#this was originally gonna be a comic but i've been putting it off for too long so here it is

[factual-fantasy]

24 Asks! Thank you! :}} 🐷

I don't think I'm understanding.. I cant turn my FNAF AU designs into full on OCs, (Original Characters) because.. well Freddy Fazbear and the gang are NOT my original characters. I just made my own AU (Alternate Universe) for them and redesigned them.

Unless that's not what you meant..? I'm sorry for misunderstanding you if that's the case <:(

(In response to this post)

I'm keeping it in mind.. I gotta get to the root of the problem and figure out what needs to be replaced. Once I can figure that out I'll probably set one up 🥹🙏🙏

Well imagine if you were in his shoes. You are transported to some kind of unknown world. And absolutely no one arounds you speaks the same language as you.

Sneep has no way of knowing this is a digital plane. He has no idea if the people around him are real or not, he cant remember his name and no one can explain to him why that is. His body looks different, he feels different, no one around him looks to be a human.. just imagine how scary that is. Not having the comfort of things being explained to you in this situation. Not having the comfort of someone telling you "everything will be okay".

Yeah, I'd lose my mind pretty quick too 💀

@ardent-38

XD No worries! And yeah I started playing Warframe for the first time these past few days. Its been fun so far, Mag being my favorite. (She's the only frame I have <XDD)

I have my eyes out for Titania Prime, Trinity Prime, Mag prime and Mirage Prime. I'm thinking Titania might be my new favorite if I can snag one!

This game is fun, but the longer I play it? The more I miss OG Overwatch 😅 I tried playing TF2 again today and it just isn't the same 😔💔

@chromchill

I am new, but my favorite frame so far is Mag, because she's the only one I have <XDD

But I've got my eyes out for Titania Prime.. and judging by her abilities, she might just become my new favorite 👀👀

@chickenmilk120

What I really would like is just more interactions and comments with my artwork <:( I get bummed when I put a lot of effort into something only to get 3 comments in the end...

I have not <:(( but I've heard many good things about those games! :00

AAAAA THANK YOU SO MUCH!! :DDD That's all very kind of you to say! :}}

And as for Cici and Gerald, you can find their origin comic here! :00

@lordvonbunnyv

Yes please 🥺🥺🙏🙏🙏

@quillsinkwell

Awe! :DD Thank you! They did have a certain charm to them didn't they? :}}

They would have been much better off drawing that mattress character I swear XDD

@neo-metalscottic (Referencing this post)

Hello! So far my tablet is still alive. Although I'm looking into getting my laptop checked out and maybe replacing somethings... 😔

And it was fun to draw Bibi again! I should really draw the fam more often <XD

Not sure what resolutions they'd have.. but one of mine is to be cured of this condition. Or at least get to a point where I can actually function normally again. There's a lot of things planned for 2025 and if I don't get better soon? I'm gonna miss out on all of it. 💔

Yeah, my head just used to be a normal scribble. But now its become a full on blob hasn't it? <XD

There's 2 reasons for this. 1 being that I have been battling some very limiting health conditions for about 8 months now. So drawing my sona all goopy and sickly is to represent how I've felt through this trial 🥲🥲

But the second reason isn't so bad. That being that its just fun to draw my sona like that XD

@bored-animator

Indeed I have! Deltarune too! Just search up "undertale or "deltarune" in my blogs search bar and you're sure to find a lot of it! :))

Thank you so much!! :DD And sure! Send me any game recommendations you'd like! :}}}

@ramiel-hourglass

Thank you so much! :DD But no need to go to the dumpster! <:(( I'll make you something to eat instead, yeah? :)

I use FireAlpaca. And I used to use the pencil brush for line art and the pen for coloring. But lately I've been using the little pixel brush for sketching and line art :00

(This thingy 👇)

I saw it, and I don't really know how to feel about the blue shelled Koopa.. it feels kinda weird to see a Mario kart item brought to life suddenly 😅

I gotta think of stuff to do wither her... 😓😓

First thing that came to mind was Roxanne from FNAF: Security Breach <XDD

@howaboutsomeketchul

Idk how they would celebrate Christmas, since they might not have a good way to gauge the passage of time..

Just search "team fortress 2" in my blogs search bar and you're sure to find most of it! :)

While I see what you're cooking, I don't think my Caine would create a Momigoo NPC for the fast food adventure <:/

The thing that upsets Gummigoo isn't just that his mom isn't real necessarily, its that his memories of her aren't real too. He remembers all these experiences with this person but the memories aren't real...

And the whole reason why Caine let the brothers stay was because he hoped it would help Pomni adjust to the circus. Just like Bella did for Gangle. Bringing up NPCs or things from the Gators adventure could upset or confuse them so Caine wouldn't want to risk it. <:(

@wolfie-777

Merry Christmas and a Happy new year! :DD Sorry for the late reply <XD

@cartoon-fan

Oh I get a lot stolen from those other fandoms too. Octonauts has just been the most frustrating. Constant tracings, theft, copycats, disrespect, its was nuts.

I don't think I'll post Octonauts again anytime soon. I've just had enough of the constant pushing of my boundaries and the boat loads of all kinds of theft.

[stealingyourbones]

Question! I have been getting into DC comics cuz of dpxdc, and I saw your tags on frank Miller on a recent post. One of my irl friends told me to read the dark knight returns and while it was occasionally hard to follow I assumed that was a result of when it was written rather than who wrote it? But I did overall enjoy it.

I guess what I'm asking is why you say frank Miller is a bad writer when it seems like the dark knight returns was so acclaimed?

(I saw the nazi thing too but that's something I can google so while it's news to me it's not my main question)

ok so. A lot of this is my personal opinion and I'm not too equipped to say shit about this because I'm not very political but I'm going to give it my best shot. Put under a cut so folks who don't want to hear about comic ranting can simply scroll past

I’m just gonna write a quick thing for the Nazi stuff, He isn't exactly a Nazi but boy oh boY does he set off many warning flags. Frank Miller is also the writer of the comic 300, if that sounds familiar that's because the movie you're probably thinking of is indeed based off these comics. The Spartan's ideology helped create the baselines of Fascism. Fascism is a pretty leading cause of commentary in Frank Millers work. In Batman: The Dark Knight he is a fascist. In Hard Boiled there's swastikas in the background every so often. (I even went back to reread it just to make sure and yep. they definitely were there) In 300 there's a shitton of Fascism... I could go on but still. His comics are incredibly gorey, have a discussion about a world gone wrong that can only be changed using force and weaponry (the whole Dark Knight "I am a surgeon" monologue for example), and the fact that he has Fascism as the main point of nearly all of the comics he's written... it doesn't sit right with me and it's a consistent pattern.

Now, onto the bad writing. I must firstly preface that these are my own opinions and that I didn't grow up reading Frank Miller's work. I think he was a good writer but isn't one anymore. His writing did incredible things for DC and you can see his influence in Batman even today. Works I've read and enjoyed of his are: Daredevil, Batman Year One, and Dark Knight. Nowadays you'll see many folks like myself talk about how Frank Miller has fallen off the deep end. A vast majority of Frank Miller's comics have reoccurring themes: politics, fascism, extreme violence, and so so much weaponry. Politics is in every comic book. There is no unpolitical comic, there ARE comics that are batshit wild with their politics and that's what I'm talking about. I'll get back to this later. He wrote many good comics, ones that first come to mind are Daredevil , Wolverine, Batman: Dark Knight, Batman: Year One, Sin City, Ronin, and 300. All of these comics are still credited by folks as amazing comics and hell, I recommend folks to read them go and check them out. Then 9/11 happened. That along with rampant alcoholism. Those reoccurring themes I mentioned? They become exponentially more blatant in his works. Especially on the political angle. You can see the difference between his works from pre and post 9/11. If you read Dark Knight and Dark Knight 2 back to back. It's night and day. He even made a comic during the post 9/11 panic called Holy Terror. The comic's title was originally pitched as Holy Terror, Batman! with the Gotham hero himself as the main character but it swiftly denied by DC, denied being published by DC, and changed to what it is now. The basic plot of this comic: A Vigilante named The Fixer fights Al-Qaeda after attacking Empire City. He doesn't even mention the word Al-Qaeda until 80 pages into a 150 page comic. The comic is some INCREDIBLY blatant post 9/11 propaganda that's ridiculously Islamophobic and anti-muslim. That isn't even my opinion, Frank Miller has said that's what this comic was. It is scattered with a ridiculous amount of hate speech written by a hate fueled man in 2007. Now onto comics that you'd more likely read. All Star Batman and Robin (2005). Oh boy. Let's compare shall we? Batman Dark Knight Returns (1986)

All Star Batman & Robin, The Boy Wonder #1 (2005)

mind you this is as Dick is being driven to GCPD for questioning RIGHT AFTER HIS PARENTS DIED. He gets kidnapped by Bruce out of the police car. Not calmed in his arms after the murder and brought to the manor. Kidnapped. All Star Batman & Robin, The Boy Wonder #2 (2005)

( a brief intermission of this sickass pose of a shirtless Alfred Pennyworth comforting Vicky Vale)

now back to the kidnapping:

[Skipping Bruce getting chased by the GCPD, Jumping the Batmobile ONTOP of a GCPD car, and laughing and talking to his car all the while Dick is absolutely terrified. They then use boosters that propel the Batmobile into the sky.]

Smashcut to #4 where they actually enter the Batcave.

I don't even think I need to explain myself. This is Spider-Man: One More Day levels of mischaracterization. Like seriously. Bruce kidnapping Dick after his parents were killed? Calling him a retard and hitting him during the aftermath (we can go on about how in 2005, the r slur was used commonly but this was just out of pocket), Leaving him in the cold batcave and told to eat rats? Frank Miller used to write some incredible works. Nowadays his writing is as decent as Rob Liefeld's art.

[synergysilhouette]

"Batman: Caped Crusader" review

Binge-watched this show, and I wanted to be one of many people to share my thoughts on this--plus I was spurred on by getting a wish of mine granted from the show. Make sure to check out the show if you can!

The animation is beautiful--I know this is a weird comparison, but soemthing about the animation reminds me of 2010s Scooby Doo animated films, and I kind of adore that.

The voice acting was...fine--I can't tell if it was poor performances or poor direction; Hamish's Bruce Wayne sounds too raspy/rugged some of the time, like he's still playing Batman, and many of the other actors felt like they were just reading lines rather than performing lines, not enough emotion. IDK if they're more used to live-action work, but voice-acting is a different ballgame, since your voice is all you have to convey the character. A lot of performances fell flat for me, but it wasn't 100% unbearable, just underwhelming. I have some people I'd recommend instead (both familiar to the role and otherwise), but I don't wanna start anything.

LOVED Harley (but not her costume)--Jamie Chung had one of the better performances in the group, and I really LOVED the angle they did for Harley; I feel like the media often flanderizes her as the goofy crazy chick, so seeing her actually utilize her psychology skills (like I've been asking for!) is so satisfying. That said, the outfit has GOT TO GO. Gold and black is gorgeous, but it ples in comparison to her black and red look. And a weird nit-pick; when I first saw the stills, I was under the impression she was wearing a carnival-esque mask rather than face paint, and I find that idea a lot creepier. I wish we'd gotten more of Harley's antics--and even seeing her get close to Bruce in the way she did with Barbara and Renee--before revealing her as a big bad to the public. And I appreciate that she isn't 100% evil; she is doing what she believes is a noble cause, just doing it in an illegal and unethical way. I needed a backstory!

Not enough Batman--Maybe it's just me, but it definitely felt like there were some episodes where Bruce and Batman were supporting characters and more focus was on the GCPD. While I don't mind it too much, I enjoy superhero shows for the superheroes, not the heroes; this is why I had a love/hate relationship with "Gotham."

Batman (and Bruce) isn't quite likeable enough--In earlier incarnations, Batman was more kind and caring before becoming more emotionally closed off with time, but here he's that way from the get-go. Not to mention that Bruce Wayne puts on a facade around everyone, even people he trusts (he probably did that anyway; I can't remember), and his session with Harleen really frustrated me because I don't expect his walls to come down immediately, I don't expect them to be this high this early. I wanted him to be a bit warmer and transparent, rather than curt and cold like he's usually seen in the show. I feel like this is an issue often seen in comics, too; people prioritize Batman's "coolness" and thus push his feelings to the wayside.

