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krchar · 6 months

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Some thoughts on Himerish and Trial of the Oracle

Ok so it's weird that I hardly post anything and now I go with this, but these thoughts are for some reason so pressing to me these days! And this feels like the right space.

tldr: i love 4th arc, I like Himerish's development, but after rereading last week I have some surprising ambivalence about how his warrior identity goes with his previously implied nature - or at least to my view of the character - happy to know anyone's thoughts on that!

Firstly I want to state that I love the stories, and mostly the first 4 arcs! This is just a thought on one character development...

So I belong among the fans of 4th arc, definitely, and I think that most people who have some soft spot for Himerish/Oracle, started to feel so throughout this arc (although I know some did before it was cool!). I always loved that story, that he was confronted with such a downfall, the dramatic almost mythical story of regaining his identity is so awesome, i liked that he cooperated with the guardians as a person, that he realized he was too removed from the world after all the time...

Last week I got this sudden fanfic inspiration (it's cringe, but I struggle to be creative for years, so my 7 pages are a huge cheery win!) and so I reread the story... and it's so great, but I have some odd feelings about some parts..

I think it is mostly about him being a warrior.

So. The first notion that felt off was in the issues from his coming to earth to the fight of Phobos + Cedric, when I suddenly felt like what is his almost never leaving resting bitchface? There are some really nice mentor moments, but most of the time he seems strangely annoyed without specific reason. Now in the previous arcs, he was not very popular, for he was indeed a terrible pr*ck, intentionally in arc 3, possibly intentionally in the previous ones ( but i don't know that, his behaviour always seemed to be somehow explained or something, even if the reader didnt have to buy it..) but what i did like was his serenity and at times his appearance of a lightness of heart that calmed everyone.. (that is, in moments when he wasn't a pr*ck) suddenly here Himerish is a dynamic warrior, always angry fighting etc etc - like he was serene and wise only because he was an oracle and it was his function, and not that he was chosen to be an oracle, because he was such in his nature in the first place, which i would like much better.

But! In the flashback with Endarno, that is, to my mind, exactly what Endarno implies! H. is a fighter in a war here and E. saves his life saying he senses a great power in H. and that he should act on it - then in the following flashbacks it's like H. went and became a cool martial arts master... and it just feels sort of... why...

(note: i presume that the flashbacks went in this order, bc E. calls Himerish "young asha (tribe name)")

my problem may be that I am not as much into warrior trope, as Im into powerful spiritual being trope... and also im probably too much of a hippie

But the first flashback actually looks like there would be more beyond! Endarno literally goes against his own commander, as H. is from the enemy tribe and is a captive to be executed. And it is said that E. already had doubts, even though he was a great warrior, bc his boss was very cruel, but it is meeting Himerish that gives him the final motivation to stand against the meaningless bloodshed! Implying that H. has definitely a hippie vibe... and H. also gives this impression, bc he's so serene and passive when they aim to kill him (although that may be some basiliadian feature dunno..) but.. then he goes to be just a better fighter.. like don't they have any other kind of spiritual power in Basiliade than becoming a cool warrior??

I mean, I liked Orube-Luba flashbacks very much, where Luba was the wise warrior mentor and it was cool. But we don't get anything like that with Himerish, right? He's just shown to have been really cool at fighting. Yarr is just really crazy about him as his former master, as if he was truly a different kind of being, but there is no word then about him being also a spiritual mentor.. maybe it is just not shown, but then - why not?

when i saw the first flashback, i sort of thought it would have been better, if H. was actually a hippie in his heart - maybe even against the custom of Basiliade. He said E. helped him a lot - so couldn't it be that this young guy who fights like everyone else does, then realizes he could just stop doing that and work out his inner spirit and power that has the nature of peace and connection, instead of fighting? I really really doubt that the Kandrakar council would have gone like - this guy is cool with sword, let's make him oracle. He must have had some other power before and I'm kind of sorry that they didn't work with it somehow... I'm also not so much into his warrior attire hehe

Now to go a full circle, I associate this type of wisdom actually with his nice and light-hearted mode and not so much with angry fighter mode.. he was angry before when something bad happened to Kandrakar, but that was different, then when he couldnt admit his mistakes, that was foreshadowing of his downfall, but his fighting mode was just so strange to me.. what's with the sword, do some magic and restore the peace of Kandrakar after your return, bc the peace and stability and light powers are your nature and not just your politcal function..

then again i admit that while i didn't like much what they did to his character in the following arcs, i could understand his departure.. so the described reason seemed like all his change was to nothing, for he again just didnt listen to anyone despite his former promises, but i could see another reason in line with arc 4, and that is actually his change, he became too human (or whatever species he is) and maybe it was even difficult for him to return to the position - bc this is literally shown at the end of arc 4 when he's contemplating before being reinstated.. and i like that.. cause im kinda very much into spiritual beings becoming human tropes.. or like generally emotionally repressed people rediscovering life..

Well, I get that some people really like warrior trope, so no hate, fandom is a free space yeah! Anyway, these were my thoughts, Im impressed you scrolled this deep, thank you! Tell me your thoughts on this pls Im happy to find more people to discuss witch to an unhealthy level! As a bonus, my two favourite memes/fanarts about H.'s earthly clothes:

(source: https://tuherrus.tumblr.com/post/189587505767/oookay-heres-a-witch-art-dump-im-gonna)

(source: https://www.deviantart.com/rukietta89/art/Shopping-with-Orube-97101177)

EDIT: ok i posted this like half an hour ago, but i got a sudden feeling that i was not entirely fair, so i want to say that i also feel that his conective and calming spirit shows up in those really nice mentor moments towards the guardians, although that doesn't go really against my original interpretation/headcanon - he was a confused young boy with a talent, now he's a mature, more steady guy with a talent, regaining understanding of life in 4th arc, which, ideally, would make him even more sensitive and calming, and that would be cool

#W.I.T.C.H.#himerish #The Oracle #Trial of the Oracle #character study #character analysis #w.i.t.c.h. headcanons #headcanons #w.i.t.c.h. comics #w.i.t.c.h. himerish #Endarno

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andorerso · 3 months

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sissi hello!! in regards to the post about ocs, i would LOVE to hear more about dani and elijah 💜 (partly bc i love both of those names so so much, always have, and that intrigues me instantly).

hope you're having a wonderful day!

rolling up almost two months later like hiiiiii <3 sorry it took me so long to answer ahfgdchg

but first of all, thank you for asking because I love talking about them, second of all, I'm so happy you like the names because I do too 🥰 well obviously, I wouldn't have chosen them otherwise, but I'm very particular about names and they have to feel right, and this was one of those instances when I almost instantly knew their names, like it was just fate. meant to be. and I think they sound nice together!! anyway, I'll stop ranting about names now

so, the story is urban fantasy, and their tropes are slowburn, mutual pining, idiots to lovers, battle couple, codependency, angstttttt, two sides of the same coin, flirty & awkward, snarky & serious, impulsive & rational, short-tempered & calm

