#so this was a lot of fun to develop and think about

[edwinspaynes]

Do you think there is a way to ethically watch Sandman and Good Omens? What about Dead Boy Detectives?

Andddd this was why I originally turned off anons. I knew this was coming eventually, but I guess I'll respond just this once so everyone knows where I stand.

I don't love that I feel the need to disclose this, but I have personally experienced grooming and sexual assault in the past. So this post is coming from someone who has Been There and understands the importance of supporting victims. I also love all of the efforts NG-related fandoms have been putting into raising money for sexual assault charities. It's wonderful to see people rallying behind the survivors and supporting them so vocally.

- DEAD BOY DETECTIVES: NOT A GAIMAN WORK

I do not think that there is a world where Dead Boy Detectives would be unethical to stream. It has virtually nothing to do with Neil Gaiman, by his own admission, and is the brain-child of Steve Yockey.

Besides the first chapter where Charles and Edwin were introduced (with no development), he didn't even write the comics! Several artists did, including Toby Litt and Mark Buckingham - whose run the show is based on and who the sprites are named after.

Yockey was the sole person to pitch DBDA to Warner Brothers. Gaiman did not do that.

Streaming Dead Boy Detectives primarily supports its writers, cast, and crew - Gaiman, who only wrote 2 scenes, is getting essentially nothing in terms of royalties.

Someone on Twitter did a really good job of unpacking why Dead Boy Detectives shouldn't be lumped in with Gaiman stuff - I'll link it here.

But this leads me to the next section.

- HANDLING GOOD OMENS AND SANDMAN

I think that there are a lot of valid reactions to the way people handle the consumption of Gaiman's shows after what he has done.

Some people are going to be unable to stomach anything he has written, and that is okay. Others whose lives have been massively impacted by his work aren't going to be able to let go since - and I know people like to deny this, but it's true - the art you love more than love itself is going to have a serious material impact on your personality.

Both of these approaches are alright! The only incorrect approach is to harass those who disagree with your personal choices.

It also is, in my opinion, Bad to give Gaiman money. Purchasing his books and buying Good Omens official merch puts cash in his pocket.

Streaming the shows, though, is a little more nuanced to me.

I'm going to use Good Omens as an example here. I personally will not be continuing with Good Omens. It gives me a Yucky Feeling. I may one day change my mind and stream a pirated version, but I don't think so.

However, I don't think Sheen and Tenant's fans are wrong to stream it in support of the actors who have brought their favourite characters to life.

But this leads me into my next point, and the point that will probably get me Canceled.

- THE IMPACT OF SHOWS ON PEOPLE

The way that people handle their favourite shows post-allegations is going to depend on the impact that the show had on their life.

I like Good Omens. It's a fun show. I enjoyed it while watching it, and think (see: thought) positively of it. But it had no real deep impact on my life - it's not part of me. When I look at Good Omens now, I see Gaiman's work above the finished product. It puts a sour taste in my mouth.

But in a hypothetical world, if Dead Boy Detectives were a Gaiman production? I have the self-awareness to know that I probably would still stream it to support the cast and crew. I am attached enough to it that I think I would divorce it entirely from Gaiman (if he were the creator, which he is not.) My point is that other people who are still streaming Sandman and GO probably don't look at it and see Gaiman. They see something that they have absorbed into themselves.

The part that's going to get me canceled is that if George cameos in Sandman, I will stream that one (1) episode to support George Rexstrew (Edwin Payne's actor). This is because Edwin has had a material impact on my life (hilariously, because I am a sexual violence survivor who did not get justice, and Edwin did not get justice for his murder and fights for that.) I feel that Edwin is part of me and my life, because Edwin (and George's work as Edwin) has made me feel less alone.

A lot of people feel that way about Crowley and Aziraphale.

I think that asking people to ditch a show, characters, and performers that have had a deep impact on their lives is unfair to them. Like, yes, Neil Gaiman is a bag of shit! Anyone who defends him is also a bag of shit! But I don't think that it's fair to stop people from supporting works that have had big material impacts on their own lives.

- HOW TO PROCEED

TL;DR

My personal ideal outcome here would be:

Wrap up Good Omens with the 90-minute movie and nothing else.

Wrap up Sandman with season 2, and do not renew.

