#that is not a human. that is not an animal. that is a machine and it hates.

[gallusrostromegalus]

I did not care at all for Aizen Sosuke when I first read bleach. I found him boring, and worst, unthreatening.

So it's pretty jarring for me that I have been OBSESSED with him in your AU. I'm rotating him at great speed

Walt Disney was a jackass who was flat-out wrong about a lot of very important things, but he employed a great many geniuses of storytelling, and there's a piece in Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnson that discusses a key feature of Disney Studios Character Design:

"Of all characters, villains are the most fun to develop because they make everything else happen. They are the instigators, and always more colorful than the Hero. They may be dramatic, awesome, insidious or semi-comic, but they MUST be appealing. Almost any story becomes innocuous if all the evil is eliminated, but we do not necessarily gain strength by being frightening. we want a character that will hold the audience and entertain them, even if it's a Chilling Type of Entertainment."

And I've found that to be an important principle of character design, especially the kind of canon restructuring I do.

Aizen had a LOT going for him in canon- for all of Bleach's other faults, Aizen's conspiracy and THE REVEAL are spectacularly constructed and executed. I legit screamed and threw my mug across my dorm room when I read it in the manga the first time. He's also conventionally attractive and the translations I was reading gave him the speech patterns of Every Douchebag In Your 101 Political Theory Who Thinks He's The Smartest Man In The Room, which made him a terrific combination of Unfortunately Charming, Menacingly Competent and Engagingly Obnoxious.

...But he falls flat in a few key places.

Aizen's reasoning could be MUCH more sympathetic- After all, he is RIGHT. Soul Sciety does suck ass and all the options kind of suck. Who designs a universe like that? An asshole who needs killing, that's who. The best kind of Unhinged Madmen are the kind who spell out their reasoning and you realize that there but for the grace of Not Having Super Powers Go I. Canon!Aizen makes a few Good Rhetorical Points, but seems to lack any personal connection to his all-consuming plan.

Another issue is that nearly every villain with A Plan has a clear end goal AND a lot of the menace is drawn from the fact that the plan *could* work. Aizen's plan for betraying the court guard and then killing them off before proceeding into the Royal Realm to Kill God sorta falls apart when it's clear he planned to use pretty much all his accumulated forces dealing with the court guard and doesn't seem to have a plan for the Even More Powerful Royal Guard, let alone God. For how meticulously planned the rest of the plot is, the last two VERY IMPORTANT steps are just handwaved.

So I sat down and started with the plot beats Aizen MUST hit, and tried to imagine what kind of guy would he have to be to get there? And I came up with this:

Sosuke Aizen is a fundamentally good man with genuinely good intentions who is really trying his best for the whole world.

Think about it- what lengths would you NOT go to if you think you found a genuine shot at Fixing Everything Wrong With The World Forever? We all talk about killing Hitler if we found an actual Time Machine- would you do it if your only chance was when he was a baby? Would you kill an infant if it meant you could stop World War II before it starts? Of course you would! One small life for over 75 million? You'd be insane not to! What if you found out that you could prevent the future extinction of Humanity by killing your best friend today? Ten Billion lives? For theirs? It's simple, really- Hell, it's your Moral Obligation to do that if you were SURE!

-And Aizen IS sure. He is absolutely, totally, completely sure that He Can Save Everyone if he just gets rid of that idiot sitting on the throne of heaven. He's seen the plans! He knows where the gate of heaven is! It's So SIMPLE he just has to get inside, and he knows EXACTLY how to do it, yes it'll be hard and there will be... unpleasant parts but. IT. WILL. WORK.

He is of course, insane.

Aizen didn't have One Bad Day that set him irrevocably on the path of madness. It was a succession of catastrophic disappointments and realizations that he was living in a fundamentally irrational world that made irrational thinking look sane. The Catastrophe that befell his family, working for the central 46 and later the court guard and seeing how the organizations were inept to the point of abuse or corrupt to the core, learning that The Actual House Of God is a place he can just? Go to? Anyone would start thinking you were just a handful of white lies and homicides away from Fixing Everything, Forever.

Not only is Aizen insane, he is nowhere near as smart as he thinks. He is smart- He does have a knack for being able to guess just what will spur someone to action or make them recoil in fear. But mostly he gets extremely lucky Many, Many, MANY times. On some level I think it gives him Confirmation Bias that this is what he's supposed to be doing. Aizen is also nowhere near as smart as (nearly) everyone else thinks he is. His bizarrely good luck makes him look like a hyper-competent genius when really it was really the catastrophic failure of Soul Society as a Society that let a merely mediocre conspirator to evade detection for so long.

Being that he is at most, mediocre, he had to have Outside Help, specifically Gin's emotional support and Tousen's Competence- and if there's a part of the fic that stays true to canon, it's this.

Gin is Aizen's emotional rock in Canon. He's the ONE guy that Aizen genuinely trusts, and considers his 'my only real partner' in his scheme. There's more than one occasion in the manga where Aizen more or less asks Gin "Is this actually a good idea?" and Gin backs him up every time.

...Which is more than a bit at odds with Gin's later stated goal of "I did all this to kill you at your most vulnerable to protect rangiku" . It never rang true to me. So I started thinking why on EARTH Gin would be backing Aizen up like that, and realized there was a hole in my world building that he slotted into nicely :)

On the other hand, the entire fic was started because I didn't like how Tousen's character arc ended, so you can imagine how much he's changed.

