#the similarity in these characters is in fact uncanny

[digitalgate02]

Ni's favorite characters, which are a big surprise to everyone. (or not)

[wonder-worker]

What are your favorite Plantagenet-related novels, and why do you love them?

Hi! I'm so sorry, I don't read lots of medieval English historical fiction, and the ones I have read are pretty terrible (three guesses which).

Once again: sorry! If anyone else has any recommendations, feel free to share them!

[iceunhie]

[ 3 + 1 ].

premise. in which entails your daily life being in a relationship with the one and only eccentric wanderer. (alternatively: wanderer's love for you comes in many forms. you welcome them all the same.)

warnings: established relationship, hurt-comfort, slice of life, wanderer is called kuni. jealousy (wanderer), angst. FLUFF fluff fluff. wanhida family goals

a/n: ITS SCARAMOUCHE WANDERER SEASON his event broke me btw [in tears]

BACK TO MASTERLIST || ASKBOX !

# observation one: unconventionally clingy

early on in your relationship, this side of the wanderer remains quite privy to himself alone. this is because he has a very, very uncanny similarity to an aggressive and guarded cat that hisses when given an ounce of affection.

this does not mean he doesn't like your outlandish and grand displays of affection, though; its actually the opposite. (LOL)

the true crux of the matter lies in his inability to let down his guarded pride to admit that he thinks your affection is his lifeblood. (basically, “ew, affection... do it again”)

he's a menace (affectionate), and if you were one for critiquing that aspect of his character, you wouldn't have been in a relationship with him by now, anyway.

however—there is always a however when it comes to him—this does not mean that wanderer doesn't come across points of anxiousness over the fact that his less than affable personality may be something you will grow sick of one day.

he knows he isn't the best choice of a romantic partner; seriously, what were you even thinking... but when he establishes that you are indeed now an irreplaceable part of his life (which will take a long time, good luck), he clings to you with a fierce desperation underneath all that thorn and bristle.

this is part of his visceral fear of abandonment—you are the one thing that he adores, cares for with his entire being (nahida as a close second), and to watch you slip away from him due to his own misgivings will spell out a death sentence for him.

(so please, treat him gently; cradle his cracked palms and broken psyche, and slowly, emphasis on slowly, but surely, he will learn to return in kind.)

this ‘clinginess’ comes forth in his proximity to you. once he has felt comfortable with your relationship, wanderer is quite unafraid to show how touchy he is in his own way.

whether that is to get groceries in your shared home, following after you like a second shadow when you go to the grand bazaar, or even shooing away people that harass you (tba), the wanderer's gaze and all his efforts are always directed to your will.

(you dubbed this as ‘scary cat boyfriend privilege’—and are rewarded with a painful flick to the forehead. ouch.)

—☆★☆—

“where are you going?” the slender hand that stops you from leaving your comfy bed does little to help your need to fall back into the blissful arms of sleep.

“just going to go get some water, kuni.”

waking up to the sight of the wanderer in all his divine glory certainly isn't one of the things you expected in your life, but you welcome it all the same. leaving a simple kiss to his forehead, you pry your hand away with a gentleness you reserve only for him.

he flushes, a lovely red adorning cheeks, to the span of his neck. oh, how you love seeing him melt.

“you won't take too long?”

he doesn't need to breathe, but he sucks in a breath anyway, face twisting to a deep set frown—your telltale sign that your kunikuzushi had a nightmare.

an unanswered question. you won't leave?

your hand caresses the silky soft strands of his purple hair, that in which wanderer nuzzles into. he doesn't seem keen on telling you, and you respect that. you'd wait for him as long as he'd like.

“of course i will. not going anywhere, silly.”

why would i? you convey in that same gesture. i love you.

the tightness of his face relaxes, his grip on your hand loosening. right—you weren't. (you were not going to abandon him.)

“hurry up and come back, then. it's far too early.” his voice is still thick with sleep, though that doesn't temper his signature sass at all.

i love you too. goes unsaid.

your grin sharpens, teasing. “aww, don't miss me too much, okay?”

anddd there's the signature scowl. “...never mind, don't come back.”

“hey!”

shuffling to hide his face from you, wanderer sports a genuine smile, hidden from your sight.

because in your presence, the wanderer stills, and all thoughts of a doomed eternity fall short of how he commits himself to you—wanderer loves and loves, loves you, for you nestle in the space his heart was meant to be, holding onto the mere wisps of your identity and weaving it into the mosaic of his soul.

it's silent save for when you plop yourself back to the bed, bearhugging wanderer and complaining about waking up early again because you stayed up all night playing tcg with him. (he's at 10 wins and 5 losses and he was not going to be caught lacking).

“you do realize that's entirely your fault, right?” he gloats. “it's not my fault my card bested that lawachurl of yours.”

“what?! no way, mister! my all geo team is still superior, mind you-”

once, wanderer wondered about the concept of infinity.

everlasting devotion. of unabashed care and trust. as he listens to your ramblings as the night falls to day, he figures that what you currently share fits that concept just fine.

# observation two: (very) jealous tendencies

it isn't in wanderer's intention to be jealous. well, so he says.

really, he isn't! after all, what was there to be jealous of? absurd! looks, intellect, an extensive range of vocabulary not limited to insults and creative verbal attacks; wanderer boasts quite the sizable number of pros that get most people falling at his feet. (his outward personality leaves much to be desired, however, but his snark does have a certain charm. probably).

and of all the bashful akademiya seniors and well-intentioned young women (and men), you managed to get into a relationship with this black cat of a derisive puppet. this is an achievement worthy of celebration, for not just anyone can take the wanderer and burrow into his many, many guarded walls and claim the title of being his lover.

yet, wanderer is the more jealous one in the relationship.

he knows that you won't cheat on him, and trusts that you won't look at others in such a way. but still, your boyfriend can't help but doubt. be patient when working out his jealousy, for it is a double edged sword—on one hand, wanderer was so adorable when he was jealous; sulky, clingy, hot you name it! and it was very flattering, knowing that he loved you enough to want to keep you all to himself.

but, the other side was quite... a piece of work. should you attempt to tease him about such a thing, it ends in three ways. one, him flying off to god knows where and leaving you alone (😐), two, restricting you from hugging and giving him affection (😭), and worse, giving you the silent treatment (😨). choose your ammunition wisely.

and from this, be prepared for the wanderer to monopolize your attention all to himself— with said admirers mysteriously off the grid or too afraid to approach you for fear of his wrath. i'll say it once: a jealous wanderer is a force to be reckoned with. (and we love him for it)

(he was chided endlessly by nahida for this; “you're scaring all the researchers that want to do a thesis review with [name]!” she says.

a sly smirk was his only reply).

—☆★☆—

“what, and here i thought he had more bark left in him.” wanderer huffs haughtily, with the researcher dashing away as if his life depended on it.

“you'll get scolded by nahida again, you know. i don't think the dendro archon's trusted aide should boast a terrifying reputation.”

he snorts. “lesser lord kusanali has better things to do than chide me for harassment.”

“but you don't have better things to do than scaring away poor kimiya?”

that gets you an eye roll that could reach massive highs of ‘what about it?’ from your boyfriend. “you're overthinking.” (translation: you're right).

“uh huh, sure i am.”

“whatever. who you talk to and interact with is none of my concern. it's not like i care about such things anyway.” he retorts. “i'm not possessive.”

so he says. “by the way, his pickup line was pathetic—‘are you anemo because your beauty blows me away’? atrocious.”

your eyebrow raises in return. really, who was speaking about “not caring” and then judging right after? well, it's fine because he was kinda right.... cyno would definitely get along with that guy.

“it was sincere! i think he has to be commended for his efforts, no?”

“you call that effort?” his face scrunches to a dissatisfied frown.

kinoya, kimiya—he doesn't even remember his name anymore. wanderer doesn't care for those that waste his time, and more especially to those that attempt to get close to you in particular. honestly, what a cheap trick.

and you! you were seriously humoring that moony researcher earlier. you even smiled at him! wanderer seethes, crossing his arms. “its quite irritating, knowing that they flock to you under the guise of—what was it he said? right, ‘shared academic pursuits.’ it was too obvious.”

“first of all: that's rude, second, he really needed help! anyone would feel sorry for him.” you tut, pinching the smooth of wanderer's palm. you wisely decide not to comment on how he immediately interlocks hands with you.

you snicker. “and he was only asking for advice on his research topic, silly.”

“hah! how nice — you're defending him now.” it's incredible how wanderer has the uncanny ability to be just like an annoyed cat that dunked itself into a bucket of cold water; and the way he frowns at you only makes you let out an even worse fit of laughter.

wanderer drinks in the sound, resonating it with the beat of his soul, your laugh the heartbeat echoing deep within his veins. he is reduced to nothing with you—with you, his face relaxes; wanderer may be indifferent to humans, but with you, your mere existence is enough for him to falter like a human, weaken like a human.

and weakly, perhaps in an attempt to save face, he speaks, “you didn't deny it.”

“deny what?”

“...defending him.” (if he were a cat, his ears would definitely fall flat right now).

you let out another light laugh, but sparing your lover the torment, you cling to the side of his arm instead.

“i never had such intentions.” stating it quite firmly, “i'm only saying that there's no competition to be made, darling.”

he gives you a skeptical look in return. “was there even any?”

“none at all.” you lean closer to him, and the wanderer leans into the touch of your hand on his cheek. “since you're winning.”

the flustered blush you receive and the subconscious squeeze of his hand in yours conveys all you need to say.

that did the trick. wanderer's smile is satisfied—smug. “clearly, you managed to make the right call for once.”

“well, i could hardly resist you.”

afterwards, you note that the wanderer's pace doesn't seem as fast as usual anymore. no matter the jaw dropped stares of others at the two of you cozying up together, he never let go of your hand once.

(the next day, kimiya comes to you with a sheepish smile saying that he'd like to focus on his own without your help.

“was it your doing?” you look at the wanderer by your bedside table fastening his vision in pace, voice deadpanning.

“hah? why would i waste my time over some insignificant mortal?” he replies, but as he's putting on his hat, you see him smile to himself.

that little...)

# observation three: secretly? protective/considerate (green flag!!)

if you ask anyone who knows the wanderer on a personal note, you'd find out that he is, indeed, quite considerate—hidden underneath alllll that snark and aloofness and haughtiness, the wanderer cares for those who have helped him in some way, and with you as his partner (romantic), that care is multiplied tenfold hundredfold.

this quality of his, despite being endearing on paper and practice, is reminiscent of that of an aggressive mother hen; if you count wanderer as a hen that pecks someone incessently to show his care.

he chides you like an exasperated young maiden, but the soft way he handles your bruised arm littered with injuries from your recent run in with some strange fontainian seahorse contradicts his harsh scoldings.

(“bested by a fish? are you serious?”

“excuse you, i needed to get it's horns for materials, okay?!”

“...remind me why i'm stuck with an idiot for a companion.”

“uh, because i have a great personality, and you love me?”

“a decision i've made that's quite hard to defend, honestly.”

you stick your tongue out at him. yes, his habits also become yours.)

or how he tells you you're hopeless at cooking, but always manages to excuse himself to cook for you the moment he notices even the slightest decline in your health. one concern though; he throws the bento towards your head—so minus points for domesticity. (...he has cut heart shapes into the vegetables before and has never been the same since.)

if there's anything you can count wanderer for, he will do it. you could ask him to attempt to pluck the very fabric of reality for you, string together the stars and leave them at your feet, and he will do so, huffing all the while (he never means it). he's just smitten like that; not that he would ever verbalize it—yet. his hushed and vulnerable whispers of asking you to let him stay by your side are your closest road to his admittance.

he will not serenade you with ‘shallow declarations of love,’ as he tells you, but you know that he will always be there for you, for better or for worse.

—☆★☆—

fury is an emotion wanderer was once very accustomed to—it reminds him of electric violet, of three betrayals and of yearning for a constitution he was never fated to reach.

and fury tugs at the strings of his being the moment he sees the droplets of tears fall from your eyes, blurring your vision.

“who did it?” something bitter and violent manifests in his countenance, his vision pulsing angrily with gales threatening to harm. (it does not harm you, though. it never does.) “who did this to you?”

his grip on your shoulders tightens the more you refuse to answer, both from anger and fear. you're never this silent; and his panic increases when you opt to bury yourself in his neck. wanderer sighs.

