#...do I have to tag fandoms for this? ...yeah I guess I will

[thecheshirerat]

On TAZ-

Wow that sounds like I’m about to summarize some sort of discourse but I promise I’m not. I guess I’ll say that I really like this show and I will keep listening even if my worst fears come to pass, so keep that in mind!

For reference, I started listening near the end of Amnesty.

I’ve noticed, with the past few arcs- really since Ethersea- the narratives have just… not been fulfilling their promises, so to speak. They’ve been placing a lot of guns that don’t go off. What I mean by that is, the characters are great. Excellent, really. Lady Godwin? HELL YES. Emerich Dreadway? Fuck yeah! And so on! And the settings and premises have been epic- the goofiness and also horrifying nature of Engrave, the mad and thrilling world of Steeplechase- these things are COOL AS FUCK.

and then the actual narratives keep flopping?

And honestly, I notice it most in the endings, because you can really tell when an ending doesn’t land. You feel the sense of disappointment. But with vs. Dracula, for example, I could kinda see leading up to it that the ending couldn’t really BE anything special, because they lowkey didn’t set themselves up for it.

They spent the campaign fucking around in Engrave, finding clues and solving problems and not really experiencing any particularly meaningful character arcs or growth or, idk, forming relationships? So there wasn’t much to pay off, I’m not gonna lie!

Of course it doesn’t feel quite as dissatisfying when you’re in the thick of it, because they’re funny and the stuff is cool and- oh hey! Lady Godwin’s been turned into a werehorse against her will?? that’s got some real potential for a LOT of allegories and exploration of some fun character development! And then it’s kinda played as a joke. And then they do that again and again.

And they actually said that that was a move they made intentionally, in the TTAZZ. I’m not quoting them perfectly here, this is from memory, but I do remember them mentioning that they wanted lighthearted comedy without the burden of real life story stuff. And I get that, honestly, but… it’s not the choice I would’ve made. I do think you can keep a lighthearted tone while also, idk, forming relationships and wholesomely engaging with some amount of emotion. And sometimes going way too deep is funny as a tone shift!

But I digress. One thing that’s also popped out to me is the almost complete lack of any kind of romantic storyline or even references. This becomes obvious if you’re in a fandom because everyone is always dying to ship SOMEONE, and you can tell when people are really getting desperate. I don’t blame them for not wanting to roleplay romance with their family, and I do think stories lacking romance are COOL and SHOULD BE ENCOURAGED!

However if you can’t find ANYBODY to ship together… that may mean you just don’t have character bonds. The growing popularity of the PC polycule is interesting to me; I wonder if it’s partially because

a) none of the pcs have significant relationships outside of their party and

b) even within the party, there doesn’t seem to be much chemistry between any given pair of characters…? I hope I’m making my point well here- the PCs all seem equally close and have more or less the same relationship to all of their compatriots with little distinction, meaning, essentially, no shipping fodder that doesn’t involve just all of ‘em.

Either way, it makes me wonder if I can blame the “Graduation has too many NPCs!” critique. They really stopped giving the parties tag-along main NPCs after graduation, with the exception of maybe.. Urchin? Kodira? Shlabethany? Poppy? and even they get relatively little “screen” time. Steeplechase has great NPCs, I love them to death, but none of the PCs seem to ever have one on one conversations with NPCs or each other that do not explicitly focus on the plot. And I think that’s part of why the characters feel so underdeveloped despite having spent a lot of time with them- because in this character-driven genre, we get very little insight into their feelings or motivations or even their rudimentary backstories.

I started watching Fantasy High recently and it made me realize a couple things about TAZ.

1) Recently, TAZ has sooo few core NPCs, and it’s weird that the characters aren’t doing more one-on-one purely character based scenes. And that makes it really tough to develop them.

2) TAZ is- and I should have realized this before- one of many good dnd podcasts. They’re probably looking for a niche they can master.

And it sounds like they’re trying to get back to that old “Here there be Gerblins!” energy. They’ve referenced it so many times in recent TTAZZes- they wanted to be job-focused, allowing story stuff to happen organically, so they tried a more open world vibe with Ethersea. They wanted to be less afraid to kill stuff, so they tried playing criminals (and were still afraid to kill stuff). They wanted to be silly and light on character, as they tackled with taz vs dracula. Now they’re trying to bring in the silly cartoon vibe with Abnimals. I think they’re trying to make that family-friendly, funny and goofy show their niche. Something other actual plays can’t be better at them at.