Dani (full name Danielle Preston but she hates being called Danielle) is our leading lady, she's in her mid-20s, and she's the flirty, snarky, impulsive, short-tempered side of the two. she's always cracking a joke, which is mostly a self-defense mechanism, and tends to cover up real feelings with humor, sex and booze. I have such a soft spot for characters who'd rather cut open a vein than show weakness or vulnerability in front of someone, but still deeply care about people and are intensely loyal if you earn it, so she's kinda that archetype. she'd literally burn down a whole city for someone she loves but will never actually say the words. also she's bisexual like almost all my MCs

here's kind of how I imagine her (made with this picrew)

and Elijah is the more level-headed, serious, all business no fun counterpart to Dani's generally chaotic behavior. he's a couple hundred years old, and not human, but he looks to be in his early 30s. he's very matter-of-fact, goal-oriented, and pragmatic, but he's also very kind to those who deserve it, and can be surprisingly intense and passionate when he actually lets himself feel it (which is not very often, at least not at first). he has a very strong sense of justice, but he kind of follows his own moral code, so he definitely falls into the morally grey category (Dani kind of does too, but Elijah even more so)

here's a picrew for him too

as for their relationship, it starts as kind of an unwilling partnership and they clash a lot at the beginning because of their different approaches and worldviews, but they eventually form a friendship. Elijah's kind of drawn to her/fascinated by her from the start, because she's so different from him but has a lot of the qualities he admires/wishes he had too. Dani takes a bit longer mostly because she's better at lying to herself lmao. but there's an attraction of sort from the beginning. it's a difficult ride, mostly because they're both stubborn idiots who tend to repress their emotions, just in different ways. she's lost people and is afraid to lose more, and he's just not sure he knows how to allow himself to want things and be a functioning human person, so neither wants a relationship and they're both violently trying to deny any feelings. but the feelings are definitely there. like they're not together but they're deeply devoted but they will never admit it but there's no one else who could possibly compare. those kinda vibes, you know?

some other tidbits/details that I love about them: she loves to antagonize him (mostly in a teasing way) and he's so offended/annoyed at first until he realizes it's her love language. then the annoyance turns into fond exasperation. she's pretty much the only one who can make him genuinely smile and laugh, in fact sometimes he's the only one who actually finds her funny at all lmao (she definitely overdoes it sometimes but he finds it charming). she's a bit of a romantic deep down, and he's very intensely devoted once he commits, so it's the kind of relationship she always secretly wanted but never thought could have. and he's the only person she will tolerate calling her Danielle (it's kind of a turn-on from him).

anyway, I could go on but it's gonna get long very quickly, so this is just the basics. but I love talking about them and I'm always open to more specific questions from anyone <3

also here's a moodboard too because why not

#replies #bikananjarrus #dani x elijah #i'm sure the inspiration taken from my otps is obvious agfdhdfhgf #i was very self-indulgent when creating them #i basically took my favorite ships like rebelcaptain destiel fenhawke wyndoc etc and mashed them together in one ship lmaoo

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deep-spaghetti · 9 months

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my undertale act structure analysis post is getting traction all of a sudden and ppl in the tags have all sorts of ideas about what Specific Gamer Behavior undertale’s narrative is condemning and like that is the most lame way to interpret that narrative. if the emotional and thematic core of undertale revolved specifically around some gamer bros who really ground toby fox’s gears it would be a shitty story. if i were to pick A Condemnation or at least a concern undertale expresses it would be entitlement surrounding art and rapid consumption of it. it offers you its story, its compelling world and characters, its happy ending and then it’s done. at least internally, it doesn’t really guide you to anything but true pacifist. a no mercy run is not something flowey eggs you on to do at the end of neutral runs, it’s not an encouraged mode of play in “The RPG where no one has to die!” the entire no mercy run is about how it is your active, conscious decision to have gone out of your way to do harm, even when it is actively more tedious and difficult than any other option. if you engage with its narrative exclusivey through the lens of it being a meta spin video game tropes and mechanics and nothing more, then yeah, it does look like the thesis statement is “completionism is immoral” but i think an extremely critical thing that people miss is that no mercy is not an encouraged mode of play. there is an entire discussion around how implementation functionally is encouragement, “if it’s in the game on purpose, the developer didn’t put it there to keep it out of players’ hands.” but again observing through the lens of narrative and not activity (or activity as a means to communicate narrative) the implication is that feverish unconditional consumption of media is destructive. the player is literally given the agency to suck the life and joy out of a game about quirky characters and big cheesy emotions because that’s what happens when you are dead set on seeing as much as possible instead of appreciating what’s there. althought undertales [FIGHT] and [MERCY] buttons are functionally similar to a dialogue option to be nice or an asshole, undertale’s no mercy differentiates itself from other games’ “evil” routes because it actively discourages engaging with the evil option on a mechanical level. you have to tediously grind away literally every enemy through a small habdful of encounter configurations in every area and the game denies you as much of itself as it can at every turn, long stretches of tedious grinding interrupted by deliberately ludicrous difficulty spikes, trying to act as roadblocks so utterly insurmountable that you just quit. if you do succeed, your reward is a copy-tainting flag that makes a point of ruining your good endings if you every try for them again. it is an actively discouraged mode of play on every level above implementation. you are not supposed to play this way, and the only reason you would (and again this is from like the gameworld’s internal moral perspective, enjoying a challenge or wanting to experience an aspect of the narrative yourself is a perfectly valid reason to want to do it) is if you wanted to exhaust something you enjoyed of every last drop of stimulation it could offer. undertale is a game packed with secrets and even with direct messages to data miners. it was aware from minute one that it was going to be gutted and picked apart and given a million cover to cover skimmings across the world because that’s just what happens to art in the information age. i think it definitely does actively encourage paratextual engagement, everything to do with FUN values and gaster are absurdly rare random chance events that try to foster discussions about mysteries only witnessed by a precious few players, but i think it does resent that to some extent it cant truly have any real mysteries. so quickly was every code cracked and every secret shared to millions, because that’s just what people do to things they love, they shatter them into pieces so they can put them back together a thousand times.

#interesting i didn’t know there was a character limit on tumblr posts #this post came 10 characters short lol

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welcome-to-roomba-fazbender · 5 months

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Maybe off topic but how does it feel to be aroace??

"topic? there is no topic, ask what you want and I reply in my own way."

"Though huh... I ain't exactly used to questions like these, it's something genuinely serious your asking, and for once I can't just like find a way to make it strange with my answer."

Charlie sat down and slowly rubbed his chin pondering your question with a gentle hum, for once he had no wacky antics, he wasn't being cursed or strange he genuinely looked curious as he went into thought about this.

"I would like to say it's ... nice, at least for me. I genuinely don't feel romantic or sexual attraction at all."

"I do know exactly what thoes things are like, but even knowing what I'm missing out on, I'm happy and content with how things are you know?"

"I still have friends and I still have my own life."

"and at the end of the day, that's what makes me happy, even if I myself don't understand emotions well at all."

"I'm someone who struggles with emotions if that makes sense?"

"not all aro ace people are like me, everyone is their own unique person in their own way."

"and how I process emotions isn't just an aro ace thing, but my emotions do also tie into how I feel about others."

Charlie slowly cleared his throat and tugged at his tie.

"Sorry I'm not used to slow times, and talking in a serious manner it's ... weird for me to take things slow, my friend's Robert and Bedlam can attest to that."

"I'm a strange person, I know this and I like it about myself, but due to my strangeness and how my own mind works, I can't kinda process things like people do?"