Revive Dead Boy Detectives WITH THE CAVEAT that Gaiman gets his name removed from it, even if he currently isn't making much money off it. Take the Sandman characters and references from DBDA and let it become its own standalone thing.

Cancel all future Gaiman productions and never hire him to work on television or anything else again.

Let Gaiman's career die entirely and let him fade into obscurity.

Arrest Gaiman, which will never happen but it should.

I think people should:

Stop giving Neil Gaiman money through books or merch.

Make their own decisions about whether or not to officially stream the shows in support of the actors and crew members who have worked hard on it.

Not harass anyone for either their decision to stream the show, not stream the show, or stream a pirated version of the show.

Engage as much as they want with fandom and fanworks, as they are divorced from the source material's creator.

Vocally speak up against Neil Gaiman. Amplify the voices of the survivors, and don't let fear for the future of your show get in the way of that. At the end of the day, real women were put through the most traumatic and horrifying experience of their lives, and that's what matters most.

[jinxedshapeshifter]

When Phoenix tells Trucy and Apollo they're half-siblings (because I'd argue it's implied in Spirit of Justice he's going to in the next game the three of them show up in. I'm a bit scared about how that reveal is going to happen now that I think about it) I need Athena at least to be in earshot and her to literally yell "THEY DIDN'T KNOW????" because there's no way Trucy and Apollo aren't the only ones who don't know, considering they both look and act like siblings

Alternatively Trucy knows (whether because she put the pieces together or because she overheard Phoenix talking about it or something) but Apollo doesn't so when Phoenix reveals it to them, Trucy's like "yeah, I figured" and Apollo's like "I HAVE A SISTER???" and Trucy teases Apollo about it. She absolutely refuses to let him live it down

[elsaclack]

took a day or so to wait on this just to make sure i wasn’t talking out of my ass here but

the censorship on tiktok has ramped up significantly since service was restored to americans

i’ve been active back on here long enough to note that the level of censorship on tiktok that was present before the ban was a joke on here. words like “unalive” are stupid and ridiculous (and in certain cases when it comes to filtering specific words, downright dangerous) to non-tiktok users, but the reason words like “unalive” and other heavily coded language came to be so ingrained in tiktok users’ vocabulary is because the platform itself would either flag videos with the actual words like “kill” or “murder” or “dead/die/died” and remove them from the platform, suppress the video to the point where large creators were getting maybe 20-30 views (when their norm is 20,000-30,000+), OR it would shadowban not just the video, but the user themselves. tiktok’s user base linguistically developed into the heavily coded version of english that the public sees (and in many cases, rightfully makes fun of) today specifically to get around the platform’s arbitrary and ill-defined censorship rules to reach the widest possible audience they could reach on the platform. it sucks and it’s stupid, we think so too, but it’s what we had to do to make the platform what we wanted it to be.

now that tiktok is back online for americans, i’ve seen a lot of people testing whether the algorithm is still working by saying things like “trans rights are human rights” and “universal free healthcare” and things like that, and the algorithm itself does appear to be working as comments on those videos assure the creator that their video was on the fyp and found their target audience. HOWEVER. many users, myself included, have noticed that comments speaking negatively about trump specifically are being forced through a creator-approval process when that NEVER happened before. additionally, videos discussing trump in a negative way are now limited on the number of times they can be shared in-app, meaning that if i wanted to share one, the platform would limit me to only 5 shares before it tells me that i’ve reached the max number of shares. instead of being able to send a post to a sixth friend’s tiktok dm, i would have to copy the link and send it to that friend outside of tiktok, and that’s assuming the platform would allow me to copy the link at all.

one creator even tried to include a clip of trump HIMSELF FROM HIS OWN RALLY IN DC saying IN HIS OWN WORDS that he rigged the election, and their video was flagged and taken down. does it annoy me that i watched one creator say, verbatim, “d.t. just admitted that he rigatoni’d the electioni (pronounced ee-leck-tee-oh-nee)”? YES THATS SO ANNOYING. but it’s also the only way we can communicate there now, and the implications of that are terrifying. mass deportations start in the next 24 hours along with the 100+ other HORRIFIC executive orders trump is signing the second he’s back in office, and the biggest social media platform in america was essentially just gagged by the platform itself. i am BEGGING any american citizen (or anyone else!!) who reads this to not allow your biases against tiktok blind you to the reality of what’s happening directly in front of our faces.