“hey. i'm asking who made you cry like this, idiot.”

“...”

“fine, i won't call you an idiot, then.” but impatient way he speaks the syllables that make your name betrays his worry. “just talk to me.”

“...can we just stay here like this?”

“....”

“sorry, that was a little-” you say, voice strained, pulling away; but the wanderer tugs you close, allowing you to hide from the world that seems so out to get you. (he knows that feeling well, after all.)

it's he who entangles himself with you, listening to the steady rise of your heartbeat, wiping away your tears.

“i didn't say you couldn't hug me, stupid. it's fine. do as you like.”

if it were a person that did this to you, that would've been better murder was never really out of the table with him, but when faced with something he is unable to solve for you; whether it be a bad day, bad luck, or even something he cannot control, wanderer finds himself at a loss.

because the concept of love, with you, is foreign—terrifying, even. betrayal and scorn were his guiding compass, and to be rid of it and to be seen by you, held by you, and to know that you were not going to follow in the footsteps of those he once clung to was far too good to believe. (yet he tries. for you.)

returning your embrace only passively, he tries to scramble for words of comfort—and when he fails to find the nerve to do so, he does the only thing he can allow himself to do.

with the kindness and gentleness he fostered (still fosters, thanks to you) from his memories as the kabukimono, the wanderer holds you, if only to remind himself of his place by your side, unchanging and adamant—as you remind him of his place beside yours.

he leads you to calm yourself down, albeit roughly as he tells you to stop fussing over trying to help him get you something wipe your tears with—and for all his flushed visage, he lets you cling to him, seeking his comfort.

i'm here, it goes unsaid. wanderer knows you'd pick up on it anyway. please talk to me.

(“if i die from this, i'll come haunt you as a ghost.” you shake like a leaf in his arms, clutched tight and staring at anywhere but the ground. who comforts someone by putting them almost 80 feet up in the air? heights are so not your thing.

“like i'd let you.” wanderer says, rolling his eyes. “and you're shaking too much. just keep your eyes on me, will you?”

“...was that flirting?”

“i will drop you.”

“wait, i'm kidding!” a particular breeze leaves you in goosebumps, with wanderer tightening his grip on you. “don't let me fall, please?”

“are you stupid?” he snaps, but urges you to look at the sight of the sunset on the horizon. his hold is more gentle this time, too. “why would i let you fall? now stop shaking and hold on to me.”

you think you fell just a little harder for him that day.)

—and if you decide to press a kiss to the back of his nape as a way of thanks, you're rewarded with a playful gale and a little zap to deter you in response.

“watch it, [name].” he says, but the shifty eyed way he doesn't meet your eyes isn't fooling anyone here; neither is the red on his cheeks. “you're too close.”

“hehe, sorry, sorry, couldn't resist.”

nonetheless. he supposes the growing smile on your face in place of your tears are sufficient payment for wanderer's efforts. hmph.

he'll let it slide for today.

(he does a lot of that when it comes to you.)

# deciding conclusion: totally in love with you (real not clickbait)

saying it outright: being with the wanderer is not a smooth road. it is full of hardships, hurt, and learning. there will be many times when his built in self destruction (read: abandonment issues) will kick in, hurting you in the process.

getting him to say ‘i love you’ will seem impossible at first, and there will be times when his doubt pierces your heart and renders it tattered to pieces. he's doing his best chat, pls help him

he will not be able to utter sweet words of adoration like you do, or return your embrace as easily as you would with him—and there will be many moments when he will feel as if he's not enough.

but nourish your affections, stay consistently by his side, show him that he is worth loving, worth staying for, and like the foundations of a steadily built tower, his trust and love for you too will grow.

(it will sometimes feel tiring, it will feel hopeless, and it's more than what you've bargained for, but it will all be worth it in the end.)

because you know he cares; it's in the way his expression morphs into helplessness when he sees your face fall in an argument, how he doesn't push you away when you kiss him and shower him with hugs, and when his hands lock tightly in yours in a sea of people, with you only in his sights. how his eyes betray him to look at you with fondness and warmth.

(it's wordless whenever wanderer decides to hold you tight at night, hugging you like his last lifeline. especially after a disagreement, with only the quietude of the night to observe.

he said some hurtful words today. that much he knows.

“are you asleep?” his voice is muffled against your shirt, and he may not need to breathe, but he inhales your scent anyway, memorizing the sight of you in his arms like a promise. “...you probably are.”

silence. “i'm sorry.”

“.....”

his lip trembles, his grasp on your arms bruising if not for your non-awareness. there's a wetness growing against your shirt, and small sniffles.

“i'm sorry.” and gently, so gently, wanderer presses his forehead against your shoulder, feeling the rise and fall of your body. “i shouldn't have snapped at you and told you those sorts of things.”

i'm sorry i hurt you.

please stay.

please don't let go of me.

i need you.

i love you.

when morning comes, you wake up to the sight of the wanderer in your bed, face nuzzled in your chest.

there are tearstains on his face.)

getting him to be open and vulnerable is akin to keeping a rusty, torn boat afloat; it will not be easy, no, but you know that he tries, (so very hard) to make it work. that he fights desperately against his own clumsily strung tethers and rebuilds himself anew, if only to understand and perceive you—to love you as you deserve.

and when that time comes, wanderer will cling to you, desperately, completely, and make sure your efforts will never ever make you regret giving him the chance to open up and be with you.

—☆★☆—

“what would happen if we ever broke up?”

dropping such a bombshell in the middle of having the wanderer on your lap was not how he thought things would go to, granted how pleasant the atmosphere was—he'd agreed to going on a much needed date (your words) with you after lesser lord kusanali had just graded him on one of his essay papers. (he got an a, obviously)

you don't think you've ever seen such a distraught look cross wanderer's face—aside from the time you finally beat him at tcg (5 out of 4); and you've never seen him look so angry either.

rather, he looked scared.

“what brought this idea on?” he tries to lodge out the words, trying to act coherent. but underneath, a storm brews—his hands are shaking. wanderer feels like he's swallowed a bag full of needles.

am i not doing enough? was i too harsh on them when i scolded them for fighting that damn mechanical desert robot? he's scared. or... do they really....

the mere idea of you being tired of him—sick of him, and ready to leave him behind leaves an ugly, disgusting feeling. like acid on his skin.

perhaps, you don't love him anymore? wanderer panics, senses going overdrive. was it that argument months ago when he hurt your feelings? he knows you know he apologized, and he's doing everything in his power to make sure he wasn't repeating that mistake anymore—but why would you say this out of nowhere?

or maybe it's because he didn't notice you feeling uncomfortable in your relationship? no, you would have definitely told him if so. then what is it? you don't just say things like this out of nowhere so seriously-

“i mean... at this point, i think i wouldn't ever want to break up with you.”

“...what?” wanderer blinks.

“you heard me.” cupping the sides of his face with your hands, you restate your words with more vigor. eyes determined. “i don't think i've ever loved someone so much as i love you. heck, not even close! kuni, if we break up, i might actually never recover.”

and the wanderer falls. how could you even say such a thing?

“that's... you're shameless.” he states it like an insult, but his hands go up to hide his eyes, hiding his embarrassment from your romantic words. “why would you even say something so out of pocket like that? you utter fool. you almost made me think i-”

- would lose you. even thinking it made him feel nauseous.

“why are we still dating then? but really, i mean it. i love you too much.” you coo, and that, in return, leads the wanderer to release an exasperated, weary sigh. if he were human, he's sure his blood pressure would never be normal because of you.

but contrary to his attitude, he relaxes his face and allows you to hold him. lightens up, even. you continue, rambling on, “be honest, you know you love me.”

“unfortunately.”

and that brings out such a bright and dazzling smile on your face that the puppets sarcastic smile is replaced by a real one when you huff and smack at his head. (all is well.)

“you're so unromantic.”

indeed, being with this strange, eccentric puppet was certainly a challenge in more ways than one. nonetheless, you know he cherishes you—because with you, the wanderer is different. he's bristly, infuriating, and honestly a pain (lovingly), but he cares for you.

he tells you to stop ogling at his pretty face and do the dishes, yet he never minds the attention at all. he tells you that you were a fool for accidentally getting yourself injured by eremites because you wanted to save some fungi, but follows you anyway and makes sure no one messes with you.

he says he probably wouldn't miss you while you're gone, but is always the first person you see when you return to sumeru city. it's these little things that make you love him, and you know the feeling is mutual—even if he'll act indifferent about it in the meantime.

“hey, kuni?”

wanderer's eyes are closed, serene. once he knew that you were not, in fact, going to break up with him, he relishes the feeling of his head resting on your lap. it was safe, warm, and everything to him; but he'd rather let the world burn before he tells you. “what?”

“thank you for letting me love you.”

....

“...idiot.” is all he says. you can feel him shift to the side so you won't see his face. “you don't have to thank me for that. that's so sappy...”

(and if you ever saw the slight sheen of glossiness in his eyes, you keep it to yourself.)

i should be thanking you. he thinks instead. i'm glad you love me.

so many things pop up in his head for this, so many unspoken words—and he may not be able to convey such things to you; he might never be able to, but you know that he loves, loves, and adores you.

because you accepted his past, his sins and his imperfections and treated him with tenderness and care. and you know that no matter how many sides of the wanderer you have yet to explore, you will love each one.

and that is enough for him to never let go.

a/n: IM CRYING I FINISHED THIS RIGHT ON TIME AFTER HIS EVENT and his growth has come so far,,, so proud of him 🥹

[lovesickeros]

☆ glimpse of divinity

{☆} characters lyney, neuvillette [ separate ] {☆} notes cult au, drabble, gender neutral reader {☆} warnings none {☆} word count 0.8k

× neuvillette

The first time he sees you strolling the streets of Fontaine with a glint of wonder in your eyes, he thinks he must have finally lost it. He has to rub his eyes and check a few dozen times before he's certain that you are, in fact, real and not some figment of his imagination conjured by a lack of sleep and overdose on caffeine.

..Though now that he gets a better look, it's not quite the same. Like a smudged painting, he thinks. Still, the uncanny resemblance to the visage of the Divine One has him lingering around the area just to stare a little longer, a deep, devoted sense of affection bristling beneath his skin.

And then you turn sharply on your heel, staring directly back at him, and he feels a sudden wave of embarrassment and something akin to shame.

Archons, he'd just made a fool of himself, hadn't he?

He quickly turns away, clearing his throat and hiding his embarrassment behind his hand. Though it does not seem to deter you, the soft tap of your shoes growing closer until you were peering up at him with wide eyes.

"..Hello." He offers awkwardly, a little too stiff and a little too formal, but you don't seem to mind in the slightest. He knows that your appearance, your vague similarities to the Divine One are mere coincidence, but it does not stop his heart from skipping a beat when you smile up at him. "I– apologize for being so uncouth and staring, it's just.."

His voice trails off into a breathy exhale, his hand twitching on his cane as if he wanted to reach out and touch you..but he restrains himself in time. He could not make a bigger fool of himself – he would never hear the end of it from lady Furina.

"You remind me of someone."

He decides, readjusting his hands on his cane as he bows his head for a moment is a show of genuineness, though it must look awkward with how stiff his body feels.

Yet he cannot help but want to get closer anyway, to hear the silky lilt of your voice grace his pointed ears. This is as close as he will ever get to the Divine..he is a weak man, he finds, as he offers a hand to you.

"I understand if this is a bit..forward, but would you mind joining me for tea?"

× lyney

He is a master magician – his entire work is built on keen misdirection and sleight of hand, but even he stumbles for a minute thinking he'd seen an illusion in your warm smile and striking features. Almost an exact copy of the Divine One, yet not quite..

Still, it's enough to pique his interest – enough, too, to give him the confidence to slip into your conversation with ease, all smiles and the slip of a card between his fingers.

"Hello, stranger – I don't think I've seen you in Fontaine before," He laughs, his hand reaching around to rest gently on your opposite shoulder, his voice a ghost of a whisper in your ear. "Say, could I interest you in a bit of magic?"

He perks up at the way you seem to light up like fireworks at his offer, a spark almost like recognition in your eyes he brushes aside – he's quite well known, after all.