Using underrated and familiar villains--I'm sure the real experts are gonna chew me out for this one, but as someone who got into comics in the 2010s and didn't catch up on the acclaimed 90s series, it was fun to see villains I loved and villains I didn't know; one of the best things a popular property can do is use underrated characters, since it helps the show feel original and fresh (thus why "Teen Titans" is so enjoyable; the whole franchise is underrated).

Too modern for the 1940s--I can't put my fingers on it exactly, but the vibes feel too modern; I assume the 1940s was for aesthetics, but since everything else feels updated (from the way people talk to Harley and Renee seemingly being open about their feelings for each other), I don't think it was a wise choice to have it both ways. I see no reason not to have it in modern-day, but I suppose you'd have to get more creative with technology.

Barbara and the Robins--First off, I should've gambled with someone that Jason would be a redhead; I'd have made SO MUCH money. Secondly, I'm not crazy about how all four kids are orphans; If I recall correctly, both Carrie and Stephanie's parents were alive when they joined the Batfamily. In any case, I'm confused on why Barbara is significantly older than them when they're all supposed to be within the same age bracket (I think; someone has told me otherwise since posting this, so I could be wrong). Not to mention, a part of me worries that because of the quartet's young ages and Barbara getting so much screentime as a lawyer, we won't get any of them as Robins or Batgirls unless something drastic happens, and/or we get a time jump.

Overall, I think my biggest gripes are the voice acting and how Batman/Bruce Wayne is written. That said, I enjoyed the show overall. IDK why HBO Max dropped it. Hopefully season 2 will introduce Poison Ivy, Catman, Tim Drake, Ghostmaker, and Gardener, since the finale already showed us a certain someone who IS coming to Gotham.

[strange0-0storm]

hello! hope im not disturbing or anything- just wanted to ask, do you know how to make an SMG4 oc??? couse I've made ones before but they never made it to my server (like- they never became actual OC's), and they never looked officila even in the slightest.

also, NEW FAN!! I've seen your channel just today but im intrigued by the 888 thingy and Smg7 and 8 (i think its 7 and 8-)

sorry for the long message and have a good day/night

YOU'RE NOT DISTURBING ME NOT AT ALL! (IM SORRY IM LATE TOO THIS It's been in my drafts due to my whole procreate sitch)

For my ocs SMG8 and SMG7, I pretty much looked at SMG4 and SMG3 for reference‼️

Ugh these pathetic men, LORD. But that's just for like my SMGs. I used the style of the models to make my own separate style for like SMG4 characters. I tried too make my characters LOOK like they'd be seen as a model.

As for making them fully, I added different character elements for their personalities and built off of that.

First SMG8 I knew I wanted him too be based around MUSIC, and I originally based him more off of me in appearance. He still kept the curly hair, that both SMG8 and SMG7 share because I have curly hair.

But I settled on an eccentric funky villian man.

For SMG7 I knew I wanted him too be the complete opposite of SMG8, originally he was gonna be a timid, shy character, but then I settled on the angry, easily annoyed character. I knew I wanted him too be more reserved, enjoying the activities of reading and writing.

I built their appearance off of their personalities, SMG8 being a crazy all over the place funky character ended him with the split multicolor outfit, while SMG7 was left with a semetrical, neatly put together outfit too show his more serious and organized personality

THIS IS JUST MY PROCESS IN DESIGNING THESE CHARACTERS.

And I just built their character after they got created, more SMG8 right now due too his comic "The Arrival" under the tag #smg8's arrival

I've been building SMG7 a lot in the background, and I plan to make a comic for him as well once I finish up The Arrival

AND ACTUALLY. FUN FACT IM NOT A NEW FAN, I just haven't been into SMG4 for about 4 years, I just got back into it 2 months ago.

I've been watching sinceeee the Freddy's Spaghettiria video, sooo 9 years ago DAMN

I never made fanart till now though, I mean I PROBABLY did, but I was like 7-8 years old and no one wants too see THAT. AHHAHSHS

But ANYWAYS IM SO GLAD TOO HEAR THAT SMG8 AND SMG7 PEAKED YOUR INTREST as well as 8's night club The 888 HEHEHHE ALSO THIS LET ME RAMBLE SOME AHSHHE

[edgepunk]

Earth-2710 thoughts yapfest

I've been mulling over the idea of Peter having the symbiote permanently and I think I'm gonna go with it in this AU. It's mainly from pettiness, because the comics refuse to give Peter any new powers, or anything to shake up the status quo. Meanwhile some of the other heroes get neat gadgets or powers.

I've talked about this, but I can't find the original post, so anyway - I got the idea from the ps5 game where the symbiote left remnants in Peter's body when he wore it for a longer time, and it was starting to bond with him on a cellular level. However, in this AU he was completely unaware of the remnants. They are dormant and slowly growing inside of Peter’s body, using some of his tissue and nutrients to get stronger. This symbiote is its own entity, now. It's not the Venom symbiote anymore (Eddie is Venom ofc).

Fast forward about 8 months later when Peter notices his super strength is a little wack. At first, he thinks he's just being careless, but after he accidentally sends a couple of thugs into the hospital, he starts getting worried. It's driving him a little insane, thinking that he doesn't know how to hold his strength back anymore. It causes him a lot of stress and he has trouble sleeping. He becomes more careless and makes a lot of mistakes during fights. All the stress and sleep deprivation catches up to him during an intense fight with the Sinister Six. He's anxious, tired and he can't keep up with them. They defeat him.

They carry Spider-Man's unconscious body to Times Square and hijack the billboards, livestreaming his defeat. They wanted to do this to humiliate him in front of all the citizens he promised to protect. However, it's not enough for Doc Ock and he has other plans. He wants to kill him and make sure all of NYC sees it. The other villains try to stop him, but one of his tentacles pierces right through Peter’s chest.

Side note: Peter and Otto weren't close at all in this AU. However, Peter used to look up to him and his scientific achievements when he was in high school. That is until Otto became a villain, of course.

So, you've probably put two and two together - when Otto killed Peter, the symbiote fully awakened and revived him. Peter is freaking out that he somehow has the black suit again, but shifts his focus to send the Sinister Six back to jail. Then, he tries to remove the symbiote, but it hurts him so bad that he collapses and is physically unable to do anything. He seeks help from Reed Richards who does a full body scan and finds out the symbiote is a part of Peter - removing it would kill him.

Peter is in full freak out mode, unable to think clearly. He goes home and has a breakdown. Days pass, his stress levels are off the charts, but he tries his best to keep it together. MJ is there to keep an eye on him, she's scared for him. The last time Peter had the symbiote, it almost turned him into something unrecognizable. MJ doesn't want to lose him this way.

All the stress and lack of sleep isn't doing Peter any favors - he's getting more aggressive and sending thugs into the hospital left and right, and he starts isolating himself from everyone. And he completely loses it, he goes feral and turns into this spidery humanoid alien amalgam.

ngl I'm not good with monster(-ish) designs but here's a rough doodle of feral symbiote Peter with regular Peter for scale. I've never liked him turning into big muscular Venom, I think that should be Eddie's thing. Peter should be more spidery imo

With the power of love, Peter turns back and spends weeks learning to control the symbiote. And then we'll get the Hybrid Suit, which IS the symbiote but Peter made it look like an edgier version of the classic suit.

Peter still has the lingering fear of turning into that thing again, but tries his best to control his anger since removing the symbiote is impossible without killing him. Sometimes he gets a little too agitated, though. But it would require a lot more stress/anger for him to turn again.

[genericpuff]

Big steps are scary, but not moving forward is scarier u.u

So I've been sitting on this post for a little while now, I had planned to post it a few days ago but then I crashed for a nap and woke up to the news of LO ending so wound up using that as another excuse LOL

The last few months have been, to put it lightly, brutal. It's not that anything has happened, it's more like nothing is happening - the usual slow season in tattooing has been especially long, with especially less clients coming through the door, so while it's given me loads of free time to prepare for my conventions and work on other projects, it also means I'm not making as much as I'd usually make. And what I usually make is typically what supports everything I do here.

This has basically been me for the last half a year:

(riding it out, just riiiding it out, whoof)

I'm very fortunate to have a job that satisfies my dream of making a living off art, controlling my own schedule, and making money doing it to boot - but the caveat to it all is that it's a luxury service that relies on the economy around me doing well, and the economy around me right now is very much NOT doing well. I'm also very fortunate that my savings are capable of supporting me, but that's all they are, savings - if I'm not making anything, they'll burn up eventually. I'm not sure how physically capable I would be of going back into retail / food service, and it's honestly just not something I want to do after coming this far as a tattoo artist.

I've also learned how valuable and necessary collaboration is during projects like these. Not just to supplement the quality of the work itself, but to supplement the working experience as a whole. Working with an assistant has been an eye-opening experience in that regard.

When I set out to make this account, it was for the purpose of LO shitposting, edits, essays, and nothing much more than that. I wanted to keep it separate for the sake of my mental health and for the sake of my separate audiences, because when I started here, it just... wasn't a popular opinion in the slightest to have opinions about LO and comics like it outside of the positive norm. I had a lot of fear for a long time built up in my head over it, but as time has gone on, I've fortunately had mostly positive experiences and even when they aren't positive... I've proven to myself that I'm capable of moving forward through it all with my head held high and that these scary experiences aren't as scary as they tend to seem in my head. That's really just the funny thing about fear over any sort of 'risky' endeavor.

That said, I've also branched out a lot more from this blog's original purpose. I've talked about the process of making webcomics, Webtoons as a platform, offered alternatives to creators seeking refuge from the more corporate platforms, given out writing and art advice, discussed topics concerning Greek myth, shared my own original works, and basically just naturally progressed into talking about and doing other things because LO will end eventually and I don't want to restrict myself to talking about the same comic forever LOL

This is a crossroads that I've been at for a few months now. And I know nothing will change unless I take a step forward. It might wind up not being in the right direction in the end, but it's forward, and that's all that really matters to me, because staying in the same place forever isn't good for anyone.

So, I guess I'm gonna stop yapping and just show y'all what I've been working on! I brought this up in a Twitch stream the other day and people in the chat were all very supportive and optimistic, so I'm hoping those of you who follow me here will be too ╭( ･ㅂ･)و (and if not, well, you can kick my ass in my inbox later LOL)

I've applied for my genericpuff account on Twitch to become an Affiliate channel and am just waiting on the approval process. Assuming everything goes through well enough, y'all will be able to subscribe to my channel or support it with bits. If I do get approved I'll be doing a rehaul of the channel design and offering some fun lil' goodies for the chat, and I'll be trying to stream at least twice a week.

So please go follow my Twitch account if you haven't yet! It's the best way to get early sneak peeks of Rekindled, as I'm usually working on new episodes, but we're usually also chatting about LO, webtoons related stuff, and other fun topics ٩(｡•ω•｡)و

But now for the biggest new addition - I've started a Patreon account specifically for my genericpuff stuff ! Normally I would redirect anyone who asked to my main Patreon, but it's not as active nowadays simply due to my original projects being on hiatus. And it's not exactly the best space to share any bonus goodies related to my genericpuff account.

That said, I want to make it clear that I will still be putting limitations on what I offer on this page. Anything related to early access sneak peeks will still be free for all. This will be a glorified tip jar first and foremost, most of what I will be offering as bonus goodies and incentives will be stuff like time lapses of pages, art tutorials, original character designs, critique requests, early access adoptables, deleted scenes, etc.

Basically it'll be stuff that I'm already making (or want to make) but will be exclusive to patrons that won't be tied exclusively to the reading experience of Rekindled. The comic will always be free to read, not just because of the legal stipulations of it being a fan project, but because I want it to be.

Alternatively, if you want to access the stuff I have planned for my original work that I will be posting as early access to my Patreon once it rolls out, you can support that Patreon here!

From the bottom of my heart, thank you all so much for supporting what I do here, in all of its niche craziness. Building this little community over the past year has been life-changing, and I don't say that lightly. I've worked very hard to maintain what I'm doing here, and I'm going to continue doing so - it's a privilege to write and draw for you all week after week, and I appreciate any and all support you can give so I can keep managing what I do.