And honestly it kinda makes me sad, that they keep trying to go back to Balance while ignoring everything they learned during it. Because I loved Dust. Because I loved Amnesty. Because I loved Ethersea. I loved these past arcs! But they keep doing their brilliant characters dirty for some reason!!! And i don’t know why!!!!

You know that meme about people who ask questions in movies and then the person responds “Have you ever been to a movie before? You watch them and the information is revealed.” There have been so many times in TAZ recently where information has Not been revealed and if they keep doing it the audience will stop bothering to suspend their disbelief, because the trust just isn’t there.

What is Montrose’s deal? What on earth was Carmine Denton’s whole thing? Tell me more about Zoox’s feelings, about Devo’s past, about Amber’s future. Show me how Lady Godwin feels about the body horror that is her life- like, seriously! WHY DID WE HAVE TO COMPLETELY DISMISS THE OPPORTUNITY TO DISCUSS GENERATIONAL TRAUMA IN MUTT’S LIFE FOR A JOKE??

Do you remember in Steeplechase where the boys were getting medical attention or something- i don’t remember, but they were all in one room and only talking about The Plot. And Poppy literally banged on the door (speaking for both Justin and me, tbh) and was like “does anyone want to share any feeeeelings??” and they were like NOPE! and they moved on!!

like. cmon. you can’t just put a character like montrose out there and then leave them severely underdeveloped to the point that what would be interesting in proper context, with audience insight, becomes confusing and chaotic.

I just wish they would take their stories as seriously as we do.

It feels to me like they don’t believe in themselves, and it makes me sad. Maybe they didn’t get the response they wanted from Ethersea and so they’ve been trying to pivot, hoping to recapture whatever it was that earned them a loyal audience.

Again, I love them. They’re so funny and I’ll keep listening until the day they stop making this show, and when it happens I’ll cry.

But i KNOW they have more in them. Remember the “we’ll grow gills” monologue from Justin in the Prologues? Remember Travis’s SOLID acting with Devo? Or his awesome choice to give Lyndon/Beef a clearly delineated work/irl identity? His excellent narration and prose? Remember when Montrose described being lonely?! Remember all those moments where Shit Got Real and you cared??? The nanofather said some dope shit! dracula and victor and sweater dracula had such a wild dynamic! Clint’s acting in Dust 2- I can’t remember the characters name right now- was ASTOUNDING, I genuinely didn’t know he had that in him and it blew me away!

I’m not referencing Balance on purpose, both because the fandom is way to hung up on it and because I want to prove that you don’t even have to look at Balance, or even Post-Balance arcs, to see this kind of good cool stuff!

GAAAAAAAGHHHH!!! I want them to have fun. But also. We’re starving out here.

[caplanbuckybarnes]

Loved You Then, Love You Now (Jason Todd)

Summary: he's always loved you.

Warnings: fluff

WC: 660ish

Read on AO3!

--

The streets of Gotham were quieter than usual. You and Jason strolled side by side, hands stuffed into your jacket pockets to fend off the evening chill. It had been years since you two were kids, running around the old neighborhood, getting into trouble, and chasing after your dreams. But even now, nothing had really changed between you—well, almost nothing.

"You remember when we used to come here?" you asked, looking up at the park where you and Jason had spent countless afternoons, swinging from the rusted playground equipment and daring each other to climb trees.

Jason smirked, glancing over at the worn metal slide. "Yeah, I used to push you off that slide all the time."

You bumped your shoulder against his playfully. "You were such a brat."

Jason chuckled, the sound deep but soft. "Still am, depending on who you ask."

The two of you walked in silence for a bit, memories floating in the air between you. It was nice, just being with him like this. No Red Hood, no danger—just Jason, the boy you’d grown up with, your best friend.

But lately, things felt... different. You’d catch him looking at you longer than usual, and sometimes, his hand would brush yours like he was about to hold it but thought better of it. The tension between you both had grown unspoken, something unsaid lingering in the air.

Finally, you decided to break the quiet. "Jay," you began, your voice soft, "I've been thinking."

"Uh oh," Jason teased, but there was a seriousness in his eyes as he looked at you. "What's on your mind?"

You stopped walking and turned to face him fully, the weight of the words you were about to say pressing down on you. "Do you ever think about... what we could have been?"