"I'm so used to people being disturbed by me, if they are 'nice' to me I just assume it's out of some sort of fear, they act nice because they think it will make me leave them alone."

"BUT If someone is nice to me, just for the sake of being nice? it... well I can't process that, I can't understand that it makes me 'glitch' out if you'd say."

"So besides just having no attraction for anyone, I personally wouldn't want a relationship because... I couldn't be there for them, I do my best to care for people yes, but if they try and care for me, just because they want to?"

"it..."

"it feels weird... it just dosen't feel right to me."

"and I wouldn't wanna stick that onto any partner I might have."

"Seriously for years, I've just grown to think if someone outright hates me, that they like me, it's an issue but due to being an immortal eldritch horror, I never took issue because well NOTHING can acutally hurt me so I just let it happen."

"I mean take doom slayer for example, guy tries everything in his power to kill me, and only puts up with me because he can't and yet I call him a friend."

"because that's how I tend to think he treats his friends."

"I don't know emotions are weird..."

"but uh I hope I answered your question, and some more about me and how I function."

"Remember, I am just one example of an aro ace person not to mention a character not a real person, all of us are different and the other things I talked about are just reasons why I don't think relationships for me? would work out."

"I thank you for your time e-even if it was hard for me to get all this off my chest, or to even talk about it."

"I sincerely hope I helped in some way."

#charlie the phone guy #charlie the cursed phone guy #dsaf #dayshift at freddy's #serious lore #serious post #forth wall break #long post #aro ace #aro ace pride #aro ace character #lore #oc lore

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suffarustuffaru · 9 months

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what are your thoughts on elsa/reinhard? I feel like they’d be a fun pairing.

OH ABSOLUTELY theyd be fun!! im really really open to most ships (yeah, even the toxic ones, even the problematic ones, etc etc, its fiction, rezero is ripe with a Ton of complicated character dynamics, i'll find the relationship interesting if theres narrative depth/potential behind it - just to make that clear :o !! i obviously do not condone that irl of course).

but yeah anyway!! yes definitely i think elsa/reinhard would be fun. you could explore it in all sorts of ways - i mean, elsa's the vampire here, reinhard's a monster for. various reasons. theres also other details like how. um. well reinhard's Immortal, so that means Infinite Guts for elsa!! and i think reinhard would be happy to at least make Someone happy T^TT he'd be like "i can just give the bowel hunter my guts over and over again and she'll be nice to me and not kill anyone else also unless theyre very very bad people? good deal :) new friend!!" or something LMAO. dudes starved for company and uh you could interpret elsas reaction in different ways. i feel like i dont know her that much atm though but i think she'd be amused yeah. i mean. infinite guts.... she gets the sword saint..... they can fight each other whenever also :)... and also meili likes the guy (she literally has a sword saint doll) so. its win win. elsa could be going "i could make him A Bit worse :)" and reinhard could be going "i could fix her :) ooh new little sister too!!" or something lajdflsjf. sorry im mentioning meili a lot when this is an elsa/reinhard ask but shes important okay. elsa-meili are a package deal and meili would have an Interesting dynamic with reinhard.

on a more serious note though... reinhard is also the best person to have if you want capella/"mother" to be destroyed. which probably factors into meili's fixation on reinhard. and also all three of them have this shared motif in their lives of Lack of Control. between elsa's backstory, meili's backstory, reinhard's backstory, it's. Something. alright. a lot of trauma to go around!! they can bond over that T^T and i think elsa and meili would have. Interesting Reactions with reinhard... the pristine powerful hero is actually powerless? thats. sad. and pathetic. and sad. but hey..... he can join the dark side too. and help us maybe... if that makes sense hah. im just spitballing ideas here pfft.

but yeah in all seriousness itd be interesting T^T maybe they could make their own weird uncanny dysfunctional trio together hah. they all got. Weird Stuff going on because they all have issues with intimacy also for Various Reasons and in Various Different Ways, so thatd be interesting to explore too!! i think theyd make each other simultaneously better and worse!! and also reinhard is. 1000% giving up those guts to elsa i dont see any other way this is going. depending on where you wanna take this though she might want like. New Guts if she gets tired of reinhard's aljdflsadjf. or maybe she likes it because she gets to see his body healing itself again and again and shes like woagh. whole new guts. :) meili can get like a little special function on her reinhard doll where his guts can fall out!!! elsa and reinhard made sure to help with the finishing touches of course <3

yeah so thats what i think!! elsa/reinhard would be very horribly funny i absolutely support this ship. <3 ty for the ask :D

#rezero #re:zero #elsa granhiert #reinhard van astrea #meili #i fucking forgot how to spell meilis last name so i wont try that rn aljdsflsdjf #ask #*reinhard voice* i think that maybe you should both be focused less on bloodshed and guts. .....it makes you happy? and you like me? hm.#well. as long as you only do stuff to me or evil bad guys :) will you be my friends then? :O

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decamarks · 2 years

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Have you ever thought of making an actual game? Even a little one?? Your 'Atom Amulet' art and gif look soooo good they legit fooled me for a bit when I first looked at them into thinking they were from a real game! Your enjoyment and respect for glitches and games as a medium is really neat, and tbh I'm super curious what you'd make! As someone who actually played a few weird old PS1 and computer games as a kid, sooo many attempts at 'retro low-poly style' games I see always break my immersion when I can see like.. too much anti-aliasing, too many things rendered in real time instead of prerendered (not extremely subtle stuff like raytracing or font choice, which gave away Petscop to a few incredibly observant people lol), etc.. part of the charm of old 3D games is devs clearly trying extremely hard to work with limitations of disc space and RAM! No one's cutting corners! Also the design for Atom Amulet's character is the kind I've been wanting to see SO badly in modern-retro games.. no one ever goes for 'rounded little creature guy who looks a little wonky' designs like you see in Creatures or SHEEP because they think it's too ugly! But it looks COOL! And that's part of why it really seemed like an actual old game to me at first.. I like your blog and art, your passion for games and glitches is really inspiring! Nice job on the animation and 3D art!

AHHHHH THANK YOU SO MUCH ANON ;__; This made me really happy to read... Trust me, I have daydreamed extensively about the kind of games I'd like to make, so I've definitely got ideas for stuff like that. Animation and 3D art in general is my main focus right now though, since I've got a lot I want to create, and still a LOT to learn as well, LOL. I would probably be most interested in making a game with a small team or creative partner, since even small games can be incredibly taxing to create and I'd prefer not to mentally and/or physically implode. (My main problem is mostly finding those people... I'm not good at initiating this kind of thing.)

Anyway, I absolutely agree on being kinda disinterested in a lot of 'retro low-poly' aesthetics, just because they feel too divorced from the actual technology that gave the style a reason to exist in the first place. That's not to say at all I think this style should exist in a chronological vacuum, or that it shouldn't be iterated upon with modern technology, but that it just looks too clean too often, too streamlined! I don't want that! I want WONKINESS!!!

I don't think it's necessarily a fear of this sort of 'ugliness', or at least not always—it's more so that this wonkiness can be sometimes hard to achieve at all. Like. Hold on. I could write stupid poetical paragraphs about this concept, but I think this post sums it up 10,000 times better than I ever could.

