#moving these characters around like little chess pieces

[lebanon-wip]

Cas has it 😭😭😭

[aces-to-apples]

Frankly I think Alistair being mildly shitty to that mage in Ostagar seems pretty in-character for the guy he is before the massive, life-altering trauma that is the Ostagar massacre wherein he sees all of his Grey Warden comrades, his beloved mentor/father figure, and his beloathed half-brother/convenient-target-of-projection absolutely torn to shreds by literal Thedas boogeymen. IIRC Morrigan and Flemeth both comment on his wack behavior after Ostagar and then by the time we get to Lothering Alistair just fully surrenders any and all responsibility (and, frankly, agency) to the player's Warden for the foreseeable future. It can then take anywhere from a couple IRL hours to the entire second act of the game for him to retake almost any amount of it back. And depending on the player's choices in dialogue, and especially whether or not they choose to romance him, we may only see flashes of that guy we met at Ostagar before he potentially morphs into almost someone else entirely (hardened!King!Alistair). All that to say, I don't actually think it's a useful criticism of "characterization" to bring up Alistair's glibness as compared to his behavior in the majority of the game because from where I'm standing (looking directly at his snottiness about Cailan, his complaints about being assigned to the Tower of Ishal, his Templar-esque focusing on Morrigan and Flemeth being apostates, his generally pretty brusque manner with the Warden recruits) it seems fairly in-line with the rest of his behavior at Ostagar.

[jacksintention]

.

[sm-baby]

FREAKSHOW AU Theory (AU by @hootbon )

Currently, my leading theory is that Freakshow AU is going to end like IHNMAIMS.

Of course, TADC is inspired by IHNMAIMS, would be surprised if Hoot went back to their roots and use it as inspiration.

As we may know, IHNMAIMS is a story centered around a sentient AI who wiped out all of humanity, and kept 5 to torture them.

In the end, the protagonist kills his friends to free them from their torture, which in turn, the sentient AI morphs him into some sort of slow-moving abomination as punishment.

Lets enter supporting evidence,

1. Aingle is important to the story

In IHNMAIMS, the humans bodies were contorted by AM (the sentient AI) in a way where they don't die of natural causes. This leads the characters to stay the same age as they entered, despite being over centuries old. They will feel hungry and thirsty, but will never die from it, leaving them to feel all its symptoms for forever.

Am also has the ability to put them through an immense amount of body contortion and over all torture, yet still keep them alive.

Aingle's role in freakshow au is to keep the characters from abstracting, abstraction in this case being death. Instead, they are "killed", which keeps them from death/abstraction..

2. Abstraction feels like the most peaceful outcome

Easy argument. The humans have continuously tried to kill themselves in IHNMAIMS, but are prevented from doing so by AM... In the end, the moment they found a weapon, they quickly stabbed eachother as acts of kindness.

" abstraction feels like the mose peaceful outcome", death being a genuine relief in IHNMAIMS, Hoot's little smile?? Nuh-uh. My theory brain did not let that slide.

3. Pomni wont stay pretty forever

(i cant find the screenshot grrr!! BUT YOU KNOW WHICH ONE IT IS!!!)

After killing their friends, AM contorts the protagonist and turns him into a slow moving abomination, taking about 10 months to say a singular word.

"Pomni wont stay pretty forever", she is either going to be like Ragatha, or will be horribly disfigured as punishment. Hoot has said before that Caine wouldn't let her fade, he has bubble or the Mannequins clean her and keep her pretty (Unless she stops being favorable in which he will throw her aside BUT STILL)

Bonus: Kinger and Benny

Lil fun coincidence I noticed uwu

Benny in IHNMAIMS was described to be a handsome and brilliant scientist in his past... And in return, AM reversed his evolution, and brought him back to a stereotypical neanderthal with the mind of a 9 yr old.

Kinger in his bio was described to be a king, and possibly a smart man in his past, brought down from his throne and reverted into a magician... Now he plays with chess pieces in his pass time, losing his little mind.

[twistmusings]

Character Analysis of the Twisted Wonderland Dorm Rooms - Savanaclaw

Thanks so much for your input on the first post everyone! Honestly a lot of you have much sharper eyes that I do, so I'm making it a habit to add addendums when people spot things that I don't.

At any rate, here is the examination of the rooms for Savanaclaw!

Dorm Room Character Analysis Series

Heartslabyul | Savanaclaw | Octavinelle | Scarabia | Pomefiore | Ignihyde | Diasomnia

Leona Kingscholar

To start with the obvious, Leona is probably the most disorganized dorm that we've seen so far. He's noticeably left his clothes lying around the room. It's of note that he's got an empty hangar in his closet, which could mean that some of these clothes are clean and he cba to hang them up.

Leona has a chess set with three pieces displayed - what appears to be a Knight, a Rook, and a Pawn. I believe this may be a reference to the story arc of book 2, considering that Rooks are a powerful piece in chess. If we consider in terms of chess, if I had to guess, I would say the Knight is Leona (known for it's unique movement which can be used to strategize and take tactical advantage of board placement), the Rook would be Ruggie (known as one of the most powerful pieces in chess because it can move any distance in a single line so long as it doesn't jump another piece, thank you anon for correcting me on this!) because of his unique magic being the lynch pin of Leona's plan during book two, and Jack, or more generally, the rest of his dormmates, being the pawns, that are used to set a strategic defense.

Also of note, Leona has a plant in his room. Of course, it could be fake, but if it is real, it shows a nurturing aspect to Leona that is interesting given his characterization that we know of. Minor Spoiler Warning for Book 6 that has definitely been pointed out by other people, but we know that he lets Riddle rest on his lap during the book when he's knocked unconscious, so he does, indeed, seem to have aspects of a nurturer in his characterization that he tends to hide by being prickly. If I had to read further into this, I would say it's another aspect of his motif overall - Leona has the capacity to care a great deal about everything, but he doesn't because he isn't given the same opportunities as Falena, and so you see those parts of him come out in other places.

This may be a bit of a stretch, but I believe this pillow in Leona's room is intended to be a call-back to Lions and their manes. When Leona lays his head down on the pillow, the pattern would be splayed out around his head like one.

Leona, of course, has textiles in his room, which is mentioned to be important for his homeland in the Tamashina Mina/Cloudcalling event as they are handmade and the primary source of income for Sunset Savanna. This is of note because Leona is not the only one in Savanaclaw to display tapestries like this, but these tapestries are notably similar to those shown in the Tamashina Mina.

So this is going to be a very long and not particularly important sections, so feel free to skip if you CBA to read it, but I wish there was a little bit more information about the inspiration drawn for Leona's homeland because it could be particularly informative of the actual symbolism in the textiles. If we are considering what we know about his homeland, Leona mentions a few things that give us some hints as to the location.

Generally speaking, the Lion King is considered to be set in Tanzania, and this is in line with the Hibiscus and the Baobab that Leona mentions in the Cloudcalling event, however from my most definitely not expert research, a lot of textiles produced in Tanzania are wax dyed. (Mind, I am far from an expert in African Textiles.) This becomes important when Leona mentions that the tapestries and clothing in the Sunset Savanna are woven. While it's not always a rule, typically woven clothing and tapestries are dyed before they are woven, and weaving is what produces the pattern. With wax dyeing, the textiles are produced first, and then waxes are used to create layers of dye that are arranged in patterns. (This also gets called batik dyeing).

The left, above, is a Tanzinian Batik Kitenge Fabric from east Africa, while the right is a Ghanaian Woven Kente Cloth from West Africa next to Leona's Tapestry to show more of what I mean, which throws a wrench into examining this further because we are talking about two different cultures across the continent from one another.

The gist of this being, it does seem that Leona's tapestry and blankets would seem to be more in line with woven fabric as opposed to batik dyed fabric. If anyone has more information who is more versed in this subject, I would love to know more! Basically, this is the long way of me saying I can't exactly identify whether or not any of the tapestries or blankets in his room hold any particular meaning in their patterns or colors because I wouldn't know what culture it would be drawing inspiration from! To be quite honest, it is entirely possible this is a case of Twist mixing several cultures together to paint a more general picture of African culture.

To change the subject back to the room - Leona has a notable lack of study materials in his room. In fact, I don't see a single book in his room. If Riddle is the one who is the king of the little readers club, Leona was the kid who filled in all the stamps on the summer reading list to get the prizes without reading anything.

While it's not as prevalent as Cater or Trey, Leona's room features a lot of darker yellows and reds. It's possible that Leona favors these warmer colors, which is funny considering his rather gloomy outlook on a lot of things, as these colors are generally associated with happiness and passion.

The hidden mickey in his room is just below his overhead lamp.

Jack Howl

Jack, as we know, has a little cactus garden in his room. it is of note, his cacti are flowering, which is a sign that his little cacti are as happy as could be.

This might be a bit morbid, but if I had to guess, I would guess that Jack's rug is a synthetic wolf-skin rug given the jagged design on the edges. This is only a guess of course, as the bedrooms and backgrounds in twist tend to have a slightly flatter style than the rest of the game, so it's hard to tell if it's actually fur or not. Regardless, we see see a lot of the members of Savanaclaw's animals represented in small touches in their room.

Jack is pretty organized in comparison to the other freshmen! All of his books are put away, and even his weights and resistance bands are tucked away as much as they can be.

