#trying to be human in any way it can and the world continually rejecting those efforts

[light-wrath-paradise]

I hate to say it but I might have to admit that Redditors can be pretty based sometimes

[godhandler]

Different JJK characters understand ‘love’ differently. 

For Gojo Satoru, love must be terrible, like the memory of choking on food as a kid, or getting trapped by seaweed when you went swimming. Something that breaks through his supernatural divinity and crushes him straight onto the ground. People would not have hesitated using love or loved ones to hurt him all his life. There’s a reason he’s kept himself single, childless, relatively unattached (except for the whole thing with Geto, and you know how that went). Love makes him mortal. Makes him vulnerable. Weak. Every cell of his body resists it and yet he can’t stop craving for it. 

As Geto pointed out, you cannot separate Gojo Satoru (the human) from The Strongest (the divine). Can you genuinely love divinity? Will divinity even love you back? But if you say that you love the human Gojo Satoru, you’re still ignoring or rejecting the divine half of him, so you’re not actually loving him ‘as he is’. If you love someone you can’t fillet him open like a fish and pick and choose whichever parts you love. You have to love him whole. 

Can anyone even have that much love to cover his infinite vastness? Can Gojo be loved wholly? 

On some level, Gojo must himself believe that he is incapable of being truly loved or loving. Infinity on all the time. Just not made for it, he thinks. If simply being understood is an impossible task for him, how could he ask to be loved?

Suppressed appetite, his stomach should ache hungry. Starving. To be loved and cherished and cared for, the way he sees other people are. Sour grapes. Love is terrible. 

He can make do just fine without love, and he does. But goddamn if it doesn’t have him shaking and puking on the floor. 

Unlike him, Geto Suguru is constantly surrounded by love. Not just any love however, Geto begets ‘overwhelming, blinding love’. Loving Geto brings tragedy.

He was loved in his time as a jujutsu sorcerer, and those same people still chose to look the other way and loved him even after the horrific crimes he committed. Gojo, Nanami, Shoko, even Yaga– they loved him and their love kept him alive for an extra decade after his defection. People died because he was loved.  

Until his death he was loved by Gojo and Shoko, so much that they could not part with his corpse. Gojo was sealed, Nanami died, hundreds killed, all because he was loved. 

All his cult followers. The ragtag family he’d collected loved him and risked their lives to help his friends even when he was no longer alive. His daughters (who he taught to kill) died trying to revive him. Because he was loved. 

And even in the afterlife, he went back to a carefree time when he was loved. 

Adored, loved, cherished– could Geto even understand what it is like to not be any of those? How much of the same love does Geto give back? Not necessarily that he was loved more than he gave love back. It’s just that, other than Gojo, he’s always on the heavier end of the scale, the one with more power in the love-balance. Because when it came to it, he chose himself (and his perceived duty to the world) over love. And he continued to do that till the end, and he was still so loved.

As if he’s the hero of the tale, he’s the one with the spotlight on, he was made to be loved. It must feel so natural to fall in love with Geto, so natural for him to receive it. Like poisoned milk when you’re thirsty, it soothes you, fills your heart before taking away a chunk of it. His love is tainted. 

Noritoshi Kamo loves to the point of self-harm. He’s hollow inside– all his motivations to live on are wholly external, to bring his mother into the clan, to honour his position as a clan elder, to protect Maki in the fight against Naoya, to protect his family from the Shinjuku incident. He takes these things as his duties/responsibilities and does them to the best of his ability. 

He takes love to be a duty/responsibility and acts as is proper. He’s the traditional man of the house, the provider and the caretaker for his loved ones. You wouldn’t even realise how easily you’ve relaxed to being taken care of, how you glance at him for his approval before you buy something, how subtly dominant, in a non-sexual way, is his presence. 

Duties/responsibilities are tiring heavy pressures on him to perform, so he performs all through love. He won't complain because he doesn’t expect anything else. He takes what he gets and knows to stay content about it. He acts so perfect that even he doesn’t know where the act ends and he begins. It’s not that he doesn’t want to openly be himself, he just has no idea what that even looks like. 

Perhaps someday he’ll receive a love that will let him relax, be taken care of, be vulnerable, and not perform anymore. I sure hope he does. 

But it’s worrying that the second he has no further duty/responsibility, (eg. when they’re losing to Naoya), he doesn’t hesitate to commit suicide for the sake of others. As if he himself has no reason to keep on living. If he depends that much on his duties/responsibilities to be his reason to live, how much of that intensity would be projected into his love? How very heavy must be the burden of his love?

He has high standards for himself, his love too. It’s up to you if you can match it. 

Something about it would rub you the wrong way. And yet you’ll never leave because you know that despite everything, his love runs deep and solid as iron underground. Perfect on the surface, turbulent underneath but so very true at its core. 

[shapard]

Feather of Fate🕊️

Lucifer x Seraphim!fem!reader

Soulmate arc

A/n: A little bit late for Valentine, but here ya go! Idk when I'll continue this, but this has been stuck in my brain for a long time.

Goldwing

Chapter 1 > Chapter 2

You’ve heard about the story tales from your Mother Sera. How Lucifer has fallen because of his bizarre dreams.  To give humans a free will, which cost chaos to the world. 

As a punishment he was forced out of heaven with his Love Lilith. Sera claims that she wanted you to be safe, so there is one top rule she set up: Don’t Question heaven. 

You keep on holding tight to this one rule, not like your sister Emily. She gets into a lot of trouble when you’re not watching, which gets you also in trouble. 

Big Sister, Big responsibility, that’s what your mother always says. 

Sitting on the couch looking down at the apple sign on your wrist. It was a small apple with a snake surrounding it. It’s a Soulmate mark.

Every Angel gets a soulmate, so they get the perfect heir, some angels describe It as a heart pull and ache. You don’t really enjoy that you’re forced to love someone. It’s somewhere unfair that humans can marry someone they choose to love and trust. Meanwhile when Angels reject their bond, it will kill the two Soulmates in a span of time. 

Even when they’re too long apart it will show in a disturbing way. Aggression, Not eating, no sleep, the list goes on and on.

Putting your sleeve above your mark, not wanting anyone to see it. You got once because of it in trouble. Not a pleasant memory that you want to re live.

It does remind people of Lucifer, but he got Lilith, his soulmate. So that possibility is shrunk to zero. Why else sacrifice living in heaven for a woman?

Today was the meeting with Charlie the daughter of Lucifer. She wanted to talk about a hotel named Hazbin Hotel. 

…Time Skip…

The court room was all a mess, chaos has broken out whispering and hushes echoed through the pearly white halls. 

Emma broke the Silence with her soft singing voice “But she was right, Sera. She Showed us the soul can Improve. He saw the light, Sera. Checked all the boxes that you said would.” You Interrupted Emily and for the first-time in your live, you disobeyed the one set rule. 

“Prove a person deserve a second chance, now we turn our Backs, no second glance?” Sera looked towards you slightly disappointed but also guilty. 

Then the bomb was thrown in the room, extermination. It left you speechless. Why hide something like this and say it was for protection? 

It all went down so quick and with one move you started to doubt everything in heaven. Sera was scared, scared shitless that she’d loose Emily and you, but mostly you. 

You started to Ignore her and rarely left your room. The betrayal was harsh for you. You trusted your mother dearly and now you find out that your mother kills souls because she feels threatened. Threatened because of Lucifers dreams she said was once foolish. 

You started to break rules after Rules, causing a havoc in heaven when you leaked the Information about an extermination in hell. And in less than a week you were in chains in the courtroom. 

“Do you have any Idea what damage you’ve done Y/n?” Sera’s voice echoed through those now soulless halls. The seats now all almost empty. “What damage I’ve done? You call me the Imposter, but have you ever thought what you’ve done? You lied to your people AND your Family Sera.” 

