#sorry for the rambling and also the confusion

[quadrantadvisor]

From @phantom-dc

I love this actually. Danny realizes that he can pull this and decides he can't miss his chance, but immediately after the title passes he starts feeling guilty. Not guilty enough to take it BACK, though. Maybe he runs off at first, but then starts imagining the Observants trying to contact this random guy and how confusing that would be, and comes back to explain things.

Jason HAS in fact been very confused by the glowing green stationary that shows up no matter how well he burns his safe houses and covers his tracks when he moves. Confused, and totally not scared out of his mind. The file boxes full of fantasy paperwork are the weirdest and most threatening prank anyone has ever pulled on him. He'd like to blame Tim, but he already asked Barbie, and she wouldn't let him get away with that. He keeps reading through the stacks, looking for some sort of code, something to make it make sense, but no, it's just, territory disputes between skeletons and yetis, complaint forms from Satan, something about allocating resources to restore the Greek sector. Jason does not get it at all.

And then there's a knock on his door, and it's that weird guy who laughed when Jason kicked the shit out him a couple weeks ago. He's crouched over, picking up another one of the file boxes from Jason's stoop. The guy straightens up and gives him a wry look. "Sorry about all this," he says.

So Danny starts explaining to Jason what happened, and obviously Jason just gets pissed and doesn't believe him at all at first, but Danny is able to convince him with facts and logic and a few strategic displays of the powers that he super didn't use when he threw that fight (Jason is very embarrassed to realize that).

And Danny helps Jason out. He explains what Jason's new responsibilities are, he sorts through the papers with him, he complains about the Observants and all the other officials in the Ghost Zone, and he drops a lot of mindblowing lore completely casually. Just by letting Danny ramble on, Jason learns what ectoplasm is, that it makes up the Infinite Realms, and that it must be part of his own makeup, or else he wouldn't have been able to inherit the throne.

Danny keeps helping out, Jason keeps not ceding the throne to someone else, and before the two of them know it, Jason is the feared and respected leader of the Realms for his ability to take no shit and get shit done, and Danny is his trusted right hand, advisor, and cultural liason. The Fright Knight title just seems natural, at that point. Danny is still doing a lot of the work that he despised before, but at least it's split between the two of them, and Jason is happy to make the tough and unpopular decisions that paralyzed Danny. And Danny is also deeply invested in keeping Jason safe. No reason. Not like he's deeply in love with him after all the time they've spent together or anything.

Ghost King Jason

Danny gets into a fight with The Red Hood. The Red Hood says the words "I challenge you, You M--F--" Danny looks him square in the eyes and says "Challenge Accepted." before promptly throwing the fight.

Now being the Ghost King is Jason's Problem.

[deqdlyowl]

I actually have some old doodles TPtR au related... This one portrays an event from the second chapter.

I have a few more things, but they're kinda spoilers and I'm not really into spoiling... Though one of them is just a spoiler of one interesting detail I want to add (the event my sketch shows most likely won't appear in the fic), while the other one is a WHOLE AHH SPOILER of the shit happening in, maybe like 10+ chapter, I'm still not sure how big I want to make the fic, ahaha.

Also rambling and venting out my feelings under the cut because I forgot to take my meds yesterday. You don't have to read but I would be happy if you do.

.

Every time I start something I like, it begins to feel like a small obligation after some time, no matter how I feel about the thing I create. I love my fic and I really want to finish it, because it's also a huge emotional boost for me when I understand that I passed my word count goal in the chapter and I finally can write down my 24/7 daydreaming about CotL (even if not all of them, I often think about selfship, sorry, ahaha),AND I have a nice feedback. BUT. My ability is to abandon things. I have many unfinished drawings, unfinished crafts, like, a crocheted Spycrab or a full-sized HHH tf2 weapon, even though I really want to finish it all, but since I took a really long break, I just abandoned it all. That's usually the reason why I don't make comics. (The only comic I've ever made is that one silly meme about bees). And a month ago I started writing TPtR.