"Good! Now, if I may just borrow your attention for a minute.." He grins, stepping around you and turning sharply to face you, his hand outstretched with a deck of cards in his hands, face down. "Let's start simple, shall we? I shan't overwhelm my audience – pick a card."

He holds the cards out again, his features twisted in something like awe, though he hides it well.

His heart flutters at the briefest of glances of your hand against his as you pluck a card from his hand, and he quickly retracts it, reshuffling the deck with a broad grin and a wink.

"Do your best to remember it! If you could return it to the deck.." The card is placed back in it's place amongst the rest, and the magic begins!

"Now then, let's see..hm," He hums for a long moment, the silence filled by the constant shuffle of cards until he suddenly plucks one from the deck, flipping it around for you to see. "Is this your card?"

He frowns when you shake your head, almost pouting, before he lights up again and steps forward.

"Ah! How foolish of me, I missed it..it's riiight here, see." He winks, reaching behind your ear..and pulls free a card from seemingly thin air. He flips it around for you to see again, and when you tell him it is, in fact, your card, he flips it around again.

And before you can see it, he's holding a rainbow rose between his fingers, his hand outstretched as he bows.

His eyes glint with a sort of wonder as he looks at your features, his smile widening a fraction.

"Well, dear stranger? Did you enjoy the show?"

[luonnon-varainen]

I can't stop thinking about the fact that Collie is a teeny tiny eldritch horror(headcanon). Knowing the darkness secrets of the universe. Possessing a knowledge about the nature of existence, time, overall scientists far beyond mortal comprehension. The little god, raised as a one in a belief of their superiority over mortals. Allowed to decide about fates of those beneath. The eldritch who adores the life and wants to both understand and protect it, while being the greatest threat to living. Also they are extremely similar to the creatures from the deepest and darkest trenches of ocean. Relaying on lowest instinct, primal force who brought then to being. Moving blindly through the emptiness of the universe in search of the precious energy, the life to fill the endless void, which consumes them from the inside. Never meant to experience satisfaction nor rest. Left only with vague sense of purpose, which they will execute at all cost. But they are an actual kid, who loves games and warmth of other creatures. And those natures of Collector are equal and complement one another, forming whole picture of who they are. Leading to those "clashing situations" when Collie is a kiddo and just "breaks the character". It could be the most unsettling, unhinged behaviour/information about themselves, casually explaining the most complex theories from all the science studies like it's common knowledge with no reason, reacting weirdly to any old cultural/history texts, but never mentioning why, treating the mortals with some distance, sympathy and objectify or just entering a little hunt mode out of nowhere. Casually remind that they surely a kid but the primal god's kid. The moral backbone, all the social cues, all acceptable behaviours might simply not apply to them, never been taught. All this burden to show Collie how to be good mortal is on their surrounding. Not always in the best way, but still. A cute, adorable and perfect for snuggling kiddo, but that uncanny feeling being around them, similar to facing a wild dangerous animal, knowing it could tear you apart, but it just passed by, never leaves.

[igglemouse]

The Name Game...

Now, before the regularly scheduled legacy posts hit the dashboard today I feel I must address something, normally I would ignore it. I've been here a decade, when have I been in any drama? Normally I would have just messaged this person, because again, I really don't care to do drama or anything like that, but I discovered it because of a reply I had read on one of my posts by a shared mutual. I thought it was funny and since they tagged the person, I wanted to go to their blog and see it for myself but I could not.

Odd, I can hover over the @ but couldn't go to the blog, it says it doesn't exist. I'm blocked I figure. Maybe it should have ended there and it would have been a shame if it had because I would not have seen the post claiming that I did things I did not do. I'll put the rest under a read more as I do love to type.

But this post just comes as a defense since in that post we have a lot of shared mutuals (its a small world!) and I do not want them to think that I stole a name or character from you and then that I deleted your post. Explanation below.

I did not steal the name.

Anyways, the nature of the drama is about a character's name. I have a character named Aurel Vasilescu and they have a character named Aurelia Vasilescu, which are obviously very similar names. It's completely fair that someone would see those two names and think someone copied someone else and since Aurel's actual name was introduced like a week or so ago it would naturally look like I did the theft.

It's some coincidence to be sure and one I would have happily laughed with her over and happily reblogged her story and posted the spider-man pointing meme and had fun with it but I wasn't even really given a chance to respond directly to her but more on that later.

I'm not sure how we both settled on those names, as I joked in the reply, great minds think alike? But for me I was looking for a Romanian surname since well, he's based in Ravenwood which is based on Transylvania and so I gave him a romanian surname. That we both have similar first names is pretty uncanny but given that there's a such thing as actual dopplegangers its really not out of the realm of possibility that someone creates a same or similar character name, but since I know leaving it at that would be my word against yours so I'll try my best to prove that it really was a coincidence.

Firstly. Absolutely no disrespect meant here but I don't know who you are. In your post you mentioned that we don't interact openly its because I didn't know about your simblr until it was mentioned in the reply in my post which was literally last night. That was the first time I heard of it. In fact if I had ran across your simblr I probably would have followed you and read your stories because they look good. I have over 300k likes, if I saw your posts I would have liked them. I like posts of people that are not my mutuals ever day. I'm not shy about liking posts. I've not liked a single one of your posts, not because they are bad, they clearly are not in any way, but because I have not seen them.

Since that reply in my post mentioned your character being in a newer story of yours I decided to check how new and the earliest I could find a post mentioning that character was December 31st 2024. A Happy New Years post that seems to be (happy to be corrected) the first time this character appears.

(And yes, agreed, that simblr who made that reply connecting us is one of the nicest people on this platform! I can agree with that!)

Well, I started to plan Elsie's story early. This includes making key characters that are not townies created by the game (since I play a legacy I makeover a lot of sims for whatever evil purposes I have) but Aurel was always going to be one since Elsie moves into a house with a coffin and him sleeping in it. I have proof of how early I had planned this...

Here is the scrivener file, a file I used to keep track of all character notes etc for my legacies, you can see the date on it...

Here is a snippet of him being in the file, can't show the character file as it would be spoilers but...

And lastly, since this doesn't prove that I didn't just create this now, here is the literal sim in S4TI since he happened to be one of the few sims I hand made for this legacy, this should prove when I made him in game, including his name.

And lastly, the link to Elsie's announcement post...

That is dated Jan 1st.

So, this proves I had made Elsie's story on the 30th and it proves that I had at least made my Vasilescu sim on the 3rd and it looks like, based on my search of their simblr, theirs debuted on Dec 31st? Is it really likely that I saw one post of your brand new story/character then nabbed the name right away only to reveal it months later? Why just steal a name any ways, if I wanted to steal, wouldn't I steal much more from that story and just change the name? Usually characters that are stolen the name is the main change while everything else remains the same, but reading those first few posts I can 100% confirm that my Aurel is a A LOT different from Aurelia. If I were this malicious stealer why not name him Aron or something if I were so eager to steal the name?

Also, I'm super collab friendly, if I knew your story it is much more likely I would have just asked for a collab then steal from you.

The truth is we both settled on what we thought were great names for these characters and they happened to be super similar. Yes, it is highly unlikely but it happened. I've done my best to prove though that I wasn't copying your OC by showing I had already created this character in my mind around the very same time you introduced yours and for me to steal I'd also have to know yours existed and I simply did not.

I did not delete any comments or replies.

I will try to assume the best because I do think a lot of issues people have comes from assuming the worst of someone then acting on those assumptions, but...I am very much a creature of habit.

When I reply, I always reply a day late, I do this because I like responding to EVERY comment made and doing it a day later makes it easier to organize and less likely that I will miss or skip over a comment. The exception is when people reply to a post I already replied to then yes, I will reply to those sometimes when I see them. There was a short time for this new legacy since I got more comments I tried replying when I saw them but it just didn't help my organization and again, I really try to reply to EVERY comment I see. Pull up any old post of mines, even from YEARS ago, you can see this.

I think anyone commenting on my stories can confirm that my replies will come at least a day later, days later if I'm on a break, rarely on the same day UNLESS there is something I see that I need to address. Proof of this is you can pull up recent posts and see that many don't have my replies yet, today I will reply to posts made March 28th for instance if I have time to reply, but again, if it feels like something I need to reply to and I happen to see the reply, I do so.

There was little chance of that happening for your particular comment that day because that day I received over 30 replies (THANK YOU ALL FOR THAT SERIOUSLY!). So I did not even see your reply to comment on or to delete and I think how you framed it makes it look like I was maliciously deleting your comments?

I'll quote from your post.

"A lovely moot very delicately mentioned it in the other person's comments while @'ing me, I replied with something like, "I'm curious as well!", and now they appear to be deleting and restricting comments rather than addressing the situation."

Well I am addressing the situation now so that should clear up the assumption that I wouldn't want to do that or that I'm a weasel who wanted to avoid it but how you've framed it, deleting comments, I was going to link the post but realized doing so would have your username and I don't want people outside getting into this and stirring up more drama, but that post has ONE comment deleted. Not comment(s). It has 17 replies on it, I don't think that sounds like me trying to delete or restrict comments on it. There is one comment on that post I have yet to reply to because it was made on the 28th and I'll reply to it later today or tonight even if I have t

But that one that is deleted I assume is yours? Well, my guess is when you blocked me it deleted this comment? Or you deleted the comment? I don't know, I don't know how tumblr works, I know I didn't touch the comment because again, I just started replying to comments on the 27th last night. Had I seen it I would have messaged you and replied to you. I think if this long post shows anything it shows I would have been very willing to message you.

I'm someone that had an entire pro-life and pro-choice (I was pro-choice) debate with a mutual in my comment section and didn't delete a single comment or unfriended them or treated them differently even though we very much disagreed. So no, I wasn't scared of confrontation or anything like that. I once asked people to openly criticize my stories anonymously if they wanted to. I have very thick skin.

But you said comments, as in plural, and that bothers me since it frames it in a way as if you made multiple comments and I deleted them all frantically running away from it.

Had you waited (and not saying you should have) I would have responded in my comment section and likely would have reached out and had you sent me mail or a message I also would have replied once I saw it, no hesitation. I don't see myself as above anyone here, I don't play clique games, I reply and interact with anyone that reaches out to me.

So, what now...

Well I dunno! I just wanted to defend myself since again, they have mutuals that I have and I did not want those mutuals to see those names and then think I am the thief and the one deleting comments and felt attacked and since her post clearly implicates me I must defend myself. If it were more vague, I likely leave it alone or maybe even created a tumblr just to send her an anon and tried to clear things up but the post is public and very clearly implicates me since again, we have shared mutuals and they will read her story then read mines and then make the connection.

I understand why she might feel frustrated and such, she felt I had stolen from her and reacted to that, so I'm not mad about that. If I saw someone with a Marisol Quesada I would have went hmmmm too but I do think I would have handled it differently but we are all different people with different experiences and such.

But, I will move on regardless. Since she has blocked me, I don't know if she will see this post (or want to see it) but I really hope more importantly the mutuals we share see it since that is the main reason I made this.

If you do see this post know there really are no hard feelings, I don't want this to come off as an attack against her or for it to escalate further. I'm just defending myself here from those claims and if you unblock me and want to chat I'd be open to that and if you delete your post about me, I'll delete this, and i've made this post non-rebloggable because I'm not trying to ever spread drama. I'll even reblog your story and promote it even because my main goals here are to share my stories but also share other's stories because I know most of us write and post because we want to share our stories and others seeing them, commenting, reblogging, liking, validates the work we put into each post.

I will make an exception about deleting comments on this post though, if there are any that seem directed at her in a negative way I will delete them, not that I expect them or anything, I have no idea what the reaction will be when this post goes live I might get tar and feathered but like I said I don't want this to be an attack towards anyone but if anyone has anything negative to say about me regarding this point, fire away, just know if you do it anonymously I will get very snappy...this is just me defending myself as an artist and a person. I didn't steal and I didn't delete any comments. I've done my best to prove both of those I hope. I dont want any of our shared mutuals picking a side, I just want to tell my side and defend myself because I again I felt attacked.

I've been here ten years, posting ten years, pretty consistently too! I'm just here in my little iggleverse corner posting, not bothering anyone, not engaging in any drama, and always trying to promote other simblrs big and small.

For those that made it this far...umm sorry this was long but I do type too much sorry T_T and hey, the defendant usually has to do a bit more...

