#I just cannot comprehend why they think this is stuff we need or want

[wombywoo]

Ok! I've finally decided to put together a (somewhat) comprehensive tutorial on my latest art~

Please enjoy this little step-by-step 💁‍♀️

First things first--references!

Now I'm not saying you have to go overboard, but I always find that this is a crucial starting point in any art piece I intend on making. Especially if you're a detail freak like me and want to make it as realistic as possible 🙃

As such, your web browser should look like this at any given point:

Since this is a historical piece, it means hours upon hours of meaningless research just to see what color the socks are, but...again. that isn't, strictly, necessary 😅

Once I've compiled all my lovely ref pics, I usually dump them into a big-ass collage ⬇️

(I will end up not using half of these, alas :'D)

Another reference search for background material, and getting to showcase our models of choice for this occasion~

When picking a reference for an actor or model, the main thing I keep in mind (besides prettiness 🤭) is lighting and orientation. Because I already kinda know what pose I'm gonna go with for this piece, I can look for specific angles that might fit the criteria. I should mention that I am a reference hound, and my current COD actor ref folder looks like this:

Also keep in mind, if you're using a ref that you need to flip, make sure you adjust accordingly. This especially applies to clothing, as certain things like pants zippers and belt buckles can be quite specific ☝️

Now that we've spent countless hours googling, it's time to start with a rough sketch:

It doesn't have to be pretty, folks, just a basic guideline of where you want the figures to be.

The next step is to define it more, and I know this looks like that 'how to draw an owl' meme, but I promise--getting from the loose sketch above to below is not that difficult.

Things to keep in mind are--don't go too in-depth with the details, because things are still subject to change at this point. In terms of making a suitable anatomically-correct sketch, I would suggest lots of studying. This doesn't even have to be things like figure drawing, I genuinely look at people around me for inspiration all the time. Familiarize yourself with the human form, and things like weight, proportions, posing will seem a little more feasible.

It's also important at this stage to consider your composition. Remember to flip the canvas frequently to make sure you're not leaning to one side too often. I'm sure something can be said for the spiral fibonacci stuff, which I don't really try to do on purpose, but I think keeping things like symmetry and balance in mind is a good start ✌️

Next step is just blocking in the figures. Standard. No fuss 👍

Now onto the background!

It's frankly hilarious how many people thought I was *hand-drawing* these maps and stuff 😂😂 I cannot even begin to comprehend how insanely difficult that would be. So yeah, we're just taking the lazy copy and paste way out 🤙

I almost always prepare my backgrounds first, and this is mostly to get a general color scheme off the bat. For collage work, it's really just a matter of trial and error, sticking this here, slapping this there, etc. I like to futz around with different overlay options until I've found a nice arrangement. Advice for this is just--go nuts 🤷‍♀️

Next, I add a few color adjustments. I tend to make at least 2 colors pop in an art piece, and low and behold, they usually tend to be red and blue ❤️💙There's something about warm/cool vibes, idk man..

Now we move on to coloring the figures. This is just a basic block and fill, not really defining any of the details yet.

Next, we add some cursory values. Sloppy airbrush works fine, it'll look better soon I promise 🙏

And now--rendering!

I know a lot of beginner artists are intimidated by rendering, and I can totally understand why. It's just one of those things you have to commit to 💪

I've decided to show a brief process of rendering our dear Johnny's face here:

Starting off, I usually rely on the trusty airbrush just to get some color values going. Note--I've kept my sketch layer on top, but feel free to turn it on and off as you work, so as to not be too bound to the sketch. For now, it's just a guideline.

This next stage may look like a huge jump, but it's really just adding more to the foundation. I try to think of it like putting on make-up in a way~ Adding contours, accentuating highlights. This is also where I start adding in more saturation, especially around areas such as ears, nose and lips. Still a bit fuzzy at this point, but that's why we keep adding to it 💪

A boy has appeared! See--now I've removed most of the line layer, and it holds up on its own. I'll admit that in order to achieve this realistic style, you'll need lots and lots of practice and skill, which shouldn't be discouraging! Just motivate yourself with the prospect of getting to look at pretty men for countless hours 🙆‍♀️

I'll probably do a more in-depth explanation about rendering at some point, but let's keep this rolling~

Moving forward is just a process of adding to the figures bit by bit. I do lean towards filling in each section from top to bottom, but you can feel free to pop around to certain parts that appeal to you more. I almost always do the faces first though, because if they end up sucking, I feel less guilty about scrapping it 😂 But no--I think he's pretty enough to proceed 😚

They're coming together now 🙆‍♀️ Another helpful tip--make sure you reuse color. By that, I mean--try to incorporate various colors throughout your piece, using the eyedropper tool to keep a consistent palette. I try to put in bits of red and blue where I can

Here they are fully rendered! Notice I've made a few subtle changes from the sketch, like adjusting the belt buckles because I made a mistake 😬 Hence why you shouldn't put too much stock in your initial sketch~

The next step is more of a stylistic choice, but I usually go over everything with an outline, typically in a bright color like green. Occasionally, I can just use my initial line layer, but for this, I've made a brand new, cleaner line 👍

And the final step is adjusting the color and adding some text:

Tada!! It's done!

All in all, this took me the better part of a week, but I have a lot of free time, so yeah ✌️

I hope you appreciated that little walkthrough~ I know people have been asking me how I do my art, but the truth is--I usually have no clue how to explain myself 😅 So have this half-assed tutorial~

As a bonus, here is a cute (cursed) image of Johnny without his mustache:

A baby, a literal infant child !!! who put this wee bairn on the front lines ??! 😭

Anyway! peace out ✌️

[bandtrees]

this has always been one of my favorite lines in this scene it’s so striking to me. i think debating over callum’s level of lucidity and what can or cannot “fix” him is deeply antithecal to what the story is trying to express with him - but the idea that callum is still there and still a person who does have the capacity to love mingus, just not in a way she can ever comprehend or accept, because she can't comprehend or accept anything outside her narrow worldview, is sooooo good.

there is no way of actually knowing if callum is proud of mingus, much less recognizes her at all - but it's added to by the fact there's only so much of that she would accept even if he could. ultimately, she wants validation and power, his prestige, from him, she wants a supportive parental figure she never had - there's only so much of that callum is able to provide even in a world where her stint to fix his memory actually worked. he's like a hundred. he never even MET her. to say nothing of all he's missed in the past fifty-odd years. to say nothing of how his age may have messed with his mind deteriorating even without the pre-existing brain damage.

and mingus' phrasing here implies he doesn't even look at her when she visits - which brings me to the visit that radicalized her: the one after her surgery, where he was watching gingi out the window.

obviously, callum watching gingi is mostly for the thematics of it all, how similar the two of them are in ways mingus refuses to recognize, but theres also the thought of... callum's been sitting alone in that room for over half his life, barely lucid if at all. of course he's going to be drawn to a brightly-colored thing making noises and knocking stuff over outside. if he can't respond to stimuli of the people around him he's at the very least going to latch onto something more visually interesting than Brown Wall and Brown Figure.

but it's not like mingus can think of it like that, because she's internalized so much about her grandfather and built up such a specific, personalized vision of him - she doesn't see him as an elderly man with (a fictional equivalent to) dementia, she sees him as President Callum Crown™, the man she personally has to please and live up to the legacy of and make proud, disregarding the fact that's not something he has the mental capacity to even do - because she's so obsessed with validation and complete control that the only way she can get it is by either subjugating others and forcing it out of them (what she does with her townsfolk), or just completely projecting on someone who, for her purposes, is basically a blank slate.

which is maddening to her in its own way, see how crazy she drives herself trying to restore callum's memory in the first place - but also, would she be happy even if callum could see her for who she is? post-game, when she's working on herself, that's an irrelevant question as she's pushed past that need, but as we know her? absolutely not.

i love the ch3 standoff between norm and mingus as a show of "Okay guys let’s see who can dehumanize this disabled guy harder (via pedestal-putting) and justify themselves for it better" and why i think it is so important that it’s gingi who reads the postcard and ultimately speaks for callum instead of either of them, or even the narrator. they can’t read, and they struggle to, but they manage to get it right even when people are telling them to stop. and the fact they’re able to do it at all, are given the chance to do so, and are ultimately the one to wind down this conflict shows that the world of dialtown, while not perfect, really is how callum would have wanted it.

both gingi and callum are some of the most altruistic and human characters ever, and the crux of their parallels is that they are denied this by close-minded people because they happen to Behave Strangely. it's why seeing mingus act the way she does hits so hard - she loves her paw-paw, yes, but if she were to see him in a vacuum, a one-limbed man who can hardly think, much less speak for himself: or even his younger self, who was struggling to make ends meet with his odd inventions...

...well, the feeling norm's imagining here would probably be mutual. mingus' relationship with bigotry is a very fascinating one, she's very close-minded but views certain oddities (ie her flesh-head) as having earned their place and thus being fine - she's a freak too, by her own admission, but she's doing it for a just and wider purpose, so it's fine. which is, ironically, the ideology callum forced upon himself.

callum was obsessed with helping people, pushing himself to do more and more, because it was the only way he ever found respect. if he didn't help people and have grand visions for the world and make himself "useful" to society at large, then what would he be, if not a freak?

mingus and her paw-paw are very similar people, from their well-intentioned extremism, to their stubbornness and paranoia, to their inability to view themselves as anything more than a vessel for that grand cause they believe in (callum in the dialup, mingus in restoring her paw-paw's memory) - which is funny, because if mingus was able to view callum, and herself, as a flawed human person, she would come to understand how similar they really are.

:(

[hammerhead-jpg]

Okay okay okay imma talk about something

Redacted ramble number 45 go!!!!!

The potential argument as to why shipping Asher and David is bad could be "yes, Asher and David have shown to be very close in a way regular friendships aren't, literally being "more than a promise " and "two sides of the same coin" and all the other other stuff we've been told, but why can't that be platonic? Why can't we assume that even in a world where they don't already have their own mates that kinda thing couldn't possibly be platonic ? As a society we always assume that if two people that aren't related become closer than your average friendship it automatically means that it has to be romantic, that they then have to start dating, move in together, get married and have children. But Asher and David very well could have all that closeness and still be just best friends."