And if you can't, that's okay! The best way you can support my work is to read it, share it, and engage with it! Remember that reblogs will always be more beneficial than likes, and please don't ever be afraid to pop in to our streams or into our Discord to say hello! It would be a joy to have you ( ´ ∀ `)ノ～ ♡

Thank you all so much. This has been a big barrier to overcome on a mental level, my anxiety is through the ROOF right now, but I'm so grateful and glad I have such a wonderful circle of readers, community members, and friends who have offered their reassurance through this slow season and process of seeking support. Whether or not this is a step in the right direction, it's at least forward <3 And whatever comes of it, we'll see. But I'll be riding it out all the same ~

[jccatstudios]

I have been following your soc comic adaptation and it just so good!!! I love how you draw them!

I have just one question: Why did you not include Inej's opening musings about Kaz on the first page? (Kaz Brekker didn't need a reason etc) I actually really like how there is not text on the first two pages, it's really atmospheric and moody so this really is not a criticism, I don't want to insult you. I guess I was just wondering what the thought process behind that was?

Oh, I've been wanting to talk about this for a while! Buckle up, this is gonna be one of my long comic rants. (Also, no offense taken at all! Anyone's welcome to question my artistic choices and I'm always happy to take critique, even though that isn't your intention.)

So, the thing is I actually planned on including that first paragraph into the comic! Here's when I first shared the thumbnails on here. Just for the sake of this post, I'll insert them here too.

The boxes are meant to be where excerpts of that introduction would go. When I was creating the thumbnails, I was thinking about how iconic these lines were and how well they introduce the world and characters. I even finished the pages with the intention to include those lines. This is from my original csp file.

When I lettered it all out, I felt like something wasn't right...? Hard to explain. I wanted silence for the opening and the narration took that away. I then thought about the reader who'd go into this without reading the novel first, wondering if they'd be thinking, Who's this Kaz Brekker guy? Is it this character on the page? It's clearer in the book, but I didn't think it paired well with what I drew. I didn't want any confusion. It's also Inej's chapter, and while Kaz's parts take up most of it, I still wanted it to feel like her POV and her story. We can hold off officially meeting Kaz until page four.

But the main reason I took it out comes down to my philosophy when it comes to comic adaptations. I believe that an adaptation should use the original story in the best way for the secondary medium. A comic adaptation should play to the strength of comics, not the original source material.

Time and time again, I see a lot of comic adaptations of books try to use a book's strength instead of a comic's. When that happens, you get pages upon pages of narration boxes and exposition that could've easily been told in a single panel's image. If you want to read excerpts from the original novel, go do that! They're beautiful and well-crafted and you should be reading the original anyway! If you're making a comic adaptation, make a comic, not an illustrated version of the novel (that's a whole field of its own).

This whole thing really ties well into what I'm doing for Chapter 3. Kaz is such an internal character, his chapters have a lot more exposition that isn't setting description or character actions. I've had to do a lot more of my own writing for this chapter than the last just to turn that exposition into his own voice as an internal monologue. Sometimes, it's just a change from "he" to "I," but there are other times I've had to write new dialogue and find ways to naturally flow between thoughts. If I didn't do the work to adapt the expository text and instead just put in narration boxes of text from the book, there would be a greater disconnect between the reader and Kaz. Third-person limited works great in books and doesn't separate the readers from the story, but in comics, first-person internal dialogue keeps the readers inside the scene better.

If I were to redo Chapter 2, I think I would try to find a way to incorporate the information from the chapter intro better. I think by losing the intro I initially planned to include, I didn't establish certain ideas very well. Ketterdam and Kerch are established later on pages 4 and 5, but I don't think I ever go back and mention The Barrel. Also, the idea that Kaz is deliberate, even if his reputation says otherwise, is important too. I've made sure to fix this kind of issue in Chapter 3 and keep record of what kind of information I'm losing as I adapt it.

[captainsparklefingers]

It's always interesting when an old hyperfixation reemerges and hits you like a truck and drags you back into it, especially when the other currently active fixations don't go away but sort of just get shuffled around.

Like. I'm still working on Unhappy Families, and I've started to feel the flow coming back (not for 1947, unfortunately, THAT chapter still refuses to cooperate)...but suddenly the Sonic movie comes out and beats me with the 'youve liked this since you were 11 and now youre gonna feel things again whether you want to or not' hammer. And the flow is now split between the thing I want to/should work on...and a stupid dumb au idea that I shouldn't do anything with but can't stop thinking about.

So, to get it out of my system, let me tell y'all about my Maria Robotnik lives au, where a tragic lab accident does what it does in comics instead of in real life (aka: so now you have superpowers and a dash of Captain America-esque 'man outta time' vibes).

Lemme go ahead and shove this under a cut and get this out of my head for now. It's 1230 in the morning, my cat is draped all over me like a fuzzy heated weighted blanket, I can't sleep, my brain is going weird places, let's roll with it.

Spoilers for the Sonic movies (particularly the 3rd one).

OKAY SO.

We don't see what actually killed Maria in the movie. I mean, yes, it's the explosion of chaos energy caused by an errant shot, but the specific thing that kills her isn't shown. Could be a blow to the head or traumatic internal injuries, nothing good, but nothing as direct and obvious as a shot to the back like in the games.

And many a fictional individual has been 'blessed' with superpowers following a lab accident or exposure to radiation/mysterious energies/etc. I think you can see where I'm going with this. I mean this is a world with alien hedgehogs, teleportation rings, chaos emeralds, I think one can be allowed a little wiggle room in the name of an au here.

SO. Boom. Explosion. Maria appears dead, her family is devastated and the seeds of revenge are planted,Gerald is carted off, Shadow is put into cryo, all that.

Maria's body is taken by GUN (presumably alongside those of anyone else who died), probably put in a morgue somewhere...aaand that's where she wakes up, screaming, unleashing a wave of Chaos energy that shorts out all electronics in the area, and promptly passes out again.

So. GUN is now in possession of a preteen girl who should be dead, WAS apparently dead, who was exposed to something they were studying and couldn't understand/found too dangerous to mess with, who now appears to have strange abilities that both have kept her alive, given her superpowers, and also seem to (at the moment) be physically taxing to the point of not being able to maintain consciousness for long periods of time.

SO LET'S STICK THE UNSTABLE SUPERPOWERED GIRL INTO CRYO TOO, because that seems to be the standard MO at GUN for these sorts of things at the time. Walters, having been the one who made the call to put Shadow under, is given clearance here as well, as somebody who knew Maria before everything went horribly wrong. And maybe he feels guilty and responsible that this girl is going through this, because of the organization he works for, because he wasn't able to stop those men from pointing weapons at children with intent to fire. So, he lets her out every so often, giving her a chance to physically stabilize, to get an idea of what's been done and what she can do, and to let her know that she hasn't been forgotten.

(of course nobody tells her grandfather about this because why would they, this is all classified and he's a dangerous criminal element now.)

Maybe her memories of what happened are fuzzy. Years in and out of cryosleep following a comic book esque tragic origin story might do that to you. Maybe she's not fully aware of how long it's been, or the fact that she doesn't appear to be aging normally (is it the cryo sleep or the superpowers? Idk. Ask Steve Rogers, it was both with him ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯).

Anyway. Records slip through the cracks, particularly after information about Robotnik is purged by the government post first Sonic movie. And with her being more physically stable and having ways to channel this energy now (let's continue the family theme of science and robots here and make her a bit of a technomancer with machine buddies and robots she communicates with and channels power through, or something along those lines), her scheduled return to cryo sleep gets put off, and put off...

So we have a girl out of time literal computer wizard who's body can only handle so much of the energy it has going through it at once before exhausting her (it's not the same as having a terminal illness, obviously, but it'd be at least something to call back to the game character a bit), who's got patches in her memories, has (to her knowledge) lost her family and doesn't have anyone, who's whole existence is a bit of a cover-up to hide a civilian casualty...

Aaaaaand that's all I have right now. I'm trying to figure out what the best way to get her out of GUN would be while also not having her and Shadow cross paths/know about the other for a good long time (because I enjoy the angst of thinking your closest friend is long dead or gone and having to live on). I'm sure I'll figure out something, there was enough chaos caused by the events of the third movie that I could see her using it as a chance to break herself out.

I dunno. Maybe she ends up with Agent Stone for a bit since they've both lost somebody important. That could be fun. I'm sure there'd be some sort of dramatic reunion or something eventually, but that's all I have for now.

It really isn't much, and I don't want to take away from the impact her death had on Shadow or the importance of it to the story, but at the same time, I'm sort of enamored with this idea of this tween from the 70s who does computer magic and has exhaustion and pain who's trying to find a place in a world that literally forgot her and buried her 50 years ago.

(and maybe I want Stone to have a friend, too, after everything.)

(and maybe some dramatic meetings and reunions too, someday.)

[sharpedgedfool]

If I may suggest for a comic uploading site, Comic Fury! While I've never uploaded it on it, I read a bunch of comics on it. And it's very basic and easy to read, especially on mobile.

Messing around with it rn! I think I will go with this one, I've been able to mass-upload AND label them under the original date I uploaded em here, archiving looks really clean!

It'll be a while before I make it live or anything, I'm gonna use this as an excuse to revamp the tumblr layout too so I'm gonna have to relearn html (Ive been putting it off cause I forgot how I did most of the tumblr layout ahhhhhhHH)

[egg-emperor]

Hello! I hope you're doing well! I wanted to pick your brain over Eggman in Frontiers to hear your perspective.

I honestly found Eggman lacklustre in Frontiers. I was disappointed. I have a few questions to see if I'm missing anything and if you can put my mind at ease.

What were Eggman's motives for booting up the Ancients' technology? He mentions secrets but what for? Any other game story is a motive for world domination. How will the Ancients enable this?

I saw the relationship he and Sage had as uwu and sappy. I can't visualise Eggman as a father. I certainly saw him act paternal towards Sage. It's not to my liking haha. I preferred the original ending where he had to fight for his personal victory and bring Sage back online.

Why was Eggman laughing at Sonic being corrupted? I assumed he personally wants to finish Sonic off. I think of Sonic 2 8 bit in Underground Zone where he saves Sonic to finish him off.

Thank you in advance and I look forward to hearing your analysis.

Hello! I'm doing pretty good thanks, much more positive now I'm no longer struggling with the difficulty of the update XD Feels like I've been needing to recover though because I've been tired af! Hope you're doing well too ^^

He definitely deserved to do a lot more. Final Horizon improved by giving him a bit of action but he was still sidelined hard. I still feel so teased by the MC texture pack of Eggman and Sage in Wyvern, that would've been so metal in game lol. Even having even just a side boss is always better than none. The more action the better! It's not boring for him to be a boss and the villain he is and get some action. Especially since they easily could've incorporated the Titans by having Eggman take control, or he could've at least been a mini boss.

But I actually like everything we did get and I'll be getting into a lot of why here! And I appreciate the interest and you asking me for my take on it. I hope I can possibly offer a new perspective but either way, thanks for hearing me out. ^^ But buckle up because it's gonna be a big one lol, I decided to really dig in!

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"What were Eggman's motives for booting up the Ancients' technology? He mentions secrets but what for? Any other game story is a motive for world domination. How will the Ancients enable this?"

His interest in The Ancients is just the classic story finding about an ancient power and checking it out to see what he can do with it. He knew there was a civilization with impressive and valuable technology that was attracting the emeralds, and understandably went to check it out. The prequel comic sets it up like this:

While his initial discovery wasn't revealed, he learned about the islands where an ancient civilization possessed advanced technology and it started attracting the emeralds. So he goes on a trip there, looks around and sets stuff up as we see traces of his presence left behind with ships on each one and Death Egg robot on Chaos Island where he was farming geothermal energy from the volcano.

He came across the Cyber Space structure as a piece of that tech that intrigues him so he wants to override their cyber security to access and take control of it for himself, so he had Sage downloaded to the data pad thingy and uploaded her to it to do so. He was then was supposed to get tech like their soldiers and Titans under control and use them in his plans, then he could discover more of their secrets and find a way to use all of their advanced tech he finds as a tool for world domination.