Jason’s expression shifted, a mix of surprise and something unreadable flashing in his eyes. "What do you mean?"

"I mean," you hesitated, biting your lip, "we’ve been through everything together—school, growing up, even losing you for a bit—" You swallowed the lump in your throat. "I’ve always felt like there’s something more between us, and maybe we’ve just been too scared to admit it."

Jason looked away for a moment, his jaw clenching like he was fighting something back. Then, he turned his piercing blue gaze back to you, his voice lower and gentler than you'd ever heard. "I’ve loved you since we were kids."

Your heart skipped a beat. "What?"

Jason took a step closer, his hand reaching up to gently cup your cheek. "I’ve loved you since we were kids," he repeated, his thumb brushing softly against your skin. "I just never thought I deserved you. Not with everything that’s happened. But I can’t hide it anymore."

Tears pricked at your eyes, but you blinked them back, too overwhelmed by the confession to speak. He loved you. He always had.

You let out a soft laugh, almost disbelieving. "Why didn’t you say anything sooner?"

Jason smiled, that crooked, charming grin that never failed to make your heart flutter. "I was waiting for the right moment. But I guess there's no ‘right moment’ in Gotham, huh?"

You shook your head, grinning through the tears threatening to spill. "No, there isn’t."

And then, before either of you could say anything else, Jason leaned in and pressed his lips to yours. The kiss was sweet, soft, and so full of the love that had been building for years. It felt like coming home.

When you finally pulled away, Jason rested his forehead against yours, a rare, genuine smile on his face. "Always thought I’d have to fight some villain for you," he joked softly. "Turns out, the real battle was just telling you how I feel."

You laughed, wrapping your arms around his neck and pulling him close. "Well, I’m glad you finally won, Jay."

Jason held you tighter, whispering into your ear, "I’m never letting you go."

-

tags!

EVERYTHING PERM: @nekoannie-chan @kjs-s @notyourtypicalrose @mistressofallthingsgeeky

DCEU PERM TAGS: @other-fandom-reblogs

[dilfyjilfy]

I'm sorry, but i'm just gonna need the jc stans who say shit like "Omg, just ignore the canon jc tag and the antis won't bother you" to stop talking, and for multiple reasons.

1) Uh, the whole issue is that jc antis don't actually stick to the canon jc tag. Jc antis will use the canon jc tag as well as every other general mdzs tag (including the regular jc tag), so that their posts still show up even when you're actively trying to ignore them. The only tag I visit on tumblr is the regular jc tag, and you know what I would see every time I visited it from jc antis? 'This post contains filtered tags'. There is no reason I should have to block multiple people from multiple mdzs tags every single time I visit tumblr, but the fact that I had to just shows that jc antis weren't following basic fandom etiquette, and haven't been for a very long time.

2) I guess the jc stans who say shit like 'I love jc, but he is fictional so I don't feel the need to defend him' are ignoring the fact that 99% of the jc antis (on here and twitter) are mentally ill cyberbullies who 100000% have attacked REAL PEOPLE over liking a fictional character. If you have never seen a jc anti account send insults and threats to a jc stans page, hop on their posts to insult their intelligence and more, take screenshots of jc stans work (while showing their account name) just to post it somewhere else to make fun of them, bully stans out of fandom spaces, create alternate accounts once they get blocked by too many stans just to continue wrecking havoc, blaze their anti jc stan and anti jc posts so that everyone can see it, etc...then you must have been interacting with this fandom with both of your eyes closed. When I first joined this fandom a few years ago (and even then, the only tag I ever went in was the regular jc tag), the behavior of jc antis was soo bad that creating an account was necessary, just so I could block them and protect myself. Nobody should have to take such measures against people who think that it's appropriate to torment people over liking a fictional character that they don't. These are not people who deserve to be shown grace.

3) JC antis are like roaches, in that you could spend an hour blocking them, and as soon as that hour is up, here comes another one, not respecting fandom etiquette, or the other people involved in the fandom who are not apart of their clique. So I'm not gonna disparage any stan who is fed up and thinks it's time to stop taking the high road, and I'm gonna use whatever tag I want, cause that's what the roaches do.

4) And before you say anything like "I saw jc stans doing the same thing jc antis have done", then I just think that's interesting, because in all the years I've been apart of the fandom, I've never seen a stan start an argument. Engage in one once prompted by an anti (after they've made a jc stan hate/insult post and posted it in the regular jc tag), make a rant post in response to something an anti has said or done? Yeah, but never the level of bullying that jc antis regularly engage in, so please keep your delusions and comments to yourself.

