#uhh very much idk

[jils-things]

my mains in ranked matches C:

[skrunksthatwunk]

actually i'm still thinking about the moral orel finale.

he has a cross on his wall. do you know how much i think about that bc it's a lot.

a lot of stories ((auto)biographical or fictional) centering escape from abusive/fundamentalist christianity result in the lead characters leaving behind christianity entirely. and that makes complete sense! people often grow disillusioned with the associated systems and beliefs, and when it was something used to hurt them or something so inseparable from their abuse that they can't engage with it without hurting, it makes total sense that they would disengage entirely. and sometimes they just figure out that they don't really believe in god/a christian god/etc. a healthy deconstruction process can sometimes look like becoming an atheist or converting to another religion. it's all case by case. (note: i'm sure this happens with other religions as well, i'm just most familiar with christian versions of this phenomenon).

but in orel's case, his faith was one of the few things that actually brought him comfort and joy. he loved god, y'know? genuinely. and he felt loved by god and supported by him when he had no one else. and the abuses he faced were in how the people in his life twisted religion to control others, to run away from themselves, to shield them from others, etc. and often, orel's conflicts with how they acted out christianity come as a direct result of his purer understanding of god/jesus/whatever ("aren't we supposed to be like this/do that?" met with an adult's excuse for their own behavior or the fastest way they could think of to get orel to leave them alone (i.e. orel saying i thought we weren't supposed to lie? and clay saying uhhh it doesn't count if you're lying to yourself)). the little guy played catch with god instead of his dad, like.. his faith was real, and his love was real. and i think it's a good choice to have orel maintain something that was so important to him and such a grounding, comforting force in the midst of. All That Stuff Moralton Was Up To/Put Him Through. being all about jesus was not the problem, in orel's case.

and i know i'm mostly assuming that orel ended up in a healthier, less rigid version of christianity, but i feel like that's something that was hinted at a lot through the series, that that's the direction he'd go. when he meditates during the prayer bee and accepts stephanie's different way to communicate, incorporating elements of buddhism into his faith; when he has his I AM A CHURCH breakdown (removing himself from the institution and realizing he can be like,, the center of his own faith? taking a more individualistic approach? but Truly Going Through It at the same time), his acceptance (...sometimes) of those who are different from him and condemned by the adults of moralton (stephanie (lesbian icon stephanie my beloved), christina (who's like. just a slightly different form of fundie protestant from him), dr chosenberg (the jewish doctor from otherton in holy visage)). his track record on this isn't perfect, but it gets better as orel starts maturing and picking up on what an absolute shitfest moralton is. it's all ways of questioning the things he's been taught, and it makes sense that it would lead to a bigger questioning as he puts those pieces together more. anyway i think part of his growth is weeding out all the lost commandments of his upbringing and focusing on what faith means to him, and what he thinks it should mean. how he wants to see the world and how he wants to treat people and what he thinks is okay and right, and looking to religion for guidance in that, not as like. a way to justify hurting those he's afraid or resentful of, as his role models did.

he's coming to his own conclusions rather than obediently, unquestioningly taking in what others say. but he's still listening to pick out the parts that make sense to him. (edit/note: and it's his compassion and his faith that are the primary motivations for this questioning and revisal process, both of individual cases and, eventually, the final boss that is christianity.) it makes perfect sense as the conclusion to his character arc and it fits the overall approach of the show far better. it's good is what i'm saying.

and i think it's important to show that kind of ending, because that's a pretty common and equally valid result of deconstruction. and i think it cements the show's treatment of christianity as something that's often (and maybe even easily) exploited, but not something inherently bad. something that can be very positive, even. guys he even has a dog he's not afraid of loving anymore. he's not afraid of loving anyone more than jesus and i don't think it's because he loves this dog less than bartholomew (though he was probably far more desperate for healthy affection and companionship when he was younger). i think it's because he figures god would want him to love that dog. he's choosing to believe that god would want him to love and to be happy and to be kind. he's not afraid of loving in the wrong way do you know how cool that is he's taking back control he's taking back something he loves from his abusers im so normal