I'm scared of this happening to my fic, that's why I force myself to write if I'm not doing so for more than two days. Somehow it boosts my motivation, but at the same time, the thought of having to force myself to do something, even if I love it, makes me anxious. Why am I not doing anything if I love it? Perhaps it's just my depression with AuDHD kicking in, and sometimes I forget to take my ADs (I don't have ADHD meds yet) that makes me suddenly apathetic about everything. And then anxiety. And then I get sad when I can't come up with words.

Today I was describing the thing I have no experience in. I made tonnes of research, watched many videos of how people do it, tried to find words, but it looks... Meh. And I'm sad. And when I'm sad about something I do, I abandon it. BUT I WON'T. I will force myself to not, because I still want to write! I try to reassure myself that it looks shitty because it's still a draft and written in my native language. However, if looking at my current word count, the chapter won't be short, and it makes me happy. I'm sad and happy. I'm confused about my feelings about what I do!! I can just abandon doing ANYTHING and be lazy for years as it happened in middle school! But I have to force myself. To do anything at all. I already bed rot when I'm not studying, and if I'm studying at home, I still do it in bed. I'm losing weight (I'm severely underweight), my dogs feel bad (they're almost 12), it's my final year in school so I also study hard for my finals, my dreams say weird things (I believe in dream-telling or whatever, and I kinda can decipher them) and it all devours me from inside. But I can't give myself a rest. Or. I'll. Abandon. The thing. I love!

I'm repeating, but my head repeats everything most of the time as well, it's either loud and messy (adhd) or quiet and agonizing (autism), my ADs make my body parts twitch, I don't think that I need my therapist anymore, because it feels like there's no different between me before and me after talking to her.

I love my friends though. Their cheerful reaction to my fic or sketch updates is something that also boosts my motivation of doing something. I love art because of the feeling of creating something, but after finishing, I get the desire to see someone's reaction to what I did.

That's all, I think. I mean, not all, but I don't want to repeat again and again, my memory is getting worse as well, I feel like I kin Shamura ahahahha. I want to take an MRI. What if I have a tumor.

[numberonetacostan]

Post-canon au where mepad comes back (I'm delusional) but I'm rambling at 1 am (it's an Xmas party too)

Taco is coerced by mic to go out of her room at hotel oj bc girly is depressed, she finds festivities n stuff. Taco is about to go back into hiding but it's gift giving time!! Test tube gives Taco a box and she's confused. Why would test tube give her a gift?? She's turned away from everyone when she opens it- it's empty. Gasps could be heard behind her so she's turns around and Mepad is there!! Que sappy reunion that idk how to write lol

I feel like it would go like: Taco runs and hugs Mepad and goes "You stupid tablet! I thought I'd lost you" and everyone joins in on the hug ^^ Test Tube can and will fix Mepad trust 🙏

Sorry if this was hard to read (╥﹏╥)

-🦄🐋

Hi Narwhal!!!^^ Welcome back, and thank you for your submission!!!! :] I absolutely love Mepad and I want him back. Mepad plush is inevitable guys its gonna be okay we can make him and taco kiss in plushie form (<- i have lost it yet again)

She would definitely need to be coerced, parties and crowds aren't exactly her style, yeah? Also shy!!!!! The rest of the cast surprising her with Mepad is so very sweet!!!! I see her being very overwhelmed and not verbal for a bit, mostly just hugging her newly back-to-life bestie MEPAD!!!!! Once a few hours have passed though she would chew him out for dying (lovingly!!!!) <3 Like, if you ever die again, I will kill you, that sort of thing, yeah?

I didn't have any trouble!! :) No worries!!!

[tadpolesonalgae]

So my girlie has cancer, nice. YOU KNOW I HAD THOUGHT OF THAT like why she's basically eating herself up (don't know any other way to describe this) but then i was like illnesses like cancer are probably not even possible for faes' due to their regenerative abilities? good to know that's what that is though. I am a littleeeeeeeeee pissed about the Bas convo because i've already started headcanoning about how the reader will feel a little guilty about how she handelled the situation after she's in a better mindspace. MY POOR BABY BAS LIKE HE WAS SSO IN LOVE WITH US WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I CAN'TTTTTTTTTTT UAHUAHUAHUAHUH so now how is she gonna cure herself :3 is she going to be her sciency-self and start mixing chemicals??? or does she get a new body? kinda like amren situation??? (i imagine her shedding skin like a snake? or lizard)

um, being totally honest with you I'm not really sure how to respond to you? I'm having quite a bit of difficulty figuring out your tone through text...?