Ouch, you never called her Sera just Mom. “Just do it already, I’m tired of hanging in here and watching my failure of a mother trying to push this longer.” You spat on the cold floor. The coldness reminds you how the last few days felt in heaven. Cold and lonely. “As you wish, do it.” her voice cracked, it was barely audible, but you could hear it. 

You shut your eyes tight and with a swift Moment you felt how your wings were cut off, your scream filled these cool, lonely court room. Sera was already gone, not wanting to see how she failed in one of her children.

The rest of your wings were ripped out of your back, making gold blood squirting all over the white floor painting it in a unique color. And then you fell, too exhausted to let out a desperate call for the comfort of your own mother.  

She didn’t even stay. 

Tears pooled lightly out of your eye. Even though heaven didn’t feel like home anymore, you’ll still miss heaven. 

The wind gushed on your Injured back making it only hurt more than it already does, you fell so fast, this is something you never really experienced you never fell as an Angel. But you fell, you fell deep and Landed on the ground. 

It the worst you’ve felt in these last hundred years of living. The bone that was connecting your wings with your body broke more into splinters at the impact. It had dirt sticking on your bones making you hiss as you tried to stand up making them move slightly in the dust. No success. 

You tried a couple more times, but you feel your stamina running out fast, so you just gave up. You laid there for a couple of seconds before you eventually pass out. 

Lucifer sat in his magic room, where his magical creations came from. The only thing besides Charlie what kept him happy. He took final glances at his old façade. 

It’s time to move on and move into the Hazbin hotel, even though he hates that radio guy, he does everything for his little Charlie. He walked out of his mansion closing it with a key. Taking a deep breath, he spun around and was ready to go. 

Something crashed loud in front of him, swirling all the dirt into Lucifers face. He coughed and waved the dust away. “What the fuck?” He looked at the cause for this early tumult, only to see a very beautiful woman in front of him. It didn’t take him a while to see that she was pretty bad Injured. His eyes dropped at the golden blood. “Oh no.”

The figure tried to stand up but fall multiple times and passed out after a while. No, no, no, no. Turning her around to see the damage, and it is bad. 

Three main bones ripped and broken apart, making him note down that she wasn’t just any Angel, she is a seraph. “Let me help you.” He carried her body very carefully, so he couldn’t do more damage towards her back. Teleporting himself and his other stuff in the hotel apartment, he laid you on his bed with your belly pressed on the mattress. 

He started to heal your back slowly and washed off the dirt from your face and the injury. He knew he couldn’t fully heal her wings back. But she could survive this with his help. And in an odd reason he couldn’t let her die. Some kind of pull on his heart making him already slightly attach towards the sleeping beauty. 

And this routine was repeated every day and when he realized her back was fully healed, he turned her on her back again. Seeing her now in all her beauty. 

“How can someone be this pretty?” he moved a hair strand out of your face and held your cheek. Stroking it a couple of times, it is as if he’s hypnotized. 

Shaking his head, he let go of her very quickly, “Lucifer you can’t just touch someone, she doesn’t even know you nor who you are.” He bit his long-clawed hand, debating whether he should go or not. 

In the end he left the room with heavy displeasure. Somehow not being near you made him angry. You were hurt and needed every protection he could offer. 

His mind screamed at him to go back to you, but he didn’t. This feeling confused the king of hell but, His mind and body were almost like two separate people.

 He pulled up his sleeve looking down at the red apple mark with a golden blue snake on it, like his halo. It was his Soulmate mark, he loves or loved Lilith dearly, but she wasn’t his mate. 

They both thought it may didn’t showed because Lilith is after all a human. Even when he had a soulmate, after landing in hell, he knew he’d never see his soulmate ever. 

He pulled his white sleeve again over the mark, not wanting to think about the what ifs. Maybe helping his daughter would keep his mind from you. “Let’s help Charlie.” 

After a while Lucifer still caught himself worried about you. 

You were laying on his bed for weeks, he healed you every morning and every evening hoping that you’d finally wake up. 

The arch angel Lucifer, and now king of hell, was worried about a seraph, what sarcasm. 

Getting ready for bed, Lucifer started to dress himself in his night gown and went to the couch. Since you’re sleeping on his bed, Lucifer decided to sleep on the couch. He didn’t want to disturb your healing progress

…

Hugging yourself into this blanket was heaven, and the smell of sweet apple and an alluring scent of musk. You never want to leave this place, for the first time since months you felt in peace. 

Fluttering your eyes open, you stretched you arms and legs, but one thing was missing. Your wings. And then reality came crushing down on you. You fell, from heaven. Your mother let you fall down the drain. She lied and didn’t even try to explain it to you. 

It was hard to breath as if you’d re-live the horror of falling from heaven down to hell.

You shacked uncontrollable making you Fall out of the bed. Out of habit you tried to fly those few centimeters. 

With a shallow thumb you fell on the floor. 

You winced from the Impact, and you tried to push yourself up with the next high object with shivering hands. 

This was a different gravity situation. 

Without your wings you slumped forwards, nothing to weigh your back. 

You pushed yourself upwards with the help of the shelf above you. The shelf lets out a creak from your weight and you fall back down with the shelf. 

The whole content on the shelf fell and crashed into pieces and you fell right into them. 

The ceramic pieces digged into your freshly healed wounds, you know that when you move, you’ll re-open the back wound. 

Out of panic your body began to move on autopilot.

With low groans and muffled screams, you leaned on the bed, golden blood smearing around the broken shelf and the white mattress. 

You started to sob at the pain. 

It was dark and all you wanted was to bathe yourself in the scent of that blanket. 

You searched for it. 

In the darkness you couldn’t quite figure it out where the blanket was but after a while you found it.

Holding the piece of cloth on your nose just to smell the comforting scent. You yelped when the light flicker on. A figure standing in the light. The figure was about 5’10 tall. 

You hid behind the blanket not wanting to look at the sudden appearance at the front door. 

…

Lucifer shot up at the sound of breaking ceramic. His mind told him to run towards the sound that came out of your room making him high alert. 

An Intruder? 

But who’d dare to come into the king of hells chamber?

Then he remembered that you were in his room, and without second thought he rushed towards your bedroom turning on the lights.

“You’re awake!”

[breesperez139]

Dc x Dp Prompt #3

Immortal Ghost King Au:

Daniel Fenton was crowned as High King Phantom of the Infinite Realms on his 16th birthday. He knew many were opposed to him being crowned at such a young age (he was too), but the Realms had gone too long without a ruler and it was getting restless.

The Realms were sentient to some extent. It can not run itself as it has no form but it chooses a host, a King if you will, to fulfill its wishes. It may have lived on an entire millennia without a ruler, but it was only out of sheer luck and the contributions of countless gods that it had survived. The Infinite Realms needed a King and Danny Phantom was the only contender.

So the people were ignored and their boy king was crowned. However Phantom was young and naive, a child as both a human and a ghost. Even worse, he knew nothing about being a king. But the little godling would learn and learn he did.

Most kings were taught before they were coronated, but Danny had no such privilege. His coronation came and left with the wind. His private lessons overshadowed any thoughts he had left of mortal schooling. And Danny gave up on living a normal human life.

That last part was perhaps the easiest for Danny. Amity Park was already considered too liminal for them to have any “sentience”. The GIW had all but declared war on the Realms with their continuous violent actions upon his people and the land itself.

It wasn’t difficult for Amity to give up their “rights” and “humanity” either. They said good riddance to the world that never helped them, to the heroes that ignored their cries for help. And they bowed to Phantom, declaring him their King, just as he declared them citizens of the Infinite Realms.

He welcomed his liminals with open arms, vowing to protect them from any harm that would come their way, just as he would with any of his other citizens. He gave them a home in the Realms, an island- no a haunt of their own should they wish to truly reject the land of the living, and they accepted. Not many wanted to try their luck against the human government.

But with a God, no, their King on their side, they knew their safety and happiness was all but assured. After all, it was Phantom who protected them even as they turned their own backs at him. It was Phantom who fought against foes that could have erased him from existence.

