#the game just sorta died off naturally

[monty-glasses-roxy]

Captain's Treasure?

The second Pizzaplex Foxy's secret stash of personal things, most of which are confusing as fuck to Roxy in particular. I called it Captain's Treasure, because it's all in a treasure chest designed for a game that no one but Roxy, DJ and the Minis play anymore.

[monakisu]

I want you to know that I came across a random post of your Death Note art, went "Awww, oh my gosh, with the way this person draws Light I think Akechi would look fantastic in the same style!", clicked onto your profile, and then saw your newest artwork was Akechi. I'm still kind of cackling over it and thought maybe you'd find it funny too. Your art is SO cute, I'm very happy I found it <333

HAHA THAT’S AMAZING (<< was an akechi artist wayyyy before i fell head over heels for light)

but rlly… theyre so similar:

- brunet

- asshole

- pretty boy

- mass murderer

- black-haired homoerotic rival

at the end of the day, the key difference is one is a top and the other is a bottom.

ok but seriously, they’re vastly different characters on a fundamental level:

- light was handed everything him on a silver platter: family, friends, looks, intellect, a comfortable life… as a bastard child of a sex worker and now an orphan, goro had to fight his way to his current position and will always harbor a terrible sense of inferiority (light is completely confident in his absolute superiority, Always (that’s why the challenge of L sent him off the deep end of obsession lol))

- light genuinely sees himself as a hero, while goro would like to feel the same but is nonetheless depressingly aware of his villain’s journey (his undesirable position as the detective vs the underdog phantom thieves, his string of assassinations, his ultimate dirty bloody goal, etc.).

- light’s motive is about the world’s salvation, cleansing, the birth of his ideal reality (very messianic of him with the slightest loving tinge of mary cradling her lamb hahaha) while goro is laser-focused on ruining this one asshole’s life in particular, vengeance and revenge at once! one’s focused on rebirth, and the other gunning straight for death! they both use murder to get what they want but light probably floats around thinking himself so clean and divine as mother of the world (ignorance is bliss) while goro is constantly desperately trying to cover up his suspiciously red hands with his gloves hehehe… they’re both constantly striving for perfection, just with varying levels of self-awareness!!

- goro is a canonical loner; light has a horde of friends; this is probably due to a difference in public persona! goro is an untouchable idea of what he thinks a human should be and is completely out of the loop when it comes to normal social interactions (believes opening with hegel will instantly endear himself to the average person (luckily he inflicted that upon akira who is decidedly not average in the slightest)), light is implied to be more down-to-earth and even slightly goofy (he’s gaming decorum like an advanced speedrunner)! it’s probably good how distant goro is, because getting any closer to him will allow you to see how off-putting and uncanny he is, sorta like an AI-generated image—seams in the wrong places and far too much teeth LOL. meanwhile light has this whole shebang so thoroughly figured out that he’s BORED with it all! he’d like to move on to the next game (with L), thank you!! light definitely still exudes uncanny creepiness (it’s his natural state of being) especially when he zones out or starts hysterically cackling out of nowhere at his own thoughts, but he’s a hundred times better at masking compared to goro due to a better upbringing. goro is starved for the adoring friends he sees akira easily picking up one after another; light couldn’t give less of a shit because he’s always had those trivial luxuries! he’d much rather prefer an adoring WORLD!!

- then there’s the difference in how they die… one started out surrounded with company but ultimately died alone, while it’s the opposite for the other (if you count the de-realization of maruki’s reality as goro’s “death” (which i don’t)).

- in conclusion, light and goro are like funhouse mirror reflections of each other!!! one is a pampered lapdog getting a taste of rabies and letting loose, while the other is a starving wolf trying to domesticate itself for treats and headpats!! and i <3 them both!!!!!

anyways i may be wrong about light because im going purely off of fics, tumblr shitposts, and my own imagination :] feel free to school me in a way that won’t destroy my delusions!

[markerofthemidnight]

i require apocalypse bird hcs

First of all, the Abnormality’s name is no hyperbole. For whatever reason, it makes all lights flicker and shut off in its presence: and I do mean all lights. If it got outside, it would literally block out the sun and cause an apocalypse if they stayed fused for too long.

How exactly do Abnormalities fuse? Who knows, but apparently it’s something all Abnormalities could do if they met one or more Abnormalities that were similar to them and aligned in their goals.

They also need to have a conduit powerful enough for them to latch themselves onto and convert themselves into energy for the fusion: in this case, the Portal to the Black Forest.

Since pretty much only Punishing Bird, Judgement Bird and Big Bird meet that criteria, Abnormality fusions are rare (unless you get Aberrations involved, but I digress).

They are also, more often than not, insanely powerful, with the weakest known fusion still being WAW in terms of power.

But enough about that and onto Apocalypse Bird itself: nobody’s really sure why it’s classified as a bird aside from being a fusion of three birds.

It has arms instead of legs, a tiny weird slug body, a slug mouth instead of a beak, and even its wings aren’t made of feathers, but hair: although they can somehow still fly.

Naturally, it never actually uses this ability because the facility is too big, so it accommodates using its teleportation… that it somehow has…

The eggs are the leftover husks of all three of the birds while the majority of their essence is in Apocalypse Bird.

When destroying one, the corresponding bird can feel themselves start to die, and so they return to their original forms to save themselves: though still leave a little of themselves in the main body so that the others can take over from there.

Their EGO is made from all the uncontrolled energy that spills out when Apocalypse Bird dies. And when I say uncontrolled, I do mean uncontrolled.

So much so that the Manager doesn’t even have to order Extraction Team to make them. The energy’s only around for so long before settling into a more controlled form, so Extraction just get to it themselves.

However, the energy always settles into its more controlled form so quickly that Extraction can only ever make one of the EGO Weapon and Suit.

What is this more controlled form, I hear you ask? The EGO Gift. It’s a very powerful one, too, seeing as how the only other Abnormality in the game whose gift is straight-up just an extra limb is WhiteNight.

It just sorta… attaches itself onto everyone there, and then eventually turns into a full wing overnight whilst they’re sleeping. It also has feathers too, not hair like Apocalypse Bird.

And I do mean everyone when I say that. The effects aren’t as severe with them for obvious reasons, but even the Sefirot would have some feathers stuffed inside their mechanical bodies which spill out when/if they’re scrapped, like pillowcases.

People can’t see out of the extra eyes on their wings. Then again, that’s likely for the best. I imagine it would get disorienting quickly.

[dice-n-antlers]

Thinking about Astarion (because of course I am) and the spell True Resurrection.

There’s been some debate over the dates on his headstone and how long he’s been dead and how old he was when he died. The dates are listed kinda weird, but the general consensus is that he’s exactly at or just under 200 years (un)dead.

It is true that, as written, the creature must be dead “no longer than 200 years” for the spell to work.

However.

I think you can argue that in Astarion’s case (and for vampires in general) that it doesn’t matter.

Of course, to work within the confines of the game, the spell has to be written with specific rules and limits. However, rules can be bent and in a tabletop setting, this would be up to DM discretion. As you can see in the spell description, the soul of the creature must also be free and willing to return to life and their body must not have died of old age. So, why the 200-year restriction? To answer that question, let’s talk about souls in the Forgotten Realms.

In general, when an ensouled creature dies, the soul moseys on over to the fugue plane over the course of a few days or even up to a month. This is why there are different resurrection spells that have to be used within a minute or ten days; because the soul is still sorta hanging around.

Once on the fugue plane, the soul just kinda hangs out. Waiting. After about a tenday-ish, a divine postal worker from the soul’s chosen deity comes to pick up the soul and deliver it to its final resting place on the home plane of their deity. The soul can’t be forced or tricked into following the wrong mailman. And there are exceptions to this rule as well. For instance, a soul who wasn’t particularly faithful might end up waiting centuries before someone shows up. If they wait too long, the soul may fade out of existence or Kelemvor may judge them before then.

Once the soul has been prime-delivered to their deity’s planar doorstep, they become a petitioner and their form and the nature of the afterlife can vary wildly depending on who they follow. Some exist in bliss or anguish. Memories of their life on Toril may fade. In the case of elves, they tend to retain their individuality and identity and may eventually be reincarnated in a cycle seeking perfection.

(Note: non-elven petitioners of the Seldarine pantheon of Arvandor could appear as elven or with elven features in death even if they were not elves in their mortal life. Same goes for drow, dwarves, gnomes, and halflings and their respective gods and planes. So you could even make the argument that a non-elf could then enter the elven reincarnation cycle and be elven in their future life if they worship Sehanine Moonbow or Corellon Larethian, etc. Consider also that the Reincarnation spell has the potential to change a dead creature into almost any race without effecting their soul; therefore reincarnating an elf into a tiefling but not removing them from their normal elven reincarnation cycle.)