Um, anyway though, it's not really cancer - I wouldn't call it that anyway. I won't deny that some of her symptoms do line up for those of cancer, but I would argue that blood appearing where it isn't supposed to, night sweats/fevers, lumps in your skin are some pretty straightforward signs to give a character to let people know there's something wrong with them?

I think it might be tricky because originally Reader's power was going to be radioactivity (varying on the type of radiation - alpha at her fingertips usually but sending out gamma radiation during large detonations), which can cause cancer (It isn't radiation anymore, don't worry that isn't a spoiler). However, I ultimately decided against that pathway when it started leading me to learn some stuff about nuclear energy, atomic bombs, and eventually lead back to World War II and just with how the world is at the moment I wasn't comfortable touching on it. I didn't feel like I had the words or the understanding to articulate a story like that and I also felt mainly that it wasn't a story I wanted to write? That giving reader the power of radioactivity/something similar to nuclear power would distract from the story that I actually wanted to write?

Anyway, that was a very long way of saying while I can completely see why it might look like it's cancer, I'd like to clarify that it isn't. As cbmthy continues we'll gradually learn more about what her magic does, and is :)

'MY POOR BABY BAS LIKE HE WAS SSO IN LOVE WITH US'

haha, I'm happy you feel so connected to him! Sorry for writing it so that he's going away though :') Though that was a very fun scene to write, as well as then heading into the parallels between Bas leaving Velaris and reader leaving life behind, and that being that driving force behind her determination to tell the people around her <3

'so now how is she gonna cure herself :3 is she going to be her sciency-self and start mixing chemicals??? or does she get a new body? kinda like amren situation??? (i imagine her shedding skin like a snake? or lizard)'

She's going to cure herself?

[skittlestrash]

1 is confusing to me but usually not super annoying to me, 2 is... agree to disagree on that one ;D but 3?? YES. just as pre-s2 I got...uncomfortable. with how many people seemed to want to ~butch up~ stede (lolol as if they stopped since, sigh), I remain...uncomfortable. with how many people seem to want to ~femme up~ ed. much for the same reasons as in this post!

and like, I love the cake toppers for multiple reasons (and I do think they'd both love to marry each other, also for multiple reasons), but the way it caused everyone to leap to ED WANTS TO ONLY EVER WEAR PRETTY FRILLY DRESSES AND BE A PILLOW PRINCESS is...weird.

idk, man. I'm Very Used To fandoms doing this whole reducing a character to one or two things nonsense, I really am, but it never gets less annoying. let them BOTH love soft things at the same time, even! they don't have to trade off! but also, let them BOTH enjoy different things even if they aren't all soft, because they are complex beings!

I've complained before about how people treat ed like their own personal dress up doll (which is not a bad thing altogether! what else is fanart when it comes down to it!) and put him in like, couture and shit, then have stede with him in the most Boring Man Outfit ever, and like, did you watch the show??

ugh sorry, I know this post isn't about stede, but the issues seem to run parallel, as if, like I said, people seem to think only one of them can be a thing at a time. it's extremely frustrating, and also I am always scared to say anything because of yucking someone's yum and/or being called some flavor of phobic?? when really I just want them to be able to have all their facets and quirks and ridiculousness because as djenks said, there's more than one way to be a man!!

and then on top of all of that, there's the racism part 🙃 I kinda feel like some people just went too far in the opposite direction of the Scary Brown Man depiction?? and like, the show is RIGHT THERE to show you how to do it right, but whatever I guess.