[cut-it-out29]

(Previous anon) No no you’re good you didn’t upset me! Here, I’ll give you something to help u feel better if u want? *drops small plushie of a sea turtle into his hands*

Everyone is so worried about the bean (ㆀ˘･з･˘)

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Way more under the cut btw!!! Lotta ranting down there…

Ehehhe yeah erm- the way I’m resisting the urges to write him with a continuously more southern accent

Even on the last ask I was almost gonna have him say something along the lines of ‘hun’ or smth like that- like in the way the nice old southern ladies would call ya’ sugar, baby, hun, etc. :)

If that makes sense??? That might not make sense-

It’s a stupid little headcannon but since he’s my character it’s basically just cannon atp 💀

Uh- and on that note Dreamy would also have a slight southern accent! Though probably a bit less noticeable, at least slang wise… don’t really see him having a super thick accent in any direction.

He would probably say things in an ever so slightly southern way with little to no southern slang whilst night on the other hand NM just has a light southern accent and uses a decent hand-full of southern slang

But really that wouldn’t make much sense since Dream would actually interact with more of the villagers and therefore use more of their slang and such?? I suppose?? But uh- DOESNT MATTER DONT THINK ABOUT IT

I’ll make an excuse that like- idk- Dream used to have a thick southern accent that NM picked up from him but after they entered the Multiverse jaundice here ended up switching up to whatever’s most around him since he talks to a lot of other people while Nightmare on the other hand only really talks to Killer and later on the rest of the gang so his accent set in before he started talking to many people?

Yeah- yup, that’s cannon now-

I just wrote this out of nowhere and it’s cannon now.

Have fun with that

Sigh

Their characters have developed so much since all these asks /pos

Originally NM was gonna be really withdrawn and mistrusting, quiet and often uncaring to those outside his close personal group.

And he’s still all of those in a way but now he’s much more cold but warms up relatively quickly in comparison (unless he senses ulterior motives / bad intentions from someone) whilst still being somewhat withdrawn he’s actually very careful not to upset people unintentionally and is a paranoid level of apologetic- sigh yet another sign of his abuse from villagers- and he’s pretty protective, though he’s always been that way in writing!

He’s.. more sympathetic

Anyway

fun fact : The little moonberry here has never seen the ocean! He’s read an awful lot about a lot of things but he’s never seen an ocean or a sea turtle but he’s always wanted to- specially he wanted to see turtles and moon jellies more then anything! Funny you managed to choose an animal he likes :)

[kaiserin-erzsebet]

why does it suck?

A couple of things which may or may not be specific to me:

1. I feel like I know more than 99% of people on this. Which is expected when you're producing knowledge. But it also means:

- I cannot read Wikipedia for fun anymore. Because it's wrong about too much.

- Books about my topic have gone from fun to infuriating to read.

- I also know how much other people with similar interests get wrong. But I don't want to be a jerk to people who only have published information because it isn't their fault that they don't know.

- I get mad at signs in museums.

2. I cannot turn off the emotions I feel about this project. My neurodivergence makes it so that my special interests are always imbued with a lot of emotional weight. But academia has a tendency to view that strong of an attachment as bias, so I have to keep a lot of those feelings inside.

3. At least for me, I developed a defense mechanism growing up where I curl up protectively around my special interest and only share with people I trust. Turns out this is impossible if it is also something I'm presenting at conferences. I'm still working on not feeling like every presentation is opening up my insides and showing vulnerability.

4. I've cried about this topic so many times. I cannot admit this to most people because I am a woman in academia.

With all that said, I still feel fortunate that I'm getting paid to research my favorite thing. I just think it's worth acknowledging that it also comes with these other components.