Jack seems to have soy protein, a protein shake container, and a stick of deodorant ready-to-go! Jack might be a bit extra with his workout routine, but at least he seems to be responsible about it by making sure he's getting the nutritional support he needs to build muscle and taking care not to smell rank.

Jack also has a textile on his wall. Given the Shaftlands seems to be generally inspired by Europe, I would guess that the tapestry is most similar to Nordic knitted and woven fabrics. The motif of the tapestry seems to be floral designs or snowflakes and pine trees. This seems to be a cute callback to how Jack likes to snowboard and how he comes from a snowy place.

Like the other first years, Jack doesn't seem to have decorated his bedsheets much. He does have a bedrunner in a flamestitch sort of pattern. Though the flamestitch pattern isn't commonly attributed to any one country, it is generally considered to be of European origin, adding to the European inspiration of the shaftlands.

The hidden Mickey in Jack's room is next to his tapestry.

Ruggie Bucchi

Mr. Pig. More seriously, Ruggie found it abandoned on the street and took it home. There's a meerkat version as well that Ruggie has mentioned getting in his Birthday Boy Vignette. He also mentions that it sings or lets out a happy squeal when you put coins into it.

Also, Ruggie has a framed photo on his desk, similar to Deuce. I would guess this is a photo of him and his grandmother.

Ruggie actually seems to read quite a bit! He has books in his bookshelf, as well as stacked next to his bed within easy reach to read there if he would like to. These don't seem to be textbooks, so it's an easy conclusion that Ruggie probably reads in his free time. My guess for the textbooks is that Ruggie likely downloads them online from a library resource. Or illegally. To be quite honest, good for him, textbooks are expensive for no damn reason.

Ruggie is also quite well organized - he doesn't have a lot of personal items in his room, but the ones that he does have are put away.

Following on that last point, Ruggie's lack of decorations aside from a handful of things likely lends to him being raised in poverty.

Interesting note, but Ruggie has roommates. In fact, a lot of the Twisted Wonderland cast do, but you can actually see snippets of Ruggie and Jack's roommates space in their cards. The freshmen are mentioned to have four to a room, so though I didn't include this in the first post, Ace and Deuce have two other roommates.

While it might be easy to assume that Ruggie's comforter is giraffe print at first glance, the coloration and spacing of the pattern actually leads me to believe this is meant to be the pattern of a spotted Hyena.

Ruggie's hidden mickey is on the wall next to his closet.

[talia-black]

RELATIONSHIP HEADCANNONS

Mondstadt Boys

Nothing sexual is explicitly mentioned in this, only vaguely suggestive for Venti. For all of the younger characters it is strictly romantic. (And before you come at me in the comments, I went to high school. I’ve seen close romantic relationships between teenagers that never even verged on sexual and would never even consider writing an underaged character in such a light.) 

This is also my first time making a post like this, so please be nice. Any advice is welcome since I’m still relatively new to Tumblr.

Kaeya-

Kaeya would never in a million years consider dating someone with serious romantic intentions, even if his feelings were fully reciprocated. His past, his secrets, his ties to so many dangerous factions would put them in immediate danger at all times, and if there’s one thing we know about Kaeya it's that he would do anything to protect the people he loves. Including breaking both his and their hearts in the process. But if he was free from all of that, Kaeya would love an SO who he could just relax around. Just be Kaeya instead of everything else. They would be his safe space, his only true home outside of Dawn Winery, and the true meaning of freedom for him. 

What Kaeya didn’t know he wanted in a significant other was someone who could see past his masks instinctively. They never commented on his half-truths, his bluffs, his misdirections. But through the briefest of eye contact he knew that you knew exactly what he was doing. He comes back home in the early hours of the morning with bloody knuckles and open wounds, they are still up and bandages him while talking softly about whatever gossip had been hot on the market that morning. 

Kaeya is flirtatious by nature, and his playboy attitude extends to them in public so many don’t think their relationship is that serious. But behind closed doors, with his heart open and gently placed in their hands, you would think they were divine in nature. They laughed at the attempts of other people to flirt with him, because they already knew that his heart belonged to them.

Diluc-

Much like Kaeya, Diluc knows he lives too dangerous a life to consider a romantic relationship. Unlike Kaeya though, he craves that connection just a little more fiercely than Kaeya. While Kaeya is constantly surrounded by the friendly comradery of the Knights, Diluc is far more isolated. Of course he has Adeline, Elzer, and the other workers at the Dawn Winery who’ve known him since he was a child, but he doesn’t share any close friendships that goes to on a regular basis. What Diluc knows he would want in an SO more than anything else is companionship. If he could afford to, he wouldn’t care where they’re from or what their background is if they were able to make him forget about his responsibilities for just a little bit. Someone he can come home to. 

What Diluc didn’t know he wanted was someone who could help him repair his stunted relationships. Someone who invites Kaeya over for tea while they know he will be home and eventually coax both of the brothers to dig up five years worth of skeletons and come to a much better understanding. Someone who helps him at the bar after long days working in the vineyard, keeping an ear out for anything people might not otherwise let slip near the intimidating man. Above all else, Diluc did not know what he wanted was a true partner who was as dedicated to his own wellbeing as he was to theirs.

Diluc would not be showy about his affection beyond what was appropriate for a gentleman. Arm hooked around yours, hand against lower back, and maybe a quick peck on the lips if they had relative privacy. Back home though, this man is so touch-starved that he will be wrapped around his SO for as much time as possible. Playing chess? Too bad, they have to move their pieces while sitting on his side of the board. Reading a book? Someone’s head is in the other person’s lap. Sleeping? They only use a thin sheet because Diluc is a heater and plasters himself to his SO’s back and tucks them under his chin like a stuffed animal. 

Venti- 

Wow. You thought the previous two were traumatized? Venti has watched entire civilizations be wiped from remembrance at the whims of the Heavenly Principles and does everything in his power to make Monstadt seem like less of a threat in order to prevent the same thing from happening to him. Nearly all of his significant relationships have been ended by death or time, so the thought of having an SO, especially an immortal one, would terrify him. Contrary to popular thinking, I think Venti would want an SO who is mortal. 60-70 years of bliss, forever immortalized in song, and out of reach from the claws of the Heavenly Principles. 

What Venti didn’t know he wanted was an SO who was an artist themselves. He was so used to being the performer, the one expected to entertain the audience with story and song. With just a little instruction (and maybe a blessing made on a bet) they were already able to rival Venti’s prowess with a lyre. It made quite the stir in Mondsadt, as Venti had been unmatched for years, and soon fan clubs were formed. Whether they were being shipped or slandered, there was none who could deny the inherent chemistry between Venti and his rival. In fact, there was no clear confirmation on their relationship until Venti drank nearly half of the Angel Share’s stock on a dare and kissed them full on the mouth. And even then the heated debate persisted. Until one day, they climbed on top of the church and belted out a serenade for all of Monstadt to hear before proposing to their “cheeky, bird-brained, bastard who also happens to be the love of their life”. Yeah, Venti may or may not have caused a mini hurricane to knock them off their feet so he could sweep them away to Starsnatch Cliff. 

Venti is flirty, but after he starts seriously courting his SO he noticeably tones it down. Creative and blush-inducing complements to his audience were still common, but nothing truly improper. In private… he shared an ungodly amount of characteristics with those cats he’s allergic to. Spoiled with kisses and cuddles, demanding when he goes without their attention for more than a few minutes, and if they’re open to it, always ready for more exciting activities. Like stated previously, Venti doesn’t want his SO to be immortal. As much as their death will hurt, at least he was able to make sure that their short life ended peacefully and with a full heart. He will sing your songs and tell the tale of the two bards who had captured each other’s hearts. Besides, even he will return to the winds one day. And then will be able to reunite with them, and all of his old friends. 

Razor- 

Honestly, Razor’s concept of a romantic relationship between two humans is either completely nonexistent or radically underdeveloped. He’s seen wolves court and mate (Though Andrius keeps Razor away during mating season. Young pups should not witness such things) so I think that any kind of romantic action would just come off as heavily platonic or familial. He’s never thought about finding any sort of life-partner, all he wants is to protect his family, so whatever vague idea of an SO or “mate” Razor has would involve him taking care of them and being taken care of in turn. 

What Razor didn’t suspect was that his SO would be so willing to be accepted into his Lupical. While he had friends like Bennett and Klee who were nice to him whenever they saw him around, but most people still tended to avoid Razor. It hurt a bit, but as long as Razor had his Lupical and his friends, he never gave anyone else much thought. Until one day, he found an adventurer freeing a wolf cub who had gotten its paw stuck in a hunting trap. Such traps should not have been so close to the wolves’ territory, and Razor found out later that they had come on a commission from the Knights to investigate. However, Razor noticed how in the process of freeing and bandaging the pup, they had torn open their hands. He had immediately gone looking for Wolfhook, and waited until night when they had fallen asleep to sneak in and apply the berry paste. He didn’t want to frighten them, and instead opted to watch over them while they slept. He fell asleep sometime during the early morning, and only awoke to the smell of meat cooking. He opened his eyes to see the adventurer watching him from the opposite side of the fire, a plate of berries and steaming meat set near him. 

