#picking mains based on how much i like the characters is funny

[projecttirnanog]

my final week as a ky main….

[demodraws0606]

Hello, I'm a Whit fan and I'm about to shoot myself in the foot

I'm gonna sound extremely hypocritical but I find it very funny how a lot of people have placed expectations on what Whit's character is based on previous fictionnal experiences (Happy/Joking character is secretly holding back their sadness).

Even though, I'd argue, Whit is the character we know the least about.

I'm not just saying that as like what we know personally about him but I also mean behavioral wise.

Whit is heavily analysed to have a facade, and I believe that too, even though the arguments on what is behind that facade is up for debate. However we don't actually know what Whit's feelings actually are.

(The reason why I believe Eden and I don't believe Whit, is, unlike him, she has shown no signs of being fake or have any contradicting behavior)

Whit's reactions are very very often contradictory like him caring for people and want to make them smile but also having the most tame reaction to death in this killing game (there is more but this is just an exemple)

Which is why he's the most likely pick to be the mastermind by a lot of people, me included. Because unlike him, other popular pick like Rose, J and Eden have already kind of established a "true character" for themselves that would be harmed in the case of a mastermind plottwist.

Basically those picks, in my opinion, would have character moments that would be ruined and feel pointless if they were the mastermind

Whit however doesn't have much to sacrifice if he is the mastermind mainly because he's already tied up in a bunch of character contradictions unlike other picks. These contradictions can be explained without him being the mastermind but he's really the only one who has those contradictions without having been called out yet (like David).

Also, hot take abound, I don't know why people tie the theme grief so much to Whit's character when actually the main thing that's really been brought up so far with him is idolization.

In fact his secret quote, a thing that seems to incapsulate a character's most important moment, is not about his grief but about him idolizing his mom.

I'm not saying Whit's grief isn't an issue for him, it definitely is, but I mostly mean that people are already posting theories ahead of chapter 2 about how charles will die so that Whit will be able to process his grief properly.

Which I feel is a bit too stereotypical ? It definitely feels like the most obvious path for Whit's archetype.

People associate him rejecting negative emotions as him not wanting to deal with grief but I think it's more likely that he's created a persona tied to his mother that he doesn't want to shatter.

In fact in the David music video thing, the words highlighted in pink is brainwashed and degraded copy. Almost as if he got rid of his personality and replaced it with something else.

Really the only time we've got hints at Whit and grief, is him never talking about his mom dying and also his response to Teruko's grieving response.

[thydungeongal]

Some guy suggested that since majority of wargaming in 1970s was about Napoleonica, it's possible to imagine alternate reality where gygax made the game about fantasy Napoleonica, and I am obsessed with this idea.

Let's participate in imagining this scenario together!

My ideas:

Original three classes would be fighter (but based on d'Artagnan instead of Conan), engineer and diplomat.

Engineer functionally being wizard, though maybe some kind of magic is used by all characters, like how irl everyone was already intimately involved with technology and science

Since cleric is absent, wisdom is not a stat. Maybe replaced by willpower or by social standing before it became Traveller

Combat is still mostly melee because gunpowder weapons back then were not that useful outside of warfare and hunting (accuracy and long time for reload). Armour is present (it was absolutely not rendered useless by gunpowder as people often assume) but prohibitely expensive instead of what odnd "sells" it for

Wilderness is still present as it is because it's equally ahistorical, but I am not sure what monsters to populate it with. Monsters of classical mythology are probably the best pick, they were popular at the time

Elves and other demi-humans are still present because it's funny to imagine elven hussars, but also add gratuitous references to Hoffmann

"Dungeons" are still main attraction, but this time they are town streets and homes and villas instead of, well, dungeons. Functionally they would be almost identical, but with more truly neutral inhabitants

It's all I have for now, but I hope your followers will continue this or argue with my "vision"

This is an interesting vision. I don't have much to add right now but I'm going to let others go at it.

[ask-the-rag-dolly]

// Why do you like Ragatha

(Unleash it. Type out the essay.)

// ... the essay warning tag really is going to apply here ^^

ragatha became my favorite character almost instantly the moment she appeared on screen . like i could remember even around the teaser for the show i was pretty fond of her , though i could chalk that up to me liking Any design that is remotely based off raggedy ann

she perfectly fits that oddly specific character type only I love , which is 'grown woman keeps failing no matter how hard she tries and it's marvelous to witness' , like i'm not sure how to explain it too well - she's not really a girlfail or a girlboss in my eyes ... she just . never wins ! and i love that , please keep fucking losing ragatha the amazing digital circus

to break it down , what's apparent in her approximately less than 7 minutes of screentime is that she's a goofy goober who's essentially the voice of reason . she's not emotional like gangle , unreliable like jax and zooble , or out of her mind like kinger . she was essentially the only one who tried to ease pomni into the circus instead of hard-hitting her with the reality as if that won't make her abstract on the spot . it's clear through her interactions with the other characters and how she talks to pomni that she acts like the Pillar of the group , with how compliant she is with caine's adventures and has a comforting presence .

the problem is ... that all of those 'positive' traits are ... Detrimental to her own wellbeing . like i'm sure a part of her positivity is genuine , but her optimism clearly hinges into toxic positivity and her selflessness is taken to the point of people-pleasing and neglecting her own needs . it's clear that she sees her own emotions as a burden that she doesn't want to put on other people .

and . she's dishonest . my girl is dishonest . she often brushes off things as not being as bad as they actually are , she picks her words to cause less conflict as possible , and it doesn't seem like anyone else is aware of her internal turmoil ... even when she's in Literal Pain she still brushes it off as being okay - and she stayed quiet instead of telling pomni that she's upset .

which is ... hilarious . there's just something about nice characters that tell the most lies to me . bonus points if it seems like they're the one who tells the most truths out of the entire group . everything about ragatha is Dishonest .

and it's funny yet again that these Really don't help her at all ! i think it's clear just from promotional material to the pilot that ragatha is meant to be a punching bag . her teaser shows a cleaver Being Thrown At Her , was tripped by jax and Literally Most Of Her Screentime In the Pilot Is Being In Pain , and that's not counting gooseworx's doodles . my girl's fucking Losing .

and it fits her avatar well since she's a Rag Doll ... she's basically never meant to win from the start . she was never the main character .

it interests me so much on how all of these will be taken in the full series since they're all very interesting setups , especially for the setting that the story is set in . i just need to see more of my girl and i wish that a lot of her content isn't limited to ship art . you guys do not understand how desperate i am to see content of ragatha interacting with either caine or zooble . i am Not normal about them .

also i want to kiss her on the mouth //

[lily-s-world]

Julie and the Phantoms vs. Julie e os Fantasmas

I had recently been practicing my Portuguese and listening to music in that language, which lead me to the soundtrack of Julie e os Fantasmas. The original Brazilian version of the show. Funny how music works, because the more I listened to the songs the more I remembered about the show. Which is why I decided to make a list about the main differences between the shows.

First, the Brazilian cast and the name of their counterparts so you know who am I referring to:

Side note before we start, their music is also pretty cool. My favorite one is Essa noite somos um so (Tonight we are one).  You can find it on Spotify:

The Brazilian show lasted 1 season with 26 episodes, which were divided in two parts from 2011 to 2012. However, the show was always planned with one season only, so it had a proper closure.

In the original version, Julie isn’t dealing with the loss of her mother. Her mother is alive but decided to take a job far away from them, which leads to Julie resenting her because she feels that her mother doesn’t care about them and only shows when it is convenient for her. This makes Julie feel invisible across her life.

Both shows revolve around music and how much Julie loves it. Julie (BR) suffers from stage panic, one of the reasons she had never sing in front of people. The phantoms help her with this. Also, her preferred instrument is the guitar.

The phantoms had a more tragic death on the BR version. They were trying to replicate The Beatles’ Abbey Road cover, but where hit by a truck and died instantly. One member was alive, but he retired from the music industry after the accident. They had been dead for over 30 years and were trapped on a vinyl record instead of a CD.  

The phantoms don’t have their instruments like the new version. After they help Julie with her stage panic, she buys them new instruments and decides to form the band.

The name of the band on the show is Os Insólitos (The Unusuals). They play in different venues and parties across the season. Unlike the new version, they sing the same songs repeatedly across the episodes. There are some special episodes where they reveal a new song.

The Julies share basically the same personality on both shows. Martim and Reggie are also really similar, being a flirt and a little bit clueless. Felix is way more anxious and fearful than Alex, he was scared of ghosts since he was a kid and being turned into one didn’t help with that. Daniel and Luke are probably the ones with different personalities, while Luke is this cutie that falls for Julie almost immediately; Daniel is egocentric and cold at the beginning of the show. It takes a long time for him to warm up to Julie and is resentful against the world for what happened to them. He had a lot of character development during the season.

Pedro (Carlos) and Bia (Flynn) learn about the ghost right after Julie does. Pedro and Martim develop a friendship based on pranks and jokes.

Julie, Pedro and Bia are the only ones that can actually see the phantoms. Whenever they play in the band, they hide behind masks and keep the idea as a mystery to attract followers.