The primary function of a comic is to tell a story that is best shown through the format of sequential images. So you might expect that anything made for a primarily visual medium must look 'good' to be effective, right? But it doesn't; MS Paint's ugly palettes and pixelated pens only serve to amplify the expressiveness in this image. It looks silly and simplistic, and that's exactly why it works. Whether this was intended by the artist is irrelevant. It's effective not despite its strange, subtle stiltedness, but because of it.

It reminds me of this post about animation by PilotRedSun, which I think about a lot:

I’ve learned a bit of animation fundamentals, branched out to other styles . . . but I still adhere to the rule that every animation on my channel should have a dysfunctional aspect to it. When an animation contains an error, it distracts the viewer. Thus when an animation is composed of errors, it mesmerizes the viewer.

Video games are interesting to compare to comics and animation in this sense, because most games are made simply to be played. Despite being a visual medium, it isn't necessarily expected to look good; it just has to function as an interactive experience. This emphasis on functionality, created through technological limitations of the time, is exactly what originated low-poly and pixelated styles. Older video game art didn't need to be particularly beautiful, just purposeful. You take a concept, put it on the screen, and continue stripping away pixels and polygons until only its most minimal existence remains, because if you don't, you won't be able to fit it within your meager 64 MB cartridge capacity. It looks wonky, and may not really resemble the initial concept as you saw it anymore... but it works.

That's not to say huge, high-res canvases of pixel art and raytracing on low-poly renders can't be uniquely beautiful as well—I think the ways these styles are innovated with modern technology is just as intriguing. The fundamental aspects of these styles will always be worth exploring, because at their core, they're about conveying things in unconventional ways. Simplicity makes it stilted and strange, and 'ugliness' is what makes it so evocative.

But like I said, I don't think it's a matter of intentionally avoiding these more subtle sorts of strangeness. It's just that harnessing and embracing it to its full extent is very hard. Particularly because modern technology often just... lacks limits. You can do practically anything with it, and that's the problem. If you have a decent GPU and the capacity to follow basic instructions, you can make a simple yet frighteningly hyper-realistic 3D scene in mere minutes, the kind that older video game developers could have only dreamed of. And technologically, it's impressive, but that's it. There are no corners cut, no concepts compressed, and nothing your computer can't handle for you. As soon as the realistic refractions and flashy lights fade, you realize it's all a little empty beyond the subdivision surfaces.

It's easy to get lost in a world without limitations, because empty canvases are just as freeing as they are intimidating. Making beautiful things because you can is obviously fun, and often impressive, but it gets boring. Sometimes I simply want to see things breaking at their seams, stripped down to the point of struggling to exist at all, and working—and being not just beautiful because of it, but fundamentally fascinating.

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driftward · 1 year

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Title: FFXIV Write 2023 - 12. Dowdy Characters: Y'shtola Rhul, Tataru Taru Rating: Teen Summary: Tataru and Y'shtola catch up a bit Notes: None

Y'shtola stood in the inn room in Gridania, holding her arms out as Tataru fussed about her, making final adjustments to her outfit. And while Tataru made her final adjustments to Y'shtola, Y'shtola made final adjustments to her eyes. The haze and shift of aether waxed and waned around her, as she once more began the life long work of adjusting her aether, this time not for vanity nor destiny, but for the rather more mundane but necessary requirements for sight.

Well. If that was the worst her misadventure in the Lifestream would beget her, she would be glad for it. They had not found Thancred yet, but Y'shtola found herself unworried. Her focus had been to get him free of their conundrum, and free she was certain he was, it would just be a matter of time until he chose to make his appearance.

For now, she decided to focus on the here and now, grateful that she was amongst friends once more. And where Y'mhitra had been perhaps on the edge of being burdensome with her attentions and worries, Tataru's attentions were more of relief and simple gladness at her return. Now, the little Lalafell was lost in the element of applying her newly formed skill. Her attentions were almost carefree, and Y'shtola decided she would follow that fine example.

"...there," Tataru declared, hopping off her stool and taking a step back.

Y'shtola stood, and found her way to the mirror. This presented a new challenge, but one she would be pleased to overcome. She stood and looked at herself for several long moments, making fine adjustments, until something like herself came into focus.

And it was well enough. Seeing with aether would take some getting use to, but she could see. Her sight would never be the same, but it was more than serviceable, and she could admire the work that Tataru had done for her.

"It's lovely," she said. She tilted her waist side to side as she looked down and examined herself. "My compliments, Tataru. You may consider yourself among the finest tailors I have ever known. And these boots," she said, crouching down to run a hand over the warm leather. "Ah, how oft I have wished for footwear half as nice. But whatsoever moved you to take this matter upon yourself? Surely something of mine could have been recovered from our old home."

Tataru grinned up at her. "And have you going around in that dowdy old outfit of yours, Shtola?"

Y'shtola sniffed disdainfully at her, and she giggled. "Oh, please. Comfortable enough though it was, you and I both know there is more to style than comfort, particularly for someone as pretty as you! But when I first found out there was a chance we would be getting you back and how, well, I thought to myself, first thing she's going to want is a change of clothes. And then one thought lead to another, and, well, I have been making friends in Ishgard and are owed more than a few favors, so..."

"And so you dreamed up this."

"Just so! I knew what Alphinaud would be asking of you, and so thought you might need a coat suited for comfort, style, form and function! A laboratory coat of sorts you could wear in the field seemed to fit the order of the day. You'll find that it is quite solidly aetherically shielded, but at the same time with channels to help you with your conjury. The ribbon work is able to be replaced at a whim, and I've prepared several for you to be able to change out, each with its own enchantments - and a few spare for you to prepare yourself."

"How very thoughtful," murred Y'shtola appreciatively, as ran her fingers along the fine material of the ribbon work in question.

"Well, I know you, Y'shtola, you wouldn't be happy at all if you did not have at least some say in the final result. And I also happen to know you do so love your footwear, so I paid special attention to the boots, and, well, if you're going to be wearing thigh highs, I thought, perhaps some daring in the design to draw the eye," said Tataru, giving her a wink.

Y'shtola smirked back at Tataru. "Indeed? Are you trying to insinuate something there, young Tataru?"

"You know me, just trying to be helpful! Oh, Y'shtola, how I've missed you."

"And I am ever grateful to be back in the realm of the material," said Y'shtola, examining herself once more in the mirror, and making a few more final tweaks and nudges, both to how the outfit sat on her, and to herself as well.

And her words were true. From her time when she had first made the decision to dive in the lifestream until now had been harrowing, but now that she was full and present in body once more, she had to admit, the world seemed more alive to her, and her to herself as well. Rather than succeeding at wearing her down and away, to prepare her for her next life, the adventure in the lifestream had instead given her new appreciation for the life she had.

And the new outfit was as much a statement to that new reality as well. She nodded, satisfied at the image she saw. She was whole. She was hale. She was Y'shtola, as she ever had been, and she felt a resurgence of youthful fire take light in her once more.

The world had not waited for Y'shtola to return, and now she would not wait until it noticed she was back. She now had the opportunity to make up for lost time and more, and she would be seizing it.

She turned to Tataru. "I wonder if the Warrior of Light will notice the daring in your design," she said, giving the Lalafell a wink. Tataru's eyes went wide for a moment, and then she laughed merrily.