(But I digress)

The point is, when you are raising a creature from the dead, you are pulling them from somewhere in that natural process. Depending on how long they have been dead, they may no longer exist, or may have little to no memory of their mortal life, they may not want to come back, they may have already been reincarnated into another life, or you might be pissing off some deity. In fact, once a soul is a petitioner, their deity has to approve of their return to life as well. Not to mention, for most souls there may not be much worth coming back to after 200 years; there is likely nothing remaining of their former life and loved ones.

Again, the soul must be both free and willing.

So what about Astarion? To bastardize his own quote: his soul is RIGHT THERE.

He died, sure, but his soul didn’t go anywhere. If you didn’t ascend him, you know his soul exists intact. It’s not on the fugue plane or any final resting plane and hasn’t been reincarnated. His body is dead(ish), but didn’t die of old age. Not to mention, the Monster Manual specifically lists (re)killing them and bringing them back to life as a potential way to cure a vampire.

Assuming that Astarion is willing to return to a full, mortal life, I see no barrier to True Resurrecting him… except that you might need to kill him first… and you need a fuckton of diamonds.

In short: think of the 200-year thing as more of a guideline than a rule. Alternatively, consider that Astarion may have been un-dead for a good long time, but he has not been dead-dead for 200 years.

Now, go forth Tavs! Go kill and resurrect your vampire boyfriend!

[ashlingnarcos]

blood on vacation

David Barrón/F!Reader

written for @narcosfandomdiscord's smut alphabet, namely the July 2 prompt blood

tags: fistfight, absolutely unhinged preoccupation with bloody knuckles, fingering, oral sex

warnings: blood, probably unsanitary, reader is an OFC (Sabrina Tanaka), violence, this was not beta read and it kind of sucks ngl

length: 1.8k words

You’ve only been Mexico City for a week, and you’re already all vacationed out. It’s not Marcela’s fault. The two of you make no sense as friends—she, the trust fund kid formerly known as Marcelo who initially met you at your dad’s jiu jitsu academy, currently partying her way across the globe with an increasingly dodgy set of cousins, exes, and assorted other rich vagabonds, and then you, the standoffish sparring tutor forever known as Mr. Tanaka’s kid, with an unhealthy penchant for taking your skills to street wanderings, just to see if you could. She was whimsical and merry, spiritually curious and given to bouts of dangerously committed romantic pining, and you were stolid and practical and highly suspicious of anyone as eager to please as a car salesman, much less a preacher or supposed future lover. The one similarity between the two of you is that you both were born and raised in São Paulo, and could both kick hard enough to break bones. But the rest? Pure opposites attract chemistry. 

She’s been generous on this trip, doing the rich girl thing in splendid style, and footing the bill for your part completely. She translates for you whenever she sees you getting lost—Brazilian Portuguese is similar enough to Mexican Spanish that you can kinda sorta understand what people are saying if they’re saying it slowly and doing overtime with the nonverbal cues—and does it naturally, not like it’s a chore or an opportunity to show off. She introduces you to her club kid friends with excitement, like she’s showing them someone really cool. She’s a sweetheart, Marcela is, and you’re more than happy to wingwoman her into a spot sitting on the lap of some baby narco named Ramón. But the good food aside, you’re still so alienated and bored that when a fistfight breaks out in the club, it come as a welcome change of pace.

There’s broken glass on the ground—Ramón’s older sister smashed a bottle over somebody’s head, good for her—so no ground fighting for you. And there’s too many people around to dedicate yourself to a hold. So you fall back on a motley bag of street fighting tricks, plus what you learned from a misspent summer at a boxing club, mostly just trying to stay upright and get your licks in where you can. It’s all fun and games until one of them slaps you, open palm. A punch would’ve been fine, but this? You hit his nose with the base of your palm, driving up to break it, then follow that up with a jab. Not satisfied yet, you sweep one of his feet out from under him, shove hard, and finally get him on the ground (broken glass be damned) in a hold that has him gasping fruitlessly for oxygen, his neck in the crook of your arm, his body trying to wriggle round and find an angle at which his elbow shots to your ribs will actually mean something. Unfortunately for him, when you’re pissed off, you could take it all the way to fully broken ribs and not care. Fortunately for him, nobody there actually wants anyone to die, so after a bit, several people pull you off him. One of them is Marcela, so you give it up. The fight has died down anyways; both sides are separating into bloodstained, wary-eyed groups. 

Keeping steady eye contact with the man who slapped you, you lift your bloody-knuckled hand to your mouth, part your lips, and lick a long stripe of his blood off your skin. Slow and intentional and savagely self-satisfied. 

As you turn to talk to Marcela, ask her where the bathrooms are so you can clean yourself up a little (Ramón is already yelling about partying the whole night through, and Marcela seems completely unruffled, so you doubt you’re all about to leave now), you catch a glimpse of something. Everyone here is preoccupied with their injuries, or other people’s, or the retreating crowd of interlopers, except for one man who seems to have witnessed your last threat. He’s dressed a little different than the others, in an oversized polo shirt. You remember getting a glimpse of him in the fight, thinking you might need to take him on next and grimly assessing that prospect as a dangerous one before he easily elbowed a guy who was heading for Ramón’s brother. So he’s not useless, and he’s not easily cowed. Just now, he’s looking back at your challenge of a glance with a flat-eyed expression that you can’t quite parse.

Hm.

No language in common and barely any friends, but you wanted a kill and you didn’t get one, and here’s another man. You’ll have to make do with another kind of death.

.

.

.

Inside the club bathroom, he hooks his fingers over the top of your jeans and tugs you forwards a couple inches. Commanding, but not a threat. Not trying to make you stumble, just getting you that much closer.

Regarding him with a curious, almost lazy look, you’re almost inclined to let him have his way, but then, as he goes to unbutton your jeans, his knuckles smear blood along your stomach. You close your hands over his wrists, and he pauses. 

“Go wash your hands,” you say, slow and clear, lave as mãos. And he gets it.

You know he gets it, because he looks down at your hands, your bruised, swollen, bloody hands, and then back up at you in a way that makes his blank expression rather pointed. Oh, does the international man of mystery have a sense of humor after all?

“Do it,” you say, faça isso. That must not be close enough to Spanish, because he frowns a little. You give up. 

You pull his hands out of your jeans, feeling a shiver go through you at the friction, and then you let go of him, walk over to the sink, and turn on the tap. As you lean back against it, the countertop digs into your thighs, suggestive. The dull pulsing thump of the club music outside gives the tiny bathroom a cloistered, cocooned quality. His dark eyes meet yours evenly. 

You don’t move, don’t so much as lift an eyebrow. Silent. Yeah?

Yeah. He takes a couple steps forward and washes his hands, and as he does so he mutters something to himself in yet another language, English, maybe. As he dries his hands, he smiles. It’s a wry, private smile. 

Two can play at that game. In your mediocre, third-generation Japanese, you say, “I have every intention of eating you whole” in exactly the same voice another woman might’ve said something sexy.

As he steps towards you, you could swear he says something that sounds like gostaria, dangerously close to I would like that, almost like he understands you.

You decide: no more talking.

Zero to a hundred. He tastes like beer and you, unfortunately, can’t get enough; your hands cup the back of his head, his neck, fingertips digging in as he finally unbuttons your jeans and shoves them and your panties down your thighs in one impatient motion. You could hop up onto the countertop, but why do that? This way is so much better, his wet hands gripping your ass, the swift coolness of droplets sliding down the back of your thighs, the low grunt he makes when he lifts you. 

“Sorry, was that hard for you?” you say, but he’s two steps ahead of you. Got his palms warm on the inside of your knees, spreading your thighs and catching sight of just how wet you are for him. It’s his turn to be smug, clearly, but you can’t even be mad at it when he wears that smile so well. 

He gets on his knees. 

You should’ve known it’d be like this from the second you caught his eye in the aftermath of the fight. You really should’ve known, but it still punches an unwanted sound out of you, a small sound in the back of your throat, when he gets his face between your thighs in seconds, no hesitation, and starts to lick your cunt like it’s ice cream and he’s starving. 

With the countertop digging into your legs and the mirror hard against the back of your head, your body throbbing with new bruises, you have no right to feel this good, but you do. With your fingers sunk into his hair and your eyes half-lidded, you feel like you could melt and slip right down that drain. For his part, he’s got you just how he wants you, with your legs parted wide to accommodate the width of his shoulders, his right forearm a bar across your belly. You have no fucking idea how or why he’s doing this—men who see you gone full destroyer don’t usually think to themselves, I want to make her feel good, they tend to think along much darker lines. They want to dominate you, and you get what fun you can out of the process of denying them that. But this? He got on his knees like it was his first choice. You do not know what this is, but you’ll take it. He slips a finger inside you, and you’re so wet that it barely burns at all. Two fingers. Fuck. He leans his weight into your stomach, across your thighs, to stop you from bucking up into his mouth, and that’s—that’s fair. It’s all you can do not to whimper, and your heavy panting sounds desperate enough. Three fingers and you do whimper.

