#actions is just…. eh weird honestly.

[haitanisbug]

Mikey’s dark impulse just being…karma…LMFOOABAHABWBWJABAHSHAHHA I hate this manga

[lovries]

YOU HAVE A CUTE FACE

featuring. the demon brothers (lucifer, mammon, leviathan, satan, asmodeus, beelzebub, belphegor). (the dateables version).

summary. whilst staring at his face, you've come to the conclusion that he has a very cute face— and of course you have to let him know.

warning. gn! reader.

꒰ ♡ ꒱ ─── LUCIFER

Lucifer was just trying to eat his breakfast, but your intense staring was beginning to unnerve him. He looked up at you, a brow raised at your concerning and strange actions. "Can I help you with something?" He sounds more worried than annoyed like you thought he would be.

"You have a very cute face." Was how you responded to his question, because you just so happened to realize how adorable he was as he happily ate some delicious breakfast— which he is now trying not to choke on.

You've definitely caught him off guard.

Cute. Cute?

Lucifer was aware he was a good looking person, but he definitely wouldn't use the word 'cute' to describe himself. To be honest, he's a bit miffed that you didn't use something like 'handsome' or 'alluring' but he'll take what he can get, he supposes.

He sighs, shaking your head at your nonsense. "You are something else." He says simply, "I think it'd be much more fitting to say you're the cute one in this relationship."

Lucifer doesn't think more of it after that, although everyone definitely notices the little smile that occupies his face for the rest of the day.

꒰ ♡ ꒱ ─── MAMMON

"Oi, why're ya starin'?" Mammon had just been laying on his bed, scrolling through his D.D.D., when he felt your gaze piercing holes through the side of his face. He set his phone aside, sending you an annoyed glare. "Eh? Human? What's the matter with ya?"

"Sorry," You blink out of your trance, grinning up at him. "You just have a really cute face."

"Wha- What the hell are ya talkin' about, don't say weird stuff like that..." He grumbles, quickly turning his head the other way. He would rather join an eating contest with Beelzebub than let you see his softened gaze and blushing cheeks.

"Is that weird?" You chuckle, "I was just being honest~" You coo, deciding to tease him. Of course you knew your words managed to get him flustered (they always do, after all). He huffs, swiftly grab his pillow and throwing it at you.

"What did I just say?" He whines, standing up and giving a little pout.

"Yep, absolutely adorable." You laugh when his eye twitches, only to get hit in the face again with a pillow— however it doesn't quell your laughter at all, instead it only encourages it, your laughs bubbling over.

... You had to chase after him to apologize, so he hopefully wouldn't be too mad at you for the rest of the day.

꒰ ♡ ꒱ ─── LEVIATHAN

Leviathan honestly didn't notice your staring until he paused his anime and turned to tell you about a fun fact, only then seeing the fiery passion in your eyes. "W- Why are you looking at me like that?" He felt like he was being stared down by someone like Lucifer, or maybe even Cerberus! It was scary!

"Levi... You're face..." What? What about his face? He hesitantly touched it, fearing he maybe had some crumbs on his face or something, when you said, "It's incredibly cute!"

His eyes nearly bulge out of his head, the tips of his ears turning a bright red. He coughed awkwardly, looking back at the screen. He couldn't bear to face you right now. "Me? Are you sure you mean me?" He asks, biting at his cheek. "A- Are you sure you're not getting me mixed up with one of my brothers or-"

"Nope, I definitely mean you, Levi!"

He feels lightheaded, almost a little nauseous. You think he's cute. Like really, truly believe that! His heart is going to give out! He awkwardly coughs into his fist again.

"I- I don't know what to say... uhm... you're.... c- cute too..."

Nope. He can't take it! He's hiding his burning hot face in his hands, he won't be able to look at you for the next 24 hours.

꒰ ♡ ꒱ ─── SATAN

Satan knows. Of course he does, he always know, still... He can't help but set his book to the side and quirk a brow at you. "Is there perhaps a reason to your staring, or...?" Although you're a little shocked at being caught (honestly, you weren't being subtle at all...) you still decide to tell him what's on your mind.

"You just have a cute face, that's all."

Satan can't help but grin, but he tries his best to hide it behind his fist. "I see, so that's it." It's silent for a few seconds, and he's just staring at you now. He seems to snap out of his daze, and chuckles. "Sorry, you're face is rather cute too."

That's right, Satan managed to turn the situation around entirely. He enjoys seeing you get flustered, watching as you turn back to the book you're reading. "Oh? Embarrassed? Aren't you the one who started this, hm?"

Next time, you think, you'll keep your thoughts to yourself.

꒰ ♡ ꒱ ─── ASMODEUS

Oh, Asmodeus knows why you're staring at him— it's the reason most people stare at him, but one of his favorite things is getting people to admit why they're staring at him.

Asmo chuckles, shutting your slightly agape mouth and effectively snapping you out of your daze. "Tell me, darling, what seems to have captured your interest so fully, hmm?"

What... Captured... Your attention?

"Ah, your face! It's really cute, Asmo!" You smile up at him, and his eyes widen a fraction. Cute? Well aren't you just wholesome! He definitely wasn't expecting that to be your answer, although it's in the same vein as the usual answers he receives. Either way, Asmo giggles, pinching your cheek.

"Aww darling, you're super cute too! How about we both be adorable together, okay?" Asmo takes your hands and pulls you out of your seat, "Let's go shopping for matching outfits, what do you think? Then we can be even cuter!"

You don't think that's possible, after all, Asmodeus is the cutest thing alive, but...

"Okay, let's go!"

꒰ ♡ ꒱ ─── BEELZEBUB

You were studying with Beelzebub, however your words trailed off as you noticed how concentrated he looked. He really wanted to get good grades and make Lucifer proud. It was just too cute; he was too cute.

You didn't even realize you were staring at him until he called your name. "Are you okay?" You blink a few times, your heart racing at being caught staring. "Are you hungry, should we take a break?"

"I'm fine," You wave your hand dismissively, silencing his worries. "Your face is just cute, that's all..." Trying to calm his worry, it seems you rambled out the truth behind your dazed look. Your face instantly drops, and Beel can see you're obviously embarrassed by your blunt words. "Uh, I mean, well I-"

The sound of him trying to stifle his laughter cuts you off, and anxiety begins to fill your thoughts. Was he... laughing at you? You knew Beel would never do that, but still... Eventually he managed to calm himself, a content smile on his lips.

"You're cute too, Y/n."

꒰ ♡ ꒱ ─── BELPHEGOR

You were disturbing Belphegors peace. He said you could stay with him as long as you didn't disturb him, but look at what you were doing! He was tossing and turning! Him! He huffs, rolling on to his stomach and turning his head to look at you, an annoyed glare now staring back at you.

"Belphie? I thought you were sleeping!"

"How could I when you're staring at me like that, hm?" He sighs, propping himself up on his elbows. "What? Am I that good looking or something? Can't take your eyes off of me?" He really just wanted to tease you so that you'd hopefully get annoyed and leave him to sleep, but instead you look... embarrassed?

"Well... You have a cute face, you know?"

... Oh.

Belphie sighs, plopping back down and rolling on to his back. "You're so weird..." He grumbles, however if you try to leave you find his cow tail wrapping around your ankle. "I didn't say you could leave... Get under the covers and take a nap with me— try not to stare at me this time." He smirks. Sometimes you do want to punch him, even if he does have a cute face.

﹙ thank you for reading! have a wonderful day! ﹚

[laurbiek]

as promised... something!

....::::**•°✾°•**::::........::::**•°✾°•**::::.... ....::::**•°✾°•**::::....

She hears the distinctive sound of the WhatsApp video call. Its weird when they're in different countries, the mode of communication changes time and time again to avoid crazy roaming charges. She's used to being able to call him quick using the regular phone app, to see if he wanted her to pick up dinner or to ask him nicely if he would switch her laundry out for her.

It's weird to start over on another app, it almost feels like they're starting another relationship. It feels so different. The inside jokes and frequent questions about the HBO password are nowhere to be found, in it's place is an empty blank page, waiting hopefully to be filled with the same.

She picks up her phone from the edge of the bed and swipes to answer the call. She looks at the time when she does, 10:04, almost five minutes late for their scheduled call.

At least that has stayed the same.

The slight hum of the highway plays in the background, and there Andrew sits. He looks tired, but not over consumed. It's a good kind of tired, like the kind you get after a good, but long day. More of a content-tired. His hair is in the messiest bun possible, obvious that he needed it out of the way and had lost all ability to care. He's got his glasses on, and Y/N remembers when he Facetimed her from the eye doctor to see if they looked good before he ordered them.

She internally thinks that they still do.

