#they're so defensive about green's character

[sundaeserenade]

if i'm being honest, i kinda think green's a little fucked up, and none of the versions i've written of him reflect that. I kinda soften his characterization because I don't want to hurt people's feelings

but some people are just fine with tellin me to hurry the fuck up, so

[wifelinkmtg]

TUMBLR POST EDITOR WON'T LET ME TITLE THIS POST ANYMORE SO I GUESS THIS IS THE TITLE NOW. WEBBED SITE INNIT

So let's say you grew up in the nineties and that The Lion King was an important movie to you. Let's say that the character of Scar - snarling, ambitious, condescending, effeminate Scar - stirred feelings in you which you had no words for as a child. And then let's say, many years later, you're talking about it with a college friend, and you say something like, "oh man, I think Scar was some sort of gay awakening for me," and she fixes you with this level stare and says, "Scar was a fascist. What's the matter with you?"

The immediate feeling is not unlike missing a step: hang on, what's happening, what did I miss? You knew there were goose-stepping hyenas in "Be Prepared," but you didn't think it mattered that much. He's the bad guy, after all, and the movie's just pointing it out. Your friend says it's more than that: the visuals of the song are directly referencing the Nuremberg rallies. They're practically an homage to Riefenstahl. This was your sexual awakening? Is this why you're so into peaked caps and leather, then? Subliminal nazi kink, perhaps?

And then one of your other friends cuts in. "Hold up," he says, "let's think about what Scar actually did in the movie. He organized a group of racialized outcasts and led them against a predatory monarchy. Why are you so keen to defend their hereditary rule? Scar's the good guy here." The conversation immediately descends into a verbal slap fight about who the real bad guy is, whether Scar's regime was actually responsible for the ecological devastation of the Pride Lands, whether the hyenas actually count as "racialized" because James Earl Jones voiced Mufasa after all. Your Catholic friend starts saying some strange and frankly concerning shit about Natural Law. Someone brings The Lion King 2 into it. You leave the conversation feeling a little bit lost and a little bit anxious. What were we even talking about?

INTRODUCING: THE DITCH

There is a way of reading texts which I'm afraid is pervasive, which has as its most classical expression the smug obsession with trivia and minutiae you find in a certain vein of comic book fan. "Who was the first Green Lantern? What was his weakness? Do you even know the Green Lantern Oath?" It eschews the subjective in favor of definitively knowable fact. You can't argue with this guy that, say, Alan Scott shouldn't really count as the first Green Lantern because his whole deal is so radically different from the Hal Jordan/John Stewart/Guy Gardner Corps-era Lanterns, because this guy will simply say "but he's called Green Lantern. Says so right on the cover. Checkmate." This approach to reading a text is fundamentally 1) emotionally detached (there's a reason the joke goes, oh you like X band? name three of their songs - and not, which of their songs means the most to you? which of them came into your life at exactly the right moment to tell you exactly what you needed to hear just then?) and 2) defensive. It's a stance that is designed not to lose arguments. It says so right on the cover. Checkmate.

And then you get the guys who are like "well obviously Bruce Wayne could do far more as a billionaire to solve societal problems by using his tremendous wealth to address systemic issues instead of dressing up as a bat and punching mental patients in the head," and these guys have half a point but they're basically in the same ditch butting heads with the "well, actually" guys, and can we not simply extricate ourselves from the ditch entirely?

So, okay, let's return to our initial example. Scar is portrayed using Nazi iconography - the goose-stepping, the monumentality, the Nuremberg Lichtdom. He is also flamboyant and effete. He unifies and leads a group of downtrodden exiles to overthrow an absolute monarch. He's also a self-serving despot on whose rule Heaven Itself turns its back. You can't reconcile these things from within the ditch - or if you can, the attempt is likely to be ad-hoc supposition and duct tape.

Instead, let's ask ourselves what perspective The Lion King is coming from. What does it say is true about the world? What are its precepts, its axioms?

There is a natural hierarchical order to the world. This is just and righteous and the way of things, and attempts to overthrow this order will be punished severely by the world itself.

Fascism is what happens when evil men attempt to usurp this natural order with the aid of a group or groups of people who refuse to accept their place in the order.

There exists an alternative to defending and adhering to one's place in the natural order - it consists only of selfish spineless apathy.

Manliness is an essential quality of a just ruler. Unmanliness renders a person unfit for rule, and often resentful and dangerous as well.

And isn't that interesting, laid out like that? It renders the entire argument about the movie irrelevant (except for whatever your Catholic friend was on about, since his understanding of the world seems to line up with the above precepts weirdly well.) It's meaningless to argue about whether Scar was a secret hero or a fascist, when the movie doesn't understand fascism and has a damn-near alien view of what good and evil are.

There's always gonna be someone who, having read this far, wants to reply, "so, what? The Lion King is a bad movie and the people who made it were homophobes and also American monarchists, somehow? And anyone who likes it is also some sort of gay-bashing crypto-authoritarian?" To which I have to reply, man, c'mon, get out of the ditch. You're no good to anyone in there. Take my hand. I'm going to pull on three. One... two...

SO PHYREXIA [PAUSE FOR APPLAUSE, GROANS]

We're talking about everyone's favorite ichor-drooling surgery monsters again because there was a bit in my ~*~seminal~*~ essay Transformation, Horror, Eros, Phyrexia which seemed to give a number of readers quite a bit of trouble: namely, the idea that while Phyrexia is textually fascist, their aesthetic is incompatible with real-world fascism, and further, that this aesthetic incompatibility in some way outweighs the ways in which they act like a fascist nation in terms of how we think of them. I'll take responsibility here: I don't think that point is at all clear or well-argued in that essay. What I was trying to articulate was that the text of Magic: the Gathering very much wants Phyrexia to be supremely evil and dangerous fascists, because that makes for effective antagonists, but in the process of constructing that, it's accidentally encoded a whole bunch of fascinating presuppositions that end up working at cross-purposes with its apparent aim. That's... not that much clearer, is it? Hmm. Why don't I just show you what I mean?

Atraxa, Grand Unifier (art by Marta Nael)

In "Beneath Eyes Unblinking," one of the March of the Machine stories by K. Arsenault Rivera, there's a fascinating and I think revealing passage in which Atraxa (big-deal Phyrexianized angel and Elesh Norn's lieutenant) has a run-in with an art museum in New Capenna. The first thing I want to talk about is that, in this passage, Atraxa has no understanding of the concept of "beauty". A great deal of space in such a rushed storyline is devoted to her trying to puzzle out what beauty means and interrogating the minds of her recently-compleated Capennan aesthetes to try and understand it. In the end, she is unable to conceive of beauty except as "wrongness," as anathema.

So my first question is, why doesn't Atraxa have any idea of beauty? This is nonsense, right? We could point to a previous story, "A Garden of Flesh," by Lora Gray, in which Elesh Norn explicitly thinks in terms of beauty, but that's a little bit ditchbound, isn't it? The better argument is to simply look at Phyrexian bodies, at the Phyrexian landscape, all of which looks the way it does on purpose, all of which has been shaped in accordance with the very real aesthetic preferences of Phyrexians. How you could look at the Fair Basilica and not understand that Phyrexians most definitely have an idea of beauty, even if you personally disagree with it, is baffling. This is a lot like the canonical assertion that Phyrexians lack souls, which is both contradicted elsewhere in canon and essentially meaningless, given Magic's unwillingness or inability to articulate what a soul is in its setting, and as with this, it seems the goal is simply to dehumanize Phyrexians, to render them alien, even at the cost of incoherence or internal contradiction.

Atraxa's progress through the museum is fascinating. It evokes the 1937 Nazi exhibit on "degenerate art" in Munich, but not at all cleanly. The first exhibit, which is of representational art, she angrily destroys for being too individualistic (a point of dissonance with the European fascist movements of the 20th century, which formed in direct antagonism to communism.) The second exhibit, filled with abstract paintings and sculptures, she destroys even more angrily for having no conceivable use (this is much more in line with the Nazi idea of "degenerate art", so well done there.) The third exhibit is filled with war trophies and reconstructions from a failed Phyrexian invasion of Capenna many years prior, which she is angriest of all with (and fair enough, I suppose.) But then, after she's done completely trashing the place, she spots a number of angel statues on the cathedral across the plaza, and she goes apeshit. In a fugue of white-hot rage, she pulverizes the angel heads, and here is where I have to ask my second question:

Why angels? If you are trying to invoke fascist attitudes toward art, big statues of angels are precisely the wrong thing for your fascist analogues to hate. Fascists love monumental, heroic representations of superhuman perfection. It's practically their whole aesthetic deal. I understand that we're foreshadowing the imminent defeat of Phyrexia at the hands of legions of angels and a multiversal proliferation of angel juice, but that just leads to the exact same question: why angels? To the best of my knowledge, the Phyrexian weakness to New Capennan angel juice is something invented for this storyline. They have, after all, been happily compleating angels since 1997. We could talk about the in-universe justification for why Halo specifically is so potent, but I don't remember what that justification is, and also don't care. Let's not jump back in the ditch, please. The point is, someone decided that this time, Phyrexia would be defeated by an angelic host, and what does that mean? What is the text trying to say? What are its precepts and axioms?

Let me ask you a question: how many physically disabled angels are there in Magic: the Gathering? How about transsexual angels? How many angels are there, on all of the cards that have ever been printed for Magic: the Gathering, that are even just a bit ugly? Do you get it yet? Or do you need me to spell it out for you?

SPELLING IT OUT FOR YOU

There is a kind of body which is bad. It is bad because it has been significantly altered from its natural state, and it is bad because it is repellent to our aesthetic sensibilities.

The bad kind of body is contagious. It spreads through contact. Sometimes people we love are infected, and then they become the bad kind of body too.

There is a kind of body which is good. It is good because it is pleasing to our aesthetic sensibilities, and it is good because it is unaltered from its (super)natural state.

A happy ending is when all the good bodies destroy or drive into hiding all of the bad bodies. A happy ending is when the bad bodies of the people we love are forcibly returned to being the good kind of body.

Do you get it now?

ENDNOTES

It's worth noting that the ditch is very similar to the white American Evangelical hermeneutics of "the Bible says it. I believe it. That settles it," the defensive chapter-and-verse-or-it-didn't-happen approach to reading a text, what Fred Clark of slacktivist calls "concordance-ism". I don't think that's accidental. We stand underneath centuries of people reading the Bible very poorly - how could that not affect how we read things today? We are participants in history whether we like it or not.

I sincerely hope I haven't come across as condescending in this essay. Close reading is legitimately difficult! They teach college courses on this stuff! And while it is frustrating to have my close readings interrogated by people who... aren't doing that, like. I do get it. I find myself back in the ditch all the time. This stuff is hard. It is also, sorry, crucial if you intend to say something about a text that's worth saying.

I also hope I've communicated clearly here. Magic story is sufficiently incoherent that trying to develop a thesis about it often feels like trying to nail jello to the wall. If anyone has questions, please ask them! And thank you for reading. Next time, we'll probably do the new Eldraine set.

[thewertsearch]

@hussianphilosopher submitted: Sally - longtime lurker, first time poster, big fan. I'm perpetually amazed by how thoughtful you are about Homestuck and how well you understand it for a first-time reader (you might be surprised how many people watch Cascade and don't actually understand that the Green Sun was just created, much less immediately put together everything Doc Scratch said and did that led up to it!). The high point of the liveblog for me was the whole arc of you being confused about how predestination in Homestuck worked, because, essentially, you had already figured out that the alpha timeline existed before the alpha timeline was introduced. You were confused about the story for a while because you understood it too well, too quickly! As someone who engages with the story similarly to you, on both the character level and the deep story/analysis level, I want to make what is a pretty contrarian argument these days: that the Epilogues are A. good, and B. canon. They're a tough read for sure, but I think someone who reads the story as deeply and pays as much attention as you do will really appreciate what they're trying to do. The Epilogues were also the last time that Hussie was directly involved with the story, and I think if you read them now it's very clear that the story is the culmination of ideas he was thinking about from very early in Homestuck (He said for years before the comic finished that he planned some kind of epilogue). The whole "dubiously canon" concept was part of a failed experiment on his part to try to step away and empower the fandom - the people who actually worked on the comic in that era always treated it as canon and referred to it as such. I consider the Epilogues the final canonical chapter of Homestuck - at a bare minimum I think it should be thought of as Hussie's take on a post-Homestuck fanfic, and I think it deserves attention. Of course I also think the story is good and interesting, which a lot of people don't, so, it's all a matter of opinion, but, as someone who's been following your liveblog and respects your reading of the comic a lot, I wanted to at least throw my hat into the ring on the subject. Incredibly excited to see what you make of act 6!

