#or potentially even we could rp it

[pvffinsdaisies]

totally respect that, I wouldn't want to look back at my old work either, I mean, who really likes to think back to their past? especially fandom past😅😫 but tbh that fic wasn't so bad, it was short and sweet, very comforting for reading at night before bed💕 if you ever write another one, with updated headcanons, I would love to read it, I really like the brotherly bond between norway and Iceland❤️ and maybe you can throw in some scotnor too🫣

Aww, that’s really sweet of you, anon! 💕 I’m so glad you enjoyed what I wrote, this has absolutely made my entire night. It’s always so nice to hear that someone appreciates the work I put in, even if it was years ago ✨

Unfortunately though, I don’t think I will be writing another one, for multiple reasons really;

1. I don’t see Norway & Iceland as close as I used to do back then. When I wrote that fic, I was so in love with their dynamic as brothers, but as I’ve gotten older I’ve begin to think they’re not as close as I would’ve originally liked to imagine.

2. My view of sibling dynamics have changed. As a younger sister, I always wanted to be the support system that my sister was- and still is- to me. I think I was partially projecting in that fanfic. But now I’m older, I understand why it’s extremely rare for an older sibling to not lean upon a younger one as much. So, it would feel weird putting them in that situation again.

3. I just don’t really write, anymore 😅 the last fic I wrote was in 2022. I keep meaning to get back into it, I’ve had so many different fanfic ideas that have been tossed and will never see the light of day.

But ultimately, if I were to write a new one, either Norway would lean upon Sweden in his time of need instead, or it would be Iceland having the panic attack and Norway helping them out instead. Very sorry to disappoint you, anon. 💕

[age-of-moonknight]

After Midnight. Marvel Superheroes: Official Game Adventure (Vol. 1/1990), pg. 29.

Designer: Anthony Herring; Editor: Mike Breault; Illustrator: John Statema

[kitpine]

So do you wanna kissy kiss Ramona Flowers orrrrrrrrr

I-

I don't have to answer that! You literally cannot make me.

[ranticore]

thinking about characters fursonas is always more fun to me than directly anthro-ifying them because it's not just a question of "what animal would they be" since before you can even ask that you have to figure out how they would pick a fursona, and i almost feel like that says more about a character than what animal they choose.

like. would they want an animal that represents their ideal self? something that represents how they see themself to be currently? and how well does that perception match up with these actual reality? or would they pick based on something less complicated like "favorite animal"/"movie character they liked”.

all that leadup to ask, how do you think your mvf guys would pick their fursonas?

💯💯💯 literally it's one of the most fun characterisation exercises you can do, it tells you SO much about them, how they view themselves, what they want others to think of them and so on. all that good stuff. and then you get to delve into furry subcultures, influential artists etc

so on to the actual fursoneys themselves

Jean-Baptiste - aforementioned hummingbird with a suit from idk clockworkcreature or something. the subculture/art style is realistic but very humanised, basically a bird head on a feathery human body, no wing-hands, with a Georgian style of dress (potentially with steampunk elements) and named after a famous scientist from the period. He would not be an artist, but he would be one of those ppl who's a bigtime engineer making huge money who invests heavily in commissions of art (usually traditional media like oils, colouring pencil, etc) and writing about this character, who is a kind of inventor/old-timey scientist with a highly detailed backstory and canon setting. He chose the hummingbird because it's beautiful, precise, and tenacious, and also just because he likes the 'rare fursona species' aura. He has VERY strong negative view on poodling (when someone wears a partial fursuit with their skin showing) and has been posting to the same old rp forum for the past 20 years. Rude and bitchy but one of those guys who always pays well and tips for commissions because money is no object. an important part of the economy

Bowman - exactly the opposite to everything above. His fursona is a retriever-ish dog called Dog or Mutt or something with a single-colour palette and the art style is new school big toothy grin etc. fursona exclusively wears board shorts. He draws at a beginner level and he's obviously having a blast with it. The muscles are very detailed (so's the bulge) & the art is clearly bara influenced, especially around the eyes. He wouldn't have any interest in suiting i don't think but you will find him at the furry rave in a neoprene harness. He wouldn't have much money to commission with and his twitter feed would be mostly reposts of other people's art (without permission)

Islin - ok you know that one genre of art style used exclusively by dragon furries where it's got realistic scale textures, backgrounds, and the ref sheets are usually incredibly detailed and the dragons in their anthro forms are always absurdly ripped. He can draw this, i know it in my heart. The design is pretty generic western dragon, all things considered, I don't think he has the imagination for more (sorry). Character's name is something appropriately fantasy-ish like Xyrgoryx. He could definitely take commissions as a side hustle but as a perfectionist and professional worrier it would overwhelm him easily. You would probably not find him at a convention at all, I'd say such spaces do not appeal to him. He's been on Furcadia tho.

Félix - generic twinky fox in a thin-lines washboard abs disney-inspired art style with an absurdly deep backstory which we never get to see because the character is only ever drawn being railed. He can draw but more importantly he knows how to take the commissioner's money and run, delete his account, and remake under a different username. Was able to afford a fullsuit from Made Fur You and that alone gave him enough clout to continually avoid allegations of past misbehaviour. Every so often someone goes "hey isn't that a known scammer" when they see him at a con but it never sticks. Later he would get cancelled immediately for saying he "didn't care about" right-wing furries as long as their art was cute.

Senca - Almost certainly a feline-based original species or hybrid. The art style is very goldenwolf with spiritual/neopagan influences, mostly traditional media and ACEOs in oil pastel so it's got a kind of smudgy look. Her character has the same name as her and she considers it a 'truesona' of sorts. She's an established artist and well-respected but struggles to keep up with what Tha Youth are doing and her personal website has looked the same since the year 2006. She has a realistic partial suit but doesn't wear it much anymore, preferring to vend at the dealer's den instead. She always knows way too much gossip about any given person you could point out to her but she insists she isn't involved in what she'll delicately & vaguely refer to as 'drama'.

Léa - she was attracted by the promise of easy entry into a supportive and friendly readymade community and bought an expensive Closed Species design to be her fursona. She tried to participate in events but instead got sucked into a cesspit of petty warfare between her CS community and a very similar CS with design elements that may have been inspired by hers (after all, 'dog with kinda long pointy ears and a big fluffy tail' is VERY copyrightable). She goes along with it, afraid of losing her space in the panopticon discord community by voicing a dissenting opinion and it'll eat her up from the inside. until one day she wakes up and realises she paid €400 to gossip and participate in a group that bans you from adding horns to your fursona's head (a legendary trait restricted to the CS owner and their favourite sycophants) whose main form of bonding ritual seems to be reposting their enemies' art to mock it and colour-pick to prove the palettes were copied. She explains all this to Bowman in one big tearful rant on their first offline date at Eurofurence and he helps her get away from that community.

Helena - that was her copyrighted closed species. and she IS litigious about it.

Erica - it's a pine marten in a modern sketchy "just got an ipad and procreate" style, really cute, fun design, good coordinating outfit, honestly ticks all the boxes but then 5 days after he posts that awesome themed ref sheet he's got a brand NEW fursona and this time it's a cute lil jackdaw, again lovely design all around looks great but wait no in 5 days time it's a roe deer, no wait it's an otter, it's a gecko, it's a

Pascal - a sick as hell cartoony golden eagle with an electric guitar and sunglasses and you can imagine it airbrushed onto the side of a campervan because that's where it lives. he's strictly offline, doesn't know what a furry is, never been on twitter, but he is 100% certain in his heart that this bird is a true representation of himself

[odusseus-xvi]

So Etoiles was rping yesterday with BBH saying things like "We need to be careful, I like Forever but he might get manipulated or brainwashed, I don't trust this" etc... And immediatly people started jumping at his throat either saying "But Forever is NOT weak !!!! >:(" or "Ah ah you are just salty you losed, if you don't know how to lose just don't play the game." and Etoiles had to say himself afterwards "For f*ck's sake it is RP... It's annoying, if you don't have a big fanbase people will jump on you if your character doesn't worship their "main character". That's the problem with semi-rp, they think I'm actually mad." So that's a thing. But I also wanted to touch on something related :

It makes SENSE for q!Etoiles to see q!Forever as vulnerable or even weak. q!Etoiles is a warrior, he sees the strength in people through their courage, and physical prouess. Throughout the presidential process he showed everyone he wasn't afraid to put himself in danger : He fought hardcore dungeons, the codes multiple times and survived. He saw q!BadBoyHalo do similar things, but q!Forever stayed in his base doing his things, and q!Etoiles never got wind of what he was doing, so to him, he hid for the full campaign. Two things that probably didn't help in the last few days : When q!Cellbit called q!Etoiles for the lore dungeon, he came, but he also saw the minimal reactions q!Forever had when q!Cellbit went down, he saw as fear the fact q!Forever didn't come to help. And secondly when q!Forever proposed the competition, the last days, when q!Etoiles had only one life left, and moreso a competition that (in Etoiles' eyes) q!Forever made sure was unwinnable for q!Etoiles. Now that q!Forever is president, q!Etoiles is confused : HE showed his strength, HE showed he could protect everyone... But now he is worried, he doesn't know of q!Forever's actual strength, and this potentially weak person is now supposed to lead and protect everyone.

[wrenkenstein]

OC creation musings + Juno retrospective

I was rewatching this video by Rea, and it struck me that this exact phenomenon happened to me in 2022, with the first inklings of Juno's design - back when I couldn't decide on whether or not her name would be "Juno" or "Kite", and desperately trying not to make her a scientist. She's obviously come such a long way since then, having now become a very well-known character in the fandom, but I often think of the fact that had she not become on of my artistic passions, I probably wouldn't be anywhere near where I am today.

Juno is absolutely everything to me. She is a representative of my passion for storytelling, and she connected me with so many of my now closest friends - one of which is currently living in my house! How crazy is that, man! All of which I can attribute to simply becoming so fixated on my own OC that I couldn't stop thinking about her, or drawing her.

Of course, that's come with some highs and lows. She's getting a professionally done cosplay, a 3D model and potentially a Battlefront mod - but she also has her own dedicated group of haters who think she represents the 'wrongs' of fandom, lol. I certainly have recieved my fair share of 'Juno hate' in my 3-4 years here, but the positivity and support make it well worth dealing with a few rotten apples. It's radiant and outpouring, like a warm ray of sun, and it keeps me going deep into the night.

Anyways. Total tangent. Want to see all her design iterations? Yea you do ;) Here's the first ever Juno ref!

I made this on my phone in 2022, at the tale end of watching TCW and back when TBB was just one season. You can definitely see that the idea was always there, just a bit disjointed in its application. That gas mask on her helmet ended up causing a lot of confusion, so I removed it in later iterations - but to this day, I think this one picture is what really captivated me. Something about the aura, man,, she scary lookin

Then, of course, I had to draw what her face would look like - if it hadn't been for a RP, I don't think I would have.

