#straight from the void™

[aromaticbugle22]

Hello Again!

I am - once again - checking in to say that I am still kicking around on this ball of dust we call "home."

.........In case anyone was curious (they weren't), I've gotten up to a fair bit in the last few... uh... hm.... let's go with 'a while.' I've started college, for one! That's neat. I'm on a fast-track to my associates and I'm not looking back!

I've also started learning graphic design, which I'm hoping to use to help improve this blog a fair bit! I'm really enjoying it so far, and I'm excited to see where it takes me.

Lastly (and probably the only thing you really care about): I plan on posting more to this blog! I have so many fun facts I've had bottled up for this almost two years?!? what??? I've been gone, and I'm excited to share them with you all! That's all for now, but stay tuned for more info and news, and keep an ear out for my call!

[ranboo5]

( ﾟヮﾟ) for Ryfe, ┐(‘～`；)┌ for Emver :D?

┐(‘～`；)┌ : When your muse can’t answer something, whatdo they do?

Xie is open about being unable to answer it, but with saying that xie doesn't know/can't answer xie almost always likes to conjecture. Xie thinks it's good to consider what it would be best for the answer to be and if that's different from what's likely. Knowing the full reality of smth isn't necessarily needed to try and orient yourself, bc knowing the full reality of smth is impossible, yk? Sometimes you just will not know and have to react to it anyway, and sometimes you have to find yourself in that space

( ﾟヮﾟ) : When is your muse happiest?

Ryfe's main mood booster/antidote to the horrors is the material improvement of her or hers' conditions. Like, she's very much the kind of person who defaults to cleaning or similar? Like, "what can I do for myself/you materially right now." She likes knowing she's done something, yk? Nothing huge even just Having Done Something. She is happiest when she is holding physical proof of the world being a little bit of a better place because of something she and/or hers could do, yk?

Asks; I wanted to draw but the random music playing in the student union is just not what I need as bg noise for The Trance

[out--of--ordinary]

Tired of having to explain why a public figure not showing support for pride is enabling homophobes... If a hockey player doesn't wear a pride jersey when the rest of the team does, he's making a statement. And the influx of people buying his jersey just because he didn't wear a pride jersey (for a mere 20 minutes of his life off camera...) Directly allows for people to flaunt their homophobic ideologies and think it's okay...how do these people not feel shame so publicly discriminating...

[teemdark]

Thinking about... Sonic and Shadow racing from time to time. Pretty standard hc.

Except that Shadow loses more often than not, but not because he's slower or anything. He just keeps getting distracted by things he's never seen and straight up stops running to admire the pretty flowers he spotted in the undergrowth, or a butterfly with a peculiar pattern on its wings, or a rock formation in the distance that from this angle looks especially cool.

The first time it happens Sonic only notices after a while and kinda goes "wtf did he trip and fall into the void or smth" and runs back to look for Shadow and finds him laying on his stomach staring intensely at a bunch of weird fake-ladybug thingies.

And maybe nowadays when Shadow gets home after one of these 'failed' races, the first thing he tells Rouge is "I saw a new flower today" and she goes "alright describe it to me we're adding it to the Notebook™" and all is well with the world.

P.S. The Notebook™ is a little journal of all the new things Shadow sees and likes <3

[duchess-kyuupid]

Not quite an X Reader request, but a fun little prompt: In the place of Yuu is a TWST version of Little Ghost from Hollow Knight. Everyone thinks the kid's some random five year old fae that got swiped up by accident and is mostly babysat by the staff, but that doesn't stop some students from trying to bully the baby.

However, the baby in question is very good at hiding knives on their person and is secretly a master swordsman, and one day stabs a bully in the leg for shoving them, right in front of the bully's dorm leader.

Question: How do the dorm leaders react in this situation?

Okay uhh... I haven't written anything for a long time I know, but this I feel like I absolutely HAVE to do. Hopefully Silksong comes soon...right?

« Little Ghost gets into a Little Fight™ in Twisted Wonderland »

[TWST x Hollow Knight, Platonic affection, Ghost is slightly taller than Grim, not an x reader, the bullies are from each respective dorm (like Riddle's bullies are from Heartslabyul, etc.)]

So this whole conundrum started when Little Ghost found their favorite dorm leader in the halls in between classes. In their little scurry to reach them, they had to bypass a couple other students who were also in the hallway. One such student, with their small group of friends, intended to punt them and disguise it as a mere "shove."

"Better watch where you're going, shorty- us tall people can't see you from all the way up here when- OW! God damn it, what the hell?"

Little Ghost hides away their sharpened nail within the cover of their cloak, as if it was never there to begin with. They look up to the bully, pure malice filling the void of its blank, unblinking eyes. The bully's friends decide it was probably best to take the bully to the nurse and apologize on their behalf because, just look at his leg, it's bleeding! And, oh god, how big is that hole in his foot? What even is this weird shadow stuff? Best to just apologize and get out of there while they still could...

~Riddle~

Riddle witnesses the whole thing from the very moment that the Little Ghost saw him to begin with. Yet, the bullies left so quick that he didn't get a chance to collar them for their blatant disregard for the lives of innocent creatures. And almost immediately after the bullies left, the knight headed straight towards Riddle.

He was angry at first, at how the bullies so flagrantly disobeyed Rule #75: Never kick any creature with your left foot on Thursdays. But rather, he ended up feeling more concerned over the safety of the knight than anything else.

He took a moment to make sure the knight was feeling okay before going off into great detail about how it's against school policy to carry and conceal any weapon that isn't a wand on campus. Granted, he momentarily stops himself mid-sentence during his rant about this, since technically Little Ghost isn't even a student at NRC, so perhaps those rules don't apply to them? Hmm... An interesting counterargument indeed...

Ghost merely stares blankly back with little reaction to the scolding from Riddle. He sighs and decides to say nothing else about the knight's hidden weapons because, ultimately, Riddle is just happy that he won't have to worry so much about the little guy getting hurt with the knowledge that they can protect themselves if they need to.

"Well," Riddle supposes, "I guess I can let it go just this once. But just make sure that you don't go around stirring up even more trouble. Just let me know if anyone else decides to bother you, and I shall make sure to deal with them properly. Still, I need to go make sure those other ruffians don't make the same mistake twice about breaking the Queen's rules."

Riddle leans down a bit and pats the top of the knight's head with endearment in his eyes before walking away towards the nurse's office, an obvious glare of anger in his stride as he walked.

And the Little Ghost, left all alone in the hallway, looks down to their little hand, holding onto their precious charm: Fury of the Fallen.

Ah, another time then... they think.

~Leona~

Leona catches the whole thing and laughs about it as he watches the bullies scurry away in fear. He'd be dead before he admits it out loud, but Leona was actually just about to step in for the Little Ghost. True, he was pretending that he didn't see them as they were trying to approach him in the hallway, but he's always trying to look out for Little Ghost, whether on purpose or not.

Anyway, his laugh was more like a snide snicker, filled with mocking amusement. It was almost ironic how those beastmen could be so frightened by such a small little mouse, and hearing them squeal like babies was almost like music to his ears.

Leona smiles wider when Ghost finally approaches him after the incident, and he dips down to give them a little pat on the head.

"Nice job there, runt. That's what they get for messing with the wrong pack."

However, Leona's caught by surprise when the Ghost takes his hand from their head and places something in it. It felt cold- metallic maybe?- in his hand, and he takes a look at the gift Ghost had given to him. A... brooch? Ehh... The thought is nice but he's not exactly a jewelry kinda guy, you know?

Oh wait, and there's a note on it too.

'Mark of Pride. To my favorite pack leader.'

The next day, almost all of the Savanaclaw residents took notice of the new brooch their leader started wearing around.

~Azul~

Well, those bullies did have it coming to them, to be fair. Azul is in equal parts surprised and not surprised at those turn of events. On one hand, he's not surprised that Ghost had a little something up their sleeves on how to protect themselves, but on the other hand, he just didn't expect it to be...that.

Like, you'd think that you wouldn't be able to do a lot of damage with just a comically sized nail, but apparently, it was enough to scare even Octavinelle students away. And what was with that shadow magic? He's never seen anyone use anything remotely similar- not even cosmic magic came close to what the Ghost wielded in tandem with their nail just now.

My, he's just reminded of how the land has so many things to learn and many more to gain from. Azul approaches Ghost after the bullies leave with a smile on his face. Whether the smile is from his eagerness for a new deal, his relief that Ghost is safe, or even a combination of the two- not even Azul knows.