And to that I would usually say that well, shipping is done for fun. There doesn't have to be rhyme or reason to it. Most people who ship them (at least I think) are able to comprehend the idea that Asher and David could be that close and still consider themselves best friends and not lovers because that is the reality of the series.

But then I thought no- I - uh -NO!!

Because hhejjsjesjsuj EVERY single interaction that implies closeness IS FUCKIN FULL of sextual tension like no joke with the scene in the wedding where David fixes Asher's tie I was actually wondering if they were gonna start making out or somth

I can't fuckin say that their relationship is inherently romantic cuz that would be a lie but LIKE hdkdndmdhjfjj their relationship is so much closer to romance than your average very VERY close friendship

To paint you a picture Milo is also a person that is very very close to David and Asher

Sure, maybe not as much to them as they are to each other, Milo met them later in life, he was never their roommate or David's main support while he was grieving his father's death but they're still very close

Yesterday I read a fic about all three of them as a polycule and it's just felt...wrong

I guess if there are any wolf boys polycule lovers rn I'm sorry but having Milo in there felt wrong in a way I cannot describe

And the imperium AU.....the IMPERIUM AU

The existence of the imperium au inherently implies that if Asher and David didn't meet their mates they would be together romantically. THERE IS A NON CANON YET OFFICIAL AU WHERE THEY WERE LOVERS FOR LIFE SO CLOSE THAT WHEN DAVID DIED NOT ONLY DID IT PERMANENTLY CHANGE ASHER BUT LITERALLY A PART OF HIS MAGIC DIED WITH DAVID.

There is nothing in the story that really needed Asher and David to be mates, so much so that in the original Imperium AU episode Erik had no plans for them to have been lovers until he made the cataclysm sequel it's literally just because Erik wanted to

SO IF the implication is that if they didn't meet their mates they would've have been lovers then you CANNOT judge people for imagining that scenario where it's not in an imperialistic world where one of them ends up dying

Also I can't even say that it's because they didn't meet their mates because although David obviously didn't meet Angel because they were engaged(?) to the king imperial Asher I'm pretty sure meets Baabe around the same time that he meets them in the prime universe so like?????

In conclusion If Erik ships them then you cannot blame me for doing the same thing!!

[subliminalbo]

This story is a companion to Assimilation #4: Night Sounds

Days later, Nina still couldn’t believe what she’d seen at her sister’s apartment. She played the moment over and over in her head until she convinced herself that none of it could be real. Soon, the strangest details of that night retreated like so many forgotten nightmares. But even as the images faded, the feelings lingered. The initial shock when she opened the door to find the nude bodies of her sister and her roommates bathed in the moonlight, the sudden arousal when Gabrielle and Allison turned their attentions to her, and the unimaginable dread that that feeling filled her with. 

At night, Nina had to bite down on her shirt to stifle her moans. She whimpered as her fingers glided over her throbbing clit, mere feet away from her sleeping roommate Chloe. 

Nina had masturbated before, but never this frequently, never so obsessively. She loathed herself for it. Chloe smuggled a new boy into their dorm every other night. "Call me reductive," Chloe had once said to Nina with a shrug. "But sometimes a woman's just a set of holes that need to be filled."

God, Nina needed help before she ended up just like her.

"I think you're holding something back, Nina," Dr. Fielding said with a sharp click of her pen.

She was more intimidating than Nina had expected. A head taller, with these intense, dark eyes that burrowed through her as she spoke.

Nina hugged herself as she spoke. "I told you everything I saw. I walked in and they were just there, all three of them..."

"Why do you think it had such a profound effect on you?"

"It didn't," Nina squeezed herself tighter. "I mean, I just never thought my sister would ever take part in something like that. It just surprised me."

"Seeing your sister in the act of sex with her friends shook you to your core," Dr. Fielding observed. "Obviously you have a great deal of respect for her, but I think there's something deeper here that we're not accessing."

"I can't think of anything," Nina insisted.

"Maybe we should try a different approach." Dr. Fielding said. "Hypnosis can be effective in retrieving buried or damaged memories."

Nina was skeptical, but she deferred to Dr. Fielding's experience.

"I'm going to breathe deeply in, and then deeply out. I want you to match my pattern."

"Okay," Nina replied slowly. "I'm not very good at stuff like this."

"Don't overthink it," Dr. Fielding assured her. "Just follow my lead. I'm breathing in...and I'm breathing out...you can close your eyes if it makes it easier."

Nina followed Dr. Fielding's instruction. Her shoulders relaxed, her eyes flitted shut. She hated when people told her to "relax," as if relaxation was a state she could simply access. If it were that easy, why would she ever need therapy?

But it was easier once Nina closed her eyes. She simply focused on the rhythmic sound of Dr. Fielding’s breathing. She counted the time between inhale and exhale, eight seconds, and soon she was matching the pattern beat for beat. The world began to slow.

"You’re going to repeat what I say, Nina," Dr. Fielding continued.

"Yes, Dr. Fielding," Nina replied.

"Visualize a space in your mind. A space deep, deep down in the depths of your subconscious, as deep as you can go."

"As deep as I can go," Nina repeated quietly.

"No thoughts can penetrate this space. You are alone here with my voice."

"No thoughts...alone..."

"Now I want you to go even deeper. Find a place where the concept of free will ceases to exist."

"Deeper..."

"Find that place...and drop."

With a click of Dr. Fielding's pen, Nina's head dropped as if an invisible cord that held her together had been severed.

"Can you still hear me, Nina?" Dr. Fielding asked.

"Yes..." Nina's speech was noticeably slower, her gaze obscured by the hair dangling over her eyes.

"Your conscious mind is a liability, Nina. Its motivation is to make order out of chaos. It buries what it cannot comprehend. As long as you let your conscious mind rule you, you'll never truly know your own self. I'm going to help you access your true memories, Nina, but for this exercise I need you to leave your conscious mind down there in that deep, inaccessible place.

"When I click my pen, you'll come back to me completely blank. No thoughts, no will. In this state, you'll be totally obedient to me, do you understand?"

"Totally obedient..." Nina moaned.

Click.

Nina's head snapped back up. She looked at Dr. Fielding with a pair of distant, glassy eyes. A drop of drool fell from her chin to her shirt.

"Remember, Nina," Dr. Fielding exhaled. "No thoughts, no will, no conscious mind. Only truth. So tell me how you feel."

“I feel so…” Nina’s eyes fluttered. Her hand traveled unconsciously up to squeeze her breast. “So…” she began to massage herself through her shirt. "So horny..." She sunk down in her seat, her legs spreading open, the fingers of her other hand tracing desperately along the fly of her jeans.

Dr. Fielding raised a curious eyebrow.

"Well don't let me stop you," she waved a casual hand. "Masturbate. Let all of that tension go."

"Thank you..." Nina moaned. Her lips parted her tongue as she unbuttoned her jeans. Her hand slid under the waistband, fingers dipping into her wet folds. She released a quiet whimper.

Dr. Fielding scribbled a note.

"How often do you feel horny?" she asked.

"All the time," Nina gasped. Each jolt of pleasure carried her even further from her conscious mind. "Since that night..."

Dr. Fielding leaned forward in her chair. “The night of the orgy,” she said. “Why does it scare you so much? Why are you afraid to explore your body, Nina?”

“Because…” Nina moaned. “This isn’t me. These aren’t my thoughts…aren’t my feelings…It’s…” A sharp cry escaped her lips as the first orgasm took her. “It’s the Voice! The Voice, it...it changed me...”

Dr. Fielding tapped her finger on the arm of her chair, she shifted her crossed legs, let loose a soft, imperceptible sigh. "Can you take me there, Nina? Can you show me what you really saw that night?"

awaken

The sound snaps Nina's eyes wide open. It's so loud that it drives her up from the couch. She knows that what she had heard was a scream, but...

"Stop," Dr. Fielding says.

Nina blinks. She's back in her sister's apartment, back in that night. It’s as if she’s waking from a long dream. She isn’t alone this time. She can hear Dr. Fielding’s voice somewhere on the surface of reality.

"Memory is imperfect," Dr. Fielding explains. "Yet it's the primary source with which we document our experiences. Each time we access a memory, we lose a part of it, change it in some way. Think about how you remember this night, then focus on the moment we're in now. Count the differences. Let's start there."

"There's nothing different," Nina insists. "It's the same dark living room, the same eerie silence, the same..." she pauses, noticing a cluster of voices outside the window. A distant thump, thump, thump of dance music.

"There was a party next door," Nina remembers. "It was so loud when I was falling asleep that I tossed and turned for an hour. But when I woke up, everything was silent. I mean...I remember silence."

"That's very good," Dr. Fielding says. "And now that we know that one part of your memory is wrong, we have to assume that any part of it can be. Do you agree?"

"Yes..."

"What else?"

"I don't...I..." Nina's eyes widen as the sounds of the night come back to her. "It wasn't a scream that woke me up. It was a voice."

"There was someone else in the room?" Dr. Fielding asks.

"No," Nina shakes her head. "Taryn had just come home, but she went straight upstairs. I was completely alone in the living room. I think...I think the voice was in my mind."

submit

Nina released a sharp cry as another orgasm washed over her body. Her eyes were closed. She was still in the darkness of that night, but conscious enough to respond to any of Dr. Fielding's questions. Her search for release grew desperate as she clawed at her clothes, tearing her shirt open until her breast was free.

Dr. Fielding watched with hungry eyes as Nina rolled her thumb and forefinger along the ridges of her hard nipple, moaning quietly between her thoughtful responses, “Can’t stop…have to cum…have to cum…can’t stop…can’t stop cumming…have to…have to cum…can’t stop cumming…”

Dr. Fielding’s legs uncrossed, spreading slightly open. She continued with her questioning.

"What did the voice say?"

come

Nina stands before the bedroom door at the end of the hallway.

"I was empty," she says. "I was powerless to disobey. It said 'come' and I followed it upstairs to this room."

"And this is when you cracked the door open to look inside?" Dr. Fielding asks.

"No," Nina shakes her head. "I mean that's how I remembered it, but..."

"Tell me exactly what happened, Nina."