But 10 years here, I just post, so, with all that said, the show must go on...

[idliketobeatree]

dead boy detectives characters as art objects and sculptures; extended ---

hello, i remembered i made some subjective explanations and notes on few of my choices for this post, and i thought some folks might enjoy it. soo let's get into it.

1.

monty finch

author: anders krisár

pretty self-explanatory; it's a moulded male torso with visible inprints on its skin.

anders krisár’ artistry explores the themes of loss, separation, and the condition of the psyche through the lens of a human body in duality: perfectionism meets unsettlement, skin meets marble and bronze and polyester, to create sculptures spanning geological time far beyond the living's capabilities.

monty's creation by esther was already stripped of any human agency. "he was made a boy, not a person", small, almost doll-sized, with a singular purpose: to seduce and entice the chosen dead boy into their doom. the naked skin and specifically the position of its arms are mildly erotic, but in a way that makes your skin crawl. the imprints are intimate, placed possesive; notice the thumbs digging close to especially sensitive areas like nipples and the belly button.

the latter seems to connect the "creator" to the subject, the navel here as a symbol of cruel, invasive motherhood. the fact that the torso is cut off in the middle and at the neck furthers the uncanny valley feeling of a young male body, but then again. this is a realistic portrayal. so was it ever a person? what does it have inside to make dents so profound? how deep you can press until it breaks?

--- i'm leaving out crystal and edwin (for now?), but @nicheoverhere brilliantly noticed that it was the same author for both. that was intentional! because glen martin taylor is all about taking kintsugi, which is a beautiful art form of repairing fine china and generally delicate things with veins of precious metals, but with materials like— nails. scissors. barbed wire. all ugly. the repair after a great shattering is seldom pretty after all, they really are similar in this regard. ---

2.

charles rowland

author: robert hudson

okay, strap in. this funky dreamy world belongs to robert hudson, and i picked it for charles rowland because it's all first impressions. the colours? the composition? they give you the 80s vibes, almost; like something a kid would design if you asked them what a time machine would look like. it could probably move in several ways. the pieces seem mismatched, but hold themselves together surprisingly well. or maybe you underestimate it?

it's neither big nor small. you can't tell its size at all. it's a bit overwhelming to look at, at first, and at second, and after a while, but it carries that comfortable familiarity and nostalgia for— well, nothing in particular, because the longer you look, the sadder its past seems. the bold pops of contrasting colour are fighting for your attention. they want you to like it! and yet, the major material seems to be just. rusted steel. made from tools.

and look at that botched up sphere, it wants so badly to be a perfect sphere and it knows it'll never be one. fine!! perhaps it could be a football ball instead! or maybe a head. if you close your eyes, that is. and this facing-up horseshoe? a lucky charm, made to collect good luck and keep it from falling out cause god, it needs it.

---

3.

niko sasaki

author: justin cloud

---

niko sasaki, now how do i describe her? let's start by saying— she's cleary a her. this one is a she. and there's something to be said about blooming, and femininity, and delicacy, because pink is a hopeful girly colour and a surprise and a delight.

what are you doing in a gallery, little flower, shouldn't you be at home? in a field? look how pretty you are! mind you, of course there's something wrong with her as well, but you're not sure if that is because someone messed it up, or because of a different entity alltogether. was it always half-electric? its elegance seems purposeful— the iridescent metal fits all too well with the white-pink petals— but also uncanny. and oh suddenly you can't stop looking at the stigma from which a pollen should release aaany time now.

when i look at her, at her black artificial stem and the small leaves imitating the real ones, i wonder if she doesn't want to lure me into a trap. is it her fault?

the beautiful petals seem like the only thing left real of the flower. whichever way she turns, it will probably mean— death. and flowers are ephemeral. what is a flower mounted to a wall, fortified with steel, connected with cables and enfused with electrical energy, then?

i think she's a self-preserving survivor. ---

4.

the night nurse

author: elizabeth turk

---

now. the night nurse.

of course it's the only piece in the collection where the background needed to be dark. no one here is older than her. there is no inoffensive, fading-into-background white for this absolute pillar of truth. or maybe something like a totem, quite protective in nature. and it's terrifying, 'cause you're immediately hit with the feeling that you're looking at something out of this realm, something you're not supposed to witness. the perspective is all wrong. is it downwards or upwards? why does it seem unstable when the pieces are so perfectly centered and seemingly well-balanced? child, you should calm down, it's not like you will destroy it with a stronger puff of air. will you?

this sculpture is called "tipping point — echoes of extinction", and it's actually a mix of technology and sculpture and sound, with elegant visualizations of the lost voices of birds and sea mammals. the author said it "was conceived in reverence to the astounding lives the species which envelop humans have lived and the mysterious ways they have contributed to our well-being. the shadows of their memory, whether a shape or a sound, have inspired this project." so the piece deals with death. moreover, it deals with murder. it records the harsh reality and makes sure the ones that suffered horribly at the hands of humans are, in a way, celebrated. but also— categorised. like epitaphs. the birdsong, once a living sign, is only visually represented by the lines of varying lenghts in 3D, and you can do nothing about it anymore, right, you can't bring back the dead, you can't help the innocent dying in any way other than— stacking them on top of each other and moving on.

---

so that's for now, i might someday write more if anyone's curious. :")

[let-roman-bite-someone]

I'm rewatching Embarrassing Phases and honestly gotta say,

Frankenstein's monster was a more fitting choice for Logan.

In the original novel, Victor Frankenstein isn't even a doctor. He's a college dropout, who very stupidly decided to play god and try to create life. He never took notes about his experiment, or did any amount of research, the dude literally went graverobbing and decided to create a human being in his college dorm.

And then when the creature turned out to be a little inhuman and scary looking, he immediately abandoned the creature, and decided to mope and moan about the wretched life that he himself had created. He did nothing to stop the creature or protect people from it.

In fact, when he realized that his experiment didn't turn out quite as good as he had hoped, literally the first thing he did was to go and take a nap and let the creature make its way out of the house and cause chaos.

Not to mention, when the creature asked him to create a female creature so it could have some company, instead of simply not giving his new creation reproductive organs, Victor decides to throw a fit at the very last moment because he was scared that the two creatures would reproduce and make monster babies.

This absolutely does not sound like a character Logan would want to dress up as. If he actually met someone like Victor Frankenstein in real life, he would not hesitate to deck them in the jaw full force.

Meanwhile, Frankenstein's monster proved to be not only physically strong but also very intelligent. He quickly learned how to speak, light fire and try to support himself. He learned how to speak French from some books he had found while traveling, and he tried his best to understand and help people. He was curious about the world he was brought into, and was interested in learning more about it. He even tried to reason with his creator, asking him to understand him, only turning "evil" when he truly felt neglected.

This actually has a lot of similarities to Logan who is constantly neglected by Thomas and the other sides. Like the creature, Logan's efforts are ignored and his feelings invalidated. And like the creature, he lashes out when he is repeatedly shut down or overlooked.

While we're on the topic, I do wish Logan had dressed up as the book version of the creature, instead of the pop culture version. In the book, the creature was actually extremely good looking, it was over 6ft and had long luscious hair. Frankenstein had made sure to give it the best features because he wanted to create a perfect human being.

The only problem was that the creature looked a little off, a little uncanny; its skin was pale and yellow (obviously, because it was made from corpses), and it's eyes were also a somewhat unsettling shade of yellow. This is the only reason it is described as ugly and horrendous, mostly by Victor himself.

The creature was not green with bolts on its neck and weird hair. And like I mentioned earlier, it could speak quite eloquently, unlike the pop culture Frankenstein which only communicated in creepy groans.

[lotusarchon]

I had to make a whole google doc to sort my thoughts on this, that's how mad I am tbh. My friends have made explanations which you can find here, and here. And while I told myself that after that post I was done, seeing my friend receive a comment like this was the final pushing point I needed.

I'm both going to ramble about Nezha here again, and I'm going to try and explain this in a way that'll get people to understand, as someone who once followed an Eastern religion too + I'm going to be stating my basic thoughts here so maybe some things won't make sense.

Mild info about me: I'm from Trinidad. My family is described with East Indian descent but clearly, I'm not from India itself. My knowledge of Hinduism is rather basic because I quit religion thanks to traumatic experiences related to it, however not lacking fully. From my father's side, specifically his mother, they practice Hinduism and can even be considered devout Hindus (if I'm to believe all the statues and pictures of about almost every single Hindu god). Though my knowledge is basic, understand that I'm not Hindu nor Indian, so of course these are my opinions and my experiences with Hinduism, and I do not advise you taking my word fully to heart. I'm only trying to explain something to the LMK fandom in the best way I know how too, by referencing another Eastern religion that isn't half as popular as Daoism/Buddhism.

There's only one show I know where Hinduism is portrayed, and it's an anime/manga series called Record Of Ragnarok (Shuumatsu No Valkyrie), and from what I know it's not well liked by others (and even banned I think?) because of the fact Shiva is weaker than Zeus and the supposed sexualization of Parvati, Kali and Durga? It's been a while so I could be wrong on this though.

Why am I bringing this topic up to a rant about a lego character though?

#1) Fiction vs Religion and Reality

While one half expresses discontent and discomfort, I've seen others who clearly don't mind because Shiva is still badass and cool. I myself had some qualms about his appearance in the beginning because while I did quit religion, this was a god I used to worship, and seeing him in an anime/manga and be sexualized and simped for was…uncanny, to say the least. Overtime I grew numb to it though because it was genuinely funny and even I, an ex Hindu, found him attractive, and had not much hesitation writing smut about him in past fics. 

Similarly, I can imagine this is how Daoists and Chinese had originally felt about Nezha in Lego Monkie Kid [Only referencing LMK with Chinese deities. I'm aware there could be other media where they're in.] A bit weird at first but then overall got used to it because there's genuinely no harm done, as it's not meant to be an educational retelling of a god, but a fictional portrayal of him.

Returning to the point I mentioned with Shiva. When I first came across this series in 2021 (?), I did not feel too happy and comfortable with the image of a deity I've grown up worshipping as a child. I quit religion when I turned 13, so it's been nearly five years since I've had nothing to do with the main religion of my household; Hinduism. Still, I practically grew up worshipping this god I was taught to fear, and seeing a potrayal of him (which honestly in my opinion) didn't seem like a good thing at the time. 

Why did I eventually stop being bothered? Because this wasn't supposed to be retelling of Shiva. This was just a character with similarities to the god I worshipped, but wasn't the god. The series I watched wasn't even intending to teach audiences about any of the religions and real life figures they portrayed, they simply used them as inspiration to tell a story. They weren't accurate representations, but that was the point. It's a story about gods vs humans from history; of course it wasn't going to be accurate nor stay true to the figure they took inspiration from.

You can imagine then for a cartoon series meant to sell Legos. Lego Monkie Kid contains several characters that are known in Chinese myths and legends/religions. Of the most popular mentioned, there is Sun Wukong, one of the main characters in the series, Tang Sanzang otherwise known as Tripitaka and the Great Monk, Lady Guanyin mentioned in season 1, the one the fandom argues about, Nezha, the Jade Emperor in season 4, and most recently, Nuwa, and Heavenly Pagoda King, Li Jing. There may be others but these are the ones that are most known within the fandom. 

Mind you some of these figures are still very much worshipped now, but, point remains: the series was never intended to be a retelling of these characters stories, nor were they intended to be educational for audiences. They took inspiration directly, gave their own twists, and hence you have the story of LMK, meant to originally promote Legos and then eventually gave way to the series that this fandom belongs too.

These characters are not their source material, nor the origins of which they came from as religious figures. Sun Wukong is a Buddha within JTTW’s ends and if I'm right is still worshipped as such sometimes (?). He didn't hide away into a mountain at the end of his journey. His companions didn't die, nor were they reincarnated, but instead also acquired titles and became Buddhas as well. (Or gods? I frankly don't remember). Tang Sanzang as we've in season 4 was not some sort of brave, astute man in the book but rather a crybaby coward. Need I even point out that Nezha wouldn't have a giant mech to fight people, nor would he have such close deposition with the Jade Emperor? Or the fact that the Jade Emperor would be bested by someone like Azure Lion?

Not even counting Journey To The West and the Fengshen Yanyi, the real Tang Sanzang that Wu Cheng’en took inspiration of most certainly did not have a monkey, a pig, a water demon and a dragon turned horse with him on his journey. 

