#I feel this piece is a little darker if you get the context and know what fantasia is

[gammawilson]

Long nights and difficult decisions.

Something that started as a vent sketch and then tumbled into a full illustration.

[blacknailsandheartbreak]

Part 2 to how the group cannot fathom how you and Zuko are so close with your angel of a self and Zuko being... well, Zuko

AN: OKAY! Look at me go, coming out with a part two. I think I might do a part two to some previous pieces of mine but we will see.

SO this is a part two, so you can read the first one here, it will give some context clues into this second part of the story (but can probably be read solo) : Part 1

Any who, ~2300 word count, enjoy :)

KIDDIE FREE ZONE

Good Friends

That's all you guys were. Good Friends. Zuko kept telling himself he had no reason to be so bothered by that statement, but he was. He didn't want to be just good friends, but you had given a better answer then he would have in your position. But now the Gaang has been flying for the past couple days and has given him lots of time for thinking. Especially having you for the majority of the time sitting with him leaning against his arm, grazing legs, as you were not shy to the general touch. You always seemed to start up the conversations with him, your way of speech held him in interest, but as already known, he never said much back, but always was happy to listen.

But ever since that last night of camp a few days ago he cannot let the thought go. Good Friends. He knew that the talks you two have, the moments you both cherish, and the secrets you two shared was enough of a connection to be more than just good friends, or at least in his mind it was. You two were absolutely glued to the hip, and seemed to be together, just without the title. Zuko was fine with no title, he would rather the group didn't know but for you two to have that clarity is what he was craving. He knew there were other things that were more important at the moment but it couldn't calm down in his mind. He had to know, he wanted to be together. Even if that became another secret you both shared he would gladly add it to the pile.

As the afternoon began to fall fast on the fourth day of travel, the Gaang was running low on rations and decided to hit the next market in the upcoming town. Upon arrival, Aang and Sokka grabbed Zuko to tackle their list as Katara and Toph grabbed you to get the remaining items. Zuko was hoping to buddy up with you but it would have to wait. As the group divided and conquered, Sokka was getting very nosy with Zuko about a certain someone. Zuko ignored all of his questions or what felt like more accusations. Meanwhile the girls had finished with their tasks and Toph had somehow gotten into a gambling match with the remaining money they had and won every time. You stood back leaning against a nearby wall smiling, not wanting anything to do with the situation but you weren't going to interfere either. You feel a brush against your shoulder and look up to see Zuko, you smile and greet Aang and Sokka. You ask how their huntings went and they all agreed it had gone well. Zuko looked at you and asked if Toph and Katara were seriously gambling the little money they had left. You laughed and were about to answer but before you could Toph came over with a large bag and tossed it at Zuko. He caught it effortlessly, and it jingled heavily. All of the boys eyes widened, and Toph said "We will be sleeping well tonight thanks to yours truly."

The Gaang walked around the town as the night grew darker and the many street lamps glowed near and far, Zuko's mind still buzzing with the taunting thought of good friends. Maybe he was over thinking it and there was already an unspoken agreement you two were together? Or was he being weird and obsessive? Or maybe you had a completely different view on all of it? Or maybe-

His thoughts were cut off by you linking your arm through his and pointing out the beautiful lights, from the shops, to concessions, to the fountains, to the groups of lively people. He looked down at you and for the first time, he wasn't really listening to you. He just looked at you, looked at your smile as if you knew this moment was made just for you. He would forever be in awe at how effortlessly you spoke as if you had already rehearsed it one hundred times. He feels your genuine happiness and spirit in your eyes as you look up at him and he wonders how you hold such grace through everything. All his thoughts left his mind as he looked at you and thought, yeah, that is my girl.

Once the Gaang decided to call it a night, you all looked for an Inn to stay at for the night. There was not much of an option in the small town, so you all entered the closest place and the lady at the front desk greeted you all with a warm smile. Aang went to talk with the lady and brought back a handful of keys. Everyone was confused as he handed everyone their own key and explained that they only had single rooms left for the night. Nobody really complained as everyone seemed they could use some time to themselves. Everyone shuffled into their rooms with quick goodnights, but before Zuko walked through his door, he looked over his shoulder at your direction, and there you were. Walking into your room and almost as if you felt his eyes you looked over your shoulder and stopped for a moment, you smiled at Zuko and gave a small wave of goodnight before stepping into your room and closing the door. Zuko's eyes stayed on your room for a moment longer, before a small tap on his shoulder made him spin around. It was Katara. Zuko was lost for words. Katara smiled and whispered "I won't tell, not that is isn't already so obvious, but you should really talk to her." Before Zuko could respond to her she waved goodnight and walked into her room. He stood in the hallway like a man who was shot and was too afraid to move. He looked back at your door, he felt the longing in every part of his being to just go and knock on your door and say everything he has been thinking just like you do. How you so effortlessly say exactly what you're thinking, that is what he wanted to do. He wanted to tell you what it meant to him to have someone like you become so close to someone like him. He wanted to tell you that the secrets you both shared with each other meant the world to him and he would take them to his very grave if you wished so. He wanted to tell you that every time you smiled it felt like it was for him and him only. But he didn't. He walked back into his room and shut the door.

Zuko got ready for bed and laid down for a few minutes, he tossed and turned and his chest felt so heavy. He let out a sigh as he laid on his back and placed a hand on his chest with the other one behind his head. He stared up at the ceiling. Zuko let out a small grunt of frustration when he got up, deciding to go get some water. He grabbed the bucket from the small table in the room and walked towards the door. Zuko grabbed the bridge of his nose in exasperation and pulled his hand down his face, he went and opened the door and to his complete shock, there you stood. You looked almost as surprised as he did. You both stood in silence for a moment, and for the first time, Zuko spoke first. He asked if you were alright, because the last thing he expected was for you to be standing at his door in the middle of the night. You replied softly, saying you were ok, just had a lot on your mind. You noticed Zuko holding the bucket for water and offered to go with him to fetch some, he agreed. This time you both walked in silence to retrieve the water and walked in silence back to the rooms. You both came to stand outside Zuko's room and he asked if you were sure you were ok, and you replied that you were, probably just over tired. Zuko looked at you and asked you if you wanted to come into his room. You smiled softly and insisted you didn't want to intrude. He didn't respond and just motioned you inside, you accepted and walked in, Zuko shut the door behind you.

Zuko grabbed the ladle and poured you some water while you sat on the bed, he handed you the cup. You smiled and thanked him as you grabbed the cup and took a sip. Zuko sits next to you and rests his elbows on his thighs and looks down between his knees to the floor, he's not sure how he wants to go about tonight. He has no idea where to start, no idea how to talk or truly express his thoughts. He worries about sounding like a bumbling fool compared to your angelic soft spoken way of words. But before he could think further, the bed shifted and you were now directly beside Zuko with your head leaning on his shoulder. He looked up and he knew he wanted this, he wanted to be the one to call you his. He wanted to be by your side every step of the way and watch you regain the pride of being a fire bender. He wanted to have you by his side helping him with the path of change after the comet, and he didn't want to do it as good friends, he wanted to do it together. Zuko took in a deep breath, and asked "Do you really think we are just good friends?" and without a breath missed you replied "I knew your ears were on fire that night." you sat up with that comment, Zuko smirked and chuckled, you two were very close now, mere inches from each other's faces. "But no..." you replied, "I don't think we are just good friends, do you?" Zuko looked into your eyes, they seemed to shimmer the most beautiful shade of amber even with the liminal lighting in the room. "I don't think so either." He replied. Zuko saw your eyes dart to his lips and back to his eyes but the second your gaze connected back with his, he was already pulling you into a kiss. He put his hand just under your ear, along your jaw, pulling you in gently, as if giving you an option to back out. But you didn't, you leaned in and placed your hand on his arm and you kissed deep. Zuko lavished in this moment and if there was any way he could pull you in even closer he would. You pulled away first and looked at Zuko, he looked at you with so many emotions, "We are together." he stated. You smiled so wide and nodded, for the first time you were speechless and practically tackled Zuko to the bed, kissing him so deeply while he gladly reciprocated with the same action. You were straddling Zuko as he effortlessly flipped you over on the bed so he was now on top, you placed both your hands on his jaw and leaned up to give him a small kiss and then laid back down. "Would you stay with me tonight?" Zuko asked, you smiled, "Of course I will, I thought you'd never ask." Zuko rolls his eyes and leans down for a kiss but you halt his actions by asking, "What about the others, they will see me leaving your-" Zuko cuts you off with a soft kiss and after responds "I don't care, they can make their own assumptions." You smile so happily and nod your head, "But, they are going to ask questions-" you started but again Zuko cut you off before you can overthink, "So answer them however you want to, however you feel is right." He leans down and kisses you so romantically, and moves to your cheek, and down to your jaw, and making his way to your neck, you let out the smallest gasp. You could feel tingles all throughout your body, from your fingertips to your toes. This was the moment you were both waiting for, Zuko knew this is what he wanted, he wanted you now, tomorrow, the day after that, the months that follow and the years to come. You were his as much he was yours. He gave himself to you that night as you gave yourself to him. Both vulnerable to one another, savouring each movement, each touch, every breath you both shared. The night was exactly what you both wanted, it was what you both needed.

The next morning Zuko woke up with you laying on his chest and his arms wrapped around you. Both of you spent the morning getting ready and just smiling at each other, no lingering feeling or questions of what ifs. You could both just be together.

It was time to check out and continue the journey, so you both gathered all your belongings and walked to the door. You both stopped and you looked at Zuko, "They are going to ask." you stated, and Zuko looked right back at you, "Then answer." he replied. He opened the door and the Gaang was waiting in the hall. Katara was the first to see you both exit and she tried to hide her smile with a polite hand, the others turned to look and were caught a blank. Zuko shut the door with you standing by his side. You greeted everyone and you both walked towards the group, "What are you all staring at, let's head out." Zuko said so nonchalantly, everyone stood in silence for a second longer and proceeded on like nothing happened.

[tobi-smp]

it is kinda funny how with darksbi, the subsection of the fandom that is into/produces some of the darkest work. Has actually been the most (relatively) chill. Irony or something!

@angelartist asked: tobi-smp number one dark sbi shooter fr!!!

[End Transcription]

no because that's So So True ! I really do think a big part of it is that intentionally making dark content requires a level of self awareness about it.

that doesn't inherently mean the Execution of any individual work will stick the landing, but it's like !

I love Regular sbi content, but if you search for it outside of the context of dark sbi you Will run into depictions of the rankest most unhealthy dynamics out there, depicted with seemingly No awareness that it's not, in fact, Fluffy And Cute.

people who are Aware that they're making dark content A: are actively thinking about how they could impact other people, and tend to have more robust tagging For those darker elements (which often Are still present in other parts of the fandom). and B: are Aware that they're twisting the characters and depicting them in unhealthy ways

people tend to want to Win fandom in mcyt spaces, tearing each other to pieces to Prove that their little dolly is Objectively Morally Correct. twisting other characters into Caricatures to get there, sometimes when it's not even Necessary to make the points they want to.

and with sbi in Particular it's Especially dicey because of how much drama the characters get up to in the series proper.

if you want, for example, techno and tommy to be besties despite the Everything that happened a lot of classic flavor fic will fall into two tropes

1: picking a sacrificial lamb to be the Real Reason their relationship exploded, usually wilbur or tubbo (though I've seen phil sprinkled in there too). you just make it Somebody Else's fault and turn them into the devil to be Defeated

2: you just have the one or more of the characters lose their fundamental beliefs and become an empty vessel in exchange for love and protection. but like, This Is Fluff, And It's Good Because The Person Thinking For Them Is Morally Correct And Right.

and the thing About dark sbi as a Baseline is that there's always an Awareness that they're making the characters Dark On Purpose. that's the very Premise. the twisting of the characters or the setting is never done Unintentionally, it never Expects you to shove the implications underneath the rug and not think about them.

mind, there's plenty of Extraordinarily Excellent sbi fic that Isn't dark sbi, and I've seen more than my fair share of dark sbi that fumbles the bag spectacularly. but the fact is, the source material Does contain Many dark elements, elements that can be difficult to fully grasp at All let alone depict with grace or elegance.

so it's just ! much easier to navigate a space where everyone is already Aware of what they're depicting and what to expect From it. it's being in on the joke going in, knowing that if characters feel off It's On Purpose. nobody's being twisted to demonize their characters or to victim blame or to Do An Ableism, it's just for fun.

and I think that Also significantly cuts down on that feeling of competitiveness within the space. everyone's borrowing from and inspiring each other no matter which of the sbi they lean more towards.

it's in a word, Nice

(obligatory link to my breakdown on dark sbi and dark fiction in general and why it appeals to people here [Link])

[fernsnailz]

i love reading your sonic loreposts i was wondering if you could please explain archie charmy to me, i have heard stuff and i am so curious but i am not a comics in general kinda person. the lsd poisoned friend or the brain damage literally just anything that happens to him your pick

hi anon i’m just going to go over everything that happens to archie charmy pre-reboot so i hopefully never have to talk about it after this. i'm sorry i'm so so sorry

Archie Charmy is subject to a lot of controversy and discussion because despite his limited role in the comics, he goes through some of the most batshit insane character and plot beats in the whole series (and that you’ve already mentioned). I’ll be skimming over some of the more boring parts, but the wild stuff I'll go pretty in-depth with.