Julie and Thalita (Carrie) were also friends when they were younger. The reason their friendship didn’t lasted, was because Julie realized that Thalita was a bully that picked up on other girls. Julie cut out all communication with her, which Thalita didn’t took well and continued to antagonize her until they were teens.

The main difference is that Caleb doesn’t exist in this original version, there is an agent of the Ghost Police that looks for the boys because he is convinced they escaped the rules of death. They should have crossed over, but never did. There also some kind of ghostbuster that is looking for them.

 At the end of the first part of the season, the boy say goodbye to Julie because they are planning to cross over; however it is later revealed that the ghostbuster capture them. They manage to escape and return with Julie.

Daniel develops feelings for Julie in the second part of the season, Julie also starts liking him, but she also likes Nicolas who had been her crush for years. Nicolas and Julie start spending more time together after he broke up with Thalita, and he develops feelings for Julie. At the end of the show Julie ends up choosing Nicolas, because she had liked him longer and he makes this grand gesture for her at school. She has a talk with Daniel about what they feel, and they both decide to still be friends and continue with the band.

Some fun facts: The show was sponsored by Monster High, so you can see a lot of merchandise in the show; Julie even dresses up as Frankie Stein for a Halloween party. The show was super popular, earning nominations for Kids Awards in LATAM.

[atopvisenyashill]

Worst things GOT did casting wise:

- making Dany too beautiful (+ styling her in a way that she never has a hair out of place, always wears BLUE - which makes her look peaceful and soft and angelic, not making her burn her hair off etc). I just think of that one official art piece that's in the illustrated AGOT book where dany is bald, with the dragons and sparks and frames around her and its so striking instead of the "beautiful angelic blonde women stand empowered with her tits out" scene we got

- casting Iain Glen as Jorah and not like. a random Lannister (like. Come on. He is a burly and ugly man... why are you casting one of the most beautiful men to play him.... this is how we ended up with dany/jorah shippers)

-making Joffrey too unattractive (this is not meant to disparage JG who is a great actor and seems like a really cool dude and i'm not saying he's ugly but I think from his very first scene Joffrey looks very punchable and it would have been so much smarter to make the audience .. relate to Sansa's infatuation with his golden looks. In my head (and in all the official art) Joffrey looks like a male version of cersei/a younger version of Jaime.)

- making Dany, Jon, Robb, Marg, Brienne etc 10+ years older than Sansa and the younger starklings .... It's not "the main characters and arya (who is so cool and can kill people) + the little children" it's ONE AGE group of equally important characters

Like I know people are upset at Ned/Jon etc being too attractive, WHICH I GET, but I feel like those were very vibe based casting decisions and i'm ultimately fine with that (I also think it's easier for the audience to root for someone if they're attractive so like. I guess they had to do it) but these other things resulated in people's perception of the characters being so wildly different from what they're supposed to be. The real reason people get so angry whenever someone says they wish tamzin had stayed is because they don't like the idea of daenerys not being this ethereal beauty (TM is beautiful but not in a conventional way) that they can fully root for without issue.

1. NO YOU ARE SOOOOOO RIGHT ABOUT THEM REFUSING TO LET DANY LOOK UGLY. it’s not to say tamzin isn’t clearly beautiful, but i think she’s beautiful in the same way gwendoline christie is, which is that she’s very striking and she has a strong presence but she’s not exactly what people picture when they say “typical hot lady” (which is Crazy these are all able bodied white women, like the definition of “beauty” is soooooo fuckijg narrow that tamzin merchant is ~atypically beautiful) vs emilia definitely is, and YES like everything from not burning her hair off to emilia being,,,,,fuller in figure than dany as a fourteen year old would be is just very clear that they saw dany different than the way she is On The Page. i mean i know people whack george for saying that she’s like a sexy funny lady or whatever but george never lets go of the fact that she’s incredibly young whereas d&d completely miss that part of her character.

i will say i Get the criticism of tamzin perhaps not picking up on the conlangs easily because one thing you can say for emilia is that she had a decent head for the conlangs, she’s even still partially fluent in dothraki lmaooo. but all the other stuff they said about why they recast dany it’s like. hmmmmmmmmmm.

2. absolutely right about iain especially because he’s similar to idk paddy in that he’s got CHARISMA but unlike viserys, they didn’t intent to portray him as a deeply flawed, antagonistic character they went in portraying him as like an objectively Good Guy dedicated to dany. he’s just so much less creepy and pushy in the show and has several scenes where he shows some moral backbone - that “yet here you stand” “yet here i stand” scene is sooooooo good for example, the fact that he actually apologizes for spying on dany, giving him the greyscale story & not having him fuck a valyrian looking woman in a brothel 💀, etc etc - and you also just lose some of the creepiness here because emilia is clearly a grown if young woman and ian is handsome, so it’s like. welll of Course you want to root for them to be together! and never mind that this is a Massive departure from their book characterizations!! again, they have this idea of jorah in their head that doesn’t match up with what’s on the page even a little.

3. i do get your point re: joffrey and i think this is my problem with aidan as littlefucker too - they’re too obviously villains and it makes ned and sansa look stupid. like, in the books we have that moment where robb almost decks joffrey which does seem to signal something bad but the crown prince being full of himself doesn’t mean he’s going to threaten his betrothed’s sister with a sword then get his ass handed to him by a toddler. in the show we get QUITE a number of scenes where joffrey is shown to be a brat AND as you say, just like aidan, jack has a Certain Look, he looks like a shitty jock who has allegations against him ajsjdj like irl when jack smiles he’s so adorable!! but in the show they REALLY play up his ability to channel a greasy aura ya know aksjd. when the point of asoiaf is often that villains don’t LOOK like villains, but some of our Main Villains clearly resemble typical villains in the show.

4. “it’s ONE age group of characters” NO YOU ARE SO RIGHT. like, there’s several years difference from robert to ned to cat to the twins to tyrion but they’re all the same generation of characters. there’s that exact same age difference from brienne to robb, dany, jon to sansa, arya, bran, with theon kind of similar to characters like jorah, who are old enough to remember The Before Times but aren’t quite in either generation. but because they wanted dany, brienne, jon, robb, and margaery to be more of a Typical archetype rather than an exploration of that archetype, they aged everyone up and essentially invented another generation between the “adult” characters and the “kid” characters. not to be super nerdy here but one of my favorite worked shoots in wrestling is one cody rhodes did where he was ranting about the way young wrestlers get put through the grinder and he has this amazing line where he sums it up as “old men talking, young men dying” and it’s not to say there aren’t a lot of old dudes Also dying lmao but you really see this where young leaders are often unprepared for their responsibilities and used as puppets by older men and you just MISS THAT when that whole generation is so grown!

it’s like they looked at those themes of war being terrible and all consuming and brutal no matter how justified you feel you are and went “wow war is brutal 😍” LIKE PLEASE????

[savemeafruitjuice]

Tickletober Day 22- Role Reversal

This is a Rise fic! Also, it's based off of the intro to Smart Lair! (The episode starts with Donnie screaming, with Leo and Mikey chasing after him. Raph comes in and stops them, then Donnie complains about never being a mummy. I wanted to explore why he's never able to, and how he would act if he were to be a mummy.)

Lee: Mikey, Leo, Raph (implied)

Ler: Donnie

TW!: SOME SWEARING! SUSPENSE! (Dark rooms, shadows in doorways)

I split the fic into parts to help it go faster, so if there's any misinterpretation as to what's happening, feel free to ask for clarification!

"Can I please be the mummy this time?"

Raph sighed, Leo groaned, and Mikey pouted. "Donnie, if Raph lets ya be a mummy, do ya promise not to get all of of control again.. like.. that time?" The softshell straightened his posture, hands going behind his back in a neat clasped form. "I promise."

The red-themed turtle squinted at his little brother, nodding slowly. "Alright, then.. You can be the mummy." Donnie grinned sweetly, uncrossing his fingers and taking them from behind himself to do a fist-pump. "Oh yeah!"

Leo and Mikey looked on nervously.

-----

The Lou-Jitsu movie had begun playing, and the four sat down on the ground, going over rules. This happened every time they turned on the film, and they had all seen the movie enough times to remember the intro word-for-word anyway.

"...And no toilet paper wars. It is to be used strictly for costume."

Leo gave a sharp look to Mikey, who only shrugged. "Don't look at me! Raph started it." The slider waved him off, then tossed a roll of toilet paper to his twin.

Donnie almost caught it, sighing as he picked it off the ground. "Just so we're clear, this is directly from the packaging, right?" Leo rolled his eyes, but nodded. "Yes, you maniac-" There was a creaking door from the movie, making each brother perk up. "Shhh! Guys, Lou Jitsu's entering the tomb! Donnie, go get ready!" The purple-themed turtle got to his feet, scurrying off into the other room.

"So!" Mikey clapped. "Who's scared for their lives?"

All three of them raised their hands.

-----

The lights were turned off, and Leo started standing on Splinter's armchair, quoting along with the scene as it played. "And I, Lou-Jitsu, will defeat you, mummies!"

A metallic sound came from the sewer tunnel. Mikey flinched, turning around, but he saw nothing. He was standing on the ground beside the slider, and gulped, grabbing onto the blue-themed turtle's arm at a flash of silver in the doorway. "I don't mean to break character, but.. I don't think Donnie's keeping his promise.."