Why speak of all this?

To make my first point; religion and fiction are two very different things. Religion has existed for who knows how long, and fiction has recently decided to include fictional potrayals of these gods into stories and cartoons. From a writer's perspective, it's really interesting taking something that is a part of religion and writing it into your own works, with your own take on it.

And of course, brings me to the topic of Nezha.

Lego Monkie Kid Nezha is, according to an official writer within the show's team, an adult. Although many fans have their objections about this, supposedly because Nezha in other sources is a child god, and think that the writer only abruptly pointed out Nezha's an adult to save her own skin.

Taking all my points in consideration; let me humour the Nezha is a child god idea. What, exactly, does this have to do with Nezha in Monkie Kid? 

If Nezha, the god within Daoism and Buddhism, is supposedly a child deity, what law says that any other potryal of Nezha has to abide by this? 

By this logic. Shiva in the anime I mentioned above shouldn't be weaker than Zeus. He also shouldn't even be agreeing to fight mortals, as he's a deity far above such petty behavior. Zeus shouldn't be portrayed in books like PJO as a lecherous cheater, because in reality, Ancient Greece consisted of multiple kingdoms and thereby different interpretations of Zeus were merged together which is what consists of the myths we know of him today which is highly disrespectful, and Sun Wukong shouldn't be a mentor to MK, because he's supposed to be a Buddhist, and thereby wouldn't be entertaining fighting nuances.

Fiction doesn't not adhere to reality. The fact I need to say this astounds me because should this not be obvious? Lego Monkie Kid is a cartoon set in some sci-fi futuristic world with lego people walking around, where gods somehow need mechs to go around fighting, and there are animal-like demons/yaoguai walking around here and there. There is literally an arcade in the show with zero gravity. Do you possibly believe for a miniscule second that anything that goes down in a fictional setting will adhere to our reality??

And, even then, humouring the Nezha being a child deity concept > what law says that he has to be portrayed as a child in other pieces of fiction?? Especially when the fictional setting is not meant to be a retelling or for educational purposes, but rather to carry a plot. 

There is nothing, no law, no rules that insists that a religious figure must be portrayed as they are in a legend/myth for a fictional world.

Lego Monkie Kid Nezha is not the deity Nezha. He is a completely different character, which many of you should have realized from the exact moment he was brought into the show. They are not the same person. Never was. 

“Oh, it's disrespectful―” From a writer's perspective, I personally don't think so. If I wanted to make a story that involved a god, I wouldn't keep everything that makes that god who they are. There are some key points I would keep to make the story, but I would ultimately create an OC that shares some attributes to this religious figure, but it wouldn't be him. The show Record of Ragnarok does a good job with this in my opinion, because while many characters share some attributes to the real figures they're inspired by, the writers changed several things to create a proper story, and thereby making these characters OCs and not the actual gods themselves, and of course that logic applies to Lego Monkie Kid.

In the instance, again, Nezha the god from Daoism, is in fact a child deity, Nezha in LMK isn't. Nezha in LMK is someone who's entirely different from the god himself. 

So, the logic this fandom uses confuses me a lot. Do you not understand how to seperate fiction from religion?? Do many of you not understand media literacy, and what a writing process is like?

Sigh. Moving to another point―

#2) Character Designs

Sometimes, when it comes to character designs, anyone could just throw them into anything and think, “Yeah that's good.” Not much thought is given to a character's appearances depending, which I don't really blame as someone who's 1) done literature as a hobby and has seen my fair share of character designs, 2) creates characters myself. It's too hard thinking of a character's appearance, and even then when making them there normally wouldn't be any significance.

Nezha's design in LMK seems to be a huge source of debate when arguing about his age. It was actually brought up in my previous post, specifically that his hairstyle was often used by children at the time. 

I have a bone to pick with this point.

This is Nezha from Lego Monkie Kid:

However, this is Mei from the same show:

Before anyone starts, allow me to point out as a history geek that likes religion and pointless facts over politics: I am aware that there are different hairstyles to show certain things, including one's age and status and sometimes even personality. Do not bring up any points about the differences in these characters hairstyles with an excuse, “Oh, but you should know―”, because I know how hairstyles could be treated within history. 

However. Look at Nezha's hairstyle, and then Mei's. I've never seen the LMK fandom complain about Mei's age, because it was generally believed that MK and Mei are both at least 18 if not older, as the legal age for a driver's license in China is 18. 

Both Nezha and Mei are wearing a ‘bun’ type hairstyle. Mei's is arguably more of twin ponytails (?), but I'm not a hairstylist, so I don't know what they're called. To me they look similar, that's all I'm trying to say. And even if they weren't though―through a modern lense, a hairstyle isn't reserved for just any specific age. Anyone can wear a hairstyle they want. Keep in mind that the creators of LMK are also Western(?), and they chose a hairstyle for these two characters based on personality and appearances. 

A hairstyle is not reserved for any age. Grown women including my aunts have worn hairstyles similar to these just for fun.

That's point one.

Point two; Nezha is a very popular deity, much like Sun Wukong. In terms of recognition, Sun Wukong is very easy to recognize because of his staff and his overall cocky personality. 

Nezha however is an entirely different case. Most media potrayals of him always has the two-bun hairstyle of him, which is what makes Nezha recognizable. If you remove that specific hairstyle of his, you won't recognize him. It's iconic, and pointed out in this scene (The Legend of Hei) where Nezha makes an appearance as well.

[Characters sitting together. White haired boy (Hei + MC) looks at the older, dark haired boy (Nezha). Nezha looks back.]

Nezha: What? You want an autograph?

Hei: You're a boy?

Nezha: Yeah?

Hei: Your hairstyle is cute.

[Nezha looks in front with an annoyed expression.]

Nezha: If it weren't for the recognizability, I'd have changed it long ago.

Hei: Recognizability?

[Nezha removes the buns(? some form of them?) from his head. Three older figures glance at him.]

???: Who are you?

[Scene returns]

Nezha: See?

Aka, point being made: those buns are what makes Nezha recognizable. If he doesn't have that hairstyle, unless it's specifically pointed out, I'm certain majority would not recognize him. 

Some hairstyles are meant to be done for some form of meaning. But sometimes, as is the case with designs, they're just there just because no one wanted to make the characters bald. Using the excuse about Nezha's hairstyle to justify his age as a child is by far the lamest and dumbest excuse I've ever heard of, because the creators did not give him that hairstyle for the sake of some meaning anymore than MK was given his current hairstyle either. It's his logo at this point, ignoring his color scheme aside.

Even then, if the creators of Lego Monkie Kid intended for Nezha to be a child within the show, he would not appear as he is. Lego Monkie Kid has made children models, which we can see here (used from s3 and up in case someone tries to excuse the differences in seasons): 

And of course, Nezha's model;

Despite the perspective and low quality though, he's at least the same height as Red Son here:

If Lego Monkie Kid truly intended for Nezha to be a child, his appearance and model would be similar to the children's in the show. Perspective is difficult to find but you can clearly see he's about the same height as the other adult characters if not taller, and is not small like the child figures we see.

Pink isn't a children's color, and nothing about Nezha's clothing indicates a child. He very much looks like an adult and doesn't exhibit childish behavior as we see Red Son, Mei and MK do.

I've seen fans use his voice to point out he's an adult, but I'm not sure that's a valid point. I say this as someone who has a 13 year old brother and was recently a minor myself. 

Allow me to clarify: a voice isn't a clear proof of age. My father is a 45 year old man but sounds very much like a woman/teenage girl. My brother is 13 and sounds more of an adult than his father. My classmate in highschool was one year older than me and his voice was very high-pitched. 

The voice actors in LMK are directed to speak a certain way for a reason��in English. I'm not sure about Mandarin. In my opinion, Wukong's voice sounds like Son Goku's because it's a reference to the fact Wukong is what inspired Goku. Nezha's probably sounds deep and brooding not because he's a child but because it almost represents his own personality, and probably is a reference from another shonen protagonist Ichigo Kurosaki. MK's voice in the beginning sounds really childish to me but slowly as the events of s3, 4 and 5 happen it gets more deeper almost as a reference to show how his ‘innocence’ is slowly fading. 

Or, I might be looking to into it. Regardless, tdlr, don't use Nezha's voice in your argument. I've seen grown ass men have high pitched voices. 

Returning to my original point however; if you have an ounce of media literacy and understanding, you should be aware that some character designs are chosen for a reason. Nezha's icon is those two bun hairstyle, and the writers purposely chose it so old fans/readers of JTTW and FSYY and maybe other Chinese/Daoists would be able to recognize him and go, “Hey, that's Nezha from―”

Before I got into LMK, I read JTTW and also saw The Legend of Hei and the Nezha 2019 movie, so I knew him because of the hairstyle. And my first instinct of course was to point out, “That's the dude from TLOH!!” when I saw him. So, the hairstyle was chosen for the recognizability, and I highly doubt as a sign of age.

Even then, LMK Nezha aside, moving on to a different point.

#3) Sources Of Inspiration

The 21st century isn't really the first era where people are taking inspiration from other cultures. As a matter of fact, it's been happening for decades, and it's very prominent in religion, which someone of you would know if you both a) actually did proper research, b) gave a shit about what you're researching and c) studied history.

Hilariously, I have done all three of the above. 

I'm going to use a popular example here with Sun Wukong and Hanuman. Hinduism is supposedly largely considered one of the oldest religions in the world. If you truly think about it, certain Daoist deities are loosely inspired or are versions of Hindu gods, which I'm going to use here with a popular example (and provide a link too).

― Sun Wukong and Hanuman. The earliest Vedic records mention one of the supposed known monkey gods, and their similarities make scholars suggest Hanuman inspired Sun Wukong. Specifically his figure in JTTW, where it's speculated that the author must've had a copy of Vedic (?) hymns. While Sun Wukong does predate JTTW, Hanuman definitely has had some influence on him.

Much, much similarly, the deity known as Nezha, is also loosely inspired/based off the figure known as Nalakuvara, who appears in Hindu and Buddhist mythology, and often appears as a sexual trickster figure in Hindu and Buddhist literature.

Historically speaking, when it comes to religion and myths, something many people fail to understand is that before there was the idea of writing to tell a story, there was the process known as sharing from mouth to ear. Not in a literal sense, but rather that people often preferred to tell stories via word of mouth back then, and as things always go in history, there will be changes. The proof is literally right there. Nezha was originally known as Nalakuvara, yet when transmitted through Buddhist texts, he became known as Nazha, then Nezha. And as such, the Lotus Prince and Chinese god known as Nezha was created. A combination of Nalakuvara and the child god Krishna.

A lot of people will want to jump on that specific point that mentions Krishna being a child god, so allow me to immediately put you down right there.

Ex Hindu here; I did not even know there was a portrayal of Krishna as a child. Up until I stopped practicing Hinduism, I used to worship Krishna as an adult figure. In the paintings and statues my aunts had for Diwali as a child, he was always showcased as an adult.

Ironically, doesn't this apply for the actual god Nezha too? 

When it comes to religion and myths, many of you forget something very important; there is no such thing as a canon iteration. These aren't shows, these are stories from the past told through different people, and passed through many hands. There is no such thing as a canon version because almost everyone had their own version of a myth or story. Terms you may typically apply to fandoms don't apply to fucking religions and myths, and some of you are so chronically online that you forget it.

#4) The LMK Fandom's Chronically Online Attitude

I'm an ex Hindu who still faintly remembers some bits and pieces from my childhood while practicing this religion, especially during the Diwali period, where little me managed to get new information from library books about the gods my family worshipped. I personally didn't like sitting during the priest's (forgot what he was called) chanting though but the funny white thingy we used to have to wear was fun. 

There are some Hindu gods I'm familiar with, like Lakshmi, Kali, Durga and the other versions of her (I still can't recover from the one statue with her in a fish..) Parvati, Shiva, Vishnu, Hanuman (yaah), Rama and Sita, Ganesh (also yah) and of course, Krishna.  I also have watched my fair share of childhood movies and cartoons where the gods were mentioned or present―Karan & Arjun specifically struck the fear in me with Kali 😭😭 holy fuck that movie scared me with the creepy edits jeez T-T. There was also that one cartoon about Rama and Sita”s story specifically Hanuman, and this Indian TV series where this little girl was a loyal devotee to Ganesha (I had no idea rats were one of his uh signature animals holy shit).