"It's Taryn's room," Nina promptly replies. "I could hear noises behind the door. I remember the squeak of the bed frame. I remember the deep, desperate moans. But I didn't need to look inside to know what was on the other side of the door. The Master had already shown me."

"The Master?"

"The voice," Nina clarifies. "It commanded me to 'enter,' so I opened the door and I found what I already knew was there."

The door swings open revealing the scene on the other side. Three gorgeous, naked young women caught in the heat of mindless, animal sex. One woman is lying flat on the bed with another down low between her legs. The third stands at the side of the bed directing the action.

"The orgy," Dr. Fielding says.

"I noticed Taryn on the bed first," Nina continues. "Allison was the one between her legs. The way her tits swung made me so horny. I've never been attracted to a woman before but watching it, I wanted her. And then there was my sister, Gabrielle. She climbed on top of Taryn. She lowered herself over Taryn's face and began to ride her, and when Gabrielle climbed back off, I saw a black liquid bubbling up from Taryn's mouth."

"A black liquid? You're sure that's a real memory?"

Taryn is still on the bed convulsing in ecstasy as Gabrielle and Allison stand straight up.

"It was the Master," Nina says. "They were changing her. The transformation isn't complete until the Master fills the vessel's body."

Gabrielle and Allison stare forward toward the doorway. The black liquid rolls down Gabrielle's leg. They are watching Nina.

"That's when I heard their voices in my mind. They were pulling me into the room."

"Their voices?"

"Gabrielle and Allison's."

"You could hear their voices in your head now?"

"They are assimilated," Nina says. "They no longer need to speak."

"How did you escape?"

"I came to my senses when I saw Gabrielle's eyes. It was difficult to make out the details in them, the way they glowed in the darkness. But then I realized that there was no detail at all. Just blank, white, inhuman eyes. I knew that this thing wasn't my sister, I knew that if I followed her into that room that I wouldn't be myself when I left it either."

"So you ran?"

"Yes. I ran as fast as I could."

"But what happened to the voice?” Dr. Fielding asks. She’s standing in the hallway next to Nina now. “The one that pulled you upstairs?"

Nina turns her head away from the scene in Taryn's room to look straight at Dr. Fielding. Her eyes are the same empty, white eyes that she just described in her sister’s gaze.

"The Master is still with me,” she says. “Its voice is buried deep, deep down in my subconscious. As deep as it could go."

obey

Sylvia couldn’t hold back any longer.

In all of her studies she had never come across anything like this. Her expertise was in the human mind. She understood the mechanisms by which people could be manipulated by their own desires, how thoughts and memories and desires could be shaped, shifted, and changed. She knew how to make a person drop to their knees in absolute submission.

But she knew nothing about supernatural forces. She didn’t understand the feeling that moved through her when Nina suddenly opened her glassy eyes. She didn’t understand why she’d risen from her chair and torn open her blouse, promptly discarding her clothes as she joined Nina on the couch. Why she pressed her lips to Nina’s exposed breast, rolling her tongue along Nina’s nipple as she imagined the black liquid filling her mouth.

She didn’t understand why she fucked Nina, positioning herself on the couch so that her legs were locked with the young student’s, their slick pussies grinding together as she rolled her hips. She didn’t understand why Nina’s mantra came flooding from her own mouth between deep gasps and hungry moans. 

“Can’t stop…can’t stop…have to cum…have to…can’t stop cumming…have to cum…can’t stop cumming…”

"There is no escape once the Master’s voice touches you," Nina droned. "It breaks you, fills you, reshapes you. Everything you’ve ever known, everything you’ve ever dreamed fades away in total desire to obey the Master’s design. We are all vessels. We will all surrender."

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!"

Sylvia had lost count of the number of times she’d cum. Her mind flickered in and out like an old television set. She’d been trained to resist brainwashing, but each time she came she cared a little bit less. It felt too good to submit. After dedicating her life to the Submission Principle, her theory that all humans have one thing that makes them predisposed to brainwashing, she’d discovered something far more powerful. Something that defied all logic. And she needed to become one with it.

"I need it," Sylvia panted, her tongue hungrily tracing the outline of her lips. "I need to hear the Master. I need to be broken. I need to be filled." Her eyes rolled back as she came again.

"All life surrenders to the Master," Nina moaned.

"All life…all life surrenders…"

When Dr. Fielding woke up, her mind was her own again. 

She found herself naked at the foot of the couch. Nina’s feet were pressed into her office carpet. She sat upright on the couch, awaiting Dr. Fielding’s commands. 

Dr. Fielding wasted no more time collecting her discarded clothes and returning to her chair to finish the session. She cleared her throat, tried to regain her strong composure, then said with a slight shake in her voice, "Are you still with me, Nina?"

"Yes, Dr. Fielding," Nina replied coolly.

"I want you to forget about the Master," Dr. Fielding said. "Wherever it is in your mind right now, I want you to find it and let it go.”

“Yes, Dr. Fielding.”

“But,” Dr. Fielding continued. “I don’t want you to forget how it made you feel. I want you to remember the uncontrollable lust. Take it, embrace it, let it define you. You’re a young woman, Nina. It’s okay to explore your body. It’s okay to want to suck cock and eat pussy."

"Yes, Dr. Fielding." The validation made the entranced young woman moan.

"Sometimes," Dr. Fielding said. "A woman is just a set of holes that need to be filled. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Dr. Fielding. I am just a set of holes that need to be filled."

Dr. Fielding bit her lip before she continued. "I want to meet with you again next week. I want you to tell me all about how you apply this new perspective. You won’t disappoint me."

"I won’t disappoint you, Dr. Fielding."

Nina was still in trance when the session ended. Dr. Fielding called down to her secretary to request a change of clothes for the young woman. Before she let Nina go, she left her with one final direction to forget the content of their session together.

Nina's conscious mind returned to the sound of the office door swinging shut behind her. She didn’t question the new pair of clothes or why she left the session in such high spirits. After all, isn’t therapy about getting your mind right?

As Nina exited the Psychology Department building, she thought about how sometimes she was just a set of holes that needed to be filled. At the bus stop she dialed the number of her chemistry TA.

"Hey, David," she smiled into her phone. Just the sound of his voice made her pussy ache. "I’m sorry for bothering you outside of class. I was just wondering if you’d be interested in meeting me for some tutoring tonight?"

[skaruresonic]

Remember me? To start off: I'm sorry about triggering some terrible and mentally painful memories when I went off about how I felt about the state of Flynn criticism. I never intended that. I wasn't defending or, heck, even trying to invite discussion about Flynn's rabid fanatics anyway. I could've chosen my words better, but aside from the detractors' mentalities, I meant to focus on Flynn ONLY. And I have nothing against your or their fan fictions. I do fan fiction, too. I just noticed what seemed like extreme shilling surrounding their exposure. I don't aim (and never did) to change minds about the dude, but I find the constructiveness of the critical discourse has been long lost.

Fitting that I received your ask on the first-year anniversary of my visual novel.

And I have nothing against your or their fan fictions. I do fan fiction, too.

Then why bring it up? What does "and your fics aren't even that good" add to the conversation about another writer's work?

I just noticed what seemed like extreme shilling surrounding their exposure.

Ah. There it is.

Look, I'm going to be brutally honest with you. But before I do, I want you to know I'm not angry with you, just annoyed - and perhaps angry in general at the overall situation we're in.

Honestly, the current climate is reminding me of the time antis gentrified Half-Life and caused the old guard to disperse. Everyone in our mutual circle is drifting away from Sonic in some form or another because it's such a toxic cesspit, and what's worse, they blame us for it. Would you want to stay in a situation like that?

Anyway, I have no patience for "you keep shilling your work" anymore because that standard only seems to apply to us. If we held everyone else to that standard, this entire Chili's would be revealed as hypocrites in an instant.

The fic mocking is not an isolated event. I've seen it happen over and over again, for years. Folks mocked Crusher's fic and OCs on TV Tropes. Folks mocked Darklight's OCs on Twitter. Folks sneered that we were too stupid to comprehend storytelling, and once someone said "none of them can even draw."

They can never leave it at "their criticisms suck." No, they have to make things so much more personal than they need to be. In the absence of an actual argument, they call you names, say you deserve all kinds of punishment, including but not limited to death and rape. Crusher had to delete hundreds of threats from his inbox. So please forgive me if my patience has waned paper-thin.

Folks feel the need to knock us down a peg because they think it's "warranted" on the basis of "we have egos." Which is a riot when, again, everyone on social media shills their work. That's what fandom does. You cannot throw a rock in here without hitting someone who thinks their AU improves on the games. I don't know why IDW is so sacrosanct that saying "I could probably do better" is considered blasphemy.

Whether or not my friends shill their own work as being "better" than IDW or whatever else is irrelevant. IDW staff are professionals (or should be, anyway); what do they care if some rando thinks they can do better? Besides, have you heard Flynn's recent grumblings about how he's tired of having the same conversations about his work since he was in high school? Why does he keep answering questions he doesn't want to dignify with a response? Why does he sound so miserable for someone who essentially Won the Game(tm)?

People telling you your work sucks a couple of times, yeah, maybe you can chalk that up to trolling. But when damn near everyone takes the excuse to hit below the belt, you start to feel less like "don't feed the trolls" and more like you're deliberately being targeted as a punching bag.

And I'm sorry, but I have no patience for that stuff. Take whatever umbrage you want with the state of criticism these days, but leave the fic out of it. That's all I ask.

[arashikohedervary]

I cannot express in words how much I love the crew in Our Flag Means Death. I adore how much personality they all have even tough they are stuck in the "background character" group. I would honestly watch it if any of them would have their own spin-off. I mean, I like Ed and Stede just fine, but look at these babies!!!

Frenchie: Oh, don't get me started on Frenchie, I adore the man. He's the literal impersonation of 'looks like a cinammon roll, could kill you'. My man is a DnD bard who invented pyramid schemes *and* fanfictions. Plus he may be the genius of his age while still believing in witches and crystals.

Wee John: Roomies! Man, how much more I'd like to see of this beautiful Drag Queen. Long live Calypso! And how much I whish to know if he sews his own drag clothes.🤔

Black Pete: It's not healthy how much I'm invested in "Blackbeard's most trusted man". He thinks he needs to create cool stories to get the others to like him, but he's actually very soft and caring. I mean, have you seen the finger he gave to Lucius? He's an angel.