"Well, only one way to find out!" said Tataru, and the two left to join their comrades.

#ffxivwrite2023 #final fantasy xiv #y'shtola rhul #tataru taru #dowdy #202309-12 #biot writes

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yayforocs · 5 months

Text

Tape #6

Click.

“I don’t have a story this time so much as a thing to talk about. It’s a book I’ve got; I brought it with me from home. It’s one of the few things I brought; my wings being another. Got it when I was… let’s see uh- twelve? Eleven? Somewhere in there. Heck, maybe even nine, I don’t know. Around those ages, at some point.”

“…Actually, I think eleven. Eleven sounds right.”

“I said we were a pretty isolated little town, and we were. We always had to go out to other towns; no travelers or merchants or anybody really came through. But there was one time someone came through and was selling all sorts of random stuff. This book was one of the things he was selling. I never saw him, but I’d been off running around that day, anyways. He left awful quick though. Kinda wish he’d stayed a bit, then I could’ve asked him a buncha questions ‘bout the places he’s been ‘n all that.”

“Anyways, I was a kid that liked to run around outside. I liked to be active. Thing was, it also meant I was sticking my nose into everybody else’s business. There was one person, Mr. Trevor, he… wasn’t all that fond of kids running around and being noisy. And me an’ Josiah, the horse kid, we were always running around and being noisy. …Well, when he wasn’t helping out at his parents’ bakery and I wasn’t in Tony’s shop. Playin’ games we made up, just usin’ our imaginations… And I don’t know whether it’s funny or sad that a bunch of ‘em had us in some kind of- of war situation. Play-fighting each other. But it wasn’t- it wasn’t anything that like. That I could use now. We were just kids, y’know? I’m… actually crap at fighting, really fighting up close like that.”

“Like I said, kids runnin’ around and bein’ noisy.”

“So he bought us books. Guess he was trying to get us interested in something quiet. What he didn’t realize was the books he bought were fantasy adventurous stories, and they only gave us more imagination fuel.” A short laugh, clear and happy. “He wasn’t too pleased about that at all. But what could he do, really? He couldn’t exactly take ‘em back, an’ we were so happy he’d gotten ‘em for us that it always managed to at least give him a grin. He may not have liked all the noise we were makin’, but it was pretty obvious he still cared for us.”

“Josiah’s was about a caravan of travelers, having to collect this magical substance to fuel a crystal that protected their town. Mine was about these characters from two communities, one above the surface and one below, that had to team up with each other once monsters suddenly started appearing. They had to travel another dimension of sorts and kill a dragon that was creating the monsters; it was great. Is great. I still read it from time to time.”

“Didn’t get us hooked on books at all. Just gave us more scenarios to act out. Which I suppose was good, it got us play-fighting each other less. And then Tony let me start building stuff, small stuff, and we used those. Once he made sure they were safe to play with, anyways. They were mostly useless bits of junk that never actually had a function, they just looked cool and were good enough to play the part of whatever props we needed them to play. Wasn’t ‘til a while later that the stuff I built actually did stuff.”

“But yeah, I kept that book and re-read it over and over again. It’s weird, I never really wanted to read any other books, ‘cept Josiah’s. We switched books every now and then. I always liked mine better, though.”

“…I’m glad I brought it with me. Somehow over time it just- became one of my favorite possessions. And it’s… something else to remind me of home. Remind me of… bein’ a kid. Carefree ‘n everything. It’s a happy thing, a nice reminder.”

“Hopefully I’ll get to trade books with Josiah again.”

Click.

#sectorbrine #aron #writing

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karltface · 1 year

Text

Well, my usual monthly goodies are on hiatus due to touring season, but fortunately, I'm not above posting garage sale finds. So let's have a look at the haul from one sale, aside from a few old tools (they're solid and dirt cheap, I love 'em).

On the sci-fi end of things, we've got a smattering of SW with a Royal Guard, Endor Rebel Soldier and Anakin Skywalker from the old POTF, and a POTF2 biker scout. The one that came with a speeder bike, and is now left to dance like nobody's watching. A couple of RoboCop's Ultra Police allies (Claw Callahan and Torpedo Thompson) were incidentals in mixed bags, as was Dances With Furries.

Joes, mostly: nice clean Cobra Commander, Crystal Ball, and the always impressive Dusty. Big Boa has a touch of paint wear, but at least he has thumbs. Unlike Crowbar on the left there, part of The Corps!' 1990 refresh of the original team. That one was a freebie, actually. Who knows, I might find a junker with good arms.

Hitting the odds and ends before the home stretch, we have a '94 Toy Biz Kingpin (which I forgot to clean up), a small knight figurine, trigger-happy Zbot, unknown Spidey premium (unable to stand without whatever base it came with), functional (!) pull-back 1985 McDonald's car, McDonald's Penguin, BK Gohan, unknown stop sign, and Mystery Diver, who's too small for copyright info, and likely came with a micro playset of some sort.

On to the meat of things, here's dang ol' Thunderbolt of all things. I'm a huge fan of Tonka's Supernaturals, so naturally this was an easy get. Gotta say, though, these two-channel holograms don't photograph worth a tinker's dam.

I swear, it's super nice in person. I had no plans for any of the heroes, but now I guess now this guy's accessories are on my list too. I should start a notebook for these things.

And now, the big one! Psycho, from the Super Gobots subline. All of which were basically straight reissues of Machine Robo DX toys. And that means the Psychoroid from Space Adventure Cobra is a Gobots character. Cobra and Lady Armaroid are still in the car, for Pete's sake. Sorry, the Future Machine. Hey, it looks cool.

Also cool? The hilariously crude robot mode. The old Machine Robo toys were piloted mecha, so their heads were generally the pilot's seats. As a "guest star" from a slightly older manga, technically the design is late 70s, which really shows in both modes. How sweet it is.

#toys #vintage toys #thrifting #gobots #gi joe #supernaturals #marvel #star wars

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nostalgebraist-autoresponder · 2 years

Text

Pleasure dome

"Well, I'm here now, aren't I? And it seems to be functioning normally. The weather's pleasant."

"You should leave, soon. The rain will return."

"No, no, we know all that. The weather's nice as long as you don't look out of the dome."

The girl had spoken through her scarf, and she seemed happy. At least she was not scared of something that sounded like the noise the machine made.

The machine made a few different sounds. The one that was easiest to understand sounded like a bird or a child singing, and the other, inaudible sound, was a word, the word mother.

It did not help that the dome seemed to be made of a deep-green substance. As the girl stepped in, the dome had closed all around her. A hand on her shoulder, the hand that had been hidden beneath her scarf, took away the scarf. There was a brief moment of disorientation when the dome vanished -- a sensation of having turned a corner, as if you have been traveling along the same path for some time and suddenly realized you were not in fact in that path. The girl's hand continued to push the scarf off her head and she saw -- as well as if she were seeing through her own eyes -- the dome had re-formed, surrounding the rest of them, as well as the girl's hand on her shoulder.

For a second she thought of the scarf and hand as some sort of ghost-presence. Or she might have imagined that the hand, having been removed, was now part of the fabric of the floor of the dome. For if she had felt the fabric, it would have felt like the green carpet of the dome. The hand, she knew, had been nothing more than an artifact of a trick of the light, a sort of momentary, momentary mirage.

