#so technically this is a teeny tiny shadow

[nova-rpv]

never drawn maria before damn

[skekthesilly]

I SPENT 3 HOURS ON THIS BUT WHO CARES ITS FIREEEEEEEE

please click on the image to see it in higher quality im genuinely begging you

EDIT: WHY DOES IT LOOK WORSE WHEN YOU ZOOM IN......... NOOOOO RAAAHHH THE QUALIGY........ CRIES

EDIT 2: I FORGOT MULTIPLE MAJOR DETAILS ON LIAMS WINGS ABORT MISSION ABORT MISSION EVACTUATE RAAAHHHHH CRIES CRIES RAAAHHH SOBS PROFUSELY,,,,,,,

im so proud of this silly little drawing of mine..... originally i wanted this to be like. a quick little thing but whoops, all effort!

i didnt wanna give liam a shadow because magical butterfly ghosts dont have them and this is technically from bryces pov so if he looks behind him liam wont be there but he looked weird without a shadow and i just like it when he has one

there are many many teeny tiny imperfections but like!!!! im not gonna fix allat!!!!!!!!! i like it how it is!!!!!

i KNOW that butterfly liam au takes place in the plane but the plane doesnt have a mirror and its a cool concept to have it so whenever bryce looks in a mirror butterfly liam is just. there. watching him. and hes not going away until you forgive yourself damn it bryce /silly

"bloody liam bloody liam bloody liam"

liam shows up

"are you literally just doing the bloody mary thing but with me instead"

also uh. stands awkwardly. twiddles fingers. if you like the art then,,, maybe reblog mayhaps? i want people to see my art and im really happy when they do, thanks!!!!

[sweaterkittensahoy]

Sometimes, I wonder if my Great-Aunt was some flavor of queer. Maybe a lesbian or maybe asexual. I don't know. What I do know is that she had a roommate at some point, and my grandfather was technically her brother because her parents adopted him from his family as they were driving across Nebraska during the Depression. But a big part of the reason they adopted my grandfather, as I understand it, was so my Great-Aunt could have a baby to raise. She was 20 at the time.

And I never asked her about it when she was still with us because 1) she was extremely hard of hearing and did not wearing hearing aids, so it was easier to have conversation at a minimum, and 2) I did not grow up in a family where, "So, like, was my Great-Aunt queer?" is a question you can just toss into the room. Hell, when my mother brought up that my Great-Aunt had had a roommate at one time, I asked, "Like, a roommate, or do you think they were a couple?" And my mother replied along the lines of, "Ugh, why does everyone assume roommate means more than roommate?" And, woman, I definitely recall one of my aunts (not the great-aunt, obvs) bringing her "roommate" to a visit, and YOU were the one who said "roommate," and my aunt was the one who went, "SHE'S MY GIRLFRIEND." So, there's literal recent history about why I asked.

Anyway, I wonder because I loved her. She was teeny-tiny and drove an avocado green Pontiac GTO until she was something like 90. She had a white poodle she named Shadow, and she made me a yarn-and-hanger duplicate when I was a kid. It was one of my favorite gifts ever. She had to move into my grandparents house when she was 98 and hated every second of it, but she LOVED to see me when I showed up. When she passed, she left me a 1917, leather-bound 2-volume copy of Les Mis, which I think is from the second printing of the book ever in the United States. She taught in a one-room schoolhouse in Nebraska when she started as a teacher, and she passed away at 100. I miss her.

[spaceagebachelormann]

Dating Tam Song headcanons for the poor please? Also, are you excited for the shadow and bone cast q&a? Cause I certainly am.

DATING TAM SONG

  ੈ✩‧₊˚ FANDOM: keeper of the lost cities

  ੈ✩‧₊˚ FORMAT: headcanons

  ੈ✩‧₊˚ WARNINGS: one teeny tiny angsty mention, like technically a few spoilers??

  ੈ✩‧₊˚ A/N: HI ALICE!!! i am over the moon for the shadow and bone cast q&a ive never been more excited for anything ever in my life

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BEEN WAITING FOR THIS REQUEST SINCE I STARTED THIS BLOG

okay so he is like the greatest most awesomest boyfriend ever istg

he seems like his love language would be acts of service

and also he’d genuinely be upset if you walked into a room without him opening the door for you or sat down without him pulling out the chair

he’s a gentleman let him be one <3

you’re required to be friends with linh

if she doesn’t like you it’s an immediate red flag (unless your rayni)

sophie WILL make you take a 325 question quiz to see if you’re right for her bsf

no i’m joking it’s 5 questions

anyways

he’d like shows from like the 50s-early 70s

so you’ll walk in on him watching something in black and white and be like “what’s this” and you better sit down because he’s gonna tell you the whole plot

it’s so interesting watching him talk about stuff he likes <33 his eyes light up and he starts rambling

you can tell he’s passionate about it

THIS MAN IS A BIG CUDDLER BTW

your legally obliged to not tell anyone especially keefe this but he thrives on cuddles

like even if it’s for 5 mins in the most uncomfortable position ever it’s enough to make his whole week

hed also make an insane effort to keep you away from both the neverseen and his parents

hes lost enough and you don’t need to be added to that long list <3

okay um anywyas next

hed call you the most weirdest names ever

“hey i brought that thing you wanted” “thank you baguette”

he basically just calls you foods

also we’ve seen how protective he is of linh right??? yeah that but with you is 10x worse

will quite literally follow you around

and like it’s not in a “i don’t trust you” way it’s in a “i just want you to be safe” way

he’ll back off if you ask him too

the thing is he has that “anything for you <3” mentality but it’s more like “ANYTHING for you. <3”

more threatening basically

also so help me god if someone tries to hurt you in some way

they like can’t even look at you afterwards

okay next set of hcs!!

i think he’d like

LOVE to read and hed like go to the library every other day to get 15 new books

and i have this cute little idea of him going there because you go there and it gives him an excuse to stare at you for several hours <3

its probably how you met him

but then again he seems like he’s more likely to fall for someone who’s known for a few months/years

also he can sculpt because i said so

so if you like sculptures/mythology he makes you little statues

will let you mess with his hair and braid it and put it in pigtails and stuff

after much convincing

he’s like super shy at the beginning of the relationship but as it progresses and he becomes more comfortable you can tell how much he really does like you

linh tells you not to be alarmed cause he’s just getting comfortable

also when he gets excited he has this little look in his eyes

they become all sparkly and glittery

now it’s 5x more sparkly and glittery when he’s talking to you

OH HE COMES TO YOUR HOUSE A LOT

i kinda like the idea of him and a childhood friends to lovers and like he comes to your house a lot so he doesn’t have to go home

hed love holding your hands btw

no matter if they’re warm, cold, rough, soft, small, big, he loves them

will constantly be grabbing your hands and dragging you around (affectionately)

he loves kissing them also

before he’s about to leave to go do something he takes one of your hands and gently kisses it before skeddadling

he could talk to you for hours

theres times in conversations where someone will be talking and he internally WILL NOT CARE AT ALL but as soon as you have your own input/opinion he’s listening intently

also imagine going to something with him where you need to dress fancy and he sees you in your fancy pretty outfit and is like awestruck

unable to form words

thinks you are the most amazing person ever like he’d kill for you if you asked

also would love doing your hair

okay it’s 12am i have to sleep

he’s such a good bf i love him

[fandom-hoarder]

Not people in the notes acting like people are stupid for not knowing that idiot was the artist. "Learn to check the watermark first" is fucking ridiculous when I couldn't even fucking see it. It's so tiny I had to zoom in, and didn't see it until it was even mentioned.

Lookit this ridiculousness. Do you understand how tiny that is? I thought it was a thin line of shadow for the foot!

Here's a closeup of this ridiculously tiny "watermark" (not what a watermark is, btw. It's really just the artist's name in teeny tiny font.)