Razor was quickly enamored by the lone adventurer. They were a new recruit, and had actually heard of Razor from Katheryne when they accepted the commission. Over time, the adventurer ended up taking every opportunity possible to visit Razor. The boy’s excitement whenever he caught their scent on the wind never lessened, and both of them often spent nights in the middle of Wolvendom in blissful silence. Razor never felt like he had to talk much around them, and the same could be said of them. The two were able to discern most of what they needed to from body language, facial expressions, and scent in Razor’s case at times. It didn’t take long for them to be introduced to the rest of Razor’s Lupical. The pup they had rescued recognized them immediately and spent the entire evening receiving head scratches. As midnight approached, the older wolves nudged Razor towards their slumped over form. They had passed out with most of the pups on top of them, and Razor immediately curled up behind them with his chin resting over their exposed neck protectively. Just as he had watched the wolves do with their mates. 

Albedo- 

Wow. Kinda a mix of Kaeya and Razor; he is flirty (His teapot voice lines startled a blush out of me the first time I heard them) but way more subtle about it. But I also don’t think he has ever seriously considered a romantic relationship with someone. While the thought had crossed his mind once or twice, who could he possibly meet who would be compatible with him? His personal identity as a homunculus and a creation of Rhinedottr means he is already a nonhuman entity, and his title as Mondstadt’s Chief Alchemist and his work keeps most of his relationships strictly professional. Even his friendships are mostly cordial, though he does enjoy the company of others at times. This man is always doing something, so entertaining romantic notions for anyone has never entered the picture. However, I think he would like a SO similar to Fanon!Traveler Lumine (And I’m not just saying this because I’m on the Albelumi ship I promise). Someone who managed to catch Albedo’s attention would need to have something inherently unique about them. Someone who manages to keep his attention on them for a significant period of time would have to have an equally appealing, lighthearted personality that practically lit up the room whenever they walked in.

What Albedo did not expect from his SO was someone who showed so much care for him. Someone who is curious about Albedo’s work, even if they don’t fully understand it. Someone who may not understand art, but recognizes the effort Albedo puts into his drawings. Someone who invites (read: coerces) Albedo out of his lab to go eat at Good Hunter or take the evening off to relax at Angels Share. Their occupation and background doesn’t mean much to him personally, the information is only relevant if it pertains to their health or behavior. Only one issue with this set up, even if feelings are completely reciprocated. Albedo has no clue what these feelings are and where they are coming from and will spend far too much time deliberating on what he should do to them. Much to the exasperation of all of the Knight and his fellow alchemists. Once Albedo does a full analysis of himself (bloodwork, brain scans, chemical analysis, a few experiments to see how he reacts to certain stimuli, this man is nothing if not thorough) he will come to the conclusion that he is in love. (Sucrose sighs when Albedo brings the test results to her.) And he immediately launches himself into a new kind of research. He asks around about the best way to confess, and eventually decides to cultivate a new species of flowers specifically for them and then just cut to the chase over a private picnic under the stars. This man already has no filter, so once he manages to correctly identify the emotions he is feeling, the length of time between then and the actual confession would be much shorter. 

Those flowers Albedo cultivates in their honor would be everywhere once his SO admitted their feelings were mutual. He dedicated an entire section of the alchemists’ greenhouse to them and ordered for no one else to touch them except for him. They would find the flowers in their hair, in between books, scattered around Albedo’s workspace, and somehow in their house. Similar to Diluc, the few times Albedo and his SO were out together in public people would know that they’re dating, but beside the fact that the two were almost always holding hands and the occasional peck on the cheek, neither were overly affectionate in public. Albedo would also be incredibly flexible in private when it came to their dynamic. He likes both giving and receiving affection and doesn’t really have a preference as long as he can spend as much time as possible in their company when he’s not working. They like to follow him on his expeditions to Dragonspine, mainly for the excuse to snuggle with Albedo every night when they get cold. The rest of the Knights adjusted well to Albedo’s SO, even if Sucrose needed to take on more work at times so Albedo could spend more time with them. The Knights closest to Albedo watched with fascination as the typically workaholic alchemist actually took lunch breaks, got in late, and left the moment he was satisfied with the progress of his experiments. What they don’t see is how the way he treats his SO in private is almost reverent. They are his muse, his lover, and his eternal companion (because unlike Venti, Albedo would 100% find a way for his SO the share his lifespan if they so chose to) and in one of his dark moments, Albedo realizes just how much he would ruin if it meant they stayed safe. 

Also, Alice would 100% show up for the first time in years just to help her son get ready for his first date. 

Haven’t played Bennett’s hangout quest yet and don’t know enough about his character so I will probably post him with another nation once I get around to it. 

I’ll get around to doing Liyue if enough people decide they like this.

[the-s1lly-corner]

Hi

Can we have some prompts for what it's like to hug the tadc cast?

What it's like hugging the TADC cast!

bro i want a patty melt so mf bad ive literally never had one but it looks so yummy idc if its just a burger on texas toast i wanna eat that!!!!!!!!! short post btw!! (i say, as i make it longer than first intended)

CAINES:

very small and holdable. depending on the size difference you can just carry him around like its no big deal... feels just like holding a person since his body is human shaped... might have to move your head since his teeths are very large.... solid 9/10 imo

POMNI:

similar to caine thanks to her shape but i think she would be very squishy. she looks like she would be squishy, dont you think? i think its because of her design and her at the beginning trying to take off her headset shows shes kinda squishy n soft... but maybe thats just the digital worlds physics and everyone is like that... she looks like she would squeak if you squeezed her... 8/10 she gets one point off because sometimes the squeezing can be annoying but she cant help it

RAGATHA:

very soft and plush, said several times that i see her as a literal doll so she feels like one of those plush dolls. shes warm, i think... like sure shes a doll but she looks like she would radiate warmth, cant explain why.. like caine and pomni have normal body heats but ragatha is just a touch warmer.. 10/10, would love to cuddle with her and nap

JAX:

not squishy!! but not... hard... like he has a little give if that makes sense. like, normal average skinny person squish, i think. normal body temperature. oddly smooth which can be a little weird since hes a bunny, so you would expect fur... but no hes just smooth. but not smooth like a shaved person, smooth like a weird rubber. weird. 7/10 imagine it gets hot one day and he just. gets sticky. one time we accidentally left my dogs rubber ball out in the heat outside and it got sticky. sticky jax. sticky jax gets a 4/10

KINGER:

very. hard. now we're getting into the characters who arent that huggable, which makes me so sad because i love kinger sm. he cant really hug back. like sure he can hold you in his hands but thats a little different than being able to wrap his arms around you... hes hard, too, being a chess piece... not very warm.. however his robe does a bit to make him softer and a little warmer so its not too totally terrible as long as youre not like. CLINGING onto him... kinger i love you but youre getting a 6/10

ZOOBLE:

see where kinger has some saving grace with his robe, zooble is just. naked. plus i think they would feel like plastic, with the main body being like. solid hard plastic. their limbs are obviously also plastic. its like holding a giant child's toy... very cold, too, the only heat zooble has is the heat that comes from your own body... 3/10 im sorry zooble

GANGLE:

no body heat, but like at least its not hard plastic... but theres hardly anything there... can hold you back but you cant really feel it, like ghost touches pretty much... since gangle is just ribbons, what more did we expect? 4/10, extra point simply because gangle hugs arent as unpleasant as zoobles

[yurinaa-world]

Hihihi!!! If its okay with you, could I please request an x reader with Dan Heng, Jing Yuan and Blade (platonically!) thats like the Collector from The Owl House? The readers a star child and has this kind of like sun and moon appearance and have a very childish personality !

Heres a link to the Collectors character if you haven't seen the show!

https://www.google.com/url?q=https://theowlhouse.fandom.com/wiki/The_Collector&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwj_mK_wk_uEAxXVzDQHHWLKAwcQFnoECBoQAQ&usg=AOvVaw0h5oA7-5fony5qDSTZ04Jn

Please take your time when writing this, and if you feel unmotivated or don't want to, please ignore this 🫶 tysm!!!!

𝒞𝒽𝒶𝓇𝒶𝒸𝓉𝑒𝓇𝓈: Dan Heng, Jing Yuan & Blade !platonic x Gender-neutral Reader

𝒮𝓎𝓃𝑜𝓅𝓈𝒾𝓈: with a reader that's like the collector

𝒲𝒶𝓇𝓃𝒾𝓃𝑔𝓈: fluff, spelling mistakes

𝒟𝒶𝓃 𝐻𝑒𝓃𝑔

You follow him around wherever you go, waiting for him to finish doing his work. When he’s done you drag him away to play with you.

You’ve played every game together and now you're kind of bored. Until Dan Heng comes back from his mission to this new planet with a game! Now you two can more fun

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

Ugh, you're so bored. You don't know what to do anymore. Hanging upside down is the only thing you’re doing. Just feeling the dizziness slowly creeping in, giving you a slight headache. Just waiting for something to happen.

“I got you a gift.”

You see Dan Heng walk in front of you, seeing him holding a bag in one hand, making you immediately jump down to see what he got! “What is it!”

You smile brightly while he gives you the bag. Pulling out a…board game! A new one. 

“Woah! I've never seen this one before! You’ve gotta teach me how to play.”

𝒥𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒴𝓊𝒶𝓃

He's the type to only let you win sometimes…if he’s feeling generous about even letting you get past half the board before striking all your pieces down. 

Oh don’t pout, it's just that he’s lucky today. Maybe you might have a chance in the next round.