Leo gave him an uneasy glance, turning around just in time to catch a glimpse of purple, much closer than a couple seconds ago.. He missed his next line, trying to get back into the rhythm of the movie. "Uh- and.. If any of you try any funny business, I'll.. send you crying to your mummy.."

When the elder turned to his brother, he saw that Mikey's face was pale, and he was inching away from the dark doorway. The sword-wielder turned, only to be met with red eyes staring at them.

"Donnie?.."

"EEEK! SHIT!"

A robotic noise came from behind the two, and the younger jumped up onto the armchair as well, almost causing the both of them to go toppling down as the other wobbled. Leo jumped at a noise behind him as well, the two silently waiting for their brother to enter at his cue. The movie had its cue pass, but nothing happened. A minute went by, the Baha-Blast duo whispering fearfully at each other.

Soon enough, the cue for the main mummy came, and the turtles held each other's arms. Donnie should never have been allowed to be anyone other than the side character who almost dies every movie..

The cue passed. Donnie didn't come.

Leo looked at Mikey, and Mikey kept staring at the doorway. "Dee?.." Another moment passed, and the two almost relaxed into the silence, except each of their sides were latched onto from behind.

"AHH! AHAAH- HAHAH!"

Leo winced at his baby brother's loud screaming, but yelped as well, hands launching down to push away the attacker. "AH! Noho!- DohOHONNIE!"

The blue-themed turtle whipped around, and was met with his twin, eyes staring blankly ahead as his hands dug into their sides. "I am a mummified Egyptian body, I am not Donatello.."

Mikey squeaked as his ribs were dug into, squatting on the top of the armchair when his knees buckled. Donnie only sat on the armrest, squeezing Leo by the thigh, effectively sending him down as well. Leo screeched, writhing on the cushion, trying to dislodge the fingers at his leg. "STAHAHAHAP! KCCH- DOHOOON!"

Metallic spider arms suddenly shot out of his battle-shell, capturing the two's arms in a hand each. Leo squirmed, eyes wide with panic, just above his knee being squeezed at. "HAHAHAH! FUHUCK, STAHAP! HEHAAH!" Donnie gave no response, tickling harder.

Mikey squealed, trying to pull his arms down, but they were pinned high above his head. He wriggled about, trying to twist his ribs out of the elder's grip. "DohoHONNIE! Ihi cahahan't-"

"Groan. I don't care~" The scientist continued to make onomatopoeia sounds, his brothers squirming and flailing. "You're both doomed to face the wrath of the tickle monster! Ghastly noises."

"RAHAHAHAPH! RAHAPH, HEHELP US! HEHE'S- HE'S NOT PLAHAHAYING RIGHT!" Leo screamed, head thrown back in hysterical cackles as his thigh was only tickled at faster in retaliation.

"PLEHEASE, STOHOHOP IT DONNIHIHIEE! NAHAH- EEEEK!-" The softshell fluttered his hand into the youngest's underarm, staring on blankly as the box turtle arched up, giggling increasing ten-fold. The movie played on in the background, but the three were not paying attention. The music escalated, almost ringing out louder than the turtle's laughter.

All of a sudden, Raph came running into the room, tackling Donnie. "Take this, evil mummy!" The softshell tumbled to the ground, almost taking the other turtles with him. Leo and Mikey, now free from his grasp, could escape, the elder grabbing Mikey's arm and rushing out through his giggles.

Donnie twisted, slipping through the snapping-turtle's arms, and jumping away. Raph whipped around, then froze at the dark glare the tech-loving teen had on. It was then that he made the connection between his other sibling's predicament, and his own. Crap..

"Uhuhm- Donnie, what- NoOHO! GET AWAY, YA DEHEMON!"

-----

Urghh, sorry I'm a bit behind, but I haven't had more than a couple minutes each day to get writing done. I'm doing my best, and as soon as I have more time, I'll get all of them done. Have a great day/night!

[primadonnas-ofthegutter]

Lol I said top five you gave me seven characters lmao. Okay easier top five ainme shows..... and go.....

Easier!?!? The fuck! Babe it’s not easy. I LOVE ANIME.

I will try… I guesss… if I have to choose five. I’ll go off of some of my current watches or reoccurring favorites! *based on anime not manga! I haven’t read any of them 💜 but I tired not to share any spoilers! So be mindful if you are watching anything!!

1. One Piece

It is so good. Like 🙌🏻 Anyone who says it’s not worth the amount of episodes, then fine watch the new one coming out because it’s updated art and they made it shorter! So there ya go. SUCH A GOOD STORY 🥹

2. Apothecary Diaries

I love this show 🥹😭 the main character is so funny. But I also love how she shows royalty and those in power how life is for those less fortunate. Even if she doesn’t intend, or want to cause trouble.

3. Laid-Back Camp

I am obsessed with this show. 😭😭 It is such a feel good and calming show. I love nature and I love the cooler season so it’s perfect 😭🥹

4. Romantic Killer

Sadly a Netflix Anime but 😮 it’s so worth it. I love the main character and as a Taurus I understand her stubbornness. But I also love how she takes care of those she’s loves 🥹🥹🥹🥹

5. Signs of Affection/DanMachi

I could not pick one between these two! I really like Bell as a lead, but signs of affection has sign language which I am fluent in ASL and I loved so much!! So good 😭

* special mention:

DanDaDan

I love this show, but I also hate this show a little. Remember I have not read the manga… but I can not get past the first episode. I am current and watching and I did not let the first episode derail me but DUDE. They should have had trigger warning on that episode. 1000% and I don’t know if we needed to make a 15 year old go through that for power. Idk just felt like it went too far.

However. I liked how it related back to why turbo granny was in the tunnel and the horrors faced in the past.

I have an idea that the yoki are all going to have horrible back stories. Humans are cruel after all… but alas.

[urlocalnonbinarybastardwrites]

The Gang Playing a horror game (think Dead by Daylight or Texas Chainsaw Massacre)

Because I need more spooky season outsiders hcs

Ponyboy Curtis

-prefers playing victim

-really likes to frustrate the killers and open all the exits even if it’s unnecessary and he gets killed in the end

-he’s just a little shit like that

-most achievements fr- he’s not stopping the game until he gets even the really fucking impossible ones

-he likes outsmarting the killers and I think that he’d have a lot of skill points in proficiency and stealth

-he’d def main a more quiet and stealthy character that’s less health and stamina based and more efficiency based

-definitely taunts by the exit, does the little twerk bounce thingy

-he doesn’t use his mic because he likes the anonymity of it

Johnny Cade

-okay but hear me out he DOESN’T choose a stealth based victim

-he does main the victims instead of killers

-but his victim is health and stamina based

-like I feel like he’d just be ready to run for a really long time lol

-he doesn’t even try to fix the generators/make exits but stands next to pony while he does it

-I feel like he just annoys the killers because his health is so high

-he’s kinda screwed if ponyboy dies though lol

Dallas Winston

-killer main

-he’s not super good at it and does annoying stuff like puppy gaurding

_rage quits 💀

-doesn’t look at stats at all and only picks killers he thinks look cool

-so he ends up with ones completely different his playing style with a not great ability

-“A hook? Why’s this guy so goddamn lame?”

Darry Curtis

-victim main

-plays the healer or mom

-always gets killed first and blames all his teammates

-but he always has healing bottles and either dies first or survives off of healing the ones that know how to actually play the game well and escape

-def a teamer

-when he plays killer he’s actually really good and he uses heavy hitters

-but it’s too easy and being a victim is harder

Sodapop Curtis

-victim main

-has no idea how to play

-he consistently wins

-but only because he flirts with the killer over voice chat and they let him escape 😭

-always plays the sexy girl ones because it makes him feel bonita

Two Bit Mathew

-fucks around

-both as the killer and victim

-toys around with the victims as the killer lmao and sets really annoying traps

-as a victims he’s the WORST

-he’s made so many killers rage quit

-because he taunts too hard, both in voice chat and by doing the twerk by the exit

-or just finding a hack to open the exit insanely fast

-or just repeatedly throwing things at the killer then running away while they’re dazed

-he’s the definition of a goddamn troll lmao

-he doesn’t care about winning or losing~ his goal is to make at least one person rage quit

-because if this, he also makes his fellow victims quite made with him

-because he sells them out fs or uses them as human body shields

-definitely does really annoying things like waiting on the other side of a door while the killer can’t quite reach him

-just genuine troll

Steve Randle

-he follows sodapop mostly

-lmao when he’s the killer and pony is a victims it’s so funny

-they forget about everyone else, their only goal is to beat each other

-he doesn’t know much how the game works

-but man he figures it out quickly when pony is a victim

[agentc0rn]

Kieran’s story as a loner champion rival character who challenged the game narrative + parallels with the DLC legends - another character essay

Okay, so this is another long rambling of mine that is probably an overthought (and reflective of past analysis) but anyhow, I like to think that Ogerpon, Terapagos and Pecharunt represent certain aspects of Kieran’s arc (albeit not in order). Although Kieran says himself about how he wants to be like PC/us, to be strong like the hero of the story, he outshone others in terms of being a protagonist; not in terms of simply as a central focus of the story but his desire to acquire qualities of a protagonist, which is very evident in his dominant role in the story. Kieran was a protagonist (along with Carmine) but not the main character in terms of the conditions it came along of being one.

