#this isn't aimed at anyone btw

[finnickodaiir]

You can hate Taylor Swift and her music all you want, but openly insulting people who like her even in a casual way is such a dick move (even going as far as to say you refuse to befriend people who like her at all and claiming they have bad taste)... like I feel a lot of you need to go back to kindergarten and learn the concepts of "put yourself in other people's shoes before doing/saying something" and "treat others the way you want to be treated".

[deeplovelydark]

in the sound of her voice where sisko says that rather mean line about liking julian more when he doesn't talk too much both bashir and sisko are so spaced out and tired. bashir is supposed to talk to this woman who's injured and stranded alone on an uninhabited planet and he doesn't pay any attention to her until she pranks and roasts him. what sisko said is awful but it really isn't indicative of his personality as a whole

[nocturnalnewsiestrash]

People are testing me with the amount of dislike of Crystal. Like I'm about to pull out my training from living in the Newsies fandom for years having to defend Kathrine because she dared to be a female character who Has Character Flaws. I can and will turn into a Crystal defender. Like I know this is just like, par for the course of fandom in general. But like god can we just like TRY to have some space for nuanced women characters? Especially Crystal?? She deserves it, we owe it to her to be extra extra aware of how we treat her. Because I personally believe she deserves the world and I'm ready to give it to her if no one else will

[kvtie-pie]

some of you need to chill with the horny posting or put it on a side blog maybe

[isdeathlystill]

happy saturday! so friends, i just wanted to post a lil friendly reminder before heading out that i've changed some things in my guidelines including how i am v/ picky with who i write s.mut with. i've deleted all sort of suggestive threads the past few weeks (any spicy actions above a pg 13 movie if you know what i mean).

this doesn't mean i'm done writing it lmao, it's just not my fav to write currently and i prefer to have a good dynamic/friendship with the person i'm writing with, so please do not send me random n.sft things unless we've had a lil chit chat about it (not your responsibility to bring it up, it's my boundary so i'll bring it up w/ you if our muses gotta spicy connection).

have a great rest of your day everybody. 🖤

[socially-anxious-wizard]

Some people just say shit on the Internet that even the Devil couldn't waterboard out of me.

[rosetintedgunman]

OOC:

Thinking more about this piece while I get myself set up for a quickfire round of replies before bed and... I feel like I should make a little disclaimer:

Wilf LOVES everyone he's been able to befriend. They all mean the absolute world to him. He's still thrilled to find new people to make friends with! He has vague recollections of only being able to hold maybe three people as friends for most of his 'past life', so having MORE than three is a big deal!!

Essentially, if you think "aw man I wish I could let my muse be friends with that idiot", let them! He doesn't need to be a 'default' anything in your verse. I literally have a verse where he goes to another ego timeline, shrugs, says "guess I'm here too now :3" and calls himself Rose, so his existence shouldn't overlap the existence of whatever you might have established. Don't feel like he has to be the Wilford who was the William in your version of things, or he's the Wilford that's part of your particular band of egos. He doesn't have to be!

[fantasticalleigh]

this is most likely a hot take but

the constant freaking out any time AO3 is down is actually really annoying. i get that it's inconvenient and panic-inducing if it isn't from the site doing maintenance but the amount of people i see making this into their entire personality sure is something.

friends, make it a habit to download your favorites and WIPs if you read them. back them up. download calibre or some other similar program, or even upload them to your ereaders. it causes so much less stress for when the sites go down, i promise.

[kkujo]

omg and sorry to gloat about it again but the feeling of being right all along truly is beautiful. i hope everyone who constantly whined abt josefumi being a joestar and how he and kira are cousins feels extremely embarrassed <3

[rose-coloredghoul]

Vent about men ig

[pinkxtrauma]

I don't know how to explain it but there's certain plots that people often bring to me regarding Ki (been writing her for 5+ years) and they are big red flags for me because i've never had good experiences with them.

The theme is usually the other person's muse using Ki to make themselves look better or feel better but the mun isn't self aware about this? it's usually disguised as like 'aw ki helps muse a become more confident' and I have NEVER had a good experience with this.