Woah - she's like a whole different person! And you can see the beginnings of her white hair streak, though back then, I wanted i to be really subtle. And I was soooo adamant about this lol. She also was almost beat for beat Ellen Ripley, and you can see me paint over a picture of Sigourney below with her OG faceclaim haha.

Then we have the Juno-ing... part two. Where I went darker!! Both in themes, and in her color scheme. This one still has so much personality, and I remember being obsessed with how I drew her eyes and face back then. Nowadays, I think it's hideous. xD This was also around the time I was phasing out her gauntlets and oxygen mask, but both still remained for practicality purposes, even if they didn't serve anything to the design. Oh, and the hair streak. Now it's a Thing :tm: but it isn't really flowing well with the design - not yet, anyways!

We finally get to a point where I, begrudingly, accept the fact that her white streak is going to be her facial focal point - and at this point I'm laughing about how much I tried to avoid it LOL. But here, we also see her get more and more refined. Her face is still a bit wonky, but the stern vibe and posture are starting to come together and tell more of a concrete story, even if the reference doesn't have as much color or personality as the last one. I also did this one for my senior year of college!

I even designed her some totally BS civvies - and I gave her a s2 paint job, which admittedly looks hideous LMAOOO but we ball regardless. The second design was scrapped anyways almost immediately. The civvies stayed!

And then, of course, THE FINALE! Her face went through so many iterations with her current ref, but thus far, it's been the longest standing and most accurate one. It atually started out just as me goofing off with a marker pen in CSP, that quickly changed to "hey... this could be something good." And I was right! This is the Juno that's currently circulating today, and I've been polishing and refining her as I go, since I still feel as though I could perfect things.

And then, of course, her various outfits, which I posted about a while back. Oh - and have you seen Baby Juno?

Well now you have. :)

I think it's so cool to see how someone can fixate on a character and pour so much love and thought into them, that this character becomes their entire brand. Juno inhabits every part of my brain space and is what I think about 24/7. I'm so proud of how far she comes, and she reminds me about how incredible fandom can be and continues to be! Something about her is just so intoxicating to me. I can't get enough of her, and I can't wait to keep developing her over the years to come.

Which then begs the question - what is your equivalent to this entire thread? Do you have an OC like Juno, who you're fixated on and who dominates your creative pursuits? Do they have multiple artistic iterations? Because if you do, share them!! I WANNA SEEEEEE.

Anyways, that's Wren's Ramblings for today ~ I got bored haha

SHARE YOUR OCS!!!! >:0

[chosenonesdnd]

🌟Chosen Ones is a visual novel style dnd podcast that has…

An RP focus - we love that found family shit as well as mixing up all our favorite genres. Fantasy, romance, comedy, drama, thriller - even some sci-fi! Why pick one when you can just do them all?

All-artist cast with animated openings by our player for Theo @sweetsunberry as well as animated endings which are made by our Dungeon Master @theartistcassiroll

LGBTQ+ characters - we're HERE and we're QUEER and that's reflected within the world and the PCs!

Sound design - we love that GOOD GOOD dramatic music and our combats are full of action-packed sound effects, focusing on making them feel faster and not drag.

Biweekly release - usually! We do our best!

Watch the series here!

✨So what is Chosen Ones about...?✨ (read more!)

'Chosen Ones' takes place in the first few hundred years of the planet Absolem on a continent known as Varune. To combat the hardships of Absolem, people with extraordinary powers began to develop, known as Sparks. And from these Sparks, a Chosen One could form. Our story follows four of these Sparks, and potential Chosen Ones, as they work to discover who the next Chosen One might be.

NOTE: Visuals are provided to help the audience keep track of characters, fights, and scenes, but are not required to enjoy this podcast. Our main platform is youtube, but feel free to listen to us on spotify if that's what works best for you!  

Additional links: https://linktr.ee/ChosenOnes

[v-albion]

Campfire Confrontation

((Rearranged and cleaned up Cabin 14's RP thread)) @tmnt-fandom-family-reunion

Marco walks to the middle of Cabin 14’s main hangout area. He pulled out a clipboard and began to flip through the first few pages. He sighed, irritated. Guess he has to do his camp counselor duties now. 

“So uh…We have an attendance sheet I need to fill out, so let’s see if everyone is here…uh, True Color kids check… Ghostly kids check…Uh-“ he squinted through his goggles. Yes, he’s supposed to have glasses, does he wear them? No. Reason being? He thinks they look stupid. “Uhh Mike-hail? Mikeehail? Mikhail? Covert Au?“

The rumble of a quiet hum was the only response provided at the utterance of the name. The source stood behind Marco, a thumb hooked through a belt loop, the other unoccupied hand tapping idly by his side, his tapetum lucidem shining through the shadows granted by his hood. After a brief assessment of the layout and present individuals, the figure tipped his head.

“It is Mikhail. The rest of my team is preoccupied at the moment.”

Spirit tilted his head at the turtle “This is camp, what’s there to be preoccupied with?” Mika silently shushed Spirit, the vibes he got from the older turtle were kinda spooking him.

”Hm, Fair enough. You can go ahead and pick a bed for yourself and your brothers.” It’s odd to see a Mikey that isn’t so “cheery”

ICE walked over to stand beside Mikhail, standing on his toes to peer over Marco's shoulder at the list. The newest cabin members were quite interesting, to say the least. A foot clan-themed Donnie? A military-grade Mikey? "you can put me on the list, I suppose. That way we have written proof that I exist."

Marco pulled a knife from his pocket and impaled the attendance sheet on the wall. “There. Write yourself in.”

ICE hesitantly approached the paper, and after glancing at Mikhail, wrote his name down "I want a knife too."

”Hm, fine. Just don’t stab yourself with it. I’m not responsible for any injuries you inflict.” Marco pulled out a small kunai and handed it over. ICE's eyes light up as he holds the knife. He smiled as he walked back and contentedly sat down on his bed, staring at his new weapon.

Spirit pouted and looked away, mumbling, “If I wasn’t dead and a ghost I’d want a knife too” A small bead of sweat rolled down Mika’s temple but he did his best to pay no heed to Spirit’s remark.

The commotion downstairs even drew the attention of the people on the second floor. A few heads peaked down from the railings, watching the proceedings below. 

The Foot Captain noticed the name of his AU mentioned and made his way to the railings. The curtains here provided shadows so he could keep an eye on the ground below while hiding from view. The older turtle talking to Lee before was holding a clipboard. It seemed that the activities were about to begin. He puts a finger to his lips and signals his brothers to quiet down. 

Flicking his screen on, he slowly scans each turtle to gather information. Their appearances, muscle mass, although that one can be deceiving, any weapons, and their gait and posture. Even if they’re in a ‘summer camp’ you can never be safe with so many people around.

He rested his chin on his palm, drawn on brows furrowing as he made note of individuals with threat potential. His lookalike and the child seemed fine but the older turtles seemed dangerous.

Marco squinted at another page, and he sighed "According to the schedule I was handed, we are supposed to have a. .uh. . ‘fireplace bonding’” He didn’t sound too thrilled about the activity.

Spirit bounced on his toes hearing about the campfire activities. His brother Mika was equally excited to hear stories about his cabin mates.

"What are they talking about?" Angelo whispered as he approached his brother. He sits on the chair closest to the railing, looking down at the commotion below. 

"New activity. Fireplace bonding" Foot Captain saved the data and closed his screen. "Is it mandatory?"

Angelo squinted at him, knowing that he would skip if given the chance. "You're joining," he said with a smile.

Donnie clicked his tongue and averted his eyes. "Fine"

Scout looked down at all of the new people excitedly, then back at Hunter. "Can we go with them, please?"

Hunter sighed. "Fine. But we leave when I say so."

"YES!" Scout dragged Hunter behind him down the stairs, grinning like an idiot the whole way. "HI! Sorry I wasn't awake earlier, I'm Scout! Hunter already told me who you guys all are, it's nice to meet you!"

ICE set his knife down and reached out his hand to shake Scout's "So nice to meet you! I and Hunter are already well acquainted..."

"Really? That's perfect! I'm so glad he's making friends! I hope I can too." Scout grinned as he vigorously shook ICE’s hand up and down. 

Mika muffled a snicker by covering his mouth as Spirit floated up to the two to introduce himself. “Nice to meet you, Scout! I’m Spirit.” He pointed behind him. “That’s my brother, Mika. I hope we can get along!”

"Oooh, you're shiny..." Scout raised his hand as if to touch Spirit before stopping himself.

“Come on! They’re gathering downstairs!” Angelo looks back to his two remaining brothers. “They’re gonna leave without us if we don’t hurry!” He vaulted over the railings and slowly floated down to the first floor, his brothers choosing the more sane way of taking the stairs. “Hello everyone!” 

“Take a good look at this adorable face, you’re going to be seeing it more” Spirit teased before seeing Angelo and waving at him eagerly “Hi Angelo!”

“Hi, again Spirit! Sorry for taking off so suddenly before, but we finally got settled in. You should come see it later.”

“All’s good! Oh a tour, sounds fun!” Spirit squealed, floating towards Marco who’s started to open the door, muttering about making s’mores.

Grabbing his phone, ICE follows, slipping in behind Spirit and Mika. “Yay, marshmallow.” 

"I don't know what s’mores are, but sure!" Scout grabs Hunter's arm again, who has been scowling the whole time, and runs to the door.

“Hmm? What’s s’mores” Angelo asked the floating child beside him. 

Spirit dramatically gasped “Only the most, supposedly, delicious camping snack ever!” Mika nodded enthusiastically in agreement. “You guys have no childhood huh?” Spirit remarked, Mika flinched and shot a glare at his disrespectful brother. 

Scout skipped, not exactly knowing where he was going but following the general group. "Well, we've never been to a 'camp' before! And We used to never eat human food, only trash and stuff, and-"

"And that's enough outta you, pipsqueak." Hunter gently held his hand over Scout's mouth. 

“Huh.” Spirit pondered how different each universe turtle’s life was at those responses “Well in that case, you guys are going to enjoy s’mores, they’re basically crackers with a heated-up marshmallow in the middle along with a chocolate bar to make it more sweet, it kinda resembles a hamburger and it’s delicious!” Mika rambled, clearly passionate about food.

"Oooh! Cool!" Scout leaned over to his brother and whispered, "What's a marshmallow?" Hunter shrugged.

“Oh, its a kind of dessert then. I cant wait to try them!” Angelo grinned. “Human foods are really interesting. I don’t have many chances to try them so this will be fun.”

Spirit nodded. “Enjoy them for me! Sadly I lost my taste buds when I became a Divine being-” “Ghost,” Mika interrupted only to be shushed, “so I can’t eat anything.” Spirit said dramatically, wiping a fake tear from his eye.

Meanwhile towards the back of the group, Cerulean walked along the rest of his brothers, still keeping an eye on Angelo as he chatted his way to the center of the group. He scanned the surroundings. The tall walls of the caves stretched up so far that he couldn’t see the cave ceiling. He counted the number of people in the group, they’re missing a few it seems.