"Hey love", he finally speaks between bites of a sandwich. She looks down at the table the phone is propped on, and sees the distinctive red and white wrappings.

"Are you kidding, you went to Wawa without me..."

"I'm sorry! The band voted before we left Philly! I told them you'd be mad but they don't seem to care about my marriage so... I had to"

"This is a betrayal, of the highest degree. I can't picture a world where I can forgive you"

"If I could ship one across the Atlantic to you, you know I would"

There is a few beats of silence, they both know that statement means more than just a sandwich.

She finally breaks,

"How are you holding up?"

"Eh, not bad. I've not been this tired in a while but I'll get used to it soon. I've done it before."

"It's quiet in the bus, where is everyone else?"

"Sleeping"

"So everyone else is sleeping and you stayed up to call me?

He takes another bite of his sandwich before answering simply,

"Yeah."

She stares at him through the phone as he keeps eating like he doesn't understand the niceness of his actions, it's just second nature to him.

"Thank you," she says, voice full of genuine earnestness.

He doesn't respond to that, instead, he switches to another topic. He doesn't feel like he needs thanks for his actions, he would rather thank her for being around to call him.

"How are you at home, everything good?"

"Yeah, there was a dead bird in the yard yesterday, Elwood found it while we were playing, he almost picked it up but I got to him before he did. That's honestly the most exciting thing that's happened here since you left."

"But that's the joy of the country isn't it, that nothing ever happens?"

"Yeah. But I would rather do nothing with you than do nothing alone"

There's a long stretch of silence between them before Andy notices a tear fall down Y/N's cheek. There are no other signs of her sadness, no shaking shoulders or audible sounds. Just a few gentle tears that he would've missed if he wasn't so utterly enraptured by her face on the five-inch screen. His heart breaks.

"Hey hey, it's ok love, it's just a bit longer. I'll be home for a break in a few weeks. "

"I know. It's just really hard."

He doesn't know what to say to that at first. He wants to hammer on about how she knew what she was getting into, and this was an inevitability. But he knew she knew that. Him repeating it isn't going to make either of them feel any better. The next part of him yearned to just get on a plane and be at home, but that wasn't fair to anyone. Not his bandmates, not the concertgoers, and not Andy who loved what he did more than anything.

All he could say was

"I know."

You imagine the separation being hard but no one really prepares you for it. You can't prepare for it. It's the pain of losing a routine and a lover all at once. It's the frustration of needing help, of needing someone to take something off your plate and having someone willing to, but that someone is 1000 miles away. Literally.

She's crying a little harder now, still silent, with the tears increasing in frequency and size. He says again,

"I know. I know how hard it is cause I feel it too. You know what I miss the most right now?"

"What?"

"I miss the things that you do that piss me off. The annoying stuff. I miss how you always steal bites of my food."

She can't help but laugh at that. He keeps talking,

"I miss how cold your feet are and how you're always trying to shove them under me to warm them. And how often you leave dirty clothes on the floor."

She joins in this time,

"I miss your hair clogging the shower drain. And how you use every possible dish when you cook."

"See, doesn't it hurt a little less knowing that you don't have to unclog the shower for a while?"

"Yeah, and I'm sure you sleep easier without my cold feet poking you."

Theres another small pause, but this one is not as sad as the rest of them. This one feels like two people comfortable with each other, just basking in the silence, feeling no pressure.

"It sucks love, it really does. But it gets easier. And there are less shitty days. And it's not for forever."

"Ok, it's shitty, but I've felt shittier. And it's not for forever."

"Yeah."

"OK," she says, wiping her eyes a bit to try to show a bit of a braver face, "this is getting kind of bummer-ish, talk to me a bit about tour stuff"

For the rest of the call, he prattled on about various events and hijinks at his shows, on the road, and in between. About halfway through the story, he realized that she had fallen asleep and for some reason, he finished the story before hanging up. Possibly hoping that she would wake back up, but mostly enjoying the domestic feeling of talking to her. He eventually hung up, settling with the fact that she was indeed asleep for real. A few hours and a timezone later after he woke up from his own nap, he noticed a WhatsApp message again,

I forgot the HBO password again...

[genshingorlsrevengeance]

Can I please request Rosaria, Kuki, and Eula with a robotic S/O who doesn't know how to show love properly so they just bring them "interesting objects"(anything from shiny rocks to a ruin guard)?

Thank you for writing ^-^

(Genshin Impact) Rosaria, Shinobu, and Eula with a robotic-like S/O

Very related image:

Good Burtabos, Rosaria thought she was bad at showing affection.

S/O had all the expressive capabilities of a rock. And that was insulting the rock.

They didn't really understand how love worked, not that she was any better, yet they were together.

Rosaria's love language was her actions. S/O's seemed to be gifting her the most random object in the most deadpan voice.

(Rosaria) "...S/O, why do you just have an entire crate with you?"

(S/O) "It is full of Dandelion Wine. I am aware you like to drink it."

(Rosaria) "Sure, but where did you grab it?"

(S/O) "It was lying on the floor unattended. I believe it does not belong to anyone."

Rosaria didn't know whether to laugh or facepalm.

They stole it, pretty much.

(Rosaria) "Thanks but, did you at least ask?"

(S/O) "...I did not. But, it is 'Finder's keepers', as they say."

(Rosaria) "...Eh, what the hell. Care to share a glass?"

Well, at least Shinobu didn't have to worry about S/O doing anything stupid on purpose, unlike the Arataki Gang.

Instead, S/O showed their affection by bringing her some objects that reminded them of her.

It was sweet honestly, but given their nature, it was bound to get...weird.

(Shinobu) "S/O, there you are. What do you have in your-"

(S/O) "These are masks belonging to fallen Samurai. Please, accept."

The only visible expression change on Shinobu was her eyes blinking, which S/O blankly dropped the mask at her hand like a dog.

(Shinobu) "Thanks...I think."

(S/O) "You are welcome. In case if your mask ever gets damaged, we can use these for repairs."

Shinobu just chuckles underneath her mask, eyes softening as she looked at S/O.

(Shinobu) "Remind me to get something for you too, S/O."

(S/O) "Shinobu, you are to-"

(Shinobu) "-Later, I mean."

It's a good thing Itto didn't reach S/O first, otherwise he'd definitely tell S/O the complete wrong ways to show affection.

They'd probably have them do something stupid, like punch through drywall or something.

Eula and S/O were complete opposites on the way they spoke to people.

Eula was usually mocking, prideful, or just saying something she didn't actually mean.

Meanwhile, S/O was deadpan, direct, and extremely literal.

How they ended up in a relationship, even Eula didn't really know or see coming.

Especially the ways S/O displayed their love.

(Eula) "...S/O, what the heck are you doing?!"

S/O was carrying a boar encased in ice inside a wagon, with S/O looking completely emotionless as they responded.

(S/O) "You said that a dish was best served cold. So I have procured us dinner in the coldest state possible."

(Eula) "Wha...But I-...How, why did...?!-"

Eula sighed before deciding there wasn't really any point questioning anymore.

(Eula) "I'll get ready to cook the boar. Mind getting that ice cube near a fire?"

(S/O) "But you said-"

(Eula) "It's a figure of speech, S/O! But...thank you, you didn't have to do that."

(S/O) "I comprehend."

(Eula) Do they...?!

[kozachenko]

(Click the image for better quality)

Yipeeee that Keiki and Mayumi fanart I posted the WIP of is finally done woooo- This piece was a very experimental one that I'm kind of OK on. Maybe because I've just gone insane looking at it for so long and I'm my own worst critic lol.

Artist's Notes;

So I've once again been playing around with my rendering style, mainly because I have been wanting to improve my lighting for a while now and as I was just scrolling through Tumblr, I saw some of the official art for that one webcomic-turned-animated-TV-Show Lackadaisy and was immediately inspired. I also have seen a technique a few times in the past where the lineart and shading are merged together, so I've been meaning to try that for a little while.

I did some experimentation on this one sketch of Keiki I posted in my sketch dump and I really liked the results of it, so I carried those over to this piece.

I ended up scaling up Keiki and Mayumi from the original WIP because I felt like they were both getting lost in the composition, and I'm glad for that because I think it works a lot better. I'm not a fan of how Mayumi's sword turned out at all, but it's not really meant to be the focus of the piece so eh. Overall, I think I could do better with my colours, probably because with Keiki and Mayumi's colours, I did them flat in greyscale and then used a brush on the overlay blend mode to colour all of them over, after which I changed the base layer for their colours from white to yellow and then lowered the opacity so it all went together better. I also decided to use gradient maps for a lot of the background elements, mainly to experiment with getting in my values first to make them pop out more. I ended up finding a really nice sky gradient on Clip Studio Paint that I really liked, and that kinda helped to establish the colour scheme of the background a lot. I think the whole "start in greyscale then colour" thing really works better with painterly styles rather than more illustrative ones, and while it is good at making sure your values are more readable, I honestly don't think I have the skill level to pull that off yet. Honestly, I think I've been looking at this drawing too long or maybe I added too much to it, but I wish I could've made the colours less monochromatic, but I'll just save that for the next piece I do.