[rgrbs]

back when things were somewhat calmer for the trans community I'd sometimes in my old pessimism feel like some of our jokes and fashion and trends and etc could be a bit cringe but now that so many people are facing such a ridiculous amount of persecution I'm like TURN UP THE CRINGE, BOYS. WE'RE GOING TO WAR

[centrally-unplanned]

I watched two documentaries recently that were very "2000's nerd culture" which I thought were very fun! In like a meta way as cultural commentary, of course, it is me after all. The first was Indie Game: The Movie, a 2012 documentary on the making Braid, Super Meat Boy, and Fez. It is a "creator-focused" documentary and in particular for the latter two games the film crew actually filmed them mid-production & release, which does make for some authentically heartfelt scenes.

So in a certain sense all eras of documentary will contain this, but the 2000's going into the 2010's was absolutely rife with a new wave of films, often supported by crowdsourcing funds like Indie Game was, primarily concerned with the self-legitimization of niche subcultures. By creating something cohesive, academic, and prestigious like a documentary, the film can codify the subculture as "real" and "worthy", and additionally lend credence to narratives about the subculture that have grown prevalent. And to be clear, this is not a criticism, even if there are parts that are - all meaning and identity is forged in similar ways. But for nerd culture in the 2000's, there was a particularly intense need for this process, because this was the era of nerdom going mainstream. That level of culture shift generated demand for all the above, which films like this aim to supply. There were lot of films of this type - we made a brony "documentary" propaganda film guys, nothing was exempt.

Indie Game is overwhelmingly the story of outsider artists bleeding and dying for their art, which will triumph above all odds. And it leans, heavily, into the bleed; at one point Phil Fish (creator of Fez), openly states he might commit suicide if his game fails. Much screen time is spent on personal sacrifice, financial poverty, the "doubters", etc. This is of course a classic tale for artists, but if I may be so bold that is something of an easy sell - emotionally, narratively - for someone writing the Great American Novel. It is maybe harder to sell if you are making this?

(Cover art by Bryan Lee O'Malley btw - very era appropriate!) How do we make "dude in hat solves puzzles" worth the Starving Artist life?

We do that by positioning these games not as games, but as paradigms. These games, by dint of being the independent vision of unitary creators, are making games that Big Gaming never could. New digital means of distribution are allowing artists to cut out the middleman of publishers, groups that corrupt the real vision of creators. And with no barriers to development, now anyone (maybe...even you?) can make games that can compete in the big leagues. Indie games through this lens are a different product than mainstream titles, and these creators are opening doors. And their suffering is going to be financially rewarded with success and money to boot! That is the narrative Indie Game is selling to its audience of gamers, to understand why the indie games they bought and loved are meaningful.

And to be clear, as much as I am about to deconstruct this, it isn't like totally false or anything. Starting in the late 2000's digital platforms like Steam, more accessible development tools like Unity (released in 2005), and so on did in fact make smaller games appealing to more niche markets more viable, and by virtue of their nicheness yeah they can do things big budget games maybe can't. These creators absolutely had passionate visions for their games, sacrifice for your passions is fine (not bashing that part here), hats off to them. Indie games in this era would absolutely "change gaming".

But not really in the ways this narrative wants them to, nor with the "meaning" people of the time expected it to have. For one, there is a conflict in this documentary of them wanting to highlight "bold new visions" and also wanting to highlight...popular indie games. This is Super Meat Boy, for example:

Yeah, never had a 2D platformer blob guy dodging traps before in gaming! "No see its retro" yeah retro to what, old games? Like those Nintendo made back in the 90's, which you explicitly mention in your documentary? You know, niche indie studio Nintendo? This isn't a bash, at all, at the game itself, but instead the idea that "AAA Studios would never"; they totally would, and always did. There has never been an era where the large gaming studios weren't also making creative games, but for this narrative they need to be propped up as static for it to make sense. And the actual niche indie stuff that big studios wouldn't touch don't sell well enough to justify being in this film!