He looks up, and you’re already bracing yourself, but no. There’s no sneer in it; there’s something else. All night, this nameless man has been quiet, unnoticeable, and then, once noticed,  mysterious, but now you see him. The first look is caution, but the second? The second is all appreciation, like he could drink the sight. 

That look hits you hard. You close your eyes, because you don’t want to see it, don’t know what the hell to do with it, and choose instead to sink deep into the sensations in your body as he wrings you out. A wave of euphoria hits you as you come, and it’s just the body, you know it’s just the body, but when it’s over and he has his chin propped up on your thigh, both of you looking exhausted, neither of you done, you get the weirdest urge to push his sweat-damp hair off his forehead. Little killer, you want to say. Damn near affectionate. (It’s just the body.)

.

.

.

The cops arrive at the club before you can manage to return the favor, and Marcela hates all interactions with the cops with a flaming passion, so you have to get her out even though in all likelihood Ramón will just have to flash them a medium-size wad of bills. Later, though, when you can, you confess all (most) of the strange encounter to her, and she gets the message out to him. Through which of the tiny terrors, you don’t want to know. Probably Ramón, a thought that does not fill you with confidence. But he gets the message anyway.

The message is: I owe you one.

[blindmagdalena]

hii, not extremely well versed in all your writing (yet), but so far w what ive seen w the cannibalism fic & how u write homer (lol), i must say i love how beautifully u intertwine his violence w romance, w how u write him, it's like his egotistical macabre nature & need for love r making out lmao! feel free to ignore this part bc praise shouldn't feel like you owe the praiser anything, but id love to see something from you, anything of any length, w homelander x a y/n who loves how creepy & macabre & scary he can be! like, they're gothic romantic sorta? like "oh, you can hear my heartbeat? tell me if the gushing in my arteries differs when i am around you! go into grave detail please! i want to peel the skin off your body and claw around inside of you too to see what makes you tick!" lol, maybe he sees them in black & is all "wowie, finally decided to kill me and you're getting prematurely ready for my funeral? well, nobody can say you're not a multitasker! how very feminine of you!" "no because if you died id want to be buried next to you!" "oh, i see!" "even if i was still alive! :D" "wow! well, morticia/gomez, you're... intense! i like your... prep! your... uncolourful enthusiasm!" lmfao. he tries to return it by trying to give them weird compliments in turn that fit w them; "don't you look like the most dolled up, prettiest corpse in the mausoleum in all that black make-up!", he sees them blushing or something & he's like "look atcha, blooming up likeeee... a bloodied bouquet of rose!trying to make my heart stop or something? least you'll be sittin real pretty on my grave huh?" he's like that meme that's like "my hot witch girlfriend" & him in a summoning circle like "me doing whatever tf she wants" but he's also a freak just a blonde one. dude is the star-spangled superman & a celeb who should be dating models and yet he's like hiding a heart shaped necklace under his suit that's like a preserved vial of their blood lol. i feel it'd stroke his ego in a different way where they also love how weird & freaky he is, yet in contrast they're not violent or harmful w their love for gore or whatever themselves, for them it just bubbles up into a deeper way to express love & their own self expression. i also wanna recommend "the horror of our love" by ludo if u dunno it, feels sort of fitting for how you write him! "i want you stuffed into my mouth, hold you down & tear you open, live inside you, love id never hurt you. but ill grind against your bones until our marrows mix, i will eat you slowly"/"the awful edges where you end & i begin, inside your mouth i cannot see, there's catastrophe in everything i am touching as i sweat & crush you. & i hold your beating chambers until they beat no more, you die like angels sing" :p 🖤

first of all. calling him homer made me scream. 😂 second, thank you! this is so many words and they are all very kind and fun. I think currently the fic I've written that's closest to this premise is Don't Fret, Precious (I'm Here) which features a reader that's ultimately pretty into his whole deal, and fairly deranged herself.

I definitely want to write more macabre readers though, and I love this gomez/morticia angle you're talking about. I've had a WIP in the wings for ages where the reader herself is a serial killer that Homelander catches, but ultimately decides to cover for because he's intrigued by her bloodlust. it's very much a yandere x yandere. it doesn't fit into the idea that the reader is harmless, but... fiction is fiction, right? no one's really hurt! lmao

also, Ludo is one of my favorite bands!!! I actually almost named this fic "The Horror Of Our Love" but ultimately decided "The Horror Was For Love" suited it a little bit better.

as you've accurately deduced I definitely love mixing elements of romance and horror. you have very much inspired me to step up my game and return to that serial killer fic, and maybe something new featuring more of an oddball reader that really throws Homelander off his game.

thanks again for the lovely message. 🖤

[everydayimspeculating]

So I've been thinking about Pokémon. I do that a lot. My inner Zoobooks kid demands it. But recently I was rewatching some of the old anime for Reasons and realized the games exist in universe as some sorta goofy edutainment simulator. Made me start thinking about 'what if the games oversimplify pokémon biology like Odell's Lake and the like oversimplify real world biology' and uh. With all due gratitude to @bogleech (who does reviews for pokemon designs that I adore) and the nature YouTubers I consume daily.

I would like to yell at you about Bulbasaur a little, Tumblr.

So imma get real nerdy real fast here. I love me some speculative extrapolation.

First off let's look at one of the official game designs real quick.

Okay, so, a sauroid design--I know that seems obvious from the name but hold on here, I have a point.

So here we have a large quadrapedal exotherm with obvious green coloration. Not just dull green, bright green. Given the species line is famous for learning Solar Beam, an attack that necessitates gathering sunlight and transforming it into an attack, we can probably be safe in assuming a lot of that green is chlorophyll, making this a rare non-marine vertebrate capable of using chlorophyll to produce energy for itself. And, occasionally, to gather enough energy to tell predators to step off.

The bulb and the... well, the 'saur, appear to be a package deal, but the bulb is not only distinct from the main body, it may be the primary source of its Grass typing, with the Poison typing belonging to the sauroid hefting that bulb around. That kinda distinction leads me to believe the bulb doesn't naturally grow on the Bulbasaur, and may be the result of a parent or sufficiently trained human implanting the seed for the bulb in its back. Meaning the body can have a set of two genetic parents while the bulb can have genetics coming from any flowering plants of that species in whatever area they're born to.

I wonder if the sauroids without bulbs are capable of surviving on their own or if this was an adaptation out of necessity. Like how megafauna in our actual world died off when the ecosystem could no longer support their energy needs. Are the bulbs needed to get to their size, leaving unaided young smaller to survive without the energy boost? If they were smaller and had weaker skin without the Grass-type boosting, I can see them being analogous to venomous toads. If they're needed for survival, it implies strong social ties, possibly entire colonies or troops of their evolutionary line, in order to provide new 'Saurs with their bulb seeds.

Also, if the two parts of the Bulbasaur are distinct, that implies the bulb is supplementing a diet that was already supporting the animal body. Given the name of the final evolution is Venusaur, I'm going to assume insects, probably birds and rodents once it grows larger and slower.

I'm almost entirely sure this thing lives in and around rainforests and jungles. Lots of moisture and sunlight for the chlorophyll and lots of biodiversity (to feast upon). It also fits with the assumed venomous amphibian origin.

I'm going to assume one of the oversimplifications is the evolution system, and that means the Bulbasaur, as pictured above, is a recognized and therefore official species for use in pokémon sport. There's probably all manner of variants not officially recognized, like ones that don't have their bulb, or who had their bulb seed malform somewhere along the line, or shift position in a way that hinders mobility. It also indicates a Bulbasaur that's battle ready can also lay or sire eggs, though without a ready support system, they're reliant on human aid to properly raise their young with bulbs. Based on body plan and energy requirements, I'm guessing covered nest with between one and three eggs, warm, kept damp, so the heat equally incubated the eggs. When they hatch, the young are kept hydrated and tucked away while a seed is implanted in their soft backs. Eventually, they are exposed more and more to the sunlight and the energy from that and catches brought to the nest helps them grow quickly until the adorable little starter beasts we so love.

There's more. There so much more. But I'll cover that next post or I'll ramble over the word limit.

[the-himawari]

A3! Chigasaki Itaru - Translation [SR] Festival of Blooming (1/2)

*Please read disclaimer on blog

---

Itaru: (The same cola as usual… and I’ll have nachos tonight… Wait, no, maybe I’ll get chips. Can’t go wrong with that.) (Ooh, they have pizza flavour. I could only buy that online~. Lucky.)

Itaru: (Hm? Is this a new flavour…) “Just one chip and you’ll be in a new world! For those who seek a thrill ♪ HOT, hell-grade chips”… (Only someone like senpai would be happy purchasing that.) (Hold on, I have to act like senpai though. Should I just buy it for my role study…?) (…Well, it’s not like eating those are gonna be any help.) (The difficulty of playing senpai is way too hard to begin with.) *Sigh*… I wanna tap out. (I’ll put the super spicy chips back for now…)

-pause-

Itaru: Crap, I died.