I had to two-hand this screenshot btw, because I had to zoom in beyond the point tumblr technically allows. Every time I let go to take the screenshot, the zoom got a lot smaller, even though it was still zoomed with just legs and feet visible. I had to hold the zoom with my fingers and take this screenshot at the same time. Because this is how big it needs to be to READ IT. This is just another part of the rage bait. They really put their name so small you can't see it. The font is thinner than the fucking lineart.

[mozart-the-meerkitten]

Alright I am back to talk about my boy Peet again, specifically how he was introduced in episode 2 of the Wingfeather TV show. He technically appears in episode 1, but it’s only for a few seconds (and I’ve written a different post about that here).

What I want to talk about is how his character is formerly introduced to the audience in episode 2, “The Mysterious Map”. Peet is in this episode for all of about two minutes but man did they pack a LOT into those two minutes. I’ve said before that every second he’s on screen in the first two episodes of the show is telling us something about him, so let’s take a look, shall we? (there shouldn’t be any spoilers for the books except maybe little teeny tiny ones, I tried really hard to make this accessible to new fans.)

We first properly meet Peet (and learn his name, if you’re new) when Janner goes into Glipwood Forest to retrieve Sara’s zibzy ball. Just as he finds the ball, a mysterious silhouette drops down behind him.

Now, the lighting here is really interesting, because while Peet is in shadow and we can’t see him, there’s still a sunbeam shining down on him. So while his entrance initially seems sinister the lighting is telling us otherwise. This is very much a hero pose that Peet is doing here, and, interestingly enough, he’s also bowing, which he does a couple times in the very short bit he’s on screen, which means it’s a significant detail.

You can see it even more clearly in this shot- the bowing and the sunlight streaming down on him. The imagery is telling us very clearly “this man is good, he can be trusted” (maybe even hinting that he has a noble heart, which anyone who knows the story knows is true). It’s giving us a positive impression of Peet before we know anything about him, even while Janner is still nervous. It’s telling us that while Glipwood Forest is dangerous, this man is not- at least, not to our heroes.

And then we cut to THIS and first of all, have you ever seen a softer, kinder expression on anyone? Second, he’s still in the light- actually, that’s a theme with Peet in this episode; except for the first couple shots he’s in he stays solidly in the light almost the whole time. It’s even giving him a bit of a halo effect here, which is more imagery associated with good, noble characters. He is good and the story wants you to know that- needs you to know it, because they don’t have a lot of time here and we won’t learn much about who Peet is and his motives until the end of season 1 (if they follow the book’s framework there, which I’m assuming they would since there’s no reason not to).

In a sadder frame of analysis, it’s also pretty easy to see that Peet is… not doing great. We don’t know much about him at this point, except that he wears socks on his hands and does amazing acrobatics, but when we first meet him here you get a better sense of his mental state. Not only does he have trouble talking to Janner and act confused (“Oh, hey Peet, what are you doing here?” “Where? Oh! Here. Me.”) he’s also got bags under his eyes (to carry all the trauma), his hair and general appearance is unkempt, and if you look closely you can see what are either splotches of dirt, bruises or scars on his arms and legs which just. makes me worry about him even more.

The way he talks to Janner is also important. He doesn’t say much, but his voice is very soft, he seems to be whispering at first, like he’s afraid of scaring Janner away (;-;) and he only talks a little louder after Janner asks him a question. The way he’s framed in the shots of this scene, how he talks and how soft and gentle his expressions are all speak to the fact that he is kind and good. At the same time we find out about his mental confusion when Janner asks him what he’s doing in the forest and he doesn’t know how to answer the question.

So we have a mentally unwell, kind, noble, sort of weird fellow, who for some reason appears to Janner in the woods. We don’t know why exactly he jumped down from the tree to talk to Janner, because he’s interrupted before he can explain what he’s doing there, but knowing what we do from the books an educated guess can be made that he was keeping an eye on Janner and the other Igiby kids from the woods (he was watching their zibzy game and you can’t convince me otherwise) and when Janner ventured in and seemed frightened, Peet jumped down to make sure he was alright.

So that’s one micro scene. It’s showing us Peet’s caring side, that he might be weird and wear socks on his hands but he’s also kind and gentle to scared children lost in the woods.

The second tiny scene shows us the other side of him.

So Janner’s kind of been being harassed by this little critter (I think it’s a thwapperfly) since he entered the forest. It flies over and dive bombs him while he’s talking to Peet and even right here you can see how Peet’s expression changes. Before he was all softness, but now you can see his face turn more serious. (He’s also still in the light here, though partially shadowed)

(Wait wait, and Janner in that shot and this next one is in the light and oh no, oh gosh, Janner’s practically glowing in the screenshot below and there’s a sort of subtle divide between him and Peet in the lighting which is showing us that Janner is Peet’s light, Janner is literally bringing him into the light without even realizing it just by existing- which is representing what all the kids have a hand in doing for Peet which is bringing him out of darkness and into the light and hope and oh jeeze, oh gosh, I need a minute-)

Peet tenses, and it’s hard to see here but his whole expression changes, hardens. Because now Janner is afraid and Peet can’t let that stand. You can watch him track the thwapperfly’s movement like he’s zeroing in on a threat (because he is).

The thwapperfly circles back around for another attack and Peet’s reaction is immediate and instantaneous. He places himself between Janner and the danger:

Notice how fierce he suddenly is compared to how he was a moment ago when it was just him and Janner. This is Peet in protect mode and it’s showing us a lot of things. One is that he is 100% ready to throw down at any moment to protect Janner and the other Igiby kids- even if the threat is insignificant! Because I really doubt a thwapperfly could badly hurt Janner but that doesn’t matter to Peet because Janner is scared, and Peet cares more about making this kid feel safe than if the threat is actually dangerous or not. We don’t know why yet but he is.

Second, Peet is a very effective fighter! He not only jumps in front of Janner with lighting fast reflexes, he bats the thwapperfly away the second it gets close, and he does it in a practiced, easy way that tells you he’s used to defending himself (or others). He never hesitates for a second during any of this, just does it. It’s the sanest and most purposeful thing we’ve seen him do and he does it to protect our main character.

(Wait, oh, wait, hang on, another thing- Janner’s in the dark now and Peet is leaning into the light. Peet knows what’s going on here, he knows why he’s protecting Janner, but Janner has no idea! Janner is in the dark about what’s happening! That’s so clever I’m just-)

And then Peet catches Sara’s zibzy ball out of midair and skips away cackling delightedly.

Also note that this is one of the times we see him walking out of the light, though interestingly he’s still not shadowed significantly. And it’s the moment where he slips from protect back into the silly Sockman. (from his true self and into what he’s been forced to become)

I’m almost at tumblr’s image limit and I still have a ways to go with this analysis, so I’m going to stop there for the moment to continue this in a second post. Feel free to comment with your thoughts! I’m having a lot of fun with this :D

[rhineposting]

hey dude, i saw how ya analyse some of toh characters such as lilith, belos and others as well, could ya analyse the star child knows as the collector or Enzo Gabriel, since there a lot of mix opinions about them

Hi Hannah.

You still have your portions of dishes to wash, and mom won't be too happy about seeing a pile of dirty plates once she gets back. Hop to it and make me a mug of tea while you're at it.

Okay, now that I got my older sibling duties out of the way, let's get to it.

You guessed it : more under the cut.

The Collector (Because I am not calling him Enzo, what kinda Sonic the Hedgehog ass name is that) was always a difficult character for me. Trying to get any accurate yet solid thoughts on him is almost impossible, with how inconsistent he is.

Initially when we meet him, he's a deranged God who was more than happy to work with a lunatic over executing the entire population of the Isles, as every other type of entertainment no longer satisfied him. He found violence something amusing, even though he seemed to know the weight behind it. It was made very much clear that once that mirror was gone, everything would go terribly wrong.

I loved Shadow Collector. He was genuinely horrifying to think about in-universe terms - a godly being of a species that caused the extinction of giants that simply cannot be reasoned with like with an adult, nor can be actually fought against. Technically speaking, there was no true way to defeat him. Again, once that mirror was gone, it was game over - yet everyone knew that the plot would never let him stay trapped forever.