But in canon, TOUSEN DOES ALL THE FUCKING WORK.

Lab work? Tousen.

Supervising the arrancar directly? Tousen

Actually getting victims for the Hogyoku experiments? Tousen.

Altering all the archives to keep Aizen's plot hidden? Tousen.

Sending all the Orders allegedly from the central 46? Tousen.

Making sure Unohana believes Aizen's fake body is real? Tousen.

Managing all the day-to-day operations at Las Noches? Tousen.

There's even this little exchange, which is Tousen's first appearance in the Manga:

Aizen establishes this entire meeting is a little fake-out a few pages later with "now isn't that a convenieint time for the alarm to go off?"

which makes him look like he's investigating, but he's also going "Good job on disrupting everyone with the alarm Gin!" It's ballsy of Aizen to do a check-in on his plan with his main nemesis in the room, but also his style.

I think the same thing is happening here with Tousen. To make sure Ukitake wouldn't raise a huge fit about the proposed execution of his beloved lieutenant, which might fuck everything up for Aizen because Ukitake is one of like, three people Yamamoto will listen to (sort of).

...So he had Tousen poison Ukitake to keep him out of the way.

ALL. THE. FUCKING. WORK. It's even in his name! The characters for "Tousen" Refer to a legendary scholar the emperor of China sent out to discover the secret of immortality- only to kill the scholar when he returned with that secret. The character for "Kaname" means "Necessary/Vital/keystone" or "to organize/take account of". His name LITERALLY means "Scholar who is essential for the plan (that we're going to kill later)"

Another thing Kubo did well in Bleach: his name game is Off The Fucking Charts.

-but I digress.

In AEIWAM, it's much the same only this time Aizen sees this very dangerous witness who is immune to his illusions but also extremely snart and capable young man and instead of risking being caught out by the one damn guy who can see right through him, opts to Curse Kaname into doing as Aizen says, and doing all the fucking work of this conspiracy against his will.

It's Not Nice, but Aizen genuinely thinks he's doing Kaname a favor by subjecting him to this degrading and incredibly painful servitude- I mean, Aizen's only other option was to Kill him to keep his silence, and isn't it wonderful that you get to help fix the universe? You're the one always going on about Justice, I don't understand why you didn't jump at the chance to mete out some Divine Justice.

An Excerpt from the captain's meeting in between the Massacre that made the visored and Zaraki's arrival, when Kaname realizes Yamamoto is 100% serious about his promotion to captain of the 9th and goes to throw up in the garden. Aizen offers to go check on him while Unohana very politely reads the general the riot act:

---

"You broke your toy Aizen." Kaname coughs.

"…I really am sorry for running you ragged like this. I really shouldn't have gotten so mad about you hiding the the hogyoku- it was very petty of me." The bastard sighs, taking off his glasses and rubbing his face, entirely genuine.

Kaname stayed on his hands and knees, weaving slightly as another wave of nausea flowed through him, powered by disgust and rage.

"How about this- I've got a lot coming up with the new job, training Gin and disposing of Kiganjo- So how about I promise to not give you any orders for a while? You will have to keep our arrangement a secret and not interfere, of course, but other than that, you're free to do as you please for- a year and a day is traditional isn't it? No, that's not going to heal by then- Oh, would you look at that!"

Kaname didn't have the strength to offer his usual rebuttal that he won't look at anything, ever. The sides of his head tingle like his skul was being pressed between two enormous hands made of static electricity.

"It's 11:11! Alright, I won't give you any Orders until 11:11 am on November 11th, 1911. That's easy to remember! What do you think?" Aizen continued cheerfully, patting his back and the Curse nails.

"…I can't." Kaname groaned. He could scream if he had the energy, but due to Aizen's Illusions, nobody would hear him. "I actually physically can't think. Please…"

"Of course! You really are such a help to me, it would be a shame to lose you. I'll even amend our contract, so you don't get paranoid-" There was a sizzling sound and a new stroke of hot pain up Kaname's spine as Aizen did something to the wretched Bakudo. "There. No compulsions for eleven years and a day. What do you say?"

Kaname grimaced, but dropped his head. Save the energy to fight another day. "…thank you, Aizen-sama."

"Good man! Let's get you on your feet." Aizen beamed, putting his glasses back on and offering him an arm.

---

He genuinely thinks that he's doing everyone a huge favor and if they don't get it it's because they're just not smart enough, but it's alright, He's a Benevolent God and they'll appreciate all his hard work the next time around :)

Aizen is a man who is FULL of joy. He loves what he does! He actively takes pleasure in it! And I think that's something that REALLY delivers in terms of sympathy AND horror for him. Who *Wouldn't* have a great time actually fixing the universe? He's a good man who enjoys doing good works, and this is the greatest work of all!

It also Delivers on the Horror when I get to write the deliciously fun scenes where Aizen is Elbows-deep in a novel War Crime and waxing poetic about how GREAT this is, or being confused why the people around him are reacting with fear. Don't you want to make everything better too?

