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thattimdrakeguy · 3 months ago

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What Happens When You Only USED To Care

I find it extremely hard to take any person in the fandom that does that schtick where they make fun of Tim based on made up or overly exaggerated stuff seriously.

I can't even find it within myself to give them the power of my hate, because it's more like a fly near your ear. You swat em away and bye bye bye.

Maybe it's because I know so much about how DC ended up being, that I can tell when they're bullshitting and saying stuff others put in their ear.

I mean you take a kid's favorite toy, and add modifications and paint jobs that take away the whole point of the toy, the kid's aren't going to want to play with it anymore.

Am I expected to blame the toy itself?

Especially with how the fandom has bastardized these characters that they so clearly love, but they still constantly get cancelled.

And I won't make mention of who, because someone will get sensitive, and plus then say "WELL TIM DID TOO" showing they're completely missing my point and didn't read the whole post.

I'm not sure why the fandom thinks taking complex and fascinating characters that allowed readers to escape their potentially bleak lives to jump into something more joyful (at least in an entertainment kind of way) and turning them into sitcom tropes is a great idea that OH IS SO GREAT, and EVERYONE WILL PREFER.

'Cause when the comics start copying that trend, you're actually scaring most people away.

Sure it's different from the big bad edgy we had to deal with a while, but it's still not getting these things back to were the once were.

You're replacing the bad, with a different flavor of bad. This time coated in a superficial dusting of praise that doesn't help anything get anywhere.

See, the fandom isn't as big as it may seem. It functions as an echo chamber which gives the illusion of their being way more. These comics wouldn't constantly be cancelled if they were as good or as popular as people make them out to be.

So all those posts praising the nonsense are as functional as having that one friend who praises you no matter what while the rest of the world says otherwise. Might feel good at the time, but let's face it, it gets you nowhere.

And that's just how the internet works. A bunch of little weirdos sitting around making their chamber, and thinking what they say to someone else still matters.

But it don't.

It doesn't.

They're all just so confident they mean something, when they mean as much to the greater world as a weed so far out of view, you don't bother trying to pull it.

You can make up what ever you want, and try to be as abrasive and irritating about what you made up as much of you want, go out praising when some desperate writer that settles for brownie points over critical praise and legacy puts it into a comic to find validation also as much as you want.

But the lack of genuine interest from most people still leaves it as a dud.

So many characters people think are popular, when they're tragically not, no matter if they were formerly good, is saddening. Because a lot of these characters at one point were good, and interesting, and genuinely popular beyond the small pond filled with indignity.

At best they have fan bases that once cared but now no longer do. That don't bother paying attention, because why should they after being denied the simple thing they want--good writing and characterization. The whole reason most start reading in the first place.

I might point one finger at one of these dudes, because I can comfortably say I used to love them too.

No one bothers trying to help out, and bring them back up though.

They want the instant glorification from a bunch of nobodies, who don't care about them as a person, and are only a validation machine instead of anything with a beating heart in it that will truly be there for them when times gets rough besides thoughts and prayers alone.

And as many years as I've seen this stuff, it never stops.

If I haven't been in a better place since I've almost entirely left DC behind in the dust, I would consider that depressing.

These people are online doing this so much that it is what they dedicate their lives to.

It is their life.

They made themselves so unlikable though, that a lot can't be bothered to find pity.

If you have to rewrite reality in your brain, what's the point of living there? You're just convincing yourself you're the only one not wrong, with no hint of irony. What a weirdo thing to do.

Clinging on to things with no solid backing.

In the grand scheme of things they are that insignificant unless you're also stuck in the chamber.

Hell, the only reason I made this post as long as it is, is less out of care and passion, and more because I can't help myself from being overly wordy.

If only DC could be fucked to remember what it takes to write good stories instead of ripping fandom people off. Maybe something would click in and once again take off.

And giving the illusion they now care--

As we can see with the frequent cancelations--

That only works when you have the talent and know how, to tell good stories, with great characters once again. A retro paint job and partially putting the character where they should be can only do so much, when limited talent has to take the rest of the wheel.

Otherwise all you're gonna get is a month or two of decent sells...and it's back into the dumpster again. Where the higher ups might eventually decide to blame the toy and not the manufacturers.

Unless you're Batman or Superman or that level of iconic/popular.

Disappointingly and quite obviously, it's not hard to know if not assume most characters don't have that level of icon to have their back in the dark times. Meaning most go back into the void unless the ones upstairs think this time their new failed from the start scheme will win them all back.

The secret of success in comics is simple, now it may not go back to the way it was, but they can still come back a bit, and here's the secret--

Learn how to fucking tell good stories, with good characterization, with artists that are beyond simply having good talent, but actual passion that shows them how everything's supposed to be.

If I order a nerf gun, and comes not looking anything like what it did on the box.

You know damn well the person who bought it is going to be displeased and not order from them again.

You're testing customer loyalty, and the economy not doing as grand, and prices going up--

The amount of time you have to get them back is depleting.

So get your head out of your ass and actually do something.

#Tim Drake #DC Comics #Bat-Family #Batfamily #Robin

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tyrantisterror · 10 months ago

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You Don't Remember Muncher

Sony, as a film-making company, has reeked of desperation for at least a decade at this point. They have IPs that they know SHOULD be making them more money but they just. Can't. Get them to. And sometimes this results in them taking some big creative swings, to be completely fair - I love the Spider-Verse movies, and you don't get movies that expensive and conceptually heavy with a studio executive who's playing it safe. And I think the fact that they keep taking these big swings even when some of them end up duds like Sausage Party is commendable.

But I do think one of their big problems is this inability to understand that 1. films are a form of art and 2. what art is. They're good enough to understand that artists know what art is, which is more than a lot of studio leadership can say, and those big creative swings they take come from trusting artists to do their art thing. And even their misfires tend to have laudable stuff - Sausage Party may be an SNL gag that someone decided to stuff full of the most dated racism and bigoted jokes imaginable to get up to movie feature runtime, but the animation in it is oddly beautiful, even when depicting things that are repulsive. Like a protestant on the way to Dracula's castle, the heads at Sony seem to treat their artists with respect despite not understanding why they gave them a rosary and other primitive superstitious charms to protect them from vampires.

But when they have to make choices themselves, hoo boy, those poor bastards. They don't know what they're doing.

So Ghostbusters is one of those valuable IPs Sony is desperate to monetize, right? They just know they can have a huge hit on their hands with Ghostbusters. It was popular in the 80's, and things that were popular in the 80's are HUGE now! Look at that Stranger Things, baby!

Now, the heads at Sony may not be able to understand art, but they try. They are at the very least good at picking apart a piece of art and sussing out what ingredients made it, like Claire Saffitz trying to recreate an oreo. For their 2016 reboot, they correctly deduced that the original Ghostbusters was 1. a comedy 2. starring at least two actors from SNL and using their star power for promotion and 3. was liked by nerds because the heroes are out-of-shape nerds rather than chiseled Rambo/Arnie types. Also it has ghosts in it, probably.

Now, the problem is, the SNL actor-led comedy was taken out into a dark alley and slowly beaten to death by Adam Sandler and his cadre of goblin men starting somewhere around the time Little Nicky was made. It gave way to the era of cringe comedies like The Hangover and Judd Apatow bromances, which were led less by SNL stars and more by actors and actresses who'd gotten their start on NBC thursday night sitcoms - a minor difference, perhaps, but notable I think. And, like, even then, by 2016, that era was also pretty much over. The cringe comedy was a dying genre. Comedy itself, at least pure comedies, was kind of losing its place in film, being supplanted by action movies with more quips than they used to have. We were three years deep into THE WHEDONING.

But being three years behind the curve has never been a problem Sony worried about. I mean, historically it should be, but they never do. So Sony tried to assemble the best Ghostbusters they could make from the ingredients they could suss out, using the closest equivalents they could make. Grab some of the actresses from Bridesmaids, and an SNL star or two if you can. Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy have a pretty good banter going on ala Bill Murray and Dan Akroyd, really put them front and center. Oh, and we sussed out another ingredient! The original Ghostbusters had Sigourney Weaver as a love interest, and she was the star of Alien, which our Sony genre determining bot claims is an action movie, so let's get a hot action star as a love interest. Chris Hemsworth! Oh, we can make him be a silly goober like we did with John Hamm in Bridesmaids! People love handsome guys being silly goobers! (in this, Sony is correct)

The result was... fine, I think, if missing a few crucial ingredients. You know the ghosts in Ghostbusters? First syllable of the title? Most of the ones in the 2016 movie are just, you know, transparent humans, maybe a bit bluer than normal, making maniacal faces. Whereas in the original:

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Well, they got some fucked up freaks in the original.

A lot of fans didn't like the 2016 movie, some for stupid sexism reasons, some for "I don't see why you need to remake Ghostbusters at all really" reasons, and some for, like, just personal taste reasons. It did not provide the big box office hit Sony wanted. Their first attempt to recreate the oreo was a failure.

So they go back to the drawing board, listening to the loudest, angriest criticism and looking to what's working outside of their influence for answers. Fans thought the 2016 movie was too different, not reverent towards the original as the perfect golden calf of Bill Murray comedies that it is. So this new reboot would be oozing with reverence. Fans didn't like the cast of ladies, so, yes, got it, scrap the lady-led ghostbusters.