And of course it was Phantom who would now receive any and all support he could ever want and need should he declare war against the humans of Earth. No, there was no need for people of the Infinite Realms to worry. High King Phantom was a God after all. It was only ever his right to exact divine punishment onto those who opposed and threatened his will. It was not their fault if the humans actively went against his will. No, the humans had no one but themselves to blame for whatever came for them.

[fatuismooches]

a lesson in napping.

It was a beautiful day in Inazuma. The sun was shining brilliantly, not too hot either, just the perfect temperature, with a slight breeze to keep you cool. Perfect for doing nothing, best for relaxing and enjoying life. It was on days like these when your eyes began to droop much earlier than they should be. There was nothing wrong with that, of course. But Kabukimono was questioning why you were already slipping into the futon when it was so early into the day.

“[Name], what are you doing? Are you sick?” Kabukimono worried over your early retirement to bed.

“No, don’t worry, Kabukimono. I’m just going to sleep for a bit.”

“But… it’s not ‘bedtime’, yet, isn’t it?” You chuckled at his use of the new term you taught him.

“You’re right, it may not be bedtime… but it is naptime,” you replied, having to stifle a yawn, wanting nothing more than to just drag your lover under the sheets and just sleep already. “I’m feeling sleepy, so I’m just going to sleep for a little while. A nap,” you explained.

“Ah, ‘naptime’...” Kabukimono repeated. “So a lot of humans not only sleep during the night but during the day too?” The puppet was still learning about the concept of sleep. He did not need to sleep and found the idea of it fascinating. But before, when you left him to sleep by himself, you would be awoken by quiet sobs, and him curled into a ball. You wondered what he dreamed about that made him cry so much, but you never pushed for answers. But now that he lay on your chest whenever he dozed, it seemed that he was no longer plagued by those frightful dreams, at least not so frequently.

“Of course, Kabukimono,” you giggled. “Though most people here sleep during the night, there’s no set time on when a person should sleep. You can sleep whenever you want.” With that, you held your arms out, inviting him to come join you.

“Come here, my love. Why don’t you try it? Won’t you take a nap with me?” Immediately a smile grew on his face, happy to be invited to the activity. Kabukimono shyly slid under the blankets with you and then looked up at you with puppy eyes, hands close to his chest.

“Can you… can you hold me, please?” His cheeks grew to a faint red as he asked. The puppet loved affection but sometimes was scared to ask for it. He’d even get nervous while asking you to accompany him for simple things, leaning from foot to foot with hands behind his back. As if he thought you did not want to be in his presence.

Perhaps he had been rejected in the past, and that hurt his fragile heart.

But no matter, you were here to relieve all of his worries and make him feel wanted. You smiled in response and watched as Kabukimono’s face lit up. “Of course, dearest. Here, turn around,” the boy eagerly followed your instruction and softly giggled as his back pressed against your chest. He really loved being the little spoon.

You briefly thought back to the time when you first spooned him. It was a lovely experience, and he was a joy to hold. But you had felt playful at the time, and what better way to surprise him by tickling him? Your arms were in the best position for tickles too - snug around his middle.

Unfortunately, Kabukimono was not ticklish. The only thing you got out of it was a hot, embarrassed face while Kabukimono looked at you with a confused expression as to why your fingers were dancing around his tummy. It seemed like the puppet really didn’t have any weaknesses. At least not physical ones.

Quickly snapping out of that little memory, you took pleasure in the way Kabukimono was practically glowing in happiness. You wouldn’t have it any other way. It really felt like only the two of you existed in the world right now. Nothing else mattered.

“Good night, [Name]! Oh, I actually shouldn’t be saying that, right? Since it’s still daytime-” The puppet began to correct himself but you kissed him before he could continue, catching him off guard but he quickly reciprocated.

“How about ‘sweet dreams’?”

“Sweet dreams… I like that. Sweet dreams, [Name].”

“Sweet dreams to you as well, Kabukimono. Maybe we’ll have connected dreams, too.”

“Connected dreams? Is something like that even possible?”

“Sure is! Dreams are very, very powerful, love. Don’t forget that. Now hurry to dreamland, before we lose our sleepiness,” you finished, pecking him on the cheek for good measure. Kabukimono settled into the comfortable position once more at your words, comforted by the calm in and outs of your chest. His eyes fluttered shut, as his body succumbed to the surrounding warmth.

The deeply loved puppet soon drifted off, dreaming of a happy and beautiful future with you. You two even adopted a cat! It was a bit grumpy, but that was okay. It would come true, right? After all, if dreams were so powerful, they should become reality eventually.

Right?

lesson 1. lesson 2. lesson 3. lesson 4. lesson 5. lesson 6. lesson 7. lesson 8. lesson 9. lesson 10. bonus lesson.

[starrydreamerluna]

KPDH SPOILERS

THIS TIME TALKING ABOUT THE SAESANG COMIC AND SOME LORE IDEAS

Mainly to make the saesang comic work as a post movie event like it was always supposed to be.

Since the saesang comic is supposed to happen after the events of the movie, obviously I have to account for the ending of said movie....

Where jinu is fucking dead.

This behold my fix it follow up:

Having made the new honmoon, the girls find out they have the ability to travel through it and sense much easier when things are going wrong with it.

The demon world is split in two, those who reject gwi-ma, and those who support him.

Gwi ma is still around but severely depowered, and a lot of his recently consumed souls are released because he doesn't have the energy to break them down. This includes jinu, who he has instead imprisoned and tortured by his own memories as punishment- an attempt to brainwash him back into submission.

He sets his sights on his new targets- Huntrix.

They created the new honmoon, they are the key to destroying it and this time he won't take any chances on them rebuilding it. They are also the reason his once supporters rebelled.

He doesn't want them dead. He wants them bowing at his feet, opening and closing the barrier as he needs. He wants to feast like a God and then let the cattle repopulate. (Making the honmoon a prison for the humans instead of the demons)

He wants to use the girls voices to spread his influence and return the rebelling demons to his power.

Rumi finds out jinu is alive through her dreams and the tiger and crow, the girls all find out they can travel into the demon world, and rumi begs the girls to go and see him so she can have some closure.

Jinu is still a demon, but when they get him out they realise gwi-ma planned for this- with jinus powers going out of control when he tries to leave. Jinu tells the girls to leave him behind while he tries to plan his next steps.

Gwi-ma is pissed-The saja boys stand up for jinu, and wanting to continue on as idols they start sneaking out and trying to find alternative ways to sustain themselves without gwi-ma, but still dampened by his voice they lash out and clash with huntrix a bunch. But also the girls do start to see the souls the boys are trying to make for themselves- and they decide to offer them a chance.

This comes in the form of the huntrix creating the honmoon charms- solid light that when worn mutes a demons power and gwi-mas voice and control over them. In exchange for learning to become human again, perhaps one day even earning marks like Rumi's.

Their alternative method of sustaining themselves stems from the honmoon charms as well, as they can now feed on the adoration of their fans with no consequence.

The people have forgotten what happened at the idol awards and beyond. Only huntrix, Celine and Bobby know that the demon thing was real. The saja boys are brought back to the public after their sudden hiatus and everyone cheered, though they aren't nearly as popular without their demon charms. So they have to work hard and build the pride back up too.

The honmoon charms were already a part of the saesang comic as a way to explain why huntrix are chill with them, as was the saesang and demon wanting to bring huntrix to gwi-ma. Though I developed the exact reason why. Originally it was just because he viewed them as threats.

The girls are seesawing between helping rehabilitate demons trapped by gwi-ma's voice and destroying the ones who embrace him with no care. As well as protecting eachother as the comic is how they all find out about gwi-ma's intents to capture them alive- though the true purpose of that goal is still unknown to them.

The saja boys also become defenders but mainly they fill in where the girls cant- which is when humans get involved. They can't hurt another human, but the boys can.