Immediately upon merging Sage with Cyber Space to try to get past that security, it summons the soldiers and the Giganto is seen in the back, so there you already have potential new power for him to take control of so he was correct. If he did succeed in harnessing and utilizing it and uncovered all their secrets in his surveying of it, he could have total control of the islands, get himself new minions, and discover more about their technology with Cyber Space and all and use their power for his selfish gain.

But of course it didn't go quite as planned as it seems that Sage sensed the danger and decided to seal Eggman in Cyber Space as a protective measure, so he gets trapped in there instead.

When trapped in Cyber Space he's fascinated by how advanced it is to the point he admits it's more than what he's dabbled in before. He continues his analysis of what he sees and throughout the memos, he finds out he was right to be curious and with all the research he gathers about the capabilities of Cyber Space and begins questioning how he can use this power and knowledge to his selfish benefit. Classic Eggman 💜

Sage was also able to somewhat control the Titans, it's just something was blocking her from taking full control but she was able to use them against Sonic and Eggman was very pleased. I'm assuming this was part of his initial plan, to take control of their power and use it against Sonic, then explore the capabilities of the rest of the tech on the islands to utilize for his bigger plan in world domination.

He was always planning on taking control of their creations and using them against Sonic and exploring the islands, uncovering their secrets and analyzing and learning about them like the scientist he is, then using that knowledge to figure out how he can use it in his schemes.

He finds out there's even more about their tech that could be useful with the capabilities of Cyber Space throughout. And he starts taking interest in The End when he learns about it being an even greater more powerful force for being able to wipe them out despite their own impressive power and creations. Which had even more potential if could've found a way to handle it, like he displayed a willingness and confidence in being able to do because of his genius and skill.

( Gotta love how he spits in the face of The Ancients' being wiped out by thinking he can do better. Sure is super sympathetic towards them huh ;D )

So had he not been trapped in Cyber Space, he could've used The Ancients' soldiers, Titans, and The End and if had utilized them successfully, I'm sure he would've had a lot of power that could help him take over the world with some plan. He clearly believes they could've done so themselves, to him it's just a question of why they didn't go ahead beyond a few "piddly" islands because of course he'd do so in a heartbeat.

It's funny because it's also another example of how he's incapable of considering that they might not have that same greed and desire for world domination like him, he can't fathom it lol

So he already knew enough to be aware that they possessed power that he could use in his plans, so he went there to check it out and take control of their tech. Then he was going to find out what else he could do to use their tech to his advantage to achieve world domination. While a lot of this unfortunately fell apart, he still spends his time uncovering more and analyzing everything he finds out while trapped inside Cyber Space too, as we learn about in the memos.

It really shows how during the entire main game and even in the update with the island conversations, he was thinking about what he could do with their power. People saying he's morally gray in this game confuse me because of his obvious villainy and desire to scheme with the only things stopping him being trapped in Cyber Space and then in danger of The End. The intent and desire is still there from beginning to end!

And the potential was there too. Eggman had a reason to be interested in The Ancients' secrets and I would've loved to see him actually put all this knowledge to use. It feels like they teased it waaay too much to never have him actually do anything with everything he learned... so I wonder if there's a chance he'll actually do so in the future?

------------------------------------

"I saw the relationship he and Sage had as uwu and sappy. I can't visualise Eggman as a father. I certainly saw him act paternal towards Sage. It's not to my liking haha. I preferred the original ending where he had to fight for his personal victory and bring Sage back online."

I don't think the game did too bad of a job at showing what the real true dynamic of Eggman and Sage really is, ever since I paid closer attention in my second playthrough. I regret letting fandom influence how I thought and felt during my first because it ruined my first experience and made me believe things that weren't true. But now I love it because it's way different to fanon!

The most important thing to consider is the entire basis of Eggman's side of the dynamic and the specific reasons he comes to value and praise her at all, all said in his own words in the memos:

What kind of normal good wholesome caring parent brags that their child would be "loyal" and "perfectly effective"? Exactly. Those aren't things selfless, good hearted, good intentioned, genuinely caring parents expect of their child and that's the point. Eggman is already fucked up for that alone. Then to hammer it home, BOOM there it is:

The reason he recognizes, praises, and values these things in Sage as much as he does besides all the ways he benefits from them- is that he can take pride in being the one that made it all possible as she's a reflection of his genius- praising her is praising himself as her creator. And this is why Flynn said it was unsettling and that he warmed up to her for all the wrong reasons.

It's important to remember and consider this when analyzing absolutely every interaction between the two in this story.

In the prequel comic we see he specifically built Sage to protect him and he wishes aloud for a creation that will just once make him proud:

Upon hearing this, it may have prompted Sage to try extra hard to please him on top of her programming. And he was already calling her his "latest and greatest" like he does all his creations lol. So she also may have felt the need to try extra hard to live up to that high standard and expectation too.

Anyway, whether that's Sage's intention or if she's going purely by her stated programming, she does live up to fulfilling her programmed function and Eggman's wishes for a creation that will fill him with pride. She's loyal, efficient, and protects him multiple times throughout main story and Final Horizon.

Eggman takes note of her efficiency and her being crucial in his survival in the memos.

She shows true loyalty, efficiency in serving and protecting him as created, and prioritizes his safety and desires. She talks about saving him and the world for him to rule specifically, which he smiles smugly at like "finally somebody here understands it's all about me >:D"

All the times he praises her highly throughout the entire game are for doing exactly as she was created and asked to do, or surpassing those expectations in pleasant ways. But then every time she does something he doesn't want her to, even in cases where his best interests are still in mind, he snaps at her for it not being exactly what he wants: (Click through for better view/open in new tab on desktop, I don't wanna make the post even longer)

Also there's also him suddenly switching to being appalled, jealous, and pissed at her just for admiring Sonic

This all shows how conditional it is. He'll snap and yell at her and thump the Egg Mobile when she doesn't do what he wants in the exact way he wants one second, and praises her highly when she does the next. It's really represented best by these scenes:

First he was yelling at her for daring to suggest something he doesn't want to do, smashing his fist against the Egg Mobile in anger, and flying off. Then he was in danger of the G.U.N helicopters, she jumped in and saved him, and then he immediately switched to praising her highly and saying he was proud of her. What makes this especially significant is that you can get the second scene to play immediately after the other, if you trigger them right with the unlocking of the emeralds. Literally changes like the weather between her doing something he hates to something he wants.

I also want to bring up the flashback montage:

It shows Eggman doesn't actually do anything selflessly nice. All he does praise her for what she was created to do and she just applied love that she learned from watching Sonic and friends to those initiatives of loyalty and protection she was programmed with, the way Eggman praised her for fulfilling them, and to any likeness to family like him as her creator and Orbot and Cubot as his too, the idea of having a home, etc.

Eggman's side really is shown to be shallow, self-centered, and with his own interests and benefits in mind all along, while Sage's is more professional at first but becomes much deeper and more meaningful over time, as she witnesses what it means to be a family born of love from Sonic and co interacting. She looks to Eggman as her creator for that dynamic and applies the feelings of love she learned from them to it, even though their master creator and servant creation dynamic is much different to that. She doesn't have that but wishes she did.

Sage also clearly has doubts about him caring for her when she has to ask Sonic if he really thinks Eggman does, and it shows in her songs as she questions whether he'll be mad at her, or if she's asking for too much just to be with him, as I talked about here. This also shows that Eggman hasn't given her enough to convince her and we can really see that in the scenes. Even Sonic mumbles that Eggman "cares" for her "in his own way" because even he knows he isn't capable of loving and caring about people in the traditional conventional expected way.

They played some moments for the cuteness factor as they knew it'd appeal to a wider audience and it sure did but that part has no appeal to me. I instead like how the unsettling undertones are still there and make it interesting to analyze. And with the specific ways he praised her in the memos and the specific circumstances in mind, it makes sense as they're always the reasons that Eggman's side of the dynamic is built on.

It makes sense for Eggman not to trash her, he said she was crucial to his survival. Sure she pissed him off but so do Orbot and Cubot all the time and he keeps them around because ultimately they're useful and do their jobs (plus I also think he enjoys getting to boss them around and discipline them harshly as he does because it gives him a sense of power and control over others). And so does Sage, but with genuine enthusiasm, loyalty, and much more efficiency, and has his best interests in mind and a genuine desire to protect him. So why would he get rid of her and then not want to bring her back after her sacrifice? That would make no sense.

And it makes sense for him to praise her and be proud of her too. It's just like him being proud of Gamma. In fact, the way the scene of him yelling at her comes right before the one where he's saved and praises her highly and says he's proud of her, is a parallel to this scene where he was yelling at all the E Series calling them all dummies but then immediately changing his tune when he saw Gamma and saying he's proud of him for doing exactly what he wanted. I did a whole comparison here.

And it makes sense for him to take pride in her as an impressive life like creation, which he finds superior to organic natural life for it, and the ways he can benefit from her loyalty and efficiency. He can also take pride in her for being her creator/father, as she's a reflection of his genius and scientific skill and is useful to him. And by calling himself her father, it's also appealing to her desires for a familial bond which will also give her even more enthusiasm to serve him.

Eggman doesn't do any of this in ways that don't suit his character. He's valuing, praising her, and acting paternal on these conditions specifically, which is the only way it can work with his narcissism, ego, and selfishness intact. It's great that they didn't change him and instead found a way to further develop and solidify his already existing traits, by showing how a father daughter dynamic can work with these things in mind. It serves an an example rather than an exception to them, and this is what a lot of people are missing.

I also like The Final Horizon's ending as Eggman isn't the overly physically affectionate gushing and throwing arms around people type, it doesn't suit his demeanor and behavior and I'm glad to see that hasn't been suddenly forced with Sage. This isn't over the top and uncomfortable OOC like fanon.

It's a subtle and small gesture, extending his arm with hand out to her but looking away and forward. He's quiet, solemn, and reserved. His demeanor and body language is important. He takes a breath that seems like a "sigh well, here goes" kind of way then mumbles it, not much, just small words of praise towards her doing the very things he created and praised her for before- doing what he wants her to and serving her purpose as his protector like she protected him in the fight, and calling her his daughter also has the same effect in encouraging her and he knows it, as well as how it's appealing to him for his pride as he said in the memo.

It's very important to acknowledge he's not shy at all, that's the last word to describe him. He has the highest self esteem, self love, and confidence and it's all genuine. It's just that hyper affectionate super warm and mushy gushy-ness, be it through feelings, words, or actions isn't his thing. The most he's ever going to hype someone up close to it is in a performative manipulative way to urge them to continue doing what pleases him, and he forces it in some cases more than others, you get varying degrees.

But I like how it's on the more subtle side here a lot because it's even more telling of his true character. When he's acting like this it aligns with that reasoning again but with a new look at his style of showing it in a physical subtle manner, with his behavior being similar to the scene where she saved him in Cyber Space and said he was proud of her for it- only it was only through words then. We've now seen how he can show this verbally and physically and I like it a lot, it's the only way this can work and they did it.

I truly believe he doesn't feel the typical conventional idea of "love" for anyone but himself because he is the biggest egotist and narcissist in all of existence and is extremely selfish and people seem to be forgetting what that entails for his behavior and personality feelings, and mindset with his self absorption and low empathy. There are no sudden exceptions to this, Sage is literally just another perfect example of it, nothing has changed with him.

Also, think about the terms of which he's praising her in all of their "cutest" moments together:

Eggman is delighted that Sage has succeeded in getting Sonic's ass beat and hearing the battle reports. She's proving herself to be very useful and efficient, so he decides to take full advantage of that by properly giving her control of the Eggnet which is a huge promotion. So he uses it to butter her up to make it all the more inviting.

(again click/open in new tab for full view)

She is indeed a good change of pace from Orbot and Cubot as they're often less efficient and don't have the same enthusiasm. Sage brings everything they do but better in appealing to Eggman's interests and serving him well. And at first he takes a dig at them as he hates them immensely without an ounce of fondness but when Sage displays interest in them as being like family, he decides to play along with it and it pleases her, which is also going to make it even more inviting.