Star Wars Fans loved that J.J. Abrams Star Wars reboot, The Force Awakens, for being a sequel rather than a full reboot, but also for just telling the same story they already love but slightly different. And nerds in general still fucking love that Stranger Things show - they even had an episode where the Stranger Things kids wore ghostbusters costumes! Hey, there's a million dollar idea, Stranger Things kids... as ghostbusters...

Now, the one thing they can't take from The Force Awakens is copying the tone of their original movie, because they tried copying the irreverent tone of the original Ghostbusters and fans did not like it. They need to be reverent to the original, because that's what The Force Awakens, even if showing reverence at all is antithetical to the tone of the original movie itself (which it is, because Ghostbusters is an irreverent Bill Murray comedy, like that's its whole schtick). But if they can drape this new-found reverence in 80's nostalgia, maybe, just maybe, nostalgic fans will be too dumb to notice.

And hey, they love that Stranger Things, which is a big homage to The Goonies and E.T. and Steven Spielberg-esque stories about pubescent kids going on perilous adventures where they face bad guys and learn life lessons in the process, reverent but dated in the same time period as Ghostbusters. And what an idea... Stranger Things kids... as ghostbusters...

This was admittedly a lot of preamble to get to the actual topic: Muncher. See, in that Force Awakens style, they needed to not only bring old characters from Ghostbusters back, but also make new characters who are really just the old characters but slightly different. For example, The Force Awakens brings us BB-8, who's basically just R2-D2, but visually different enough to feel new, and maybe a little cuter. Instead of moving on treads, he moves on this big ball, which is more complicated from a puppetry aspect and thus looks a lot more impressive and just a bit more "modern" while still basically being R2-D2 again.

Such was the genesis of Muncher.

Slimer (originally called Onionhead by the production staff and John Belushi's Ghost by Bill Murray) wasn't intended to be the franchise mascot, in part because Ghostbusters was never meant to be a franchise. He was a one off ghost who's iconic design and role as the first ghost to be busted made him a fan favorite, and eventually became, like, the ghostbusters' dog in the cartoon series. We love that for him, but the fact remains that Slimer's success was accidental.

Muncher, by contrast, was an attempt to recreate Slimer. But different! He's a gross gluttonous monster, because that's what Slimer is, but there's a lot less focus on wet goo when he eats and more solid chunks. See, it's different? And you know what's popular now thanks to, like, a cracked article or something? Tardigrades! They're these cool little microscopic things that everyone's making into monster designs now, they're even on a Star Trek! Why, if we made Slimer 2 - err, that is, Muncher have some tardigrade elements, he'd look weird and, like, modern - but not too modern! Like Slimer, but different!

Before Ghostbusters: Afterlife came out, there was a LOT of Muncher merchandise. A lot. Which makes sense, Slimer had so much goddamn merch in the heyday of the original Ghostbusters. There was fucking Slimer toothpaste. Toothpaste! From Slimer's teats!

It looked identical to Slimer bubblegum.

But, for whatever reason, Muncher did not connect like Slimer did, and so Sony did a last minute trend-chasing pivot and tried to focus on the new hotness: cute baby versions of characters who were old and not cute in the original movie.

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I don't know if this scene was planned to be in the movie before The Mandalorian was a big success, or if it was a hasty addition to it, but it doesn't matter, because what does matter is the late marketing shift to focus on these little fuckers, and giving them lots of toys. They're already in the marketing for the sequel, where Muncher is nowhere to be found.

Because you don't remember Muncher, do you?

Muncher didn't connect. They took a swing with Muncher and they fucking whiffed. They made a shitload of Muncher toys and all those little blue fuckers ended up clearanced to Hell. Muncher is a failure, a loser.

You don't remember Muncher.

And you never will.

#Muncher #You Don't Remember Muncher #covid brain #Did You Remember Muncher?

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daughter-of-melpomene · 1 month ago

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𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗘𝗗𝗬 𝗣𝗟𝗢𝗧 𝗕𝗨𝗡𝗡𝗜𝗘𝗦

We’re back at it again with some random plot bunnies!! These ones are all for comedy movies or sitcoms that I particularly love - I probably won’t make any proper intro posts for them, but you’re all still welcome to send me any asks about them that you’d like!!

Cecelia Jane “CJ” Billings, she/her, The Hangover OC, Phil Wenneck ship, Megan Fox FC. Doug’s younger sister by one year who’s been hanging around the rest of the guys since they were all kids. Phil has been flirting with her for years, but she’s always rebuffed him because she thinks he’s just trying to get with her so he can say that he’s slept with his best friend’s sister (which is true at first, but he does eventually gain actual feelings for her). Doug’s best woman when he gets married in the first movie, so she’s there for the start of the Wolf Pack and all the subsequent adventures and chaos, and she and Phil slowly fall in love over the course of the trilogy. Very sarcastic and witty and tends toward being a pessimist, but also knows how to let loose and have fun. A travel writer in her normal life, and isn’t afraid to flaunt her knowledge of different places and cultures, which especially comes in useful during the Bangkok fiasco. Also bisexual, and sleeps with several men and women during the Wolf Pack’s escapades.

Elizabeth “Betty” Jones, she/her, Ghosts CBS (American version) OC, Hetty Woodstone ship, Lana Parilla FC. A former fifties housewife who was staying overnight at Woodstone Mansion after leaving her cheating husband, only to fall down the stairs and die the next morning and find a group of ghosts standing over her. Has mild gravity manipulation for her ghost power, but she can’t really do more than make small objects hover a few inches above their surfaces. Eventually reveals that she’s bisexual and was in love with her best friend from life, but remains very scared of relationships after her husband cheated on her. Eventually Sam and Isaac team up to set her up with Hetty after they realize the two of them have feelings for each other, and they become a really sweet couple. Very sweet and a bit of a mother hen since she never had children of her own (which was a big reason her bastard husband said he cheated on her), but also has an amazing dead-eyed disapproving look that is Trevor and Thor are deeply afraid of.

Rachel “Rocky” Drake, she/her, Ghosts CBS (American version) OC, Flower Montero ship, Bex Taylor-Klaus FC. Lead guitarist in a Riot Grrl band back in the 90’s, who were staying at Woodstone Mansion the night before a gig in the city when a chandelier fell on Rocky and killed her. Gained pyrokinesis as a ghost power, and loves using to mess with the candles in the mansion and help Thor play with the lights. The bane of Hetty’s existence since she’s basically the opposite of a “proper lady,” and spends most of her time whacking Trevor upside the head when he says something douchey. Very fierce and sarcastic and usually wearing a scowl, basically Flower’s opposite, but has had a crush on her since she first saw her, so of course Isaac, Alberta, and Sam team up to get them together.

Dorcas Brinley, she/her, Ghosts BBC (British version) OC, Julian Fawcett ship, Carey Mulligan FC. A baker who died in the 90’s during a wedding being held at Button House which she had made the desserts for, having been stabbed by a coworker who was actually meaning to kill someone else. An incredibly shy sweetheart of a lady who, as her ghost power, can make any Living who walks through her smell their favourite dessert. Very much an opposites-attract couple with Julian, but she brings out his softer side and he brings her out of her shell. Pretty withdrawn and doesn’t interact much with anyone else at first, but eventually becomes really good friends with Mary and Pat.

Beth Fawkes, she/her, The Office (American version) OC, poly Andy Bernard/Erin Hannon ship, Emily Bett Rickards FC. An accounting worker at Dunder Mifflin who’s been best friends with Oscar since she started her job. Doesn’t talk to her co-workers a lot, but is kind of friends with Pam and has a weird mother-daughter relationship with Meredith. Develops a crush on Andy quickly after he starts working at the office but resigns herself to pining when she realizes he has feelings for Erin, before she finds herself beginning for fall for Erin as well, and eventually they all get together. Very smart and quiet and rarely entertains any foolishness, but will never hesitate to help out anyone who needs it. Also Jim and Pam’s biggest shipper, and nearly throws a whole party when they finally get together.

Mariah Green, she/her, Friends OC, Phoebe Buffay ship, Reneé Rapp FC. Rachel’s youngest sister who becomes determined to make something of herself outside of her family’s money after Rachel runs away from her wedding, so she decides to try and make it on Broadway. Winds up meeting Joey through an audition and he introduces her to the gang, not realizing she’s Rachel’s sister and being very embarrassed once he realizes she is. Actually does wind up getting a few minor stage roles and briefly moves in with Phoebe after the other woman offers, during which they fall in love. An amazing singer who’s very bold and outspoken and determined, but can also be impulsive and has trouble with thinking before she speaks. She and Rachel don’t always get along as sisters, but they do generally have a good relationship, and she winds up becoming really good friends with Joey and Chandler.

Graham Pryor, he/him, Friends OC, Chandler Bing ship, Matthew Grey Gubler FC. A new part-time worker at Central Perk who’s also in school to get a degree in literature. Very interested in the classics and historic book manuscripts, and winds up bonding with Ross because of that beyond being friends with Rachel because of work. Chandler has a full-on bi crises because of him and has to work on overcoming his internalized homophobia from what happened with his dad, but they get there eventually and become a really sweet couple. Graham’s kind of awkward, but incredibly intelligent, and very loyal and sweet. Joey likes to teasingly call him and Ross the Nerd Squad, which usually earns him a swat upside the head from Monica.