Banri: Wait, again? You missed way too many spawns.

Itaru: I’m gonna be called Taruchi the flubster from tomorrow on. End me now.

Banri: Pfft, sucks to suck. You’re seriously off your game.

Itaru: …Hey now, I have to act as senpai. You know, for the roommate mission.

Banri: Ahh… I see. I feel for you, man.

Itaru: How would you play him if you were a brilliant director’s assistant?

Banri: Well, that’d be hard for sure. At first, I thought I didn’t get him… I mean, I guess there’s still lots I don’t understand about him, even now.

Itaru: We’re closer than we were before, and I’d say we’ve built a relatively good relationship. But there’s still so many things I don’t know. And I still can’t get a grasp on what’s important… Director-san said our roommates are the ones we’re the most familiar with. But from my point of view, senpai’s both someone who’s too close yet too distant to act as.

Banri: Well, you guys share the same company, troupe, and room. I can’t imagine that sorta feeling or distance… Director-chan said that our roommates are the most acquainted with how we naturally are, right? What about a side of Chikage-san that only you’ve seen?

Itaru: There’s no way that exists… (…Hold on a second, only I know about senpai beating up those soldiers in Zafra.) (But I could only hear him, and even if I could’ve watched, it’d obviously be impossible for me to re-enact.) (…I’ll just forget about that for now.) There’s nothing. I’m sure. Probably.

Banri: What’re you even saying? But Chikage-san can actually stand living in the same room as you, huh?

Itaru: What do you mean?

Banri: I’m just sayin’. I get the impression Chikage-san likes to be clean and keep everythin’ nice and tidy. He eats neatly when we go out to eat together. And when he returns the items while we’re shopping, he puts them back exactly where they were before.

Itaru: No, no, that senpai you see… —.

*door opens*

Citron: Oh, I want to flay games too!

Itaru: Here, take the controller.

Citron: Oh, are you going somewhere, Itaru?

Itaru: …I’m going out to buy a little something. To redeem myself.

Banri: See ya~.

---

| next

[imageingrunge]

mellll i wanna know more about ur vampires in general! also did u paired inna with caleb? just go ham and spam me with info <3 they're all so gorgeous

omg thank you for asking!! im in the process of putting together the bones of a story abt them rn!! so here's a brainstorm i had yesterday abt it

Caleb V.

I was considering Taurus, or Gemini for him (he's Lilith's younger brother NOT twin) because he is very much not yet satisfied by life or his 'un-life', he is always flying from one passion/interest to the next (this also applies to his love life), he enjoys the pomp & luxury afforded to high status vamps. In that way he is uniquely suited to survive an immortal existence - vamps in my game tend to suffer from long periods of stagnation, they'll get depressed and sleep away whole centuries or constantly dwell on the past- Caleb has pretty much avoided this fate 

He's 21 and his favorite food was blueberry pie when he was human, Vlad finds his interests in human food perverse, but did teach him how to play the piano

Complicated relationship with his sister Lilith would NOT talk to her after they were turned, Inna was an intermediary between the two- it was like this when they were human as well, caleb was sort of the star/golden child. lilith & him lost thier parents as children and were raised by a relative (still deciding between aunt or grandma) that uh was very much NOT fit to raise them

I don't know yet if I would make them a thing, but him & inna are kindred spirits- he has a soft spot for beautiful things, and lost causes- and Inna is sorta that, he feels she died too young, they are also very childish- he always let's inna do his hair & make up and they often refer to each other as 'Mon bonheur' and Inna calls him 'Mon petit chou' from time to time- love is sort of a nebulous experience between vampires it never becomes intense like it does between mortals

Inna Cents

She died at 19, at some point in the year 1900 (maybe on loveday/valentines) - her family used to live in a big summer house in granite falls- im still working out the how of her death, but I know her family chose to believe she disappeared into the woods instead of becoming a vampire- after that happened they sold the house/land it was on and it became a park

I feel there are some possible outcomes of her demise:

She was in love with human girl, who died- and she asked Vlad to turn her into a vamp, so she could still be with her love in a sort of after life- because she did this, she is stuck in Vlad's coven, until she pays off this debt

Or she caught tuberculosis- and her family asked her to be turned to save her

Or perhaps a mash up of the above scenarios

Personality wise- when she was human, she was born wealthy, and had a fine education- but was vain & over generous- I think she has a sort of childish (in a pure sense- like the I am going to devote my whole life to this person no matter what) view of love- and tends to put her trust in the wrong people, she has a very mystical like intelligence/wisdom despite her clumsy tendencies, she understands more about vampire nature/lore than even lilith- but I feel she is stuck between moving forward or looking back on her past and it makes her a coward/weak as a vampire. I don't know if she makes it, or meets a sad end yet

[kayrockerqog]

Ah yes, at last, the day my brain insisted I prepare for, given what the prompt is!

Day 4 of @ygoc-week focuses on Relationships!

And, well, while there are several options to choose from when it comes to Musa's relationships, from her friendly rivalry with Misawa to her almost sibling like relationship with O'Brien to the eventual unofficial adoption by Cronos to even the absolute dumpster fire that is her thing with Asuka or Manjome...

...but I think we all know where this is going.

Thus, allow me to introduce the source of my Musa brainrot, the absolute peak which is: Leadershipping.

because what else is meant to happen when the emotionally stunted meets the emotionally vocal? the introvert meets the extrovert?? the touch-starved meets the physically affectionate??? the "what do you usually do while I'm gone" meets the "wait for you to come back 🥺💞"????

Strength and Temperance.

And now imma gush about it under the cut so have fun with that-

Okay for one, the fact he calls her Musey.

At first shes super adamant about him not calling her that, but it sorta just slips out anyways, and it isnt until her siblings arrive that Kenzan realizes "shhhhhit have I been triggering her this whole time" and starts calling her Musa.

But now its WEIRD because shes gotten used to him calling her that, and the nickname isnt really associated with her siblings anymore, it's with him.

So in their tag duel, one of her brothers calls her Musey, and she glares at him like "you're not allowed to call me that" but when she makes a good move and Kenzan excitedly grins at her like "atta girl, Musey!" and her brothers get pissy like:

"Hey, dont call her that, scum!"

"Actually, no, he's allowed to."

"WHY HIM?"

"Wait, I can?"

"Yes, I like when you do it. It sounds much nicer when you say it."

"HAH! TAKE THAT, I MADE YOUR INSULT INTO A GOOD THING >:D!"

and eventually he slips into even more nicknames, spanning from "my muse" to "songbird" and the like,,,

And while Musa doesnt really use nicknames, she DOES have a thing where once you pass a certain point in her head, she'll use your first name.

So after the tag duel victory and shes being squeezed to death in a victory hug, she just gently hugs him back like "Thank you, Tyranno..."

And he starts internally screaming-

BUT

But

This shit goes CRAZY once season three rolls around, because uh

Well

First off, the zombie stuff is a thing, and Musa hangs back to help organize the home base, but before the others leave she calls for Kenzan and places one of her cards in his hand "for emergencies, bring it back to me" and whatnot.

He nods and places it in his deck like immediately, hes still doing it as they walk off, and Musa's standing there watching them leave, and then Fubuki fucking Tenjoin shuffles over to her smirking like ">:)c well well, the queen of Ra has just given her champion a token of her affections~" and shes like "...nuh-uh-"

And when everyone gets back she just not so subtly sets aside an extra plate to give him since she knows he'd be hungrier and "it is a good contingency in case we need physical support, he is the strongest among us." And Fubuki just gives her this LOOK but she does NOT care because Kenzan's like "awww, Musey, you flatter me, saurus-"

But it ain't all good times in this neck of the woods, no SIR

Since

Well

You dont expect the loss of the emotionally vulnerable woman's emotional support (among three of her other companions) to go over well right-

Like shes already in a tizzy because the others are dying right? But like the second Kenzan dies she just completely shuts down, and somehow his bandana flutters down in front of her and its just

God its game over man

If Obrien and Jim didnt show up Musa wouldve torn Judai to SHREDS, the pure banshee scream of despair she let out was something no one wouldve expected out of her, it actually caused some of the others to flinch.

So naturally she's wearing the bandana for the rest of the season and when everyone makes it back in the end Musa's too busy making sure Sho is alright and also very awkwardly but affectionately hugging Jim and O'Brien before Jim nudges her like "Oi, Musey, lookit-" and Kenzan is there and now shes crying and HE'S crying and runs over and scoops her up in a spinny hug and just

It was the first proper ship art I drew for them, because I'm ill, all of this art is relatively old but fvakdndjaldnhsix I have mORE SKETCHES THESE TWO ARE LOWKEY WHAT SAVES ME FROM ART BURNOUT-

But yeah, this is super incoherent but I do not care, they are just,,, super sweet. The slight slowburn, the mutual "they're so awesome and cool why would they ever like me back", the genuine friendship, the fact Kenzan lowkey has guard dog energy around her. Ugh, I'm weak. I'm weak. I push them together like dolls.