I really appreciate this honest, impassioned, genuine defense of the Epilogues. It's not the only one I've been sent, either - and quite a few of the others have also cited my analytical style as a reason why I might get more out of them than I realize. I can't pretend I'm not at least a little intrigued.

I've been thinking a lot about Homestuck's tie-in material while drafting my response to this message, and after some serious consideration, I've decided that I'm going to change my planned approach to the Epilogues.

I originally planned to read it in a more casual, less analytical manner, and potentially transition to a full liveblog if and only if I'm sufficiently engaged. Instead, however, I'm going to do the opposite, respecting the faith its defenders have in it by giving it the complete liveblogger's treatment from the very beginning.

I reserve the right to transition back to a casual read if I'm not enjoying myself, of course! But, rest assured, I'll only do that after giving the Epilogues a real, good-faith college try.

[eyrieofsynapses]

why Aurora's art is genius

It's break for me, and I've been meaning to sit down and read the Aurora webcomic (https://comicaurora.com/, @comicaurora on Tumblr) for quite a bit. So I did that over the last few days.

And… y'know. I can't actually say "I should've read this earlier," because otherwise I would've been up at 2:30-3am when I had responsibilities in the morning and I couldn't have properly enjoyed it, but. Holy shit guys THIS COMIC.

I intended to just do a generalized "hello this is all the things I love about this story," and I wrote a paragraph or two about art style. …and then another. And another. And I realized I needed to actually reference things so I would stop being too vague. I was reading the comic on my tablet or phone, because I wanted to stay curled up in my chair, but I type at a big monitor and so I saw more details… aaaaaand it turned into its own giant-ass post.

SO. Enjoy a few thousand words of me nerding out about this insanely cool art style and how fucking gorgeous this comic is? (There are screenshots, I promise it isn't just a wall of text.) In my defense, I just spent two semesters in graphic design classes focusing on the Adobe Suite, so… I get to be a nerd about pretty things…???

All positive feedback btw! No downers here. <3

---

I cannot emphasize enough how much I love the beautiful, simple stylistic method of drawing characters and figures. It is absolutely stunning and effortless and utterly graceful—it is so hard to capture the sheer beauty and fluidity of the human form in such a fashion. Even a simple outline of a character feels dynamic! It's gorgeous!

Though I do have a love-hate relationship with this, because my artistic side looks at that lovely simplicity, goes "I CAN DO THAT!" and then I sit down and go to the paper and realize that no, in fact, I cannot do that yet, because that simplicity is born of a hell of a lot of practice and understanding of bodies and actually is really hard to do. It's a very developed style that only looks simple because the artist knows what they're doing. The human body is hard to pull off, and this comic does so beautifully and makes it look effortless.

Also: line weight line weight line weight. It's especially important in simplified shapes and figures like this, and hoo boy is it used excellently. It's especially apparent the newer the pages get—I love watching that improvement over time—but with simpler figures and lines, you get nice light lines to emphasize both smaller details, like in the draping of clothing and the curls of hair—which, hello, yes—and thicker lines to emphasize bigger and more important details and silhouettes. It's the sort of thing that's essential to most illustrations, but I wanted to make a note of it because it's so vital to this art style.

THE USE OF LAYER BLENDING MODES OH MY GODS. (...uhhh, apologies to the people who don't know what that means, it's a digital art program thing? This article explains it for beginners.)

Bear with me, I just finished my second Photoshop course, I spent months and months working on projects with this shit so I see the genius use of Screen and/or its siblings (of which there are many—if I say "Screen" here, assume I mean the entire umbrella of Screen blending modes and possibly Overlay) and go nuts, but seriously it's so clever and also fucking gorgeous:

Firstly: the use of screened-on sound effect words over an action? A "CRACK" written over a branch and then put on Screen in glowy green so that it's subtle enough that it doesn't disrupt the visual flow, but still sticks out enough to make itself heard? Little "scritches" that are transparent where they're laid on without outlines to emphasize the sound without disrupting the underlying image? FUCK YES. I haven't seen this done literally anywhere else—granted, I haven't read a massive amount of comics, but I've read enough—and it is so clever and I adore it. Examples:

Secondly: The beautiful lighting effects. The curling leaves, all the magic, the various glowing eyes, the fog, the way it's all so vividly colored but doesn't burn your eyeballs out—a balance that's way harder to achieve than you'd think—and the soft glows around them, eeeee it's so pretty so pretty SO PRETTY. Not sure if some of these are Outer/Inner Glow/Shadow layer effects or if it's entirely hand-drawn, but major kudos either way; I can see the beautiful use of blending modes and I SALUTE YOUR GENIUS.

I keep looking at some of this stuff and go "is that a layer effect or is it done by hand?" Because you can make some similar things with the Satin layer effect in Photoshop (I don't know if other programs have this? I'm gonna have to find out since I won't have access to PS for much longer ;-;) that resembles some of the swirly inner bits on some of the lit effects, but I'm not sure if it is that or not. Or you could mask over textures? There's... many ways to do it.

If done by hand: oh my gods the patience, how. If done with layer effects: really clever work that knows how to stop said effects from looking wonky, because ugh those things get temperamental. If done with a layer of texture that's been masked over: very, very good masking work. No matter the method, pretty shimmers and swirly bits inside the bigger pretty swirls!

Next: The way color contrast is used! I will never be over the glowy green-on-black Primordial Life vibes when Alinua gets dropped into that… unconscious space?? with Life, for example, and the sharp contrast of vines and crack and branches and leaves against pitch black is just visually stunning. The way the roots sink into the ground and the three-dimensional sensation of it is particularly badass here:

Friggin. How does this imply depth like that. HOW. IT'S SO FREAKING COOL.

A huge point here is also color language and use! Everybody has their own particular shade, generally matching their eyes, magic, and personality, and I adore how this is used to make it clear who's talking or who's doing an action. That was especially apparent to me with Dainix and Falst in the caves—their colors are both fairly warm, but quite distinct, and I love how this clarifies who's doing what in panels with a lot of action from both of them. There is a particular bit that stuck out to me, so I dug up the panels (see this page and the following one https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-20-30/):

(Gods it looks even prettier now that I put it against a plain background. Also, appreciation to Falst for managing a bridal-carry midair, damn.)

The way that their colors MERGE here! And the immense attention to detail in doing so—Dainix is higher up than Falst is in the first panel, so Dainix's orange fades into Falst's orange at the base. The next panel has gold up top and orange on bottom; we can't really tell in that panel where each of them are, but that's carried over to the next panel—

—where we now see that Falst's position is raised above Dainix's due to the way he's carrying him. (Points for continuity!) And, of course, we see the little "huffs" flowing from orange to yellow over their heads (where Dainix's head is higher than Falst's) to merge the sound of their breathing, which is absurdly clever because it emphasizes to the viewer how we hear two sets of huffing overlaying each other, not one. Absolutely brilliant.

(A few other notes of appreciation to that panel: beautiful glows around them, the sparks, the jagged silhouette of the spider legs, the lovely colors that have no right to make the area around a spider corpse that pretty, the excellent texturing on the cave walls plus perspective, the way Falst's movements imply Dainix's hefty weight, the natural posing of the characters, their on-point expressions that convey exactly how fuckin terrifying everything is right now, the slight glows to their eyes, and also they're just handsome boys <3)

Next up: Rain!!!! So well done! It's subtle enough that it never ever disrupts the impact of the focal point, but evident enough you can tell! And more importantly: THE MIST OFF THE CHARACTERS. Rain does this irl, it has that little vapor that comes off you and makes that little misty effect that plays with lighting, it's so cool-looking and here it's used to such pretty effect!

One of the panel captions says something about it blurring out all the injuries on the characters but like THAT AIN'T TOO BIG OF A PROBLEM when it gets across the environmental vibes, and also that'd be how it would look in real life too so like… outside viewer's angle is the same as the characters', mostly? my point is: that's the environment!!! that's the vibes, that's the feel! It gets it across and it does so in the most pretty way possible!

And another thing re: rain, the use of it to establish perspective, particularly in panels like this—

—where we can tell we're looking down at Tynan due to the perspective on the rain and where it's pointing. Excellent. (Also, kudos for looking down and emphasizing how Tynan's losing his advantage—lovely use of visual storytelling.)

Additionally, the misting here:

We see it most heavily in the leftmost panel, where it's quite foggy as you would expect in a rainstorm, especially in an environment with a lot of heat, but it's also lightly powdered on in the following two panels and tends to follow light sources, which makes complete sense given how light bounces off particles in the air.

A major point of strength in these too is a thorough understanding of lighting, like rim lighting, the various hues and shades, and an intricate understanding of how light bounces off surfaces even when they're in shadow (we'll see a faint glow in spots where characters are half in shadow, but that's how it would work in real life, because of how light bounces around).

Bringing some of these points together: the fluidity of the lines in magic, and the way simple glowing lines are used to emphasize motion and the magic itself, is deeply clever. I'm basically pulling at random from panels and there's definitely even better examples, but here's one (see this page https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-16-33/):

First panel, listed in numbers because these build on each other:

The tension of the lines in Tess's magic here. This works on a couple levels: first, the way she's holding her fists, as if she's pulling a rope taut.

The way there's one primary line, emphasizing the rope feeling, accompanied by smaller ones.

The additional lines starbursting around her hands, to indicate the energy crackling in her hands and how she's doing a good bit more than just holding it. (That combined with the fists suggests some tension to the magic, too.) Also the variations in brightness, a feature you'll find in actual lightning. :D Additional kudos for how the lightning sparks and breaks off the metal of the sword.

A handful of miscellaneous notes on the second panel:

The reflection of the flames in Erin's typically dark blue eyes (which bears a remarkable resemblance to Dainix, incidentally—almost a thematic sort of parallel given Erin's using the same magic Dainix specializes in?)

The flowing of fabric in the wind and associated variation in the lineart

The way Erin's tattoos interact with the fire he's pulling to his hand

The way the rain overlays some of the fainter areas of fire (attention! to! detail! hell yeah!)

I could go on. I won't because this is a lot of writing already.

Third panel gets paragraphs, not bullets:

Erin's giant-ass "FWOOM" of fire there, and the way the outline of the word is puffy-edged and gradated to feel almost three-dimensional, plus once again using Screen or a variation on it so that the stars show up in the background. All this against that stunning plume of fire, which ripples and sparks so gorgeously, and the ending "om" of the onomatopoeia is emphasized incredibly brightly against that, adding to the punch of it and making the plume feel even brighter.

Also, once again, rain helping establish perspective, especially in how it's very angular in the left side of the panel and then slowly becomes more like a point to the right to indicate it's falling directly down on the viewer. Add in the bright, beautiful glow effects, fainter but no less important black lines beneath them to emphasize the sky and smoke and the like, and the stunningly beautiful lighting and gradated glows surrounding Erin plus the lightning jagging up at him from below, and you get one hell of an impactful panel right there. (And there is definitely more in there I could break down, this is just a lot already.)

And in general: The colors in this? Incredible. The blues and purples and oranges and golds compliment so well, and it's all so rich.

Like, seriously, just throughout the whole comic, the use of gradients, blending modes, color balance and hues, all the things, all the things, it makes for the most beautiful effects and glows and such a rich environment. There's a very distinct style to this comic in its simplified backgrounds (which I recognize are done partly because it's way easier and also backgrounds are so time-consuming dear gods but lemme say this) and vivid, smoothly drawn characters; the simplicity lets them come to the front and gives room for those beautiful, richly saturated focal points, letting the stylized designs of the magic and characters shine. The use of distinct silhouettes is insanely good. Honestly, complex backgrounds might run the risk of making everything too visually busy in this case. It's just, augh, so GORGEOUS.

Another bit, take a look at this page (https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-15-28/):

It's not quite as evident here as it is in the next page, but this one does some other fun things so I'm grabbing it. Points:

Once again, using different colors to represent different character actions. The "WHAM" of Kendal hitting the ground is caused by Dainix's force, so it's orange (and kudos for doubling the word over to add a shake effect). But we see blue layered underneath, which could be an environmental choice, but might also be because it's Kendal, whose color is blue.

And speaking off, take a look at the right-most panel on top, where Kendal grabs the spear: his motion is, again, illustrated in bright blue, versus the atmospheric screened-on orange lines that point toward him around the whole panel (I'm sure these have a name, I think they might be more of a manga thing though and the only experience I have in manga is reading a bit of Fullmetal Alchemist). Those lines emphasize the weight of the spear being shoved at him, and their color tells us Dainix is responsible for it.

One of my all-time favorite effects in this comic is the way cracks manifest across Dainix's body to represent when he starts to lose control; it is utterly gorgeous and wonderfully thematic. These are more evident in the page before and after this one, but you get a decent idea here. I love the way they glow softly, the way the fire juuuust flickers through at the start and then becomes more evident over time, and the cracks feel so realistic, like his skin is made of pottery. Additional points for how fire begins to creep into his hair.

