#truly the laziness of the design is the most insulting part

[queensectonia]

last night i was reminded of one of my extremely few Hater Moments (lighthearted) about this series and i never got around to fully articulating my thoughts on it, so it is once again time for our regularly-scheduled kirby rant:

the spider sectonia reveal was poorly-executed on every level.

to start with, this plot element was introduced when the series was in its worst throes of Not Putting The Fucking Lore In The Fucking Games, but I will happily concede that this reveal was at least in a game; just not the game it should have been in.

I almost wonder if the Sectonia Clone as a whole was a leftover from the fact that Robobot started out development as Triple Deluxe 2, but considering that a) TD2 was dropped pretty early on and b) Robobot is just full to the brim with fanservice and callbacks anyway, I don't feel there's much evidence for such a theory.

at any rate, reducing the otherwise very intriguing reveal of Sectonia's prior form to a blink-and-you'll-miss-it easter egg in an entirely different game is pretty... underwhelming. we've had plenty of "reveals" or cool nods and expansions to other lorebits in similar easter eggs, but none of them were nearly as important as "oh, by the way, here's what the character whose whole arc revolves around personal and physical image used to look like! in a totally unrelated game!"

but that's the tamest complaint. that's just the accessibility of this information, which could have been better but certainly could have been worse.

the biggest problem is Sectonia's design. it's bad. it is just not good, fellas. she is literally just genderbent Taranza. it fails visually, it fails conceptually, and it fails really hard story-wise.

this design was so uninspired that when people in the EN sphere first saw it, tons of people thought it just was Taranza. then when we got screenshots, model rips, etc., it was still so painfully similar to Taranza that it made people assume HAL was saying Taranza and Sectonia were related - which turned into just as much of a shitfight as you might think.

even if this weren't attached to such a crucial character reveal, it's just downright a bad design! instead of taking even the slightest efforts to differentiate Sectonia from Taranza, they did the laziest, most barebones "uhhhhhh what if taranza But Girl" design shift possible. she's wearing the exact same outfit as Taranza, just palette-swapped. so little effort went into both the concepting stage and the modelling stage. she's just Taranza's model with the merest tweaks to make sure you know this is a Girl Spider.

genuinely, I would be a hundred times more amenable to this entire plot point if HAL had just bothered to give her an actual design.

but the problem is, making Sectonia a spider kind of just fucks everything about her story and contradicts itself at multiple points.

the aesthetic and theme language in TD is very clear. this is one of the biggest strengths that both it and Robobot share - the identity and literary through-lines of both games pervade every single visual element of them. Robobot tells its tale of capitalistic tech-fuelled colonialism through every part of the game from level backgrounds, to enemy designs, right down to surgical decisions like mechanising the pinwheel tree that was such a fond image from KRtD. every tiny thing bore the mark of the HWC, whether metaphorically or literally, such that you spent the entire game never forgetting that there was one unified force behind all of this, and Haltmann at the end of the game was the culmination of this aesthetic.

TD did the exact same. every part of TD sells that it's a fantastical fairytale romp through a series of themed locations with a connecting thread of the invading Antr* force.

*(this is a way better romanisation than "antler" this is my hill)

if anything, I'd argue that TD's design language in this respect is tighter than Robobot's, because Robobot had a fairly broad theme of "industrialisation and hi-tech space future sci-fi" to draw its foes from, whereas TD had to condense its antagonists under the stricter banner of "evil insect army".

and they did incredibly. every point of design about the Antrs points straight to Sectonia and draws from her in some way or another. it's absolutely seamless. she's the perfect logical endpoint of Antr design from every angle: she's the literal queen bee of this insect hive and the perfect expression of their anatomy. she's bigger than the biggest Antr. she's more developed. she's more powerful. they were so careful and thorough about this design conceit that Antrs have multiple stages that all march straight up to Sectonia. we go from the tiny bronto burt and waddle dee clones with their little wings and eyes that seem so familiar, to the Antr soldiers, all the way up to the Lord Antrs who are one step away from Sectonia. they have stripes and facial markings to echo hers. it's all wrapped up with the genius bow of combining ants, bees, and wasps: they're all hymenoptera! the metaphor goes even deeper than that because there's a species of wasp that parasitizes spiders! controls them, even!

... except no actually, we've decided she's a spider too and all of that buildup and artful design means nothing.

it's awful. it's taking what is far and away one of the best-executed designs in the series and saying that all of that buildup and blatant connection of ideas meant nothing.

but that's just the visual end of it. Sectonia actually being a spider makes no sense in the lore, either.

first of all, TD's incredible design sense and artistic direction applies to Taranza as well. while he's obviously derivative of Magolor, within the context of TD he's clearly meant to evoke the sky fairies. he's designed to look much more like them than any of the insect characters. he's got the same body type, he moves the same way as them, he's a sky fairy with a spider theme. the game draws visual parallels between him and the sky fairies more than once; this is not unintentional.

this is part of what makes Taranza's role as Sectonia's right hand more impactful: he's only insect adjacent, and the design language would have you believe he's more closely related to the fairies than the insects, so him being with the bad guys is notable and interesting.

so why would a spider character be the ruling monarch of the insect hive? why would the line go ant, bigger ant, fancy ant, armoured ant, spider, wasp?

I mean, shit dude, the miiverse posts directly tell us that Sectonia used to "look like her insect underlings". it really feels like the decision to make her be a spider was a total spur-of-the-moment one, between how badly it interacts with the rest of the story and how lazy the design was. Sectonia's backstory had a couple of holes in it regarding the actual timeline of things, but those were just mysteries regarding what order everything happened in. she was both a bodyjacker and a good queen at one point, which don't exactly jive, so it becomes interesting to think about how those two facts coexist. on the other hand, her being a spider just gets shoehorned in there for no apparent reason other than to... heighten her connection to Taranza?

and that just dovetails into the complete mockery HAL made of Taranza's character development after TD, and THAT is a rant for another time.

there was just no point to it all. Sectonia being a spider adds nothing, removes a bunch of nuance and intrigue, and muddies both her story and the background world of TD.

[m-y-fandoms]

1 Thing I Love & 1 Thing I Hate About EVERY Danganronpa Character Part 1

Part 2

SPOILERS FOR ALL THREE MAIN GAMES

I’d love to hear our opinions as well in the comments or my inbox or DM’s! If you try this trend with DR characters, tag me!

Sayaka Maizono

♡ Her passion for her career and friends.

✘ The way she tries to screw over Makoto when the game had just begun. Like wait and see what happens before screwing over such a great guy? Leon didn’t deserve it either.

Leon Kuwata

♡ His voice actor (English), and how real and human his execution was in that we all would be so scared and irrational. It was just so iconic and sad as it’s our first introduction to the death in this series and we all think: “shit, this is real... they are really killing these kids.” I didn’t think it would be that brutal, just seeing his body limp at the end with the haunting music.

✘ His design is disgusting. I hate how he looks.

Chihiro Fujisaki

♡ So innocent, so kind, so intelligent

✘ Shouldn’t have been killed for such a stupid reason, also they did Mondo dirty with that motive for killing as well. Just a mess. As for the actual character, Chihiro cries right off the bat when you do your introductions and that was kind of annoying to me personally.

Mondo Oowada

♡ He has a lot of respect, understanding and emotions for someone I thought would be a hard-ass douche biker.

✘ The worst motive to kill ever in a game where you know you’re getting executed if you’re found out. Like you’d be extra careful and that’s his reason to kill? Lazy writing.

Celestia Ludenberg

♡ Bad bitch energy and her goth lolita design.

✘ Manipulation and double murder. Bad bitch energy only goes so far. Confidence is different then selfishness. Also, of all the chapter 3 triple murders... the worst motive to kill.

Kiyotaka Ishimaru

♡ Emotions: secure in his masculinity, able to cry, show emotions, and apologize when he’s wrong. He’s funny and likable.

✘ The Ishimondo white hair thing was stupid. Taka was fine on his own.

Hifumi Yamada

♡ Writing takes talent, fan fiction as much as any other style or genre. Also the talent of his voice actor (who also voices Kiibo/K1-B0).

✘ Literally everything else about him.

Sakura Oogami

♡ I love everything about her. I love her wisdom, loyalty, design, voice etc. Just step on me, mother.

✘ Why the hell would she ever agree to be a spy even if it meant the end of her dojo? I just don’t think she would do that rationally because she isn’t selfish. The others would suffer for her spying. She remedies this with redemption in her letter in chapter 4 but still she should’ve said no off the bat. Everyone had something to lose. The dojo wasn’t worth spying for monokuma. Also I just don’t think she would commit suicide. She can’t help the remaining students survive and redeem herself truly if she’s dead.

Kyoko Kirigiri

♡ Bad bitch energy, calm and collected when I could never be.

✘ Especially in future arc of the anime, damn can you show some emotion please? Through your words and expressions not just your actions. Sure she was willing to “die” for Makoto but like I just want more emotion from her sometimes, even in THH.

Makoto Naegi

♡ So pure. I Love Bryce Papenbrook. Makoto reminds me of Sora and I love his design.

✘ In THH I didn’t mind his innocence but in the Danganronpa 3 future arc anime, when people started straight up abusing him and accusing him, he needed to grow a little backbone.

Byakuya Togami

♡ Love my dad, king shit, also love how over the progression of the games and animes he becomes a little more kind to his friends.

✘ Why the fuck did he mess with Chihiro’s body? Just so cruel and disrespectful.

Yasuhiro Hagakure

♡ Funny magic man. Sexy voice.

✘ Please. Please Hiro use your brain just once. Why do we have to prove Kyoko isn’t a ghost?!

Toko Fukawa

♡ Character development in UDG and I love Genocider.

✘ Putting down herself and others constantly gets old in THH.

Aoi Asahina

♡ Love her voice actress and her personality

✘ We really just gonna get everyone killed in chapter 4 huh? Surely you know they don’t all deserve that.

Junko Enoshima

♡ A very memorable villain with great hair and design.

✘ I just can’t stand her. I hate her so much.

Mukuro Ikusaba

♡ Her mercenary background is super cool as a concept.

✘ Too bad it wasn’t explored nearly enough.

Hajime Hinata

♡ Seeing the protagonist be a little less naive, innocent and positive than Makoto was a refreshing change, although I loved Makoto. I liked Hajime’s cynicism and expressions that sometimes just screamed “this shit again, huh?”

✘ I enjoy the way Izuru looks but I hate him as a character. He is sexy to look at but Hajime is just a better character overall

Teruteru Hanamura

♡ His love for his family and mother especially is so cute and heart breaking if you know the full story.

✘ He needs to know when to dial it back and quit with the perversions. And no it’s not just how he looks, Miu needs to chill at times, too.

Twogami

♡ I feel like he genuinely cares about his friends, just hides it well

✘ His death felt like a cop out and poorly written. It just didn’t sit right with me. Also his design is disgusting to me, his outfit and such.

Mahiru Koizumi

♡ Loyal to her close friends.

✘ I just have no interest in her as a character and I find her boring.

Peko Pekoyama

♡ Loyalty. Loyalty is something I value very highly in every form of relationship. Peko is also very hot.

✘ Come on girl... I know how you were raised but you should’ve known Fuyuhiko didn’t think of you as just a tool and you two should’ve expressed your true feelings long ago. Like even in secret. How do you live like this? Also I feel like killing Mahiru could’ve been avoided with a calm talk.

Ibuki Mioda

♡ Cute design, positive vibes.

✘ Cringe sometimes in the way she talks.

Hiyoko Saionji

♡ Beautiful character design and some very good insults and snarky remarks at times.

✘ Just irredeemably mean and annoying. Even when you do her free time events she is just so annoying.

Mikan Tsumiki

♡ I like her design as well as her hair, expressions, sprites and clothing.

✘ I hate her. I just hate her whether she’s in her true psycho form or timid stuttering form. She’s just annoying in my opinion.

Nekomaru Nidai

♡ So supportive, can hold my drink at a party. Respects everyone and wants the best for them.

✘ Bro Mechamaru was a stupid plot point. I just couldn’t stand looking at him and couldn’t take it seriously. Still sad when he died though.

Chiaki Nanami

♡ From chapter 5 of sdr2 on she is impossible not to love if you didn’t already. Just the selflessness, the sadness of the reveal and execution, how she returns to help Hajime at the end???? I love her. I love her hair design, color palette, her personality, everything.

✘ I’m bitter and miserable about her being the only class member to actually die (the despair arc anime) also her falling asleep at random times is kind of odd and she doesn’t seem to be like that later on in the game??? Like it seemed like a cheap joke but not actually who she is? Hard for me to explain.

Gundham Tanaka

♡ King shit, couldn’t praise him enough. He’s sexy, loves animals, and is funny as hell sometimes. His voice actor is a saint and a cool dude and I named my guinea pigs after the Dark Devas (yes I know they are hamsters in the games.)

✘ Come on dude. I get that being from Hell and magic and having evil powers is your shtick, but we all know that you and Nekomaru sacrificed yourselves so the others wouldn’t starve. We know you care about your classmates. There comes a time when it’s time to let personas and facades fade and be true to your heart. I just feel like him denying he cared at the end hurt. We all know he cared. I didn’t like how he was haughty until the end. He deserved better. I love him.

Nagito Komaeda

♡ I love him so much. So cunning and intelligent, always a step ahead. And he’s big sexy.

✘ Him killing himself in chapter 5 hurt me so bad I was like in denial for days. Also hate how Bryce Papenbrook gives him a raspy stoner psycho voice in the game then a light airy higher-pitched voice in the despair arc anime. It just bothers me. I love his voice still but the inconsistency just hurts my OCD

Sonia Nevermind

♡ I love that she’s so interested in her passions and love her feelings for Gundham

✘ Her outfit and bow are atrocious. Also why didn’t she start liking and talking to Gundham sooner on? Their romance bloomed late and it would’ve made for a better chapter 4 ending if they were a bit closer.

Kazuichi Souda

♡ Cool design and outfit, love his voice (also voices Kaito in V3) and his backstory is relatable at times. He’s also very human in that he’s scared a lot of the time or insecure or blames others in panicked situations. It’s not always a good thing but it’s human and realistic.

✘ Gosh he can be so annoying. Sometimes flirting or whining too much is well... too much.

Akane Owari

♡ Strong-willed and definitely someone I would be friends with

✘ What the hell is her outfit? Gymnasts and athletes don’t wear that shit. Stop objectifying her when it doesn’t even make the product or plot better. Like there’s absolutely no point to making her dress that way. I was a gymnast for 15 years. Even those who do parkour (which Akane seems to do more often than actual gymnastics in the anime and game) don’t wear what she wears. Also she’s underrated.

Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu

♡ I love him. He’s the DR character I’m most like out of all the games and anime. Tenko is a close second. I think he’s adorable, love his character arc, development, redemption, and love his voice.

✘ In the anime/despair arc, Fuyuhiko is not done justice. He doesn’t get enough lines, has a different voice actor, just doesn’t give off the same vibes.

Izuru Kamakura

♡ Sexy man long hair good.

✘ Boring character. I wish he were just Hajime.

Kaede Akamatsu

♡ Loyalty and leadership are such attractive qualities in her. Also she faced her death with such class and dignity and I respect her because I could never.

✘ Some of the voice lines Erika does for her are just weird and cringe. Just random moans or grunts... I don’t know it’s like when Ann Takamaki from Persona 5 (also voiced by Erika) makes suggestive noises as well. Just grinds my gears. Also hate her outfit down to the hair pins.

Shuichi Saihara

♡ I love his nasally voice. I love his design and he’s so adorable. I love how emotional and compassionate he can be. He ties with Makoto for favorite protag of mine.

✘ That sprite where he sniffs his hand. And his ugly ass hat.

Rantarou Amami

♡ Sexy man, sexy voice, sexy piercings

✘ Ugly outfit, and wasted potential

Ryoma Hoshi

♡ I respect him and feel bad for his outlook on life and for how poorly he views himself. I love his little hat as well and he’s the first “different styled” character (Hifumi, Bandai, Teruteru) that I liked the design of.

✘ I hate when he says “got a long ways to go,” it’s overused and annoying, and wish he gave himself more credit. Also hate that when you first meet him he warns you that he’s killed people and is dangerous to be around. Come on buddy, you know you wouldn’t hurt your friends. Stop pushing them away.

Kirumi Tojo

♡ Competence, well rounded, skillful

✘ Boring as hell. I wouldn’t waste one free time event on her.

Angie Yonaga

♡ Dark skin, super cute, love her talent as an artist myself.

✘ Gives religious people a bad name and is super manipulative which I hate.

Tenko Chabashira

♡ I relate to her and feel bad when she’s misunderstood. She’s a good person deep down. Also love her sprites.

✘ There’s more cunning, funny and clever ways to write her digs at men.

Korekiyo Shunguuji

♡ I’m in love with this man. Long hair, voice, mystery, mask, intelligence, passion, talent.

✘ He definitely was a victim of abuse and a lot of people refuse to see that and just hate him. Team Danganronpa should’ve given him a redemption arc where he realized his sister abused him and changed.

Gonta Gokuhara

♡ I love his design except for his suit. Also he’s so cute and naive. I cried for his trail.

✘ No need talk like caveman. Better way to do this.

Kokichi Ouma

♡ Like Nagito, I value his intelligence and crazy cunning.

✘ Shouldn't have died. Also shouldn’t have manipulated Gonta. That was just cruel.

Miu Iruma

♡ She has her hilarious moments and her death surprised me and was sad.

✘ Sometimes she lacks basic empathy, i.e. calling Tenko “Tencrotch” when she just fucking died.

Maki Harukawa

♡ Amazing character development. Didn’t see her surviving until the end at the start. Also her love and passion for Kaito.

✘ “Do you wanna die?” gets old.

Kaito Momota

♡ Just the overall best bro you could ever have.

✘ Has some toxic masculinity issues and anger issues.

K1-B0

♡ Pretty much everything about him. His design, his attitude and personality, especially how amazing and cool he is chapter 5 onward, his execution made me so sad. He’s so innocent and funny without trying.

✘ When you do his free time events he’s very arrogant and just talks about himself a lot... it seems odd and not similar to the Kiibo we see throughout the game.

Himiko Yumeno

♡ Super cute design, love her voice and “Nyeh...” and her sprites. Her character development is great as well.

✘ Why did they take so long to make her important and likable?

Tsumugi Shirogane

♡ An excellent and well hidden reveal

✘ I hate her. So annoying, from the voice to the references and her personality.

[nona-piccolo]

Princes of Hell AU

Princes of Hell AU

Warnings: none, unless the mention of “hell” and demons bothers you

This is my own little AU where Obey Me brothers are genuinely princes of hell, and each of them occupy a Circle of Hell where the damned come to be eternally punished; there is no school, there is no RAD, and there is no funny banter 😈 When I had first played Obey Me, I always imagined a more darker story to the brothers, ones that involve fighting and action, and less of the romance aspect, especially since they are in fact demons, and each of them possess the burden of a sin. I always just thought it would be interesting to view them in a reign of power for a territory of their own. I also really really wanted to speak about the boys’ abilities and powers, so their strengths and combat is also talked about.

Please enjoy my little indulgence!

Okay so hear me out, there are seven rings of hell that occupy the space of the underworld. The worse of a person you had been on earth, the further into the ring you get placed in--- this also deals with the punishment that is endured. To put it simply, the rings are formed from 1 to 7: 1 being the least terrifying, while being placed in ring 7 is reserved for the worst and scummiest human beings. Taking off from there then, that leads us to the very first prince and owner of the 1st circle of hell:

Leviathan - 1st Circle of Hell:

They call this place Sheol. One thing that greatly differs Leviathan’s circle compared to the others is that fact that his circle is not a physical layer. There is no land. In fact, Leviathan's layer is almost sea-like, with spirits floating through the sky and composed of a sea of high whines of envy. The misty green layer is also the largest part of hell, considering it is the outer-most layer of the circle and takes up the most surface area. Leviathan is comfortable in his true form here (a giant beastly Leviathan) with eyes filled with envy to roam his territory. Leviathan is a powerful being, able to summon and control hideous demonic ocean creatures to do his bidding. His brothers are cautious if ever caught in a fight with him; Leviathan’s control can absolutely crush and overflood the other circles of hell. Many are terrified of him, and rumors had gone around saying he has the potential to become 2nd, maybe even 1st strongest of the Devildom, but his downfall and probably biggest weakness, is the time he spends moping about the things he doesn't have. The feeling of envy has crippled him to a pathetic and whiny ruler. Still, he appears to be one of the best of his brothers, as he doesn’t need to do much to care for the crying souls that wander around lifeless.