The writers nailed that feeling of inevitably approaching doom perfectly with him. It left me at the edge of my seat every time, and even more so during King's Tide as the derangement grew more and more apparent. It was like waiting for a slowly approaching meteor to finally crash. And when it crashed in King's Tide, it was gloriously terrifying.

I give Shadow Collector a 10/10

Now, as for his Regular Self later revealed in Season 3...

Well.

I was a bit disappointed. From eldritch horror wearing skin of a child we still had at the very beginning of For the Future, we ended up with...An actual child that just needed a pep-talk from the main character, who had no idea of what was right and wrong. It felt...A teeny, tiny bit rushed to me. Plus, as I mentioned before, I feel like the writers went a bit too hard on the "Kid and His Toys" aesthetic and too little on him being a divine entity from outer space.

Overall, while I wasn't as intrigued as with Shadow Collector, the new one was still alright.

6.5/10

[skellebonez]

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY @ninjasmudge ! Oh gosh, a second late birthday gift... well, I certainly hope that even if this is a couple days late you enjoy it! I was so overjoyed to find someone else who loved this rarepair and I just had to finally add something substantial into it for you! I hope you enjoy it!

“Sandy…” Macaque whispered in desperation. “Sandy I cannot move. Sandy help me.”

The sight before him was nothing that Sandy had ever expected to find before him. Well, technically speaking, the idea of the situation with anyone else wasn’t exactly something that was ever out of the question to imagine. But with Macaque? Well, would anyone really blame Sandy if he just… Took a moment to bask in the sight before him? To enjoy the immortal monkey demon’s suffering? To revel in the knowledge that, should he so desire, Macaque could very easily remove himself from the situation. It wouldn’t even take his shadow warping powers to do so, he just needed to move.

But, well…

Who wants to break the unspoken law of not moving when a bunch of cats fall asleep on you?

“Sandy don’t just stand there,” Macaque whispered with a whine under his voice. The large man couldn’t help but notice how difficult it was to hear the whine over just how loud his cats were purring around his guest. “Do something, shake a treat bag or open a can of tuna, anything!”

“Hmmmmmn… no.”

The look of shocked betrayal on Macaque’s face was worth it.

“Why not!?” Macaque let out another whine, looking frantically between all the cats piled on top of him.

There may not have been quite as many if Macaque sat on the couch like a normal person. But no, he insisted on sitting on the couch half slouched over the arm of it draped like one of the many felines trapping him there. There was one cat curled perfectly in his lap and another half draped over it, and one draped over his right shoulder. His left shoulder was partly pressed into the arm of the couch and one cat had oh so carefully wedged itself inside the gap to press against the other’s face. The cherry on top of the trapped Macaque cake, however, was the teeny tiny little kitten that was sitting in his hair. Oh so carefully snuggled into it as he leaned his head back into the couch to prevent the little creature from falling.

“Haven’t you ever heard the expression ‘it’s best to let sleeping cats lie’, Macaque?” Sandy said with a laugh as he crossed the room to sit in the immediately adjacent arm chair. The perfect place to watch the struggle of the man slowly being reformed through a great multitude of ways that included, but was not limited to, cat therapy.

And considering the Macaque that originally came to him would have just as easily stood and let a cat fall to the plush landing pad of the couch as the Macaque before him now would stay sitting to prevent the cats covering him from waking up… Sandy was pretty sure the therapy and other things were doing a bang up job. Had he been more full of himself he might have almost considered giving himself a mental pat on the back. He settled for a reminder to pull out the very nice tea later instead.

“You’re evil,” Macaque accused with a scowl forming on his face. “You claimed to be redeeming me but clearly this was only a ploy to enact a long for of cat trapping related torture.”

“You can stand up,” Sandy offered with a bright smile, the same smile he always offered his suggestions to Macaque with.

“Absolutely not you monster,” Macaque shot back with absolutely no real vitriol in his voice.

Sandy couldn’t help but soften his smile at the fact that he was beginning to recognize how macaque talked so well that he was able to tell when his frustration and anger was genuine and when it was, as he learned, an odd sense of humor that he had formed over time. It also, perhaps, struck him that Macaque’s tone when he jokingly sniped back had also softened much like his smile. Become something more instantly recognizable in the way that anyone could tell he didn’t really mean it.

“OK, OK you’ve made your opinion on that method clear,” Sandy said with a chuckle. “But uh… if you don’t mind me asking, how did you get into the situation anyway?”

“I fell asleep.” Macaque admitted with a sigh. “I did my work out, got myself some tea, and was listening to one of those books you lent me-” Ah, so there was a headphone in one of Macaque’s ears, he thought there was one when he entered the room. “-and I just passed out. Next thing I know I wake up with a bunch of your feline body heat thieves all over me.”

“... how long have you been sitting there like that?” Sandy asked after a moment of silence. Knowing the other’s routine as well as he did… Macaque should have ended his work out well over two hours ago.

“...40 minutes?” Macaque eventually answered after an even longer pause.

It took every bit of willpower and self preservation Sandy had learned over the years to not immediately burst out laughing at the idea of the Six-Eared Macaque, feared immortal being who had somehow fought Sun Wukong and lived, being held in place by a bunch of kitty cats because he didn’t want to move them.

“Alright,” he said instead, more than satisfied with the answer he had been given. “Give me one second.”

Sandy watched Macaque as the other watched him stand and leave, confusion lacing his expression until he noticed Sandy making his way to the kitchen. Sandy didn’t need to see him to know he must have been wearing a look of relief when he realized, nor did he need to see him to know what happened when he opened a can of tuna and not only heard the thumps and claws of multiple cats hitting and running across the floor but also the small yelp of pain from the smaller man.

“I did say it was best to leave them be…” Sandy mumbled to himself with a sigh as he grabbed the first aid kit he kept in his kitchen once the cat’s food was divided.

It didn’t take long at all for his assumption to be proven correct when he saw Macaque looking at the back of his hand with a similar scowl to the one he had on his face before.

“Let me get that for you,” Sandy offered. Before Macaque could tell him not to bother he grabbed the other’s hand and began assessing the damage. If this was the same Macaque that came to him he would have snatched his hand away in an instant.

But this Macaque… he let Sandy hold his hand. Let him gently wipe the scratch clean with alcohol. Let him apply a bandage to it with no muss or fuss.

“Thank you for being so patient with my cats,” Sandy said after a moment. He couldn’t help but notice that Macaque didn’t pull his hand away when Sandy didn’t pull his own away either.

“They’re dumb cats,” Macaque countered with a shrug. “Why be impatient with a creature you can’t herd anyway.”

Sandy couldn’t help but laugh at that, noticing the soft blush that began to overtake the other’s face and ears.

And the rumbling of a purr slowly reaching his ears once again. Ah…

So it wasn’t his cats he had heard before.

Well… not alone anyway.

He’d keep that a secret for now.