[vickyvicarious]

Lately I'm totally stuck on the song Wax & Wane by Alana Henderson. I love it.

And the more I listen to it, the more I keep thinking of Marcille. (I feel like it'd be great for a fanvid of her, particularly when the entire series is animated.) But regardless, I can line it up so well with her story, so I just wanna ramble a bit about the lyrics now.

Under the cut for spoilers for the whole manga and length.

The song's clearly originally about a het relationship breaking up, but I don't have to interpret it that way! It gets better for her the further in the song you get, in my opinion.

I could blame our partin’ For the fact that I’m not startin’ All my mornings at the time they ought to start And I could summon up a sisterhood Cry lead me out of widowhood But that is melodrama on my part

Least fitting lines in at the beginning, but you could still sort of make them work in a fanvid at least, with slow reaction/not being ready or prepared, being caught off guard, being dramatic and then taking it back every time with food. It makes me think more of lighthearted stuff mostly, though also perhaps with Falin's original death scene maybe?

I could blame my grieving On the fact that I’ve been leaving Us behind, the ones we were when this began But I have rose-tinted us ruby And I’ve conjured up a new me Who bent freely to her newly molded man

Marcille remembering dead Falin and also her father can be the 'rose-tinted' and the newly-molded man could sorta be the life she leads now. In a sense, she's idealized both of them and their happy times with her, without being willing to linger on the negatives. Even though those drive her completely.

But we bent and we broke and I meant what I spoke And the blame game does not produce a winner We went as far as we could go, we had to go that far to know That we had nowhere left to aim And no one left to blame but The moon’s wax and wane and the turn of the tide The moon’s wax and wane and the turn of the tide

This refrain matches so well with the dungeon living pushing her (and all of them, but her especially as this is her song to me) to her limits and beyond as they go deeper. I picture this first refrain as earlier, the first effort to go back and get Falin back, and succeeding but only briefly.

And I could blame my parents For my vices so inherent That I cannot shake them much as I may try But how much have I inherited Or picked up since I was a kid? That nature versus nurture paradigm I could blame wrong turns that I take On decisions that my head makes Then trace each error right back to my heart And is it broken ‘cause you toyed with it Or was it formed with a little split That grows each year further and further apart

My favorite Marcille verse. It matches so well to her grief (often in advance) for her loved ones' shorter lifespans, and the way she never fit in growing up. Is the enormity of this desire due to her parents giving her this half-elf life, or is it her own personality focusing on it too much by dedicating herself to studying to 'fix' it? Is her heart broken because Falin died too, or is this something that's always been building, only increasing the more she pursues this path... (Stuff like the nightmare attack, or that one scene where she has to animate everyone with necromancy and it's funny up until you see her break down after and realize how terrible that would have been for Marcille in particular...) But we love and we lose and we lash-out and we bruise And the name of the game’s just the living We go as far as we can go we’ve got to go that far to know That we have everything to gain By knowing we can blame The moon’s wax and wane and the turn of the tide The moon’s wax and wane and the turn of the tide

You have to eat to live! Pushing further into the dungeon! This time around I see it as much later scenes, as they work to get monster!Falin back. Even when that means going against other people, even when it means planning on (arguable?) cannibalism, etc.

And so I look to Karma And if I try not to harm another I will not be harmed by anything

This one bit actually really makes me think of Falin, but it also in a way matches a more naive earlier mentality, before the various characters all accept that in order to live they have to eat (and thus hurt other things). Not to mention, it leads in well to Marcille becoming the dungeon master because she wants to protect her friends and also wants to extend everyone's lifespans. She doesn't want to cause any harm, at least in her eyes. But it rapidly goes wrong throughout the rest of the verse:

If I salute the magpie, knock on wood Will I be doing any good? Am I strung up or do I pull the string? Will the fact I cling too tightly To my dreams come back and bite me Am I trying to make a science of an art? And will the very fate I wish to woo Be the one that I undo By thinking I can steer this crazy cart

Dungeon master Marcille here! It's perfect for all of those parts of her story. Getting the power to control things on such a huge scale, but being manipulated and lacking control over herself. Her dreams and desires overtaking her, leading to destruction, the warped version of her father and life with her friends that are offered to her. Her efforts to try and steer it...

But I’ll live and I’ll learn And I’ll light and I’ll burn ’Til the flame simmers down to a spark I’ll go as far as I can go I’ve to go that far to know that I have everything to gain By knowing I can’t train The moon’s wax and wane and the turn of the tide The moon’s wax and wane and the turn of the tide

And then the endgame! She struggles to get it back, to undo what has begun. Her friends reaching out to her and her realizing this is as far as she can go, pushing too far was wrong. Accepting the possibility of Falin's death being permanent, accepting death in general. The lingering changes pointing out ways they didn't and couldn't achieve everything they wanted, like Falin's legs, Laios's inability to get close to monsters, Marcille's loss of the desire to do her hair. I never said it was your fault I only wanted to blame someone I never said it was your fault I only wanted to blame someone The moon’s wax and wane and the turn of the tide

And the final refrain is more of that acceptance. Marcille didn't precisely want to place 'blame' but she wanted to see it as a problem that she could fix, rather than accepting life and death (which = the moon's wax and wane and the turn of the tide).

[cutekittenlady]

hrng thinking about those silly soulmate au thingies with the markings and then thinking about how fucky the time-space stuff in pla is and how if ingo got baja blasted to the past and met his soulmate there his lil soul mark would probs just be blacked out cause they died years before he was born and his soulmate just wouldn’t have one cause he hasn’t been born yet and the concept of this is making me giggle more than it probably should 😂

Tbh I've always thought soulmate aus tend to be a tad limited? I mean, maybe I'm biased, but the lack of soulmate aus that delve into the potentially platonic nature of soulmates and how this could reflect in a wide variety of relationships and dynamics is kinda disappointing?

Like, reincarnating isn't limited to humans. It includes animals, plant life, I've read some stuff that suggests its possible to reincarnate into inorganic material like a rock formation or something (not sure how accurate those particularly sources were though).

I mean, what if your "soulmate" is an animal or a tree? How does that manifest? What if a parents soulmate is their child?

Sadly I dunno if this could ever possibly be delved into since the whole "soulmate" thing is so dominated by explicitly romantic and even sexual overtones in popular culture.

To that end I've kinda dislike the concept of soulmate "marks"? I mean, what appeal there is to the concept of destined soulmates feels kinda redundant when you toss on a conveniently magic mark or "sign" that you've met you're soulmate rather than having to explore you're emotions, the significance of the other person to your life, etc to realize the same conclusion.

Sorry, I know I completely derailed your ask to go off on this tangent, but I mostly wanted to explain my view so you may better understand my explanation for how I'd handle a concept like this.

I think the concept of people from different time periods who are destined to meet and be significant to one another is a fascinating one. Especially since it'd imply that Ingo ending up in Hisui wasn't just some fluke but something that was destined to appen. With or without Volo's interference.

How Ingo and this other person would handle this realization and how they might intend to move forward would depend entirely on who the second character might be.

Actually would the clans of Hisui have a concept of soulmates as well? The Sinnoh games sorta share the "equal but oppostite" theming present in the Unova games and many others. Would that relate to soulmates?

Plus with this being set in the Pokemon universe, is it possible for Pokemon to have soulmates? Could a pokemon and human be each others soulmates? What about legendaries? Would it apply to them?

How far does Time and Space actually stretch before messing with destiny, assuming its present in the universe? If it IS present in the pokemon universe, how powerful is destiny? Can it be altered? To that end, are the time and universal disruptions caused by Volo in legends arceus, Cyrus in diamond, pearl, and platinum, and Professor Sada/Turo in Scarlet and Violet DESTINED to happen and therefore part of the greater "design" of the pokemon universe or have these actions altered whole destinies?

Sorry Anon, I know you likely didn't want to see me get bogged down in the nitty gritty specifics of how something like this would actually work thematically and literally in story, but I can't really help it.

[erigold13261]

Haiii Eri!! I don't know much about your ocs but I'd love to hear about them!! Do you have any little fun facts for us? 🫶 any of them at all I adore each and every one

Oooh! Yeah sure! I can ramble a little bit! Don't know if characters like Ex-Jay or Doki Doki Mermaid Club count as OCs since at their premise I didn't create them, but I know some people count their version of Ex-Jay or DDMC as OCs.

So for this I'll stick with just OCs I actually made without a design from in game. (Also just gonna stick with NSR OCs as I don't even do anything with my other OCs I basically abandoned lol). Will also put pictures of each I talk about under a cut so I don't make this too long.