Asmodeus - 2nd Circle of Hell:

They call the 2nd Circle of Hell Dis--- the most laid back circle of all of them. Yes, even more so than Leviathan’s. Now you may think it would be odd, especially for Asmodeus’s circle to be placed where it is. But the people bound here for all eternity have the guilty pleasure of what Asmodeus finds entertaining. All demons and humans there are not tortured, with no laws, and given the ability to do whatever it is they desire. He likes to be surrounded by succubi and incubbi almost constantly. Asmo hates humans the least, and feels no need to want revenge. Being in hell and stripped of everything is punishment enough for him. Talking about abilities, Asmodeus himself would say that he isn’t fit for physical combat. Instead, he was given the ability to charm any creature or non creature he sees fit. With just a look in his eyes, he commands every bone in their bodies. Very few people are immune to this charm, but every once in a millennia he will meet someone who doesn't fall to his charm. This bothers him immensely.

Belphegor - 3rd Circle of Hell: 

Gehhena. That is the name of his circle. Opposite to his twin brother Beelzebub, Belphegor has a barren land of almost nothingness... Everything is shrouded with sloth, to the point where not even the air moves. Too lazy to make changes to his kingdom, there is a constant stagnation within his circle. His followers are left sitting there with nothing except constant loneliness and nothing to ease their boredom. Belphegor, the ruler that he is, sleeps on his throne any moment he can, and the crazed state he left his followers in have caused them to struggle with each other on who will get the throne. They feel they will go crazy if no one takes up Belphegor’s place. And so they plan to take his throne. Acting like he doesn't know about the plan to overthrow him, Belphie is pleased to spend all of eternity with the entertainment of watching his underlings argue to no end on who should sit on his throne. Belph doesn't seem like the brightest, especially due to his dozing and sleeping, but perhaps that's where he and Mammon are able to catch opponents off guard. Being underestimated is what Belph depends on, and frankly he seems to enjoy it just as much. He is the youngest of his brothers, and therefore the weakest physically, but his ability can be powerful in controlling what happens in other's dreams. This demon does his dirty work in the dream realm, having full and complete capabilities to cause disaster in his enemies through during their most vulnerable moments--- sleep. His constant state of sleep can ease others into a sleeping death, where the dream realm becomes Belphegor's greatest strength. He feels no need to try and climb the ranks higher. He is content where he is.

Mammon - 4th Circle of Hell:

Pandaemonium is the name of Mammon’s circle. Perhaps the greatest designed circle of hell, Mammon's image of what he wanted hell to look like is what came true on his land. He has complete control of what he wishes his kingdom will look like. As a great architect, he believes that hell could be just as great as heaven, and tried to prove it to Lucifer by designing Lucifer's very castle. Mammon’s land is filled with enormous landmarks and sky scrapers that appear to touch the stars. His circle of hell has the most impressive buildings and works of art, truly impressive to look at, but... as a ruler, Mammon isn't too good. There are still so many unfinished buildings and projects that he has abandoned in order for his subjects to mine and work in labor for eternity, finding the greatest diamonds and jewels within the ground to bring back to Mammon's castle. They needed to keep their master rich somehow. The work loads for his followers keeps increasing with every little thing Mammon craves for. More and more buildings, more and more diamonds, he can never get enough of it. Although rarely any violence ensures, his underlings constantly screw each other over in order to survive. And like his followers, Mammon is not particularly violent. In fact he shows more of a masochistic side, letting other people take out their frustration on him. This is ironic, due to Mammon's main ability being his luck. Among other demons and humans, his sheer luck and ability to gamble come in handy for him; getting him out of situation after situation. In the battlefield, he is often used as a decoy, his luck coming in handy to miss fatal wounds and strikes. It is also said Mammon's speed can rival Beelzebub's, yet he seems to run even faster if it's to get away from trouble. 

Beelzebub - 5th Circle of Hell:

Beelzebub’s circle was named Tantarus, or better yet the Tantarus Pit. It is a massive swamp, and with basically an "eat or be eaten" policy. His people are desperate in getting whatever they can in their search for sustainability. Although not particularly strict, Beel's attitude of eating whatever he wants can become a scary factor. He has many good cooks enslaved, whom make meals for him almost constantly. Much like Mammon, the people in the 4th circle of hell are forced into an everlasting workload. Yet unlike Mammon, Beelzebub has been known to get impatient, sometimes swallowing up the nearest thing he can find--- whether it’s a person, or the dinner table. He does not purposefully seek out trouble though, and prefers to keep to himself--- or with Belphegor. His circle is too far from Belphie, much to Beelzebub’s dismay, but Lucifer had simply brushed it off and told him he needed to deal with it. With super strength and speed, Beel is by far the physically strongest of his brothers. His frightening stature, height, and gluttony puts him at the very top of the list for being intimidating. Along with the constant intake of food, he makes sure to exercise and keep the bounds of muscles he has solidified on his body.

Satan - 6th Circle of Hell:

Satan owns the circle of Malebolge. There are two sides in Malebolge, and both sides are at constant war with each other. The pain and horror of war is everlasting and perpetual. Satan trains his people for the day they get a chance to attack the Celestial Realm. It is by far the most violent and frightening circle of hell. Satan is a monster fuming with hatred and insults. His control over his wrath had been let go a long time ago; he had let it overwhelm him and take control. To the point where Satan’s very presence on the battle field freezes opponents up in their tracks. Continuing to fight Satan for more than a few minutes will trigger his ability. He had all of eternity to practice thinking clearly through his anger and wrath--- it is no longer a roadblock to him. But he uses this as his greatest weapon. Fighting Satan for longer than a few minutes will provoke a growing rage inside of you; like the pressure of a dam against the heavy weight of water. His opponent will begin to think unclearly--- they will feel frustration and rage, giving Satan a chance to strike them down. Skilled and precise, he taught himself to suppress anything other than the rage he feels in order to kill more efficiently. Unlike his brothers, Satan prefers to use a sword in battle, and he can do so both methodically and elegantly (particularly Archangel Michael's sword that had fallen into Heaven with his other brothers).

Lucifer - 7th Circle of Hell:

Of course, the last and most dreadful circle of hell is reserved for Lucifer himself. Cocytus is what he had called it. This circle occupies the smallest space, taking the very center of the ring he and his brothers had formed. In the very middle lies Lucifer’s giant castle he had built just for himself. Lucifer's castle Helviti is where he stays, and where his most valuable followers and favorites live. The castle is all Lucifer really needs to be content. There are dreadful winds here, the cold and winter storms are drastically below freezing temperatures, keeping and reminding him that he could never ascend to the warmth of the Celestial Realm. So he is glad to have a warm place to stay in order to keep out the numbing weather. His people however... are left in a biting state of paralysis from the freezing cold; left out of the castle to rot. The most powerful of his brothers, Lucifer's cunning behavior and strict attitude are just added weapons alongside his ability of energy manipulation. Two of his six wings were disintegrated from his fall from Heaven to hell, and turned from a pure white to a rich black. He is also the only one who can control Cerberus, an enormous three-headed dog he keeps right by his side.

[sinkix]

Haikyuu!!│Boys going grocery shopping w/ you! HC’s│Ft. Bokuto, Nishinoya, Terushima, Kuroo & Kunimi

I had this late night idea and just HAD to follow through, the chaos would be O F F T H E C H A R T S. Thank you to @deathcab4daddy​ for helping me brainstorm some good characters for this post lmao I love you bby and can’t wait to do a collab. <3

E N J O Y ~ 

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

BOKUTO:

WHEN I TELL YOU THIS BOI PICKS UP EVERYTHING IN SIGHT LIKE A 6 YEAR OLD

 I FUCKING MEAN IT.

“(Y/N) we need this” 

“Bokuto we do not need a 7th jar of peanut butter.”

 “But (Y/N) it has a squirrel on the front-”

“BOKUTO I SWEAR TO GOD”

Tries to drift on the edge of the cart like something straight outta CSGO and the cart nearly obliterates under his weight.

V e r y l o u d u n e c c e s s a r i l y.

Everyone always stares at y’all when you’re going through the isles bc ur literally escorting a man-child sprawled in a shopping cart who’s going “OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO” at everything he sees like he’s a toddler at the zoo who’s never encountered a chimpanzee before.

Unless you have a bottomless bank account do NOT take him shopping of any kind he is LETHAL.

When you’re at the check-out he turns it into a basketball competition and tries to launch everything perfectly on to the conveyor belt.

Volleyball player? Nah this sis with the NBA now.

Do not ask him to go get something, he will return with at least 9 items you didn’t need and everything BUT the item you requested

He turned up with a whole ass pineapple, a jar of jam, a stick of butter and a bottle of olive oil.

Like,,,where is the correlation in those items???

Once made the mistake of asking him to grab some pads from the hygiene section and specified it HAD to be with wings

Boy showed up ten minutes later and looking very confuzzled.

You questioned why he has a pack of wingless pads in one hand and a can of red bull in the other.

He said it’s because they didn’t have any with wings so he figured the Redbull would suffice and do the job for you.

i-

NISHINOYA:

Can literally fit him in the little cart seat made for kids and he LOVES it lmaoooo IT’S SO CUTE MY HEART.

HE JUST SWINGS HIS LEGS EXCITABLY WHILE YOUR GETTING STUFF AAAAAAA

Ppl give you such weird looks though bc you have a guy who’s at least 14 years older than the intended demographic sitting there and raising his hands in elation over you copping a cookie dough pie and chucking it in.

Again, another who is VERY LOUD FOR NO REASON AT ALL.

Get’s out of the cart after a while bc his legs be growing numb and begins roaming around.

Someone came back with a feral Noya in hand stating “Is this your child” WNDKJWEFNWJEF.

M’AM HE’S LIKE 18 EXCUSE YOU.

Was salty about it for the rest of the day.

Just ruffle his hair and call him Senpai 

Problem solved.

Picks up tons of exotic fruit that look more like plastic or fuzzy poisonous plants and begs you to get them.

“Noya what the fuck is that.”

“...a Pitaya.”

“...”

“Can we get it-”

“no.”

“(Y/N)-”

“I SAID NO DAMMIT”

Last time you bought some strange fruit he took it to practise and got Tanaka to spike it LMAOOO

IT SPLATTERED E V E R Y W H E R E

AND OVER DAICHI’S SHIRT.

He begged you to no longer allow Noya to purchase weird fruits from then on since he is like a child with a nerf gun.

He once picked up a phat wrinkly purple fruit and turned to you asking if it was an overgrown raisin.

“Noya sweetie that’s a Date.”

HE FULLY TSK’ED AND THREW IT BACK SINCE IT REMINDED HIM OF DATE TECH I CAN’T.

My boy out here defending Asahi even in the Grocery Isles.

We stan a loyal king.

TERUSHIMA:

Another one who tries to stand on the ledge and the cart wheels almost collapse because it wasn’t designed to hold the weight of a young adult.

Oh young adult??? Sorry I mean’t MAN CHILD.

He treats a shopping experience as a time to practise his aim apparently because he ALWAYS THROWS SHIT AT YOU TO THE POINT YOU’RE THREATENED TO BE KICKED OUT.

Definitely picks up phallic looking objects and places them against his crotch, snorting and saying “Like what you see (Y/N)?”

Homeboy is stood there in front of a wife and child presenting his cucumber appendage for the world to see.

He once grabbed a pair of fat ass melons and pressed them against his chest, shaking them and belting the lyrics to ‘My Milkshake’ while begging you to SQUEEZE HIS MELONS.

“Look (Y/N) they’re bigger than yours!”

I just- 

I give up.

Constantly tries to sneak mutli-packs of energy drinks into the cart to the point you’re convinced he is going to keel over from heart failure and kidney stones by the age of 20.

Has his airpods in 90% of the time and treats the isles as his personal dance floor.

He busting them MOVES and performing the MJ moonwalk while in the dairy section.

ONCE HE SLID TOO FAST AND SLIPPED ON HIS REAR IN FRONT OF LIKE 12 PEOPLE LMAOO

He was DEAD silent the rest of the trip.

Probably the most serene shopping experience you’ve had to date.

The checkout clerks occasionally hit on Mr. Sore-Ass over here.

Until he opens his mouth and they realise he’s a total dolt and question how you have the patience for him.

You don’t know either honestly.

The whole bagging experience is spent with them shooting you sympathetic glances as if to say ‘sis you shoulda’ left him at home’.

Yes, yes you should have.

Never a dull moment with Teru as your shopping partner.

KUROO:

LITERALLY LIKE A MIDDLE-AGED MAN OR A TODDLER WHEN Y’ALL GO SHOPPING THERE IS NEVER AN EVEN MIDDLE-GROUND.

Frequently cracks lame-ass food puns or dad jokes that make you want to crawl into a hole and die.

You have competitions on who can come up with the most and the loser always faces a penalty.

Kuroo and creating penalties do NOT mix safely so you better hope you win.

“I love you a waffle lot.” 

Proceeds to hold up a wrapped waffle.

Ok that one was kinda cute you’ll let it slide.

“I ap-peach-iate you Kuroo.”

Cue HyenaLaugh.mp3

“Want a pizza me baby? Bitch peas, doughnut take me lightly.”

You changed your mind.

You didn’t talk to him the duration of that shopping experience, no penalty could be as horrifying as what just came out of his mouth.

“(Y/N)... sometimes I feel like you don’t carrot all.”

You slapped him with said carrot and obviously had to pay for it after.

You forced him to eat it raw.

He is the definition of Neutral disaster when you go shopping.

Shitty food puns aside, he is actually very responsible when making sure you both get what you need.

Not without tons of poking, prodding, and blowing into your ear while you’re trying to decide what ingredients to buy for dinner.

You contemplated serving him a plate of bubbling snot and moulded broccoli seasoned with rosemary.

Bone apple teeth, bitch.

Ofc you didn’t because he always pulls out the puppy eyes and cuddles card after since he knows he’s well and truly rattled your patience lmao.

Actually picks really healthy food options?? Being the captain of a team he has the responsibility of keeping his health in top condition and leading by example so at least he knows the right ingredients to make a bomb-ass and nutritious meal ig.

Y’all always bicker and tease each other at the checkout which is usually great amusement for the clerk serving you as they often smirk and perceive you as an old married couple.

Which tbh you kinda are, it feels like it at least.

Still such a big asshole though lmao you never leave the store without your sanity being scathed.

KUNIMI:

Honestly just wanted an excuse to make jokes at the expense of the Aoba Johsai teammates.

and what better candidate for cracking these than Kunimi.

He’s a very chill partner to have tag along with you on your endeavours.

Not without some grumbling and groaning on his part though, lazy bitch.

You always finish shopping trips with a busted lung at how much you have been laughing though with some of the SHADY ASS REMARKS HE MAKES ABOUT THE OTHER TEAM MATES.

You were outside the store when you both spotted an angry looking Doberman tied to a nearby post.

“Smh who let Kyotani outside again.”

You hadn’t even set foot in the store yet and he was already spitting flaming insults.

[Walking up to the automatic double doors]

“Damn Oikawa move out of my way.”

Oikawa just tryna live and he keeps getting roasted for his flat cheeks 

#StopOikawaAssShaming

Ten minutes of scouring the store later he picks up a spikey Kiwano and compares it to Iwaizumi’s hair.

Proceeds to beg you not to tell my boy Iwa because he KNOWS he will get decked to the gym floor.

Passers by often wonder why you’re wheezing and producing noises like a boiling kettle.

When I tell you no one is safe, I mean N O O N E.

“These Yule logs really out here looking like Matsukawa’s brows.”

The finisher was when Kunimi picked up a turnip and said 

“Huh, kinda looks like Kindaichi.”

I just-

He could roast a whole chicken in minutes from the burn of these comments I stg.

You can now never look at the Seijou team without various foods or inanimate objects plaguing your thoughts.

Thanks, Kunimi.

[sasquapossum]

How To Stop Ruining A Game

(Yeah, bit of a click-bait-y title. Sorry not sorry.)

I'm a pretty big fan of Diablo-like ARPGs. Tons of loot, complex attribute/skill trees, bazillions of gear enhancements. Grim Dawn, Path of Exile, etc. I played through GD (including DLC) with six very different characters and felt like I'd exhausted it, so I moved on to PoE. I'll never exhaust all of its possibilities, especially since it keeps growing all the time, but that's kind of a problem too. Because of all the "league" mechanics that have become part of the regular game, it sometimes feels like ten games smooshed together and stuffed into a trench coat. I know the build "meta" is supposed to be the thing, and grinding is part of the genre, but after playing through the main game and *a bit* of the endgame with four different builds fatigue was already setting in. So I tried Last Epoch but it was so raw that even calling it a beta seems like an insult. So I settled on Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing.

There's a lot to love about VH. The setting, atmosphere, and graphics are all very good for the genre. The banter with your companion ghost and the references to other franchises (including Monty Python) have made me laugh many times. The game mechanics are pretty solid - a skill/attribute system that makes sense (though PoE's gem system will always win here), very nice maps, good variety of monsters, and so on. It could be a truly great game, except for one thing: the crowding problem.

What is the crowding problem? Well, first, it's important to understand that movement and positioning are more important in VH than in most of its peers. It's a more "kiting" play style, which some might find unappealing and good for them if they do, but I quite enjoy it. I especially like the way that it encourages you to do "environmental" kills by luring enemies near explosive/poison barrels or blast furnaces. (BTW this works despite the fact that the game is generally kind of dumb about line of sight so e.g. you can't shoot an enemy across an empty spot on the map.) But here's where the game commits a cardinal sin.

Don't encourage (or even force) players to develop one set of skills, then make those skills absolutely useless whenever it suits you.

This applies both to character skills and real-human-player skills. It's a betrayal of the trust that should exist between developers/designers and players. It's bad enough that VH relies a bit too much on the "many enemies and even more hit points" approach to increasing difficulty. I could live with that, but what they do that's infuriating is have those many enemies surround the player so they can't move and then just beat them into the ground. Sometimes this is even at the very beginning of an area, so there's no way to avoid it. And no, "dash" skills don't help much because they're not usable often enough. You just get beaten down twice instead of once before you have to respawn and slog back to where you died. That's just rude. It's also startlingly unimaginative when there are so many better ways to add difficulty. If movement and positioning are going to be part of how your game differentiates itself, force the player to do more instead of preventing it. Here are some ideas.

Give monsters powerful but highly telegraphed attacks so the player has to keep moving. VH does quite a bit of this, but often in the form of too many enemies doing this all at once so movement doesn't actually help as much. It's better if it's from only a few leaders/bosses at a time. I also don't mean most bosses having unpredictable one-shot attacks like practically every one in the PoE endgame. That's also lazy and annoying.

Make the terrain more interesting, with lots of obstacles to help the player exercise their movement skills and isolate enemies. To be fair, VH also does some of this, though too often it's just one obstacle. Running around in circles is boring. Hide and seek is more fun.

Moving or timed terrain elements can work well here, in moderation. If that makes the game a bit more like a platformer then good (as long as it's just a bit). That's your differentiator. Get used to it. Celebrate it. That's a lot better than making the game more like an exercise in designers abusing players for their own entertainment.

Give monsters weaknesses specific to time, direction, or damage type. Make the player run around to hit monsters in the most damaging ways. As with most of these suggestions, flooding the area with too many enemies works against what would make the game enjoyable. Leave the "trash horde" style to PoE, which nails it. "Fewer but better" monsters should be the goal here.

If you're going to have lots of monsters - and that should be a thing just for variety even if it's not the usual case - then give the player more area-of-effect and damage-over-time options to keep them under control. (To be fair, this might exist with character classes I haven't yet tried in VH.)

Give the player crowd-control options - stuns, freezes, snares, knockbacks, and so on - at least as good as the monsters'. As it is, the monsters get to have more fun this way than the players in this regard.

More environmental kills. These are another great differentiator, and there's literally a whole world of possibilities.

BTW yes, I've also played Souls-like games. They do apply many of these ideas, but they also have their own problems like too many attack types and combos and reliance on learning by repetition instead of playing intuitively. They also tend to have an even worse form of the "bullet sponge" (arrow sponge?) problem. The "boss changes into three different and successfully more difficult forms during the fight" (also present but not as prevalent in PoE) only exacerbates that. It's the worst. It's possible to move a little in that direction, just like moving a little more toward platformers or JRPGs, without changing the basic Diablo-like nature of the game. It would be an improvement over betraying the player.

[rebelliouslala]

4 Something

warnings- language, threats of death, violence

word count- ~2k

a/n- I don’t have my computer so I can’t put a keep reading, and it took me a bit to make sure this part was <3 perfecto so :,) Pain. also I HATED WRITING THIS SOB YOU’LL SEE AHHH

With a stir, and a dry groan from your mouth, you opened your eyes to find your arms still, holding your belt by buckle as the rest of the accessory bounded you. Now this was just an insult.

Yet, your nose twitched in anger as you widened your eyes. Gogo. He and Chenle, they both had betrayed you. And Victory, you cringed at the thought of how Victory had looked before you saw darkness.

You blinked a few times. You need to get out. You need something to get out and to save Johnny, and everyone else. To not be a dick, and get help from the Ripple.

