#themed id board

[wooly-ids]

Cleancore-themed ID pack for ...

me

NAMES:

Duck, rubber, bubble, bath, baff, bafty, toy, bub, bubs, ducky, duckie, rubble, rub, ru-ru, ba-ba, soapy, soap, cleany, sudsy, suds, sud, Quack, cleam, clean, clementine, clemmy, blubbelle, bubbelle, scrubsy, sparklyn, foamie, dew, droplet, squeaky, pufflet, glimmer, brimsy, spritz, bliss, whiffle, purelia, lathy, nimbus, cloudy, sprinkle, sprinky, lavendine, glimma, frothy, bathea, bethany, dewdrop, sudsie, crisp, sway, softy

PRONOUNS:

Clean/cleanself, core/coreself, bub/bubself, duck/duckself, scrub/scrubself, suds/sudself, sud/sudself, foam/foamself, sponge/spongeself, soap/soapself, clen/clenself, pure/pureself, drop/dropself, dew/dewself, dewy/dewself, bliss/blisself, blush/blushself, glim/glimself, gleam/gleamself, gel/gelself, glam/glamself, sof/sofself, soff/soffself, lav/lavself, fro/froself

GENDERS N IDENTITIES

cleancoredollic -- squeakycleanic -- bathtoygender -- cleanangelboy -- bubblecleancoric -- cleanmercorin -- bubblescrubic -- cleancattic -- Cleancoric -- Bubblidolic -- bubblegender -- Abluocomfie -- Sotekitten --

[bernard-the-rabbit]

Some character designs I did these past few months for various assignments :3

[creatively-cosmic]

missing numbers was secretly a ploy to get really really into doing worldbuilding based on this extremely specific in-universe pseudo-meta horror based in the pokemon franchise. a lot of stuff we're cooking past gens 1+2 is original content based in the spirit of the classic trainerpastas based on those games... something something its all about the natural next step and the world of Pokemon is so fundamentally fucked. idkkkk smiles

[honey-makes-mogai]

{ID PENDING}

Scentstelic Flag Template -

The template I use for Scentstelic terms! (A constelic term for those who stel scents/a specific scent)

[PT: Scentstelic Flag Template -]

Tagging: @revenant-coining @constelicflags

[atley01]

Tips for all of my alternative & Chronically ill/ disabled friends!

A big thing that's helped me feel more comfortable accommodating my disability is finding accessibility tools that reflect my personality / interests.

I should put a disclaimer that making disability "aesthetic" should not be the most important thing about your health! I do this where I can to help me accept my disability.

Here are some alt accessibility tools I've found / made & utilized for myself!

1. If you're prone to nausea:

Anti-nausea meds work, but I also find that peppermints work just as well! I always have mints on me. At home, I've stored them in this coffin container!

I do keep a few of these mints in my bag, as well as ginger hard candies (they taste very strong, but are VERY efficient). I got the peppermints at Dollar tree, and they've genuinely been a life saver.

Alternatively, I've found this adorable ouija board altoids container that has mints in it!

The mints are even fun-shaped! I also saw other horror-movie themed altoid containers in-store as well. Since they're tiny, they dont work well for severe nausea, but they are still helpful!

2. If you struggle with temperature-regulation:

For me, my hands and feet are always FREEZING, but my core will be super warm. What has helped me a lot has been gloves and fuzzy socks!

I have a lot of spooky gloves like this, but I prefer the fingerless ones because I can still use my phone and be warm at the same time! I've also heard my friends who are wheelchair users say gloves can help protect your hands if you use a manual wheelchair. Another added bonus is that certain gloves can help limit mobility for those of you who struggle with hypermobility in your hands.

3. Do you have noise-canceling headphones? Decorate them!

I decorated my N/C headphones in shark stickers because sharks are my special interest!

These are Soundcore Life Q30's. I have gotten compliments on the stickers many times! You could put halloween stickers on yours or decorate your headphones in other ways! I've seen people crochet horns onto the headband portion of their headphones.

4. I would recommend any chronically ill person carry a cup around to stay hydrated:

ESPECIALLY If you need electrolytes. You can either have a drink like propel or powerade in your cup (or any drink of your choice, and you could put electrolyte packets in there).

This specific cup isn't the best at keeping my drink cold, but it holds a decent amount of liquid! And it's spooky. If you're someone who struggles to drink enough water, I've found that getting a fun cup helps me a lot!

5. Make communication bracelets!

If I'm having a difficult time voicing my needs, or I'm in a verbal shutdown, these bracelets can come in handy for me.

I'll either wear them on my wrist when needed or present them to my friends so they can read the bracelet and understand what I need. I keep them on a keychain that way I dont lose them and can transport them easily. An example of some of the phrases I've turned into bracelets is; "No spoons," "spoon debt," "verbal shutdown," and "flashbacks," (for when I'm having a PTSD episode.) You could make a bracelet with the medical condition you have as a DIY medical-alert bracelet. I added tiny spoon charms to some of my bracelets because I thought it was funny.

5. Mobility aids!

Decorate your mobility aids with things like stickers, kandi, lights, etc! Pinterest, instagram, and tiktok have a lot of good ideas. You can easily customize your mobility aids to look spooky or look however you want them to!

6. Bags!

I know that for me, I NEED to carry a bag around whenever I go out because it has important medical items that I need, but it also keeps all my important items like keys, id, ect, in one spot so that I dont forget / lose them. SOME spooky bags are expensive, but you could find a plain black bag at a thrift store or walmart and accessorize it with patches, keychains, and pins! I've seen people paint designs onto their bags before as well.

• You dont have to spend a lot of money on your accessibility tools!

Find ways to DIY them, or get them secondhand! You could even try working with household items you already have! A lot of these items, or items very similar to it, can be found at the dollar tree - even the materials needed to make the beaded bracelets! (Outside of the spoon charms)

Thats all!

If I think of more, you'll see me again! Be spooky, and be kind to yourself!

[kkuramyeons]

✮ let it happen - huh yunjin x reader

summary: on your group’s second to last day in new york- and your first time back home in three years, yunjin suggests you two go out to commemorate being back home after so long, little did you know there was more than met the eye when it came to yunjin. 

pairing: idol!yunjin x idol!reader 

themes: fluff, date night, drinking, slight obliviousness, dancing around feelings, slightly suggestive at the end, making out… etc.

wc: 3.3k

a/n: lowercase is intended, hope you enjoy! i had so much fun writing this, i love new york so much, and yunjin has been on my mind SO much lately, so… enjoy part of my yunjin brainrot. I promise to post more frequently, classes are killing me sigh…

✮ ✮ ✮

“all this running along, i can’t fight it much longer…”

after a long day of interviews and shooting content for various media outlets, all you wanted was to arrive back to your hotel room and catch up on some much-needed rest, but it seemed a certain redhead had other plans. 

“you brought your id with you, right?” whispered yunjin in your ear as she leaned closer to you in the backseat of the black caravan. 

you looked at her confused as to why she was whispering since it was only the two of you in the car, eunchae, kazuha and sakura riding in the car in front of you as you all made your way back to the hotel. 

“you literally packed it in my suitcase before we left for new york, yunjin,” you replied, eyes glued on your phone. 

“i’m just making sure, don’t want our plans to fall through” answered the redhead. 

“and what would those be?” you asked, raising a brow at the older girl. 

“going to the bars, of course!” yunjin replied, with a smile adorning her face, showing you her phone which had a list of bars around the city. 

“what?” you laughed, not taking the older girl seriously at first, but seeing as yunjin just stared blankly at you, you widened your eyes in disbelief.

“there’s no way manager-nim is letting us go clubbing in new york. we’re idols, in case you forgot,” you said as a million thoughts ran through your head." there’s literally a billboard in times square with our faces on it,” you added. 

you could already see the anonymous tips on deuxmoi’s instagram, the blind items and probably dispatch turning your night out into a possible dating scandal. 

knowing that your head was probably running wild with a million negative scenarios, yunjin put her hand on your thigh, which instantly got your attention, turning your head to face her, with a slight blush on your cheeks. 

“not tonight we’re not! tonight i’m jennifer huh and you’re y/n l/n, two normal girls from nyc just looking for a good time,” she replied with an easy smile, explaining how she managed to sneak a few accessories from the stylists so you could change your appearance a bit. 

skeptically, you nodded your head in understanding, muttering about the redhead’s insistence in bringing your new york id in addition to your other travel documents. 

“so that’s why you wanted my new york id…” you trailed off. 

“what did you think it was for?” asked yunjin, as she stared at you curiously, head slightly tilted. 

“student discount at the MET? I don’t know…” you shrugged her off. 

“you were literally a nyu student for a semester almost four years ago… i’m pretty sure those are only for current students,” the redhead replied, scrunching her nose at you, knowing you dropped out the second you got the call to possibly join the group.