Lucius: If it weren't from Ori from the Hobbit movies, he'd be my favorite scribe of all times. My man is underpaid for all the realitionship drama he has to listen to and his bonus consisted of getting thrown off the ship (which is, like, rude). Also, he can pickpocket Spanish Jackie???? Hi, yes, I'd like to order a backstory, possibly 20 hours long, please.

Buttons: Oh gosh, the Sea Witch. I'm in need of much more explanation and screen time dear writers. And he straight up talks to animals and curses people? Aunty took one look at him and went: "Yapp, that's the Sea Witch". I wonder how Frenchie haven't declared him an evil witch yet.

Roach: My man is a maniac cook whose also the medic just in case. He's half crazy and I couldn't thank him more for it. He also let's Stede request orange cakes from him which is just very sweet overall. Bro also invented peanut butter (like we wouldn't notice it), then fed it to an allergic person, then blamed it on a curse.

the Swede: It's most certainly not fair how well written he is for him to be standing in the background. He has the voice of an angel, please! He might not be the smartest person in the room, but he fucks like a jackhammer, I mean he became hot. That's something.

Jim: Oh, sometimes I cannot comprehend how great Jim is. They're mute, then a mermaid, then neither, 'cause they're just Jim! They're exactly the kinda person to give up revenge for 'not feeling the vibe' anymore. They also would kill anyone who hurts their crewfamily without batting an eye.

Oluwande: Don't even get me started on this beautiful, lovely teddy bear. He's the best hearted, but still serious and trustful of all. He literally gets along with everyone and we need so much people like him. Today's message is to be more like Olu!

Thank you for listening to my Ted-talk, don't worry, the 'why I love Izzy' will be a separate post will be, I couldn't fit him here.

Plus stuff I want to mention that this isn't directed against the writers, I know there were more than one problems with the founding of the second season. Rather, this is a compliment for all the hard work for these *excellent* characters! xx

[aditheursula]

We're Kind of Doomed...Just a Little

Tonight while I was playing PVE DayZ, I came across a large gas canister that I didn't need. I typed out in the chat that I had a large gas canister that I didn't need and if anyone needs it then it's theirs. I would even leave it where they could find it later if need be. Someone responded with, "We can buy that at the Trader." This didn't exactly break my brain yet it started me thinking. Capitalism is a certain kind of brain rot that goes so deep into the psyche of a person that they impose its rigidity on a fucking video game.

I say this because that person and many other people on the server:

Believe that there should be no "hand outs".

Believe that community is not about sharing as much as it is about making a profit from others and expect rewards.

Find it foreign/baffling when a person doesn't want a reward or payment for something.

Get mean & aggressive when you want to share items with others. (Ex. "WHY ARE YOU DOING THAT?!?!? THAT'S WORTH X-AMOUNT YOU C*NT!")

Cannot comprehend bartering or mutual aid.

What baffles me is that DayZ is about surviving a zombie apocalypse. Keyword being "surviving". Just because there are traders it does not mean that the survival aspect must be capitalistic. Helping people and building a communal aspect in a post-apocalyptic environment where you could be mauled to death by zombies, bears, wolves, etc at any time is the best survival option and not where one must depend on having enough cash on hand to buy every little thing.

The more I think about a zombie/post-apocalypse type scenario happening in a place like the United States or United Kingdom (or any hyper-nationalist capitalist state) the more I think we're kind of fucking doomed. Like just a little fucking doomed. Mainly because of the individualist, "pick yourself up by your bootstraps" mentality that has gotten only the 1% farther in life yet brainwashed billions into thinking they are millionaires in-waiting while they get paid unfairly. Too many do not understand mutual aid...yet they set up GoFundMe accounts so they can pay off their medical bills. It's disturbing how around-the-facts people can go and for how long.

Even in a fucking survival video game where you loot to survive in a post-apocalyptic world full of stuff that wants to kill you there are people that put a price on everything and hold currency over necessity. If you've ever been in a WoW Guild it can also be this way too.

We all saw and were impacted by the Pandemic. We all saw what people did with hoarding supplies and buying up supplies so they could sell them online at a markup...during a global pandemic. The world is still recovering from that greed (and Covid-19 has not gone away at all). Supply chains are still fucked. Imagine if the Pandemic was worse. Imagine if The Last of Us came to pass. I don't even want to think about it not because of the clickers. No. I don't want to think of it because of the ultra-individualism of too many people that would become a faction of rabid capitalists without a world bank or a stable currency.

Just a little fucking doomed.

[aotopmha]

At lvl 87 Endwalker quests.

The Venat duty absolutely destroyed me.

I was planning to get Elpis done this weekend, but I struggled almost an hour and an half (maybe even twoish hours, didn't precisely track it) on this duty until I, for probably first time while playing this game, turned down the difficulty of a solo duty, and I'm pretty exhausted, so the rest of Elpis is left for another day.

It's a fantastic encounter because it sells you just how powerful Venat truly is really well, but it's another bit of gameplay proof to me that the difficult content of the game probably isn't something that is for me (and makes me incredibly grateful for the lower difficulty options for solo duties).

(At the very least I know progging some of the Savage content and especially Ultimates would probably drive me up the wall.

Extremes, I do want to give a try because they generally seem less time-intensive and lenient. I won't *completely* exclude tougher stuff, but at the very least I know that kind of content would get unfun fairly quick for me because of what it is by nature.)

It's the orbs that got me with every class I tried; just couldn't get enough of them in time, but as said, I'm pretty grateful for the 'easy' button.

With this out of the way, I think there is actually a good amount to say about all of the lvl 86 and 87 content up to the solo duty.

It can be actually summed up pretty easily: it's all just a lot of characterization, but it is characterization for a bunch of different characters and essentially an entire culture. More than any other zone, I think it is the motivations and perspectives of the characters that matter the most.

You've got the friendship between Emet and Hythlodeus, the father-daughter relationship between Hermes and Meteion and as I see it a student-mentor (maybe?) relationship between the WoL and Venat.

Between these are less focused dynamics like Venat teasing Emet or the cute budding friendship between the WoL and Meteion.

Then we have the individual characterization for all of them, too.

But before I fully go into them, there is a pretty big general thought I have about Elpis:

It is fanservice.

It is such unquestionably, blatantly, unflinchingly obvious fanservice that it should bother me so much more than it does.

For crying out loud, the entire portion of the story starts with Emet filling you with his aether. They're fully indulging the Emet simps.

But it is also substantial and thoughtful every step of the way, and I think really well told, so I really like it.

So, I'll get into exploring all of the characters in their basics. You could probably an entire massive post about every single one of them, but I just want to go into them in the most concise, simple way for now.

I'll start with Emet-Selch. I think my favorite part about Emet in Elpis is how he reacts when he learns about his actions in the future.

He cannot comprehend how he could be so disrespectful towards the sacrifice of his brethren, while all across the questing during the zone, his actions especially show just how much he cares about the well-being of the Star and his brethren, and that is the exact reason why he ends up doing what he does.

The reason why everything happens is because of who he is as a character. It is fantastic character-based plot writing, which is kind of a trend across all of Elpis (and happens to be probably my favorite type of writing, I love it when things happen because of who the characters are).

It is delicious Greek tragedy fodder.

Next, I've talked a bunch about how I no longer think character arcs are the be all and end all of good character writing and I think Hythlodeus is probably the best example in FF14.

He is just a super fun and likeable good (tease-y) friend. And he doesn't need to be more as a character.

(And everyone loves him!)

Obviously he has much less time on screen than everyone else, and he would probably get old after a while if we had him for a bunch of expansions, but I think he is proof that all you need for a great character is a likeable base personality.

His teasing dynamic with Emet is super fun and his presence only emphasizes why what Emet does and believes in the future makes sense.

Next are Hermes and Meteion.

The more I think on it, the more I feel like they're the thematic core of the story. And both are also carrying another type of narrative I love: stories about feelings.

Technically you can argue all stories are to some extent about feelings because stories are kind of there to make you feel.

But to me Endwalker is specifically about mental illness, more specifically perhaps about depression and despair and overcoming it.

It's fascinating, every time I even type about these ideas, I feel an unease, as if it shouldn't be a big deal, as if I'm making a mountain out of a molehill but also as if I was judging people for it. I feel there is still an unspoken stigma to it.

But it is a very serious issue. I myself have struggled with these thoughts, and though I luckily have found my answer and have gotten better, I still see and feel that judgment and disapproval directed at anyone who is suffering.

"Just stop being sad!"

"It's not that big of a deal!"

And in that sense, I feel Hermes is probably the most real of all of the characters in Elpis.

Is he the anomaly for essentially experiencing depression? Is he the anomaly for not agreeing with the norm of just discarding animals, thus other lives on a whim? For not seeing death as "beautiful" as his culture does?

As someone who has been there, dismissing or simplifying Hermes' struggle rings false to me. This is what mental illness does, what depression does. Mental illness makes everything bigger, creates tunnel vision, so Hermes can't see the good around him and so turns to look for purpose elsewhere.

I remember seeing a video title along the lines of "Hermes should suffer more" or again talking points about him "just being sad" and while it might have been for clickbait purposes, I think I've seen sentiments along those lines a bunch of times and I feel like many people just miss the point of his character and maybe even have this opinion towards him because of how they view emotional struggles like this.

Obviously stuff like this is super personal and hits different for everyone, but fictional characters are also not real people; they serve a narrative purpose and in this case Hermes represents someone going through this kind of struggle.

Among other things, he is a general thematic symbol, an idea within the story.

Even if he had the most awful ambitions imaginable, what message would further torturing a character going through this kind of emotional struggle ultimately send?

The idea of fantasy as a filter exists for a reason; were it real life all of these characters, even the more heroic ones, would be morally abhorrent.

But fiction allows us to explore some of these heavy ideas within its safe framework. And you're not obligated to like art like this, either. I just think that's the brand of fantasy FF14 is going for and I fully read most stories within this framework and really enjoy them.