The room around strangely smelled like raspberry tea. The top half of the walls were a dark oak wood traced and had clouds decorated in, with the sun shaped chandelier placed on the ceiling, even though you could barely see it from its dim light. You noted the red, or dark pink wallpaper that was supposed to be covering the rest of the wall, but from its decay, it turned into a mold green. You had a feeling it was perhaps just the design, and not age.

It was, both intriguing and relaxing to feel at the moment. You heard a pair of muffled voices mumble next to the door, behind and to the right of you.

In front of you, as you finally eye, was a rustic coffee table scattered with small treats, a delicate cup filled with red raspberry tea, and a letter. It read, in Korean characters, “Patience is key, he will fly in a few moments.”

You frowned. Baise was a very diverse city, an island that people would pass by on their maps. You remembered seeing it on a map before. It was between Korea, Japan, and China. A bit below Korea, to the bottom left of Japan and the neighbor to its big brother, China. Meaning nearly every person in Baise knew and could read at least more than one language. You even took your fun with Thai when you talked to Jewel.

Korean was something only- you inspected it closer by leaning in. It was only used by the Pound. In mafia terms of the Powder City, to converse you must strictly use one singular language because of the Drug War.

You remembered how awkward it was to talk to Flavour. His Chinese sucked. That was why Chenle was your spy. He was a boy from China, a son that funded and partly owned the Dream Gems.

Hopefully The Ripple should be getting here, you and Johnny, as well as Victory were high assets. They wouldn’t just leave you.

You sighed and hung your head, before leaning up to scratch your head. You gasped, and took the belt. You rolled your eyes from how tired you were, lazy enough to not even focus how detained you were.

There was a crackly sound, a cough, a voice which said an, “U-uh, oh, uh, uhm—,” with fading static in between the stuttering.

You finally leaned in to inspect the tea, scowling if it bubbled. Although it did smell like sweet honey, with pure cane sugar mixed in with its now wet leaves.

“I,” you heard a deep voice, almost growl into the speakers. It was menacing, and it echoed in the room. You sipped your tea out of excitement. “Am Eos. Boss of the Pound.”

Your eyes lit up at the taste of the drink, before gulping the rest down. It had a nostalgic feeling behind it. You swayed to the warmth that filled your body, and how it made you feel like you were running along the alleyways again with Johnny, feeing like you could fly up in the clouds.

“I am Psy,” you replied. Your mouth was now prepared to talk, and you took a crumpet. You inspected it before biting, “A worker.”

“For the Ripple?” The man said with a hiss.

“For myself. And my partner. Release him and I, along with some of the money, and perhaps I won’t try and find you and kill you,” you leaned back into the moss green sofa. The furniture had perfectly blended into the wall, and you smirked by biting some more into the snack with a crunch.

There was a chuckle, and it electrified the energy around you. “Oh; Psy, is it? I let you have this much freedom. Do not try anything too rash.”

“Well, I do want to get out.”

The mic went silent for some time. You looked around the room, making sure not to be too observant to the natural eye. You noted the walls below the wood were thin as paper, revealing brick. Perhaps you were in an old apartment building on the Southeast side?

“What can you do, Psy?”

“Hop over on drug trades, lie like I’m pretty, murder- oh disguises, I dunno, what do you want?”

Another moment. There was a door to your right, where you had heard the voices. It was painted and a thin wood. If you were to get up and kick it now, it would shatter.

“There will be a man to pick you up. He shall explain everything. Salutations, Psy.”

You looked up at the singular woofer diagonal from you. You salute it with a slight breeze to it, “Yep, pleasure meeting you Eos.”

As expected, when you finished a miniature cucumber sandwich, a short but stone faced man came in. “Hello, my name is Selen.”

“Psy,” you said as you got up, snapping your belt around your waist and you crossed your arms. “Any announcements?”

The man took a look at you before he gestured for you to follow with a ‘come hither,’ of his first two fingers. You rolled your eyes, but followed him out of the gothic room, to a moist and ugly stone hallway.

“We are the Pound. Eos is not a man who prefers to show his face, so I shall speak on his behalf. We are one of the most influential mafias in Baise, because of our spies.”

You stopped walking, overwhelmed by his extremely fake deep mafia voice, and the smell of everything you would witness in a sewer, “Spies?”

“Do I need to explain it to you lightly?” Selen asked, continuing to walk after a moment. You followed, “I am not going to be your little spy. I worked years for the Ripple. I would never betray them.”

“Flavour told us you need money.”

You gripped your belt. “W-What about it?”

“Ever wonder,” Selen opened the only door, and you widened your eyes, “How Johnny always had the money from those little robberies he made?”

You gasped as you saw a huge ballroom, and the nearly dozen of people you saw occupy it. Despite its space the people almost seemed to fill the room with their energy.

Every black tile on the floor lit up as you saw a young man run past you on your left side, at an astonishing speed, before grabbing a bow and sliding across diagonally, and shooting at a man covered in armor, hitting him in the head with ease.

Every old, and no doubt expensive, picture across the other man training, threw knives at another man on the right as he ran down and dodged, before getting out a shot gun and blowing it at the picture’s faces, not even looking.

You gazed in awe at the training facility. Not only did it have a classy energy, but it trained others to the max of their abilities. At the Ripple, you would probably fight Sushi until you both ended up in a tickle fight.

This, this was something else. Victory, Chenle, and Osaka were lined up near the entrance you had meet entered, waiting for their turn. You couldn’t breathe. Another man had begun to give them weapons, instructing them to shoot.

“Johnny has worked with us since he was 18. He said, specifically, he had no partner. Believe our eyes when Coral radioed in he had lied the entire time.” Selen chuckled a bit to himself, “Well, really, it was Gogo.”

You eyed up to the grand staircase which was above the black and white tile floors you occupied. The dark haired man who laughed pushed Johnny in a wheelchair, both seemingly fine. You pushed Selen out of the way, and made your way across, easily avoiding the traps.

The traps, so to speak, were more knives thrown at you, and you whipped out your belt around you, which caught them all in its swirl. When you snapped the belt into a club, the daggers fell out, bouncing as you glared at the man ahead.

Even as an arrow shot at you, you had turned and knocked it out of your vision like it was a simple baseball.

Gogo.

That was the name that seemed to repeat in your mind once you came out of your unconscious spell.

You had made yourself safe upon the stairs, you glared Gogo as you bludgeoned him, with all your force in the face with your truncheon. Everyone watched the man get knocked into the wall, and he groaned loudly as if it were his last breath. The people around you froze and stared.

“YOU ASSHOLE! YOU COMPLETE DICK!” You grabbed the man’s shoulders, intending to crush him as if he were a bug, before you felt a gentle touch.

“Y/n. He saved my life.”

“HE RATTED US OUT!” You turned to Johnny.

But his eyes were soft. They melted you. And that’s all that mattered. That he was truly still okay. He held your face and smiled. “Y/n,”

You embraced Johnny, and hid in his shoulder, grabbing him as if he were that teenager hiding from the cops again. He smelled the same as always. Warm, like opening a fresh cup of coffee, and sniffing the pure caffeine and vanilla mixture, with just a- a touch. That Touch of Cinnamon. You teared up. You couldn’t believe it. This was the closest you had ever lost Johnny. And it was because of the one man you had trusted.

“Y-Y/n,” Gogo spat out some blood as you raised your club, glaring at him. “Don’t you fucking come—,”

You felt a soft touch on your shoulder, and it was rubbed in.

Johnny caressed your face and smiled. “Don’t. He’s a kid.”

You looked back at Gogo looking at you. Now he didn’t look as the spy you hated.

He was Mark. He still had those same big sunflower seed like eyes, and he was so tiny. He was the same boy who giggled at Johnny telling jokes half awake. He was still a kid.

You tucked away your club back into a belt and embraced Johnny closer.

The man picked you up with ease, wincing quietly but he sat you on his lap. “Y/n, can you forgive me for ever lying?”

You paused, inhaling his scent as you felt yourself tear up. “Is that what all of those grocery runs were?” You asked quietly. Now, the young man named Mark Johnny had left, to go talk to Osaka below.

“Yes, yes they were.”

You wiped your tears and giggled quietly, “No wonder you always forget something stupid, like bread.”

“That was one time!” Johnny yelled.

“No it wasn’t!” You laughed more, and poked him. You both held each other close.

Gogo then touched your arm, and you whipped out your belt and stared at him with a faux, huge smile. “Hi, Mark.”

He blinked. “H-Hello- B-Boss, uh,” Johnny held you closer, and you narrowed your eyes, “Spit it out, traitor.”

“Eos saw you. H-He said,” he clicked something in his ear, and nodded quietly, “He wants to meet you.”

Johnny held you. “No. No- we agreed.”

“Boss said you can- er, r-roll them there.”

Johnny scowled at Gogo. He lifted you off, hissing as he got up. “I-I’ll walk.”

The two of you made your way from the door Johnny had entered, to another dim, gross hallway like the one Selen and you had to go through.

You were more surprised at the architecture of this building than the spies.

“Did you know Osaka?”

“No, I only truly knew Ma- Mark.” You carried the tall man in your arms, as he stumbled. “He and I got in at the same time. I taught him everything I knew, but, I guess I’m still not a good of a hyung than I thought I was.”

“No, he’s just a bonehead.” You aided Johnny. “Besides, I’m pretty sure if I can take Gogo, well, Flavour—,”

“Jaemin is just a kid.”

You frowned. You, of course still trusted Johnny. He did this for you. You just, it felt weird seeing him so casual to the people who, was supposed to be your enemy. You sighed quietly and gently looked up, “Do you—?”

“Yeah, my portrait isn’t watery, it’s going to be,” he grunted quietly, “kinda like, uh, like w-watery snow. I’m sorry- Give me some time?”

You smiled. Once you and Johnny had left the South side, you guys didn’t know how to get caught by mafias, or even the cops. You spoke in code. Each first letter of a word he spoke meant something.

P

I

W

W

S

Everything else that he said, due to his tone, how he sounded more casual, and knowing his voice so well you could impersonate him- you knew he meant.

Plan

Is

Working

Meaning the second part of his sentence was; It’s going to be,

Working

Soon

You sighed, “You better make that fuckin’ portrait snow.”

“It needs to be watery at least.” He said, a little distastefully.

“Fine, do that then.”

“I will.” He said forcefully, but he softly kissed you on the head.

He stopped, and he held you by your arms, and you now turned to face him.

You’ve seen Johnny scared all too many times. He couldn’t sleep for two weeks after he first killed a man. He once started to leave to be running at a beach since he had to check in on an elderly woman’s house, since her bottom floor was soon to be raised. He went into a rage when he realized his parents had moved, and left him a note saying they will be waiting back in Korea for him.

“I-I,”

You softly leaned in and kissed the side of his lips. You’ve done it a hundred times. This time, you meant it as, you will be back. “I love you too, John.”

You opened the door behind you, and you stepped in backwards, watching his presence crumble. His eyes stopped melting, and instead he looked like he was frozen as the door closed. He looked as if he had lost you, again.

The moment you walked in, your nose scrunched up. The stench of fresh flowers had grabbed your sinuses like it was in a chokehold. The room was dim but lit by a faux gold chandelier, with tiny pink wax candles, and the room, from top to bottom, was lined with flowers.

Pressed, fresh, old, molding, you stared at the maker of the scent, and the man himself.

Eos’ hair was softly curled and from his white roots, it was coloured as the dawn, as he looked through his stained glass windows. His entire body, besides his eccentric hair, was hidden by an enormous leather desk chair. His back was turned to you to gaze upon the windows. You wondered how he can even see you.

Psy, isn’t it?” His voice was more natural, but had that tone. That commanding tone of power.

“Yes.” You glanced at your belt and how it was loosely buckled.

“Come another half meter, if you can.” He said naturally.

You almost went forward, before stopping. You crossed your arms. “Tell me why.”

“I beg your pardon, little one?” He uttered, as if you told him something preposterous.

“Are you going to kill me?”

The man laughed, and unlike his voice, it was silent, and came out only in exhales, until it started to turn into a fit of giggles as he showed his hands. Long. Veiny. They grabbed something out of the air until they disappeared behind the chair.

“It is forbidden at the Pound for any spy, especially one of your standard, to see my face. Anyone who does, shall die.”

You rose an eyebrow and you sighed. “Really now?”

You’ve taken down at least six, eight if you count the small drug circles, of organizations in the city. You can name all types of mafia leaders. This one, based just off of the minute you’ve spent in his, it would be kind to be called an office, he was definitely one for the dramatics. One might even say he had a complex of which he was a God.

“Yes, now, just,” his hands were outreaches, and they grabbed a shard of glass. His nimble fingers moved it through his hand, as if he had done it hundreds of times. But, you swore you saw a glimpse of his- “One more step, little one.” He let go of the glass. Please.”

You scoffed quietly, but you did so, and bowed.

There was so much silence you started to tap your belt out of panic. It hasn’t even been 10 seconds. But you felt as if he was ogling you. Eyeing you. Undressing you.

“You’re perfect.”

“I’ll kill you.” You hissed. Definitely a man with a God complex. You wanted to choke him with your belt now.

“Hm-? Oh, forgive me, Psy,” he started to tap something, whether it was his chin, or his shoe, it echoed in your head. “I was thinking. I was going to kill you.”

“Thanks, Eos.”

“Heh, well, I was. Emphasis, Psy, emphasis is something never talked about. I bet you Mr. Money would give you a lecture on something anything but that, no?”

You uncrossed your arms. “What—?”

“Victory has been a spy of mine since the Ripple started. But he’s only a low rank in that stupid little West side shit of his. But you, no no no, you and John built something there. In that little club. And I need you to bomb it out.”

Your mouth was beginning to ache from how many times you started to sigh and scoff at the man, “Do you really think—?”

“I am a man of my word, yes I was going to, but I couldn’t really kill you. Johnny and I made a promise to each other. For you and he to leave Baise happily.” Eos’ hand showed, and it drooped in a laze, as if it was a sort of wish he never wanted to keep. “I will give you a yacht, servants, food, water, a boat out of the island if you take down the Ripple. And you’ll never have to see me, or anyone in a mafia again.”

His hand disappeared, and you heard in his leather chair, he moved, almost as if he was facing you, that his body language was possibly showing he was extremely happy. Or an extreme liar.

“Do we have a deal, Psy?”

You frowned. The Ripple. Your family. People you’ve seen at their worst. They have seen your flaws. They are your only means of happiness and purpose here.

“If I refuse?” You muttered, your arms slowly began to hide yourself. It covered you more than just cross over your chest. Your throat closed up, and you felt like shaking as Eos smiled through his words.

“If you refuse to obey me, Psy, removing Johnny permanently from your life shall be your only consequence.” The sound of adjustment, and he tapped something again. That fucking echo.

He knew he won.

[absent-o-minded]

SHADOW AND BONE SPOILERS

I binged the show yesterday in two sittings (Eps 1-5 in one, Eps 6-8 in the other) and I thought that I'd make a list of some of my favourite moments/lines throughout the series. (This is going off of memory as I haven't done a rewatch yet, so I'm sorry if some quotes aren't word for word.) Part 1?

- Milo The Goat being the Main Character for 10 minutes straight

- "She's not like you. No one is." I wasn't expecting to get fucking whipped so hard so early by Kanej but ThErE We gO

- The entire scene of Kaz dressing up as a painter just to get a look at the blueprints to the Archive Library because...why not?

- Alina and Mal being cutie patooties in the Camp before shit hit the fan.

- An underappreciated moment: When Mal said that Alina "looked healthy" and him smiling at the fact that she had developed an apetite from using her powers. I thought that it was a very tender moment.

- Ben Barnes as the Darkling having soldiers make room for him to walk because he is THAT BITCH.

- Mikael and Dubrov! It's always a good ol' adrenaline kick when a TV Show takes your love for two minor characters and shoves it in the blender right before your very eyes...Thank-Thanks Shadow and Bone.

- "Your tracker friend liked it when I put him on his back too." Even my face felt the burn of Zoya and I knew that it didn't even happen.

- The Crows in general were immaculate. Everything from the representation of Inej's religious standpoint (which I thought was done incredibly well) to Kaz being an emo boy (...she said see ya' later boy...) to Jesper going "Bang bang bullet bullet gun!"

- Jespers fucking lines, with some special mentions but not limited to: "...He threw a book at me?..." "I'M NOT THROWING OUT THE GOAT...so soft." "(*Insert Screaming*)" "I lost a little bit of money...I lost all of the money." "Of course, love." "I know. I'd miss me too. I'm fantastic."

- Alina's powers were beautiful (Mega props to CGI). Imagine having the power of being a literal ray of sunshine and then playing a character who has the power to summon literal rays of sunshine? That's Jessie Mei Li.

- The wholesomeness of the Inej and Jesper scene where Inej is trying to stitch her self up and there is a mutual understanding of her position of going back and Jesper inadvertently says that he values her.

- "My Crows." UHHHHNNNNNGGGG

- Genya saying that the Queen has saggy tits had me rolling.

- SPeakIng of GeNYA, Genya and David. The small snippets we got of the two are enough to last me lifeti-yeah, no, about two weeks, I love them both so much, please gimme.

- "You don't have to put-" *sigh* "Yes, David?" PFFF.

- Helnik in the Whaler's hut. I cannot pinpoint one particular thing. Wholesome.

- The build up of the Darkling x Kaz confrontation over the few weeks leading up to the Shows Premiere, the plethora of theories that involved Cane Whacking and Shadow Summoning and Insult Throwing and Fashion Copyrighting, and what did we get? The peak humour that was Kaz fucking throwing down a flash bomb and dissapearing like my perception of time and space after sitting in the dark for 5 hours watching the show. I do not know why I expected anything less, that scene was beautiful.

- The bit where Alina directly put her hands over the mans eyes and radiated her light directly onto his eyeballs? It was brief and swift but I found that so cool.

- As a Film Student, I can just really appreciate the overall aestheticism of the series. They managed to encapsulate both the quintessential elements (The setting/locations, The Score, Costume Design etc) and as well as the more meticulous, intricate details (Again with Kefta details, but also with Characterisation, Prop Design of the Crow Club) and so much more. The essence of the world that Leigh Bardugo has built was captured as if it had been plucked straight from my mind and I revelled in it for those 8 hours.

There are so many moments that I have missed or have not spoken about but I'll end that here as its been quite long, but this series was utterly beautiful, and all of those involved: The incredible Cast, the most talented of Cinematogrophers, Designers, Camera Workers, Writers, Hair and Make-Up Staff, truly to every single person involed - Thank you so much <3

(Also - Please feel free to add anything in the comments, or message me if you want to talk about the show. I'm debating whether to do a more consice review, but we'll see how lazy I'm feeling tbh. Take care everyone <3 )

[bluetortoist]

Questionnaire 1

What is their name, gender, and age?

Punkie, and she is a 22-24 yr old female mixed tabby. (Her specific breeds are unknown)

What are three adjectives to describe them?

Shy, Sweet, Lazy

Do they have a human home or are they a stray? If they have a human home, what is their home life like? If they are a stray, what is life like on the streets?

She has a human home, but no one really pays attention to her or realize she's there most of the time.

What is their ‘role’ within the tribe, or what are they known for? (Ex: Tugger is the curious cat/rockstar, Gus is the theatre cat, Mistoffelees is the magician, Munkustrap is the Jellicle Protector, Jelly is seen as a caretaker, etc)

She doesn't have a role. She considers herself, more or less, a bystander or a wallflower.

Who are their best friends? You can include characters from the show or tag other people’s OC’s. How popular are they?

She is a shy one and hasn't introduced herself to most yet. But she is close to Bandit, Cosmo, and Tim. Atticus, though she has only ever talked to him formerly, she considers him a nice Tom.

What is their favorite food? Do they prefer human food or something they’ve hunted?

Meat meat meat. Cooked, raw, She loves meat of any kind. If not meat, She's very fond of fish too.

Do they have any accessories? Scars? Why or why not?

She mostly wears shorts, tank tops and black thigh highs. She has a collar, but its too itchy and doesnt like wearing it.

What style of dance do they work best in?

She doesn't have a preference. She likes the look and feel of all dancing, but doesn't have a lot of confidence in her abilities.

Do they have any sort of magic? Do they fear magic?

She has no magic. She's a bit spooked at some magic, but she does like most of it.

Any fears?

Quite a lot. She has sensitive nerves. She can get a bit nervous around dogs or even sometimes rats.

Do they believe in love? If so, what is their “type” and how do they act when they are in love? If not, then why?

She believes in it and hopes that she'll find it sometime in her life. She has more than enough crushes on a lot of different cats and is always a mess when near them. Shell jump at the chance if anyone shows/ confesses attraction to her. But if she's in love, she won't notice that she's finding herself spending more time with them and opening herself up more.

Do they personally know anyone who has gone up to the Heaviside layer? Do they believe in the Heaviside layer?

She has heard bits and pieces of the Heaviside Layer. But she doesn't know anyone personally.