[whentherewerebicycles]

my baby is eight months old and every month of his wonderful little life has been better and more joyful than the last (which is saying something, because every month has been so good). he is still very Baby but he is also suddenly blossoming into a little kid before my eyes and it’s so much to handle 😭 he has always been an expressive talker but these days he has the most delightfully animated little conversations with himself, full of complex baby feelings like surprise and delight and shock and glee and of course spluttering indignation (you would not BELIEVE the wrongs done to angelic little babies these days! they have to take naps in their CRIBS!!). he laughs and gasps and hoots and fake coughs, and then he looks at you with a sly little expression to see if you think he’s funny. he is silliest with me by far (he still gets a bit shy and reserved around new people) but he also absolutely adores Liz & A and his nanny and breaks into the most bashful gummy little grin as soon as they walk into a room. he is still bald as an egg but NOT FOR LONG, as he wakes up every morning with more dark fuzz on his big round noggin. this month he learned to sit up and now he wants to be sitting up playing with his toys all the time (he is over the moon to have discovered a mother-approved alternative to accursed tummy time). he has developed strong preferences for certain toys along with the motor skills to select the objects he wants, and he is quite discerning—last week’s toys are so last week and he gets an impatient expression on his face if you try to entice him with formerly beloved objects that are just like sooooo over, mom, pleaseee don’t embarrass him in front of his friends (the dogs). speaking of the dogs it is his most cherished desire to pat them but they give him a wide berth except for the occasional facewash sneak attack. he spends a lot of time bouncing up and down in his seat reaching longingly for them while they ignore him completely. he has the chonkiest most solid little baby feet you have ever seen in your life and little fat bow legs that curve down to his chonky little feet and perfect fat little baby hands that he loves to slam repeatedly against his tray or his mat or your face. he has one little razor-sharp sliver of a front bottom tooth and I genuinely CANNOT handle it, it is just too much, he gives you his square little gummy smile and then you see the TOOTH and you’re like that’s it, I’m dead, this killed me. he had perfectly shaped little orecchiette ears when he was born and I am delighted to report that they remain absolutely perfect and when you nibble on them he acts like you’re tickling him and does his little turtle-in-a-shell teeheehee reaction. I would say that his basic temperament is the same but perhaps tends more towards a happiness default than the reserved watchfulness of previous months. he is still quite watchful—in all the daycare videos I get he is sitting with the big kids observing them play with a totally focused expression—but he is also delightfully silly and laughs a lot, especially at home. if he’s not hungry and has napped reasonably well, he is easygoing, adaptable, and game for pretty much whatever. he is such a good sleeper I can’t tell anyone in my offline life about it except liz whose baby is also a unicorn sleeper… but honestly I think that’s probably the root of his default good mood (if I slept 12 hours a night I’d also be the best possible version of myself). let’s see what else… idk this month has just been so fun. he’s just a little person now and I genuinely enjoy hanging out with him. I just think he rocks.

his favorite toy in this exact moment: his stacking cups, especially when you put a plastic ball inside of them for him to tip out onto the floor. his most beloved object: his squishmallow, of course, which sends him into transports of delight when he sees it. his favorite food: with the exception of arugula this child has never met a food he didn’t like. he LIVES to EAT. words his daycare teacher most frequently uses to describe him: “Owen is SOOOO hungry!!!” other favorite activities this month: kicking in the bath or in the pool, watching trees go by on car rides, slamming his hands as hard as he can against his high chair tray, watching the dogs wrestle, being swung slowly back and forth like the pendulum in a giant clock, gazing at his beautiful reflection in the mirror, kissing his beautiful reflection in the mirror, having mom make his squish swoop down from high above to CHOMP him, chewing on the edges of plastic bins, and scritch-scratching the rock wall outside of our house. he’s perfect. my beloved little kiddo.

[deminetly]

✶ RATING YOUR DRS ✶

……………………………………………

⋆ hogwarts 7/10 ok so I personally havent even watched harry potter but it seems awesome,, hogwarts is a classic since basically every shifter has a hogwarts dr but who wouldnt wanna learn magic ?! at the same time i also kinda dont get why you would want to shift to a school from all places ALSO CONSIDERING HOW MANY PEOPLE THERE ARE AND HOW MEAN SOME OF THE TEACHERS ARE BUT

⋆ twilight 7/10 i used to LOVE twilight when i was like 12 (confession i was team jacob ,, and lowk still am.. HES HOTTER OK DONT BLAME ME) and i LOVE the vibe,, highly depends on who youre shifting for tho (if its alice then 8/10 shes like wow)

