#people get involved in such cool stuff!!!!!!

[whereserpentswalk]

There's a girl in your freind group who just appeared one day. Like literally. There was one day when she appeared and everybody else acted like she had always been there. Only you didn't remember that she had existed, or more accurately only you remembered that she hadn't existed the day before.

She acted normal. So very freindly. But there was something off about her. She seemed too hand crafted, her skin too pale, her hair too blond, her eyes too blue and face too pretty. She looked more like a doll then like a real person. And it was clear after asking the right probing questions that she had no hometown, no family, no ethnic group, that she just was. You were good at asking that type of question, to prove she wasn't human.

You're the only person in that freind group who knows about the supernatural. Like, you don't deal with it on a professional basis or anything, you know a few people who are more involved in it, and you've gotten the chance to see a handful of anomalies and entities and like one eldritch being. You even time traveled once. None of it was a big deal, but you thought they were cool, and it's good to know they exist. The reason it's important is because you know knowing about that stuff effects how you perceive certain things, especially when it comes to recognizing illusions and paradoxes.

You studied her for awhile. Did what you could to check her every little action, wonder if certain small things she did were what a human would do. Question her without letting on how much you know. You've studied the way she eats, the abnormalities in her dialect. The strangeness to how she got her documents. You stole a bit of hair to send to a lab and they confirmed her nonhuman. You're pretty sure from studying the way that her clothing moves on her body that she doesn't have nipples or private parts or a bellybutton, you know it's weird to speculate about that sort of thing with someone but a body like hers is different. Still, you never got full proof, never figured out what she really was, never got to show that she wasn't a real woman and expose the inhuman creature underneath.

As time went on, and you investigated her further and further you stopped being able to see her as a monster. It's clear that even if she's not human, she probably doesn't know what she is either. And more then that she seems like a nice person, all that time you spent with her trying to figure out what type of anomaly she is, you ended up actually getting to know her and she seems like a genuinely nice human being. When she told you she liked a new song and wanted to play it for you that probably was just her liking a song. When she developed a hyperfixation on birds and started being able to name local species at a glance that might have just been a legitimate interest. When she had a crush on a girl in your freind group that was actually just a crush, and not her looking to prey on someone in an alien way. You watched a TV show with her early on to try to figure her out, that might have been the first show she ever watched.

At this point you don't really think about her inhumanity when interacting with her. She's been in the group for awhile, everyone has far more real memories of her then false memories at this point. Trying to expose her for what she really is would just be mean at this point. The paradoxical nature of her existence isn't the main thing you know about her now.

You did have to come clean that you knew something was up. You didn't tell her how much you knew, or why, you just dropped the right hints and she caught on. She became so upset, so guilty, she was worried you would tell everyone else, or that you would hurt her. A few months back you would have, but not anymore. You hugged her, didn't ask any questions about what she was, and did your best to comfort her. Though her existence may have been fake, her hugs were real, those tears were real, and that was enough.

[artist-issues]

Okay I get that they gotta rekindle the interest in How to Train Your Dragon because of the new theme park—as if that's necessary, like streaming doesn't keep things relevant for kids born after the time of its release—but WHY A LAZY UGLY LIVE-ACTION ADAPTATION?

I think Universal should've just made a new movie in the HTTYD universe.

They should've made it small, simple, with an enormous heart, earnest scene-blocking, winsome characterizations, and subtly gripping animation that blends the cartoon-appeal with just enough realism to be pretty-or-scary-or-exhilarating when needed—just like the original How to Train Your Dragon.

It should be set shortly after the time of How to Train Your Dragon, the first movie. That way we get the small-and-simple-with-epic-heart scale, and we don't introduce all the craziness of Hidden Dragon Ecosystems and Mad Warlord War Machines yet.

Here Let Me Just:

It should be about a kid who lives in Berk and is terrified of dragons.

This made The Kid an outcast a week ago, when Vikings were at war with dragons, already—because what Viking gives in to fear instead of punching their fear in the face?—but now everything is different...and The Kid is still an outcast. Because The Kid is just as afraid of rideable pet dragons as he or she was of enemy-dragons.

The Kid can't bring his or herself to believe that dragons are safe to be around at all. Maybe The Kid has good reason—The Kid's parents were taken by dragons or something. Anyway, The Kid doesn't want to do any of this Brave New World, Learn to Love Dragons stuff. The Kid wants to keep hiding at their no-action job (maybe he-or-she genuinely is training to be a bread-making Viking) where he or she has no friends, and wishes the dragons would just go away.