[ria-starstruck]

and also "putting everyone in a simulation will make it all ok 👍" and also "let's park next to this random system's sun" and also "we can't live on our own planet because of our own folly" and so on

[leafatlaw]

See I agree with like zero of what Kab was saying, but she did bring up an interesting point about who Zam considers “innocent” players. Because that’s been an issue I’ve had since the beginning with the new oath. Because morality is very complicated and I feel like in this case kab IS innocent because she didn’t go looking for the fight and lost two hearts to him. BUT it’s zams own positive relationship with derap that keeps him from being objective, which is a fatal flaw with the oath in the first place. If Zam cannot be objective about who is or isn’t innocent than the entire oath is useless. And worse it’s debatably impossible to say wether or not people are innocent or evil, because individual ideas of morality is just a subjective thing !!

Anyways this is basically all to say that Zams oath and ideas are fundamentally flawed and it’s a little worrying that he’s so set in these ideas that he refused to listen to Kab on this outright.

[rileys-battlecats]

was trying to figure out why I feel so Wrong rn and I think it's because I didn't follow my usual daily routine like At All and now my brain is freaking out. woke up at a vastly different time, had entirely different tasks throughout the day, took a nap at a weird time (to make up for the fact I had about 3 hours of sleep last night), zero human contact for the past 15 hours, and ate different food from usual (various leftovers from social events/thanksgiving, instead of cooking for myself like normal). and before I really realized that these were all things that were Bad For My Brain I was just wandering around my house like "why do I feel like garbage?? I've literally been outside so much today my brain should be happy"

ANYWAY here's to me not remembering I have issues with unstructured living because my days have been so similar for the past 4ish years that I straight up Forgot that things being too different too fast makes me crazy ✌️

[dykedvonte]

Guys the cartoon horse line is not implying Jimmy being a predator to kids because the baby is represented as a foil. It is because horses are his stand in for consequential figures and Anya and the sexual violence he perpetrated towards her.

I know he’s deplorable but the line is very much about his warped views of women and Anya along with the Pony Express as a corporation seeing as horses stand in for a lot in his mind.

[claremikas]

[tsukasalover]

I can think of a lot of reasons why I like and have gotten attached to tsukasa more than any other fictional character and i think if i had to keep it simple (or else id be rambling for hours) id say

1. He’s so interesting. I usually pick up the extremely mischaracterized blonde characters anyways but he gets my brain working real hard. its almost 2am and i cant think straight but theres something about his duality that keeps me glued to him and the amount of Layers he has and how removing even one layer or completely ignoring how both his huge ego and kindness + selflessness coexist can really mess up your perception of him. There was something quite short i wrote about how both sides make him. Well. Him. back when his colofes dropped since i was so annoyed at the people Not getting it (while most never even read the STORIES 😁) anf ive been screaming this for a year now Please. Also the way his dream and being a good big brother go hand in hand have captured me. I really like fictional siblings and they fill something personal i miss and Looove looking at the roots of characters. Discovering where this and that and connecting events to what started their behaviors or helped their personality bloom. So seeing saki and toya play such an important role in his life keeps me HOOOKEDDD. I took the bait like tiny fish. Dont regret it. Never will. I like my fictional characters like layered cake. Thats basically how i see them. I had a yummy chocolate cake with so mant layers the other day 🤤 but anyways. I also really like when characters have to learn and grow as people after making really bad mistakes or being straight up assholes so it really took a while even after mainstory but once i got to see more of him with saki and read dazzling i was like. This is the guyyy. Youre mine now lets go. I dont like perfect characters but.. you see.. when characters who have (sometimes way too much) confidence and are dramatic yet are shown to truly be good people who enjoy making others happy… alright.. now im listening… Sign me up…

But really he has almost everything I’ve ever looked for in a character. Starting with the fact that he’s a theatre kid. And blonde. Of course emu nene and rui + more fictional characters have made their way into my heart and ive gotten attached to them on very Very personal levels but when it comes to this Idiot who wants to be a star and reminds me of a dog its something that i dont even know how to explain sometimes. Why is he here? What are you doing inside of my head. Ill never have one solid answer because he takes up too much space in my mind and i become incoherent too often when talking about him.