Elizabeth “Betsy” Harrington, she/her, The Nice Guys OC, Jackson Healy ship, Rose Byrne FC. Friends with Jackson since their early twenties and had only slept with him once since before the events of the movie, but they both claim they’ve moved on since and now Betsy is just the go-between with Jackson and his clients, getting everyone who approaches her to make sure they won’t turn him into the police. Neither of them ever properly moved on, though, and over the course of the whole case they begin to really fall back in love and end the movie together for real. Betsy is hard as a rock, sarcastic and quick-witted and with no time for nonsense, but she also has a soft spot for kids and is completely loving and loyal to those she really cares about, and can read people within only a few minutes of knowing them. Becomes really good but weird friends with Holland, and basically becomes an aunt to his daughter along with Jackson.

Elizabeth “Betty” Halloran, she/her, M*A*S*H OC, Radar O’Reilly ship, Lola Tung FC. The daughter of a Chinese immigrant and an American general, she really wants to help in the war effort once it kicks off but has no experience in nursing or being a clerk. Nevertheless, her father, who’s never really been there for his wife and daughter and just wants Betty to stop bugging him, assigns her as another clerk to the 4077th, knowing Henry is too intimidated by the brass to argue. Most of the unit doesn’t really like or trust her much at first - especially Frank, for obvious reasons - but Henry comes to see her as another daughter and before long most of the camp sees her as their niece or little sister, and Margaret even takes her under her wing. Very sweet, cheerful, and friendly, which can lead others to think she’s a bit airheaded, but she’s actually very clever and makes a very good clerk, and while she and Radar sort of fumble their way through having crushes on each other, they do become a very sweet couple. (Hawkeye also gives her dad a very good telling-off at one point, which is very fun.)

Tagging the OC besties: @auxiliarydetective, @luucypevensie, @manyfandomocs, @ginevrastilinski-ocs, @dancingsunflowers-ocs (also gonna tag @eddysocs, @ginger-grimm, and @come-along-pond for the Ghosts content, and @juliaswickcrs for the Friends content).

#plot bunnies #oc: cj billings #oc: betty jones #oc: rocky drake #oc: dorcas brinley #oc: beth fawkes #oc: mariah green #oc: graham pryor #oc: betsy harrington #oc: betty halloran #randomness

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lucky-clover-gazette · 4 months ago

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kings rising highlights & annotations

chapter 6

indented text is from the book. some quotes have commentary, some do not. some comments are serious, and some are definitely not. most of them will only make sense to people who have read the series. and, like, there are spoilers. so please read the books first if you're interested!

also: part of the reason i'm doing such a close reading is to study cs pacat's style, especially in terms of how she does romance and erotica. there are "craft notes" that might seem weird, like i'm being redundant or restating something rather than analyzing, but those are more things that i want to remember/take away from the writing!

i'm going to tag these longer posts with "sam reads capri" in case anyone wants to read them all at once.

this is a google doc i wrote with overall content warnings for the captive prince series. it's not perfect, but i do think it's important to include.

Damen watched Laurent enter with his first adviser Vannes

LET’S GOOOOOOOO

The little brow furrows as he searched for vocabulary, the ‘How do you say—?’ and ‘What is it called when—?’ were gone.

awww cute that damen noticed them before :’) sweetheart

‘It’s lucky for him he speaks our language so well,’ said Nikandros, as they returned to the Akielon camp. ‘Nothing involving him has anything to do with luck,’ said Damen.

Their camps, they agreed, would be kept separate.

ah, the sitcom “line down the room” solution

The Veretians were scornful too, in a different way. Akielons were barbarians who kept company with bastards and walked around half naked. He heard the snatches of what was said on the edges of their camp, the ribald calls, the jeers and taunts. When Pallas walked past, Lazar wolf-whistled.

this reminds me of the two factions from the infamous avatar the last airbender episode “the great divide.” also look, new gay people!

And that was before the more specific rumours, the murmurings among the men, the sidelong speculation that had Nikandros in the warm summer evening, saying, ‘Take a slave.’ Damen said, ‘No.’

so it’s like a social expectation. but he’s still not doing it. even LAURENT does it (kinda), although he has much more to prove than the akielons

He buried himself in work, and in physical exercise. During the day he threw himself into the logistics and planning, the tactical groundwork that would facilitate a campaign. He plotted routes. He set up supply lines. He commanded drills. At night he went alone from the camp, and when there was no one around him, he took out his sword and practised until he was dripping with sweat, until he could no longer raise his sword but only stand, his muscles trembling, the tip of his blade pointed to the ground. He went to bed alone. He undressed and sluiced himself down, and only used squires to perform those menial tasks without intimacy. He told himself that this was what he had wanted. There was a working relationship between himself and Laurent.

no this is so sad, but so relatable. breakup behavior transcends worlds

There was no longer—friendship—but that had never been possible.

tell that to laurent, who allowed himself to become your friend and sexual partner, fully aware of the fact that you killed his brother

He had known it would not be some stupid fantasy of showing Laurent his country; of Laurent leaning against the marble balcony at Ios, turning to greet him in the cool air overlooking the sea, his eyes bright with the splendour of the view.

HE 🗣️ WAS 🗣️ WATCHING 🗣️ THE 🗣️ ROAD

To Kastor, he sent only a single message: I come. He didn’t watch that messenger depart. It’s not naive to trust your family. He had said that, once.

damen. girl.

love the conflicting themes of trust here. damen needs to learn that he can’t trust everyone to have intentions as noble as his, and laurent needs to learn that some people in the world can be trusted to have noble intentions. mistrust makes them both feel alone—laurent takes comfort in that loneliness, because it means no one can hurt him, but it also means that he’s never truly relaxed or vulnerable (in a good way). damen feels awful with the loneliness of mistrust, and wants so badly to reach out and make connections with people even when the flags are very, very red.

Guion was a man in his late forties, with an indoor figure.

does “indoor figure” mean “not fit” because that’s so funny 😭 let’s not bruise the man’s ego by calling him out of shape, he’s just an indoor cat instead

When he saw Damen, Guion bowed in the same way that he would have bowed to the Regent: deeply, sincerely. ‘Your Majesty,’ said Guion.

bitch.

Damen had come here to learn what he could of the Regent’s plans, but there was only one question rising to his lips. ‘Who hurt Laurent at Charcy? Was it you?’ ‘He didn’t tell you?’ Damen had not spoken alone to Laurent since that night in the tent. ‘He doesn’t betray his friends.’

i love damen. he is giving laurent the distance he requested, despite it breaking his (damen’s heart), but he’s also still fiercely protective of laurent behind his back. to the extent that his questions about guion hurting laurent feel more important in the moment than tactical ones about the regent. laurent pretends not to care in an attempt to lie to himself, but damen is only pretending in front of laurent to respect his wishes. he’s not lying to himself about giving a shit, and hasn’t even tried since like chapter 6 of book 2.

also - “he doesn’t betray his friends” implies that damen doesn’t see laurent’s poor treatment of him as betrayal, because knowing the truth now about laurent’s awareness, damen would never expect laurent to have considered him a friend. this gives book 2’s “friends? is that what we are?” a whole new layer of complexity.

'I captured him on his way to Charcy. He was brought to Fortaine, where he negotiated with me for his release. By the time he and I came to our arrangement, he had spent some time as a prisoner in the cells and had suffered a little accident to the shoulder.'

to be fair, i think this is what laurent would want guion to say, and might have even dictated to him exactly. anything else would make him sound weak. but damen knows laurent better than that, and can easily read between the lines.

‘You put Govart,’ said Damen, ‘in a cell with Laurent?’

run.

‘Yes.’ Guion spread his hands. ‘Just as I helped to bring about the coup in your country. Now, of course, you need my testimony to win back your throne. That is politics. The Prince understands that. It is why he has allied with you.’ Guion smiled. ‘Your Majesty.’ Damen made himself speak very calmly,

being a king sucks, you can’t even throw hands with the guy who had your divorce husband tortured because said divorce husband is using said guy as a political asset

‘Did the Regent know who I was?’ ‘If he did, having you sent to Vere was rather a miscalculation on his part, wasn’t it?’ ‘Yes,’ said Damen. He didn’t lift his eyes from Guion. He watched the blood rise and mottle Guion’s cheeks. ‘If the Regent knew who you were,’ said Guion, ‘then he hoped that when you arrived in Vere, the Prince would recognise you, and be provoked into a blunder. Either that, or he wanted the Prince to take you into his bed. The realisation of what he’d done then would kill him. How lucky for you that didn’t happen,’ Guion said.

the regent failed to anticipate the secret third option: laurent knowing exactly who damen was from the start, accidentally falling in love with him and semi-purposefully gaining a powerful ally, taking him into his bed despite the brother killing, having a messy breakup about it, but still remaining a powerful duo of world leaders unified in wanting to take him (the regent) down

‘You swore a sacred duty to hold the throne in trust for your Prince. Instead you turned on him, for power, for personal gain. What has that won you?’ For the first time he saw something genuine flicker in Guion’s expression. ‘He killed my son,’ said Guion. ‘You killed your son,’ said Damen, ‘when you threw him into the path of the Regent.’

i think this has one of two meanings, diverging with the interpretation of guion’s line.

damen: you swore to help the prince, but then you turned your back on him for personal gain. so did you gain enough to justify that decision? guion: (briefly genuine) meaning #1: i lost my son when the regent’s manipulations resulted in his (aimeric’s) death, so actually i lost something. meaning #2: the prince ended up being so mean to my son that he killed himself, so he wasn't deserving of my loyalty. damen: you’re the person most responsible for aimeric’s death, because you let the regent use him as a political pawn and sexual object.

i’m really not sure if it’s meaning #1 or #2 here. #2 might not make sense at all, because it’s not guaranteed that anyone told guion the details of laurent’s reaction to aimeric’s betrayal—it had only been damen, laurent, aimeric, and jord in the room, right?

regardless of guion’s meaning, damen’s response still stands. and at least it hurts guion emotionally, if not physically. it’s almost like damen is finding himself turning into laurent, acting the way laurent did in the court of vere. he can’t take the direct route, so he has to be backhanded and cruel instead.