I’ll also be attempting to explain WHY all of this happens to Charmy Bee of all characters, taking into account the context of the story, what was happening behind the scenes in the writer’s room, and even comic trends in general. I want to try and keep away from the very reactionary “wow archie sonic is sooooo crazy” discussion that happens around this stuff and hopefully provide a little more useful analysis. i talk about comic PSAs for a while so be warned

There are some very, very important content warnings that are coming with Archie Charmy lore: warning for non-consensual drug use and overdose (specifically LSD), child death, genocide, implied ableism, memory loss, implied age regression, breif homophobia mention (not related to charmy)

this is going to be a very long one. charmy lore under the cut

INTRODUCTION - CHAOTIX

Charmy Bee’s first appearance in Archie Sonic is in the Knuckles’ Chaotix special, which adapts the first game he appeared in. This issue introduces the entire Chaotix cast (six new characters) in a mere four pages, so Charmy doesn’t make much of an impression other than “bee who likes to explore and adventure.” He lacks that annoying little brother personality that he has in most Sonic media, and he’ll often speak with language that feels extremely out of character for the Charmy that most people know.

This is because this version of Charmy is based off of his character description from the Knuckles’ Chaotix game manual. Despite the series being based off of the video game franchise, the Archie Sonic writers were often given very little information about upcoming game releases from SEGA when they were asked to adapt them into the comics. Often they had to go digging for the canonical materials themselves - for example, the only way they were able to adapt Sonic Adventure into the comics is because Patrick Spaziante (one of the comic’s artists) had a Japanese version of the game that he bought himself. They had no English translation and zero guidance from SEGA, so they had to attempt to piece the story together without SEGA's help. This was the case with most of the game adaptations, and it was honestly a miracle that they had access to the manual for Knuckles’ Chaotix at all.

There’s just one problem: the manual for Knuckles’ Chaotix describes a version of Charmy that is very, very different from the one we know of today. It describes a 16-year old that is… sophisticated?

(sorry for the low quality, there aren't many images of the manual. also fun fact, there was no age for Charmy listed in the original Japanese manual)

Charmy's differing age and personality will lead to many, many problems, as the writers decided to give the “sophisticated” Charmy darker stories. This brings us to the Knuckles the Echidna mini-series.

The Knuckles mini-series is. Bad. Charmy Bee is certainly there for the first few issues (as are most of the Chaotix), but he doesn’t get much focus until issue 13.

I don’t know how to put this in a way that doesn’t sound extremely blunt: This is the issue where Charmy’s best friend overdoses on LSD and dies.

PART 1 - MELLO

Charmy's best friend is named Mello Bee. This is his first and last appearance in the series.

Mello started feeling strange on their return trip from Happyland, a sketchy theme park that recently reopened under new management. Charmy isn't sure why Mello died, but Constable Reminton (essentially the sheriff of Echidnopolis) reveals that there have been a series of cases similar to Mello's - cases where people were suffering from… Lemon Sundrop Dandelion poisoning.

The Chaotix go to Happyland to see if they can find the source of the poisoning, but what they don't know is that it's actually laced into the food. The manager of Happyland, Renfield T. Rodent, has been lacing the park's chili dogs with LSD in hopes of making everyone addicted to them. However, the amount of LSD he's been putting into the food is too much for most people to handle. This is probably the most insane paragraph I've had to write for one of these loreposts

Unknown to the Chaotix, they all start eating the chili dogs during their investigation (except for Julie-Su and Knuckles, who is absent) and start tripping balls.

Continuing the story into issue 14, Charmy’s LSD trip reveals that he’s actually the prince of a bee colony and has been running away from his responsibilities as a member of the royal family.

Charmy is knocked out for the rest of this arc as he goes through his trip - they have to operate on him and some other stuff happens I guess (Julie-Su gets thrown off of a roof, Knuckles fights some guys in a desert, Vector is a misogynist, stuff like that). At the end of issue 15, Charmy learns from his trip and returns to his family, temporarily leaving the Chaotix to return to his royal duties. Mello's family and his all mourn Mello's death and bury him back at their home.

So. What was the fucking point of all that

In the long-term, Charmy returning home to his family essentially writes him out of the story for a while. Knuckles the Echidna issue 15 released in 1998, and Charmy doesn't really return until 2001. While I'm not entirely sure what the reason for this was, there were so many members of the Chaotix that I honestly think this was an okay decision.

However, there's one very important question left to answer: Why was LSD and a drug overdose included in this arc at all?

When I first read this arc, I had a burning thought that I couldn't get out of my mind:

PART 1.5 - wait is this an anti-drug PSA?

(if you want to avoid me talking in-depth about the abilities of LSD and my ramble about comic PSAs for a while, you can skip to PART 2 where I continue the Charmy lore)

Comic PSAs (Public Service Announcements) and propaganda are a fundamental part of the medium’s history, whether it be to aid their country’s war efforts, give health information to their readers, or warn kids about the dangers of drug abuse. While a comic being used as a PSA isn’t inherently a bad thing, it’s usually VERY obvious. One of the most interesting ones I've found is a PSA that features Green Lantern debunking misinformation about the AIDS crisis. The image quality isn’t great, but the comic doesn’t hold back when talking about how the AIDS crisis is spreading homophobic ideology - if you read this, you know it’s a PSA and you know what message it’s trying to send. Sometimes propaganda can be subtle, but PSAs are usually loud.

(cw: homophobia)

This is why anti-drug PSAs are so common and so remembered - they’re over the top, they’re blunt (lol), and they have a very specific message they’re trying to send. For example, there’s an issue of New Teen Titans from 1983 that introduce a character called the Protector to teach kids about drug awareness where the issue literally starts with the Teen Titans in an auditorium telling kids about a dangerous drug. This issue also includes some bad trip imagery, and it’s uh… honestly i kinda love this

Anti-drug PSAs usually don’t work for this very reason - showing how a drug affects fictional characters can increase interest in the substance, and a single superhero telling someone to stop smoking is not going to break someone’s addiction.

So. Is Knuckles the Echidna issues 13-15 an anti-drug PSA?

Probably not, but if it is it’s doing a fucking terrible job of it

Some of the main factors of a PSA are the information it's presenting, the opinion it wants the consumer to develop, and the bluntness of its presentation. While this part of the Knuckles series is certainly over the top, the rest of these factors are really muddy. First, anti-drug PSAs usually don’t create a fake drug to replace the one they’re advising against. An anti-weed campaign will just tell you that weed is bad because that’s the opinion it wants you to walk away with. So when Knuckles issue 13 introduces a substance called “Lemon Sundrop Dandelion” and never actually refers to it as LSD, it’s less of a message about “drug bad” and more just a sly nudge and wink that goes “hey you see that? yeah, that’s drug.”

Then there’s the problem that there isn’t really much of a lesson to be had from these issues regarding drug use. Yes, Mello dies horrifically of an overdose, but most of the cast is able to walk off the trip like it’s nothing. Charmy needs to be operated on, but the doctors literally treat it like it’s fucking NOTHING

he's literally talking about how he told a patient that couldn't afford surgery to go to the butcher like HUH?????

In fact, Charmy’s trip seems to help him in the long run - he’s forced to face his past, and eventually returns to his family because of the literal guilt trip he has. It’s a fundamental part of his character arc.

This isn’t to say that I wish these issues were explicitly drug PSAs - I bring all of this up because these issues were released in 1998, in an era where the anti-drug movement was arguably at its peak. The people working on these comics would KNOW its content is similar to and even promotes the anti-drug movement. While I don't consider these issues to be an anti-drug PSA, they can definitely serve as anti-drug propaganda.

With this in mind, considering Knuckles the Echidna as a form of propaganda really opens up how utterly terrible these issues are. These comics can be genuinely harmful pieces of anti-drug propaganda because the way they use LSD to advance they plot is untrue to how the drug actually works and relies entirely on fear mongering. While LSD can be laced into other substances like drinks, it probably wouldn't last long in cooked meat - LSD usually degrades at higher temperatures, and telling comic readers that they need to be afraid of LSD-laced fair food is fucking stupid and likely based on false urban legends. Not only that, but Renfield T. Rodent’s plot to addict everyone to his LSD chili dogs is also fucking stupid because LSD is not considered an addictive substance. It can be extremely dangerous at high or multiple doses, but LSD does not normally lead to compulsive use.

I don’t talk about all of this to be a cinemasins guy or to nitpick a comic from 1998, and I also don't want to imply that PSAs can't spread lies and misinformation (anti-drug PSAs famously over-exaggerate things). I bring all of this up to show an ineffective and possibly dangerous use of something that could be considered anti-drug propaganda. Spreading blatantly untrue information and placing false fears into a reader’s mind is truly incompetent on the writer’s behalf, especially considering that this comic was targeted at kids. And that’s not even mentioning that there’s barely any moral to all of this. There’s no lesson and they never talk about this again.

Do I think this was all intentional on the behalf of the writers? I have no idea. I have no goddamn idea what they were thinking with this one, and I honestly don't think much thought was put into this arc at all. Maybe this was a strange attempt to make a Sonic-themed anti-drug PSA, maybe they were just inspired by the drug PSAs of their time when writing this, or maybe they just did not care. I don't know man. Anti-drug propaganda is stupid and it doesn't work and these comics drive me crazy

alright enough of that. let's talk about genocide

PART 2 - SAFFRON

don’t worry this part will be shorter (cheering and clapping)

Like I mentioned a while back, Charmy is essentially written out of the story for a while after the Mello incident. While living in the Golden Hive Colony, he reunites with another friend, Saffron Bee. Saffron becomes Charmy’s girlfriend, and they’re together for basically the rest of the comic. Usually if Charmy shows up, Saffron is there too.

(image of Charmy and Saffron I stole from... the Shipping Wiki??)

They eventually return to help Chaos Knuckles, a green version of Knuckles who is uh. Kinda going through it. Not much important Charmy lore needs to be discussed here, but some of his actions do eventually lead to him creating a genocidal villain that will cause many problems later. Don’t worry about it.

Things are quiet for a while for Charmy and Saffron. That is, until Eggman attacks their colony and wipes out most of its population.

Charmy and Saffron are the only survivors we see from the Golden Hive Colony. Eggman transforms the colony into a new base and traps its residents in an invention of his called the Egg Grapes - basically, he puts Mobians in these little pods that sap all of their life force, powering his empire. Most people do not survive the Egg Grapes.