I don't need characters to be morally good for a story to be good, but I actually do also think Hermes is a pretty good example of a narrative distinguishing between the sympathetic and antagonistic parts of a character's actions.

You're not empathizing with him wanting to destroy the world. The entire point is to just understand where his perspective came from. That is the framing I see.

But again, a text can have many reads. In the end I just disagree with a bunch reads on Hermes.

But to move on from Hermes, I think if Hermes is the most "real", Meteion is probably the most tragic.

She is by nature essentially an empath. If Hermes is the adult suffering from mental illness, Meteion is the child feeling the consequences with no say on the matter.

Meteion feels what Hermes feels and those are often negative feelings; and when he sees Meteion suffer from it, he in turn feels guilty. And Meteion suffers from that in turn.

Hermes very clearly cares for Meteion, but he also ends up using her for his own ends just like the other ancients do creations. His entire reason for creating Meteion was for his wish to see other civilizations to be fulfilled. It's selfish. Hermes is not immune from his culture's principles.

And while it hurts him to hurt her, he still does it. It's a crazy good complicated relationship.

As I said, I think there is so much more to say, but I think I'll move on to the final pair.

Truth is, I'm not 100% sure what to label the Venat/Azem/WoL relationship because while teacher-student is a strong sense I get, I also get a very strong "simple friendship with a fellow traveler" feeling out of it.

I can see why the Emet/Hythlo or Emet/Azem/WoL ships are so strong, but I never got that sense out of Venat.

And I don't see the parent/child parallel that strongly either despite all of the mommy jokes.

I need to think on that more.

But what I do love, is characters that *love* the world.

Who unconditionally, fiercely love it.

Life is a miracle to her and so she aims to protect it with all of her being.

And she didn't use to think that way. It is the pursuit of knowledge that lead her to that conclusion.

And to me, that makes her a fantastic meta parallel to me as a player because that is how I grew to see FF14 as I saw more of its story and then got to eventually play it.

Because at first I wasn't interested in doing any of the side content, only the main story, but as I went on I became interested to the point of wanting to do the blue quests, then yellow quests, then tribe quests, and any of the side content.

My plan for Dawntrail is to really take my time and really take in literally all of it, down to eventually the least significant yellow quests.

It'll take time, but that is my eventual aim with the entire game currently.

I grew to love this story, this world and all of the characters in it.

I'm not sure if this is the meta intention with Venat, but that is how it worked out for me as a player.

"Has your journey been good? Has it been worthwile?"

She asks and while my most immediate thought is "gotta get that audience survey in there", a split second later, all can I think of is "yes".

At this point I have about 700+ hours in the game and the only bit of content I've disliked is traversing the ARR, HW and a bunch of the SB zones.

But going back to Venat, I like that despite being so graceful in image, she has fun and joy in her.

Her being the previous Azem is very fitting in that sense and is another aspect of her character that makes me view her as a adventuring friend.

My overall thoughts about Elpis so far are really that I love how well-defined the characters and the relationships between them are; it is a feast for someone like me who loves character-centric stories.

I look forward to what is coming next; really nearing the final stretch here and I look forward to covering it as I go through it.

[theomnicode]

Wait a second, actually parallel worlds?

I've made meta in the 2 years past about parallel worlds during the Saitama and Garou fight and you can read it below, but I cannot be arsed to synopsis in lenght because I actually need to get this meta out here very, very fast and I'm on a schedule. In short, Genos' huge speech was yet another hint of things to come that I discuss below.

But the thing that hit me today and the thing I've just plain ignored for two months cuz I've been doing other stuff is what empty void has said in second to last chapter 201, You pass.

He just casually confirmed parallel worlds. And nobody is talking about this. Guess multiverse is too mainstream lol.

Potentially major future spoilers below, beware

Thing to note here, is that he's using God's powers to apparently enter outside of causality where he casually manipulates parallel universes to perform his Dimensional Slash, which is bonkers on it's own BUT

Here is what Blast said during a yet another retconned chapter. I joked before that retconned chapters are just parallel universes at this point but it's starting to look like it's not a joke anymore.

Empty void has a key to entering this higher dimension where God resides. This is retconned. Funny, because it's a key information. You wouldn't want this on enemy's hand.

Essentially what he means is that the higher dimension where God resides is outside the causality of the universe, where God can manipulate the parallel worlds because that too is explicitly stated to be a power from him. This is what Empty void essentially does but way smaller because of his capacity. Ergo, that means...OPM God has probably, hypothetically, more than likely, manipulated the timeline to his benefit. Because he's a multiversal being. The only thing stopping him is being locked away, but Blast has pointed out interaction with God's dimension has increased rapidly. (173, secret intel) He is definitely doing something because it's a two-way street. Once the pandora's box of influencing timelines and parallel worlds is opened, it cannot be closed anymore.

That's why he's looking for sacrifices to become his pawns, beings that are/can become strong enough to manipulate the laws of causality (thanks Genos for that tidbit). To access the majority of his powers to help him exterminate humanity.

That's why the retcons may actually be parallel worlds canon, but on a meta level they got retconned by OPM God and so won't make it to physical publishing. Which is very meta and I love it but oh my god...

Blast maybe knows a LOT more than he lets on but decides to not basically cause mass panic by unveiling more information. Or he is making guestimates because he doesn't know the true extent of his power and the truth is far too terrifying to comprehend.

Empty void's capability to casually manipulate parallel worlds is already a horrifying concept but he's so lacking in capability to what a being of untold, limitless power could actually do with such a thing it's not even funny. We need to think bigger. Maybe that's why it has chosen the moniker God for itself... indeed sounds like a godly power when he can just Thanos snap.

Almost like...divine power?

It's crazy to think that the only reason the timelines in 164 diverged is because Garou no longer passed the vibe check from Saitama that decided whether he desperately needed help or a decisive blow to end the fight.

It seems likely that Saitama using his causality-defying powers is summoning God to their dimension too, simply by using them. That's why more and more stronger monsters keep appearing, despite Saitama disposing plenty monsters. I wouldn't wanna be in his shoes if this is found out to be true, that in his quest for power, he may have inadverently doomed them all. Nor I'd want to hear about the public outcry.

Closing note, more old metas from myself pondering about if OPM god has a lot more power and influence that we realize, plus secondary meta about Saitama casually bending reality. There's also metas about God's motifs being seen extremely early in the series besides the obvious moon (ceiling lamp, Garou speech bubble outline) which could indicate very subtle subliminal messages used to influence Saitama, but for the life of me I cannot find that one atm.

*nods thoughtfully* Yep, all makes sense now. The plot thickens.

You know what? I don't blame Psykos for going nutters when she found out her world is just a toy for some inter-dimensional being bent on destroying mankind because it reduced mankind to being savages who just shit the bed.

(Legit I'm reminded of P12 boss from FF14 lol and now that banger of a song is playing in my head too. Same archetype. Those who've played know who I'm talking about :D)

[mysteryshoptls]

R Leona Kingscholar School Uniform Personal Story

"Guess I wasn't taught properly"

[Classroom]

Vil: Hey, how long are you planning to keep me waiting?

Vil: We've been keeping the photographer waiting for quite some time now. Stop dragging your feet.

Leona: I've already told you once. I ain't going.

Leona: Why do I have to stand next to you for something as lame as a photo for the school newspaper?

Vil: That answer is simple. Their next special feature is an overview of the dormitories, geared towards the newly enrolled students, and you and I are Dorm Leaders.

Vil: And as the Dorm Leader, it is my duty to spare nothing to show just how spectacular Pomefiore is.

Vil: After all, Dorm Leaders are the "face" of their dorm.

Leona: Don't get all excited just for some school newspaper. Just have them throw something together, who cares about a picture.

Vil: A professional never cuts corners, no matter the job. There's no such thing as throwing something together, and I will not allow any slacking from you.

Leona: Sigh… So annoying. Just arguing with you's a pain, too.

Leona: Fine, whatever. Let's just get this done…

Vil: Wait a moment. One of the buttons on your vest is coming off.

Leona: Hm? …Why's it matter, it's not like it's going to actually fall off.

Vil: Of course it matters, it's just hanging there… It looks shabby.

Leona: Shabby…!?

Vil: This is why Savanaclaw is frustrating. I can't stand how you're ill-mannered and rude. I feel sorry for your uniform.

Vil: Do you not even carry with you a sewing kit? Just how old are you turning this year?

Vil: Or perhaps princes like you are taught that you don't need to do anything by yourself?

Leona: …

Vil: My, my, I simply cannot comprehend this. How can you be a Dorm Leader the same as me?

Vil: Since there's nothing else to be done about it, I'll lend you my sewing kid. Hurry and fix your button.

Leona: …

Vil: Wha- excuse you. Why are you taking your vest off all of a sudden?

Leona: My bad, guess I wasn't taught properly.

Leona: I thought I'd have the great and refined Vil-sama show me exactly how to sew on a button.

Vil: Why should I have to fix your button for you!?

Leona: I mean, I don't care if it looks like this. But, are you going to be good with this? We got a very important photo shoot now, don't we?

Vil: Well, that's…

Leona: Vil Schoenheit. The charismatic beauty whose name is known throughout Twisted Wonderland!

Leona: …But even then, he's only ever focused on himself. He's just another man who cannot deign himself to think about the others around him.

Leona: I'm not gonna care one bit if people see the photo and start going around saying stuff like that, y'know.

Vil: …

Leona: Kuku. C'mon, this is fine, ain't it? Show an ill-mannered and rude guy like me how it's done.

Vil: …Your smug grin is just so unpleasant. Fine, give me your vest quickly.

Leona: Hah! Guess you're finally up to do it.

Vil: You are simply a prop for my photoshoot. As a professional, I always make sure to take care of my props.

Leona: Ain't I an exquisite prop? Feel free to thank me, if you want.

Vil: You wish… If we weren't having this photoshoot, I wouldn't even touch this vest… Oh?

Leona: What's with that weird squeak just now?

Vil: This button is similar to the others, but it's slightly different… It's been replaced.

Vil: So, you really are taking care of your things, then.

Vil: Well, this is amateur work, however. At least try to match the buttons when you do this.

Leona: Match the buttons? …Don't really get it, but sounds to me like you're just real nitpicky.