He had not dealt with Makedon. Round one came when Makedon refused to accept the extra rations available to his troops from Fortaine. Akielons didn’t need pampering. If Veretians wished to indulge in all this extra food, they could do so. Before Damen could open his mouth to respond, Laurent announced that he would likewise change the provisions among his own troops, so that there would not be a disparity. In fact, everyone from soldiers to captains to kings across both troops would receive the same portion, and that portion would be determined by Makedon. Would Makedon inform them now what that portion was to be?

jesus christ laurent (affectionate)

Round two was the skirmish that broke out in the Akielon encampment: an Akielon with a bleeding nose, a Veretian with a broken arm, and Makedon smiling and saying that it had been no more than a friendly competition. Only a coward feared competition. He said it to Laurent. Laurent said that from this moment on, any Veretian who struck an Akielon would be executed. He trusted the honour of the Akielons, he said. Only a coward hit a man who wasn’t allowed to hit back.

in a way, damen helped laurent with that one, since he’s the honorable akielion who told laurent the same thing in book 1.

It was like watching a boar try to take on the endless blue of the sky. Damen remembered how it felt to be coerced to Laurent’s will. Laurent had never needed to use force to make men obey him, just as he had never needed men to like him in order to get his way. Laurent got his way because when men tried to resist him, they found, sweetly outmanoeuvred, that they couldn’t.

he thought to himself, with heart-eyes,

(i don’t think anyone here is interpreting laurent as “sweet” but you, damen)

In fact, the way Laurent’s men talked about their Prince now was not substantially different to the way that they had talked about him before: cold, ice-cold, except now he was cold enough to have fucked his brother’s killer.

No one was looking at Laurent. It wouldn’t have mattered if they had been. His face showed nothing.

but damen looked at them not looking, and thought of laurent, because this is marlas they’re talking about

‘I’ve been there before,’ said Laurent. ‘Then you’re familiar with the area,’ said Nikandros. ‘That makes it easier.’ ‘Yes,’ said Laurent.

He wanted . . . he didn’t know what he wanted. For Laurent to have looked at him when Nikandros had announced that they would travel to the place where, six years ago, Damen had killed his brother.

messy messy

A rueful flicker of guilt: he knew that these men breaking curfew would not expect their King to appear and admonish them personally. His presence was ludicrously disproportionate to their crime, he thought.

damen kingship theme

‘Stand,’ said Damen, ‘like the men you think you are.’ He was angry. The men, standing, perhaps did not recognise that. They didn’t know the slow way that he came forward, or the calm tone of his voice. ‘Tell me,’ he said, ‘what it is you are doing here.’

wait no we are totally seeing the laurentification of damianos

The boy was badly bruised, and he could not stand under his own weight once the ropes were cut. Damen lowered him to the ground. More had been done to him than target practice. More had been done to him than a beating. They had put an iron cuff around his left wrist, like the gold cuff around his own—like the gold cuff around Laurent’s. Damen knew with a sickening feeling in his stomach exactly what had been done to this boy, and why. The boy didn’t speak Akielon. He had no idea what was happening, or that he was safe. Damen began to speak to him in Veretian, slow, calming words, and after a moment the boy’s glazed eyes focused on him with something like understanding. The boy said, ‘Tell the Prince I didn’t fight back.’

oh fuck, laurent would be horrified by this. it’s like an echo of nicaise and aimeric’s victimhood, and the only reason the boy hadn’t fought back was laurent’s threat. that lack of self-defense goes against so much of laurent’s own values and behavior, and he’d be disturbed to realize how he had inadvertently disempowered this vulnerable person.

‘Makedon of the north,’ said Damen. ‘You were a friend to my father. You fought with him for almost twenty years. That means a great deal to me. I respect your loyalty to him, as I respect your power and need your men. But if your soldiers harm a Veretian again, you will face me at the end of a sword.’

okayyyy so we’re starting to see a hint of where the kingship theme is going—damen getting past the whole “this is how it’s always been done, so i have to do it the same way” idea, and approaching “well i’m the king now, and this is what i think should happen instead”

‘You walk a fine line with Makedon,’ Nikandros said, on his return to camp. ‘He walks a fine line with me,’ said Damen.

YES BITCH!!!

‘Bruising, a broken rib,’ said Paschal. ‘Shock.’ ‘No, I meant—’ He broke off.

aw. damen really has come a long way, in terms of how he sees veretians. i think some of this is laurent-related, but i also think that damen is now extending the honor he’s always shown his own people to people he wouldn’t have considered worth honoring before the series’s events.

‘Thank you,’ said Damen. He heard himself continue, ‘I don’t expect—’ He stopped. ‘I know that I betrayed your trust, and lied to you about who I am. I don’t expect you to forgive me for that.’ He could feel the incongruity of the words, falling awkwardly between them. He felt strange, his breathing shallow.

i really appreciate paschal’s role in this story. a male figure in damen and laurent’s lives who cares about them both, but doesn’t give a shit about their sex lives in the slightest. paschal has always been kind of grey re: the war between akielos and vere too, evaluating people based on their individual qualities rather than their political allegiances. thanks doctor dad, you’re a real one.

‘We all do what we have to,’ said Paschal.

mysterious old man is mysterious…

#sam reads capri #capri #kings rising #damen of akielos #laurent of vere #lamen

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fluorescent-if · 2 months ago

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I got bored and was thinking about how the ro's would act when they're sick, because I'm sick and I need to distract my brain.

Cameron is the kind of person who doesn't realize they're sick until they're laid out on the couch, feeling like a zombie, being sick hits them hard, and they can barely stand without almost toppling over. Especially since being sick kills their appetite it makes it far worse, and often they need someone to remind them to take medicine and eat food so they don't feel worse.

Ro tries to tough it out at first, and then ends up unable to function, complaining the whole time and watching sitcoms so they can feel joy. They slather vicks vaporub on their chest like it's their one true love. They don't like having to stay home but they will, even if it makes them feel kind of useless.

Ollie doesn't get sick often, but when they do they also use a shit ton of vicks and drinks a lot of tea with copious amounts of honey, they get better after like a day and when they're sick it's never really that bad. (The lucky bastard) They typically take days off and just make up assignments for their classes whenever they get sick so they don't have to go in.

Terra loads herself up on dayquil/niquil and the only reason she takes days off is because she works in food service and doesn't want to get other people sick, she is stubborn as hell and still tries to get everything done even when she's barely functional.

#I know the vicks thing in Hispanic households has become a big stereotype but like #My mom's family is from Mexico and if you get sick you get vicks or tiger balm automatically #And then on my dad's side we are mostly Jewish so we get matzah ball soup #I know it's stereotypical but it's real man #star shitposts #character asks #Not an ask but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯#rose/rory tag #cameron tag #ollie tag #terra tag

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justlarkin · 11 months ago

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Ive been reading so many aus and now request that you contribute to my brain rot good sir

Hmm, the only AU situation I've put some thought into is that Sandayu sitcom dad shitpost.

Okay, so all five of them show up in Tokyo together with their usual case of amnesia and are like "dunno what tf is going on, but we all have the same stars on our hands, so let's stick together ig". None of them remember their names so MC2 takes it upon herself to give everyone nicknames to go by based on their features: Itsy Bitsy, Beauty (It's not narcissism if it's true!), Titan, Lanky, and [REDACTED] (Just call him R). Everything resumes the same with them going to Shinjuku, being taken into Mononobe's care, him disappearing, and Sandayu hoping in under Smoky God's employment. Problem is that they're like SUPER difficult to deal with after Mononobe left because they're hurt about being abandoned by their "dad", so he has to try really hard to worm his way in and earn their trust, resulting in shenanigans.

-Itsy outwardly seems cutesy and agreeable, but in reality is the Devil incarnate. They love attention and playing games, using their small, unassuming appearance to drag unfortunate bastards into playing with them until all their energy is drained out of them. Anyone who tries to leave them before they're okay with it, won't be shown any mercy. Absolute Hell will be unleashed upon them, which Sandayu finds out the hard way. The other four don't get sucked into their drama because they already know the trick to dealing with them. R is the most resistant to their games, but everyone knows he secretly has a soft spot for them, which is why they have matching nam- *bonked unconscious by stray sword flying through air* It's hard to tell how they feel about Mononobe because they flip between hatred and grief when he's mentioned.

-Beauty is sociable and wants to do fun teen things like hanging out with friends, sneaking out late, going on adventures, and cyberbullying minors. You can usually find her surrounded by people and being the center of attention. Also, she not-so-secretly likes seeing drama go down and will ignite it from a distance, but most people don't notice this trait and like her regardless. She ultimately ignores Sandayu's existence and attempts to engage with her, even if he's right in front of her, and insists that Mononobe will be back any day now.