A small detail that's generally consistent across the comic, but which I want to make note of here because you can see it pretty well: Kendal's eyes glow about the same as the jewel in his sword, mirroring his connection to said sword and calling back to how the jewel became Vash's eye temporarily and thus was once Kendal's eye. You can always see this connection (though there might be some spots where this also changes in a symbolic manner; I went through it quickly on the first time around, so I'll pay more attention when I inevitably reread this), where Kendal's always got that little shine of blue in his eyes the same as the jewel. It's a beautiful visual parallel that encourages the reader to subconsciously link them together, especially since the lines used to illustrate character movements typically mirror their eye color. It's an extension of Kendal.

Did I mention how ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL the colors in this are?

Also, the mythological/legend-type scenes are illustrated in familiar style often used for that type of story, a simple and heavily symbolic two-dimensional cave-painting-like look. They are absolutely beautiful on many levels, employing simple, lovely gradients, slightly rougher and thicker lineart that is nonetheless smoothly beautiful, and working with clear silhouettes (a major strength of this art style, but also a strength in the comic overall). But in particular, I wanted to call attention to a particular thing (see this page https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-12-4/):

The flowing symbolic lineart surrounding each character. This is actually quite consistent across characters—see also Life's typical lines and how they curl:

What's particularly interesting here is how these symbols are often similar, but not the same. Vash's lines are always smooth, clean curls, often playing off each other and echoing one another like ripples in a pond. You'd think they'd look too similar to Life's—but they don't. Life's curl like vines, and they remain connected; where one curve might echo another but exist entirely detached from each other in Vash's, Life's lines still remain wound together, because vines are continuous and don't float around. :P

Tahraim's are less continuous, often breaking up with significantly smaller bits and pieces floating around like—of course—sparks, and come to sharper points. These are also constants: we see the vines repeated over and over in Alinua's dreams of Life, and the echoing ripples of Vash are consistent wherever we encounter him. Kendal's dream of the ghost citizens of the city of Vash in the last few chapters is filled with these rippling, echoing patterns, to beautiful effect (https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-20-14/):

They ripple and spiral, often in long, sinuous curves, with smooth elegance. It reminds me a great deal of images of space and sine waves and the like. This establishes a definite feel to these different characters and their magic. And the thing is, that's not something that had to be done—the colors are good at emphasizing who's who. But it was done, and it adds a whole other dimension to the story. Whenever you're in a deity's domain, you know whose it is no matter the color.

Regarding that shape language, I wanted to make another note, too—Vash is sometimes described as chaotic and doing what he likes, which is interesting to me, because smooth, elegant curves and the color blue aren't generally associated with chaos. So while Vash might behave like that on the surface, I'm guessing he's got a lot more going on underneath; he's probably much more intentional in his actions than you'd think at a glance, and he is certainly quite caring with his city. The other thing is that this suits Kendal perfectly. He's a paragon character; he is kind, virtuous, and self-sacrificing, and often we see him aiming to calm others and keep them safe. Blue is such a good color for him. There is… probably more to this, but I'm not deep enough in yet to say.

And here's the thing: I'm only scratching the surface. There is so much more here I'm not covering (color palettes! outfits! character design! environment! the deities! so much more!) and a lot more I can't cover, because I don't have the experience; this is me as a hobbyist artist who happened to take a couple design classes because I wanted to. The art style to this comic is so clever and creative and beautiful, though, I just had to go off about it. <3

...brownie points for getting all the way down here? Have a cookie.

[head---ache]

Fankids Character Charts [1/3]

The kids!! The first 7 out of all the kids getting charts!!! They're going to be divided in three groups because they're too many kiddos now lol.

More detailed info under the cut!

Emmie: Sonadow kid, the one who got my fankid train started! Also, the first Tube Baby! (Here's three posts about it: One, two, three).

Her full name is Emily (meaning "rival"), however, everyone just calls her Emmie (out of universe explanation + in universe explanation).

She has Black Arms DNA, but it's uncertain the lenghts it's effects have on her. They know she had green blood (first shown here) and has access to the Hivemind, which as a baby she used to communicate with Shadow (first shown here), but as she grew older she stopped using it, and now finds it harder to access it.

She, of course, also has Chaos Energy. She has super speed and can perform Chaos Control (here) and turn Super (first shown here), but her super form is highly unstable and quickly becomes similar to Sonic's "Super Fleetway" form (here).

Emmie uses her trusty yoyo to fight (here), complementing her powers and ability in a way to extend the reach of her attacks, rope in her enemies, etc.

Listen to Emmie's Spotify playlist here!!

Sparks: The oldest of my Blazamy kids, and first Belly Baby in the lineup (here's context).

Sparks has fire powers, similar to Blaze's, though they find them a bit harder to control. They get Blaze, Knuckles and Espio's help to learn to use said powers, since they require a lot of training. Also, again, quite like Blaze, they can turn into Burning Sparks (here), but this form drains their energy pretty fast.

Since Blaze is a princess, Amy, Sparks and Tulip do acquire royalty related tiltes, however, they're very informal and don't hold that much power due to Blaze not wanting them to have any responsability simply because they're related to her. Despite this, Sparks does end up becoming ruler of the Sol Dimension later in the timeline, but by their own volution.

They use a fire sword to fight (here). It would be a simple sword, but they infuse it with their powers for it to become this flaming version of the weapon.

Listen to Sparks' Spotify playlist here!!

Lash: The oldest of my Scourgiona kids and your local surprise baby representation.

Her main ability is acrobatics, and she has some sort of super speed but it's quite weak compared to Emmie's.

She has both mommy and daddy issues, and spends most of her time at Aim's house, although she grew up with Mareep, Glamour and Stumble. She has two older siblings, and at first she didn't have much of a relationship with them, since they're younger than her and much closer to each other, but eventually Lash steps in and tries to be a part of her siblings' life like their parents should've been.

She starts as more of a "villain", taking the role of your local mean girl next to Mareep and the others, and has a bit of friction with the rest of the kids, but as she starts hanging out more with Aim and Spades, she begins to let that attitude go and tries to be better, eventually joining the Restoration.

Listen to Lash's Spotify playlist here!!

Aim: Whispangle kid, selectively mute, and a Belly Baby.

He does archery, which is their main fighting technique, however, during battle, they also use their tail to move around faster and will occasionally team up with Whisper's wisps.

He does not speak, at all, but the others just seem to understand him without him even needing sign language or anything. Also finally giving it a name rather than just saying 'he doesn't speak', they're selectively mute! So yay for it finally having a name!

Listen to Aim's Spotify playlist here!!

Bria: Sonina (Sonia x Mina) Belly Baby! Making them Emmie's younger cousin.

They don't fight much, rather serving to give hope and high spirits to those around her! But of course, living in the universe they live in, they know martial arts just in case it's needed, and as self defense.

Even though Bria's hard of hearing, his biggest passion is music. She plays piano and guitar, piano being his main instrument.

Listen to Bria's Spotify playlist here!!

Tulip: The youngest of my Blazamy siblings, also a Belly Baby (in universe explanation here).

He hasn't shown any special ability yet, which is something that bothers him. Because of this, he isn't allowed to be around the other kids when there's danger, but he's very sneaky and often gets things to work in his favor anyway (in some strange way, he always knows what to do to get what's best for his interests, hm...)

He has an interest in tarot cards, like Amy, and in these sorts of magic related topics.

Listen to Tulip's Spotify playlist here!!

Destiny: One and only Code Baby! And Sallicole kid. She's an AI similar to Nicole, but with more advanced and sophisticated technology.

Being an AI, she can easily hack into robots and computers, which helps during battle.

They usually take the leader role very naturally, immediately making a plan on the spot and guiding the rest of the group thanks to her rational thinking nature. However, she's quite shy which makes things a bit difficult for her, her confident side mainly showing when assuming the role of the leader, or when fighting for things they're passionate about.

Destiny is president and leader or a smaller section of the Restoration, which is the training and formation for teenagers. This is where she shines her brightest, leading this group on missions and making their plans of action, as well as organizing their training schedule.

Listen to Destiny's Spotify playlist here!!

[solardriftx]

Damon and Diana, Snake and Chameleon

in the context of chapter 1 i wanted to expand on some of the animal symbolism, particularly damon's symbol of a snake and diana's of a chameleon. buckle up yall!

while the biblical snake symbolism is obvious, i think lots of meaning can be derived from real world knowledge--in particular, the familiar image of a snake shedding its skin. snakes enter periods of heightened aggression when molting due to the sensitivity of their new skin, and i think this will be reflected by damon becoming much worse in the name of defending himself before he changes for the better. his initial distrustful mindset was proven right, the second he even *began* to trust someone it blew up in his face. while he was crying for a moment in the face of eva's death, this sorrow was quickly overrun by frustration and anger, particularly at diana's words.

additionally, while i'm not sure if exact genus/species of certain animals were intended or will become important to interpretation, i'd like to draw a connection between damon's snake symbol and a certain genus. from the green color and his american origins, i think he can be connected to opheodrys, a common genus of green snake from north america coming in two species of rough or smooth variety. these snakes are not commonly kept as pets due to their standoffish and defensive nature around humans, making them prone to biting. despite this, they're non-venomous and generally harmless. damon makes it clear when confronted that he does not intend to harm anyone. in fact, his monologues show he thinks much more about how he would respond if someone were to attack *him* instead, noting the physical advantage some of his classmates have (rough/smooth green snakes are very small). we can even tie these traits of non-venom back to the prologue trial, where he appeared very hostile despite genuinely thinking he was helping. and of course, a connection can also be made to damon's general personality of being outwardly cold when deep down he's just... a guy who gets easily embarrassed.

now onto diana! first off i was surprised she actually mentioned her animal and how it relates to her, i thought the motifs were going to be more of an unspoken thing. makes me wonder if any other characters will mention their animals. anyway, fun fact! chameleons don't change color to camouflage, they do it for thermoregulation and social signaling. for diana, i'm more concerned with social signaling, as chameleons can change into very bold displays of colors to communicate dominance, as paralleled by diana's bold display at the end of the first trial with the intention of rallying the others behind her. this could be a stretch, but diana's darker/bold color pallet could be a reference to the potential spectrum of colors that a chameleon would display under stress.

i find it funny though, that while diana says that she will adapt like a chameleon, keeping chameleons in captivity is notoriously hard due to their highly specific environmental requirements- be it temperature, humidity, or lighting, they're easy to accidentally kill. diana may claim with a brave face that she has the strength to fight this killing game no matter the struggle, yet someone with the stress sensitivity of a chameleon in a situation like this is doomed to buckle.

anyway...can you tell they're my two favorite characters. antag diana im so ready for you if you're real

[pernesophe]

Best Friend Nirei Akihiko "Helps" Reader Out

(Minors, Ageless and Blank Blogs DNI)

Synopsis: MATURE CONTENT: You keep getting with guys who say they're experienced, but aren't. Your best friend Nirei Akihiko offers to help you out.

TW: all characters aged 21+, so much shameless smut: cunnilingus, fingering, vaginal intercourse, overstimulation. MDNI

Also this was weirdly inspired by, and bear with me here, David Attenborough's 'Desert World'. It's kind of poetic, but also kind of okay? Anyway, hope you enjoy!

Master List (I have no rights to these characters, the works they come from, or the art/screenshots/manga panels used in this post)

(4740 wc)

It’s been 3 weeks since your 21st birthday, and ever since turning 18 you’ve had 6 relationships, more sexual endeavors than you could count, and no orgasms. Which was how you found yourself laying on your best friend’s bed lamenting about how every guy who’s taken you to bed has talked such a big game, and every time they end up choking.

“The most recent guy swore up and down that he could ‘take care of me’,” you scoffed out in annoyance while throwing your hands up in the air. Nirei Akihiko, your long time confidant, listened diligently to you telling him that ‘men ain’t shit’ - again. 

“Then, when we finally got down to business he wouldn’t take any of my direction and got defensive when I told him that I didn’t cum!” Exclaiming as you sat up on Nirei’s bed to look at him for emphasis, who was just nodding his blonde head along obediently. 

“He said, ‘are you sure,’ like I wouldn’t know! I literally played silent library with this guy, and let me tell you Nirei, I was silent!” Huffing out as you fell back onto his covers with an exasperated sigh. After a long moment, Nirei’s voice traveled through the room, but his words jolted you back into an upright position instantly.

“Then why don’t you just let me make you cum?” Posing the question as if he was offering to grab you an iced coffee before class, but you just gawked at him with a deep furrow in your brow. It felt taboo to hear those words from him when he was looking at you with those big, chocolatey, puppy dog eyes of his. 