I do love how the flame (...well it's more of a weird space rift than anything in this piece) and the lighting turned out, those were fun to do. I was initially struggling with the flame and how Mayumi is positioned in front of it before realizing "Oh wait! This is a weird abstraction of a weird creature! I don't have to follow the laws of anatomy!" and just dislocated it's flamey bottom jaw from the main body. I also changed the colours of it since I was really not liking how incredibly bright it was when it had lighter colours. Again, the gradient maps served the more painterly style of the flames well.

I also love how Mayumi turned out. I could do her sleeves better but that's more of just me needing to study how those types of sleeves fold in that position more. I'm also very happy with the posing, the technique I used for that was taking photos of myself in the positions I wanted, blocking in the silhouette and then modifying that by adjusting it to my lines of action that I drew on top of the original photos, and then sketching over the silhouettes and drawing in the shapes of the hands overtop of the photo if I needed to get the fine details right. As for what I do to take the pictures myself, I use a tall chair I have, prop up my phone with a phone stand, put on a ten second timer and scramble to get in position. Yes, I did have to use a bunch of thin markers I had to try and get the hand positioning on Keiki's pose right, yes I do have a fake sword that I used to get the positioning of Mayumi's arms and hand right, the sword was for an old Halloween costume from several years ago. I really like how both Keiki and Mayumi turned out in this drawing, I'll have to play around with these designs for them more in future drawings.

Also, if you wanna know why I draw buildings like that, when I watched Fantasia 2000 as a kid (One of the Disney movies where they make really beautiful animations to classical music) the way they drew the buildings in the first few sections Rhapsody in Blue segment (the jazz one with the cities) changed my brain chemistry and now whenever I need to draw buildings really quickly, I refer back to that. Since the buildings aren't really the main subject, I didn't put much thought into them.

As you can tell I am very tired of this piece, mainly because I made things harder for myself by overcomplicating the process compared to what I usually do, mainly with the whole "starting in grayscale then adding colour." I'd honestly just prefer having a black layer set to colour that I can just toggle on and off when I need to see the values, but it was good to experiment. And that was mainly the point of this whole drawing, to experiment. I'm definitely going to have to play around with this new style I'm going for, mainly because I liked how it turned out a lot in the augmented Keiki sketch, and also because I want to find ways of making it suit my style more. I also really want to keep experimenting with my lighting like this, it's very fun. Last but not least I am never starting in greyscale again because dear god I do not like the workflow it forced me into. I don't have a problem with the method itself it's mainly just a skill issue lol.

If you wanna read my headcanons for these two, I put them in my WIP post, so you can read them there if you want to. The more I look at this the more I prefer the simplicity of my WIP. I might go back to this and just take away the fancy colours and effects to see what it looks like without all of that stuff and reblog this post with that drawing, but for now, I don't think I can look at this drawing again for a while.

[teaboot]

Did you ever read or have your name read aloud in class as part of a story/poem/math problem? If so how did you feel about it?

I can vividly remember reading ahead and spotting my name and feeling my stomach drop like it does on a roller coaster but bad. I hated it so much, everyone looking at you and grinning when the name was read and like no I have no affiliation with this person or their actions do not look upon me and judge.

*Asks are sent for fun, no pressure to answer within a certain amount of time or at all.*

different for different classes, honestly.

Art: Loved being called up in art, it was my best subject, I graduated early and volunteered to do grade 11 art again as a TA. Art was the best. No issues.

Math: Eh. I'm good at it, but I was REALLY BAD at it in school, mostly due to the way it was taught. Didn't really care, though, just sort of an "Ah fuck, better get this wrong fast so I can sit down again" deal.

English: LOVED the class, LOVED books, HATED reading aloud or reading my own work. One teacher I had would read whatever assignments she thought were done best, so I wrote garbage half the year on purpose. Didn't step it up until she told me I was failing and would have to retake the class, and then tested me on my own work cause the quality was suddenly better and she thought I was plagiarizing it from somewhere.

THEN I had a fucking English teacher who thought his ass was in Good Will Hunting or some shit. Like I was his goddamn charity project. Dude kept telling me I had "a really special talent". Every single class we'd have to bring our own short story and every single class he'd ask me if I wanted to read mine out loud and EVERY TIME I'd say no. Hearing people read theirs would give me anxiety attacks so fuckin bad. One day he didn't even ask, just took my work off my desk and started reading. I literally just stood up and booked it. Skipped p much the whole day sitting outside. "Do you wanna talk sbout your feelings" type asshole. Dickhead

I enjoy all these subjects MUCH more as an adult

Edit: OOOOOH, you mean like having my name incorporated into a textbook? Nah, never happened to me, my name's too weird lol

[tales-from-syscord]

//tw: very small drug mention + a wild but extremely ableist assumption I thought we didn't have anything to submit here because we don't venture into syscord all that often, but then yesterday I stumbled across why we don't venture into syscord while going through our notes app. Buckle up because this was single-handedly the wildest thing that's ever happened to us on social media. In late 2021-early 2022 we got banned from the one syscord servers we were in without warning or reason. At first we figured "eh whatever, we didn't talk much in there anyway." But out of curiosity we DM'd one of the mods that we had already previously talked to and asked something like "Hey quick question why were we banned?" Because like- if we did anything wrong and didn't realize it I wanted to know so we didn't do it again. Waited for like three days and honestly forgot about it. You wanna know what their reasoning was? The server owner's abuser apparently had BPD. We have BPD, and at the time it was in our bio. The owner saw it one night, panicked and thought that we were their abuser on an alt, and then demanded that we were banned. Our terrified of confrontation ass just never tried to contact anyone from that server to defend ourselves. A week later one of the other (former) mods reached out and apologized for what happened and explained that the owner had been under the influence of something when it happened but they (the owner) refused to let us join back because in their words (which we were shown via screenshot) "most borderline people are abusive anyway so it's better to get rid of them now before they become a problem." As someone who's greatest fear is turning out like our own abuser (it's bad enough that the body already looks like him), that... was not great to hear. We were already in a less than great mental state (2020-2023 was awful for us), and that just made it worse. Never joined a public syscord server again after that. I also just wanna say I don't hold any hard feelings towards that specific mod, they were super nice and understanding. Apparently the owner had been giving them weird vibes for a while and this was the final straw for them, so they left the mod team and the server as a whole after that.

That's just

Anon, BPD or any mental condition doesn't mean your gonna turn into an abuser. Only your actions can and I'm sorry you had to deal with that

[everlasting-rainfall]

I really like your One Piece Crossing Au, could I request more from that Au? Any character or characters would do. I'm just having fun reading what you come up with.

Any character, eh? Well you did say any of them so I’m going to give you a random one that will probably be unexpected but fun nonetheless

Or at least I hope that it will be as much fun for you as it is for me and honestly I am glad that you like the One Piece Crosskng AU, it is quite fun to write for!

Now then before we get into things, I did pick a character that is SPOILER WARNING territory if you are not caught up with One Piece. I won’t say who it is just yet though

I will however warn you that YOU SHOULD NOT READ THIS IF YOU ARE NOT CAUGHT UP WITH THE ANIME OR MANGA

SPOILER WARNING!!! I’M SERIOUS!!

Okay now that that’s out of the way… Let’s get into it, shall we?

!-MINORS DO NOT INTERACT AT ALL-!

!-POTENTIAL TRIGGER WARNINGS-!

Sentient Video Games, Writing Heavily Reminiscent of Old Creepypasta, Stalking, Heavy Manipulation, SPOILER WARNING, Destruction

!-POTENTIAL TRIGGER WARNINGS-!

!-MINORS DO NOT INTERACT AT ALL-!

Saying it again just to hammer it home… DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU ARE NOT CAUGHT UP WITH THE ANIME OR MANGA

Also… I WILL NEVER AND HAVE NEVER CONDONED THE ACTIONS OFN ANY CELESTIAL DRAGON, THEY ARE ALL DISGUSTING IN THEIR ACTIONS

Okay so imagine that you managed to get your hands on the One Piece Crossing game and how you got your hands on it is irrelevant but when you open up the case

There’s a little piece of paper inside telling you to input a certain code at the character select screen for a secret villager who can only be unlocked with that code, the name of the villager wasn’t on the paper but hey. It’s interesting and you’re curious

So you boot up the game. You make your character and pick your island then you’re brought to the screen that will help you choose what villagers you get, you hit randomize a few times to see if there’s anyone that you’d prefer over this secret character

And although characters like Akainu, Kizaru, Fujitora, Smoker, Tashigi, Sengoku, Garp among others are tempting to take. Curiousity gets the better of you and you input the code causing a text box to pop up once the screen fades to black

“Oh! You’re with them? Why didn’t you say so? They’ve been waiting for you!”