The two bees return to join the Chaotix for a little while, and the rest of the Chaotix confirm that the Golden Hive Colony and its residents are truly gone. Espio destroys what’s left of the colony so Eggman can’t use it as a base, and no other survivors from the colony are found.

So. yeah what the fuck

Archie Sonic is known to have a LOT of characters - I’ve talked about the sheer number of echidnas the series has before, but there are a lot of characters that have massive extended families. The arc where Mello died introduced like eight new bee characters, but most of them were background characters that didn’t need to stick around.

Most people cite writer Ian Flynn’s debut to the series as when a lot of these unneeded/background characters were written out or killed off, and I agree since one of his objectives as a writer was to tighten up the story. However, the trend of “Archie background characters getting killed off or written out” started a little bit before he joined the team. There’s the destruction of the Golden Hive, and many echidnas in this arc suffer from the horrors of war - a number die off after Charmy and Saffron rejoin the Chaotix. yeah it's kinda fucked up

This is the second major arc where Charmy has lost people close to him - first Mello, and now his entire family and kingdom. The same goes for Saffron - they only have each other left. I mean the Chaotix are also there but still, trauma is trauma

How could it get any worse?

PART 3 - CHARMY

Remember how Archie Charmy is based off of the Knuckles’ Chaotix manual? The one that said he was sophisticated and 16?

This is about to cause a few problems.

At this point, it’s around 2007. The Knuckles’ Chaotix manual is terribly outdated, and most versions of Charmy within canon are 6 year-old kids. Charmy is known to be the annoying comedic relief, which is the exact opposite from how he’s portrayed in Archie Sonic.

So when SEGA asked writer Ian Flynn to change Archie Sonic to be like his video game counterpart, the solution was uh. well. it could have been handled better

Like how he obliterated the Golden Hive Colony, Eggman’s next target to destroy is Knothole, the city where Sonic and the Freedom Fighters all live. It’s a surprise to all of the residents, and he manages to teleport most of the population into his Egg Grapes. Before Sonic can save them, Eggman singles out Charmy to be used as an example of how the Egg Grapes work.

Sonic and friends manage to get Charmy out, but not before the damage is already done. In the limited amount of time the Grape sapped his life force, Charmy’s memory was partially wiped and personality changed forever. After this, Charmy has very little memory of the Golden Hive Colony at all, only seeming to remember Saffron and his friends. His becomes much more child-like, similar to his game counterpart.

the fucking sigh i just sighed

For clarification, Charmy is still 16. The only thing that was altered was his mind, with the intention to make his personality more in-line with his goofy video game counterpart. The problem is that giving a character brain damage to turn them into a comedic relief character is fucked up and unintentionally ableist.

This is something that writer Ian Flynn identified pretty early and openly regrets (I’m not sure what the source of that statement is, I’m assuming an episode of Bumblekast but I’m don’t know which one. I’ll edit this if I find it). Because of this, he mostly kept Charmy out of any comedic situations for the rest of the series. Charmy has a very limited role in the series after this until the reboot, only appearing sporadically and in one Sonic Universe arc. When he does show up, his childish demeanor is usually met with the patience of the Chaotix and their sad expressions.

Although the intention was to make Archie Charmy more like his game counterpart, in practice I honestly think this action only made Archie Charmy even MORE distant from his game character. From the Egg Grape incident to the reboot, Archie Charmy’s trauma never leaves my mind and leaves me feeling strangely hollow.

CONCLUSION - WHAT THE FUCK

I find the Archie Sonic series unfathomably fascinating. While I love the series, I can’t deny that most of the events I went over are poorly handled by the writing team and leave the series with such a strange legacy. With Archie Sonic, it’s often incredibly easy to see the biases of the writers and how they affect the characters and stories, leading to some genuinely fucked up moments that could have easily been avoided in my opinion.

Archie Charmy was really one of the characters that got it the worst, but it's honestly so strange that all of this happened to him specifically. The fact that all of this shit happens to a silly little bee is so, so Archie Sonic to me. Charmy is such a simple character to understand - he's a funny kid who's kinda annoying and hard to handle. So when I look back and see the 3,000+ words I just wrote about Archie Charmy... fucking hell why did i do that

In conclusion. I am sorry and do not become a comics person

thanks for reading if you got this far. as always let me know if i need to tag any other content warnings or if there was anything i got wrong! alright good night tristate area

[ms-scarletwings]

A Messy, Sedulous Necropsy of Zib Membrane

That’s what we call him right? Not Invader Zib? Hell if I know, we’ll let the tags decide.

Whatever he is christened by his author, enemies, or fans, this titular villain of the Zimvoid is such a mind blaster to me. I wish we had more time with him within the comics. I wish he had been a concept explored in the show. I wish he had a movie. I am having fun with a little hyperbole here, but I truly do find him just as interesting and potentially pivotal of an antagonist as Tak was, if not even more.

Both, of course, were so badly underutilized for sake of the series status quo. To that, Zib was a much bigger threat than Tak, and especially to that of the comics’ own. He potentially changes everything, and somehow absolutely nothing by the end. The TV show always had a more overt tone of cruelty and the macabre floating about its themes. These print issues? I don’t dislike them. It’s still recognizably invader Zim, and the more the merrier, content-wise, but longtime fans can feel that there was this change of essence in the transition. More obviously, in the art, but more subtly, there was an audible softening of that bluntly darker, cynical tone the show was made iconic for. To put it very generally, they lean a little more into the whackiness of this world, there’s a lot more dark comedy to be found in what I’ve seen so far rather than in your face darkness, and in the absence of the ost and voice acting the show accustomed us to, the comics leave a lot more room to be read as you wile. To me, they’re goofier and more episodic in spirit.

This all is not a critique or rating on the comics.. It’s purely, I feel, why Zib stuck out to me all the more jarringly in his context. His reveal was a genuine twist that brought forth stakes higher than arguably any other threat in the entire franchise. He represents a plausible while horrifying prophecy of our main characters if only they made worse decisions. The most interesting of all, for every piece of amazing information he fed to us, he bred dozens more questions about everything than he answered, from Irken machinations, to his ambivalent backstory, to the secrets hidden by the sum of his parts.

Though he was left evidently alive at the end of his story, I don’t see any chance for him making a return, so he is memorialized as another defeated one-off the writers have brisked past and left behind for good. Therefore, I’m here today to take what we got and present it on the metaphorical autopsy table. I want to really pull apart why this character alone pulled me back into the TV series, really just flay open the bits I can’t get out of my own head and dig harder until we find something or we run out of threads to tug at. Starting with the one already hanging out of my mouth, but

• B.E.F

“Bad End Friend” is a term I learned the meaning of within the last 12 hours or so of writing this, and I’m exuberant over that discovery. It’s a niche trope i didn’t know ive been a giant fan of since I was a child. Summed up, fictional characters from beloved media, typically, animated child protagonists… given the worst case scenario treatment. Their “bad ending”, whether that means a corruption arc, demonic possession, a lovecraftIan tragedy… usually something that’s anywhere along the lines of a fate worse than death to a full villainous turnover. As a treat. The concept is strongly associated with fanworks and AUs of popular media, but just as often this is something that becomes explored in the source material as well. A couple great examples I know would probably be Ice Prince Finn from Adventure Time or what happens in Undertale when you decide you want to run the most depraved playthrough possible. From a more mature story, “Evil” Morty is another validly arguable sample.

Besides a bit of a fondness I got going for certain dark or spooky themes in general, what I REALLY love about canonical BEFs the most is their utility as characterization tools. They’re the “having your cake and eating it too” option! The perfect way for an author to explore certain things about any character without actually committing to well… a bad ending.

Almost always, they are necessarily hypothetical or reversible. If they’re not reversible, they go often hand-in-hand with a little universe tampering to make happen. Sometimes, this means the story goes the way of time travel and branching off butterfly effects. Sometimes it means confirming multiverse theory, which can be the same thing depending on your semantical position.

And Zib crossed off the BEF qualifications by far and away. His implications are extremely dark given any pause think about them, and he’s a living, disturbing tragedy in aftermath. If you want to view a rigamarole about that aspect of his characterization as he appeared in the comics, someone else long beat me to that and I’m enthusiastically recommending a peek at their own work. I’m thrilled to do so and build a little upon that with those extended what-if-wonders.

• Lessons From a Lost Episode

Elephant in the room I haven’t seen someone ask yet, uh..

By show rules, isn’t Zib supposed to be a clear case of the writers committing the sin of retcon? By show I’m including the unaired scripts, including “10 Minutes to Doom”. In that one we had what looked like the potential setup for a Zib case, and it was deconstructed across the whole episode.

In short recap, Dib learned the hard and reckless way about the true nature of what Irken PAKs actually are. This is not an inventory bag, it is not “gear”. It’s the actual Irken entity- at least, the primary component.

Detaching it from the organic shell essentially caused a temporary split into two instances of Zim, desperately trying to connect back together under threat of obliteration.

Like let me be very clear about this,

The PAK is an autonomous instance of Zim’s consciousness, and it’s the main one. We’ve seen it act to save his life when his body has been out cold or flatlined, and he doesn’t appear the least bit disoriented or confused once “he” wakes and jumps back into the action. There’s no known separate computer assistant AI or security autopilot in there. That code, that program, IS Zim. As Long as the PAK is active, he is capable of staying fully conscious and able to react to what’s happening around him, and that’s what we’ve been seeing, his own actions.

Zim proved me right when Virooz tried to replace him and detached the PAK. Take note of his phrasing after the chair event™.

“I” activated the protocol. Immediately after Virooz ran off with my shell.

“I” Voluntarily chose to do so.

I don’t remember it playing out like that in “10 Minutes to Doom”.

Attaching to a new host wasn’t the first reflex. Dib was not the least bit aware that that he has literally holding the actual Zim captive in sense, and the latter was fighting like a cornered animal to escape him. Failing that, alongside the distance between him and his original body growing fast, he made a last desperate gambit, and he willingly connected himself into Dib’s body.

I can see why he thought this was better than nothing, no matter how repulsive the notion might have been. If he couldn’t fend Dib off physically, he could incapacitate him in some fashion by trying to overtake his will. Maybe give the shell a better chance to catch up, maybe in the longshot hope of being able to pilot dib in order to become whole with the correct host again. And you can say he succeeded, at least in dominating bodily control away from Dib, but at the cost of his already tenuously held sanity. This could be because of the interference of Dib’s own mind still resisting to fully submit, or malfunctions because of the biological incompatibility; however, the thing that Dib mentally becomes is only the basic idea of what “Zim” is. Instead of remembering it needs to reunite with its shell ASAP, the PAK mistakes Dib’s body for its own and goes through the manic motions of following the Invader mission. And it does this, weirdly enough, with almost no regard for blowing its cover.

When things are set right again, Zim’s later words near the episode ending revealed that he knew that was an unsustainable state.

Such a risk was not just accounted for, he was actually banking on it if that clock had hit zero. If Zim had truly lost, if he was really doomed to meet his end on this nasty rock in the middle of Nowhere, Space, then by every damned circuit in his being, he was going to take down this insolent fool boy and as many other humans possible with him. A dying act of vengeful rage.

• The Exceptional… Exception

Now, wouldn’t all of this be the definitive reason for Zib’s existence to be an aberrant impossibility? Yes, but actually no. Fun thing about multiverses is if something doesn’t work in one setting, you can just tweak a few dials and suddenly you have a world where the impossible becomes possible. But that’s a pretty cheap answer, isn’t it? So, what exactly was that crucial difference?

What happened in Zib’s timeline that went down so, so divergently from the events of 10 Minutes to Doom?

Because the only one who was in any position to explain it for us was Zib himself, and he’s proven to be one of the most unreliable of narrators. It’s as @dana-chan-the-control-brain already spared no effort to demonstrate, when he does tell us something about his past, his story is pocked with contradicting half-truths or outright lies. Ergo it helps to break down each recount of events to pick out the real facts.