“that’s a semester more than you in college!” you replied, sticking your tongue out at the redhead. 

after bickering about past college decisions, yunjin turned to you, asking if you were on board with her plans for the both of you. you nodded, excited for spending time with the girl in the city you loved the most. 

✮⋆˙

once you arrived at your room, yunjin quickly got to work, dropping kazuha off at sakura’s and eunchae’s room, ignoring the younger girl’s whines to join the both of you. 

the youngest of the two pleaded, trying to convince the redhead to join your night out. 

“yunjin-ah, it’s like i’m not even there! seriously i’ll just smile and take pictures that’s all!” kazuha looked up at yunjin with the best puppy eyes she could muster on the spot. 

“yeah! which is why you’re not coming with us. I mean zuha, you won’t even be able to go into the bars, you’re not 21 yet!” answered yunjin, knocking on sakura’s door to drop off kazuha. 

seeing as kazuha deflated at her reply, the redhead reminded her of their plans to get chipotle tomorrow, and how she would go out to eat and explore the city with sakura and eunchae tonight. 

suddenly reminded of all the exciting plans she had, kazuha grinned at yunjin, any disappointment from not joining your plans quickly dissipating. 

opening the room’s door, sakura was met with yunjin and kazuha grinning from ear to ear, which was a sign that something was definitely up. 

“what now?” asked sakura with a hand on her hip, the other holding some yarn. 

“nothing, just dropping off zuha for the night,” yunjin replied with an easy smile, kazuha nodding her head. 

“and where are you off to?” sakura stared at yunjin, brows raised skeptically.

“she’s got a date with y/n!” came an excited reply from a grinning eunchae, who now stood behind sakura. 

knowing she needed more details regarding the american’s whereabouts for the night, the oldest le sserafim member led yunjin inside her room to know what the redheads’ plans were for the night. 

“a date?” asked sakura as she made her way towards the bed. 

yunjin’s eyes widened at the question, quickly stammering excuses. 

“no, it’s not a date! unless you consider two people who care about each other and are back home for the first time in years that are going out together a date, then it’s a date,” 

“if not, which it’s not, then it’s not a date” explained the redhead, suddenly hot at the sudden attention on her. 

“that’s totally a date, unnie” giggled eunchae from beside sakura, sitting on the bed while the oldest continued to crochet what would soon be a beanie. 

“what would you know about dates eunchae?” quipped the oldest, brows raised. 

yunjin grinned as eunchae stammered a response, relieved to not have anyone questioning her plans for the time being. 

watching as sakura now scolded eunchae for knowing how dates worked and kazuha was watching them argue with a grin, the redhead saw this as an opportunity to make her way out of the room.

backing away from the scene slowly, tiptoeing backwards through the corridor, yunjin made eye contact with kazuha, motioning the younger idol to stay quiet, silently pleading. 

“kkura-unnie, yunjin’s escaping!” kazuha exclaimed, holding eye contact with yunjin, grinning when the redhead cursed under her breath at being caught. 

“so, your plan for your date is to go out? in new york?” “and do what, exactly?” questioned the oldest member. 

“i thought we could go to y/n’s favorite dive bar and have a drink?” answered yunjin with a nervous smile. 

sakura pinched the bridge of her nose with a sigh, knowing there was no talking yunjin out of her plans.  

“something’s tryin’ to get out….”

✮⋆˙

“well, I finally convinced sakura that we wouldn’t get recognized or photographed since the bar makes people cover their cameras, and we’ll be escorted by security, so, we should be ready to leave in 15 minutes,” yunjin made her way towards the bathroom of your shared room, explaining the plan for the night. 

removing her extensions, placing a couple of fake piercings, putting on some fake bangs and some sunglasses, yunjin patted herself on the back for making herself look like a look alike version of herself, perfect for your date night out. 

seeing as you weren’t in the bedroom, yunjin searched around for you, letting out a sigh of relief once she saw you leaning against the balcony outside. 

✮⋆˙

with another drag of your cigarette, you took in the view in front of you. the city’s buzzing atmosphere made you feel right at home, something you hadn’t completely felt in a long time. 

taking a picture of the view of the city’s skyline and your cigarette, posting it to your private instagram story with the caption “when in rome, or well, new york”, you locked your phone, knowing chaewon was going to scold you for such reckless behavior. 

as soon as you put out the cigarette, arms wrapped around your waist, the person nuzzling their head in your shoulder.

“i didn’t know you smoked,” questioned yunjin, watching you put your lighter back in the pocket of your leather jacket. 

“only chaewon and my manager know,” you replied, turning around to face the redhead.  

“it’s not always though, i just need a break sometimes,” came your explanation, taking in the reaction from the girl in front of you. 

“it’s just, there’s many what ifs here, you know?” “i was just taking it all in, I promise I won’t touch them again for the rest of our trip” you pleaded, taking yunjin’s hands in your own. 

nodding in understanding, yunjin pulled you in for a hug. 

“let’s get ready to go?” yunjin’s breath fanned your ear, making your body heat up in response. 

“sounds good, let me touch up my makeup and we’ll leave,” you assured the redhead, making your way back inside the room. 

putting on a fake nose ring, messily styling your wolfcut and making sure some of your “hidden” tattoos were showing, you took a picture and posted it to your private instagram, the story’s  caption matching yunjin’s cryptic one that hinted at a date night around the city. 

“ready to go?” you turned to yunjin, who took in your appearance with a slight blush on her cheeks, eyes trailing up and down your body. 

“yeah!” “yup! all ready, let me text security we’re ready to leave,” yunjin said as she led you both out of the room. 

✮⋆˙

arriving to the upper east side, you noticed yunjin had chosen one of your favorite dive bars in the city, notoriously known for its animosity towards celebrities, good music, and cheap cocktail menu.

“how’d you know about this place?” you asked as you made your way inside the bar, flashing your ids to the bouncer who let you in without a second glance, not even questioning the bulky security guys following the both of you in from a safe distance. 

“i have my ways,” yunjin grinned as she led you towards a table. 

ordering your drinks, both of you settled into a comfortable conversation, pausing every so often to take in everything around you. 

after your conversation died down, and another round of drinks was finished, you led yunjin to the dance floor, pulling her close to you, sawing to the beat of the song playing. 

a couple of songs passed before the both of you made your way back to the table, ordering your final round of drinks for the night- you did have a semi early schedule tomorrow, after all. 

“did you come here often in college?” asked yunjin with a tilt of her head, picturing a younger version of yourself, (one who didn’t carry the burden of fame yet) having some drinks with your friends. 

“i did, actually; it’s one of my favorite bars in the city,” you answered, memories of your short-lived freshman year coming back. 

“do you think we would’ve met each other regardless?” before yunjin’s question could be answered, the dj started playing an all too familiar song. 

dread made its way down your spine, hands gripping your drink harder as the melody for perfect night started playing in the bar. 

you looked over at yunjin, who was eyeing everyone around her, eyes frantically darting back and forth between you and the space behind you, trying her best to not freak out at the possibility of being singled out by the someone near your table. 

glancing at the security guards in the corner, they too eyed the crowd, ready to make a quick exit if needed. 

thankfully, no one seemed to pay attention to the fact that your song was playing, people making their way to the dance floor as a club remix of your song played. 

deciding to take a chance, yunjin stood up and held her hand out for you to take, leading you to the dance floor once again. 

“and it’s never been closer…”

✮⋆˙

dancing to your song, focusing trying to not break out the full choreo- fuck muscle memory, you thought, as you swayed goofily to the beat of the song, yunjin mimicking your actions. 

once the song changed, so did the mood.

the dj moved away from club remixes, focusing on getting the people on the dance floor as close as possible to each other. 

taking the hint, yunjin pulled you by the waist, swaying your hips with her hands, drawing you closer to her. 

surprised at her shamelessness, you looked over her shoulder just in case someone watched the two of you closely in recognition. 

“y/n, there’s no one watching us except our security from the corner,” she reassured you. 

“i know, i'm just- i don’t want any more rumors,” you replied, trying to shake your anxiety, wanting to focus on the redhead. 

“and there’s going to be none, tell me, don’t we fit right in?” yunjin pulled you closer to her, her lips near your neck, hands on your lower back. 

deciding not to focus on yunjin’s closeness, you looked around and saw how you two blended in the sea of people; from the outside eye, you two looked like an average couple on a night out. 

lost in the music, it seemed as if the world around you faded to nothing, leaving the two of you at the center of its core. 

looking up at yunjin, you noticed how pretty her moles looked up closely, and how beautiful she looked enjoying herself with you, laughing as she danced. 

yunjin stared at you, feeling your gaze on her as you two continued to dance, moving impossibly closer towards each other, noses grazing and her breath fanning your lips. 

yunjin had always thought you were bold, a bold person, and even bolder for an idol. you were never afraid to speak your mind, reject ideas or defending yourself when needed. 

and if yunjin had thought you couldn’t get any bolder- (writing love songs with female pronouns, getting tattoos, defending your members, and sometimes breaking the rules to get what you wanted), you would never be as bold as you were in that moment, leaning in and closing the gap between you two in the middle of the crowded dance floor. 

not giving her mind time to react properly, yunjin wrapped her arms around your neck, pulling your closer as she returned the kiss, letting your bodies say what was unspoken between you two. 

pulling away, you grinned, catching your breath, suddenly breathless as you took in the red ahead in front of you, blushing with an equally stupid grin on her face. 

from behind yunjin, you could see the security guard pretending to not see the scene that just unfolded, watching as he looked away from the two of you for a moment, giving the two of you some privacy. 