“Just as friends,” he chuckled out reassuringly while putting his hands out in front of him to convey that his intentions were plain. Reader, they in fact were not plain seeing as your friend has been in love with you for years now.

“Nirei have you ever…?” Asking in disbelief as you blinked rapidly at him - never having heard about it until now, if he has. Uncertain as to why, but some fluorescent green monster flashed behind your irises and curled your fingers in the covers you were sitting on as you cocked your head in question.

“Like once - it wasn’t a big deal though so I didn’t say anything,” he chuckled out with an easy going shrug, though Nirei immediately clocked the jealousy swelling in your countenance. Chestnut orbs flicked down to your white knuckles before settling back on your perturbed expression. A smug grin tugged at his lips, but your gaze was focused on his innocently raised brows and the inquiring tilt of his head that caused a few blonde locks to fall over one eye.

Completely uncertain, but certainly desperate at this point, and seeing as Nirei’s typical timid demeanor had transformed to one of pure confidence, you nodded your head tentatively. Your companion’s expression changed to one of blatant surprise, but it was swiftly replaced with one of poorly hidden triumph.

Rising from his chair, he turned toward his bookshelf and started rummaging a few items together as you started to get situated on his bed. Turning back around, he saw the apprehensive look on your face and the way you were laid out for him, but Nirei just shook his head as a laugh puffed past his lips, which made you pause.

“Not yet,” his words were simple, but when you looked at him, bewildered - maybe a little hurt brewing in your expression - he inquired in a mirthful voice with a sharp arch of his brow, “I’m guessing you’ve only ever had quickies?” 

His typical puppy dog eyes became wolven - your friend has never looked at you like this before, and suddenly your breath was caught in your throat. Unable to muster a response, Nirei just laughed at your shocked expression.

“Hop in the shower. I’ll have some clothes for you when you get out,” he instructed in an authoritative tone as he handed you an extra towel from his shelf. Silently staring at him wide eyed as you gulped, before you took the towel with a nod and scurried off to the bathroom. Nirei watched you go with a satisfied smile turning the corners of his mouth - he’s waited so long for this and he had every intention of leaving you hooked. 

You’ve showered at Nirei’s apartment before, you even have your own products here, but this time it felt completely different. This time you weren’t just getting ready before going out or something arbitrary - you were getting ready for him. 

Unbeknownst to you, Nirei has done his research. Not like a quick google search, no, he understands how information flows, so after literally learning a woman’s anatomy he went straight to the forums. For months he’s been listening to every single one of your complaints, and then diligently looking into what women were saying about how they want to be fucked. Hell, he even went to a brothel and paid - just once - to be taught explicitly what to do, though he would never admit that to you.

While you showered Nirei grabbed a pair of simple cotton panties that you left there in case you ever needed to crash at his place, and a large graphic t-shirt from his closet that was a favorite of yours to borrow. When you stepped back into the room, wrapped in a towel and hair still wet, Nirei threw you a small smirk as he shamelessly raked his eyes over you, making your knees weak. Then he wordlessly gestured to the clothes on the bed before grabbing his own towel and hopping in the shower himself. 

Only a few minutes passed before Nirei re-entered, shirtless with a towel around his waist and blonde hair still dripping with water. Again, he silently simpered at you, an amused look playing across his face as he regarded your blushing cheeks. Nirei stepped into his closet and returned a moment later, still shirtless but wearing boxers and a pair of joggers set low on his hips.

It looked like a god stepped out of his closet, sun kissed skin still damp, shaggy blonde hair falling into his honeyed-mahogany orbs that burned with molten desire. You rubbed your thighs together involuntarily for some friction as your cheeks grew impossibly redder which only earned you an angelic laugh from your best friend turned sex-god (apparently?).

Nirei was enjoying your reactions too much to break the spell with his voice, so he wordlessly crawled up the bed until he was kneeling at your feet, an easy going smile plastered on his face. A shiver ran up your spine at the confidence exuding from his typically high-strung demeanor. You’ve never had a guy get this far before losing his cool and devolving into a nervous mess.

Bending forward he began peppering kisses to the tops of your knees without breaking eye contact while his hands skimmed over the covers to grab your ankles and drew your legs apart. Scooting forward as he spread his thighs apart, and then he reached under you to grab your hips. With one swift yank, your head was on the pillows and your butt was pressed snugly to his growing bulge with your legs laid over the tops of his thighs. Air caught in your throat as you’re suddenly, completely, within Nirei’s control - pinned under his unblinking stare, unable to escape, as he bent forward to slot his lips between yours.

The brunette-turned-blonde who you grew up with had always been so timid, he only was ever confident in things he 100% knew. But the way he was kissing you, licking and nipping your lips until you let his tongue slide in your mouth to tangle with your wet muscle…. How he dominantly claimed your mouth and let his hands roam over your body - touching every single spot that made your pussy pulse along the way… you quickly became intimately aware how well he knew what he was doing. 

Nirei kept his control steady the whole time he was exploring your body. Years he’s waited to touch you like this, and the whole time it felt like he was watching a beautiful oasis dry up from a drought caused by unsatisfying touches. For the longest time he’s stolen his anger at every single one of your partner’s half-assed attempts to please you, and applied that anger to his endeavor of knowing how to please you without fail. Knowledge is Power afterall. 

You felt it too, this desert growing inside of you, and every partner up until now has been little more than a passerby haphazardly spilling water on your sands. A mistake, a fluke - never anything intentional. But Nirei, oh sweet, diligent, faithful Nirei… His tongue swirling around your pert nipples felt like the first crashes of thunder rolling in, air thick with the promise of rain. As his eager mouth trailed over your torso, his wet muscle peaked out to trace along your ribs, it felt like the whipping winds that swore to you that a torrential storm was on the horizon. 

When his soft lips peppered gentle kisses along the insides of your thighs, you could almost taste the precipitation in the air perpaing to pour down from the heavens above. The first raindrops were splattering your sands and soaking deep into your being when his tongue teasingly drifted up the length of your leg to press a chaste kiss to your ankle. Golden irises bored down on you with a molten focus that felt like the hot, midday sun. 

Sweeping his tongue down your calf to pause at the back of your knee where he kissed the sensitive skin sloppily, and nipped along your gooseflesh. Finally, the rain began for what felt like the first time ever with an arch of your back as you cried out for more - the seeds located deep within have only just started to germinate. Invisible roots grew and stretched to the well located in the deepest depths of your core in hopes of budding.

Blonde hair tickled your thighs as Nirei’s merciful mouth littered pecks, bites and gentle licks up the insides of them that forced those, now-seedlings to blossom. Coming face to face with the verbena flower spread open between your parted legs, Nirei became more like a Hummingbird-Hawk Moth who could finally drink your sweet nectar after a decade’s long drought. 

Deliberate kitten licks were gingerly placed over your glistening lips, savoring your taste more than anything at first, but still you were keening your head back into the pillows as you fisted the sheets to ground yourself. Nirei mapped out your lips, clit and dripping entrance with his tongue thoroughly - clocking each and every pant, twitch and whine you emitted before committing the actions that caused them to memory - and then, finally, you were drenched in his monsoon. 

Nirei’s merciless tongue dipped and plunged deep into your core as if he were gathering every last bit of your pollen. Greedily teasing your entrance, swiping your arousal up with the tip of his tongue to savor the taste before descending onto your clit once again. He swirled and flicked the tiny bundle of nerves until your gummy walls were gushing even more nectar for Nirei to scavenge. This repetitive foraging of your folds went on for what felt like hours, until you lost count of how many times your body had tensed with pleasure only to relax and wash you completely in euphoria.

It wasn’t until your legs lay limp on the bed, that he finally crawled up your body - his face swam before your vision, tongue swiping over his lips that were upturned into a satisfied smile. Nirei suckled your sweet cunt through every suffocating squeeze of your thighs and tug of his hair - only sparing you a glance to chuckle at your overstimulated state - and it was well worth it to see you completely sprawled out like this in his bed.

Burnt Sienna orbs raked down your spent form and back up to your fucked out expression. When a contented sigh passed your lips, his victorious grin deepened as he brought his cheek next to yours, lips brushing your earlobe. 

”So, are you good?” He queried in a light, teasing tone, fanning your face with the warm scent of baked bread, before leaning back with innocently raised brows. Immediately you sat up with a notch in your brow and a slight pout on your lips.

”You said you’d fuck me,” your voice bled with indignation as you huffed out the words, to which Nirei chuckled low at your attitude. He surveyed your lower lip, slightly stuck out, with overt appreciation as a chidden sigh escaped him.

”I said I’d help you cum - you did cum right?” He posed smoothly with a questioning arch of his brow. Your mouth dropped open, but no response came, so you snapped it shut after a moment before defiantly looking away from Nirei’s smug face.

”Oh?” Nirei hummed as he straightened up to wrap his arms around you, drawing you closer. Whipping your head around to chastise him, but suddenly you were nose to nose with Nirei’s voracious gaze once again.

”Guess I didn’t do a good enough job then, hm?” He insinuated, voice tinged with faux hurt. Blinking slowly into his hungry eyes as your shoulders dropped and your pout deepened.

”No, I-I did,” you admitted softly, finally swallowing your pride. Nirei must’ve picked up a few things from that little shit Suo Hayato though, because he wasn’t letting you get off that easy.

”You did, what?” He goaded you with a tilt of his head and a knowing smile playing on his lips. Sputtering for a moment as your cheeks reddened, but you resentfully relinquished, again.

”Y-you made me… cum.” Confessing in an incredibly shy voice that Nirei has never heard you use before, which only made his cock jump in his boxers. Ravening pupils set in honey irises only deepened his grin, until it became predaceous. Like a coyote after hundreds of parched miles passing underfoot, traveling through dry desert sands, finally setting its sights on your small oasis.

”Good,” he breathed against your lips and your core clenched as an almost imperceptible gasp passed your lips. “Did you just get wetter?” He half whispered-half groaned against your mouth, and you shivered in his sturdy embrace.

”Show me what you’ve been doing for all those guys who ‘ain’t shit’,” he susurrated before leaning back against the headboard and sliding off his boxers and joggers. Of course you’ve seen him before, from growing up together, to skinny dipping later in high school, to just accidental walkins, but you had never seen him this way before.

His cock was long, girthy, veined with a blushing pink tip. It looked like it could fill you up completely. Nirei saw drool wet your bottom lip, and he leaned forward to lick it as he grabbed your waist. He dragged you onto his lap so you were straddling him, your drenched entrance positioned just above his leaking tip. Ever so slowly, you sheathed yourself on his thick cock, feeling every inch of him stretch you out on the way down. A quiet moan tumbled out of you as your gummy walls clenched around him, causing him to dig his fingers bruisingly into your hips, just barely stopping himself from bucking his hips into yours. Nirei peered up at you with worship etched into his features as you adjusted to his size.

Gripping his shoulders for stability before you experimentally raised your hips until just his tip was held in your folds, and then you oh so slowly slid down his length. Earning a deep, long exhale from Nirei whose expression was completely awestruck. Gradually, your pace quickened as you got more accustomed to his size until you were bouncing up and down his length vigorously. Loud echoes of wet skin slapping against each other, your incoherent babbling, and jolted ah ah ah’s filled Nirei’s room as you arrived and stayed at the cusp of your orgasm. 

Really bouncing on it crazy style, and the whole time he cooed through your salacious cries - telling you how breathtaking you look, and what a good girl you are for him. You were sobbing from how close you were as you grip his shoulders, digging your nails in as he smiled up at you with so much care. He wiped your tears continuously while cooing praises to you. Eventually, when you started losing momentum and leaned into his chest more, he squeezed your hips gently.

 “Getting tired?” Nirei inquired innocently, even though he regarded you with mischievous intent, and his grin was downright plotting. When you whined pathetically into his shoulder, unable to form a coherent response, he just tittered at you in amusement.

“Want me to take over?” Asking as if he was simply offering to carry something heavy for you, rather than fuck you into oblivion. Desperately, you sobbed and nodded into the crook of his neck, which caused a conquering smirk to spread over his face.

Nirei swiftly flipped you on your back and threw your legs over his shoulders, folding you in half, and putting you in a mating press before he pounded you into the mattress. His thrusts were unrelentingly rough and hard until you were completely beside yourself from cumming. Lost in the seemingly endless pleasure stretching before you. Apparently Nirei has stamina, because he didn’t even seem winded. In fact, he was whispering and mewling into your mouth the whole time. 

“Pretty girl,” he murmured as your eyes started rolling back, “good girl,” groaning deep as you pulsed around him, your thighs trembling from yet another climax. 