The group made their way to their assigned campfire area, Marco frowned as he saw no fire lit in the pit. “...uhm, Angelo? Could ya maybe light the pit?”

“Sure thing” A small flame lit up Angelo’s finger before crawling down his palm and wrist. He touched a wood and watched as it was quickly engulfed by flames. He put the wood down into the fire pit,carefully controlling the fire as it grew bigger.

”Thank you. Alright, so what do we need for this “s’mores”?” Marco tilted his head, what an odd word-

Spirit popped next to Marco holding a bunch of sticks “Sticks!” He chirped, holding them out a bit too excitedly, Mika had a bit of a concerned look on his face. Spirit shot a grin at him.

”...uh, we are eating sticks. .?” Marco took a step back from the pile of sticks shoved in front of his face.

“No! The sticks are for roasting the marshmallows! You stick a marshmallow on the tip of the stick and hold it over the fire so it can be roasted!” Spirit explained, handing the sticks to Marco, getting tired of the hesitation. “After the marshmallow is nice and toasty you grab a cracker and place a piece of chocolate on it, then you put the marshmallow and then place another cracker on top. That’s how you make a s’more!”

ICE snickered at Marco as he placed two marshmallows on a stick and proceeded to set them on fire. "Pro tip, make sure to get them so roasted you get heartburn afterward."

”Hm, I see. Well since most of us are here, how about we get to know each other? So I know what I’m dealing with.”

Having just arrived in time to overhear, Mike bounced over. Baby Dee and Baby Lee rested on each of his shoulders, curled up against the crook of his neck. He had Baby El pressed against his plastron, and Baby Angie resting in his hand. If any of these babies were any bigger, he probably would need to learn to juggle one-handed or something. That was a joke, for legal reasons.

He settled down close to the fire, stretching out his legs, slowly dropping all the children into his lap, where they huddled together and gazed out at the fire with rapt attention. This was probably their first time seeing an open flame. "Getting to know each other! Sounds like fun. Twenty questions? Never have I ever? Or, hey, we're by a campfire - why don't we tell some stories?" He rubbed the top of El's head affectionately. El blinked, leaning into the touch. "Just... if you've got anything real graphic coming up, can you let me know so I can cover this little guy's ears? I don't think anyone here wants to be dealing with a two-year-old with nightmares tonight."

“Oh that sounds like fun!” spirit squealed, doing a little loopy loop in the air.

Scout patted at his knees. "Oh, we have stories! Can I tell a story?"

"Don't think you'd be the best person for that, pipsqueak," Hunter said simply.

Scout pushed his face forward as if he was pouting, but his smile returned quickly enough. "I'm great at stories! Like, that one time you killed that raccoon-" Hunter lightly slapped his shoulder. "Kids. Right there."

"What do you meeean? What's wrong with that?" Hunter smacked his forehead in response.

ICE grinned at Hunter "Well why don't you tell a story then?"

Hunter squinted. "What do you want from me."

Scout flopped over his brother. "Maybe you should tell a story if you hate mine so much even though it totally happened when we were kids so it would be fiiine."

"It wouldn't be fine. You don't talk about death in front of kids. Especially when its about animals. I thought I knew less about society than you did." Hunter shook his head. "Spirit over there was right. We didn't have a 'childhood'. Not too many happy stories and the happy ones ain't interesting."

Scout crossed his arms. "The one about the raccoon was happy."

"It wasn't happy. I was a scared kid, hunting on my own for the first time. You're just glad you got food out of it." Hunter growled.

"You were proud of yourself, though!" Scout justified.

Hunter sighed. "Sure, yeah. But I don't think killing giant raccoons is a good story."

Spirit sweated nervously as Mika glared at him for the previous mention of his old comment, he sighed and twiddled his thumbs, begrudgingly opening his mouth to speak. “Um… when Mikey was little, like, 6 or 7, I would mess with the lights and make them flicker a lot and Mikey would blame me to Dad. He was right but no one believed him so he was sent on time out by Raph.” Mika glared harder at him as the memory resurfaced. “Can’t believe I was sent on time out for telling the truth.” he pouted. Spirit stuck his tongue out in a silly form of apology.

Scout leaned over. "Why wouldn't they blame you? You're bright blue, you're hard to miss!"

“Haha, that’s the thing. I’m not visible to anyone but Mika where I live.” Spirit said.  “I’m… gone,” he coughed nervously, “so anytime Mika blamed or even talked about me it would make everyone… uncomfortable.”

"Gone? But you're right-"

"He's dead, Scout," Hunter said bluntly. "I'm sorta jealous, though. It'd be a lot easier to pull pranks on our big brother like that."

ICE looked up in surprise "You're not the oldest? I could've sworn.."

Hunter settled back, looking much more relaxed now. "Nah, that honor goes to Protector. Or, whatever he wants to be called."

“Yeah not gonna lie I also thought you were the oldest,” Spirit nods in agreement. “Not gonna lie, spirit pulled plenty of pranks back in our world,” Mika said, nodding at all the resurfacing memories of his brother’s total confusion over his pranks. Spirit grinned at that. “Oh yeah! Like that one time, I kept moving that Miss’s cuddles plushy from its original spot so now Raph is absolutely terrified of that rabbit! He thought it was haunted and possessed to the point where he threw it away,” Spirit said, grinning ear to ear at the recollection of his brother’s terrified face.

Hunter rolled his eyes. "Ugh, hate rabbits."

"Oh, you guys will LOVE Protector! He's HUGE, and he gives such good hugs, and he always listens when you want to talk and-"

"Uh huh, they get it." Hunter softly pushed Scout's head down into his shell as he continued to ramble.

ICE smiled "He sounds like my Raph. Say, who wants to hear about how I lost my arm?"

"Sure, why not." Hunter smiled.

Spirit sat in his seat giddily, patting his thighs in anticipation.

ICE sat forward eagerly, his grin nearing a crazed gleam "WELL. It happened two years ago. It was a cold morning when we headed out. One of the villains, I forget which, possibly the wrestler tho.. well, he was committing crimes. So, we arrived just in time, and boy did we show him... But then, my oldest brother got the bright idea to throw him into a building, one of which I was in direct line with. To cut a long story short, it crashed down on me, and I was trapped for at least 30 minutes or so before they could safely dig me out. by then, I was pretty frozen stiff, not to mention my arm was still trapped beneath frozen rubble. They were on a time crunch, and cutting my arm off was the safest choice available. ICE chuckles sadistically "should probably mention they also tried to ‘bring me back to life’ with CPR. None of them were trained by the way, and so I also ended up with this sick scar on my neck. Pretty cool, right?”

"Woah! That's so cool!" Scout leaned forward and grinned. "I've got scars too! Check it!" He showed the marks on his wrists and ankles where the skin looked nearly rubbed raw, and a hunk of scar tissue on his leg. "Hunter's got tons of sick scars too!"

"That I will not be sharing." Hunter huffed.

“Oh we sharing scars?! I have one too!” Spirit said, pulling up his shirt to show a large thin darker blue scar that ran straight down his plastron and reflected itself on his shell.

ICE chuckled nervously "Wow, spirit, that’s a really cool scar..." So that was the scar that showed how Spirit died…

“I know right!” Spirit said cheerfully, not paying any mind to their reaction.

Hunter hissed through his teeth at Spirit's scar. "I would ask for the story, but I don't think I want to know."

Spirit pulled his shirt down. “There’s no story, even I don’t know how I got it.” He grinned, but it turned sour before he brightened up. “Not that it matters anyways, what’s happened has happened, there’s no need to worry about it now.” He shrugged.

Marco didn’t pay much attention, he sometimes caught himself staring off into space. He didn’t want to talk about his scars, he had too many scars with too many stories.

Angelo smiled, remembering the many scars littering his body, each bullet wound and scrapes marking his effort in completing his missions. 

"That's a... nice thought." Hunter couldn't help but cringe as he glanced over everyone's scars, especially lingering on the ones on his brother's wrists.

Scout, completely oblivious to his brother's inner conflict, stayed cheery. "Well, I think all your scars are cool. It means you lived through something, right? Even if you don't know what that something is."

“Yeah! Exactly!” Spirit agreed, even though his situation can’t exactly comply with it.

"You know, you're real happy despite your... situation." Hunter said to Spirit awkwardly. "It's cool."

“Ah thanks!” Spirit said, though his demeanor fell for a split second. “Stay this way for 11 years you learn a few things.” He said, he straightened himself up though and whipped out a smile, “but it’s ok! At least I still get to be with my family!”

Raphael winced as he saw spirit, looking like he couldn't be more than 3, showing a gnarly scar running through his plastron. He can't help imagining that happening to his brother. What if Lee actually died before they met each other again? What if he lost his brother and he doesn't even know? He shook his head, getting rid of the thought. It's ok. It's fine. They're all here now, and he'll make sure they stay that way.

He can't help but glance at ICE, particularly his severed arm, imagining how painful it was to have it gone. He rubs his own arms in a self soothing gesture

Cerulean noticed how Raph had started to shrink back, rubbing his arm and staring at ICE in particular. He moved closer and leaned into Raphs arm, offering comfort without a word.

Mika noticed the growing discomfort within the group and decided there was a need to quickly change the subject “Ummmm who wants to play 20 questions? I’ll go first! What is everyone’s favorite show? Personally, Jupiter Jim is an all-time classic, don’t tell dad that though.” Mika said, hoping to lighten the mood.

"Ain't never watched shows," Hunter said bluntly. 

"Scav's still trying to get us proper TV!" Scout added.

Angelo shrugged, “I don't really watch shows. Not sure if we even have TVs in the labs honestly. I like to hang out at the Nexus though! Its good entertainment.”

Spirit let out a boo but Mika quickly shushed him with another question. “ favorite food? It’s definitely pizza for me.”

Scout's eyes brightened. "Bugs! Any bugs! Worms, shrimp are good, CJ brings me crickets all the time..."

“Oh! I love roast simurghs! Especially if you char it right, you get that salty-sweet flavor” Angelo added.

“What an interesting pallet everyone has,” Mika noted, making a mental note to remember that. “Anyone else got any questions?”

”. . Hm, how about what’s your universe like?” Marco shrugged, yes so far he himself had skipped questions. 

Scout turned over to Hunter for approval, who nodded reluctantly. "Well, we live in New York, which is like this BIG city with a lot if cool stuff. And we live in the sewers with our dad, who's a rat, not a turtle, and we've got tons of human friends! Like April, and CJ, and I've heard Cassie's voice before even though I've never seen her, but April likes her a lot so she must be nice! And Miss Irma, who fixed my leg, and Protector's shell when it got all ripped open and stuff- and Mister Murakami! He doesn't know we're turtles, but he gives us food! And, uh, Dad's teaching us how to do ninja stuff like his old owner did, because he says we need to defend ourselves from mean people. Like this REALLY mean guy, Dr. Ax-"

"Aaand shuttin' it down." Hunter put a hand over Scout's beak. "We live in the sewers, always have, and we have human friends."