[acti-veg]

As the link between animal agriculture and climate breakdown becomes clearer, if anything, we are seeing more ordinary people falling over themselves to defend an industry that is destroying our planet, polluting our communities, exploiting animals and human workers. This is especially worrying to see from leftists, in spaces that are supposed to be progressive. I promise you, you do not need to spend your time greenwashing leather and wool, repeating blatant industry propaganda about veganism, 'regenerative agriculture' or whatever other buzzword they're using to sow doubt this week. The industry already spends millions of your dollars to lobby our politicians and influence public opinion; they don't need you to do it for free.

Vox – The greenwashing of wool explained

New Republic – The comforting lie of climate-friendly meat

Guardian – Big Beef’s climate messaging machine

The Breakthrough – Is Feedlot Beef Better for Environment?

International Journey of Biodiversity – Misinformation on Science of Grazed Ecosystems

Food Climate Research Network – Grazed & Confused

Science 2.0 – The regenerative ranching racket

DeSmog – A guide to six greenwashing terms

Truthdig – The backlash to plant-based meats

Independent – Meat & dairy industries downplaying role in climate crisis using tobacco tactics

Guardian – Meat & dairy lobbyists turn out in record numbers at COP28

Greenpeace – How Big Agriculture is borrowing Big Oil’s playbook at COP28

Guardian – Plans to present meat as ‘sustainable nutrition’ at Cop28 revealed

Guardian – Ex-officials at UN farming body say work on methane emissions was censored

Guardian – How UN food body played down role of farming in climate change

QZ – The meat industry blocked the IPCC’s attempt to recommend a plant-based diet

The Times – Red Tractor farms more likely to pollute environment

Influence Map – European meat & dairy industry weaken EU’s climate policies

The Grocer – Meat Industry lobbying behind cultured meat bans

Food Unfolded – Truth, tactics and the mist of meat lobby science

Business Green – Climate lobbying: Are meat and dairy lobbyists the ‘new merchants of doubt’?

[diet-cokette]

kind of hate actual lifestyle movements that get co-opted into an aesthetic. like. minimalism, zero-waste, veganism, witchcraft, etc. they all are basically free ways to live life more simply. but all these corporations and influencers co-opted the movements and made them fucking aesthetics to be packaged and sold.

only buying what you need/really want is minimalism, but no, you need to make your house looked stripped down and ugly and beige to be a True Minimalist. a PBJ is vegan. but no, you need sunflower seed butter and special chia seed jam and sprouted bread to be a True Vegan. re-using your plastic tupperware grandma gave you is literally zero-waste, but no, you need NO PLASTIC WHATSOEVER OR YOULL GO TO ZERO WASTE HELL. Most witchcraft spells can be used with items from around the house, but no you need like 30 crystals, exotic herbs, and several tarot card sets to be a True Witch.

Honestly, it disgusts me. The whole point of these lifestyles is to be anti-consumerist, anti-status quo, anti-industrial. The whole point is to be pro-independence, pro-earth, pro-humanity, pro-animal. But regardless, the capitalist greed machine never stops. Shouldn't be surprised because even holy days like Christmas or Samhain (Halloween) they make into a marketplace.

[rozhliena]

mc x mammon

you construct intricate rituals in order to touch the skin of the avatar of greed, ambiguous season but i would venture it's still during s1 of the original game, mostly just palavering about the gaze nothing actually occurs

They say the eyes are the windows to the soul.

"Don't you get eyestrain?" you ask Mammon, tilting your head as you sink back into the pillows on your bed. "With the sunglasses." It isn't bright in your room, the lights set just shy of their dimmest mode as you get ready to go to bed, and neither is his D.D.D.'s brightness set high. But he wears them all the time anyway, even in the evening. "Or are your eyes just sensitive?"

From where he's leaning at the side of your bed, frantically tapping some blinking lights on his D.D.D., Mammon shakes his head. "Nah, my eyes are fine," he says. "I just like the look of 'em."

A fair, if somewhat odd, assessment. You can't say you dislike the look, either, which has grown as familiar as the sight of him in your room — you're actually not sure why he's here today. It just seems like a given, some routine you've fallen into. There are two toothbrushes in the bathroom connecting to the bedroom, and there is a hamper in the corner for clothes that aren't yours, though they never seem to make it into the basket without your help, and the extra hangers in your wardrobe have lately been put into use more often than not. It's not exactly normal, you know that, but it comes so naturally.

"Are you gambling on mobile games again?" you ask, reaching over to pluck the sunglasses off his face, wondering if you should feel amusement or concern at the fact that he hadn't reacted to the motion at all. But maybe that's natural to him, too. You look at the orange-tinted lenses curiously. "You probably shouldn't, you know."

"I'm gonna win this one, serious, y'know, statistically and shit — "

When you put the sunglasses on, they're slightly large on your face, and they really aren't special aside from being from a Devildom designer brand that sounds suspiciously similar to the human world's Gucci. A typical pair of polarized sunglasses. You sigh, pulling them off. You lean over to place them back on Mammon's face, slightly askew. "Still losing?" You know he is; he's already out of in-game currency. Sure enough, the lights on the animated slot machine go red.

"Hey! You jinxed me!" he complains, adjusting the crooked sunglasses as the plaintive whine of a loser's trombone plays from his phone's speakers, but he turns off the game and stretches across your bed. His eyes peek out above the tinted lenses of his sunglasses, toward you. Like he's expecting something. You wonder if he's even aware of the way he looks at you sometimes, so intently it seems to go right through to the back of your neck.