“wanna get out of here?” yunjin asked, holding your hand, pulling you closer to her. 

“thought you’d never ask,” came your reply, letting the redhead lead the way out of the dance floor and near the exit, guards closely following the both of you. 

“baby, now i’m ready, now i’m moving on...”

✮⋆˙

after a quick exit from the back of the bar and settled in the backseat of a tinted car, yunjin pulled you closer to her, hands roaming your body, as her lips trailed the side of your neck. 

soft sighs escaped your lips at the feeling of yunjin’s mouth on your neck, not even caring if she left any marks. 

making her way up from your neck and back to your lips, yunjin kissed you, taking the time to savor the feeling of your lips against hers. 

lost in each other for what felt like hours, a sudden knock on the window pulled you away from each other. 

the guard giving you a few minutes to fix your appearances, just in case someone was to be outside of your hotel. 

hair slightly disheveled and messy lipstick stains adorning your neck, yunjin led you back to the room, eager to continue what she started in the car. 

“oh, but maybe i was ready all along…”

✮⋆˙

when the morning came and you two woke up next to each other, clothes scattered and makeup smeared across the sheets, you two grabbed your phones to check that no headlines with your names made the news.

the same couldn’t be said first the group chat, however. 

a flurry of texts lit up your phone screen, mostly from sakura making sure you two were awake and ready in an hour for your schedule, and the rest were from chaewon trying to pry information on your whereabouts from the other members. 

reassuring the rest of the girls you two were wake and getting ready, you put your phone on the nightstand, wanting to see where yunjin’s head was at after last night. 

before you two could have the conversation, it seemed chaewon had other plans. 

yunjin handed you her phone, where chaewon had sent a grainy picture of you two arriving at the bar last night, followed by a series of questions and confused texts. 

opening the chat, you scrolled through the texts, the girls making fun of your appearances.

kkurakkura: yunjin, you told me you wouldn’t get caught. 

kkurakkura: never trusting you again wtf. 

manchae: told you it was a date, unnie 

chaechae: you two are literally missing the point. 

zuzu: it kinda looks like them, but at the same time it doesn’t … 

kkurakkura: wait i kinda see it… 

manchae: if anything, it looks like their doppelgängers lol. 

y/nnie: that’s literally not me in the picture lol 

chaechae: you’re telling me that’s not you and yunjin in the picture? 

y/nnie: nope! 

jenjen: at least there’s no headlines ! 

chaechae: we’re having a serious conversation once we’re in california.  

y/nnie: but that’s literally not me … 

deciding to ignore chaewon’s texts, you turned to yunjin, watching as she agreed with your leader’s wishes to talk once you got to los angeles. 

“guess the cat’s out of the bag, huh…” yunjin bit her lip, staring at you expectantly. 

“jen, the cat’s never been in the bag when it comes to us,” came your reply with a smile, nudging the girl’s shoulder. 

“that’s true…” 

“maybe it's time we let it roam free then," you suggested with a grin, yunjin playfully rolling her eyes, biting her lip in anticipation. 

“it’s gonna take a little bit more than that, though…” yunjin inched closer to you. 

“oh really?” you replied, hands on the back of her neck, pulling her closer.

“best to let it happen, then,” she whispered, closing the gap between you, manicured nails caressing your face. 

a knock on the door interrupted the moment, yunjin pecking your lips one last time for good measure before fully pulling away to get ready for your upcoming schedule. 

 “oh, i'm ready for the moment and the sound…”

[riddlerosehearts]

thinking about how people who watch the emperor's new groove and somehow come out of it shipping pacha and kuzco, or thinking yzma only became evil when kuzco fired her and that she would've been a better ruler than him, are both so wrong in so many different ways and are also missing one of the things that i absolutely love about the movie. which is that, the way i see it, pacha and yzma are counterparts. as parental figures to kuzco.

like, just to get this out of the way first, yzma was a dismissive asshole to a peasant whose family was starving. and yeah, if kuzco had been in her place he definitely would've also done that, which... is why she would not be a better ruler than him. she'd just be the same because they're both horrible people in the exact same ways. her reaction to being fired is to plot murder, and as soon as his funeral is over she sets everyone to work on replacing paintings of kuzco with paintings of herself and covering the palace with imagery that makes it clear that it's all about her now. i'm not even sure why this is a discussion tbh.

and also, kuzco is literally a teenager. he's barely 18 years old. source: in the movie, yzma says at his funeral that kuzco was "taken from us so tragically on the very eve of his eighteenth birthday." she also claims in the movie to have "practically raised" him, to which kronk replies "yeah, you'd think he would've turned out better". and sure, she could be exaggerating, but what evidence do we have that she is? we learn absolutely nothing of his parents, who are never mentioned even once in the movie, or of anyone else who could've raised him, and she's his advisor who for some reason sees no problem with attending to royal duties in his place. most likely because she's his regent. also, i'm not exactly a fan of the sequel tv series "the emperor's new school" but it does have something that backs up my point: kuzco is revealed to be an orphan and just before his father went and got lost at sea, he asked yzma (who was also his advisor) to take care of kuzco if anything happened to him. so, yeah, the writers who worked on the series clearly thought that yzma genuinely did raise kuzco, and nothing in the movie contradicts this.

and i find the idea of her being his only parental figure for pretty much his whole childhood incredibly interesting because, and this also goes back into why she wouldn't be a better ruler than him--she mirrors him as a reflection of what would've become of him if he'd never met pacha. they're both incredibly arrogant, power-hungry, selfish, and cruel, with a tendency to blame their problems on everyone but themselves. yzma was even originally going to have her own reprise of kuzco's theme song "perfect world", which i really wish had been kept:

[ID: Lyrics that read:

I'Il be the sovereign queen of the nation And the chicest chick in creation I'm the cat with all the cream and ooh-la-la This deadly concentration Will put an end to my frustration Now this perfect world begins and ends with moi

What's my name? Yzma, Yzma, Yzma Yzma (what's my name?) Yzma, Yzma (What'd you say?) Yzma (Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!) Yzma. End ID]

(this song can be fully heard in "the sweatbox", the documentary about the making of the movie, and is also on youtube btw)

anyway, i'm sure yzma would not exactly have been the most nurturing or hands-on guardian, especially given that she and kuzco don't exactly treat each other like family. but it makes a lot of sense to think that her behavior influened kuzco's throughout the years. and for the entire movie, she remains determined to kill him. when he tries to reason with her and admits that he should've been nicer, she says the same thing to him that he originally said when he fired her. she never grows or changes and in the end, she hurts the one person who was willing to stand by her (and even then, kronk had never fully been on board with her plan) and he ends up trying to crush her with a chandelier. kuzco on the other hand is able to realize the error of his ways, come to regret who he was in the past, and start taking steps toward being a better person. his theme song gets a reprise where it's changed from a song about one person being the center of the world to a Power Of Friendship song. why? because, as i've already mentioned, he has pacha.

pacha, who similarly to both yzma and kuzco is in a position of authority as the leader of the village but unlike either of them is gentle and humble. who isn't afraid to stand up to kuzco and be honest with him even though he's the emperor, who agrees to take him back to the palace but has no obligation to be so helpful, kind, and caring toward him--and just about every reason not to be--and still chooses to be anyway. pacha who is 45 years old (also stated in the sweatbox documentary) and can see that kuzco is practically still a kid, not a single day over 18, who has time to grow and change. pacha, who already has a wife and two kids with another on the way, but practically treats kuzco like one of his own. who acknowledges that if kuzco dies all his problems will be gone and then still worries about him and goes out of his way to rescue him after he wanders into the jungle. who sees kuzco shivering at night and covers him with his poncho, who carries him when he's genuinely too weak to keep walking, who refuses to give up on him even after repeatedly being betrayed by him because he believes there's good in everyone.

also, while yzma ends up repeating kuzco's harsh words of dismissal as she tells him of her plans to kill him, kuzco had previously repeated pacha's words that "nobody's that heartless" after he saved pacha's life. and as the movie progresses kuzco and pacha's relationship becomes more and more equal and is constantly contrasted by moments of yzma being cruel and unappreciative of kronk's kindness. a good example of this is how kronk is constantly being forced to carry yzma everywhere on his back while yzma literally walks all over him and steps on his hands when she gets down, whereas when pacha briefly carries kuzco after the latter collapses he tells him he'll have to walk the rest of the way later and kuzco doesn't even protest.