” Hm, interesting…Haven’t seen my April for a while…” Marco mumbled. 

A figure excitedly skipped up to the fire pit “ HELLLLLOoooo! Wowie! Hello new friends! What an interesting bunch!” he had a wide manic smile spread across his face, his red and blue eyes flicking to each turtle at the pit. Marco jumped slightly at his brother’s sudden appearance “Jesus-“

Raph could feel Lee tense up against his arm, he glanced at his brother, face still serene as usual. He kept his eye on the newcomer.

Hunter squinted at the figure’s lab coat, wrapping a possessive arm around his brother.

ICE looked up from his burning marshmallow "AHA! A like-minded fellow! Here, there is a free seat beside me!!" 

“ICE, ICE, I think your marshmallow is burnt enough” He winces as another part of the marshmallow melted off. “Is that how you’re supposed to eat it?” He looked at his own speared marshmallow, shrugging before he held it towards the fire.

ICE looked down at his marshmallow, before shaking his head "Alas, it has not reached its full potential yet. But soon..."

The newcomer zips around to Foot Captain “Whoaaaaaa! Nice battleshell! Did you build it yourself?! Wait, you’re a Donnie of course you did! Marco! You got yourself awesome friends!!” He twirled around Captain. 

Foot Captain glanced the new turtle up and down. Is this…. His counterpart? He seems a bit… eccentric, to say the least. He nodded. “Of course, I built it myself. Top-of-the-line Genius Built brand. Patent pending” he muttered the last part to himself. “So… you’re future me?” His eyes move from the lab coat to the mismatched goggles, trying to catalog as much as possible.

” Mmmhm! And you’re younger me!! Wow! You’re in Foot clan gear!! My Draxum told me alllllllll about it!”He couldn’t stay still.

Hunter's arm wrapped tighter at Draxum's name, causing Scout to squeak.

“How does Baron Draxum factor into this?” He resisted the urge to look towards Angelo.

”Well my good ol pops, told me all about how foot clan is run! I had a brother who used to be in the Foot Clan! Pretty sure he was sold to him-“ He giggled, deciding to keep Marco’s name out of it. 

“Well, someone has to make ends meet i guess.” He busies himself by stabbing a new marshmallow on his stick, not quite sure how to continue the conversation and frankly getting more and more uncomfortable the longer FE!Donnie stares at him. “Do you need anything else, or….”

Scout leaned to Hunter and whispered, not very quietly, "Why does that name sorta sound like-"

"I dunno," Hunter replied, not whispering at all. "I still don't understand any of this universe bull, and egghead didn't explain it well enough when we got here. But if I see him here, somebody's getting their head bashed in."

Marco quickly walked over and proceeded to drag Donnie over to a seat next to him, ignoring his brother’s whines of protest about him ruining his fun. “Apologies.”

Hunter stuck his neck out at Donnie. "Yeah, real fun." He huffed, baring his teeth.

"Hey, be nice!" Scout whined. "I'm Scout, this is Hunter, it's nice to meet you!" With a bit of a struggle due to his entanglement with his brother, Scout got an arm out to wave.

Mika stared at this alternate older version of his brother, it slightly unnerved him how unhinged he was compared to his Donnie, although it was still Donnie. Spirit quickly hid behind Mika, the sudden appearance of another person spooked him.

” PSYSTT- Marco, Marco Marco-“ Donnie poked Marco’s cheek repeatedly as he loudly whispered. 

“What”

”You should totallyyy become friends with other me! He’s from the Foot too!!” He still whispered loudly, which was not hard to listen in.

Marco’s eyebrow twitched. “Donnie-“

”Oop- Sorrryyy- couldn’t help myself!!” Donnie giggled as he looked around the campfire. All of a sudden he stopped. A mystic gun materialized in his hand.

Marco shot an alarmed look at the gun. “Uh, Donnie? Hey buddy?”

He peers over to what Donnie is looking at, trying to figure out what got him spooked. 

Spirit peered over Mika’s shoulder and spotted the gun, his eyes widened and he quickly moved in front of Mika in a sad attempt to protect him.

Hunter hunched over Scout and full-on growled. "What is your deal, man?"

ICE finished eating his s'more, before complaining "I want a gun too."

FE!Donnie’s breathing was quick he stood up and lifted the gun right in Angelo’s direction. He kept a wide smile, his red and blue pupils shrank slightly with insanity.

Angelo's instinct flared as he felt a murderous intent directed at him. Years of being attacked randomly caused him to snap his head from his conversation with ICE, immediately seeing the barrel of a gun pointing at him. His eyes and hands glowed, ready to summon his chains the second the gun fired. He didn’t want to be the first to spill blood here without reason. His dad may call that a weakness, but he's here to make friends, not enemies.

However, before anyone could do anything, a figure emerges behind the gun-wielding turtle. Tall, hooded, *silent*. He quickly brought a gloved hand over the gunner's beak, muttering something too low for him to hear. A purple mist began to spread from his hand, and after a quick struggle, the gun dissolved into purple pixels and the gunner slumped to the ground unconscious.

A flurry of movements around the campfire. Marco, It's Marco, right? summoned a large mystic bow, an arrow pointed at the figure. "... What the hell did you do to my brother" he growled, the string of his bow tensing as it was pulled back. 

A snicker sounded from beside him as ICE called out, "NGL, your brother was about to shoot someone". 

Hunter, who's sitting on the other side of him holding his brother Scout like a plushie, glared over at ICE. " You're way too chill about this." 

ICE leans over and whispers, a slightly crazed grin on his face, "Coffee in the morning, coffee at lunch, and coffee for dinner makes the brain cells go away." 

Hunter's snout scrunched. He looked down at his brother. "Scout, I don't like it here, they're usin' too many human words."

"Oh come on, you remember what coffee is!"

"Not really."

The figure tilted his head agreeing with ICE's comment. He flexes his fingers, displaying purple reflexive nodes on the tips of his digits, trailing to the core at the center of his wrist. The purple mist from before retreated down the tubings as soon as he curled his fingers. 

"A sedative appropriate for this situation. He will remain stable and will awaken in approximately 12 hours after the relaxant works through his system". He eyed the weapon aimed at him, raising a brow. "I do hope for your sake that's not for me"

A quiet spread for a bit. Foot Captain gripped his currently collapsed tech scythe, ready to bring it out when a fight broke. He couldn’t believe someone pulled a gun on his brother again. He glared at the unconscious figure on the ground. He knew there was something weird about him. He would have to do some research before he can plan out a revenge. 

The silence broke as Marco releases the tension in his bow. "Hm, apologies. I was taught to always be vigilant and besides, unless you don't want to be on the ground having a nightmare I wouldn't threaten me." He shrugs, nonchalant. He gestured with his bow, "Interesting technology. I do favor combining technology with medical science." He opened his hands as the bow disappeared into pink mystic strings, he sighed as he rubbed his forehead, his goggles reflected the light of the campfire, hiding his eyes from view.

The silent newcomer, he really should find out his name, clicked his tongue and shrugged, taking a seat closer to the campfire, but still a ways away from everyone else. Foot Captain sees how the figure moving caused Angelo to clench his fist, eyes and hands glowing and expression closed off. No smile in sight for the first time since they arrived at camp. It appears that he's in mission mode now. Great. Now none of his family will sleep tonight. Well, perhaps Raph, but the rest of his brothers will keep watch so Raph can sleep if he'd like. 

The figure continued when he sat down. "It's not so much a threat as it is an invitation. Besides..." *The canisters of his respirator clocked inwards, a muffled inhale audible amongst the sidebar conversations and crackles from the fire. He rolled his shoulders before settling back into his former position, exhaling slowly as the next words rumbled from his mask.

“Nightmares aren’t such a dreadful thing...”

A rustling sounded as Hunter sniffed sharply and started to stand. 'Yeah, no, we ain't stickin' around for this." He grips his brother tighter.

"What? Why?" Scout, still smiling, asked, "He didn't even say his name yet!"

"Uh, excuse me? 'Nightmares aren't such a...' whatever he said?!"

Spirit slowly dropped his floating position and decided just to sit next to Mika, a nervous look on both of them but Spirit seemed more worried about the unconscious turtle on the ground.

Scout noticed Spirit's worried expression. "Don't worry, Spirit! If he's just like me, he should feel fine when he wakes up! All my brothers were alright when we got... uh... sedated?"

Hunter sighed. "Y'know, at this point, I just can't stop you."

The comment about all of Scout’s brothers being sedated probably made Spirit more concerned, but he didn’t let that show as he smiled, “Thanks, Scout.”

”You are bold to be quick to say that. Everyone is afraid of something, it can be themselves if I want to.“ Marco muttered that last part to himself as he rubbed the scars on the back of his neck, covering the weird Kraang symbols marking it.

Campfire. Dark. Avoidance. Hesitation. Fear. Based on his prior research, everything seemed in order. He watched as FE! Marco touches a place on the back of his neck. A remnant or ‘call’, sourced by this individual’s fears, perhaps. Nevertheless, he wasn’t here to prey on these individuals, despite his contradictory appearance. His canisters clocked inward once again and he took another breath.

“I can’t say that I have a habit of absconding from suffering, whether it manifests by the hand of fear or otherwise. No… I’m rather curious to see…” He paused to breathe again, only for his vocals to return with a rasp.

“…If you can show me something that hasn't already been revealed to me....But I digress for now. Everything has its place and order in due season.” He tips his head to the other campers. “...You may refer to me as ‘Donovan’.”

Marco raised his eyebrow, ”I would prefer to not use my power, but nice to meet you, Donovan. Unique name.”

Hunter cringed. "If there's this many Donnie's, I think I'm gonna hate it here." His answer was a loud snore from the Donnie currently face down on the ground

ICE walked over from his spot and held out his hand to shake Donovan's "All this excitement aside, I don't think we were properly introduced. My name is ICE." 

”Marco. your camp counselor. aka babysitter.” He rubbed his head and his mask, his goggles had been irritating to wear for a while. He knew it wouldn’t be wise to take them off.

Scout leaned forward cheerily again, only to be pulled back by Hunter. "I'm Scout, this is Hunter! He's being weird right now."

Maintaining 'goggle-to-goggle contact' with Marco, Donovan didn’t budge. Instead, another gloved hand claimed his place, gripping ICE firmly. Blue fabric dangled in front of their face, trailing up to the owner of the smug, close-lipped smile hovering above them. Crimson crescents illuminated slightly, complimenting his blood-red pupils. He held the hand at bay for a little longer than comfort would dictate before claiming his hand to his side, making his way over to his brother. Both of them simultaneously nodded at Scout and Hunter’s introduction thereafter.

Marco growled slightly underneath his breath, he had the stinging feeling that Donovan was onto him or knew about his eyes. He didn’t pay any attention to the new “Leo”.

He decided to look down at his holographic computer that appeared from his watch, swiping through it.