So when the screen fades back in, you’re on the island with an odd looking character as their body is completely blacked out and is only present in silhouette if you could even call it that. The character is downright unnerving too with those big red eyes

Like you’ve heard about what the tutorial is supposed to be but instead of fun little characters telling you how to play in a wholesome little setting, you have a text box telling you exactly what to do which wouldn’t be so unnerving if this weird villager would stop following you

You tried talking to them but the only thing that shows up in their text box is “…” with maybe the occasional “…?” if you keep trying. This is of course too weird and creepy so you turn off the game without saving in hopes of starting a new file without them

But when you reloaded the game, you were right back where you left off with your character laying on the ground like you had fallen unconscious. The character was still there too sitting by you and watching over you with those unblinking red eyes

You tried a few more times but no result so this was your game now… And what were you gonna do? Not play it?

So you continued on with the tutorial going through everything and learning everything until you set down a place for your home, it turned out to be much more extravagant than you expected because as soon as you confirmed that’s where you wanted it to go. The screen faded to black and when it came back in, it was like some kind of mansion

Thinking you would finally be able to get away from this character, you went inside only for them to follow you in and a text box to pop up at the bottom of the screen with your character doing a little animation to show happiness

“Hooray! A new life started with your best friend, Imu! This is gonna be great!”

So Imu was this characters name, at least you knew what to call them and at least they weren’t following you around anymore as they proceeded to make themselves comfortable in your new shared home

Honestly the game wasn’t too bad after that as although it was far from what your friends had told you what their Animal Crossing games were like

Like they had a museum where they would donate their caught fish and bugs to be shown off usually doing a nice animation of some kind to indicate that they were alive while you got a journal to log everything that you found and a wing of the home to show off your findings more like trophies as they would be hung on the walls in frames and placards

Their villagers were friendly and would clap for them when they caught something while you had Imu who needs no explanation further than that and would only acknowledge your catches with a glance in your direction unless you caught a butterfly which appeared to make them mad

They had a shop or two where they could buy things from the cute little NPC’s that ran it while you eventually did unlock a shop but the little NPC’s who ran it seemed more serious and formal like seriously, they would bow to you like you were royalty whenever you entered

They even let you take a sweater for free once saying that Imu told them to allow you to have it… Of course you couldn’t ask them why as any dialogue option that you picked with Imu always resulted in “…” even if it was so much as “Hello!”

It was incredibly different from how your game was and whenever you tried to show your friends just how things were, the battery for your console was always conveniently dead or it just wouldn’t turn on if One Piece Crossing was the game inside of it

As time progressed in the game and you had multiple new villagers move onto your island, which were five old men, you found yourself actually unlocking a few interactions with Imu as you would always talk to them at least once or twice just to see if anything new had occurred in the game

These interactions was the ability to ask if they wanted to do something with you, it would bring up a little menu of “Do you want to fish with me?” or “Do you want to go on a walk with me?” or something to that extent

Typically Imu would follow your character to do whatever you wanted and despite their character model never changing… You could feel an almost… happiness in the air? It was weird as Imu was a video game character…

But regardless, you hung out with Imu now that you had unlocked this but they never did any of the activities with you besides walking or sitting like if you were fishing then Imu would simply stand by you and watch without speaking a word

It was creepy but at least they weren’t just in your house or wandering around your island like a ghost

Plus you weren’t gonna lie, they were turning out to be much better company than the old men who had moved onto your island earlier as lord almighty… They were serious about just about everything…

Imu was creepy and weird but it was better than listening to five old men talk about what sounded like fictional politics…

Eventually when hanging out with your friend one day in real life, they had the suggestion to see if you could visit each others islands in game as the games were incredibly similar

You had a bad feeling about it but you decided to go along with it so when you got home, you booted up your game and headed to the dock. You talked to the NPC there and they seemed reluctant to take you off the island

Asking you so many times if you were sure about this and if Imu knew but eventually they gave in and you were soon heading off

Hanging out with your friend on their island was great fun! Their villagers were cute and friendly, they didn’t even look anything like yours as they were sweet colorful animals. The NPC’s were even way more fun too

You adventured around your friends island together and generally had a great time but all good things must come to an end as suddenly, both of your characters stopped and a notification rolled by saying “Someone has come to visit!”

Asking your friend if they invited someone else turned up nothing but soon you found out who was here as it was NPC’s from your island… Saying that they had come to retrieve you…

Shock went through you and they asked you to cooperate as otherwise they would have to take you by force so seeing no other option, you selected the option to return home and you left your friends island

Upon getting back, you were escorted right back to you and Imu’s home where they were waiting for you. You were left with them and honestly you’ve never felt like your character was in so much danger than they were in that moment

Imu got up and started moving to your character, you had a bad feeling so you made your character rush upstairs and go to sleep. Saving the game and turning it off

A few days later, your friend called you in a frenzy as the island that they had spent so much time building and decorating had been destroyed. They couldn’t load their game and every time that they tried, the game would tell them that their save file was corrupted and they needed to delete the entire game and try again

You tried to comfort them over the phone and get your friend to hopefully calm down but as you were doing that, a thought went through your head. Could it have been…?

No, no, no… That would be ridiculous… Imu was a video game character…

Regardless you booted up your game later in the day when you had time and decided to at least try to figure out what happened and if Imu really did have something to do with it

They weren’t home when your character got out of bed so you went outside deciding to ask the villagers as you were sure that heading to the docks would be a bad decision. Plus they were quite knowledgeable about just about everything

you would select the option to ask them a question but when you typed it in. You didn’t get the response of “I’m not sure how to answer that” but instead…

“That island? I’ve never heard of it…”

“Are you feeling alright? Who are you talking about? What friend?”

“You never left this island… We would have known about it…”

“I think you just had a dream… You never visited a place like that…”

It was like the island just stopped existing to them which you supposed it did because your friends save data was corrupted but surely they should remember something… Right?

It wasn’t until you asked the very last member that they sighed and told you something that sent a chill down your spine as the speakers spoke with a voice instead of the typical sound that it usually made when they spoke…

“Stop asking about that island… It never existed… Do you hear me? It never existed, your supposed friend never existed, you never went anywhere… Stop asking questions and go home… Get some rest… You clearly aren’t feeling well…”

Your hands were honestly shaking as you stared at the screen… It almost felt like the character was speaking to you directly, not your character but you like they had finally gotten tired of this…

Your blood ran cold when suddenly the character model looked up at the screen and you could feel cold eyes staring directly into your soul, it made you lean back and you could practically feel your heart stop

“Besides… Imu-sama is looking for you… You shouldn’t worry them so much… They care for you deeply…”

It was after that is when you yelped and shut off the power to your console effectively ending your play session, you threw the console away from you like it had caught fire and stared at it like it was a demon that just crawled up through your floorboards

Honestly you weren’t sure how long you sat there but when you finally moved, you put the console away. Unplugged so it wouldn’t charge and out of sight until you could figure out what to do with the damn thing

You tried to live your life for about a month after that, you told all of your friends exactly what you had seen when they asked to play games with you but they didn’t believe you. “Nice creepypasta!” they would say and “Come on, quit messing around!” was another

Even your friend who had gotten their save file corrupted didn’t seem to quite believe you like they did at least agree that your game was weird but didn’t believe the game was sentient and speaking to you

It wasn’t like you didn’t want to play games with them so after an entire month of being unable to play any games with your friends, you decided that you had to do something

You took the console from where you had put it one night and tried to eject the game from its slot but it wouldn’t come out so you decided on the next best thing besides just buying a new console, you went on your computer and looked up how to completely delete your save file

Chances are with how similar it was to animal crossing, the same rules must apply… Right? That had to be the case

So once you knew exactly how to do it, you booted up your console and took a deep breath to ready yourself before starting the game to completely delete your save and be rid of whatever was going on in there once and for all

It took a long time to load but once it did, your screen turned white and the console sparked in your hands causing you to drop it from surprise

The second that it collided with your lap, a bright was released and once it cleared. You felt so much different, the room that you were in was dark but you were laying on something soft regardless

Your clothes had even felt like they had changed so you opened your eyes and looked about, you saw the shape of a lamp in the room and flicked it on with a click only to immediately wish you hadn’t

You were in your in-game home sitting on the bed underneath the covers except it was different as the bed was bigger and Imu’s bed which would be on the opposite side of the room was gone

Of course you tried to wake yourself up but it wasn’t a dream, you were here for real and it was horrible

Considering the feeling of dread about Imu that you got when the NPC’s dragged you home from your friend’s island, you decided that you needed to find a way off of the island. Maybe you could head to the docks and input a random code to get away?