And the idea of the "solo developer" is also, hm, let us say a bit sus. Not that these developers weren't solo or small teams, they were (though ofc a solo core creator will often have dozens of helpers on supporting roles that get sidelined in this "unitary vision" narrative); but that such a model is all that new? How big do you think development teams were in the 90's for so many classic games? The original Pokemon Red/Blue game had less than a dozen core developers (the total staff list, including American localizers, is ~30 people - Super Meat Boy meanwhile seems to have 16 for comparison). You wanna bring up the dev teams for PC-98 visual novels? They were made in an Akihabara cave with a box of pixel art scraps by like 6 people! You think those games didn't have "unitary creative visions"? Small gaming companies have always been a part of the ecosystem, getting niche titles funded & published using insane magic and pure luck. The "indie boom" is better seen as a change in the numerator.

Though what did change is that, by being self-published, development was approachable by outsiders in new ways. Though even then, this is a bit of a lie - Jonathan Blow of Braid was an industry veteran, and everyone here plays the "convention circuit" and networks with people like the PAX crew and Xbox representatives. But with the games being published by an individual over a studio, even a studio of a half dozen people, it is far easier for the audience to see the creators as "one of them". No office, no suits, just a man in his gamer den banging out his dream. That aesthetic is core to why this narrative was potent at the time, and why making a documentary to codify it was seen as compelling. It takes an already ascendant idea, polishes it, packages it as nonfiction, and then sells the idea back to the people who invented it. LIke so much media, to be clear! I always enjoy seeing it, it is the dialectic of culture in action.

I also find it very funny to see a documentary made in 2012 playing tropes that will become far more ~problematic~ just around the corner. Burnout and work-life balance - in a documentary where a developer, crying, discusses suicide if his game fails, to remind you - is pretty much never mentioned, and a successful game launch is absolutely presented as justifying endless crunch. You would never see that today. The only women in this documentary are wives and parents - which is very amusing, because the co-creator of the film is a woman! No one thinks gender is relevant to mention. Boy would that change in a few years.

Indie games today, of course, are just a segment of the gaming market. They are incredibly common now, so much so that most people lose money making them, people discuss oversaturation, big studio companies have "indie wings" to cover consumer preference ranges, etc. There is no magic in it anymore, it is just dev strategy. So yeah, very enjoyable as a representative time capsule in a strain of culture that is pretty much gone now! The Capital-R Romantic Era of indie gaming; what a time.

In the next post, we are going much more niche, so stay tuned for that. Or don't, I don't know you, and like this was a loooot of writing. Maybe i'll, idk work on that for the next one? ...I probably won't -_-

[crheativity]

Can we get a part three of This with riddle and Ruggie?? Thank you! 💜 it's fine if you can't do it btw!

SUMMARY: Someone's picked a fight with Prefect! But he isn't going to let anyone hurt you anymore. Not on his watch. Part 3! Part 1 w/ Cater and Azul can be found here, and part 2 w/ Vil and Silver can be found here.

WARNING: Riddle calls someone a coward. Also the words idiot and jerk are in his part. People get hurt in Ruggie’s part but it isn’t really gory or anything

COMMENTS: I’m so sorry this took so long, my hands have been in a lot of pain the past couple months and are only starting to get better 🥲 I hope you enjoy it! Ruggie and Riddle were super good ideas for this prompt, this was so much fun to write! Thank you for the request! Also, if anyone has any ideas for more characters they’d like for this series, feel free to send in a request!

It must be raining.

You were just out in a storm. That’s all.

That would explain the crack of thunder that collided with your face and gave you a throbbing headache. The warm liquid blurring your vision and dripping out of your mouth and nose was just the rain, not some unholy mix of blood and tears. The chills that froze you where you stood was just humidity and the cold, not adrenaline and raw fear.

And yet, even with your desperate brain trying to come up with some reasonable explanation, the only thunderstorm you could see in front of you was a student you couldn’t recognise. Not with your head pounding like this. Not with the thunder in your ears.