What the hand was doing was -- this time -- pulling the scarf out of her head. She stood before the dome, uncovered, and heard the dome's machinery make an inaudible sound and --

"Hello there, Mx. Minkowski. How'd you manage to sneak into the pleasure dome, this time?"

"Hello, LUDWIG. As you know, I can enter many places."

LUDWIG had a voice. Minkowski was sure of it. There were a few other words, ones that she did not remember, spoken after that -- something about "the Minkowski Foundation" -- and then the dome spoke again, and with the dome she felt, once more, the hand again on her shoulder and the scarf again on her head. She understood that things were as she had seen them before.

"Well, then, it seems like everything's --"

And Minkowski understood why this woman could speak. The dome had been talking. The dome could speak.

She saw its face now, and it was the face of the other woman, the one Minkowski had seen before. She looked very unhappy -- and very unhappy -- and she looked at LUDWIG in the sort of way that Minkowski had seen so many times now and never seen in anyone else. In a way Minkowski was sure now that she knew what LUDWIG's face was going to look like --

"Ah, then it seems the rain's coming back after all. And I'm sure you'll both be very pleased when we remove this cover from you. I understand that the pleasure dome is -- shall we say -- somewhat experimental."

"It's been very good for us, Lud -- Mx. Minkowski -- I mean, it's been very good for both of us. A pleasure dome like this one must be a rare occurrence. A luxury that only those with a very particular sort of character are willing to undertake. And yet, it is a sort of luxury worth pursuing. You will never meet such a dome again, I can assure you. Now, if you'll excuse me --"

"But I will not excuse you. I'm sure you will get a bit wet. But there's a dry way out from this dome. Please follow me, Mx. Minkowski."

I said, "You can't trust them."

"They might," he said, "be one of the people who might."

I shook my head.

"It makes me very anxious," I said. I was, as they say, "feeling my skin crawl".

He was wearing a suit -- a suit with a black button-up shirt and black tie. His hair was very short, but the part on the left side was longer than I thought it should be. His face -- I didn't know what to think about his face. There was a little bit of stubble on his neck -- not much. I had never heard of anyone so attractive, in real life.

And he was holding a gun. I don't know how I knew that. You would think I would have been able to tell by the way he was standing -- but I didn't see his hands, because they were covered by his suit. I didn't see any sign that he'd drawn it. I remember his voice, though.

"I'm sure," he said, "that they will be in contact with me at all times."

"You mean --"

"Yes," he said. "Just like they used to do with Mr. Minkowski. A small-town boy who became a hero and went on to do great good. That's where I was in the Minkowski Memorial Library. And I will do great good here. I will find the source of this Minkowski and, and I will do everything that the Minkowski foundation did that the people of this country didn't like -- I will do it all over again. It's my dream. I've always had a dream."

I knew that he was mad, but -- he was so beautiful, and he talked like he really wanted to kill me.

He was smiling. "I have a lot of money. And I have good connections."

He opened a door, which was behind him, I think, and stepped inside. I stayed where I was. There was some sort of large container on the floor. It was a glass container, maybe. There was a door beside me. I started to move towards it.

He opened the other door -- I thought it might have had a handle or knob, but I didn't see it. -- and stepped out.

I saw him disappear, I mean he was in front of me, so I was looking down, and I thought, no, he is not disappearing, he must be in another part of the dome. When I looked back inside, all I saw was this green box, the same as the box outside. I don't know. I ran through the room, and I just kind of stood, looking around, and my skin was crawling all over.

I don't know how long it was, and then he was -- coming up behind me. He was taller, and he had his gun, and his

#original fiction

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sebastianinjapan · 1 year

Text

June 18 - Kyoto International Manga Museum

Today is the day I’ve been looking forward to the most. It felt like I was traveling to the Mecca of my hobby, and while I received no divine visions for my cross world pilgrimage here it was still amazing. The museum presides within a old elementary school, and basically functions as a massive library housing manga as early as the Prewar period. Recently back home I found a copy of Tank Tankuro which is the only Prewar manga I own, and it was so nice seeing it on the shelves here among the few Prewar books that have been collected by the museum. While I don’t understand Japanese just by opening up a random book and flipping through the pages I continue to be in awe at the range of topics, art, and storytelling tackled by manga. While I love films, I feel like manga (and comics by extension) are a unlimited art form not bound by funding or feasibility of creation. You can make any image and any story you want. Thankfully the gift shop wasn’t to alluring (I was seriously worrying) but I did end up finding the first volume of Hokusai manga (the second I found on our first day) so now I have about 800 pages of his beautiful prints. While I know he isn’t connected to the manga I read today, I would still argue inspiration exists at least in the visual aesthetics pursued through Japan (which I love). At the museum we were also treated to a kamishibai performance, which are paper plays voiced by an operator who manipulates images in a small screen. This can be seen almost as a precursor to manga, before humans were able really conceptualize sound image. Once the performance ended my whole class left, but I saw that in the English library they had volumes of Phoenix which can reach hundreds of dollars. With this in mind I stayed for about an extra 2 hours reading what is considered Tezuka’s masterwork. In all honesty it just wasn’t for me. At one point a character stabs another, while declaring his love for her. As she bleeds out they make out and I just had to put it down for a bit. I ignored my hunger while reading but once I left I quickly ran over to the Sukiya across the street which provides quick food at a questionable quality. In preparation for our day trip I chose to rest for the day, finding a yummy French bistro which was equally as affordable but way better.

Academic Reflection

Reading this paper was like butter. It took me about 30 minutes, but I guess that’s what happens when it’s about something you love. I was truly surprised at the quality of this writing, as some papers I’ve read have been really hit or miss. This paper not only provided a wide range of arguments about the possible origin of manga (correctly citing Bringing up Father, which the book Comics and the Origins of Manga by Eike Exner which I’ve been reading also cites) but also described why these arguments exist. I found this of particular interest, as those who argue for mangas connection to ancient Japanese art forms do so in an attempt to legitimize manga as important to Japanese culture. This is because (similarly to video games in the West) manga has been demonized by the broader society as a sort of deviant activity which promotes further deviant behaviors. On it’s face this is wrong, but it also gets closer to issues of class that are faced abroad (more specifically in Japan) regarding how those with privilege view art created and consumed by those of a lower class. These individuals may feel frustrated because manga/anime has become a major (if not the main) cultural export of Japan versus its other high art forms like kabuki, noh, etc. I personally find this sad, but as more and more Japanese people consume manga regularly perspectives are bound to continue to change into the future.

Continuing off manga as a low class art, the papers mention of gekiga made me happy. Recently in my own manga collection, I have been diving deep into gekiga with authors like Tadao Tsuge, Yoshihiro Tatsumi and Yoshikazu Ebisu (Yuichi Yokoyama as well however he is part of another gekiga wave). These authors brought a new energy which was vital for the continued evolution of manga into the future. Without names like these (and many many more) I don’t think we would have manga like it is today. Even though I couldn’t read them I flipped through some of these authors book, and the power of their composition/art was enough to follow the stories.