It was safe enough to say that you were panicking and desperate so you slipped out of bed and carefully walked downstairs, the house looked much different indicating that Imu had redecorated which made you uneasy

You snuck out of the house and ran to the docks as fast as your legs would carry you, you ran past about two of the old men villagers who attempted to stop you. Calling out your name when they saw you, your real name

Once you had made it to the docks, you were panting and out of breath. The NPC there looked shocked to see you as “You’re supposed to be in bed! Imu-sama told us you weren’t feeling well!”

Despite your attempts to demand to be taken off of the island and away from here, the NPC didn’t listen and kept refusing until “I think that you need some rest… You really aren’t feeling well… Don’t worry, we’ll get you home…”

When you tried to ask why they wouldn’t let you leave, they informed you that Imu was in charge of the island now and that they decided everything for it. Who left, who came, how it looked, what it was named, etc, etc

You didn’t need to worry about a single thing anymore as Imu would take care of absolutely everything allowing you to get better and relax! Besides they had been great while you were resting!

Upon returning you home, they stood in front of the door so you couldn’t leave before announcing that they returned you. Imu quickly appeared from one of the rooms and you couldn’t stop the feeling of dread that came over you when you saw them as they were far scarier in person

They dismissed the guards standing behind you and approached you, they took you by the arm with a cold hand and dragged you upstairs

They forced you to sit on the bed all the while remaining completely silent, they laid down next to you and held you close to them almost as if they were trying to cuddle you

The rest of your life would be spent in the game with Imu as despite your many, many escape attempts. None of them worked and when one managed to get you off the island, it wasn’t long before you found yourself being chased down by what reminded you of an Umi Bozu

Imu would force you to remain within the house usually in what you had come to find out was your now shared bed, no one was allowed to see you or speak to you

Not even the five old men living on the island as whenever Imu needed to meet with them, you were locked in the bedroom and forced to listen to them talk downstairs about things that you didn’t entirely understand

And no matter how much you screamed and pleaded to be let go, to please return to your normal life. Imu would simply stare at you like they had always done with the most response that they ever gave you was to get down to your level and look you directly in the eye

Eventually as time passed as well, you began to accept that this was your life. There was no escape from this game, this was your new home and this is where you were going to grow old and eventually die

But of course, this is a video game and no one ages inside of a video game… The years would pass by but you would never change, Imu would never change, the five old men would never change… The only thing that ever changed was the scenery…

The constant isolation and lack of change started to get to you and slowly you started believing… Maybe you were a video game character and maybe you truly weren’t feeling well so that’s why you believed otherwise

This was your home… Right? You had never lived in the real world that you remembered because this was the real world… This is where you belonged… With Imu…

The one who had been so nice and caring to you as they made absolutely sure that you would recover…

Yes… You were sick… And you had been so ungrateful to Imu…

The next time that Imu came to check on you, they were pleasantly surprised to see you in bed for once instead of trying to wander about…

They came over and sat on the edge of the bed to look at you, you looked back at them and an apology escaped your lips…

An apology for trying to leave them, an apology for not believing that this was the real world, an apology for having been so ungrateful to them, an apology for not realizing how unwell you truly were to believe that you were someone else

They actually reacted to this as they extended a hand that no longer felt cold yet oddly warm as it took yours, they gently lifted your hand and began to slide something onto your finger. It was a ring

You should be grateful you know… Imu forgave you and loves you…

It was after admiring the ring for a bit, the blacked out figure leaned in and pressed their lips onto yours in a kiss that you happily returned and when Imu pulled away, you heard them speak for the first time

“You are mine, my love…”

“I am yours…”

It was after that, that Imu held you close and rested with you on the bed… Meanwhile in the real world, you were slowly erased from existence…

All of your friends forgot about you, they didn’t remember a single thing about you let alone your name and every missing persons poster faded away into nothing

It was truly like you were never even a real person in the first place as everything about you vanished except for one thing… Your old console was left sitting on the floor of what used to be your home with the game cartridge disappearing to find its way into some other poor souls possession

You would never know this of course, you were completely under the impression that you were simply a person living your sweet and caring partner on a nice island where no one ever aged

You would never even entertain the thought that you were a real person stuck inside of a video game and if you did then Imu would shoot those ideas down as soon as they sprung up

And as the days passed by living with you as their spouse, Imu honestly knew that leaving that code for you to find was a good decision

(Couldn’t find any good gifs of Imu that weren’t really jittery or had heavy spoilers, sorry…)

[amomentoftimeandword]

Finally gave this one a chance...🫣

For my DC fans.. I'm *very* aware Ezra Miller was/is currently? controversial. BEFORE you come at me, I am a huge Batman nerd and that's really the only reason I watched this movie! 🫣

Pros:

1. Michael Keaton reprising his role as Batman 🦇🙌🏼 . 2. Batman being Batman. 3. George Clooney showing up at the end as Bruce Wayne (solid ending). 4. Gal Gadot 🤩👏🏼 That's it 🤷🏼‍♀️

Cons:

** I hate saying this as a DC fan, but DC just CANNOT do live action movies well at ALL (The Dark Knight trilogy aside)!! I feel like they've never learned from their mistakes?? Have they never analyzed what is wrong and why their movies tank more often than not?? Sorry not sorry 🤷🏼‍♀️ I'll stick to the animated movies/shows which they excel at!! **

1. Ezra Miller's Flash. Can you say cringy?? (Not the whole time honestly, but majority, yes) 😬 seriously my least favorite version. Might be biased because I don't particularly care for Miller as a person... (Grant Gustin will always be my Flash) 2. The cameos of both George and Christopher Reeves and Adam West's Batman, felt weird. They don't appeal to a younger generation. The only reason I know about them is because my owner parents were around during that time and educated me on them. I think this film had plenty of missed opportunities to have current cameos of the same heroes. Especially since the CW's Crisis on Infinite Earths pulled in Miller's Flash. Could have returned the favor?? 3. Nicholas Cage Superman?? Hated that. No no no. Honestly not a huge Superman to begin with, but I respect a good portrayal of him when it happenes. But that was just bad. 4. Supergirl/Kara.. eh. 5. The Jason Momoa cameo in the post credits... Come on 🤦🏼‍♀️ Aquaman could have been so much better. 6. I love The Flash, as much as the next person, but there seems to always be a recurring theme with this character and it lacks uniqueness. Which theme? The one where Barry tries to go back in time to save his mom and inevitably f*cks up the timeline, creating a paradox. It is an overused plot to say the least. There's GOT to be more out there on him besides that?? I wanna see more of him taking on his enemies, his known ones from the Rogues gallery!!

[chuckeroo777]

Dungeon Meshi Volume 6 Part 1

Welcome back to my liveblog! As a reminder, this is a re-read, so expect plenty of spoilers!

Don't intentionally spoil people or get thwacked in the face.

Huh. So they have been here for about a week. Makes Rin's exasperation even more understandable.

Wow, rude. I feel like if you actually knew her, that's kinda the last thing she would do. She hates eating weird stuff.

Batting 0 for 3 Maizuru. Honestly, I originally thought she was kind of a jerk, but between this and "Ninja Art: Babysitter", I think her observational skills are just really bad.

See? She doesn't have a clue why this is an atrocious idea.

I mean, it was an elf who was around during Delgal's day, and was using exceptionally potent ancient magic. Who the heck else would it be? Plus the orcs confirmed his identity. And of course Laios thinks Thistle is mad about the food.

Asebi is not amused.

Hmm... another depiction of the winged lion with horns. Also, there was no need to bring up the black magic. Marcille used a regular resurrection spell, just using ancient magic to boost the power level. If the dragon hadn't been soul-bound by Thistle, it would have gone without a hitch. People like to joke Marcille did nothing wrong, but in this one case, I think she was totally in the right. There is plenty of time for her to commit war crimes later.

Chilchuck: Gasp! You were drugging him!

Kabru is here for ALL the hot goss. From a distance.

I love how the canon explanation for why Faligon has feathers is that Dragons = Dinosaurs. It's like an atavism or something. Idk, it looks cool. Stop asking questions.

God. Marcille may be my favorite, but I relate so much to Laios. This chapter and the next are painful. (And I'm not talking about the part where everyone dies)

If only Chilchuck won the coin toss, we could've avoided this drama. (At least until Shuro saw Falin)

Now that's a trustworthy face if I ever saw one.