"That was spectacular, Little Ghost! You really showed them what's what!"

And Ghost just looks back up at him with his eyes, devoid of any sort of emotion. Most people have become quite frightened of Ghost by now, and it feels like Azul is the only person who ever looks them directly in the eyes. After all, after spending basically your entire life at the bottom of the ocean, peering into the darkness is nothing new for someone like Azul.

For this reason, while Azul was talking his mouth off at the prospect of learning about Ghost's void magic, Ghost reaches into their cloak and pulls out a charm, picked out specifically for Azul.

Ghost stands on their toes and stretches out their arms to offer their one and only charm of Unbreakable Greed to Azul, and he receives it gracefully with a polite thank you and a semi-surprised expression.

"It's remarkably shiny. Beautiful even. Thank you, Ghost." Ghost quickly finds a pen and paper to write on for a quick note to Azul before he starts getting any ideas.

'Don't sell this one. It's supposed to bring you more money.'

~Kalim~

He was too carried away in talking off Jamil's ears, so much so that he never even noticed the kerfuffle until the bullies started making a fuss.

"NO! GHOST, STOP IT. That's mean!" He scolds ghost as if they were a cat, and he didn't even realize that it was out of self defense. He picks up ghost and cuddles him close to his chest and tries to apologize to the bully for the inconvenience.

Meanwhile, the bully just screams out about how the ghost is a devil in disguise- a monster. Kalim doesn't believe them as the ghost just looks back up to him with (seemingly) innocent doe eyes.

"Well if you were being mean like that to them then its no wonder why they hurt you!" And by that point, the bullies had already started to run off, frightened of getting on the wrong side of an Al-Asim as well as...whatever Ghost is- monster or devil.

"You didn't get hurt did you, little guy?" Kalim asks worriedly, and Ghost merely shakes his head no. With a sigh of relief, Kalim smiles and continues walking through the hallway with Ghost still in tow within his arms.

This was probably the most perfect time for Ghost to offer their gift to him, so from their pocket they take out their Hiveblood charm.

And Jamil has to stop Kalim from crying on the spot when the Ghost attaches the charm onto his cardigan. Ghost doesn't even need to explain what it does- Kalim will probably wear it every day anyway.

~Vil~

Vil sees what happens and also laughs for a second as he watched the bullies run away from the scene. Though, he was a bit disappointed, in a way. Those bullies were the ones who started it, and yet they didn't even have the courage to finish it? Not only that, but they didn't even look the least bit graceful in their bullying tactics. How shameful. He ought to scold them for bringing such disgusting habits into the Pomefiore lifestyle.

But, Vil decided, they were very much beyond his recognition right now. As Housewarden, he can probably set them up with a punishment befitting their actions later, but right now, Vil notices the Little Ghost approaching him with a sort of glee in their steps.

"Hello there, Little Ghost. You weren't hurt, I hope?" And Ghost shakes their head no before reaching into their pocket to pull something out from under their cloak.

Immediately, the hallway fills up with a strong stench in the air that seemingly came from nowhere. But, Vil knew better. After all, he can practically see the fumes radiating off of whatever the Ghost had in their hand. What confused him though, was why it only started smelling when the Ghost took it out from their cloak if they had it this whole time...

The Ghost reaches out their hand to offer their Defender's Crest to Vil, but he looks at it in disgust and pinches his nose so he wouldn't have to smell it. (Alas, this tactic did not help whatsoever, as now he was forced to almost taste the smell as the fumes visibly wafted into his face.) Still, he tried his best to decline the offer as politely as he could... In classic Vil fashion, of course.

"If you plan on giving me that, then forget about it and keep it for yourself. It's disguising and revolting. I'd probably catch 10 different diseases if I so much as touch that thing." Reminder, this was Vil trying to politely refuse the gift.

He almost felt bad about what he said once he sees the way that the Ghost lowers their arms and looks down sadly. Keyword: almost. While their eyes held nothing but emptiness, you could almost feel the small amount of sadness coming from them as they took a moment to think. To be honest, Vil was mere seconds away from reaching for his handkerchief to begrudgingly accept this...lovely gift before the Ghost puts it back into their cloak and pulls out something else instead. It was their charm of Deep Focus, and the beautiful purple gemstones on it shimmered gloriously under the lights in the hallway.

"That's much better," Vil smiles in acceptance and graciously takes the new gift, "And rather beautiful too. Thank you, Ghost."

Ghost was at least happy that Vil liked this one since it was pretty. To be honest though, they were still pretty hurt that Vil would call it disguisting... Ghost can't smell anything, so how were they supposed to know that Vil wouldn't like it?

At least, now it means that they can keep their memento from one of their best friends from their own world.

'I won't ever forget you, Dung Defender. Not even if I lose your Crest.'

~Idia~

Please don't blame him for not stepping in. He doesn't do too well with fights- or just drawing any sort of attention to himself. But! At least when the squabble was over, Idia stood in place and waited for the knight to come to him like they initially wanted. Usually, once Idia sees someone- anyone, really, with the exception of his brother- approaching him, he'll take any sort of excuse to get out of there to avoid confrontation.

Lucky for him, the Little Ghost can't speak. Or perhaps, they choose not to. Either way, it makes it a lot easier for Idia to hang out with the Ghost when he knows he's not going to be expected to answer any random questioning or have to actively participate in conversation.

It's gotten to the point where Idia and Ghost can communicate with each other without making any sort of sounds at all. It's kinda creepy to the other students at the college though... I mean, how can you tell what Little Ghost is thinking when they've never spoken, when their mask is immovable, and when their eyes hold nothing but empty void in them?

Ortho would just tell those people off for him though, because it's in those eyes of theirs that they can understand each other so clearly. Can't you see how much expression Ghost has? Just look at those eyes! [Its complete and utter darkness.] But...to be honest... Ortho doesn't understand it either. Idia supposes he might need to improve Ortho's emotional reading modules...

Going back on topic, Ghost approaches Idia in the hallway and their creepy nonverbal conversation began.

'Are you hurt?' 'No.' 'Good. I can dox them later if you want. Wanna play some games with me later?' 'Yes. I have something for you.' 'Let's see it then.'

Ghost pulls out from their cloak their most precious charm they own: Wayward Compass. Idia's gamer instincts can tell how much latent immense power that is stored in this innocuous brooch, and he accepts it gladly.

Later that day, Idia asks Ortho to scan the object to see what kind of power lays behind this brooch.

"It just shows you where you are on any map."

"Like a GPS?" Ortho nods.

"Oh."

~Malleus~

He's quite pleased actually. He, as well as most of Diasomnia (being the fae that they are), knows the ghost isn't quite a fae, but isn't quite human either, so even he's at a loss for what kind of being the ghost really is. And this mystery makes it all the more easy for Ghost to become the target of bullying, and thus all the more easy for Malleus to become super protective over little ghost. Ultimately, Malleus is glad to see that they were not hurt in the fight.

After all, from the moment when they first met and he looked into it's eyes, he could sense that same sort of empty loneliness within as he does within himself. The Ghost isn't scared of him either, so naturally it seemed that they've become good friends, even if neither party are prone to speaking very much- if at all.

As the Ghost approaches Malleus in the hallway after the fight, he pets the top of their head and wonders to himself- what sort of material is this mask thing made of? Bone? Or is it a type of exoskeleton? Is it made from ceramic or glass? Or perhaps a strange type of wood? Maybe it's made from a material that's only exclusive to the world that Ghost is from.

Lost in his own thoughts, Malleus continued to pat Ghost's head endearingly, and he didn't notice that Ghost was holding something out for him until Ghost takes his hand off of their head and instead wrap his fingers around the stem of a precious white flower. It looked delicate, like it could break apart and fly away at any moment.

And yet, it was such a beautiful flower.

"Is this... for me?" he asks, to which Ghost responds with a nod.

To be honest, the knight would have been completely infuriated if those bullies had managed to break the delicate flower from their home world. They would not have gotten away with the measly scrapes that they did. There was only one of these flowers, and I mean, sure- it was supposed to be for someone else, but the knight got transported here before they could even bring it to Elderbug. Truly though, it was a miracle that the flower had managed to last this long without being broken.

Meanwhile, Malleus gets lost in his thoughts again for a second after realizing that this was the first gift he'd ever gotten from someone he considered as a friend. A kindred soul. He must take great care to protect both the flower and this little creature that is neither fae, human, nor monster- but a friend.

He takes extremely good care of the flower. It might even become one of his favorite items, next to his precious Tamagotchi game, and he places it in an enchanted vase to protect it for as long as he can.