But when he first praises her most highly to her face beyond the offhand mumbling of her actions being "commendable" by saying he's proud of her, it's right after he was saved by her from the G.U.N helicopters. Then in The Final Horizon ending where he says she did good and held her hand, it's because he's saying she did a good job in protecting him from the line of fire in the final boss, helping him in destroying The End, and saving the world for him to conquer. Same goes for the original ending for the latter half, for him to revive her and say "that's my girl"

She's done exactly as asked, and he's praising her for it because it genuinely is a job well done and is exactly what he wanted and him reacting with praise encourages that. It's always because he got something out of it. It's not selfless, it's not sweet for the sake of it because he's just feeling sweet and fatherly and kind-hearted. There's always a reason in it where he has benefitted from it. It can be considered emotionally manipulative for that and very conditional too. She goes to great lengths with her actions and he rewards her with mere words- except for when it comes to her biggest accomplishment in The Final Horizon, he takes it a bit further. And what does he offer then? Just a small simple hand hold, while he looks away, seeming quiet and reserved. But it's enough for Sage and it works. It keeps her loyal and loving, he'll need to encourage it to keep her useful and enthusiastic in it.

These are all the specific reasons he praises and warms up to her, also for how calling himself her father is another way to take pride in her as her genius creator, as he said in the Egg Memos. It's all for selfish, self serving, self praising reasons. I like that a lot, it's very in character that way and how it's possible for such a dynamic to exist with his narcissism. Sage is the one giving things to him, protecting him, serving him, and showing loyalty, support, and respect for his desires while Eggman just takes. She does exactly what he wants as she’s created for and is willing and enthusiastic unlike a lot of creations of his. Eggman still hasn’t done shit for Sage, except praise her when she does what he wants but then becomes grumpy and snaps at her every time she does something he doesn’t.

So that's why, while I don't care for the cutesy way they're framed, I can see why Eggman would act that way to appeal to her desire for the family dynamic and encourage her to stay loyal and efficient. So now when it comes to the dynamic, I realized that I shouldn't just write off the entire concept as OOC. The question doesn't lie in "would this situation make sense for Eggman to do at all?", instead it's in "does this have in character reasons and basis for this to happen?" and in my opinion, it absolutely does, so it works.

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"Why was Eggman laughing at Sonic being corrupted? I assumed he personally wants to finish Sonic off. I think of Sonic 2 8 bit in Underground Zone where he saves Sonic to finish him off."

He does really want to be the one personally finish Sonic off. XD He does say this in the English version and in the Japanese version he says he wishes he could've been the one who bury him.

I absolutely love this scene because it really emphasizes that he does hate Sonic as he says, despite any respect he also has and any credit he gives where it's due for him being a formidable adversary. And it's the funniest moment in the game hehe 💕

I think he'll be happy about Sonic dying in any way, as long as it's not being stolen from him from someone else like the Deadly Six for example, so he saved him at Lava Mountain so he could destroy him with his Eggrobo instead. In the Sonic 2 8 bit, I imagine it's because him simply falling into lava also would've been an unsatisfying demise.

In cases where he wasn't the one to directly finish him off, if he still has some hand in it, he can accept it. This doesn't apply when just almost falling into lava like Sonic 2 8 bit or when lackeys of his almost succeed in killing him when they're no longer on his side, like the Zeti breaking the bridge and Sonic almost falling into the lava, so he saved him both times so he could try to kill him himself after.

But in this game, since he helped kick off everything, he's partially responsible for the corruption and can at least settle for that. While he celebrates his supposed demise, he voices that his only regret is that he couldn't finish him off with his own hands for the ultimate satisfaction. Still, it's good to have him out of the way either way, a victory is a victory.

Exactly when and how he wants him to die tends to change a lot though, it's like it depends on his mood lol. Like how sometimes he will very clearly try to kill him during battles as he threatens his life and yells at him to die, how he tried to shoot the capsule out into space, and how he even wants creations or lackeys to actually try to kill him. I guess as long as it's by his orders he can settle for that but again, I think he'd be slightly disappointed that he couldn't do it by his own hands after the fact.

It's kind of like how we know that Eggman would prefer to show him his completed empire before "banishing" him (definitely meant killing) in Forces, which is why he actually kept him alive and imprisoned for six months. Yet he'll always very clearly be out for blood during battles and want him dead there and then. So I feel it depends on how desperate he's feeling to get rid of him in the moment and maybe in the case of Frontiers, for at least one good thing to come out of it. But ultimately, he'll always celebrate his demise if he has some hand in it at all and gets to finally succeed in his goal!

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I love Frontiers Eggman so much. 🥰💜 I love his characterization and what he did actually get to do and I'm really glad I gave him another chance after my initial disappointment. The only things I'd change are a couple of English lines because they didn't make sense or would've been more in character rephrased but in most of those cases JP fixed it- and I'd give him more action, though the update improved on it a bit and gave him a chance to go up against the boss. But I really enjoy the new directions they took him in as new interesting ways to further explore and solidify his already existing character. It made it a lot of fun for me to analyze too!

[galactic-feelins]

I was originally planning for Sora to get involved in the Runaway City au officially fairly late in, seeing as finding Sora is the whole point of Roxas' adventure, but unfortunately I've been craving more Heartless Sora content the past few days. I was already thinking of sharing the crew's adventures out of order, but even if I told the story nonlinearly or had random shenanigans comics with miscellaneous time frames or as hypotheticals, I think it'd get confusing. 

So the other night I had an idea: I'll just let Sora breach containment! I already had the idea to start things off with the reason for THIS au on why exactly Roxas is on this adventure at all; Sora woke up just fine but turned out to be too Heartlessy and got put back in the machine, and I figured it could tide me over to have bits here and there where he woke up for a bit before getting caught and knocked out again! However that night I decided it'd be way funnier if, one of those times, Sora actually manages to escape Castle Oblivion entirely. Can you imagine the shenanigans already? Hell, he could get his new outfit on his own or with different friends then! He doesn't have to get it with Roxas anymore!

So anyway, if anyone has opinions or recommendations I'd love to hear them, and if you have a preference on how the timeline could go down I'd like to hear it too! For now I'm gonna finish the bday thing even thought it's like 2 weeks late now XD

Actually the wait might be longer; I'm participating in this year's Green With Envy event for the first time ever and yet I haven't even gotten started on the line arts... oopsies <3 Phandom friends eat your heart out I guess <3

[llowlifepunk]

project$$

**lucki describing advice earl sweatshirt gave him on what to do when you can't write

i look at projects as "reports on my life". i used to look back and listen to my old ones for the same reason i don't today; when i listen to them, i'm instantly transported back to where and who i was when i made them, for better or for worse. when i listen to "shit happens", i feel like that desperate 17 year old kid trying to get one last word out before it's too late. when i listen to "(deadman)", i remember being the 18 year old black sheep of my family trying (and kinda failing) to take steps towards adulthood. when i listen to "life happens", i hear a 19 year old who's losing everyone around him and terrified of growing up.

"otherwrld" broke the chain because instead of reporting what's going on in my life, i created a whole new world and a whole new character: vincent. that's what you'd think, right? lol

of course, vincent is really just me! vincent is me if i never had a family or loved ones to put me on a good path and/or guide me. if i didn't have those things, i would almost certainly be an interstellar assassin from a dystopian earth. (sidenote: some things nvr change is one of my best and favorite songs i've ever made)

that brings us to "slaps 4 da spaceship" (or s4ds/slaps).

slaps was originally supposed to be a short ~5 track ep about vincent A) traveling to participate in a deadly intergalactic battle royale in pursuit of the prize, which is having one wish granted, and B) falling in love for the first time. of course, me being me, it became an entire 8 tracker which i'm dropping this friday, february 14th. life happened, though, and i ultimately came to the realization that college and creating a webcomic? not particularly sustainable or doable, especially where i'm at in each aspect of my art. i decided to lean a little less into the "concept" part because 1, i'm still mastering the art of telling a fictional story through music without making it corny and tryhardy, and 2, i've already decided i'm coming back and remaking this later.

simply put, i do not think i have it in me to write, draw, and publish my own webcomic while working on music and being a full-time college student. i thought i did but right now, i don't. as much as i wish i was (SPECIFICALLY in terms of doing this kinda thing lol), i am not andrew hussie! surprise

i've got a lot of the writing for the comic down (fucking 31 pages worth btw and thats just the outline), but that's about it. decent amount of panels but not nearly enough. animations? pfff...this shit is so time-consuming bra, and i think that even if i pushed myself to get it all out there, it wouldn't be worth it because i don't think my music or drawing is there yet. operative word being "yet". i will come back to this, because i genuinely do think this multimedia project could end up being my magnum opus. but when i do come back, i'm probably remastering otherwrld and remaking slaps. maybe i'll come back to it sooner than either of us think. who knows?

btw i recognize that this isn't as big of a deal to y'all because you've barely been introduced to this large-scale concept, but it's a really big deal to me because i've been planning and working on this for almost a year now and i got HELLA invested in it for a minute there. felt important to put out there.

for now, i have one or two more concept projects left in me, and then i'm honestly just gonna make and drop whatever tf i want for a while so i don't burn out again. the thing about trying to tell a story with your music is that it's exhausting. trying to make every piece line up perfectly and get a message across in a way that feels authentic to you and your listeners is time-consuming and fucking hard. especially when your morale and ego have been beat down at almost every turn for the past year and a half. sure, i make a lil bread off this shit, but i'm ultimately doing it for the love of the game and after almost seven years of making music, sometimes that isn't enough. which is cool because i'm a human and not a music making machine. after all, that's what makes it interesting and that's what makes me authentic.

s4ds drops this friday. until next time!

[bluejaysandblackbats]

Eyes and Ears

Fandom: DC Comics, Batfam

Summary: An AU where Barbara finds Jason instead of Bruce.

It's March and Jason's fifteen in this chapter.

Chapters: 27/?

Characters: Jason Todd, Barbara Gordon, Jim Gordon, Dick Grayson, Bruce Wayne, Sheila Haywood, Original Character(s)

Relationship(s): Jason Todd/Original Character(s), Past Barbara Gordon/Dick Grayson

Additional Tags: Canon Divergent AU, Older SIbling Barbara Gordon, Jason Todd-centric, Barbara Gordon is Oracle, Jason Todd is NOT Robin, Jason Todd Has Issues, Jason Todd Has a Crush, Adopted Siblings

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Spring Break

As the years went on, Barbara gifted Jason a computer of his own, and he took the PSAT's for the first time. To celebrate his results, Jim allowed Jason to go up to Metropolis with his friends. "Got your—." Barbara pointed to her ear to see if Jason had comms with him. Jason nodded. "Heated blanket? Extra socks? Phone charger? Kryptonite? Headphones?"

"Whoa! Hold on, Kryptonite? Why would I need Kryptonite? I'm not meeting Superman, and if I was gonna meet Superman, I definitely wouldn't want to attack him," Jason chuckled. Barbara smiled.

"Just keeping you on your toes," Barbara replied as she opened her arms and hugged him. "You're so grown up. I can't believe you're gonna be sixteen this year!"

"Barb?" Jason whispered.

"Yeah?" she answered, feeling a little more emotional than she was used to.

"You're cutting off my air supply," Jason strained, and she let go and punched his shoulder. "And I'm not that grown up. It's just my PSAT score. Next year is when I get to take the real thing. I think by then, I'll be all caught up with you."

"Don't act like you aren't excited about this trip," Barbara teased. Jason chuckled.

"I am excited... It's the first time I've ever left Gotham. I hate that I was too scared to do Lenaea this year... But maybe that was a good thing. That's a little too far too soon, don't you think?" Jason asked. Barbara pouted playfully. "I'm asking the wrong person. You think I'm old enough to go across the country for a school trip but not old enough to work under your supervision." She pinched his cheek.

"Your chances of dying in Oregon would've been low. Let's leave it there for now," Barbara replied.

"For now?" Jason asked.

"We'll see how you do on your driver's test on your birthday," Barbara whispered as she straightened out his jacket. Jason grabbed her hands.

"Babs, you're joking... You're kidding, right?" Jason asked. Barbara shook her head, and he embraced her.

"Okay, now go put your shoes on. Mr. Polishuk and Number Five will be here any minute," Barbara smiled.