(this also probably connects to making the white guy more ~manly in response, sigh, but I am not smart enough to do any more words and probably fucked everything up in this ramble as it is!! so I'm gonna shut up.)

an incomplete list of terrible but extremely popular Our Flag Means Death takes that I would like to never see again please

(and I do mean popular, as in, lots of people seem to think they're canon, to the point where I feel slightly insane and like I was watching a different show to everyone else)

1. Ed's mum was loving and nice and supportive, if hampered by her bad situation

this comes up more in fic than analysis, to be fair, but good god, what show were some of you watching? this isn't to vilify her, because yeah, she's clearly a product of colonialism, white christian supremacy, and domestic abuse, but like. that doesn't make how she raised Ed good. clearly she was trying to keep him safe, but "we don't deserve nice things", and especially "it's not up to us, it's up to god", speaks to me of someone who squashes down any ambition on her son's part, has fully bought into the lies of christian colonialism, and tries to pass them down to her son.

as does happen in colonised communities, particularly among older generations. I know us white people like to think that every indigenous person is a perfect left-wing anti-imperial activist, but that's simply not the case, and Ed's mum is so clearly an example of an older conservative christian indigenous parent who had to believe the lies told by their coloniser in order to survive, but is now passing on that trauma to their children. and I just...

if I read one more fic where Ed's mum is a perfect loving supportive angel who always believed in her kid and always supported and protected him, I'm gonna scream. yes, it's sweet, and it's fun to sometimes veer from canon and give your blorbo nice things, but it's still veering from canon. and yet, I see very few people acknowledge that, or actually talk about the nuances of Ed's mother, and how she definitely tried to protect him, but was far from sweet, doting, and unconditionally supportive.

2. Ed's loving look when Stede is picking food from his beard in 1x07

like most of these things, I enjoyed it as a joke or exaggeration at first, until I realised that people were actually being serious. but every time I watch that scene, I see Ed looking absently-mindedly over Stede's shoulder, because a) that's what you do when someone leans in to pick something off you, and b) surely the point of the scene is that they're so comfortable and easy together that they don't notice the intimacy of what they're doing, but Lucius, an outside observer, thinks it's obvious. right?? I can't be the only one seeing it???

[sigh]

anyway. finally, the really really big one:

3. Ed is a soft uwu babygirl princess femme bottom sub who loves her cat collar and is teaching Stede how to dom him in the "say you're the captain" scene

I mean, there's not much to say except to link to duke's absolutely phenomenal twitter thread about "how the 'babygirlfication' and infantilization of ofmd ed teach is an extension of racist perceptions of indigenous men being inherently violent and thus needing to be emasculated to be considered sympathetic"

but especially That One Fucking Scene, good lord. talk about taking shit out of context. everyone looked at a slowed-down gif of one shot in the trailer and cried "babygirl!! he's such a simp, he just wants to be dommed!!", when actually that scene is about how a) Stede is cringefail and terrible at being a typical harsh, commanding pirate, and b) Ed is lovingly embarrassed by this. he encourages Stede to assert himself (and give Ed something to do during his probation/help him make amends with the crew), but like. normally. he's acting perfectly normal in that scene, and mostly annoyed by the outfit and embarrassed by how badly Stede fails. but just because he's sitting down while Stede is standing, and he happens to take a breath in that one shot (because, you know, people breathe sometimes), everyone's doubled down on their "submissive babygirl" bullshit, and I can't get the fuck away from it.

which - listen, it's fun for me, too! it's fun to explore exaggerated aspects of a character, it's fun to read/write/draw that angle in smut, I get it! but I keep seeing people keep claim it's literally canon, and I cannot stress enough that that is Straight Up False. for the love of god, please just watch the show without your (potentially kinda racist) bias glasses on, and remember to treat the characters with respect instead of projecting onto their every interaction a shallow dom/sub binary just because you find it hot.

Our Flag is a show very specifically about masculinity, and what it means to be a man; how assumptions about that can harm and restrict men; and how men can grow beyond them. it's a nuanced and sympathetic examination of this. the whole point is that Ed is allowed to like nice fabrics and be tired of violent piracy and still be a man. the point is that two men fall in love - equal, honest, sincere love - and are still men, still exactly who they are.