1). First up are my actual first NSR OCs known as Timbre Ocra and Hydrar Gyrum. They are one of the lower NSRtists that help power each district when Megastars aren't playing. Their band is called "Amarus Amares" and they play in the Metro Division district.

Timbre is a natural object head (she's like one of those LED photography lights but can change her colors) while Hydrar is fully human except for cybernetics she got when she was young from being in a car accident. Both of them heavily look up to NSR, especially Neon J which is why they are so happy to be playing in Metro Division and hope to one day play along side 1010.

I should have more for them but I honestly don't since I've been thinking about redesigning them for a while now. Keeping the same story they have but just updating their looks/colors.

2). I think next would be Egeg. She is one I use even less than Timbre and Hydrar, as I made her based off of another person's species. I am definitely going to redesign her as I have made more rules and stuff to how species work in NSR, but she is going to stay an object head as a space orb similar to DJ.

I had her as having a crush on Eloni and she was supposed to be my first ever OC x Canon character, but I sorta scrapped that. She is the manager of Amarus Amares and helps them create songs and manage shit otherwise the two would be missing deadlines every other week.

She had a rough breakup from an abusive relationship. That is when she met Timbre and Hydrar who took her in and she became their manager as a way to pay them back for helping her in her time of need.

3).

Oooh! Yeah sure! I can do that! I have quite a few NSR OCs that I can talk about! (since I have basically abandoned any OCs I have that aren't NSR related lol).

I need to make more of my OC content at some point, so I'm just gonna list all my OCs off and then give some fun facts about the more relevant ones! (and so if anyone wants more fun facts about specific characters I can give them).

-Hydrar Gyrum, Timbre Ocra, and Egeg (Amarus Amares) -Dew, Carna, and Maragold (younger siblings to 1010) -Martha and Aria (Neon's ex-wife and not bio-child) -Esther and Braam (Mama's parents) -Nova's parents (still working on their names) -Alyona and Matvey (Tatiana's Parents) -Ilma (Tatiana's 1st cousin once removed) -Bunny (Rei's girlfriend)

I'm sure there are more but these are the main ones I can think of. Now for the facts! :D

1). Hydrar and Timbre (with Egeg as a manager) are lower NSRtists that help power each district when Megastars aren't playing. They play in Metro Division most of the time, which works for them because Timbre and Hydrar greatly look up to Neon J. Hydrar because his cybernetic program is what allowed her to get cybernetics at an affordable price when she was a child in a car accident, and Timbr because he is a screen object head like her (though she doesn't realize he wasn't born like that).

2). Unlike the rest of 1010 and Dew, Carna and Maragold have no war bot code in either of them. The two basically "died" as kids so when they were brought back as MK-Kid Units there was no war bot code to combine them with. Which is different from 1010 and Dew who were all combined with a warbot's code when becoming MK-1 units.

3). Speaking of warbots, Dew used to be a robotic diver that would repair the hull of ships. The bot he was, wasn't the greatest but it was one of the sturdiest, so it was allowed to continue working during fights while the better ones that were more fragile only worked during times when the ships were in ally waters.

4). Dew is also really good friends with Yiruk and Kayane (actually thanks to you talking about Yiruk lol!). Him and Kayane were crushing on each other hard at first, but they quickly found out they would be much better as just friends. Yiruk is always dragging them into trouble or trying to get the two to join their band but they always decline. However, they do share and listen to its music whenever a new song comes out! Dew has been thinking about asking Neon if there is a way to get Yiruk and their band a good stage to play on one day as like a surprise.

5). Ilma does competitive sword fighting as a hobby and side job. She is pretty good, especially when she goes into higher skilled competitions that allow for natural powers to be used.

6). And speaking of sword fighting. That is how Alyona and Matvey met! The two were in a sword fighting competition and Alyona kicked Matvey's ass because it was a no-power competition and she is more skilled technically with a sword than Matvey is. He fell in love with her that day as she held her sword to his chest with him on his back.

7). Alyona also wanted to have a lot of children while Matvey did not. It was lucky Alyona was even able to have Tatiana, which was a surprise pregnancy. Unfortunately Alyona's health went downhill and soon she died leaving Matvey with a child he did not want.

8). Bunny has been doing her own piercings well before she ever got an actual job as a piercer. She is also the main piercer for Ex-Jay and any other friends they have (obviously they pay her, though Rei gets free piercings). As long as someone pays and is of age, she's okay piercing them wherever they want. She has done genital piercings before (Cyril lol).

9). Bunny is also thinking about either getting elf ears or permanent sharp canines one day as body modifications. She has her tongue split and wants to do more stuff like that.

10). Some more Bunny thoughts are the fact that she makes fun of Cyril's arm tattoo that is literally just a blank sleeve of ink. She finds it silly he just got a blank sleeve. He intended on putting white tattoo ink over it, but over time decided to keep it blank and just put white henna over it since he could never think of a permanent design to have. After seeing him with white henna over the tattoo sleeve she stopped making fun of him (especially if it was some of DK West's designs which she fell in love with).

11). Not so much a FUN fact, but Martha has been married 3 times. First to Neon, then to an abusive asshole who she divorced, and then to a third guy who ended up dying (probably in an accident). She regrets ever cheating on and divorcing Neon because he was the nicest guy that was ever in her life, but she stands by her decision because she could never truly love him like he did her after what was years of feeling neglected by him.

12). Nova's dad's head is actually a small black ball of like dark matter or something. The nebula around his head is just something that happens in everyday life which shows emotions. There are very few times where the nebula is gone and that is in extreme depressive episodes that sometimes occur. Otherwise, he always has some kind of nebula around his head!

13). And Nova's mom's head always has a scarf or something else at the bottom of her droplet tail. It's less for safety and more for comfort. Unlike a real Prince Rupert's drop, he tail is not fragile and won't explode her head if it gets hit. She can actually move it a bit and have it be fluid, but it is sharp at the end so to avoid poking people or herself she uses a scarf to hide the end.

13). Braam and Esther did their best to send Catherine to a good school. Once she showed talent and skill in music, she asked to go to a music school that was close by. It was more expensive but they were willing to do whatever it took to keep their little girl happy. Esther picked up an extra job or two outside of the farm and Braam did more side jobs for friends and townsfolk so that Catherine could go to the music school and hopefully play harp professionally.

15). And I guess as a final little fun fact. Neon's brother has stars for pupils! Kinda like Mayday's flower-like pupils, Neon's brother has stars. I still have to draw him, but both him and Neon had something going on with their eyes that had no connection to their parents which their parents hated. They wanted their kids to be perfect and conform to societal expectations, but couldn't really do anything about their kids' eyes.

That's all I got so far! Hope it's what you were looking for! I really need to make more content for my OCs. Actually I need to redesign a few of them, like Hydrar, Timbre, and Egeg since it's been a bit since I drew them and they could go for a retouch-up.

[this-should-do]

Barney x Lauren for the Ship Ask Game. I know the latter hardly exists outside of pure fanon, but I gotta say that I appreciate the sheer dedication and effort put towards creating a character whose existence is near hypothetical. Yes, Barney Calhoun totally definitely had a girlfriend or spouse at some point in time prior to the ResCas (which, if you're unfamiliar with 'Lauren', this post puts it quite nicely [https://www.tumblr.com/shrimpkidd/694596732780249088/theory-about-lauren] Or, TLDR; it is most likely that Barney's to-do list in the Half Life: Blue Shift manual is referencing the surname of an established coworker [that of Otis Laurey], rather than the forename of a partner who is not mentioned anywhere else in or out of the series). Considering the speculative nature of Half-Life as a series, it's not too much of a shocker that people went hog-wild with this idea. It's cute I suppose? Not that I particularly have strong feelings on the subject matter either way. I just think it's a neat tidbit of fandom trivia, y'know? Dubious canonicity aside, I've seldom ever really seen people bring her up at all nowadays. If I could be bothered I'd love to figure out how to incorporate Lauren into my little interpretation of Half-Life, but that's for another day.

oh no shes def a canon character in my lil brain, and she and barney did date for a while, but personally i wouldnt say i ship it in the traditional sense, its kinda complex

the way ive sorta got it is that she and barney started dating in college or in the short time barney was inbetween college and working at black mesa, and into barneys time at black mesa as long distance partners, but the romantic relationship part kinda died off within a year or so at the longest, but they still remained friends afterward given that hes still making sure to get her presents n all

im havent yet solidified what exactly their relationship was like, cuz on the one hand it coukd have been a they dated genuinely but long distance killed it, but theres also the fun concept of lauren kinda using barney as a beard with or without his knowledge becuz they were already kinda friends so she knew he porbably wouldnt like freak out too bad if he knew she was queer (cuz ykno its the 90s and comin off the 80s and the aids crisis)

so in terms of shipping, i guess i dont ship it, But i do think this relationship is one thats important for barney in terms of life experience and expanding his social circle

i guess dont ship it cuz shes just a name literally and its alot harder to like develop and get attached to it lol

if she had been a character we see and meet and if there were more to develop off of the way there is for barney and gordon (since gordon is personality wise nearly blank but we get to see interactions between him and barney and hear about things theyve done together that shows a close relationship hypothetically)

in terms if positive stuff allot of it i kinda already addressed in laying the ground work to even answer this ask proper lol, she is another person in barneys social cirlce, and if shes also queer him knowing eould suplly him another person to help him to overcome his own internalized stuff, not that im saying its her job to help him bit like her queerness should he know about it is a little example that he personally knows tht he can compare his own experiences with and see live happily as she is should she come out to him, as opposed to her having to coach him thru it ykno? it as a ship is also just fun in terms of just a sweet little normal relationship if they are genuinely dating (meaning we ignore my idea of them not being in a relationship by thebtime of thebrescas) just barney being goofy and working hard to have that long distance relationship and its cute how he makes a note to remind himself to get her flowers, i dunno theyre just sweet regardless i think :)