"Oh, you're not gonna believe this. Reese and A.J. like this one. Her name's Emma... And get this, I found out she's having a girl," Jason replied, "But that's a secret. She told me on accident at A.J.'s birthday party. I haven't told Reese or A.J. or Dad, just you." Barbara messed up his hair.

"How is A.J.?" Barbara asked.

"Oh, he's good. He and Mason are going out," Jason replied, "But that's also a secret because Reese and Mason are mad at each other."

"Look at you, the keeper of secrets," Barbara teased. Jason shrugged playfully as the doorbell rang.

"I got it! I got it!" Jim yelled. Jason waved at Barbara as he took his suitcase to the living room and slipped on his shoes. Jason smiled and stood next to Jim for a moment before embracing him. "Be good, okay?" Jason smiled and nodded.

"Love you, Dad. I'll see you Saturday, and I swear I'll take tons of pictures," Jason promised. Jason waved one last time as he followed the Polishuks down to their van. Once they were on the freeway, all the kids started to talk amongst themselves, except Reese, who went straight to sleep.

"Do you think it's finally gonna happen?" A.J. asked Jason.

Jason's ears grew hot, and he shook his head. "Oh, I dunno. I know it's weird that I still haven't kissed him, but it's like every time we go in for a kiss, something horrible happens. Remember at the beach I tried to kiss him, and my nose started bleeding? Or when he went in to kiss me at the spring carnival and threw up over my shoulder? I think we're doomed to never kiss," Jason replied. Reese started to snore, and A.J. laughed.

"You're waiting for a perfect moment, and with Reese, that's never gonna come. He had his first kiss in seventh grade—."

Reese stretched out. "Ignore that. I'm gonna kiss you when we get to the Daily Planet. I've already decided," Reese smiled with his eyes closed. Jason turned to give Reese a peck on the cheek just as Reese turned his head, and they kissed. Jason let out a scream. Everyone else shrieked in surprise.

"What are you screaming for?" Casey yelled as she tried to calm herself back down.

A.J. laughed so hard he started to cry. "The irony," A.J. laughed.

Jason pulled his shirt up to his forehead out of embarrassment. "Please unlock the doors so I can end it all," Jason groaned. Reese held back a laugh as he tried to get Jason to show his face.

"It wasn't bad. I definitely have to say it was worth the wait even if it was an accident," Reese reassured him. Jason revealed his face, and Reese kissed him on the cheek.

They all went back to talking and laughing before the boys drifted off to sleep. The girls continued to talk to each other in the very back of the car. Jason was in and out of sleep for most of the ride there, and he finally awakened to look out the window. "Are we there?" Jason asked. Mr. Polishuk chuckled.

"We're there," he answered. Mr. Polishuk pulled into the parking lot of the hotel. Reese and A.J. woke up and elbowed each other playfully. "Come on, kids. Let's get settled in, and then I'll let you all go."

Everyone piled out of the car and got their bags, and Reese dropped everything to help Emma get her things. Mr. Polishuk went ahead of them to get checked in, and he came back with the keys. She smiled and whispered something to him, and Reese smiled. "Love you too, Emma," Reese replied as he carried both his bags and hers up to their hotel rooms. They all put their bags in the rooms, and they promised Emma and Mr. Polishuk they'd be back before dinnertime. Jason went with Reese straight to the park and hung around eating hot dogs and waiting for a Superman sighting.

"Jason, do you think we'll still be together when we're in our twenties?" Reese asked.

"I think so... But we don't have to worry about that now. That's years from now," Jason replied, "What'd you get on yours?" Jason pointed to the hot dog Reese had.

"Wanna try?" Reese asked as he held it up to Jason's face, and Jason took a bite.

"Mm!" Jason exclaimed as he finished chewing and went in for another bite. "Is that ham? On a hot dog?"

Reese kissed Jason's cheek and went to get two more of the same hot dog. "You should consider entering the school hot dog eating contest this year," Reese teased as Jason took a sip of water.

"Are the hot dogs any good?" Jason asked. Reese laughed and nodded.

"Yeah, they're delicious. Kind of plain, though," Reese replied. Jason started on another one.

"What does the winner get?" Jason asked.

"It's for charity, so it's like one hundred a hot dog for the charity of your choice, and like at the pep rally, a person in a hot dog suit gives you a sash and a crown," Reese laughed.

"Oh yeah, how could I forget the prestigious hot dog coronation," Jason grinned, "Hm... Maybe I'll do it."

"How many hot dogs can you eat? Like realistically speaking," Reese asked. Jason finished chewing before he looked over at Reese.

"Like in one sitting, I'd say maybe like nine if I was on an empty stomach and they were plain. I could probably hold down ten and a half, but no more than that," Jason answered casually.

"Where does the food go?" Reese teased.

"Shut up," Jason laughed. Reese snuck a bite. They both sat and talked until they finished eating, and they got up and walked to the bus stop. Jason checked his phone.

The bus hit a bump in the road, and Reese stumbled a little. Jason looked up from his phone and placed a steadying hand on Reese's arm. "Thanks," Reese whispered, "What's going on?"

"Oh, it's nothing serious right now," Jason whispered. Reese kissed the top of Jason's head. "It's just a dead end."

"Are you still looking for your mom?" Reese asked. Jason nodded.

"Yeah, but it's not looking good. Every time I think I've found my mom, it ends up being a dead end. I try not to look for her too much," Jason whispered.

"Why? Don't you wanna find her?" Reese asked.

"I don't know," Jason replied.

[tuulikannel]

That poll I reblogged, about having another name than your birth name, led me to think about my online nick... I can't remember for sure when it was, but I think it might have been around the year 2000 when I discovered fanfiction.net and started reading fanfics. And then I figured I should come up with some consistent nick to sign my (anon) reviews.

I've never really had any nicknames, so at first I didn't have a clue what to use. Then I thought that maybe something from Finnish mythology would be nice, and in the end ended up with Tuulikki. Tuuli means wind, -kki is an ancient ending for female names. It was also my mother's middle name, and I think this was relatively soon after her death (which means it'd have been in 2001). That made the choice pretty obvious to me.

Honestly, back then I had no idea I was picking a name I'd be using for years to come, everywhere online. ^^; I just wanted something with which to sign my reviews... After a while I dropped off the -kki ending (Tuulikki is very prone to being misspelled by non-Finns, I noticed ^^;;) and so I ended up with Tuuli. As both Tuuli and Tuulikki are often taken, I sometimes use other variations, like tuuli-chan (heh) back in the old days of LJ, or tuulikannel (wind harp) here on tumblr. That latter one's fitting also in the sense that I play kannel (or kantele as it's more commonly called. A Finnish traditional instrument.) Sometimes I've also used tuulentupa which literally means wind's cottage and figuratively, castle in the air. (We're not that fancy here, we just have cottages, no castles XD)

Another reason I like the name tuulikannel is that there is a poem by Eino Leino by that name. It made a great impact on me when I first read it, and only way later I've fully understood why. I did see myself in it. I have no idea what the poem really is about, but the beauty of poetry is that you can have your own interpretation... and I see someone aroace in it. But I think I'll put the rest of my poetry analysis behind a cut, cause I feel like I'm really going off on a tangent here, I was just gonna make a short post about my username... XD

Here's the first verse of that poem, in original Finnish followed by my extremely literal, not-even-attempting-to-rhyme translation:

Muut sydämen saivat, ma kantelen, muut murehti, nautti, ma en, ma en, en kurja ma elää, en kuolla voi, kun sykä ei syömeni, soi, vaan soi!

Others got a heart, I, a harp, others sorrowed, enjoyed, but not me, I, poor wretch, cannot live, nor die, as my heart doesn't beat, it only rings!

This makes me so strongly think about that comic about an aroace girl whose heart is blue, not red like everyone else's. (This one.) That feeling that there's something wrong with your heart - with you - when you can't feel what others feel. That feeling of being different, and the loneliness it brings.

Third verse (it's a longish poem, I'm not going to go through it all)

Mun syömeni tuulikannel on, sen kielissä laulu on lakkaamaton, se yössä, päivässä, yksinään soi ilmahan ijäti väräjävään.

My heart is a harp of the wind, in its strings an unending song, in the day, in the night, all alone, it echoes in the shivering air.

From the aroace pov, this is interesting to me. There is a song in the heart, but it sings it alone. Should the heart have a rhythm then, rather than a melody? A rhythm it could share with someone (two hearts beating as one...) But why is rhythm more important than melody? Or is the problem the loneliness of the heart? Perhaps the heart is longing for another one to join the song. Or perhaps it has simply been conditioned to feel that way, by the surrounding society. A lonely heart isn't a good thing, we all know that, right? And if you're alone, you got to be lonely! But surely the song of a single heart can be beautiful, too.

Jumping to the end of the poem, now:

Kiro katkera, julmuus jumalien: Itse orja, ma vapautta veisailen, itse lemmetön, lemmestä laulan ma, itse tunnoton, viritän tunteita!

A bitter curse, the cruelty of gods: I, a slave, hum freedom, I, loveless, sing about love, I, unfeeling, evoke emotions!

This ending. I've always felt it pretty strongly. Sure, I don't write much romance, but it does exist in my stories too. Yet it is something I personally know nothing about, and never will. I would not call this a bitter curse, though, but I do understand that view. Again, I'm think of that girl in the comic... I can understand how this could feel like a curse to some.

I first used tuulikannel for my writing journal on livejournal, and this poem was pretty much the reason why. It felt so perfect, back then. I do connect to it now, too, but I would like to give the poet a hug. ^^ Let your heart sing its songs! I do rather have a kantele as my heart than a drum, anyway. ^^

[antonias-beloved]

𝙼𝚢 𝙾𝚗𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙾𝚗𝚒

Chapter seven

Characters: Miki (original character), Maria (original character), Antonia, Hatsune Miku, The Night Rose, Nyanja, Kendo, Marigold

Warnings: violence, blood, broken bones, abuse, tears, making out, everyone is going through it™️, should I have written this?

"Miki! Miki! Wake up, I gotta show you something!" I hear someone say.

"wha... hinako?" I groggily mumble.

"... It's Maria. Who's Hinako?"

"Never mind... It's not important." I move my duvet off of me, only to see that my mattress is soaked.

Yeah, I forgot I did that.

"Miki, is that c-"

"Don't finish that sentence." I point my finger at Maria, and put on a set of clean clothes. A short red long sleeve dress with a black belt and gold buckle, and white fur trim on the skirt, wrists and collar. "I look good in this..."

"You forgot something!" Maria exclaims as she pops a Santa hat on my head. "Now you're ready for winterfest!" I hug Maria, looking at our outfits. Maria was wearing a white shirt with ruffled cuffs, a brown corset, green shorts, white tights and a green cloak-

"Is that a Venti cosplay?"

"Yeah! One moment, lemme get the wig! I'm going to comic con!"

I chuckle and walk into Miku's room.

"Nobody told me Maria was going to comic con."

"I haven't gotten her to shut up about it. Surprised she's not going as Mavuika, since I know how much she loves her."

"Good point. Maria and Antonia could've gone as a Mavuika-Capitano couples cosplay."

"MIKI YOU'RE A GENIUS I'M CHANGING IMMEDIATELY!!" I hear Maria yell from the other room.

"So I'm guessing they're gonna be at that convention all day..."

"Yup. Wanna dress up?"

"I don't see why not. Who are you gonna dress up as?"

"I'm gonna dress up as poison ivy!"

"Gonna paint your face green too?" I remark as I grab a matching Harley Quinn cosplay.

Miku laughs while putting on a wig cap. "Now that you mention it..."

"Don't tell me you're actually considering it!"

"I might! It's a fun idea!"

"No way..." we both laugh.

"So are you gonna talk about the weird noises I heard last night?" Miku asks.

I pause. "I can explain."

Miku laughs. "I didn't know you miss her that much! It's only been a couple of days!"

"I didn't know either until I started doing it! She's all that's been on my mind!"

"Who're you talking about?" Antonia asks, leaning on the doorframe in a full Capitano cosplay.

"Hinako..."

"Okay, I've heard that name being passed around between you two, but I have no clue who that is." Antonia takes off the helmet. I can honestly see why Maria married her now, she looks fine in that outfit.

"You might not believe me... But it's the night rose." I flop down on Miku's bed with a wide smile.