⋆ fame 7/10 ok i keep rating everything 7 but IDK fame is good but i feel like id get bored after like a few shifts (even though i still have a fame dr) but if you know how to spice it up for yourself then good for you!! (bonus points if its set in the 70s-2000s)

⋆ mermaid 8/10 rated it an 8 instead of a 7 because i keep rating everything 7… anyways its cool but again i feel like i would get bored (unless you know how to spice it up AGAIN) i do fw mermaid more because its like magical and you can script in a forbidden fling with a human or something.. (can you tell i have commitment issues) now i want to make a mermaid dr and design my tail omg

⋆ band/music artist 8/10 as most of yall probably know i do have a band dr so how could i rate it anything lower?! anyways i love hearing about peoples band drs (or any drs for that matter but especially bands bc i can get inspo for my own teehee) i think developing everything for that dr can be super fun and putting together your little group and whatnot

⋆ apocalypse 8/10 would probably have rated this much lower if i hadnt seen those aesthetic slideshow games on tiktok where youre packing for and trying to survive an apocalypse BUT i feel like if you scripted in safety and good vibes it could be a lot of fun and now i wanna make a zombie apocalypse dr..

⋆ the backrooms 6/10 you are BOLD for that,, i get creeped out by just watching a tiktok about them (im aware that the backrooms were on my dr ideas post..) it lowkey depends who youre with because shifting there alone would actually be CRAZY..

⋆ better cr 5.5/10 i dont really get the consept of this like if i were to make a better cr i would FIRST OF ALL change basically everything and atp it wouldnt even be a better cr just a good dr ykwim and how do you come back after shifting there and not feel depressed asf😭

⋆ heartbreak high 5.5/10 i feel like not many people have seen this show and also i dont really fw shifting to shows or movies as much as your own creations but i did like the show itself,, i honestly i wouldnt personally shift there since the vibes are like too.. like 2020 and some people are real assholes but you do you it could be super fun id actually love to know about all the drama

⋆ euphoria 6/10 idk why i like euphoria more than heartbreak high they lowkey give me the same vibe but euphoria is like a better version (i literally havent even seen this but i did watch like 2 hours worth of it from tiktok) ANYWAYS most people there are ASSHOLES too and again PERSONALLY WOULDNT WANT TO GO THERE but again would love to hear more about the drama because there must be tons of that

⋆ monster high 9/10 ok so why did i not think of this before i LOVED monster high when i was a child but im lowkey scared of shifting to an animated world idk it feels off.. the vibes and there tho love that for you

⋆ dead poets society 8/10 again personally havent watched it but from what ive heard it seems cool (that with about 200 other movies have been sitting on my watchlist for years but my commitment issues are so bad i cant commit to watching one movie so i will probably never watch it oops) anyways i want to make a secret society dr now

⋆ my little pony 7/10 oh little me would have LOVED this but again i cant with the animated drs ESPECIALLY considering you would be a PONY?? i need to know how this feels or like what.. i love mlp but honestly (tw: opinion) TWILIGHT IS SO ANNOYING I COULD NOTTTT STAND HER ASS (yes i do know id be able to script her out but i like complaining)

[alicefromwhichplanet]

(For the kids)How do you feel being your parents’ child? What kind of person is your carrier/sire?

Skystrophe:

Oh, these questions are… unusual. (Look around anxiously) So am I allowed to say anything..? Will they watch this show…? Ok…

I wanna say that many bots say it’s lucky for me to have Optimus and Megatron as my parents… but the truth is, having them as parents really brings me a lot of pressure. It’s… not so easy to be the only child of two extraordinary people, and you know you’re not so extraordinary yourself. I mean, I am only “just ok” at many things they can easily do great. It’s just… I’m still trying to figure out.

My carrier is a very strong bot. By that, I mean he’s powerful, not only in battles and strategies, but in the will. I think there’s nothing in the world that can defeat him, or make him feel defeated. When he’s with us, he’s always happy, confident, full of energy. When sire feels unsure, he is there to boost his spirits. When I feel insecure, knowing that he is there for me, always makes me feel better.

My sire, on the other hand, is umm, stricter. I know he means well. He told me all about those stories of heroes and primes, and responsibility comes with strength. He’s a lovable bot, of course. And he’s gentle with me. It’s just, I don’t know. Maybe it’s the way he talks. He makes me feel… nervous.