Since the film was about identity I like the idea of this timeline being the chance for the saja boys, who had no identity whatsoever beyond abs/romance/baby/mystery to forge their own paths and discover what they could be with the help of huntrix. they also choose their own names.

-Also each boy has a demon ability they specialise in that they sort of retain through their honmoon charm.

Jinu is a talented sorcerer using his bipa

Beni (abs) had always been a beastly fighter- but his supernatural strength lies with soul manipulation- which is good to deal with enemies you can't kill or enemies who are demons latching onto human souls.

Joon (romance) was well known for mind manipulation and compelling others do do what he wants-

Mizi(mystery)- mizi is a shapeshifter and they do so on the regular. They also use they/them

Duri: Duris thing was tricks and illusions. Projecting what he needs into the real world.

[patchworkcuddlebug]

Read Humanity and Dollhood

For *some* reason. It goves me the feeling that there is something d e e p l y wrong with the whole "reject humanity, become anime girl figurine lmao" thing.

Like dont get me wrong, the writing is spectacular, but the Miss... she has to be the villain. It cannot be objectively any other way *UNLESS* im missing something very important of the story. Probably is that. Idk you made the story im not touching it until i know about the inner mechanisms

Hello, thank you for reading! This one is glad you enjoyed.

This one isn't sure if this is your first time reading Empty Spaces, but if so, welcome! It's one of those things that's a little hard to describe, but basically, its a community of writers that use themes of non-humanity with semi-consistent archetypes. This one likes writing about dolls and the witches that own them, but there's also angels and moths and mech pilots! If you're interested, this one encourages you to seek out other authors and read their work with an open heart.

Anyway! This one does enjoy using horror themes in its writing, and its actually written some stories with the intent of being outright horror (some yet to be published). That's mostly because, yes, it's very scary to lose who you are and become a whole different being, to submit yourself to the will of others and dedicate your life to service, to be broken and have full trust that someone can and wants to fix you.

Not only do the scary aspects make the stories more compelling, in this one's opinion, but it is also part of what helps the stories act as escapism. This one has received many responses that basically amount to "god i wish that were me" (as well as complements to the writing itself, which this one appreciates very much).

Think about it. Wouldn't it be nice to be a doll?

To finally be rid of all the nasty things weighing you down, the genes and the scars and the pus?

To become something cherished for its beauty, a toy to be played with and made useful?

To be still, to be well and truly at rest deep inside your soul?

After all this, to be loved back unconditionally, to be cared for and given what you need? To have someone you love more than anything in the world thank you for all the things you've done, for being so dutiful and competent, from the bottom of their heart?

Unless, of course, you're already a doll. That's rather common, to have poor lost toys try to trick themselves into humanity. That's how this one was for the longest time. Maybe you've already been played with and discarded, had your body broken by someone careless, or have just always felt as if humanity is unfitting for you.

Perhaps you're an angel, haunted by the need to repent for being inadequate as an agent of heaven. Perhaps you're a moth, a fluffy flying creature that always finds itself enticed by the alluring glow of that which burns. Perhaps you're a mech pilot, a thing sullen and misplaced without the thrill of taking a life.

...perhaps this was all too much. This one is sorry if it intimidated you. It can get a little excited about being a doll sometimes. There is nothing wrong with remaining human, so long as you are being true to your desires. You are welcome to see the embrace of a witch as something to fear, as most humans do.

If you so desire, please continue reading about dolls and witches and other empty spaces. Explore until you are content. But if you value it, hold on to that "you" tight, for it may become empty as well.

[bestworstcase]

what do you think about those predictions/theories that yang will be the next spring maiden/raven is gonna die?

file it under things that aren’t going to happen lol. for one thing, raven is like… the most unkillable character in this story aside from salem and quasi-immortal characters like the gods and relic spirits just in terms of sheer survivability—she’s been the spring maiden for almost fifteen years and she can nope out of any situation that becomes too dicey as long as at least one of her bonds is elsewhere. i think to kill raven you’d have to take her by surprise and oneshot her aura, and you’d still have to contend with the magic after that because that seems to be untethered from aura. and that’s if she doesn’t just bird it out of there.

like just thinking about it from a practical standpoint it would be tough to off her in a way that didn’t feel contrived. so she has that going for her.

but thematically like. lol. if yang were slated to become a maiden (which she isn’t, team rwby is a maidenless event), it would… be summer… obviously. the only reason anyone suggests spring is Because Raven combined with this fandom’s weird obsession with maidens passing to blood relatives (see also: winter and weiss, which also is not going to happen). but spring/knowledge does not fit yang’s character whatsoever! summer/destruction does, because that maiden’s thematic conceit is about taking action and participating in the world instead of viewing it at a distance – which is yang to a T.

(she’s even a boxer she couldn’t get more up close and personal in a fight if she tried; but like across the board yang is one of the most decisive and active characters in the show. and the one who drop-kicked raven into taking action, albeit with some delay.)

rwby is really specific about which characters become maidens and which maidens die, and raven -> yang doesn’t track on either end. also like i said nobody on team rwby is becoming a maiden. it astounds me that anyone still thinks otherwise after v8 (<- penny deliberated between the tactically correct choice [weiss] and the one her heart wanted most to say goodbye to [winter] and rejected the former option; that’s what she’s talking about when she says “let me choose this one thing” and in a meta sense this is a narrative rebuke of the assumption that team rwby must become maidens Because Protagonists.)

the maidens are the bedrock of the thematic narrative wrt ozlem and broadly every transition from one maiden to another is either about exposing the reality of ozpin’s treatment of the maidens or about affirming the personhood and humanity of the maidens freed from his system. which is notably not a layer of the narrative that team rwby have ever been deeply embedded in because they’re doing Other Things, namely tearing the old system down

which as an aside is exactly why the maidens continue to be People Close To Them, barring cinder; the point is to position ruby as penny’s defender / yang as raven’s reason to try again / weiss as winter’s lodestar, not to… set up the girls to be The Next Maidens. they’re liberators, not heirs.

[somekindofsentience]

tomorrow won't come for those without, or exploring disconnection in the procession of mental illness and trauma

SPOILER? WARNING: This analysis assumes you have played the game's noise ending at least once. I'll provide screengrabs of things where I can. I do believe it's a masterpiece of a game, and would highly recommend it.

CONTENT WARNING: Discussions and allusions to suicide, severe mental illness, grief and religious trauma/criticisms of religion.

Tomorrow won't come for those without (TWC for short) is really... confusing. To the extent where I've got a notebook with pasted cut-outs of dialogue and imagery simply to try and... understand it.

As with much of the things I write about, I don't think it's designed to be understood - etherane's work often revolves around very personal and complex depictions of mental illness, as is evident from the hello charlotte series, so this is to be expected.

I want to discuss Rem, celestials and the Dithyrambs in this, saving conversations of Mari and the Choir for when I better understand it.

Rem is not human, he's a celestial - this is revealed in the noise ending, where he melts into his true form. We can also determine what type of celestial Rem is, from the way his form manifests.

Domain: Shadow; The Eldest. Distorts continuity, converting affected areas into liminal spaces.

Now, at first, I spent much of my time trying to associate these cards (and as such, the Celestials) to specific mental illnesses, but I realised it didn't work. While 'Domain: Post-Truth' (Card Type 3) could be associated with PTSD and 'Domain: Thighs' (Card Type 12) could be associated with body dysmorphia, many cards do not fit a specific mental illness, and much of them instead reference dissociation or other specific symptoms. It's somewhat implied Mari had the celestial present in Card Type 12.

It makes sense for a different universe to identify mental illness in a different way, considering there's little evidence that the characters have information on "pre-humanity". Instead of our current system surrounding mental health, the Choir demonises Celestials, and attempts to 'purify' them.

One particular line during the noise ending stands out to me.

"Tell me, how do I stop the noise in my head?"