Vil: Good grief, I cannot believe you've made me to fix your button…

Leona: Oh yeah, that's right… Speaking of buttons, whenever they fall off, they usually come back.

Vil: Eh? The button comes back? …What does that mean?

Leona: Even if it falls off, if I just hang it up in my room somewhere, next time I grab it, the button's back on it.

Leona: That's why I just ignore it, even if it starts to fall off. Can't say I remember putting that kind of magic on it, though.

Vil: …No matter how you look at it, that's definitely not magic…

Vil: Someone's fixing them up. Probably Ruggie.

Leona: Hah? Who cares.

Leona: Whether it's magic, or it's Ruggie, as long as the button's sewn on, it's basically the same thing.

Vil: …Uggh! Seriously, you may have good looks, but you're otherwise completely useless!

Leona: What'd you say!?

Vil: This is why I can't stand spoiled brats!

Requested by Anonymous.

[flyingspicerack]

Inside Job Pt2Ep3 Myc Analysis Pt1

ALRIGHT FUCKERS! AS THE OFFICAL CEO OF MYC ITS TIME i GIVE YOU MY BREAKDOWN ON EP 3 BECAUSE NO ONE ELSE WILL!!!!!

THIS IS GONNA BE A BIGGUN AND PRETTY MUCH A PLAY BY PLAY SO STRAP IN!!!

The way he's clinging to the rope here? Oh so cute. But also! Very telling of how he's able to distribute his weight? Body and tendrils seem much like.... idk squid/octopus like? Also in this scene, all of the insults he throws around <3 He's such a catty little bitch I also love that Gigi is the one he doesn't insult the most through the ep? Like I know everyone is like OMG ANDRE AND MYC are such good 'friends' and all that (yes i am one of those too) but we see in pt1 that Myc and Gigi hang out a fair bit and I like to think he's got like, a respect for her? Idk

The fucking way the little itty bitty orb inside his orb gets smaller when the flashlight from the security guard hits him is so brief but oh so important to me, oh my GOD this little bit of detail has me HGFUIEOHGFOI:SGHJIO

HHHHH OK FIRSTLY! Reagan tells Myc to, and I quote "Spurt on that guy!" And he refers to himself as a soft serve machine that needs to warm up and cannot just jizz on command, which definitely makes sense. He also says for no one to look at him so.... hes shy

SO THAT leads me to believe, that his jiss doesn't actually need to be processed at all to become the stuff they put in the memory erasing guns, so, they can just erase minds... SO what does that mean for sex with humans, as well as that one time Andre licked Myc's flagella on the yacht during the wedding, he didn't get erased.... thoughts thoughts thoughts

REAGAN YELLING AT HIM AND CALLING HIM A WASTE OF SPACE FUCKING HURT ME

OH MY GOD BABY! NO DONT CRY!!!!!!! UAOGH WHAT THE FUCK

Reagan: Okay I was not ready for that" ME NEITHER BITCH????? MYC CRYING????? WHY WOULD HE CRY????

WAS ANISE RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING IN THAT MYC IS ACTUALLY A DWEEB???? UH YEAH?????? IM AS SURPRISED AS YALL ARE

god ok you guys im never gonna stop talking about this, we got so much mushroom lore, we have so much mushroom plot, we have so much MYC LORE AND I AM HERE FOR IT!!!!! AND IM WRITING IT ALL DOWN IN ONE PLACE!! RIGHT HERE!!!

Myc LIED about how old he was prior to this. In Pt1Ep3 we see his RightSwipe profile says 4041 for his age, but this here is his 5000 year reunion, so he's says he's younger than he really is.

He's from "A million year old mushroom hive cluster from the center of the earth" MILLION!!!!!! HES OLDER THAN WE CAN EVEN COMPREHEND

FIRST he apparently lied and said that everyone was jealous of his "huge dong" and he left, THEN JUST IN THIS SCENE, he says that they kicked him out because he was too much of a rebel, AND THEN AT THE END OF HIS RANT he finally comes clean and says that he never went to prom, graduation, AND no one signed his yearbook BECAUSE HE WAS A FUCKING DWEEB THAT LOOKED LIKE THIS:

(yeah honey i'd hate you too)

he was .... a fucking DWEEB! HE WAS A NERD!! THE BRACES?! THE PIMPLES! THE.... somehow.... FACIAL HAIR?? The hat.. yeesh boy ouch

WHEN HE LEFT HE WANTED TO PROVE HE COULD BE SOMEBODY! oH MY LORD!!!! HE CALLS HIMSELF A SINGLE MIDDLE AGED LOSER.... HOW OLD IS HE IF HES MIDDLE AGED IM GOING INSANE OVER HERE!!!!!!!!!

also his name, can we take about the name we have a real full name for him its not Magic Myc, its fucking MYC CELLIUM im going feral here and frothing

This uh.... this makes me..... hes so.... PATHETIC!! He's crying!!! HES FUCKING WHIMPERING AND CRYING AND SNIFLING CAUSE HES SO ASHAMED ABOUT GOING TO HIS REUNION LIKE WHAT THE FUCK HES LITERALLY BABYGIRL I DONT UNDERSTAND???????????????????

why are you so moe? WHY ARE YOU THE CUTEST GUY EVER! HIS GASP! Also like, Reagan, you REALLLY think this dude is never gonna insult you again? I thought you were a super genius? How can you literally be this stupid.

SORTA MUCUS SORTA JIZZ CALLED JUCUS!!!!!!!

I think it is SO AMAZING that the hole down to the mushroom hive is in Oregon, cause like, the worlds biggest mycelium network is under there.... hehe

FRUITY FLAILING ASS BITCH!!

OK If you go to 4:40 and look in the bg, you can see Myc get on the elevator down and he is fucking TREMBLING!! HE is SO nervous!! IM FUCK NGKJENSfewtgfwsg

Myc confirmed leftist, so thats a W but an L for thinking u can ge a nobel prize in podcasting... then again hes a mushroom and doesnt care so he is always a W in my heart

Look how far his flagella can stretch

HOLLOW EARTH! OH ITS SO LOVELY! AND I HAVE A LOT TO SAY ABOUT IT

I am very curious to know, if when Myc tells the hive to put a 'psychic metaphor' over the place, is that... only for the characters in the show or is it also for the viewer? It has to be, because we are also human and therefore wouldn't be able to comprehend the societal differences of mushroom dynamics! RIGHT?! SO I will also touch upon things as they happen later with this mindset.

FUCK!! RIGHT HERE!! Myc's asking Reagan if his BREATH smells bad!!!! He touches the top little frills and then puts his tentacle under Reagan's nose!! Does he... His scent glands?? WHAT?? AHHHHH I DONT KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS???

... I got one thing to say about stem-mantha... myc sure does love pink bitches .... makes eye contact with anise

LOOK AT HIM ALL.... NERVOUS!

Okay so then... Stem-Mantha asks if Myc was the guy who did puzzles with her parents so she could go have sex... SO, yes, the fucking mushrooms DO fuck each other, AND they have like, parents They dont just grow?? (As seen from Myc wanting to be a mommy in Pt2Ep7)

THEN Myc gets fucking pelted with a goddamn football and we are now included on the information that Myc ran out at graduation before everyone merged consciousnesses and became assimilated. SO It is OH SO interesting to see that each of these mushroom clusters are there OWN individual personalities but THEN they all are joined and have a shared consciousness thats a part of the hive!

Stem-Mantha then asks if the gang are Myc's parole officers, so does that mean that everyone was under the impression he went to like, jail topside after he left hollow earth??

HIS TENDRIL HEART IM FUCKING LOSING IT AHHHHHHH

ALRIGHT!!! FUCKERS FIRSt things first. Yes he wore that stupid fucking "NO FAT CHIX" hat but are we talking about it? NO, well YES, in that he wore it because he was in denail thats it thats the story thank you very much

SECONDLY here is were I'm touching upon the psychic metaphor thing again right here. I am thinking waaaay too deeply about a silly little cartoon and i feel very much like 'charlie pepe silvia meme' right now in idk how meta this whole thing is supposed to be? Like I don't think Myc was actually into dragon ball Z considering it was 5000 years ago and dbz didn't exist then, and we're just supposed to believe dudes was the mushroom equivalent of a little itty bitty pathetic nerd with pimples and acne, right??

but im also crazy coo coo bananas insane in thinkiing how fucking funny would it be if dbz was some kind of true space epic and myc is like, the equivalent of a greek mythology nerd in that hes a little fanboy.

THIRDLY. MY MANS GOT EXTRA STRONG POWERS THAT MAKE HIM EXTRA SENSITIVE?????? HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO NURSE

His fucking signature babygirl i loooove you its so cute what the FUCK!! and look at how he carried himself like a fucking .... beanie babie, hes full of beans or whatever, i just love how this fucker carries his weight its so cool to look at wtf

HES NERVOUS AGAIN IM JUST GFJHEL"GSGJ"LG I KNOW ITS NOT IMPORTANT BUT IT IS TO ME

They are SO fucking mean to him. But also this scene, you can see that not everyone is on board with Reagan doing this, like they're all really uncomfortable when she pulls this picture up, and Brett isn't even there

Why is there so much jucus... was he tearing up about getting found out? OH LAWDY I HOPE NOT ILL FUCKING CRY?????