“My girl.” He growled before slotting his lips with yours, swallowing your moans as his tongue slipped between your lips. In between praising and claiming you, Nirei would also beg into your mouth - through all of your delightful sounds - for you to come undone again, and again.

“Just one more baby…” he whimpered as his sepia eyes watered with want. “Just need to feel you cum on me, One. More. Time.” Punctuating the words with his powerful thrusts when you were cusping the edge of your release, for the umpteenth time - teetering you over into a blissful abyss.

“Fuck Y/N,” Finally, after what felt like days, Nirei finally grunted low as he pressed his forehead to yours. “I’m so close,” he breathed out, gaze locking with your utterly fucked out one. 

“Wh-where do you want it baby?” Pleading, his hot breath fanned your cheeks, and you whined while fisting the sheets as you lifted your hips more into his brutal thrusts, making him grin lustily down at you. “No baby, you gotta say it, talk to me pl-please,” he pleaded low and gravelly as his thrusts grew sloppier. 

“Cum i-in me Ni-Nirei!” You just barely managed to hiccup out in between the ah ah ah’s ripped from your throat. Nirei simpered down at you before his hips stilled against yours with one, last, powerful thrust, and you could feel his cock twitch within your velvety walls. Inundating your greedy cunt with his hot seed. After he has completely emptied himself in you, he collapsed on top of you, and buried his face in your neck until you both caught your breath. 

Ever so slowly, he slipped out of you with a hiss against your trembling lips, and you whined as he shifted his weight to lay beside you. Propping one elbow on a pillow and leaning his chin onto his palm, Nirei then laid his other palm flat over your lower belly and caressed his thumb over your soft skin. Still feeling the aftershocks of your orgasms, you relished in his touches as his chestnut globes traveled over your satisfied expression, over your flushed chest, all the way down to where his release slowly leaked onto the sheets between your plush thighs.

“So?” After several lengthy minutes of silence, Nirei’s smug voice finally broke it. Your feisty demeanor returned tenfold as your eyes cut to his in a glare, which only earned a mirthful titter from your friend.

“Yes. Yes, you did a good job. I came,” relenting in an annoyed tone as you looked away to the opposite side of the room. Crossing your arms just under your bare breasts, which caused them to smush together a bit, and drew Nirei’s attention directly to them. While you pouted, he bent down and pressed an opened mouth kiss to the top of your breast, just over your thrumming heart. Choking slightly, you looked down to meet his teasing gaze just as he leaned up to brush his lips to yours, you froze completely.

“I can do it again, if you want?” Offering in a triumphant tone before he pressed a peck to your lips and leaned back to regard your pout and blushing cheeks. Blinking rapidly, your mouth opened, and then snapped shut as you shyly looked anywhere but Nirei’s face.

“Nobody has made me feel like that before…” admitting so softly as your bottom lip quivered slightly. Nirei’s hand trailed down in between your thighs and inserted two digits into your leaking hole, pumping his cum back into you. Whimpering mewls bubbled out of your chest as you face him again with the most vulnerable expression etched into your features.

“I know,” he acknowledged your words gently, his wolven gaze reverted back to his familiarly innocent one, and a knowing curve cut through his lips. Deep, coppery orbs peered into yours reassuringly, spurring you to speak what’s on your mind.

“Fuck,” gasping out in a defeated tone as a crease formed in your brow. “I’m never gonna feel like that again, am I?” You lamented pathetically up at him, eyes watering with need and the fear of abandonment. 

“You can,” assuring you gently as he began rubbing the pad of his thumb on your clit, edging you ever closer as your back arched off his bed. 

“If…” with that one syllable, he pressed his fingers to that spongy spot nestled in your walls that plucked at the string in your belly until it was taught. Suddenly, your hands flew to his biceps, digging your nails into his flesh as a desperate whine caught in your throat. Silently, you nodded, awaiting whatever his condition may be.

“... you’ll just date me already.” He proposed calmly with a slight tilt of his head and raised brows, studying your expression closely as he started pumping his fingers again. Overstimulated tears pricked your vision as your toes curled into his covers, and without a second thought you nodded vehemently.

“You gotta say it baby,” he teased warmly as his pumps became faster, deeper, stronger. With shaking thighs, and nails causing crescent shaped dents in his arms, a frustrated cry left  your mouth as you shot him a glare that just made him laugh at you with deep satisfaction. 

“Ye-yes, please God!” Warbling out as his ministrations cusped you to the absolute brink. “Nirei. I’ll date you, just please don’t stop!” Sobbing out as you looked at him beggingly. Nirei’s eyes fell half-lidded as he pressed into that spongy spot just right so your vision would go white, and circled your clit with his thumb until that string finally snapped. The torrent of your final climax of the evening rushed through your spent muscles. Bending down, he kissed your overstimulated tears from your cheeks as you came back down.

Once you’ve stopped pulsing around his digits, Nirei slipped them out of your core and brought them to your lips with a slight arch of his brow, and a salacious grin tugging at his lips. Completely thrown by his pleading puppy dog eyes, framed by his expectant expression, your lips parted without argument as he slid his (and your) cum covered fingers over your tongue. Unable to look away as you sealed your mouth around and suckled them clean, and then he promptly removed them and kissed you deeply - swirling the mixture of pleasure and saliva over his wet muscle. After parting from the kiss, you stared up at him bewildered for a long moment, and he just raised his brows questioningly at you.

“Nirei,” whispering his name in disbelief, “where the fuck did you learn how to… be like that?” Asking in an almost accusing tone as a furrow formed in your brow. Throwing his head back, he laughed loudly at your surprise.

“Don’t worry about it,” he murmured nonchalantly with a shrug as he tucked a strand of hair behind your ear adoringly. Gaping at him for a long, long moment before you muttered, much more vulnerably this time.

“Who taught you to be like that?” Voice tinged with jealousy, and hurt as your lips purse into a small pout. Your old friend returned in full as he blinked rapidly in shock, truly not expecting you to feel that way about any of his exploits.

“Myself,” he answered gently as he cupped your cheek reassuringly, “and you.” Tilting your head into his palm as your expression became incredulous. “Really.” He said low, in a firm tone.

When you still looked at him suspiciously, he encircled you in his arms and tactfully told you about how he learned all of that. First he explained that he memorized a woman’s anatomy, then scoured forums, and once he felt confident in his general knowledge, he then searched those forums for answers to each and every complaint you’ve shared with him over the years. The disbelief etched into your face transformed into surprise, and then unbridled awe at your partner’s thoroughness. After he finished his explanation, you asked him why he put in so much effort. Nirei just threw you a look and answered incredulously, “because I would do anything for you.”

As your relationship progressed it became so obvious that what he said was true. He was always going out of his way for you throughout your entire friendship: a baked bun pressed into your palm every morning before school as he’d tell you to have a good day; going to the library to check out the books you needed when your clubs ran late; rerouting his patrols in the afternoon so he could walk you home, or at the very least checking to make sure you got home safely. 

Once you two went off to university, he spent the week before classes visiting every bakery on campus for a baked bun as good as Cactus Bakery’s, so on your first day he could send you on off with your typical breakfast and an iced coffee. When you started partying with that one roommate who was more interested in having a good time than your well being, Nirei was there too. Showing up at the bar at a quarter to 3 just to wrap you in a coat and drive you home safely, where he’d put you to bed with water and painkillers on the bed side table.

Beyond some gentle teasing, he never made you feel bad for it - knowing it was something you just needed to get out of your system. So when he told you the extent he went through just to learn how to pleasure you properly, you shouldn’t have been surprised, but it felt like you couldn’t catch your breath for several minutes after his confession.

As for Nirei, he was just glad that you finally accepted his feelings and how far he was willing to go for you. It was a shock to everyone in your lives that the little tsundere that Nirei faithfully trailed behind throughout high school had finally fallen for their puppy dog eyed classmate. Even more shocking is the fact that you’re so hung up on your now-boyfriend that you’re a clingy mess half the time - hanging on his arm, wrapping yourself up in his embrace from the moment you see him, and staring up at him with pure adoration exuding from your very core. 

How could you not, when your oasis hasn’t suffered even the threat of drought since the first time he ushered in the rain. And Nirei absolutely devoured every bit of attention and affection you graced him with, an everlasting gleam of triumph in his sepia eye. Since you were without a doubt hooked on him now.

[great-septimus]

Headcanoning Persona 5 characters Mariokart mains, because I'm funny and I have way too much time to think about dumb things

Ren mains Shy Guy, usually green because he loves Kakyoin from JJBA. Mute City F-Zero is also his favorite Mariokart 8 track because of this.

Ryuji once said "I bet Ann plays Princess Peach", and Ann was so offended by the assumption that every time she intentionally takes Bowser before Ryuji can, so he has to pick his second favorite (Donkey Kong) instead. She doesn't even dislike Peach necessarily, she just never played Peach and was feeling petty.

Now, technically Ryuji could always just pick Dry Bowser- but unfortunately for him, Makoto always picks Dry Bowser, so he has no choice but to pick Bowser Jr, and he would rather just keep Donkey Kong.

Akechi doesn't really play Mariokart unless he's roped in by the group, so he never really had a main. The others kept throwing out suggestions for him to pick, and he kept shooting them down for various contrived reasons, only giving in because Futaba was the loudest and most obnoxious one shouting "Pick Yoshi". That's the day he became the Yoshi main.

Yusuke mains King Boo, and was extremely baffled and confused when Futaba blurted out "only sluts play King Boo" (Ann couldn't help but laugh at that).

Futaba would only play either Luigi or Waluigi, depending on her mood. Either way, she's a memelord about it.

Haru would be Daisy, because she's iconic and also they're very similar. Makoto pointed it out and Haru has picked Daisy every time ever since.

Morgana always picks Mario, but not just any Mario. Specifically Tanooki Mario. Everyone gave him a look, but he acted like this was perfectly normal behavior. If anyone brings up the resemblance, he will get extremely defensive.

Sumire almost exclusively played Rosalina, until one day she decided to pick Toadette out of nowhere. The group was kind of surprised, and she explained that she thinks it's cute, and never went back.

Zenkichi keeps refusing to play, and only gives in because Sumire is a sweetheart who suggests that he match her and pick Toad. He does, and it's funny as hell.

And finally, Sophia would pick Princess Peach, specifically Cat Peach with the pink car because it matches the colors. Before that she was just going to make a Mii of herself reluctantly, but Ann showed her Cat Peach and her eyes just lit up.

Basically:

Ren: Green Shy Guy

Ryuji: Bowser Donkey Kong

Ann: Bowser

Makoto: Dry Bowser

Akechi: Yoshi

Yusuke: King Boo

Futaba: (Wa)Luigi

Haru: Daisy

Morgana: Tanooki Mario

Sumire: Rosalina Toadette

Zenkichi: Toad

Sophia: Cat Peach

[spookberry]

i know this pic is pretty old and canon may have changed since then but do you have a more hd version of the lineup of the color guardian generations over the years? its from 2022 on your deviantart but dA compressed it! id love to hear about the older teams, like anita's first squad

You mean this thing??

Honestly the other teams aren't super relevant outside of a few characters and I like the idea of leaving it vague enough that there could've been even more guardians embetween the ones here.

But yeah I can tell you a little about everyone!

-Anita was one of if not the first Color Guardians. She was actually very close to her Green specifically. They were Best Friends even before becoming Color Guardians(this leads to conflicts with Rin later because Anita tends to compare the two). Their group wasn't around for very long, no one knew the stakes or how serious everything was back then... That is until one colorless attack that ended with Robin dead and Anita having disappeared with a spark of light. Robin was cheerful and kind. Seeing him die left a bad mark on his teammates that they haven't let go of to this day.

-because of her disappearance Anita was assumed dead too. Both by Layla, the police and even her own family. Octavia showed up on the scene shortly afterwards. She never knew Robin or Anita, but Layla's trauma and the fact that it was just them two for the longest time left a deep impact on Octavia.

-Even after Octavia outgrew her role as Blue, she still worried for the next generation. She made a point to track down the next Blue to as soon as she could in order to teach him everything she knew. She's an adult now and teaches self defense classes to the general public, but also special classes for Guardians specifically. All the Blues have met her, and Chiyo even introduced her to Kimi so Kimi could get better at fighting. Layla wants nothing to do with the newer guardians, so Octavia avoids bringing them up, but the two do check in with one another still.

-The teams are generally organized by which Blue is active, because theres always an active Blue. I labeled him Remi up there but I eventually renamed him Russell, he's the second Blue. Much like Octavia, he spent most his time as part of a Duo, up until she was killed in the line of action. It was only near the end of his career as Blue that Nia and Charun became Colors. Nia met Sue a couple of times and can remember her fondly, but Charun never met her.