Version 1: This is an alternate version of dib who defeated his complementing Zim (logically sensible) and went on to achieve all of the success and respect he sought after in his timeline (absolute bullshit). He kind of gestures and only implies about what has happened to his body while explaining that he came to his current understanding of Irken technology by studying it through Zim’s lab (a partial truth). He lets slip in passing that he has in fact fused with the PAK in order to learn how to alter and reprogram its coding, lessons he has applied to Number 2 in order to have a brainwashed pawn (also apparently true).

Version 2, when cornered and red handed: This is an alternate version of Dib who managed to specifically stop Zim's mission (Again, makes sense) but somehow could not convince the world of his findings or his warnings about the Irken Armada (*VERY eyebrow raising). Frustrated with the people’s lack of cooperation, he decides he has no choice but to physically merge with Zim’s PAK post-mortem (concerning and evidently mostly accurate), dominate the Earth himself, and enslave humans to help him in his efforts (highly troubling and probably true). The construction of his EMP super-weapon is successful, but ultimately led to the creation of the Zimvoid when the device was field tested (self evident, absolutely horrifying).

You know what I noticed was missing from both of these accounts? Exactly how his Zim was defeated. Which honestly could have been some beyond useful wisdom to pass along to the main Dib??? More than anything else? I’m not going to fault our boy for not pressing that matter better under the awing circumstance; however, there’s an implication I’ve been reading between lines. 

When Zib mentions “defeating” his own Zim, he’s talking about something different than ours.

When our Dib has always talked about “defeating” Zim, he’s meant incapacitation and capture. Throughout the show he explicitly wants to present Zim before an audience alive and whole. Yeah, he fantasizes about other people torturing or disassembling him for study, but HIS role was supposed to be reaping the fame for an undeniable, ground-breaking discovery. Conspiracies and cryptids are all this kid breathes and lives by! And as long as pop culture has always been fascinated with the paranormal, and he has to know this full well, people keep bringing forward hoax after hoax after scam. I mean there’s a freaking current one or few still going IRL about this exact topic. Dib would want no room left for being dismissed as another one of those con artists. 

Nonetheless, I actually doubt this is the reason Zib couldn’t get through to the scientific community. A genuine alien lifeform, even a dead one, could still be confirmed by any basic medical examination. The world thinks Dib is too crazy to listen to, but his father is still Professor Membrane. In "10 Minutes to Doom" OUR Dib got as close as having Membrane literally analyzing a PAK, or at worst, preparing to. “Ultimate Dib” gets his hands on the same thing and pulls a move I’d expect from an HP Lovecraft Protagonist instead.

We’re assuming way too much to what these two Dibs have in common, because this ^^^ is really what made the Zimvoid an outlier in the multiverse. That world didn’t only have a very different, more threatening Zim from the main timeline, it had the Dib who proved even more formidable, cunning, and ruthless, even before the fusion. 

He didn’t obtain that PAK ala the “10 minutes to Doom” accident, it’s a personal trophy. This is extra strange remembering that capturing an Irken is realistically more easy than killing one. They’re seriously more tenacious than kudzu and will even fight back in PAK form alone. I’m convinced that whatever sort of final showdown made the Ultimate Dib the victor, there are two optional endings on the table.

Option 1: There was not a body even left intact enough to bring in to research. Maybe Dib’s fault, maybe an accident, maybe even Zim’s own luck running out and his incompetent antics finally swallowed him (and possibly GIR). This theory assumes that the PAK was the only sort of remains to come into Dib’s recovery/possession.

Option 2: Curiosity Killed the cat,

but satisfaction brought it back.

Or, the one I personally headcanon. Dib… all Dibs, I assume, don’t just hate the Irken species. They are mesmerized by them, and all that they represent from his perspective. Firstly, the epic villain he gets to roleplay nemesis to in order to feel his own worth and importance. Secondly, an unknown wonder from beyond the boundaries of the cosmos. He’s not really a ghost buster or a Men In Black agent at heart, but a scientist, like his father. Underneath his contempt for Zim’s plans to destroy the world is a genuine and appropriately childish awe for alien presence, especially for Zim’s technology. His silent, dopey smile when Tak’s ship ended up in his backyard said more than words ever will.. 

Earlier in the show, a great deal of Dib’s time and effort was spent on trying to infiltrate the lower levels of Zim’s base. Sneaking into the house was hard enough, but the computer security can’t be bypassed like the gnomes. Not even by Zim himself unless he really is all himself. Perhaps you’re starting to sniff where I’m going with this one when I refer back to “Bolognius Maximus”. I’ve another reference that’s a little more on the nose, and a lot more… dark.

Were an expired Irken husk before you, you too might take your victory and cash in then. Still, who knows what sudden impulse may run through the head of a less humble version of yourself, one some could call greedier, obsessive to a fault, a screw or two loose, yet, a hell of a smart cookie. Smart enough to see it for what it actually was, the keys to a whole world of discovery that went so many layers deeper than they could ever imagine. It’s possible the Ultimate Dib already learned beforehand the same hard lessons about the PAKs that our own did, and took that understanding toward not repeating the same mistake this time. What happened to Zim? I think he was murdered in cold blood, body, and entity. “10 Minutes to Doom” showed us a fight between 2 brains clinging to one body, struggling until one overpowered another, but that’s not what this is. Through whatever means of science were available to him, this Dib has probably tried to “disarm” the technology by either erasing Zim’s consciousness out of it altogether, or by forcing the autonomous code into a kind of dormancy. His intentions were to render it back to its basic hardware without losing its precious knowledge and usefulness, something like the brain-filled tank that was wired into Skrang’s head. Zim’s PAK doesn’t cling onto his body like a parasitic teratoma this time; it’s merged in a literal sense with his nervous and circulatory system. As well, he has fooled the device’s ability to detect and reject a foreign host shell, the exact same way he deceived the the base’s security AI. If an Irken biology is what these measures authorize to command them and their secrets, then he had the tools on hand to give them just that- in an atrocity I like to call

the darker harvest.

Within this theory, there is not as much room to wonder exactly what became of Zim’s organic remains. 

But where Dib fucked up was, for the second time, in his ignorance to the true nature of what he was even playing with. That was a mistake that even the mighty Elder Brains of Judgementia lost themselves to; How much more vulnerable was the weak, human mind? Though Zim can be devoured, he can never be digested. In that fact was born this aberration against nature, sanity, and humanity alike.

"Have you ever heard of insect politics? Neither have I. Insects… don't have politics. They're very… brutal. No compassion, no compromise. We can't trust the insect. I'd like to become the first… insect politician. Y'see, I'd like to, but… I'm afraid, uh… I'm saying… I'm saying I - I'm an insect who dreamt he was a man and loved it. But now the dream is over… and the insect is awake." - Seth Brundle, The Fly, 1986

By fusing what is half-mad and what is utterly mad, neither being was cured, only assimilated into the birth of a new madness. The madness of the creature that snickers behind the curtain in the Zimvoid. I rightfully fear that lonesome thing, but not I think as much as I pity him.

• Dejavu, or Re:Plagarism

One more thing about the Zimvoid arc I find curious is the way it makes you question more and more just how much of the aberration is actually still Dib, and how much of it is Zim's infection haunting him. He does nothing with all of his intellect, his resources, and his time in the void doing anything but surrounding himself in everything he claims he despises. He decries alien tyranny in one breath while lording over a homemade, cruel dictatorship in another. He calls for eradication of the very race who's technology and physiology he has thoroughly appropriated. He laments feeling unable to protect the Earth from the Armada alone, yet sneers literally through Irken teeth to insult humans as inferior and of no value to him any longer. Our Dib spent the whole damn show longing for the support of other people, but Zib pushes away potential allies in his arrogance. His broken timeline never became a Dibvoid instead because while only half of his mind can't stand Irkens, both of the souls inside him remember that they loathe and look down upon a Dib, deep inside.

The corruption goes as far as even subverting his own creativity. None of Zib's plans are wholly original. His anti-Irken weapon was already a concept blueprinted inside of that PAK before the merge. Our Dib has several times shown a propensity for some DIY ingenuity, sometimes dipping a toe into the supernatural. Zib entirely calls upon, scavenges and regurgitates Irken designs with a few modifications or upgrades. The Dib Virus, I think is his most uninspired creation yet, for it's original form was always something inside of Zim, even if the latter himself was not aware of the fact. Like all else, it is a weapon he has plundered, customized, and turned around on everyone else for his own selfish ends. This brief point I will end on one  more reflection. The one kind of help Zim ever allowed at his side were the likes of GIR and his own creations. Unable to connect and cooperate with his peers and own kind, his ego preferred to be around those defective machines he related to- drones to be owned by him and always loyally at his beck and call. A slave to admire him unconditionally is the only companionship he's ever been willing to admit to desiring.

And what was Number 2's purpose again? What role exactly were the arena combatants auditioning for, when you think about it?

[20dollarlolita]

Describing a couple more wigs:

I'm getting back into this topic because of one wig:

This is the Dahlia from Sepia, and it's absolutely why we need more pictures of inside-out wigs on wig selling sites.

It's a nice long, layered cut with a center part. This is sold as a heat-resistant lace front wig. That's the only info they give you about it.

This wig was my first lace front wig that I owned, and I had so much trouble making it look good. I assumed that lace front wigs were really difficult to wear, and that I'd trimmed the lace wrong and ruined the wig.

In reality, it's hard to wear because they give you 1/4" of lace on the front and a piece the size of a postage stamp in the parting. Lace front. But just the very front. The absolute VERY front. I can assure you that this wasn't me overzealously cutting off too much lace. The wig only has that much hair on the lace.

As you can see from the inside-out picture, the lace in the part is only about an inch wide and two inches long. In addition to this not being able to be moved, it really doesn't go far enough back to look like a natural part. There wasn't ever enough of a lace section to thin out the front, so the front edge of the wig goes from zero hair to full hair in the span of exactly zero space. If I had glued down the temple and taken off my glasses, it'd look a little bit more realistic, but I didn't feel like doing tape and glue when I was taking these pictures last night at 10pm.

I believe I paid about $60 for this wig, because I had no idea what a lace front wig should be like and just went "oh yeah, it makes sense that it'll be expensive! It's a lace wig!"

I would not recommend paying extra money because "lace front," in this case. The sudden appearance of a full amount of hair looks a TINY bit more realistic than a front with no lace at all, but it's not great. If you can get this for the same price as a non-lace of a similar style, it's probably a little better. But I really don't recommend it.

And that's because this wig was only 2/3rds the price of that wig, and it's way better.

The brand on this one is called BTWTRY and you can get it on Amazon in 30 different colors.

The lace section on the front of this is about 2.5" wide, as opposed to the slightly less than 1/4" on the Sepia wig.

This wig is also heat resistant and so you aren't stuck with the super straight hair it comes with. The fiber is really nice. Don't judge it by my picture up there, since I didn't spend long untangling it and I store my wigs in paper grocery bags.

So my background is in theatre, and in a theatrical context you really never have people closer to your actor's hairline than about 2.5 feet, so I'm not great at blending the lace. But unlike the blonde wig, I actually feel like the blending is possible.

Again, I wasn't going to glue this down at 10pm, so here's a lovely picture of the lace lifting up. There is also a problem that I tend to run into, which is that my hair is a really different color from the wig's, and if the wig slides back then my hairline is really visible. If your hair color is similar to or darker than the wig, having a bit of your natural hairline show through is going to maybe make it more realistic. However, it's not a good look with neon pink on auburn. Also please just ignore that I was holding the lace I just cut in my mouth. I was going to try to crop that out but y'all can just know that I needed both hands to take this picture and forgot that I can put the lace down on the counter.

I wanted to show that, due to the large (ish) piece of lace in the top, you can change the part without it looking strange. However, I just ended up looking like one of the Scene kids that my mom wouldn't let me dress like when I was 14. UwU.

Amazon link here. It's $41-$45 depending on the color. When I'm comparing this to the $60 Sepia wig, it's a significantly better value.