Well well well. If it isn't the consequences of my actions.

I know I just got done explaining that her actions were fine. Just let me be funny.

Eh, it's worth a try. It works in at least one alternate universe.

She's beauty, she's grace. She's gonna eat your face.

What's all the more heartbreaking is you get little moments where Falin shines through. She wants to pet the doggie! But then the dragon reasserts itself.

Even freakier, I think this is actually Falin too. You can see her pupils oscillate throughout this scene between normal, and elongated.

Like, I don't think it did that on purpose, but the dragon is more than happy to exploit the opening it creates.

Holm? Holm, are those golem cores? Have you been holding out on us?

Man, no wonder she freaks out. Imagine you've been a dragon for who knows how long, covered in scales of iron, and suddenly this dude manages to stab you five times like it's nothing. Heck, Laios just stabbed her in the foot with a normal sword. This dragon must be fearing for it's life like crazy.

Obligatory Whoa Hey!

An important image.

No you dummy. This is standard dungeon procedure. There's a reason healers like Holm and Falin wear those silly robes. So that they get priority resurrections.

Hold up a sec. My drama senses are tingling.

I am genuinely curious what this insult was in the original Japenese, if only because I can't see that coming from either of them.

You know, when I first read Dungeon Meshi, I kinda glossed over the secondary cast a lot. Hard not to when you have my attention span, and like two dozen characters. I didn't even notice the Asebi stuff.

I know people dunk on Toshiro a lot, but I really have to question his relationship with his retainers if a simple thank you and sorry elicits this sort of reaction. Honestly, I mostly get the impression that his dad isn't great, and Maizuru is too loyal to do anything about it.

I also have to wonder why he left Asebi behind. Did he just not want to bother? Or is he rethinking his whole relationship with his retainers, and is offhandedly giving her her freedom?

Like brother like sister.

Image limit reached! I'll be back in a bit. Need to get some meshi!

[kob131]

Vee on X: "I am unironically not buying Hades 2. The people who made Hestia just comited a crime against nature. They are so phenomanaly shit at their job and by existing in the industry they are taking away the position of someone more talented. https://t.co/soHY1Y2wyL" / X (twitter.com)

Way to say the quiet part out loud.

I am unironically not buying Hades 2.

Okay...why are you saying 'unironically'? If you have to append 'unironically' to something as simple as 'I am not buying this product', you might want to consider if you are edging the line towards a dumbass take.

Be a good idea for a guy thinking he's a warrior in a culture war.

The people who made Hestia just comited a crime against nature.

Okay, he appends this with an image-

And honestly, this basically kills any reasonable point. Let's go through the list-

1- This is completely in line with how the Olympians are depicted in Hades.

Hestia fits right in with the other Olympians. Similar shading, similar exaggerations, hell even similar skin tones (though weird given Zeus, Poseidon, Hades and Demeter has lighter skin). SO she's not out of place in her home series at all.

2- Hades-Hestia incorporates more of the mythological elements of Hestia (namely her status as goddess of the hearth as well as being the eldest Olympian) than Danmachi-Hestia (who looks more like a really busty Artemis honestly.) Meaning it's easier to mentally associate the first with her origin than the later.

3- Honestly, Danmachi-Hestia is pretty generic. Part of the reason you would incorporate elements of the original in is to make the interpretation more visually distinct, like a hearth-themed MILF instead of a character that you could plop into something like Konosuba or Overlord and they wouldn't look very out of place. Meanwhile, Hades-Hestia can't really be done anywhere else BESIDES Hades.

4- He doesn't explain himself whatsoever. This sentence had more effort put in than his two meltdowns on twitter.

5- You know how guys like this demand that creators don't abandon their target audience for people who would never buy their products but demand comformity?

Wanna guess how many tweets this guy has made about Hades that isn't bitching about it, not even from the perspective of a fan?

Guess that audience doesn't matter if it's not YOU, eh?

They are so phenomanaly shit at their job and by existing in the industry they are taking away the position of someone more talented.

This is fucking hilarious cuz-

A. Supergiant are INDIE developers so they aren't filling up limited positions in the mainstream.

B. Clearly audiences disagree considering Early Access has the game in the top 15. Something that indicates success to him considering he supported Palworld.

And C. Isn't this basically an admission that Affirmative Action is correct? That jobs are a zero-sum game so people should do whatever they can to get them and get ahead? Get job blasting off your foot.

Goes nicely with all the other body parts you blasted off.

[positivelybeastly]

To the Mod: I know Cat! Hank is your number one version of the character, now I'm curious of how you rank the other encarnations from least favorite to favorite...

Ha, so, funnily enough, this reminds me of an old meme I made, which is horrifically low quality, but eh, it makes me laugh.

Pretty much all versions of Hank, I can find at least something to love about them, even if it's just something visual or something small, one little scene that works for me, so, with that in mind, let's begin our ranking! I hope you don't mind, but I went from favourite to least favourite, just because that's the way my brain works. :)

Platinum Medal - Feline Beast (2000-2012)

As you mentioned, in my opinion, absolutely the best version of our man. When drawn well, he has the best design, the best look, the best storylines, the best everything. He's still eloquent, he's still hilarious, he's still bipolar, he's still ridiculous, he's still so aggressively unhappy and doing his best to make it through, he's still the biggest bleeding heart you'll ever see. He's my guy.

Gold Medal - Classic Beast (1974-2000)

The boy! The bouncing, bludgeoning, bountifully blue Beast himself! Honestly, I used to be a little down on him, I used to think he lacked complexity and was just kind of a weird 'diversion' on the path to cat Hank, but reading New Defenders completely changed that opinion, and now he's firmly second place. He's just such a goofy goober!

Silver Medal - Dark Beast (1994-Current)

Honestly, one of the better evil twin/counterparts I've seen in media, mostly on account of some very subtle characterisation tweaks that make him fascinating. His strange, borderline narcissistic-but-also-self-worth-affirming fascination with 616 Hank, his inability to hurt Hank's parents because the idea of being loved makes him weak, his absolutely incredible sense of humour . . . like, I dislike what he's done to the discourse about Hank, since people will trumpet the idea that Dark Beast 'proves' that Hank always goes evil, but as a character, I really am just happy any time he's on panel.

Bronze Medal - Modern Beast (2012-2019)

You'll note that I cut this off before 2019 for obvious reasons. Honestly, this version of Hank is saved primarily by a few key stories that actually bother to examine his actions and ongoing personality crisis in more than surface level detail, and I do really like this design, even if I wish people could be more consistent with it (seriously, he's not a hard character to draw, can we please establish if he's as big as the Hulk or not?). Forever tarnished by being written by Bendis, but I do like him when he's written well.

Runner-Up - TAS/'97 Beast (1992-1997, 2024-Current)

I love this boy, but he hasn't gotten quite enough stories of real import and character development for me to say I like him as much as the comics versions of Hank. I'm optimistic that season 2 of X-Men '97 will rectify that, given some key scenes in episodes 5 and 7, but until then, I just like him. I think he's neat. Definitely has one of the best voices of all the Hanks.

Runner-Up - Grey Beast (1974-1975)

I used to regard this guy as just a transition from human to blue Hank, but going back and reading those issues of Amazing Adventures and the tie-in issue of X-Men Unlimited, I actually kind of adore this brief but meaningful period of Hank's life immensely. When I started writing my big X-Force fix-it fic, the idea of regressing Hank back to this colour and something like this state of mind was key to my vision of the character, because it's so under-explored and so fascinating to me.

Runner-Up - Sublime Beast (2004)

The best of the villain turns Hank has ever had, because it's not really Hank, and yet, the manner in which he turns is so achingly Beast - he burned himself out trying to keep everything afloat, and in his desperation, he made a stupid mistake that ended up hurting him most of all. Also, 11/10 character design. White fur and purple leather? Fucking god damn what a daddy.

Runner-Up - X-Men 3: The Last Stand, The Marvels (2006, 2023)

Honestly, good version of the character, even if I don't love Kelsey Grammer's politics. Great voice, good design, good integration into the storyline, interesting place for Hank to end up after leaving the X-Men, good use of his acrobatics. I was very pleased to see him crop up again in the Marvels.

Runner-Up - X-Men: Evolution, Wolverine & the X-Men, Marvel Anime (2000-2003, 2009, 2011)

Throwing these all into their own little space because I do love them, but they were very much just supporting characters who didn't get a real chance to shine outside of one or two funny moments, and one or two episodes (the Beast of Bayville from Evolution is the standout here). Great designs on these three fellas.