There was something about the boy that scared you. That wasn’t uncommon - this school was full of terrifyingly promising mages. But the scariest thing wasn’t how he wielded his magical pen with deadly accuracy, or how strong he so evidently was.

It was just how much he seemed to be enjoying the mix of horror and pain, of blood and tears, that must have been so evidently and delicately splashed across your face.

His smile twisted as he raised his pen again, something in those cruel eyes of his setting off alarm signals in your aching head.

“This’ll teach you not to meddle where you don’t belong.”

The pen glowed, pure magic surrounding it as he prepared to shoot. His sadistic eyes were alight with entertainment. He knew what he was about to do. He didn’t care.

You squeeze your eyes shut and braced for the lightning.

“OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!”

Your eyes snapped open just in time to see the lightning, arcing gracefully yet violently through the air.

Aiming straight for your assailant’s neck.

“What the- hey! Get this thing off of me!” The boy snapped, tugging at the heart shaped collar that had just appeared around his neck.

“I most certainly will not!”

Spinning around, you saw two boys making their way towards you. One was tall with short green hair, glasses, and a familiar symbol - a club - painted just below his left eye. He looked worried, his gaze flicking from you, to your assailant, to his companion and back again.

The second boy made your heart skip a beat.

His small frame shook with rage. His face, twisted with anger, had become as red as his hair. He marched straight past you, heading towards your assailant, his magical pen gripped tightly in his hand.

Uh oh.

The moment Riddle Rosehearts decides to get involved, heads roll.

“How dare you?!” He yelled. “Using magic in a fight is a clear violation of the rules! Did you think you could just shamelessly flaunt your rule-breaking and expect me not to see it?! And attacking the magic-less prefect of all people! If you really must break the rules, at least fight someone on an equal footing as you, coward!”

The courtyard was dead silent as Riddle verbally ripped into the student, chewing him out for several rule violations and other discourtesies.

“But the prefect started it-!” Your assailant protested.

“I don’t know what history you and the prefect may have, but in this instance you attacked without provocation and without warning!” Riddle huffed. “And don’t try to lie to me. I saw the whole thing.”

The boy visibly deflated. There was no getting out of this for him.

“I want to see your student ID. Now.” Riddle ordered.

The boy sighed, pulled his ID out of his bag and handed it to Riddle.

“Ah, Pomefiore, hm? Be thankful you’re not in Heartslabyul,” he snapped, handing the ID back to the student. “Although,” he added, “Vil Schoenheit is certainly not the most lenient of housewardens. He will deal with you appropriately.”

You felt a hand rest on your shoulder. Looking up, you realised Trey Clover had stopped next to you.

He gave you a small, strained smile. “Are you alright, Prefect?”

Riddle glanced back over at you, a little startled. It appeared he had forgotten you were here.

“I’m alright… I think.” You managed, sending both the dormleader and vice-dormleader a smile.

Riddle’s face somehow got even redder and he looked away. You would’ve thought it almost funny if the world hadn’t started spinning. You quickly grabbed Trey’s arm to steady yourself.

“Maybe not.” You added.

Trey reached over to support you. “Riddle, you know more first aid than I do. I’ll take him to Pomefiore and explain the situation to Vil, but maybe you should take care of the Prefect or something?”

“Very well.” Riddle made his way over to you, reaching out to support you. He gently led you over to a bench and pulled out a handkerchief.

“Please pardon me, I’m going to administer first aid to you now.” He spoke stiffly. You nodded dazedly, and then felt a pang of regret as your headache tripled in intensity. You focused on breathing steadily as he cleaned the blood from your face and examined your injuries.

“You’ll have a couple of bruises, but nothing serious, thankfully.” He sighed in relief and instructed you to apply pressure to your nose and angle your head downwards to stem the bleeding.

Slowly but surely, the bleeding stopped. Riddle sat with you quietly the entire time, silently supporting you. You got the impression that he didn’t quite know what to say or do, and just how close you both were wasn’t helping matters. That was alright, though. Just having him here was enough.

“Prefect…” Riddle spoke so quietly you weren’t even sure he’d spoken. He was looking away from you, his face a light pink colour. He seemed embarrassed.