(on that note, insisting that Ed is canonically trans or femme because of these things often ends up just leaning into gendered stereotypes: men are harsh and active and dominant, and women are soft and passive and submissive, and if Ed's not the former, he must be the latter, right? it also tends to hetero-ify the central relationship, casting Stede as "the boy" and Ed as "the girl", needing one to be masc and one femme. not always, and again, I understand and have enjoyed transformative works that take those elements and run with them, and explore what the story could be like if Ed were trans/nb/etc - but it's still a transformative interpretation. it's not canon.)

relatedly: those fucking wedding toppers! it seemed blatantly obvious to me that half the point of those scenes was that Ed is distraught and blaming himself for Stede leaving because he wasn't the ideal partner. it's his entire arc for the first half of season 2! Ed hates himself and believes there's something wrong about him that makes him unlovable. so he keeps and then discards the wedding toppers, painting himself onto one of them, because he's projecting himself onto an image of ideal/successful romantic love that he thinks Stede wants, and in which he doesn't fit. he's trying to mould himself into someone else to make himself lovable, not realising that Stede already loves him for himself.

so it's important to the whole narrative that Ed's yearning for/projection onto the wedding toppers is false, and born from his insecurity. he gets drunk, and play-acts a stereotypical image of romantic happiness into which he doesn't fit, but real love looks nothing like that, because real love isn't found in stifling hegemonic cultural structures, but honest, emotional connections between people allowed to be their whole, vulnerable selves. Stede is not like the groom, and Ed is not like the bride, because they shouldn't have to be. Ed should not (and does not) have to warp himself into a demure bride in order to be worthy of love: he's already lovable and loved exactly as he is! that's the point!! of the scene!!!!!!

like, it's important that the groom figure isn't actually like Stede, either. yes, it's blond and has a nice, peach-coloured suit, but a) Stede was very specifically unhappy in the posh, heterosexual, married state the figures represent, and b) Stede by this point looks nothing like that figurine. it's directly contrasted with the image of him in the rowboat, scruffy and plain and earnestly in love, rather than fancy, cold ceramic.

[EDIT 29/12/24: I ended up writing a whole Twitter essay about the wedding cake toppers that I then gussied up for Tumblr; so if you want a clearer, more substantial, and better supported argument about those, check that out!]

but no, I have to wade through swathes of art and fic and meta about how badly Ed wants to be a sweet little demure kitty princess, how he wants a wedding night and a ring to prove he's Stede's property, and acting as if this is somehow canon, because people on the internet have zero reading comprehension and are scared of brown men.

the whole point of Our Flag is that you don't need to compress yourself into prescribed social roles, and in fact, doing so will only make you miserable; and that racist, patriarchal, colonial institutions should be resisted and dismantled at every opportunity.

so tell me again why the ultimate message is that Ed and Stede should get married under an arch in front of an altar and their lined-up friends, with flowers and rice falling around them, all dressed in white, one in a suit and one in a dress, with rings and a kiss and a honeymoon after, before they move into a detached house with a yard and a fence and re-adopt the kids that Stede abandoned? and this isn't about promises, fidelity, or even monogamy - I'm specifically talking about everyone in this fandom who seems to think that the ultimate goal is the most stereotypical 20th century cisheteropatriarchal christian wedding, but with the name "matelotage" slapped on top, as if that takes away all of the underlying baggage.

just - I know we're all meant to hate men and masculinity and yadda yadda yadda, but actually, to be earnest for a second, men deserve respect too, because all people and all genders do. and two men are allowed to be in a relationship and still both be men - complex men, with their own, layered relationships to their gender - without having to fall into neatly-arranged dom/sub masc/femme roles, or seal the deal with a hegemonically-approved ceremony.

so please, stop reducing an indigenous lead character to a caricature of a femme uwu princess bottom just because he has long hair, wore a robe once, and you're too scared of brown men to imagine him with proper agency. and then please, for the love of god, stop claiming that that interpretation is canon.

[otome-dissection]

Idk man I just think that mizu/ena5 and its progression was really beautiful actually. I just think that the release of the ena5 song was also really beautiful and kind of the nail in the coffin for me and I haven't been able to get the event(s) out of my head all week and that I kind of want to talk about it, actually.

It's about being hurt so deeply and continuously that any kindness that could be offered to you manages to feel like a sin, that it makes you crumble and shatter but for all the wrong reasons, not because of the newfound safety, not out of relief, but something worse and more deeply ingrained in you than kindness ever was. It's about carefully measuring the distance at which you keep others away from yourself, to ensure that it never happens again ("To save yourself the trouble", if that makes it easier).