"What's up," you say.

His gaze shifts, lands on the second hamper in the room, half-filled with his clothes by someone who isn't him. He's thanked you for it before, but you wonder what he actually thinks about the entire thing. "I dunno. Just lookin'." At this angle, you can only make out the blue in his eyes.

You sit up. "Are demon eyes different from human eyes? Like, in terms of biology."

Mammon looks at you, a little incredulously, and then laughs. "Man, how the hell would I know that? I ain't a nerd like Satan."

You shrug, moving so you're facing him properly. "I don't know. But can I check?"

He grimaces, but he's already folding up his sunglasses and hooking them into the collar of his shirt. "Like, you're not gonna poke 'em or anything, right? Would you even know the difference between, y'know, human and demon eyes?"

"Maybe. I don't know." When you moved just now, your hand brushed against his, where below the knuckles is the faded smudge of a stamp he'd had to get at one of Beel's games. Identical to one on your own hand. The game itself hadn't been particularly intriguing, and what you remember more than anything else is that it had been cold that day. You and he had to huddle up together beneath a blanket, and Mammon's bony elbows poked into your ribs to such an extent that you wondered if it wasn't less comfortable in the blanket than outside of it. But when he turned to you, smiling sheepishly, looking at you the way he does, warmth bloomed in your chest and you couldn't even feel the ache over it.

Mammon looks at you the way he does and shrugs. "Whatever. All yours."

There's no way to make this seem normal, you know that. When you take his face in your hands you don't think too much about how easily his face fits against your palms as you angle his head toward the light. His cheeks are warm. He doesn't resist at all. "Don't close your eyes so I can look at your pupils."

It's not an order, but Mammon goes along with it anyway, though his eyes tremble a little, avoiding your gaze, when you lean in to inspect.

When the light hits them, the pupils constrict like they would in any other eye. Whenever Mammon looks over his sunglasses, his eyes are like the bright blue sky of the human world above a sea of sand, but up this close, they're entirely normal. The same pupils, irises, sclerae. Tear ducts. The delicate blood vessels along the white of the eye. Eyelashes, to keep out debris. It's almost disappointing. The only distinction anyone could make between his eyes and those of a human's is that his irises are unnaturally vivid and possess two colors, but even then, there are some humans with those same traits.

"I can't tell the difference," you admit. "They look like any other set of eyes."

The set in question flicks to yours, narrowing slightly. "Hey, just 'cause I'm being generous doesn't mean you can go lumpin' me in with everyone else." He reaches up, his hand finding purchase at one of your wrists like he's going to wrench you away from him, but he just keeps it there. "I'm the Great Mammon, y'know?" The warmth bleeds into your skin.

"I know that," you say softly, still not thinking. "Hey, close your eyes." Again, it's not an order, no force behind the words, but again Mammon obliges. His eyelashes are so light they're almost transparent. You brush the pad of your thumb over the thin skin of the eyelid, over the light oily sheen there. His closed eyes quiver beneath your touch.

"Does eyeshadow give you trouble?" you ask. "Because of your eyelids."

"Lil bit," he says. "When I do gigs I gotta prime 'em and carry those blotting things. But hey, I always end up lookin' good, yeah?" His mouth turns up in a contagious grin.

"You do." It comes out of your mouth so easily. His cheeks go warm at the admission, but he doesn't say anything this time. He's letting you feel around his eyes like it's nothing, and you think, maybe there isn't any real difference between demons and humans, after all. Eyes or otherwise. You let your fingers trace along his face to under the chin, angling his head upward. During the game, you had reached down to one of his arms and squeezed, not because it accomplished anything for heat, but because it was instinctual, like scratching an itch, or like blinking.

Your faces are so close. Kissing Mammon would be so simple — twist of the wrist, tilt of the head. You'd land his lips in one try; it would come naturally, and his mouth would be soft and warm. You wonder if he would let you kiss him.

Mammon's eyes flutter open. His grasp on your wrist tightens slightly. You can feel his breath on your face. Your own breath catches in your throat. "What're you doing?" he whispers.

"Just looking," you whisper back. He doesn't let go.

[shydroid3000]

#i keep thinking about this & cartesian dualism #like light. your body is YOU. #every part of it is YOU. your body is not just a cage for your mind#death note