TLDR: some of y'all are in denial about how bad jc antis have been, and you need to stop with the delusions.

[blapis-blazuli]

🎁

This is why I shouldn't be allowed to have more than one special interest at a time

I can't take credit for that bottom portion of the screen, it's from this video on MyHouse.WAD, please watch it. (Warnings for unreality, blood, violence, death (including animals and children), some eye strain, and talk of childhood trauma.)

(Send me a present emoji for a random image I have)

[p1ctur3]

Can't believe it has been a full year since I starting posting AvA/M fanart

so I redrew my first piece of fanart :]

[necrotic-nephilim]

If you want to be bothered. Maybe this for dick and Bruce???

i ALWAYS want to be bothered these are always the highlight of my day tbh you're a delight for letting me just yap <3

Dick. For the canon isn't real square I am Specifically talking about the Tom Taylor Nightwing run. Usually I ignore bad runs but given this one is ongoing (though about to end THANK GOD and get replaced by Dan Watters who i have high hopes for since i adored his Sword of Azrael (2022) run but i digress) so I counted it. Especially since it's so debated if that run is bad or not, for some reason. I'm a 90s Nightwing truther. I love Dick so dearly and tbh recently I've been more enamored with him the more I read his Discowing era, I didn't used to be as big of a Dick stan as I am these days.

Bruce. Honestly where do you even start with Bruce. I want to fist fight him and also patch him up. He got me into comics and superheroes as a whole but I roll my eyes whenever he shows up in a story. He's a bastard and usually not a good father but also complex and should be dissected under a magnifying glass. I love him dearly. He's also just the worst. I think that's why I love him. I'm always a fan of unabashedly Complicated Asshole Bruce who's generally not always the best person, particularly not to the Batfamily and that being the driving force of his relationships with them, especially in shipping.

And for bonus points, Tim. Because know above all else, I'm a Tim Drake kinnie /deg. He's been my number one for a decade and I've yet to uproot him from my brain. He's literally the Worst half the time and I love him for it. And the canon isn't real refers to Tim Drake: Robin because... that sure was a comic. And that's about all I can say about it. Pre-Flashpoint Tim I miss you so dearly. I think it's fun that I want to put him in a blender and drink the juice but also want Nothing Ever to happen to him.

[seventh-district]

not even gonna tag this properly bc i don't wanna get Involved but i do have some Thoughts i need to get out into the void so here we go

(aaa quick edit: CW for mention/discussion of Boothill leaks)

[poppyseed799]

btw I don’t know if this is a thing anyone is thinking about but I’m not gonna stop drawing Jimmy as a canary. It’s a lovely bird. It’s still something that’s been really important to his series. There’s no reason to drop the canary headcanon just cuz Lizzie fell into the void.

[enhanced-operatives-division]

One day I'll draw the ieytd cast with all the flower imagery i want

[letmetellyouaboutmyfeels]

"We do want Buddie to be canon, nonny, and in my opinion we are going to get it. All this recent PR supports that, (again: in my opinion)"

Can you go into this if you don't mind, honestly I think Ryan at the premiere all but confirmed it and even now he says so much without saying anything at all. His expressions give away so much lol. He has a terrible poker face. But i would love to hear your thoughts on this if possible.

I'm gonna be honest nonny you really answered your own question there: Ryan's behavior and the fact that they're continuing to let him do press.

As I discussed previously, it's very difficult to promote a couple of characters that fandom ships without falling into queerbaiting. Because of this it would be the smart thing for ABC to keep Ryan and Oliver separate, disallow Buddie or Buddie-related questions, and so on.

Instead they are allowing Ryan to do press, Ryan to do press with Oliver, and are allowing these questions while trusting Oliver and Ryan (on a leash) to handle them. Now, part of it is probably the Barbra Streisand effect i.e. the more attempts you make to hide something the more people notice the very thing you don't want them to notice, but given the sheer AMOUNT that Buck and Eddie's relationship has been put front and center and the fact that Oliver and Ryan have been doing all these interviews together, I am hopeful and see that as a positive sign for Buddie because I trust ABC not to want to shit the bed by being accused of queerbaiting.