It's about realizing that the people you've been spending all this time with are drifting closer, that they just might bump up against the unsightly parts of yourself that you've tried to keep locked away, it's about turning around and sprinting at full speed and slamming the door shut and holding onto the handle behind you to stop it from turning, because you're as frightened of the possibility of another wound being inflicted on you as you are of the possibility that kinder, gentler hands will reach out and smooth over the exposed scar. It's about hating eyes that judge and silently condemn you as much as you hate eyes that simply see you and take all of you in without scrutiny, because no matter what they're looking and they're looking at you and they know that your hand's on that door handle and they know that you're hiding something because, as much as you try to keep it shut, they've seen through the crack that you foolishly left open.

(The prominence of eyes in Bake no Hana, specifically eyes looking and searching, and finally landing on you, the viewer, Mizuki, is so fucking. Visceral in my opinion. Every character in the MV stares at the viewer in a deadpan, almost judging way. Even though Mizuki knows deep down that niigo won't really hate them, won't judge them, she just can't stand their kindness either; any gaze directed at her is a loss, another prick in their skin. It screams "don't look at me" while making sure that you know, with horrific certainty, that they're looking for you, that you're being watched. You can't go outside, can't leave your room, because they're searching for you, and while that should be reassuring, to you it's anything but).

It's about not wanting to be dissected, whether it's with hands that want to pull your organs apart or stitch them back together because no matter what they're there, and they're getting frighteningly close to your heart. It's about blinding yourself and covering your eyes to it all because seeing means exposure and exposure means they're taking something from you and you can't do anything about it, much less take it all back, much less have a say in the matter. Everyone's just taking and taking and taking and you wish you could just be alone. You wish everyone would just disappear and you could live in a world all to yourself, for only yourself (but is that really what you want?).

It's about the way that, near the beginning of the Yoka ni Mitoreta MV, Mizuki and her loneliness is represented as a dark, splotchy stain in the shadows. No colors, no patterns, no way to clean it or wash it all away, just raw ugliness marring a blank canvas. It's about the way that Ena reaches out to it anyway, the way she startles when the glass shatters just when she finally starts reaching forward, the way that the rest of the MV/song represents her searching for and reaching only further out to Mizuki, even if the broken shards of glass will only cut her fingers, potentially leaving scars.

It's about how, in every way, subtly, directly, consciously, and subconsciously, Ena shows that she fucking cares.

It's about the way that Ena lets Mizuki have autonomy, despite the situation being so horribly out of their control. And it's such a delicate thing: If she really wants to, Mizuki can take the opportunity to just run away, keep running forever, repeat the cycle over and over, and maybe she'll just destroy herself with it again, but it can't be denied that it's something important to them, something she can't quite live without just yet, their means of survival. Mizuki's autonomy is their identity, it's her tailoring her own clothes and choosing her own ribbons and styling her own hair the way she does. Ena letting them have that is as much about trust as it is about understanding that Mizuki of all people should have this right, when control was something stripped from her throughout so much of her life. She couldn't control how she was born, how people look at her or why, can't control what they think of her; lacking control has only left Mizuki vulnerable to the cruelties of others, has only caused them to suffer, which is why it's so important that it's given to them now.

She had the control to make the choice to see niigo's welcoming love and run away instead of staying, and she has the control to make the choice now whether she wants to keep things the way they are or take a step forward to be at their side again. She has every right to have it, and I think the fact that Ena realizes and respects that, even if it's subconsciously, is really beautiful (there is an entire fucking Verse about this in the new song and just. God Look at this. It's so caring, unconditional, and for fucking What. I think there is something to be said about how much Ena is willing to put aside for Mizuki, and maybe deep down it isn't healthy, but for now I'm just kind of in awe)

It's about how insanely patient Ena has been this whole time. Mizuki says that she basically lied to Ena's face about telling her their secret, even after Ena said with such conviction that she would wait for Mizuki as long as it takes, and Ena is just kept waiting and waiting and worrying like this seemingly indefinitely. It's about how Mizuki danced around it, avoided it, kept the distance, straight up ran when she was finally pushed, but Ena still chased anyway when she saw that she couldn't wait anymore, kept chasing just enough to intervene and get a straight answer out of Mizuki when she really needed to, but still leaving her enough space to leave if that was truly what she wanted. It's about how relieved Ena is the moment that Mizuki finally says outright how much they want to be with her and niigo, how much she wants to try, how much more light Ena's voice sounds when she grabs her hand, relieved, the way that the relief she feels can be felt through the music, throughout the entirety of Yoka ni Mitoreta, the way that warm colors always follow her when she chases after Mizuki, just to hold onto her and stop her from running away completely.