idk if i'm even explaining well what i'm trying to say here. but basically, if yzma actually raised kuzco and contributed to his current behavior, then she and pacha both are figures who guided him and helped him grow. only yzma helped him become the tyrant that he was at the start of the movie, who was selfish and callous and saw everyone else as beneath him. whereas pacha helped him see the value in being selfless and considerate of others. and in the end, yzma is stuck as a cat and nobody is concerned about her. kronk has found a new job that makes him genuinely happy, while kuzco has decided to build a hut on the hill next to pacha's and effectively joined his family. in the sweatbox documentary it's even mentioned that chicha and the kids were at risk of being removed from the film, but it was decided that they needed to be there because having just pacha as a single guy who lived alone wasn't interesting enough--kuzco needed to go from having basically an empty world where he had nobody to being able to come together with pacha's whole family. and i just think that's incredibly satisfying and beautiful. it also leads up to one of the few things i really do enjoy about the emperor's new school, which is the fact that during the show kuzco moves in with pacha and chicha and pretty explicitly thinks of them as basically his parents while he's like a son to them.

idk. i feel like my mind went in a million different directions while i was writing all this. but i guess i just think that for all of the praise the emperor's new groove gets for its comedy and for how hilarious yzma and kronk in particular are as a duo, the movie also has a lot of genuine heart that gets overlooked. kuzco's character growth and his unique dynamic with pacha is, for me, really what elevates the movie from just a funny movie that i like to one of my favorite disney movies. and i wish more people appreciated that aspect of it and saw it as a found family story in the same way that treasure planet, brother bear, and lilo and stitch are all found family stories.

[bluejayblueskies]

Breakaway | Glacy

(ID in alt text.)

I had a blast participating once again in @pilesofnonsense's Rusty Quill Big Bang event as a bookbinder/artist! This year, I collaborated with Glacy on AO3 and bound their TMA fic Breakaway. It's an ice hockey AU with underlying spooks and horrors, and I had a lot of fun reading it and working with it! Definitely go check out their fic!!

An additional shout-out to @shadow0haven who designed my new bindery logo! You can see it on the back of the title page in the fifth picture, and I love how it looks in my books <3

More information about the bind and my process can be found beneath the cut:

For this bind, I decided to go hard on the hockey theme. The team mascot is a revenant, so I went with a title page and cover design styled after a hockey jersey. The cover is made entirely of bookcloth, with the different colors and details cut out of different colors of bookcloth that are then pieced together like a puzzle. I was pleasantly surprised with how well it turned out! It took a little bit of fiddling to figure out the correct cut settings on my Silhouette, as well as the level of detail I could achieve, but I love how the whole cover has a cloth texture like a jersey would.

The construction of this book was a bit of a challenge. Because I wanted to put grommets in the edges of the cover and thread a shoelace through them, so the spine looked like a hockey skate, doing a regular coptic stitch bind--where the covers are sewn onto the text block via holes punched in the cover board--would have interfered with the ability to freely manipulate the laces.

I eventually settled on a hybrid coptic-sewn board binding style. There is an additional folio of cardstock sewn onto the ends of the text block that the boards are then glued into, thus directly attaching the boards to the textblock and providing more structural stability. Usually, with sewn boards, a spine piece is then glued around the spine to cover up the exposed sewing; instead, I glued the bookcloth to the cover and then carefully cut slits in the cloth on the spine side and fed it in between the lines of sewing. It worked out incredibly well, creating the illusion of an open-spine coptic-stitch book without actually stitching on the chipboard itself; I wish I'd had the foresigh to take process pictures.

After that, it was relatively simple to punch holes for the grommets, insert them, and then thread the laces through. Next time, I would use a thinner chipboard and punch the holes further from the spine to allow the cover boards to close more flatly, but overall, I'm very happy with how the various design elements came together! The shoelace is removable and/or adjustable if desired as well.

[nevernonline]

✧.* change my mind; kmg

you were an enigma. mingyu knew you to be not afraid of anything, except for falling in love.

✩ pairing: mingyu x afab! reader

✩ genre/s: fwb! to lovers, fluff,

✩ word count: 2.0k

✩ warning/s: mentions of partying, swearing, suggestive themes, oral, punches, mingyu takes a tumble, kissing, reader has breasts, mingyu is down bad.

✩ notes/s: inspired by she's not afraid by one direction, lolol. enjoy! ☘️

Mingyu just couldn’t figure you out, for the first time in two years of knowing you he saw fear in your eyes all because he whispered three little words to you. 

He had heard all of your childhood and teenage crazy stories about making fake ids, bungee jumping, traveling all around the world during your gap year. He knows you can watch scary movies and often fall asleep to serial killer documentaries, but why wouldn’t you let him love you? 

The first time he said it, he was just protecting you or so he thought from an ex-boyfriend who showed up to the party you were attending, trying to pick a fight and begging you to take him back. Mingyu showed up to your side without a shadow of a doubt he would scare the boy away, but you just punched your ex square in the face as he called you a bitch and walked off like nothing had happened. 

After the punch you just rode in the car back to your house without saying a word. He was holding your now bruised hand softly resting a bottle of cold water across your knuckles. 

When you made it back inside your adrenaline kicked in and you started to strip Mingyu of his clothes all the way down to his black boxer-briefs below. He was basically an outlet for you to get out your rage over your shitty ex-boyfriend, but he didn’t mind being used by you. 

Maybe he said it at the wrong moment? A girl going down on you isn’t exactly the time to tell her that you’re in love with her. He thought maybe you didn’t hear him or misunderstood because you were focused on satisfying the craving of having him be putty in your hands, so he never brought it up again. Well, except when he finished all over your pretty face. 

The second time he said it, it was a cold winter day. You both decided it would be a good idea to go snowboarding. You were taking Mingyu up the ski lift for his first pass down the mountain, your eyes were filled with sparkles from the reflection of the snow, he couldn’t forget how pretty it made you look. Your pink nose and rosy cheeks were just begging for him to plant kisses on. 

You told Mingyu to go to the far left trail, the easiest and to not turn before the big pine tree, but he was so distracted by looking at you he did exactly the opposite of what you said and took a swerve right onto the black diamond.

 You ended up going the right way, watching his body attempt to swerve over the bumps and fresh powdered ground through the trees. Until you couldn’t see him anymore. A panic suddenly waved over both of you not being able to help him if something went wrong in the woods. The train was much quicker down the hill and the small skinny weaving through trees made him vulnerable if he fell to being hit by other boarders or skiers. 

You finally hit the bottom and clicked your board off trekking back up the hill by foot. 

Nearly halfway down you spotted a bright yellow and black coat huddled to the side of the tree brush and ran over to him. He seemed okay, but was clearly shaken up by almost getting hit by other riders. 

“Oh my god. You’re such an idiot, I thought you were hurt. Did you not hear my instructions” 

“I did, but I was distracted watching you on the lift so I forgot.” 

“Mingyu, you dumbass. I wouldn't have forgiven myself if something happened to you.” 

Your fingers touched the small cut on his cheek probably from his goggles or a loose branch. You brought your arms so tightly around his shoulders that he whimpered because of his now sore body. 

After picking up his gear that had been scattered around from his fall, you helped him back onto his feet and insisted that you bring him home to have a warm bath and clean up his new wound. 

Sitting in the bathtub, bruises scattered all the way around his tanned skin, he watched you set up a movie on your computer. You were surprisingly caring, he didn’t think you had a side to you like this. 

The both of you sat in his candle lit bathroom, him in the hot water of his tub and you in his tee shirt on his marbled floor, both sipping glasses of red wine, just enjoying the scenes playing out in front of you. 

Suddenly his hands came onto your shoulders, rubbing them in motions that relaxed your tense muscles. 

“You look cold, come in.” 

“No, you’re too tall for two people to fit in your bathtub, Gyu.” 

“You’re small enough to fit, come on.” 

“Okay, don’t look.” 

“I’ve seen you naked before.” 

“Just, please don’t look, for some reason getting into the tub infront of you is embarrassing me.” 

“Okay, I won't.” 

With his hands now placed over his eyes, he felt your legs slide against his, and felt you tap against his side with your feet, telling him it’s fine now. 

“No, not like that. Turn around, back towards me.” 

“Mingyu, this is silly, I'm comfortable.” 

“Do it or I’ll make you.” 

“Oh my god fine, cover your eyes.” 

Your butt slid back into the hot water, now resting between his legs. You could feel your cheeks starting to hear up as you rest your bare back against his chest. 

“Better?” 

“Mhm, much better.” 