[y0d00p]

i typed this up on discord a bit ago and wanted to share, my thoughts on borb wings :)

(borb = whatever mk, dmk, kirby, galacta, etc are. we don't have a real name for them)

(we = me and my partner lol)

wings are generally a natural growth for borbs. when they come in and what form they take is inconsistent, depends on various factors in and out of their control (environment, overall... power level, attunement(?) with magic, copying ability, etc). what age each of the borbs got theirs and why they're the kind of wings they are we haven't considered yet...

they are physical extensions of the borb's body (so no "mk's wings are just his magic cape"), and they can be consciously altered to some extent (generally depends on their talent with magic and can be being able to hide, transform, shrink them, etc). this is almost always used mostly for getting them out of the way when not needed galacta's wings are very physical and he generally doesn't conceal or alter them in any way. they're pretty straightforward just regular wings. teeny says he just "doesn't bother". he has to alter or wear clothes already suited for them... back in the day he had specially fitted armour to accommodate them, nowadays he mostly just wears casual shit. backless or racerback shirts, crop tops, no shirt. if needed he will rip holes in the back of his clothes for his wings. very crude, very messy. he does not care. eventually, morpho learns to sew and starts hemming the holes he rips in shit for his wings. now they look much nicer and last longer :)

mk and dmk's wings are much more attuned with magic, and they're both able to and choose to conceal them most of the time when not needed.

when completely naked the wings may either meld completely into their backs with maybe a small bump or marking to show where they are, or they'll just be shrunk down significantly unless needed.

when wearing clothes, the wings magically emerge directly through and out of them, taking on some physical properties of them, like a very simplified "copy ability". it's not exact (eg; they can't have like... wool wings or something lol), it moreso copies the "toughness" of the material. naturally (right out of their skin) they're a bit leathery and bat/dragon-like, and that's always the baseline. by wearing a very tough leather or metal armour it will fortify the wings.

mk's jackets all have a small plate of metal sewn into the back where his wings emerge to always take advantage of this, even when he's not wearing full plate. dmk is too lazy for this and generally just relies on a leather or denim jacket, which helps a tiny bit, but not nearly as much. this is why his wings are tattered, more prone to tearing and injury.

also, mk often uses his cape specifically as a concealment tool for his wings, keeping them out but hidden under/"inside" the cape, so they're immediately usable when he removes it. morpho isn't technically a real borb, just a small part of a mass of universe-spanning ephemeral butterflies taking on a physical form that mimics the borbs. their wings are completely magical and possibly mostly intangible? they're more of a visible side effect of them flying or using certain abilities (eg: "no be MY friend" buzzing) than something that gives them any ability. any injuries they sustain are completely gone when they emerge again. kirby will definitely have his wings grow in before shadow kirby does. shadow kirby will probably grow bat wings because he's very close to/looks up to dmk a lot. i dunno about kirby though! i drew him with little angel wings once a couple years ago but i didn't put any thought into it, just thought it was cute.

[regrettablewritings]

Preference: What Strange Being Are They? II

Characters: Victor Stone, Harley Quinn, Erik the Phantom, Nevada Ramirez, **Surprise Character**

Victor Stone - Simulacrum

The proper term, as he saw it, was simulacrum: An image or representation of someone or something. That was the more proper term. But in Victor’s mind, ordealed and pulled every which way but up, it meant something just as contorted as his form had become: An imitation of something else that may or may not have ever even existed. A collection of broken pieces, cobbled together to look like something familiar, all the while lacking in its qualities enough to make it abundantly clear that no, this was no longer what someone knew. Or maybe they never knew him to begin with.

In layman’s terms, Frankenstein’s monster.

Then again, he supposed the term “cyborg” was not entirely incorrect. There were, after all, traces of his organic self still present, albeit restricted to the face. But there was almost a sense of struggle in that title to him. A sense of denial. Simulacrum might have hurt, but at least, to him, it was honest.

But Silas Stone preferred to call him his son. And Victor called that ignorantly optimistic. After all: What sort of father drags his son back from the cusp of a peaceful passing, utilizing otherworldly means to reassemble him nerve by metallic nerve until he no longer resembled the boy he remembered himself being? A father too driven, Victor decided. One whose own dreams and memories had become a simulacra in and of themselves: They became so distorted, that they no longer resembled reason or reality.

And as far as Victor was concerned, he’d paid the price.

He kept to himself, reserving night time as the only time he could wander the streets of Gotham to himself — but just barely. There was only so much hiding a flimsy hoodie from his time at Gotham U could provide. But still: Technically speaking, he was safe. Monstrous, perhaps, but safe. Safe from wandering eyes, safe from judgement over what he’d lost and since become, safe from . . . Well, life. He was perfectly content living a simulation of life, in fact.

But what he wasn’t prepared or safe from was that fateful night he met you, unafraid and completely real. Well, if anything, you were real curious . . .

Harley Quinn - Succubus

Nobody talks about what happens when you starve a succubus. Mainly because the belief is that the only way to starve a succubus is to deny her, ahem, intimacy. And while this certainly wasn’t an untruth in most cases, the case that was Harley Quinn was a rather . . . unconventional one. Well, as unconventional as anything concerning a succubus could be.

For one, she had adapted her needs to better suit her environment. She had to: If she relied solely on just physical intimacy alone, she would have died long, long ago. After all, The One That Shan’t Be Named seemed to make it a point of starving her of all the resources she could possibly siphon energy from. Eventually, it came to a point where she simply had to learn how to consume energy from other means: Attention; the glances of lustful men and women; affections. Little, teeny, tiny sources that paled in comparison to the full-course meal she might’ve gotten before. But it was better than starving, and she needed to get by in this world however she could.

Not only because she quite liked some bits and pieces of this side of the veil, but also because in the end, she simply wasn’t as powerful as she once was. She still carried some of her paranormal traits with her (minor dream-walking, enhanced agility, etc), but it definitely wasn’t enough to drag her back to whence she came. Not that she wanted to.

She’d become rather fond of the den of sin that was Gotham City. And, to her own surprise, she had become rather fond of you, the poor newbie that foolishly agreed to her Craigslist ad for a new roommate. But then again, she was far more than old enough to know better; why be shocked? After all, you were so, so warm when compared to every other person she’d endured in such close proximity in the past. Much sweeter, much more . . . Deliciously innocent . . .

Erik the Phantom - Fossegrim

Fossegrims are, at least when compared to most other water spirits, rather on the benevolent side. They weren’t like sirens, using their musical gifts to lure people in to a watery grave -- at least, not normally. It was that they much preferred to enchant without malicious intent, plucking at their harp strings or sliding bows across their fiddles to produce ensorcelling sounds of the wind in the forest, the chorus of rushing water resonating in every note. It was just simply not in their nature to be especially malevolent.

At their worst, they were very particular: Even at their most agreeable, there was always a caveat of sorts.

If a fossegrim were to agree to live with a human partner, for example, he needed to have free and regular contact with a water source, lest he grow dire. And if a fossegrim were to offer his tutelage for the fiddle to someone, they would need to participate in a very particular ritual that included stolen mutton, a white he-goat, and a lot of Thursdays.

(And even if one were to succeed at this, they would be faced with a most . . . unorthodox means of being “trained”. Once again, nothing done in malice, but surely there had to be a cleaner way.)

Erik personally did not stick as strictly to these circumstances as others of his kind might -- really, he saw little point in it. After all: Who would come wandering in a watery cavern, and searching for a fossegrim’s teachings, no less! No, he had grown used to his solitude, if bitterly so. He told himself that he was more than happy to live out his naturally long life, secluded, playing beautiful pieces that would remain suffocated beneath whatever structure had gone up above his cove. He almost dared to think it a pity . . . Until one day, a visitor arrived.

And you came bearing a gift: Not a he-goat, nor stolen mutton. You hadn’t come bearing meat of any kind at all! All you carried with you as you clumsily paddled your small boat was a ring: An heirloom, old and dingy, but precious nonetheless. It was all you could offer him that equated to your desire to learn by his hand.

It perplexed the fossegrim. But it also filled him with something . . . warm. Bright, even. Pride. After all, who was he to disappoint such a humble, obedient student. . .?

Nevada Ramirez - Vampire

Vampires: Creatures of fear and woe. They lurked in the shadows, the particulars of their lore transforming about as much as they themselves could. Feeding off the fears of the common folk, draining their energy while all the while enticing their prey closer and closer still.

The transformation fit Nevada like a glove.

And, like a fashionable, leather glove befitting as his aesthetic, he wore it all with style. And perhaps a bit too much glee. Vampires, as it turned out, weren’t just day-dwelling bloodsuckers after all: The great thing about living in a city so varied as New York was that it allowed for evolution and strange mixes to occur. Nevada lucked out: He’d been vampirically sired by a strain that could eat human food, go out in daylight, weren’t effected by crucifixes, and didn’t require an invitation to enter a goddamn building.

The catches, unfortunately, were as followed: Food no longer tasted as vibrant; he could go about his day but with powers limited so drastically that he may as well have been another lowly-ass mortal; bullets were still a big no-no (unless he was the one shooting ‘em); and whether he liked it or not, he still required blood to properly get by. And as disappointed by the food situation as he was, he considered that of the blood a proportionate gain: Blood, Nevada found out, was far more varied when spiced with hormones.