Anyway, maybe in these early days of Hiccup's New Peace a dragon suddenly appears to be kidnapping people out of the village. Sheep are going missing, too. Houses are burning completely down in the night. So Berk is starting to doubt all over again whether dragons can be trusted. Hiccup and Toothless leave to chase a lead, and our Kid Character is forced out of his or her comfort zone when someone they love is taken by whatever dragon is causing the unrest.

So then The Kid character tries to solve the mystery, and it turns out there's a dragon (NOT a Night Fury, a different flavor of "cool dragon" with a totally different KIND of appeal) who's not causing the kidnappings or burning's but is somehow involved, and is the key to finding whoever is framing the dragons and luring Hiccup and Toothless away from the island to do it. (It should just be a Berk Viking, who's bitter, to foil our Kid Character—not a supervillain.)

Obviously there are challenges, like "how do I make any dragon interesting to spend a movie's length of time with when a Night Fury exists." But the focus and theme would be tighter on "act in spite of fear" rather than Hiccup's story's "understanding trumps fear" type-thing. A sister-message.

And with the plot localized to Berk, you're getting a lot of that classic Island-of-How-To-Train-Your-Dragon imagery, so that going to the new theme park feels relevant because you just watched a movie where that's mostly the setting.

And Hiccup and Toothless can be a bigger part of the story if we want. Whatever. But that's what they should've done. Small, charming, with a you-didn't-see-that-coming classic impact.

something LIKE that

not a new-but-worse take on something that was already perfect

[flonbowe]

OK SO AS IT TURNS OUT THERE MAY BE A BIT MORE TO SAY, SO UHHH HERES THINGS I MAY HAVE MISSED AND OR I JUST WANNA COVER MORE

AS ALWAYS, MAJOR BROTHERSHIP SPOILERS, ESPECIALLY RELATED TO ZOKKET

You have been warned

SO NUMBER 1: The Glohm Rays

Im just actually slow on this one my bad In the scene I got those Reclusa screenshots explaining who he is and stuff, it literally says he feeds off of negative energy. The Glohm Rays make people feel negative so Reclusa can feed. Zokket didn't just make the rays just because he's a hater, there was a reason for that too. That being said, how do we make up this void of evidence now? By showing off what I think is the ONLY time Zokket looks happy. This screenshot right here.

Zokket, doesn't smile so the fact that his eyes here are curved in such a way, while he talks about getting more Glohm to "Spur on the revival", while his plans are working out Me personally I think works just as well to show his sadism. (Btw this was from one of the expiring side quests, the one with Connie and Arc trying to get Chilliam's father to go to the wedding) NUMBER 2: Cozette and Reclusa I FEEL LIKE I'VE DOWNPLAYED COZETTE'S ROLE IN ALL OF THIS FAR TOO MUCH Like yes, Zokket and Reclusa are cool, but yknow who's body Zokket is piloting around? Who had to be manipulated and weakened by Reclusa into being a puppet body for Zokket? Who has to live with the knowledge of committing atrocities because she was taken advantage of? Cozette, Cozette, Cozette. Through out most flashbacks involving Connie and Cozette, there seems to be a very interesting consistency. half of the time, she's standing alone, and the other half of the time she's just following Connie around.

Her whole job as a Wattanist is to take care of the Unitree, a monolith to the bonds of Concordia. Its the most important job in all of Concordia, it keeps the world together, there is a lot of pressure on the shoulders of a Wattanist, pressure we see Connie feel through out the whole game, and how she keeps thinking of her mentor, Cozette. Her wonderful, capable mentor, Cozette. That however, doesn't mean Cozette didn't feel those feelings either. In fact, aside from Connie and the Bros once she's freed from Zokket, we don't see her interact with anyone else. This, alongside Cozette standing alone, and all that pressure, creates a very sad reality: Cozette feels alone. The pressure of her job, with everyone looking up to her, its a lonely feeling. She's the one who keeps the world together in a sense, and that pressure clearly gets to her, as seen by this line from her side quest.