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

“Checkmate.”

Your eyes go wide when you see Jing Yuan get rid of your chess piece, leaving you the loser of this short round. “Ugh, I thought I was going to win!” You begin to sulk a little at this outcome.

“You must think more outside the box.”

He pokes your forehead, making you gently caress it and comfort it with your hands. “Outside the box?” You sigh

 “I’m always thinking outside, how much more?” 

𝐵𝓁𝒶𝒹𝑒

I just know this man secretly loves kids (Ignore Yanqing). He has a soft spot in his ice-cold heart. Beside that soft spot is pettiness. You ain't winning that game Monopoly, he doesn't care if you want to win so badly, you’re going to have to accept the cruel world.

When you complain to him in that high-pitched voice, it just makes him cover his mouth to not laugh at your face. He might ruffle your hair and mess it up just to see you get red-faced.

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

“Go to jail.”

You just stare at that stupid card as Blade is watching and waiting for you to move your piece into the jail zone. “No way.” You huff putting your piece into the jail space monopoly board while grinding your teeth before handing the dice.

But now you’re tired! Glaring and seething at dice as you get no doubles while Blade’s made it four times around the board, bought out most places, and maxed them all out.

You start to get restless watching him roll and land his piece, yet nothing happens to him. You snatch the dice and roll…only to get no double!! “I give up.” You whisper and pout, gripping at your hair, only to see him grinning at you.

“What? I can hear you.”

You feel embarrassed, before reluctantly saying it again yet even more quietly “I give up”

“What I can’t hear-“

“I give up, okay!

if you liked this, consider tipping me on ko-fi! it'd mean a lot!

[fungifanart]

Checkmate?

Characters: Leona Kingscholar, Grim, Yuu!reader, male reader

Cw: Chess *horror movie scream*

Word count: 1.9k

Notes: Look! It's my piece for the @princes-uprising zine! It's been an absolute blast working with everyone, so I hope y'all enjoy our work!

-----------------------------------------------------

Life is one big chessboard.

This is the mindset that Leona has abided by ever since he was young.

It's the easiest way to make sense of the world around him.

People are forever bound to positions given to them upon birth with no hope of changing, such as how a pawn has no hope of becoming a king.

Everyone has a finite amount of actions they can take, which are clearly defined, leaving whether or not they succeed as a matter of skill.

Which also means that luck, too, is calculable and thus, predictable.

Or at least, it should be.

That is, until the school's spelldrive tournament happened and everything fell apart like a harsh wave crashing into a sand castle.

And because of such a stupid plan, too. To this day, Leona is mortified that he got blindsided by such a ridiculous plan, thought up by a magicless herbivore, no less.

Well, there's no way he'll let himself get played like that again.

Much like he did with Azul, Leona decides to observe how the herbivore strategizes.

His plan for knocking the Octavinelle housewarden down a peg gave Leona some good initial insights, such as how he places a LOT of faith in the people who have the shallowest reasons to help actually pulling through. He should consider himself lucky that Leona had a deeper reason to help than what he gave.

But that's not enough for him. Being lucky is not a strategy and clearly not the only factor at play letting a magicless nobody pull the wool over the eyes of TWO separate housewardens. It baffles him to think that both him and that octopunk actually got suckered in by those schemes.

Ok, now Leona's getting angry.

Simple observation isn't enough this time. There's only one way to get to the bottom of this irritating little conundrum.

Portable chessboard in hand, Leona begins the trek to the place the herbivore almost lost with that gamble of his, otherwise known as Ramshackle dorm.

After knocking on the door, Leona hears a ruckus on the other side and the sounds of both the Prefect and his feline companion yelling before the sound of footsteps approaches the entrance.

The door then opens, revealing the Prefect in his infuriatingly enigmatic glory.

"Oh, Leona! Hi! It's great to see you!" He greets the lion warmly, "What brings you here?"

'Figuring out what makes you tick.' Leona thinks to himself, but what he actually says is, "I was bored and thought you'd be able to amuse me with a game of chess."

The simplest of lies, one that any other person at this school would see through and reject instantly, but the Prefect smiles nonetheless.

"Well, I don't know if I can really provide the mental stimulation you're looking for, but if that's how you want to spend your afternoon, then why not, I guess." He responds while stepping to the side to allow Leona in.

Leona pulls up a chair to the table in front of the lounge couch and starts setting up the board as the Prefect rushes to the kitchen for refreshments.

After coming back with water and snacks, the Prefect takes his place on the couch in front of the white pieces leaving Leona with the black.

"Myeh! So how does this 'Chess' thing work, anyway?" Grim asks while hopping up beside the Prefect and shoving chips in his face.

*crunch*

"Well, both players take turns moving one of their colored pieces at a time across the board in an attempt to capture their opponent's king piece. And each piece has its own way of moving to account for," The Prefect answers while picking up one of his pawns and moving it forward one space, "For example, your pawn can usually only move one space up, down or to the side at a time."

"Mm." Leona adds, having already shifted into his focus mode and moving one of his pawns two spaces forward.

*crunch*

"Hey, wait! You just said the pawns can only move one space!" Grim complains between bites in that irritatingly shrill voice of his.

"Pawns can move forward two spaces when it's the first time you're movin' 'em. Next question." Leona explains bluntly while trying to refocus on the board.

"Yeah, what Leona said." The Prefect agrees before picking up his bishop and using it to capture Leona's first pawn, "Next is the bishop that can move as far as it wants, but only diagonally."

Tch, why did he move his pawn there?

*crunch*

The next few turns involve the moving of pawns, but, just when Leona had them lined up to leave the other man's bishop open to his queen, he quickly moves his bishop back to its original spot.

Is that so?

*crunch*

Moving another pawn forward to capture one of his opponent's, Leona then finds said pawn captured by the Prefect’s knight, "Next, we have the knight, which can only move in an L shape in any direction, but is the only piece that can jump over other pieces in its path."

"Whoa, that's cool!" Grim comments before shoving a whole pawful of chips into his mouth, making a loud crunch that makes Leona's ear twitch in annoyance.

"Herbivore, can ya get the furball outta here?" He says, slightly rubbing his temple while sending his rook out to capture the Prefect's rightmost pawn.

"Don't be mean, Leona. Grim's not hurting anyone." The Prefect responds before using his other knight to capture Leona's first rook.

With a slight smirk, Leona uses his other bishop to capture the knight that was left exposed.

*crunch*

The Prefect's eyebrow twitches and Leona notices the kind, calm gaze he'd held since his arrival lose its warmth, becoming more calculating.

Looks like the kid gloves just came off.

*crunch*

The Prefect moves his pawn.

*crunch*

Leona moves his other rook directly downwards.

*crunch*

The Prefect captures said rook with his other bishop.

*crunch*

Leona moves his queen into place--

*crunch*

The Prefect moves his pawn.

*crunch*

Leona uses his queen to capture the other bi--

*crunch*

The Prefect moves his--

*crunch*

Leona captures--

*crunch*

The Prefect moves--

*crunch*

Leona--

*CRUNCH*

Leona pounds his fist onto the table in great frustration at the unceasing sounds of that DISGRACE of a feline chomping away at his chips with no regard for the people trying to focus, "Will ya just can it, ya little runt?!"

"It wouldn’t kill you to be nice for once, you know! The game's almost over, so it doesn't matter much anyway." The Prefect protests, making Leona's eyes widen.

"What...?" He responds before quickly looking back at the board.

Wait.

What?!

Well into his side of the board stands a single white pawn, clear as day, which the Prefect moves into Leona's first rank, setting it up for promotion.

"Well, well. I think I'll be promoting my pawn to a queen." The Prefect says, his face a twisted mirror of the smirk the lion himself had worn not too long ago, "And I do believe that's more or less checkmate!"

Scanning the board again, Leona realizes what the other man means.

He'd never moved his original queen, which left her poised to shut down any attempts to retreat on Leona's part and even if he did escape at first, there's no outrunning two queens with so few pieces left on the board.

He's well and truly trapped.

Begrudgingly accepting his defeat, Leona sighs, "Fine. I surrender."

"Yay!" The Prefect pumps his fist in the air, looking very pleased with himself before reaching into the bowl of chips the little runt had been devouring, finding it empty, "Grim! You know it's rude to eat all of the food meant for everyone! Go to the kitchen and get some more for me and Leona."

The direbeast complies with a disgruntled look on his face as Leona goes over the match in his head to figure out what went wrong.

How did he let himself get cornered like that?

"It’s called 'Misdirection', dearest." The Prefect says smugly, no doubt after reading Leona's expression, "When you keep someone's attention on one thing while you're busy doing something else under their nose?"

"Ok, but when did ya 'misdirect' me, as you so eloquently put it?" Leona fires back, rapidly losing patience.

"Well, technically *I* didn't do anything beyond trusting in those powerful beastman ears of yours." He answers in a way that makes everything click in the lion's brain.

"You had the furball eat those chips so loud that it would distract me from the game?" Leona asks in slight disbelief.

"Yes and no. I really wasn't confident that I'd win on a completely level playing field, so when Grim jumped in, I thought I'd play along and see where it would go." He answers matter-of-factly.

Leona can't believe what he's hearing, "So you're tellin' me that you based your strategy around the whims of a CAT?"