Mingyu’s hands came up and grabbed your hair, wrapping it up in the claw clip you had resting on the floor and began massaging your neck once more, placing soft kisses on your shoulders. Mingyu now slid his long fingers over your nipples, making your head rest back against him and letting out a soft moan from your lips. 

“Thank you for taking care of me today, it means a lot to me.” 

“Well it’s sort of my fault you got hurt isn’t it?” 

“No, not at all actually. I shouldn’t have let myself get distracted by how pretty you are.” 

“Shut up.” 

“Not happening, pretty girls have to be told every once and a while they’re pretty.” 

“Okay, what about pretty boys?” 

“Mhm, they deserve it too.” 

“Well then, I think you’re very pretty.” 

“Thank you, I love hearing you say that.” 

Time passed that night between being sweet in the tub to now huddling in front of Mingyu’s fireplace, still wrapped in each other's arms, clinging to his warmth. 

“Are you ready for bed, y/n?” 

You were already asleep in his arms, suddenly those same arms were picking you up off the floor and placing you under his warm covers, sliding in next to you. 

With a kiss on your forehead, you woke up still half in your slumber and placed a longer kiss on his lips. 

“Goodnight, pretty Gyu.” 

Mingyu couldn’t contain his smile as he looked at your eyes closed while resting on his pillow. 

“Goodnight, pretty girl. I love you.” 

Mingyu couldn’t help himself from realizing he was saying the thing he wanted so badly in the worst moments, but maybe it was a sign he was saving himself from being hurt if you didn’t love him back. 

After the night you had over a week ago where he muttered those words the second time he  made a promise to himself that the next time he said it, it would be worth it. 

Mingyu knew tonight was to tell you properly, you were on your way to celebrate a mutual friend's birthday. 

He pulled up to your house, letting himself inside. He found you standing in your bra and underwear in front of your closet contemplating what to wear. The theme was black and red, you had a little black dress, a red low cut tank top, and a pair of black cargo pants laid out on your bed, weighing the options. 

“Holy shit. You scared the fuck out of me.” 

Mingyu tried to hold in his laughter as he rested his butt on the side of your bed, holding up the red top and black pants, similar to the outfit he was sporting. 

“Wear this, it’s nice. And you always complain when you wear dresses.” 

“You’re right, but what shoes do I wear? Black heels, sneakers, or boots?” 

“I like the boots I bought you last year, they’d look pretty under the jeans. And you can be closer to my lips when you get drunk and try to kiss me later. Easier access.” 

“Shut up, you’re so gross. I do not do that.” 

“Well, your clingy drunk ass says otherwise.” 

You ripped the red shirt from his hands and pulled it over your head swiftly as you took your bra off from under it and shimmied into your black pants. 

“Okay, well let’s bet. I’ll wear my sneakers, if I try to kiss you and complain that you’re too tall I’ll reward you with whatever you want” 

“Alright, but prepare to be crushed.” 

Hours passed by at the party, as your buzz grew stronger like your desire to have your red lipstick stained all over Mingyu. He was off talking to some girl at the bar, trying to order you drinks. You were sitting all the way across the room at your table watching her as she rubbed her pink fingernails up and down his arm, while he just smiled. 

Was he trying to make you jealous on purpose so you’d come over and kiss him? Did he even care that this girl was flirting with him because he was there with you? Who knows what he’s thinking. Before he departed she placed a small kiss on his cheek and handed him a napkin, probably with her number on it. 

“Who the fuck was she?” 

Your jealousy brought a small smile on Mingyu’s lips as he slid onto the black vinyl of the booth back next to you, hitting your knees with his. 

“Jealous?” 

“No, just answer the question. She got her ugly pink lipgloss on your cheek.” 

The lip stain that was supposed to be from you, the green monster of your jealousy weighing over you now as you brought your thumb to the spot she kissed him and wiped it away a little aggressively. 

“Not sure, she gave me her number though.” 

He flashed the napkin in front of your face, making you even more angry. 

“Call her, I’m going home okay?” 

“No, why are you leaving? I don’t want to call her I was just fucking with you.” 

“Will you stop then?” 

“Of course, just tell me what's up with you tonight? You’re acting weird, girls do that all the time, you’ve never cared before in fact most of the time you think it’s funny. I thought you knew I didn’t want any of them, so it didn’t bother you?” 

“Well it is bothering me now, she was touching you and she kissed you. Most girls just hand it and go on their way, but this was like right in my face? Does she not see us here together?” 

“Maybe? But, we’re not together like that are we? I’ve told you many times I love you and you always ignore me.” 

“I don’t know? I do love you, okay? I love you, Mingyu. I’m also terrified of loving you, because if I fucking lose you I’m not going to be okay. If I have to sit around and watch girls have their hands on you forever like that I just am not sure if I’ll be able to handle myself.” 

“You love me?” 

“Yes, you big dumb idiot. Can’t you fucking tell?” 

“No, but it’s nice to hear you finally say it.” 

“Can we leave now please? I think I need to show you how much I love you at home.” 

“I like the sound of that.” 

Mingyu took you home, back to the place where he first realized he loved you and let you prove it to him all night.

[bensboards]

Food And Drink Themed Long Stimboard ₊˚🌈ˎˊ˗ with food and drink gifs in rainbow colors !! i wanted to try making a long stimboard and i really like food and drink gifs so i thought id make a self indulgent board to give it a go :3

💖|💖|💖|🧡|🧡|🧡|💛|💛|💛|💚|💚|💚|💙|💙|💙|💜|💜|💜| ★ i know "long stimboards" usually only have five rows but i wanted to use all the colors so six it is lol ^^

[accirax]

Chessgram Theory: Who is Kotoko Breaking?

While the object Kotoko is breaking in Deep Cover’s thumbnail is still certainly up for debate, many people (including myself) are of the belief that she’s snapped a white bishop from the game of chess. Given where Kotoko’s mental state is right now and what’s implied by the lyrics of Deep Cover, I think it’s likely that this MV’s theme will depict all of the prisoners as different chess pieces. Therefore, it’s worth asking: who is that? And, in a larger sense, which prisoners could be represented by which chess pieces?

Kotoko pretty clearly sees her situation as her and Es against the rest of the prison. So, I think that the characters would be divided as Kotoko and Es on one team, and everyone from 01-09 on the other. Kotoko is wearing black and appears to be breaking a white piece, so it’s pretty safe to assume that she and Es would be represented by the black pieces. It’s an interesting choice, given that, even to a non-Western audience, black can be considered a color of evil, and white a color of purity and truth. However, if the Es/Kotoko team is “mystery and anger” and the 01-09 team is “cold demeanors and death,” it fits well enough.

And that’s ignoring the most important part: in chess, the white team always moves first. This would fit with Kotoko’s vigilante worldview that everything she does is just a retaliation against others’ wrongdoing. The other characters attack first by sinning, and Kotoko is only picking them off before they can do any real damage to Team Warden.

Anyways, as for the pieces themselves, different websites seem to have slightly different opinions on what each piece can represent, with some obvious throughlines. I’ll be pulling quotes from these three articles, color coded according to which one is being used, which you can read more of if you wish. I’m also not a chess expert, so if I’m missing anything or got something wrong, I encourage you to add any of your own thoughts!

We’ll start with the Black Team, because there are fewer characters and I think it’s pretty obvious who’s who.

Kotoko Yuzuriha

Kotoko herself will probably be the black Queen. As anyone who’s played chess should know, your Queen is the most powerful piece in your arsenal because it can move on straights or diagonals for any distance.

The queen is our impulse to fight and possibly our id. It can argue based on beliefs. It can let loose and fight like a rook. It has no reason to hold back as a knight does and will often attack to the other side of the board just because it wants to.

This hyper-violent description of the Queen reminds me a lot of Kotoko. She attacks the other prisoners because, according to her beliefs, they’re criminals who deserve to be punished. Not to mention, the “id” is actually the same thing as the “es” in psychology. After we voted her innocent in the first trial, Kotoko became our teammate. She thinks that she’s the same as Es, so seeing herself as the “id” would fit perfectly with that self-assessment. Speaking of Es…

Es (and Jackalope?)

Es is most likely going to be the black King.

The king is not as powerful as the queen, but he is considered the most important piece that needs the most protection.

Even if Kotoko has more power than Es inside the prison, Es is still the one ultimately calling the shots. They’re the important piece who actually casts the votes that Kotoko can use to exact justice. The way that Es falls asleep between trials (or, at least, they did the first time) also reminds me of how the king can only move one space per turn, and often remains in the same square until closer to the end of the game.

The meaning of the Queen in the game of chess is she is plainly the closest support to the King and is often the second biggest (tallest) piece on the board, signifying her power and importance.

Es and Kotoko being the King and Queen together also opens them up to being assessed as a pair. They start the game next to each other, far across the board from the white pieces. If Es is the tallest, most notable piece in the prison, Kotoko isn’t far behind, acting as the King’s loyal fang.