ICE chuckled nervously, before quietly retiring to his seat and eating a marshmallow like a normal person. He now understood Hunter's wish to leave and head back to the cabin, and would probably join him if he actually ended up doing so.

Hunter couldn't help but grin and stretch his neck in ICE's direction. "Not so chill now, huh, shrimp?"

ICE glared in his direction as he took another bite of his normal s'more. "Shut it" he muttered irritably

"You first." Hunter's grin widened. To his surprise, ICE did indeed 'shut it'

Foot Captain bristled as more and more people started to appear, he felt Raph put a hand on his shoulder, giving him a concerned look. he shook his head, telling his brother "I'm fine".

"Maybe we should go. I don't like how that guy pointed a gun at Angelo before." Raph frowned, preparing to stand up. 

Spirit wasn’t sure whether he should be terrified or amazed and these new turtles so he just sat still in his seat and fiddled with the end of one of his mask tails while shooting glances at them

The blue-clad newcomer maneuvered his mask tails between his fingers, shooting a glance at Spirit, the smile never leaving his face. He hadn’t blinked since he’d arrived. Not once.

Spirit shivered in his spot and quickly hid behind Mika who smiled warily at the scarier version of his blue brother

”Well tea time is over for me. I'll see you all later.” He got up, he seemed a bit panicked. He didn’t even really say anything about himself.

Hunter looked to be visibly worried at the departing Marco. Meanwhile, Scout kept smiling. "Aw, see you later Marco!"

The blue-clothed figure ticked his head up, his eyes briefly giving off an orange glint, a smile dissipating in tandem. Donovan didn’t have to look to get the hint. Getting up from his seat, he followed his brother into the dark. They wouldn’t be seen again for the rest of the night.

Angelo felt a tap on his shoulder. He tore his eye from FE!Donnie and the disappearing Donovan. He looked back to see his brothers standing behind him. Raph smiled and mouthed 'wanna go?' He nodded, adrenaline still high even if there was no fight occurring. he summoned his cloak and kusarigama as a precaution as they left. He doesn't feel safe anymore. He saw that Donnie already held his bo, knuckles white where it gripped the metal. 

Silence settles down on the campfire again. Distant sounds of the other campfire's conversation and laughter sounded. However, over here, it was tense, the crackling sounds of the fire the only thing filling the silence. 

ICE silently got up, and got himself some more marshmallows, before sitting back down to roast them.

Hunter watches the spot where Marco left. "Huh. So, uh, who's bringin' weirdo's brother's body back to the cabin? Or are we leavin it here?"

Said brother rises as if he was in a coffin. “Nah! I’m good!”, making a few people jump in surprise. 

Hunter grabs Scout defensively. "Shell, man. You don't just do that."

ICE stood up and looked at everyone else "Well! I think it would be a great idea for all of us to head back to the cabin, like right now!"

"Sounds great to me." Hunter swung his neck around to pop it as he stood up, grabbing Scout's arm to head back toward the cabin.

FE!Donnie kicks his feet around. “You guys go ahead!! I’m not even from this cabin!!” he giggled.

Masterpost

True Colors by me

Fear’s Embrace by @karonkar

Covert AU by@chessman-protocol

Hold Every Memory by @languajix

Ghost of the Past by @wandering-ghost

Starry Tmnt by @just-another-tired-gay-artist

It’s a Complicated Equation by @leilanising-vault-of-knowledge

Tmnt: Second Shot Crew by @twignotstick

[nostalgink]

Due to some past trauma from previous fandoms, I'm not particularly one to engage in fandom related discourse anymore, but when you not only name-drop me, but continue to perpetuate lies about not only me, but also my friends.... that's when I'd rather "clear my name" than allow for a nasty rumor to circulate when I know it's out there.

I want to go through everything that went down in order as best as possible. Even though I’ve spent so much time on this receipt post, truly this issue was something very small, the root of the issue lies with CookieRuby herself, given she decided to continue to create and perpetuate lies and rumors about myself and others. I know she will most likely continue to make up whatever she wants to have happened to obtain pity from those who do not know the context, but I thought that if she was going to do so regardless, I might as well let everyone know mine and my friends’ side of things. Because sadly I got some very worried and confused messages wondering if the statements were truthful. Hopefully this reassures most that they are in fact not.

I also would like to say while I am deeply upset that someone would lie about me like this and continue to emotionally manipulate, then double down on it all… I still do want to say that if you know people who act as such to please help them get the help they need. The timeline of this basically showcases us interacting at 3 points ever, but its obvious in her own obsessive world she has created, it has been brewing with her much longer. Which all of this is genuinely concerning and I hope she gets help. Despite my anger.

In the beginning

I believe I knew about them prior to them joining the old Darkwing Duck RP server I used to be active in back in 2022. If you know me, I follow practically every artist in the fandom. Especially as the fandom loses traction and there are less and less of us actively creating works. So naturally I followed. I even found her oc interesting. I mean why wouldn’t I? Magentus, while more of an oc now than he was in the past, at the end of the day still is my sona so to speak. I love seeing others put themselves into their own work in their own ways. Unfortunately once I got to know them, their attitude towards others when it came to their oc soured my interest.

In a lot of her posts, she makes claims towards my friends and I (as well as I suppose vague unknown other “harrassers” prior to us. I only put it in air quotes because the amount of lying she does, ironic I know, makes me question the validity of anything she says.) that we actively hated and made fun of her for disliking Drakepad. As you can see in the screenshots provided, that is exactly the oppposite.

I also want to mention the screenshots here are an anonymous friend’s server that I used to be active in. In the screenshots provided by Soy, it refers to their old server. Though I believe there is a point in our screenshots where one is referenced in another. (I am currently not looking at them, so I can recall which is referenced in which.) I wanted to make sure there was no confusion with that. These were provided to me by Drake. I could not find them on my own. This was her asking about playing her oc initally. and some stuff I didn't screenshot previously I think?

On Soy’s Side of things

Initially I had another draft of this whole rant, but because of these screenshots I got so peeved that I spiraled into a mad disorganized rage due to the ridiculousness of all of this. So I thought it would be best to rework my words into a more composed response. Personally I had read the first set of messages after they had happened, but when it comes to the discord screenshots, these were new to me. We were all suspicious of her potentially using an alt account on tumblr to ask as a “friend”. Because while I cannot say the same for my friends, I had online friends when I was young who pulled very similar stunts to continue to emotionally manipulate me into remaining their friend and under their thumb. I do not fuck with that sort of behavior anymore. And to note from Soy they said that they had joined their old dead DWD server and immediately dmed them. The obsessive manner of her continuing whatever game she thinks this is is a genuine concern and big alarm sounding that she needs to talk to someone. She is older than me, but I have already dealt with extremely similar people in my preteens, so it’s sad to see someone being so immature like this. (I hit the 30 post limit so the screenshots will be in the reblogs for anything missing)

responses to tumblr posts

Starting with the post that finally prompted this response, I want to cover my personal opinion of each thing mentioned. Unfortunately as you will see, I do not have proof for my own ponytown run in personally, but if you read all of the messages provided, you can probably tell who’s more truthful considering it’s a 1-0 with me having evidence and her none. You’ll notice she remains vague when she can, which is most of the time.

First we need to all heavily note that this was a supposed dream. She is her character Hannah in her dream, alongside Drake. Soy, an anon, and myself appear as “hooded people” in her dream and do an incantation on her in order to curse her to not be with Drake. I suppose this causes a curse that forces Drakepad to be real in her dream? Then we say quotes she is claiming we said. I will get to that in a moment. This is a summary so that if she deletes the post linked, you still have me explaining it. (I wrote this last night, unfortunately as of right now while I was acquiring links she did in fact delete the post. Likely because of my warning post from the other day. So she is stalking my account still.) Then her own oddly crafted happy ending where the spell is broken and she gets her ending of support.

Now I’ll cover the “quotes”

“Drakepad is the only true ship”

You will here her claim people saying this to her often. In reference to my friends, such claims have been proven false. We supported her opinion despite our own. Even comforting her and letting her know its awful for anyone to try and pressure her over such a simple difference in taste. Also adding the fact we supported her oc x canon even though she could not RP it in the old server.

“Darkwing DENIED YOU” with her claiming it is something I said to her in Ponytown.

I will go more in depth in exactly what I said in ponytown further down, but I never once said this. She insisted that my opinion was that her oc x canon was not valid. I was Negaduck in game, then I specifically swapped to my Magentus pony and stated how hypocritical it would be for me to say such a thing. Then proceeded to let her know, though I was annoyed, that it’s alright for her to not ship something she does not like, but continuing to bring up that you hate a ship to people you know don’t mind it or even ship it themselves is rude. Then she proceeded to do something I can only describe as something I am seasoned to as the son of an emotionally inmature mother. Again I will elaborate in the ponytown section.

“She gaved me PTSD by her DrakePad hate. And with her tumblr post who HURTED my friends saying we “FORCED” Drakepad on our server she lied.” Which was aparently what Soy said.

I cannot speak to how soy feels completely on this, but I know they did not develop post traumatic stress disorder from this. Nor have they said this quote if you could not guess. I believe the friend was the one in the screenshots between them and soy on discord I shared above. Again, I do not trust that these are her actual friends. This is not to say she couldn’t potentially have friends who agree with her, I just don’t trust her truthfulness especially with said discord dms. But you as the reader can make your own opinion on that. From what I was told by Soy, they joined (I believe after they realized they couldn’t do oc x canon with our Darkwing in the old server, which was his choice to make.) and asked if they could do darkwing x hannah. Soy and others kindly let her know that they were working on a drakepad relationship, but saw no problem in doing dw x lp x hannah. She accepted I think? But regardless then returned to our server to both brag about how someone finally let her, but soon ranted about how uncomfortable poly stuff made them. Some of this is word of mouth, but you can see other parts referenced back above.

“You deserve no friends.” by an anon

Again, I question the validity of this claim, but assuming someone actually said this to her this is horrible to say to someone. Back in 2020 I dealt with prosh*ppers in a problematic fandom harrasing me because I outwardly was against their adult x minor ship. Unfortunately if you know what fandom I mean. (keep guesses to yourself, I don’t want to bring it up in public.) You know it’s very popular unfortunately. I was sent death threats and people telling me how unworthy of friends, love, or anything they could throw at me. I would never say this to another nor condone saying this to another. Even if CookieRuby is in the wrong here. Everyone deserves the chance to have friends and flourish as a person. I’m angry but I’d never wish such a thing. And while I’m at it I would like to suggest to you as the reader that if you are considering doing such a thing don’t. Block her, move on. It’s not worth it. I’m only here right now to give context, then I’m done. I do not want anyone going after her. I’m just here to show my receipts, not to harrass her. I’d just prove her point if I did that. I’m not that sort of person.

And I was shown her speaking about her inferiority complex. I do not have one, so I cannot speak to how true this is, but considering this was March 2023...it seems despite her admitting this, she has obviously continued to lie about people. So I don’t know if she has that complex, but she is a chronic liar at the very least so there’s that I guess.