[madmaryholiday]

dreamt about a group of 5 siblings(?) who went around solving mysteries. they ranged in age from around 9-15, and the vibe was very much like an old kids' adventure show.

anyway, they were at a museum of some kind that had a whole abandoned wing that nobody had been in for decades. so naturally the siblings decided to check it out.

in the abandoned wing was a group of 5...monsters? creatures who were also children, but they were shape-shifters who could mimic the appearance of anyone they touched. naturally, the two groups ran into each other, and when they all got startled and ran off again, each group wound up with a couple of the others mixed in with them. (i think the shapeshifting was involuntary? and obviously temporary, but it didn't seem like there was a limit to how long they could stay in one form.)

the monster kids who wound up in the regular world loved it, getting into all kinds of antics while trying not to get caught out by the siblings or their parents. they tried all kinds of new foods and listened to music and just generally enjoyed all the cool new stuff they had access to.

the human kids who wound up with the monsters were unnerved but decided to learn everything they could about the monsters without giving away that they were actually human. they learned that the monsters had been trapped in the abandoned museum wing since the 90s, and their only contact with the outside world was through their ancient computer that could kinda-sorta connect to the internet but couldn't load anything but text. and even that was slowly failing on them; the hardware was 40+ years old, and they'd run out of salvaged parts to repair it. they were worried about what would happen when the computer finally died for good.

anyway, hijinks ensued, and the kids/monsters were eventually found out and returned to their original groups. the human kids then became friends with the monsters, who stayed in the abandoned museum wing but were given newer computers and video games and stuff so they could experience more of the modern world. it was all very wholesome.

the kinda weird part was that i don't think we ever saw the monsters' real forms. the literal run-in happened in the dark, and then each human kid had a doppelganger for the rest of the dream. i got the vibe that the monsters were small, kinda gremlin-looking things, though. guess my brain just didn't feel like elaborating on that part.

i'm recording this dream because it was just so bizarrely wholesome kid's show. first dream i've remembered in ages that wasn't blatantly a stress dream. but also i hope the monster kids have fun learning about the modern world.

[dzpenumbra]

4/9/23

I saw the moon a good portion of the night last night, I keep looking out the window expecting to see it and see nothing.

Today was pretty uneventful. I spent a good chunk of the day studying astrology. I have had mixed feelings about not accomplishing enough and not seeing research as "work". I guess a little story might put it into perspective, but let me preface it by saying... my reasoning is that I want to take this time as an opportunity to learn about something that interests me. Rather than... rush it... and then learn after the fact.

This story isn't entirely related... it's just something I observed today. Something I really don't know how I feel about. So I might as well put it out there. I've been watching a lot of roleplay in Red Dead Redemption lately. And sometimes, in roleplay, they will make "perma characters", where the death conditions are basically... anything that incapacitates your character is an automatic death. Where, normally, you can sorta... choose how injured your character gets and when your character actually dies. Which... to a degree I understand, but always felt a bit... abusable. But I get that everyone is different and I do a lot of permadeath games and a lot of people really aren't cut out for it.

So this roleplayer decided he wanted to make... a Native American perma character. A warrior, who lost his entire tribe. Who spoke broken english. And walked around with a bow on his back and rode around bareback with a hatchet out and all that. Now... this guy is pretty notorious for playing pretty much exclusively villains. Arch characters. And this one... it had me genuinely scratching my chin.

I think it should be 100% not just okay to play characters of other races, but encouraged. Especially in roleplay communities that are predominantly white. Otherwise you just end up with a giant culture of white people, which is the exact opposite of the desired effect, diversity and cultural representation are just... gone. As long as you are playing an actual character. A person. Not like... a trope. I guess? I mean... yeah it's like... the line is super blurry there, you know? Like... okay... I was trying to ask the streamer periodically like... well... he was giving mixed messages about like animals being sacred, and being one with nature, and hating the invaders because they just "take take take" from the land, and all that. Then an hour later, he goes out and fills a buffalo full of arrows. Hacks it with a hatchet when it's down. Skins it. And leaves the carcass out in a field to rot. And this was after he heard a really well-delivered traditional Native origin story about what the buffalo really were to some tribes - basically a precursor to us, humanity, like a first wave of people that came to the world who were tricked and tempted by spirits, and they ended up becoming trapped and transformed into buffalo, and their purpose was to be here for us essentially... to utilize, but also to learn from. Like they gave in to temptation, and we have the gift of learning from their mistakes. It was a really powerful story that 80% of chat were spamming nodding-off-emotes in response to. And I tried to ask him about like... hunting... because he kept talking about how the bow and arrow... he, as a player, wasn't used to and shit. And people were encouraging him to go and practice, so I was trying to ask him... with his whole expressed beliefs about nature all being one interconnected web, and a failed confrontation of a European person for "taking" a wolf unjustly... I wanted to know how he felt about hunting... in general. You know, before just riding off and slaughtering an animal literally for money so that he could get a fancier bow.

Like... okay. Just, for the record, the second that buffalo went down, I tabbed out of the stream and went back to astrology study. I was just done... yeah. So... if you're going to play a Native character... please do! I mean that. I am so fucking tired of seeing the same fucking generic white male tough guy cowboys, or generic white female sheriffs or stereotypical Italian gangsters. You occasionally see some black people, which is good, honestly. You do not often see Asians, which... has always been odd to me. I feel like the whole Asians in the old west thing really doesn't get enough screen time, it's such a fascinating culture clash. But I have legit like... barely every even heard mention of Natives on that server. Like, one time, I heard someone mention a guy who was from the Wapiti tribe. That was it. So... maybe they do RP, and they just keep to themselves? Maybe because it can be hard for people to... gauge how to politically interact there, and it makes it awkward and people feel pressured? Especially if there was going to be like... conflict RP or something? It's delicate... and it really needs to be tasteful.

And, despite how talented the streamer I was watching today was, he was... not tasteful. Leading to a bit of my point here. If you're going to play a character from another culture... I think a pretty important part of that is... doing research. Accurate, comprehensive, immersive research. Not just... "okay... I'm... British. And my name is... George Stanford... and I'm from... hmm lets pull up a map... Okay... Nantwich. Right. That's a random spot no one's going to ask about." Okay, bad example, because European culture is pretty similar... so... let's say that same process I just did there, but with... Vietnam. Right? So now we have our Vietnamese guy and he's from a random city that no one will RP check you on, so... who is he? How does he act? I mean, it's more than just a fucking voice, okay? Getting an accent right is one thing, any idiot with enough time and enough confidence to screw up over and over until they get it right will get it eventually. People literally adopt accents subconsciously, it's definitely possible. But if you want to make a fucking person. You need to get in their head. You need to see through their eyes, you need to think like they think. You came from a fishing village where you didn't even have cobbled roads, and you get dropped in the heart of St. Denis... where you barely understand the language. The technology is different. The food is different. The customs are different. Like... it's a leap! And understanding your character's experience of that moment is really what ties you into their motives. To know who they are, you need to know where they came from. Their culture, their beliefs, how they see the world, their moral compass.

This guy was... stereotypical generic Native warrior #7, and he was designed to be a throwaway character. I would really call that... as close to a caricature as you can get without intentionally being one. Which is good. It's good that it's not a caricature, that it's not intentionally poking fun or mocking or expressing disgust. But honestly... it's lazy.