I think also as I've mentioned in another ask I answered a week or so ago, Ryan being in PR jail was a joke for a reason. Now, please note, EVERYONE except Oliver was pushed to the side in PR by FOX. FOX seriously pushed Oliver to do all the promo and be the "face" of the show, something nobody in the cast appreciated (including Oliver). So Ryan not doing interviews nearly as much was, in part, this issue by FOX.

However, Ryan also historically is... bad at keeping his mouth shut. He never quite spills the beans but he tends to throw his personal opinion out and hint/tease at stuff he shouldn't be hinting/teasing at. He likes to be goofy, to tease fans, to have fun. Which not only gives public relations managers migraines and anxiety, but in the case of a queer ship can land the show in trouble if Ryan's saying stuff that fans think is hinting at Buddie and then Buddie doesn't happen.

As we have all seen, the second they let Ryan open his mouth on live camera, his cute tipsy little puppy face word vomited all over the carpet. I suspect the fear of god was put into Oliver that it was his job to Make Ryan Behave.

Now, there are actors who have ignored this and enjoyed teasing about a ship anyway and the network has let them because they only cared about getting people to watch the show, they didn't care about being respectful or not. But nowadays that's not something you can get away with and most networks understand they'll get a lot of backlash that's just not worth it. AND most actors understand that even if they personally want a ship to happen, it's only going to hurt the feelings of fans if they (the actor) try to hint at it and then it doesn't happen.

It's more often that an actor will later say after the fact "yeah I would've liked it if X happened, but the writers chose to go in a different direction." Past-tense. They have a lot more freedom to speak on past things than on present storylines or possible future ones.

ABC is taking a risk in letting Ryan do all these video interviews, and to do video interviews with Oliver because the second those two are doing anything together everyone assumes it hints at Buddie. The latter, that's not really on ABC so much as on the fans, but either way, the solution is to keep 'em separate and keep Ryan locked up. Instead, they're allowing the actors to do things they know will get fans excited over Buddie, without crossing any lines into disrespect.

[randomartblogowo]

Wanted to join the whole girlblaney/Genderbend rpf trend(?) thingy so uh yeah-

(Thank you to @greengxrdens for reigniting this idea into my brain, also uh if I should redesign more drivers plz let me know, or let me know if my designs suck :3)

[muffindaydream]

way back when, sometime after I finished my first playthrough of pokemon scarlet, I brought back some of my old OCs and completely re-made them because the brainrot reached critical mass...

didn’t wanna take the student route so I made my OCs academy faculty members instead (librarians)!

Their names are Raine and Fatima. Raine is a Contest Coordinator hopeful and Fatima is a Dark-type specialist who wants to become a trainer again after previously retiring.

Raine is one of my oldest OCs ever, so I really wish I could have done her justice and made more art for her, especially by completing her full-body ref. My chronic pain won yet again..

You can read an even more detailed description of my Pokemon OCs here on a carrd I made just for them! bask in my self-indulgence.

[arkacarian]

“Lost Ones”

Disclaimer-

You should probably be familiar with the characters and stories that this involves, otherwise it won’t make much sense! This is a completely crazy idea of an interaction between two characters that couldn’t possibly meet, and one of them has never made a real appearance in their game, and the other is a fan character from an AU! This is absolutely not supposed to be canon in either direction, but I noticed the similarities between them, and decided to write something!

You should also probably know the story of Deltarune and some of the deeper lore, specifically about December Holiday! You should also know the Kirby AU ‘Apologies’ by @desultory-novice and (one of) its main character(s), Noir!

Also, this is not how I normally write! This is written like it’s happening in real time, and I usually write everything like it’s happened in the past, as most writers do. This is supposed to be more like the script for a comic, hence why some things are described in detail.

Anyway, enjoy the story!

A gentle breeze rustles the black, empty landscape from somewhere. Over a slow moving white river, two teenaged figures sit on the edge of black plain nothingness, looking down at it. One is a human, dressed plainly, his dark long shirt and long pants and black hair blending in to the land around him, and his long, fluttering orange and yellow scarf is the only thing defining him. His purple eyes are fixed on the moving water. To his left, a monster sits. She looks like a reindeer, with one of her dark brown antlers snapped off halfway on the right. A red baseball cap sits on her long black hair, and her grayish brown fur waves slightly in the breeze. She wears a white tank top with a green hoodie tied around her waist, and red shorts. Her black hooves are almost indistinguishable from the black cliff side over the river. Her green eyes wander over the landscape. Her long red and white striped scarf waves in the soft breeze. Beside her, an orange guitar sits, the strings clearly untuned. Behind both of them, crossed over, are a cracked wooden baseball bat, and a corroded golden sword.