To start, Ogerpon being a social outcast due to a great misunderstanding of her display of strength and act of self-defense as a threat is ironically picked up Kieran through his projected image of a strong “oni”; he later becomes this feared champion whose standards pushes out and judges others based on strength. Consequently, other students view him as overly stern and restrictive. He adopts that oni image and its attributed value of strength in who he sees himself as and subconsciously shows to others. Obviously the context of these circumstances are different, but Kieran ends up with a poor reputation just like Ogerpon did (He also takes the "treasure" - in this case Terapagos - like the oni which stole treasures in the tale of Momotaro).

Secondly, terapagos and its too short arc represents the full extent of Kieran’s desire, his potential and who he is; a reclusive, small being who possess great power and status, which, with neglect, caused great changes when it came to the tipping point. Moreover, Terapagos is the "monarch" of area zero, as evident with the tera crown, just as Kieran was the Blueberry champion/king. On another note, his quote of "I don't need my old self anymore - I will show you that I can change again!" resonates with the idea of transforming - physically and mentally - in conjunction with the terastalization, ultimately becoming who you want to be (penny says this as well).

To add further on, Terapagos' berserk state paralleled with Kieran’s monomia of battling and power (demonstrated in his behaviour at the championship match) that long affected his own well-being and his surroundings. The funny thing I personally noticed is that, Kieran took over that role of “control” as opposed to his possesion under dokutaro theories by capturing Terapagos and using it as a final resort to achieve his goal.

Likewise with Pecharunt's motive, Kieran was someone who deeply wanted something that resulted in the harm of others and himself (also mentioned in the case with terapagos). Kieran wanted not just strength, but also honesty and appreciation (form of love) from others. As our miscommunication led him astray, it persuades him that his self-worth is only found in strength (physically and mentally as a trainer and person), and that battling is no longer fun but a measure of worth, a trial determining the strongest who would outlive the weakest. He worked so hard to fulfill his goals for his own sake yet simultaneously for you in that sense of being proven wrong.

He gave up so much of himself by devoting his time, energy and studies to bettering himself (which is very ironiccc). Similarily, Pecharunt gave so much in return for its desire to be loved more - it took as it gave. Both have a warped sense of the things they love (or love in general) in their own respective ways. For Kieran, battling was a test of worth and that the things he liked ought to be strong. He went through such a training arc just to prove himself to you (he outright says so). Again, I repeat, Kieran did this all to fight you, ultimately to prove to you and himself that he made the right choice, that the effort for going through all of this was worth it.

Pecharunt went through all the trouble in seeking out the masks just to appease the couple (I would admit this just ties to the theme of treasure and its consequence with obsession in general, but this analysis aims to focus on the connection between the characters on a specefic level). Its grasp of love comes off as materialistic, more so conditional (same way applied to Kieran = battling in which determines one's success that is only found in strength; that to be a friend/rival, he needed to prove himself).

I have no epic quote/ending for this, oh well (it came off better in my head). edit: grammar issues and revised idea phrasing

[1moreff-creator]

how often was ace guessed as the ch2 culprit during the hiatus? i wasn't around for it so im a bit curious

Not very often, but he wasn't, like, the most unheard of. This Accirax poll from august had him in fourth, as well as this reduced cast Star poll, so he wasn't as "clear" as people like Charles, David, etc. Below the is the impression I got as someone who was only here for part of the hiatus, I didn't visit Tumblr very often after 2024 began up to the release of CH2 EP12.

Levi was by far the most common guess, as everyone and their mother called that Arei had his secret and that made him look suspicious from a meta sense. And Hu has this funny thing where her secret quote in the source code of her character page, "I want to pay for what I’ve done. But even then, I still want to live," is the most "blackened" thing in existence, so she'll probably never escape top guesses for culprit no matter what. Add in the ideas that Levi could have broken Arei's neck without rope (strength argument) and Hu's wire was in the Ace-Nico crime scene (many believed the culprit of both would have to be the same for one reason or another), and they were the two big picks across the general fandom. Especially for those not insane enough to do full murder theories and stuff.

J was also up there because of MonoTV's comment that the Movie Screening Room's wall connected to the playground, which many believed could mean there was a secret passage she could access with her Universal Remote, and that made her shady. Clearly the comment was just to give a general idea of the spatial disposition of the building and room, but I understand why many thought it would be more important than that.

Probably the funniest situation was Eden, though. Because the tape thing and lockdown reasoning (that only Teruko, Ace and Eden were in the room were the tape, used in the murder, disappeared) was something the theorizing fandom was very aware of. You know, that think that actually ended up pointing at the culprit? Yeah, we knew that. A lot of people argued against its importance, but we were aware of it at least.

In fact, the linked accirax post mentions "the 1moreff-creator/thebadjoe scripture" because (at least here on Tumblr) we were some of the biggest exponents of Eden!Culprit with our respective theories, and we both used the tape's disappearance as reasoning for it. Now, make no mistake, there were always plenty of people that thought Ace could have been the one to take the tape, and in fact I'm sure that could have certainly earned him some votes in the linked polls, but a lot of people that pointed to the tape believed that, based on the way the scene played out, only Eden could have taken it.

We were wrong.

Sorry about that, Eden :v I swear I would have picked Ace as the culprit if the scene made it a bit easier to believe he picked up the tape T_T

That said, if you looked hard enough, there were always people who guessed pretty much everyone as the blackened. From guessing that David could have manipulated someone into murder and he'd be the blackened (even then, the main guess for murderer in this case was Hu I believe), Whit because of the "hanging out" comment (and general Whit bullshittery), Arturo because he was one of the only people who we knew would have heard the Arei-Eden conversation referenced in the note, Rose as a bit of a wild card guess because of her lack of alibi at night, to Charles (somehow) because the handwriting in the note is strikingly similar to the handwriting in the custom weapons list. Hell, after LGI some thought David would replace Teruko as the protag, maybe there was some kind of Teruko!Culprit theory out there. We had a lot of fun :D

So, as a final answer, I'd say there were four big "tiers" of characters in terms of character suspicion. "Main Suspects," being Levi and Hu, "Popular Alternative Guesses" including J and Eden, "Some Guesses Here and There" including Rose, David, Whit, etc., and "No Shot" including things like Xander, Min, Arei, Teruko and possibly Charles. I would say Ace fell in the lower end of "Popular Alternative Guesses" tier, take that as you will.

Thanks for the ask! It was fun to reminisce!

[inactiveobeymeblog]

What Type of Anime Would The Brothers Watch?

A/N: Been a while, hasn’t it? Sorry, I just got caught up in life and work. There was a personal matter that I had to attend to so it took longer than usual. I know this isn’t the promised “next HC’s”, but trust me. They aren’t a myth. Yet…

Characters: Lucifer, Mammon, Leviathan, Satan, Asmodeus, Beelzebub, Belphegor, Diavolo, Barbatos, and Solomon

Tags: SFW, anime, suggestive content, short HC’s

Lucifer

Definitely Slice of Life

He likes watching other people enjoy normal lives

He’s also quite sad that he doesn’t get to experience such things because of his certainly unique and odd family and boss

Secretly wishes he could be normal and live a normal life like the characters in the anime

Mammon

It’s hard to choose but he’d totally be into the action/fantasy category

Especially ones that deal with gambling or money

Actually learned a thing or two about gambling from an anime

Brought Lucifer a couple headaches and resulting in a few chandelier replacements, but hey

He’s living his best life

Leviathan

Alright. It’s pretty much canon at this point

Isekai

He loves how random some Isekai’s can get

I mean, how could you NOT watch someone being reincarnated into a fridge? That’s peek action right there!

But no seriously

He also loves how chaotic the titles can be

And how freakishly long they get the more he watches

As long as it’s Isekai, he doesn’t care what genre it is

Satan

Thrillers, true crime, or drama

Knowledge addict

He only picks the ones that are labeled as “based on a true story”

Gets super hyped when a new episode of one of his favorites comes out

Will genuinely keep him from destroying the place

Even if someone were to accidentally bump him

He’ll just brush it off and continue watching

Honestly is so cute when his eyes light up

Also fewer headaches in Lucifer’s department so it’s not all that bad

Asmodeus

Anything with fan service

Or comedy

He likes a good laugh every now and then

Or anything to do with fashion

Any three of those and he’s hooked

Doesn’t matter the genre, just set it in front of him and he’ll be entertained for hours

He doesn’t watch shows with fan service too often, but he usually does find the situations quite funny

I mean, someone’s cloths being shred to bits in the silliest way possible? Count him in! That shit is funny to him!

He also loves an anime that knows how to dress their characters right

Doesn’t matter what type of anime it is, as long as it keeps his eyes on the outfits, then he’s sold

But he’s usually caught watching comedy more so than hentai

He prefers to be horny with actual people, not fictional characters

Beelzebub

Dear lord, anything to do with food please keep it away from him

We don’t need a repeat of last time

He doesn’t watch anime too often, but when he does it’s usually rpg style shows

He likes how excitable they can be

He likes seeing the main character thrive and achieve what they wanted

Hates anime’s that have a good start but bad ending

I mean, come on

Who wants to be sad and depressed after watching a good show?