“What’s up?”

Riddle took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled. “I… apologise for losing my temper back there. And also for not arriving and stopping him sooner. I’m truly sorry.”

You stared at him for a moment, then cracked a smile. “It’s alright. Although it would’ve been nice not to get hurt in the first place, it’s not your fault at all. You aren’t the idiot who tried to hurt me anyway.”

Riddle flinched at your ‘swear’. “Prefect!”

You grinned mischievously. “Wha-at? There’s no rule against calling someone an idiot, is there? Besides, you called him a coward earlier. If I’m going to get in trouble for calling someone an idiot then you should get in trouble for calling someone a coward.”

Riddle smiled and shook his head, his cheeks slightly pink. “Well then, I suppose I’ll have to watch my tongue. As Heartslabyul dorm leader, I simply must set a good example for my dorm members. Which means I must refrain from calling people… jerks.”

You gasped and clapped your hand over your mouth, trying so hard not to burst out laughing. “Riddle!”

His eyes lit up as you said his name. He looked at you so gently, so lovingly as you struggled not to laugh that you felt your face going warm.

Wouldn’t it be nice to stay like this forever….?

A yell of pain shot through the air, wrenching your eyes open in fear. Stumbling backwards, you drank in the scene in front of you before realising in horror what had happened.

Someone had jumped in front of you.

A beastman, to be more specific.

The boy stood protectively in front of you, breathing hard, hackles raised. He had dirty blond hair and an outfit much too big for him. His right hand was gripped tightly around his magical pen, his left was holding his right shoulder. Blood was beginning to fall at his feet.

Wait, blood?

Scanning him again quickly and you saw them: shards of ice crystals stuck out of his shoulder at every angle. Your stomach twisted and you felt the bile rise in the back of your throat.

“Prefect, go!”

“But-“

The boy turned at you and snarled. “Run!”

You stumbled backwards, stunned. A spell - another gift from your assailant - flew by your ear. Scrambling backwards, you cast your eyes around to find a place to hide.

There!

Sprinting over and sliding into the hiding spot, you peaked your head around and watched.

It was brutal.

The boy who saved you - the boy you now recognise as your crush, Ruggie Bucchi - fought viciously, yet his opponent was not the kind to give up easily. For every spell Ruggie had, this boy somehow managed to dodge or deflect almost every single one of them, and fire off a few of his own.

Come on, Ruggie. You thought. Please be okay.

Ripping your gaze from the fight, you pulled a packet of wipes from your bag and forced yourself to clean your wounds. Anything to distract from what was going on.

After all, there was no way you could help. You were magicless after all, so it was probably best to just leave things to those who could fight, right?

…Right?

A yell of pain forced your attention back on the fight. Both boys were now breathing hard, blood strewn across the courtyard. From the looks of things, neither boy could beat the other. Ruggie couldn’t break a hole in his defence and the other boy could barely hit Ruggie, who was sprinting and dodging like his life depended on it.

“Stay still, mutt!” The boy snapped, firing off spell after spell.

Ruggie didn’t even respond. His concentration remained on dodging and finding a weak point, but your assailant didn’t leave him time to cast a spell.

He just needed an opening.

Steeling yourself, you grabbed a rock and snuck around the two of them. You adjusted your grip on the rock.

Please, don’t let this hit anyone. You prayed, then stepped out into the open.

“HEY DIPSTICK, OVER HERE!” You yelled as loud as you could and then hurled the rock in his direction.

The boy whirled around and deflected the rock with magic in an instant. Seeing you, he seized his chance and prepared to fire off another spell. You squeezed your eyes tight and held your hands in front of your face.

“Laugh with me!”

No spell came. Opening your eyes, you saw the boy in front of you, clearly angry. He walked towards you rigidly, as if he was trying to do anything but that. He pulled his student ID out of his bag and handed it to you.

Then he turned around and walked away. Your eyes followed him as he walked a ways off, then stopped.