I can already see the years turning in Antonia's head. "...what? You were terrified of her a week ago!"

"And then she visited me, and something must've changed, because now I'm hopelessly in love with her!"

Antonia leaves the room without saying another word. Miku and I burst out laughing.

"Her reaction was priceless!"

Miku giggles. "I know, right? It was hilarious!"

"You know... I need to think about winterfest gifts for you guys."

"You could always get me the anthology CD..."

"You don't even have the first ttpd CD!" I laugh.

"Get me both then! And add the rise and fall of a Midwest princess while you're at it!"

We both laugh.

"I might just get you scaled and icy at this rate..."

"Oh no, not the dema propaganda!" Miku says sarcastically.

I sigh and look at the ceiling. "How many times have we laid down on your bed and talked about our interests again?"

"Too many to count. It's nice to have a friend like you..."

"Yeah, it is. A friend I can talk to about anything, and won't judge me..." I smile and hold her hand. "A friend who will always be by my side, no matter what."

"A best friend."

"Yes... A best friend."

┅┅┅┅┅┅┅༻❁༺┅┅┅┅┅┅┅

"You DARE disobey me again?!"

"I'm sorry! It won't happen again!"

"LIAR!"

The mask tosses me to the other side of the dojo. If the bruises weren't visible before, they definitely are now. I was finally off the strings, but I was being tossed around like an unwanted doll...

And I wouldn't even be off the strings for long.

"Please... Please stop... I won't visit her again, I promise..."

"I don't even know how your shade got OUT of the dojo. I'll have to redo the spell, make sure there are no holes to slide through..."

I burst into tears. It was the only thing I could do at this point... Fighting back was what got me into this mess. I'm hopeless... All because I loved her...

"I'm sorry... I'm really sorry... I won't see her again, I promise..."

"You better be." the mask glares at me. "You will accompany Shogun X to find this "Zero Shard" we came here to retrieve. The mission will be tomorrow. You will be in tactical gear, as always. Do NOT fail me."

"I won't, master..."

"Good. Now..."

SNAP

"AAAAAGGHHH!!"

He breaks my arm before pulling me up with the strings.

"Your healing should take care of it by tomorrow. You'll be fine."

The mask is a monster... I hate him.

I wish I knew what Miki's doing... I hope she's okay...

«────── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ──────»

"You're tailor-made for this day and age cause you're powerless and look like prey! You are fooled by the way that this act behaves and your beating heart has gone insane, it's always resonating!" I sing out loud.

"Joy, all the same, doesn't have much weight and that charismatic smile is fake! If you stare hard and gape at the truth displayed, you will end up going blind someday, so go and practice some restraint!" Miku sings along.

"That song is really fast... Oh my goodness..."

"Imagine being hypnotized while singing it..."

"Oh my goodness..."

"It was insane... I'm lucky Teto was able to help me."

"Damn... Tell me more about Teto!

"She's really fun to hang out with... You know how my 'thing' is leeks?"

"Yeah, I do know. And Luka's 'thing' is tuna."

"Teto's thing is bread. Baguettes in particular. She loves bread..."

"Sounds a bit like Maria." I chuckle. "She loves eating carbs..."

"That girl has a weird taste in food..."

"She has a weird taste in everything. Have you seen the outfits she wears?"

"What was her motto again? She can make anything casual if she tries hard enough?"

I laugh. "Yup, that's the one! Now, more about Teto!"

"Well... She's a Chimera."

"She's a what now?"

"A Chimera. I don't know either."

After a while of talking about Teto, we decide to talk about Hinako.

"So, tell me what happened that night. You never told me everything." Miku inquires.

"I was struggling to sleep, and then I heard footsteps... I grabbed my Katana, because I always keep it next to me in my bed. She opened the sliding door, and I pointed my Katana at her."

"Then what?"

"Well... We both said not to hurt each other... And I instinctively trusted her for some reason... Then she said that she has no reason to hurt me, and that I was her only hope. That moment stuck with me, not only because she let her guard down in front of me... But because I heard her voice for the first time. And damn... It's beautiful."

"I'm guessing that's what sparked the little crush..."

"Shut up! But... Yeah. It is. She said she needed me to free her, and my mind fell to the dreams. And the string... I always thought it was blood, but it was her puppet strings!"

"not surprised..."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing! Just that you tend to overthink!"

"...fair. But anyway, after we had a little talk about the strings, we had a laugh together... And for some reason, I felt like we've been friends for a long time. Even though I only heard her voice for the first time that day. And then she hugged me... I felt so fuzzy..."

"And that's when you gave her her name, right?"

"Yeah! My mind got brought back to an old memory, my old friend and I deciding what our names would be if we were to change them. I chose Miki, and she chose Hinako..."

"What if the night rose was your old friend?"

I pause. It could be possible... "That's not a bad idea, Miku..."

"Look into it. Maybe you'll find something."

"Yeah, you're right. But anyway. After I gave her a name, she said that I used to be the night rose."

"WHAT?!" Miku yells. "You just decided to tell me now, and not the night of?!"

"I'm sorry, I was thinking about her!"

"This is a big thing!"

"I know, and I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner! I was in love!" my mind snaps back to that night. "Right, the story. My mind was racing with so many thoughts, but one was loudest. I love her. So I decided that I wanted to kiss her..."

"But you didn't. Why?"

"Because she was pulled away, presumably by the mask..."

"Oh..."

"And that's when you walked in."

"And I know the rest."

"Yeah." I sit up and take off the blonde wig that was sitting on my head. I love being Harley Quinn, but wearing a wig for a long time is really uncomfortable. I remove the wig cap and let my hair fall down. "I need her, Miku... And she needs me. Maybe not in the same way, but she still needs my help regardless."

"Winterfest is coming up... Maybe you could get her a gift. What does she like?"

"I don't know..."

"Maybe you could make something, like a painting or a craft.

"A craft could work... Something nice and simple, but that she'll still remember."

"You could always use kintsugi on a bowl or vase or something."

"Kintsugi! Miku, you're a genius! But... Doesn't that involve gold?"

"Don't worry. Maria knows someone who can help with that."

When Maria and Antonia got back home from comic con, they both looked exhausted. But I had to ask the question.

"Hey, Maria?"

"Yeah, Miki?" Maria replies.

"Can you please call Marigold?"

"...why?"

"I need some gold for a craft I'm doing. Can I talk to her?"

"Sure. What's the craft?"

"Kintsugi bowl for Hinako..."

Maria looked perplexed, with a face that could only be described as drunk citlali.

"The night rose."

"Ooohhhhh!! Yeah, that makes sense. Go ahead."

"Your contact for her is... Goldy girly?"

"Yeah. Now call her."

I press dial, and she picks up almost instantly. "Hello? Maria?" a smooth British accent comes through the phone.

"Uhh, I'm Maria's friend, Miki. It's nice to meet you, Marigold."

"Nice to meet you too. I'm guessing you didn't call me just to chat though."

"No, I didn't. I was wondering if I could have some gold powder. I need it for a kintsugi project I'm making."

"Kintsugi, hm? You got anything to give me?"

"I could give you a finished bowl if you want."

"Hmm... Sounds good. When do you want it?"

"Any point before winterfest would be great, thanks."

"How's tomorrow sound?"

"Tomorrow sounds great! Wanna meet up at nightshift?"

"Strange request, but sure."

"See you tomorrow, then." I hang up the phone. "Thanks, Maria."

"No problem. Always happy to help out a friend."

After talking to Maria, I walk into my room and reach for a box of beads under my bed. Just before I grab the box, my hand grazes my bag, and I feel the void oni mask. I feel the wave void energy rushing through me, and I shiver. I'm scared for a moment, but then I realize it feels like one of Hinako's shades... My chest warms up and the heat pools down. Do I really miss her that much? I instinctively shut my legs, trying to ignore the wetness. I grab my beads from behind the bag, and start making bracelets for all my friends. One for Miku, Maria, Antonia, Hope, Kendo... Jade- shit. Jade's still in the portal.

Hinako... I could make one for Hinako.

Red, white, black... I'm running out of red beads. I need to get more. But... There! I made a bracelet for Hinako! I smile while looking at the bracelet. It's... It's her. I decide to make a bracelet with her name for myself, to remember her when she's not with me.

"I love you, Hinako..." I whisper as I hold the bracelet. "I wish you were here with me..."

I place the bracelets into small pouches and put them in a bag where I plan to store the rest of the winterfest gifts, except for the one I made for myself. I decide I feel tired, so I lie down on my bed and fall asleep.

┅┅┅┅┅┅┅༻❁༺┅┅┅┅┅┅┅

Everything hurts... Bruises all over my body, scars dripping blood on the floor, burns from the mask's fireballs, and of course my broken arm... I'm pretty sure he's sending me on that mission tomorrow to torture me, because he knows I'll barely be able to walk in this state, let alone complete an entire mission. I just have to hope it's in nightshift forest, just for the slightest chance that I might see Miki.

I couldn't even sleep. The pain was too intense. I just hung there on my strings, hopelessly dangling as always...

Morning comes and I'm immediately greeted by Nyanja.

"Sup, rosy?" he calls out "woah, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, don't worry about me." Of course I wasn't fine, I just didn't want him to worry. "And... It's Hinako now. Miki gave me a name."

"Hinako, huh? Sounds nice. So... What happened to you?"

"...the mask happened."

"...right. The mask. So what's the deal with you and Miki? Are you like, lovers or something?"

"One day, hopefully. But not right now... I don't even think she likes me that much."

"Oh... So friends?"

"Only just. She looked terrified of me a few days ago..."

"Huh... Okay."

The silence was deafening...

"So... Do you want a Capri Sun?"

"Sure." He grabs a Capri Sun from his backpack, stabs the straw in and brings it up to my mouth. I drink the fruit juice and smile. "Thanks, Nyanja..."

"No problem. Always happy to help out a friend."

He said we're friends...

I didn't even realize that I was crying until Nyanja wiped the tears away.

"Hey, it's okay... Why were you crying?"

"I have a friend... You're my friend..." I blubber. "An actual friend..."

"Don't cry, don't cry... Yeah, you do have a friend. You have two... Me, and Miki."

The tears just kept falling. I couldn't control it... "Thank you..."

"You're welcome, Hinako."

«────── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ──────»

The next day, I walk around nightshift forest, looking for Marigold, only knowing what she looks like because of a picture Maria took.

"Marigold? Hello?"

"Ah, you must be Miki!" I hear from behind. There I see her, a girl with fair skin, short black hair, and a golden eye. Her right eye had a scar over it... I wonder where she got it from.

"Yes, I'm Miki! You must be Marigold, right?"

"Yes, I am. Here's the gold powder you wanted." she gives me a ziploc bag of a bright golden dust.

"How did you get it?" I ask. She then pulls out her right hand from her pocket, revealing that her hand and wrist were golden. "Woah... Are you a spirit? Like me?"

"What? No... I'm cursed."

"Oh..."

"It's okay. I once had someone call me a goddess. I still don't know if it was a compliment or an observation..."

I laugh. "Thanks for the gold. Can we like... Shake hands, without you turning me to gold?"

"Yes, we can. You don't have to worry about that."

I shake her hand. "I'll give you the bowl at winterfest. See you then!"

"See you."

We both walk our separate ways and I get started on the kintsugi bowls.

I grab my phone and put on some twenty one pilots to set the mood. I put the bowls, gold dust and resin on the table, and get to work. I crack the first bowl, a white one with black flowers and a red rim around the top and bottom. I then mix the resin and gold dust, and apply it on the cracks. Piece by piece, the bowl slowly came together like a puzzle, and eventually, it was complete. I run small amounts of resin on the cracks to make sure the gold is visible and to make it stronger.

Seeing the cracks and imperfections all defined with the gold reminded me that even if something is broken, it can be beautiful. I run a finger along my slits... Broken, but beautiful.

"Sometimes you gotta bleed to know, that you're alive and have a soul..." I hear Tyler Joseph sing from my headphones. I smile at the music, resting my head on the table. I didn't notice the tears falling down my face until I lifted my head...