Runner-Up - Human Beast (1963-1974, 1986-9, 2013-2018)

Honestly, not my favourite version of the boy. He's fine, but he's not done yet, he hasn't finished baking. I appreciate a lot of the stories that come from this era, but I always regard this version of Hank as fundamentally unfinished and incomplete. The magic stuff with time displaced Hank was interesting, the Jean love triangle and the conga line of humiliation Bendis was intent on putting him through was. Less so. Still. Good lad.

DNF (Did Not Finish) - X-Men: First Class, Days of Future Past, Apocalypse, Dark Phoenix (2011-2019)

Just not really the same character, tbh. See me after class for notes.

An Affront to Me, Personally - X-Force Beast (2019-2024)

If I could fill your bed with thumbtacks, Ben Percy, I would. You have poisoned the earth for this character for decades to come, if not forever, and I regard you as a blight upon his legacy. The fact that you were allowed to do this with the character is all the confirmation I needed for my theory that the X-office, and Marvel at large, does not give a single solitary fuck about the integrity of this character, will not protect him, and does not hold any regard for his history or meaning.

Beast in name only. Shame on you.

Bonus: Lives In My Head Rent Free - Gay Exiles Beast (2009)

It's canon.

This list isn't entirely exhaustive, there are a billion other versions of Hank out there, like Brute from Mutant X, Manga Beast who looks like a teddy bear, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 3 Beast, Ultimate-1610 Beast, etc, etc, but these are my 'core' Beasts, and as such, this is my ranking.

[violetlunette]

The Ramshackle Un-Birthday Interview: If you were to transfer to a different dorm, which would it be?

Summary: Yuu ponders the dorm he would want to be in.

Notes: This is part of the Un-birthday interview for my Yuusona, who is Twisted from the Mad Doctor.

If you were to transfer to a different dorm, which would it be?:

“You mean if I was to get a dorm in general. Ramshackle is a building, not a dorm,” Yuu reminded them. “Of course the answer is Diasomnia, so I can be closer to my sweet Moonshine.” Little silver hearts appeared as he thought of his true love and exhaled a loving sigh. “Yeah, being around Silver would be amazing! Like walking in heaven 24/7 as angels and cupids sing their song of love.” He pulled himself together as Grim scratched him.

“An’ getting to hang with Dr. Hornton would be cool, too. He’s not a stick in the mud like the other dorm leaders.” He thought of Riddle as he said this. “Plus, Diasomnia has all the best magic users and Horton’s #1, right? So, if I was in Dia, I’d get a chance to study magic up close.”

“And being the best magic user, it would be perfect for me!” Grim bragged. “So, Diasomnia for me too!” Yuu’s shoulders suddenly dropped.

“Unfortunately, it would never be allowed,” he said in disappointment.

“Eh? Why?” Yuu fell back in his seat with a grunt, his face twisted in a grimace.

“Batman and Puppyboy; the dynamic duo determined to come between and my darlin’ Moonshine since I first arrived in twisted wonderland.” Aduce blinked in confusion before they recalled that those were the nick names Yuu had for Lilia and Sebek, respectively. Grumbling, Yuu sank further into the chair, folding his arms as he pouted like a child.

“Seriously! Those two are always riding me cowboy in the west—when Puppyboy isn’t shouting Horton’s greatness at the top of his lungs 24/7 or holding sermons cult style, he’s yelling at us for something or ever. He’s been especially loud after that incident.” Ace raised an eyebrow.

“Which one?” There had been many incidents that involved Yuu and Sebek, including one where Sebek got hit by a truck.

“Oh, just a small, tiny incident,” Yuu said too innocently. “Nothing worth discussing.” Ace and Deuce felt from the sweetness of his tone it was very much worth discussing, but he wasn’t going to. (At least not at the moment.) He continued his complaint.

“And Batman acts like a jealous lover all the time. Whenever I get within three feet of Silver, Lilia just has to be between us. Or rather, he has to make sure I’m not within three feet of him!” That was true. The school had several holes and body impressions all in the shape of Yuu due to Lilia shoving the horny teeen away with his super strength.

Grim spoke up.

“Hmph! It’s your fault for being so weird around Silver all the time,” he accused.

“So, I’m a weird person!” Yuu said, not even denying it. “Silver doesn’t mind! He listens to all my musings and takes an interest in my projects.” Ace rolled his eyes.

“He’s just being polite,” he told the love-struck puppy. “He’s just as weirded by you out as the rest of us.” Then again, it was hard to tell.

Silver was seen as an emotionless person by his peers, as no one could read his stoic features. Therefore, it was unclear how Silver felt towards his stalker. Maybe he did genuinely like him.

Deuce nodded in agreement with Ace.

“Honestly, I think Lilia’s just trying to protect Silver more than anything,” he said with a sigh as he recalled all the times Yuu tried to be—friendly with Silver. Yuu became extremely offended.

“I would never hurt Silve.” He trailed off as suddenly unsure of this fact, which looked like it was tearing him apart. For a moment, he looked like he would cry. Ace and Deuce moved forward.

“Hey--”

“...Ignihyde.” Aduce blinked, pausing in their action.

“Er, what?”

“The dorm, if I could choose,” Yuu looked up with a broad grin, stiff as a board. “They’re like the scientists of the joint, right? If I could get my hands on the magi-tech, there’s nothing I couldn’t do. And since Idia is basically a pushover, I could do whatever I wanted!

“As a plus, they’ve got the coolest uniforms. And Grim’s already got the colors, so we’d fit in just fine.”

“You think so, huh?” Ace and Deuce shared a look, then thought.

“Well—I guess of all the dorms, Ignihyde would be best for you,” Deuce said charitably. “But I can’t help but feel bad for Idia.”

“It’s better than Octavinelle.” Ace said, fearful at what the dorm’s influence would do to Yuu.

~End~

A/n:

*He’d also do well in Scarabia. Though for Jamil’s sake, it’s best that never happens. Ignihyde's best simply because Idia allows the residents to be independent for the most part and doesn't try to control them. This works for Yuu as he likes his freedom. And he really loves the jackets.

[theshadowrealmitself]

You live in a crummy apartment, you don’t talk to your family anymore, you don’t have time for friends, you mostly just go to work then go back to the aforementioned shitty apartment.

The only people you really talk to these days is your rude coworker you’re pretty sure has been stealing your lunches, and a neighborhood kid that has “behavioral problems”, but it’s obvious that he just doesn’t have a good home life.

He’s actually a pretty sweet kid once you get to know him. He shares his snacks with you (seriously, you’re gonna kill your coworker one of these days) and tells you all the neighborhood gossip. He’s just a bit impulsive, honestly

He has this fluffy dog he lets you pet, and him and his dog go around searching for aliens. (Kid is obsessed with them.)

You share your food with him on the days you actually have it and keep an eye on the little guy, since it’s obvious no one else is.

It’s not long before he sees you as some kind of big sibling, and you’re proud of it, this is your little brother, you’ve decided, and you’re gonna keep him safe, no matter what.

—

One day he comes in and swears he’s seen the aliens, claims they’re hiding as humans who’ve just moved into the neighborhood.

Now, you haven’t actually talked to them, and they did seem…odd when you passed by, but they’re definitely not aliens, that much is obvious to you.

Still, you don’t wanna upset your little bro by not taking him seriously, so you just ask him why he thinks that and listen to his reasonings.

After a bit, he holds out a walkie talkie towards you, “just in case,” he says, so that he’d have a way of calling you in case something goes south.

You really don’t wanna take it, worried that if you do you’ll just be encouraging him to do something stupid, but this feels…significant. You can’t explain it, but something insists that you take it, so you do.

Eh, you figure that he’d probably get in trouble either way, and now he can get ahold of you.

Just in case.

—

Yelling wakes you up a few days later, it’s coming from the walkie talkie.

You jolt out of bed and grab it, your little brother’s panicked voice calling for help through it and feeling your body with ice cold horror.

You try to get him to calm down and get information out of him.

He’s at the new family’s house, in their basement, he’s injured and crying that they’re going to experiment on him, before his voice cuts out.

You cuss, slip on your shoes, and grab the bag that holds everything important to you, stuff like your mementos and your wallet (just in case this shitty place falls apart and you need to leave quickly), thinking that you might have a first aid kit somewhere in there since it is your emergency bag, and then you book it.

—

Soon, you’re outside that house, about to knock on their door and explain everything, but there’s that feeling again, that feeling that this moment is significant and you don’t wanna take that action, so you jog around back and find a window leading to a basement.

You’re still not sure if you actually wanna break into these random people’s house, but you can hear the kid quietly sniffling, and it drives you to force yourself through the tiny opening.

You land softly on your feet and when you look around you’re entire worldview shatters.

The room is filled with…test subjects.