The boy whirled around, his magical pen aimed directly at you and began to cast-

And then was immediately knocked off his feet from a blast of wind magic.

Someone grabbed your arm. “C’mon Prefect, now’s when we run-“

Ruggie ran hard, tugging you along with him as you dodged through crowds of people, eventually slowing to a stop in front of some empty classrooms.

You gasped for breath and put your hands on your knees, trying to recover from your sprint. Glancing up, you saw Ruggie leaning against the wall, breathing hard.

He looked awful.

His shoulder looked worse, his uniform was singed and he smelled of smoke. He had countless scratches and scrapes. Yet despite all this, he caught your eye and smiled painfully.

“What… whatcha starin’ at, Prefect?” He panted, clearly exhausted.

“Your shoulder…” you managed. His smile fell and he shrugged - then grimaced.

“‘S fine. Don’t need to worry, shishish-“ he cursed and winced.

You walked over to him and looked him over. His face was ever so slightly pink as he looked away. He shook slightly as you tugged off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves.

Pulling out your packet of wipes, you looked up at him. “This okay?”

He glanced at you briefly, his face still pink, his ears flat against his head. He looked away again. “‘S whatever.” He mumbled.

You gently cleaned up his cuts and scrapes. Looking at his shoulder injury, you sighed. “I can’t do anything about that one. I’m taking you to the nurse’s office.”

“But-“ he protested, but fell silent when you cut him off.

“No buts. That’s serious, Ruggie. I’ll buy you doughnuts if you let me take you.” You added, hoping the bribe would work.

He hesitated, then smiled at you. “Fine. Shishishi, if I didn’t know better, I’d guess you’d care for me or somethin’.”

You simply stared at him.

He went red. “P-prefect-? Got somethin’ you wanna say? Haha…”

“Come on,” you said with a smile and a sigh. “Let’s get you to the infirmary.”

“Okay.”

What a dummy. You thought as you pulled him along. I think I love him.

♥Thank you for reading!! I hope you enjoyed it!!♥

[corviiids]

lawlight concepts im contemplating to break me out of my creative block

buzzfeed unsolved / ghost hunting au where light is the hard skeptic who jumps at small noises even though he does NOT believe in ghosts and L doesn't believe in ghosts but could be convinced with evidence but is not remotely fazed by anything they see at all. btw this is the only situation i can conceive of where lawlight can work without killing each other because they're getting a healthy amount of enrichment arguing and fighting as part of their job so they can be friends without committing murder

they do nyt puzzles. there isn't really a plot for this one i just want to see light yagami lose his fucking mind at the mini

does anyone remember my au where L is a video essayist and light is his editor and L makes a video of like "i uncovered kira's identity" and partway through he's like it's my editor who i can't fire because he pays for adobe premiere pro. sorry light that you had to find out this way (editing the video)

au where they are both just like. chickens? on a farm. there are no bad ideas. we're spitballing here

unfortunately now that im out of law school i dont really want to put characters in law school anymore but like there could be a law school au where L is selling all his old textbooks for dramatically above market price and light is buying them because he's going on secondhand textbook sites and sorting by price high to low just so he can flex on his classmates something that nobody has ever been impressed by and everyone would in fact be disgusted by and then L sells him the textbooks still wrapped because nobody reads them. also L dropped out of his degree and this is just a straight up grift

uhhhhh god what's something else i could do. warrior cats au? they're warrior cats? light is a conniving warrior aiming to become clan leader by killing the deputy? L is a medicine cat? they have an illicit romance and it doesn't matter because L can't get pregnant and as far as im aware the cats dont have any law against being gay. being gay cats that is. in warrior cats. is it illegal to be a gay cat in warrior cats i haven't read these books in a while

some kind of social media or fandom au where hold on i just found a really bad post i have to post about this. this post is on hold while i post that bad post

[sun-of-4-gun]

seeing your six ear macaque design (btw so freaking cool) makes me so curious about him :0! do you have more info about him?