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

POV: you're an aspid who broke the delicate flower

[marlynnofmany]

Where Wormholes Come From

As much as I was enjoying my Engine Rings™ cheesy snacks — and that was a great deal, since I’d just discovered them on a human-run space station — it wasn’t so much of a distraction that I didn’t notice worried voices as I walked past the cockpit.

I paused in the doorway to see Wio in her chair, tentacles adjusting the controls with nervous speed while Kavlae stood and pointed at one of the displays. I had no idea what that screen showed. But the two pilots sure seemed to, and it didn’t look good.

“Are you sure it’s organic?” Wio was asking.

“It has to be!” Kavlae said, head frills flaring. “I’ve never seen this kind of reading on anything else. Not even new technology.”

Wio muttered something unintelligible, tapping buttons and turning dials. She didn’t react when I folded my bag of crunchy snacks and shoved it in a pocket.

I leaned into the room. “Is something wrong?”

Kavlae looked up at that, the picture of blue-skinned concern. “Possibly,” she admitted. “Dangerous, at any rate. I was making a final sweep for the end of my shift, and I think I’ve found a fresh wormhole.”

I waited for more information, but didn’t get any. “Why is that bad?”

“Because it clearly wasn’t made with any technology I’ve seen,” Kavlae said with a melodramatic sweep of a hand. “There are organic traces and rough edges. This is fresh.”

Before I could repeat my question, Wio chimed in. “And a fresh wormhole might mean the worm is still around, among other things.”

“Uh,” I said. Apparently my Earth-bound education about space travel had missed a key point. “I did not know wormholes are made by actual worms. I thought people built them? Or they just happen?”

“People do build them,” Wio said. She finished messing with the controls and twisted her tentacles around each other. “And the way they ‘just happen’ is because of the space worms. Which we don’t want to get anywhere near.”

Kavlae waved me forward. “You’ve got good color vision, right? See if anything long and wiggly shows up on these scans. It’ll be subtle; they’re probably in deep.”

I stepped up to the row of small screens under the main one, full of questions. “Deep in what, hyperspace? Why do we want to avoid them? Are they predatory? Or territorial, or easily startled?” The main screen just showed the usual stars, but the little ones were a riot of charts and diagrams. Kavlae pointed at the one that was an incomprehensible swirl of yellow and green.

“Yes, hyperspace,” Wio said.

“They’re not predatory,” Kavlae said with certainty.

“Well, how do we know?” Wio countered.

“There have been studies!” Kavlae said. “They eat the fabric of space-time itself, not spaceships.”

“What about the chewy center of those spaceships?” Wio retorted.

“There have been studies,” Kavlae insisted.

Part of the green image did look a little wormy. I wondered whether I should interrupt, not sure if I was imagining it, then I remembered Eggskin the medic’s offhand comment on how good human eyesight was in picking out shades of green — just like edible vs non-edible plants back home. Maybe the two pilots really couldn’t see something that I could.

“Is that—” I started.

“Anyways, it’s not the space worms you need to worry about,” Wio spoke over me. “It’s the space moles that follow.”

The universe has perfect timing, because that was the moment a clear green line appeared on the chart, straight as an arrow and moving fast.

Kavlae squeaked, pointing at the screen.

Wio made a popping noise that I recognized as a swear word, and pressed several buttons at once.

A snakelike shape the color of starlight erupted into sight on the main screen, glowing as it curled back down a brand new wormhole, right in front of our ship. Which stopped in its tracks, all three of us yelling in surprise.

But that was nothing compared to the enormous black shape that clawed its way out of the starfield in hot pursuit. It was a different shade of black from the void of space, but I couldn’t say which. All I made out in that adrenaline-filled moment was claws, teeth, and terrifyingly large.

We screamed in three different octaves as the ripples in space hit the ship, rocking it even with the artificial gravity. I heard something crash down the hall. Other people were yelling. They didn’t matter.

The space mole really was going after the worm, not us — it plowed back down into the surface of reality, digging in a way that shouldn’t have been possible. And it was so, so fast.

The mole disappeared with one last kick of a barely-seen foot or tail or something else. The starfield rippled and shook like the surface of a pond. I realized I was clutching the back of Wio’s chair. Alarms were going off on the console.

After a moment in which nothing else jumped out at us, I managed to convince my fingers to let go. Kavlae collapsed into her own chair. The little screen was calm yellow. Without a word, Wio changed our course to somewhere presumably safer.

Running footsteps sounded in the hall, leading to a traffic jam of concern in the doorway: all tentacles and frills and very wide eyes. A calm but stern voice cut through the chatter. The crowd parted to let Captain Sunlight through, every inch the levelheaded and unflappable role model who wasn’t about to let some turbulence and screaming rattle her. She was wiping what looked like orange soup off one yellow-scaled hand. But she did it with dignity.

“What happened?” she asked.

I answered first. “Space worm and a space mole.”

“Really,” the captain said while the hallway exploded into conversation.

“They almost hit us!” Kavlae exclaimed, waving arms and frills from where she sat slumped in her chair.

“Any damage?” Captain Sunlight asked.

“Nope,” Wio said, with surprising cheer. “And I have better news.” She manipulated the controls some more, then sat back as a framed image appeared in the middle of the main screen. “I got a recording.”

Everyone exclaimed about that while the captured footage played. I was torn between watching it again because it was amazing, and watching the little yellow screen for more hints of green. I tried to do both.

“Well done,” Captain Sunlight said. “I know just the scientists to give first shot at that recording. And knowing them, this may end up in a very lucrative bidding war. You just make sure you get us to our destination safely!”

“Absolutely, Captain!” Wio said with a twirl of a tentacle. “I will keep a close eye on all the readouts.”

“I’ll help,” I volunteered, eyeing a suspicious green tinge that was probably nothing.

“I will take a nap,” Kavlae declared. “Then come back early.”

Wio waved her toward the crowded doorway. “Take your time! You need some rest after that. Don’t worry; we’ll scream if there’s anything important.”

“I’ll remind you that we do have an intercom,” said the captain drily.

I replied, “Screaming’s faster.”

Wio said at the same time, “We’ll scream over the intercom if there’s anything important.”

Captain Sunlight huffed in amusement. “Of course you will. Right! Everyone else, go check the ship for damaged items. Mur, help Mimi in the engine room. Paint, go with Eggskin; medbay first, then kitchen.” She rattled off more assignments to make sure all the important rooms were looked into. Then she ushered everyone on their way, and headed back to whatever she’d been doing. Probably cleaning up spilled soup.

With a glance at Wio, I took Kavlae’s chair, hands folded carefully in my lap. The snacks in my pocket crinkled. I left them there — I wasn’t about to make a mess in the cockpit, nor would I touch a single thing.