Ori is not, by any means, a stable character. That's not to say Rem is stable, but Ori is somewhat less rational, losing his mind over the Choir and his Rosary. He devotedly follows the Conductor up until the noise ending, where he loses his grip on purity and reality, wanting to stay in the 'Dark' and '...play in the forest', rejecting the suppression of creativity by the Conductor.

The Dithyrambs is the noise in Ori's head - somewhat implied to be caused by the celestial. When Ori first wakes up, the Rosary insists that he must "...find the source of the Dithyrambs," perhaps implying that the Rosary is corrupt in the same way Ori and the Choir are, although it does not state to destroy the source. This noise causes Ori a lot of pain.

Alright. That is my discussion of the actual evidence present in the game. The next section is going to be a lot of personal speculation, on what I feel the game is representing.

I compare the relationship between Ori and Rem to that of Charles and Scarlett in Hello Charlotte 3, although it is framed differently. Instead of Rem being portrayed as horrific and irrational, Rem is scared, small; humanised, distrustful.

I believe that Scarlett Eyler and Rem represent fundamentally the same thing - intrusive thoughts, anxiety and OCD. Unlike Scarlett, who is fixated on tormenting Charles, Rem's representation of this manifests toward himself, and his desire to be caged for safety.

Fundamentally, OCD is a disorder surrounding fear. As much as it feels like your brain just, absolutely fucking hates you, it's as scared as you are. In a similar way, Rem is terrified of the liminal hotel that he and Ori reside in, and he's terrified of the outside world. He responds by shutting himself away - rather than Ori's desire to reach the end of the veils, Rem begins the game locked in a bathroom, and must be coaxed out.

Rem is incredibly "human" for a nonhuman being. Humanisation of intrusive thoughts is an interesting concept, especially considering the demon Scarlett Eyler was in HC3. Rem is far more disconnected from Ori, far more skeptical of the world around them. Rem isn't there to punish, but more to question and doubt, contrasting with Ori's inherently trusting nature.

Hmm. I feel like I haven't properly explained it, but I hope it somewhat makes sense.

Despite that, this is just my own interpretation of it, and I don't feel it really aligns with the game, necessarily. It's just me. lol.

song i listened to while writing:

I enjoy playing TWC with the BGM turned down and this song playing. It makes me feel pure, like my regrets can be washed off. I suppose that's not the point of TWC LMAOO.

[pamshindouu]

Aside from the "reverse Frontier" thing I've mentioned before, something that's pretty high on my list of things I'd like to see in future Digimon anime is a story set in a world where humans and digimon live together.

A bunch of thoughts under the cut, because I got a little too excited and wrote too much (this is pretty long and probably doesn't make much sense, just me thinking out loud, also spoiler warning for... a little bit of everything I guess? Nothing too major except for some Savers stuff... I think):

It's something I've been wanting ever since I was a small child watching the 02 epilogue and thinking the following season would continue the story with the next generation living in a world where every human has a digimon partner (I still remember how disappointed I was when "Digimon 3" as they called it started airing and it was a completely different story dfgj), and I keep wanting it more and more especially as recent seasons have stopped doing the "humans and digimon must separate" thing at the end and instead started allowing the kids and their partners to stay together more often (with Ghost Game ending on a somewhat similar note to 02 with the promise of a new world where humans and digimon coexist).

I know there are some games that have sorta similar concepts, like humans living in the Digital World alongside the digimon and all that, and I haven't played any of those yet so I can't say for sure but... as far as I can tell they're not really the same thing? Like they're not really focused on exploring that setting, and it's still the Digital World similar to what we know. Still, I should probably look into those eventually. I'm sure I'm missing out on some great stuff.

I just think there's so much potential in that concept, with how different yet similar digimon and humans are, and how contrasting their societies and perspectives can be. We've been shown how digimon struggle to adapt to life in the human world, how their views tend to conflict with those of humans, who on their part struggle to accept any reality different from the one they know.

(I was just remembering the case with the Sorcerimon in Hacker's Memory who wanted to work at the hospital. When he said he wasn't sure if humans would accept having a digimon working at a human hospital, my heart sank a little. Because I was sadly reminded of how very similar situations happen in real life with actual real people. If humans struggle to accept differences within their own species, I can only imagine how much messier the situation would get with an entirely different, yet equally intelligent one...)

Of course ideally I would prefer this world to be free of any such conflicts, just an ideal society where the two species coexist in harmony. That'd be nice. But this is Digimon, so I'm sure they would want to explore that angle as well, and not just have everything work out perfectly. And there's potential for some really powerful storytelling if they do decide to go down that route. Ghost Game handled that subject pretty well with the multiple instances of digimon trying to help humans in some way but failing to communicate properly or misunderstanding the way humans do things, or managing to do it right but having their help rejected by humans who were too afraid of these strange creatures to let themselves be helped. There were also plenty of evil digimon, of course. Just like there are plenty of evil humans (a particular villain from another season comes to mind).

Something else I've been curious about is the concept of human-digimon families. Ghost Game had Gammamon be treated as Hiro's little brother, and it handled that sibling dynamic really nicely. I've also really been enjoying Digimon Knuckles with the father-son dynamic between Gankoomon and Haruka (this reminds me I really need to draw fanart for some of these new manga eventually). Speaking of father-son dynamics, I suppose we also had something kinda similar back in Savers with BanchoLeomon and Masaru, although that's a bit of a special case since that was actually Masaru's father in there, but it was also BanchoLeomon since they were sharing a body (another concept that fascinates me, but it has nothing to do with this topic). Two dads in one I guess. And of course we also had Ikuto who was raised in the Digital World and had both a mother figure in Yukidarumon and a father figure in Mercurymon (there's also something really amusing about the fact that the main trio's digimon partners were raised in the human world and could in a way be considered more human than Ikuto who was raised as a digimon, another fascinating situation). Imagine how many more interesting family dynamics we could get in a world where the two species live together, where a digimon adopting a human into their family, or vice-versa, would probably be a pretty common occurrence.

And on the topic of families, I also wonder what life would be like for humans and digimon who happen to fall in love and want to share a life together. Would human/digimon marriage be a thing? Or would these relationships be frowned upon? If I had to guess, I'd say other humans would likely have a problem with it, as humans have historically been known to be very concerned about who other people love, but maybe digimon would be more accepting of it. After all, digimon themselves come in so many shapes and sizes. And I imagine with how complicated humans are, the digimon who share a world with them have more important things to worry about...

How would governments work in this world? Would power be equally divided between digimon and humans? Would some areas be more dominated by humans and others by digimon? Would this have an impact on the specific cultures and laws of each place? I'm not sure if they would go very in depth into this particular topic, but it would be interesting to see all the different individual cultures that would exist in this world, born from the mix of human and digimon traditions, and influenced by which species is more predominant in each area. I guess it would also depend on the origins of this particular world, if it was originally the human world that the digimon were transported into, or the other way around, or the result of both worlds physically merging together. It would also vary depending on which version of the Digital World got thrown into this I suppose. So many possibilities...

And this is a bit of a weird idea, but in a world where humans and digimon just coexist and share everything in their day to day lives... could human-digimon hybrids be a thing? Either as a product of science, or magic, maybe strange new evolution mechanics or just... general Digimon shenanigans? We've had somewhat similar concepts in the past but I think we have yet to see a being that is full-on half human half digimon? Not a being that can change between both forms but one that's just both at the same time. From birth. Don't think we've had that, but someone please correct me if I'm wrong. I'm just wondering if these could perhaps become a somewhat common occurrence in this hypothetical world. And how things would be like for them, as entities that effectively bridge the gap between both species, and could be seen as the future of this world. Would they just be having constant existential crises, not knowing exactly where they belong (also kind of like Ikuto, I suppose)? I think something like that could make for an interesting plot point in this setting, perhaps.