I don’t know if any of the other pieces on the black team would have any sort of particular association. Maybe Jackalope could be the pawn that starts in front of the King (I think that’s the E pawn), so that he could hop out of the way on black’s first move to allow Kotoko to escape on a diagonal?

If I’m right about this theming, I also believe it’s possible that the black team would start only with the King and Queen. This would 1) make Kotoko and Es appear as rootable underdogs by having fewer pieces, 2) show how Kotoko is doing all of the work to defend justice, and 3) give Kotoko a lot of space to move around in from the start.

Now that we’re done with the black team, it’s time for the 01-09 White Team! Given that this side has many more main characters, there are several more possibilities to discuss here. I’ve settled on an answer for each of the prisoners, but there’s certainly room to be flexible with any of them.

Haruka Sakurai

Starting with Haruka… sorry, buddy, but I think you’re a Pawn.

Look, there are only eight pieces (not pawns) for each team on the board. If there are nine prisoners on the white team, at least one of them has to be a Pawn. And, especially through Kotoko’s account of the first Trial, Haruka wasn’t doing a whole lot. He didn’t get voted guilty, so she didn’t attack him, and he didn’t try to save any of the attacked prisoners, either. All he really did was get a new fit and align himself with Mu, someone who barely avoided being voted guilty in the first place.

There is a debate about whether the pawns are the peasants who live outside of the castle walls or are the soldiers protecting the royal court behind them.

Specifically, though, I think that Haruka would be the pawn that stands in front of Mu. Depending on which piece Mu is, it doesn’t have to work like this, but if you say that Pawn Haruka’s placement is basically a “if you want to attack her, you’ll have to get through me first,” that’s quite reminiscent of the threat he presented in his second audio drama.

Haruka also makes sense as a Pawn because he has a lot of potential. For anyone who doesn’t know, in chess, if a Pawn manages to make it to the other side of the board, they can transform into any other piece. Haruka’s quiet demeanor might let him slip under the radar, but if Kotoko takes her eye off of him for too long, he could wind up becoming a threat to the King (Es).

Haruka (VD2): “If you don’t forgive Mu-san, I’m going to kill you.”

In the audio drama, Es counters this plan by pointing out that, as a prisoner, Haruka cannot attack them. However, the sentiment is still there. Even if a Pawn doesn’t really stand a chance of attacking the King when Queen Kotoko is on the loose, there’s always the possibility that he could get too close and throw a wrench into Kotoko’s plans.

Yuno Kashiki

As for Yuno… well, we all know that she’s a Queen in general, but in chess, I don’t think that argument really holds up. Yuno really just isn’t… relevant? enough? to the conflicts of the prison as a whole (at least where Kotoko is involved) to be represented by such an important piece. But, if Yuno isn’t the Queen, what would she be…?

Personally, I think she would be a Rook.

The rook is brute force. It is a disregard to beliefs.

Simply put, Yuno is a Rook because she’s a pretty straightforward person. That’s not to say that she doesn’t lie, of course– her whole t1 attitude seems to have been a bit of an act, and that one section in the middle of Tear Drop makes it pretty obvious that Yuno conceals her true feelings on order to better please her customers sometimes– but that, in the end, Yuno always does what she wants. If she wants to barge forward or cut across the entire board sideways, she’ll do it. She often keeps to herself, just like how enemy pieces wouldn’t want to get directly in front of the Rook for fear of being curb stomped.

Back to her t1 attitude, though…

The rook is the castle, the walls, the protectorate of the city, and in being so, is the only piece not representative of a living thing.

While most sources attribute the Rook’s walls to protecting the other important pieces, Yuno’s walls protect herself. Yuno’s Castle keeps her true self locked behind cold and stony walls, giving her freedom from making any attachments.

Futa Kajiyama

Futa is a Knight because… he’s, uh, literally a knight.

The knight pieces are the protective knights in the castle. The pieces are shaped like a horse because it is symbolic of what knights rode during battle.

It doesn’t always have to be that deep. (/j)

Actually, though, there are other reasons to call Futa the Knight– possibly some of the same reasons why the Milgram creative team decided to make one of his MVs themed after fantasy RPGs in the first place.

The knight represents the pure inner-warrior. If a knight starts out passive, it will always end up aggressive and vice versa. It can't move very far, but it never moves in a straight line, always preferring to be tactical and thoughtful.

Futa definitely seems to cycle between aggressive and passive. He passively lived his life as a regular guy until he unleashed his aggression and became a cyberbully. That aggression fueled him until he learned of his victim’s death, at which point he shut down and seemed to become more passive and introspective again. Arriving in Milgram triggered his aggressive tendencies, but getting voted guilty and losing an eye for it triggered his passive terror. At the time of his second audio drama, it seems like he’s returned to aggressively questioning Es again, and it remains to be seen whether he keeps that attitude into t3 or if something happens that once again makes him lose his footing (or die).

Mu Kusunoki

Much like Yuno, Mu also has an argument for being called the Queen– more so than Yuno, considering her strong Queen Bee coding in It’s Not My Fault and the titles of both of her audio dramas– but also falls short in the “being opposed to Kotoko” department. Although Haruka certainly looks to her for leadership, I can’t imagine Kotoko actually considering Mu a serious enough threat to put Mu on the same level as herself.

So again, like Yuno, I think Mu might be the other Rook. Mu also displayed a very “whatever I say goes” attitude in INMF, so she can share the same rhetoric behind Yuno being represented by that piece. The logic behind the castle aspect is slightly different, though.

Every country or medieval estate would have its royalty who were protected within the walled city or castle.

Mu is a rich, half-European girl whose dad sells real estate. Of course she would be represented by the Castle! Mu’s tactics involve consolidating her power in order to lead from a place above it all, exactly like how a castle looks over the rest of the village. Additionally, I can’t find the source of whoever pointed it out first, but I’ve seen it mentioned that the dress Mu wears in her birthday art is a reference to the one that Belle wears in Disney’s interpretation of Beauty and the Beast. It’s a fairytale with a princess (and perhaps someday, a queen), yes, but it’s specifically one where the heroine is trapped within a castle. Making Mu into a Rook would be a great way to keep up her royal theming, while leaving the Queen for a character a bit more powerful and relevant to Kotoko.

(Going back to Haruka for a moment, this would make him specifically the A or H pawn.)

Shidou Kirisaki

I really thought that Shidou might have more competition for the role of King, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that nobody fit the role quite as well as he did.

Shidou is the perfect balance of a piece who’s very problematic for Kotoko’s win condition, while also not being much of an active threat himself. There are very low odds that Shidou would ever actually try to harm Kotoko directly or get in her way to divert an attack. However, as long as he’s alive, Kotoko can’t win, because Shidou can keep attempting to heal all of the pieces Kotoko tries to eliminate. That’s not something that the King piece can actually do in a chess game, but hopefully you get my point.

Additionally, Triage let us know that Shidou is a family man. While the white Queen will obviously not be representative of Shidou’s deceased wife, and not every other prisoner would enjoy living under his reign (cough cough Amane), the optics of him being the “head of the family” are obviously there. It’s a pretty bad look if the white King starts the game by pleading with the black King to give him the death penalty, but… Well, at least Shidou changed his mind.

Mahiru Shiina

Not to answer the theory’s main question so early into the post, but… I think Mahiru is a white Bishop. Specifically, the one that Kotoko could be snapping in half in the thumbnail.

As far as I can remember, barring Undercover, Milgram’s MVs have only shown us things that have happened in the past. There are some things that could kind of hint at the future (like Shidou’s “So hey, prolong my life / I’m indispensable” in Triage) or depict prisoner’s fears of the future (like Futa potentially being afraid that Es could declare him guilty again at the end of Backdraft). But, I think that every instance of something like that happening could be explained as something that the character did or thought about in the past as well. That might be wrong, as I don’t want to take the time to write out how everything that appears like it could be in the future is actually in the past, but it sounds right to my memory.

My point being, while the snapped bishop could be indicative of Kotoko’s plans to crush someone in the future, if the chess pieces do represent characters, it makes far more sense if her smashing the white bishop is something that already happened in the past. Thus, it would probably be one of the three characters that Kotoko attacked in the past: Futa, Mahiru, or Mikoto.

Of the three options, I think Mahiru fits the role of bishop best.

The bishop is your belief structure. This is why a bishop that starts on white, will always be on white and vice versa for the black bishop.

While not a particularly religious person, Mahiru is someone who lives and dies based on her beliefs about the value of love. No matter what happens to her, she always keeps her same perspective, believing that love is the entirety of who she is and the only thing that’s worth living for. It’s how firmly she clung to those beliefs that sent her to Milgram, and her lack of awareness regarding her actions that got her voted guilty. AKA, Mahiru’s Bishop-like beliefs are exactly what sent her to be crushed in Kotoko’s palm.