"Isn't that a mark of a good leader, though?" The Prefect tilts his head, "Being able to improvise and pull through when things aren't going as planned, I mean.”

"Ya say that like it's some failsafe 'Get out of jail free' card." Leona says, slightly irritated, "Ya came up with some halfway decent plans in the past, but no amount'a 'improvising' would've saved ya if they went south."

"Wh– says the guy who fell for one of those 'halfway decent plans!'" The Prefect counters, hitting the scar in the lion's pride dead-on, "Look down on my strategies all you want, it doesn't change the fact that they worked!"

"Only because ya skated by on dumb luck!" Leona stands up from his chair, thoroughly offended, "At least I have the sense to not leave the crux of the plan up to chance and 'improvise' if it doesn't work!"

"Well, at least it's better than shutting down and giving up once something goes wrong like you did just now! Like you did at the Spelldrive tournament!!!" The Prefect stands up as well, unyielding to the lion's gaze.

"ARE YA CALLIN' ME A QUITTER, YA MAGICLESS NOBODY?!" Leona practically roars, shoving his forehead against the other man's, uncaring of personal space, but the Prefect stands his ground all the same.

"BETTER A MAGICLESS NOBODY THAN A COWARD PRINCE!!!" The Prefect yells while pushing back and maintaining eye contact.

"WHAT'D YA JUST SAY?!"

"YOU HEARD ME!!!"

"Hey, Henchman! Turns out that was the last of those chips, so I made popcorn instead--" Grim says as he walks in on what may well have turned into a fistfight, "U-uh, what're you guys doing...?"

The Prefect quickly breaks away and sits back down, taking a deep breath to calm himself, "Nothing, Grim. Just a little discussion between friends. Right, Leona?"

"...mm." Is his sole response before sitting back down with a huff as well.

“Are ya sure?? You guys looked like ya were ready to throttle each other!” Grim says while cautiously walking forward and placing the bowl of popcorn on the table.

“Don’t worry, Grim.” The Prefect reassures his companion with a headscratch, “We were talking about what strategies we might use for the next match, isn’t that right?”

‘The next match, huh?’ Leona thinks to himself, initially not interested, but eventually deciding to “see where it goes.”

This was his thought after the first match.

And the second.

And the third.

And the four-- oh, screw it. He's having fun.

He can't really explain why, but playing with the Prefect has caused a fog he didn't know was there to lift from his mind.

It's made Leona realize something he should've known from the start.

A pawn has no hope of becoming a king, but with time, effort and some luck, he supposes, it can still become a queen, which is more than enough to win the day.

"Checkmate.”

[sweetheartsaku]

HAIKYU!! various ; stupidthings4love

a/n: [gn!reader] HEY POOKIES!!!!!! hopefully u enjoy, working on smt new rn!! stay tuned moas!! on skibidi this was longer in my drafts (rip kuroo who was supposed to be here)

— characters : oikawa, akaashi, atsumu

impatiens !

tooru oikawa ; chit chat - beach weather

clings on to your arm like it's his last day on earth. he's like a damsel in distress!! obsessive gf this, obsessive bf that the o in obsessive is oikawa (I'M JOKING ILY OIKAWA POOKS)

⤷ "y/n-ie... be careful..." "hm? what is it handsome..." you utter softly, noticing his gentle tone. you feel a warm presence beside you. wrapped around your arm, was oikawa looking back at what seemed to be another group of fangirls. you giggle, and take your goodbye's with the friend you were talking to. "my fans might bite your arm off!!" "oikawa, don't be silly. the most they could do is throw me a cookie." "YEAH BUT STILL!!! its a COOKIE!!" you smiled to yourself, imagining a girl throwing a cookie at you and just landing on the floor. "i think i'll be okay." you take notice as he becomes the slightest bit more protective, dipping his hand into the palm of yours and looking back at you, chocolate eyes softened.

oikawa had just finished another game, and you'd usually wait for him to have his little small talk with his fangirls. you didn't really have a problem with it, you could trust him enough. he likes to think you know him better than he does, because you always know or can easily provide what he needs most at times! he really appreciates your trust but oftens questions if he's really doing the right thing. what if him talking to his fangirls made you think you weren't showing enough love to him? and that he valued his fangirls over you? or volleyball? or that girl that dumped him back in highschool because he was too absorbed in volleyb- "bae. are you good??" you raise an eyebrow with a smirk. "i love you." "oh-wow. okay thats sudden.

-i love you too, stupid."

strong believer of sharing literally EVERYTHING. you could be brushing your teeth and he's passed out in the tub or something. shares scarf, clothes, food, everything bro 😭💗

⤷ (timeskip!? i think hehe) finally!! a break from volleyball. who knew THE oikawa tooru would be saying that? the brunette thinks to himself. an argentinian, professional volleyball player. saying that, at his vacay in new york city, with the love of his life. but, its not time to be thinking hard right now. to get the most immaculate and full experience of NYC, was obviously booking first class plane tickets, on the dates that peaked in illuminating the refreshing season of NYC's autumn. there is no volley game in the entire world he would ever trade for this ethereal moment, walking down the streets of new york's bustling hustle, hand in hand, matching diamond rings clinking together. a warm, beige plaid scarf enveloping the both of you. "don't want us getting chilly, huh?" he says, wrapping the scarf around you both.

keiji akaashi ; the adults are talking - the strokes

always lets you win board or card games. situations where he's literally bound to win, he will NOT let you lose. he just wants to see you smile. might hide one of your letters in bananagram, grab an extra card in uno, easy bargain-er in monopoly, adding a piece back on the chess board... if he isn't akaashi ion want him 😊

⤷ it's a late night at the coffee table, akaashi has just finished his shower to sit down for a game of chess with a cup of tea. he could clearly read how slightly more excited you've been to sit down and relax with your fiancé after a long week. he found it the sweetest thing on earth, and he'd never trade it for the world. he loved to see you smile, so why not make you smile now? he thought, hiding his grin through the tension between his fingertips and his king he was about to sacrifice.

"keiji." "yes, love?" "you are very silly." you whisper and lightly giggle, moving your bishop to gently kill your fiancé's king, winning the game. an unconscious, pearly smile plays onto your lips (only he could see, despite the numerous times he's reassured her that it's quite charming).

there's truly nothing he'd want to see more than that.

strong believer of sidewalk rule. don't worry bae y/n will not die nor disappear if you take your eyes off them for like 2 seconds

⤷ his thumb gently rubs your knuckle as you walk down the bustling late night city street, lights of restaurants and streetlamps illuminate all of his features. the bridge of his nose, the dark gunmetal green of his eyes, and the apple of his cheekbones. every single feature that shaped the beautiful boy who had put the ring on your finger. tying your laces, putting your jewellery on, and keeping up with the infamous sidewalk rule. little habits he's built since high school, not because he is expected to do so, but because it all comes naturally when it comes to you.

till suddenly, you feel a squeeze on your warm hand, signalling the usual. the switch of places on the concrete. you instinctually react, akaashi discreetly walking on the side near the moving cars. the little things that aren't so little for you, but the little sparks that keep the warmness in your heart kindled.

atsumu miya ; boyfriend (with social house) - ariana grande, social house

always steals your flippin' last bite. it's so annoying, he knows it, and likes it. while you're not looking, he WILL the last bite of your food or a sip of your favourite drink.

⤷ after a long day at work for you, and a long day of training for atsumu, you both comfortably sit in silence at onigiri miya. the faint noises of clutter and cleaning fill the silence, along with boyfriend by ariana grande and social house, playing over the speaker softly. onigiri miya's open sign had just turned around, and the warm light of the hanging sign outside flickers off. osamu effortlessly places the tray of warm onigiri in front of you two, and a shared smile laces upon your faces.

"thank you!!" you and atsumu chirp in unison, osamu acknowledges your gratitude, and discreetly smiles to himself as he prepares to clean up the kitchen. you both each take one onigiri, automatically knowing who prefers which type of onigiri (atsumu's is the cold tuna, yours can be what you prefer ♡ mine is tuna as well hehe). digging in, suddenly there was only one bite of yours left. mouth still full, you suddenly can't remember if you kept the receipt of your failed custom mug you had purchased the other day. it makes you wonder, then your curiosity takes over you before you could take the last bite of your onigiri! you glace and search into your bag, hand still holding a chunk of onigiri. you sigh of relief, noticing you had kept your receipt! but... something is missing.

your last bite of onigiri.

but, in his so called 𝓅𝓊𝓇𝑒 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒾𝓃𝓃𝑜𝒸𝑒𝓃𝓉 𝓀𝒾𝓃𝒹𝓃𝑒𝓈𝓈 he will let you have the first bite of his favourite food.

⤷ "aYE! 'tsumu!" you playfully hit his shoulder, as he has an absolute giggle attack. to him, it's like there was genuine fury and fire coming out of your eyes and he found it the most hilarious thing ever LMAO. (but for me personally, i wouldn't take that.) "i wilL ACTUALLY DELETE YOUR FIFA ACCOUNT IF YOU KEEP THIS UP." "oKAYOKAYOKAY!!! i'm sorry i'm sorry i'm sorry pf-" he says as he is STILL having his giggle fit. obviously, the correct reaction is to look away and cross your arms. you do exactly that, and he realises what he's done (caused the next war). he suddenly gets a little touchier, and says "dear y/n-ieee... i promise to give you the first bite of the next food we eat, m'kayyy? from the pure, and innocent kindness of my heart!" he chimes. interrupted by a genuine, heartfelt shout of,

"oh shut yer' trap!"