-Titan is friendly, helpful, and the protective one of the group. Too helpful. He rarely shows up to class or does his work and his grades are tanking because he will drop everything and go assist someone as soon as they call for him. It's not an exaggeration. Once he recieved a call from Andvari during class, saying that he needs someone to cover a shift at his resort ASAP, and Titan immediately jumped out of the window and ran there because "Andvari needed him now and taking the stairs was a waste of time". He's actually kind and cordial with Sandayu, but he's like that with everyone. He won't show it, but he's exhausted and just wants a break. That won't happen though. Secretly, he feels responsible for Mononobe leaving since he thinks taking care of five kids on his own while working must've been too much for him and that if he proves that he can bare some of that load, Mononobe will return.

-Lanky is mopey, tired, and an airhead. He typically forgets to change into his school uniform, sleeps through class and practically everywhere else, and is always daydreaming when he's not. It's easy to drag them along on adventures and drama because he doesn't have a strong opinion on much. They have a "everyone is my pillow" mentality, which the other four don't seem to mind. Lanky is mostly indifferent towards Sandayu, but wishes he'd stop interrupting their naps. He usually doesn't talk about Mononobe, only contibuting a furrowed brow and frown, but on their off-days, he will cry over the slightest reminder of him.

-[REDACTED] doesn't like his nickname and finds it embarrassing, so he chose to shorten it to R. Nobody knows his real name besides the other four and Mononobe since every mention of it has been hidden and he will beat anyone who goes digging for it with the blunt end of his sword. Overall, he's the most normal and easiest to deal with of the group. He's mostly reserved and occasionally snarky, doesn't cause problems at school unless his "siblings" drag him into it, and he acts like any other teen. He has accepted that Mononobe is gone and doesn't cause Sandayu any grief over that specifically, but he doesn't trust him because he suspects that he has dishonest intentions in getting close to him and the others (he does). R won't show it often, but he cares deeply for the others and wants to protect them from getting burned by someone like Mononobe again.

They all love each other while Sandayu is going through it and getting his ass kicked.

#ask

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madsmilfelsen · 5 months ago

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mads would you ever consider writing something about rust and sophia? that paragraph about the has made me emotional and its not even 10am here hehe also i love love love the way you add details to the characters/writing in general (another question lol what are your writing inspirations? like writers whose style inspire you )

the combination of these asks is about the out me as the biggest weirdo lmao

on more than one occasion I have daydreamed about Rust and Sophia, young bright eyed man with his whole world in his arms?? bringing her home from the hospital??? telling Claire to go back to sleep because he’ll take care of the baby???? crying over a vhs recording of her first steps when he was at work??? giving Sophia a first birthday party (no Travis does not believe in them) with Claire’s family (who I decided is from Georgia btw) and laughing when Sophia doesn’t know what to do with her cake and throws it immediately off her tray????? Taking her fishing and insisting she has to wear a life jacket just on the dock???? taking her hunting and letting her sleep slumped against his chest in the blind???????????? Not reprimanding Sophia when she learns how to climb out of her crib and just holding his girls through the night?????????????????????

Inspiration typically strikes me in really vivid pieces of dialogue (I have a primarily auditory memory but sometimes descriptions crop up or a picture of what I’ll never be able to get on paper in words), I have no control over when it happens, it’s not as dramatic as prophetic visions but it’s up there and has made me double over to catch my breath once or seventeen times.

Lately all I’ve been able to read are @barbie-nightmare-house recommendations— who should make a reading list— I just started Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh yesterday. I really love authors who can build a strong sense of place ie To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Bastard out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison, Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver, and The Bone Season series by Samantha Shannon (and everything Stephen Graham Jones has written, Mongrels being my all time favorite)— but I also read a lot of non ficiton too (usually broader themes in history but more recently biographies) or dig through university archives to read interviews of people who live in a specific time or place so I can eek out speech patterns/phrases/slang/city layouts etc. The book I’m writing right now is set in Washington, USA 1954 so I bought books published that year— The Teahouse of the August Moon by Sneider and The Sound and the Fury by Faulkner (I have not finished either lol)— and pick up old cloth bound books at antique stores, I opened Wolf Song published in 1927 i think and began with a group of men leading a troop of mules which felt super kismet because that’s how my book starts (sort of, with a lone woman and her mules). I love poetry, indy lit mags, and reading modern plays too, I’d love to try to write one myself because the constraint of a stage seems like such a fantastic challenge, but I’ll read really anything that can show me what language is capable of or new ways to play with it, because at the end of the day that’s all this is for me— playing.

I can’t read when I write and I can’t write when I read, it’s annoying so I shift gears when I hit a block, read for a bit until something smacks me over the head hard enough to open a word doc again. Probably the weirdest writing trick that helps me focus is listening to songs or sitcoms on repeat, something in the background with a good beat that i’m familiar enough with that I don’t have to focus on, that helps me break down my sense of time or attention surplus/deficiency so I don’t feel like I’m rushing or going super slow— but soundscapes with birdsong, especially evening choruses with frogs or peepers is really nice :)

here’s an ask requesting horror recs for someone new to writing the genre + another ask for my favorite books

#answered #thank you :’)#book recommendations #rust cohle #sorry for putting my own weird shit in that weird guy tag it’s for organization

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jennilah · 6 months ago

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OKAY, OKAY FOLLOW UP, but I have to ask, based on how you rank Riggs movie and Logans movie, what do you think of Rigg and Logan in a more indepth analysis?? E.g what makes them interesting to you, or what stands out about them to you?

And somewhat off-topic, how do you think the other apprentices would interact with Logan??

how dare u ask for a detailed analysis when i love overanalyzing you just want to derail me for another two hours dont you.

Riiiiiggg <3

first of all I thought it was really cool that for Saw IV, a guy who was kind of a minor established character got to ascend to protagonist. (I guess the same thing happened with Hoffman but I straight up forgot he was in Saw III at all when I was watching IV for the first time. I remembered Rigg from II and his brief III appearance though)

in Saw II he so easily could have just been the Predator/Aliens overconfident gun guy trope with an itchy trigger finger. and yes, hes eager for the whole thing to get a move on so the victims can be saved, but hes not mindless. I love that he joins in the deliberation with Kerry and Matthews and they spend a few moments to establish how much he cares about his colleagues, his too-big heartstrings tugged by how difficult this situation must be for Matthews.

SO it was cool to see that became the major character flaw which contributed to his demise in IV. He cared too much. He lost his test because he couldn't stop caring. He almost got in trouble in the past for caring too much already, punching that guy. He ran into the crime scene without backup which could have gotten himself killed, because his emotions took over. (Also tangentially related, I'd say he has a lot of parallels with Strahm who also thinks with his heart first, and the end mirrors the beginning nicely with how Strahm also rushes into the crime scene without backup. Saw IV has a lot of really cool things going on actually)

At the start, they make it very clear he works himself sick worrying about the case and his missing friends despite it not being his job to worry about it. I'm saddened by his strained relationship with his wife because she seemed nice and normal, one of the few pairs without infidelity, and he's obviously very sweet and sensitive and caring, but too much for his own good. First time watching, the whole time I was just begging this nice man to go home to his nice wife like Jigsaw instructed, pained knowing this couldnt possibly end well for him or her.

hes an optimist. he believes, despite him being missing for 6 months, that Matthews is still out there and that he can be found. He believes he can save everyone in the traps. (well except that 1 guy you know the one) He believes he can save his friends. He tried to do it all.

😭😭😭😭😭😭 taken tf out for caring too much.

im sorry that my favorite characters are the shitheads and little bastards. Rigg is just such a good boy i care him. Im holding him in my hands

LOGAN.... gosh Logan I really wish I had any opinions on you. Its been like 8 months since I watched the movie and was never really presented with much fandom discussion around him so im afraid to say i forgor what his personality is 😭 hes like just kind of normal right?

in the fuckin sitcom Saw house of my dreams, i think Logan would be the 1 apprentice that everyone gets along with bc he just repels drama. they would finish up nearly ripping each other's throat out and one by one throughout the rest of the day kick down his door to vent about it, so he has to hear the same story from 3 different perspectives and just nods his head and goes "uh-huh"

#jennilargh #jenna answers #saw

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neil-neil-orange-peel · 10 months ago

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What was the rick mayall comedy with ade that rheyre two old fucks living in an apartment together... ik thats so vauge but im trying to remember the name of it to watch it again 😭 i just re watched all of tyo and neeeddd to find it again lol

Also hope your doing well its been awhile since ive been on tumblr to see or ask about ur page but i think abt u occasionally and im like yeah i hope theyre doing well keeping the tyo fandom alive

Also is there no charictor limit on these asks now????

Hi! Sorry it's taken me a while to answer this.

It sounds like you're describing Bottom, the '90s sitcom where Rik and Ade played two broadly middle aged bastards at the bottom (get it?) of society, loafing about, being pervy, and causing chaos. It isn't quite as surreal as The Young Ones, but it does feature lots of slapstick violence - Richie and Eddie have at least one very creative physical fight per episode - and there are occasions where something extra mad will happen, like the ceiling caving in, underpants being filled with custard, and fire farts (to name a few examples). Christopher Ryan also appears in a few episodes as one of Eddie's mates, Dave Hedgehog.

One of the original inspirations for Bottom was Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, which Rik and Ade both loved and thought was funny. It was one of the things they bonded over at uni, and the two of them got to star in a run of it in the early '90s (again, with Christopher Ryan).