His club made for a perfect den, a place where prey of all sorts could walk in, gyrate themselves into a frenzy, then come crawling over to him (the most minimum of efforts on the part of his pheromones) and offer to him their bodies without even knowing the true nature of what he wanted of them. And for a while, it worked like a charm.

Until Nevada realized he’d never quite had a taste of you, yet. You, with your wide and innocent eyes, cheeks burning whenever you saw him staring at you from the VIP section.

Sure, excitement from arousal was tasty. But the undead gang leader couldn’t help but wonder what the taste of excitement from nervousness tasted like . . .

Lucifer Morningstar - Human

They are without particularly long lives. They are born helpless and remain so much longer than most creatures on Earth do. And yet, it is amazing and strange how much humans can pack into their lives.

Take, for example, one Lucifer Morningstar: He’d changed his name from [Redacted] to better suit the image he wanted, which was that of a walking spectacle. And if his name weren’t enough, everything else he did surely was: The wealth he accrued through mysterious means; the successful nightclub on the LA strip that he owned; an immortal bed life; and a tapestry of connections he’d made by pulling favors. All topped with a devilishly handsome face to boot!

If Lucifer ever had a goal, it was to live it up and/or go to Hell in a hand basket trying.

Which was probably why he wasn’t one to shy away from hosting a little large get-together at Lux for Halloween. And by get-together, Lucifer clarified on social media: They would, in fact, be holding a seance and summoning. After all, what sexier way to embrace the taboo of darkness than to play around with the veil as though it were part of a dress-up game? It was too good an opportunity to miss out on, as any good attention-whore businessperson would tell you.

Unfortunately, for as lucky as Lucifer tended to be, he still bore upon his shoulders multiple flaws. Human flaws. Such as the flaw of not exactly doing research and providing a thorough vetting process when it came to hiring the “performer” who would be commencing the seance and summoning.

This was LA, after all: He probably could just pluck any rando off the street and get a good show out of it. He wasn’t even sure where he pulled this rando from (chances were, he was buzzed and/or high while doing so), but he couldn’t argue with the results of a crowd bewildered by the surprisingly realistic smoke effects and lights flickering. Though he had to admit: They could’ve put you in better demonic makeup for when the lights settled and you stood there, having suddenly “appeared” in the previously-drawn pentagram.

Still, you were cute enough: He supposed if he played his cards right, flirted with you in the usual Lucifer way, then perhaps his Halloween night might be filled with many tricks and treats yet! So he found himself perplexed when you continued to act confused and thrown off, even after the “performer” had finished their routine and left.

Wait, weren’t you supposed to be with them? How did you even get in here? Why do you keep asking how you got here, or if you got stuck in another person’s Hell, or -- . . . Oh. Oh, shit.

As a human, Lucifer was intent on filling his life to the brim with as much story and experiences as possible. But sometimes, there are just some things humans -- even ones like Lucifer -- shouldn’t dabble with . . .

[chthonicgodling]

Skiophoros & Korakinos, daughters of Epiales and Alastor

Kaia, daughter of Loki and Giselle

I MEAN with such a large cast of characters, whomst are constantly intermingiling and populating the palace with babies, arent you tired of me only ever drawing older!Neo & older!icy next to their kiddy counterparts?? how about for once i growup/glowup some of the OTHER kids???? gOD!!

ok mostly just wanted to draw older!Skio for the first ever time (and Kora, technically) and then thought maybe lets turn this into a teeny tiny series???so added a Kaia who ive only ever drawn the grownup version of once!

the Skio design IS based off of @fenixethekid‘s ye olde doodle of her grownup self from 2016 that ive had saved on my phone for 5 years (which im sure u dont even reemmeber at this point in time lmao) UMMMMMM EPI AND TORY OFFSPRING HAIR SUPREMECY HOW ABOUT??? MY GOD.

would like to continue this with some more of the kiddies! IDEALLY with like, raz and lenore&the Japhi kiddes, idk, might go ahead and just. draw the latter but holding off on a more canon design NOT from me for raz - MIGHT also do Pho & Vryk even tho ive def drawn pho uh.... lots. OR I MIGHT DO NONE OF THESE THINGS, KNOWING ME, so, heres this for now uwu

Skio & her Sentient Shadow Twin Sister Kora belong to @fenixethekid ; Kaia belongs to @waywardfangir1!!

[nordic-language-love]

Hei Hei! 6, 7, 41, 75 (I wanted to give options! Feel free to do all of them, none of them, or one or two or three of them :D, I just chose the ones that seemed really fun!)

6- Do you keep plants?

7- Do you name your plants?

41- What was the last book you really, really, really enjoyed?

75- Tell us about your pets!

I hope your day gets better!

Hi! Thanks for the questions! ^^

6: Do you keep plants?

I mean... technically yes; I've still not thrown out the dead basil and orchid plants I have on my window sill :(

7: Do you name your plants?

Given I can’t keep the damned things alive, I think that’d be far too traumatic :’(

41: What was the last book you really, really, really enjoyed?

The Mad Ship by Robin Hobb. 906 pages and despite being a slow reader I got it done in 4 days. Such a shame the final book of the series let it down so badly.

75: Tell us about your pets!

Omg yes. Okay. I have two cats: Yuffie (named after the FFVII character) and Bub (short for Beelzebubbles, but we just call him Bubby most of the time).

Yuffie is 3.5 kilos of floof and rage. She is the loudest cat I have ever known. Not only does she constantly have things to say (mostly teeny tiny complaints, but she also just likes to talk to us), she is not light on her feet in the slightest. One time I thought someone was knocking on the door, but it was actually just her walking down the stairs. She’s also super clumsy and sometimes just jumps into the cupboard door instead of jumping onto the kitchen counter. She isn’t much of a cuddler and generally objects to being picked up, but she kinda tolerates it. Sometimes she’ll sleep on my lap, but it’s pretty rare and almost always when I was about to get up. If she’s not getting enough attention she’ll march over, yell at you, and then collapse on the floor with her belly up (we’ve dubbed this her “drama flomp”).

(She knows she’s pretty and often poses for the camera!)

Bubby is half bengal, so he’s pretty big. 5 kilos of pure muscle. He’s black in most lights with a little white spot on his throat and another on his tum, but in bright sunlight you can see he’s actually dark orange with black stripes like a tiger. He is so. so cuddly. He gets seriously upset if he doesn’t get his morning snuggles! He gives me lots of kisses, rubbing his little face against mine and licking my nose. One of his favourite things ever is my fluffy jumper. He’s not so interested when it’s not on me, but if I’m wearing it he goes nuts for it, suckling and making bread and purring so hard he chirps. His arch nemesis is his own shadow, and he’ll often run around in circles trying to capture its tail until he gets dizzy and falls over. He also doesn’t know how to bury his poop - he understand his paw kinda has to make a scraping motion, but he just paws uselessly at the air or up the wall next to the litter tray.

(This is just how he likes to sleep, idk)

[emptynarration]

AUs and Verses (Short Edition)

Here’s a collection of my favorite AUs and Verses! Hopefully a bit shorter and more easily understood uwu

[HERE’S THE LONG EDITION, WHICH INCLUDES A COUPLE MORE TINY VERSES!!! DO CHECK THIS OUT AS WELL if you’re interested]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Normal / Default Verse

[Here’s the story of how Author turned into Host!]

Author was very greedy. He wanted to become a literal god. His greed attracted an actual old god, who abused Author’s greed.

The old god, named Alden, forced Author to gouge his own eyes out.

After Author passed out, after mutilating himself, Alden “possessed” Author’s body. Normally, its omnipotence destroys human minds. But not Author’s.

Due to neither being able to overpower/destroy the other, they came to a compromise, and share the body between them. Their body was named “Host”, as it now hosts the old god together with Author.

Over time, they grew so intertwined, that they’re one very well working person, while also still being their own.