"SAMU!"

[rorja]

˗ˏˋ TAKE ME TO THE LAKE WHERE ALL THE POETS WENT TO DIE ─── g. suguru

🪷 synopsis. all suguru wanted was brief moment of silence, a lone moment to take a deep breath without thinking ─── but the blood on his hands failed to grant him much. | knight!suguru x water nymph!reader.

🪷 warnings. 18+. major character death, angst. mention of blood, description of blood, suguru is utterly exhausted, just as suggested by the title, reader does not talk a lot, mentions of death and war. really angsty overall.

ᥫ᭡. notes ; it’s here, it’s the 27th june!! since my birthday is here i wanted to share this little piece with you :33…. hope you enjoy it! as always, i’ll proofread it as soon as i wake up <3 🐣

KNIGHT!SUGURU who finds the lake after a difficult night where most of the king’s men found their ruination. it happens under a full moon, deep inside the forest where he sought refuge in— away from the enemies with a sacred text in their left hand and a crimson stained spear in their right one. on the night where half side of the moon is hidden by darkness and the other half is as luminous as ever, his only guide in this shadowy realm, his only hope for another night of salvation.

KNIGHT!SUGURU who fall on his heavy limbs once he spots the lake lying at the center of the forest, its water kissed avidly by the moonlight and painting its ripples in silver and stardust. the lily pads are in bloom, of pearly white and the softest shade of pink, adorning almost every corner of the stretched and lively body of water. the moon, its lover, reflecting on it as beautifully as ever, quelling his racing thoughts: for the very first time that night, suguru acknowledges the fatigue sitting heavy on his bones.

KNIGHT!SUGURU focused, with what is left of his limited strength, on removing each and every single piece of metal that hangs on his body the same way a noose would around his neck— death’s embrace weighting the same way inside that armor of his, bloodied and twisted like the first time he’d worn it a long time ago. it’s a mark, a heavy reminder of the loss of his humanity for he is now reduced to a mere toll to fight useless battles in other people’s stead. so, when even the littlest piece of iron has found a temporary grave on the dirt, and suguru feels the crispness of the night dancing in his lungs again, it’s in that moment that he lets his emotions out. whispered freely to the lake, the only one listening to his grieving heart.

KNIGHT!SUGURU that is consumed by devotion and duty, honored from the crowds but crumbling on the inside; his soul a castle, a fortress, now victim of the many enemies around it. falling brick after brick, stone after stone until all his walls and the hinges of his doors grow too old to resist the perpetrator’s kicks and punches. what once avidly protected people and made them feel safe, now left to dust and ready to meet its end in a fire. it’s only a miracle, no matter how suguru views it, that he found this place to rest for the night. perhaps the moon took pity on this shadow of a man? or perhaps it was the goddess of luck, toying with his fate the same way the king does from the height of his throne? it doesn’t matter, not anymore, for the sun will rise again and his soul will die a little more.

KNIGHT!SUGURU whose lips part in a pained frown once he dampens his wounds with the lake’s water. it’s a slow process and it takes whatever it’s left of his consciousness washing away from his skin all the blood offered in a single night. scrub, scrub, scrub away all that is left of muted goodbyes and veiled despair that would be uncovered under the scorching sun. men take pride in dying for their country, suguru is convinced it is now a lie: they were the finest of chess pieces, moved on whims and tantrums by greedy beings who never cared about their wellbeing. men die for protecting women and children (of that, suguru is certain— he’s one of them, after all) and not to slaughter them when a monarch cries for a bigger playground. a hiss, and his lips part the slightest— he realizes he is poisoning the lake with a new river of blood.

KNIGHT!SUGURU who catches a glimpse of light moving abnormally between the lily pads. it’s quick, causing some waves to reach the shore and petals to dance as if moved by a nightly breeze, but the winds have gone to rest too, away from that tranquil heart of the forest. but suguru is tired, his legs wounded and aching and he isn’t scared of death— whether it decides to suddenly appear or letting him live enough to see tomorrow’s sunrise.

KNIGHT!SUGURU who doesn’t flinch away when the water decides to cling onto your form, rising from the depths of that lake you call home and revealing yourself. your eyes caught the way his lips part, how his eyes narrows suspiciously— but you do not comment on it, merely getting closer to the shore and starting to mend his deep wounds. he carried the sour taste of desperation, polluting your home, disrupting your sleep… and yet, all that you can do is keep his whispers somewhere close to your heart and offer your ears to him. for you don’t carry every answer to his questions, nor any guidance to the doubts fogging his fate, but you can listen and offer your home as a place where he can always return to rest.

KNIGHT!SUGURU who comes back the next night, covered once again in crimson, half belonging to him and the other to all the companions he lost few meadows down. a little close to the forest than the castles on each side of the infinite land. he comes back the night after, and the one after that, and suddenly he becomes a constant presence in that lone lake. you notice that he always sits in the only corner where the lily pads do not grow and where the fishes do not come near, moonshine impossible to reach because of some branches. you do not say anything, you never do— silently offering to wash away the blood staining his hands and the dirt under his nails, making of them a distant memory. so, at least, until the next sunrise because you know war is nothing more than a ferocious river that takes, takes and takes. and somewhere along the way you find yourself growing as restless; how many moons until suguru’s life will find itself trapped in that endless stream?

Suguru was tired.

It was a weight that he’d grown accustomed to over the years, a horrible thing that has always been present and that built its throne somewhere between his shoulders and ribs. It’s always been there, so it shouldn’t have mattered, but as of lately it grew and grew and suddenly Suguru couldn’t stand still on his feet anymore.

A snakelike thing it was, slithering its way down his bones and then his limbs, biting with no remorse nor any hesitation. And suddenly the armor weighed much more than the first time he wore it.

Could it have been the stains of dried blood of all the companions he fought with? All of those he considered friends, now a indistinguishable pile of empty shells waiting to either be buried or burned? Where were they— they started in many, now left in less fortunate numbers and manners. Outweighed by the endless streams of men that came from the other side of the land, flocking and carrying the sacred words of their gods.

All lies. No god would ever incite his sons in battles as such, putting a brother against another to carry out a sick and twisted game of power and politics concerning few, nameless people that could be counted in a single hand. Was it worthy, he always questioned at the first rays of sunset, was it worthy the lives of many to conquer another piece of land? With all the blood drying into the battlefield, Suguru merely thought that it was not, for no fruits would grow where a man found his uneasy rest.

His legs ached, more so than any other night. And his body failed to carry the weight of the armor— too oppressive, too important on his now frail body to bear. Where the air failed to meet his face, and for a moment he almost believed he forgot how to breathe. It was useless, all of that iron and whatsoever blacksmiths used to forge it.

When he left the helmet to fall, Suguru felt a little bit of relief in his chest. And so, piece by piece, like a ever crumbling fortress, he peeled off what had been a sort of second skin for all those years feeling neither pity or gratitude in his gesture.

The end of an act and the start of another.

It took longer to reach the lake, perhaps longer than any other night and he realized that once he saw the restless waves dying on the shore. He felt bad knowing, as of lately, that every smallest change was the fruit of your own emotions— and he wondered if his tardiness made you feel a tiny bit of the despair he grew used to feel in his chest every waking hour.

Were you scared he wouldn’t come back? That he died like his companions on that gruesome battlefield? That he would leave you without a proper goodbye?

At that his lips eased in a gentle smile, a chilly breeze grazing his exposed forearms by the many cuts on his humble shirt. His boots stepped on a twig and it easily caught your attention— were you scared of the monster he’d been forced to become?

You stilled. Roaming, widened eyes taking in the severe conditions Suguru was in and you found yourself quickly wondering how he could’ve managed to walk up to the lake in that miserable state. It was admirable, in the worst kind ever known to mankind.

He didn’t seem to care, uttering your name in a fond farewell before falling to his knees. The murky waters of the lake dampening the cutted fabric of his pants— and for once you didn’t waste time in cradling lovingly his head on your lap.

It made you sick, how peaceful Suguru looked in his last moments. How the water washed from his body all of that grim stains to leave tearful kisses on his bare skin. How the lily pads framed his body, granting him a blanket in his grand and deserved finale.

His eyes never once left the stars in the sky.

You moved your head, to grant him a better view, and he raised a weak hand to bring you close. That was another silent promise between the two of you: when you strayed away from him, his hands would always guide you back to him. Home. Suguru found a home in you wherein you accepted him in yours— and surely it took a little time before finding a suitable rhythm for the relationship to blossom, but there was a suguru-shaped void now where he usually sat and some of the lily pads were growing too weak and old to bloom next spring. It brought you to tears realizing that he would never come back to fill the gaps he once cut for himself and that he was now leaving behind.

“I want to look at you…”

Because Suguru was leaving after all. Stone after stone, the walls of his fortress had eventually collapsed; leaving him open and vulnerable for anyone to steal and destroy. The white flag has been weaved and of all the people he tried to protect there was none left.

“Bless me a little more with your love.”

Suguru closed his eyes soon after, a smile coloring his face for the last time. His hand limp on the bed of lily pads— and you hated it. Hated how he finally looked peaceful, as if he made amends with his past in the dephts of the constellations reflecting in your eyes.