Especially when you have S-Tier roleplayers handing you source material in-game on a silver fucking platter. The chief that he magically stumbled upon in stream sent him on a short journey to find himself. Which I thought was fucking perfect, because he was a cardboard cutout of an "Indian" in a "cowboys and indians" movie. He needed a story, he needed motives, he needed history, identity and direction. Even if he only had 4 hours to live, or else he was literally only a savage Native, which... is really not a fair representation of anyone. Like... animals have more personality than that. It's lazy at a culture's expense, honestly. And the chief noticed this (I would wager) and, instead of flipping out or RP-checking him or bullying him or calling an admin... gave him an opportunity to build his character. The character was called "Moon Dance", he mentioned hawks and eagles, so the chief - I admire the fuck out of this RPer and I wish they were streaming, I was actively looking for them because of how stellar their performance was - the chief sent him on a night-time quest to the top of the sacred mountain, where eagles nest, at night, under moonlight. It was perfect. And this "warrior" heads off down the trail on his quest, and sees a pack of wolves between him and the moon on the trail he was supposed to go up. And the streamer was... he was fucking scared. He was scared of getting his perma character killed by wolves within minutes of meeting these people. Because wolves are strong on this server. And he only had a bow and arrow, which he had zero experience using. So he was like... actually put to the test! Immediately! Under the moonlight! It was flat-out cinematic, it was like... spiritual! Surreal! I was cooking dinner while that was happening and I was just like... "no fucking way". And the streamer? He says he's going to wait until the wolves leave at dawn, and went to take a piss and make a coffee. He went fucking AFK! XD Someone even went to check on him, and he was still AFK, it was awkward as fuck.

So he went to the top, and an eagle flew away, and he was going to shoot it but.. didn't. And I was like screaming (okay, internally, obviously not literally because I live in an apartment now) "DUDE, you are being fed your spiritual realization on golden fucking platter right now! YOU ARE NOT A WARRIOR ANYMORE!" I even tried typing it into chat. I... shouldn't, honestly. I bitch about backseating a lot, but like... it really would've saved the character. INSTEAD, I shit you not, he Googles "native american wisdom" and acts like he had some epiphany out of nowhere and suddenly just opened his eyes and saw the world in a new way, that we are all one and connected and we are all connected by blood or something. Like... it had zero connection to his character's actual experience, it had nothing at all to do with personal growth, it didn't even really have personal growth in mind, it was like... existential musing. It was done to try to like... "get it right", or "prove something". Like it was an algebra test or something, idk. It was so frustrating, that character turn could've been so impactful, so powerful. Especially for someone who tends to always play villains. To, instead, play a warrior who... after seeing all of his family and friends slaughtered, and failing to defend them. Failing his purpose. And left to wander the country, the last of his kind. Second guesses his place as an actual warrior. Because like... what is a warrior if they don't have a faction? Who is he even fighting for? What is he fighting for? Who is he fighting? Right? And this is a man who genuinely fears wolves, too. AND, because he's a perma character, he fears death way the fuck more than any other character in The Crossing. It's such a compelling framework for a really tense and transformative character. Good lord, I was like, foaming at the mouth seeing the potential in this character.

And instead... He goes on a canoe trip. He buys a new black and red outfit with a skull mask. He goes and slaughters a buffalo for money, and then hacks it to death when it goes down.

And I... died a little inside. And... another player even saw him do it. And confronted him on it. "Hey, isn't that animal sacred to your people?" And I was just like...

I don't like saying this. I really admire this streamer's abilities. I really like his work, I think he's talented and deserves the credit and popularity he gets. But in that moment, I was a little ashamed to be subscribed to him.

And... I see what he was going for. He likes to do crazy characters. He likes the deep south inbred murderer trope. He made a violent mutated circus freak character. He likes villains; insidious, arch, explosive, violent, vengeful, dark. But... Not to a buffalo. Not right after the Chief told you the origin story, how those were essentially people, and they were cursed to walk the land like that because they gave in the the same impulses you are giving into right now. It was just like... blatantly apparent that he wasn't listening to some of the best RP I've seen on his stream. It was such a shame.

So... I really don't know how you would make a Native villain in RP. I think it's very possible. I just... I think you really really need to build a backstory and context around them to make it very clear that you are not just a "savage primitive man". And the whole broken english thing really didn't help, honestly. And riding with no saddle. And simple clothing. Like... the Europeans had been settled on the continent since like... when was Plymouth and all that? Like the 1600's? And this takes place in 1901? And they wanna act like the Natives don't know how to speak English? Or don't have guns? I mean, many tribes were allied with the French in the French Indian War like... 150 years before that!

Watching someone who has over 9 years of experience in RP be in that position made me suddenly very confident in my abilities. It really was inspiring, in an odd way.

So... seeing that really helped reaffirm that... if you have a chance to learn about something? Like Moon Dance being given a spirit quest and an origin story on a silver fucking platter, or me having some extra time and an interest in actually learning how to create, read and analyze a horoscope (rather than just... estimate and make something that looks like a horoscope)... Just fucking go for it. Learn. Dive in. Take a few days. And that was me. I was reading about astrology until 6:30 AM on my phone in bed. I had to stop myself to go to bed. So... as much as I'm deeply compelled to just go and put something on the hoodie... this research will be helpful for more than just one art piece. It's helping me expand my world view and grow as a person. If I wanted to, I could even go and put up a flier at one of the entrances to my building and offer to read peoples' horoscope and tarot, if they wanted! I think that could be really cool. I just need to build up the confidence, and maybe make my home a bit more... theatrical. Which could be fun anyway... Could be cool.

I'm very disoriented right now. I'm hearing what I think sounds like... a vacuum cleaner? Coming from upstairs? And... it's 4AM. So... that's... not normal... So I'm gonna take a pee break and do some recon to confirm this.

Whatever, it's none of my business. It's so weird to hear human activity this late! I'm so used to the silence. Makes me wonder if they're okay. I know some people stress-clean. And doing that at 4AM in an apartment building is just... idk, either their just oblivious or they're really not doing well.

So yeah, unfortunately that was pretty much the bulk of the day. Cramming an insane amount of astrology information into my head, which I really didn't absorb a ton of... watching the stream... which inspired and then devastated me... then back to astrology.

I just rabbit holed again while the neighbor was vacuuming. Just... it was hard to hear my thoughts. I did more astrology reading. Welp, the whole thing just gets more and more complicated.

So... this one that I'm reading is saying stuff about how the zodiac is a season-based system of measurement that splits the sky along the equinoxes and solstices. (I'm following...) And then subdivides those by 3. (Kinda arbitrary but go on...) Full 360 degree circle with 30 degree sections. (Sounds math-y, but this is all math so, I'm onboard.) Then they start talking about how the zodiac isn't a constellation map, it's a separate thing, just regions of space used to symbolize those constellations. That it's much more connected to the movements of the sun and planets in regions of the sky, and those regions were just associated with constellation concepts, not direct representations. And I'm with all of it. And then they claimed that the constellations were actually named after the zodiac, that the zodiac came first. And I started to get a bit like... well... big claims require big evidence, right? And I just have this person's word here. So... I searched a bit and found an actual research paper from around 2009 on trying to find the origin of the 12 zodiac constellation system. I, admittedly, did not read too in-depth because... it's 4:30 AM... but from what I skimmed... it seems like constellations weren't really referred to openly, that we've discovered, in association with cycles before around the 10th century B.C. Now... this was 2009, so... we may have learned quite a bit since then. But at the time, that was the oldest documented association in writing to the moon cycle, and they mentioned 18 constellations, referred to as "gods". But constellations were often referred to in other documents prior to that, apparently. And from this research, it seems like the Mesopotamian solar calendar (30 day months, 12 months) was sorta superimposed on it, and a few constellations were doubled up to make it fit. They discarded Orion and "The Field" (Pegasus square and part of Pisces).

God, I'm getting so lost in this and I'm super tired. Basically, that kinda just smells like confident bullshit. The part about the constellations being named after the Zodiac. That just doesn't seem true. The constellations were known for ages and ages before, like there is documented evidence of that for over 1000 years before the mention of zodiacal arrangement, and some of what we consider bigger constellations like Pisces and Taurus were actually broken up into smaller ones, like "The Swallow" and "Anunitu". So... again... with history that old... it's really hard to know for sure what is the true story there. Not that any story is like... better or worse... culture melding and borrowed practice is like... the cornerstone of occult expression. It's kinda what defines it, in a unique way. Esoteric practices tend to borrow from many cultures, which creates very creative and unique hybrid practices which absolutely fascinate me. I just don't like it when claims are made like "well, actually... duh..." and then... there's zero evidence to prove the bold claim. Just word of mouth or something. I'm sorry, but if there's a cuneiform document from 700 BC that says they are using an 18 constellation zodiac... I mean... it's right there. Are we going to assume that they... split the 12 constellations and renamed them, then put them back together? Or does it make more sense for that to have been a precursor prior to trying to sync those discoveries to the seasonal calendar?

History is so fascinating. Infinitely frustrating, I'm sure, but so damn fascinating. We think we know so much but we know so goddamn little.

Anyway, I don't need astronomical precision. I like seasonal associations, I like element associations and deity associations, I'm not married to literal planets in literal constellations in the visible sky. Houses and evenly spaced zodiacal regions are totally fine with me. And they make sense in their own way. It makes way more sense from a timekeeping or rhythmic standpoint.

Wow, I was all over the place tonight. I gotta go to bed. The moon is up and high in the sky now. Goodnight!