Twisted Minds AU

[Here are the Fanfics I wrote about the whole AU]

The egos all live in a manor together, everything was alright.

One day, the body Dark used rotted away, and got too hard to keep going; so he had to leave it. Without a human body containing the entity which is Dark, slowly seeped into the manor again, even though he tries his hardest to stay contained in what was once his office.

Due to his shell-less self, everyone was slowly changed. Emotions brought to extremes, personalities flipped, appearances growing inhuman, etc.

[Here’s a little post about the gist of it all]

Author was also affected, like everyone else. But, due to Dr Iplier wanting to use Author in an experiment, and things going sour for the writer, he was thrown “into” Dark. He nearly died. He was changed, his sight gone and powers changed.

This made him into Host. And Host, due to his powers, realized how wrong this reality is, and how fucked up it is. Thus breaking him out of the cycle of madness, as well as making him a terrified being.

Cursed AU

Set in a fantasy world, slightly medieval perhaps.

Author and Host are brothers. They live in a cabin in a forest, away from other people, happy with only themselves as company.

One day, someone Author angered tried to kill him. But instead of Author, Host was hit, and was quickly dying from a curse.

Author didn’t care when he was hit with a curse as well, angry, wanting to kill that woman, but Host dying in his arms took priority.

The curse Author was hit with was worse, though. It turned him into a sort of “undead” state. And to stay “healthy” and strong, he had to leech the life-force from other people. The touch of his bare skin does so.

He unintentionally quickened Host’s death.

Author was cursed to live forever with this curse, unable to die. Due to the strong connections between the brothers, as well as the circumstance of his death, Host is stuck as a ghost.

Host is technically bound to the cabin, but, Author wears the same slightly magical necklace that Host had. This makes Host able to go with Author, though not stray too far from him.

Teeny Twins AU

[Here is a collection of Fics I’m writing!]

All of the egos are a little younger than typically (Between 24-38 on average, outliers being Magnum, Dark, Wilford being older, and Host, Author being younger)

Author and Host are twins and live together in their cabin in the woods.

They know where the egos live and visit them quite often.

They have their respective powers, but don’t know their full extends.

Neither of them wants to be anything like a god or something alike; the thought alone makes them uncomfortable and even scared.

They are quite mysterious but also total rascals. Favorite past time: pranks. They’re best friends with the Jims and Bing due to that.

Author is more active, energetic, and reckless. Host is more quiet and thoughtful.

everything i wanted AU

[Here’s two little fics I wrote about it]

Host and Author are twins. They grew up very close, and were eventually taken in by Dark and Wilford.

Author was very very open to explore his own powers, always pushing and pushing and pushing.

Dark, with the excuse of fearing Author would be a danger to himself and especially others, banished Author into the void, where Host had also gotten hurt in the process.

Author sort of became one with the void, gaining strange weird powers. With them, he managed to escape the void -just in time to save his brother, who didn’t want to live without him.

Swap AU

Egos’ “roles” and sorta their powers being switched around!

Host is “swapped” with Dark.

He is monochrome. He wears a black trenchcoat and black tights, as well as knee-high black combat boots. He has a bright strand of hair, no eyes, and bandages around his eyes.

[Here’s some info about the AU and Host’s/Dr Iplier’s/Dark’s/Wilford’s backstory!]

He is called Darkiplier in this AU (pronounced Dark-eeplee-er? sorta french lol).

He talks in third person as a comfort mechanism.

He doesn’t really have a goal like normal Dark (getting revenge on Actor) but he takes care of the other egos and keeps them safe and in check.

He does his radio show still, but has no narrating powers.

Florist AU

[Here’s the main artwork for it]

Author is a very soft boy, and a florist.

He writes very dark and gruesome stories he publishes online in his free time.

He lives in a pretty much one room apartment right above his flower shop. He’s not very wealthy, but he survives.

He loves tattoos, but is shy about getting more than the one he already has (plus money is a slight problem).

Painter AU

[Here's some art for it]

A human AU! Every ego is a human

It's focused on Author, but Host also exists as his twin brother!

Author is a somewhat famous painter, but he doesn't really care about the money. He's super clumsy and ditzy, a whole himbo mess really. But he looks like a hot fashion model.

Author is more the traditional medium guy. Mainly painting, but also sculpting, pencil drawings, illustrations.

Host is more the digital artist. Mainly illustrations, but also some painting stuff, also uses 3D sculpting for art purposes. Probably works with video games, making art, doing some voice acting.

Wilford is one of Author's friends and a fashion designer. He recommends models (and friends) for Author. He drags Dark to their friend-meetings a lot.

So Dark's a singer. Just wanted to sing for fun, but somehow it turned into popularity (like Billie Eilish whoops)

So Eric is Dark's boyfrend and makes music with him. Plays piano. Sings a little but very shy to do so anywhere other than a little for Dark's songs. Too nervous to meet the gang but everyone knows from dark talking about Eric anyways

The Jims twins work mainly on the video game Host helps working on as well. They both do the writing, but only one of them also does programming. They eventually meet up with Host sometime after a lot of only online talking and somehow love happens eventually

Little Demon AU

Host is a demon, still called Host.

He is 7 inches tall.

He has dark purple horns and two tails, and no bandages, but keeps his eyes closed.

Looking into his eyes will cause the looker to be pulled into their own mind and be faced with their deepest and darkest fear.

Host will be able to see that and interact with the person there, but also leave them there alone to suffer.

He can “teleport” short distances, mostly through shadows.

Harpy AU

Host has no name he goes by, but will let anyone name him.

He is 8 inches tall.

He’s a brown thrasher harpy.

He has slightly darker skin (than Mark), short, like brown fuzz on his head resembling hair; white feathers with dark spots on his chest and hips down his thighs, where his legs then turn into bird’s feet; dark brown, almost black eyes. His wings have light brown feathers.

He mainly eats fruits, berries, nuts and insects.

He isn’t afraid to attack anything larger than him, going so far as to attack humans if he has to.

Mermaid AU (other versions depending on size!)

Host goes by the name of Host.

He had almost been caught once by humans, which resulted in the loss of his eyesight, and thick scars over his eyes.

His scales are golden. His fins are slightly see-through, and tipped green. His ears are fins. He has fins on his underarms. He has scales on his shoulders and arms.

He has scales that glow in the dark, and markings on his face which also glow in the dark (not visible unless glowing)

He’s a siren, and thus can speak and understand English.

Underwater mermaids communicate via clicking sounds (kinda like morse code, but different).

Human AU [Second Version]

Host is named Markus Barker. Sometimes uses Host as nickname.

He is either: Born blind (sclera/pupil milky).                       Blind due to a disease (Neuromyelitis Optica).

He lives on his own with his pets. He either:     Lives in his cabin in the forest.                       Lives on the outskirts of town with a garden.

He has an older brother (Arthur, world-wide known author).

He works on a rather popular podcast as main-narrator. He also either: Works at a radio station.                    Stays at home (financial help from his brother).

Can also go with human Author, the aforementioned brother of Host.

Both can also exist without brother.

Human Slave AU

Host is named Markus Barker. Host is his nickname though

He is either: Born blind (sclera/pupil milky).                       Got his eyes gouged out by an owner.

He had been sold as slave when he had been a young child (around 4 y/o?).

[nxelethe]

Has anyone wondered how Cradle is governed?

Now, you’ve got to bear with me here, I haven’t played all the routes so maybe we get more information later, but seriously, how the fuck is this place governed?

Probably the first issue is that Cradle is a single country, but divided into distinct zones based on military presence and the demilitarised Central Quarter. The entire premise of the game hinges on the concept of imminent war between the Red and Black Armies, that’s fine. Neither side however is fighting for independence, so the concept of Cradle attempting split based on something like distinct state ethnicity seems out of the question. Everyone seems fairly comfortable with being a Cradle citizen. Although people living in red and black territories seem to support the corresponding army, I believe it would be a stretch to call the different parts of Cradle separate states.