@dancing-lex Your tags are making me think about something: So yeah, super yes with the Cartesian dualism connection. And in that vein.... Descartes framed non-human animals as automata who were not thinking/feeling but mechanistic. This view he used to justify vivisection on live animals, which he practiced/advocated for. (Now, vivisection was a common scientific practice then, but Descartes was notable for arguing that non-human animals did not actually feel pain or anything else, and thus something like vivisection was akin to taking apart a machine). Which..... I mean, can't help but remind me of the King of Justification, Light Yagami, ya know?? I mean, Descartes justifying vivisection as an act that was like totally fine and not something to feel bad about *at all*... is not that unlike Light going to great lengths to justify murdering (initially) two people, and then tens of thousands more. 'Cause murder is bad, but... the world is rotten and *his* specific kind of murder of a specific *kind* of person will actually make the world a better place. And he's the only one who could do it, so really it's his responsibility to. And I mean, vivisection did bring advancements and benefits for human society (and animal testing continues). And Kira brought certain ostensible benefits too. But in both cases, they rely on a fundamental devaluation of certain kinds of life. And with Descartes, a devaluation that involved reducing non-human life to nothing more than mechanical, things that experienced no more of an inner life than a clock. And while that's obviously not what Light thinks, it does feel like there's a sort of undercurrent of something similar there for him. I mean, the way he uses certain people around him as though, to him, they were simply tools (Misa, Takada, Mikami...). And the people he kills... the way they're engaged with mostly as just a category to him, rather than full individuals each with their own inner lives. I mean, in a way, he takes this sort of mechanistic view of the whole of human society. Something for Kira to take apart and reform so that it operates more smoothly. And like Descartes cutting into a living being, it really is okay for Light/Kira to slice into human society, remove an eye (for an eye), even stop its heart. And it's okay to not feel bad about the screams, really, because... well, he's God of the New World, and this is what a god does, and he's still *good* deep down, because it's all for a greater good. After all, humans are to a God kind of like what other animals are to a human, right? So he doesn't have to hurt inside when he hears whispers of screams on the wind, sees life fading from eyes in each sunset... right? Anyway, the framework of Cartesian dualism is really interesting to think about. It almost seems like to Light, he and L are the only two people he truly, truly conceives of as thinking beings in a way that really 'counts'. (Putting aside perhaps his family who I do think he values in his certain way). Like, other people walk around in their bodies having thoughts and feelings. But Light and L are minds, rational minds, in a way that transcends the more embodied existence of other humans. Anyway this feels so rambly and messy haha. It's very late (/early in the morning haha) where I am, so it may not entirely be coherent and I don't have the mental power to re-read and edit it haha. But your tags got my brain spinning, because the Cartesian dualism framework is an interesting lens to view Light through..!

Light is someone who perceives a very strong separation between the body and the mind, and is very disconnected from his own body. And I do wonder if, by nature of them being so similar, this is something he projects onto L as well; & helps him divorce the thought of the death of L's body (ie. his shell) from the death of L's mind (ie. his true self). So Light kills the body, the part of L that isn't really him, to incapacitate his mind, not kill it. He's compartmentalized it in such a way where he doesn't have to think of death as being true death.

It isn't until Light is about to die himself that he is able to mentally bridge the connection between his body & his own conscious existence, and realize what it really means to die.

[laurasimonsdaughter]

What’s your preferred way of portraying lycanthropy and werewolves in your works & media?

For me I love having lycanthropy being like a chronic illness. Having it be a serious, but manageable condition that werewolves must deal with in their daily lives. The symptoms and transformation causing them a lot of inconvenience/ stress/ and if ill managed serious risk to their health and those around them. But it’s not a death sentence or condemnation, a werewolf can live a safe and fulfilling life as long as they manage their lycanthropy properly.

As for their wolf form, I like my werewolves more akin to a dangerous wild animal rather then a bloodthirsty murder machine. Their wolf form can be hazardous but isn’t beyond reproach, attacks being avoidable as long as the werewolf isn’t antagonized or threatened. And one of the big things I like to focus on is that a unrestrained werewolf is a bigger risk to themselves then to others, as in their animalistic state their prone to getting into dangerous situations like getting hit by cars or shot by Hunter or law enforcement.

For me it depends entirely on the kind of story I'm telling!

I like your approach, I think it would work particularly well in an urban fantasy setting that isn't too dark, but still grounded in realism.

For my generally lighthearted fiction, I usually prefer writing werewolfism as something genetic that people are born with, that is neither a curse nor an infection that can be passed on. This allows me to dive into ways to manage living as a werewolf without all the fear and tragedy:

Like parents advising kids on clothes that are good to wear around the full moon.

And werewolf families having pack instincts that include humans.

Or human parents adopting a dog to keep their werewolf kid company.

While I do sometimes write werewolves that can transform at any time at will (because it's funny) I do think that weakens the werewolf-ness of it all a bit. Loss of control and animal instincts are a big part of the appeal of werewolves for me and shifting because of the moon (or because of strong emotions) belongs to that. But how the transformation works and how in control they are once in wolf form, again depends on the type of story I'm telling:

So I might write a werewolf that can be taken by surprise by their transformation and end up locked in their apartment, looks fully animal, but does retain human intelligence.

Or a werewolf who has trouble changing back to human form if they get a little too lost in the wolf part while the moon is out.

Or a werewolf who gets progressively hairier and more wolflike the closer it gets to the full moon. (I'm very fond of this concept, because I get to have my wolfish human and my majestic fully transformed animal.)

Or a werewolf that starts shifting just a little when she gets a little too distracted by her girlfriend because emotions and instincts get tangled up.

But all my werewolves are generally mostly non-violent (unless provoked) and not murderous, even if their animal instincts tend to take over from the humans side sometimes. While I appreciate that a complete loss of control and (threat of) violence is a big part of werewolves for many people, it's just not something I enjoy writing. I also think that side of werewolf stories fit better with the "lycanthropy as a violent infection or curse" concept.