Jinglestorm:

Being my parents’ child, it’s a lot of fun! They both like to play, so I’ve got plenty of time playing with them. We go racing on the plains, have a picnic in the woods, or play chess and other board games at home. Oh! And they love video games too! We also play video games.

And my sire, he’s a wonderful bot. He’s fun, energetic. He talks a lot, which is sometimes a little bit annoying. Hmm. But he’s actually the decision maker in our house, kind of? Him and my carrier take turns being the brain. But because of my carrier’s “unstable” issue, sire did play the brain most of the time, though he sometimes came up with bad ideas and I had to stop him from dragging us all in.

My carrier is— very well known among us kids. The cool triple changer, the only one alive by now.* He is also not very stable, and we know that. Besides that, my carrier went through a lot in past wars. Sometimes he’s still haunted by his past ghosts. But he doesn’t need to worry, because I am always there for him.

*It’s my headcanon and part of the plots of Heroic Nonsense, where Blitzwing’s triple changer form came from a secret experiment project carried out by autobots. The project failed because most of the subjects suffered serious complications— they developed split personality disorders and became overly aggressive and easier to get killed in the battlefield. Blitzwing is the only survivor.

Clobber:

Hmm, I don’t know. I guess I’m lucky to be my parents’ child. I’m happy and comfortable living with them. My parents knew each other for very long before I was born. They have a tacit understanding that made everything simple. We three are quite alike as well.

My carrier is the brain of our family. It’s easy to tell. Sire even calls her “General” as a loving nickname. And also, she’s really my role model. Her talents go beyond military strategies. She has wisdom and courage to deal with a lot of trivial stuff as well. As for my sire, he’s more of a kind-hearted, good tempered bot. He cooks really well and takes all the gardening work. By that I mean, work like making a fishpond in our backyard. More delicate job like planting is done by me. I heard that they were notorious decepticon war machines in the past. I always imagine how badass they can be! But I don’t have the luck to witness that. All I got are two big bots fond of their own hobbies and get along well with the neighbors.

Just for the reminder:

Skystrophe— Megatron and Optimus’s son, Megatron is the carrier

Jinglestorm— Blitzwing and Bumblebee’s daughter, Blitzwing is the carrier

Clobber— Strika and Lugnut’s daughter, Strika is the carrier

More worldbuilding see my fanfic Old World, New World

[voidandabyssal]

Heeeyy, i don't know if you do platonic asks so you can ignore this if you don't

A random scenario popped up my mind and i cant stop thinking about it, ok so the star boys with a teammate that is basically a tired dad/mom for them

i just imagine them being tired as heck and Dream, Blue and ink running in circles around them, or them protecting the boys from error or nightmare with a big BONK on their heads

I wanted to see your take on this, how the star bois would behave around their tired ass dad/mom friend lol. (Lmao i can't stop seeing error and the dad/mom friend having a absolute HATE for each other while ink is in the corner like this:🧍‍♂️)

[I deeply apologize if there's any translation errors 🙏]

No need to apologise! I love doing all types of asks, platonic ones are awesome! This was fun thank you for sending an ask in!❤️

Parent friend definitely has their hands full with the star sanses. One on one isn’t so bad most of the time but those three all have the potential for great amounts of chaos that triples every time they’re close to one another.

It’s like herding cats trying to keep them all healthy, happy and fed. They definitely run circles around you, especially Blue with his insane amount of energy. You’re going to get very strong from the amount of times you carry them by the scruff of their neck.

In fights your main tactic to protect them is just by yoinking them away from Nightmare or the bad Sanses and hauling ass away from them. You probably don’t have the same level of magic power as anyone else in a fight does, so you substitute by being extremely strong. BONK! Indeed anon. Thats your signature move in fact. Error and Nightmare learn to fear your bonks in battle.

Error despises you. He literally develops a fight or flight reaction every time he even hears you approaching him. It is on sight with you two. Poor ink is just standing in the corner trying to get you to both get along before just giving up and joining the fight.

(This is you and error⬆️)

Nightmare despises you less only because you tend to avoid him in fights unless its a direct one on one with dream. In which case you’re getting involved LOL. The bad Sanses (Killer, Dust, Horror) enjoy watching the times when you’re kicking Errors ass instead of theirs.