Adding to this motivational confusion, what are the motives of the Red and Black Armies? Red’s ambitions are made clear from the very beginning—absorb the Black Army and rule over Cradle. However, we all know this to be a ploy by the Magic Tower (we’ll get onto this in a moment) and after Amon is defeated, both armies continue to coexist with their territories intact. This has been the case for centuries apparently. The Black Army itself displays no ambition beyond securing their existence; they don’t intend to absorb the Red army, rule Cradle, or anything of the sort.

So, who runs this country? The naming system is obviously based on playing cards, but you can’t get away from the connotations that titles such as ‘King’ or ‘Queen’ entail, and through various events we’ve seen that the people of cradle turn to these armies for leadership—especially Lancelot (who, given that he inherits the title, would be most reminiscent of a King in the sense that Alice and we are familiar with). 

Typically, a country will have a military force, but in order for this to work and for the force to exist, they most be funded by a government to tackle domestic and foreign concerns of said government—in most cases. Cradle’s hypothetical government, should be officially funding a military force, though that by  no means excludes the possibility of a legitimate paramilitary force. Yet, Cradle’s government, the Cradle state, or anything of the sort, plays no role in its military actions. Even if the two armies were engaged in a civil war for Cradle’s governance (which the game loosely claims that they are) then the government would be expected to support one of the two armies. These armies wage war on the whims of their lead commanders, no government influence as far as the eye can see.

So what is Cradle doesn’t have a government?

OK, that’s a bit unfair; what if Cradle has a government but it’s not distinguishable, or indeed different, to the armies? With all the evidence provided, Cradle seems to be ruled via military dictatorship, a khakistrocracy, if you will (it’s very rare that I get to use fun portmanteaus so I always jump at the opportunity). Even in that case, Cradle’s governance still isn’t that simple to decipher. 

Officially, there have been ‘tensions’ between the Red and Black armies, though I don’t believe them to be a prolonged ceasefire, given that the armies “declare war” in the various routes and don’t issue a ceasefire revocation. Admittedly, this is arguing technicalities, and one could similarly say that the “peace talks” that Alice interrupts when she first appears in Cradle would have been to end hostilities. I’m hesitant to approach the issue this way, because peace talks don’t NECESSARILY mean that they are terminating physical conflict and the interactions between army officers like Luka and Edgar certainly don’t seem to suggest that they are technically still at war. 

Regardless, the issue of the two armies coexisting in such a way remains. Even if Cradle is ruled via military dictatorship then the Central Quarter becomes a big issue. Officially demilitarised and not allied with either army, the Central Quarter also houses the majority of the businesses in Cradle—businesses which, even back in the 19th century, would have faced some legal restrictions or at the very least recognition allowing them to exist. What power is doing this? 

It can be neither the Red nor the Black army as they have no influence over the area, so who governs the Central Quarter? It has no police force, we’ve seen the armies leap in to protect citizens numerous times without external aid and it isn’t presented as a problem or violation of a demilitarisation agreement.

Enter, the Magic Tower; a civic agency and possibly the key to the entire issue.

The Magic Tower, the Big Bad of the game, has clear intentions and those are to rule Cradle through the Red army, which would at least make this question easier to answer. If this were to occur, the government would be a military dictatorship, albeit controlled by a shadow agency before eventually being overtly controlled by Amon (I would assume) leading us to a personalist dictatorship.

Where the Magic Tower truly helps in answering this question is in its nature—a civic agency. Civic agencies can be assembled by groups of individuals looking to perform a specific task for the benefit of society and don’t necessarily require the existence of governments. They are merely characterised by the ability of citizens to work collaboratively to solve common societal issues. Do they exist in areas with governments in reality? Yes. Could they exist independent of said government? Unlikely, but possible in theory.

Cradle is a small country, we’re told this from the very beginning of the game, so what if it actually doesn’t have a government?

It’s almost certain that Cradle had a centralised government once, more specifically, whilst the Red and Black armies were actually one and the same. My memory is sfoggy, I believe it was orginally a monarchy? I can’t remember, whatever the case though, it is extremely likely that Cradle was governed by SOMETHING at this point in time. 

Even in our reality, countries existing without governments isn’t completely unheard of, though it is almost always well-established countries with stable economics that can trundle on without heads of state or governments. If Cradle was a relatively stable state at the time, then it is not entirely beyond the realm of possibility that Cradle could be in such a lovely stable state without a government. 

We could even entertain the notion that various civic organisations assumed control of the essentials for the state’s continued function. Obviously, it’s not foolproof (*cough* Magic Tower *cough*) but theoretically it could function. 

This would typically be where I call it a day and tell you that I think that Cradle is maybe a weird example of Mutualism or Collective Anarchism, except for a teeny tiny problem, or should I say two teeny tiny problems.

The Red Army would certainly be one, but really that just brings us to the broader issue at hand: the aristocracy.

Anarchism is fundamentally the rejection of unjust hierarchies so the Red Army’s arbitrary and hereditary hierarchy is basically entirely contrary to the very ideology I’m trying to marry it to. Furthermore, the mere existence of the aristocracy is basically indicative that if any anarchist systems had tried to take route they’d have fundamentally failed.

So what else is there?

I would like to propose a very oxymoronic ideology: Anarcho-capitalism.

Now I will go ahead and do the work for you here, this is also not the case because it’s shown to actually work, which is honestly the last thing anyone believes anarcho-capitalism can do. I’d also like to clarify, that this ideology is hardly anarchy, but we’ll use this classification for the sake of convenience.

We clearly see the use of money in the game, classes and, most damning of all, private property. However, no government. Perhaps a better defined description, would be a state entirely driven by free market economics without state intervention. 

But, the Magic Tower is an obvious monopoly for the distribution of magic crystals, therefore clashing head-first with the concept of free market competition.

The possibility of a Night-Watchman State exists, which would also excuse the excessive military presence for such a tiny country, but this would also require the existence of a state to justify interventions by these bodies. A state which I cannot find sufficient evidence to claim exists.

So conclusion?

I haven’t a FUCKING CLUE and boy am I mad about it.

I have written a long-ass text post that my few followers are going to justifiably unfollow me for only to conclude that I have no idea how Cradle works and that Cybird didn’t give it enough thought or I would have found this slightly easier. Maybe Cradle is a nice place, so that it honestly becomes a no-brainer that Alice would want to leave the political shambles Britain, romance or no (I wouldn’t blame her).

Does anyone have any idea what could be going on? I’m borderline dying to find out at this point.

Sorry again, and thank to anyone who tolerated my nonsense until the end.

[itsallavengers]

STARK BEANS OMG HE TOTALLY WOULD

It starts out bc he finds a lil kitty curled up on the hood of his car.

He has no idea how or why it got there. But it’s… it’s tiny, and it’s black as night and curled in on itself like a lump of dark matter against the striking red of his Ferrari. He cocks his head and scritches the top of its teeny little head, and when the kitty wakes up, he realises that it’s holding its leg all funny. The poor thing is obviously a stray, and there’s something wrong with its back paw.

Pepper is going to kill him for being late to that meeting, but come on- this kitten obviously needs his help.

So he heads in the complete opposite direction of the meeting rooms he was supposed to be driving to, and instead goes to the nearest vet, the little kitten curling back up, this time in his lap. He makes sure not to move around too much, so as not to hurt it more. Unfortunately, however, when the vet looks her over, he tells Tony solemnly that the leg is too badly damaged to heal on its own, and if they wanted to help her they’d either have to amputate or just put her to sleep.

Tony checks his watch. He’s already thirty minutes late- might as well go the whole way and just miss the meeting entirely.

The kitten stays over at the vets whilst Tony throws a load of money at the person he’d been speaking to and tells him to do the best job he can with the operation, and when he goes home, he instantly claps his hands and signals for JARVIS to start a new database.

JARVIS makes a wry comment at the ‘Stark Beans’ decision, but fuck him, Tony thinks it is absolutely fitting. 