And the only time I've written a werewolf that was infected and considers the transformation a curse was for a fanfic, because my friend and I needed an excuse for copious angst and hurt/comfort that could slowly be turned into self-acceptance and happiness~

[year2000electronics]

do u watch the sonic movies just for agent stone and robotnik

i mean... originally i was going to, yeah! the exact moment the first ever trailer dropped (april 30, 2019) i was already enamored with jim carrey robotnik, and ready to accept that even if sonic's design didn't get changed (which, come on, this is hollywood... usually if an adaptation sucks then it sucks til the bitter end. some of us certainly didnt see the redesign coming), this movie would be my cult classic. flop or no flop. ugly or pretty sonic.

i guess because... i saw a lot of myself in the spin jim was putting on the character! eggman had always been the sonic character that fascinated me the most as i played all the mario & sonic crossover games as a kid, but the particular interpretation of this robotnik- flowing black coats with red trim, someone who grew up as a very lonely kid and so now compensates with leaning into the "lone wolf of evil" aesthetic, someone who has a hard time emoting and feels more like machine than a person so compensates with BIG, LOUD THEATRICS, and a BOMBASTIC TONE OF VOICE! i looked at him and i saw me. i know it sounds a little silly and a lot of jimbotnik's traits come from the fact that that's just jim carrey's style of humour and slapstick but he's just always been kinda special to me even from the beginning.

but yknow, then sonic's design gets fixed! exciting! and february 2020 rolls around, the EXCITEMENT is in the AIR. me i was always going to be fine, nothing about rob needed to be fixed, but now people are actually EXCITED for the movie! YAY!! i head into the movie, and robotnik is everything i could have ever wanted and more. he's silly. he's COOL. he has his own DANCE SCENE. but then i keep getting flashbanged by these SCENES where robotnik keeps getting like, really handsy with his little assistant he has? like he's putting his hands in his mouth and telling him to pin himself against the wall? and then this emotionally-constipated MESS of a man shouts "I LOVE THE WAY YOU MAKE THEM???" WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WAIT WE'RE JUST MOVING ON? ARE WE GONNA GO BACK? NO?! OKAY!!

so obviously im in love with them. with that aspect of the movie. this improvised relationship where both actors asked themselves the question "wait, if robotnik hates humans, why does he keep this one around?" and that question would stick with me for all these 3 movies. it's just so interesting to think about. not to mention how well stone and robotnik just work together as an onscreen duo

but, y'know, then i started really liking the movie's strange, wacky style of storytelling and jokes- i had never seen a cgi animal movie that took the human characters THIS seriously yknow? and by that i mean characters like tom are goofy ofc but it feels like in movies like smurfs they almost want you to not care about the humans, but here, you have stone going from Figurehead for Robotnik's Parade of Black Suits to Guy Who Genuinely Has An Emotional B-Plot In Sonic 3, because of the love fans showed for the character and for how jim carrey and lee majdoub played off each other. even characters like maddie get more in movie 2 because of how tika sumpter said she wanted her character to do more LIKE... LIKE?!

the humour really gets me too, its so strange in a fun way i love. if i was just watching it for rob and stone i wouldnt be watching the knuckles show. ive grown to ADORE the world of the sonic movies, and the actual superpowered animals are cute too! i like their designs, and yknow, this love i have for the sonic movies HAS inspired me to check out more of the games, the shows, the comics, not only to see more of my beloved robotnik (who, yes, i love EVERY version of now. no version of the eggman can escape my love. he is the perfect man) but also to see the other parts of sonic lore because even if it's not like sonic is my fav of all time... i like the storytelling now!!

but stuff like that- my entire lil rant- i think it's why i try not to get gatekeepy when it comes to fandom. because for every series you were there for in the beginning and have an encyclopedic knowledge of, you will have another one where you're only there for a small part or only have a casual enjoyment of. i like to afford other people that kindness because there come times and places when i will be a casual enjoyer of something, and hopefully people will afford that kindness back to me. because even if i do explore other parts of sonic lore and diligently appreciate all parts of the movie, maybe the fact that i'm so robotnik-&-stone centric is still being too much of a casual for some people. maybe i'm only a fairweather fan. even so- even if people think i'm only watching these movies for rob & stone-

i'm having fun!

[runninriot]

[steddie bingo wip]

It's not fair.

Because even if Steve succeeds, Eddie is still doomed to stay in the dark, hidden away from a world that doesn’t see him for who he is. That only recognises a monster where Steve sees the young man within.

A cruel world that isn’t made for soft things, for beings with gentle eyes and gentler hands – especially if those eyes gleam like two blacked out suns and those hands are adorned with razor-sharp claws.

They don’t know Eddie like Steve does. Don’t know he would never ever put anyone in danger. Or that his blood-red kisses taste sweet like cherries.

All they see is a murderous creature, because they’re blind to the fact that it was them who turned him into a raging killing machine.

They are the reason Eddie hasn’t said a word since they brought him here. Hasn’t shown any signs of humanity, only offered them the animal version, the beast, they make of him. Hasn’t even tried to convince them that he is good.

So good.

It’s like Eddie has given up on hope and on life. Resigned to be a prisoner, a subject, the last remaining piece of the Upside Down for them to experiment on. To be tested and tortured and used and hurt.

But Steve won’t let them break him.

He’ll show them the real Eddie. His Eddie.

If only he can find a way to get to him.

[tf2occontest]

The Archeologist VS THE BUTCHER!

(Full matchup list here)

Alright team, here's a recap: This is a contest to determine who amongst you will take the top of the leaderboards and be hired at TFI! Simply put, whoever gets the most votes gets to move on, and whoever doesn't... Well. They'll be put down swiftly and cleanly. :}

So, mann your stations, because here are your next contestants! Vote for your favorite mercenary who you want to win the TF2 OC Contest! - P

OC INFO UNDER THE CUT!