Ponytown run ins

The provided screenshots below are from before what I’ll be describing to you. I had to re-listen to a voice note I sent after this. It’s all I have besides the discord message of me realizing it was her. I do not want to attach it just because I keep my voice to myself most times. I’m shy gang.

Starting off I was just finishing my Magentus pony. For a while they had a color palette I had just chose myself without reference and I was finally giving them their reference colors. I was returning to the darkwing rock circle I was hoping to start a darkwing pony hangout at, when I saw a Darkwing pony approach. Now, I don’t know if this was coincidence of perhaps she knows about the hangout from my story. Considering she has alts, she probably was checking my story, but that is speculation. I immediately am eager to friend them because of their pony. But of course the first words from her are “why do you have me blocked?” my mood immediately changes as it hit me that someone had told me prior she had an account. Likely due to the incident in the other ponytown screenshots. I ask to confirm if it’s her and she says yes.

So I simply put that she cause discomfort to my friends and I and that I use the block liberally. During this I am scrambling to try and block her on ponytown too, but unfortunately my block list is too full because I have been blocking Dream SMP ponies left and right. So I decide maybe here is where I can put my foot down on things. I also mentioned a side thing about how the old server I was in had a policy about posting over people, but she seemed to focus on this more. (I do not recall if this was enforced at the time, but still it was focused on way more than the main issue I was bringing up.) I mentioned how she’d post over others. I told her that it wasn’t my main point and to forget that and move onto the main issue. I explain to her as adult as I can back to her Drakepad issue that “You were being rude to people because you could get your ship. We tried to be nice and I just blocked you because I didn’t want to deal with that [anymore].” and the only thing she got from that was me saying “rude” I suppose so she responded saying “oh so I’m the toxic one?” and boy have I heard this one get pulled on me before. It’s giving emotional manipulation. I calmly reply “That is not what I said.” I said something else that I couldn’t recall, though likely just me restating what happened, then she said “well I guess I’m sorry-” I was on a call at this time with my boyfriend while he was on break as this went down, so I began speaking to him irl. I guess I did not respond to her in time because she continued with the classic backhanded comment of “Since everyone wants me to apologize anyway” or something to that effect. It was in that way that someone who does this wants you to just accept the apology even though it was not a meaningful one. She does not have to apologize, no one is making her, but that was her attitude about it. I thought I’d just end it off there with a joke to myself so I didn’t lose it. I went “I have a mother, I can be emotionally manipulated at home, I don’t need this game from you. Bye.” and logged off. Honestly there is when it actually got personal. Somewhere in the middle she insisted what I had mentioned earlier with us hating oc x canon and drakepad and all that and that statement from earlier still follows.

I even have a later note worrying there would be a post on her tumblr, but I checked once and there was nothing so I thought maybe she had gotten over herself…..we are here now so nope. Also this was 2/2/2024 for timeline’s sake.

I was transcribing from a voice note, so if it seems like there are any holes in that ask me, I’ll try to fill in what I missed.

Misc

Lastly here are things I did not know how to organize into the rant. As well as some people making mention to their experiences with her in reply to my Instagram story. I swore I would get all I could and I meant it.

And anyways thank you to those who actually took the time to read all of this mess. I don’t know how I did drama back in the day this has truly been so exhausting to write, but it was important that I did. Honestly despite my anger this is really dumb to have to make, but I do not like being lied about. I especially don’t like my friends also being lied about. And again just block her and do not engage. I do not condone harassment of any kind. I am going to go sleep as I finish writing this. This was a tiring experience. She’ll probably continue but now I am satisfied knowing we’re all on the same page.

[efemy]

Well, what does being back feel like?

I've been into SCP back in 2017 when it was thriving, now it has been 7 years since then and I am aware that communities change, not always for the better. I feel nostalgic looking at what was and wish that it would come back even though it's impossible. I am sure many feel the same, looking at the blogs which have been inactive for 2-6 years.

What happened to SCP fandom feels disheartening to me. The site has always been a creative playground with a setting that let people run rampant with ideas, but nowadays this unfortunately has turned into a case of using this freedom for grounds of power gaming. Rather than appreciate the variety of things an SCP could be which was never limited to object, human or animal, many have decided to create as powerful of a Apollyon as they could to pit it into the fight against 001, 073 or 076.

We had SO many creative things in here. We had toasters that made you think you're a toaster, rings which toughened you up for cost of feeling sleepy and fatigued, indestructible lizards, building bears, encyclopedias that gave you diseases, actual viruses, doors to other dimensions, devices that couldn't be explained by engineers, phenomenon and places that were engraved in our minds... why waste such potential? ://

For those who don't know, I am a roleplayer since 2019. It's my hobby which started back on amino, though nowadays I roleplay on discord server. And allow me to tell you that a lot of "SCP" servers have become 1% SCP and 99% multifandom 💀. I don't have anything against multifandom RPs, neither do I have a thing against crossovers, however when an SCP themed server has more multifandom stuff than it does SCP stuff, then my brother that's not an SCP server no more.

I overall dislike that people take SCP's freedom and use it against it. The old fandom feels scarce nowadays. I am genuinely glad that I've experienced this fandom at the time I did, I am also grateful for the people who still come back to it and to youtubers like volgun who don't cease to love it and introduce it to new generations, carrying its legacy. And I'm glad whenever I see people who create genuinely creative SCP OCs.

I guess this rant can be summed up to me disliking SCP "God OCs" and being salty that roblox SCP games are more SCP themed than discord SCP servers lmao

Eitherway I do know there are old school enjoyers out here and I see and appreciate you. I do hope I can make or maybe join an actual SCP discord server in the future because I genuinely crave roleplaying as 035 and roleplaying is like water for me. I drink it, breathe it, love it /J

For now rant is over. Feel free to share your thoughts too and see you guys around <3

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

WIBTA for ghosting someone in RP?

This is a very chronically online problem, I'm aware, but I could use Tumblr's input. This is kinda long, so tl;Dr at the end.

So I (ftm), Z (nb), and O (f) (ages unimportant, but we're all adults) have a server for a shared fandom of ours. There are other people on the server too, but they're relatively unimportant to the problem.

One of the major channels to note was an rp channel. Things started off peachy keen! Everyone was having a grand old time! However, little problems started to pop up. O began introducing some ocs to the rp group chat, which, while outlandish for the setting (her ocs were ghosts from 1500's Minecraft Germany or whatever? I'm still not entirely clear since she's bad at continuity). And while I'm not against more out there ocs, the issue was how she used them, constantly trying to solve problems instantly. They felt more like MacGuffin's than characters. But whatever, she's our friend so we didn't really care.

Then, the racism incident happened.

It's a cool name, but sorta makes it sound more important than it was. Basically O had "monster form" at the end of each of her characters names, since apparently they had human forms too. Well, in an argument, a character referred to the group of ocs as monsters (since, how else would you refer to all of em at once?), and in one of her ocs replies they said smth like "oh btw thanks for the racist remark".

IMMEDIATELY in the ooc chat, Z and I both go "hey man, we're not playing the racism game", which... caused O to leave the server temporarily. Fun.

The relevance of the racism incident is to show why we can't just talk to her ooc about the upcoming issues.

((Very offhandedly she also keeps trying to pressure Z specifically into rping? Even though Z has made it clear many times this month that they are busy with the holidays??))

Anyways, time passes and O keeps wanting to tack on useless shit to her characters (both canon and ocs) for literally no reason. From "Bruno esk powers" to "shapeshifting genitals", it just felt like feature creep.

Eventually this comes to a head when she asks if her 32 year old character could be a WWII veteran.

You know. In the text chat based rp where characters use hashtags and emotes and talk about Twitter.

After a small back and forth between Z and O in the ooc chat, Z just kinda, gave up. Part of the reason they made the server was to transfer their previous rp writings to a server they own, so they don't have to worry about it getting deleted. (Before anyone assumes Z is just being strict, trust me. Z had been very accommodating with letting me and O make inputs and have our characters make an impact. This wasn't an issue of O's lack of control, but rather lack of care about the setting.)

Z admitted in a group chat with just me and their partner that they basically are just going to give up on their previous rp, and just let O do whatever she wants.

This really, and I mean REALLY, ticked me off.

Now, I will not start a ruckus about it on the server itself since I know Z hates confrontation, but now I've just settled on to give O the cold shoulder in rp, not replying to her ocs, barely interacting with her canon characters, etc.

I feel like in character I have a valid reason to ignore her (her ocs made one of my ocs upset, and my other characters are upset for him), but I can't tell if this would be too mean?

ALSO quick little note I forgot to mention above, but it's basically just the three of us in the rp chat, so with Z busy for the holidays, I'm the only other person who O would be able to rp with, if that impacts the vote.

TL;DR - Someone in a rp server is being a right ass and we cannot talk to her about it without potentially starting a huge fight, now I want to ignore her in rp. WIBTA

What are these acronyms?

[vickyvicarious]

I think Jonathan talks to Jack the most out of all suitors before All That since he is the third main record keeper, but their interactions are off screen and alluded like:

"Harker has gone back, and is again collating his material. He says that by dinner-time they will be able to show a whole connected narrative. He thinks that in the meantime I should see Renfield, as hitherto he has been a sort of index to the coming and going of the Count."

And since the impression he gives to Jack is "quiet, business-like gentleman", yeah I'd say he'd use RP!

(in reference to this post)

Agreed! Jonathan also met Jack first of the suitors, he's staying in the guy's house, and of the three Jack is the least overwhelmingly rich. This is also kind of a side effect of Jack being the next main record keeper but in helping Mina go through the records, he may have gotten a bit used to reading his thoughts or even potentially hearing them spoken (depending on whether he was mostly helping Mina organize things she had already typed, or if he ever took a turn listening too) and thus felt a bit closer to him in a way even before much direct interaction. Not to mention, that interaction you quote shows Jonathan's interest in Renfield, which would naturally lead him first to Jack (I constantly curse the lack of Jonathan/Renfield interaction, it could be so fascinating had Stoker not just Forgot He Was There). Those may be a couple additional reasons he might want to or feel more comfortable coordinating with the doctor more directly. Also Arthur is still very sad and Quincey is still very concerned about Arthur so I can see them being a little less likely to initiate much socializing than they usually would.

But Jonathan's mostly offscreen, helping Mina with the records, going off hunting after boxes... Of course there are some offscreen conversations taking place, and they surely wouldn't be only with Jack, but if what we see in the documents is any indication, Jonathan is fairly quiet and only really speaks up about 'business' (AKA Dracula-hunting) matters. And even then mostly only when he has something new to contribute. He isn't going on any epic rants (yet) and he isn't volunteering to be the one to explain everything from his experience, just bringing up relevant points for discussion or connections. And if he is trying to a) be businesslike/professional b) seem as calm and sane as possible under the circumstances of these people knowing what he's been through and how it's affected his mental health c) be polite with people he is not very familiar with yet... then yeah, I totally can see him using RP during all this time.