It takes him six hours to come up with the perfect design. It’s tiny and barely even uses any materials at all, but it’s flexible and lightweight and the kitty is hardly even going to notice the difference when it’s on. He puts a small rubber paw on the end- soft and durable, and fit like the real thing, and on the back of it he stamps the smallest little StarkIndustries logo on it he’s ever created.

And thus, Stark Beans™ are born.

He saves the project and sends it off to Pepper, telling her that he’s terribly sorry, but this needs to take priority now, I’m going to save all the cats in the world with this. And then once that’s done, he gets in the car and drives back to the vets.

Needless to say, it’s an instant success. 

The Stark Beans™ are put into practise almost immediately. They fast become the best thing on the market. Tony expands a little, making some for the canine counterparts too (Stark Paws™), and suddenly he has a whole market of prosthetic limbs for disabled pets. His favourite part is seeing the little boys and girls that end up running up to him, toothy smiles and sunlit eyes and fists with pictures of their puppy’s new leg and their cat’s new paw. They’re so happy. He made them happy in the space of an afternoon, because of the little kitten who sat herself on his hood and took a nap.

Of course, he keeps her. She came home with him as soon as the new limb was fitted. She was like the tiniest shadow in the galaxy; the only thing that gave away her position in the darkness was the single white paw of her Stark Bean™.

Fittingly, he named her nebula. (Well- technically her name was Horsehead, due to the fact that it was the most famous dark nebula he could think of and at the time he’d thought it was hilarious- but Pepper had quickly put a halt to him yelling out ‘HORSEHEAD NO!’ In the middle of the office when everyone else was working.)

So yes. Nebula. Excellent model for his tech. Even better lab partner. But the best part about her was definitely her little purr when he scratched under her chin

AO3 /// buy me a kofi!

[somniumoflight]

Another Hollow Knight story idea for you guys:

Minds and Wills of the Void

This idea started not so much an AU but more… an interesting interpretation of canon’s lore.  Specifically, an interesting interpretation of the Void, how it might have come to being, and how the Siblings – beings that, considering the in-game Hunter Journal entry of them, “fragment of a lingering will,” are not mindless and thus must have come from somewhere – might have first appeared.

There was once life on this world that stretched across entire continents rather than be limited to tiny kingdoms. However, a great calamity struck the land – perhaps it was an illness, perhaps the Sun went out or exploded and scorched everything to ashes, regardless of what actually happened it’s clear that SOMETHING happened, and millions, maybe billions of bugs died, along with most of the life on the surface.  This sheer number of deaths is what led to the Dream and Nightmare Realms being torn apart – and their respective original deities along with them, leaving behind only mere shadows of their previous selves to rule in their place – and also indirectly lead to the creation of the Void. As the refuse from those multitudes of corpses was slowly buried by eons of dirt and stone, it liquified, sank into the earth, carving out deep caverns as it went, and eventually coalesced in the deepest pits of the world, which would eventually be known as The Abyss.  And, because there were traces of Essence left in many of those corpses, the Void did not stay mere black sludge but instead became something that could definitely be called alive… though not exactly in a way that most bugs would recognize unless the Void, you know, actively moved around in a clearly unnatural or deliberate way.  The Void sits at the bottom of the Abyss for several eons as slowly kingdoms spring up on the surface and life re-develops once more.

Then comes the first civilization of bugs in Hallownest, the ones mentioned by Lemm when examining Arcane Eggs.  When their kingdom and respective gods fell to another god’s people, they set out across the Wastelands and eventually stumbled across the mountain that would later become Crystal Peak and, underneath it, the caverns that they would eventually call home.  They dug deep into the caverns and eventually stumble across the Abyss and, of course, the Void within.  At that point, the Void had something that could definitely be called a mind but had never really put it to much use because all it had been doing was sitting at the bottom of a pit. Upon the new bugs stumbling across the Void, however, suddenly the Void had a reason to start exercising that alien mind of its because oh look, tiny moving creatures that make noise, how curious.  So several unfortunate explorers get devoured, and in the process, the Void sort of assimilates their knowledge and so when the next bugs come down to try to retrieve any bodies they can, the Void starts leaving messages for them (not talking, for the Void has no mouth with which to speak).  In their own language.  Somehow this ends up resulting in the bugs deciding that clearly the Void is a god and they begin to worship it, and then build their civilization in the deepest caverns of their new kingdom so they never venture too far away from their deity.

Several generations pass and these Void-worshipping bugs are now spread throughout most of the caverns that will one day become Hallownest. Being in close proximity to the Void all the time has actually altered them a little, though in what way I’m not quite sure yet. Then in comes the Radiance and her new tribe of moths.  The Radiance, much like the Pale King who would later look at this kingdom and go “I want this land it’s mine now,” decides she wants this kingdom for her own.  And when first negotiations with the Void-worshipping bugs fail spectacularly – namely because the Radiance’s light actually hurts these bugs thanks to them being Void-altered, no matter how she might try to change that – she and her Moths start razing their kingdom to the ground and in the process piss off the Void; because although the Void’s mind definitely doesn’t work in the same way that most gods or bugs’ minds do, it still gains power as the number of people worshipping it rises just like any god, and now it's losing all its worshippers.  This is when the first – and technically only – manifestation of the Lord of Shades happens, and it takes almost literally everything that the moths have to drive the seething Void god back into the Abyss – and it almost does cost the Radiance everything when, in order to keep the Shade Lord from rising again, she uses her power to tear the Void’s mind into itty-bitty pieces. She ends up stuck in the Dream Realm, but, in her mind, it’s well worth it, because her enemy is finally gone.

This, of course, is not actually the case.  The Void isn’t like other higher beings – it survived for a long time without anyone knowing about it and though its worshippers are gone, the Void itself is not. And those teeny-tiny pieces of its mind that the Radiance left behind, unlike most bugs’ minds would, are able to survive on their own.  As the Radiance and her moths settle in high above, as far from the Abyss as possible without leaving the kingdom, these bits of mind eventually form the first Siblings, and as eons pass, more and more are slowly formed out of the remnants of the first Shade Lord, and they live somewhat peacefully down there in the Abyss, seeing no need to ascend into the rest of the kingdom.  

Then in comes the Pale King, and of course, he ruins everything, starting with the Radiance – and then, when the Radiance starts making a come back, one of her former followers tells Pale King about the one place that the Radiance forbid any of her people from treading and the Pale King descends into the Basin with its old ruins and then further down to the Abyss, where he finds Void (not the Siblings, they hide because oh no there’s LIGHT what is that), and starts his whole Vessel-making plan.  

At first nothing comes of it, but then somehow, despite not actually being a being of Void, he manages to create a vessel – only for that vessel to end up dying because of course, it's not the “pure” vessel he needs.  As he creates more and more vessels and the bodies start stacking up, the Siblings start panicking, because for all these vessels have bodies they’re still technically Siblings – and while they manage to save some of them when they fall, they can’t save all of them, and what might happen when the King finds out about the Siblings without bodies?  Eventually, however, the King finally gets the Pure Vessel he wants (Hollow Knight, of course) and he leaves the Abyss alone, and for a time things seem like they might be sort of okay, though none of those left in the Abyss are too happy about him taking one of their Siblings with them.  Then the Hollow Knight is sealed within the Black Egg with the Radiance inside them, and, well, Void and Light still don’t get along, and the Knight is calling out for help almost right from the get go.  Their Siblings hear the cries for help and suddenly they’re no longer scared but absolutely FURIOUS.

And so they surge en-mass from the Abyss, swarming through Hallownest in droves in an attempt to find their sibling, and in the process cause absolute mayhem for everyone, but especially for those that get in their way.

Honestly, I’m telling this like its a completely serious story but let’s be real, the Vessels are children, the Siblings are also technically children (at least by the standards of most gods), and so there’s probably going to be just as many silly shenanigans as there are “oh shit” moments. Including some with Hornet, most likely, because the Siblings would all take one look at her, recognize that there’s Void in her, immediately go “New Sibling!” and then abduct/adopt her on the spot.

Might draw/write more stuff for this later.