We highly encourage you to take a peek to make your decision!

The Acheologist

@meet-the-archeologist

Image credit: @/the-depressed-comedic-relief

Why should you vote for the archeologists? They’re silly dino-hyperfixated nerds who just wanna be loved (and kill people in the meanwhile but. Don’t worry bout it) Archie has bagged two murderous boyfriends and Micheal one, but is simped over by like ten people somehow. They try their best to help people but sometimes unintentionally make things worse, and are your go-to source for questions about dinosaurs

THE BUTCHER!

@meetthebutcher

Image credit: @/junkbrainzart

The Red Butcher is only known as Butcher. He's bright and cheery, maybe to a creepy extent. He's whimsical, if you will.

Butcher is 50 years old and from Hungary, having come to America in his late 30's fleeing the police. His store at home, which was once his fathers store, had finally been caught for the decades of human corpses in their freezer, being sold as animal meat.

He set up shop in the United States, eventually falling back on murder and cannibalism. He was found out again, but not before catching the eyes of TFI.

He was later hired as a mercenary, forgoing his prison sentence and bringing him to what he considers a paradise.

Butcher is fold of the respawn machine because of his desire to kill. He's blood thirsty. Literally and metaphorically. He gets along well with Medic, but tends to creep the other mercs out.

Anyways, Vote Butcher. He's a fat hairy old gay cannibal what more could tumblr want

[fioras-resolve]

okay, let's actually do this properly

Hey all, our game Daybreak Hearts is now in semi-open beta! You can access it here, although it's password protected to make sure it doesn't hit the front page yet. The password is "Ketanso".

Daybreak Hearts is a tactics RPG that uses gameplay as a vehicle for storytelling. It's broadly about connections, the challenge but necessity of forming them in a world that hates you. Each level features a different pair of characters, and explores their dynamic both mechanically and in writing. Here's the three duos at play:

-A magical teenager and her overbearing guardian -Two girlfriends with opposite emotional needs -The mom friend and the guy who refuses to be mothered

The game's still in development, and a lot could change, including the story! But I'm proud of what I've made so far, and I hope that by showing it to you, I can make it even better!

That said, I am kind of terrified of doing this. It is a uniquely vulnerable position putting a game like this in the public eye, so below the cut is some boundary-setting you should read if you're going to give feedback.

Feedback and criticism are very welcome, I'll listen to as much of it as I can! However, I decide how to respond to it. What you want the game to be might not match my vision.

I put myself into my work, inevitably for a game like this, but don't assume you know me personally by playing this game, especially an early build.

Remember I am human (among other animals, but you get it). Please do not treat me like a corporation or a machine for producing content.

[thetiedyedwitch]

Ok. So very THIS, but. Back story. When I was probably 6, I didn't know it, but Mama's mom had been diagnosed with terminal emphysema from complications of asthma, living with wood stoves almost all her life. There were other little bits, but idt the doctors knew much of how to care for her at that time. (Almost 40 years ago, medicine has vastly grown since then). So grandpa used to walk across the street with me to buy something small and have some bonding time with me, to the corner market. One time when I didn't know anything about what was wrong, we walked as usual. But when we got there, I saw a crane machine with stuffed animals (all stuffies and dolls and such I've always called Babies). So I looked at it and found out it took 50¢. I asked grandpa for the two quarters. He and the nice lady at the counter tried to gently let me know in a little kid version of :that game is rigged and it's almost certain you won't win anything'. They were all heavily skewed towards cheating at that time, including the crane claws not physically made strong enough to hold most of the prices inside. I adamantly told them with complete surety that I'm going to get that bear for Mama. Grandpa gave me the quarters. I took a minute to assess the way the Babies were squished together, then carefully got the crane in place and released the claw. I got the bear on the first try, shocking my two person audience. When we got back home, I gave him to Mama, telling her 'this is Bear Bear. He will help you not be sad, and be happy instead ". He became her buddy for then on. He was deeply beloved by Mama until she died. I call him my "little bro". I also had gotten a new store bought Baby around that time, a little later. We were pretty poor. All my babies came from yard sales. I knew this, and actually love that fact. I knew that the kids didn't want the babies, and I wanted to give them a new home, with love. But there was a specific baby I wanted called Magic Nursery Dolls. granny and grandpa would save a bit of change to give me sometimes when I came over. They started saving the change up for the doll (with my knowledge and appreciation). I finally got to go get one. It was November 24th, 1994. I believe it was thanksgiving day. O bought one that Mama many years later told me that the box was kinda messed up and I remember them all trying to get me to get a different one, but as soon as i saw that baby's face i Knew they were mine. (They had a gender reveal of sorts when you got home.) It ended up that someone must have got that baby, cut her hair, then returned her. The company repackaged her to resell. I didn't care, she was MY baby, Kathlene (spelling on purpose to match a middle name that ran in my family's women). She has been my heart friend ever since. Mama and I had actual WTF experiences to do with Kathlene turning over from facing the wall to facing the hallway when we were in the bathroom doing my hair or something. Mama verified it all the way through her life. I have a witchy belief system that basically some Babies are alive, because we love them so much and put love and energy into them, they get a soul. When I go, I'm going to ask to bury them with me. I've talked to Bear Bear and Kathene about this. I told them that when I die, there will be no reason for them to stay attached to their bodies. And that they can release, and come with us to the afterlife. I believe that⁰ Babies can stay or go soul wise, to the degree we can when we die. I have sat with this belief and point of view for years, examining this belief for holes in the reasoning. I don't feel like they will be alone. I feel like they will release the tethers on their physical bodies like I will. (Like humans).