Anyway, that's about it. Found out that I bought an overpriced wig, spent a couple hours telling the internet about it. I've got a couple more that I want to describe just to get that info on the internet, but I bought them a while ago and I have to track down if they're still available and stock pictures of them.

Also one of them is a really long wig that I got in 2009, and I let it get SO tangled.

[snowywinterevenings]

I’m working on the last chapter of Scars on Our Hearts, so I thought I’d throw this on tumblr. I know I’ve posted it before, but tumblr’s search function is a disaster, and I can’t find it, so here it is again, a glimpse into one of the many worlds Obi-Wan stopped in before getting to the one in the story.

The ghost follows them for three days, and Obi-Wan waits for it to show itself, more curious than anything about the visitor to whom he feels a strange connection. Their shadow is filled with such infinite sadness that it makes something in Obi-Wan’s own chest ache, pain so sharp that he cannot even begin to fathom its cause. He does not hunt for the ghost, sensing no ill will from him, but the love and devotion he feels bent in Cody’s direction makes him a bit uneasy.

The intruder makes his move while Obi-Wan is away one night dealing with some absurd emergency. He ends the meeting with an abrupt resolution for the matter and speeds home, ready to tear their unwanted guest to pieces, but he is met with the most unlikely scene imaginable, his own double seated on the edge of the bed beside Cody who is sound asleep. There are differences between them, his counterpart’s hair cropped short along the sides and worn longer on top, his form a touch thinner as though he doesn’t always remember to eat, and a blade that is similar but not identical to Obi-Wan’s own, at his waist. The most obvious difference is his attire, more that of a Jedi than an emperor, though darker in color than the Jedi favor.

“A few moments more please.” It is strange to hear his voice from the lips of another, but he hums, granting the ghost his request, knowing deep in his soul that no version of him could harm his sleeping heart.

He would agree to nearly anything to soothe the ache he feels in the Force.

When the ghost eventually stands, he whispers, “sleep well, my heart,” and champagne gold eyes wet with grief finally meet his own. The words have been said before in a much different context, and Obi-Wan knows now what has caused such pain. He has a hundred questions, but he leads his counterpart into another room in silence and settles him into a chair, drawing a blanket around his shoulders. He doesn’t know whether it would have been a kindness or a cruelty to leave him watching over Cody while he disappeared to make tea, but some of the grief has ebbed away by the time he returns.

“Forgive me. It was not my intention to disturb your peace, but… you reminded me so very much of us.”

“What are you?”

“A traveler.” It is not a terribly satisfying answer, but Obi-Wan supposes it’s easier to admit than calling himself a broken ghost. “I move between realities. I have seen so many now, but this is the only one where I have encountered someone like me.”

“Someone fallen.” It does not surprise him to know that the Obi-Wans of other realms live more often in the light. Even he clings to it each night.

His other half nods, thumb tracing over the lip of his tea cup, clutching it tightly in his hands as though he is attempting to leech the warmth from it like he has not been warm in years. Perhaps he has not with his Cody lost to him somewhere along the way.

“How long ago?”

“Three years.” The end of the war then. A little shiver winds down his spine as he recalls their discovery of the chips. “He spared me from death at the hands of his brothers.”

“Did you burn your galaxy to ash?”

“It is not what he would have wanted.”

“I doubt he would have wanted this for you either.” He nearly offers their home as a place for the ghost to rest, but he has never been very good at sharing, and he does not think it would truly ease the pain. His haunted other half must find and make his own peace.

“Keep him close.”

“Always.”

The ghost leaves, vanishing into the night, and Obi-Wan takes up his vigil, watching over Cody as he sleeps. He joins him eventually, holding him close, and he hopes that someday the ghost can do the same, that he finds the lost love for whom he has been searching.

[erasermist]

One Piece Live Action Season 1 Stream of Consciousness (Spoilers):

This will be a suuuuper long post and will literally be a random string of thoughts and will probably make no sense as a lot will be without context. Maybe just random lines that I enjoy and random gifs that just showcase the random points I like but enjoy

Episode 1

I love this. I love that they didn’t make it the exact same. And having watched the anime, it just makes the subtle hints amazing and when they mention something that wasn’t brought up till later *chefs kiss*. Like they showed Zoro being recruited by Baroque Works when they didn’t even mention that till they were in the grand line I think.

And all of the small hints to the characters like when you saw Cabaji in the scene before he was actually introduced. That’s one of my favorite types of foreshadowing.

Luffy supporting Koby’s dream will always be awesome. And Luffy comforting Koby after see the bad marines is so kind of him. I love him.

The casting is perfect. Luffy. Zoro. Nami.

Nami is me. Everything goes wrong “This is fine.”

OH MY GOD!! Buggy!!

Episode 2

Buggy is just a great performer!

This is gonna get repetitive I know, but they are all such amazing actors and actresses!!

“Cut you down to size.” 😂😂

SHANKS!!!

Episode 3

“Stupid clown” Zoro’s hate of Buggy is hilarious

Already the crew (“not a crew”) are supporting Luffy’s whims haha

“Fans have gotten so toxic” I love this characterization of Buggy

I’m liking how this is a little darker than the anime was. And I love how they are introducing bounty characters. It’s so cool!

Zoro gets thrown in the well 😂😂 And Koby popping up at the end like that was very cool. Love the music they play throughout everything. It’s really making the show better

Episode 4

Zoro is my favorite. He already was in the anime, but it’s definitely true for the live action as well 🥰

MURDER MANSION!!!

Zoro’s lack of direction sense has finally been shown!

The grandpa revel being much earlier in this version 😂😂😂

Episode 5

“You just call that guy grandpa?” Oh Zoro, just wait for it 😭😭 and then his “talk” with Luffy after the fight.

Luffy sniffing his way to the good!!

Omg! This Sanji has so much class and the immediate jokes the rest pull on Nami after he leaves 😂 I feel bad for those who haven’t watched the anime. They are gonna think Sanji is this slick cool character (and he is) but they are gonna realize he isn’t that… smooth. But look at him… I forgive him and support all his decisions

Mihawk is just so bored. “You woke me from my nap”

Koby is playing a much bigger part than I thought he was gonna. And standing up to Garp like that.

Mihawk “though I do like your hat” 😍 I love this man!

Episode 6

Luffy just wants Zoro to get better 😌

Poor baby Sanji screaming for the ship

And again with the foreshadowing with the story of Mont Blanc Noland

They really have changed the way this goes. Arming came to them and Don Krieg died by Mihawk earlier. Not too mad about it though. I think it flows better with the way they made the show. Like I said it’s a little darker and I’m liking it. It’s different but a good different.

Also yum! lookie! Very respectfully of course but still

And there Zoro is being a great first mate vowing to stand by Luffy’s side!!! Done differently but still so beautiful! Tears!!!

Zoro: “Why are we bringing the waiter?” Usopp: “Cause we can’t boil water” 😂😂 Zoro so much happened while you were asleep

Luffy just pulls out Buggy’s head for a bag!!

Episode 7

The chains in Nani’s map room… this is gonna be sad

Nami is trying so hard to mean all the mean things. I’m gonna cry just like when I watch the anime. I just know it.

Zoro’s constant side eye of Sanji is awesome and very in character

Oh lovely. I somehow didn’t realize I would have to watch all the sad things in another format. It didn’t really connect that

And Zoro being first mate again. That’s always gonna be my favorite thing. Even when it’s for sad moments

Nami’s screams… that was so real and heart wrenching and that “help me” scene was so on point. The one scene that was practically the same and it was the one that causes tears 🥲

Episode 8

The blood and chains and pain little Nami had to go through

“Finally I get to cut something” Zoro is so done with emotions 😂 he just wants to do what he does best

So I’ve thought this from the first time I watched Arlong, but why would he think a revolution started from the “weakest” sea have any traction. I get “plot” reasons, but still….

“Round Two, Arlong.” Yes Luffy! Go!

Buggy! That was so funny! I love this Buggy!!

And Zoro’s immediate response “Fucking clown” 😂😂😂😂 I love this so much y’all

Go Usopp!!! “No one’s around to see it. It’s okay. They’ll believe me” loved it the first time I saw it, love it now too.

Sanji gets kicked backwards and Zoro just casually walks out of the way and around him. I’m so glad they are still the same Zoro and Sanji as ever 😭

Sanji says that all the best fighters call out their finishing moves and Zoro immediately gets flashbacks to Luffy saying the exact same thing!!

The Garp and Luffy confrontation!!!

“Be a good Marine.” “Be a good Pirate.” Love them.

The barrel scene!!! Yes!!!

And the sneak peak at Smoker!!

I absolutely loved this!!! I need a full adaptation of the entire show and I need them to keep the same cast for them all!!

[somekndofnature]

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!  I’ve been working on this modern day rock band AU for Inuyasha. It’s completely self-indulgent and honestly, I have no idea where it’s going, but I haven’t been able to stop writing it. Up to 16k words in seven days...I’ve been ensorcelled. 

Anyway, I just wanted to share the same short smutty snippet that I did on the 20+fanfic discord server. Would love to hear what you think, I’m a little self-conscious about it. 

A little context, Inuyasha knows that Kagome is his fated mate. has known for years, but he pushed her away.  He hated feeling like fate was choosing for him. Now, he wants her back, and is trying to win her back, but Kagome is reluctant. Before this scene, Kagome was woken by a nightmare and went to the sink to get water but gets distracted by Inuyasha crashing on her couch. She starts remembering her nightmare (about him) and starts crying. Inuyahsa wakes up and offers to hold her while she sleeps.  She’s reluctant but ends up giving in because Inu gives the best cuddles. She falls asleep immediately and he holds her all night.  

In the morning, Kagome starts acting like she’s having another nightmare, but Inuyasha realizes it is actually a much more pleasant dream. She is moaning and rubbing against him in her sleep and he knows he should wake her up and leave but can’t help wanting to see this dream of hers through until the end. Unfortunately, Kagome wakes up before she can ehemm...reach her peak. This picks up right after she wakes up and realizes that she has been sleeping on him having a wet dream.  

HERE WITH YOU

“Good morning,” he purred while nuzzling his nose against hers. “Sweet dreams, I hope?”

She flushed and pulled away suddenly, hiding her face against his chest and squishing his pulsing erection between their bodies. Inuyasha moaned and dropped his head back, relishing the way her small body fit against his like a missing puzzle piece. She trembled with an unquenched arousal that called to him. This was part of his job as her mate, to make sure her desire never went unsatisfied.

Inuyasha slipped his fingers along her jaw. “’Gome, look at me.”

She lifted her flushing face until her chin rested on his chest but avoided meeting his eyes.

He smiled and brushed a few strands of hair behind her ear. “What are you embarrassed about?” he asked in a conciliatory tone.

Kagome tossed him a look of disbelief, cheeks heating a darker shade. “Are you serious? I just had a sex dream about you, while you were holding me.”

“Yes,” he admitted without a hint of shame. “And it was probably one of the most gratifying experiences of my life.”

She scoffed and tried crawl down the sofa away from him, but Inuyasha caught her arms and pulled her back in until she was laying against him. He cupped the back of her head and brushed his nose along her jaw line. Kagome was still tense in arms, but she sighed at his touch and her eyes fluttered closed. He almost pumped a fist in triumph.

“Come on, baby,” he breathed, teasing the dark strands of hair caressing her face. “Nothin to be embarrassed about. Do you know how often I dream about you?” He placed a light kiss against her skin. “Hell, it’s an almost nightly occurrence, one means I need a shower first thing nearly every morning and if not, definitely means you don’t want to be around me that day. I’m a grumpy fucker when I’m horny for you.” His lips pressed a little more firmly to the tender skin behind her jaw.

The smallest smile curled her lips. “What do you—” She cut herself off, biting at her lip.

“Ask me,” he pleaded, nipping at her earlobe.

She mewled and squirmed as he flattened both his palms against her back, arching into his touch as he rubbed up and down her spine. “What do you dream about?”