There were three series of Bottom from 1991-1995, totalling at 18 episodes. All episodes were available on Dailymotion the last time I checked - in fact, I have a post somewhere on this blog with links to them, though it may very well be outdated by now. If you have a mooch around online, you should be able to find them.

The reason I'm guessing you mean Bottom is because Richie Richard and Eddie Hitler live together in a (disgusting) flat in Hammersmith, and there are some episodes set entirely within this horrid hovel. However, Filthy, Rich and Catflap also sees Richie Rich and Eddie Catflap sharing a (not quite as disgusting) flat, but these characters were a bit younger - and, to be honest, Bottom is the more highly regarded of the two sitcoms, though I don't think FR&C is anywhere near as bad as some critics made out.

Rik and Ade made five live stage shows for Bottom (Bottom Live) between 1993-2003. In fact, the fifth Bottom Live was the last substantial work they did together. All five of these have been available on YouTube for some years, so I assume they still are. I personally just slightly prefer the sitcom (or maybe I'm just jealous I can't go and see Bottom Live 😂), and I think a general rule of thumb is the quality does decline a little across the five (apologies to my comedy gods, although I think Ade might agree with me), but they are all absolutely worth a watch. Rik and Ade break character in them from time to time, and they're allowed to say fuck.

They also made a Bottom film in 1999 called Guest House Paradiso, which features Simon Pegg. Rik and Ade play the same characters, but now they run an appalling hotel on the Isle of Wight and their surnames are different (which Ade acknowledged when I went to see him touring with his autobiography was inexplicable). The film is not for the weak of stomach, certainly not for anyone with emetophobia, and unfortunately it does suffer from the curse of most sitcom movies apart from Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa in that it doesn't quite translate. To be fair, they didn't have a massive budget, and it happened only a year after Rik's accident (they were both meant to direct it, but Ade took on full directing duties as a result of this). Still, it's not unfunny, and I think it's available on Dailymotion; if you like Bottom, you should give it a watch. I wonder what a Bottom film set in the original world of the sitcom would've been like...

I have an inking who you are, although I might be wrong. I hope you're well, anyway. 😂 I'm fine, just trundling along, coming up to my last semester as an undergrad. Tumblr may well have changed the character limit on asks, though I honestly couldn't say for sure.

Thanks for the ask!

#asks #anon #bbc bottom #rik mayall #ade edmondson

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cosmoknightchaos · 5 months ago

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25 for any character I wanna read your ramblings

25. What is your favourite thing about your OC?

Wow. Dill asking a non-angsty question from an angsty OC ask? That's crazy man

Below are 29 OCs that I'm currently using enough to have favourite bits about them. Enjoy

A Hat in Time OCs

Horalo AU Skyscreamer: Baby girl. Favourite thing about her would probably be the fine line I have to walk between being a kind, caring woman and a motherly figure while writing her. Sky is supposed to be the cool older sister and it's a lot of fun to portray that in writing! The Flower Man: His dialogue. I fucking LOVE how this man speaks and it is so much fun to write. Also taking his lore out of context. He canonically has the most rizz out of anyone in the Horizon and it is my favourite fact about him. King Moonjumper: His personality specifically in the currently unreleased Act7. He likes playing himself up, seeming like a big threat, and then the moment something doesn't go his way he has a meltdown. He's so silley.

Wanderer AU Ester: I have a scene from the ending of Wanderer doodled out where Ester and MJ are standing in the frozen remains of Subcon and they are holding hands. It's just something about her being a scared, sassy, almost insignificant child, especially when put up next to characters like Graves or Snatcher who are much more lore-relevant, and yet she stays MJ's closest companion and most trusted friend throughout the entire story. Gravedigger: Absolutely anything that can draw more parallels between her and Gleb, the character she takes the role of. Mourner/Cathrine: Saying my favourite part of her character is that she gets my favourite song from Anastasia feels like cheating, but it's definitely up there. Probably her loyalty. She is, above all, loyal to her homeland, and refuses to let that part of her go after the freeze. She's one of the few characters not really running away from her past, but instead slowly coming to terms with it. Count Adrianne: He's a perfect example of a complex character who seems very simple on the outside and I love him for it. Either that or his relationship with Snatcher. They bicker like siblings because they were both older siblings before dying and are projecting on to each other and it's very silly.

Misc. Anya: Ouuugh. That's a hard one. Favourite bit about them is probably their coping mechanisms. They are so good at taking things at face value, accepting them, and then watching everything else devolve into chaos around them like a sitcom without doing anything to help. They speedrun the 5 stages of grief just so they can make fun of everyone else and completely fuck themself over in the process because they don't actually learn how to cope Kaizo: He's a whore what else can I say

Hollow Knight OCs (The Religious Trauma Squad)

Gospel: Her lore! She's so fucked up <3 Edge: One of the big things about RTS is that the main three characters go through very similar character arcs, but they're all in different stages of it. We first meet Edge at the end of his character arc, where he's already decided that most gods are assholes and he doesn't owe his devotion to anyone. Then, during the rest of the story, he gets to watch two other people experience similar events, and it forces him to help them because he doesn't want the to go through the same things he did. It's just a fun dynamic of him already knowing who he is and his heritage and being comfortable with that, and now helping others learn the same thing. Marion: His absolute and total devotion to the troupe during his time in it, and his relationship with Gospel after he gets kicked out.

Ivy

Jenny: She (in a way) dismantles the idea of a "Chosen One" hero and I think that's pretty neat. Morgan: She's just silly. Couldn't tell you why, I just really like her. Myo: They are a BITCH. Lying little bastard and I love them for it. They would murder someone, turn around, and go "I'm just a little guy it's my birthday you wouldn't punish a little guy on his birthday would you" and it would work. And, as the actual "Chosen One" of the story, it's fun to see them go over the edge trying to be the special main character.

Project Scepsis OS

Paisley: They don't let their past traumas and experiences define who they are and I think that's really neat! Marci: It's practically a self-insert and those characters will always be special to me. Also, it's just a blob. What's not to love? The actual answer is its story arc where it nearly kills Sonemeir on accident and traumatizes them both for life Kat: Her species as a concept. The idea of a shapeshifter who has to eat something to shift into it is fascinating to me. Prof. Sonemeir: He is so fucked up in so many ways. Dude has been through the horrors(TM). His entire character deals with the idea of legacies and how what you create will last longer than you will, which is really funny because he hates everything he's created and it will haunt him for the rest of his life. And also that aforementioned arc with Marci Creator: His character design. He is very fun to draw :)

ET's Coffee Shop

Phoebe: She is the best example of "some normal dude who got wrapped up in everyone else's shenanigans" and I think that's very funny. Also the fact that she is destined to kill her entire family. There is no escaping fate around here Altalune: Oh my GODDDD I am INSANE about this man. Definitive favourite thing is his character design, I fucking love his character design it is so good and so much fun to draw, but I have to shout out his relationship with ET because it's my favourite part of the entire story as a whole. Stopwatch: Everyone else in this story, including the two main antagonists, uses more traditional or magic-based weapons: Phoebe has daggers, Altalune and Tristen use swords and magic, ET has shapeshifting powers, stuff like that. Stopwatch, on the other hand, has a gun. Cirsten: She is too good for this world. So incredibly loving and caring of everyone at all times. Her and Audun are the best romantic relationship I've ever written and they make me so happy. Tristen Kannaroe: The way his name sounds. It just rolls off the tongue so nicely and it fits his character so well. And his character design. He looks exactly how he acts and I love it. Also, his couple hundred horrific "deaths" and the fact that he is immortal because Alta won't let him die. ET: I feel like I could say "character design" for every single Coffee Shop character and it would work. They're all so good. Anyways, ET's relationship with Alta and ET's death are my favourite bits. And also that he's kind of an allegory for neurodivergence. TQ: Character de- I step on a banana peel and comically fall down the nearest set of stairs. Seriously though. I have a bit running where all of the deity/god-like characters are drawn in a different style, and TQ's is lineless. They look so good in that style and I love drawing them. Personality-wise, I love how incredibly objective they are. They're so blunt and honest at all times, especially with Alta. It's really funny to see Alta try to justify his actions to TQ and them going "Okay but you did just level and entire city" Ayabe: Their backstory and their relationship with Stopwatch! Their magic is also cool as fuck. Crumpet: Yeah it's character design again

#Listen man. The character design of Coffee Shop is some of my proudest works. They're all so good #Marci Answers #Ahit Horalo AU #Ahit Wanderer AU #HK Religious Trauma Squad #Project Scepsis OS #ET's Coffee Shop #Okay. Because I like hiding things in the tags I will put two more bits here #Edge has commandeered Infinite as his theme song. Which is another of my favourite things about him #Yes I have done lyric comics with him #And the whole thing of Flower having the most rizz? Yeah Flower Man fucks canonically #I like bringing that one up without context

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merakinest · 3 months ago

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TALK: CLONE HIGH> INDIE VERSION UPDATE

Ever since I was watching Clone High reviews on YouTube, I checked on this and thought "Should I make them the 4 new casts instead of the official new main casts?" I mean that doesn't mean I'm discarding them, but the thought of this happening kinda just makes sense, imo.