But that yellow-and-green swirl, oh I would be watching that very carefully.

~~~

The ongoing backstory adventures of the main character from this book. More to come!

[clanwarrior-tumbly]

Hallo! Could i kindly request for headcannon with separately Sora, Setsuka, Nikei, Yuki, Mikado, and Syobai, with a gender neutral S/O that likes to randomly hug them from behind and also like to follow them around. How do they react and how does the participate/the people close by react to that? Hope u have a nice day lovely writer

Thanks! It's been a while since I've written for these characters!

.......

Sora

The first time this happened, she thought somebody was trying to jump her until she realizes it's only you.

Eventually she gets used to it, recognizing your footstep patterns moments beforehand.

Your affections are often the distraction she needs whenever investigating places/murders gets overwhelming or she's struggling with her amnesia.

She doesn't mind you following her around while exploring the ship or islands. It gives you a chance to talk about what you found, or just have casual chats to take your minds off of this dreadful "trip".

Whenever the others see you together, they usually mind their business. You both keep tightly-knit alibis, so you're rarely suspected of any murders.

But Monocrow can be quite annoying with his constant "no excessive PDA" reminders.

Setsuka

Ever since you've known her, the ol' "hugging from behind" greeting was something you two have exchanged for years. She's absolutely all for it.

It helps on days where she gets self-conscious of her cybernetic eye and stares into the mirror too long. You'd embrace her and reassure her it looks beautiful, giving her a kiss that cheers her up right away.

Fastforward to the killing game, you'd always stay by each other's side, helping the other students feel better about this grim situation and find ways to lift everyone's spirits.

You're impressed with how quickly Setsuka became the "mom friend" among them.

When they all see you being a sweet and supportive couple, it's hard for them to believe either of you could be potential murderers or Voids.

You might possibly have a friendly rival with Hibiki--just to see who can hug your gf the most in a single day.

Nikei

If he's hyperfocused on writing articles or making observations for scoops, he's easy to startle.

It just takes him out of the zone™ and he may get a little annoyed, so it's best to make your presence known beforehand. Only then he doesn't mind it.

He finds it endearing if you wanna follow him around, as he'd love to ramble about his latest scoop to a listening ear.

Alternatively, he could be venting about Mikado being a total bitch (assuming you're part of Void or don't mind the fact he's in Void), but you'll let him.

Before the killing game, the rest of the Void gang sees your interactions as cute!

Though they're surprised at how he can yell at them one moment, and then smile and hug you the next.

During the game, however, Nikei easily gets flustered by your affections if others are around to witness them--especially if Mikado points them out.

But if you're both alone together he'll let you hug him.

Yuki

Tbh if anyone appreciates your hugs the most, it's this guy.

They definitely help bring him back to reality whenever he starts getting upset or disassociates.

Somehow you just know when he needs you the most.

With his fear of losing people he cares about, he'd rather have you stick by him as you venture through the ship or islands. It gets harder to trust anyone besides his s/o as the murders continue.

But he refuses to think you'll ever be a killer. Just straight-up denies it.

Most of the students see you together and notice he's not as pessimistic anymore, which is great!

As for others, well...they may just see you as "interference" and might try to do something to change that /j

Mikado

Usually, he wouldn't allow anyone to sneak up on the mastermind so easily.

But he can sense whenever it's you and so he just plays along, feigning being "captured" once he feels your arms around him.

His mask is all smiles (or half smiles, in this case).

He'll try to reciprocate the gestures when you least expect it, sometimes sweeping you off your feet.

Honestly when not dealing with Void-related stuff, he likes following you around just as much as you like following him!

But only bc he thinks this is what couples normally do.

The others (esp Sora and Teruya) think you've gone crazy for dating the freaking mastermind, and Nikei fully believes you've been brainwashed/hypnotized into loving him.

Imagine how flabbergasted the journalist is when Mikado explains that's not the case whatsoever.

Syobai

Like Sora and Mikado, he can anticipate if you're coming up behind him.

You two got an inside joke that he'll "charge" you for every second you spend hugging him, with you gladly saying you'll go broke.

What made the Ultimate Broker fall for you hard is knowing his dry humor. You get it.

He does feel a bit relaxed with his back against you, so he may be tempted to let you carry most of his weight while he smokes.

If you tend to follow him around like a lost puppy, he won't make much of a comment on it, though he'll ask if you needed something or if you had info to share.

Don't take it to heart. He's just used to being a loner.

Should anyone else notice, they simply marvel at how you can tolerate him.

[henrysglock]

how/when did your view change from basically "brenner is a nonce and i hate him" to where you're at now? not judging, i just feel like i missed a chapter

Hi Anon!

This is a super valid question, and the chapter(s) I think you might be missing are TFS and straight up fanon.

First point: Brenner is weird about kids, and I don't like him as a person

I still firmly believe filmed-canon Brenner is fucking Weird™ about children. There's no erasing the 3-legged Papa drawing from my memory, let alone all the Weird Shit re: him and Henry and the children. I still have a great deal of dislike for him/I still think he's canonically a villain. (Or at least an anti-villain/someone who does Fucked Up And Downright Evil Things while thinking they're pursuing the greater good...which actually ends up being to the Detriment of everyone involved. Smth about two wrongs not making a right.)

He does many bad things, and I don't like his behavior, but that also doesn't preclude me from acknowledging the times when he shows real grief over the past, particularly re: Henry.

For example, when I say "that's the face of a man who's missing his wife", it means "Despite the harm he did to Henry, Brenner was (on some level) affectionately attached to him, and we can see that in the way he talks about his handling of the situation/the way he talks about Henry's banishment".

It doesn't mean "Brenner and Henry had a summer wedding and everyone cheered" or "actually, Brenner is a good person who was nothing but good to Henry and the children"...because those are straight up not true statements. Brenner does bad things. Nobody likes what he's doing. Sometimes even he doesn't seem to particularly like what he's doing, but he does it anyway.

Second point: TFS vs filmed canon

Where I start to tread into a genuine grey area about his character as a whole is with TFS Brenner, because while TFS Brenner is more outwardly/verbally aggressive, he's not nearly as "evil" overall. I mean, the man can't even land an insult on Henry and have it stick, let alone do him any physical harm. TFS Brenner never whips out the sedatives or shock collar, not even when the procedure with Dimension X gets derailed and Henry's fighting his way out of the lab. TFS Brenner is so reluctant to do Henry any real harm that it's almost a little distracting at times, especially in comparison to Brenner in filmed canon.

That's not to mention there's this weird thread of:

Yes, Brenner's using Henry as a means to get at the Dimension X/the Mindflayer in a very "Captain Ahab and the White Whale" manner, but also: -- Henry is weirdly safe from the Mindflayer while in the lab right up until he "connects" to Dimension X and Patty mysteriously appears in the void with him at the exact same time/Henry doesn't have any "attacks" in the lab like he was having just out and about in "Hawkins" -- Louis talks more about there being love between Henry and Brenner than he does about there being love between Henry and Patty (pictured below) -- Henry seems to have rejected the Mindflayer at the end with prompting from Brenner by rejecting Patty the exact same way El rejects One at the end of the massacre fight (pictured below) -- Patty actually ends up doing Truly Questionable Actions consent-wise more often and with more physical severity than Brenner does/Patty has stronger ties to the Mindflayer than Brenner does

In short— TFS Brenner and on-screen Brenner are so different that I have to judge them separately. I find the former promising and the latter lacking re: Not Being Fucking Weird.

And I know you're probably like "you can excuse the ball gag thing?" to which I say: That sequence occurred 20 years after the events of TFS and "Brenner" hasn't aged a day? And he's also done a whole about-face re: Weird Romantic Things (Father and Son -> Co-parents)? Nah, baby, there's something else going on there. That's almost kind of giving the vibes of the Mindflayer impersonating Brenner, which wasn't the case before.

Third point: Fanon

I'm playing in my sandbox with Ken dolls, particularly if this ask was in reference to my fics/wips.

For example, Papa Warbucks is a

What if: -- The supernatural stuff didn't exist, Henry was just a weird kid, Brenner's dad died under "normal" circumstances/the Creel murders never happened -- Brenner didn't meet Henry until Henry was already 21, so the age gap isn't 14 and 31, it's 21 and 38, meaning everything is above-board -- Brenner wasn't ever affiliated with the CIA or DOD, so he never got the chance to even think of exploiting/skirting the legal system the way he does in canon -- All this is set somewhere between 2018-2024

type of alternate universe.

This is because I think that under the "right" circumstances, Henry and Brenner could have been a powerful/compelling duo. They do have times in TFS where they really gel as partners in crime (so to speak), so I genuinely think that if the circumstances were tweaked, even just in the way of "these two met as adults", they could have been contenders for a Valid Ship in canon (based on TFS).

Thus, the fic ends up being a would've, could've, should've type deal where things actually go well between the two of them. It's me exploring their potential personality-wise without the roadblocks canon puts in place logically/morally.