I'm rambling here a bit because the childhood memories were fun, but the point I'm going for is though….

I am familiar with these gods I grew up with. And I know about them, maybe not enough but certainly enough to know how to properly respect them from back then. 

And, using Krishna as a prime example; if someone came up to me, or I came across anyone, who argues that the god I know is an immortal child, even though I have worshipped and adult version of him, I'd be so fucking pissed. Krishna is seen as an adult, I worshipped him as an adult, but there are cases where he's a child god, and that's fine! But to have someone tell you that you're wrong about the god you know about because they got some basic information off the internet, undoubtedly, I'm going to be pissed. Especially when it's from a Western fan who has no fucking brain.

So, of course, imagine how devotees of Nezha and Chinese people must be feeling every single time this fandom fucks about with Nezha's age. I saw it myself; people told my friend that a) she was lying and b) her statement is irrelevant just because “I did my proper research, and even if you're Chinese you can still be a proshipper, Nezha's a child deity.”

It's genuinely so fucked up to me how the LMK fandom act towards Nezha's age. You guys will ignore the people who are willing to provide accurate information for the sake of being in the right and accusing people for being a proshipper over a deity they have more experience with than you, a Western fan who has no knowledge of Eastern religion.

It's insane. There are actual Daoist and Chinese who are pointing out the fact Nezha isn't an immortal fucking child. 

You're not only disrespectful, you insane, childish and most importantly chronically online. Nezha the god isn't a fictional character, there's nothing ‘canon’ about him. He's a god who's lived for decades longer than you, and his existence predates yours. People have long sinced worshipped Nezha, and the fact that you can so boldly tell someone they're wrong about the god they've worshipped is so disrespectful.

Do you not realize, as Nezha is worshipped as a child, he's worshipped as an adult? Do you not take into account how absolutely disgusting and horrible you are telling Daoists and Chinese who have stated time and time again the information of Nezha being an immortal child is factually incorrect that they're wrong and know nothing??

I'm repeating my statement; I'm an ex Hindu, but if anyone told me that Krishna's an immortal child too and then point out I'm wrong and my point doesn't matter, I would be seething. And I don't blame my friend who's losing their temper about Nezha's age. 

What amazes me though, somehow, is the fact that. If anyone who was Chinese + Daoist agreed with your claims, as Cole from Twitter once did, none of you would've spoken that way to my friend. But of course, once she points out she's Chinese/ex Daoist and disagrees with you, majority of the opinions switched because, she wasn't agreeing with your headcanon, right? So even though she's Chinese, she's bad because she disagreed with you.

You're all disgusting and fucking weird.

And the fact y'all in this fandom will habitually prove yourselves as hypocrites by attacking people, and then ignoring the ones who are capable of proving you're wrong to cling to a false idea is insane. You guys need some actual help, holy fucking shit. 

Nezha isn't an immortal child. That's a god. If he was intended to be a child in LMK, there would've been statements about it. 

Seperate fiction from religion, and seperate your headcanon from canon and the actual god. If you think this biased headcanon is okay and attacking people that point you out for being wrong is somehow okay, I sincerely ask that you take a break from the internet, and read a book.

No, don't just read a book. Read a history book. Pick up some knowledge, understand how religion and history works. 

Furthermore. The research some of you guys are doing is actually shit, by the way. You guys aren't researching properly if you can pull up with Nezha is 12, thing. If you actually cared about his age, you'd put more effort and actually stop being disrespectful to the people who are giving you the proper information. You only research surface level so you can attack people.

And additionally, stop playing the Devil's advocate. Most of you are just Western fans who think you know everything from reading one book or watching one show. You read JTTW or watch OSP’s videos and suddenly, you know more than an actual Chinese person or Daoist. You look up Wikipedia and think, “Oh yeah, I'll go with this!” And that's it. Most of you at best can provide only three websites at most, and I can bet my ass that these websites with information about Nezha's age was written by a fan who got their information from a shit source.

I love History, and most specifically, I love religion. Not so much the divine aspects as it is about the myths that surround it. Whenever I get into a fandom, I need to find out more about their religion and history. Getting into JTTW, and eventually, LMK, pushed me into a rabbit hole of Chinese myths that I really enjoy learning. But dealing with idiots who think they know more?? It's sickening as shit.

I'd like to think I'm good at literature things because once it's a religion or myth I want to learn everything about it. But I know I don't know everything, and I know especially I have more to learn. I'd never tell someone who is a part or worships the religion/culture I'm learning that they're factually incorrect about it just because I have an opinion and I learnt my info from a random source.

You guys in the LMK fandom are incredibly entitled. The Nezha is 12 controversy is a headcanon, which became worst by that asshat Cole on Twitter. And because so many of you don't want to learn the truth, whenever someone tries to point out and help you, you ignore them or attack them, and deny their heritage.

And honestly?? You guys suck. 

And this is coming from me!! Some of y'all are grown ass adults too!! And yet I'm childish and immature!?!

Brother I literally turned 18 a few months ago, yet I'm 100% certain I'm not throwing a blasted hissy fit over a fucking god the way some of you all who are most definitely adults are doing.

And finally, the one thing that actually does make me laugh is because I'm pretty sure most of you didn't do History classes. One of the most important things my history teacher taught me is; don't use Wikipedia as a source of viable information. Thousands of people are capable of accessing Wikipedia and changing information as they want, and so it's much better to find book solid resources from libraries. I did in fact use Wikipedia too (hypocritical of me yeah) so of course I wouldn't advise using the screenshots I provided from Wikipedia as evidence to the argument, because anything on Wikipedia can be changed. If I'm feeling extra petty I could change something myself to be in the right.

Furthermore, if you dare to bring up only JTTW and FSSY as a plausible argument about Nezha's age, I'm genuinely going to throw hands and fuck your mother. I think my friend also mentioned it in their posts but I'll mention it here too; JTTW does NOT state Nezha's age. I've read JTTW, and aside from Wukong vs Nezha there's nothing else that states Nezha's age. For all we're aware of, Wukong called Nezha a kid just out of spite, and I do it too when I'm arguing with someone. FSSY is the Investiture of the Gods and the ORIGINS!! Do you THINK a book about the ORIGINS of the gods would focus on other aspects about them!!? No!!

I expect some of the arguments I might get are;

"Oh, Nezha [appearances] could be wearing a glamor!" That is a headcanon, as we see nothing in LMK to refute that. Macaque's scar is canon because it's shown within the show. Nezha's appearance has NOT fluctuated since he was introduced. The idea of him using a glamor or illusion is a HEADCANON unless proven by the show. And headcanons are NOT vital.

"But you use Wikipedia too :(" Which I pointed out and made aware of, which is I also doubt that source myself. If any of you did History, your teachers are supposed to INFORM you that using a website is NOT a good idea for backing up information, and it's much better to use books or other trusted sources. In the case of Nezha, I'm trusting actual Daoists/Chinese who knows more about him than I do. It's because I did PROPER research that I even came across a good source of information, aka @ruibaozha, who I'm sure can share more light on this than me! The fact that some of you guys won't even acknowledge them is almost proof that...you're clinging to a headcanon. Jackass.

"But Nezha in JTTW/FSSY are 7/12 and that's where LMK takes it's inspiration from so obviously―" We've seen for a fact LMK does NOT follow JTTW to the letter. Jade Emperor beating Wukong?? Lady Bone Demon being a powerful foe and being trapped in a bunker? Azure even being able to kill the Emperor? Majority of the LMK fandom likes to point out that LMK Macaque and JTTW Macaque are two different people, especially when you claim that Macaque is a bad character because he cannibalized the monkeys. So then, with this logic, JTTW Nezha, FSSY Nezha, and LMK Nezha are also three seperate figures. I swear someone made a post about the differences JTTW and FSSY Nezha have too, but I can't find it so meh. The point still remains though. LMK Nezha are two different people, you're not making any sense to me about that argument. Even then, LMK isn't taking direct inspiration and putting their own twist. Who says anything needs to be accurate??

"The writer only said Nezha's an adult to ship lotuspeach!" Are you faintly aware people, actual Chinese people, have shipped these characters together? Proshippers can come from anywhere but I genuinely doubt every single person is a proshipper because of course, they're aware their god isn't an eternal child. On top of that, in a situation like this another writer would point out that Nezha ISN'T an adult. No one has argued against this claim, so why persist? Where's your logic coming from if not entitlement?

I want this to be the last time I have to talk about Nezha, because I made my blog to write porn and me smooching my favorite LMK characters. I kinda don't really like making discussions like this because that's not the point of my blog.

However...I do like rambling. A lot :)))

Anyways, point blank. LMK fandom needs to grow out of this entitled mindset and stop ignoring the facts from experts. You guys are just being annoying at this point.

My argument isn't really valid tbh, just pointless rambling because I only know basic information. I think you guys should find proper information from accounts online.

Also, if you're gonna argue: don't bring be albeist, racist etc etc. I'm capable of cussing you out without bringing up your mental health, race or identity :)))

[howlsofbloodhounds]

You know, I'm pretty sure that my most controversial UTMV take is that Ink and Error's friendship has very similar vibes to Killer and Color's.

There is, of course, the fact that Ink and Killer are somewhat similar characters. Both have a very complicated relationship with emotions, both are very curious characters, and both have very questionable morals.

But that alone wouldn't really do much since, you know, Error and Color are nothing alike.

No, the reason why to me those relationships are similar is because in both they are each other's only certainty. They're a source of stability for the other. Someone who is there unconditionally.

Ink and Killer are both stray cats at heart, but they always come back to their one special little guy. And their special guy is always gonna be there when they need him.

And Color and Error, albeit in different ways, are the only people to not really be bothered by the uncanny valley guy they picked up along the way. Sure, for Error it's mostly because he hates everyone including himself pretty equally, but still he would be the one person out there who wouldn't give a flying fuck if Ink can't muster the energy to deal with any emotions that day. He'd be the one person who wouldn't care if he can't muster the energy to do good or be good either.

(I also think there can be some fun parallels between Ink's relationship with Dream and Killer's relationship with him. Basically, he's not a good option to help either of them).

Anyway, I think these four would make the world's messiest friend group

You always have very based and cool ideas. Honestly I would love to see more color and killer, error and ink, and epic and cross interactions tbh. It’d be very chaotic and hilarious i think.

Also the bit about Ink & Dream and Dream & Killer is very interesting as well, how the poor guy wants to help but also isn’t very equipped to do so.

Dream feels like he might have a bit of an issue with taking on more responsibilities than he’s capable of handling, and he and Ink did fall out for their differences—so I can definitely see him falling out with Killer eventually, which would not be good if Dream was all Killer had in this scenario.

{ @stellocchia }

[karrashifts]

ANSWERING YOUR SHIFTING QUESTIONS *ೃ༄

i was gonna make these talking videos but i apparently dont feel comfortable enough yet and also am scared of irls finding me so ur getting it as a tumblr post :( these are scattered through and are questions regarding both my dr but also shifting in general! enjoy!!!

・❥・ Can you share details about the 30 day mind reprogramming you did?

yes of course! for those of you who don't know, my first ever intentional shift to a reality i really wanted to go to happened during a 30 day mind reprogram sorta?? i don't know if i can really call it a mind reprogram, it was more of a "restarting ur shifting journey".

i got the inspiration for it from a discord server in which every channel was dedicated to a day 1-30. every day you'd enter a channel and do the tasks within the channel. i ended up leaving the server because i felt it was rather tailored to mcu drs but i made my own little plan inspired by it.

i took a planner and wrote down tasks for everyday for 30 days. it wasn't just tasks such as "meditate" or "try to shift" etc. it was a mapped out plan for my shifting journey including tasks such as "write a letter to your dr self" "educate yourself on this shifting related topic". it kept me insanely motivated and connected me to my dr!

you can always map out your journey like this yourself with tasks you wanna do but if you're interested in my specific plan, i can always make a discord server similar to the one i was inspired by and help/guide you within the server! :) lmk

・❥・ If you don't script a faceclaim will you just look like yourself?

there are infinite realities with infinite possibilities and that includes your looks! i can't specifically tell you what will happen if you don't script anything but it usually aligns with your intentions or beliefs. if you do wanna script precautions and aren't quite set on looking like you do here, here are appearance things i script or how my appearance changed in drs:

- you dont need a faceclaim to shift or change ur appearance in a dr. you could always twist singular features or aspects about your appearance in your script. you don't like your green eyes? script you have brown ones etc.