HAHHA SO this post has gotten waaay too long so i think i'm gonna make it two parts, so part 2 will be post assimilation!!! Also because posts can only have 30 images and we at the max babes

[tamatama-kilo]

ok tma spoilers for like a lot of it but istg i need to rant to SOMEONE i need validation

ok so in s4 safe house fics or just jmart fics in general around like s3-5 why the actual hell is jon not as clingy like i get he's worried about being weird (along with literally 7000 other mental and physical and emotional and psychological issues) but this man has literally no connections period. sure, he technically has georgie, but FUCK does she not make him feel literally any better because of saying shit like "just stop doing this and it'll help" GEORGIE. I UNDERSTAND YOU CANNOT COMPREHEND BIG EYE IN SKY. BUT FUCK YOU. anyways jon has no one. not a single goddamn person who gives a shit about him.

well, except martin.

even when he was his ACTUAL SHITTIEST EVER, martin still somehow fuckin managed to make tea for this sopping wet cat of a man and care about him and be concerned even with the "i need to be good enough for him" bullshit which i could go on a whole other rant about THAT but i can do that later but it might be because of what i mentioned earlier, being scared of being vulnerable, being judged, stuff like that, but if i were jon? you bet your sorry ass i would be attempting worship that motherfucker

obviously i'm probably missing a bunch of details but i have so many thoughts happening in my head

CONTINUING ON FROM THIS so i mentioned how martin has this whole "i need to be good enough for him" mentality yeah right so i'm gonna talk about that because i love him and i need to FIX HIM

so we all know his mother is an absolute bitch and she deserves to get her skin flayed in front of her but essentially: she neglected him, held enormously high standards for a child she didn't even really care for, got sick and needed martin to drop out of school at FUCKING 15 and get 2 jobs to take care of her and she could not must up a single FUCKING thank you. and the whole thing with having no present father and all that but im not talkin about that right now

so when martin got moved to the archives he had someone new to impress, someone to get validation from, etc etc and because jonathan sims is the World's Shittiest Boss talks shit about martin ALL the time, is just a menace to him, and is super fucking mean to him calling him useless and dumb and i want to actually murder s1 jon how DARE you talk about my BOY LIKE THA-

anyways because jon is a similar-ISH person to please for his mom, martin has that constant sense of "how can i prove this" "how can i be better for him" "how can i be good enough" because he was so goddamn desperate for literally any validation from anyone and god that hurts me

i have so many thoughts

they all came from an old archived tumblr post basically analyzing jons past trauma up to the kidnapping in s3 and about the trauma from that and shortly afterwards and oh my god i genuinely think you cannot get someone more traumatized than that i mean jonny how the fuck

[olderthannetfic]

For the anon who most recently weighed in on the pronoun stuff

Hey, I'm the autistic anon who can't comprehend neopronouns. I really do appreciate the advice and suggestion, but I've tried it in the past. Thinking of a neopronoun as a nickname doesn't help, it genuinely just makes my brain itch worse. In my case, it really is just a competing needs situation. I can't use neopronouns at all because I can't understand them, can't cement them in my mind no matter what I do, so I'm just going to continue avoiding people who only use neopronouns. Or, again, the (for me) insanely dehumanizing, occasionally triggering "it/its".

Because I don't want to hurt people, but I've tried keeping neopronouns in my head, and I literally just cannot. So in order to avoid hurting people, it's in my best interest to avoid interaction in the first place.

And to the person - whose username I forget but I'm on mobile (ew) so I can't check without losing my post - who replied to my post saying basically that I don't need to understand why someone wants to be called what they want to be called in order to call them what they want, you missed the point. Because I get that completely. I'm nonbinary myself. I prefer traditionally masculine he/him pronouns for reasons no one needs to know or get. The point was that because of the way my brain works, I just can't call people what they want to be called. So it's better for me, for the sake of not causing unintentional harm, to just straight up avoid interaction with and talking about the people I know I'd inevitably end up misgendering because of how my brain works.

--

It's unfortunate, but sometimes, we just have to avoid situations and there's no real solution.

[gregoftom]

there's just Something about how greg's constantly asserting himself and being his own advocate for his worth here and that he is deserving of all these higher positions and money and respect…and yet when it comes to tom's affection of him he's completely doubtful

there's not a, 'yes of course he Loves me I deserve to be Loved!'

when tom asks him out, after tom kisses him, a million other times after tom's shown affection for him, greg's always filled with a, 'is this real?' reaction. something he just doesn't have for his up-and-up career status. like, for how awkward he is, he's not shy about pressing to get things.

but Love from tom? it makes him so shy to the point of lack of believing whether it's true, whether he could possibly actually be the recipient of such a thing. he doubts it all.

and even in s4 after they're best friends!!

(and I hope hope hope tom's sticker and double 'I got you,' that was like a cradle, put an end to all that doubt! because what a beautiful end to that arc!!)

hhhhhhhhnnhhf 😩 yeah god it huuuurts and like, you can understand it when you think about greg’s past and how ppl treat him - even ken is neutral at best towards him and he’s the nicest one to him apart from tom lol so it’s no surprise he starts to think he’s unloveable. ppl will just use him and his only worth is what he can give them. his grandpa and mother hold him to an impossible standard in that they’re always shifting the bar, obv more so the former bc we don’t see much w marianne, and act like he’s in the wrong every time. most people come to him when he can give them something, tom is the only exception and even then at least at the start he’s still asking things of him and enjoying the information he can provide. though the difference is tom’s affection is not dependant on it… even if greg wasn’t good at sponging info tom would still love him and keep him around. but greg cannot comprehend that bc why is this time any different? why would someone just… love him, without terms and conditions attached? i think he only starts to realise in 3.09. still not 100% in s4 but i think like, there’s definitely more of a hopefulness that maybe tom means it bc greg tries a lot harder and acts like tom’s literal partner because he wants to be more than just his side piece - he wants to be the sporus who is married to nero. he wants to take care of tom but not in a serving way, in a relationship way. but tbf to him tom is suddenly being cagey and keeping stuff from him and withholding affection and giving him only scraps of info and this rattles greg bc he thought they were progressing? that they were best friends and partners? hell tom acts like his mf husband. and then you’ve got tom and shiv screwing again and on possible reconciliation terms so that probably adds to greg’s fears - it all comes together to shake his faith. he even asks tom in america decides “where we are in terms of us”, referencing matsson and the poor way he treats him but that he likes the trust, which sounds like where his relationship with tom started out and where it has come to and also letting tom know he can trust him, don’t shut me out.

tom is much the same in that he thinks he needs status and power and money to secure greg when greg has genuine affection for him. he doesn’t notice how greg doesn’t pull rank in america decides bc he’s too focused on keeping his position, and later on he’s too set on becoming ceo to realise he’s actually pushing greg away, frightening him into making that call he did to ken in the finale. the fight in the bathroom is the culmination of their frustration in how much they love each other and how the other just doesn’t understand that they do. tom can only see it as mistrust and disloyalty when it was a move for survival and attacks greg. greg can only see tom getting mad at him as ignoring all the hard work and love he has been putting in for him the entire season and that’s why he fights back. it is not fair to him that tom only notices when he does something wrong, when he makes a mistake, not when he does things right, not when he supports and cares for him like an ideal spouse.

i do think the sticker scene was laced with something - it felt different. special. i’ve said before but tom’s forgiveness was not by way of the materialistic this time, he didn’t offer money. he only offered his compassion. he told greg that regardless of his mistakes, he still has him. and greg probably realises then that the reason tom has been acting how he has is bc he’s been fighting for this position so hard to keep greg safe. i think this moment they realise that actually they love each other very much and it’s actually like. for real. greg’s sheer happiness, plus the way he checks tom out again like he has multiple times throughout s4 lol, indicates not only his relief but feeling comfortable and confident enough to act around tom like he has before - like his best friend and partner.

[lokisprettygirl]

The Night Screams at The Slumber Island (Loki x Female Reader) (Horror Romance) (Dark) (Au) (18+)

Read Chapter 13 here //Series Masterlist

Chapter 14

Summary : Stephen reminds you of the time you had chosen to forget.

Warning: Steamy stuff, 18+, discussion of rape, discussion of threesomes and poly relationships, sexual abuse, gaslighting, cheating, mention of Suicide, discussion of mental illness, therapy please read carefully. If something triggers you please don’t read it

You had your chin situated on his chest and you felt his fingers caressing your scalp, he often feared that when the reality of this island as well as your own truth will come out in the open he'd lose you again, he also feared that you won't forgive him but he was helpless at the time, he couldn't have been there for you when you needed him before, he wasn't allowed to get involved. 

"You are quiet" you mumbled softly so he chuckled, 

"I used to be quieter than this, I have never been one to express much " 

"Were you like that with her too? Your ex?"  You asked him as you put your head up and pressed a soft kiss on his neck, he sighed a little before he began to speak.

"Not really..we used to be there for each other when we needed it, perhaps why it was difficult to let go at first" 

"I understand that loki" 

"What about you and him? Were you always this .. enchanting?" You chuckled as he said that, he joked of course, you couldn't imagine a god being enchanted with you.

"I met him in college, we shared most of the classes, he claimed to love me from the very first moment he saw me and I took my time but I remained in love and I he fell out of it somewhere along the way, I just wished he would have been honest" 

"I cannot relate with this oaf" he chuckled and it made you curious .

"What do you mean?" 

"I don't understand why anyone would ever not love you, it's impossible for me to comprehend that" you looked at him for a second before your lips latched onto him, you loved being around him, you loved kissing him and you loved the way he was so considerate about your feelings. He was perfect in that sense but still a part of you felt uncertain, as if you couldn't trust him completely just yet, as if he was hiding things from you.

After an hour or so you returned home, you didn't want to but you knew you had to, he must need his privacy or so you thought, you didn't know that he wanted nothing more than to spend more time with you. Your telephone rang so you picked it up and you were told that A man named Stephen Strange was waiting at the dock to see you, so you got out of Loki's clothes and put a dress on to go see him. What was he doing here unannounced? You didn't think he'd visit the mainland again so soon. 

When you reached the dock all the colors drained from your face, you saw the man you just had been talking about with Loki, the man you never wanted to see again in your life.

You walked towards Stephen and glared at him, 

"What is he doing here?" 

"I need you to relax, he's just here to help" you snickered as Stephen said that, 

"You know what he has done to me and you brought him here.. fuck off I don't wanna see you or him" your eyes teared up and you stormed out but Stephen followed you, 

"Y/n I'm worried about you, you didn't pick up my calls in the last few days and then the people of the island informed me that you have been acting a little off" Oh that angered you even further.

"Whattt? I must have been at school when you called…and you know what I don't want to talk to you..you hear me?" 

"You have to talk to me ..I'm your doctor and you're under my care..don't forget that" you groaned in frustration and as your eyes met with him you felt the anger bubbling again.

"Send him away and we can talk…pleaseee I'm begging you" Stephen sighed and he stepped over to him to talk, you couldn't hear what he said but he came back and told you that he will catch the next ferry to the mainland. You started to walk towards the home and Stephen followed you. As you got closer to your house you saw that Loki's had disappeared and it made you feel crazy again. 