So his outpouring of utter emotion on October 3 is a big change, to be sure. And dropping into his natural accent while doing so would be an excellent way to illustrate how every other consideration just completely falls away for him as soon as he knows Mina is being attacked. He can't spare any attention towards sounding sophisticated, his wife has been targeted by his former tormentor and he is out for blood (/vowing to be out for literal blood should worst come to worst).

[cubitodragon-moved]

Forever actively hiding his shadow infection worries and upsets me - in that good ‘how dare you rp your character so well’ way CC!Forever brings to the table, of course. (Some of it is also due to meta changes and the Purgatory event being that weird “is it/isn’t it RP relevant?” blurred line, but either way…)

A thing we all need to appreciate is that none of the other Islanders are aware this is even a thing. As far as anyone is concerned, seeing WB012 at the Green reshuffle meeting was the first time the majority had seen it at all. And questions about that went unanswered when they asked the Worker about it, likely thanks to the Watcher’s influence. (They also never saw them leave, and never saw them die thanks to being booted for maintenance. Goodnight sweet WB012, we hardly knew ye.)

But wait, Farli, didn’t people who attended the Guy Fawkes night mini-event see the state Forever was in? Yes, some of them did! And of those present, only Bad actively noticed and openly queried about his extensive injuries, which Forever tried to brush off and defer to explaining ‘later’. The rest simply assumed he was a wreck after being in the Nether for a month —Which, you know. Valid— before all getting distracted by blowing up buildings and setting things on fire.

One can’t fault our beloved cubitos for being easily distracted by things like that.

By the end of the mini-event, Forever had pulled an Irish Goodbye and wandered off to check out Cucuruchito, wander the server, and go back to his mega base. Others logging in didn’t see the state he was in, as he wasn’t there.

Forever had planned to speak with both Philza and Bad privately about what happened - except his PC died in RL. One way I choose to view that unlucky circumstance is thus: his body just forces him to pass out from sheer stress and exhaustion. And that promised ‘Later’ never comes.

The next time anyone sees Forever, he’s in a new skin, burns and scars and infection covered up, and Forever looking tired but somewhat better (for a given value of better). It’d be easy to think “oh the black stuff probably just washed off”, never mind that most people there at Spawn had no idea there was any black gunk on him in the first place.

And then cinematics and server shuffling and the Purgatory event happen. Teams happen. An awful week of awfulness divides friends and made thinking about what happened before Purgatory irrelevant in the face of needing to survive.

Forever is a man who doesn’t share his hurts openly, emotionally or otherwise, bottles things up to an alarming degree until he explodes. He puts others far far far ahead of his own well-being. He’s the sort who wants people to notice and care, but also doesn’t want anyone worrying about him. He has the unreasonable expectation as a people pleaser that he needs to do this by himself. What other people don’t know won’t hurt them, only him.

It’s not like anyone else can do anything about it. So why worry them needlessly, when saving the eggs is the priority?

He’s still covered up. Still hiding the shadow infection. And while he’s now on a team that has a few more people he’s relaxed around and has some trust in, we also have little under one week left of being stuck in Purgatory. For all there are long moments of alone time while preparing for the day, there’s few opportunities for privacy right now, where confiding in someone might happen.

When Forever next gets to rest and check himself over, will the infection have spread? Will someone else see and put 2+2 together - and potentially get a 5? Is the infection why he’ll be able to use the Judas book at all when that time comes?

I don’t know. I’m worried. Especially if the infection could potentially be infectious to others….We’ll have to wait and see.

[askrockandfriends]

Open RP: Hope's Peak Trainer's Academy

Welcome to Hope's Peak Trainer's Academy! Here, the most talented and gifted Trainer's school students are personally recruited along with their Pokemon to attend this prestigious academy, where all who graduate from these hallowed halls are guaranteed fulfilling, meaningful careers in their individual talents, where they can go on to raise hope in the world of Pokemon! Along the way, they can train, battle, and explore all throughout the world of Pokemon, and potentially even join the Hope's Peak Battle League, a sort of training league for the regional Pokemon leagues where Trainers can compete against the esteemed Gym Leader club, a club of eight talented Trainers at Hope's Peak who specialize in an individual type or strategy, respectively. But, watch out for Junko Enoshima and her dastardly Team Despair, whose plans threaten to uproot the very foundation upon which this world is based on!

"A genetic abomination created from the DNA of Mew to be the world's strongest Pokemon... being used and abused by humans in the name of inhumane genetic experimentation has caused its temperament to turn vicious and distrusting of humans. To this day, this Pokemon's whereabouts are unknown, the laboratory it was created in having been long destroyed by now."

"Holy Arceus, could you just imagine how much despair we could spread with just this one Pokemon? Uber powerful, AND it hates humanity? It's the perfect Pokemon for us! We have got to find and catch this guy!"

"🎵I was born to rule the world, and I almost achieved that goal... Enoshima!🎵"

@astral-multiverse @despairs-memorial @ask-ultimate-fashionista @ask-dark-monita @dead-or-lie @rockingmusician @thewriterandthekiller @catseyebakery @musekaiplex @thegeasswriter

[roopnavarro]

Octoboss-related ask: I know this is a big hypothetical but there is this story on Ao3 called 'Guardian of Gastown' which involves Octoboss becoming the ruler of Gastown after the negotiations go haywire and Dementus and his crew get captured.

In your mind, what kind of ruler would Octoboss be?

Hey there! Excellent question! Thank you so much for the ask! I’m going to check out the fic later, thanks for the rec! But I’m going to answer this question before I indulge in reading it, because I want to go in blind, and I don’t want to seem like I’m rebutting or trying to invalidate another author’s work. Whenever I give my takes, that’s never the case. I think it’s wonderful that we have this wellspring of creativity and a myriad of interpretations around this character who has like, five lines and two minutes of screentime! I’m also going to give you a primer on how I portray Octoboss and his decision-making process. Disclaimer time! Everything henceforth is PURELY my speculation on what makes this imaginary horned biker tick. So even if it sounds like I’m making a definitive statement on how he “should” think or behave, I’m not. I just want to put this disclaimer out front so I don’t have to constantly couch my language in terms like “I speculate…” and “I think that…” I’m only discussing my view on the character and how I choose to portray him in RP and fanfic. With that in mind, let’s dive in!

As mentioned prior, I portray the character in roleplay. Since roleplay is like a mix between improv acting and writing, I needed to come up with a way for him to make decisions that are reasonably consistent with what we see in canon AND reasonably easy to replicate consistently in on-the-fly storytelling AND fun to interact with for collaborative storytelling. Rambling time, but I PROMISE this is necessary groundwork to cook up the answer. So how do we delve into the mind of a guy that tortured a woman and then gets pissy when his subordinates are shot by an ally? My first belief is that Octoboss doesn’t use a moral code. There’s no list of rules he follows; instead, he looks at each situation, in its context, and does his best to make decisions that uphold/advance a guiding principle. So let’s figure out his guiding principle. — I think that principle is “Maximize good for the Mortiflyers.” “Maximize good” can mean “help them avoid harm/distress,” “provide more/better resources for them,” and anything else that could be argued to improve quality of life or reduce unhappiness. 

Therefore, his decision-making process most closely mirrors a wacky Wasteland version of Act Utilitarianism. To oversimplify this, Act Utilitarianism weighs the morality of an action based on the outcomes for the “greater good.” For Octoboss, the Mortiflyers (and the Horde, pre-rift) are the “greater good.” As he saw it, Mary Jabassa held the keys to the Green Place, and it was morally IMPERATIVE that he take them from her, in order to make a better future for the Horde, by any means necessary. Now, sure, we could get into the weeds and say the Green Place isn’t big enough to sustain them, but Octo doesn’t know that. This use of torture is actually a prime example of a common criticism of Act Utilitarianism — it justifies some VERY bad behavior if the potential outcome is good enough!

(Hilariously, Dementus also seemed to be using an Act Utilitarianism framework when deciding to sacrifice the Mortiflyers in the Trojan Horse ploy — their deaths produced a benefit for the Horde and the rest of the Mortiflyers. Octoboss realizes this, but the pain of betrayal and loss are mingling with his understanding of Dementus’ moral justification for the killings. This makes Octo fume like mad. Got bit in the ass by his own philosophy…) However, Octo’s moral framework doesn’t exist to justify cruelty. It also undergirds the gentleness and approachability that defines my portrayal of the character. It’s better for the greater good of the Mortiflyers for them all to cooperate and communicate openly. Their whole gimmick — two-person motorcycle-launched paragliders, two-person motorcycle crews, and two-person flyer/driver combos — involves cooperation and communication. Their actions seem very practiced and well rehearsed, and in order to achieve that, they need to be quite open regarding what works, what doesn’t, and what could be improved. They need to be able to say to each other “I need more speed to launch,” or “I need you to get me closer to the target,” or “When you took that sharp turn and I was up in the air, that hurt my shoulder, and now I can’t throw thundersticks right.” The Octoboss does all he can to facilitate this by leading through example. 

In terms of emotions, information, and guidance, he is very open with the Mortiflyers. He believes knowledge is meant to be shared.  He also doesn't shy away from critique if he notices a member of the gang doing something that would endanger another. And he's not the type to simply tear someone down. He'd work with the gang member to fix the bad habit or remedy the issue that's causing them to behave erratically. Similarly, he’s open to critique from his men, especially if they can explain how his actions are negatively impacting them. All of these positive traits are built upon a foundation of “gotta do what’s right for their greater good.” 

So now that we’ve got a glimpse into his decision-making process, let’s move on to discussing his approach to power. From what we see in canon, it doesn’t seem like Octoboss is ruling by force/coercion, or with an iron fist. A random Mortiflyer is brave enough to look DEMENTUS in the eyes, after getting a direct order, and say “I take orders from the Octoboss!” There’s so much conviction in his voice. It’s loyalty to Octoboss, not fear of him. There are SO many ways this scene could’ve gone. Imagine if the Mortiflyer said “N-n-no! The Octoboss will have my head if I disobey him!” But no. That’s not how it went. Instead, the Mortiflyer almost sounds like a kid saying to his stepdad, “You’re not my REAL father,” which indicates preference, affection, and loyalty to the OG dad. You don’t get that kind of loyalty by being a dick to your people. I don’t think he’s hoarding resources from them, keeping them in the dark about plans, and generally just being an authoritarian prick. He cares about them deeply, and they return his sentiment. Within the greater dynamics of the Horde, I think the Mortiflyers have a decent amount of soft power. They’ve practically got a uniform, they’re loyal, and they don’t even seem to have a numerical advantage over the rest of the squad. This brings us to a discussion of hard power vs. soft power. Hard power is rule through force and coercion — locking people up, killing people, taking stuff away from them. Soft power is the ability to influence rather than coerce/force. The Mortiflyers seem like they’d be among the elite troops of the Horde, and I wouldn’t be shocked if other horde members aspired to join them, or at least be in their good graces. This “soft power” approach will have to get a bit harder if tasked with ruling over the entire Horde AND Gastown. With these factors in mind, let’s run down some steps I think he’d take if he were left in charge of Gastown.