You hated it so much— for that very reason you left the lake bury it in its dephts, somewhere between your love and your endless sorrow.

©RORJAN — dividers credits: @/strangergraphics , @/firefly-graphics and @/rorjan.

[iamthekaijuking]

Gigabash character overview: Skorak

One kaiju archetype that could be used when Passion Republic Games was developing Gigabash was that of a gross and/or ominous evil overlord. So they took advantage of that and created Skorak!

The rest of the characters have reveal trailers so I’ll be using them instead of renders.

Skorak is a character that demands strategy and skill in order to play well. He has a gimmick revolving around his shell (which is actually the skull of another kaiju he’s killed but we’ll get to that). He can send out his shell out to track down opponents, throw it as a projectile, use it as a bomb, use it to pull off two pronged attacks, and just generally use it as a sort of “chess piece” on the battlefield. Not having his shell equipped lightens him and lets him move faster and makes some of his attacks last longer, but it comes at a cost. Without his shell he can’t block attacks or use a defensive move, so in order to play Skorak well you’ll have to remain aware of where your shell is, it’s position relative to you and your opponent, and when it’s advantageous to have it equipped or unequipped. When Skorak was revealed it also caught the attention of a little someone called @bogleech.

Design

Given that Ultraman was a huge source of inspiration for Gigabash, it was probably inevitable that we’d get a Gastropod monster since the ultra franchise has produced a handful. Namegon from Ultra Q in particular was a massive source of inspiration for Skorak’s design.

However, Skorak is also described as an evil overlord, so it’s possible that he’s got some Gatanothor in him as well. Gatanothor would later appear in the game with the Ultraman character pack as Camearra’s ultimate.

Skorak has quite a bit of concept art as well! And for awhile PRG was debating giving him up to 4 heads.

Side note: Skorak’s talons erupt from his pupils.

I personally find Skorak really cute and he reminds me of the “Live slug reaction” meme.

Lore

Skoraks home turf is Tarabak island (the name itself a reference to the snail kaiju Taraban from Ultraman Tiga), which is Gigabash’s stand in for Skull Island; an island overflowing with monsters and kaiju much to the dismay of the native humans. Much like Skull Island, Tarabak has an in universe book written in the early 1900’s called The Lost World of Tarabak detailing the adventures of a man named Petyr Faust in his crew. However, the content was so radical and unbelievable that it was labeled as a fictional story, and this wouldn’t be corrected until the 70’s during the first kaiju crisis.

The natives of Tarabak Island lived in fear for centuries as no place was safe from the rampaging monsters. Eventually though, one day a kaiju came along that curb stomped any other monster and quickly became the “king”. The natives worshipped this kaiju for protection, and under his watch they developed quite an advanced civilization. Entire cities of stone and gold were constructed, and a dam was built to control water flow for agriculture. They even had a legislative and court system! For nearly a century things went well and the people prospered, but this protection came at a cost, which I’ll cover two entries from now when we take a look at this “dragon king”. For some people this cost was too great a price to be tolerated, and so one day these displeased people performed a dark ritual where they spilled their own blood and the offerings meant for their king. Their prayers were answered in the form of a poisonous sludge. These rebels filled their offerings with this sludge and when they fed these offerings to their king he fell sick as Skorak devoured him from the inside before bursting out and taking his skull as a trophy.

That sludge was actually eggs, and this means that Skorak is a parasitoid kaiju slug that wears the remains of its first meal as protection, which is metal as hell. Also, I know Gigabash is a doofy kaiju party game, but the anatomist in me is very unhappy with the skull Skorak wears.

The resulting civil war would destroy the once great civilization of Tarabak and the population would splinter into three factions that constantly vie for control over the island, with Skorak’s followers becoming a cult known as the Eyes Of Skorak.

While the cult’s activities are mostly on the Island of Tarabak, the religion is known amongst occultist circles. In order to be initiated into the Eyes of Skorak you have to be injected with his venom. Those who survive, IF they survive, gain a telepathic connection to the kaiju and other cult members. Hence the name “Eyes of Skorak”.

Sadly Skorak and the rest of the game’s roster don’t have story modes as any more beyond the initial four were too resource taxing on the small indi studio of Passion Republic Games. Skorak does appear in all the other story modes sans Pipijuras’s as an opponent though. In Woolley’s in particular the native Yeti herd of Tarabak are seen celebrating his defeat, and given that Skorak lives for the hunt and consumption of other kaiju, it’s likely that he was routinely eating the poor Yetis.

In summary: Skorak is the coolest gastropod kaiju I know and any who disagree are unworthy of his blessings!

[mothmanssweetsucculentass]

Ellen Joe Headcanons

I can’t help it I love this shark girl

Like I stated in my previous ZZZ headcanon post, Ellen meets a lot of shark character stereotypes, including having a love for seafood, needing to be constantly fidgeting/moving, and going apeshit around blood or enemies who struggle

After that one incident where she almost attacked Corin after the poor girl cut her hand on her own sawblade by accident, Lycaon has had to keep an eye on her and make sure during missions from clients that she doesn’t jeopardize the objective due to her uncontrollable thiren instincts

She doesn’t actually care for the taste of blood, but whenever it’s spilled, her instincts go into overdrive and she has to sink her teeth into whatever’s bleeding

She likes fighting and doing combat missions for Victoria Housekeeping Co because of how often she gets to go bonkers on things that put up a fight

Too much movement in one area really stresses her out though. It overloads her sense of smell and makes her feel dizzy and overwhelmed

Obviously has an incredible sense of smell. How else would she be able to tell if you’re hiding candy from her?

I’m making it canon she owns at least 4 Blahaj

Like??? In official media about her they show that she has shark themed items like the blanket from that one video, of course she’s gonna have shark plushies

Despite being a very perceptive person she’s oblivious to the fact Corin has a crush on her

Corin thinks Ellen is playing 4D chess with her emotions but nope Ellen genuinely has no clue Corin has mental breakdowns over how hard she’s crushing on Ellen

Ellen is nonchalant around everyone but usually talks to Corin about stuff in her personal life that’s bothering her, like school stuff or friend drama

Ellen is the exact opposite around Rina. Ellen’s smart enough to know how manipulative and nosy Rina can be, and how any information can be used against her, so she’s pretty curt and tight lipped around the creepy esper lady

Ellen doesn’t really see Lycaon as anything but her superior, but it doesn’t mean she doesn’t respect him. Usually it’s in her own way, though. Like, Ellen probably doesn’t take orders from him super well, but she’d be damned if she let anyone in Victoria Housekeeping go down first in battle. What she lacks in obedience she makes up for in loyalty tenfold

He’s also the one that provided her her massive shears, outfitted with the same ice technology his boots run on

Before being gifted the shears, Ellen’s weapon of choice was a pretty standard sword

Besides the massive tail and sharp teeth, Ellen also has gills running along her ribs just below her breasts

She’s like, the only one who knows about it though cause no one has seen her shirtless before.

When she’s at the beach or pool with friends she wears one piece suits

She can breathe underwater, but chooses not to most of the time because it’s either chlorinated (stings), or too polluted/muddy (makes her cough a lot)

Is good at holding her breath regardless

Besides the tattoos on her tail, she has a tattoo of a dorsal fin on her back, and a small tattoo of ocean waves with a little shark fin poking out on her right ankle

Has a very high pain tolerance

Has a very low bullshit tolerance

Once when running a solo escort mission through a hollow, her shears were knocked out of her hands and fell down a chasm. Her backup weapon? Her actual goddamn teeth

Like she’s a shark she’s gonna bite and she bites HARD

Has an impressive bite force, can chew through a ton of soft metals and most fabrics

She’s tried chewlery before but unfortunately no matter what kind she buys she always shreds it within a week

LOVES jawbreakers and other insanely hard candy

The fastest way to win her trust is to gift her candy, especially hard candies, as evident in the Victoria Housekeeping story quest

While she heavily prefers hard candies she also loves gummies. Yeah especially the shark ones

Her tail is pure thick muscle btw. Being smacked with that thing feels like being whacked by one of those punching bags that’s heavily weighted

She’s not always cognizant of where or how she’s moving it too, so it’s better to steer clear from walking behind her

That thing is the entire length of Xiao Genshin and also half of her entire body weight, no wonder the girl keeps having energy crashes, she’s carrying that thing around

The bite mark on her tail is unfortunately self inflicted. Years ago she got stuck in a hollow for over a week and grew desperate for food. Soon after having to do that to herself, she was rescued

Used to have chewing on her nails and cheek as a nervous stim but now has better outlets for fidgets and chew stims

Sure, chewlery didn’t work, but no one’s stopped her from making her own out of scrap metal. It gets the job done surprisingly well. She’s even gotten somewhat good at biting metal into fun shapes

Corin made a joke about it once about how Ellen could totally sell the bitten shapes and Ellen genuinely offered to make her one of her bear

Corin stores all her favorite trinkets in a box under her bed. So far the only things in there are the button eyes from her oldest stuffed animal project, and the bent, bite mark ridden metal piece shaped like a teddy bear

Ellen isn’t an impatient person, but she heavily values her free time, which is why if you idle in the game for too long she gets pissed

She totally suffers from a thing called Sharkolepsy and totally doesn’t use it as an excuse to get out of work or school sometimes

[silviakundera]

Oooh I like duke su from the show but the one from the novel sounds so much more interesting tbh I love a morally grey character with his own goals who doesn't give a f*ck what the lead is trying to do but has their own agenda and it's a much slower burn. Though with how Chinese dramas operate these days it's no wonder they made him like the FL and start helping her extremely early I don't think they know or even can with how netizens are write anything else.