(Shoutout to @/snowbunnie1113 for this)

I recently just sketched Jackie Onassis, Mark Antony, J.W.B and Giles of Rais/Bluebeard

•Jackie Onassis:

Jackie is labeled as an introverted Good-at (category of the teacher's pet or an overachiever) that would be reserved and nice but would be manipulative (not on a Cleo-level), an unintentional snob and, depending on the person and/ or situation, not so classy person. Her partner was Mark Antony until she was fed up of him showing off to everyone that Jackie is his girlfriend and she wants someone to get closer to her intimately and with care, which he failed to do. She at least has just a bit of sense of morality to know when she's crossing the line, but she never learns from her mistakes.

• Mark Antony:

Mark Antony was labeled as cool, athletic jock, but things will never be the same by the time he sees the Gen 1 beautiful and conceited, Cleo and he would go through limits in order to get her desire. Most teens see him now as a simping Jock or "a main character of a harem sitcom" (it never helped when he's stupid rich and Cleo was ready to manipulate the ish out of him[don't worry, tho. There will be a funny build-up between them]). Mark would be obnoxious, gets angry easily and is way too self-serving. His partner was Jacqueline Onassis until she was fed up of him showing off to everyone that Jackie is his girlfriend and she wants someone to get closer to her intimately and with care, which he failed to do. He at least has a sense of empathy to those whom he trusts (specifically to all Gen2 and especially Julius Ceasar for historical jokes and ish). Unfortunately, this guy rivals against all Gen 1 male.

• Johnny W. Booth:

Johnny is labeled as a Theater Floater (a teen that, despite not having a particular group to be with, everyone fw). He would be both relatable and humorous who babysits kids because of both cash and being kind to them but that doesn't mean he's okay. The guy's a superstitious and paternalist school acting mess. Ironically, when it comes to acting, he does it 2x better than the original John Wilkes Booth. For some damn reason, I made him friends with Giles of Rais/Bluebeard, a hot-headed kid-hating reckless bastard ( quite the opposite of him ), but y'know what they say: Opposites attract. He's way too close-minded to the point that would make an average close-minded person be open-minded. If you ask, yes, he meets Abe, but the silence is loud between their conversation. Johnny always had this...akward feeling and presence when Abe is around.

•Giles of Rais:

Giles is labeled as a popular hot-headed dumbass (he's not a bully, just a jerk) that would be surprisingly elegant but would be fearless, a worse handsome mess than JWB. For some damn reason, I made him friends with Johnny W. Booth, a close-minded theatre superstitious relatable floater ( quite the opposite of him ), but y'know what they say: Opposites attract.

● ● ●

That aside, I also found clothes for them

As simple as possible and as less contrast as well.

Here are the sketches:

(Jackie's pose is a very big inspiration from @spxgeth11, I hope the artist doesn't get mad about this I just love the sketches of the artist)

Out of all these 4,

Jackie's the most level-headed

Mark Antony's the most empathetic

Johnny's the most close-minded

Bluebeard's the most impetuous/impulsive

WORST "Friend Group" to Ever Conceive, lol

NOW, we can talk about the ideas...

youtube

I'll check some ideas and shoutout comments to not take ALL the credit, I'll be back...

11:33 IE pm: Okay! I'm back

Here are some comments that I would love to try and make as a scene:

Shoutout to:

@/balthasar6091

@/TheCasualGamr

@/minthemadnezz200

@/rockymac04

@/heath6802

...and I'll be thinking about jokes and plots myself when having to draw my Indie Version of Clone High

P.S: if anyone wants their Clone High OC to be a minor or recurring character, send me a message, I'll be happy to sketch, draw and design

👍🏾

~Charlie Tiko Obadiah

#clone high #talk #fan talk #Youtube

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cerberus253 · 3 months ago

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So, that Guy Named "Jack" and He Carries a Candle Around

After years not being on my mind, he finally showed up in my dreams some time ago and I've been thinking about him a lot (that's usually how my hyper-fixation gets re-kindled of an old character).

Contains- Canon Info, Headcanon Info (SFW and NSFW)

Veeeerrry long post

Canon:

- Is called "The Boogeyman. The For Real one."

- Poor back posture (is usually seen hunching over)

- Will kidnap you if you say his name out loud

- Loves Pumpkin Pie (just look at him smelling it!)

- Can levitate while awake and asleep, also those tied in his ropes

- Sleeps like a cat, does the "Stinky Face" like a cat (probably just squinting, but it's still cat-like), and does the "Raptor hands" thing

- Likes satirical sitcoms (F Troop)

- Polite and witty (he even holds his pinky finger up when holding his candle)

- Talks in monotone unless very upset

- Likes to eat peanuts

- Is rather one-track minded when kidnapping targets, ignoring those who have not said his name

- Is an escape artist

(pic of Candlej-- uh, y'know, right after Freakazoid (not pictured) trapped him. He got out pretty fast. Look at that cheeky bastard. Love 'im <3)

- The stitches on his mouth actually open up to a mouth (I saw it happen for a few seconds, so it's real)

Headcanon (SFW):

- Shows up and attempts to kidnap those who are actually scared by him, which are usually children.

- Answers to teens and adults if he wants to, since a lot of times it's for shits and giggles, parties, or weird cult stuff. Disrespect with the use of his name will not trigger him in this day and age!

- While Jack appreciates the wanted invitation to just hang out, he's rather an introvert and values his alone time, but does have his social moments.

- If he does show up [for adult strangers], and it isn't for kidnapping, its usually for Halloween-themed occasions (parties, fairs, carnivals, etc). Since it's usually around strangers, he just creeps around, watching people, either finding someone to scare or talking to those who seem interesting to him, or anyone who just comes up and chats to him. If at carnivals or fairs, he'd also play some of the games.

- I honestly believe, when his name is called, Jack can see the situation/setting he'll be getting himself into. Like, if just saying his name aloud will ALWAYS make him appear, then one could easily trap him in some max security prison. He'll know if he's floating into a trap or not, or if the callers aren't worth going after (especially in this day and age). Besides, if he came to everyone's beck and call, he'd be all over the place, and how could some people know about him yet be here? Survival of his kidnapping? Okay, so if you called again, he'd show up again, and now you'll know what to do to stop him. Why would he float into that? Anyway, yeah, I think Jack's picky and will only show up if you're actually afraid of him or are being serious about it.

- Has a strong sweet tooth, and likes salty treats. You will win him over if you can bake well AND bake his favorite things: Pumpkin Pie!

- Enjoys horror media (movies, TV shows, and books), specifically psychological and thriller ones. This includes watching people playing horror games or watching horror videos and get terrified by them. Will eat popcorn to it.

- Goes to candle and occult stores, which are the only places he'll actually pay for things other than rope. Where does he get the money? Uh... *whistles*

- Enjoys moonlit graveyard night walks (floats?), reading in dimly lit libraries, exploring old, haunted abodes, morning Autumn forest walks, etc.

- Pocket Dimension in his gloves, boots, and sack mask. He's gotta put all that rope somewhere.

- When outside of his kidnapping/villain hobby, he doesn't talk to strangers as much, preferring to let the other person go first, then indulging in conversation if he likes them enough.

- Doesn't talk about too personal of stuff unless he really really likes the person.

- Great listener and observer! Will be the kind of guy to remember seemingly small and insignificant details about someone he likes!

- Struggles to express his emotions normally, but when they are extreme they are noticeable (EX: The Peanut Incident of '97).

- Knows how to do all kinds of rope knots, easy and complicated.

- Doesn't mind physical contact, but isn’t the one to initiate unless it’s for scares. A little nervous if it’s romantic/sexual. Despite this, the Ghost-Man is TOUCH-STARVED, he's just unsure when it’s a good time to indulge himself.

- Jack is normally polite, and a little cheeky, to strangers, but when it comes to friends, he's also kind and considerate.

- Doesn't feel bad about kidnapping people, nor what happens to them after. However, if you strike up a good conversation, and get him to like you enough, he might change his mind. It would be a shame if such an interesting and compassionate person were to disappear and never be seen again... Don’t worry, he won’t stalk you (unless…👉👈 maybe he likes you a little too much 🙄)

- Why does Jack like to scare people and kidnap them? Yeah, he's weird, but what if it's because he's lonely and he didn't know how to socialize? Like, what if he was a creepy and weird kid that liked spooky things growing up, so people avoided him and he didn't know how to converse with his peers, so he found out that scaring people was a way to get them to notice him? Ya know, like "bad attention is better than no attention?" So now, as an adult, it's just what he does on a day-to-day basis because he's so used to it? Just a Theory.

- Jack’s a kind of Sheet Ghost. Him and the burlap and cotton/leather apparel are separate, like removable skin. Without it, he cannot eat. He doesn’t have to eat, but he likes to.

- Likes animals that people deem creepy/scary (insects, arachnids, deep sea fish, snakes, bats, etc.), but his favorite ones are black cats.

- Enjoys surprise gifts, including: Old books, old candle holders, baked goods, and spooky/creepy knick-knacks.

- I see him more as a Giver than a Taker kind of guy in any relationship, but when it comes to physical affection, he’s nervous and doesn’t usually initiates unless he can’t help himself, or he knows and trusts you enough.

- If ya wanna be friends with him, ya gotta be open and accepting of his (non-criminal) behaviors. Simply going out of your way to talk to him when he's around tells him you might want to be friends with him.

- If Jack [also] wants to be friends with you, he'll purposefully seek you out on occasions, scaring the shit out of you when you're least expecting it. Then he'll get down to casual stuff.

- If you have some sort of sensual (not sexual) relationship with him, he will accept cuddles and hugs when you need them. In addition, if you have trouble sleeping, he’ll sit/lay next to you to keep you company (might fall asleep himself).