Any passions or hobbies? (Ex: Dance, hunting, etc)

She likes singing when she's alone. She's actually really good at sewing and likes making clothes and stuffed toys and what not. Shell sometimes play with the kittens in the junkyard.

If a song was sung about them at the Jellicle Ball, what would it be about?

Probably about how much of a poor, hopeless cause she is. Some feel sorry for her, some try to make her feel better, and some would tease her and sing about how high strung she is about everything.

What are their thoughts on some of the main characters in the show? (Ex: Tugger, Munk, Jenny, you get to choose!)

She has a crush on nearly half of them. But really, she has so little a presence, some of the MC's don't know she's even there half the time.

Do they have any secrets they are hiding?

She's pretty tight lipped and doesnt mention it often, but she kinda keeps her past homes a secret because she doesn't like to think about it.

Questionnaire 2

What are they like on the outside?

She's shy and socially awkward from how sheltered she was and how long she had went without socializing with other animals.

How do others perceive them?

A lot mostly see her has this timid, skittish; someone afraid of their own shadow. Might even think she's a bit troublesome with how little confidence she has in herself or how she doesnt assert herself. Basically a doormat.

What are they actually like on the inside? Are they similar to how they are on the outside, or totally different?

She's still shy and awkward, but she is also very sweet and kind towards other people. As much as she worries about the constant idea of people taking advantage of her, she doesn't want to change that part of her mentality. Shes a good listener and would offer a hand or anything shed be capable of. She loves children and is a little better talking with them.

How many cats truly know who they are on the inside? Does your character often show who they truly are?

She tries to, she really does. She knows how much trouble she puts herself through with how she is now and is trying to be more assertive and talk more. Not a whole lot know. Just her close friends really know her real nature. She can open up more when it comes to kittens because she thinks they are easier to talk to.

What makes your character appealing to other cats? What reason do others have to like them?

She is kind and patient to smaller kittens and animals and has a very quiet and calm demeanor. In a way thats what makes her approachable. Some cats like her sewing/knitting skills and would ask stuff from her and that makes her feel good about herself.

What flaws does your character have? Do they give anyone any reason to dislike them?

She is afraid of all sorts of things and that can get sort of irritating to some. Her social inaptability is also a problem for her and some people don't have that sort of patience and she knows that. Her biggest problem though is her inability to fend for herself with how prone to teasing she can be.

Can they fight?

No she can't.

Do they often get into fights? What do they get into fights over?

She tries desperately not to. She's not strong and doesn't know how to fight at all. She'll mostly cower or try to talk out of it.

Who are their parents? Are they alive? Do we know what they are like personality wise? Does your character have any sort of contact with them?

She knows she has a mother, but hasn't even met her and only vaguely remembers what she looked like. She figures she may or may not have rejected her, but tries not to think that. She doesn't know if she is still alive or not still. She might be able to find her if she looked hard enough.

Do they have any siblings or other relatives?

She does. about five older siblings, but they more or less considered her a stranger rather than a sibling, likewise her. She was considered a runt and had to be taken care of by her first human owner.

(If they have a home) How did they end up in their current home? (If they’re a stray) How did they end up on the streets?

She went through a pretty fair amount of adoptions at a very young age. She is now on the streets because of how little her current "owners" cared for her and made them let her out for whatever reason they thought at the time. They still haven't wondered about her whereabouts.

What was their childhood like?

Her first home mostly consisted of her moms' owner taking care of her needs before she was given to another home. Her second family couldn't keep her long with how their older cat would hiss and scratch at her. Her third and current family didn't really pay her any attention other than feeding her whenever she started crying. She was very lonely in this home and would just laze around and paw at the door to be let out.

What was the worst experience they ever had to go through, in their opinion?

A couple of experiences, but one that stayed in her mind was the older cat from her old home. She was a real bully and really affected her self esteem.

Do they potentially have a crush or a mate? Have they ever been in love?

Nothing too serious at the moment. She has a couple of crushes and has a friends with benefits thing going on with Bandit, Tim and Cosmo. She has yet to find anyone she thinks she'd want to spend her life with.

Who do they look up to?

Confident, and bold Queens like Bandit or Bomba. She wants to be as confident and beautiful as them.

Greatest achievement?

Any time when she speaks up or stands up for herself or someone.

Do they have any pet peeves?

She doesn't like when people crink their necks, the image freaks her out a bit.

How do they react to a compliment? An insult?

To a compliment,

To an insult, she doesnt have the guts to stand up yet, and just takes it and tears up a bit or apologizing.

What are they best at?

Sewing/knitting/crotcheting, taking care of/playing with kids, and singing (by herself).

What do they often fail at?

Talking and being part of a crowd for now. But is working on it right now

What assumptions do others make about them and how does your oc react to them?

She has been made fun of a few times already and was bullied seriously once in her life. Shell try to ignore it, but if its bad or gets physical shell end up crying.

How many languages do they speak? Do they have an accent?

She only speaks english.

Do they label their sexuality? (Pan, Gay, straight, etc)

Cis, Bisexual

What is their ‘outlet’? How do they express themselves?

Mostly through her sewing. She doesnt have a lot of outlets and hasnt explored anything new yet.

Are they secretly worried about anything? (Worried about a friend, the future, family, etc)

Nothing serious, but her anxiety makes her worry about every little thing even when there's nothing to worry about.

(Extra, for the creator)

Why did you decide to make an oc?

The idea of a Jelliclesona sounded really cute and I ended up loving her a bit too much haha.

How did you pick their name?

Its one of my many nicknames my family calls me and I thought it sounded cute enough for her.

Are they modeled off any specific breed?

Not any in particular, all that I could think for her is that she would be some sort of a brown tabby mix. Her technical traits are unknown atm.

Are you currently in a rp with your oc?

Yes

Why did you pick that design for them?

All just because of my favorite things to lodge around in. The thigh highs are just personal aesthetic.

[themyskira]

So....have you read the latest Avengers #20, about the current version of She Hulk? How do you feel about that?

I’ve made a point of avoiding Jason Aaron’s Avengers because I truly can’t stand what he’s done to Jen. He took a character who, for all her more recent traumas, for all she can struggle to balance her legal career with her the pitfalls of being a publicly known superhero, loves who she is and embraces being green wholeheartedly -- he took Shulkie and turned her into Lady Bruce Banner, retiring lawyer whose inner ragemonster is just waiting to break loose. It’s some deep-seated bullshit and I’ve been trying my best to simply wait for it all to pass over.

But it was hard to ignore Avengers #20, because this was the issue where Jason Aaron went right off the fucking rails. I mean, he really went full Aaron Sorkin on his readers, and that isn’t a compliment.

Classic She-Hulk: Charming. Witty. Sensational. The Jolly Jade Giantess. The sassiest super-lawyer in all of Brooklyn. More laughs than a barrel of Deadpools. Fun. For years, that’s how the world described my client.  Until the accused came here and flushed all that global adoration down the gamma-irradiated toilet.Jason Aaron She-Hulk: Rrrgh. Objection. Some still like--Judge Jen: Overruled!Classic She-Hulk: The accused would like you to believe she’s not at fault for what happened to my client. That these changes in her personality are the unfortunate side-effect of her new powers, which were awakened inside her by some meddling space giants... and that since that happened she's been doing her best to regain control of herself. To do right by my client and give the world back the gorgeous, green, fun-loving bombshell they know and love. But that’s a complete lie, isn’t it? ... Ladies of the jury, I ask you... is this the face we want to present to the world? After everything we’ve worked to accomplish over the years, is this the sort of muscle-bound downer of a Hulk we want to be?

This sequence takes place in the context of a mental simulation being used by Jen in an effort to build her control over her powers, but in truth it’s just three long and excruciating pages of Aaron taking petty swipes at fans who are unhappy with his portrayal of She-Hulk. Through this exchange, he deliberately frames criticisms of his She-Hulk as shallow, over-the-top and sexist, suggesting that those of us who dislike his barely-recognisable ‘roidmonster Jen simply don’t understand good writing and that we just want a fun sexy green bombshell to wank over.

(Also implicit in this, and indeed throughout the comic, is the view that classic She-Hulk is less meaningful as a character because her comics are frequently humour-oriented. ‘Funny’ is situated in contrast to ‘deep’, ignoring the fact that Jen’s best writers have found room for both, and that Aaron’s She-Hulk fails to be either.)

And that sets the tone for the whole issue. From that point on, the entire comic is just Aaron transparently editorialising that no, you guys just don’t get it, my She-Hulk is better and deeper and more feminist than your She-Hulk.

“I was an omega-level threat in the charm department. I was the Hulk you’d want to have a glass of pinot with. And the craziest part was, my powers, for the most part... made me happy. An incredibly rare occurrence in my line of work. I actually enjoyed being a hero. I loved being the fun Hulk. I loved it a whole helluva lot. So how come I don’t miss it?

“There’s a war on. And the trolls have taken Australia. I’m part of the team that’s taking it back. These trolls come from a faraway realm, but I know their kind. They would’ve laughed at the old me. Made crass jokes even as I was taking them down. This time, nobody’s laughing. And I love it with my all big, green, glowing heart.”

The frustrating thing is, he’s right on the cusp of something genuinely interesting here.

Men who speak angrily and aggressively are apt to be seen as tough, forceful and strong-willed; women who do the same are more often viewed as shrill, nagging, hysterical, bitchy. Many women consciously or unconsciously learn to mask their anger, make ourselves smaller and less threatening. Asserting yourself can be the difference between being seen as the ‘fun girl’ and the humourless bitch.

And the sexual harassment he references -- the sexist jokes, the propositioning, the devaluing of women’s capabilities -- not only are these things that many women, from the most disadvantaged to the most powerful, face to different degrees, they’re relevant on a meta level to the portrayal of women in comics.

All of these themes would be ripe for exploration in the context of classic She-Hulk. Jen is a fun-loving character whose life isn’t governed by rage and the need to control it the way other Hulks are, but that doesn’t mean she can always afford to lose her temper -- as both a woman working in a profession rife with sexism and ‘old boys club’ attitudes, and as a female superhero in the public eye, “you wouldn’t like me when I’m angry” takes on a whole different meaning.

Conversely, we might also think about Jen’s privilege in this regard -- that by virtue of her public profile and influence and general ability to grind men into a pulp without breaking a sweat, she doesn’t face the same level of discrimination as other women. That other women (particularly women of colour and LGBTQI women) don’t have the same freedom to express their anger as she does, not without consequences. And that -- as both the superhero She-Hulk and as the high-profile lawyer Jennifer Walters -- she is in a position to help other women to be heard and ensure that their anger is answered with change.

As for historical sexism in comics, there’s no better antidote to the male gaze than hiring more women and nonbinary people.

None of that seems to interest Jason Aaron. Rather, in defence of his roided-out Girl Bruce, he seems to be saying... what? ‘I have fixed sexism by making Jen so buff that men are too scared to undervalue or sexually harass her’?

(Which, by the way, they still do anyway.)

Next, we get this exchange:

Deadpool: Why’d you stop being funny? I mean, you were really good at it. You were like... me before me.She-Hulk: Rrgh. Rather be free.Deadpool: How’s that?She-Hulk: Free to be ugly.Deadpool: Um, wait, can’t you be both?

So, the implication is that before now, Jen wasn’t “free” to be her whole self -- that she had to be the fun, funny girl to avoid being seen as too angry and threatening.

And aside from the fact that, as I said, I think there are many more nuanced ways to explore this without negating Jen’s characterisation -- this is just lazy goddamn writing. It’s not an idea Aaron has explored up till now, nor is it reflective of the ways in which Jen has been portrayed in the past. It’s just a messy retcon jammed into the story to justify the ‘superiority’ of Aaron’s version of the character. Once again, the writer is speaking through the characters.

We also see Aaron once again implying that being “ugly” -- by which he means physically imposing, buff, not resembling a typical comic book pinup girl -- ‘frees’ Jen from the constraints of sexism, which is full-blown outrageous.

You think that men only sexually harass women they deem attractive? Really? You think that sexism stops at catcalls and underestimation? You think that Jen, a female superhero in the public eye, isn’t going to be subjected to ugly sexist slurs no matter what she looks like? That is as insulting as it is naive.

Later, Aarons-via-Jen engages in some meta-criticism of the fact that She-Hulk has traditionally been portrayed not as a huge, buff ragemonster but as a sexy bodybuilder (and retconning in a shit-ton of sexual harassment while he’s at it, because remember, sexism only affects women society deems conventionally attractive).

“Cousin Bruce said something once, a few years back... about how envious he was of me. How easy he figured I had it. When he hulked out, he became a giant, deformed monster who couldn’t even wear normal clothes. While there I was looking like a bodybuilder who’d just been spray-painted green. I could wear suits, walk down the street without people running and screaming. Teenage boys hung posters of me on their walls. Must be nice, Bruce said to me, to be that kind Hulk.

“I’d never wanted to punch my cousin so bad. And that’s saying something. I told him about the parts of being me that he was oblivious to. About all the times I’d been hit on during team-ups. The bad guys who’d cop a feel when we were fighting.  The sleaze ball who published photos of me topless when I was in the Fantastic freaking Four. (I’d really rather you didn’t Google that.) No paparazzi ever followed Bruce around taking photos of his butt while he was fighting the Leader. I told him... looking like a big scary monster didn’t seem so bad to be sometimes.”

And here we really get to the thesis underlying Aaron’s argument, the reason he feels She-Hulk needed a complete overhaul.

Like most superheroines, She-Hulk was shaped by the male gaze. It’s fair to say that played a lot into her original character design as a green Amazonian bombshell, whose appearance and comparative level-headedness stood in stark contrast to the huge, monstrous, rage-driven Hulk whose powers she inherited. Heroines in cape comics are supposed to be ‘fun’ and ‘sexy’ (as judged by the men they were typically being written by and for). Jen’s body has frequently been the subject of titillation and her promiscuity has frequently been the subject of crude humour.

Aaron seems to view this as the flaw at the heart of the character, and it’s something he’s set out to correct -- by making her the gigantic, buff, scary, angry Hulk she was never allowed to be at the outset. Sexism thwarted! Strong Female Character accomplished! Give yourself a pat on the back, Jason.

Except, here’s the thing.

It’s true that Jen has often been depicted through the lens of a male sex fantasy. 

It’s also true that many readers have embraced her as a female power fantasy.

As the super-buff, super-strong, seven-foot-tall She-Hulk, Jen doesn’t feel the need to bite her tongue or moderate her opinions or diminish herself out of concern for how others might respond. She doesn’t have to hide her confidence or her sexuality. Through her transformation, Jen gains the freedom to embrace all that she’s been repressing -- the brilliant, witty, brash, assertive, body-confident parts of herself she’s always kept hidden from the world.

In looking at Jen selectively through the lens of sexualised artwork, instances of bad writing and a frankly snobbish undervaluing of humour comics, Aaron zooms right past everything that makes her such an appealing and empowering character to so many readers.

Which brings me right back to Deadpool’s comment earlier in the issue: Can’t you be both?

If your complaint is that Jen is portrayed in a male-gazey, overly sexualised manner that de-emphasises her strength and physical power, hire an artist who will draw her as the buff, badass giantess that she is.

She-Hulk doesn’t need a gamma power-up or a brutish alter ego to be formidable, she’s She-Hulk ffs. And stripping Jen of all her femininity in the process of turning her into a ‘roided-out tank raises some dodgy gendered assumptions in itself.

(For me, Peak Jen is a giant buff green woman in a bright pink designer suit. Not only can she be both, she already was.)

And hey, just gonna throw this one out there again, if your complaint is that since her creation Jen has been predominantly written and drawn from male perspectives for a male audience, resulting in some sexist and oversexualised portrayals, how about you hire some goddamn women and nonbinary people to write and draw her?

This is not the Great Feminist Reimagining of She-Hulk that you think it is, Jason Aaron. This is a slightly more pretentious rehash of that time David Goyer dismissed the character as a “giant green porn star”. You’re trying to ‘fix’ Jen by negating everything that she was previously, which is quite simply bad writing.

And when you find yourself dedicating a full issue of a comic book to calling your readers stupid for not liking your treatment of a character, that feels like a pretty sure sign that you’ve fucked up.

[azukh-xiv]

LF RP/Contacts - Azukhai

The Basics ––– –

Age: Adult (32)

Birthday: 21st Sun of the 4th Astral Moon (July 21)

Race: Xaela Au Ra

Gender: Male

Sexuality: Prefers women

Relationship Status: One partner, polyamorous

Physical Appearance ––– –

Hair: Wavy and thick, coarse and wild. A sable mane streaked with brown. Often loosely held together in a broad, waist-length braid hanging over his shoulder and chest.

Eyes: Strange; golden, glowing rings around dark brown irises with narrow pupils for seeing the unseen.

Face Reference: Jason Momoa

Voice Reference: Kratos, God of War 4 / Yautja (Predator)

Height: 7 fulms, 8 ilms

Build: Heavyweight, muscular, wrestler physique; ~400 ponze

Distinguishing Marks: Horns like a behemoth’s and just as sturdy, smoky lips scarred down the left side, a mouthful of a dozen very sharp fangs, runic xaela tattoos across his torso and arms, animate spinal scales with dense spines down his vertebrae, one dangerously long tail, and Other Things.

Common Accessories: Wears the Soul of the Warrior as a pendant around his neck hanging from a gold and obsidian-beaded leather cord, housed between a pair of curved boar tusks crossed at the tips. Adorns himself with natural ornaments found on his endless journey, often wearing feathers or plants in his hair along with clothing and armor decorated with various animal hides. The entirety of his left arm is wrapped from shoulder to knuckles in blessed linen bandages, strapped around his chest to keep the sleeve fastened.

Weapons: Azukhai carries and most often wields a battle-axe that is half blade and half hammer with a cruel talon hooking from the pommel for maximum utility, simply named ‘his steel’ when referred to. The axe is well-weathered and very old, having been the instrument of his ferocity for a dozen summers. His second weapon is an intricately crafted odachi with a design forged in the depths of the Ruby Sea, its blade is said to cut like a riptide wave in terms of force. The sword is rarely seen bare, almost always wrapped from pommel to point in bandages of linen knotted around the guard to prevent it from being drawn. His secondary hunting implements include a tomahawk with a toothed blade and a curved grip that doubles as a utility tool for survival in the wilds. Feathers hang from the bottom of the handle and the back of the axe-head serves as a hammer, much like his battle-axe but on a smaller scale for less violent purposes. A great-bow befitting his size can sometimes be seen slung around his body and the sword on his back with a quiver full of arrows strapped parallel to the sheath. Depending on his prey, Azukhai will trade the bow for a handful of throwing spears of which he can hold three of in a single hand. He also wears a flat, broad blade of steel on his right gauntlet that extends and retracts from the forearm of his armor, offering both a surprise and a lethal extension of his arm at close-quarters.

Personal ––– –

Profession: Monster hunter, with tenure

Hobbies: Surfing, alchemy, instructing martial arts, talking to the forest

Residence: Sometimes the Hall of the Brave, mostly anywhere... or nowhere

Birthplace: White Peak Mountain, Azim Steppe

Religion: Worship of Azim is a private affair but he is tenaciously faithful

Patron Deity: Tengri, the Great Wolf

Fears: Growing old, the incomprehensible void

Relationships ––– -

Spouse: None

Children: ???

Parents: ???

Siblings: ???

Other Relatives: An adoptive mother, former matriarch of the Nameless

Pets: To call him a pet would be a grievous insult. Tian is a lazy and aloof tiger griffin adolescent and Azukhai regards him as a little brother.

Traits ––– -

Extroverted / In Between / Introverted

Disorganized / In Between / Organized

Close Minded / In Between / Open Minded

Calm / In Between / Anxious

Disagreeable / In Between / Agreeable

Cautious / In Between / Reckless

Patient / In Between /  Impatient

Outspoken / In Between / Reserved

Leader / In Between / Follower

Empathetic / In Between / Apathetic

Optimistic / In Between / Pessimistic

Traditional / In Between / Modern

Hard-working / In Between / Lazy

Cultured / In Between / Uncultured

Loyal / In Between / Disloyal

Faithful / In Between / Unfaithful

Additional information ––– –

Smoking Habit: Never

Drugs: Often

Alcohol: Socially

RP Hooks ––– –

Master Warriors who have learned to direct and cooperate with their Inner Beasts have important business with Azukhai. Having only recently tapped into the infinite well of rage of his own Inner Beast, control is something he struggles with daily and urges are often resisted with nerves of steel. He sees it as no surprise that the Will of Karash has manifested in him, perhaps even a goal achieved.

Alchemists and Enchanters in need of a new supplier would find no better fit than Azukhai to handle the legwork. He has a profitable habit of sniffing out both unusually practical and also highly sought-after, rare materials and reagents for arcane crafts. Azukhai’s prey is often valued greatly on markets for the usefulness of their parts, but only if the hunter himself doesn’t need them.