This feeling, this despair, is something she doesn't want anyone else to feel or shoulder, especially Connie. She in the flashbacks makes sure Connie knows the importance of bonds, not just since she too will be a Wattanist, but because she loves her, and wants to make sure she feels loved, that she doesn't end up feeling like herself; Alone And that's exactly what Reclusa preyed upon. That's the weakness that let his powers corrupt her, Loneliness is what she feels, Loneliness is what she knows, and bonds haven't done anything for her, so Loneliness is Sublime. Reclusa is a monster, yes, but especially to Cozette. Reclusa took her weakness, and forced it to his benefit. Reclusa transformed Colette's despair and weaponized it by having Zokket control her, by buttering her up for his favorite play thing to take her body, her mind, the sacred knowledge of the Lighthouses, the Unitree, Concordia as a whole, and use that knowledge to try and destroy it all. This also creates an interesting dynamic with Zokket and Cozette, both are incredibly lonely, and potentially jealous of bonds, but Cozette has one thing Zokket doesn't: Someone to care for. Cozette, has Connie. Cozette is lonely, but not enough to harm others. Its a cycle of abuse. Reclusa takes his fury out on Zokket, Zokket takes his fury out on Cozette and the rest of Concordia, but Cozette, despite all of it, still chooses to love Concordia and Connie. Cozette and Zokket both looked into the abyss, but when it looked back. Zokket blinked. NUMBER 3: Ten SPEAKING OF THIS CYCLE OF ABUSE, THE EXTENSION CORPS! MORE SPECIFICALLY, TEN Becuase this twink has such an interesting hidden detail that really changed how I looked at his arc specifically, and his relationship with Zokket. In the Extension Corps's home base on Slippenglide, you can find logs from Ten, and they paint a very interesting picture of him.

Ten already mentions wanting to be in charge when we corner him, but this here expands on that. It shows a disparity between Ten and he rest of the Corps, with him not being as close as you would initially think. He's more selfish here, wanting to be the center, the focus of attention (he has a poster literally hung up of himself) He's the only corps member with a Solo boss fight He's the only corps member who actively Glohms people himself, almost Glohming Bowser if Zokket didn't stop him to go even further. He gets fussy when Ecks messes up his name, but Ecks doesn't when Ten does it back during the Sharpcask encounter. And with the comment about getting a war chest to fund his takeover, its implied he might have wanted to take over from Zokket, or just be in charge before Zokket came along. Its unclear when these logs were written HOWEVER It's not that simple either. The Corps (as shown earlier), still refer to Zokket as Master even when he’s long gone and assumed to be a fake person. The Corps get sad when Zokket misnames them, because they care for him. Not just as their boss, but out of some sort of genuine care for him. The Corps want him to remember them, they want to do good serving him, they want his validation, his praise. They work for him not because they agree with his end goal (no one but Shun even knew what that was either), but because they like the guy! It’s also for a more selfish reason, yes, they do just want his praise for them, but still, this is a core part of them that even gets filled by the time they realize they have bonds.

Especially for Ten

Ten's ambition, his need to be the big boss and be strong, seems to be out of a need to be seen, to be known, to not feel like nothing. This nothing gets filled once he realizes just how important Ecks and Shun are to him, becoming a pride for the Extension Corps, instead of just himself. It also results in their redemption But to think, if he didn't get this realization. If he had stuck more on his War Chest idea, if he had betrayed Zokket, he would of ironically become more like him than he realized. Throwing away his need for bonds and connections, and becoming all the crueler because of it. This again also furthers that cycle of abuse theme, Zokket abusing the Corps and Cozette specifically, with Ten being this close to perpetuating that cycle. (Its also kinda a unique spin on Fawful's arc, what if becoming the big boss wasn't what he wanted at all, but was a cover up for something deeper, but that's besides the point) ANYWAYS YEAH THATS ALL FOR NOW. Im not gonna say I have nothing more to say, there's prolly some other details im not aware of that make even more interesting revelations, but for now that's all I can think of. I LOVE THE EXTENSION CORPS, I LOVE ZOKKET, I LOVE COZETTE, I LOVE RECLUSA, I LOVE THIS GAME

MAJOR BROTHERSHIP SPOILERS, ESPECIALLY RELATED TO ZOKKET!

You have been warned

So they’re like, a toxic relationship right?/hj

OK JOKING ASIDE These two are very interesting to me, and since we've known about Zokket longer, I'll be talking about him first in this thread of reblogs and posts

Zokket

So to get the elephant out of the room, I earnestly don’t believe he is just Cozette brainwashed

Like Aside from small details like the body shape being larger than she is, Zokket's voice sounding very much so different in not just the voice bleps, but in his actual grunts and noises (Especially so before his boss fight), there's things like Zokket's personality, behavior, hell he's even flat out referred to as a separate person a couple times.