Certainly not Beelzebub

It makes him lose his appetite

Belphegor

Like Beelzebub, he doesn’t watch too much anime

He likes more relaxing and chill-going animes

So maybe slice of life with a bit of comedy and adventure

Nothing too extreme, just something to have in the background as he falls asleep

Sometimes, when he falls asleep with the TV on, he’ll dream of the anime and accidentally wake up late for R.A.D

He hates getting scolded by Lucifer so he makes sure to wake up before then

No one knows how he does it, but he manages

Diavolo

He watches whatever is recommended to him

Mainly Isekai because Levi can’t stop recommending everything to Diavolo (mainly bc the prince is the only one who will listen to him with interest)

He also likes to peek in on what Lucifer is watching, too

Because how could he not?

He’d love to understand more about his friend in any way possible and totally not because he wants to invite him out for drinks later and totally not because I’m a DiaLuci shipper

But he kind of just watches whatever whenever

Nothing really sticks to him

It’s either everything at once or nothing at all

He likes it chaotic

Barbatos

Doesn’t watch anime

Watches whatever is on the TV that the young master chooses

He’s more of a live cooking show type of demon

He prefers to learn something rather than entertain himself for the mere sake of it

He enjoys learning new things so he tends to stray away from the things that are fictional

But if there was one anime he’d watch, he’d watch Black Butler

Because how could he not?

He too, is One Hell of a Bulter

Solomon

Slice of Life or cooking

Mainly Slice of Life

He’s sort of been banned from watching anything related or suggested to cooking

Mainly out of fear from others

If he were to watch cooking anime shows, it’d be in private and when no one is watching

He likes how funny and chill some Slice of Life shows can get

It’s a break from his very disastrous life

Probably one of the few times a month he really gets to relax

After all, he still has to get that pact agreement from Lucifer

And he’s not going to stop any time soon

A/N: Totally did not make this to procrastinate— (whistles and slowly walks away…)

[familyagrestefanblog]

I know I already brought this point up before, but thinking about it further made me realize how out of their way they went to set this up.

I'm pretty sure "Derision" did all of THAT to Kim's character - despite his growth in the last seasons - because from season 6 onwards he'll be used as the new main slapstick comic relief team mate Ladybug can get angry at for "badly timed jokes she personally didn't like in that moment" and use him as object and tool.

That's why Kim was now characterized as a MEAN-SPIRITED incel jokester

As Marinette's first love interest who hurt her so much that she's traumatized

Who likes and still LOVES Chloé and thinks she's funny for what they are doing while bullying, and says all that in front of his girlfriend

Kim as King Monkey has the same 'animal comic relief' energy as Adrichat was stuck with pre-s5 to the point where Adrien in "Penalteam" even outright called his treatment "animal abuse" but the show keeps insisting that it's all his fault and Marinette is being the kindest and most justified leader imaginable, no matter what horrible thing she does to him because it's never her fault anymore.

Marinette got too much 'unjustified and mean' hate for having done it to her kind and abused love interest, so now they just turned King Monkey into a base line mean-spirited, legit stupid, and easy to hate scapegoat team member so the show can continue having her to it to show that "she was never WRONG in the first place", Adrien just finally "learned his lesson" through being physically and emotionally beaten into shape, but Kim is just so... HIMSELF that she will unfortunately 'have to' continue doing it :(

No matter how badly that reflects on her leadership that she can't keep her team in check any other way and that she let's him stay at all. But they'll probably blame that on Fu because Kim is besides Chat the only person in her normal team constellation (so Félix doesn't count for this) she didn't choose "so naturally there is a pattern with how she 'must treat them' so they act accordingly to her leadership standards and properly respect her"

Adrien, Kim, Chloé, and Lila/ Cerise. Funny how there is always a pattern in the treatment of the holders Marinette didn't cherry-pick. Félix here truly is the one that got away because he's a writers' darling.

I know, I should be glad that this means Adrichat is going to keep his better treatment that actually allowes human rights and dignity for him in Maribug's leadership. But this isn't going to actually take care of the problem I have with Marinette being depicted like that as leader as an "empowerment" message.

I want her to be a good leader and role model and not just constantly have the show claim that as long as the episodes say that "she hurts the right people" to make sure she gets the respect and reward she wants but doesn't owe it to anyone to give it in return :/

[unionizedwizard]

How did you choose their name and why? Was it simply based on vibes or is there any specific meaning behind the name? Are the reasons behind their name different in- and out of universe? For Irma!

OOOOOOOOOOH FINALLY A QUESTION I CAN ANSWER AT LENGTH. THANK YOU.

i did struggle trying to come up with a suitable name at first, and ended up calling her irma veiltar for several reasons:

1) i wanted a name that is relatively normal but canon compliant because her whole deal was to be "what if jane eyre or fanny price from mansfield park was in a fantasy world and could cast fireball?"

2) why "irma"? i wanted something that was distinctly 19th century-coded, so i hesitated between several names including.... alma. glad i didn't settle for this one considering alma from the ivalice raids is already extremely similar to her, in terms of looks (sidenote: this is why i will never actually buy the only mogstation outfit i'd consider getting her (alma's outfit). it would be too much of a cosplay and that's not what i'm going for). i eventually settled on irma because the traditional (if old-fashioned) way to jokingly refer to a medium/witch is to call her "madame irma" and the one thing i knew about her for sure was that she'd be lower class and a mage. and finally, though i don't remember if it was on purpose, i think i was inspired by ferdinand bruckner's 1923 play, pains of youth; one of the characters is an ambitious and ruthless medecine student calling herself irene; she's a socialist and is revealed to be a janitor's daughter actually called irma, and mocked for it by the wealthier and noble students she's boarding with (since irma was a "vulgar", lower class name compared to irene, a more intellectual and elegant name). said character also has red hair and an insane work ethic but aside from these elements, they're pretty different

also this was a complete coincidence because i didn't know that ala mhigan names were germanic when creating her, but irma is an old german name from the root word that means "whole, totality, entire". pretty funny and unexpectedly fitting for someone who's been sundered, like, three times by now

she was a thaumaturge starter and i saw their all-black, dramatic wizard outfit; her last name is literally veil+tar but it can also be read as "veille tard" (night owl, burning the midnight oil...) which ended up being a relevant character trait for her

i realized a while later that her name (especially her last name) sounds canon-compliant, but actually isn't, if you look more closely, especially since she's ala mhigan. oopsie!

i also realized pretty much immediately i had picked the wrong starter class for her and that she'd be an arcanist main. i used all these elements to create her backstory (ul'dah, thaumaturgy, a slightly incorrect name), including the fact that her birth name is something different; she picked "irma" for herself as a child (i don't know why. sometimes children just do things), but "veiltar" was a chosen, foreshadowing name made up by someone else (this is a secret tool that will help us later) (as of now, she knows about it, but it was recent news)

thank you!!

[its-a-me-mango]

Hey Mango!

I have two questions

*turns into an interviewer*

Is Mango your sona and if he is, how did you choose him? Does he have lore?

-someone who really struggles with their sona

Og my god an interview, hey mum look I'm being interviewed!!!

Yes Mango is my sona! He's my SMG4 Sona, so I have other sonas that I use for non SMG4 stuff but he's the only one I use for here! My main sona is a horse demon lol.

When it comes to why I made him, I wanted someone different to use for SMG4 content because when I first got into it, I kinda didn't want anyone to know I liked SMG4 lol. Idk it felt way too cringy to me as a 25 year old being into funny online Mario show so I wanted something different that I could make a separate space with. Now I don't care lol I got over that anxiety real quick, but I still kept Mango because I like him a lot!

Designing him was easy, I just took a character that could fit in the SMG4 universe that I like and can easily project onto (Dr Mario) and I just played around with that until I got Mango! There was a lot of just picking out things I like and smashing it onto him, sonas don't have to have super deep meaning or anything, they can be as simple as making a design with things you like in it.

Designing sonas is a lot easier if you have some kind of "base" to work with, I think kinsonas and inspired designs are so cool I love seeing how people remake a character into their own, its so awesome. I know it's not for everyone but I think it's epic, there's so much to be inspired by and work from in the SMG4 universe so going wild with it is great fun!

Mango does have lore, I made it up after I made him, I designed him first as a MLP hybrid and then I had to figure out how he became one, was a lot of work lol.

His very basic lore is that he comes from a universe where MLP is brought into the real world, however people can't be normal around the ponies so doctors around the world are tasked with creating a "cure" to make people behave around them. Anyway Mangos one of them but he fucks it up and gets turned into a MLP hybrid. He gets his medical license revoked, gets expelled from society and ends up being taken by the government to keep him contained alongside the other MLP ponies. They experiment on him a lot and all that fun stuff but he's besties with all the ponies in there so who cares, then one day he suddenly gets teleported to the SMG4 universe where he gets his license back and now works as a doctor in the SMG4 universe!