He rewarded her with a soft kiss against her temple. “You, ‘Gome. Only you,” he purred into the shell of her ear as her hand threaded through his hair, keeping him captive against her skin. “I dream about holding you. I dream about seeing you smile, hearing you laugh. I dream about your scent,” he whispered, pushing his nose into her hair, and inhaling deeply before releasing a heady groan. “I dream about tasting you,” he said, running his tongue along the column of her neck and feeling his cock twitch against her belly. “Fuck, I can’t believe I get to taste you again.”

Kagome moaned, rocking her hips into his when he settled his mouth against her neck, sucking at the tender flesh until it darkened to a plumy purple but careful not to use his fangs. He didn’t want to incite that primal part of him that was all too eager to mark her as his mate.

 Soon, soon, he soothed himself.

“What else?” Kagome prompted, voice breaking as he slid the camisole strap off her shoulder and kissed along her collarbone.

“I dream of kissing and touching every part of you,” he whispered against her skin, hands slipping down her back to cup her ass in both palms. “I dream of lapping at your sweet little cunt until you come all over my face.”

She gasped as he suddenly drew her up until she was straddling his hips, placing her warm damp core against the ridge of his aching shaft. Kagome’s startled blue eyes flew open, locking with his.

 “I dream of being so deep inside you that I don’t know where you end and I begin,” he admitted, each ragged word filled with longing.

[mamamittens]

*unhinged screaming* your follower event, omgomgomgomg!!! Okay, now that I've gotten my excitement out of the way, do you think I could put in a request for Sabo (one piece)? I'm a F! With short brown hair, brown eyes and lightly tan skin. A little chubby and about a head shorter than Sabo. (Actually, I'm about Koala's height). I'm generally optimistic and nice, though I don't put up with people's bs. I'm caring and enjoy having a good time within reason (though I don't like *real* alcohol) and would like to wear lolita clothing. If Sabo and I could get a.... chocolate milkshake with caramel syrup and cherries, add shots of white Russian (cream pie), Jell-O shot, Jager bomb, pink schnapps, black jack, afterburner, brain hemorrhage, and motor oil for me. (Just in case, I'd like to be the sub being edged, restrained, lightly choked, overstimulated and marked.) Yes I know it's a lot, I'm sorry. If you can, thank you! And congratulations!!!!

Welp! Order up! Hope you like it~!

This is an order for my 500+ follower event "Date Shake"! It's running through my ask box until 9/19/23, please refer to this post for context!

Warnings: edging, marking, unprotected sex/creampie, rough sex, choking, and overstimulation.

Word count: 2,899

They looked so good together.

That’s the one thing Sabo heard endlessly whenever he went out with Astra. And he never got tired of hearing it, though it flustered his friend to no end. They were right and they should say it, honestly. It wasn’t just a matter of style and looks.

Though Sabo’s tendency towards posh button ups from his affluent childhood certainly paired well with the sweet lace dresses and blouses Astra so favored. Bows and ribbons adorned her short, soft brown hair that he put in himself every morning upon request. And she always requested. Complaining that he made it look so effortless to weave the fabric into her locks when all he needs to do is tousle his hair a bit.

Their relationship went deeper than ribbons and ribbing, though. All the way back to kindergarten, in fact. When Sabo saw a pretty little girl struggling to buckle her polished shoes and insisted he help her. Dark brown eyes wide with appreciation as she smiled and… well, that was that. He was her staunch friend from that moment onward.

Far past the point of failure most childhood friends fall out during. Sweet and easy summer days all the way to harsh, bitter winters. They alone remained, though never truly alone. And Sabo appreciated it more than he could ever bear to admit. His brothers rambunctious and wild while Astra was just so… sweet and sincere.

He was especially fond of today’s ensemble. Unwittingly matching, they strolled through a new addition to the local art gallery. Rich blue lace ribbon tied around her hair and dress collar. The darker blue fabric of her dress swaying around her knees with every click of her heels, sleeves brushing her wrists in lace trim. Sabo wore his favorite blue silk shirt that nearly matched her dress and couldn’t help but wonder if it was on purpose.

Sabo had known for a while that he was quite attached to Astra. Hard to deny when he had to restrain himself from taking up every moment of her time and sneering at the idiots who tried to get her number. He had two brothers—he knew the feeling of being protective. But this was… a fair bit beyond that. Sabo certainly never felt this way when his brothers dressed up—although it would be a miracle if Dadan managed to ever make Ace wear a shirt again after the incident with Newgate.

He was getting off track. Luckily, Astra didn’t notice as she admired an old oil painting of the sea. It was quite bewitching to gaze into the painted depths but Sabo found his eyes slipping elsewhere, regardless of the artwork quality. In the carefully curated light of the gallery, Astra was pretty enough to frame on the wall. Soft, warm skin bright against the jewel blue fabric. A study in life and color Sabo found difficult to look away from.

But he simply must!

Huffing to himself, Sabo looked back at the artwork with a soft smile.

Current troubles aside, he was glad Astra was enjoying the exhibit. Shame it was nearly over. The exit mere feet away and three paintings left to admire. It was probably for the best, though. Sabo had gotten distracted enough thinking about pinning her to one of the artworks to see if she would outshine a masterwork of the ages under his hands. More likely to end in an indecency charge of some kind thinking like that.

And he did not want to have that conversation with Gramps.

Sabo sighed, walking close to Astra as they left the art gallery. She paused, steady rhythm of her heels on pavement interrupted with a questioning glance.

“Did you not like the art, Bo?” Astra asked softly with a worried frown. “You look kinda pissed.” She noted. Sabo smiled back down at her and shrugged.

“Oh, no it was good! A nice way to spend a night out. But it still feels too early to call it quits.” Sabo pulled the excuse from his ass, not wanting to admit where his mind was going. He’d long since put his hands in his pockets to refrain from teasing her skirt to feel the soft line of her thighs under ruffles and lace. It felt like a crime to know the socks she was wearing actually went up to her thighs and wasn’t actually stockings.

He should know. He bought them for her birthday.

“You’re right!” Astra laughed, looking up past the peaks of the sky scrappers where the clear sky was still a soft purple from the setting sun. “Way too early to stop here. How about… we have dinner at my place? Pizza maybe?” Sabo snorted.

“What, don’t want to cook?” Sabo teased.

“Nope! And just for the sass, you can pay.” Astra sniffed, much to Sabo’s amusement.

Sabo hadn’t let her pay for a single outing since the third grade when she bought him a very disfigured character ice cream… of what was maybe a dog? Certainly didn’t look like it by the time he got it. Still, point remains standing that she wasn’t going to pay even if he didn’t have ‘sass’.

“Alright, fine.” Sabo sighed dramatically, reaching out to gently pull her closer to him as they passed by another couple going the opposite way. “Pizza it is!”

Sabo dropped the box onto the coffee table and plopped down on the overly stuffed couch cushion. Astra kicking off her shoes in the entryway.

This was their normal Saturday night. They’d go out somewhere, get food, come back to one of their homes, watch a movie, and leave.

But… Sabo didn’t want to do that tonight. He wanted to stay. The restless heat in his chest reaching a fever pitch as he watched her grab two sodas from the fridge. Bending over in the process as the dress flared around her knees. Excess fabric draping over her ass and hips. Not enough to see everything, but enough to remind him of how easy it would be to look. Really, actually see her.

Not startled glances when someone forgot to knock or the polite once-over when they went swimming in the summer. His hands twitched and he grit his teeth, attempting to release the tension.

But the tension remained in his shoulders anyway the entire time they ate. Every movie scene barely glossed over as Sabo found his eyes drawn to Astra tucked under his arm. Dress skirt pooling out and obscuring her legs.

All it would take is to drop his arm and sweep it up her folded legs. She’d probably be a bit cold but he wouldn’t let her freeze for long.

“You feel like a rock, Sabo. What’s got you so tense?” Astra asked during what sounded like an action scene. “We’ve seen this before. You know they don’t die in this battle.” She pointed out with an amused glance.

Sabo smiled back, a little pained at losing track of his thoughts so quickly.

Clearly, this wasn’t something he could just pretend to not feel.

Just like a band aid.

“We’re friends. Right?” Sabo asked, causing Astra to sit up in alarm and look at him with concern.

“Sabo? What’s wrong?!” She asked with wide eyes, glancing around as though the answer was on her shelves. And in a way, it kind of was. Countless pictures of them growing up together lined the walls, collecting dust. And over time, more and more photos caught him gazing fondly down at her. “Of course we are!”

“What if I want more than that? Would you want the same thing?” Sabo spilled, too late to turn back now. No amount of covering his ass would explain away the strangeness of his original question.

“…More? Like what? Sabo, you’re freaking me out.” Astra commented nervously.

Sabo moved, turning towards her and cupping her cheek. Slowly, painfully slowly, Sabo leaned in close. Watching her eyes widen as thoughts raced through her head. Realization, doubt, and confirmation clear in her brown eyes as he got closer.

Sabo’s lips quirked up as he noted she wasn’t stopping him despite the glacial pace he was setting. In fact, she gasped, tipping her chin up and meeting his lips in a soft brush.

That faint slide of her lips across his set his heart alight.

“Like this.” Sabo whispered, pressing hard against her lips in a deep kiss. His hand curling back to support her head as she fell backwards slowly. A low moan tickling his skin as he lapped at her bottom lip. Sucking it between his teeth to nip as she gasped. The moment capitalized on by his tongue sliding across her own.

Astra was laying down beneath him, battle cries fading in the background as Sabo finally rested his hand over her knee and slipped under her skirt. Following the soft fabric until it dipped into her thick thighs. Palm and fingers hot as he stroked the hidden treat, slipping under the hem to snap the band. She moaned, panting as he pulled away to look at her.

Seeing her wide, flustered look as he pressed his fingertips to her damp panties. Mouth falling open with a moan as he rubbed her slick across her clit. Circling the bud slowly as he kissed her neck. Biting and marking the pale column of her throat as she began to squirm, hands fisting his shirt with building shudders. He listened as her breath quickened, heart thundering as he nosed the collar of her dress away from her shoulders to make room for his teeth.

He bit down hard and she keened, the sound curling into a cry as Sabo pulled away his hand before she could truly peak.

Flushed and wanting, Astra swallowed hard and glared at him.

“O-Oi!” Astra whined.

“Answer the question.” Sabo commanded bluntly, smirking as she blinked in confusion. “Tell me you want this.”

“I-I do.” Astra admitted breathlessly. Sabo immediately shot up, slinging her over his shoulder as he stalked to her room. Tossing her onto the bed and closing the door before she could even sit up. Sabo grinned over his shoulder.

“Trust me?” he purred, drinking in the excitement on her face.

“Yes.”

Sabo turned, unbuttoning his shirt before tossing it on the floor alongside his undershirt. Confident steps carrying him to the edge of her bed as he grabbed her legs and pulled her further down. She reached back, probably to deal with her dress, but Sabo stopped her with a soft click of his tongue.

“Oh no, let me. I’ve been dying to take this dress off all day~” Sabo hummed, delicately pushing up her dress until her thighs and wet panties were exposed. He pushed open her legs and kneeled for a closer look. Teasingly blowing across the wet fabric. He hooked his fingers into the white lace trim and slowly pulled them down her thighs, pocketing them once they slipped past her feet. “What a pretty cunt for a pretty lady.” He sighed, biting her thigh hard as he watched her clench on nothing.

He sucked on the soft skin, digging in his teeth just shy of drawing blood as his cock ached.

Suddenly, his hair was pulled. Hard.

“Sabo! S-Stop teasing me when I need you!” Astra growled.

Sabo let go of her thigh and grinned, pressing his bared teeth into the darkened mark on her soft skin. He nearly snapped his teeth into a fresh spot as punishment.

But he had a much better idea.

“Alright, alright! I’ll get to it, already.” Sabo acquiesced, moving quickly before she grew suspicious of his sudden change of tone. He sat up and kissed her lips, bracing himself over her as he tugged her hands up into his. Pulling them together before reaching into his pocket.