- I’m gonna say this: Jack does, in fact, live somewhere. I am going to headcannon that he lives in an abandoned Victorian mansion that was left alone for so long that even time forgot it and now it sits between Life and Death in mist strewn woods. When people go missing on their own, they may stumble across it, seemingly empty, but Jack doesn’t like that someone literally entered his place so he scares them out. On the other hand, sometimes he invites close friends over for some quiet spooky time, but that hardly ever happens.

- His place is old, dusty, and dirty, which he doesn’t mind, but he also wouldn’t mind if someone wanted to clean it up (maybe that's why he kidnaps people). Just don’t kick out the rats and bats, change the aesthetic of the place, break anything that isn’t already damaged, install too many modern things, that sort of stuff. He still wants it to be old and creepy, but he understands if you need to charge your phone.

- If ya wanna be more than friends with him, ya gotta not only be open and accepting of him, but love the strange, dark, and mysterious things in the world (which includes him). Someone who’s kind, understanding, weird (complimentary), enjoys being alone with him, but also goes along with him when he wants to socialize; someone who isn’t extremely loud and energetic, but does give life and warmth around him; has a lot of similar interest with him, etc.

- Anyway, I think Jack is pretty inept when it comes to people flirting with him. I mean, yeah, he recognizes someone being really nice to him, but to get romantic, even physically? Nah, that's silly! Falling for a ghost is weird! Once he does get it, I think he'd be rather awestruck and confused, not really knowing what to think.

- However, you'll know he reciprocates when he leaves little gifts for you to discover (possibly even a Treasure Hunt!). or maybe even doing small domesticated things, like doing dishes, making breakfast/dinner for you, making your bed, etc. I don't see him doing laundry (undergarment respect) nor dusting, though. If he doesn't do anything, you'll definitely know he's been around because of the smell he leaves behind (candles and smoke).

- He struggles to know when you really need him around when it comes to emotional/mental struggles. Don’t get me wrong, he can recognize when you’re feeling that way, but doesn’t know what to do or if you need alone time, so he’s going to need you to tell him to stay or go, listen or give advice, and/or to touch or not to touch. Whatever it is, he’ll do it for ya because he cares and worries on the inside (referencing back to the struggle to express emotions). Communication 👏 Is 👏 Key 👏

- Not into hook-up culture. Definitely, at least, Grey-A in both romantic and sexual departments. Like, yeah, Elvira, Mistress of Darkness is a very pretty lady that he crushes on, but personally may be a little much for him.

- Appreciates if you helped clean his clothing attire. Being in the woods or a dusty mansion can get ya pretty dirty.

- Isn’t too picky with other peoples’ apparel, but he is fond of gothic attire. I want to say his favorites would be: Traditional, Romantic, Mopey, Victorian, and Medieval.

- Will help you with your make-up, King/Queen ✌️

- Okay listen, I don’t doubt that Jack may stalk people he has strong romantic interest in, because he’s a weirdo, BUT he is RESPECTFUL about it. He will watch you watch TV, doing chores, cooking and eating, doing sit-alone hobbies (reading, art, gaming, etc), doing taxes, sleeping (a BIG one), etc.

- He will NOT watch you do anything too…revealing (showering/bathing, changing, etc). He may be weird and lack certain social skills, but he knows when to look away…

Headcannon (Suggestive/NSFW):

-… HOWEVER, if he knows that he’s allowed to look at you naked, or doing naughty things, he will. He will. Might even sneak up on you to scare you, then to “help you out,” if ya know what I mean~ Despite this, I don’t think he’d be the kind of guy to watch and pleasure himself while doing so. I just can't think of him doing that. He's weird and creepy, not sick and perverted.

- Would set up a relaxing bath (with candles, of course!) for you after a long and hard day, resting against the side of the tub while you’re bathing, watching and listening to you. Maybe helping you wash yourself.

- Jack comes off as a Soft Switch to me, mostly leaning Soft Dom.

- Remember the “he knows how to do all kinds of knots?” Yeah, he’d have fun with bondage. I don’t think he’d be really aggressive with it, but in fact passionate and loving. Wouldn’t want you getting rope burn.

- If he did decide to “unwrap his gift,” he would do it carefully (again, to avoid rope burn) and methodically, speaking softly, monotonously, and sweetly while he comments on how beautiful you (his gift) is 💛

- I mean, you can suggest he use soft or lace-like binding rope fabrics so he doesn’t have to worry about hurting you, but he prefers classic, plant fiber rope 👌

- Expect playful teasing from him, both verbally and physically. Will use words like “naughty,” “silly,” “little tease,” “my beloved toy,” etc, and would tell you to mind your Ps and Qs (English Idiom for “manners”) if you want him to do something for you.

- Will call you sweet nicknames like, “pumpkin,” “darling,” “my dear,” “little moth,” etc.

- Normally he’d be wearing regular burlap cloth, which is rather irritating to skin (luckily he doesn’t have any), but when he wears the softer kind, you know he’s looking for a lot of physical affection.

- With said soft fabric on, Jack can finally really touch and feel you up as much as he wants and as long as he wants, really squishing, massaging, and fondling all those soft and squishy curves and crevices of yours~ 🖤

- If you want to really get him Turned On: LACE. NIGHTGOWNS. Walk around the house with it on, sleep with it on, cuddle with it on, get intimate with it on, etc. Just seeing the delicate fabric loosely hang around your form, and the intricate lace designs flowing around your chest, sides, and edges (also sleeves if applicable) makes him giddy and warm up fast. If you’re not wearing any undergarments underneath, I think he’ll get the message why you’re flaunting yourself in front of him~ 💖

- In addition, since he's so into scaring people, I think he'd be into playing Hide n' Seek/Cat and Mouse, with you hiding (the Mouse) and him seeking (the Cat). He'd be talking a lot during it, saying things like, "Where oh where has my darling gone?~," "I'll find you soon, my pretty~," and "Come out come out wherever you are, little one~."

- Of course, after finding you, he would love for you to try to run from him! "You can run, but you can't hide, my dear!~," "Running only excites me more, once I catch you, my little moth!~"

- After getting caught, "There, finally! I've caught you now, little rascal~ Now to make sure you won't be running from me any longer, love~" *brings out the bondage rope*

- I honestly don’t think he’d be into violent and aggressive sexual interaction. Like, despite his love to scare, I don’t think he’d try to bruise nor hold a real knife to your throat or anything like that. Legit the worst he’d do would be pretending to choke you or leave red marks on your skin.

- Jack’s favorite parts of you are anything squishy and soft, which includes chest/breasts, stomach, love handles, butt, and thighs. He just adores it when you smile and giggle while he lovingly squeezes any of said parts, and will continue to do so for your arousal. Then he’ll go for the other soft and sensitive spot that will surely get you heated and huffing~ 💗 Be careful not to say his full name, though! Or he'll just tighten those ropes around you!

- I’m not sure if intercourse would even be possible, but I know he’d take great pleasure in pleasuring you in any way he can, whether it be massaging, fondling, fingering, or using sex toys on you (maybe he has specific apparel that has a hollow dildo attached to his crotch so he can be in you XD).

- Jack would like really any position, but I think he’d prefer to hug and play with you from behind. He likes to feel you press into him (or he pressing you into him) when you’re rhythmically gyrating from his touch, and even better if it’s into the bed (he wants to be squished by you👌).

- Another location would be in front of a mirror so you, and him, can see yourself getting fondled/fingered/loved/fucked by him, blushing, smiling, and giggling, all the while stealing glances when your eyes aren’t shut from the pleasure. Additionally, turn your head and give him soft yet passionate kisses, using a possible free hand to hold his face against yours, to make him just as giddy👌👌

- One thing he would prefer is doing it in the dark, or dimly lit space with only candles to light it. Maybe start off in a dimly lit room, and one by one, over the course of the passionate and romantic affection, they’d be blown out until pitch blackness. That’s when he’d start fingering/fucking you, when your sense of sight is unreliable so your sense of hearing and touch are strengthened. Kinky AF~

Closing Notes:

- Like I said before, I see Jack as more of a Giver than a Taker. With friends, and close friends, he’s rather tolerant to all kinds of folks: Loud, quiet; eccentric, secluded; freaks, geeks, creeps, and weirdos; neurotypicals and neurodivergent, etc, just don’t be an asshole (racist, sexist, homophobic, a rapist, all that stuff). He enjoys watching the diversity of people.

- However, when it comes to romantic relationships, I see him like how I am: Yeah, I may have a handful of people I crush on/admire, but you have to really catch my interest for me to actually pursue you, which is quite rare.

- The types of people I think Jack would have strong interests in are the quiet, introverted/extroverted-introvert ones, and outcast types. He’d want someone who is kind, sweet, accepting of him, (trying to) understand(s) him, exclusive, mindful, considerate, weird (affectionate), giving, observant, patient, unique, quiet but not shy, has many similar interests as him, indulges in his hobbies, and their weirdness matches his weirdness.

- Then there’s the “darker” side of said person he’d also like: Reflective, mysterious, a loner (but not truly isolating), gloomy, obsessive (with interests and hobbies), struggles to show emotions but can express them, and prefers to have personal/intimate alone time with him rather than dates or parties every weekend.

#freakazoid #candlejack #candle jack #candle #jack #canon #headcanon #headcanons #funky little dude

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