2. Ignoring my first answer, He is ugly. My favorite punching bag. Cartoon character. Begins floating when he smells pie. I dont know anymore

3. he just like me fr (Which is terrible i dont like that)

[fumifooms]

Fleki x Marcille

I dub thee flekille Fourth entry of my “Dunmeshi rarepairs I will birth with my own hands if I have to” series. This one goes really well alongside laicion

Hear me out… Probably one of my most crackpair simply because they never really interact in canon, but it snowballed from me thinking about laicion so many months ago and I genuinely enjoy them a lot on their own now too.

Overview of the appeal: Silly prep girl that tries to not be silly x silly troublemaker that is silly on purpose. Could have been cellmates in another life 😍 /j It’s chaos x order, it’s propriety x will tease you specifically to make you uncomfortable, it’s Fleki sticking around Marcille when she gets the opportunity to because she thinks she’s entertaining, it’s her dragging Marcille to a shitty club that would give anyone epileptic a seizure and Marcille being so out of her depth but finding the thrill intriguing… It’s Fleki’s YOLO attitude rubbing on Marcille a bit, encouraging her to stress less and live more, it’s Marcille looking out for Fleki and teaching her to value her health, her friends and stability in life more. It’s banter, where Fleki is bold and amused and Marcille is panicked and horrified, which as they grow to know each other becomes Fleki teasing and Marcille responds with exasperated but fond comebacks. They have big yuri manga with a bad boy girl vibes, they deserve 50k slow burn rivals to lovers fics exploring the deepest emotional lows imaginable, they deserve cute funny bantery ficlets where they try out rollerskating together and Fleki skates face first into a pole and Marcille heals her up. ALSO it’s the mage who always talks about the importance of hair and braids hers neatly x the mage who keeps her hair long but at MOST brushes it every 3 days and looks feral

We see that Fleki looooves casual physical contact which I think suits Marcille well! Since she’s also big on casual & affectionate physical touches. Oversimplifying it, I kinda see Fleki as a more chaotic and less grumpy Izutsumi, which I think pairs really well with Marcille.

Ok, so the meme + below is my romantic flekille & laicion, qpr laimar & flekion vision… Maybe romantic laimar and flekion too idfc. Fleki’s bestie Lycion and Lycion’s boyfriend Laios and Laios’ girlfriend Marcille and Marcille’s girlfriend Fleki… A bond forged by the shared experience of having a feral partner. In my timeline they start hanging out because laicion starts dating and it goes from there, like they keep showing up at the other’s place to come pick their guy up or when laicion meet up in town at an agreed location both come with their bestie so then as Laios and Lycion head off the girlies just stand there awkwardly for a sec together… And it becomes habit enough that they start talking. One time one arrives early at the other’s place to pick up their dog guy so while she waits on Laios and Lycion being done hanging out they just chat and hit it off around the kitchen table. Eventually maybe they all live together, the girls have a qpr situationship with their respective dog boy too and they all snuggle up together on the couch and life is good… I have a couple of other flekille au ideas though.

The one college au I would EAT UP FR. Anything modern for them is so fun for some reason. They could even have a like… y’know ‘that yuri manga where the prep girl thinks the emo girl’s a boy and she’s interested’ thing (googling it The guy she was interested in wasn’t a guy at all is the name), they feel like they’d have that energy… Except that instead of Fleki being dressed all cool she’s dressed in Minions merch or something. Puke colored tie dye. Marcille cringes but also smth about the cringefail allure has her enraptured (jk it’s mostly Fleki being determinedly clingy) Like come on imagine Fleki with the alpaca trampoline hand tattoo, Marcille would be so endeared. They have the vibes ever, I wanna see them hang out and with Lycion and Laios too

Marcille, seeing this disheveled absolute rascal: … I can fix her.

I made a reblog post that goes into Fleki’s drug addiction a lil for the topic of the ship just so it’s easily avoidable if it’s an uncomfortable topic to some, I don’t go into the details though, just on how it might affect their relationship

[spotaus]

Okay, this was long overdue tbh 😔🙏(N Lore (?) Under the cut!)