To the extent that the blood in the thumbnail is the Bishop’s and not Kotoko’s, Mahiru was also the most grievously injured of the prisoners in between trials. I saw people joking that the thing Kotoko was crushing was “Mahiru’s bones,” and, like… maybe you’re not entirely wrong? 

I hope that you continue reading the post to hear my thoughts on the last three prisoners. But, if you are tapping out here… uhhhh, 0610 enjoyers, go crazy with this one.

Kazui Mukuhara

When I started theorizing for this post, I really thought that I was going to make Kazui the Queen to Shidou’s King. The two of them are pretty close, so the idea of Kazui being Shidou’s guardian makes total sense. And, most importantly, Kazui was the one to actually intercept and divert Kotoko’s attack on Futa. He’s been established as the most muscular prisoner in Milgram, on par with someone like Kotoko, which is perfect for him being the Queen!

Wellllll… I changed my mind and decided to make Kazui a Knight anyway.

There are a lot of good arguments for Kazui being a knight too, okay? After Cat, it’s pretty clear that Kazui was once a police officer. Thus, being a member of the castle guard would be a good match for his choice of career. They’re also probably the most traditionally “manly” piece, representative of an armed man on a horse, and Kazui tries very hard to be manly.

Knights can also hop over other pieces, much like how Kazui jumped into the fight between Kotoko and Futa. In fact…

Never underestimate [the Knight] for its limited range. It’s known as the "Queen Killer" for a reason!

Knights are often a good piece to use to attack Queens because of their unique L-shaped movement pattern. Unlike every other piece, they can attack the Queen from a position that can’t be immediately reversed upon them. Thus, Kazui’s ability to beat Kotoko could be an indicator of this “Queen Killer” quality, instead of the innate power of being a Queen himself. (This logic applies to Futa as well: he can attack Kotoko from the unique angle of appealing to Es’ morals and own sense of justice. Kotoko can’t do the same because, unlike Futa, she has yet to outwardly acknowledge that her murder could have been anything less than righteous.)

Also… the Knight is the only piece that doesn’t move in a straight line. Get it? The Knight doesn’t move straight? And that represents Kazui? Because Kazui is–

Amane Momose

Amane is the other Bishop because… religion.

The bishop stands close to the king and queen because it represents the church which many royal courts held near and dear to their hearts.

The Bishop represents the church, an important and very powerful entity throughout history and even today if you think about it.

Again, not everything has to be a reach. (/j)

So… yeah, Amane’s beliefs– specifically religious beliefs, this time– are also a huge part of her life. Even if she’s changed what the cult’s doctrine means to her, she still confesses that she carried out her murders for the sake of what her religion considers right and wrong.

This is also considered the third most powerful piece on the chessboard because back in the day religion could influence many people, even without the help of the royal family.

Not so much for Mahiru, but this sentiment also fits Amane pretty well! Between the threats of potential conversions and potential assassinations, Amane was definitely one of the prisoners to watch heading into t2. From what I’ve heard, the main reason why her vote was so down to the wire was mostly because people were afraid of the power that Amane held.

Interestingly, this would put another prisoner who was voted guilty in contention for the piece that Kotoko is crushing. However, I still think it’s more likely that that piece would be Mahiru, because Kotoko didn’t physically attack Amane. If it were Amane, it would more likely be that her beliefs were crushed as opposed to her bones, but… I don’t really think that really happened, either. Amane would almost certainly be a bishop, though, so there’s certainly a possibility that that broken piece could be her.

Mikoto/John Kayano

With only one prisoner left to go, you may have already come to the conclusion that Mikoto is the white Queen. And… yeah, I can’t really deny that at this point. Like I said, I wanted to make Kazui the Queen, but I couldn’t otherwise figure out what Mikoto would be.

Because, there’s one main thing that makes me think that Mikoto has to be the Queen… John’s lack of restraints.

She is allowed to move in any direction and in as many squares as she wants.

Due to the whole situation with John not technically being a prisoner, when John is the alter in charge, John cannot be restrained, even when voted guilty. That makes him very powerful; no matter what he does, we can’t use a guilty vote to try to stop him, much like many people hoped to do with Haruka when voting him guilty in t2. The Queen can visit any square, no matter whether it’s black or white, upright or reversed, Mikoto or John. Choosing any other piece that was constrained to a much more limited set of movement rules just felt off for him.

Next, while Kazui was able to defeat Kotoko and save Futa, the fight between John and Kotoko was a draw. That means that they are also evenly matched– perfect for both being the same kind of piece. Mikoto isn’t as close to Shidou as Kazui is (anymore, I think?), but they were at least smoking club buddies, so calling Mikoto the Queen to Shidou’s King isn’t the most ridiculous proposition.

Finally, making Mikoto the Queen, a very feminine piece, is super interesting in the context of people discussing how Mikoto is often associated with stereotypically feminine roles and the girl prisoners (oboetemasuka | candckirby | purgemarchlockdown). I don’t have a whole lot else to say on this matter considering these weren’t points of Mikoto’s characterization I originally noticed myself, but I encourage you to read these posts to get a taste of what I’m talking about. I’m sure there were other posts discussing it too, but… it’s so hard to find things on Tumblr ;-;

Conclusion

Finally, we’ve been through every prisoner! Here’s a summary of what I decided on (left or right side doesn’t matter):

The funny thing about this theory is that it could be fully disproven wrong in, like, a week, if either 1) that wasn’t a chess piece at all, or 2) the chess pieces obviously represent something else. For instance, the chess board could fully relate to, you know, Kotoko’s actual murder and not what she got up to in between trials. We are supposed to get more actual evidence regarding that too, aren’t we…?

Still, if it turns out that the chess board does represent Milgram, I will get the full satisfaction of having called it ahead of time, even if my assignments aren’t 100% correct. No matter what, I had fun thinking about it, which is (in my opinion) the highlight of theorizing! If you have anything else to add, I encourage you to communicate your thoughts in comments, tags, or reblogs. If you don’t, then I simply thank you for reading this far!

Deep Cover… soon.

[hedgiwithapen]

DHD: ALRIGHT, TIME TO DELIVER ON THAT "ELLIOT WAS BRIEFLY PART OF THE STARGATE PROGRAM" WORD OF GOD CANON!

Hardison would have been impressed if he’d had room for that particular emotion, which he often did. As it was, he had room for the ever conflicting “we’re gonna die” fear and “Eliot’s gonna save us” reassurance, the latter  of which normally won, which left room for being impressed. Currently, though, any space for that was filled with pain, which he hadn’t even been aware was an emotion.  The guy holding Parker with inhuman grip strength had some kind of hand-mounted… light… ray gun… thing, and it was both cool as hell and hurt like it, too, which outweighed the coolness factor. Hardison tasted blood, rolling up to one knee with absolutely all of his bones protesting. “I told you,” he panted. “We don’t know--” “Then you will die,” the voice that tore from their captor’s throat was all wrong, like it’d been run through a pitch adjuster set to ‘scary-ass-monster-man.’ “Nah,” Eliot swung around the corner, one hand braced on the door frame. The other held some kind of snake-themed horror movie prop, which would not have been reassuring in the hands of anyone but their boyfriend. Well, until it fired. The guy dropped Parker, writhing on the ground the way Hardison had been moments ago. Eliot pressed whatever trigger again, and the blue-purple lightning crawling over the guy intensified, even as he stopped moving.  A third shot and…

“Wow, you vaporized that guy.” Parker said, rubbing her neck where the man had held her. “Cool.” “Are you ok?” Eliot asked them both, his intensity ratcheting higher, Hardison noticed. “Aside from that guy trying to kill us, yeah,” Hardison said, looking pointedly at the place the body had been. “Uh. Are you? Ok? Because, I mean I know, we don’t pry or nothing but I thought, you know, you had a pretty solid Batman thing going on and uh…” “Trust me,” Eliot said gruffly. “That was mercy.” “Ok, ok, cool, uh, wanna run that back and maybe fill us in a little bit on that… ray gun thing you got there?” “It’s a Zat gun,” Eliot said. “Not a ray gun.” he ran a hand over his sweaty face. “ shit. This isn’t good.” “Move now, talk later?” Parker pointed out. “I mean. No body but still? Unless you’ve both completely forgotten how to be criminals?” “Yeah, we need to get to the Cheyenne Mountains,” Eliot said, looking at Hardison. “I’ll conjure plane tickets as soon as you tell me the hell is going on.” “Remember that conspiracy board?” “From the Hunter job?” Hardison asked. “Yeah. good prop. How much am I gonna not like asking why?” “A lot,” Eliot said. “So this guy tried to kill us and you got a …Zap gun--” “Zat. With a T.” “S’what I said, so you got one of those because of… one of those things? Which one? Moon landing?” “Nah, that was real.” “It better not be that racist secret hyperborea beyond the ice caps bullshit.” “Nah,” Eliot said again. “It’s the Pyramids.” “Oh, really,” Hardison said. “ had you not just saved my life I would be scolding you, like it is the twenty-first century man, the Egyptians were really good at--” “They sure were. That’s why the Aliens took them.” Eliot interrupted. “Hardison, how much have you learned about the SGC?” “The boring Air Force branch that doesn’t do anything except waste taxpayer money?” “Try the Air Force branch that’s the only reason this planet didn’t get blown up in ‘98. And ‘99. And--” “Oooh,” Parker shook out her arms. “What are we stealing?” “Nothing! Yet. “ Eliot amended his statement swiftly. “Look, if there was a goa’uld here, that’s a really really bad sign.” “Oh, it’ll be like DC again,” Parker nodded. “It’ll be a whole lot worse.” “That guy was an alien?” Hardison asked. “Yeah. It’s a very distinctive vocal pattern, ok? Tickets.” “Calm down, I got them. Got us a car, too. We need fake IDs or you got this?” “They know me,” Eliot confirmed. “Or at least, they better.” He glanced up, and Hardison peered at the cloudless sky with him, half expecting to see it full of spaceships and fire.  The perfect blue seemed too good to be true.