Blue and Dream appreciate your care the most. Dream is very touched by your care, especially in the early stages of your friendship. He’s so used to having to be the caregiver that experiencing someone trying to help him, he finds it foreign at first. Dream’s suspicious of you initially. You barely know him and yet you’re showing such care, he can’t help but be reminded of all the villagers in his au who were kind only to take advantage of him. Once he senses your aura of kindness and care does he fully relax around you.

Dream learns to relax around you, when it’s just you two he doesn’t feel like he has to put up this brave front. He can be tired around you, tell you his fears, his worries. Without being worried that his public persona as this beacon of positivity will be stained. Dream also (eventually) learns to stop self sacrificing for others and give everyone else the chance to help out.

Blue is second place, only because he’s so used to taking care of people and being cared back (Blues the only one with a loving, living family lmao). He understands your want to care for others the most and encourages you to train and get stronger, while also making sure you don’t burn out at the same time. You spend a lot of time with Blue training together, cooking food for the other two, etc. You also spend the most time in Blues au. So you’re close with his brother as well.

Now don’t get me wrong, Ink does appreciate you a lot as well. Ink is absolutely the type to get so caught up in something he forgets to eat or sleep. So having you around is good in keeping him in tip top shape.

If you’re creative then the two of you definitely spend time in the doodlesphere drawing. Ink is always interested in what your drawing. You could give him a stick figure drawing and he would still be really excited and give you tips to improve. If your hobby isn’t drawing then Ink is definitely still interested in what you’ve made. Music, knitting, dance. Ink loves to see others create! Especially his good friends.

You also help Ink learn to manage his vials. You record down what having a specific amount of each paint does to him and help figure out how much he needs in order to feel the full range of emotions.

Ink just wishes you would stop attacking Error on sight. Especially if the two have agreed to not get in each other’s way anymore.

[seththeforestgiant]

VAT7K ARCANE AU!!! #arcane vat7k au!!!

OKAYOKAY so like what if

Varian comes from the undercity but he was found by Heimerdinger when he was rlly young so he hasn't gotten the chance to really taste the life on the streets.

Hugo, on the other hand, saw his parents die at a very young age, so young that he barely remembers them. He used to live on the streets, barely surviving until *a parental figure* found him and took him in.

You'd think he was lucky, but his life was never easy. He had to work in order to get food and shit yk had to do some dirty jobs and steal. He was REALLY smart and made snarky comments or played pranks all the time which got him into trouble a lot. Hugo was always into the theathrics, working for his family/employer but still seeming like he lives on his own terms. He was involved with the *parental figure's* gang and had access to some pretty illegal supplies.

Meanwhile Hugo was trying to survive, Varian got the opportunity to actually grow. Him and his father had been invited to live amongst Piltover's richest and most luxurious people. Rapunzel/Cait had become one of his best friends, sort of like a sister (Maybe Vi could be flynn, a previous thief that has come to the "good side"). Varian was always really smart and became the most known and admired inventor in all of Piltover, making the city famous for his inventions that improved lives daily.

When he came across the magic of moonstones, heimerdinger forbid him from continuing his research in that field. He was scared of their power and the dangers that kind of knowledge could create.

Varian, however, was not discouraged (maybe he was trying to heal his father with them or some shit idk). One day he snuck out into the black market of the undercity to gather some questionable supplies and stumbeld across Hugo.

Hugo's parent/employer, when they heard about Varian's work tasked him with befriending the scientist and idk somehow fuck up Piltover from the inside.

So blah blah balh Hugo gets brought into the labs and pretends to have good intentions, befriends varian, falls in love with him and when his betrayal is revealed shit goes down.

But like @imanalbertross said they don't rlly like eachother at first?? Like Varian feels threathened in his position and Hugo kinda catches feelings really fast then plays it off by being annoying and making fun of varian which just makes varian dislike him more at first

So hugo kinda treats him as this stupid but kinda cute rich boy H

Please give me more ideas!! I want to develop this au :)

-how can we incorporate varian's mother into this??

-and the library of knowledge?