It's about how that careful combination of Ena's directness, Ena's persistence, Ena's warmth, her patience, her bluntness about her feelings, the way she chases and holds on but not too tight and her regard for how unsafe and exposed Mizuki feels actually works and breaks it all down. It's about how she really did reach through to Mizuki, despite the thorns and broken glass shards and nearly-unfulfilled promises, the way that Mizuki did finally let her turn the door handle and step through to see what she'd been hiding all this time, the way that Mizuki's hand, limp, when Ena first grabs onto it, shifts to hold hers back as they cry in the face of Ena's gentleness.

Despite how harsh Mizu/Ena5, and even Ena herself as a character can be (or at least was in the very beginning of pjsk), everything is somehow gentle and warm in the end, blindingly so. And you know what, I think that's beautiful. And what's even more beautiful than that is how Mizuki allows themself to crumble and shatter under that kindness, that warm light, but this time, finally, out of relief.

On a final note, I just want to say that I also appreciate how all that didn't have to solve everything. The scars haven't disappeared, haven't gone away, and Mizuki knows that their desire to run hasn't gone away forever, and maybe it never truly will. But for now they've calmed it, at least a little. She's learning to allow herself to be seen, learning that when someone's fingertips brush over their scars the way Ena's did that it's only out of care, and that maybe taking in that care and allowing herself to feel kindness and safety is okay. They're safe, for now, somehow. They're learning. They're trying. And I think that's cool :)

[nell0-0]

Mask will let the captain have this. Just this once. It wasn't just once.

Poor Mask kept falling to the ground. Luckily for him, either the captain or Tune are there to catch him

A continuation of THIS

Fun fact I didn't know until I started researching for this: apparently when someone looses an eye, it's possible that the other eye adapts. This is not good in the beginning as the remaining eye stops working for a while (???!). While long term it's not as noticeable (just less field of vision and some problems with depth perception sometimes) it's, uh... interesting :,D

Correct me if I'm wrong about this tho. I did my research, but sometimes there's misinformation out there so don't trust it 100% without checking it first.

[avoidantvoidd]

(tap on the images for better quality. tumblr keeps fucking up my stuff w their low res bs)

Monsterfucker Altaïr = best Altaïr

inspired by the countless monsterfucker Altaïr prompts by the all mighty @teecupangel (+ all the nonnies & ppl who gave them ideas :) )

an accurate dipiction of Altaïr when he spots hybrid/eldritch being!desmond roaming in the wild.

i didn't know if i should put kadar n malik in there. but as much as i wanted to i couldn't imagien them saying it. so i put some rando novice and rauf himself instead. lmaooooo (the rando novice will become a mascot later on in more of my art work dw)

ignore the way Altaïr's hood look like a fucking samosa and focus on how neat my handwriting is. i tried to make is as eligible as possible.

i was hungry while drawing that so i think thats the reason why, HAH.

ughhhhhh. i need to draw more. like actually draw and not shitpost stuff like this. like i made one of the best art work in my life and just fell off. i hate it here.

art dump (?) under the cut.

some altdes for the soul :)

please excuse my poor attempt at chibi art style. my hands r just allergic to cute stuff :( i gave up on coloring them too. my laptop wont let me.

i tried drawing desmond in my style, and i have to say it's not taht bad :0. But i fucked his hair. i already suck ass at drawing hair, but at least i can bullshit my way through long hair but his buzzcut is SO HARD TO DRAW. like THATS INSANe. why. i wanted to give him some fluffy hair. as you can see i failed. tramendusly.

desmond, my son, why must you lack hair....

It's not much for an 'art dump' but these two r the only ones in my folders that the human eyes can tolerate.

ok sorry for taking up ur screen with my ramblings i'll be going now, bye xoxo.