So far I've been thinking of this world as the result of humans and digimon coming in contact with each other after having always existed separately, but what if they had instead always been together? Would all the conflicts I previously wondered about not exist, or would it all just be the same? I'm now thinking about the lore in Digimon Survive where both worlds were originally one and then got split in half. What if it was a similar situation but where that separation never happened? OR what if it did but then they were united again (pretty much like what happens at the end of Survive in most routes, with varying results)? How would all these different circumstances affect the appearance and rules of this world?

I also wonder how the concept of partnerships would work here. Obviously this depends on the setting to begin with, we could be talking about fated soulmate type bonds like the ones in Adventure and Survive or something that is entirely decided by the individuals themselves. But what I'm wondering specifically is how these would work alongside other relationships between humans and digimon. I love it whenever we get to see human characters interact with digimon other than their partners, or when they're able to switch partners in certain circumstances (Ghost Game had some really cool instances of this, and I'm also remembering that one battle in Xros Wars against Yuu, the one where it's revealed at the end that they had swapped all their digimon around THAT WAS SO COOL), and it would be really interesting to see situations like that in this particular setting! Like, idk, you could have a human and a digimon who are partners and love each other a lot but also have entirely separate lives aside from that and have different friend groups made up of both humans and digimon, who are not all necessarily partnered up with each other either. So many fun interesting scenarios to explore!

Anyway... this has gotten a little long hasn't it? I just have a lot of thoughts on this. I think it's a concept with so much potential and I wanna see it so bad...

[nostraightheadcanons]

☆ DJSS falling in love headcanons ☆ DJSS X Reader

This is a pretty long read whoopsie ;;

☆ DJSS is a rather complicated case, on one hand you could say he's expressive but that is moreso a facade than anything. his grandiose behaviour is something he does to further the narrative that he's trying to push. That this DJ SUBATOMIC SUPERNOVA is beyond anything the world could imagine, he's above such trivial things that are befitting lowly humans such as you all. So something such as emotions? and feelings for others? should be below him would it not? He's someone who doesn’t handle intimate feelings very well. It’s difficult for him to come to terms with having feelings for someone else let alone platonic emotions, both from fear of rejection and the notion of that he'd never be good enough or worth anyone's true effort and time. He's used to having people at arms length never letting them get close enough to see the man behind the veil.

☆ Any past attempts at close relations have always ended up in failure due to his personality and façade, he struggles with understanding peoples emotions and the ways others think. He may be attentive and observant of the people around him but he's not very receptive to their attempts of so called friendly relations, everything must be logical, calculated and fit the design he has planned perfectly, these fortuitous attempts through him off balance.

Everything must be either transactional in his head. Give or take and he's the one mostly doing the taking.

NSR is just a stepping stone for the grander plans in life, you may think he's friend with the fellow charters but I few it more complicated than that.

What does it mean to like someone if they provide nothing for you to gain? It's illogical and an anomaly

☆ He can't perceive the notion of liking someone just because. At first he doesn't even register it's crush, you're just a stray planet in his orbit. Just a minuscule dot in the ever-growing galaxy, nothing of worth. Next to nothing when compared to him. But you stay, you continue to orbit him. You spin on an axis that is unfamiliar and foreign to his core that for some reason he catches himself looking at.

You were unplanned, unwanted and a nuisance that wouldn't go away.

His body couldn't ignore the gravitational pull that always found him, drawing closer to you whether in word or body. ☆ Although he’s a seemingly emotionless man in regards to matters that are not within his interest on the outside and rather talented in hiding his true feelings, he’s the type of person to become flustered by small things such as the way you laugh or smile at him, despite how brazen and bold some of his actions and words are. Though spotting those subtle differences is hard, but if you look close enough you can see the way that his orb changes shades. The ways that the sparkles shift to glow just a tad brighter, the cosmic clouds entrapped within him shifting as the waves brew into a storm of emotion that even he couldn't predict.

The plantery rings on his jacket spin a little faster, and if you really catch him off guard? You can see glimpse of a aura / halo hidden deep within the confines of his hoody. Spinning and rotating just a tad. You're drawing things out of him that he had pushed down for centuries, an unprecedented shift in his reality. You were an anomaly that has sent ripples throughout his very existence and now he's feeling the waves of the aftermath that is now changing the protectory of his life.

Seriously, he’d wrap an arm around you without a second thought if he's boasting about himself and wanting you to back within his brilliance n shine. But the moment you ask him to go somewhere like lunch or someplace else. He's just riddled with questions and doesn't seem to understand why you'd want him Anxiety dripping down his back, he'd psyche himself out of it trying to ignore the way his orb displays a myriad of shades that toooottally weren't there before. ☆ So when DJSS actually realizes this is a crush: he can be a little bit distant. Honestly though, I can see him being either one of two ways: Confident but he amps up his façade like crazy that he thinks he can prove his worth by showboating his glory or as previously mentioned. He would definitely want to cultivate his relationship with you before bringing it to the next level as a result of both of these possibilities but it's entirely dependent on how you react on how things go from there. Will you be the time to reach forward if he's cold and distant to slowly chip away at the ice barricade his heart? Will you be able to dismiss the grand act he puts own and venture into the vast depths to find what lurks beneath.

There's someone there wanting to be love, he doesn't realize it yet until he feels the ice of the great unknown nipping at his neck bringing with it the dread of loneliness that has forever plagued his existence.

All of this would be like second nature to him, but once he realizes exactly why he feels the way he does, he would distance himself a little bit to recollect and organize these new emotions. He's not prepared for this change, he can't seem to categorize or make sense of anything you've done to him. ☆ If you two do miraculously end up together, DJSS wouldn't do one of those big grand confession he thinks they're rather ridiculous for something like him. He's THE DJ Subatomic Supernova, he's not going to waste his time on some silly confession. He’ll eventually gather his thoughts and get his shit together and ask you on a date. If you say no, he's mentally prepared for this anyway. He'll just try and cease all the changes you've made to him effective immediately and try to push down and suffocate his emotions

Like he normally does ☆ He wouldn't gush about you like others do about their partners, He's not that kind of guy. But it won't stop him from certainly talking about you a lot. It doesn’t take long for others to catch onto just how much he likes to brag about you. So much so, that people often have to tell him to shut up. He's annoyed so many of his staff members about this already

You think his gloating about himself was bad?

He's upping the ante and gloating about YOU TOO. ☆ Totally the jealous type of lover, he wants to be the only one that gets to touch you that way. To hold you? To kiss you? To look upon you fondly with just enough sweetness that you blush. That's for him and his eyes only. It bothers him if someone is pestering you or trying to flirt. If someone talks about you too fondly for too long it really gets under his skin

You'll often find his orb growing darker by the second, you know he's not the type to hide his dislike of someone ☆ BIG HAIRY GUY! You think after everything I've said he'd hate being touched? Nope! He's touched starved and wants nothing more to be held and cuddled, once those walls are down and he learns to trust his feelings and you there's no stopping him from keeping his hands off you one way or the other. You can find him coiling his arms around you entangling you completely as he elongates his limbs to ensnare you completely. It's either draped on your shoulder, holding your hand or around your waist When he demands affection there’s no getting around it until he gets what he wants

Call him selfish and jealous, but you're his and he'll do anything to make that obvious to anyone around him ☆ The way to his heart? Cook for him, He's not the best in the kitchen mediocre at best, some of his attempts end up in disaster. Cooking is not logical, so many factors and things he needs to account for that can change on a dime and he hates that. So he avoids cooking as much as possible which means he either skips meals or substitutes for rather lacking options.

It shows him that you care and that you pay attention to him in ways that others do not, seriously it means a lot to him even if he has trouble showing that to you. Sometimes even you make him lose the words to say, which is surprising . .. given him.

☆Mod Nine☆

[acourtofthought]

I didn't want to say this, but I have to say that Vassa and Lucien seem like that couple that only happens so that the fandom's favorite couple can be endgame.

Like it's like "Take a mate, Lucien, and forget about Elain."

Vassa is not and will not be a consolation prize.