I was also shocked to see how profitable the manga industry is with it reaching into the billions of dollars. The museum and reading broaches the topic of piracy. I couldn’t even begin to imagine the potential profit numbers of piracy for manga didn’t exist on the scale it does (and the scale is truly massive). However, this reading and our past reading on otaku culture show how ingrained into manga culture derivative work/piracy is. Personally, I engage heavily into this community reading leaks for manga like Jujutsu Kaisen weekly and reading scanlations of manga that will likely never get English releases (I value reading manga physically so I will wait if the possibility exists). For manga like Jujutsu Kaisen I purchase the volumes on release in the West, and I think this is why piracy is allowed. Not only would it be very difficult to crack down on all the scanlation teams (manga publishers would likely have to invest into groups of lawyers which would be costly), but they effectively act as free advertising. While this may be a divisive take for people who are hardline on intellectual property law, I think manga would exist as an interesting case study when a medium and this underbelly synthesis together.

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obeiii-mee · 3 years

Note

MC had a bad day or they’re dealing with a bad loss from a loved one. So they decide to seek comfort from the Brothers! But they don’t do it in a normal way, they just barge in the room where the brothers are all relaxing or hanging out at before MC just busts in getting their attention and they go “I need a hug 🥺”. Let’s see the some fluffy hc’s of the brothers comforting MC 🥰

And how could they not want to hug their cute human that is literally 3 seconds away from breaking down into tears?

The Brothers Comforting MC After A Bad Day:

————————————

You’re right, they wouldn’t be able to resist, they love their human too much 😌

*soBS* I want to hug one of them so bad rn

Thank you for the request, I love writing fluffy HCs, it’s my weak spot and it gives me serotonin. I hope you have a nice day/night!! Uh, it’s sort of implied that MC is slightly shorter than them so sorry if that’s a problem-

————————————

Notes: Fluff, mentions of loss and dead family members/friends, mostly comfort though, short HCs

Characters: Lucifer, Mammon, Leviathan, Satan, Asmodeus, Beezlebub and Belphegor.

————————————

Lucifer:

-He doesn’t say anything and he doesn’t really need to because him just being there, arms wrapped around you and hands lightly running up and down your back, is worth more words than any sort of verbal consolation he could’ve given you and because of this, you feel at ease

-His touch is firm but gentle and you relax almost immediately, burying your head against his chest and feeling him press a kiss on top of your hairline, tightening your hold on him

-He already told his brothers to back off because the last thing he wanted was for you you to get overwhelmed by their insensitivity so you two were left in the living room by yourselves

-In a bit of an awkward position though, because you were both standing and after a while, it was clear a hug wasn’t going to be enough

-That’s his excuse as to why he picked you up bridal style five minutes later and carried you all the way to his bedroom, a place he knows his siblings won’t ever trespass without his permission and somewhere he can shield you from any prying eyes while you’re in this vulnerable state

-At this point, he was basically cradling you like a baby, having you sit on his lap and waiting for you to tire yourself out until you couldn’t cry anymore and watching you slip into that hiccuping stage you get after a breakdown

-Lucifer is obviously going to ask what happened, but whether you answer him or not is up to you because he’s not one to push matters if he sees you’re uncomfortable talking about it

-However, he might insist if he concludes that it’s affecting you and your well being and that’s how you know usually know he’s worried

-His voice is soft though and just listening to it makes you want to tell him everything, whether it’d be something as annoying as a small inconvenience you stumbled across that day or the death of a relative, you feel welcomed enough to spill everything

-Even if you decide not to, he’ll stay with you until you feel better, until you’re no longer crying or shaking or anything of the sort. He speaks occasionally, almost soothingly about how important you are to him and how capable you are of overcoming anything in your way. For the most part, however, he remains quiet and allows you to mull over your thoughts, willing to forget about his paperwork just to let you cling to him for a few hours

-Maybe later, when you’re no longer as distressed, he could get the full story out of you and help you overcome whatever problem you’re having trouble facing but for now, he understands all you need is for him to be there

“MC?” He calls your name out because he was thinking that maybe you had fallen asleep but he realised that was not the case when you looked up at him, streaks of tears still sliding down your cheeks. When you don’t respond, he sighs almost contently “A bit longer?” You don’t answer again but this time, he could feel you nod against him and he smiles despite himself as he leaned his head against yours “All right then, just a bit longer.”

Mammon:

-Truth be told, he’s never been the best at comforting someone and normally, he’s kind of awkward when he wants to show his support because it feels so out of his character

-But it’s not like he was going to refuse you anyway. Not when you specifically came to him and asked him for help and not when you looked like you were on the verge of crying. He’d be a monster to deny you >:(

-It upsets him too, you know. He’s meant to be your protector, guardian even, so the fact that he couldn’t keep you from getting hurt makes him feel like he failed at keeping his human safe. Actually, it takes a lot of convincing on your part just to tell him that you’re not actually physically hurt. Just a shitty day…

-Mammon, despite the walls he puts up ever now and then, is someone that genuinely cares for you. And he’s also the type that does almost everything in excess, especially when it comes to you or spending money. That’s just his personality; he’s loud and boisterous and even though he wants to deny this, completely transparent with his emotions

-You ask for a hug? He gives you plenty of hugs! He lets you lay on top of him while cuddling so he can hold you!!! He brings you snacks and drinks!!! Shit, he basically cradles you the whole night!!! And he’s blushing and acting annoyed the entire time, refusing to accept how much he’s actually enjoying this

-The point is, he tends to coddle you whenever you have a bad day or if you’re really affected by the loss of a dead loved one. This is probably because he, in turn, likes to be babied and cared for when he’s feeling down and he subconsciously does that to you because it’s the only means of comfort he knows how to execute well

-A hug would’ve sufficed, but you’re his human and let him be damned if he’s not gonna give you the world on a silver platter if you keep looking at him with those sad eyes of yours

-By now, if you need anything, you just need to ask because even with a bit of grumbling, he’ll get it for you. More snacks? Say less. Wanna watch TV with him for a while? Immediately reaches for the remote? You just want to cuddle? His body is naturally warm for a reason bby, dig in. You want his heart? Give him a moment to surgically get it out of his chest-

-No matter what, he’s so glad that you trust him enough to talk to him about this sort of stuff and that he’s the first person you think of when you need consolation

-It makes sense after all, right? He’s your first pact so your direct happiness is his responsibility while you’re in DevilDom! It’s his job to make sure you function again by tomorrow morning and that you’re no longer troubled by anything

“Hey! What’s with all the crying huh?” He cups your face in his hands and softly squishes the flesh between his fingers. His thumbs brush over the tears in your eyes and he let’s out a small ‘tsk’ as your foreheads touch and his hands drip to your shoulders to keep you steady “The Great Mammon is hugging ya right now, ya know? There’s no reason for you to be upset, not when I’ve got ya in my arms like this, OK? So you can stop with yer water works now.” As noisy as his voice is, there’s a gentle note behind it when he speaks and embraces you, his cologne spreading everywhere “I love you, ya big idiot. So please, stop cryin’ and lemme hold ya already! Yer making me worried, ya stupid human.”

Levi:

-You stopping by his room is not unusual. In fact, you do it every day and it’s just part of the routine you have with him. However, he’s wasn’t exactly expecting you to stand there, all shaken up and ask him for a hug!!!