[karineverse]

This is Error. I added a picture of skeleton Error with my headcanons because I don't have much recent art of her for I'm currently revising my human interpretations and trying to figure out how to draw faces but I wanted y'all to see her skirt. She's genderqueer and uses mostly she/her pronouns but I am terrible with pronouns and I don't always use those not to confused other people that don't share the headcanon. Anyways she's chill if you ignore everyone she killed and omfg just LOOK AT HER. WHY IS SHE SO HUGGABLE IF SHE DOESN'T LIKE HUGS????? Sorry Error I need to draw you cuddling with Ink also Error is a princess fr, the cutest thing ever I'm gona die. Error contrasts with the husband bc she is way more gothish looking. She likes being cozy and sleeping and getting attention. She also likes to get her nails done but bites the nail polish off constantly (stonks ig). I am struggling not to ramble about Errorink bc this is about HER not THEM so I might do a post about it later. She occasionally makes clothing too but it's hard and she will be 100% hate until the end. She can't see shit, she's Error Sans. This mf is so cat coded... But also racoon, my trash queen.

I love my human sanses!!! I love my creativity and determination to bring some diversity!!!! I love how I put so much effort on making them different and unique!!! I love to play with how they look and act!!! I love to give them pronous and weird identities!!!! I love making sanses brown and black!!! I love making sanses a completely new thing that looks nothing like the original!!!! I love my human interpretations!!!!!!!!!!!!

[klutzytomb]

I never thought I'd say this, but there's no way I'm one of the only ones here that isn't chronically online. Right? Right??

[temeyes]

pfp change!! ft an actual doodle of myself gaspppp!!

[angelpuns]

Genuine question!

Are there any plans to revisit the reverse kid leo universe? Like with teen leo and little brothers? I really like that idea so I'm just wondering

Nope. I do have a collab planned far far far faaaaar in the future, but I personally do not enjoy drawing the spinoff and I don't have ANY ideas for it like ever, so I have no plans of continuing it myself/in an official capacity. It tends to confuse people about what's canon/what's not, too, and I'd like to avoid that :/

I usually do try and keep up with what everyone else wants to see ( and for some reason a lot of people like the spinoff?) But its so far out of my interest zone that I just really can't draw it smh

Writing the script for the collabs has already been so so difficult cause there's just like...no ideas.

And also a funny plot hole is that Leo in the spinoff could literally go back to his time whenever he wanted. There's like 0 stakes. Idk I'm rambling but the TLDR is no lmao

[winryrockbellwannabe]

this guy is honestly making me question too much shit

bc there's no way in hell is just that nice, right?

at this point either: 1. he's being this nice and kind bc he has a crush on me, 2. he's honestly that nice, which will make me have a crush on him, bc omg. he's just the nicest person ever

[secriden]

Every episode, I fall more in love with him <3

These screenshots do not do justice to just how comforting Game is in this moment. His voice is so, so soft and kind and he doesn't try to pretend like Diew didn't just completely bomb the presentation, but he's also offering very honest and practical reasons for Diew to feel better. Sometimes when friends try to comfort you and they tell you that it's not a big deal or it wasn't as bad as it seems, it feels more like they're downplaying or not acknowledging how awful you feel but I like that Game isn't doing that.

But most importantly, he's not letting Diew face it alone:

I know everyone has things on their plate and so sometimes it's not always possible to offer to walk with someone through the difficult thing, but when someone DOES offer, goodness it can feel so, so good!

MND is so good at portraying genuinely good friendships. God's entire friend group, while chaotic, is just so enthusiastically supportive of each other. And I love that Diew and Game's friendship is built on these genuine moments of connection and common interest. You can really see why they're friends. Sometimes in shows there's a sense that if these people weren't just in the same class/thrown together by the situation, they may not really be friends but Diew and Game's friendship feels like they'd've found each other even if they weren't in the same class(es?) together (probably through seeing each others names on the same books they borrow from the library or some other cute shit like that). Literally every time they're together its just wholesome and lovely and good. <3

[caluupin]

neuvi is meeting his peepaw rn

[corntort]

very overjoyed to wake up to my psychic blast being effective