Ever since I was a child, and up to now, I’ve had an intense love of and empathy for stuffed animals. As an awkward and shy only child, they were my very best friends, and I fully ascribed feelings and souls to them, which I still kinda do today (how tf did my autism *not* get discovered sooner?? Did it really have to take 30 years?), I also sleep with a good number of them.

I’m a mortician (I’m dual-licensed as a funeral director and embalmer, but I’m a lab rat and exclusively keep to the back embalming the bodies), and along with embalming, I also dress and put people in their caskets. Very few things bother me about my work, I love it very much. I can deal with just about any disgusting form the aftermath of death takes, but my heart. Fucking. S h a t t e r s. When a stuffed animal is being buried with the deceased. I know it’s ridiculous, but I just can’t stop thinking of how lonely they’ll be, with their only companion dead and rotting, forever. I like to think the “spirit” of the stuffie moves on to a new vessel to be loved again to soothe these thoughts.

This lady I’m taking care of today is being buried with a stuffed calico cat (it’s one of those heating pad bean plushies you microwave). The cat is held in her folded hands, facing her.

My fucking heart. 💔

[catherine-sketches]

For the people saying that Jayce had no motivation to shot Viktor…

Did you not see the fucked up shit that Jayce is seeing?

My man went into the hexcore and saw horrors beyond his comprehension. He called hextech, HIS DREAM, a curse

When he looks at the people on the commune he sees hollow vessels with people faces and the marks of Viktor’s fingers

Jayce caved Viktor’s chest in because he KNEW that the pretty colors and the art deco architecture was a facade. That whatever Viktor is doing is stripping people from their true selves and leaving behind puppets that play a game called community where no one reacts like a normal person because no matter how good you life in your community is

NO ONE WOULD JUST STAND AND LOOK WHILE THE MAD HAMMER MAN NEARLY DISINTEGRATES WHAT LOOKS LIKE A CHILD TO ASHE

These are Zaunites. They would have curb stomped Jayce to the ground

But they didn’t

They stood there

Because their Machine Herald told them to “Suffer no more”

And what is fear, what is love, if not a form of suffering

[urlocalwhumper]

living weapon whumpee who's never known anything but pain and violence.

their existence hurts. they were made to be effective, not happy, and their masters decided that keeping them in constant pain provided better results. they're wilder, more unpredictable, and the pain keeps them from thinking straight enough to question anything.

they're only given painkillers, only allowed a respite from their seemingly endless suffering, after a successful mission. it keeps them loyal, and most importantly, teaches their brain to associate acts of violence with relief and rewards.

everyone they've ever met has treated them as a tool, a monster, or both. they don't know how to be anything else.

that is until they're rampaging through a village, destroying, killing, whatever their masters demand of them. whatever will give them a few blissful hours of numbness.

one of the villagers steps out of a ruined building and looks them straight in the eyes. whumpee expects fear, hatred, disgust, the things they see in the faces of every person who's ever crossed their path. but they see something completely different.

compassion.

whumpee is so stunned, they don't think to move or do anything at all as the villager steps closer, gently reaching out a hand to cup whumpee's face.

"oh, poor thing." they murmur, taking in the creature in front of them - part human, part animal, part machine. "they've done a number on you, huh?"

whumpee blinks at them. pain continues to course through their body, but the gentle hand on their cheek distracts them, even if just a little. all the indistinct noise in their foggy, addled mind finally goes quiet.

caretaker had stepped out in front of the being destroying their home with the intention to get through to it or die trying, and the expectation to absolutely die trying.

they did not at all expect the seemingly feral mishmash of metal, fur, and flesh to lean so heavily into their touch that they nearly collapsed into caretaker's arms.

[prolibytherium]

Would kill to read animal POV fiction that has the animal POV’s interaction with humans be like, semi realistic to the level of caution most predators take with large prey and/or competitors (including humans).

Like instead of the usual - “the human is such a weak, pathetic creature... so slow, no claws, blunt teeth… completely helpless without its 'Fire Sticks'. how is it the master of the earth?” type crap it’s like, the bear protagonist or whatever approaches some dude who spreads their arms and yells and the bear is like “FUUUUUUUUCK THAT THING JUST GOT HUGE. IT'S LARGE AND MAKING NOISES. HOLY FUCK.”

[digibash]

not a regular digibash, BUT I made these graphics last month and wanted to share them far and wide. They are available in various sizes and you can post them, print them, use them as banners, wallpapers, whatever! just don’t steal and sell them please. no credit required! but it’s cool if you do

all images are here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1WHpfVem5SM1qGrsBEYqbSPa7dIPy2c6W?usp=sharing

happy pride month

[thechaotichorselord]

WIP that i hope to finish

i just wanna post what i got so far because i’m proud of it :3

song is QUEEN- english cover by trickle

Black belongs to @blackkatdraws