-Dimitri is also an interesting character. The only other Pink that anyones aware of, he was an active antagonist for most of his time. He often got in the way on purpose and would sometimes help colorless out just to see what would happen. With the power of friendship and gay tension he eventually turned a new leaf. Though not before Russell hit him with a car(they're married now).

-Marcy and Nia are the most relevant past Guardians to the modern group. Marcy has a tough start as Blue. Everyone on the team had been a Guardian longer than she had and already expected her to fill the leadership role that Russell had. Not to mention the youngest and littlest Guardian Veronica appeared right after Marcy. It was a lot of pressure to say the least. But the four of them developed a pretty intense bond cuz of it. Unfortunately much like the others, Marcy's time as Blue did not end without tragedy. There was a really hard fight once that they almost lost. Charun and Nia got hurt really bad to the point where Charun outright rejected being Green(a painful process) and now hardly speaks to any of them outside of the occasional pesters from Nia. Nia herself was already disabled, but the fight has made it harder to manage. She always knew the physical stress of being Red would have negative impacts on her but she doesnt regret her time as Red nor does she regret any of the choices she made during that time. Marcy broke a leg as well during this which permanently ended her dance career.

-More on Nia actually, she was always the heart of her group, encouraging everyone to keep face no matter what. Even after it all she still continues to push her friends forward and check in with all of them. Her younger sibling, Benny, looks up to her a lot, his Guardian form mimicking hers in many ways.

-The only one who came out unscathed physically was Veronica, though having watched the emotional fall out made her wary of teaming up with any of the Guardians outside of Benny for a while. Benny's a simp too so he follows her lead on everything.

-Marcy's only 20 when she meets Chiyo but immediately takes it upon herself to support and take care of the new team in a mentor-y role. The way Russell did for her and Octavia for Russell. This usually turns into more of an emotional support role than being active on the field. (She's had to talk Chiyo through her crush drama SO many times). Marcy isn't that much older, but when you're 15 but 20 seems pretty mature in comparison. Due to her own angst about what happened to her last group too Marcy tends to put a lot of the pressure of being The Adult for them onto herself. (no anita you dont count as an adult)

-Anita was gone for approximately 15 years mind you, so the teams are pretty spread out with the occasional overlapping member. She hasn't gone to see Layla yet since coming back to the right time. She's scared of all thats changed during her time trapped in the timestream tbh.

[jelloholic]

My defense of Alicent Hightower in the HotD season 2 finale

(Not an Alicent stan, but this must be said)

Her character is still about duty and sacrifice. It's just that over the course of this season, with many realizations dawning on her, her priorities changed. She loves her kids deeply, but Aegon and Aemond are a threat to everyone, including themselves, the people, and most importantly, Halaena. Things she had not previously known. It's her duty as the mother of Halaena to sacrifice her sons to protect her.

What could she do to protect herself, Halaena and Jahaera? The greens are no longer a safe space for them, and the blacks have shown to simultaneously be threat if they oppose them, but willing to compromise if she so chooses. She no longer has any sway with her own party, but she can negotiate with Rhaenyra. The blacks have the advantage with more dragons, and she can't get rid of them. The greens have the advantage by having Kingslanding, and she can give it away. It's made clear time and time again that the only thing she can do to save Haleana is side with the blacks.

Many things dumbfounded me with the reactions to *that* scene:

"Ryan made her a hypocrite!" That has been an integral part of her character since day 1

"Why did she change her mind after pushing Aegon to the throne herself!?" She was partly misled by her father about his intentions, Aegon is a terrible man and king that serves only as a figurehead for the men around him to use, she misunderstood Viserys's last words, she couldn't predict the future to know that her boys would be violent, the brutality of the war hit her with Aemond and Daemon's actions, etc. These are all things she didn't know beforehand that she only realized in season 2, she became disillusioned, like any other sane person would've been

"How could a mother do that to her own son?!" People tend to idealize motherhood to a ridiculous degree. They have unrealistic expectations of women. How they should always think of all their children all the time, no matter what. Yet when those same mothers defend their horrible children, suddenly they're terrible. When most of us find out a loved one did an incredibly morally reprehensible act, we distance ourselves (or give them one or more chances to redeem themselves before doing so), it's odd that people don't consider that an option for fictional characters. Nothing will ever be good enough for many viewers. These people also tend to forget that bad parents exist? And that their behaviors might've been abusive, but *sometimes* done with good intentions? We established her broken bond with her 2 eldest boys already and why, but people are shocked about Daeron, but she didn't raise him. She's been disconnected from him since the start. Most parents who give their children away will grieve at first, then eventually move on and only think about the kid occasionally. She's focusing on doing what's good for her daughter now, 'monsters' and 'strangers' be damned

I do have criticism for some of the ways she and the other women were written, but this level of outrage is ridiculous

(I will gladly interact with ppl that disagree, but I'm not entertaining misogyny (like calling her a cunt or a bitch), arguments against things I have NOT said, or ppl so lost in their emotions that they can't string up a coherent thought)

[shakingparadigm]

Hiiii!!! I’m relatively new to ALNST (as in I watched it all in one go in one night and cried) and I was wondering if you have any opinions or information about this,

What do you think about Till and Sua’s relationship? Do you think they’d share anything in common? Do you think they’d like each other? I’d like to think there’s at least one thing they share in common that’s led to be on good terms.

Sorry this is a bit long, thank you!

First of all, thank you anon. I've had thoughts on this for a while! Thanks for giving me a chance to talk about it!

Till and Sua don't often interact in canon, so it's pretty easy to assume that Sua would hate Till's guts because of his crush on Mizi (especially since that art of Mizi playing with Till includes Sua looking jealous on the side, sulking in the next page).

But something to note about the characters in ALNST is that they're actually quite respectful of each other despite the crush conflict (further seen by Ivan and Mizi being very friendly despite Ivan knowing Till loves Mizi). Everyone in the garden knew Till had a crush on Mizi, the goodbye notes state that it was very obvious.

Yet despite that one instance of Sua pouting at Mizi and Till together, Sua is never shown to dislike Till. In fact, she seems to be more conflicted with Ivan instead. In the few official arts we have of them together, they seem pretty neutral.

(Sua's collar is green, showing she's comfortable/doesn't mind Till. Till's collar is orange most likely because he's a little nervous/awkward.)

In the official Anakt Kit goodbye letters, Till and Sua write messages to each other. They're short and seem more of a polite gesture than an actual goodbye between friends, but nothenless it shows that they're pretty amicable. Till writes that Sua has a nice voice and that he hopes she gets a high score in Alien Stage, while Sua tells him to take care and that she'll see him there.

I think that Sua and Till actually have the potential to be pretty good friends, strangely enough.

As for similarities, there are quite a few!

The most significant similarity I see between Till and Sua is that they're both deeply sensitive. Due to this, they've developed different defense mechanisms in order to protect their feelings.

Till is actually known to be timid, rather closed off and "cold" to others. In an early stream, he's even stated to be the most timid character of the cast. He only reveals his energetic and fiery side when he's putting his full passion into something like performing his music, when he's provoked, or whenever Mizi is involved (she makes him "strong", the creators say). Of course this standoffish and aggressive behavior is a front for his softer, more vulnerable feelings. He was heavily mistreated as a child, which led him to become distrustful of most people. This plus other factors regarding his rebellious nature and more eccentric personality result in him being a "friendless idiot". Of course, once people get to know him they'll find that Till is actually quite the sweetheart, albeit a bit awkward.

Sua is quite similar in this way. The creators describe her as soft-hearted, which is why she tears up so quickly in the IvanSua comic and the aforementioned art of Till and Mizi playing together.

Sua, just like Till, seems to be mistreated by her alien guardian. Although to a less violent extent than Guardian Urak, Sua's parent is seen to aggressively handle her without care, grabbing her by the head and shoving her forward. She's also placed in uncomfortable clothing and neglected without consideration for her own feelings. It may be due to this cold and lonely upbringing that Sua learned to hide her emotions as a coping mechanism.

It's been said that getting to know more about Sua is very difficult, as she's closed off and only ever opens up to Mizi. She seems cold on the surface, but the truth is she is hiding her sensitivity so that she won't get hurt. Sua is also very timid in nature, seen in how she only writes in the corners of people's yearbook pages with small font, putting in extra effort to not take up too much space.

But just like Till, Sua has her bolder side. Occasionally she's known to say very blunt and suprising things that other people would not expect of her, and she feels very deeply for the people she cares about. Sua may be the more cool and collected half of MiziSua, but we must not forget that she was tender-hearted to the point where she could not imagine living a life without Mizi in it, thus her sacrifice.

Both Sua and Till's original colors are white, and both are the only characters in the main cast who have ear piercings/earrings. They're both prone to tears and play the role of "god" in their respective relationships.

Something I really like about the ALNST offrec/actor AU is that among all the characters, Till and Sua were chosen to be the seniors!! I found it really cute! Sua, who is the most petite and smallest of the cast + Till, who in canon is the youngest in age. These two are actually the experienced seniors of the actor AU! It's so fun to me lol

Anyways, sorry for all of this, maybe it was a bit much, haha. Till and Sua are my two favorites, and I've always seen similarities between the two of them. I think there's similarities across several of the characters in ALNST, actually, which I hope to talk about in the future!

Thank you for the ask!!

[rainbowolfe]

The One They Love Most

What if I told you Kallamar was the one Shamura loved the most, then what?

That's what I said. It was /hj. I was just spit-balling. Being silly. Because what do you mean the one the moon loves the most isn't the sun? A love forbidden not by their peers or their family, but by nature itself? The ship humans have shipped since before written language?

And then I went to elaborate and I found some things and connected some dots, and it slowly stopped being silly. Now it's a real theory. It's /srs.

I strongly suspect that Aym and Baal weren't a gift for Narinder, but a gift for Kallamar. Making him the one Shamura loves most.

This all started with a one-off thought about how Kallamar was definitely somehow involved in the transaction of Aym and Baal. There are too many intersecting lines and connected dots for him not to be. The sun staffs and Aym's appearance reflecting Kallamar's (messed up ears, cut over an eye) are the big pieces, but even their move-sets point to his involvement.

Shamura uses melee attacks, but their form of melee is more aligned with the gauntlets. Shamura even slashes with four of their claws, mimicking the effect a gauntlet (or a clawed mammal) would have. The curses they use are poison, bombs, and fireballs. Visually, Aym and Baal have the same reddened feet and hands that Shamura has.

Narinder attacks exclusively using curses: fireball and chains, with the implication that he could use melee combat pre-banishment. But again, in that same gauntlet-esque way as Shamura. Kallamar is the only one who engages in melee combat with actual weapons—not just biological defense mechanisms. His curses are exclusively fireballs, but he also has the ability to summon enemies.

Aym and Baal use staffs that double as spears. (Assuming Aym can use his as a spear, since it has a spike on the end). Aym swings his like a sword. Interestingly, he swings it as a mix of a sword and dagger, as the dagger is the only weapon that has a forward thrust move. They use fireball and chain curses. Baal can summon enemies.

They're Narinder's spitting image, yet their designs also hold pieces of Shamura and Kallamar. Isn't that weird? Suspicious?

Then there's little things. Like how, in the Ars Goetia, Aym is also known as Harborym; and Baal is also known as Baalzebub. They could've been named anything, as their characters don't seem to be informed by the Ars Goetia demon they're named after, and yet they share a name with two of Kallamar's goons.

And how Kallamar Punished has Aym and Baal's leitmotif right at the start of it. (it's that 'call and response' melody in the background that starts at ~0:17) Aym and Baal appear on TOWWs track and we go yeah, that makes sense. Cause it does! They're a package deal bonded (or chained, according to some) to each other. So for Aym and Baal to appear on Kallamar's track...

Also the fact that Forneus lives on the coast of Anchordeep. Within destroyed "Walls of Ruin", something that explicitly belongs to the Old Faith.

In Pilgrim, Jalala and Rinor visit both Rakshasa's Restaurant and Forneus' home. At Rakshasa's, Jalala marks where they are on a topographical map. I matched this map to the main map.

This means that Rakshasa's Restaurant overlooks Anchordeep. Forneus is most likely somewhere in the area marked in green. Forneus' is the stop right after Rakshasa's (transitioning from sunset into nighttime) and if you choose to go the other direction you run into Plimbo a second time and miss the chance to meet Forneus at all.

Based on these images, she's settled between Midas' Cave and an unnamed but bare mountain. She lives on a hill that overlooks the ocean. There are some small islands visible here, but they're mostly flat, giving her a clear view of the horizon.

But there's something else. Something huge.

Narinder wouldn't have been The One Who Waits when Aym and Baal were taken.

"Two kits I did have, true love found! And yet one lackadaisy summer day, my beautiful children were taken away… a gift, they said, for the one they loved most, the one that waits… I wept, I keened… But how can one say no to a God?"