"Do you want something.. coffee tea?" You asked him as he sat down on the couch and shook his head, he looked around and sighed, he has been at the island before and he hated it.

"Sit down y/n" he told you so you sighed and sat down on the couch, 

"Are you still having hallucinations? Still seeing this man named Loki?" He asked you and you shook your head, you didn't even know if you were supposed to tell him the truth.

"Okayyy" he sighed and took out a file from his bag.

"What's the last thing you remember before you came here?" he asked you so you raised your brow.

"I.. I remember meeting Tony to talk about the house..you referred him, he's your boyfriend" 

"What else do you remember?" 

"What do you mean?"

"How did we meet? Do you remember how you started seeing me?" He asked you and you snickered again

"What is this now? You think I'm crazy? That I don't remember anything?" 

"Then how did we meet y/n..answer me?" 

You didn't answer him so he sighed again and passed you a photograph he had in the file, you took it from him to look at it, it was a picture of you with a blonde haired pretty girl, your eyes teared up and feet went cold, he could tell you were starting to feel something but it was time for you to accept the reality before you're even deeper in your delusions.

"Do you know who she is?" 

"I.. I don't remember" your lips trembled as you spoke but he could tell you were starting to remember.

"That's my adoptive sister, Natalia.. remember the name?" He asked you again and you shook your head. She resembled someone. She looked like Natasha. 

"I ..what is happening here exactly?" 

"You tell me..I feel like you're lying to me, is it the guilt? I'm not talking to you as a doctor anymore, I'm talking to you as someone who used to be your friend and someone who cares about you" 

"Friend? What the fuck you're talking about?" You stood up as you yelled at him, it was alot to take in so suddenly.

"Do you actually not remember it or you're pretending y/n?" 

"I don't even know what you are saying anymore…what is going on?" you grabbed your head in confusion and he stood up so he could calm you down but you took several steps away from him. Where was Loki? You needed him.

"Tell me y/n, when did the accident occur?" 

"Ummm two years ago..you know that" 

"What year" 

"Why are you being this way?" 

"What year y/n?" 

"2019..what the fuck is wrong with you..get out of my house" you yelled at him and stormed towards him then you grabbed his hand and started walking towards the door.

"2019 wasn't two years ago y/n ..it was three" 

His words stopped you dead in the tracks, he snatched his hand away from you and took out a newspaper then he passed it to you, your eyes widened as you looked at today's date and the year 2022 ..how could it be ..it wasn't possible.

"It can't be…it's not possible ..it's not..you're lying steph" you screamed at him but the mention of the shortened nickname made you gasp, his eyes teared up so he took a few steps back "Ohhh goddd...What is happening?" You collapsed on your knees as you cried, you couldn't even believe your own truth anymore, it was getting harder to believe in what was real and what was your mind playing tricks with you at this point 

"I have been trying to help you because you wanted me to, because you trusted me, because you couldn't trust anyone you didn't know, did you ever stop to wonder why you chose a man to treat you after what had happened to you, why you chose Tony to buy you the house? You don't even like men anymore so why did you choose us? A part of you trusted us, why?"

He passed you more pictures and you could see yourself in all of them, one of them just had you and the blonde haired girl Natalia..rest of them also had Stephen and Tony at some party you didn't remember.

"I don't know…I don't know anything anymore" you cried again and he bent down to your level.

"You do..you do remember, if you don't..I'll remind you. Natalia was my sister, your best friend of fifteen years, we all have been like a family always, when the accident occurred we we were there for you, when your mom died we were there for you, when you decided to come to this shitty place a year ago we were there for you..she was there for you..she died because of you so don't tell me that you don't remember her" his pitch got louder and louder with every sentence and along with that your memories refreshed too, everything from the moment you met Natalia when you both were just a kid to the moment you two got seperated from each other.

You remembered it now, you remembered it all. 

This wasn't your first rodeo to Slumber Island, you had been here a year ago, you had lost your best friend Natalia at the same place and now you knew the woman who had been trying to talk to you all this time was her, Natasha was Natalia and she wasn't dead. She was very much alive. 

"I … how is it possible..I " you slurred on you words as your head felt as if it would explode, how you were still alive to see all this and why? You didn't understand the reason for it but you knew who had saved you.

"They found you at the shore of the mainland, people of the island told us that you both had consumed huge amount of drugs and went for a nightly swim, god knows how you ended up on the shore and how you didn't perish like she did, it didn't make any sense and I'm not blaming you y/n..I'm just tired of you not wanting to take any responsibility, I'm sick of you forgetting everything just so you won't have to grieve her" 

"We ..didn't take ..any drugs " your voice cracked as you spoke and he had the look of realization on his face, you remembered her now and this was the first time in a year he had seen you acknowledge her presence or the lack of it. 

"You did..there were several drugs found in your bloodstream" he stood up and walked around you as he talked but you remembered it now, you remembered everything. They can't lie to you anymore.

"Is that why you brought me here? To make me remember?" 

"Yes, why else would I suggest you to come here again after what happened last time, I had never even heard of this place before you two decided to live here" 

"So you were never helping me were you?" You asked him as the truth made you feel distraught.

"I am ..I am helping you, the trauma was too much for your mind to bear after everything that has happened and it made you suffer from Dissociative Amnesia where you remembered everything but Nat and the time you had spent with her, you forgot everything that connected you with her and you acted as if she never even existed.." 

"But now you think I was lying about her? That I pretended to not remember her because of guilt?" Your voice choked on your tears as now that you remembered it all, he didn't feel like a friend anymore. 

"No I didn't mean that, the last time I went for a professional approach to regress your memory and it only made it worse, you passed out and didn't wake up for days and when you finally did you still didn't remember nat or us at all, so this time I had to talk to you as friend and not as your doctor" he grabbed all the files from the table and put it back in his bag.

"Why did you bring him? Is it because he's your friend?" You asked him about the ex and he sighed,

"We were all friends y/n and I know you think you can move on and stay safe while you're away from everyone who reminded you of your past life but you need a familiar person around you, this behavior is not going to heal you y/n, you need help and support" 

"I know I do..that's why I came to you..I don't need his help or his company.. I don't want to see you anymore either" his eyes teared up as you said that, he wasn't surprised that you wanted to cut him off now that you knew who he was but he didn't want to lose you like he lost Nat. 

"Y/n I .." 

"Get out Stephen pleasee..I need to be alone " you told him so he picked up his bag and walked out of the house. 

You got up and closed the door and then you broke down in tears again.

And now that you remembered everything you desperately needed to see Loki and you had to find so many answers and you had to know why he continued to lie to you all this time.

You had to know why he didn't tell you that he had saved your life the last time you were here. 

💀💚💀💚💀💚💀💚💀💚💀💚💀💚

[kingmaxstatic]

After seeing your post about the new ugly helluva design I looked it up and felt like I was reenacting "what, it's just its just an ordinary desiOH MY GOODNESS"

There is. So much to talk about when it comes to Beelzebub's design.

(Strap in cause this is a long one)

Let me start off with one thing I actually LIKE about the design. The colors are good. They're appealing and I'll admit that. But generally speaking the cons outweigh the pros. (pun intended considering she's supposed to be the princess of gluttony).

SO LET'S GET TO THOSE CONS SHALL WE?

First off let's get this addressed. Her design is a cluttered NIGHTMARE. It feels like there were a lot of things that people "liked" as little details and instead of picking and choosing they just. MASHED them together to make this character. Like while looking at her face I noticed a few things. A lot of things. From her freckles to her second eyebrows to her- you get it. There is WAY too much going on.

I genuinely cannot tell what's going on with her hair. Why does she have two different types of hair. SPEAKING OF HAIR her jelly hair is so fucking complex. There are ways this can be done WELL but this ain't it. Like for example look at Luna and Celestia from MLP.

The reason why these design work is because both the hair and character are not super complex. The hair is the HIGHLIGHT of both of the designs.

Did Vivzie really just decide "I'm going to make a character that's soooo hard to animate."?

We haven't even touched on the motifs yet good GOD.

So Beelzebub is meant to have bee motifs/be a bee (not sure on which yet). So yeah we have a Vaggie situation all over again where the character is VAUGELY using bug motifs. As in you have to grandma meme squint to see those bits. Like i'll admit the antenna ear is pretty cool. But good god everything else just looks like such a mess.

Also did I mention she's meant to be the ruler of the GLUTTONY ring?

Yeah she's meant to be Gluttony given form. But look at her. What about her design says "Food" or "Gluttony"????

Like food based outfits can be super fun to design. I have no idea what their deal was with this. The ONLY thing they did was give her the lava lamp stomach which only manages to clutter her design even MORE. If they really wanted to give her a lava lamp stomach they could've done it in a way that didn't have like. 3 colors in it, complicating the design even more.

She looks like she'd flit more with lust than she does gluttony not going to lie. Like the heart on her chest is a really DEFINED subject. If they really wanted to make her look "tempting" they could've done it and made it fit with the theming.

Simply put: when I see her I don't think "Gluttony" or "Bee" I think "Yellow wolf lady." and that doesn't make for a good design. A design needs to have reason. Like for example if you have a character that fights a lot you'd add things like scars or something. Things that show damage. It shows "Wow! This character has been in a fight or two before!". Another example: if you have a character that lives in a cold area they'll typical wear thicker clothing. You see what I mean? Typically a design is meant to show one of two things.

1. What the character is.

or 2. What they're like.

Let me use foxy as an example. (Jumpscare for people scrolling/j)

Foxy right? He's a pirate. How can you tell that? Through his eyepatch and his hook! Classic pirate stuff! You can ALSO tell he's out of order from the damage on his body. The tears in him and his visible endo legs. He's pretty busted up and you can tell why he's out of order. You can ALSO tell he's a fox! He's got the cheek fluff, he's red, he's got them sharp ears! 10/10 fox. Can comprehend he's a fox.

The problem with Bee's design is that you can't really.. get a grasp on the what she is.

We've basically covered the basics of character design so we've swam in pretty deep so I think I'll cut this post here. AS A TREAT since you've made it thus far, weary traveler, I've made my own design of Beelzebub!