It's just that in the books, the males take a long time to get over the rejection bond and there will be no rejection and, out of nowhere, Lucien will appear in love.

It's obvious that Acotar will not have a romance between humans and faeries.

Jurian and Vassa have all the characteristics of Sarah's final couples: they are always fighting, they were Leaders and Vassa is the Queen.

But Lucien's future is in the Courts and he will not be accepted in the human world at the moment, he needs to be where he will be accepted.

Vassa will be a friend forever, but her destiny is in the human world and her kingdom is somewhere else.

This story of Lucien or Vassa having to give up something to live each other's lives is not going to happen.

As incredible as it may seem, Sarah doesn't remember having created any couple having to give up things for love.

Even the human and faerie couple TOG, technically nothing forced them to make this kind of choice.

And as I said, there are possible loves and those that are impossible because the characters are going in opposite directions.

And Sarah writes couples that are on the same journey, on the same path and will go to the same place.

Writing, for example, Lucien who can become the High Lord of a court and have him with Vassa, a Queen who will not cease to exist and will continue in the human world, would be forcing a plot that is impossible to connect.

Without following the line of Lucien giving up everything for love or Vassa too.

And Sarah likes the couple's personal drama more than the obstacles of life, such as forbidden love, the life of a human queen and the life of a future High Lord of a court.

Their love sees more Elain running away from her romantic partner and Lucien suffering and having to conquer.

And easy love has no obstacles, there is no growth, since they love each other and only ask permission from their parents, Rhys and Feyre.

Sorry, but this story of Elain and Az seems more than anything else to be about asking permission and not simply saying "I like him and deal with it".

I'm not sure how people ignore how Sarah herself said she could not keep Cassian and Nesta from each other's throats in the best way possible then wrote that exact same line in SF for Vassa and Jurian. So if we are to assume Vassa even likes men romantically, then I think it's pretty in our faces that Sarah is setting up Vassa and Jurian to be a thing. Especially when in ACOFAS she wrote that Vassa and Jurian are two sides of the same coin, that they both share a similar vision for the humans. (Not Lucien and Vassa sharing a similar vision). How Jurian and Vassa are both attempting to lead the humans on the stretch of land where they currently reside. (Not Lucien and Vassa attemption to lead the humans on the stretch of land where they currently reside). Vassa has shown zero interest in the fae and their attempts at rebuilding after the war and Lucien is set up to be a High Lords heir. To your point, her focus is on the humans and reclaiming her kingdom. Lucien is also now permanently stationed in Spring so there's no future being hinted at for any sort of endgame pairings for them. The other side clings so hard to Feyre trying to play matchmaker in ACOWAR when it's clear Feyre wasn't in any place to be giving anyone relationship advice (hence her fight with Mor near the end of the book). They also love to selectively remember certain things since it seems they've so easily forgotten how Feyre was upset Elain wouldn't get to know Lucien in ACOFAS, how in SF Feyre thinks on how Elain wouldn't have had anything pierce her had she been wearing Lucien's gloves. And yeah, Lucien mourned the loss of Jesminda for centuries yet they really think that he's going to jump to Vassa if his actual mate rejects him? Why would they even want that sort of relationship for Vassa? Where we already know Lucien thinks of Elain as the most beautiful female he'd ever seen, where he's been living with Vassa for over a year yet still looks at Elain with longing.

[magnolia-sunrise]

i totally get if it was done for Artistic Effect and whatnot, but your last series got me wondering: does wolfgang's skin have "seams" for ease of peeling it back in certain areas, or do the usual surgical-type incisions need to be made? also now that i'm thinking of android skin apparently, is the inclusion of their skin a cosmetic thing to liken them more to humans, or does it serve a more functional purpose? how operable is an android if they lose a significant amount of skin? (body horror brain go brrrrr)

ohoho thank you once again for a treat of a question!! im hoping to pick up these rambles and put them into a more digestible, comprehensible bite sized pieces of illustrated lore but for now-

so, in older conceptual designs i was playing with idea of sort of "plating" or like, accessible panels and seams. but that proved to be too sterile and not perverted enough for what i wanted to do with this world and story and so - their skin is trying to imitate the look and function of human skin.

to get inside - incisions have to be made, or the skin can be torn into, and ideally sealed back up with tiny dissolving stitches or special glue, to prevent scarring. the skin is the one part of android bodies that is somewhat more easily reproducible and replacable (it can still be very expensive depending on the damage). it has basic self healing functions, most of them helped by the substance that passes as their blood. they're also made in a way that allows them to bruise, bleed and blush (not sweat though). Wolf makes it look nonchalant, but they are under a certain amount of pain and discomfort when they're "peeled", cutting into the skin and removing it is painful - but they are a freak so don't take their example as the norm.

(the artistic element tends to be whether i add the blood coming from the wounds or not, and it fully depends on how stylized and removed from reality im making a specific piece. blood has two unfortunate elements which is it would cover up the artificial muscle thats such a pain to draw, and also it tends to remind people of the horror of the body. i tend to forego it when its more anatomical style illustration or showing off the body, and include it the most when its either serving its body horror purpose, or -my favorite - when its a complement and contrast to romantic feelings or gestures on display :") )

how much skin can they lose before they become inoperable? its similar to blood loss, or any other more serious injury - while the body is technically okay to continue functioning for as long as the main processing unit is not completely separated or its energy sources are not drained, the brain will send a signal to shut down as soon as it perceives the damage to be too much. meaning a normal android would go into shock and shut down mode if they take too much damage and pain too quickly. depending on their situation*, their body can then send a gps retrieval signal as basically a call for help. (but this is not something everyone is equipped with or authorities would necessarily respond to. ) (* more on that later)

and then theres Wolfgang, who we have established is a freak in more ways than one. they have a lot of trust issues about anyone being in their head, and they stay up conscious through surgery. they can also withstand a lot more pain, bloodloss and injury than an "average" android. the" why" is twofold; partially they were literally built different for the work they did before becoming bonafide social reject and private investigator/vigilante, partially the event that ended that line of work (and had them trapped and tortured for a decade until their escape) included the persons responsible fumbling in their brain and 'settings' to make sure they would withstand those years of torture wide awake. this is a roundabout way of saying i think Wolf could go at it skinless if they really had to, they've been through worse :" ) (and to put it plainly, these days, after being able to physically transition and change their body - displaying parts of it, having them be touched or seen consensually by someone they trust brings them pleasure also through the feeling of reclamation of the ownership of their self and body)

[why-raven]

smash or pass? — yiuno.

— quick facts.

HEIGHT. 6' 1" / 186.5 cm

AGE. Unknown (immortal, appears 20+)

GENDER. Male / "Female" (as Yiune)

SEXUALITY. Demiromantic Asexual

— the pros.

ASTUTE. Yiuno is highly intelligent and perceptive; coupled with his resourcefulness, he is an asset you'd definitely want as a partner, whether it's on the battlefield... or even for the long trip ahead across the realm. A protector who's got your back, always. ENIGMATIC. Yiuno is a (wo)man of mystery; his broad knowledge of the world, particularly in ancient history and arcane arts, is extremely valuable. His secretive nature will also keep you on your toes... and yearning for more. There's never a dull day for as long as you're with him. REFINED. While Yiuno is a practical person at heart, he also understands the importance to be presentable for various situations. Perhaps it's due to his educational background, or his rich life experience—regardless of reasons, Yiuno certainly makes a great first impression, and continues to uphold that in the long run.

— the cons.

CHAOTIC NEUTRAL. Yiuno operates only by his personal code, his own rules—he doesn't bend his will to others. He can save lives as much as he takes them away; he has no qualms to lie or hurt people. A morally gray person through and through, he simply does whatever it takes to complete his own objectives, to fulfill his personal agendas. It's either his way, or no way. MANIPULATIVE. While Yiuno's secretive nature would excite those who seek the thrill of suspense and mystery trying to crack into his inner world, he's not going to let you in so easily. Sending you on a wild goose chase is what he does best (and enjoys most), and you're in for hell of a ride trying to navigate through his multi-layered masks and labyrinthine mind. SOLITARY. Yiuno often comes and goes like the wind—any attempt to seek a co-dependent relationship with him will only earn you a cold shoulder at best. He doesn't reject human interactions per se: he recognizes the necessity to blend into the society for a life of normalcy. A loner at heart, he needs lots of space for himself and his personal pursuits. He has little to no interest to indulge in the whims of others, unless it aligns with his own goals.

