he went to the door. 

To find Jon with shopping bags. “There was nothing in the kitchen and I assumed you'd be hungry,” he said as Damian quickly let him in. He appreciated his boyfriend’s effort with a smile and a hum.

“Should we announce the road trip is over?” He asked as Jon unpacked the couple of days of groceries he acquired.

“Sure, why not, feel free to include my face,” Jon beamed a smile that made it up for California being damp and cloudy.

Damian quickly grabbed his phone and did something he did rarely even during their trip. He recorded an Instagram story. 

“I was told California is sunny,” he said with an audible scowl. He showed the view of the stormy sea. “At least the kitchen is sunny if a bit damp,” he said smugly turning to Jon who waved at the camera with a wide smile.

“We got here at like midnight, just an hour after booking, we're lucky the key was here,” Jon pouted for a total of one second. Hand running through his damp hair. “I thought my boyfriend might appreciate a breakfast. Anyway, I'm going to change,” he huffed but was still smiling as he walked out of the frame.

Damian turned the camera to a mirror to give his fans, apparently, he had those, a smug smirk. “My boyfriend’s the best,” he bragged before ending it. 

So what if he had to cut it? It was worth the absolute hell that was unleashed under his post of two steaming coffee mugs. And on Twitter as he amusedly scrolled both while waiting for Jon to join him for at least a sip of coffee before he went to shower himself.

‘OMG. I guessed Damian's man was hot. We saw all the short sleeves and shorts in Nevada, Utah, and Texas posts. We knew he was built. But a pretty face and a cute smile? I'm deceased’

‘I have no clue who this guy is but I know we have the new hottest InstaCouple’

‘I have no clue who's luckier, Damian, the mystery man or us to witness glimpses at their perfect life’

‘U guys saw his neck? Littlest Wayne's grown up’

Damian chuckled as he swapped to Twitter. Or whatever it was called, he was not relearning app associations. Instagram was to be cute with Jon. Twitter was to call his family morons. He posted the link to his story there. Of course, Richard was crying in his post about his little brothers being stolen. Likely referring to Tim putting his foot down and finally moving out.  Damian quickly confirmed it on his new favourite brother's Twitter and congratulated him. Mentioning he had to find a place ‘now that we made it to the final stop, #california #whymustitrain #atleastihavecoffe

Hashtags like #DemonWayne #isthatahickey #californiaslucky #whosthosguy #damiansboyfriend were quickly trending and Damian was pretty smug about it.

“We're trending on Twitter,” he announced with a grin.

“Of course we are, you're pretty famous,” Jon chuckled and took a sip of his coffee. “Go shower I'll make breakfast and a second round of coffee,” he smiled and Damian grinned.

“Pancakes?” Damian requested and Jon confirmed with a nod. He was taking another sip of coffee. “I love you so much,” Damian chuckled.

“I'll do my best to make it Instagram-worthy,” Jon chuckled. He enjoyed Damian's Instagram era. Sue him.

“Anything you make will be,” Damian grinned and went to shower.

When he returned, wearing more than likely one of Jon's shirts, they didn't unpack anything so he was grabbing blindly in their messy bags, breakfast was ready. And Damian would wight anyone who called it not Instagram worthy.

He did take a photo of it with their intertwined hands next to their stack of pancakes. Captioning it ‘Breakfast. Rest. House hunting.’ With #bestboyfriend. And only that one.

The comment section has melted.

‘Too cute, I died and went to heaven’

‘So true love is actually real? Dick's divorce didn't kill it?’

‘#blessed’

‘Couple goals’

‘Where do I get a relationship like this or like Tim and Kon’s?’

‘Damian’s the luckiest Wayne. Handsome, cute and cooks!?!’

Damian grinned over his pancakes as he watched the comments come in. ‘Start looking around Kansas, though I'd recommend getting a good, fast car’ he commented just to annoy Clark and Lois who might see it or not.