He tied up her hands in the lacy panties with a grin, flipping her over to reach the buttons up the back of her dress.

“Hey! You can’t take off my dress with my hands tied—did you use my panties?!” Astra huffed as he flicked open the back with practiced hands. Grabbing her skirt and shoving it up her body, laughing as he forced the fabric over her head where it bunched around her hands.

Astra panted, looking over her shoulder in confusion as Sabo leaned down and kissed her again, drinking in her slow submission as she relaxed beneath him. His hands fondling her curves greedily. Twisting and pulling her soft breasts as she sighed.

“S-Sabo~ You’re still teasing me!” Astra whined, ass grinding into his cock.

Huffing, Sabo reached down to his pants, loosening them just enough to free himself as he bit down into her shoulder. The tip of his cock slipping against her wet cunt in a slow grind.

“You keep trying to rush me, baby. You should quit while your ahead~” Sabo warned, gripping her waist as he kept grinding against her pussy. Her breathing picked up when his free hand slipped down her soft belly to pinch her clit. Toying with her roughly as he kept his rhythm. “That’s it. No more talking~” Sabo cooed, still teasing her body.

Her thighs trembled, squeezing his cock as she dripped over him freely. Closer and closer to the edge as he considered if it would be more satisfying to eat her out bent over until she screamed or—

“Sabo~! A-Aaahhn! O-Oh! Oh fuck, s’bo! Sabo!” Astra moaned, shaking as her cute pussy dripped down her thighs, clit pulsing beneath his fingers.

Sabo hissed, removing his hand from her clit and gripping her throat. Pinning her between his hand and chest against the bed. Almost burying her face into the pool of lacy fabric.

“Shut! Up!” Sabo slammed into the hilt, feeling her breathless scream against his palm as he squeezed. She was so fucking tight, he nearly couldn’t make it. Her cunt clenching as he pulled out just to slam back in. “Just take what I give you!”

Sabo pulled her under him further, tilting up her hips to his heavy thrusts as he railed into her cunt. Balls slapping with a wet thud against her pussy as she quivered around him. Strained moans slipping free despite his grip on her throat that only grew more desperate when he squeezed harder.

“You like that, huh? You like finally being fucked? Finally shut you up, didn’t I?” Sabo hissed, driving her into the bed hard enough to rattle the frame with a steady beat.

“A-Ah! Aaaahhhhh!” Astra keened, pussy clenching down. Sabo slammed in as deep as he could go and stayed there, laughing as she whined. Her high dying down slowly as he eased up on her throat. Desperate gasps audible, though muffled in the fabric of her dress. “S-Saaaa~! Oooooooooh!”

Sabo pulled out and started back up again.

Then stopping before she could cum and waiting until she cried out.

Pushing her closer each time with a smile and a sweet kiss despite the growing bruises on her throat.

He did this six times until she was crying, desperately rocking her hips back to try and ride his cock.

“Are you ready to be good, baby?” Sabo asked sweetly, squeezing her throat to cut off a whine as he pulled out of her drenched pussy. After a moment, he eased up.

“Y-Yes! Please! Sabo~oooooooooh~!” Sabo pulled her up against his chest by her throat, slipping his cock back into her hot cunt.

Sabo bounced her on his cock hard and fast. Lips smearing over her cheek as he sought her lips. Despite desperately panting for what little air she was allowed, she kissed him eagerly. Tongues tangling as she started to shake. The sound of her dripping cunt sucking in his cock mixing with the headboard slamming into the wall and the mattress squeaking. Her own moans nothing but pathetic pants around his tongue.

She came with a cry, drenching their thighs as she squirted around his cock still drilling into her. Legs shaking hard as he kept going, her face turning colors as she came again.

“A-Ah-bo~!” Astra swallowed hard when finally let her breath, panting hard as she shook, tears streaming down her face. The coil in his balls snapped, his hips slamming against her ass as he filled her cunt.

The excess dripped down her thighs as he panted, letting go of her throat to pet her hair, kissing her cheeks softly.

When they both calmed down a little, Sabo rubbed his hand up her spine, slotting his palm over the back of her neck.

Slamming her down into the bed with her ass raised. She yelped as he started fucking her again, shaking violently as another orgasm rapidly approached.

“Oh, pretty baby, I’m not through with you yet~” Sabo cooed, leaning back to admire how her socks were now stained with cum and slowly sliding down her thighs. “You wanted me to stop teasing you, didn’t you?” Sabo laughed, palming her ass to admire the thick white ring around his cock that grew with every thrust.

She cried out into her dress, creaming on his cock again. But it wasn’t enough.

“A-Ahhhn~ ‘bo! Bo-oh~!”

It wouldn’t be until she lost her voice and her pretty dress was ruined for good. A shame, but he’d just buy her another one to ruin all over again later.

[medicbrainrot]

knowing that canon simon grew up in an abusive home with him regularly seeing his mother (and him and his brother tommy) getting beaten up by his alcoholic dad that the first thing he did when he was able and earning was to kick that guy out, your fic feels wrong and hurtful.

i can’t believe that simon would do that, not to mention the disgust and disbelief for the enabling actions of price and the rest of team, i just refuse to believe that they would do that. but i also know that that’s wishful thinking. i know because i am my father’s daughter and fact is, hurt people hurt people. and for all the many fanfic written here about fluffy or softie simon, the reality will probably be nowhere near that. i guess what im trying to say is, your writing is good and too realistic that it wakes up feelings that i tried to bury.

i want to say that i wont read anymore of your fics but that would be a lie. nevertheless, thank you for sharing your work with us.

Hey anon, thank you for your feedback.

I honestly deliberated back and forth a lot as to whether or not I wanted to even publish the “deep end” series. It’s one of the heavier pieces I’ve published, and while I agree that I hope Simon wouldn’t do something like that, I wanted to explore the darker aspects of his personality as it relates to his previous trauma.

The original version that I sketched out was much darker than what I published, dark enough that it made me reconsider what I was writing out.

Juliana as a character isn’t fully fleshed out yet, but she has a very labile personality, and tends to feed into her insecurities in order to try to push Simon’s buttons in hopes of getting a reaction out of him. 

At the beginning of part 1, it says that tensions have been high the past couple of weeks due to multiple failures, and that Simon and Jules have been arguing more and more in the time leading up to this fic.

I haven’t written out what happens just yet, but the idea that I have so far is that Jules has been pushing and pushing Simon, waiting for him to snap. 

Part of Juliana’s issues stem from the fact that while she believes that everything bad that happens to her is her own fault, she still instigates conflict in order to get reactions from people, because her past experiences have taught her that any attention is good, whether the reactions are good or bad. 

She has a very unhealthy view of herself, and she hasn’t really taken the steps to try to figure out why that is.

Simon never had the intention to hurt Jules, but she’s been pushing and pushing him, and with enough force, people eventually snap. Hence why he feels so incredibly guilty, because he loves her, and doesn’t ever want to cause her pain again. 

As for the team’s reaction, I would hope that they wouldn’t let an assault incident slide, but I feel like I also don’t know all of their characters well enough to say so. I’ve been trying to work off of what I know from the canon, but between both versions of MW, I feel like there isn’t enough information as to what the team is like outside of the field. 

Unfortunately, I’ve seen enough incidents where the chain of command gets a little messed up, and people try to cover for each other when something happens, hence why their reactions are a little convoluted.  

Whether or not you choose to continue reading any of my works, I do appreciate the feedback. I use my writing as an outlet for my own problems and feelings, and that tends to influence the type of content that ends up in different fics.

Should you choose to continue reading, part 3 of “deep end” should be finished within the next day or so, and hopefully it can provide some context to the first two parts.

[djservo]

JOAQUIN SLEEPING IN SERGIO'S BED IS SO CUTE STOP ITTTT

also pls show give us another apartment tour I KNOW you've been messing around with it againn 🙏

answering this like 2 weeks late so the first part of ur message is so funny out of context LOL sighhh you simply had to be there <3 I don't think I've done enough to warrant a full-on updated tour, but I'll give u the 411 on the bigger changes

here's the previous tour if you need a refresher for the layout, which has mostly remained the same (at least the birds eye view for which/where each room is)

IMO the biggest/most noticeable change (as seen in recent b roll/ask pics) is the addition of these brick columns(?) sorta framing the front door. there was a lot of empty space that was such a lost void to the eyes in screenshots and while the darker wallpaper helped neutralize it, that front area still looked so bare and flat to me. now there's some dimension and #texture and if anything I'm questioning if it looks too busy now LMAO but far better than before

THE DOOR! one of my biggest pet peeves about this apartment was the fkn sad hunk of brown wood ugh like I know it's meant to add to the ~dingy city apartment~ atmosphere, but it just looked so out of place to me like that shit didn't even have a lock tf!! I used TOOL to update all the apartment doors in this building to the dorm ones that came with DU & it makes a lot more sense with the lil peephole, lock, and emergency exit map on the inside. I may recolor it to make it a little more weathered, but I'm defo happier with how it looks now

general furniture changes, as you can probably pick out. I'm switching swatches and swapping things in/out practically every time I open their save so take the specifics with a grain of salt, but I like how things are generally evolving (mainly just filling up dead space). I was torn about getting rid of their projector screen but I stumbled upon the r/TVtoohigh subreddit recently which has made me rethink every TV placement ever in sims And real life LMAO so I wanted something more leveled with their couch. speaking of, upgraded them to a sectional finally. adulthood!!

I made their kitchen 1 square shorter length-wise so I could flatten out that weird bit between the kitchen and bathroom (if you look at the previous apartment tour, the archway area kinda just juts out and makes this awkward corner by the bathroom door). the extra kitchen space wasn't necessary anyway bc it pretty much looks and functions exactly the same. I moved the fridge to the left because it was partially blocking the window and I always got weird routing issues whenever someone needed an empty counter to cook on, so now there's a designated empty counter for that 🧑‍🍳

I'm phasing out some of the more Loud (for lack of better term) English/real language decor (for example, that silly marihuana poster I recolored) -- definitely not planning on going the full-simlish route, but I feel like some of the wordier pieces can get distracting & I'm trying to be more mindful about what's taking up visual space/attention in screenshots ykwim?? mise en scène or whatever that fuck 🤌 and while I'm trying to piece together a more cohesive/complementary flow decor wise, I also want to be realistic about their ages/tastes -- for example the bella goth pop art piece represents their vaguely trend-forward millennial artistic sensibilities but also their juvenile hornball tendencies don't you think

[50cal-fullauto-astarion]

❤️👻🚀🎁 pls <3

THANK YOU PROPH BB :'3c <3

❤️ What is your favorite line that you’ve written in a fic?

kdjlkdj WOOF this is highlighting my vanity, i get so jack rabbit-y when i write good lines. this is from 'hot in sarajevo' with a few extra bits for context.

[König is segmented; you’ve known that for as long as you’ve known him.] Don’t know if he did it to himself, or if it was an after-affect of all the bad shit he didn’t die from. ... His worst days are lost dogs and veils of blood floating through his mouth.

👻 What is your wildest headcanon?

this is a really good question bc i'm veering between deciding if this means wildest as in craziest/absurdist, or most violently unexpected, and i don't really do the craziest/absurdist variety i don't think?

actually i'm going to go with the former bc i mentioned this in the chat a while ago, but i grew really like attached to the idea, so my wildest headcanon is that soap was raised in a cult. and aw FUCK i went and did some googling and i'm getting into it and devloping it more. yeah, soap was raised in an anti-technology anti-modernism religious cult with intense calvinist principles he's still trying to shake off. bing bang boom.

🚀 Do you like to outline your fic first or create as you go?

it depends!! :D three of my planned long-form fics are pretty intensely outlined bc they require it for dates and plot points, and i like having the outline to work off of as i write so i'm not bungling shit lmao. most everything else i'm flying by the seat of my pants or referencing vague notes i've written down for scenes i want to include. it is INCREDIBLY sloppy and frankenstein-y a process skjfdf.