I've been meaning to make N a new ref for a bit, so here we are! Since she's my skele-sona I kinda want to do a quick rundown on her design elements for fun, then her in-universe lore!

(Note: I refer to her a lot with she/her, she is technically a she/they/he/it genderfluid kinda girly, but I made her before gender tomfoolery registered in my brain so I default to 'she/her' out of habit-)

Design:

Her Halo/Crescent/Horns were initially inspired by wanting her to have metaphorical horns instead of slapping points onto her skull. She's also a shape-shifter, so her human form uses the crescent like a hair clip! Also based on the moon a bit.

The wings/tail are things I ended up w/ in the long run. The wings used to be optional + usually based on specific birds, and the tail was thicker w/ an end piece that looked like a fountain pen tip, but the long windy one abd the black wings were more fun to draw/animate!

Virgin Killer sweater used to be a Grey sleeveless turtleneck, but I just like the aesthetics here better.

Arm Gloves/Leg Socks are half because I hate drawing arm bones, abd half because I thought it brought more dynamic shapes into the design! Also... kibty... (inspired by gloves/socks I own)

Pants: She's always worn snow-pants in her design, and they used to have hanging suspenders, but I removed them. Why they're amarica colored I couldn't tell you... I just like the color combo 😔

Cracks on her face: The forehead crack is inspired by when I tripped and smacked my forehead onto a stair corner as a kid (blacked out, don't remember the hospital trip that followed?). Chin crack inspo is a random scar I have on my chin!

Color on Bones: I actually just added this, but my skin gets blotchy when I'm nervous or embarrassed, and I like the visual that N's magic does that to her Often lol. So! It's like blush! (It's also on her collarbone but you can't normally see it, haha-)

Blue + Purple: I actually don't have symbolism here. Just that I had another oc (B) who was my *other* skelesona insert oc, and *her* colors were blue and purple. N used to have white eyelights I think? Silver? But N and B traded off some traits in a point where I tried to combine them, and the result was this current version of N! Actually...

Old Art jumpscare...

So, I stole the pattern from her jacket and put it kn her pants, stole the crack in B's forehead and gave it to N, her Halo kept tilting further left, and I revoked shoe privileges?? Idk man, it's been a wild ride.

Oh! Her hands *do* still have holes in them too.

Lore:

N is less like Me and more like a bossy little minion I custom-made to go harass my ocs. She exists anywhere, anytime, and is only restricted my universal laws if it makes a situation more interesting. Very much a mary-sue. Meant to play almost a 'narrator' role!

She has beef specifically with Ichor (because I put hin thru so so much in the early days-) and is very chill with Phishbone and Pretender. She loves to chill in different aus with different people, but she adores just being obnoxious to my ocs specifically. Objectively, *not* a good person 🙏

And yeah. She looks different in has new clothes everytimr I draw her, but this is a good basic design base!

[the-red-hoodlum]

killing people who don’t get an animals consent before touching them &/or ignore when animals are visibly uncomfortable with being touched.

[jkgnggj]

REIKOOO MY BELOVEDDD

sorry I just really adore reiko so I drew this like two weeks ago on the Monday I got off from work right before doing taxes 🤧 so her eyes were rushed and I struggled lots with her feet and getas and skirt bcuz I couldn't find the right positioning and fabric texture and angles and I refused to look for references cuz I'm lazy but I think it ended up turning out really good she's so like rounded and tiny and squishy I love her so much she's like my favorite Tori drawing I've drawn so far ahhh also I did something new with her hair (and eyes but that's cuz I was rushing) like I made the hair more detailed and stuff and I like how it ended up looking Idk if I'll use it more often tho. ANYWAYSSS FEAST UR EYES ON THE GIRL FAILURE EVERRR

[superchat]

[dangerliesbeforeyou]

that article is great and full of gems but it is hilarious that it's the METRO lol...

[nightmare-foundation]

Okay so ik it's a common thing for Dick to be triggered by fire and for it to be really upsetting to him for obvious reasons (esp since this is supported in canon). But I think it's equally fun if, bc of that trauma, Dick ends up developing a fascination with fire that he hates himself for

[lluu50]

Madara edit/amv to Don't Start Now by Dua Lipa <3