Cozette after being freed only ever mentions being under Reclusa's control, and putting on a mask to become Zokket. A mask that breaks once Zokket is beaten.

The way Zokket is defeated, the way the Glohn energy flees off of Cozette's body, coupled with the fact it was specifically a mask Cozette said she donned to become Zokket, tells me outright that Zokket isn't exactly brainwashing, but instead a type of spirit or possession used to carry out Recluse's will. Now All this to say Zokket is his own person, and a very interesting person. Unlike most other Mario characters, he's a very flat character. Intentionally so don't get me wrong, that's the point. He's focused more on numbers than people. He doesn't "misremember" names, he actively doesn't care. His first proper scene is him misnaming the Extension Corps multiple times, with him getting more aggravated the more they try to correct him. He visits Shipshape a couple times through out the game, and most of those visits usually end with him mocking the idea of having connections and overall being very bitter. He's a cold cold man, and even during his boss fight he revels in making the bros hurt each other. There's also some interesting extra details via hidden logs from Cozette while being possessed, and Zokket writing his plans through her body. Quoting from those logs "The egg says its name is Reclusa. Yes, it told me its name, and that makes sense. The egg speaks directly to my brain. The egg has also shared this important truth. Loneliness is sublime . The egg only SEEMS not to move. But it definitely speaks in my brain. I now know my only calling: the resurrection of Reclusa. Loneliness is sublime . All connections will be severed. Reclusa will rule a new era of isolation. Once I have completed my task, I, too, will know the bliss of isolation. Loneliness is sublime . Approximately 284 hours, 56 minutes, and 29 seconds until the resurrection. "Beyond the Glohmatic Ray" "I have distilled the isolate energy from Spite Bulbs. That will be the source for Glohm. I can then focus and amplify it through the Great Lighthouses..." "The So-Called Extension Corps." " I met these buffoons on Slippenglide Island and employed them as generals over my army. They are intensely incompetent but loyal. Do they seek glory, or are simply afraid? They will be superfluous after the rebirth. I will need some means to dispose of them" "Building an Army" "My soldiers, my hands in the wide world, are simply junk repurposed and rebuilt. I gave them language so they might cooperate., but it is absurd to see these junk piles speak. I cannot imagine a place for them in the new world after he is reborn. They will suffer. They may rebel and become ungovernable. No matter--they are ephemeral things." after Recluse was revived, Zokket intended to torture the Zok Troops, his minions, of which HE created. Zokket doesn't just hate bonds, but seems to actively wants to break them. He strayed from his goal of reviving Reclusa by using some of the Glohm to make handheld rays to make people miserable and hate each other, instead of just using the Lighthouses for Reclusa. He threatens the Corps when the revival is almost complete, which would have come to fruition anyway had they succeeded. Zokket seems to fully understand bonds, and despises them. He's not apathetic, he's actively resentful... Except For Reclusa Excluding voice clips, the only time he laughs, is here.

His only use of positive language, and its when he's dying, where he should be at his lowest. Instead, he gets excited, happy, happy to see his Great Inspiration finally return to this world. For a man who hates bonds, he seems to have a great deal of care for his master. A master he was willing to die for, who he was destroyed for. Not even Connie, who he can't forget because of Cozette's lingering consciousness, all Zokket can muster for her is remembering her name, unlike Reclusa. So Who is Zokket? Zokket is a very cruel, bitter person. He's distant and calculating, planning and very exact, very precise ways to revive his master. But he's also sadistic, planning misery for anyone and everyone involved in his plans, for the goal of isolating the world for his master, Reclusa. a master, who he has a deep level of fondness for, the only person he actively shows happiness towards, a person who he spends his alone time with, his purpose, his great inspiration. That's Zokket (At least, my thoughts as to who Zokket is)

[creativesplat]

Inspired by the soul crushingly sad au by @yujateaandpi , Dipper visiting Stan during the thirty years Mabel and Ford were missing.

I would recommend it if you want to have a cry.

The design for Dipper is Yujanteaandpi's, but Stan hasn't made an appearance yet, so I did the best I could! (ps. I have just realised that drawing wrinkles is a lot of fun)

[moregraceful]

It feels like getting pulled underwater—the sharp sideways tug, the slight drag of resistance, then falling, falling, till the waves close over his head. But Logan can breathe when he rights himself again, even if the light has a watery filter to it and the voices have a distant echo. // Sometimes Logan gets a glimpse of guys who've been long gone from the teal, clustered at the far end of the bench or sitting in the box across the ice. He heard Jason's voice in the hallway loud and clear, that infectious laugh. And he could have sworn he saw Raffi fucking Torres getting out of a car in the players' lot. Something tells him not to look up the rosters.