See, character lore can be whatever the fuck you want it to be, I wanted Mangos to be just as dumb and over the top as him, its important.

If you're struggling to design a sona, I guess my only advice is just make something you like! There's no limit on how many sonas you can have so you can spread around your interests and likes across multiple characters. They don't have to be wild and exciting or have deep intricate lore or anything like that, they're just whatever you use to represent yourself, just start with something you like and go from there!

Enjoy my rambling, my brain is a pile of slime rn :3

[yukidragon]

Sunny Day Jack - Infection AU Headcanons

Hey, have you seen the resurgence of the MLP creepypastas with infection AUs on twitter? I stumbled across this trend, and it gave me an itch to create an apocalyptic AU, but with characters who are already intended for an adult audience.

Yes, it’s another Something’s Wrong with Sunny Day Jack AU, and a very horror-themed one to boot. Yes, I also know that it’s pretty funny that this comes right after this super sugary sweet short story about Jack pleading for more cuddle time with his sunshine, doesn’t it?

What can I say? Sometimes I like to explore the horror side along with the romantic side of Sunny Day Jack.

Content Warnings: This post is going to get pretty graphic at times due to its central focus on body horror and biological infections. There will also be elements of psychological horror, violence, murder, yandere obsession, occult practices, acts of terrorism, and all the other warnings that apply to the main game. Also, one or more of our favorite characters might meet with an unfortunate fate. I’ll see if I can offset all the horror somewhat with some sweet and spicy stuff as well, since we all know Jack isn’t going to let a little lot of blood stop him from filling his sunshine with lots and lots of love.

Minors DNI!

It took me a while to consider how I wanted to go about the infection itself. Sure, I could stick with the tried and true zombie formula, but there’s way too many games that just tack on zombies as DLC without adding anything unique that ties to the original setting. It gets kind of repetitive after a while. I wanted something a little more interesting, perhaps a little more supernatural.

Then I remembered that there are times when Jack starts looking suspiciously like a zombie himself, especially when his bony finger is exposed. However, nowhere is his undead putrefaction clearer, than this heartbreaking picture posted on the SnaccPop Patreon. Even just the publicly posted teaser picture from twitter shows us that his body is rotting like a corpse.

Credit to Sauce for their gorgeous art. Remember, don’t share anything that’s posted privately for members only on the patreon. If you want to see the full picture in all its glorious heartache for yourself, why not consider joining to check it out? You’ll not only get access to exclusive art, but also audio dramas and many other delightful things. You’ll also be supporting the team and helping them to continue working on the games and other projects that give us so many fun stories to explore and enjoy.

The Diseased Lamb

The apocalypse I’ve crafted for this AU is more heavily based on the Sunshine in Hell continuity than the game itself, and it references a number of my previous headcanons. As such, I’ll be sticking with my version of the MC, Alice, for this AU, but I hope my ramble can inspire you with ideas for how to run your own MC through an apocalyptic scenario with the SDJ characters.

The horror of this AU, as it does with the game, all starts with the tape, or rather the incident that it recorded back in 1984, changing both it and the man who was murdered on that day into something no longer human.

LambsWork Productions is such a suspicious company, particularly with that name that feels like it’s implying that it’s creating sacrifices. It wasn’t just meant in a figurative sense, as the entertainment industry is full of cults. A homeless drifter picked up off the street would make for a perfect sacrifice for some profane ritual. No one would come looking for him, and those who knew him when he died could be silenced with an NDA… if they didn’t die as well, of course.

Joseph Cullman, who used the name of James Haberdae when taking the role of Sunny Day Jack, was just one of these poor souls that Lambswork sacrificed. He and so many others were to give, and give, and give so much of themselves, far more than they ever imagined that they would. They were drawn in deeper, convinced to participate in things that they didn’t quite understand, that felt not quite right, but… they could lose it all. They’ve already come so far, done so much. It’s a sunk-cost fallacy.

LambsWork Productions was a company up to some shady business, with connections to other not quite so savory business partners. They slipped subtle propaganda into their various shows aimed at so many different audiences. The 80’s was an era rife for turning kids shows into a 30 minute long television commercial at its most blatant. Much like how the Flintstones pushed cigarettes on kids in our world, and got their own line of multivitamins, even wholesome mascots could be used to push agendas, even unwittingly. (There’s a good Film Theory that talks about propaganda in the media if you’re interested in more about this topic.) The SunnyTime Crew weren’t just selling branded merch like cream pies, dolls, and lunchboxes, they were endorsing other unrelated products such as pharmaceuticals.

The incident of 1984 brought it all to an abrupt end. Maybe in the game’s universe it was an intentional thing, a sacrifice to accomplish something supernatural. Maybe it wasn’t part of a massive conspiracy, just a sudden murder that interrupted plans already in place that had unexpected consequences. Maybe the company was just shitty and had nothing to do with Jack being trapped in the tape for 40 years.

In this universe, it wasn’t an intentional machanation of LambsWork Productions, but the unforeseen results of so many it played a part in.

While I suspect Jack died of gunshot wounds in the game, as I mentioned in previous theories here and here, in this universe, it was the result of a terrorist attack. The SunnyTime Crew were mascots used to push a product that had… unfortunate results. People got sick, suffered horrible side-effects, even died. There were even rumors that a sickness was manufactured in a lab just so that particular product could be sold to cure it. Naturally, the actions of companies associated with LambsWork wasn’t the fault of the actors, but the SunnyTime Crew had inadvertently become the face of the brand. In the eyes of people resentful of a soulless company that victimized them, anyone who worked with them was seen as guilty.

For actors at LambsWork Productions, their days were long and started early. Often, they had to rely on the coffee, donuts, and other snacks in the breakroom instead of a proper meal.

No one realized the food and water had been spiked. Everyone was already pushing themselves hard, often forced to do their job and put on a bright smile for the public even when they were exhausted or sick. If they felt the urge to sneeze or cough, they had better hold it in until the cameras weren’t rolling.

Unfortunately, tried as he might, Jack couldn’t stop himself from coughing up blood in the middle of filming.

Although tempting, this isn’t the start of a zombie outbreak. It’s a deadly illness to be sure, but not one the terrorists intended to infect the children. This was to send a message to the company as well as serve as revenge to see these shiny “innocent” stars bleed and suffer like others had because of corporate greed.

Though it would be horrifying and tragic if this was a zombie outbreak and the SunnyTime Crew were the patient zeros. Mary would rush from the audience to her starlight’s side, holding onto him tight while yelling at someone to call an ambulance… Joseph moans out one final “Sunshine…” before an unnatural hunger overtakes him, and he tears out her throat with his teeth.

A temptingly dark image, but maybe we can save a zombie specific AU for another time. For this infection AU, things are a little bit more complicated than that, and a bit more sad. Joseph didn’t know what was happening to him, just that he was in pain. He had a terrible chill that burned his insides, his eyes growing watery with a red tint, and he couldn’t stop coughing. He didn’t even notice the blood at first leaking from his mouth and eyes until he heard the screams of the audience.

Mary ran to Joseph’s side as he collapsed to the floor. He tried to turn away from the audience to spare the children the sight, but wound up vomiting up blood all over the colorful studio set.

He wasn’t the only one, unfortunately. The rest of the SunnyTime Crew, even guest stars and members of the stagehands were unwell, but not nearly as bad as Joseph. As the star of the show, the terrorists wanted to make a statement with the gruesome death of Sunny Day Jack. They didn’t want someone as strong and healthy looking as him to survive, so he was especially targeted by tainted food and drink. Even his medication, makeup, and cigarettes were tampered with.

Mary tried her best to help Joseph. She was used to being sick. She helped make sure he wouldn’t choke on his own blood and did what she could to keep him breathing until the ambulance came, but his death came swift and gruesome. He died in her arms while she was still performing CPR on him, bathed in his blood and her tears, as the cameras continued to record their last “kiss.”

Mary died later in the hospital, just like in the regular universe, but much sooner, as she became infected as well. Although the illness wasn’t airborne, it could be transferred by bodily fluids. Though the terrorists only meant to target certain people for one specific incident, microorganisms can’t be simply shut off once they’re set loose.

The terrorists had wanted to make a statement using the very illness that they claimed was manufactured by isolating an especially dangerous strain in a lab and unleashing it publicly. Unfortunately, it had the opposite effect they were going for. The exact events of that day were covered up, including the message that they were trying to send.  Instead, the negative side-effects that the original product resulted in were blamed on this new more deadly strain of the infection, and the pharmaceutical company eventually came up with a cure for that too… but not without more casualties.

Many of the terrorists did get arrested and quietly charged with domestic terrorism. In the end, the company they went to such extremes to expose for their crimes became the hero, and all they accomplished was giving them a villain to escape their own misdeeds.

Quietly, LambsWork Productions buried the SunnyTime Crew show and all traces of its memory to escape any bad press. It moved on to new shows, and new partnerships with the pharmaceutical company in the future, though the higher ups never used any of their characters to overtly endorse any unrelated brands again.

In the modern day, the illness that may have been created in a lab, but was made so much more deadly by terrorism is mostly a non-issue with the standard vaccines people get as they grow up. Few people think about it at all. The outbreak incident was a blip in history, with the show never being mentioned at all in association with it.