Fellow Friends of the Forest can find a steadfast ally in the hunter who lives to survive and preserve the survival of the wild, untamed and secluded places of the world. Gifted with a strange form of the Echo, his quarries are the monstrous; those that would corrupt and destroy in the name of power. Many monsters begin their evil plots hidden in woods and caves, out of sight until the first victim falls.

Dragonsong Veterans might recall the terror inflicted by the Fangs of the First Brood, a war-band of heretics and other mortals pledged to Nidhogg’s rage. Many Ishgardian outposts were razed by these guerrilla fighters, employing a tactic of the Steppe known as Wolf and Crow with Azukhai at the head of their operations in bloody battles against the Holy See.

Enemies of Garlemald who know the power of terror unleashed with precision should understand Azukhai’s motives and actions; that no quarter is to be given on any front to those who would make the world their Castrum. While no ranking general, Azukhai is always ready to jump at the chance to lay waste to any Garlean operation.

Xaela wise in the ways of the Steppe might find the hunter exceptionally strange, his lack of knowledge when it comes to most customs marking him as a lost child, whisked away from his tribe and raised by others just as lost and reviled. His brothers and sisters only kept their tribe names as a reminder that they were truly Nameless.

OOC/Contact Information  ––– –

My Discord handle is Micah#1113. Discord RP is great, often easier than in-game RP.

Man, 23, Mountain Time. Moving to Hawai’i in January.

Azukhai is my main character so killing him off or rendering him unplayable isn’t on the table. Feel free to try fighting him though.

FFXIV’s lore is ambiguous enough to allow room for most fantasy concepts as long as they adhere to a few hard rules of the setting. My character is technically a Warrior but there’s much more to him than just his game class. I love characters who are made with the same philosophy. I might bend lore, might not. Let me know if something comes up.

This character is polyamorous by nature but OOC ERP (see: cybering) is not my jam.

Violence, grit, struggle and consequence are all great parts of any story just as the good times and lighthearted moments are. I shoot for a healthy mix of fluff and heavy stuff.

@crystalxivrp, @ffxiv-crystal-rp, @mooglemeet

[flying-elliska]

HS Reunion AU pt. 3/?

Heyyy I know we thrive on pain here ^^ but if you want a break maybe for a minute, here’s some more incredibly wish-fulfill-y fluff. They’re all thriving adults (for the most part), the reunion starts and Daphne has a surprise ! 

SAMEDI 17:44 

The day of the reunion dawns bright and sunny. They’ve just spent a lazy morning in bed, enjoying each other, only getting up after noon. Lucas promised his husband that this time would be for them, so he kept his itching fingers away from any keyboards or screens. Eliott made crepes with melted chocolate, deliciously decadent. They curled up together on their big couch, read, watched a weird documentary about deminer rats, and rearranged their utility closet. Lucas's still surprised about all the things they’d managed to lose in there, including four different brooms, one of Eliott’s best lenses hidden in an empty cereal box (why), a bag of onions that had taken on a life of their own, and an album of honeymoon photos they’d completely forgotten existed, maybe because it was the one where they both sported completely sunburnt noses after going off trail for a week in Nepal and looked like a pair of molting lobsters. 

The reunion is at 18. They will be having dinner in the old foyer, before going to party on a rented boat on the Seine. Lucas parks the car a few blocks away. He really wants them to have a little time to breathe and enjoy the sun before the madness starts.

It's a gorgeous early summer day, with a little breeze deflecting the heat and sunlight glittering on the water. It’s incredibly thrilling still for some reason, walking hand in hand with his husband along the Canal St Martin, this close to their old school.

Eliott can’t stop grinning at him either. He looks like a vision in his tight black turtleneck, camel longcoat swung over his shoulder, hair as wild as ever. His eyes are intense and full on mischievous, in a way that really does something to Lucas’ underbelly feelings. 

“Hey, so...things are heating up between you and that girl Chloe, huh ?” 

Lucas rolls his eyes. Of course he would go there, the asshole. 

“Yeah, she’s incredible. Woman of my life. Might ask her to marry me in the fall. I always wanted a honeymoon in Bali” 

“Bali, hm ? That’s cute. Are you sure she’s the one, though ?”

“Yes absolutely. She ticks all my boxes ! I mean, she’s such a ...female woman !  She even has breasts and everything ! I think. It’s amazing. Everything I need right there.” 

Eliott laughs out loud. Lucas loves that sound more than anything else in the world, and the fact that they can joke easy now about their earlier jealousies and mistakes feels very healing. 

“Love at first sight, then.” 

“Oh you know how it is, girl bumps into boy once, it must be true love.” 

“Stranger things have happened.”

“Are you talking about yourself now ?”

Eliott raises his eyebrows in a way that makes Lucas blush, then stops and pulls him closer, until their noses almost touch.

“I don’t know, do you have any boxes left for me to tick ? Or are you all ticked out ? Are you sure your boxes are being ticked appropriately ?” 

“Oh, okay, we’re playing it like that, dirty talk in the street ? I don’t remember that part.”

“Why don’t we make up for lost time ?”

“Wait, don’t you have an imaginary girlfriend, too ?”

“Nah. I’m not even playing at that.”

“Well then, you can tick my boxes anytime.”

Eliott smiles and wraps his arms around Lucas’ head, drawing him into a passionate kiss, unhurried and slow, that tastes like minty toothpaste and cigarettes. They have all the time in the world. Lucas thinks of his teenage self, who’d yearned for this so fervently even as the idea of holding another man’s hand in the street terrified him, and he kind of wants to do a victory dance on the spot. 

A few seconds or maybe minutes later, someone coughs loudly next to them. History repeats, apparently, but thankfully with better timing. 

“Well, I see you two are still as disgustingly in love as ever.” 

Emma is standing in front of them, an amused expression on her face. She looks good, if a little jet lagged - hair in a pixie cut, tanned, bag slung over her shoulder, looking as carefree and adventurous as ever. Lucas moves to hug her as if they’d last seen each other last week. 

“Glad to see you made it.”

“Daphne would have reached across two entire oceans to kick my ass if I didn’t. And you know, I figured my family might like to see me, accessorily. And you, still can’t get you past the Périphérique, I see ?” 

“That’s a gross overexaggeration. We toured half the world for our honeymoon.” 

“And let me guess, you’ve been shackled to your desks ever since ? Well, at least you’re rocking the “just rose from my coffin” look together.” 

“Oh, sorry, not all of us want to look like Australian beef jerky.”

They fall easily into bickering the rest of the way, insulting each other in a friendly manner. It really is like old times. The place hasn’t changed much, except for a lot more vegetation in the courtyard. Seeing it evokes a tangled knot of complicated feelings in him. They haven’t been back since graduation, really. When they’ve reached the gate, Eliott holds Lucas back for a moment, taking both his hands. Lucas can feel his husband is nervous. 

“You know, say the magic word and we’re out of there in a second, okay ?” 

Eliott leans forward muffles his laugh in Lucas’ collar. 

“How is this worse than Cannes, seriously ?"

"I almost wish there were paparazzi now, as distraction."

"Let's pretend there are and put our game faces on, then."

Eliott laughs again and ruffles through Lucas' hair, who protests but lets him do it. He always does.

From across the courtyard, he sees Manon come toward them. 

She looks better than the last time he saw her, when she was fresh from her breakup with some hotshot war reporter. He loves this woman, truly, that's his sister right there, but god he wishes for her own sake she’d grow out of her taste for passionate, moody assholes. And it's not the first time, nor the last, he feels he will have to help her pick up the pieces. But that's okay. She's always been there in his most difficult times.

And now she's there, standing tall, wrapped in a designer coat, rocking her signature red lipstick even though there are bags under her eyes and he knows this is the look she wears when she's pretending to be okay. He realizes then one of his goals tonight will be to make sure nobody bothers her about her love life. She's an amazingly accomplished woman. That's all anybody needs to know.

Eliott gives her an extra long hug. Those are the best thing in the world, and his husband has always been intuitive about these things. Good.

Together, they move towards the foyer.

Their old haunt is completely gone - the mural, their ratty old couch, all the things they'd painstakingly gathered together. The space has been merged with another room and is twice as large. Then again, it makes it possible to fit in enough tables, which might not have been possible back then. Their old beat down furniture has been cleared to make room for lush greenery and designer sofas, uncannily clean for a high school. It's been lavishly decorated too, with a banner, pastel streamers and golden balloons. In front of the window there is a buffet full of all sorts of drinks, salads and cakes. It's definitely too much for this type of occasion but then again. Daphne. 

When they enter the room, heads turn, and the gazes aimed their way are a bit too curious and insistent for his taste.  Well, they did end up being one of the most dramatic squads in their year, in the end, it was to be expected but...It’d better be admiration for his on-his-way to famous husband, and nothing else, because if he’s grown out of one thing, it’s suffering fools. He feels both Eliott and Manon’s grip on his arms tighten. 

A very enthusiastic Daphne appears out of thin air in front of them, as if on wheels. She looks like she stepped out of the pages of a magazine, baby blue dress, hair carefully plaited with little glass flowers, as peppy as ever. She welcomes them, kisses all of their cheeks and then directs them to their table, where they find little calligraphied tags to their names in the plates, before storming off again.

Their table is already half-full. Arthur is there, in a crisp suit, accompanied by a posh, bored looking brunette. He is pointedly not talking to Basile, sitting next to him. Lucas sighs internally. He'd really hoped that was over. Basile is accompanied by a vaguely bird-faced woman, who is wearing the exact same disastrous color scheme as him, brown and bright green and red. And then there's Imane, looking impeccable in her deep red scarf and elegant black dress, and her husband Yousef, in deep conversation. Finally, to round it off, there's two random people Lucas already feels sorry for.

They all greet each other. It's a little awkward. He's happy seeing Imane and Yousef though. It's been a while, what with their little daughter and Imane's company getting off the ground and his own crazy schedule.

Lucas gets a text from Yann saying he's going to be late. Basile launches into an explanation of his latest crowdfunding project, something about an app and cryptocurrency that barely registers. The room slowly fills up. Arthur talks about his family company's ventures into the South Asian market. Lucas slowly starts feeling like he wants to jump into the Seine. He didn't come here to witness how boring his friends have become and how adulthood is descending on them to make them into pre-mummified copies of their parents. He thinks he'd almost rather go back to hear college age Basile brag about all his conquests in graphic detail. Almost. And he can feel his husband tensing up next to him; he knows how much Eliott hates speaking about his work archievements, that it always feels like bragging to him, that he wants the work to talk for itself.

Thankfully, this is the moment Alexia chooses to make her entrance. Far from toning herself down, she's only become more colorful and boisterous over the years. Hair bubblegum pink, in a dress marked with a giant golden thunderbolt, she makes all heads turn in her direction. Lucas used to think she was a little obnoxious, to be honest, but she's like a breath of fresh air now. She plops into a chair at their table and immediately launches a debate about the worst part of the new foyer and if they could donate another paper toilet rolls sculpture. It's a relief from everyone posturing about their jobs. Although honestly, Alexia's probably the most successful of all of them. He can never wrap his head around what she does exactly, except that it involves millions of online followers, sponsorships in the US, dancing videos with cats and her own shoeline.

Eliott leaves and comes back with drinks for the both of them. They clink their craft beer bottles against each other and Eliott leans down to whisper in his ear :

"Too bad they took away our couch"

Lucas snorts.

"Fuck no, that thing was a health hazard when we were here already, can you imagine after ten years ?"

"I don't know, I mean. It could have been fun to recreate some memories after everyone leaves." Lucas chokes on his beer. If Eliott is trying to distract him, it's surely working.

Across the table he can see Arthur's date look at them with a contemptuous glance on her face. The woman exhudes as much fun as a bag of frozen broccoli. Petty, he plants a sloppy kiss on Eliott's cheek. If they've earned one thing, it's the right to not worry about what people think of their PDA, goddamn.

Daphne arrives at their table and sits down, slightly out of breath.

"Hey guys ! I'm so happy you are all here ! It's been a while, huh ? I have a surprise for everyone later, I hope you will all participate, I'm counting on you !"

For a moment Lucas is terrified she's going to quiz them on their lives or force them into some sort of weird bonding exercise. Then he sees the look on Basile's face and realizes they have worse issues to worry about. F*cking hell, they dated for a few months ten years ago, and he's still looking at her like she hung the moon, and right in front of his girlfriend too. It took him years to get over her, they were gross the first time, and if Basile does something stupid it's going to take the awkwardness levels from slightly unpleasant to excruciating for the rest of the evening.

Then a tall, beautiful woman with dark skin and long tresses comes toward their table, effortlessly elegant in a crisp white shirt with the sleeves rolled up. She puts her hand on Daphne's shoulder.

"Hey babe, sound's all set up."

Daphne blushes up to her ears.

"Hey everyone, uh. This is Sam. She's my work partner and also. Uh. She's going to be my wife."

The table erupts into shouts of congratulations, surprise and joy. Manon hugs Daphne, Basile's expression falls to the floor, and Alexia claps her hands laughing. Lucas isn't surprised, but he is proud. For a long time, Daphne was even deeper in denial than he was. And Sam looks awesome.

Lucas exchanges a smile with his husband. Maybe coming to this reunion was worth it after all.

[lossofmylife]

Open letter to non-believers.

Mental illness.

-an open letter: to those toxic people in this world, who insist on the downfall of others, who are already down.

 The stigma still exists. It has not been eradicated and I’m not sure it ever will be.

As humans, we possess a tendency not only to reject what we cannot see and therefore what we cannot understand, but ridicule it. We exist within a society where to be seen is to be believed, which is increasingly damaging for those of US who suffer in ways that cannot meet the eye, working only to prolong pain and suffering.

This very mentality is so extremely dangerous and damaging for US sufferers out there. To have the existence of our very real turmoil debated, diminished and belittled. To have what WE know to be real, what WE feel in every inch of our bodies to be true- refused. To be insulted so spitefully, harshly and inhumanely by others, when we already have the biggest and baddest enemy to contest with in life: our mind. This mentality is more dangerous than anyone could ever realise. It is confirmation of our darkest thoughts in our darkest hours: that it is because of who we are that this is happening to us, that we deserve for this to be happening to us, a deserved, long drawn out, dehumanising punishment. The nail in the coffin, the hand that holds you by the throat squeezing to tightly that you’re unable to breathe, till you’re gasping for air.

The fact that there is even a debate about mental health is disgusting. It should not be open for debate. There should not be opportunity to refuse it. It’s existence is cold, hard facts- scientifically proven. Mental illness is a part of who I am. It is not who I am, simply a part- must like skin colour, or ethnicity. It is a characteristic WE possess, but it in no way defines us. So why is it acceptable to snatch away the existence of something that WE possess, something that belongs to US, is ours. It’s theft. And it is always taken by the wrong hands. Used as ammunition against us, to shoot us all down and keep us there. It is execution.

So, tell me, why is it those who know the least that feel so entitled to take. To take our pain, our misery, our anxieties, part of our character and burn it. To diminish it entirely and turn it into something completely unrecognisable. To reconstruct and push a narrative for the purpose of fitting their own personal agenda. These people, they have NO RIGHT. These people, they know so little whilst refusing blatantly to even try to understand so much. These people should not be allowed to push their narrative, no more than a white person should push their narrative on black rights or than a male should push their narrative on female rights. Unless YOU are supporting us, you should not be able to make decisions regarding US. Those that do not, do not try and do not want to understand should not be given this power. It should never happen, under any circumstances.  Yet, the power and influence is placed into the very hands that WE are beaten down by.

Mental health is real. What isn’t real and what it most definitely is not is: laziness, or stubbornness or selfishness or any number of negative connotations that have been pushed to be associated with the disease. Instead it is an iceberg. There is the surface of which people see and deem fit to ridicule- however they are doing so without the entire picture, without seeing the extent that lies beneath the surface of the ocean, the rest of the iceberg, the understanding, the truth. The bits people do not see, and do not wish to see are the bits that WE hold so close to our hearts, that it begins to feel at times as though your heart has frozen over. The shameful secret of the extent of our disease, the exhaustion of being a sufferer. The bits we are not allowed to show the light of day to because they make YOU uncomfortable.

And that’s the funny thing isn’t it? That everybody is all for mental health and supporting sufferers whilst they are at the finishing line of recovery. The same people who run a mile at the sight of relapse of those who are not yet ready for recovery, the same people who are horrified by the extremely sad truth of the very ugly diseases we carry with us. It is a vicious cycle in which WE are ridiculed for doing nothing to ‘help ourselves’, but are silenced and prevented by the guilt YOU push onto us. And so I ask you, is it that WE wont help ourselves or that WE cannot, because YOU don’t want us to?. WE are made to feel as though we have no right or reason for feeling the way that we do, when in fact, it is YOU who has no right or reason to feel the way YOU do about something that does not affect nor concern you in anyway, no right or reason to make us feel the way that YOU do, and it is YOU who has no right or reason to make us feel a burden and problem to society, when in fact it is you who is more of a danger to society than we are and ever will be.

WE deserve love. WE deserve acceptance. We deserve appreciation. Full stop. NOT despite our ‘faults’, as the narrative YOU so often push would have you believe. Mental health is NOT to be attributed as a fault in a way that no other single illness is: Not cancer, not dementia, not amnesia nor a broken arm or amputated leg. Every other illness is accepted as separate to the sufferer, yet when it comes to mental health we let it define those who are sufferers. It is seen as a flaw to our character, a less than lovable trait that we choose to possess.. and it disgusts me. Why am I due to the structure of my brain, the only brain that I was given for my life, due to a chemical imbalance of neurotransmitters in that very same brain, something I did not ask for and had no control over, any less loveable or any less deserving of love than anyone else?

For all our so called ‘faults’ as YOU are so insistent on labelling them- WE are the embodiments of strength. WE are not weak as YOU are so desperate to believe and have everybody else believe. And YOU cannot tell us that it is so.

YOU show me the weakness in living when every inch of your body and your mind screams otherwise. Show me the weakness in existing out of pure love for those around you. Where you see weakness I see strength that comes from a place so contrasting to your own wants and needs. It is completely selfless. There is unlimited strength and power in the ability to give love and love others so deeply when you are unable to do the very same for yourself. A strength YOU so clearly do not and are unable to possess. WE are strong, where YOU are weak. And YOU don’t like that.

The mentally ill are the strongest people. WE possess a strength and courage so powerful that is scares YOU. It scares you so much that you feel the need to suppress it constantly and at every given opportunity, to strip US of what makes us so brilliant. To instead make us feel that the very things that make us so uniquely and unapologetically human are destructive, ticking time bombs that we need to get rid of. YOU dehumanise US. It is mass murder of our mind and strength and it is certainly discrimination against US for attempting to be so unapologetically ourselves, to accept and love ourselves.

This stigma that is created and pushed by those who do not and do not want to understand is what confines us, it stunts our growth- never enabling us to flourish and to reach our full beautiful potential. All for the sake of fitting the negative narrative that YOU are so desperate for US to believe. This negative narrative YOU concocted and all of the negative connotations that come with it- it is not designed for others, it is hand crafted for US and pushed forward to US. YOU are so desperate to make US believe the things that YOU are saying, to make yourself feel better about who YOU are. YOU make a conscious effort in choosing not to empower and encourage us, to let us flourish. YOU do not want change. And what it all comes down to is that: it is YOU that is insecure in who you are, not US, it is YOU who is a fragile person in danger of breaking, not US. Which is why you have created a storyline to tell that paints US as the problem, YOU want us to believe that WE are the problem- for if WE are the problem, it cannot possibly be YOU. Eyes and attention are diverted once again in OUR direction and therefore YOUR ego is stroked and you once again feel relief in the fact that YOU are secure- at the cost of US. A very selfish and therefore negative display of character, don’t you think?

But WE are not a problem. WE are not a burden. WE are not bad people. What WE are, is different from YOU, different in the best possible way and that scares YOU. Once again, different scares YOU, so YOU try to stamp it out. WE are good people, who feel things so very deeply, to our detriment sometimes but also to our advantage for it enables us to walk into the world with our eyes wide open without the facade of smoke and mirrors clouding our judgement. WE see the world, really and truly perceive the people and things around us. For what people forget, is that just because our brains are different from YOURS does not mean they are any lesser as people so often assume, in fact they have the potential for so much MORE. And through the labels of unstable and more, we know exactly who we are, no illusions,... do YOU? Are YOU any less unstable than you are accusing US of being?