Edit:

OH AND MAYBE HUGO DOESNT KNOW THAT VARIAN WAS ORIGINALLY FROM THE UNDERCITY BUT DONELLA KNOWS THAT BCS SHE KNEW VARIAN'S MOTHER THE PLOT THICKENSSS

Credit goes to me and the two very cool ppl that gave me ideas (screens below!!) Tysm!! @imanalbertross @mustardonaraccoon

[dodger-chan]

#google search "books for crotchety old women in their mid twenties who like murder mysteries and gay people"

And There He Kept Her by Joshua Moehling

Not exactly a mystery from the reader's perspective, more of a dark thriller (serial killer, missing girl, etc.) with mystery elements. The sequel is a much better mystery, but I think you need the character introductions from book one. There's a lot of small town drama and politics in both books, which to me is the more interesting part of the series. The main character/detective is the acting local sheriff (the election to get a permanent sheriff is a major plotline in book two) with a tragic past (a brother who went missing as a kid and a murdered boyfriend who he couldn't properly mourn because their relationship was secret)

Last Call at the Nightingale by Katherine Schellman

Period mystery set in New York in the roaring twenties. The mystery is really good and, as I recall, solvable for the reader. The main characters are really interesting people. There is a love triangle (our intrepid young seamstress/detective has feelings for both the mysterious nightclub owner and the semi-criminal fixer with police connections) but a well written one that mirrors the heroine's inner conflicts. I am very biased towards this series because it touches on so many of my interests.

The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett

One of the all-time classics. Fantastically written mystery. I'm not sure if the reader can actually solve it, but you do get all the same information the detective does, just not any of his reasoning. And you probably know who did it because it's a famous story. It was written in the twenties, though, so its queer villains are not exactly portrayed with modern sensibilities.

The Quaker by Liam McIlvanney

Another thriller, but one that leans more into the mystery aspect. Definitely on the darker side, with cops investigating a serial killer in 1969 Glasgow. To be honest I read this book when it first came out in 2018 and I don't remember why I liked it but I really did.

Proper English by K.J. Charles

Charles tends to write queer romance, but this one is also a murder mystery. It's been a while since I read this one, too, and the romance stuck with me more than the mystery, but as I recall it's one of those murders in an isolated country estate at a house party with a limited number of suspects, nearly all of which were being blackmailed by the victim. (If you're unfamiliar with the works of KJ Charles, they're a fun author. Their Sins of the City series is also kind of a mystery, though it takes a backseat to the love stories. And the Will Darling Adventures has kind of a spy thriller/mystery plotline, though again the romance is the main point; the spy stuff is what happens while the romance develops)

That's pretty much it for murder mysteries with canon queer detectives off the top of my head but Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe mysteries are fun and very readable (they were written over a long time span so the older ones use some very uncomfortable language). I'm a huge fan of Raymond Chandler, particularly The Big Sleep and The Long Goodbye (it's very easy to read Philip Marlowe as bi; The Long Goodbye is more about his relationship with Terry Lennox than it is about the murders). Hammett's The Thin Man is another really great mystery, and the main characters (married couple Nick and Nora Charles) are very sweet and in love.

Getting into reading in 2025 is a nightmare like why is everything divided into “cosy” or “spicy” and why are we describing protagonists and plots with fanfic tropes 🙃🙃

[nartblartmallcop]

So I recently got really into godzilla because I saw shin godzilla, specifically his second form and got obsessed with his body horror

And then, with perfect timing, one of my favourite artists and biggest inspirations SnarkyTeaSipper drew a really great gijinka design for him, and that design, Especially the description of it heavily inspired me to make my own take on a shin godzilla gijinka. The whole concept of uneven growth, as alluded to with "both adult and baby teeth growing in at the same time" inspired me a lot, so I went for that idea and exaggerated it a bunch

[egophiliac]

What do you like about the Diasomnia boys if I may ask?

I always love hearing about the different reasons people enjoy characters.

I mean, c'mon. he has split custody over Sebek okay

also, Lilia in particular has maybe the best timeskip character development of all time

[sskk-manifesto]

Bungou Stray Dogs: Dead Apple and how “ability users” (opposite to “normal people”) learning to accept themselves through the acceptance of their own abilities is a queer metaphor of acceptance of own's sexual orientation and gender: an essay by me

[dogboots]

boyfriend full of facts

[paradimeart]

prowl has 0 idea what goes on in protoform development these days

(V.S. = vector sigma)