Narinder was made TOWW by being bound and exiled by the other Bishops. He was still known as "The Fifth" by everyone when it happened. And it happened either towards the end of the God Purge (because the Fanatic wouldn't include him as one of the five survivors if he'd been sealed by then) or after it. But the result is the same either way.

The Fanatic observes that Yngya must be dead because the leaves stopped changing color. So the Purge was wrapping up early-to-mid Fall, and it has perpetually been Fall since. Which means there is no Summer from that point on.

And regardless, Narinder isn't "the one that waits", he's "the one who waits". That's a red herring. Names in this game's dialogue are highlighted in yellow (and sometimes red). It's not even capitalized when Forneus says it. She could be talking about literally anyone. We all 'wait' for things.

But there's dialogue that narrows down the culprit list and brings another form of waiting to the table. Not at the Crown Fountain, where Death no longer wished to wait. But in Midas' Cave, where Followers have been subjected to a fate worse than death.

"...sparking gold one day found amongst the dregs, lost by a pirate with many legs..." "...pretty shiny prize for all...... they all want... they all want..." "...they all want... nothing remains... blood washes away in the tide..."

Before he mugs Lamb, Midas makes a comment about Anchordeep, something he doesn't do for any other location.

"Take care not to get lost. Things seem to get lost around here all the time... so easy to misplace one's Gold!"

This little comment can only be to connect with what the Giant Follower said. It wasn't anything special or arcane Plimbo lost, it was just. Gold. Coin or bars or both.

Gold Coin: The lust for gold is oft all consuming of one's heart. Gold Bars: Countless souls have been lost in pursuit of this glittering treasure. Gold Nugget: Said to be the tears of an ancient goddess.

But it was special (and ultimately devastating) to the community he lost it in, because "the dregs" is a euphemism for impoverished communities. The ghetto. The undesirables. And that ties in with the figurative meaning of 'bottom dweller' in a way the literal meaning doesn't. :3c

Finally, there's legitimately nothing in Anchordeep. We see the remains of temples, which means there were other Gods residing here at some point. There are the remains of both housing and ships, destroyed machinery, and ruins of what may have been monoliths or similar sacred structures. In Pilgrim, there are no fun "stops" when the girls reach Anchordeep. Anura has Spore Grotto and Smuggler's Sanctuary; Darkwood has everything else. In the journal, Jalala is only inspired to draw/catalog some sea life and coral formations.

The descriptions of our culprit the Giant Follower offers are most likely meant to be taken figuratively. (and even literally, they don't actually work for Midas either.)

"...bottom dweller he was, muck eating prey..."

Outside of a way of classifying sea life, a 'bottom dweller' can refer to both a low-class, low-ranked person in society AND someone of poor character (scum, scammers, etc). It could even be a reference to where Ratoo's lover originates from, whose bed is 'at the bottom of the sea'.

'Prey' in the context of this universe just means someone who doesn't (willfully) engage in cannibalism. The question for Tier 2 of Sustenance is "Food of the predator, or food of the prey?". Follower meat or Grass.

Muck is: 'Something regarded as worthless, sordid [ignoble], or corrupt.' So, a consumer of beings that are considered dirty or inherently corrupt. Like how many IRL faiths disallow the eating of anything that 'crawls on its belly' or feeds off the ground, like shellfish, snakes, or pigs.

What in this world would be considered unfit for consumption?

...

Heretics.

The Fleece of the Heretics: An ignoble garb, worn by only the most unholy heretics. via Chemach; "They are hungry, hungry for miscreant flesh..." The Heart of a Heretic: Unholy hearts [...] cast in vile, impermeable, unrelenting terror.

And that's exactly what the Old Faith's Followers are. Heretics. They may not know that, but they are. Leshy and Shamura are explicitly stated to eat their Followers. Heket presumably does, being inclined to Gluttony as a Follower. I doubt Kallamar is the exception. You are what you eat, after all.

Honestly, I would argue that a God eating their Follower is, on its own, 'muck-eating'. Cannibalism is frowned upon in a cosmic sense. Eating the Follower Meat Meal gives Lamb Diseased Hearts. The lore text for Follower Meat is very accusatory (they gave their soul, you took their flesh). The Cannibalism Ritual produces guaranteed sin.

And depending on the rules of Australian grammar (which I cannot read about... for free, anyways), the intention might even be "muck" (scumbag person) that eats "prey" (helpless creatures).

"...he waits, waits and then takes... even muck eaters have teeth..."

He waits [stays; or serves] and then takes [captures; controls, or swindles]. He waits... not for something inevitable, but for the right moment. He's an opportunist.

"Have teeth" is an idiom that means 'To have enough power or support of authority to compel obedience or punish offenders, as of law.

Even shameful, 'unclean' people have power.

He is he of blight. While a blight can mean sickness or plant disease, it can also mean someone/something that ruins, destroys, or otherwise devalues things. A scourge. A bane, if you will. 👀

Kallamar has always had a reputation as a coward. At minimum, for as along as the Red Crown has been apart of this Godly ecosystem. Your siblings wouldn't really be considered your "peers", so it would've been other Gods (while they still existed) who knew Kallamar as such. He's also known as a coward by Followers. So it seems very likely that's how Kallamar would be referred to.

The one that waits [[and then takes]].

(congrats you've reached the halfway point)

Throughout the entire game, Shamura only ever talks about two of their siblings: Kallamar and Narinder. Narinder is frequently on their mind because, as Jojo puts it, they won't allow themselves to forget what happened and that there was a fifth. And yet they are, for some reason, taking a stroll through Anchordeep reminiscing about Kallamar and his fear of the Red Crown.

We don't get a fourth interaction with Kallamar, because he's too terrified to leave his temple. We instead get an extra interaction with Shamura, triggered by Baalzebub's (and by extension, Haborym's) death. Even if they didn't show up specifically to intimidate Lamb... there's nothing in Anchordeep besides Kallamar. So for what reason are they in Anchordeep if not for him?

Whatever they're remembering is definitely a conversation. And as seen with their "Feeling Confused" thoughts, they speak as if they're experiencing the past. This:

"Kallamar was always frightened of the Red Crown." "Yes, fear made a coward of him."

Is definitely them responding to someone.

But my point is, is that Kallamar holds a similar level of importance in Shamura's mind as Narinder. A level Heket and Leshy don't reach.

"Ooh, kits... I remember, I remember... two kits in my claws... a gift..." "I did not want him to be... lonely..."

Regardless of if I've convinced you that Aym and Baal were a gift for Kallamar, this line needs to be rethought because of the timing talked about in the first half. They were taken as a gift before the Purge, and thus before Narinder's banishment. So... why would Shamura be concerned that either of them would be lonely?

There's also Narinder's perception of them. "Intended as Keepers". But why would he need Keepers? He's chained up in another realm. Even if he did manage to break free... what are two, inexperienced children going to do about it? Not to mention, they're loyal to him.

In fact, I would argue that Narinder saying that he can't be blamed for his 'influence' makes it sound like Baal and Aym chose to go to him of their own volition. They were intended to become someone's Keepers, but they were untrained and undisciplined, and thus couldn't/didn't want to perform the job.

Aym and Baal are more than just companions to combat isolation and loneliness. More than just cats that look like Narinder to a weird degree. They're hearts. Each one half of a whole that rightfully belongs to Forneus.

There's probably something to be said about Shamura being unwilling/unable to give their own heart, and opting to take someone else's, but that's a theory for another time.

Kallamar's Top 5 List characterizes him as someone desperate to find "True Love". It would make sense for Shamura to try to give him that in the form of Aym and Baal, since they fulfill that role for Forneus.

And there's a handful of reasons why Kallamar would be at risk of loneliness in a way the others aren't.

-its implied that Kallamar made a habit of hiding in his temple even before the Lamb or Narinder's banishment, as it was a place of safety in his mind. A place untouchable by whatever conflicts he didn't want to face—of which there seem to have been a lot of. Which would explain why his cowardice is so well-known and talked about. It's something that's so ingrained into his instincts, he goes to hide in the ruins of a temple that clearly cannot protect him.

-Heket clearly favors Leshy the most out of all of them. So that pairs them off, leaving Kallamar and Shamura (or Kallamar and Narinder). But Shamura and Narinder are, at some point, busy experimenting with resurrection. Leaving Kallamar alone. With the implication that Shamura allowed themselves to die so that Narinder could try to resurrect them, Shamura would gift Kallamar the boys with the assumption that it would be a while before they came back (if they managed to come back at all lol).

-While Kallamar is in Purgatory reliving his final moments, it's interesting that he's experiencing a memory where he's been trapped somewhere. If he's being held captive, then that would give a need for both companions and Keepers.

And that's why Kallamar is the one Shamura loves most.

Also the way Kallamar's inclined to depend on Shamura even when they don't really have the ability to protect him anymore. His first concern is what they're going to tell Shamura, and it's only Heket's intervention that stops him from involving them sooner. When Shamura's in the room he talks over Heket, when previously he conceded to her. And when he's revived, the first name out his mouth is Shamura's.

Perhaps there's something Kallamar feels guilty about regarding Shamura, in the same way Shamura has something they feel guilty about regarding Narinder—hence why he's always on their mind.

Final Tangent:

Long, long ago... one of my very first theories... was about the base weapons. Assigning them to the Bishops since, you know, there's five of them. And I ascribed the Crusader's Blade to Narinder, since that's the one Lamb starts with. A "Stalwart companion to the wandering warrior."

Forneus says about Baal and Aym, "O, the soul of a wanderer one, and a warrior the other!" Baal and Aym represent two halves of a whole heart. Combine those two halves, and the whole is a wandering warrior. The idea was that Narinder's influence on them was split between his clashing ideals. One took on his aggressive traits, the other the gentler traits.

But Pestilence makes it out that those base weapons are associated with Kallamar. So.

[frankendykes-monster]

Taking a brief look at Dinosaurus! (1960)

There's barely any coverage of this film on this site so I guess I'll rectify that.

Dinosaurus! (Yes the exclamation point is part of the title) is one of those middling science fiction films of the 1950's/1960's that's hard to recommend if you aren't a child or already a genre enthusiast looking for more stuff to watch that isn't terrible, but there's enough fun to be had.

The film takes place on an unnamed Carribean island where an American construction company is building a harbor, and the deepsea explosives they use unearth two frozen dinosaurs, a Tyrannosaurus and a Brontosaurus, who are then revived that night by a bolt of lightning alongside a caveman also freed from the ice, henceforth everyone on the island has to rush and make defenses against being stuck here with no communication infrastructure available.

I think of immediate notice is that Dinosaurus! is in color and wide-screen, an absolute luxury for an independent monster movie from the turn of the decade and probably the most noteworthy thing about the film as a whole. It really lets the island setting, shot on location, come into its own as the blues and greens look remarkable, especially when contrasted with the reddish colored Tyrannosaurus.

You may have noticed I glossed over discussing any characters in the plot synopsis and that is unfortunately because they mostly exist for plot functions and might as well be caricatures from future genre parodies. Ward Ramsey as Bart might be the only time a genuine stereotypical "square jawed hero" proper would be seen in a film like this, essentially doing the majority of heroic actions in this film. Kristina Hanson's Betty is the woman, Fred Engleberg's Hacker is the malicious greedy person who makes the situation with homicidal monsters on the loose more complicated than it needs to be, so on and so forth. The highlights might be Alan Roberts as Julio, a kid who knows more about dinosaurs than anyone else present and befriends the Brontosaurus and caveman (a genre archetype much more common in tokusatsu than western monster movies) and Gregg Martell as the eponymous caveman, who derails the film for minutes at a time in comedic hijinks of how a prehistoric human doesn't know what glass or a radio or paintings are. Though the film boasts something like half a dozen fucking comedy relief characters, the caveman actually transcends the future tired gag it would become by actually getting into the action to defend against the Tyrannosaurus. Dinosaurus! is also the only film of its type that features a substantial number of afro-latinx people though shamefully they're almost entirely relegated to background non-speaking roles.

The film is more or less structured around key special effects sequences such as the dinosaurs coming to life, the Tyrannosaurus attacking a bus, the two dinosaurs fighting, the Tyrannosaurus trying to eat people hiding inside a cave, and the Tyrannosaurus fighting an excavator on a cliffside. Both dinosaurs are realized through a combination of stop motion and puppetry and they're both damn good, largely thanks to the nuanced slimey coloration and skin texture on both of them. The Tyrannosaurus gets primary focus given that it actually kills and eats people versus the Brontosaurus mostly just moseying about.