And so I dare YOU to carry on, carry on calling me manipulative, controlling, selfish, lazy. Carry on telling YOURSELF that I am the greatest evil, that I am someone to be escaped. That I deserve to be all alone in this world. Because it may pain YOU to discover that no matter who YOU paint me to be, no matter who YOU keep telling YOURSELF that I am, that YOU want me to be, YOUR perception doesn’t change who I am. And that YOU putting that out into the world does not make it who I am, it never will. And perhaps the saddest fact of all for YOU, is that it reflects far more on the person YOU are than the person that I am. As through all the abuse and emotional torment YOU throw MY way, I will remain a deeply empathetic, perceptive, inquisitive, compassionate, generous, giving, fiercely loyal person, and YOU will remain bitter, hateful and close minded and in the end it will kill YOU, poisoned from the inside out and that will be through every fault of YOUR own. So let’s start being honest, the person YOU are painting ME to be, is the person YOU are.

I am tired of being told to simply accept that I am the way I, the very idea is an insult- I am no lesser, there is nothing wrong with me that I need to accept. Different is not wrong. I am who I am and my mental illness doesn’t not subtract from that- but rather adds to that. The implication of this is that the way WE act is irrational, that we are in the wrong, that our actions are less than desirable. When can we throw out this outdated, toxic concept that somebody who suffers from mental illness cannot operate separately from this, why does every single action that WE fulfil get reduced down to motivation from our mental illness. AGAIN. WE are NOT our mental illness. I could scream it again and again. But you will silence the screams and continue your narrative.. would you prefer I carried a sign that detailed the illnesses I suffer from.. perhaps a tattoo across my forehead, or perhaps when I introduce myself I should lead with my diagnosis. But again, why should WE do anything to make you more comfortable with US, WE do NOT exist to make you more comfortable, to dull ourselves and reduce ourselves to a label, that would simply make it easier for YOU to identify and continue to discriminate us.. Like the Jews being made the wear the stars. An easy, identifiable target. If YOU had it your way, we would be eradicated, however without US bunch of ‘misfits’ and ‘psychos’, you would be living in a grey world, no colour, no embellishments- for some of the greatest people, hell most of the greatest people to have graced this earth, people YOU idolise, love and compliment for all of their great contributions were one of US. Not YOU. For we have great potential to fulfil, minds that are vivid and sometimes scary and beautiful that expand beyond your wildest dreams and WE are going to do great things, whether YOU like it or not.

[sluttyopinions]

Difficulty in Dark Souls and Why We Can’t Live Without It

April 6, 2019

Written by Samantha, Slutty Opinions

The debate on the role of difficulty in video games seems to, never actually end. It feels like something people talk about literally every year, and for some reason, Dark Souls (and the many games that have followed in its influence) is always the target. It feels like something that doesn’t need much debating in my opinion, but it gets brought up often regardless. For some reason, this topic gets me really riled up and I have a lot of strong opinions on it. It feels like I’m ready to go into a tirade any  time I see it, and lately, I’ve been seeing it way too much. This article is kind of my own way of venting, as well as collecting all the arguments I’ve found in favor of how necessary challenge is, primarily in the new generation of From Soft and Hidetaka Miyazaki games. I think it’s important to address why this issue is truly a non-issue, why it came to be an issue in the first place, and why I even care. For the purposes of this article and keeping it simple, I’ll mostly be referring to one of my favorite games,

Dark Souls isn’t about being really hard

I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to Dark Souls being, pretty damn hard. It’s well above average in the department of making me constantly die and wince and feel tense. It’s not the type of game you can just pick up on a whim and breeze through, yet some people clearly want that experience from it or else I wouldn’t be writing this. For some ungodly reason, Dark Souls, or at least most of Miyazaki’s action games since Demon’s Souls is ALWAYS at the center of these discussions. Dark Souls has been the go to analogy for “hard game” for most gaming writers and journalists for YEARS now to much criticism and booing all around.

It’s hard to blame people who haven’t been exposed to the actual games for having this thought process. When Demon’s Souls first came out, it was a breath of fresh air for many in a time when games were getting more and more “dumbed down” across the board. Bandai Namco, the publisher for Dark Souls, decided to use this reputation to its advantage in advertising, calling the definitive edition of Dark Souls the “Prepare to Die Edition”. Streamers caught onto the game quickly as a very easy way to get views because seeing people die and struggle can be, well, fun!

Despite all this, that’s not even close to all there is to Dark Souls. The reputation can be a bit misleading, and it feels like a lot of the easy mode begging crowd knows not much else other than this reputation when it comes to the game. Probably the absolute best aspect of the way Dark Souls was made was its world. The map design is impeccable, it’s very very difficult to find a map more lovingly designed than Dark Souls 1’s. It has so many interesting rewarding shortcuts, feels completely logical and real in the way it was designed despite being in a fantasy world, feels extremely fluid, and is loaded with detail and character. If I were to recommend Dark Souls to someone, I would start with how much I love the world itself in all its aspects. The narrative, the characters, the detail, the risk and reward. I would never even think of telling somebody “It’s really hard and makes you feel cool at the end” (even if there is truth to that statement).

Nonetheless, Dark Souls wouldn’t be worth playing without challenge

I may have said that Dark Souls cannot be reduced to simply “hard game”, but, without being hard, it wouldn’t be a game I would recommend to anyone. All the goodness and enjoyment you can find in the depths of the game is built around the base of it being not an easy time. As I hinted at in the last section, the world design is very risk-reward in nature.

You often encounter forks in your path where you must decide which path is closest to the next checkpoint, or if you want to risk your current experience for more experience and treasure on the more dangerous route. Finding your way around this fluid map wouldn’t feel like much anything without the risk involved. The reward is only rewarding because you banked your skills on that risk. On an easy mode, any path you take would feel the same. Sequence breaking into a much higher level area would not have the punishment it contains to make the rewards worth it if you could waltz into those higher level areas.

The bosses are designed around persistence and patience. The reason the bosses are interesting is because they are something you learn. Many action games are built around reflex as well as training but Dark Souls’ philosophy of design is around dying as a teacher. Not only the bosses, but you advance slowly but surely through levels each time you come back. You win some, you lose some. Enemy placement is designed in a way so that each time you memorize them more, and in a sense, the game then becomes easy. That is the end goal of your adventure, at least, mechanically speaking. Easiness would strip that functional identity from it.

An easy mode would strip Dark Souls of its narrative identity as well

The idea of people asking for an easy mode so they can see the world and story without having  to put in the time shows me that those asking don’t really know a lot about Dark Souls to begin with. As I already said, mechanically, the world would become uninteresting without the risk and reward. The writing of the game also revolves around this risk and the concept of persistence I described earlier. All you’d be doing on an easy romp is looking at a lot of brown stuff and reading cryptic item descriptions. I can’t comprehend wanting to pay for an experience like that and not just watching videos about it all that you can do for free. VaatiVidya has some great ones seriously, you don’t even have to have played the games to enjoy the videos. But, it would certainly help a lot.

The entire theme of Dark Souls is, patience and persistence. In the world your adventure is set in, humans are cursed to be undead and revived again and again. Miyazaki loves making gameplay have as little conflict with the narrative as possible, which is part of what makes his works so unique. This dying and reviving you do in game is what most people in the world around you do. However, most npcs have, limited purpose. Being a shopkeeper, being a warrior, a scholar, maybe even a cynic. Once their “purpose” they have sought out to find has expired, or they have lost confidence in it, they lose their very minds.

Your duty as the player character is to find the First Flame. Not important what that means for the sake of this article, just, your goal. The goal of many others in this world who are just like you. Because the player character is an extension of yourself, your will to find the ending, to find the flame, is imposed upon your avatar. You deciding to get up and give it another go at your true goal is like your character giving life another shot. Even in a cold, nihilistic world like that of Dark Souls, humans can find purpose and determination. Hope and patience are virtues in human beings, and they can allow us to surmount anything. That determination can even surpass the might of the gods themselves. The will to get up after being knocked down a ridiculous amount of times is what makes humans good and what makes life worth it. If you could run to the ending in 5 hours, you would not have gotten anything out of the writing in the game. All the character arcs, the crushing despair around you, the theme itself, gone. Someone could explain it to you as I am now, but that simply isn’t the same.

As I said earlier, a Dark Souls without challenge is a game I would simply never want to play. Miyazaki didn’t choose to make his games hard so tryhards and elitists could masturbate over their digital accomplishments. He makes them hard because that’s the way he feels he could make his art mean something. The way he could use the medium and the art form to the full advantage of his work in every dimension. It’s insulting to imply nothing would change with an easy mode added. I wouldn’t trust anyone who played the game on a setting like that to be able to give the game a proper analysis or review, especially not a journalist who is supposed to convey the core experience to an audience who doesn’t know what it is yet.

Dark Souls difficulty is overblown and overhyped

The reputation preceding Dark Souls is somewhat a false one. As I had previously said, saying it’s an easy or even moderate experience would be a lie. Dark Souls is definitely a hard experience, and one that serves it well as a piece of art. However, it being the “only hard game ever” as it seems to be conveyed in pop culture is a little ridiculous.

There are, a ridiculous amount of difficult games out there in the market. Many of which are much more difficult than Dark Souls and its sequels and much less forgiving. Many of which also do not have easier modes. Dark Souls gets an irregular amount of attention in the public eye and especially to lazy journalists for not much reason.

The game design in Dark Souls is built off pure willpower and the willingness to retry, not often reflexes and exact timing. It is designed in a way so that every death contributes to your end goal. Maybe on one run you opened a shortcut that makes your route easier, maybe you cleared out a miniboss that won’t respawn. Or you mastered your way around a specific enemy. There is no “game over state” in Dark Souls, and what you lose can easily be won back. The game design is punishing, but it gives you the resources to make sure you’re not losing progress or just going insane in general.

Let the artist decide their own art: Not all media has to be for everyone

In the end, an artist has the right to decide how they create, and what they create. As consumers, we reserve the right to get or not get a piece of work as well. If we feel something just isn’t good, or it isn’t accessible to us, or even just not our style, we don’t have to get it or consume it. Of course, this doesn’t mean you’re not allowed to complain about something. I complain about entertainment all the time and always make sure my thoughts on something are fully voiced even if my wishes are unrealistic.

Sometimes though, a piece of entertainment can, thoroughly not be your thing. That doesn’t necessarily mean it was poorly made, at times far from it. A personal example would be I did not like Zelda: Breath of the Wild as much as most. It was enjoyable, but more on an “average” level of enjoyable for me and I left frustrated not wanting to pick it back up, and just missing the older Zelda formula. While I do have specific critiques of the game and things it could have improved, I don’t think it’s a “bad game”. It’s amazingly made and there was a lot of love behind it. It’s just the exact adventure it was going for was not the adventure I was looking for, and that disconnect pushed me away from it.

I’ve seen people on the other side claim the statement of “not all entertainment is for you” is on its own elitist and gatekeepy but, it’s only an undeniable truth about the world. This statement doesn’t even have anything to do with the difficulty. If you REALLY REALLY didn’t enjoy Dark Souls no matter how many times you tried, making it easier wouldn’t change that. Maybe you disliked the tone, the aesthetic, the characters, the feel of the combat. All of that is valid because not everyone has to like everything. Changing some stats like health pools or damage won’t change the game design (The funny story is, I really didn’t like Dark Souls when I first tried it. I tried it maybe 10 times before it clicked, and now it’s my 2nd favorite video game franchise of all time.)

Comparing Dark Souls to other video games is quite honestly, a dishonest debate tactic. Trying to claim that “X hard game has an easy mode so, so should Dark Souls” is not very fair to it as a piece of art. Art is not homogenous or standardized, it’s art. As I explained very thoroughly before, I feel Dark Souls would be butchered had it had its challenge removed, even optionally. Some games even if designed with being very hard as its normal, can get away with easy settings for a variety of reasons. The story can be viewed through interesting dialogue and cutscenes that someone with less patience and time would want to see, it can offer a fun exploration of the mechanics in a way that makes you feel like you’re on a power trip versus on an uphill battle, etc. That choice is up to the individual game and the creator. It is clear Miyazaki and team have no interest in changing their art for the masses, and I can easily see why.

The claim against easy modes is not inherently elitist

People who stand up for my argument or parts of my argument are often targeted for being elitist gatekeepers trying to keep their precious game away from the masses. Making it easier would allow others to play it without struggling the same as the veterans, which would make the veterans insecure enough to fight against it. They earned their pointless digital trophy already and they want to keep it, all to themselves. Or at least, that’s what the people saying this stuff would have you believe.

“If the easy mode is optional, how does that bother you? You already finished the game, and now more people can play it! It’s a win-win. I can’t imagine a reason for fighting that concept other than to maintain your secret club and the status of it.” The truth is, Dark Souls fans (For the most part at least. I won’t deny elitists exist) desire more people to play their game with them, and will help anyone who seeks it. We just don’t want people playing a bastardized version of the game which as I explained, I wouldn’t recommend to basically anyone. It would be like discussing an entirely different game with people who think there is no difference. It’s not because they’re “weak” or “uncool” for choosing a hypothetical easier setting, it’s because that experience would not carry even near the same identity.

I cannot overstress the fact that Souls fans absolutely love to help. It is possibly one of the most guided games ever made. Video guides, written guides, guides of all types for all different people. The fandom is one of the surprisingly nicest, funniest groups I have known which is surprising due to how toxic the nature of fandoms tend to be, and how dark and lonely the concept of Dark Souls is. I guess this loneliness inspires people to band together in the real world, and try to make things light to contrast the nihilism often found in the world of the game? Just me throwing out crazy theories a little.

I would personally love to help anyone who wanted to try the game, the way it was designed to be played that is. I would sit beside any friend who wanted to get into it and help them until it clicks, if it ever does. The experience requires a lot of dedication and patience, so I would help teach that to others. Honestly, if it weren’t for friendly people in the community and the wonderfully put together internet guides, I never would have gotten into this series. The truth is, Dark Souls doesn’t have a magical barrier keeping gamers from playing it. The barrier is your own determination. Everyone is encouraged to try, and every single one of us as human beings have the potential to overcome it and learn it. It’s not that some people “can or can’t” play Dark Souls. It’s that some will, and some won’t. And any won’t can become a will. It’s an equal opportunity beatdown.

This argument is not actually about accessibility

Strange I had to wait until the end to get to this, since this is what the argument seems to revolve around the most. Is keeping Dark Souls as purely a difficult experience physically preventing disabled gamers from playing it? The journalists and pundits who advocate for the easy mode would like all of us to believe that. Kind of funny how little if any of those advocates are disabled or understand what disability means.

Accessibility is how, well, accessible, something is. It’s a really stupid statement but I can’t think of a better way to word it. Access is if a person can get their hands on something and experience it to the end like the rest of their peers. Is being simply, not easy, an accessibility issue? In my opinion, no, not at all. Accessibility issues include things such as good controllers, customizable visuals and user interface, customizable button mapping, fair game design, etc. None of these categories has anything to do with difficulty. Implying disabled gamers can only play point and click games is kind of insulting in my personal opinion, not that I am disabled myself so forgive any assumptions I may make.

The truth is, disabled gamers CAN play Dark Souls and similar games. As I have basically beaten to death already, the core game design of Dark Souls is patience, and determination. It’s about basic learning and trying, a very human instinct that all of us have and can use or weaponize. The gameplay is fair, and somewhat slow, and more punishes you for not being prepared or for lapses in judgement than simply not being able to press the buttons fast enough. If a gamer has the tools needed to physically play the game in as comfortable a way they can, how hard the game is shouldn’t change their access.

Difficulty, at least in a fair game, is only a test of how many times you are willing to get up and face adversity, a lesson Dark Souls tries to impart in its own story. If anything, disabled people all over the world know this lesson by heart already. It doesn’t matter how unfair the cards you were dealt are, or how oppressive your surroundings are. If you want to keep moving, and if you have reasons to keep moving, you can find, purpose. Regardless of how you were born or what life has done to you if you continue to get up you can essentially win. Dark Souls is easier than life in that way since it does have a definitive “end state” to it. An end that is accessible to anyone of any standing given the patience and drive, and resources to experience the world.

This whole debate is manufactured to an extent

The reason this debate even arose again to begin with, and why it keeps showing up over and over again is you guessed it, games journalists. Even though by writing this I’d consider myself a journalist as well, I don’t hold much high regard for the field as a whole which is not a very unpopular opinion and hasn’t been for quite a few years. The easiest way to get clicks on anything, video game news or news news, is to get people angry at what you’re writing. Hate clicks generate easy revenue. If someone sees something they agree with while scrolling, they may nod and keep going. But if they see something that makes  their blood boil, they’ll screenshot it and read it to make sick burns against it and show the mess to their followers.

Of course then that starts a cycle of people pulling said article up over and over and it generating an internet hate storm with people now defending the original point. This whole mess was the internet falling hook line and sinker for some poorly paid overstressed sap’s click scam. Probably multiple scams coalescing into one bigger mess. I admit I in writing and publishing this have fallen for it, but hey, I enjoy doing what I do, and I feel it’s worth sharing my side.

Another possible motivation for manufacturing petty crises from a journalist’s point of view as I’ve seen many point out is the simple fact that journalists face deadlines. It is a very and I mean very stressful part of their careers, and for game journalists, their deadlines are based on when they can finish a game. It’s why a lot of lengthy rpgs don’t get treated very fairly or have entire sections excluded from review, and why now these same people are begging for notoriously difficult games to be easier. The sooner they can finish it, the sooner the stress is gone and the sooner they can be paid. Having the responsibility of your paycheck based on your patience when you don’t have much time for patience can cause some to snap and write what they wrote. In the end though, I just pray I never have to read reviews of journalists reviewing a From Soft game on easy mode, because that wouldn’t be much of a review at all.

Why I even care

For those of you still reading, thank you, so much. From the bottom of my heart. It may have become clear in reading why I put so much time into this, or why I get so angry every time I see this argument come up, but it may not be. I’d like to make it very clear why. This game series is very close to my heart, and seeing people act all-knowing about it when it’s clear they haven’t touched it at all or for at most 5 minutes makes my blood boil.

On top of pretending to know game design on a game they know nothing about, they resort to cheap tactics such as guilt tripping and shaming. The whole “elitist” route trying to make the opponents seem like pretentious asses is not very mature for starters, and trying to shift the fact that they lack patience or simply don’t like a game onto being about the rights of the disabled makes me angrier than anything. I have seen many many disabled gamers become furious at these people and for good reason. I have been furious about this for a very long time now, and I hope putting my thoughts to paper will calm me, even if only for a little while.

I sincerely hope my thoughts gave you a new outlook on something or other. That is the most I could ask for as a writer. If not, and you still read this far, I hope I made your day brighter.

[m-602]

Within the Flames

((Look... I’mma apologize. I promised a story like... almost a month ago. A little less a little more. Then I got distracted... Then I got lazy... And it just kinda... went downhill from there.))

((This changed a lot between when I first started this to now. The nature of M’s “insane state” turned into its own effing character - I loved it. There’s also the fact the M’s default appearance changed (a lot happened in Discord >.>). @astel4 decided to make a drawing of it!))

((I’m not sure what I’m going to write after this, but... I’ll figure it out. I’ll probably wait until Thanksgiving Break in a few weeks before I do, though.))

((Warning. Death, Gore, Violence, and extremely verbose writing await you. I... kind of went overboard with all the descriptive words and such. ^-^;))

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Death claims everything that lives, be it at the apex of one’s journey or before it even begins. Nothing truly lasts forever. At some point or another, everything must end…

…

So what about when it doesn’t end. When something finite becomes infinite at its most pivotal moment. Where even though it reached its finale, an ongoing encore drags the faded tale further beyond. 

At this point, the story simply… is. It no longer serves meaning beyond what the protagonist decides. They trudge on through the universe - what is normally a one-shot story becomes a novel where the second chapter never ends. The pain, the joy, the woes, the celebrations, the sorrows - they pile on and on, never weighing them down, and yet draining them all the same.

Some can handle this ever increasing strain on their being. They become protectors, mediators, and teammates. The best of your friends and family despite their status. They grow wiser and wiser with every new step they take, eventually coming to terms with their fate.

And yet, their lives are not lacking in pain and strife. The ever increasing pile that their afterlives grant them affects them still, even if they manage it well. It’s sometimes obvious in subtle behaviors or reactions. But sometimes… it becomes so much that they burst in unimaginable ways.

In the case of one, their rage leaves nothing but fire.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ???, M

Them.

He thought they were gone. That they had perished along with everything they destroyed. They hurt so many, and for what reason? Paranoia. Half the towns and cities that they had ruined didn’t even pose a threat to them… It’s almost like they wanted to wipe them all out for no reason.

They were still here in this dead world. In this world that they killed. That they destroyed with little concern or conscience. How they could possibly believe they deserve to have this world for themselves baffles and beguiles him. Was it truly possible that they wanted the whole world to themselves? Was living alongside others outside of their own nation really such an impossibility?!

He still remembers all the destruction they wrought. He occasionally hears the screams of his loved ones and family, both in the waking world and the realm of slumber. Even his own powers bring reminder of the loss he’s felt.