I look at my Hinako bracelet. What if I made one with my own name for her? I thought. I decided to go with it. After making the bracelet, I place it into the bowl, wrapping the bowl with tissue paper and placing it into a box. I wrap it in red wrapping paper and put a green ribbon around it, tying it at the top with a bow. I grab a card from Maria's box and write in it for Hinako.

Dear Hinako,

Happy Winterfest! I hope you like the gift I gave you, I made it myself. I just want to say that after you visited me as your shade, I fell in love with you and I haven't been able to keep my mind off you. Please... Say you love me back.

Love from

Miki.

XOXO

I put the card in an envelope and write "Hinako" on the back, and I walk to my room to put it in the bag.

┅┅┅┅┅┅┅༻❁༺┅┅┅┅┅┅┅

A few weeks have passed since Nyanja came to visit me. All I've been thinking about is Miki and Nyanja... That cat is such a good friend. And Miki... I haven't been able to get my mind off her. The snow is thick on the ground outside, and the cold air blows into the dojo, making me shiver. My arm didn't heal, and I was forced to go on the mission with a broken arm, which didn't help at all.

I hear footsteps again. Is it... No, it can't be.

Miki?

"Hinako? Hinako, I have a gift for you! i mean, if the mask lets me give it to you..."

It's Miki...

"Miki! Miki, I'm here!" my voice sounded hoarse, I was too beat up to yell...

"Hinako! I have something for-" she freezes in horror when she sees me.

«────── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ──────»

It was finally Winterfest. Everyone was sat around the tree, ready to open their gifts.

But I was walking through the snow to demon's dojo. Man, it was freezing. But I had to get to Hinako. I needed to see her. I just want her to know I love her...

The sounds of bells and Mariah Carey echoed through the air, solidifying the winterfest vibe. The snow on the ground sticks to my boots, and the snowfall sat on my hair and clothes, making it almost sparkle. Miku decided to join me after opening her gifts, and walks next to me in her "mesmerizer dress", and despite the short skirt, she wasn't cold.

"I bet Hinako will love your gift." Miku says.

"Thanks, Miku. You gave the other bowl to Marigold, right?" I reply.

"Yup, Marigold has the bowl! She loves it!"

"Good... I'm glad she likes it." we walk to the base of the stairs that lead to the dojo, and there we see Kendo...

"Miki? Miku? What are you doing here?" he asks. "You should be celebrating Winterfest."

"We are. I'm giving a gift to the night rose."

"You do know the night rose is-"

"She's not. She's my friend. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go see her." I push past Kendo, and walk up to the dojo. He grabs my wrist before I reach the top of the steps.

"No. You're not going up there."

"I'm just giving her a gift!l

"She might kill you!"

"She's relying on me to save her!"

Kendo pauses. "Don't free her. You don't know what might happen if you do."

"I can't. Not now... But I can try to help her." I pull my hand away and walk up to the dojo. "Hinako? Hinako, I have a gift for you! i mean, if the mask lets me give it to you..."

"Miki! Miki, I'm here!" I hear Hinako call out. Her voice sounds sore, like she's in pain... I run up to the dojo to see if she's okay.

"Hinako! I have something for-" I freeze when I see the state she's in. Scars and bruises all over her body, blood dripping on the ground... And her arm is broken. "Hinako, are you okay?!" I run up to her and hold her face. "Please be okay... Please..."

"Miki..." she smiles at me, and I swear I can see her face turn a slight pinkish hue. "You're here... You're actually here..."

"Yes, of course I'm here... I would never spend winterfest without you." I smile widely, looking into Hinako's eyes. But my gaze kept falling to her lips...

"I can't believe it... You can free me! You can get me out of here!"

I pause. "I... I don't know how. I'm sorry, Hinako..."

Her eyes widen, and she looks like she's about to cry.

"Hinako... Please don't cry, I'll try to get you out... I promise..." I hug her tightly, trying to comfort her. "It might just take a bit longer than you thought. Okay?"

"Okay..." Hinako sniffles.

"I will get you out though... I'll find a way."

"Thank you, Miki... Thank you so much..."

"I... I actually came to give you something. A gift, from me to you."

The strings drop, as if the mask wanted me to give her the gift. I kneel down to meet her gaze, since she was sitting on the ground.

"Here you go. I made it myself..." I give her the gift. She struggles to open it with her broken arm, but eventually, she looks inside and sees the bowl and bracelets.

"I love it..." she says, almost in tears. "Thank you, Miki..." she hugs me, tears falling down her face.

"You're welcome... Happy Winterfest, Hinako." I pull back and hold her face. I smile while looking at her eyes.

"How can you smile while looking at me? I'm broken..."

I remember the lyrics of the song that was playing while I was putting together the bowl... Tear in my heart. "Sometimes you gotta bleed to know... That you're alive and have a soul..."

"That's a nice song..."

"It's one of my favorites. You're broken... But you're still beautiful. These scars will fade eventually. You know that, right?"

She smiles. "Yeah... They will."

"Don't worry, Hinako... I'm here for you." I hold her to my chest. My heart is beating faster, and my face is bright red...

"I have a gift for you too..." Hinako says to my surprise. "Look at me, okay?" I move back and look into her eyes. She moves closer and closer, her eyes fixed on my lips. I lean closer to meet her, but before we could kiss, Kendo runs into the dojo.

"What are you doing?!" he yells at me. "I told you she was dangerous!"

"She was just about to kiss me!" I yell back. "Can't you see that?!"

"Get away from my friend, you monster!" Kendo grabs me away from Hinako, pointing his Katana at her.

"Miki!"

"Hinako!"

"Stay back, night rose!" he continues to point his Katana at her, keeping her away from me. I look through my bag to find something I could use to get out of this situation.

"Kendo, let go of me!"

"I'm just keeping you safe! She's an oni!"

"She's a puppet!" I continue to rummage through my bag, looking for a knife or an alarm or something. Then I see it.

"The mask still controls her!" Miku yells as she runs into the dojo.

"I'm not doing anything!" Hinako calls out, her voice sounding weak.

"Let me go! Or I'll use this!" I lift up the void oni mask. To be honest, I had no clue how it worked, but it was my only option.

"You wouldn't dare..."

"Try me." I put on the oni mask. Suddenly, I feel a rush of energy coursing through me. I make a void tear using the mask on the other side of the dojo and teleport to it, getting away from Kendo. So that's how it works... I immediately run between Kendo and Hinako...

Who do I choose?

One of my first friends, or...

My love?

What do I fight for?

"Hey, Hinako?" I ask, moving closer to her.

"Miki?"

"What was that gift you were gonna give me?"

"It was this..." she doesn't waste any time. She holds the back of my head, pushing it forward and kissing me. I immediately melt into the kiss, running my tongue along her lips to tease her. She opens her mouth, and our tongues dance together in a wave of passion. We pull away, connected by a string of saliva between us. "I love you, Miki."

"I love you too, Hinako... Happy Winterfest."

"This is the best Winterfest a girl could've asked for..."

"Well, except for..." I point at her arm.

"I'll recover. Does anyone have any bandages though?"

"Here!" Miku says, walking over to Hinako with a med kit. She immediately wraps bandages around Hinako's arm, trying not to hurt her too much. "Feel better?"

"Yeah... Thanks."

She's pulled back up by the strings, and I run to her. The mask shoots fireballs at me, hitting me in the chest and legs and making me fall over.

"MIKI!!" Hinako yells. "Miki, are you okay?!"

That was the last thing I heard at the dojo. Then it all faded to black...

[14muffinz]

Asking some writers/artists I follow:

Is there anything in your fic/comic that you as the author know about, but won't end up in the actual story?

oh for sure

i'll start with the TMNT stuff first because of your PFP, but we gonna be here a while.

[lab rats stuff at the bottom]

warning: fic spoilers galore

In WIBE, one of the characters we meet is Yuichi Usagi, who works at the human ROTM. He also works in the original ROTM. He was robbed while on a trip to the Hidden City, and is originally from a different city entirely. Hueso is doing his best to help him out, but it'll likely be a long time before Yuichi gets to go home.

Some other WIBE background characters in WIBE include: MM!Kendra, MM!Robyn O'Neil, MM!Irma, & MM!Casey Jones. I don't have a lot to say abt Kendra and Irma, since it's been a long time since I wrote any of it down, but I can give it my best shot with Robyn and Casey.

Robyn has been diagnosed with Generalised Anxiety disorder for a few years pre-fic. She's in her first year of college which is out-of-state, and does her best to check up on her family via phone call at least every other week. She's also sort of invested in all of April's new drama, but she won't admit it.

Casey's been playing hockey for as long as he can remember, and intends to keep at it for as long as he's physically able. He's also got a knack for engineering, and I'd gamble that sometime not long after the ending of WIBE, he'd start up the Casey Jones vigilante batshittery. His parents are divorced, but he spends most of his time with his Jewish mother, and while he's never been actually taught much about his religion he accepts it as a part of his identity, and if people don't like that then they shouldn't be around him in the first place. He finds the existence of the turtles to be one of the coolest things ever, but after actually getting to know Raph and the others, it doesn't impress him as much as it used to. (If I had time, I'd add in a tiny crush on Raph, but I'm an aro with WAY too many ideas for this tiny fic)

Then there's experienced fighters, where the main thing is me ALWAYS knowing what song is playing in the background. I really love how much music is in MM, and I love being able to say hey! here's the musical vibes of the environment!

sort of on that topic, i've got a hc that any song with even small references to space are songs that rise, 2k12, and MM leo are more likely to enjoy. they don't realize these patterns, but they sure are there.

and to end off the music rant, one of these days i'm gonna make a playlist of songs that I think the rise crew all collectively agree are good enough (this is what space feels like, goodie bag, punk tactics, etc. etc.)

there's also two in one, which is based off an au by @blackfire-fanfiction. I have to be real cautious abt what I put in there, because a lot of people are looking at it instead of the extended context of the real thing, not to mention how many Thoughts that aren't really canon I have about it. For instance: today I had a good 30 minute daydreaming session abt the concept of rise!Donnie reading leonardo's notebook while he's comatose post-rise movie and finding out about the switching

in dimension desync, I poke a bit at my head canons about peni parker's movie universe and her mental health at home, and have expanded on this even further in an abandoned draft. this is going to be LONG, so here we go: Gwen Stacy and Richard Parker were around in Peni's universe before she herself was, each piloting a mech of their own [Ven#m and Sp//DR]. A few months after Peni's mother is pregnant with her, Richard dies in action, and a few months later, Ven#m sort of devours Gwen (go read the comics because it's really fucked up but idk how to describe it) So then the role of SP//DR is forcefully thrust upon Peni at the age of eleven, and her connection with SP//DR isn't exactly... perfect.

in my team blue universe, I'm fleshing the hell out of Sam-13 and Shadowcat (both from earth 65). Sam was created by corrupt parts of SHIELD (that have yet to have been identified as corrupt) but now is just a regular agent. Cap returned to their dimension when he was 14 and has been in charge of training him ever since. Cap is stubborn to a fault and is def being manipulated by the corrupt agents, but none of the kids have gotten close to that bigger picture yet. Meanwhile, Kitty was inducted into the weapon x program (or 65's equivalent of it, I don't remember much of the wolverine origin story) at the age of 8, and despite odds survived. Wolverine took her in, and she's been helping him bounty hunt since about 13, even though he's trying to stop her.

team blue is also starting to extend to universes that the spider-verse movies don't really deal with through plants that have yet to be explained. but miguel's spite at e-199999 has definitely transferred, which means that, if they were ever to interact, not many of the main team would like the mcu-vengers

in my very obscure mech-x4 series, Olivia (who is only referenced by name once in the show) is veracity's little sister, who is 7 years old. This series is more of a set of vaguely connected oneshots, but still.

i could go ON AND ON about Oliver in all of my mighty med/lab rats fics, but in short: arcturion made his hair start growing in blonde, which he hates. Horace is his adopted dad and so it sucks ass when he dies. Oliver also comes with built in hypothermia! This is also definitely a headcanon, but I think that in EF once the rats have the upgraded chips, Chase's laser bō is green instead of blue, and his super senses are togglerable (to a degree) I also like to imagine Kaz's lil bro Kyle is his number one fan and nobody in his family listens to him when he claims that Kaz is one of the bionic guys on the news.

... yeah I think that's enough for now