🎁 Have a piece of a WIP you want to share?

YES. i always want to share a ton of my WIPs but i don't want to spoil surprises [lays down facing the wall and screams]. this is from 'sacramental dance of serpents,' which is a ghost x reader (secretly it's just stallard, my oc) semi-southern gothic au? it's kind of just trying to pin down vibes for the bigger project and put out a nice reader oneshot for folks who like spooky shit.

“You’d die alone if you had an emergency out here,” is the first thing he says to you as he pulls himself out of the car.  He’s not wearing the skull or the balaclava. Looks like any other man, a little extra chewed up. Hair that holds no color, stubble that’s a shade darker. Green bruises sit under his eyes like bouts of insomnia clinging to their lovers.  You don’t take the time to study, even if you don’t feel like you’re particularly stealing anything from him, but you don’t flinch and you feel that he is handsome, in the way an undertaker could be—austere, full of hard angles, exhaustion.  His eyes are even blacker surrounded by the pallor of his bare skin. “Not any different from work,” you return, dropping your hands on your hips when he staunchly will not give you either his backpack or rifle case, shaking his head. Can tell by the set of his eyes it’s not worry of thievery or mishandling making him haul his own baggage, being a little bit of a rude guest. Forced to guess, you’d say maybe he’s got a little bit of backwards in him—maybe a lady ought to not carry the things of a man when the man is capable.

thank you proph, i hope you like the snippet dskljds <3 <3

[lightleckrereins]

Thoughts on the Hungarian costumes?

I like them! While there are some things I would change; in general I really like them.

Breakdowns for both the Hungary and Poland costumes should come soon but meanwhile.

If anyone saw my very long, frustrated post on why I don't like the poland costumes you will know I think a clear concept tying all costumes together is one of the most important things to have. It is one of the basic rules of design: if you are doing things that go together but arent identical be it a set, a collection, a line or something else; you need at least one thing tying them all together, doesn't need to be obvious but needs to be there. When it comes to costumes or outfits for music groups the most common ways to do it are having everyone wear the same pieces (or accesories), or maintain the same silhouette, colors or materials. For replica design six you get the stud trim, no matter the design all have studs in most if not all lines, plus the the materials and some elements accross all designs.

Six Hungary does this very well. All the queens have a mix of corset, jacket, open skirt, shorts (pants and another skirt in two cases but as clearly separate pieces), crown, black boots and either sleeves or bracelets. Silhouette isnt the same but same elements make it so no one looks out of place. Everyone has gold plus another color, there are bands or straps on all costumes and many small details are repeated accross designs. Leather and sequins are a common material. All costumes are different but the designs look and feel like a group without needing to be identical and without copying elements from the replica design.

Colors are have pretty much my entire wishlist for non replica six: purple aragon and seymour, gold cleves and pastel pink howard. The crowns being a sort of high fashion take on historical shapes is a really cool and really smart concept. And I can't explain how much I love the slight fit, construction and material differences they have between each actor.

But there are things I dont love. Colors are generally a bit dull and a lot of the darker ones become black onstage. That also makes the few bright shades become a little too intense. Some of the silhouettes feel a little long for the actors. A few materials feel a little cheap (not that they are but having leather beside multiple synthetic fabrics will make the synthetics look cheap no matter the quality). Most skirts could use some additional structure. And some of the hairstyles feel like they belong in the early 2010s, just on the wrong side of outdated. Which might totally be my perception, I don't have a lot of context to mainland Europe hair trends.

Basically a great concept with good execution. And I love how we are finally seeing full new design concepts in six.

[acromandus]

Finally getting around to doing this! Thank you @thelifeinmyshadesofgrey for tagging me ♥♥♥♥♥ I haven't done these in ages so it was fun to feel like we were back in the 'golden era' of tumblr xD

Tag someone you want to know AND/OR some of your besties: I don't wanna pressure anyone to have to do this, so consider this a warm suggestion rather than a I-will-judge-you-if-you-don't kind of situation @heyitszev :) (and if anyone else reading this feels like it, go ahead, the more the merrier lmao)

Favourite colour: This is a tough one because it all just depends on context so much. I'd say typically I veer more towards darker tones in general: really like a nice dark green, or a dark red or crimson. Purple is lovely too :D

Last song: Two Knights and Maidens by Crash Test Dummies https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NS2EcHzdYY

Say what you want about the lyrics, but the chord progression in this song is *chefs kiss*

Last movie: 9. A bit of a strange one perhaps, but an interesting take on a post-apocalyptic world brought to life in a style that reminds me of Tim Burton a little bit. Basically, the world has been destroyed in a war between humans and machines, and we're introduced to a group of sentient dolls, each with a number on their backs from 1 to 9, who have had to survive in this strange new world while figuring out why they were made in the first place. I don't wanna spoil this for anyone who hasn't seen it, so I'll leave it at that :)

Currently watching: I'm in-between series atm haha. Waiting for season 4 of the Boys, and just finished watching season 2 of 30 Coins. Might just do a rewatch of Andor or the Punisher to fill this void.

Other stuff I watched this year: Err… from what I remember (and yes, since we're only in January, I'm counting 2023 into this as well) I'd say Moon Knight, Andor, 30 coins, a rewatch of Supernatural (up to season 12), and the One Piece live action series. Out of all these Andor was perhaps my favourite, but I enjoyed all of them, and was pleasantly surprised at how well the One Piece adaptation remained loyal to the original works :D they obviously had to adjust some things but it still felt true to form. With Andor, I was hesitant to watch it at first because the last SW series I had watched had been declining in quality (weird writing, etc), however… Andor completely blew me away. The way it builds up to the climax was just so well done, the writing is superb, music fantastic, and it's one of those series I wish I could forget about completely so I could experience it for the first time again.

Shows I dropped this year/didn’t finish: I haven't watched many series I've not finished since I usually watch them to the end anyway, but looks like that new Percy Jackson series may unfortunately fall into this category?

Currently reading: I've been powering through the Harry Potter books. Started during the Christams holidays and I'm now on book 6. So far so good, though I've had to slow down with holidays being over. Might need to reread the Robert Langdon series as well after this as it's still one of my personal favourites.

Currently listening to: This changes daily but I do find myself drifting back to Riot music very often. So, that's music made for League of Legends, Valorant, etc. Not the soundtracks, but songs like Worlds anthems like "GODS" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3GouGa0noM) and 2021's "Burn It All Down" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Z6CHioIn3s). I also absolutely love "Breathe" from the official launch video for Legends of Runeterra (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNhKAJwlj04). I also like this vid for it heavily featuring Darius, the only champ I ever played when I attempted to get into LoL before the toxicity got to me and I decided it's not for me :3 (didn't take long, but left me with a bit of a soft spot for him lmao)

I absolutely do not play any of these games but man… the music is on point imo. Something again about chord progression, don't ask what my obsession with that is lmao.

If I'm not listening to these and songs like them, I'm listening to heavy metal (industrial or symphonic), movie or game soundtacks, or oldies belonging to various genres from the 70s and 80s, occasionally 90s as well. Here's a couple examples:

Once You've Tasted Love by Take That

Take the Long Way Home by Supertramp

Evil Woman by Electric Light Orchestra

Misplaced by Sonata Arctica

And I will leave it at that as I've already included too many songs lmao

Currently working on: I'm currently making a backend for a gym app I'm working on. I somehow got the GraphQL elements working, now I need to get it saving to a database of somekind. I could do this locally or learn to save data to the cloud but I haven't yet decided which approach to take lmao. Overall, I'm just upskilling in the hopes of eventually landing a job as a full-stack developer. NO LUCK SO FAR aside a couple freelance frontend opportunities :/

Current obsession: Hmm….. good question. I'd say, despite me not playing it as much as I used to, I am slowly getting back to Elder Scrolls Online? Fire Emblem Fates is another, as well as Bleach.

[randomjreader]

Book review: A Cuban Girl's Guide to Tea and Tomorrow

Note: I have never really done a book review before, so I apologise in advance if this is more random ramblings than insightful comments or deep character and plot analysis or smtg. Also, spoilers ahead, you have been warned.

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So, I guess I gotta start by saying that this was a really enjoyable read. It's not a literary masterpiece or anything, and was kind of predictable, but it was wholesome and heartwarming and nice. It was a feel good fluffy story, with just the right amount of angst mixed into it that it didn't make me feel extra sad, but enough to drive the story and make it interesting.

For some context, I am a simple person; it doesn't take much to please me in a story as long as it stays away from a very small handful of tropes and themes that I despise. HOWEVER, I have a very short attention span. A book really has to captivate me to stop me from skipping paragraphs or chapters, or simply just skipping to the end to find out what happens and be done with it. ACGGTTAT did that.

The thing about this book is that a lot of emphasis is put on the experiences Lila faces, both in Miami and in Winchester. The ending was predictable enough: Lila and Orion getting together and making things work despite living in two different continents. So my impatient ass wasn't desperate to know what happened in the end, and instead could just enjoy the journey that Lila went on over the summer. It was well written, made me feel like I was there, and when Lila said she fell in love with England, I could imagine why.

My favourite thing about the book, though, is definitely learning about the Cuban culture. I'm not Latinx, or am from a place that gives exposure to Latinx culture at all really, so I loved reading about it and learning about some of the history and traditions and of course, the food. It was mind opening, and you can tell that this was personal, that the author really put a piece of herself into it. If I ever wrote a book, I would want to be able to do that. Tell a story that shares a part of my heritage and my identity with the world. I've also been meaning to learn Spanish, though I haven't really found the time, so now I have a few more words to add to my word bank and hope that I'll remember them.

Let's take a moment to talk about our main characters tho. I may not have faced a trifecta loss like Lila, but I do see myself in parts of her, the way she's stubborn and ambitious, has trouble handling change, and can sometimes be not aware of how her fire may affect people, like with Andrés and Stefanie. Her character arc was nice; she doesn't lose her drive or her ambition, it just changed along with her, and she becomes more aware of herself and works to better herself.

Her dynamic with Orion was also something I quite liked. Orion himself is such a great character. I've never been big on the mysterious, bad boy type of MCs, I much prefer kind, sensitive, a little goofy, a bit of golden retriever energy kind of boys. Orion is definitely the latter, but he also has darker depths. Him and Lila complement each other well. He slows her one track mind down, and she gives him hope and someone to fight for when he has grown to just accept what is given to him. I love how they are from two different worlds, but share their lives with each other and teach each other about their cultures.

But most of all, I really liked that Lila and Orion didn't have to kiss, or do anything extremely passionate, for us to see how they love each other. You can see the way their relationship progresses slowly, how they grow close day by day, and gain feelings for one another. They both long acknowledge their feelings for each other before they have their first kiss, which is something I don't see too often. And it was pretty realistic for them to want to hold back knowing that their time would come to and end soon, but it also didn't make their romance any less real, just because they were "friends". If you get what I mean.

Since we're on the topic of characters, I really wanna talk about how they're being portrayed in the upcoming movie by Maia Reficco and Kit Connor. I don't know much about Maia, just because she doesn't have many acting projects under her belt yet. Pretty little liars original sin was her big breakout role, but I personally can't handle horror/thriller yet, so I won't be watching pllos for a while. However, I have watched some of her interviews, and whatever clips I could scrounge up that wouldn't give me nightmares, and I think that she would make a great Lila. I can see how she can portray Lila's sassy and bold personality. Obviously, I'm a huge heartstopper fan, so I know more about Kit, and I 100% think he'll be a great Orion. He did such a good job with nick nelson, and I can see some similarities between the two characters, so I don't think he'll have any problem with portraying Orion accurately.

Ok, I've pretty much said all I wanted to say. It was a good read, definitely recommend, and I can't wait for the movie next year. Thanks for reading, and hey if you have any differing opinions or wtv chat with me in the comments I wanna see what other people think <3