It’s the only way to describe what you’re seeing. People, at least what you recognize as people, not that they look completely human, passed out in clear tubes, suspended in weird liquids.

Your eyes eventually land on your little brother and his pet dog, locked in a contraption of some kind, and it knocks you out of your stupor. You don’t know what’s going on, but it’s not going to happen to him, you promised to keep him safe and you’re damn well gonna do that.

You break them out of it, and shove the both of them through the tiny window. He begs you to climb out now, and you just demand that he runs off, to not wait for you, it’s gonna take you longer to pull your way through the window.

And besides, you can hear the door opening behind you, you already know it’s too late for you.

—

You wake up. Eventually. Apparently a thousand years later. The people who grabbed you are long dead.

And so is your brother.

Turns out, he was right, they were aliens, going around abducting people off of different planets.

Their fucked up research vessel eventually got discovered, and you were woken up.

It’s not so bad, the future. It’s…an adjustment, for sure. But not bad.

You have friends now, and a job you don’t hate. On a spaceship of all things. And you get to see the stars and have dreams now. It’s new and it’s wonderful and some days it’s so blindingly optimistic that it…hurts.

You eat 3 wonderful meals everyday and think about stale chips being offered to you by a scrappy young kid with a loving stray who looked up to you like you were their hero.

—

You see those eyes again one day.

“An alternate universe,” your captain breathes out with excitement. But all you feel is pure shock as you see your brother. He looks healthy and cleaned up, and so does his dog, still loyally by his side you note, as they throw themselves into your arms.

You’re both sobbing as you hold onto each other like the other one’s going to dissolve any second.

Meanwhile, his pup is giving doggy kisses and trying to knock the both of you into the ground.

An alternate universe.

One where you didn’t accept the walkie talkie and he couldn’t call anyone from the basement.

He sobs and apologizes for breaking his promise to you about not being reckless.

You sob and apologize for not being there for him when he needed you.

He has to go back, sooner than either of you wanted, but it’s better that way. It already feels like your heart’s breaking, it’ll just be worse if you get more attached.

You let him know you’re proud of him, and you love him, and to just focus on being happy, and you see something in his shoulders loosen, and know that this trip was cathartic for him.

Then the transporter fizzles and you’ve lost your brother again.

—

You come to find out that your brother being the one to end up in the future is the default.

You keep running into alternate versions of the ship you’re on and meeting him.

Sometimes, it’s that you don’t take the walkie talkie.

Sometimes, it’s that you do, but you don’t check the basement, just knocking on the door of the house and believing them when they say he ran off.

You’re the anomaly.

It makes sense, a young boy with a dog at his side having space adventures. That sounds natural. It sounds correct.

You don’t know if it’s better this way. If it’s better that you’re the one being abducted instead of him. You know his home life was shitty, but you don’t know if having universe hopping adventures after getting kidnapped is actually good for him.

You don’t know what you left behind, if he’s okay in the past after you’d been taken from him. But you can’t change it either way.

So you just hold all these new versions of him tightly for as long as you can, and let them know you’re sorry that you didn’t believe him, and that he’s loved.

[panblackeagle]

I need more roleplay partners

This is an active attempt at making people want to roleplay with me, because I just need more active ones, other than the one that I currently have (they're irreplaceable for sure!)

Now, my main genres are romance (usually the base), fantasy, action, medieval, sci-fi, gore, even angst, just no slice of life. I accept anything MxM, FxF, NBxNB, FxNB, MxNB, shipping OCs is cool, but I mainly ship things from fandoms (I am quite sure that you will recognise at least one of these, trust me). I find gore completely fine and I come for drama, as long as it doesn't come out of nowhere. I write in a weird mix between semi-lit and literate. If I keep myself short, I either don't know what to write or I am preoccupied with something else at the moment. 18+ stuff is good too, I am 20 (I am a pure bottom, but not all that I roleplay is submissive, most of them stand their ground quite well). I am a very creative person, who will most likely find a plot in anything, so if you want to add things aswell, just let me know!

These are the fandoms that I roleplay (+ if I am desperate to roleplay in it lol)

♤Dream Daddy (not really desperate, only doing it if I get to be Damien)

♡Spaloon 1-3 (yes, yes, yes, all of them queer tentacle creatures!)

♤Pokemon (every generation is fine, we can even be the Pokemon, I am a furry)

♡No Straight Roads (I had an incident, not doing it for at least the next few months)

♤The Stanley Parable (not really desperate, I've done it quite a bit)

♡Countryhumans (it's been at least three years, very desperate and I make a good Germany and Finland)

♤Undertale/Deltarune (I never really mind it, even the AUs are cool)

♡Team Fortress 2 (always up for it, if I get to be either Medics)

♤Super Mario/Luigi's Mansion 2-3 (I want to do it from time to time)

♡Jojo's Bizarre Adventure part 3-4 (the most desperate, poor Kakyoin got done dirty!)

♤Hazbin Hotel/Helluva Boss (eh, could be worse, I'm obsessed with Staticmoth (don't expect me to be Val though))

♡Detroit Become Human (not desperate, but I can make exceptions)

♤Yokai Watch (I just think this one to be fun)

♡Pikmin 1-4 (I'd be willing to try it)

♤Super Smash Bros (I'd be Mii Swordfighter because he's my main and I'm very desperate)

♡Steven Universe (I'd be up to do it, respectfully for the lesbian space rocks)

♤My Little Pony (Sure, why not!)

♡Sonic (I don't know much, but I am still willing to do it)

♤Villainous (I make a good Flug and Slug, not desperate though)

♡Good Omens (I have not seen the second season yet, but still!)

♤Hetalia (I am not really knowledgeable, but I can roleplay as Ludwig)

♡Sanders Sides (there are possibilities)

♤Fnaf (I really like being Bonnie of any kind ^^)

♡Cookie Run Kingdom (there's good potential in it!)

♤Wander Over Yander (I literally only want to do deathglare and to be Peepers!)

♡Legends Of Avantris - specifically Once Upon A Witchlight or Stardust Rhapsody (honestly, I would absolutely love to!)

♡The Amazing Digital Circus (holy hell, I did NOT expect to dive into royalteeth so deep- (my favourite is Caine, no doubt))

If you are interested in roleplaying with me now, you can comment or dm me. If you prefer roleplaying with me on Discord, I can send you my Discord in dms.

[literary-illuminati]

Book Review 69 – Prophet, Volume 2: Brothers by Brandon Graham (et al)

I’m at this point reading these as quick palate-cleansers between longer books. Which is probably a terrible idea, both because I’m sure forgetting all manner of plot-critical details between volumes, and also because this series is so goddamn weird it’s the literary equivalent of having a spoonful of cinnamon between courses. But eh, reading the volumes in a row would both rapidly exceed my patience and also feel far too much like cheating to get my reading challenge counter up higher.

The story continues on from Volume 1, mostly but not entirely following ‘Old Man’ Prophet, a truly ancient superhuman soldier as he goes around the galaxy collecting a ragtag band of misfit allies and trying to organize a resistance to the reborn Terran Empire and its legions of other non-defective Prophets preparing to restore it to its ancient glory. The individual stories within that are pretty episodic, contained within each individual issue – all fairly minimalist and simple to fit within that constraint.

The style of story-telling is honestly the most striking thing about this whole series to me. Everything is very...zoomed out? Mostly, it’s an omniscient voice narrating the events occurring and how the protagonists feel about and react to them, with only comparatively few snapshots of actual dialogue or character beats occurring ‘on screen’. The result feels like a whole book of ‘previously on’ segments, as much as anything – it might be entirely normal in comics, but the few (very strange) ones I’ve really gotten into before this don’t do anything similar.

The art remains wonderfully bizarre – though it often gets to the point where I have difficulty actually parsing the action and whose doing what, which is a real issue in such an incredibly visual series. Still, by far the biggest selling point here is all the weird and wild aliens and gonzo worldbuilding that’s just thrown into the background and namedropped like it belongs there with zero exposition about how anything works beyond what’s absolutely necessary for the plot.

Speaking of visuals, I would like to take a moment to properly appreciate the fact that the Old Man’s dead love who he reminiscences about constantly was a lizard alien and they did not give her breasts (or make her particularly humanlike at all, really). Female alien character design in comic books is a low, low bar but crossing it with flying colors here.

Compared to volume one the story here’s much more conventional – more or less following one protagonist on a mission that’s either archetypal or generic depending on how nice you’re feeling, collecting a quirky and sympathetic supporting cast as he goes. My perspective is probably biased by the fact that the friend who lent me these also said that they technically take place in the far future of one established superhero universe or another, but you can kind of see the trappings of the genre starting to peak through here and there? Not necessarily a bad thing, but this definitely read like what you imagine a comic book to be than the last one.