She turns to the boy beside her, grabbing a nearly unnoticeable stone off of the dark ground, and tosses it into the river.

“Do you think anyone is still looking for you?” she asks. The boy laughs drily, and picks up a stone of his own, turning it over in his hands before tossing it in. It skips once, and sinks beneath the white waters.

“I hope not,” he replies. “It’s not like they’ll even find me. I’m gone.” The girl looks upset with him, and tugs on her hat.

“You’re not wholly gone,” she tells him. “If you’re here, you’re still somewhere. It’s not like you’ve died.” The boy sighs.

“But I did. I died twice,” he says, dejected. She shakes her head, looking at him thoughtfully.

“The first time. Think about it,” she urges. “Did you really? What really happened? How could you be here if you died? I didn’t. I just went missing. I’m just lost. And so are you.” The boy thinks on this. Everything goes quiet for a moment, until he speaks again.

“I guess you’re right,” he says. “I guess I’m just lost.” She nods, but he hesitates. “Still, nobody can find me.”

“Someone will. Someone’s looking,” she says. He shakes his head.

“There’s only one person who could,” he replies. “And I doubt she is.” The girl looks at him, her expression determined, and he recoils slightly.

“If she’s anything like mine, she won’t stop,” she tells him, her voice full of determination. “She’s going to find you.” He taps the ground, and looks back. The corroded sword gleams dangerously, even without light shining on it.

“And bring me back how?” he asks, sorrowful. He narrows her eyes at him.

“Hopes,” she says. “Dreams. Wishes.” He laughs, but falters. He looks back at the river, his expression distant and detached.

“Wishes…” he mutters to himself. “There was… a letter. Suggesting that anyone could… I could… wish for something. Using… some strange artifact. But that’s nonsense. Nothing like that could be real. The ability to grant any wish? That’s absurd.” She strums the strings on her guitar, and he looks over at her. She’s staring down the guitar, and quickly looks over at him.

“It might sound crazy,” she says, “but there could be something out there that could bring you back. Someone could reach through life and death and find the in between where all the lost ones go.” He taps his hands together.

“Is that where we are?” he asks. “What we are?” She nods.

“We’re somewhere in between,” she confirms. “And we’re certainly both lost.” He looks down at the river. It slows even more, revealing black water beneath the white froth. He sees his reflection, grayed and hollow, and shivers, despite the warm air.

“How long have you been here?” he asks. She shrugs, and looks over into the water herself. She appears gray as well, but doesn’t flinch at it, instead picking up a rock and dropping it, disrupting the reflections, and causing them to appear normal in the waves.

“I don’t even know how long at this point,” she admits. “Long enough that the town has stopped searching. That my mom has stopped searching.” She looks over at his reflection. “But I know that my sister hasn’t. I’m sure yours hasn’t either.” He rolls his eyes, and she glares at him.

“She’s got people who care for her now,” he says. “She doesn’t even need me.” The girl sighs, shaking her head.

“Trust me, she does,” she tells him. “You’re her older brother. You two are closer than she’ll ever be with anyone else. Especially considering some of the things you’ve told me.” He clenches his fists, tears welling up in his eyes.

“She got her wish already!” he yells. “I saw it, okay?! She has a new family, she’s happy, she doesn’t even need me!” He stands up and moves down the ledge of darkness, sitting down a good distance away from her. She sighs, and picks up her guitar. She looks down into the water again, and takes a deep breath. She begins to play her guitar.

She plays a song she only heard seeping through the darkness. She doesn’t know where it came from, but the melody was simple, and lyrics were powerful. She smiles faintly, despite everything, and strums the song. She quietly starts singing along to the melody, the faint wind carrying her voice across the void.

“When the light is running low, and the shadows start to grow, and the places that you know, seem like fantasy… There’s a light inside your soul, that’s still shining in the cold, with the truth, the promise in our hearts… Don’t forget, I’m with you in the dark.”

He looks up, wiping tears from his eyes. He’s shaking, and looks over at her. She’s smiling as she sets the guitar down, and he looks away, into the endless void.