It would be too harsh to call Dinosaurus! "forgotten" especially in the context of it getting a 4K restoration and a Blu-Ray release but it's now mostly known for individual scenes (mentioned above) being likely forerunners to key moments in films such as Jurassic Park (1993) and Aliens (1986). Dinosaurus! might actually be the best dinosaur film to come out in the extensive period between King Kong (1933) and Jurassic Park, though that's much more an indictment of the quality of every other dinosaur film for 60 years than an appraisal of Dinosaurus!' own quality. I can personally vouch for the fact that this is better than either Ray Harryhausen film starring dinosaurs at least.

[cybertron-after-dark]

oooo kimmie, can you tell us about the tfa and rb overlap?

Everyone prepare yourselves bc the floodgates are opened and now I'm never going to shut up about this

In a meta context, there's SO much overlap between the shows. A lot of the same people worked on it, especially the writers, and it 100% shows. Mr. Marty Isenberg you are not slick.

In terms of the actual content of the shows though, the similarities are overflowing.

First and foremost, the emphasis on cultural differences and exchanges with the human-bot relationships. TFA had a good bit of it and it was very very fun every time it happened (bots not really knowing what level of self defense is appropriate to teach a child, being very confused about what exactly humans eat, bee picking up video games, bulkhead picking up art, ALL that good shit), but you don't always get to focus on it with all the action and political intrigue going on. And while rescue bots has its share of intensity, there's a lot more space for the mundane interactions. Blades being tv obsessed, the bots celebrating Allspark day, boulder's love of just Everything on earth. They had a whole episode just about teaching the bots to fish.

There's also the fact that everyone on griffin rock is a little bit Unhinged in a lot of the same ways the humans kicking around Detroit are. Just. Vaguely Weird Vibes in very funny ways. And the same tendency to switch from revering the emergency services which they may or may not know the bots are part of to wildly distrusting them on a dime. Optimus would not leave an encounter with Mrs Nederlander unscathed bro. I don't know if any of the bots could.

Speaking of humans, the villains in rescue bots feel like what the tfa human villains could have been if not for being wildly overshadowed by the decepticons. Evan and Myles? I think you mean Henry Masterson's shitty cousins he only interacts with through the CoD lobby. Madelyne Pynch? That's just girlboss Porter C. Powell. Quint Quarry? Sir that is Master Disaster if he existed for more than like two minutes of a singular episode and bagged more than one bot. Dr. Morocco? Meltdown but better at, like, everything (especially lab safety).

Then there's the constant state of both teams grilling the hell out of each other All The Time. Chaotic. Absolute Creechurs. They love each other so much but they also all live in close contact and see each other all the time and thus they are So Mean To Each Other (though they're a bit meaner in tfa just bc older audience)

The Sumdacs and the Greenes being two duos of an absentminded but well meaning technological genius and his intelligent and Highly Cool pigtailed daughter who both have to deal with the dad's tech going completely out of control is pretty on the nose too. (Oh God now I'm just imagining an au where tfp starscream successfully gets rid of Megatron after the space bridge explosion and sends him hurtling towards earth and crashlanding right on griffin rock whee doc green finds his head. Can you imagine. The misery of tfp Megatron having to deal with a human. He's having several mental breakdowns, 100%)

Even Cody and Sari have a lot of similarity as characters. Cody is a lot more mild mannered compared to the absolute Gremlin that is Sari, but they both still struggle a lot with wanting to help but feeling too small to make an impact, even though they matter so much more than they could ever know. They're surrounded by heros, giants, and it's hard for them not to feel like they're fading into the background. And when both their families realize how they've been making those kids feel they put so much effort to make sure they're loved and feel like their efforts matter. It's the same arc in different forms. And it's so good both ways.

Overall they're both shows that feel like they're trying to say similar things to different audiences. That Earth is wonderful and worth protecting. That any effort can make massive differences, even if you don't feel like you can do enough. That a hero can come from somewhere humble, and the best ones usually do. That people deserve kindness and a genuine effort at understanding. That nobody is without value.

And honestly? That what I love most about both of them.

[chiscribbs]

Apocalypse Future Donnie Concepts

I wasn't actually planning on posting these until I had a definitive final design to share alongside them, but- It's probably going to be a while before that happens and I feel bad for how inactive this blog has been lately. I've been working on stuff, but only in-between projects, and none of it is really ready to post. So, here's a little something to prove that I am still alive. ❤

Donnie's design is so hard to update. It's just...so good in its simplicity??? Every element feels necessary to his character - so figuring out what to keep, what to get rid of, and what to change slightly is a definite challenge. It's even harder when we're given so little (canonical) information about what role he played in the Resistance and what effects the Krang Apocalypse may have had on him...including how long ago he was killed in relation to the movie. Or how he was killed, for that matter.

So, I'm playing around with some potential ideas and trying to get something that feels right - feels like Donnie, but if he had to adapt to the apocalypse (while also trying to stick to the show's simplistic, shape-heavy style, so nothing too terribly detailed or complex.) I'll share a few of these ideas below, for anyone who's interested.

(Also, yes - I know the spot-goatee is in no way an original concept, but I have a deep affection for it and had to include it in my design.)

One of the concepts I'm considering is giving Donnie a prosthetic leg, something to sort of parallel Leo with his Robo-Raph arm. But in Donnie's case, he probably lost his leg long before Raph was killed or maybe even before he built the robots of his family (maybe this serves as the inspiration or catalyst for the idea.) My working theory is that he was attempting to detonate a mine field full of some Krang dogs and something went wrong which caused him to get caught up in the resulting blast. He was lucky enough to keep his life, but lost his leg and probably some of his hearing in the process. Naturally, because it's Donnie (and because they're living through an apocalypse), the leg will be more than just a prosthetic limb - it'll have some kind of weaponry or technological capabilities built into it. Just haven't decided what that's going to be yet, lol.

I'm also toying with the idea of him creating some kind of "Ninpo Protection Device" - something to act as a defense mechanism against the Krang's mystic-cancelling (or, more accurately, locking) abilities. He's testing it on himself before green-lighting it to be used on his brothers (which, obviously, never happens.) The problem is I can't decide how to visibly convey this idea, I was thinking something along the lines of one of those medical aid devices that become permanent attachments to the user's body. But most of the visible parts of his body are covered in natural armor, save for his limbs and head. So figuring out the best placement for a thing like that has been a little challenging.

I was considering giving him a mechanical hand along with/in place of the robotic leg, as well. Reason being - he works primarily with his hands and almost never wears practical protection gear (another thing I tried to partially remedy with the addition of the gloves), so if any part of him is going to be lost, his hands would be the logical first choice. I also think there's a poetic element to the guy who relies on his tech becoming more and more "mechanical" himself (but only in the physical sense). It would also imply that there was a time when he couldn't work as efficiently on his own as he normally is able to, due to having one less hand, so there was likely an adjustment period wherein he had to lean into his mystic abilities (and the aid of others around him) far more than he's used to doing. A little background character development for him, because I love that kind of stuff.

These are about all of the definitive concepts I have for him at the moment, but obviously, I'm nowhere near having a finished design just yet. So, all of these could potentially be scrapped or tweaked in the final version.

If you read this far - kudos! And thanks for your interest! :>

[head---ache]

New character charts!!!

Edit: Added new info to Lash's section + Added a link to Emmie's section.

They're here!!! The only new info is in the charts themselves btw, the long text under this is the same, except very minor changes. I just thought it would be better than having to go to the old charts to read all of this.

Emmie: She's now officially the one and only Tube Baby of the group!!! I imagine Tails will later use the big fucking tube in his lab, just not for any of the kids in this group (here's three posts about it: First, second, third).

Just to quickly mention it, her full name is Emily, however, everyone in her life just calls her Emmie, because, according to her, 'it goes with her vibe' (first talked about here + in universe explanation here).

She has Black Arms DNA, and although it's uncertain how it affects her, they (Emmie and her dads) know she has green Black Arms blood (shown here) and has access to the hivemind, which as a baby she used to communicate with Shadow (here), but as she grew older she stopped using it, and now finds it harder to access to it.

She also, of course, has Chaos Energy. She can perform Chaos Control (in this one) and turn Super (that second thing they don't know until she's a teenager, shown in this comic). She also has all the abilities Sonic and Shadow share (such as spindash).

Sparks: Like I've said before, Sparks is a Belly Baby, Blaze carried (here's context).

Sparks has fire powers, similar to Blaze's, though they find it a bit harder to control. They get Blaze and Espio's help to learn to use said powers, since they require a lot of concentration. Also, again, like Blaze, they can turn into Burning Sparks (here), but that form is more unstable and drains their energy pretty fast.

I am also taking this space to clarify this about the entire family (including Tulip). Since Blaze is a princess, Amy, Sparks and Tulip do acquire royalty related titles, however, they're very informal and don't hold that much power, since Blaze didn't want them to have any responsability simply because they're related to her. So they're royalty just by name.

Lash: Another Belly Baby, your local surprise baby representation.

Like is said in her chart, her main ability is acrobatics. She also has some sort of super speed but she doesn't rely much on it.

It's not said in her chart but she has both mommy and daddy issues and is often at Aim's house. The first time she stepped into that home and Tangle and Whisper welcomed she immediately felt glued to that family (here).

She also has two younger siblings, Strike and Decay (post introducing them here), and at first she didn't have that much of a relationship with, since they're younger than her and closer to each other, and since Lash spends a lot of time away from home, however, she eventually steps in and tries to be a part of her siblings' lifes as their parents' should've been.

Aim: I finally decided that he's also a Belly Baby, mostly because the timing didn't add up, since him and Emmie are the same age and there's only one Baby Making Tube.

Like it says in their chart, he does archery, which is his main fighting technique, however, during battle they also use their tail to move around faster (otherwise he just keeps it under his cloak) and teams up with Whisper's wisps in very rare occasions.

He does not speak, unlike Whisper who simply speaks quietly. Aim doesn't speak at all, but everyone around him eventually just finds a way to understand him (because I think it's funny). He very usually is the braincell carrier of the group.

Bria: Bria's a Belly Baby as well, it just felt like something Sonia would want.

They don't have any special ability, but they did learn martial arts as a way of self defense, consdering the group of people she often is surrounded by.

Even though Bria's hard of hearing, his biggest passion is music (over being a hero). She plays piano and guitar.

He's also the extrovert of the group. The loudest and friendliest there is. (Should I also add they're Emmie's cousin?)

Tulip: I was a bit more indecisive with him, but in the end I decided to also make him a Belly Baby, because otherwise it felt weird for that to be the one thing he has in common with Emmie. (In-universe explanation here!)

He hasn't shown any special ability yet -he's the youngest of the group though, being only ten years old-, so he isn't allowed to be around the other kids when there's danger, however, he's very sneaky and often gets things to work in his favor anyways. He does have an interest in tarot though, thanks to Amy, and he also shows to have an impressive intuition.

When he's not around Sparks he is often found next to Big, probably complaining to him about something.

Destiny: One and only Code Baby!! She's basically made from the same programming as Nicole, but more advanced and sophisticated.

Being an AI herself, she can hack robots and similar things, which helps during battle. They can also get into anyone's computer if they want to (they rarely do).

She usually takes the leader role very naturally, immediately making a plan on the spot and guiding the rest of the group. However, she's quite shy (even while being an extrovert. This forms a bit of a problem for her, wanting to be around people but being too shy to do it). Her more confident side mainly showing when assuming the role of the leader. She has great friends tho, who encourage to speak up and lead:]

Spades: She's a belly baby just because of the timeline, there simply wasn't a way without changing her age to make it make sense for her to be a Tube Baby -and I like her being 16-. Unfortunately I backed myself into a corner here JSKDJSKFJWKFKS I don't have many details on how she came to be because, guess what!! There's no real way for her to be the way she is the way I want it to happen:]]] So let's just use our imagination and say that it's possible for two amab people to have a kid who's biologically related to both of them because this is a world where magic color changing hedgehogs are a thing so this isn't super crazy, okay? Okay.

Like I said in this post, Spades has trajectory manipulation, so basically she will never miss her target, and can move away whatever is thrown at her, so that's pretty handy:] She also trains with Espio, so she has a lot of his abilities. She doesn't really want to be a ninja but has many of the skills.

She's the mom of the group!!! And the braincell carrier. She is very sweet and caring, but also quiet and calculating. Her strategy is the best, and her stoic appareance makes her look a bit threatening, but she's actually a total sweetheart!!

Also about swimming!! She really likes it because she finds it relaxing. You can't hear anything underwater so she likes to close her eyes and just swim around.

She gets along with everyone in the group, but is usually hanging out with Aim and Lash:)

And that's it for the individual kids!!

Here's some other links of interest:

-1. Character reference sheets for all most of the fankids, including a height chart.

-2. Voice claims!!!

-3. The old charts!!

-4. Ideas for weapons:)