AHH thank you!! that makes me so glad to hear (≧⁠▽⁠≦)♡*⁠。I have a whole idea of how he was made but nothing too solid! if anyone has any other insights I'd love to read them!!

this is something I've decided recently that when Six initially popped out of the ground, he looked a lot more like Monkey King. a scruffy, young adult six-eared macaque with dull red fur. he is an exact clone save for minor details that will kickstart big changes

it was instant for him to go out explore & experience the world, learn about this & that. he found his way to Flower-Fruit Mountain and it's clear to him that regardless of people, monkeys, and even demons just don't like him. his freakishly gross amount of ears certainly don't help or an underbaked unsettlingness about his whole vibe being uncanny & off, but he don't give a damn (yet). he just wants to be received positively for a change, so when he quickly found kinship in the legend of the Monkey King, he thought to seek him out in the hopes of understanding, but that idea is immediately snuffed out in favour of straight-up just becoming the Monkey King himself instead! he wants all the blind adoring glory and none of the work, but he needs help. assistance if you will, 'cause there's no Monkey King without his Stick. that's the whole reason he is where he is

long story short, Six is able to clone Stick and forge his own staff; Suixin Tie Ganbing (or Rod/dy) who I haven't designed cause I'm struggling (⁠^▽^⁠;⁠)⁠ゞ I don't imagine it's as characterised as Stick, if any. like a soulless copy y'know? Six knows Monkey's heart & mind so intimately, but lacks an awareness in that he is still more like the guy 500 years ago + caught up with knowledge to present time. of course, by becoming a specious macaque, he sacrifices his ability to predict the future & utilise that sixth sense, as Monkey isn't a six-eared macaque, but one of ✧ numinous wisdom ✧ and ultimately gets the upper hand to destroy this imposter, who apparently all along is a split aspect of his very own psyche & soul, a literal two-minds & double-heart situation. unlike Six, Monkey is a complete-ish person, and his counterpart has a lot of growing up to do. its a big difference between 500 years of self-reflection to 5 years of figuring out one's desires & purpose!

so Monkey aims to kill Six, a rotten part of himself that he tried to bury years ago, kept hidden from his master out of shame and deep inner conflict that it literally ate him up on the inside, and when it was too much to bear he cut open his chest to find an actual root of wickedness growing from his heart like a tumour, festering from the back of his mind and manifesting into a second organ that desperately needed to take control and get out. I imagine Sandy witnessed this and Horsie knows about it, but nobody said anything because Monkey seemingly "defeated" it when he buried this parasite into the dirt, thinking it would quietly die with nothing to leech off of anymore. this came back to haunt him, obviously, his own self or at least some corrupted mirror staring him in the flesh

but he doesn't kill him, seeing himself within literally and metaphorically, the second thoughts are clear and instead of destroying the six-eared macaque, he buries him alive instead. because if Buddha can stick him under a mountain for 500 years and that turned out to be one of the best things that ever happened to him, why can't he do the same for this guy? he's a screwed up version of him, but like him nonetheless. he was 5 years old himself when he got mountained anyway!

except that well, it's still the six-eared macaque, his own species, and for whatever reason it was after that Tightening Fillet Spell by Guanyin that Six is cursed to be tethered to Monkey King in every physical & emotional way, especially by their own doing. all thoughts, joys, grief, love, rage, pain, pleasure and else of Monkey's will be second-hand to the specious macaque and he has no choice but to listen to & feel everything his creator feels & experiences. it sickens him, infuriates him, these sensations are tormenting regardless of his own desires for 1,000 years of complete depravity & deafness to everything of the outside world but the Monkey King and once he's freed from the earth by chance of a quake, he wants nothing to do with Sun Wukong. though that's impossible when he's literally connected at the heart & mind by some one-sided chain. so logically, he has to kill him.

his time underground allowed his sense of self to develop & ultimately change his appearance, so now he's also somewhat complete-ish as a living being. except he can't exactly move on with his creator in the way, as how can he trust his own emotions & sensations when all he's known are another's the past millennium? he'll get help & some assistance again, and he'll use the same jade dagger that was discarded after getting rid of him the first time to stab Monkey in the heart and sever their connection once and for all