[frankenwolf1564]

Transformers ONE Optimus Prime and Megatron: ONE shall stand, ONE shall fall

Trying another little something this week, kind of a blend between a photo gallery and a full review. Not as in depth or with as much background as a full review but more complex than my notes on a gallery. Hasbro Deluxes are like… the default transformer toy? So there’s usually nothing exceptional to say about what the actual figure can do. “It has a waist swivel, it has a bicep swivel, it has an ankle tilt.” Standards have risen substantially over the past, like, decade, especially post Siege, so while there are standouts, the context of a toy will usually be a meatier discussion. I’ll still mention accessories and stuff but I’m not going over every point of articulation.

Starting with Optimus, he’s a fine little lad! He’s on the smaller end of the deluxe scale, not quite mini-bot, but close. That might be a bit small for some people’s taste, but it does leave him as the perfect size to work as cogged Orion Pax, especially when stood next to the Studio Series Optimus. It helps that most of the elements that distinctly denote him as “Optimus” are his accessories. The smokestacks can unpeg, the axe is completely optional, and the matrix isn’t even visible tucked away behind his thinner, opaque chest window. Nearly everything else that feels like Prime is just from the two forms looking fairly similar. The biggest thing that’s baked in is his face, which is molded with the classic mouth plate. Given the scale and some of the styling at play, he works wonderfully as the Autobot Leaders younger self. I’d even be willing to look past the SS’ weird color choices and get him too if it weren’t for something we’ll get into later.

Rounding out Orion, he’s a little lacking in articulation thanks to his slightly lower price point, with no ankle tilt and slight clearance issues in his arms, but you can still get him into a wide range of poses, no problem. It might just take a little more balancing. I love how the fingers are sculpted into the axe. It’s close to how it works in the film and is just fucking cool, innit? Optimus feels incomplete without an Ion Blaster but it’s not a deal breaker. You can use the smokestacks as guns if you really want anyhow, though they are a bit dinky. The axe tucks away neatly on his back, and the matrix is as nicely sculpted as ever. I like the more Prime styled handles, though they are mostly just to let him hold it.

His truck mode is cute. It rolls fine and does the job. I said Deluxes don’t have much to talk about when it comes to what they can do.

Moving on to Megatron, he’s similarly splendid! Like SS ONE Prime his colors are a bit off, having used an off grey compared to the movies shiny silver, but it’s much more at home on Megatron, and it doesn’t look like it’s just yellowing, either. The rest of him looks great anyhow! He’s well sculpted and the muted red pairs nicely. It’s a great rendition of the character but… that fusion cannon is seriously hurting selling him as Megatron. The tri-barreld cannon didn’t have quite as much screen time, but it is a huge visual distinction that clearly sets him apart from just being D-16. The sculpting and such are absolutely that of his final form with the harsher angles, but like Orion and Optimus there isn’t a massive visual shift between the two forms and the cannon isn’t doing him any favors.

He shares many points of articulation with Optimus, with a few improvements and one or two downgrades. He gains a second hinge in his elbows, his wrists swivel, his ankles tilt and his feet can rock, but he can. Not look up. Like at all. His head swivels just fine, and he can look down, thanks to the transformation, but that one thing really hinders what you can do with him. You’re forced to stick with more static poses unless you want him looking at the ground all the time. Or at least. I was.

The tank mode is fun! There’s also more to talk about here so- Nothing’s coming undone once it’s all pegged together and it’s a dead ringer for what we see in the film. It’s definitely one of my favorite tank Megatrons in recent years and in general. The turret is just “alright” though. The swivel is located above the hinge so it’s hard to point it up in any one direction other than straight forward and have it look natural. It also unpegs a tad easily…

Megatron has a couple things that could have used a little more work, but they’d probably require bumping him up a size class to get more parts. Things like the head, maybe his shoulders and hips, a few minor bits that we’ve seen done better elsewhere. He could have easily gotten the triple barrel cannon as well. I really like him at this size though? I wouldn’t want him any bigger, and none of those things are a deal breaker. All of this comes with zero kibble, too. Honestly my biggest complaint is that there isn’t a mainline Deluxe version of him. I’d have gladly gotten both Orion Pax and D-16 and Optimus Prime and Megatron, but they didn’t release a Prime Changers D-16. I have no reason to also get the SS Optimus, as I’m happy with the Prime Changers and that doesn’t have a direct Decepticon counterpart, so the whole set would forever be incomplete. Hasbro I want to give you my money please-