Though I too love novel Su guogong, I think we're in a real quandary for the adaption.

The censors won't let him be characterized as black as the novel version AND be allowed to survive (see: Eternal Brotherhood where we can have a main character who is a dark schemer with blood on his hands that adores his wife -- only because he's doomed, doomed, doomed!) Boooooo!!! I do not agree that this softening was required for this work nor Story of Kunning Palace. Grr!!

But the change to make the FL and ML interact much more and work together in the 1st half, rather than him observing coldly and uncaring about her life or death -- imo that's a quandary about different mediums and how the audience reacts to them.

I wrote a lil meta post previously about the live action adaption of MDZS and why imo the production was forced to change the WWX and LWJ backstory. Once they decided on a linear storyline, imo the otp had to eventually be friends in his first life with a mutually acknowledged bond. The audience simply CANNOT be asked to wade through 20+ hours of episodes before LWJ as love interest isn't repeatedly rejecting the protagonist. 25 episodes and weeks in real-time of him being only cold & standoffish is too much for most viewers. When consuming the novel, the reader both won't have that stretched out real time delay until the couple are on the same page. And it won't take them 20 hours of reading to get there.

Things hit different for a crafted romance on page than performed live on screen for a 40-50 episode drama.

I can still see the adaption's struggle with this. Su suogong is truly a minor character in the novel and frankly not an active participant in most of the problem > scheme > resolution sub-arcs. He has this whole other full life of his own separate interests happening..... somewhere else. The novel mostly leaves his weekly activities as a black box, an obscured mystery. Drama boy is out there somewhere moving his chess pieces & murdering people for power but the reader often just sees glimpses of him ominously sipping his tea & ordering his minions around. In order raise him to a main, the drama is forced to make him involve himself in the play much earlier - to give him a reason to be on screen that is fully tied in with the main plot & its themes. He has to care about FL by the 9th hour in, and want to support her.... or give up ML status to Ye Shijie. 🤷

We can see the strain of this as 3 episodes may happen and all the screenwriter can do is have Su guogong show up for 5 minutes just to flirt a little and remind viewers he's alive 😂😂 but that's what you gotta do with 40 episodes tbh. I can't disgree that this is a more enjoyable viewing experience.

[st6rly]

you can run but you can’t hide.

SYNOPSIS: i’m gonna make you mine (or in other words, a game of chess with ayato.) | word count: 0.7k

characters: ayato x gn!reader

categories: fluff, ig slight angst, scenario

warnings: the banter could be considered slightly suggestive?? chess terminology that may be inaccurate, threats of violence as a joke, one swear, ayato is a little bit of an ass (read my notes!)

notes: title is from a song, not someone’s elemental burst btw. forever a hater of the fact that hoyo boiled down ayato’s personality to liking boba, being ayaka’s brother + head commissioner, and politeness. we’re giving him banter and snark bc i said so /hj

surprise @aquatik !! i’m your secret santa >:DD im a little rusty when it comes to writing TwT and this fic style is kind of different from my usual so!! i hope you enjoy this fic & my interpretation of him heh. and have a happy holiday!!

You wanted to strangle him.

Tension was laced through the air, a fine weaving of intricate ribbon that wrapped around your shoulders and settled softly, but not unnoticeably. A featherlight weight that demanded acknowledgement. The white knight in front of you was mocking, horse head positioned carefully to swipe your bishop with no way of getting out of it. 

Ayato watched on in glee. A delicate smirk laid out on his refined face.  

With a sigh, you continued to mull over your painstaking next move. His pieces had begun to dominate your side of the board with a few of yours off to the side by his arm. Ayato laced his fingers together, rested his chin on the back of his hands, and huffed in amusement. 

“If you keep staring at me like that, I’m just not going to take my turn,” you remarked with a  scowl, glaring at him from across the table. He cocked his head, expression not wavering. 

“Like what?” 

“Like you’ve already won,” you stated, looking back down at the pieces still on the board, “like you’ve already beat me before this is even over.” 

“But,” a gloved finger came to rest on his chin as he cheerfully quipped back, “haven't I?” 

“This game is not over until one of us officially knocks down the opponent’s king.” You moved a pawn. D5. 

“Are you sure?” White pawn C4. 

“Positive.” Your pawn to C4. Queen’s Gambit accepted. His piece sat off the board to your right. 

“You know.” His knight took your bishop; your queen took his knight. “I have told you that I was a master at this, darling.” 

“Master at what?” You opened up your last bishop. “Running your mouth?” A flimsy checkmate was secured. 

Ayato laughed, a hearty sound that came from deep in his chest and frothed in his throat when it reached the top. 

“It’s wonderful playing with you, my love, you know that?” 

“No,” you felt the beginnings of a smile appear as you spoke, “I don’t. Please tell me more.” 

His queen was gone but so were both of your knights. Yet he still grinned.

“Oops.” Rooks cornered your king despite the placement of your queen, effectively pushing the useless royal to the corner. Ayato smiled, eyes closed as he folded his hands neatly in his lap.

“Checkmate.” 

You scoured the board, looking for a brief slip up on his end, for any open area, before sighing, “Good game, love.” 

“An excellent one indeed.” His eyes alight with mirth and tease foretold what he was about to say next. “Although, maybe practicing with someone more of your caliber may do you some good.”

The small kingdom shook and chess pieces fell, rooks and queens rolling off the table as both kings toppled. 

Slammed in the centre, a crater in the checkered pattern, was your hand. Chair shoved back, you had abruptly stood and scraped the furniture against dark wood. Ayato raised his sight up a slight amount, cheekiness in his giggles while you glowered back. He stood, gaze locked with yours as he leaned in. 

Before a single new word could fall from his lips, you had pulled him by the soft material of his robe, fabric melting under your touch. 

“I was trying to be nice,” you grumbled. From outer eyes, anyone could have mistaken it for utter hatred. Between the two of you, the venom was neutral; Ayato wouldn’t find real malice behind the things you said. 

“As was I.” 

“I fear for the officials you meet on a daily basis if this is your ‘nice’.” 

His smile fell, not from his face or in the way those games that laid about on the floor, but into something softer; warm and homey. He placed a hand over the one clutched to his clothing. 

“It’s a good thing it’s the holiday season then, isn’t it?” He bumped his forehead against yours over the table, position awkward yet he made do. “Means I’m all yours.” 

You faked annoyance, a roll of the eyes followed by a scoff, but the smile that threatened to split your face said it all. 

“Oh poor me. However will I manage?” You replied before tugging and locking your lips with his. 

[beaulesbian]

Something that came to my mind because of the chessboard Strawhat cover:

I mentioned before the Strawhat's relations to demons/hell/monsters and their symbolism of being in opposition to gods/heaven, but this time it's interesting how multiple Strawhats already have a title somehow related to rule or ruling pieces - but it's always a little bit twisted, that trope is a bit flipped upside down.

Obviously Luffy will become the King of the Pirates, (but even Big Mom in one of the Wano flashbacks mentioned she would become the King of the Pirates - not a queen, so this particular title is probably always King.)

Luffy just wants to be that, and not rule in the typical sense of the word, or how their world understands that title.

Then we have Zoro and his King of Hell title. (I think that's pretty self explanatory and i've talked about him before probably the most. (also smth smth, becoming the King for Luffy's and his dreams.))

Now we have Nami as the Queen on the strawhats chess board. Queen, which is the deadliest and a very important figure in chess (beside the King - and even there Oda broke the rules again - saying the 'King is the fighting piece', which usually it is not as much.) She's their navigator and the symbol of what they need to protect and how they let her move to attack in the best formations, in the most strategic moves.

We have SogeKing, who is a veeeery similar to the character of Usopp, practically the same guy. (Even on the chessboard he's with bow & arrow as the SniperKing.)

We have Soul King Brook. King of absolute slaying with his music!

We have Jimbei First son of the Sea, which sound like important (ruling) title as well.

With Sanji I don't really want to point at his family - the connection as Prince of Germa Kingdom connection, because he renounced that, but

-he did call himself a Prince all the way in Alabasta. So, prince he is, self appointed, in whatever sense he means it. (And something very fun is how he trained under Emporio Ivankov, and beat Queen in Wano, both who are also interesting characters in the case of breaking the stereotypical gender of those titles/names).

Nico Robin has one of the epithets 'Light of the Revolution', which I find beautiful. She's illuminating their journey with her knowledge, and at the same time her connections with the Revolutionary Army speaks about the breaking out of the typical roles as well.

(I couldn't think how it would be for Franky and Chopper, but they're kinda similar in the way they've altered their bodies. Franky building so much of his body, cyborg who had a dream to built the ship for the King of the Pirates; and Chopper, a reindeer with human knowledge of medicine to become the best doctor.)

Just to say that even when they're gathering these titles/names/positions, they're not meant in the generic sort of meaning. It's always looped around, broken out of the mold of how their (and ours) society views these roles. And that's what makes it their unique thing. Their way how they grasp their skills, the future and their dreams.