I hope this answers your question!

[dootznbootz]

Had a thought while i was chilling with my cat today, as you do:

Penelope is the weird Water Wife™ and Anthos is a black cat. We all know that black cats are something else, just weird in their own way.

So.

Are those two just weird together?? Do they stare at you, unblinking, with their pretty eyes?? The half-naiad queen is watching you with her cat on her lap. They're silently judging you. As if she wasn't scary enough on her own - she has a black void with two big eyes by her side as well.

I'm sorry i'm really intrigued by the idea of weird wife and her weird cat.

YES!!! I love my weirdos!!! Also her and Odysseus are a lot like cats in a way as well >:)

Have their "favorite people", chaos, don't take orders from really anyone, etc. They're like kitty cats 🥺 even with how they're affectionate in a way. they're fidgeting with each other often but also will stubbornly be like "I want snuggles. I don't care if I'm uncomfy. >:( "

Odysseus: You know, I'm not gonna stop carving. You might get some wood shavings on you~ Penelope, knowing he won't let any get on her face at least: Don' care. Odysseus: Okay, if you say so. Penelope: ... Odysseus: asdfghjkl You stop that right now 🫵👁👁

Penelope: Odysseus, I'm trying to weave. (one of the smaller looms from the later periods, not accurate but don't care) Odysseus, squeezing her tighter: MMM >:( . *insert that baby seal video type of MMM* Penelope: At least your hair is tied up, but you can't be mad at me when your hair gets woven into it...Stop fucking with the thread, Odysseus.

You want something sad? >:) You want something really sad, Niko?

Years later, while Odysseus is away, something she's wearing keeps tickling her. She gets annoyed with it and has it taken off to see what it is ("My weaving is always flawless. >:( wtf is this?") only to look in the area and see that it was hair tickling her. A tiny bit of it is coming out from the cloth. It's not black and straight like her own. Nor is it black and curly like her son's. It's auburn and curly. Anticlea died years ago. And she remembers what she was doing when she first started this weaving.

And she weeps. :') Even gone, he's constantly "there" you know?

ANYWAYS!!! BACK TO KITTY CATS!!!

Penelope liked these critters because of that but also, "Heyyyyy, you're pretty good at fishing, you funky little creature!!!" Also, they like playing with string so weaving is always fun. Little headcanon but Ithaca doesn't really have as many cats as Sparta (hopping off ships from Egypt). So while Odysseus has seen them, he never really thinks much of them but then Penelope is like "yes, this is my weird little creature. You think you like me? You like this creature now." and he plays with Anthos a little and then is like, "Okay, I see why you like them...Penelope, why is she buzzing?👀 You promised you wouldn't put me in dangerous situations anymore!"

Probably a few cats are brought over for her but it doesn't become like, overrun you know?

Probably others were a bit annoyed by it at first. (cat hair to clean, cats are chaos, etc.) but the king and queen are scary when they want to be. Argos gets along pretty okay with them too!

Since having kitties outdoors is very dangerous, as there are birds of prey and such. A hawk once picked up one of the kitties but an Owl brought kitty back :')

Kitties know that Olive tree bed is NOT a scratching post.

Kitties will sleep with Penelope and check on her when she weeps :'D

"PENELOPE! ANTHOS JUST PUT A DEAD MOUSE IN FRONT OF ME!" "Sometimes they do that. Think it's the cat way of showing you they care." "I don't want this!"

so it's been around 7 years (changed it from 5 to 7) of them being married when Telemachus is born. And Anthos (and others) are very gentle with him but also "please don't grab me so roughly with your little baby hands".

Anthos is a bit older by the time he's around four so Penelope usually holds her but Anthos has had some kittens and...

Penelope: Telemachus, you sure you got him, sweetie? Telemachus: Yuh-huh.

Telemachus loves them as well btw. And he learns how to hold them right but the cat he's holding is pretty chill anyways.

When Odysseus is a "beggar", and before Penelope comes to see him. He sees two kittens playing and thinks "Okay, they're definitely from Anthos' line." and rips a bit of the rags he's wearing to make a string and kind of plays with them. Then Melantho comes in and they run off and he's like "okay, they don't like you. Why is that?" and then he sees why.

When Odysseus is on Aeaea, it's...stressful and he feels on edge. He gets a specific "nightmare" and it's not a fun time. Yes, they dance and sing but he's still very stressed. (Headcanon that Odysseus is actually a pretty good dancer.) Circe has a lot of BIG cats and she has one that is a big black panther with blue eyes (yes, this cat was once a man. he actually will kind of have a story of his own in my fics eventually) And sometimes when he's by himself and not doing well, Big Black kitty will come in and kind of lay on him. Makes him think of Anthos and home. :'D

Polites: That panther seems to like you a lot. He's always following you. Odysseus: Yeah, he's my buddy.

"You were human once... Do you miss them? Your loved ones? Do you even remember?" *headbonks him*

*Big kitty yawns* "You know, my wife has sharp teeth as well being mostly naiad. My son most likely too by now... He was teething when I last saw him but the two he did have were already sharp. Penelope would soothe him with water when he got fussy from them..."

Penelope's 75% Naiad and Telemachus is 37.5% :D In some versions, Icarius and Tyndarius are half naiad! >:D And ANY chance I can have Penelope be weirder, I will FUCKING take it.

[therollingstonys]

ooh #43 for the fanfiction writing asks? <3

An ask an ask!!! I’m so excited!! 🥰🥰🥰

43. Is there a trope or idea that you’d really like to write but haven’t yet?

I have a TON of ideas I haven’t written yet, yes! I’ll list them out and if anyone is curious I’m happy to expand more!

Steve x Toni verse “Days of Our Lives”: I have about ten or twelve parts planned for this series, most of which are straight up smut, but some of which are focused around big events in their lives like their wedding and anniversary and a reimagined Civil War breakup. Some of the parts include: fisting, sounding, shibari, and a werewolf monster suit from nanites 👀 (includes a knot)

Midnight in New York: the paired story of Nat x Rhodey from my Letters From the Void Redux verse, focusing on their relationship during the five year period post Thanos’s snap

Untitled sequel to Unbroken focusing on Nat x Rhodey x Bucky and Bucky’s search for the babies that Hydra stole from him.

Not So Straight Steve: a fic that @longhornletters and I have been talking about writing for literal years and just haven’t gotten to yet! This one focuses on college football player Steve who is Straight™ thank you very much and the only reason he’s so obsessed with his classmate Tony Stark is because he’s loud, crude and demands attention! So what if his dick gets hard when he happens to stumble upon Tony having sex in a dark corner of Steve’s frat house? He’s Straight™ OKAY???

[roboyomo]

APAWLOGIES IF U GET THIS TWICE but i gotta know so so bad i wanna hear abt ur little guys... enabling u enabling u iwanna see them spill th beans..!

YESSS HAIII HELLOOOO PIKKKK!!!!!!! MY REQUEST TO GET AN ASK ABOUT AMOR AND KENIX WORKED!!!! IT'S OKAY DON'T APOLOGIZE YOU WERE THE ONLY ONE TO SEND THE ASK. AND I LOVE HEARING FROM YOU IN MY NOTIFS OR ASKBOX SO YIPPPEEEEEE!!! sorry i took too long to answer because i was PREPARING FOR THIS ONE OVER HERE ( I WANTED TO DRAW SOMETHING FOR THIS BUT SIMPLY COULDN'T. MY BODY REFUSED TO COOPERATE) amor and kenix genuinely have a lot of shit to them. which includes a lot of context and then a shit ton of explanation so LET'S GOOOO

(BUT BEFORE THAT. TW FOR TOPICS OF SH AND ATTEMPTED SUICIDE. YES THEY ARE GETTING FUCKED UP.)

Before that, I feel like I need to give Amor just a bit of quick explanation to give context on his early-story character:

Amor is in the OG timeline crew (or the company crew) and works at the company. Amor is not his real name as it is only a chosen one, for his real one is actually Bao. He is a well-respected, maybe even model employee alongside Apollo (I CAN'T EVEN BEGIN TO TELL YOU WHAT AMOR AND APOLLO HAVE. THEIR HISTORY TOGETHER. THEY ARE SO IMPORTANT TO ME CRIES CRIES CRIE—). The company had a laboratory under its name, founded exactly by Amor himself and lead by both him and Apollo as the two lead scientists. Despite that they were still classified as part of the warriors in the files of the management, so they still were assigned to go on missions that had anything to do with fighting. Some of these missions included exploration of the Outskirts that were considered highly dangerous now that the possibility of encountering a cursed relic has been increasing on a daily basis.

Amor has grown up more like a sheltered kid, having a wealthy family which meant that he had much more privileges than his best friend Apollo. He had been neglected by his parents, but he still believes to this day that they have never done anything wrong to him. he is. quite stubborn

But that ignorance only stayed. While working in the company, he has never batted an eye at what the management has been doing. He never saw anything wrong with their suspicious actions, how they all put the employees on a pedestal and showering them with constant praise. And this is when Kenix comes in.

The both of them assigned on an exploration mission together one day (What could go wrong?? Just two coworkers working on a task together, surely everything should be fin— NO. NO IT WAS NOT FINE IN FACT.) And as I have talked about this a long while ago, Kenix's curse lets him stay sane and therefore live longer if it gets to "feed" off the suffering of others. Which is exactly what happened here! Kenix just straight up made Amor encounter one of those cursed relics forcefully on the mission. and Amor pretty much. had no grasp on how AWFUL that would be