“With you in the dark,” he says to himself. He looks at the darkness around him, only highlighted by white. He closes his eyes, and gasps, looking at her. She’s looking down the river, skipping stones into it.

“Cold,” he mumbles. “Light still shining in the cold… shadows… in the dark…” He shakes, and stands up, leaning over the edge of the small cliff and stares down into the water. His gray reflection stares back with empty eyes. He glares down at it, and turns away. He looks to the broken weapons. They shine with a menacing aura against the darkness. The sword, melted and covered with holes, faintly pulses with a sickly golden light. He marches up to it, and reaches for it. The blacked areas around the holes seem to swirl, and he brings his hand back, before reaching again.

She looks over her shoulder, her eyes widening. She jumps up and grabs him by the wrist, pulling his hand away and standing him upright.

“What are you doing?!” she screams, her voice concerned. He backs away slightly, his eyes wide with shock. He looks around, and then down at his hand.

“I was… I was…” he trails off. He shakes his head. “What… was I doing?” She shakes her head, and pulls him away.

“I don’t know, but it wasn’t good,” she says. “Touching those… seems like a bad idea.” He looks at her, and down at the cracked bat. It glows with a barely visible silver light.

“Have you ever tried?” he asks, his tone genuine and curious. She looks disappointed, and stares down at the bat.

“Once,” she says quietly. “I picked it up. I thought if I could find a way to break through the dark, I’d be back home. When I touched it, I… remembered the feeling of being grabbed away. Falling into the shadows. Being taken by that presence, everything getting dark, darker, yet darker…” She looks away. “I know it would be much worse if you picked that up. And I bet it’s for the same reason. Cut your way out of the dark.” He looks upset, and tears roll down his face.

“I don’t… want to… remember any of that,” he admits. “It was awful enough once.” They stand in silence, the breeze fading out. They stare at the broken weapons.

“Let’s get going,” she says. He stares into the sword. On the gold, through the empty space, he sees the reflection of a terrible monster, and looks down at himself. He nods, his movements small and reserved.

The two walk away from the river and the damaged weapons, back into the darkness where they had come from. They seem to walk into the shadows endlessly, the dark stretching on and on, like it never ends.

Distantly, voices are heard as they disappear through the darkness. The voices seem to come from the bottom of the river, as if reflected from another world.

“I know she’s alive,” one says, full of passion.

“He’s out there,” another says, full of hope.

“I’ll find you,” they say in unison, determined.

Alright, there we go! Wrote something. Now, here’s some explanation stuff…

I was thinking about how similar Adeleine and Noelle were, when I realized they both have technically non-existent older siblings. Then I started thinking about those two, and came up with a whole spiraling idea, which is this!

Also, December’s nickname is Dess, which is very funny in this context. Also another funny naming thing is that my headcanon last name for Adeleine is “LeFontaine”, which translates to “The Fountain”. So that means Noir would technically be “The Dark Fountain”, so… guess Kris is sealing him away

“What’s that about the wishes?” During the Shiver Star Siblings takeover weekend, I asked what each of them would wish for if they had one single wish! Adeleine’s was to have a real summer again, which, in another ask, she was revealed to have gotten with the beach cutscene in Kirby 64. December doesn’t know that though, so her suggestion was completely harmless in intent

“Why is your design for December gray?” Reindeer are more commonly gray than they are brown, and I want her to stand out from most other designs

Anyway yeah uh I hope you enjoyed reading this crazy thing

[wr0ngwarp]

um. uh. hi every body. something evil and malevolent happened in my brain this month.

this is. um. a Jet Set Radio/Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Death joke AU, spawned out of a in-joke that started in a pokepasta discord. my apologies to both the pokepasta and jsr fandoms

the entire basis is the idea that Corn in Future retconned og JSR Beat as leader/founder of the GGs (is beat being leader in the og even CANON?) so Corn and Beat are the Myras. no it's not a joke funny enough to justify how many hours i sunk into drawing these. no attempt was made to change the setting, assign most of the other cast, or otherwise make this au hold up to ANY amount of scrutiny. if i tried to make this actually work somehow then i'd REALLY end up too far gone. also i keep calling myrtle!beat "Meat".

MEANWHILE, IN A BETTER UNIVERSE:,

[subway-boss-jericho]

Guys this may come as a surprise but as it turns out i just might need ADHD medication. Like. Badly. shocker, i know

[rescuefield-arch1]

the biphobia in this fandom is wild if you ask me