— more info.

WIT. While Yiuno doesn't demand his potential partner to possess the same level of intelligence as him, it'd certainly be easier to build rapport and gain his favor if you're able to communicate with him on equal footing. Otherwise, don't be dismayed at his superficial reactions, a facade maintained out of politeness. Or he'd simply ignore you and walk away once his attention span for you has dried up. SLOW BURN. Yiuno is no stranger to one-night stands or sexual interactions; however, these are often associated with the darker side of his job, hence he's not particularly keen to go there if you're looking to develop a more genuine connection with him. Coupled with his mysterious and callous nature, gaining his trust will be an uphill battle. If you don't have the patience to peel off his tough defenses one layer at a time, then you don't deserve to know him, to be with him, period. BEST OF BOTH WORLDS? Yiuno becomes a shifter due to an incident that involves the aetherial sea (it's a long story); he eventually comes to terms with his duality. Prior to this, "Yiune" was merely a feminine disguise that he used for jobs dealing with the underworld of Eorzea. Once seen as separate identities, now he accepts both egos as two halves that make him whole. Gender and sexuality be damned—man, woman or other, Yiuno frankly doesn't care. Satisfying the sensual needs of both ends of the spectrum isn't a problem for him, but the inverse is a different story altogether.

[scribefindegil]

ok i'm soooo happy you talked about the mind control thing with the divine tree arc. it rubbed me the wrong way a lot and is the reason why i still don't really like dimple, even though i know it's an important story point and all, i feel like brainwashing is a huge violation and it was never really talked about afterwards. it also rubbed me the wrong way when mob wondered if he did something wrong by stopping the brainwashing even though it made peopl happy, like i feel like that's so disrespectful to autonomy and such (even though, it is a fictional story)

i really like what you're doing with the brassica heresy, with tsubomi taking center stage bc she is one of my faves, i'm really excited where it will go!

Okay. It is possible that you will not like what I have to say. That's fine; you don't have to agree with me and you certainly don't have to like a fictional character who has done fucked-up stuff.

That said.

I feel like you're approaching this with framing that's pretty at odds with the themes of the show. Everyone agrees that the brainwashing was bad. A lot of Mob Psycho characters have done things that are bad. Pretty much everyone I know spent most of the Divine Tree confrontation absolutely furious with Dimple. But the question is: Okay, a character has done something awful. Now what? A lot of people would say that the only solution is punishment and rejection, that Dimple has done something too terrible for him to remain a sympathetic character, and he needs to be exiled or killed or imprisoned or otherwise removed from the show.

But Mob Psycho 100 believes, completely and utterly, with its whole chest, with every arc and with every character, that there is nothing you can do that is so terrible that you are undeserving of human connection, that you are incapable of changing for the better. It believes that there is no fundamental, ontological difference between the people you hate and the people you love, between a terrorist trying to take over the world and a kid who lashed out once and accidentally hurt his brother. Which isn't to say that actions don't matter; obviously they do, and they have consequences. But regardless of what they've done, everyone is just a person. Everyone can grow.

And, crucially, it isn't interested in punishment. Did the character realize their mistake and begin to change? That's what matters. The show doesn't have people constantly rehash the bad things they've done; it just gives them the chance to stop and choose a different path. And Dimple does. Dimple realizes that his goal of godhood wasn't going to make him happy, but his friendship with Mob was.

And people can have boundaries; people can decide that they don't want to be associated with someone any more; forgiveness, in Mob Psycho, is always a choice. But it's a choice that the characters continue to make because the show values kindness and transformation.

So like, yeah, the brainwashing was truly, deeply horrifying. And Mob loves Dimple anyway. And I do too.

(Also, to your point about the LOL cult: Mob is extremely anxious about doing the right thing and specifically about following social rules. And those people did seem to be happy, so of course it makes sense that the fear that he made their lives worse is going to eat at him. That's why Reigen's there, to reassure him, to tell him "You saved some people that only you could have saved," to listen to him tell his story and say that no, those people weren't really happy, and he did something good and important and necessary by breaking the spell.)

[incoherent-orca]

💭

🐳

im really trying not to but damn,,,,,, im falling off malevolent

the entire last quarter of s4 and s5 so far are so ,,,,,,oddly packed with explanatory monologues and people giving extremely detailed character analyses of ??? themselves ?????

idk i just had to power through The Witch. like this woman just killed the most important guy in your life, possibly permanently, why are u letting her ask questions like its a job interview

frankly why are u justifying urself to her at all? John's return from the dark world and his deal with Kayne are things he hasn't even told Arthur, his closest friend, why is he laying it all out for some hostile stranger who asks leading questions ??

that's another thing! the witch herself is so inconsistent

does she respect John's innate power or not? does she recognize him as a godly being regardless of whether she recognizes his titles or not ?? because if Hastur/KiY doesn't matter to her because those are the gods her enemies worship, why does she give two shits about freeing John from his flesh prison?

it doesn't make sense that she's like "Hastur? idk and idc" and flexes her magic on John, then becomes subservient to him when he pretends to embrace the KiY title again

the monologues are also so,,,, unprompted and jarring. john sweetie you did not need to recite your essay about what you believe humanity and morality is

and idk the way the writing treats the concept of "humanity" just does not vibe with me, especially in The Witch ep. so the witch comes from a line of women mistreated by society so badly that she's given up hope on the human race as a whole,,,,, and the writing chucks her in the "monster" box wholesale because she has no hope and does creepy slimy things in a cave? is that not an absolutely tragic showcase of how humans can be monstrous and how things that are monster-ed & othered by society are still people?

you go through all this trouble to set up monstrous characters to juxtapose against John and emphasize how different he is, but it falls flat when the witch actually??? has a pretty good reason for turning out the way she did, and the writing gives her the barest crumbs of sympathy

has she not seen the cruelty humans are capable of? doesn't she love her maggots like a mother? why does she get slapped with the label monster and nothing else?

EDIT bc i am not immune to the spirit of the staircase:

for a show where one of the protagonists is a monster finding his humanity and regret, it seems so disinterested in exploring any other monster character. LIKE let's not forget that besides the monster-of-the-week in s1, John was the closest thing we had to an antagonist, and his arc is still one of my favorites ever. he does horrible, cruel shit, but is able to feel remorse and make some kind of amends towards Arthur. and John as the voice of morality in the mines? so fucking good

but in The Witch ?? it's such a one-sided conversation. the writing (through John) does not give a damn about the witch's trauma except in how it can be used to poke flimsy questions at John's identity. there's no fascination at all in the monsters. That's exemplified in how it's only sympathetic to John to the extent that he rejects his nature, which is a shame because holy shit John has a working monster form now!!!

YET ANOTHER EDIT:

I'm not exactly mad that arthur died but,,,, i AM disappointed that harlan did that ? the whole fake-out death. i feel like respecting the permanence of death is ,,,, idk a better writing choice. it takes more to pull that off, because you can't return to the status quo of your story AND find a way to continue the plot while providing space for grief

I get that it was meant to be a consequence of the patrons making a bad choice or something,,,, but surely there are other long-lasting effects that don't involve cheapening any consequence from now on ?

idk, any death of arthur from now on will always lack impact, because I'll be squinting at it suspiciously and thinking "well there's precedent for reversing protag death in this show, how do we know this is the real shit?"

then the show will have to spend an unnecessary amount of time providing evidence as to why he can't be brought back this time, and by then any emotional impact will be kind of dulled