Now before that, I should mention that some of the company crew members have blessings with a certain element or specific type of power attached to them and Amor specifically had the powers of the Void attached to his which is. A Bit Unfortunate considering the background info of that specific one. You see, most of the powers here are typically caried by multiple other warriors, and I mean that as like. one person per power type and if they die then here comes the next person and so on. like a generation after generation. and Amor and Apollo were unfortunate enough to have power types that had well. Fucking Artificial Semi-deities as previous wielders. And they are not dead oh no they simply just. vanished. Not dead but they just. stopped appearing in the company. And they are not human they are fucking Beasts™ like actually and literally. destructive beings that were barely under control of the management a lot of the times.

Well, Amor and Apollo got fucked over really badly because. when they were first cursed (because of KENIX.), it wasn't really them who were in control of their own physical bodies but those said destructive barely even humanoid beings. Being forced to spectate the chaos caused by what others perceive as them with no control over what is happening.

Amor has poured his soul and his heart into creating what the lab was and all the projects they all have been working on alongside a group of other scientists who volunteered to work with them, to the point of having a close sibling-like bond with one of the younger ones - to the point that Kira, one of the youngest and loyal researchers almost started calling him brother. He was never able to get along with people growing up, but he wanted to bring a brighter future, he wanted to be of help to humanity if possible. Amor has tried so hard to build his reputation, hoping that he would finally be trusted by people more

But after the events of Inspiration's (Yes that is the name of his semi-deity creature. No i do not think that i will keep that as its name for long) PI chapter, it has left Amor scarred. immensely. Having to live in guilt because he felt like he was still in fault for so many deaths, even if it wasn't exactly him who caused this. Having no other option but to desperately cling onto the other dead scientists, including Kira themself. And what did the management do about this? Nothing. It turned a blind eye to Amor begging them for any sort of help regarding this situation

The thing is, it is in the company's interest to have their employees slowly be cursed one by one. Their management is not human, it is only full of humanoids and a few times, they do not even look remotely human. They approve of said curses, no matter how much the warriors and the employees are actively avoiding that; they think that these said curses will bring the employees to become one with the company. They see the damages that the curses cause to be "enlightening". Becoming physically inhuman from these curses, just like their superiors and their management. They only saw Amor's lab and everything he created as something that could bring profit to the company in one way or another. Once it has failed after the incident that is Inspiration's PI chapter, they just swept the entire situation under the rug and pretended like nothing had ever happened to one of their employees, to one of their recent branches focused on scientific research and to the population of Ortu Lunae. As if it has never been important to them in the first place.

The fall of Amor's only true passion in life, his respect for the company and his humanity. All of it becoming his tragedy that was just discarded by the higher-ups because it is not in their interest. The company dehumanizes their own employees through detached language in all of the information provided to the employees. Their warriors are their prophets, their saviours on a silver platter, that they are actively killing and destroying themselves. And they are aware of their own actions. They reduce the cast to nothing but a group of people that keep the population safe from threats, while not seeing hem as human beings. Yet they still shower their employees with praise. They are aware that even if the employees were to die, they could always find replacements for them in the end. They make their own heros and once they find them - they will hold them on a pedestal while draining all of their life out of them. The company has long embraced these curses rather than rejecting their existence. And Amor has fallen victim to their actions. His desperate attempts after the tragedy to make the company care, to show at least some empathy for his struggles, turning into a mental breakdown after to coming to the realization that he, no - All of them, are nothing but just a corporate asset. They and their lives were never that important. And the rumors about how he shouldn't be trusted only started to spread faster.

The guilt has never left him, wishing to go back in time to live in those simpler, happier times. Yet, he constantly just suppressed his feelings, not letting himself talk about his personal problems because it would seem weak. He cannot let that happen when he is trying to become someone that people could rely on once again. Keeping all of his problems inside and attempting to appear normal, he lashes out due to those bottled up emotions to the point that he even lashed out at the people he cares about a lot on accident (Prime example being Apollo,, or maybe Yaku). He would always start crying once he realizes what he just said and apologize frantically for his behaviour. which is just sad to see live to be honest

Amor has definitely looked different before and after the events, and that is because he has tried everything to change his identity. He now lives with a fear of his own self, that the fact that his body once belonged to a monster bearing the blood of his loved ones on his hands. that came with a whole lot of identity issues™. He stopped seeing himself as a human being, only just a being. Not human in any way. But he hated everything about himself and his looks to the point that he wanted to change entirely thanks to shapeshifting, but he simply could not make such big changes to him body. He despises everything that his reflection in the mirror reminds him of, yet he still wants to keep something from his past. The past that once brought him so much joy and happiness in his life, he is still clinging desperately to it and not letting go of those happy times. He still has delusions that Inspiration is somewhere inside his body. Somewhere beneath. To the point that he has tried to slit himself open and then attempted to kill himself multiple times because he genuinely believed it was somewhere beneath his skin. even though it was in a completely different place this entire time. He wanted it gone. Wiped from the face of this world.

And how was Kenix being to him this whole time? He did nothing but make a mockery of Amor's misery. Kenix has a completely different attitude with the company crew - Being incredibly condescending and awful to them all. Patronizing Amor for attempting to recover and become a better person. And this, along with most people rejecting him because of the rumors, has made Amor only come to the conclusion that maybe people were just never worth it anyway. Those wasted efforts to make a difference within society, to become a helpful and kinder person, only turning into bitterness and hatred. Hatred for people, hatred for what he has become. Hatred for the person that is the reason Amor is stuck in this miserable cycle of bottling up his emotions and lashing out on everyone and causing even more problems.

Amor saw Kenix as nothing less but an enemy. Maybe even more than just that as he could never call him "Uncle" of all things. He absolutely despised everything about Kenix. Kenix's condescending behaviour never really changed, as he mostly just wants to get a rise out of Amor, to make him go absolutely insane. And it worked. Sort of. It was mostly just fueled by Amor's hatred alone. He could never understand how someone could be like this. Kenix has shaped Amor into what he is - From an enthusiastic young scientist to nothing but a bitter and hateful person, mad at everyone who has wronged him and at himself. And yet Kenix never even showed any signs that he felt any remorse for his actions. Kenix made Amor's life a living hell by just existing, but it wasn't like Kenix didn't do shit at all. He very much did. He made this poor 21 yr old guy go through a lot. To the point that Amor is willing to start a fight on the level of a war with Kenix. Amor despises how Kenix never seemed to have felt sorry for his actions, he hates everything about that man. The man that has created him to become this terrific and bitter person. Having now only one reason to keep living, and that reason being Apollo staying by his side, ever since childhood.

Amor wants Kenix dead. He is willing to break the laws of their own nature that prevents them from being about to actually kill each other, overcome all obstacles in his path, take down any living being in his way and train for years on end - If only that means that he will be able to kill Kenix with his very own 2 hands. And Kenix only laughs at that with a feeling of superiority. Kenix is beyond Amor's strength, but with each fight he does notice how much more stronger Amor gets from pure training alone. Kenix would be lying if he said that there wasn't even a little bit of,, weird admiration for how determined Amor is as a person, though. The determination to keep getting stronger and destroy Kenix in a duel. Kenix's existence has practically made Amor become obsessed with the idea of killing him. Making someone who once just wished to be more open with his feelings and help others turn into a blood-thirsty aggressive fighter. Constantly trying to confront Kenix about the matter, becoming hysterical and blinded with anger, even attempting to strangle Kenix while yelling at him for what he did (to the point that the management has to break it up somehow before Amor actually severely hurts Kenix). Yet, Kenix only keeps showing up exactly where Amor is to taunt him. He wishes to see that blazing rage out of pure amusement. He knows he is much more beyond Amor's power levels, and he only uses to either fight him for hours on end or cause even more problems within the crew. Yes, he has never showed that he ever even felt sorry, but there was once a time where Kenix has experiences a true feeling for once and that was only just a bit of regret for what he did. He wasn't entirely regretting it, but that speck sure was enough to be added to the list of loud noises going on in his mind 24/7. He would have never admitted that outloud, but that weird fascination for Amor's determination and a speck of regret for what he did is what drives Kenix to still be. somewhat friendly at times. But it doesn't matter to Amor at all, because he still just wants him dead.