- the thing i do, is i will pick a faceclaim but look more like a "mix" of the two of us. i know this can seem kinda scary or uncanny idk but features i like about her stay and features i like about myself stay. especially in drs in which i am significantly older than here, this has helped me visualize a lot because i have very teenagy features and seeing myself as a middle aged adult was kinda hard.

- beauty standards arent the same across all realities and you can use that for your advantage. things i am truly insecure about here, i often script to be THE aspired beauty standard in my dr and this has made me more confident here aswell.

in my personal case, whenever i don't script my appearance i end up looking like here, except for some features because my body or looks adjust to my surroundings. example for this is the fact i am way skinnier in my star wars dr due to intense training or my skin is better in my fame dr due to a personalized expensive skincare routine.

・❥・Do you have trouble differentiating between actors in your fame dr and characters they might play in other drs?

it depends on the actor and their roles. a lot of my star wars co stars are just so immensely different from the characters they play that it is hard to see them alike and it feels like they only share a face. additionally i struggle with memories from my dr and often can't carry personal feelings across realities so i sort of forget i know them in a different form aswell.

i do sometimes struggle with grudges and i'll hold them across realities which can be kind of confusing and unfair for the other person but i think i am getting better at ignoring those. i think at the end of the day i don't see differenciating them as a necessity and look at them more as eachothers variants like portrayed in the mcu.

・❥・DR RELATED: How did you and your S/O meet and get together?

this question was targeted at my fame dr so if youre new my s/o is gong yoo and im a hollywood actress in my 30s!

i love this question sm stop anyways so. i didn't really script a "get together" story but i did script the circumstance under which we met. i wrote an action movie about the multiverse here and scripted it into my dr. for lore reasons the movie's cast was split into half south korean actors and half hollywood provided actors. ofc we both got casted and our characters were usually on screen together.

i didn't really meet him on set though but in a language course. the movie was supposed to be appealing to both sides of media so depending on context or scene it was filmed in korean or english. all cast members had to be somewhat stable and confident in both languages and the directors thought, the most productive way to make us learn, would be to have us all take classes together and teach eachother.

i can't say that it was love at first sight HELP. because our characters were so relevant in eachothers lore we usually practiced together to both learn and bond but we are both very frustrated language learners so this wasn't always easy. i remember usually walking out the course and thinking hes kind of an ass whoops.

we ended up meeting again a few weeks later on set, and from then on we became really good friends and we ended up teaching eachother more on set than in the course. our scenes together took about 8 weeks to film and at some point, his character had to k1ll my role. it was a rather gruesome and gorey scene to film and while it didn't affect me much he felt rather bad filming it and so after our day on set was over, he was all "let me take you out" and i was obv all "you don't have to do that" but he insisted because he felt bad for having to pretend to do that so i agreed.

we were filming in LA at that time so i showed him the place we ate at and we walked there to have him see some stuff. throughout the date i randomly got confused about if this is even a date or not help but since i am pretty straightforward i just asked if it was and he very awkwardly said yes so we decided it is one lmao. after this we just kept going on dates every now and then after filming and showing eachother around depending on where we were filming. eventually filming got to an end and we lost contact for a while until the whole cast reunited once in seoul and he told me he wanted to try again and be official and exclusive 🙍🏻‍♀️💕

[demodraws0606]

Charwhit and Teruxander are parallels and I'm scared for Charles oh god.

My friend and I just realised the similarities between Charwhit and Teruxander from a character design standpoint, like it's actually uncanny.

They both have extremely similar smiling expressions (btw I checked literally every other sprite and only Eden comes close to have a similar smiling sprite).

Their hair is also literally the fucking same just flipped and Xander also has messier hair.

If you're not convinced I literally traced Xander's hair and overlapped it on Whit's sprite. It's literally just identitical to Whit's hair just messier.

Obviously we can get into their personality on how they're both characters that seemed "difficulty" (Whit's lack of ability to take things seriously and Xander's hot headedness) but then showed that they were actually quite kind. However they're also very secretive about their past and seem to hold baggage that they dont want to share.

Now let's get into Charles and Teruko, the similarities are less obvious like them having the same fucking hair but it's still there.

They both have ponytails but in reverse positioned, similar to how Xanwhit's haircut is reversed.

They also have a sprite pose that is extremely similar.

But I do actually think the similarities with Teruko and Charles mostly come from the storyline itself.

From Chapter 1 and 2 their role seems to have reversed, Teruko becoming distrusting of everyone and Charles becoming extremely trusting of Whit. This parallel is pointed out in Chapter 2 quite obviously.

They also have something going on with their brother but that's just more like...a fun fact type of thing.

Anyways yeah considering how DRDT's whole thing is supposed to be "You shouldn't trust blindingly but you shouldn't also distrust everyone" and Whit/Xander seem to parallel uhmm...

I'm worried for Charles.

[the-catmans-offical-2]

The offical art when it comes to Ed and Wrath are few and far between. However, there's some things I've noticed and would like to share!

Wrath, as a human, would have blue eyes - while this is something we pretty much already knew just by watching eps 28 through 30, if you look at Ed's eye color then you'll realize that they're very close to being inverses of each other!

Also Wrath is cool colors (Blues and greens, blacks and purples) whereas Ed is warm colors (Yellows and reds, whites and oranges). I think that's another contrast or inverse between them to show who they are as characters - with Wrath being a homunculus he is colder colors like the tones of a dead body or just generally not something alive, while Ed has warmer colors like a living human would.

There's more differences between them! Wrath's iris shape is (in the picture and originally) more circular than Ed's - who's is more ovular. Wrath also has slightly larger eyes than Ed, giving him a bit of more childlike appearance though his facial shape keeps him appearing as though he is of similar age to Ed. (I remember reading somewhere once, and please correct me if I am wrong but I personally believe this greatly, that Wrath was made with the goal kept in mind that he'd be an opponent to Ed of similar age and similar in other ways as well.) Wrath also has sharp teeth whilst Ed has dull flat ones - oddly enough Wrath's ears are pointed slightly and Ed's ears are rounded, furthermore giving the visual feel that Wrath isn't human. He must appear rather uncanny to Edward or to any human - same with the homunculi in general - because he looks human but with subtle things that make him... Off.

Wrath is all smilely too, whereas Ed looks more serious or weary; Showing off Wrath's inital innocence (which stays there throughout the series until he was betrayed by Dante and Envy, and I will fight anyone on that) and Ed's lingering distrust for Wrath. Fun fact, in CoS he seems to trust Wrath more even though the two never see each other again. Oh, they're gonna be the end of me. ED FUCKING ACTED LIKE HE KNEW WHAT WRATH WOULD WANT, which leads me to believe they had a talk or just SOMETHING during ep 51 that was cut out.

I have no idea what this image is from so please let me know if anyone knows! I've been curious for a while.

Anyway, Wrath:) He's poking out from behind Ed, and there's more things to point out between them!

Wrath is wearing dark clothes whereas Ed's wearing light ones. Like usual, Wrath's hair is down and messy while Ed's is up and neat. This is the offical art that made me realize that Ed has longer, thinner eyebrows than Wrath - who has thicker ones!

Also Wrath seems to be staring directly at Ed, but I personally can't read his expression as anything? Maybe curiosity? I'm not good with reading facial expressions lmao.

I only added this one bc WRATH LOOKS SO SILLY WHO THE FUCK PUT HIM IN A LIL SUIT??? HOW THE FUCK DID SOMEONE PUT HIM IN A SUIT???

I'm looking for a clearer image for this so I may update this post at some point to put the clearer one there if I find it!

Anyway so Wrath and Edward are standing back to back. They have a slight height difference with Wrath as the shorter of the two (I bet Ed is very happy/j)

Ed's expression is more angry or solem while Wrath's is a grin - but both can be said to look angry I'd think.

They both have a hand on their hip (Ed's in his pocket but Wrath doesn't have pockets, L) and the opposite arm resting more languidly at their side. They're both standing straight, Ed's head is tilted slightly downward while Wrath's is tilted up - no one else is shown standing back to back. Only Wrath any Ed. Al is there, standing beside Ed, but Gluttony is standing with his side to Alphonse, and Lust is more off to the side and facing the others rather than with her back to anyone. I think it is to further show that Ed and Wrath are such parallels (and Lust is standing a little to the side, possibly showing how she isn't really obeying anyone but herself - showing how she betrayed Dante and went to help Ed get Al back in exchange for becoming human again; But we know how that played out..)

I'm not really gonna talk about these here, as one of them is simply a scene redraw, and they're more Izumi focused if you look at them - with Izumi appearing somber while Ed looks weary or even fearful, and Wrath is just.. Being a kid. Running and flipping, and then in the redraw fighting Ed and Al.

The same could be said about these!! They aren't really interacting - in the first image Wrath is asleep at a table with the other homunculi, and in the second he does appear to be staring at Ed; But again Ed isn't focused on him.

Probably some of the ONLY FUCKING COS OFFICAL ART I HAVE FOUND with Wrath in it. Wrath and Ed are facing opposite of each other. No one, other than Wrath in the image, is fully facing at a side profile - which at first I thought represented how he had died, but Alfons is there and so is Eckhart.

Ed looks wistful, not angry but not happy. Sad perhaps, which is what he seems to be a lot in CoS. But Wrath, he looks down right angry. Yelling maybe? His mouth is opened wide and showing his sharp teeth, his visable eyebrow furrowed, he looks dirty and tired. Clearly this is during his fight with Gluttony, or. OR, this is just showing what Edward last remembers of Wrath. An angry boy always yelling and violent, but also determined and weak - and this fucks me up because out of EVERYONE in the image, only Wrath is the one Ed never sees again. Except like.. Riza but this aint about her. I love that they're seperated by the margin, representing the Gate kinda - Armestrian characters on one side, 'our world' characters on the other.

Again, this isn't really Ed and Wrath in particular. But I want you all to really look at Wrath. He's licking his Ed arm. In a similar fashion Dante does to Lyra's arm after possessing her body, and basically asking Hoenhiem to.. Yk, fuck. While I definitely don't think Wrath is doing it out of sexual desire or reason (although i do not know his intention), I do believe he's doing it to mimick or copy Dante. Wrath could've seen that she liked Hoenhiem, which is putting it lightly but for the sake of the sake I'll just say she liked him, and then copied her by licking said limb out of liking Ed or desiring his body/limbs. To become human.

Also jfc Envy is buff, go back to being a twink you loser.

Uhh I dunno, I just rambled a lil. Maybe I'll make another post with this? Maybe not, but this is what you get for now!! Use my ask box if you have any questions! :)

[zarvasace]

I have too many AUs and I'm not overly dedicated to this one but I figured I might as well share what I have of it :) It's a pretty good amount!

LU Space Crew AU

New masterpost link

Most who work the celestial highways long to find a place that they can call home. Most drift between crews and jobs, whether within the Kingdom or without. Some, however, live for the stars and find home is a cramped ship with engines rumbling the ground beneath their feet, and a crew that's almost family.

Those who man the special operations ship Epona are one such crew. Nine bright characters from across the galaxy, brought together through chance, staying together with determination. Though all of them have a home elsewhere, they've found cameraderie on Epona, and none are keen to leave anytime soon.

Epona and her crew are commissioned and funded by, but not officially employed by, the Kingdom. She goes where she will, to urban and rural planets alike, seeking out cells of the Black-Blooded, a mob-like organization that has infested every corner of the semi-united Kingdom. Whether the Director of the Kingdom has secret agendas for the Epona and her crew is unknown.

Time was a Kingdom special officer, trained from a young age. He comes from the planet Kokiri, but is not one of them. He is the only registered member of the alien race known as the Deities—a near-mythical people that adopt permanent forms similar to those they grow up around, identified by colorful markings and blank eyes. Whatever form they end up taking, Deities have unusual strength and kinesthetic awareness, bordering on supernatural. They also occasionally enter battle hazes, in which their abilities are multiplied, but they become dangerous and potentially unable to identify friend from foe.