His barriers… a representation of his futile desire to protect everyone, and the only power he could call his. The magic that would’ve developed naturally, now warped and strengthened by Death itself. His flames… a representation of the ruin he’s bore witness to. A representation of the spark of life that should’ve been extinguished - persistently, it has only blazed forth an endless path with a renewed, infinite robust. His chains… a representation of the pain he keeps within. The binding emotions that he has weaponized… His very scythe… a memento of his own demise...

These thoughts are only fuel for the raging blaze. His temper only seems to grow more and more uncontrollable as he continues forward. Towards the very people he’d have no problem torturing. The only people he would liberally shatter and tear. The only people he would grant the ultimate end, leaving nothing but their ashes.

* They’ll pay… They’ll all pay! None of them will escape!

Everything that’s happened to him. Everything he’s lost. Every problem that he’s had to deal with. Every one of his greatest sorrows. His own death!

It was all their fault.

And from the seeds of sorrow they’ve woven blooms their fiery penance. The flames of judgement that will turn upon them the pain they’ve inflicted.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ AoC HQ, Commander Able

For the first time in all these years, they had detected something other than one of their own. Something that shouldn’t be here. This world was theirs alone, they made sure of that decades ago! If there was someone else here, they needed to be swiftly executed!

After weeks of careful study, deliberation, and reconnaissance, they’ve finally determined their unwanted loiterers… A literally dead town. No joke! It was crawling with remnants of lives they had thought extinguished. What a revelation… And a truly embittering one considering that this world was theirs.

Not even the dead from other towns can have it. They won’t have such impure presences walk around their world - their property. This wasn’t a planet for them to share! They worked diligently to ensure this world was theirs and theirs alone. They won’t let it be all for naught.

As the Agents of Creation, and the ones designated as the world’s only residents, they wouldn’t let such trespassing go unpunished.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Outside the AoC HQ, M?

There they were. After all these years, the ones who were responsible for everything - the destruction of his home, the destruction of his world, the deaths of his friends, the deaths of his family, his own death - there they were, safe and sound in their little base.

“Agents of Creation”? HA! They think life itself granted them the “okay” to tear this world and its people apart. To keep it all to themselves?! It’s a notion so ridiculous and audacious that it makes him laugh.

And laugh.

And laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh...

…

The skies darken. Dark blue flames begin to encroach upon the base. The lights within even flicker under the overwhelming power. You could practically see the world distort and waver. The sound of chains could be heard somewhere off base.

A mighty cloak to symbolize the coming disaster… A nobler crown to symbolize HIS reign… 

[FOR ONCE… WE ARE IN AGREEMENT… LET US TEAR THEM APART… THIS WORLD IS OURS TO RULE…]

The laughter was absolutely deafening.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Entrance, THEM

They thought the power was faltering. That some kind of fuse was busted, or a connection line needed repair. If it weren’t for the… creepy, sinister laughter, that thought would have prevailed.

There was something… powerful outside. Its laughter seemed to echo from everywhere and anywhere. No matter what they did, the laughter invaded their senses, their minds, driving them to fear.

A surveillance camera caught a glimpse of dark blue flames encroaching upon the building before it just… gave out. They attempted to make contact with perimeter lookouts, only to be met with radio silence. Everyone flooded the entrance to the base, shaking weapons at the ready. Officers, generals, leaders, and other VIPs congregated in the center of the base. Being in the most well protected and guarded area of the complex would absolutely mean they were safe… right? Right?!

Thunder boomed from outside the building, a lightning bolt striking nearby. The wind seemed to scream at every soldier near the entrance, snapping at them with a primordial anger. The laughter seemed to grow… louder?

“Open the doors! We’ll ambush that thing!”

At the order, the massive metallic doors started to open slowly. Everyone trained their weapons on the entrance, unsure of what they’ll see when they open.

The last thing they expected was darkness to overtake the room. The last thing they expected was the sound of chains joining the echoing laugh. The last thing they expected was a dark blue fire to flood the room.

The last thing they expected was a terrifying shadow to literally tear someone into multiple small pieces, commenting only with a maniacal cackle…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ AoC HQ, Ikearu

* Don’t get used to this… [HENCE WHY I’M GOING TO SAVOR EVERY MOMENT…]

There were few things the two personalities could agree on. They toil endlessly within the psyche, one trying to suppress the other and exert control. One simply wished for a peaceful existence, the other wished to drag others with them and govern their afterlives under an iron fist. Such conflicted causes could surely find naught to compromise upon. And yet, one thing they could…

Was the total annihilation of those who wronged this world. For differing reasons, that is certain, and yet here they were in total agreement.

One wished vengeance on these cretins that took away the world and forced him to wander for eternity; the other simply feels insulted at the insolence they express in his world. And that personality was now tearing the abominations in human form to shreds…

The first victim - who foolishly decided to inch himself towards the metal doors - was just a mere demonstration. Shredding him from the fingers down, letting the body parts coat the floor. His bloodied claws twitched imperceptive. He still had quite a lot of fun to be had with the rest of these fodder.

Though their piteous weaponry fired, not a single bullet made contact with the maniacal shadow. If they weren’t torn to bits by his claws, they were burned, electrocuted, crushed by chains. A dark flame would erupt from their cadavers, extinguishing any remnants of a spirit they had. Not even the chance to so much as arise as Fiends shall be sanctioned to them. A pitiful, empty existence as that is one even they aren’t worthy of.

Alarms would’ve blared if the facility wasn’t drowned in shadow. Good. The quiet suits him. Makes it easier for him to mess with his prey. It allows him to prey on their fears, their anxieties, before ending it all in the most painful of ways. To let them watch as their fellows are dragged off, incinerated, mutilated in front of them by a seemingly invisible opponent.

The base fell into total lock-down in an attempt to keep him - THE KING - in one place… An amusing gesture to think he could be stopped. Any doors in his way: busted open in a fiery blaze. A wall of lasers: short-circuited by a jolt of dark blue electricity. No matter the obstruction, he blasted through, leaving behind a crimson trail. As annoying as they may have been, they only made this more enjoyable to him. Sometimes, he would use the obstructions to mess with his prey further, making them believe themselves safe before reality comes to crush their dreams in the event of their demise.

The sound of rustling chains, thundering explosions, and psychopathic cackling echoed throughout the building, accompanied only by the screams of indolent soldiers. If they weren’t responsible for the death of a world - if they didn’t suffer from a lack of altruism - perhaps one could feel sympathy for them… Unlikely.

[A SHAME THEY MUST FADE INTO NOTHING - I’D HAVE NO PROBLEM RULING OVER THEIR SPIRITS AND SUBJECTING THEM TO TORTURE UNYEILDING…]

* Yet we’ve both agreed that they don’t even deserve that. To exist for even another second.

[I’VE NOT FORGOTTEN. I’M NO FOOL. IT WOULD BE INACCURATE TO SAY THAT I WOULDN’T BE TEMPTED TO DESTROY THEM ANYWAY.]

After perhaps an hour of constant carnage and massacre, he finds himself before a set of ornate, sealed doors. This is very clearly the most secure part of the base, and not a guard in sight. That’s to be expected - every other soldier in this place was dead. The building already began to crumble in a mighty conflagration. Even now, the flames rise behind him, ready to eat away at the cowards within.

He flashes a widening, sinister smile, his face looking like the creepiest jack o’ lantern to ever exist beneath his hood.

[AND NOW… THE FINALE…]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Central Control, Able

He couldn’t see what was going on outside, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t put two and two together. He could hear the screams, the fire, from they’re safe zone - they were quite difficult to ignore. He knew the main defense was nothing but cinders, now.

He and the remaining guard now eyed the only entrance to the room they were in, shaking with absolute subtlety. Everything they worked for was crashing down around them. Their allies outside now lay dead, murdered by the psycho outside. If they were going down, they wanted to go down with a fight… They already had a plan to kill this thing.

The temperature in the room steadily began to rise. It rose and rose and rose until it was nearly smoldering in the room. Everyone in the room started breaking out into a sweat as they were essentially being cooked alive… Very, very slowly cooked alive.

A footstep. Another. Very slow, meticulous footsteps could be heard from beyond the doors. The maniacal laughter was heard everywhere, but felt the loudest here. The thing that was tearing their base apart was right outside, biding its time…

…

In an instant, the doors blew open. Something was in the room, dashing straight for Able.

Only to be caught in some kind of colorless sphere.

Able could now get a good look at the beast.

It was… terrifying, to say the least. It was… almost completely shadow, with some kind of blue outline or aura defining its shape. Floating directly above its head was a crown, shaped like fire, that could probably fit perfectly on its head. It wore a dark blue cloak, adorned with various black designs similar to chains, with the hood sitting upon its head perfectly shadowing its face - you could only see slitted blue eyes and a jagged, sinister grin, as if its very mouth was made of extremely sharp teeth! The ends of it cloak separated and curled similar to flames, creating a unique, jagged design. The collar around its neck opened in to the front half of its body, bearing a similar jagged design.

The… thing just smiled at him. A menacing grin that chilled him to the bone, despite the searing flames outside. It stopped laughing at least…

He decided to talk to it. It was going to be obliterated anyways. Why not gloat a little?

“Well… aren’t you a nasty abomination? You sure caused us quite a bit of strife today. However, as much as you’ve destroyed, we can rebuild. After all, we are the designated rulers of this world - it would be a shame if we fell so easily. Besides, we can’t have something as atrocious as you running around causing trouble.”

A humming sound filled the room. The device would take but a few moments to charge, but soon enough, this thing would be nothing but dust.

“Any last words before you meet oblivion?”

The thing just… chuckled at him. It was a deep, dark chuckle that seemed to reverberate around the room.

“THAT IS MY LINE, YOU WORM. THIS WORLD IS MINE, AND MINE ALONE. YOUR LIFE IS BUT AN EMPTY EXISTENCE THAT NEED BE EXTINGUISHED.”

The thing’s voice echoed throughout the room, its words evoking fear into Abel’s heart. It… wasn’t even scared. Why wasn’t it scared?! It continued.

“YOU BELIEVE THIS WORLD YOUR OWN? HA! TO THINK YOU’D BE WORTHY OF A WORLD YOU’VE ROTTED SO IS PITIABLE INDEED… I’M THE RIGHTFUL OWNER OF THIS WORLD. YOU’VE DONE NAUGHT BUT RUIN IT FOR THE SAKE OF RUIN. I SHALL RULE THOSE YOU’VE DESTROYED WITH AN IRON FIST, UNTIL ALL OF LIFE HAS KNOWN PENANCE UNDER MY REIGN.”

“YOU SHALL BE THE FIRST TO BE PUNISHED FOR SUCH INSOLENCE.”

In one moment it was there… and the next, nothing. The maniacal laughter returned, stronger than ever. A guard on the right burned to a crisp. A guard on the left was dragged away by a haunting chain. Another torn apart. Another completely gutted… until that sinister face now stood right in front of Abel in a suddenly darkened room. The weapon from before simply… stopped.

“FAREWELL, WORM. YOU’RE VERY EXISTENCE IRRITATES ME.”

It grabbed him by the neck, holding him up against the screen behind him. He felt his consciousness, his vision, his hearing, his memories, his personality, and everything he knew fade slowly into darkness. The temperature in the room rose drastically, until dark blue flame coated the floor, the walls, and even the ceiling. The last thing Abel would know…

…was searing, blue fire.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nowhere Important, The Lich King

Death claims everything that lives. Nothing lasts forever…

For one person, it was a new beginning. The extension to his story he never asked for. With literally all the time in the world, he bore a similarly heavy weight. And now at his peak, that weight has been made manifest, though an echo had always been present… That same echo now granted his killers a contrasting demise.

For them, their journeys have reached a permanent end. No memory, no body, no will, no spirit that would anchor them to the mortal coil or grant them peace in the beyond. A true death, where they only know oblivion - a nothingness that transcends abysmal. And even then… no longer do they have a consciousness for oblivion to be known to.

The lich rises from the burning wreckage, admiring his work. With the deed done, he makes himself scarce… before launching a powerful fireball at the wreckage. With a massive ‘boom’, the wreckage ignites in a colossal, dark blue flame, easily reaching the height and size of a skyscraper. It burned and burned, never waning in strength - such a flame would never fade so long as this world remained intact.

Before returning to the dark recesses of his counterpart’s psyche, he flashes a menacing smile on his face, leaving his other half with a message.

[ONE DAY… THIS WILL BE PERMANENT… ONE DAY… A DEAL LIKE THIS WILL BE YOUR DOWNFALL… AND ON THAT DAY, I SHALL RISE A TRUE KING, AND MAKE THIS WORLD AND ALL OTHERS MY OWN… THIS FIRE… LET IT BE A REMINDER OF THE PUNISHMENT THAT AWAITS THE FOOLS WHO DEFY ME.]

And with that, the dark ego retreated to the deepest corners of the mind, saying not another word. The cloak vanished, and the crown upon his head went back to its usual size and position above his head. He sighed.

“I’m well aware, Ikearu… I’ve been aware ever since I’ve fought to keep you from getting out… So long as I exist…”

…

“I won’t let the undeserving suffer within your flames.”

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

((Feel free to send me ideas if you want me to write a story. I rather enjoy A Hat in Time stories, and I may dabble in a Hollow Knight story. Just maybe...))

((I do hope you enjoyed. Please, if you’re going to leave criticisms, make sure it’s constructive and not just bland hate. I want to be able to improve on my writing.))

((Have a great day! And thank you for reading!))

[dragonofdarknesschaos]

Look at Me Twirling my CVS Receipt!!

DelaneyArt said:

Me again.

Here. If you wanna get yourself involved even more than you already are. This is what Sky said to me recently. And I’ve agreed to her terms. Me and her are MUTUAL I never said we were friends. 

Transcription if the image does not load:

From Skyrawathi, 12/24/2018

Okay so I have read your letters. I understand what you mean. I am just not sure if you are honest with your apologizing and with willing to end this war. I mean it is hard now for me to trust you because I am afraid that you will start insulting me again soon. I hope I am wronf. [sic] Maybe I just need some time. I guess we both need to calm down. Especially it is Christmas now. Emotions are hard to handle. I am also sick of this situation already. But if what you say is true and you want to be honest with me, ans [sic] you don’t want use [sic] anymore to be enemies then it is so cool

I could show you how you can develop your art, where you can find inspiration and how to use them to create sth original. You really don’t need my art that much and you don’t need to redraw them. I mean it is so cool if we could inspire each other, but you have to start first creating something original. And yeah, you can because as you have mentioned that comic Possessive of yours, you prove with this that you can be creative and inspiring for other artists. Just lets calm down because I never intended to be your enemy, I never wanted to. But you see how far this conflict went and it is stupid? Don’t you think?

I understand that sometimes it is hard for everyone to come up with sth new and we lack new ideas. Every artist suffer this so it is nothing to be ashamed of. I can show you how to fix that so you will always have awesome ideas in head.

But first you definately [sic] have to credit me. And if you want to make a redraw of my work then you should write in post that this pic is study of Skyrawathi’s art. And it is nth wrong because lots of artists study others. Me either. I always mention the source of the pic that I used as reference.

So yeah, we can definately [sic] end this war and come to agreement. But just please, do what I ask. Credit me when you use my art, and if you can be that cool to ask me for permission before you do a redraw then that would be really awesome of you. Then you will never ever deal with reporting because your hands will be clean.

In return to show you that I am not evil, I can help you with improvement. I can show you how to turn your inspirations into original ideas and how to draw chamiko so well that you will never ever need someone’s pic as a base.

Does it sound ok for you?

Now, from what I’ve gathered from the first paragraph of this email along with mentions to prior emails in the same chain as alluded to in the PSA post, D decided that before Christmas–a time when everyone wants to relax and spend time with their families, friends, and loved ones; the season of comfort and joy–was an excellent time to send insulting emails and threats to her most inspiring idol, just for reporting D’s facebook page.  I cannot imagine what was said, but the way Sky is reacting leads me to believe that the insults were so volatile that they may never see the light of day again.  Sky might have even feared for her well being and that is why she is offering to help.  If this is how D treats someone she claims to hold in such high respect and idolize, then I cannot imagine how she treats anyone below such a pedestal.

Actually, I can.  For telling the admin of a closed Xiaolin facebook group that D was plagiarizing other artists, which resulted in D getting kicked from the group, I was called “a crazy bitch” back in September of 2018.  I have not once insulted D, yet she continues to berate me and harass me on multiple social media sites for warning others about her.  I’ll speak more on this later.

Back to the email.  To summarize what Sky is saying:

Sky is tired of this war; it’s stupid and she wants it to stop

Sky doesn’t know if she can forgive D

D’s actions have repeatedly shown that she cannot be trusted

Sky is willing to help D improve so that she can get better and not need to copy other’s art

In order to get to that point, Sky asked D for four things:

give Sky credit on the art that D has already posted

start crediting and sourcing the artists whose work D “studies” or “copies to learn from”

ask Sky (and any other artists) for permission before doing a redraw of their respective artwork

create something original

At no point does Sky say they are friends or “mutuals.”

At no point in this email does Sky say that D and her are mutual in anything, but I would infer there is a mutual understanding that D must do better.  None of this excuses D’s harassing and abusive behavior.

Alright, if D wants to work on herself and get better let’s see how she is doing on her end of the deal with crediting and sourcing artists.  I’d give links to D’s OPs, but she has me blocked.

“Version inspired from [Sky’s real name] aka Skyrawathi”

Ah yes, I always love getting doxed when one of my fans credit me without linking back to my original work!  Please don’t do this.  Only villains do this.

Three instances of “Inspired from Skyrawathis version”

Again, no link?  Not even going to mention the title of the piece?  Sky has HUNDREDS of pictures!  How am I going to know which one D is copying?  How will I know where to find Sky’s original works if you DON’T LINK TO THEM????  I am but a lazy potato!

“Inspired from Skyrawathi Chamiko Great Wall Kiss”

Better, but still no link.

“Inspired from Skyrawathi “Together in Snowflakes” ”

Getting fancy with the formatting here, but WHERE IS THE LINK??????

“Original design and concept”

Ah, finally!  Something original, just as requested!  Although… Chase’s pose looks kinda familiar.  So does that horse.  I wonder…

Chase’s pose is Dashi’s character art from the Xiaolin Dragons Kickstarter art dump part one.

Oh, and Kimiko’s pose and horse are literally the second result for “mulan horse” on Google images.  But, tell me again how D has changed and is crediting artists and making original drawings without reference?

If you want to credit people, please use MLA format for your citing.  Or if that’s too hard to remember, here’s a handy formula:

[Artist’s username]. “[Title of Piece].”  [Publishing platform or publication e.g. Tumblr, Deviant Art, Instagram, Time Magazine etc.], [date published], [source URL].

@Skyrawathi. “Together in snowflakes.” Deviant Art, December 24, 2017, https://www.deviantart.com/skyrawathi/art/Together-in-snowflakes-721748400

Here’s a more casual way to credit someone if that’s too formal for you, with links bolded:

Couldn’t get enough of @Skyrawathi‘s “Together in snowflakes” so I had to redraw it (with permission)!

Here’s an original image I made using these references: Chase’s pose (Grand Master Dashi), Kimiko and Horse.

The point is to LINK BACK TO THE ORIGINAL ARTIST.  Simply mentioning them as plain text does not work.  LINK TO YOUR REFERENCES.  I should not have to do an internet search to find what you are referencing.  The citing I did here took less than two minutes.  If someone cannot take two minutes or less to show such a basic level of respect then there is no hope.

As for the matter of being “mutuals,” I am sorry for jumping to “friends,” but that is usually what “mutuals” means on Tumblr; “two people, usually friends, that follow each other’s blogs.”  Not all mutuals are friends and not all friends are mutuals.  I jumped the gun a bit based on personal meaning assigned to that word.  However that doesn’t explain this:

Facebook status post from D that reads:

[Sky’s real name] (aka Skyrawathi) is an amazing Chamiko artist and I am truly inspired by her work. I should’ve credited her in the beginning, I didn’t think I had to but I will from now on out of respect for her work. I hope to improve my art as much as I can and strive to get my skills to her level, even though I know I have my own set of skills and will still continue to be inspired from her work and in general in the future, but I hope to not have to rely on a reference to draw. I appreciate us coming to an agreement and I hope we can be mutual in all of this. Thank you Skyrawathi, and it’s a dream come true to be able to become friends with the person who has inspired my work all this time. I will work on making original Chamiko art that is 100% from me (heart emoji)

Once again, don’t put someone’s real name with their URL.  It can be construed as doxing.  Do not do that.  It’s highly disrespectful gesture towards someone one claims to hold in such high regard, but as has already been established, D lacks this basic understanding of respect.