Amor after the events of the PI chapter has started to hate everything about the company, to the point of leaving behind the lab he has once founded, which left only Apollo be in control of it. He still stays there 99% of the times, but has refused to keep working as one of the lead scientists, only as one of the warriors. Amor despises about how the company treats their employees, where a lot of times the company is considering their employees to be easily replaceable so they can just keep letting the unimportant ones die in gruesome ways. He hates to see others getting the same type of treatment he has once gotten. He hates the management, the higher-ups, the CEO - Everyone except the company crew (excluding Kenix, of course). It is ironic that one of the company's most respected and strongest employees actively tries to sabotage and fuck over the company instead.

i WISH TO TALK ABOUT AMOR AND APOLLO HERE BUT THIS IS ALREADY VERY VERY EXTREMELY FUCKING LONG. YEA AMOR AND KENIX HAVE HATRED FOR EACH OTHER AND IT IS NOT GONNA END ANYTIME SOON. GIVE IT LIKE AT LEASTTT A 1000 YEARS

[beardedhandstoadshark]

Can you share about a fictional character you like and why you adore them? (Any series but if you can specify a title with the character name it'd be super cool!) I love seeing people gush about fictional characters they love. It makes me happy to see the positivity.

Sure! I’ve actually gushed about one of my faves before here, and aside from that my absolutely favorite character is Kirby, from the Kirby series! Both of them are from videogames though, hope that’s cool XD

Anyways, I think he’s what you’d call a comfort character? Lil guy‘s just good vibes all around.

It’s pretty basic really. Kirby loves his friends, food, and napping, he’s pink, and says "hiiiii! :D“ in the most adorable voice ever. Helps people in trouble even without knowing them because it’s the right thing to do and a chance to meet new friends. He’s a bit overeager and tends to rush into action first, then listen later, so he got tricked by more scheming people multiple times, but he’s doing it all with good intentions! The lil guy’s endlessly curious and views the world with literal stars in his eyes, and gets so genuinely exited about all the small wonders of his little world every day.

Despite being utterly adorable, he’s still kicking ass though, fighting against enemies who are way bigger than him with weapons that are also bigger than him! A very brave lil guy. I very much grew up with all that "pink is only for girls and they’re weak“ talk, so seeing this little pink puff rocking both was always nice. (Also fun fact! Kirby going by he is an English thing, in the original they don’t use gendered words for the puffball).

There‘s also The Lore™,which is absolutely wild, and very complicated, but according to it Kirby‘s vibes are so immaculate he might actually be the "good vibes“ reincarnation of the divine being that created the universe named Void, or at least caused Void to reincarnate in his image. Also the power of friendship is real, and he’s got an unlimited amount of that. They even made a whole game about it, Kirby Star Allies. It’s entire premise is about all the friends kirby made along the way of saving the planet, with many of them even being the former bad guys of precious games! He befriends the bad guys of that game, too. They even make photos of their hangout :3

And the thing is, you have this tiny pink puff with rosy cheeks and big eyes here canonically holding the power to destroy worlds, and in any other story it would’ve gone somewhere along the lines of "ohhh it’s actually not that innocent and it’s all super dark and edgy“, and the cut thing turns into some monster with too many teeth, but not with Kirby. All the dead gods and cosmic horror adjacency don’t take away from Kirby’s cuteness, it adds to it. Because Kirby straight up doesn’t care about his own lore.

Like, yeah he cheated death, yea he killed the "destroyer of worlds“, yea the grim reaper has been stalking him in every single intro since 2011 and recently come out to fight for unknown reasons, and yea he can eat the whole universe if he wants to just like Voids last reincarnation-

But he doesn’t want that. He wants to be friends.

Kirby is in love with the world, and the world he lives is made up of the love people have for him. And I don’t just mean that in a figurative way, the producers of this series, HAL Laboratory, absolutely adore their pink puff, and you can even feel that while playing in every small detail they put in all their work. There‘s just so much care put into it way past what most people would notice or was necessary. (Especially when it comes to presentation and soundtrack. Omg, the soundtrack). There‘s just such a warmth surrounding this little guy who’s shaped like a friend and holds love in his hands.

Kirby wants to be friends, play silly games, he wants to eat lots of strawberry cake and take a nap in the grass under a tree and look at butterflies and go on adventures with all his friends and make drawings of all of them and go fishing with his bestie who trains to be just as brave as strong as him and then visit the sleepy but kind king he fought all the way back in his very first adventure but has since become one of his closest friends, and maybe on the way they‘ll meet the mysterious knight who‘s super serious but secretly cares too and likes sweets a lot so maybe they could all eat cake together and when it’s late they can all watch the stars on the roof of the castle and when the moon is high he’ll go to sleep in his warm bed in his tiny house full of pictures of all his friends and adventures, and then the sun will rise and he’ll take a big ol bout of air and jump out the bed and greet the new day with a big"Hiiiii!“ with the stars twinkling in his eyes from the light of the new day that he already knows he’ll love.

Because at the end of the day, that’s what Kirby has always been and will be about, love.

And I love Kirby for it :)

[sparkliingdust]

I don't understand why we're not supporting more real LGBTQ+ artists instead of Taylor Swift

I'm just shouting into the void at this point, but like - I've never been a die-hard Gaylor. I'm just queer and heard her lyrics through that lens, and gave a hard side-eye to the countless references she's made to Karlie Kloss through her wardrobes, which to me on some level is not healthy on Taylor's part.

I get that a lot of Gaylors, like many straight Taylor fans, take things too far (it's okay to AI Taylor and Travis with a wedding and babies, the constant wedding rumors with every boyfriend, etc. but not to think about Taylor as remotely queer but I digress)...but for most of us, we're just "normal" people who like Taylor's storytelling through her songwriting and there are legitimate analytical conclusions we can make about queer-coding.

After a year of articles hitting out about the ~~~~LGBTQ+'s obsession with Taylor's sexuality~~~~, Taylor's hollow allyship with our community since Lover, telling us not to think about Betty being gay/queer in our own interpretations, and the recent backlash about the NYT article...I could write a long bullet point list of things that we all should've questioned and side-eyed this whole time but whatevs.

I just wander when is the Gaylor part of the community going to take our energy and put towards real LGBTQ+ artists who are taking huge risks and need support celebrating all of us. Sam Smith? Girl in Red? Janelle Moane? Kim Petras? Lil Nas X? King Princess? etc.

I was a major Swiftie - went to the eras tour, saw the movie, and I won't regret how much I love her music. But I'm tired of listening to her music without inevitably and inadvertently thinking about the global impact of how it effects Taylor Swift ™ and her whole universe...when we're the part of the community that is used as a shield for other distractions (the Golden Globes gossip, her hiding the Mahomes family from the lawsuit being dropped, etc). I'm taking a big step back from the pyramid scheme that is her brand and just enjoy her music for what it is (again, even though most of us were already doing that), and put more energy into other artists, and for fucks' sakes, my own life.

Why do we - as a world - constantly feel like she is a victim who needs to be saved, defended, safeguarded? Why can't we say we don't like one of her songs without a million people jumping in to vindicate her or we have to prepare why we don't like something with a novel about how much we are actually a real fan? Like this is not normal parasocial attitude even if you are the most casual fan of Taylor Swift, we have to recognize even this kind of behavior is rampant in our fandom whether you are LGBTQ+ or straight.

She is a 34 year old billionaire, and we need to stop thinking of her as the young girl who was wronged during the VMAs or the country girl "who just got lucky" with her songwriting and her dad just "happened to invest" in a music label. And, let her make mistakes and live life and maybe be an artist with some real risks to take and not constantly give her all our attention, energy, money.

[idril-la-wiccan]

Mermay 2023 - 3rd Week

Day 15 - Horror

"The Siren" is a Void Being, a creature born in the absence of what we conceive as Existence.

She sings a tune that feels like greiving, yet is recomforting to listen to. But no matter how alluring she sounds, one shall not follow her, as a fate worse than death awaits the preys of this Void Being.

Day 16 - Celebrity // feat. Sayu

I wasn't interesded in making a real celebrity into a merfolk (which I assume is what most people did for this prompt), so I looked at celebrities in fiction instead.

And Sayu from "No Straight Roads" matches already pretty well with the prompt ! A virtual idol not unlike Hatsune Miku, but with all the charm of a "cutesy-wootsy pink mermaid <3" !

As for her outfit in this drawing, it happens that I got inspired to make her with a "Glamrock" aesthetic after seeing what were the prompts in the previous years. The prompt "Superstar" is what inspired me.

"Glamrock", "Superstar", I think some of you have already understood where I got the association of the two words. =)

Day 17 - Emotion

What if... the others learned... about your past ?

About the monster you used to be ?...

About the monster... you may still be ?

You... You don't... You don't want to...

You don't want it to happen again.

There... won't be any fixes if it does...

You don't want to hurt them.

You hate yourself.

You monster.

You feel...