After a harrowing mission in his youth, Time deserted the Kingdom and lived as a sight-after mercenary for a time, before meeting his wife Malon and inheriting the ranch on the planet LonLon. He was enlisted for the BB mission by an old friend, codename Sheik, who ensured (through dubiously legal means) that his record was wiped clean. He serves as the captain of the Epona and has grown very protective of his little crew.

Warriors was a high-ranking general in the Kingdom's army before his assignment to the BB mission. He is pure Hylian, which is rare, as the Hylian diaspora centuries ago ensured that most Hylians in the present day have other ancestry mixed in. As a pure Hylian, many people find Warriors's presence to be rather uncanny: his hair just a little too golden, his posture just a little too straight, his eyes just a little too sharp, his skin just a little too perfect.

He was instrumental in defeating the Black-Blooded leader Cia in one of the outer Kingdom systems, directing and participating in many of the battles himself. At first, he felt a little lost on the Epona thanks to the fact that he always had Artemis and Impa with him. He serves as the Epona's first mate, overseeing logistical issues such as supplies and schedules.

Twilight was a goat herder on Ordon until he was caught up in the invasion of the Twili rebels, when he worked behind the scenes with the Ordonian resistance group and the true Twili princess to overthrow the rebels and free Ordon entirely. In the process, he discovered that he was not, as he and everyone else assumed, part Ordonian human and part Hylian, but part Ordonian human and part Twili. Due to his ancestry, he has an alternate shadow form and several physical traits that have been growing in prominence since he discovered and has been using his shadow form, traits that make him a bit intimidating to most people (such as blackened hands, tough nails, small fangs, and occasionally glowing eyes.)

Ordon is not officially a member of the Kingdom, but its princess Dusk does her best to keep friendly relations with the Kingdom despite her efforts to stay independent. Twilight volunteered for the BB mission as a bargaining chip that she could use against the Kingdom. He was determined to dislike the Epona, but grew to love her and the crew. He serves as her second mate, in charge of their combat training, weaponry, and together with Warriors (and a vote from the crew if possible), is authorized to override any of Time's decisions or policies.

Sky is, as Warriors is, also pure Hylian, but his demeanor is a bit less uncanny. He grew up on Skyloft Station, which is a massive space station that once hovered over the planet First Hyrule as a place for knights and their families to live and train. The station disappeared when First Hyrule collapsed centuries ago and the Hylians dispersed around the galaxy, assumed destroyed in the aftermath. However, it appeared again a few years ago, out of a huge rip in spacetime. The station now orbits New Hyrule, the seat of the Kingdom. Its people are struggling a bit to adapt to the new era, but many ancestral Hylians are eager for a chance to know more about their lost heritage and culture.

Sky was a teenager when the station appeared in the present day, and won't speak much about the journey. He and Sun are the only ones who know exactly how much they did to get Skyloft Station safely home. Sun didn't love sending him out on this mission, but he wanted to explore! He is the Epona's primary pilot, responsible for navigation and actually flying the ship. He prefers to fly manually, since he doesn't quite trust the new automated systems.

Wild has also dealt with a bit of temporal displacement. He lived on First Hyrule as a trained knight until its collapse in the Calamity. He got himself and Flora out on a small research ship, taking a lot of damage in the process, and leaving Flora to pilot the ship for several years alone as he recovered in an induced coma. She flew out so far that when she came back, centuries had passed on New Hyrule. Unlike most who lived on First Hyrule, Wild is not pure Hylian. He is actually part Deity, lacking the distinctive markings but with very pale eyes and a hint of Deity strength.

He helped with a minor war in the Kingdom's outer reaches, putting him on the Director's radar. Flora now lives quietly on LonLon as an engineer. Wild is the Epona's computer engineer, fixing and updating her internal systems. (And occasionally causing havoc for fun.) (He also cooks. He thinks modern rations are an abomination.)

Four is a bit of an odd case, since he was not born. He was created by Kingdom scientists as a sort of proof-of-concept android made with brand new self-propagating nanotechnology. How and why he gained sentience is a mystery to even him, but he only managed to convince one scientist of it: Dot, who provided a huge distraction and excuses and allowed him to escape. He went back for her and, with the help of a small, kind alien race known as the Minish, managed to win recognition as a person and citizenship in the Kingdom. A certain offshoot of Kingdom scientists headed by Vaati attempted to recreate the success of Four and created Shadow, who lost his body in his fight for freedom. Four carries a chip holding what he hopes is Shadow's soul or something, perhaps to revive him someday.

He often works on himself, both hardware and software, hoping to expand his capabilities and perhaps discover the source of his sentience. His greatest achievement so far has been the ability to split his consciousness and body into four, and only four. The pieces end up fully independent, but rather fragile, and separating can take a lot of energy. Four is not particularly open about his nature, but he doesn't like hiding it. He volunteered for the BB mission in an attempt to find a low-profile occupation where he could work on his own projects and be protected by Kingdom power. He is the Epona's mechanic, somewhat wary of her computers, but he loves the ship and knows every rivet and wire.

Hyrule comes from a very rural planet called Kasuto, known for its frequent natural disasters and dangerous fauna, all things made more common after First Hyrule collapsed. (it is said that Kasuto resonated with the people so far away and mourns even now.) Some of the fleeing Hylians found refuge with the dying Kasitan race, and now the two peoples are virtually indistinguishable. It's a difficult world to live on, and there aren't many Kasitans in total, but their havens are tight and well-defended. Hyrule inherited a lot of the ancient Kasitan survival traits. He looks mostly Hylian, though leaner with longer fingers, but he has a number of subtle traits: eyes that can see much better in the dark (though not as well in the light), flexible keratin plates beneath his skin for an added level of defense, and the ability to go longer than anyone else without food or water. He can withstand and survive a wider range of temperature, pressure, and air quality than most others.

Hyrule fought many of his planet's monsters to help defend its settlements and defeat a tyrannical warlord. In the process, he found... something. Even he isn't sure what it is. But he can now help a body heal faster, he can raise a hand in a storm and channel lightning through his bones, and monsters always seem to find him. On a good day, he calls it a blessing from his planet. Legend suggested him for the BB mission. Hyrule is the Epona's medic and primary explorer, though he takes a support role in more diplomatic situations.

Wind is from a tiny fishing planet called Outset in a small, close-knit system. He is mostly Hylian, though he is also part Zora. His skin is scaly in parts, his eyes big, his teeth somewhat sharp. He has some webbing between his fingers, and as he's grown, he has to trim down the fins on his arms and legs like he does his hair. He learned how to fly a ship at a young age, and learned to swing a sword by necessity.

He found some old First Hylian technology under the ocean where he lived, which sent him on a journey through his system to defeat a wannabe warlord trying to take over. Once he was old enough, he got a job on a cargo ship, hated it, and was recruited for the BB mission by Tetra, his good friend who is (reluctantly) involved in Kingdom politics. On the Epona, Wind is a secondary navigator and an in-between-er, doing whatever needs to be done.

Legend could swear that he's experienced the same time dilation as Wild but in reverse. Trained in the techniques of the Kingdom knighthood but never actually enlisted, Legend grew up on the urban side of the planet LonLon. His parents were native to the planet Kakariko, and he is mostly Sheikah, which makes his form quite malleable. He had to learn quickly how to drastically change his body by force of will alone. Most Sheikah can manage to change their hair colors or height—Legend can mimic appearances very well, and has even mastered much more dramatic transformations, like turning into a rabbit.

Through his uncle, he made a few friends in Kingdom networks, and when Fable needed help, he went right to her rescue. And he's never really been able to stop doing those things. He loves the stars, and when Fable caught wind of the BB mission, she knew Legend would want in. He did. Legend is the Epona's primary face, the talker and the fountain of random knowledge. He's handy in a pinch and comes up with a lot of weird solutions to problems around the ship.

[cassandraclare]

hiii cassie 💛 i hope you’ve been enjoying your time away writing, your locations are always beautiful per usual and you deserve it so much, question regarding a certain tween blondie that loves potato chips (yes, tis’ kit)

i’ve found myself struggling resonate fully with kits character due to the fact that in tda it seemed he was set up as “the new jace” yet..during my current tmi re read, i’m just NOW realizing how completely (emphasis on completely) different they are from eachother. and i also find myself struggling because he’s made to seem like he has an “uncanny resemblance” to jace yet so many of us readers know they aren’t from the same line of herondales at all. i’d figure jace gets his incredibly good looks from stephen, james, cordelia, will etc. HIS ancestors. while kit has completely different ancestors, along with johnny rooks genes.

i fear that if he’s referred to anymore as a “mini jace” that i won’t ever be able to fully resonate w him due to that lack of logic taking me out of the book 🥹 sorry to point this all out i tried to ignore it but im just like “will i have to read about him being jaces twin despite the lack of genetic sense it makes all of..twp?”

Hmm. I mean, I don't think there's anything indicating he's Jace's twin — otherwise people would be constantly mixing them up and Clary, upon seeing him, would be staggered rather than curious. :)

I think you have to decide, a bit, what really bothers you re: longstanding tropes and science in fantasy — after all, the way the Herondale mark is passed down makes no sense genetically. Neither does their ability to see ghosts. None of it has anything to do with genetics, because it is about magic, and so is Jace and Kit's resemblance. The idea that people who have ancestors in common long ago have a sort of ineffable resemblance goes way back to the origins of fantasy. It's about pointing out a preternatural connection, not about common genes. It exists as a mythic trope that isn't connected to science in the same way the mythic trope exists that you can inherit not just, say, eye color, but also personality quirks like loyalty or evilness. (See: TV Tropes page "In the Blood.")

For what it's worth, I don't think of Jace and Kit as characters who are particularly similar, personality-wise or in any other way, really. They both had traumatic childhoods, and were later adopted into new families, and that makes for some points in common, but I have never thought of Kit as a new Jace (we still have the OG Jace, so he doesn't need replacing!) or a mini Jace or anything like that, so anything that seems otherwise is unintentional or open to interpretation.

[ckret2]

Hey, Puff. Do love your uncanny ability to work plot holes / retcon into really compelling plots, so figured I'd ask — do you have a theory to square how the Guardian's Time Portal showed King!Jack as the one worthy to defeat him / traveling through time, but Aku later defeated him (& destroyed the portal)?

Maybe... something something, Past!Jack goes back to Show!Future!Timeline to try and save Ashi, while Aku was able to defeat the Guardian because he didn't want to USE the portal?

I have two theories that involve finagling an unintended loophole out of the prophecy.

Theory one:

The Guardian thinks the prophecy is about the one person who will defeat him and use the portal, but it's actually about the one person who's able to defeat him and use the portal. At some point during his 50-year journey Jack's power peaked and he got the fancy king outfit, then lost it later due to the trauma & depression. At that moment when he was at his peak, he could have beaten the Guardian and used the portal; but he didn't visit him then.

But—as you suggest—the prophecy doesn't cover people who might have the capacity to beat the Guardian without using the portal; and so it didn't predict, for instance, Aku turning into a brick the size of the Titanic and bodyslamming the portal & Guardian, crushing them both.

Theory two:

The prophecy is indeed about the one person who will defeat him, but the prophecy is only enough to let the Guardian see what that person looks like as they arrive. He knows the name "Samurai Jack" but for all we know maybe the full version of the prophecy involves The Chosen One saying "hello, it's me, Samurai Jack, can I use that portal now?"

And so, if all the Guardian knows is what The One Person Capable Of Defeating Him looks like and who that person claims to be...

Well, Aku's a shapeshifter.

And he is known to occasionally learn prophecies about ways to defeat him and go on a little quest to undermine those prophecies.

And usually he's stuck with the same color scheme, but we do see him use makeup to disguise his appearance in the comics.

And Jack's future king outfit has a few striking similarities with the "hero" outfit Aku imagines for himself in his fairy tales.

Joke theory three:

somewhere out there is an obscure tiny kingdom whose king happens to look like Jack and who coincidentally happens to be named Samurai Jack, and after Jack's visit but before the portal's destroyed he visits the Guardian with something like "my wife died last week and I need to use the portal to go back and save her life." This King Samurai Jack just so happens to be the most powerful character in the whole series, he just never got involved in the plot because of how isolated his kingdom is. He did, in fact, win and use the portal. He's never seen again. He has no further relevance to the show. Neither Jack nor Aku knows he exists.