Commissioned @impmakesart to make a painting based on the Sharks' Cali Fin hype reel + the flip side by frausorge. Imp was amazing to work with and I could not be more emotional about this piece and so, so pleased with how it turned out!! 🙇🏻‍♂️🙇🏻‍♂️ Commission him here. Thank you Imp!

[askchilchuck]

Do you support Kamala?

No idea who that is.

[linkneol091]

JOSUKE MY GUY

[icewindandboringhorror]

sometimes looking at like Self Help Strategies lists for the symptoms I'm having is always just like:

thing that I already do

thing I have tried 10 times

thing I already do

thing that I don't have the money to do

thing I already do

thing I've been doing since I was 10yrs old to no avail

thing that is impossible given my situation

thing that doesn't apply to me

thing that I already do

thing I have already tried

hrmm, oh wait, maybe finally- OH, yeah.. okay. thing that I already do but it was just phrased slightly differently

thing I have already done

[railway-lands]

just got to the part in trk where ronan's showing declan the little light orb maker thing that explodes in his face and how it says "he realised how much declan had missed by growing up neither dreamer nor dreamt. this had never been his home. the lynches had never tried to make it declan's home," AND I IMMEDIATELY THOUGHT OF THESE LINES!!! LIKE OKAY HE LOVES HIS BROTHERS BUT DOES HE EVER RESENT BEING A LYNCH WHERE HE WILL ALWAYS BE LAST, BECAUSE HES NOT A RONAN, THE FAVOURITE AND DREAMER OR MATTHEW, SPECIAL AND GOLDEN???

(from burning vs drowning - mccafferty)

[doedipus]

a large amount of time I've been spending on -untitled undefined scope original fiction project- since the last time I posted about it has been trying to develop the protagonist concept I came up with last summer or whatever into like, a character that would feel real and era appropriate.

it's fun research to do. naturally a lot of the details I assigned to her are things that I already think are cool, so it's been a lot of fun trying to trace her traits back through the relatively recent past, getting reminded of how much things have changed, or where the gaps in my intuition are, and then doing a flurry of reading to get a sense for exactly how someone like her and the people around her could have happened and what her life was probably like leading up to her present day. hopefully this results in some good good verisimilitude.

[mamayan]

I got a text today saying “I forgive you” on fb, from someone in high school who got their face smashed in a locker till I was yoinked off by a couple teachers.

What do I tell them? Cuz they started the little squabble in the first place with their shoving and peacocking from what I remember, and they also ran their yapper for an entire week prior saying they were going to “beat me up” lol.

So shouldn’t it be the other way around? If you initiate the bullying and the fight, and then proceed to get your ass handed to you, doesn’t that make you the biggest loser? I think so tbh, but maybe I’m not as mature as I like to think I am. Idk, when I saw the message, it made me wish I would’ve permanently disfigured their face so they had to actually forgive me for something lol.

The waifu says be the bigger person and say “thank you,” but I keep typing out nastiness lmao.

Should I just not reply? If I say thank you it feels like I’m affirming I did something wrong, but I felt zero guilt then and even now…( ・∇・)

[irregularbillcipher]

watched the musical demon show (don't wanna name it so this post isn't in the tags) at the behest of an IRL friend and i can already tell this is going to be a piece of media where i absolutely cannot stop thinking about it, not because i really love the show as-is, but because it has so many individual components i really like and find incredibly fun or compelling, and i'm so frustrated that it doesn't come together for me

i think the main thing i can say about it as a show, setting aside some of the insensitive choices that were made that i really don't feel qualified to tackle or talk about, is that the entire thing sort of gives off this vibe of someone really excited to show you every single oc they made in high school and college and i very genuinely mean that in both the best and worst ways possible

there are some good hooks for season two though so i will absolutely give them that

[writhe]

applied for another job yesterday

[delightfullyatomicfest]

Not the Lost Bass Project taking undeserved credit for finding the bass

[ghostlyheart]

I woke up about halfway through the night last night which usually means that I have a super vivid dream. This time it was about finding a baby giraffe in an underground basement complex and then being ghosted by animal control when I tried to report it so I had to protect it in my house