40 Years Later

The timeline of events plays out mostly the same from here, though perhaps with a few less survivors from the incident of 1984 in the modern day. Though it might not matter when the second incident unfolds.

In many supernatural stories where someone is unjustly murdered, the way they died plays a part in how their revival affects the world… or in this case infects.

The apocalypse started when a VHS tape was played, and Alice became patient zero.

Jack didn’t mean for it to happen. He only wanted to help his sunshine. She was already sick when he appeared. Not only was she suffering from chronic illness like in the regular universe, but she had caught the modern day version of the very infection that had killed both of them in the past. It was treatable in the present, and she was vaccinated, so she was just isolated at home with nothing to do but heal and distract herself from feeling so miserable and alone.

In this case, the curious and compelling VHS tape Alice bought from the thrift store became far more of a distraction than she could have ever imagined.

Jack appeared when Alice was at her most vulnerable and took care of her. The longer they spent together, the better she felt. Her symptoms faded, and his company was surprisingly comfortable, familiar. It was almost nostalgic, like someone had taken care of her like he did long ago…

Alice wasn’t cured, she was asymptomatic. The infection had been altered supernaturally to make her better, but it became something else, something beyond the capabilities of modern medicine. Its change was influenced by Jack’s fears - his fear of the cold, sleepless hell he had been damned to, the fear of the decades loneliness and the endless cycle of pain, and most of all the fear of losing his sunshine.

Understandably, a patient zero is the last person you want working in the food service industry. Worse, a heatwave had struck Texas, sending a lot of customers to Yogurtopia for a cold and tasty treat. Having to deal with so many people distracted Alice from Jack and left him feeling a little lonely… and increasingly afraid that all of these people might make her forget him.

Symptoms

Unlike the infection 40+ years prior, this supernatural affliction spread slowly, the vector not from body fluids but being in the infected’s presence, seeing and hearing them in close proximity. Touching them directly spread it so much faster. In the initial stages it led to nightmares, an increasing sense of paranoia, and a cold prickling pain not unlike the staticy feeling one got after a part of their body fell to sleep, especially focused on the face and hands. This feeling would steadily spread to other parts of the body as the infection got worse.

The progression led to hallucinations, voices that whispered one’s own deepest fears, which led to an increase in depression. The infected grew to have difficulty sleeping, but when they did they only experienced nightmares. The only thing that alleviated symptoms was physical touch with another person that they felt affection/desire towards, but this in turn would spread the infection.

The psychological effects worsened as symptoms progressed, creating an increased sense of paranoia that they were being haunted, but also that this entity was erasing their existence from everyone who knew them, which led to fears about being alone and forgotten. In a sense, the virus was turning people into yanderes, desperate for human connection.

There were visual hallucinations as well, which started as shadows and colors at the corners of their eyes, an entity constantly stalking them. As the infection progressed the hallucinations became more vivid, turning into distorted inhuman figures with protruding bones coming from rotting strips of skin, and other such horrific images.

The infected changed physically too. Their blood took on a strange blue tinge to it and a hint of green. The colors became more prominently distinct and clearly unnatural in later stages of infection, creating an RGB effect as it leaked from the wounds, eyes, and mouth. Between the discomfort underneath the skin and psychological paranoia, patients usually scratched themselves until they bled, especially around the face and hands. Some even clawed their own eyes out to escape the horrific hallucinations.

The infection didn’t affect everyone the same. For some the symptoms progressed faster, and for some they had fewer symptoms. There were even some that claimed that they recovered from the infection.

There was some truth to the rumors. Being infected by close proximity sight/sound of the infected had a cumulative effect on symptoms, but it faded when not in their presence. Unfortunately, physical contact makes the infection spread far worse than sight or sound. It’s thought that maybe if they’re kept in isolation away from other infected they might recover, but this makes their symptoms of paranoia and desperation for human contact worse, leading to them harming themselves or others in their need to alleviate the symptoms.

The problem was that the infection couldn’t be detected until the blood’s color started to change, well after a person would be a danger to themselves and others. Despite lockdowns and stay at home orders, it spread beyond the city, beyond Texas, and even went international. People infected couldn’t handle being isolated alone as the infection progressed. Forcing them only made it worse.

Violence broke out, from infected people driven mad by paranoia and those desperately trying to escape being infected. The more an infected person was wounded, the more of that unnatural blood spilled in the later stages, the more they changed into something that became no longer human.

Some of the infected had their bodies warped, their proportions stretching and contorting until they were almost cartoonish, elongated, torn, and bloody. They were so desperate for company, and many infected clung to one another, flesh merging together until no one could tell where one person ended and the other began. These amalgamations were dangerous and violent, paranoid of being pried apart and some parts wanting to bring others important to them into the amalgam.

While there was hope of recovery for those infected in earlier stages, once they were warped to such a degree, there was no saving them.

Patient “Zero”

The first public case of this infection reaching its unnatural stages that gave it the nickname of the Color Plague was the incident with one Nick Herraras. The name of the infection might change later if I come up with a better term for it, but we’ll go with Color Plague for now.

Poor Nick was found on the streets, covered with what initially was mistaken for paint, only to be later identified as tainted blood. Some thought he was patient zero, driven to a crazed and desperate state as he wandered the streets, babbling incoherently about “sunshine” and “him.”

On the same night there had been a call to the police that reported a break-in at an apartment building where a woman lived alone. When colorful blood was found at the scene of the break-in, it was quickly deduced that Nick had been the culprit behind it. Alice King, the victim, reported that she had been asleep at the time, but she managed to scare the intruder off with her gun, which led to him being found wandering the streets.

The truth was… a bit different than Alice told the police.

The day had been a stressful one. Aside from the long shift, a regular customer at her job had been acting… strange lately. Nick had come to see Alice with increasing frequency, even lingering until closing hours.

It all started off innocently enough for Nick, just a harmless crush that turned into a serious case of lovesickness. Alice had been such a sweet breath of fresh air from his stressful life as an online celebrity, and despite the paranoia and hallucinations that affected him, he fixated on her. It got worse after his hands touched hers when taking his order from her. Her warm touch alleviated his slowly worsening symptoms like nothing else could. He became obsessed with her even as the hallucinations terrorized him to stay away.

Nick needed her.

Alice picked up on the way Nick kept staring at her even when she was taking care of other customers. It made her grow increasingly nervous, especially when Jack voiced his concerns about both Nick and the dangers of other people in general. Many of the regulars were starting to act strange and shifty as well.

Despite the voices warning Nick away, he approached Alice. He got in too close and rambled a bit about how he noticed that she didn’t ever go home with anyone. Did she have a boyfriend? He was exhausted and disheveled at the time, his wild eyes occasionally darting away to chase shadows before fixing back on Alice. He didn’t even give her a chance to answer, rambling on about how he had been watching her for weeks now, and he had seen her posts online. He saw her give that kid who spilled his yogurt a free replacement last week, and she helped an elderly man find his misplaced car keys. That was so kind of her. Her art was so pretty and her online profile said she was single, so she was, wasn’t she?

The cold got worse and Nick had to touch her, he needed it. Alice tried pulling away politely, but his increasingly desperate grabs for her caused her to panic. In a desperate bid to keep a hold on her, he dug his fingers into her wrists, hard, until a large gloved hand that seemed to appear out of nowhere wrenched his away.

It was the first time Jack had touched anyone besides his sunshine, and it was so cold. It sent Nick into fits, clawing at his hands where Jack had touched him, the hallucinations getting worse. The sight terrifying Alice.

Nick hadn’t been alone during that incident. James Harrison had been worried about his friend’s increasingly strange behavior. He tried to talk sense into Nick when he started acting increasingly erratic. When Nick grabbed onto Alice, James helped pry Nick off her, but he felt a terrible cold that made his hands itch when he succeeded.

James managed to calm Nick out of his fit, after a little while. He apologized to Alice for the scene, trying to smooth things over so that she wouldn’t call the cops. In the arms of his friend, Nick managed to start calming down and start coming back to himself. He was comforted by the warmth of someone he cared for and who cared about him. With everyone shaken, James escorted Nick home.

When in the company of his friend, feeling that warmth of connection, Nick was okay. But that night when he was home alone after he had reassured James over and over that he was just tired, he needed sleep, and that he would see a doctor tomorrow… his mind went back to Alice.

The hallucinations were so much worse, eating away at Nick. Only Alice could make them go away for good, he was sure of it. He even knew where she lived. He also knew how to pick locks, how to be quiet. If he just saw her alone without anyone around, he could make her see just how much he needed her, how much he wanted to get to know her, love her. His thoughts about her had deteriorated from an innocent crush into a sick obsession that he believed must be true love.

The plan did work, to a point. Nick managed to break in without alerting others in the apartment complex or waking Alice up. He just never expected that she wouldn’t be alone in her apartment.

In a sense, what happened to Nick ties into my past theory that he (and the other love interests) were all yanderes. It might have been debunked, but it can be something fun to play with in a universe where there’s an infection that turns people into monstrous yanderes.

After the incident with Nick at Yogurtopia, Alice was pretty shaken up. She felt paranoid going home that night. Fortunately she had Jack to watch out for her. It was only because of his reassurance and comfort that she was able to get any sleep that night.