I have been doing art for almost three decades.  I know people who have been doing it two and three times longer than I.  We all use reference.  Do not set yourself up for failure by saying you “hope to not have to rely on a reference to draw,” because that is never going to happen.  This goes for everyone.  Using reference is not a crutch.  Reference is a tool for when you do not know how to draw something.  Young artists use a lot of references because they do not have the knowledge or experience of drawing a hand 500 times, or a head 1,000 times, or a leg 250 times!  There is no shame in that perceived lack.  Getting around it is just practice.  Find photographs–either free and open stock or your own–and draw what you see.  D has a great eye and very nice photos on her Instagram before it was taken down!  She could learn a lot by doing studies from her own photos like this.  But Sky’s art, my art, everyone else’s art is NOT anyone’s reference!  It took me a while to understand that, but I’m lucky in that I didn’t get myself into any trouble with that misunderstanding.  The best way around that misunderstanding, should it occur, is to first, apologize to the artist you referenced; second ask what they would like done with the artwork you made.  If they want it taken down–remove it from all platforms.  Do not reupload it anywhere.  If they say it’s fine, just credit them, then credit them as I explained above with LINKS.  “Crediting” the original artists as plain text shows that D has not changed as she claims to, or is only trying to placate her audience to believe she is telling the truth about her change.

Continuing with that lack of change, here is the text I bolded:

“I hope we can be MUTUAL … it’s a dream come true to be able to become FRIENDS…”

What is the truth, Delaney?  Friends or Mutuals?  Since D is so unreliable in her narrative, let’s hear Sky’s take:

Transcription of DMs:

Sky: Sorry, that I will bother you with Delaney but she has just written to me. She said that there is some drama on Tumblr. Said that she never called me and her friends and I approved it because I am hell no friend to her. And she also asked me what kind of problems people still have with her…xD and I was a bit like WTF. But I told her again that she has done so much harm to so many ppl that she cannot expect from anyone to just simply forget.

[…]

She actually left me in peace and I am happy about it. And even if she writed sth [sic] then I just ignore her, because I don’t want to have anything to do with her. But I just checked this letter about Chaos. Anyway I would very much appreciated if she wasn’t mentioning me and using my person as a ladder for her business.

This is what I also told her. She can’t expect from us to be ok with her. Nobody will start liking her just because she said sorry.

Once again, I repeat, Sky is NOT D’s friend.  Sky wants nothing to do with D.  Sky does not even want D to mention her at all, ever.  So all that artwork I have screen capped from D’s blog should not even be posted, because–per Sky’s wishes–D cannot credit Sky without mentioning her, inevitably associating the two together.   As such, D cannot have any of the artwork she copied from Sky posted without violating the wishes of someone she claims to highly respect.  Furthermore, posting the artwork she claims to be “original” while still copying well known and iconic material without due credit or sourcing shows that D has not changed, or even attempted to change.  All this drama has bungled things for D so much that no one is wiling to talk to or work with her.  Thus, all of the terms Sky set up to help D have been violated.  If D wants to claim she has changed she needs to SHOW she has changed without words, through actions.

That means that instead of finding my three month old post about her and replying “lol” on multiple occasions has to STOP.  Replying to my posts about her misdeeds has to STOP.  Messaging people who give notes to those posts about her has to STOP.  Directly messaging people who give her original posts notes asking them to follow her has to STOP.  Harassing everyone and anyone who slightly disagrees with her has to STOP.  All of this:

D replied to your post: You’re so wrong. And if anyone is toxic in this, it’s you for not letting this go. You re jealous of me. Period. That’s why you can’t seem to let it go. I have apologized and redeemed myself. If you people can’t get over that, that’s on you.

D IM: You have issues if you can’t seem to let this go. Me and sky are mutual now. Not that I have to explain anything to you. I have redeemed myself and apologised to everyone. Still you people make posts about me, trying to diminish my following but it’s never gonna happen. Thanks for the publicity again

D asked me: Please get a life, It’s pathetic

D replied to your post: Again, me. Clearly. Let it go like Elsa.

HAS TO STOP.

I have made three (3) posts about D including this one (excluding reblogs).  In total D has left harassing messages to me 7-10 times.  Not once has she apologized for harassing me on dA, Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram, or Twitter.  Not once has she shown me any sign of changing her ways.  All we have asked for is BASIC RESPECT.  At every turn D promises to start respecting us and change her ways, then laughs in our faces for even thinking we were worthy of Her respect and attention.

Respect is an interesting thing.  You have to give it to get it.  Even a three year old understands this.  Until D shows the capacity at this basic level to show respect and common courtesy to her peers, superiors, and kohai no one is going to interact with her; she will continue to be treated as nothing more than a joke.

You want to learn how to draw using reference?  I have a rough tutorial for that.

You want to learn how to use and learn from your studies?  I got something for that too!

You want some references? Try Senshi-Stock’s official app or what’s left of Tumblr.  AnatomicalArt has thousands of references and tutorials, and with all of this on Tumblr, crediting your sources is easier than ever!

Or, you know, take some selfies and not have to credit anyone.  ;D

TL;DR

D: you’re wrong; I never said Sky and I were friends; we’re MUTUAL! D: here are some terms Sky made that I agreed to–

Sky’s terms:

Give Sky credit on the work D has already copied

D must credit and source all other artists she copies

D must ask permission to copy anyone in the future

D must create something original

If all these terms are met, Sky will help teach D how to use reference correctly so D can draw better.

Receipts showing the following:

6 instances of D not properly crediting Sky

D claiming something to be original without citing referenced materials

Mini guide on how to properly cite an artist or reference:

LINK TO THE ORIGINAL POST AND ARTIST PROFILE!!

Seriously, it’s not that hard!?

Facebook status from D calling Sky both “a mutual” and “a friend.”  [what is the truth.gif]

DMs from Sky saying as follows:

Sky is not D’s friend!

Sky wants nothing to do with D

Sky wants D to stop mentioning her altogether

Sky cutting ties like this means that D cannot mention Sky to credit her on reposts of the copied art.

>violates term 1

D has few other artworks to post, so she cannot credit other artists.

>fails term 2

Everyone is so hurt by D that she has been completely shut out and will be hard pressed to find anyone to give her permission in the future.

>fails term 3

D’s attempt to create something “original” resulted in copying and not sourcing more artwork

>fails term 4, 3, and 2

Please stop harassing me.  Look at all these receipts!  Learn some basic respect before coming back.

Have a few tutorials and resources.

[themattress]

My Opinions on the KH OCs

SORA: I adored Sora from KH through KH2. But then I became disillusioned with him because they kept making clones of him, pushed his positive Messianic qualities to the extreme, and then went too far the other way in 3D by making him into this over-the-top childish idiot who screwed everything up and was denied Keyblade Master status, all amidst proclamations that he was a "dull, ordinary boy" who "the Keyblade didn't choose" (which is an outright LIE.) For the most part, KH3 brought my old love for Sora back by usually characterizing him the same way KH2 did...and then it basically killed him off in the end, punishing him for doing good, all while Xehanort gets rewarded by being able to go to Heaven even after a lifetime of doing evil without a shred of remorse. What. The. FUCK? When Sora faded away at the last minute, so too did any remaining interest in this series.

KAIRI: Loved her in KH, she was so damn interesting and relatable, and her role in the story was a perfect twist on the classic Disney Princess role. Her role and characterization in KH2 weren’t as strong, but her new design, actions, connections with other characters and endgame development made up for it, as did the fact that she was still voiced by the lovely Hayden Panettiere. Add to this how strongly she factored into COM, and Kairi was clearly the original trilogy’s emotional heart. Then that heart got removed and never put back, as Kairi was excluded from the games to the highest degree possible, all leading up to a horrifying bait-and-switch in KH3 where she was finally returning to prominence and looked to become a stronger character than ever before, only for the exact opposite to happen, not at all helped by the voicework of Alyson Stoner. What Nomura’s done is a travesty. #KairiDeservedBetter.

RIKU: Loved him in KH, where he was like a Final Fantasy character turned Disney villain and he played that role incredibly well. I thought he was fumbled when he starred in his own story mode in COM, but I never really blamed him for that and more the writing around him that pushed him into an unnatural position that even he didn’t seem to want to be in. Despite not truly appearing as himself until the endgame of KH2 and having flatter characterization, Riku still redeemed himself excellently through being a party member helping against the final boss, along with a beautiful reconciliation with Sora. Like his other friends in the Destiny Trio, things went downhill afterwards. Riku became so overexposed, shoved down our throats, and positioned as the series Deuteragonist who phased Kairi out of existence while being given more badass feats than Sora, that I lost my liking for him entirely and consider him to be a blatant Mary Sue. This sadly didn’t change with KH3, and it only looks to be getting worse.

ROXAS: Despite falling way short of the hype, I enjoyed Roxas in KH2. He was likable and sympathetic, and he did a good job servicing one of the game’s deepest themes. But then, because he was (confusingly, IMHO) uber-popular, he got his own game featuring his time in the Organization, and he never left that bland portrayal behind, with every subsequent game he appears in having it be Days!Roxas instead of KH2!Roxas, to the point where KH2!Roxas was demeaningly retconned into having “ceased to exist” when he fully re-merged with Sora despite what was said and shown to the contrary in KH2, all for the sake of giving him a shamelessly fan-pandering perfect happy ending. Roxas thus became one of the characters whom I most associate with the downfall of the KH series, and thus one of my least favorites. 

NAMINE: Namine was a character that I loved in COM and KH2, despite being pretty confusing even back then, since she had a real humanity behind her. I was very disappointed that afterwards, she became more and more of a convenient plot device and mouthpiece for Nomura’s convoluted lore rather than a legitimate character, with her characterization regressing to and being regurgitated from her debut appearance. The scale and scope of her powers got ridiculous, the retcon of Sora having promised to thank her when that was never the case is beyond stupid, and she fell prey to the same retcon Roxas did of “ceasing to exist” when she merged with Kairi and thus needing to be “saved” in order to cure her “hurt”. Naturally, she’s right up there with Kairi as one of the most frustratingly-handled characters.

XION: I was immediately turned off by this character due to how blatantly fanfic Mary Sue-esque she was, then warmed up to her considerably as I actually played the game and saw how she was utilized, only to be turned off of her again when Nomura completely went back on her firmly established tragic fate for the sake of a schmaltzy happy ending that neuters what was effective about the character, in essence turning her right back into just a fanfic Mary Sue. I don’t actually blame Xion for this, but she’s still my least favorite main KH girl.

VENTUS: Kind of the same deal as Xion - didn’t like him at first because he was a lazy retread of Roxas and whose connection to Sora cheapened things, warmed up to him after playing the game and seeing him in action (I especially love his voice by Jesse McCartney, which is very distinct from Roxas), only to go right back to not really liking him when we ended up never hearing the end of him and how he is the reason behind so many events and character motivations, especially once he was retconned into hailing from the X time period.

TERRA / LINGERING WILL: While I’m not too attached to him, I still low-key love this guy. Yes, he’s an idiot, but an understandable, well-meaning and likable one, who also has a very charismatic-looking design and is badass in combat. Everyone loves the Lingering Will, but I don’t think it would be as effective if it didn’t come from such a flawed screw-up like Terra. It’s uplifting that even if you do nothing but fail, your will to succeed can achieve some form of success in of itself. He may have got the shaft in KH3, but he made the most of what he had.

AQUA / ANTI-AQUA: In BBS, I felt Aqua was more enjoyable than Ven but not as much as Terra, making her a pretty fittingly balanced character in my view - I loved that she was the first fully playable female character in the series and did a lot of neat stuff in the story, but I hated how devoid of character development she was compared to her male friends and how her English voice actress constantly missed the mark in her delivery. In 0.2 BBS, she was put in a lousy story, but she became a much more interesting and developed character as a trade-off. Sadly, it all fell apart in KH3, where aside from her brief stint as the terrifying Anti-Aqua, Aqua became an incompetent joke of a “Keyblade Master”, jobbing in every major fight she had and jobbing badly, with that development from 0.2 BBS amounting to nothing. In the end, Aqua wound up right back where she began - between Terra and Ventus in my favor.

MASTER ERAQUS: Love his design, love his voice-acting, love his premise as a character - do NOT love him. In a story where all the heroes act like idiots, Eraqus takes the cake, and becomes outright unlikable when he attempts to murder Ven and Terra under very flimsy reasoning. And KH3 only makes him worse, with a severe disconnect existing between his younger self and his older self, and helping to contribute to the game’s bullshit ending.

DIZ / ANSEM THE WISE: I loved him as the tragic, Monte Cristo-esque figure as shown in COM, Days and KH2, especially when voiced by the incomparable Christopher Lee. He had the perfect send-off in KH2, which made it such a slap in the face when BBS’ secret ending retconned him into having surviving, only for him to do jack shit but be a plot device, and not a very good one at that. Bringing Ansem the Wise back was one of the series’ biggest sins, and stands as a textbook example of Nomura not knowing when to just let a character go.

HAYNER, PENCE & OLETTE: I like these kids, they’re a lot of fun in all their appearances.

MASTER XEHANORT: I really enjoyed Master Xehanort in BBS, when he was just a simple Darth Sidious expy voiced by the great Leonard Nimoy, a character whose chief purpose was backstory for the villain we already knew who went by the same name. But then Nomura decided that he was the main antagonist of the whole series and retconned that everything that ever happened was part of his convoluted master plan...a plan with very muddled objectives and motivations, not to mention contradictions at many turns. This turning of Xehanort into a Villain Sue had severe consequences in KH3, where not only was he weakly voiced by Rutger Hauer, but he was written terribly: only showing up at the end, fridging Kairi for no reason, being beaten in a surprisingly easy boss fight, having his entire motivation changed, and receiving one of the most audience-insulting endings that a villain could possibly receive, especially one as remorselessly evil as him.  The final slap in the face was revealing that he was a pawn to someone else, derailing the entire point behind the stupid-ass “Xehanort Saga” decision! So in the end, Master Xehanort was pretty damn pointless.

TERRA-XEHANORT: The original Xehanort introduced in KH2. While his origin is something of a headache (he’s an amnesiac Master Xehanort possessing the body and heart of Terra), it still works, IMO, and creates a character who is much more interesting than either of the two characters it took to form him, despite (or perhaps because of) his relative lack of screentime.

ANSEM: Terra-Xehanort’s Heartless is both the original incarnation of Xehanort in the series and both me and Nomura’s personal favorite. Sadly, Nomura screwed him up when he brought him back for the “True Organization XIII”, first going too over-the-top evil when part of his appeal was that he genuinely (and pompously) believed that he was the one in the right, and then suddenly being far less evil than he should be considering that he’s a freaking Heartless! The Ansem that I adore will always be the one from the original KH and Riku’s mode in COM, the hammy philosopher who is totally drunk on darkness and is seeking it for his own sake, not for the sake of some absurdly convoluted grand plan of Master Xehanort’s.

XEMNAS: Terra-Xehanort’s Nobody is the best villain in the KH series and the most consistently good of the Xehanort incarnations. While certainly at his best as the Superior of Organization XIII in KH, COM, Days and KH2, he actually managed to still be a captivating presence as part of the “True Organization XIII” in 3D and KH3 even if his character lost a lot of its depth thanks to the bullshit retcon that he was following Master Xehanort’s grand plan all along. He’s terrifying, loathsome, humorous and pitiable all at once...he’s just fantastic!

XIGBAR / BRAIG / LUXU: Oh, what a roller coaster this guy has been - I didn’t particularly care for him as Xigbar at first in KH2, then grew to really like him thanks to extra exposure in KH2:FM and Days, then came to love him as Braig in BBS, then went right back to disliking him when he became Xigbar again in 3D, and now am hardly able to stand him in KH3 when it’s revealed that he’s Luxu. Like Namine, he’s become a total vehicle for Nomura’s bullshit.

XALDIN / DILAN: I love Xaldin. He’s badass, intimidating, and despicable, and he really stands out by being linked so heavily with the Beast’s Castle and the Beast himself. His boss fight on the castle bridge is the stuff of legends. Dilan is a bore, though, especially in KH3.

VEXEN / EVEN: Somehow, this is one of the few characters who manages to remain consistently entertaining and well-written in all his appearances, helped out a lot by Derek Stephen Prince’s performance. As both the mad scientist Vexen and the well-intentioned scientist Even, he’s someone I just can’t take my eyes off of whenever he’s on screen.

LEXAEUS / ELAEUS: Boring but admirably power as Lexaeus, with the potential to be more interesting thanks to his intellect and rapport with Zexion. Just plain boring as Eleaeus. 

ZEXION / IENZO: Everything about Zexion had potential, but it just never came together properly and left him as an underwhelming villain. He has much more success as Ienzo, being very likable and interesting; honestly one of the best KH-original characters in KH3. 

SAIX / ISA: This character is one of the more frustrating ones to me. I liked him just fine in KH2, but not as much as I would’ve liked to. I liked him more when he got more scenes in KH2:FM, and I straight-up loved him in Days for being such an effective Hate Sink as well as a really interesting and tragic character. But I did not care for his cameo appearances in BBS and 3D, even though he still carries some of what I enjoyed about him with him in KH3, he also receives new baggage that makes his character less appealing...namely, the fact that his motivation all along was based around some random girl we never heard of until now. Still, if there’s one thing that remains consistent, it is that Kirk Thornton does a phenomenal job in the role. I honestly think most of Saix’s effectiveness comes from that badass voice.

AXEL / LEA: Sigh...you oughta know this one by now. I love Axel the Nobody, I think he was one of the series’ finest villains, and think he had an effective character arc despite some bumps along the road. I can’t stand his human self, who is a watered-down, obnoxious, whitewashed Mary Sue version of his Nobody self who is only here for fanservice, only given a major heroic role and his own Keyblade because Axel was a favorite of both fans and the development team. He’s sadly one of those characters who becomes the victim of his own popularity, with what made him popular to begin with lost as a result of increased exposure.

DEMYX / ???: He’s funny, I like him. Don’t have any stronger feelings than that.

LUXORD / ???: With his slick design, gambling gimmick, classy gentleman demeanor, and English voice by Robin Atkin-Downes, I’ve always liked Luxord, but I don’t think he’s ever truly lived up to his full potential...until KH3, where he’s a standout in both the Caribbean and the Keyblade Graveyard. I especially love his respectable rival dynamic with Jack Sparrow.

MARLUXIA / LAURIAM: A lack of clear motivations aside, Marluxia is an excellent villain. I love how he’s got flower powers, a pink sycthe, pink hair and a pretty-boy face and yet has this very masculine and imposing demeanor, not to mention a diabolically clever and manipulative personality. His battles and battle themes are also always impressive in every game he appears in. And while I don’t care for him being a Keyblade wielder, I actually like him as Lauriam too. He’s surprisingly sympathetic and is a neat contrast to his Nobody.

LARXENE / ELRENA: I love Larxene, she makes being the only female member of the Organization count by being one of the most aggressive, despicable, frightening, humorous and oddly endearing members all at the same time, getting a tragic death scene in COM and some softer moments in Days and KH3 that add depth to her while never causing her to lose her edge.  And like with Lauriam, I like Elrena despite not caring for the Keyblade angle.

VANITAS: Vanitas is awesome. He’s an evil version of Sora who does evil things because he enjoys being evil and has zero fucks to give about it. Haley Joel Osment really brings his gleeful brand of evil to life, making it always a pleasure to see Vanitas in both BBS and KH3. And thus I’m really glad he didn’t get redeemed in the end - pure villainy is his whole appeal!

RIKU REPLICA: Despite being an over-the-top retread of Riku’s role in KH for most of COM and having one boss battle too many, Riku Replica was still a good character and with one of the most tragic arcs in the series, which really made his death scene stand out. Of all the characters to ruin due to Nomura not letting go of them, I thought he was safe, but nope! He was pointlessly brought back in KH3, played a worse and more convoluted role, and had a much weaker “happier” send-off that clashed with how other aspects of the story were being treated and only reinforced Riku’s Special Snowflake status. Of course, even before that happened, the replica concept that he introduced to the series had spiraled into a much more needlessly confusing state, so I guess his legacy was doomed either way. Poor Repliku!

DARK RIKU: A confusing composite of all Riku’s alter-egos: Riku when he was possessed by Ansem, Riku Replica, and Data Riku, enlisted in “True Organization XIII”. I’m not sure what the point of this guy was. Or if he’s basically another version of Repliku, why not just make him the only Repliku in the story and spare us that convoluted nonsense with the other one?

YOUNG XEHANORT: Haaaaaaaaaate....haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate....

KAIRI’S GRANDMOTHER: In the first KH, but only a real character in BBS. But getting Kathryn Beaumont (original voice of Alice and Wendy Darling, and thus a Disney Legend) to voice her was absolutely brilliant and made her single scene stand out as the game’s best.

And that’s about it. The rest are all the datascape clones I don’t give a shit about (Data Sora, Data Riku, Data Roxas, Data Namine, and Data Sora’s Heartless) and the cast of X that I also don’t give a shit about (The Master of Masters, the Foretellers, Ephemer, Skuld, Brain...the only ones I like are Chirithy and Strelitzia, but only on the shallow basis that they’re cute.) 

And I am NOT sticking around this series to properly meet Yozora...