Distance himself from the actions of Dementus when dealing with Immortan Joe and the other members of Gastown’s high command. Submit to Joe’s rule, since that’s the route that’s least likely to result in casualties on his side. Make it known that he and his men WILL work within the system and improve operations at Gastown. Do his best to IMMEDIATELY ingratiate himself to Joe by discontinuing most non-essential generator usage and adding that gas to the trade deal, in exchange for more food and water. Promise to boost fuel production by fixing issues in the production chain. 

Once again, motivated by the best interest of the Mortiflyers, he crunches some numbers. According to Lachy Hulme’s interview with Empire, there are about 4,000 bikes in the Horde. We can safely say every bike has a rider, but some bikes have more than one rider (people riding backpack, Organic Mechanic with History Man on the back of his trike, and so forth).The Horde also suffered some losses during the confrontation with Scrotus and Rictus at the first Citadel meeting, but the majority of the Horde was out of Thunderstick throwing range. I don’t think their losses were in the 100s. So for quick and dirty math, let’s just say there are 4,000 people in the Horde. Now let’s look at Gastown’s population. Australia’s largest oil refinery employed about 1,100 workers. Gastown also drills oil, and I haven’t been able to find much solid data on how many people you need for the extraction portion. The closest ballpark number I’ve been able to get is 100-200, but *shrugs* that may be off. So let’s add on various others in Gastown (Sanitation workers, kitchen staff, medical staff, mechanics, War Boys/Polecats/Flamers, Imperators, resource managers, guards, repair workers,  Gastown nobility, misc staff, children of anyone listed here). I think it’s reasonable to estimate 2,000-ish people, in total, in Gastown. In light of this information, Octoboss would immediately realize that Gastown has a carrying capacity problem due to the influx of new residents and its limited amount of food, water, and space. He knows they trade guzzolene for food and water, but they won’t be able to up guzz production enough to pay for the food and water needed to support all the new residents, especially since the population has skyrocketed immediately. And would the Citadel even need that much fuel at once? Probably not, fuel has an expiration date and can’t be stored indefinitely. People WILL riot and starve unless the population is curbed quickly. So that brings us to the question — how would Octoboss reduce the population? Well, he understands that the Horde is full of hard-working and resourceful people with valuable skills. He’d want to brief them on the idea of being traded to another settlement, and take a tally of who can do what jobs. Who would be open to working in the Citadel gardens? How about the sick bay? Can you weld? Would you be up to cast bullets or reload rounds? How about swinging a pickaxe or working in a kitchen? Who wants to be a War Boy BUT FOR REAL THIS TIME? Naturally, some people would be resistant to this idea. He’d give them the option to return to nomadic life, but he’d give them a fair warning that anyone raiding the empire’s shipments WILL be met with lethal force. And of course, some people wouldn’t want to work with the leaders that killed Dementus and friends. If that erupted into a civil war, it would curb the population, albeit in a less-than-ideal way.

Familiarize himself with the operation. His ass does NAWT know anything about running a refinery or drilling operation! And he knows this! To better understand his duties, he’d need a tour through the facilities. He understands guzzolene production isn’t just wizardry, it takes skilled workers, and he’d defer to them when they explain the limitations of Gastown’s production capabilities.

Identify quality of life improvements needed to boost guz production. Go from being the Octoboss to the OSHAboss! Despite what some people will tell you, a safe (or at least safer) work environment is more productive. IRL, oil refineries work 24/7, 365 days per year. Accidents are common, and also slow down production (a machine isn’t gonna run right with some dude’s arm stuck in it!). Due to the constant flow of work, it’s likely that some health and safety aspects of Gastown’s oil refinery have fallen into disrepair, and could use outside help. A high turnover rate due to death/injury is a problem, because training new employees takes time and distracts from the guzzolene production process.  Glancing at some cursory work injury data, it looks like entrapment, getting hit by equipment, and falls from high places are the most common injury causes. Ventilation issues are also common, and can lead to workers getting sick and reducing productivity. Some of these issues can be remedied pretty quickly — the Mortiflyers have lots of experience working at heights, and would probably be able to rig up a pretty simple (but useful) clip and harness system for workers in fall-prone areas. Identify spots that need guardrails and other safety barriers. Employ some Horde members to go scavenge some materials to build the stuff, and get the Horde to work on these improvement projects. Poorly ventilated areas (likely understood as “places that’ll make you feel yucky if you hang out there too long”) would be baffling to Octo, but I feel like he could consult with someone to figure that out. And when it comes to providing ventilation, well… Which faction has access to large fans? And probably understands how to build and repair them? …That’s right! In other words — use the Horde to improve Gastown, because this helps the Horde integrate better. It proves the Horde’s worth.

Identify the criticisms of the old Guardian of Gastown. The former Guardian of Gastown seems like a bit of an ivory tower kinda guy. He’s clearly put a lot of time and effort into his hobbies and beautifying his personal surroundings. His clothes are clean and neat, which is an “accomplishment” considering he lives in a friggin oil refinery. Wait, did I say “accomplishment?” Nah. I mean “this man has never done a day of manual labor in his life.” There HAVE to be people that have beef with the guy, particularly the workers. Listen to the workers. Win over the workers, because unlike the nobility, they’re the actual backbone of the operation. The workers of Gastown become a part of Octo’s priorities, since their work and productivity is essential for keeping the Mortiflyers safe, fed, and housed. 

Woooowhee! Nearly 2,500 words in this response! No such thing as “Shut the Fuck Up Friday” for RoopNavarro. Writing about this makes me want to play it out in an RP or write a fic to really delve into these thoughts (although I might skip that, given that it’s likely redundant with the fic that already exists, and I never want to step on another author’s toes).

Regardless, I am ALWAYS open to answer any Octoboss questions you may have! Thanks again for dropping by and wanting my take!

[deafchild2000]

Updates for my H2O: Just Add Water AU starring the OG trio's character foils (for those who actually are interested in this fic ideas):

First order of business: I'm pushing beyond the PG rating of the original show. I'm going for obvious nostalgia but I also prefer my common sense and realism - so expect a lot of call outs!

I'm bringing the parents in. Like, me and the fans get why they were on the outside of things , but as I get older (even in my mid 20s), I find myself thinking there should have been more moments with the adults being adults & parents.

I'm definitely expanding, or in some cases CRAFTING, better background stories for Charlotte, Miriam, and the Benjamin siblings. (I said this once and I'll say it again) Charlotte had the perfect potential for characterization if she'd been in S1, Miriam Kent is iconic in her own right and deserved more screentime for me, and the Benjamin siblings are a combination of good potential and messy execution that I'm fixing so hard without making them unrecognizable. The OG girls not being mermaids is me experimenting on how their road to friendship would go, with others butting in. (Full disclosure: I'm not a fan of Rikki, so it might show!)

I'm gonna expand the mermaid lore and abilities. Not only is there room for that in 2024/2025, I studied the H2O wiki to find there's opening for it such as physical strength, I may be borrowing from H2O RP Tumblrs because fans can always be trusted to be better content creators.

Because I'm rewatching H2O for ideas, one thing I knew I was getting rid of, under TV Tropes, Louise Chatham's "cloudcuckoolander" trait. I'm not sorry, it was fun to see as a child, but after watching Lilia Calderu in AAA, I'm 90% sure Louise would've dropped the act as Charlotte, Miriam, and Sophie are a different group and would want full disclosure or they won't trust her. Thus, Louise has to see beyond the rose tinted glasses the OG trio let her get away with and help these girls in need of guidance. Plus, she's meeting Gracie's surviving family - which means I definitely can see her take an active role in knowing Charlotte and Annette.

(FOLLOWING ABOVE) Imma explore the 50s mermaids because not only did they deserve it, I hated that Louise and Max had control of Gracie and Julia's narrative in OG. I'm definitely exploring Gracie Watsford because this girl gave up her tail and yet is the only one of her group to have a family - there's so much in that to Louise (a lonely widow) and Max (a hermit) worth talking about as well as the fact she left paintings of Mako Island and the moon pool for Charlotte to have and ended up using in Canon. Julia is gonna be a doozy because she's compared to Rikki but not a lot after that, nor did we find out anymore about her beyond her death in the show. I reiterate again, I have to expand the 50s mermaids because letting two lonely old people tell the group story isn't great.

Surprisingly or not, I'm expanding background characters and adding new ones because it's definitely needed. Charlotte moved a year early, so her mom's restaurant and employees need proper acknowledgement. Miriam is definitely high class like Zane and Emma, so her world is coded for new people. And Sophie is the only one in the group that an adult and active mermaid - she clearly needs some friends outside Will.

Speaking of Will... I'm gonna do my best to make him tolerable since he's physically around the same as Byron, getting more time with Lewis and Zane. Not gonna lie, he's gonna need guy friends and ALSO not gonna lie, we both knew his character existed to make Zane insecure and I'm living for it! Watching him easily become popular because he's him and forging friendship with the other characters (some he never met) is gonna be fun while distressing for Zane.

I'm keeping Lisa Denman along for the ride (and extending it) because I don't think anyone appreciates just how well-written her character was - and just how useful she could be in the narrative. Like if you wanted to combine Lewis and Emma, make her someone important and well-established that people PAY her to go study marine biology anywhere in the world and easy to get along with, then Dr. Lisa Denman is definitely worthy of a threat - but in a way that she sneaks up on you and is worth more than three episodes. And I'm definitely not making light of underestimating her intelligence like canon did.

Two sides of one coin, Mother-Daughter edition. I'm surprised no one realized that if Charlotte was the new girl in town, the same could be said about her mom, Annette. Because of this, in expanding their relationship (and their lives before Gracie died), I'm building potential relationships - especially Annette, dealing with the Sertoris, Gilberts, Bennetts, and Kents (whose friendship goes back years) - just as Charlotte is dealing with Cleo, Emma, Zane and Miriam. A family duo who are outsiders with fresh perspectives. Though I will spoil the idea that the Watsford Women constantly beef with the Harrison Men (a lot of context in bad first impressions and generally unimpressed).

Another thing is the acknowledgement of time, events, and media because S1 of H2O happened in a duration of 8 months since the OG trio became mermaids on Valentine's Day. I'm definitely all for making shout outs for known mermaid media at the time, but definitely holidays and birthdays as well.

In place of episodes that can't happen in this AU, I'm either rewriting or creating original "episodes" as if the show would do. I'm also not shying away from important and serious topics, some not child friendly but definitely issues that could happen in the world.

Small bit: I'm never not using Kim Sertori and Elliot Gilbert. I think there are still fun uses in the narrative for them, but I'm not having Kim entirely intolerable as the fans see her. There's plenty of room for her to grow imo, and I don't believe in underestimating her either.