Basically, just because Humphrey will become a merman in Out of the Abyss doesn't mean he'll be immune to The Angst™. Far from it !

Day 18 - Deep Sea // feat. Black Pearl Cookie

No one enters the Duskgloom Sea with impunity...

Day 19 - Sunrise

Yeah, the sun is very weird in Shichi's dreams. She herself isn't sure if there is some sort of meaning behind what comes out of it.

Day 20 - Music For A Sushi Restaurant

Ok, firstly : I only know Harry Styles from name. So for this prompt, I went and listened to the song. It's good.

But the video clip, holy heck ! O_O The first and last moments give me anxieties ! (which probably was the point, so good job.)

I already felt it would take this direction just from the title alone, so I can't say I was surprised either. But watching the clip made me think : "yeah, that's DEFINITELY the kind of nightmare Shichi is likely to have !"

Day 21 - Body Positivity

Honestly, it's a good prompt to exercise yourself a making as many varied characters as you can ! And I had plans to make additional characters for the future acts of Out of the Abyss.

Aside from Leviathan and the little dumbo octopus, all of the characters here were imagined on the spot as I made this drawing ! I don't even have names for every one yet. So let's present every one from right to left :

Leviathan, based on the blue whale, is the tallest of them all ! He has scars left by wounds caused by fishermen. To say he's proud of them would be incorrect, but he certainly isn't ashamed of them either. To him, they're a reminder of why he wants to protect his village.

The dolphin merman is skinny, and some could think he is unwell, but not at all. He's just built like that.

Just like the oarfish mermaid in fact. She herself is naturally chubby. (Though unfortunately, I feel like it's not really visible on this drawing. But if we consider that it's the first time I drew her, I'll still be able to improve that the next times I draw her.)

The dumbo octopus merfolk, that I call "Mahu" for now, is indeed an adult. They're specifically based on the "pacman ghost" octopus, which if I'm not mistake is the smallest of all the dumbo octopi. And believe me that dispite their size, they're well respected as the spiritual chief of the village.

The sea turtle mermaid is a kind old lady who has vitiligo. Even if it's possible she might have worried about it in her youth, at her current age now, what does it matter to her if her skin has its whims ?

And finally, the twin sharks. It is indeed impossible to tell they're based on sharks due to their position on the image, but it is the case. And their names are Ka'ahupahau and Kahi'uka. Yes, they are inspired by the hawaiian myth of still-born twins who were resurected into sharks and now protect the seas.

I made Ka'ahu into an albino, which means she is very sensitive to sunlight and has to protect herself from it whenever she goes to the surface. Which is why the wears a cloak (usually traditionally worn by men) on top of the fact "Ka'ahupahau" could mean "Well-cared for feather cloak". (Truth be told, I suppose making her an albino was to justify her wearing a cloak.)

'Uka is very protective of his sister, and this is why he's missing an arm (and has a magic prosthetic) "Kahi'uka" meaning "The smiting tail", it seemed only natural to give him a protective personality, and also based on what I vaguely remember reading about the myth itself.

*****

*~ Second week || Fourth week ~*

Buy me a coffee ?

[cin-cant-donate-blood]

Today on Pointless Rants into the Void I want to jot down my hot takes on radical feminism, and what went wrong with it. "Radfem" is already becoming an informal synonym for TERF, and it's spawned a few other ugly ideas too, but first I guess I should define it.

Radical feminism is a loose grouping of disparate ideas and people, but for simplicity's sake the key feature I want to isolate is reductionism. I'm using that word in a sense similar to "class reductionism," by the way. Class reductionism is the Marxist narrative that class is the only real social issue. Usually the argument goes that if we could only fix class conflict (by abolishing capitalism), then all the other issues, like racism, sexism, etc. would resolve themselves automayically: it is only through capitalism that they can keep functioning. In practice this lends itself to downright dismissal of other struggles as unimportant: why work on your silly little issue when The Class War can fix that and everything else?

In other words, according to a class reductionism, capitalism is not just a problem, but The Villain of History. It's one of those "grand narratives" you may have heard of postmodernists rejecting.

There are other social justice issues with their own reductionisms. There exists a small number of race reductionists, and once in a while queer theorists veer in a similar direction, but by far the most successful other such reductionism is radical feminism. In short: radical feminism is the notion that patriarchy is not just one of society's many problems, but that it is the villain of history (there's no precedent for that term, I just liked the ring of it).

A classic radfem take that has been echoed far and wide by as disparate figures as my aunt and Ursula K. Le Guin (both of whom I love and adore) goes something like "if women ruled the world, there would be no war."

As a silly soundbite, it's harmless enough, but I love overanalyzing things and taking them literally, so that's what I will do.

I think the first thing I don't like about this line is the gender essentialism. The notion that men are by nature brutish, aggressive and irrational, while women, presumably, possess Feminine Wisdom™ that would prevent them from ever doing something as masculine and pointless as war leaves a bad taste in my mouth, but maybe I'm just salty 'cause I'm a man.

The other, in this context less important, objection I have is that this line confuses what is rational with what is good. War is not an irrational bloodshed caused by kings flying into a rage (at least not always). It is most often a cold blooded calculation made by the elites of one country that by letting so-and-so many of their subjects die they can expand their own power so-and-so much. It's callous, but it's not irrational.

And there have of course been enough woman rulers in history for us to know for a fact that women are perfectly capable of starting and pursuing wars of aggression. Among such girlbosses we can count Catherine the Great, Wu Zetian, and Septimia Zenobia (and many more).

This isn't just harmless pop history, mind you. This is explicitly an essentialist view on gender that reduces very complex issues to a single, simple source. This source is notionally patriarchy, but in practice, just as many leftists blame the rich rather than capitalism, and so on with other social justice issues, the villain is often simplified to be men instead.

Radical feminists go pretty far with it too, sometimes explicitly stating that men are the ultimate problem. A way this expresses itself would be in men being dismissed when they (correctly) point out that patriarchy hurts them too. "You're the ones who made pateiarchy," I have heard people say. That's obviously absurd.

Again, the parallels to other social justice issues are obvious: capitalism is bad for the rich, too, Marx said. Homophobia hurts straight people too (especially that eternal fear of being being seen as gay), etc. etc. And yet this is dismissed. "Your pain is lesser," it is said. As if pain could be objectively measured. As if pain is a competition. It is an inevitably toxic idea.

That's why radical feminism crashed and burned and on some fronts has all but openly allied itself to neo-fascism. Because it channelled the pain of women into an excuse to cause pain for others. It dismisses what it does not want to hear, blames people instead of systems, and most importantly, it makes its adherents just as miserable as the victims they deny having.

It may have been something nobler at some point in the past, but today it is just a cycle of abuse masquerading as an ideology.

[ramble-writes]

Have I ever posted any bit of art here on a blog meant for writing? I dunno and I don't remember but you're gonna get it now.

So this biggy Ocean Man™ is currently one of my few prides and joys. I have others I have yet to draw, but for now the focus is him. For those curious, Aero is pronounced as "arrow" or think about aerogel. As for the meaning of Aerglo, it is based off a natural lighting that happens within the atmosphere at night (aka airglow). No it's not the Northern Lights those are different all together. Also to clarify the Bytx species is owned by @hoodnot I don't own them but I love these borks a lot so now I'll expose you all to them cuz I can.

So some fun tid bits is Aero gained what is his void skin from the depths of the ocean. Bytx form their skin from darkened or abandoned places so his came from there.

He decided on his multi limbs due to noticing the crabs and isopods that scuttle along the bottom. Plus extra limbs help having a tighter hold on things since creatures at the bottom of the ocean tend to have smoother skin.

His patterning is based off how some species of anglerfish tend to have dots, but also if he was trying to lure something away from his head, the patterns would pulse towards the tip of his tail which is very much like a spear. With it being at the end of his tail, it also acts as defense and can be whipped around.

The long glowing tendrils act as a secondary sensor if his standard sight fails him while traversing the bottom. The little ball ends would even pulse if they touch something so he knows to avoid running into things since standard Bytx sight can't do much if there's nothing to see.

Aero is considered to be on the medium side out of the other sea creatures that live on the planet he spawned into. Only reaching 8 foot to his shoulder, his neck resting in a standard swan S adds an extra 5 feet (13 feet). But if he were to stretch out his neck straight up, he's a whopping 18 feet overall.

Due to having 4 arms, his chest is pretty wide which is very helpful in distributing the crushing pressure of the deep since the more surface area, the more balanced things are. Being at those depths also result in his void skin being naturally thick which makes it incredibly hard to pierce through.

Anyway that's as much as I can think of currently and he just exists as he do. I could go more in depth of things about him, but also I gotta wait for Hoodie to organize the Bytx lore so things can be explained.