[pagannatural]

1.04

-this is that episode that opens with a shot of Dean’s ass so that we see Sam’s POV as he stands over him holding coffee. Sam stares at Dean’s ass and then Dean asks him (still lying on his stomach) what time it is. Sam looks first up and then over his shoulder to answer. There’s no clock up there so it really seems like he’s just catching himself staring at Dean’s ass and looking up like God help me

-seeing that his worry last episode didn’t really phase Sam, Dean tries a different argument convincing him to get some sleep. (Maybe he knows how Sam feels about his ass)

I wonder if this is something John used to say to Dean. It’s funny because what Dean says boils down to, I’ve noticed you’re still not sleeping and I need you to sleep because I need you, and Sam’s reply is essentially, I’m scared and I know you’re scared too sometimes even if you won’t admit it.

-Sam snaps at Dean for taking too long making their fake IDs after Dean checks out a woman on the way out. Sam is so far only snippy like that for this specific reason

-Sam didn’t need to make sure his face was as close to Dean’s as possible on that airport courtesy phone but he did it anyway

-Dean fears flying. The only thing that could convince Dean to board an aircraft is Sam boarding that aircraft. He seems like he would rather let the plane crash than get on it up until Sam says he’ll do it on his own.

-it looks like Sam has a hand on Dean’s knee the way this arm is a little bit on top of him

-Sam tells Dean “yes you can” [calm down] in the softest sweetest little voice. Dean reluctantly lets Sam help him calm down.

-Sam always stands with his whole body facing Dean fig 3

-episode theme is fear. Sam admits early in the episode that he forgot the way the stuff they hunt gets to him, which means that he was scared at home sometimes as a child/teen too. He calls Dean back to his seat twice to make sure he uses the Latin ‘cristo’ to check for demons and then pouts when Dean snaps at him. Did he fret over Dean when they were kids, triple checking that he had everything he needed before he left, the way he did on the plane? Sam is attentive and watchful, and he seems to show his love through that attention. He studied lore to keep his brother and dad safe and he studies Dean because he loves him.

[chrome-barkz-aac]

image id: a custom home board on an aac app. all of the symbols are dog themed. end id.

stumbles out of coughdrop covered in blood.

i was inspired by a friend (waves!!! hai @vixdesl) to REDO MY ENTIRE HOMEBOARD. FOR SOME REASON. ne way here it is.

[kitthefoxkin]

hhihi! if its not a bother, id like to ask for 3 moodboards..? 1 would be a raccoon alterhuman board 2 would be an opossum alterhuman board 3 would be a Siamese cat alterhuman board! could they all have a (specifically) emo/scene/scenemo theme to them? <3 thank you in advance !! -🦝💞

1) raccoon alterhuman moodboard with themes of emo/scene/scenemo!

2) opossum alterhuman moodboard with themes of emo/scene/scenemo!

3) siamese cat alterhuman moodboard with themes of emo/scene/scenemo!

[demonzhalo]

I finally got around to watching a full run of Mouth washing, so here's my take, and you're more than welcome to add more (warning, I'm very bad at picking up cues. Also mentions of SA and narcissism and graphic themes.);

The bad guy(s); Jimmy, while the the worst guy on board, isn't the only one. People like to put Curly onto a pedestal, and he IS a victim of Jimmy, but he's still a bad person. A lesser of two evils, if you will. He knew (whether he figured it out before hand or because Anya gave him confirmation) that Jimmy had assaulted Anya, and his first thought was "I can fix this". While conversing with Jimmy, it's revealed that Jimmy most likely had done something similar, or exactly, in the past that Curly helped get him out of. Helping him avoid responsibility. Making Curly the bad guy instead of Jimmy, something that I've seen get horribly overlooked or joked about. What people need to realize is that Curly has been enabling Jimmy, overlooking Jimmy's narcissism in order to help him.

Just Jimmy thoughts; In the scene where Jimmy is walking past the IDs, we can't see Anyas. He doesn't care what he did to her, he only cares about what happens to HIM. How it affects HIS career, HIS life. Polle (the Pony Express mascot) being symbolized as a fetus kinda shows Jimmy fear, dislike of another "burden", negligence of responsibility, and also his guilt for the unborn child. One that he forced onto Anya. The entire story line is him trying to fix a problem HE created but won't admit to. He self victimizes because it's easier to play victim then to take responsibility for your actions.

Curly; Curly is an enabler. I'll say it right now. He enables Jimmy's behavior and overlooks/neglects the smaller details in favor of the bigger picture (something hinted at during the broken pixel scene). He is not a good person. Curlys decisions reflect on (most) men's relationship with a friend like Jimmy; unwilling to recognize their horrible actions and instead try and find a way to "justify" or "fix" it. However, there's not much he could've done, he's up in space months away from Earth and Pony Express probably would've deducted the teams pay, not to mention that if Curly tossed Jimmy into one of the cryo pods and something happened to him, they would need a copilot. But it's also cruel the way Jimmy thinks he's "saving" Curly, when in actuality he's taking the easy way out and prolonging Curlys suffering, and also staging it to set up Curly as the main bad guy again.

Anya thoughts; First of all. Why the fuck didn't she get evals too? Second of all, I wouldn't be surprised if Anyas suffering and assault was purposely overlooked because A) Jimmy is an unreliable narrator, and B) It reflects on how people don't typically see such things unless they expect it, and they especially tend to overlook it when it involves a close friend/family member. Rewatching, the viewer can pick up hints and details and put together the picture using context they've been given later on in the story. I feel incredibly sorry for her when the man she confided in and trusted turned around and went about trying to help the abuser, which also reflects how people will do anything BUT help the victim. Anya is terrified of Jimmy, something we can clearly see (context or no context) when we first interact with her. Jimmy downplays her role, meanwhile, SHE'S THE ONE KEEPING A SHOULD BE DEAD MAN ALIVE, and he's breaking over being asked to do the job HE FUCKING WANTED (Can you tell I really fucking hate this?). Not to mention I've seen AUs of Anya keeping the child because she was already past the legal abortion stage. That kid would not have survived, the mouthwash has no nutritional value to it so between that, the extremely low rations, and eventual shortage of oxygen, she most likely would've miscarried.

Swansea; He reminds me a bit of my father. An angry man who might mean well but can't get that across. I think Swansea was saving the pods for Daisuke because he still has a life to live. Swanseas wife is ill and his kids don't speak to him anymore, Anya and Jimmy are in severe financial stress, and Curly is just clearly fucked. It's mentioned that Anya has been talking and possibly telling Swansea about the abuse she's been suffering because of Jimmy. Him lodging the axe into the holographic sun is, at least in my opinion, slight foreshadowing to him killing Daisuke. Swansea kills Daisuke to kill his suffering (much like a real swan).

Daisuke; I don't have much on him, but I keep seeing videos of people imagining how he would react to Jimmy after learning what he said, it's... Not quite what I see. Daisuke is pretty young and looked up to Jimmy (because he didn't know the suffering Anya went through), Jimmy is years older than him, and much bigger too (not to mention being a loose cannon). In a situation like that there isn't much he can do except to keep an eye on Jimmy and stay close to Anya. He might've been scared when Swansea was prepping to kill him, but it was better than trying to prolong his life. Anya mentions when we first saw the mouth wash that it's mostly made up of sugar and not alcohol, so it wouldn't have disinfected the wound and might've even made it worse.

Extra; When we first open the game, we get an achievement that says "I hope this hurts". This can either be Anya, telling the protagonist that she hopes their suffering hurts, or (and I don't think this is confirmed!!!) it's the dev, telling whoever they hope this game reaches, hurts them.