Jack was also the only reason why Nick didn’t get his hands on Alice again that night.

Sunny Day Jack isn’t a violent person, or at least he has convinced himself that he isn’t, but he isn’t going to let anyone hurt or take away his sunshine. No matter what it takes.

Alice woke up to Nick’s hysterical screaming. She burst out of bed in time to see him fleeing from the apartment. She also saw Jack looming in the dark like a terrifying sentinel, something otherworldly and dangerous. The moment Jack sensed her fear though, he was back to normal, soft and reassuring. He told her someone broke into the apartment, but he managed to scare them off… somehow. When Alice asked about the blood, Jack told her (truthfully) that Nick was already bleeding when he snuck in. In fact, he started hurting himself before he ran away. She wondered if Jack lied to not scare her with the fact that he was capable of violence despite his kid-friendly persona, but later the next day she heard from the police that the wounds were in fact self-inflicted.

After all, Jack doesn’t need to get his own hands dirty when he can have Nick take care of it for him.

Word of the infection spreads, along with the infection itself. Alice refused to allow her family to come visit her after she told them about the break-in, when she feared that she might be infected as well due to her close proximity to Nick and him bleeding all over her home. She was examined by doctors, but when they didn’t find anything, she was sent home with instructions to self-isolate and monitor herself for any potential symptoms that might appear.

Once more, Alice was isolated in her home with only Jack for company. He cleaned up the mess for her so she wouldn’t have to look at the blood, and helped reinforce her door so that no one could break in as easily again… but the news made it clear that the world was becoming an even more dangerous place.

A Lonely Apocalypse

As one might expect, an infection that spreads by sight and sound spreads quickly, especially when it makes people desperate to reach out and touch others, spreading it even faster. Quarantine zones were broken easily, and chaos descended across the entire world. Infrastructures fell apart in the chaos, such as electricity, internet, and plumbing. Infected people broke into homes to find others to join them. Civilization collapsed.

Alice lost contact with her family when the internet and phone lines went down. Last she heard was that they were in isolation and they were all fine. Mercifully, no one was showing symptoms. Barbie had left her apartment and returned to their family home before travel became dangerous. The King family could watch out for one another, but Alice worried about them and her friends dearly.

Shaun, being more trope savvy about zombie apocalypses did decently well for himself despite the circumstances. He managed to escape being infected and has been able to isolate with Olivia and a few other survivors. Animals, mercifully, seem to be immune to the infection, so MoonPie is safe in his care as well. He’s slowly breaking down the “rules” of the infection in order to understand it and why some people are affected more strongly than others. He, like so many others, wants to figure out where it comes from and if it can be stopped. He is also pretty damn sure that this infection is something supernatural, so science alone can’t explain it, let alone put a stop to it.

Shaun and Alice communicated via internet and phone before both went down, so they knew that the other was safe until that point. Because Alice was suspected of being infected, she couldn’t join him and the other survivors. By this point she had a strong suspicion that she was an asymptomatic carrier of the infection.

But it was fine. Alice didn’t need to join up with survivors anyway. She had Jack to protect her. Shaun didn’t know who this Jack was, never having seen him in person. It stung to know that he was Alice’s new boyfriend, but he managed to joke that he was looking forward to meeting Jack “when all this craziness is over.”

The joke came out even more strained due to very real fears that might never happen.

When Ian first heard about the infection back in Texas, he wanted to take a flight back immediately and check up on Alice. However, by that time the city had been put under lockdown. Without any word about Alice, he grew increasingly worried about her, since she was already dealing with a chronic illness. When he heard through a mutual acquaintance that she might be infected, he was racked with guilt for leaving her, blaming himself. This wouldn’t have happened if he never left for college.

A lot of things never would have happened if he hadn’t left.

Alice picked up the phone for Ian once. Though it was hard on her, she was relieved that he was safe. When he wanted to see her, she told him under no uncertain terms not to. It was only when she outright told him that she was infected that he stopped begging her to change her mind.

The news shocked Ian, horrified him. He broke down, babbling apologies, and Alice told him it was fine. She forgave him for cheating and told him to not feel guilty about that anymore. He should focus on staying safe and not worry about her anymore. He needed to focus on taking care of himself now.

This was a final message from Alice to find closure with Ian and sincerely wish him happiness in spite of everything. What happened between them still hurt her, but in the wake of an apocalypse it was a more distant pain, smaller in the face of far more immediate threats. She also had Jack to support and comfort her. She had his love to heal her wounded heart and keep her safe. She felt stronger thanks to Jack in spite of everything.

Despite Alice’s attempts to alleviate Ian of guilt, his guilt only grew worse. He felt like he had to do something. Alice ended the call after telling him definitively to forget about her and not call her again, but how could he after everything they’ve been through? After how badly he failed her? He tried calling her back, but she finally blocked his number.

The guilt and his feelings for Alice ate Ian alive. It made him determined to get back to her and make things right, quarantine or no quarantine.

Even if that meant he got infected too. At least then they would always be together… like they should have been all along.

So Ian is trying to find Alice while avoiding the infected. It’s almost certain that he’ll fail the latter, but perhaps not the former… though what state he’d be in when he finally finds Alice might be something far more horrific than the boy she used to know and love.

Building a Life Together While the World Falls Apart

Although the world is crumbling down around them, Jack is getting stronger. He’s become more solid, stronger, and others can see him now. He can defend his sunshine from the infected, and he’s actually very good at it. Somehow he always manages to find a way to chase them off.

While for the most part Jack comes away unscathed from such encounters, sometimes he gets a little scratched up, which results in Alice fussing over him. He’ll never admit it, but he gets a little careless sometimes just to be spoiled by his sunshine. He knows it’s naughty of him, and he really doesn’t want to worry her, but it feels so good to be cared for so sweetly. He always asks her to kiss his boo-boos better, which leads to kissing other places as well.

Alice knows perfectly well that the aching Jack feels in his cock isn’t from any injury he took, but she’ll still kiss it until he feels allll better anyway~ He makes sure to make her feel very good as well in return.

Given how stressful things are and how isolated survivors have become, sex is a pretty obvious way to pass the time. Jack takes every excuse he can to seduce Alice, as long as the place they’re staying in is secured. He’s not going to be reckless with her safety. The infection might not affect her, but the infected are another story. He doesn’t care if anyone sees them (and really he’d enjoy showing off how much his sunshine loves him), but an infected isn’t simply going to sit back and appreciate the show.

Whenever Jack catches Alice worrying about her friends and family, he makes sure to redirect her focus on him as much as possible. He’s very good at distracting her with his love, placing kisses all over her body between sweet words of comfort and praise. She’s doing so well handling everything. She’s so strong, so kind, and so beautiful. She doesn’t have to handle it alone. He’s right here for her. He’ll always be with her, forever, and he loves her so, so much, more than anyone in the world.

It’s for the best that it’s just the two of them now. Even if Alice is infected, Jack is either immune or asymptomatic too, so it’s perfectly safe with just the two of them. He doesn’t have to worry about losing her to the infection, and she doesn’t have to worry about accidentally infecting him like she would her friends or family. They’ll be safe as long as they stay away and stay together, just like they’re doing now. Jack promises to make sure that neither of them will ever have to feel lonely ever again.

At present, the pair managed to secure an abandoned house. Well, mansion. Only the best for his sunshine, Jack said. Sure it took a lot of work fixing it up and cleaning up the messes, but as long as they’re together, they can handle anything life throws at them. They can face the world together, just the two of them.

After securing the place against invasions from infected or survivors taking advantage of the chaos, they managed to fix the place up to be rather cozy. They’ve secured a fair amount of supplies, and even started growing food both on the grounds and in a greenhouse. Alice knew a lot of tricks for how to grow plants effectively thanks to her mother’s expertise in the subject, and Jack handled much of the grunt work thanks to his strength.

It was kind of nice at times, like they were in their own little world. They could almost forget the outside world… if not for the occasional screams and wailing in the distance.

Despite the circumstances, and the occasional conflict, life in the mansion was actually pretty good for Jack and Alice. With animals being immune, they even got some pets in the form of dogs, cats, chickens, and even a couple rabbits. The animals also weren’t a threat to steal away his sunshine, so Jack was able to open his heart to them and love them as well, which helped to balance him emotionally a little.

That isn’t to say that it’s not hard on the two of them psychologically. Alice had to shoot people, infected and not, in order to survive. Jack wanted to handle all threats that came their way, but the infected had numbers on their side. Even supernatural powers have their limits, and this virus that he unknowingly started has gone far, far out of his control. He couldn’t stop it even if he tried.

That isn’t to say that Jack wouldn’t be the key to stopping it somehow. Someone just needs to put the pieces together and figure out the cause of the infection, then maybe they can figure out a way to stop it once and for all.

I think I’ll wrap things up on that note. I hope you enjoyed this ramble of supernatural biological horror. Let me know if you want to hear more about this or any other AU or story I’ve made. Thanks for reading!

@channydraws @earthgirlaesthetic @sai-of-the-7-stars @cheriihoney @illary-kore @okamiliqueur @kurokrisps