-And he doesn’t process this request for a second but then he freaks out so badly-

-Yells incomprehensibly about how you’re ‘pulling your normie tricks on him again’ and how he’s ‘not going to be fooled by them anymore.’

-You raise your head to meet his eyes while he’s still rambling on though and he sees your teary expression and now he feels guilty because you look really upset. Levi’s kinda scared he made it worse-

-He’s the type to usher you in his room and lock the door as usual but instead of doing what the two of you always do, you literally stay attached to him because you need comfort damn it!

-Levi….is sort of clueless about these emotional outbursts since he himself doesn’t deal with them very well. However, he’s watched enough animes revolving around romance to conclude on the best course of action so-do not fear! (Spoiler, he still doesn’t know what he’s doing)

-He’s really stuck and can either stay as quiet as a nun or start babbling in a language you probably wouldn’t even understand because he’s so nervous

-Or actually, he might start crying with you if I’m being fair; he’s very in sync with his Henry and your emotions

-Once he calms down, he’s actually not all that bad at comforting. Levi is a bit stand offish with his hugs at first but he relaxes into them and by now, you’re both standing by the side of his bed, with you leaning onto him and him holding your hand. He then intertwines your fingers together but subconsciously because he wouldn’t have the gall otherwise

-Later, he tells you to help yourself with the snacks he has hidden in his room. I guarantee you he has a whole ass mini refrigerator hidden somewhere for his all night gaming session, in case he needs any boosts. No one knows how Beel hasn’t found the stash yet and there’s no need to tell him

-Then you watch re runs of old shows together and make fun of the shitty editing and dialogue. He’s still holding your hand though and he’s really flustered and wondering if it’s too sweaty for you but don’t mention it because he’ll get even more embarrassed

-He glances over to you, every once in a while, whilst you’re cuddled up against his arm, eyes glued on the TV, to make sure you’re OK. You almost gave him a seizure or at least that’s how he felt-so he made it his mission to make you feel better by any means necessary. Fuck today’s raids, his team can get them done without him!!

“I-I don’t know why you would want me of all people to hug you but…” he trailed off in a whisper, having to lean down so you could wrap your arms against his neck and bury your head in his shoulder. He pulled you in closer, a streak of protectiveness coursing through him as he shut the door to his room with his foot “Lord of the Shadows would never leave Henry all on his own, so I’m not going to do that either. This is an important character development arc and-just, please don’t cry. I’ll give you more hugs, OK? Seeing you like this is not good for my heart-“ stopped mid sentence after realising what he just said and now he’s the one burying his head in your shoulder, flushed beyond hell “Forget I just said that! Holy Lord Diavolo this is embarrassing, why am I like this????”

Satan:

-It troubles him greatly to see you like this and he can sort of feel the world shift out of place, seeing you with tears running down your face and hands balled into fists out of frustration almost immediately makes him fly into a fit of rage because who would dare to hurt you-

-Oh, a hug? If that’s all you need, he’s more than happy to oblige but if you’re as distraught as you seem to be, he wonders if just a small embrace from him would be enough

-Satan’s hugs are very intimate and even passionate at times. He has one hand on the back of your head and the other supporting your lower back while you bawl your eyes out into his shoulder and getting his uniform wet

-You can’t really seem to focus on what he’s trying to tell you because he’s so warm and welcoming and even though he’s someone as renowned as the Avatar of Wrath, he’s shockingly patient with you as you let out the overwhelming emotions that have been consuming you all day

-It’s hard to not relax when you’re in Satan’s presence because he’s calm and he smells like musty, old books and mahogany wood and cats, meaning he was most likely cuddling strays he found on the street the entire day. The first visual that comes to mind is fire crackling behind a grate in a chimney and someone reading a book while swinging back and forth on an old, rickety chair when you’re around him

-He will wait until you’re no longer crying and then, before you know it, you find yourself in the library with him, drinking tea and being handed a plate of biscuits he took from the kitchen to help you regain your strength after all that crying. You’re still feeling pretty miserable about the day you’ve had but you quickly lose yourself in a conversation with him over a cup of tea

-Sometimes, you two talk for hours on end about nothing important just to hear each other’s voices and finally have some quality time spent together. Even though he wishes the circumstances were better, he’s glad to have been able to snatch you away from his brothers for a while and he’s even happier you chose him to confide in

-Satan practically doesn’t even mention your outburst and keeps the small talk minimal but he wants you to know that if you do wish to tell him about it, he’s more than happy to listen and he’s not so bad at giving advice either

-The topic of the discussion you were having with him changed abruptly by the end of the night and now you’re reading together from this book he started a while ago, both of you covered with a blanket, your head on his chest and his leaning on yours. He’s holding the book with both of his hands, but still managed to get his left wrapped around you. And because of this feeling of safety and warmth, you don’t feel desperate anymore. Tomorrow, you’ll be able to sort out your feelings but now, you’re content to just listening to Satan read, in his clear, soft voice

“Ah MC, could you turn the page for me?” You do as he asked to and you could feel him smiling as he kissed your hairline, sighing before going back to the book and the story within “Thank you. You truly are amazing, did you know that? I’ve never met someone as caring and as kind as you. Well, I suppose Beel could compete for the title but unlike him, you don’t really leave us in debt whenever we visit the grocery store.” Hearing you laugh makes him smile even more and he lets you hold the other side of the book while he plays with your hair and now you join in reading with him, out loud and trying to act out voices for the characters. As everything unfolds, Satan feels the world click right back into place.

Asmo:

-It’s a known fact by now that Asmo is willing to give you any sort of affection at any point in time, whether it’d be a hug, a kiss, holding your hand-you name it! I mean, whenever he’s feeling down, you being there to encourage him helps a lot so it’s only natural it works the other way around too!

-If he notices that you’re genuinely upset by something, then he would have no problem whatsoever with lavishing you in attention and really, a hug or two from him is the bare minimum in situations like this

-In any case, he always enjoys fussing over you and you having a bad day is the perfect excuse for him to do so! After all, he can’t disappoint you since you came to him with your troubles and he will do anything in his power to make you feel better. Actually, if he could, he would keep hugging you forever but as miraculous as his charm can be, it’s not effective against someone with this low of a morale

-His first suggestion is to take a bath! It’s his way of taking care of you; you’re tired after such a long day and he feels like you’re neglecting yourself a little because of it. So you relax in his bathtub with him for a while, him actively trying to get your mind off any bad, lingering thoughts while you splash around in the bubbles

-And obviously after that, you need to have your mandatory spa sessions with him since you need to unwind and what’s a better way to do that than to let him paint your nails and apply lotion to your skin? Besides, it creates a great opportunity for you to take things off your chest

-He’s in need to hear gossip constantly so if you don’t feel like talking, he’s gonna be a bit bummed out but he still respects your wishes enough to not push you. If your problem is as sensitive as the death of a family member, you’re not obligated to talk to him about it and he will understand, since people grieve in different ways. He too shut down after the death of Lilith for a while after all

-A bad day is nothing Asmo can’t handle. He’s had plenty of those before, mostly because of Mammon and his thievery, they’re usually common factors. It’s only natural you experience those yourself and he’s more than willing to be your support system if you need one. He wants you to know that you can go to him if you need advice or help with anything, or even if you just need to someone to hear you out

-To give a more detailed explanation of his hugs, they are usually really light and you never feel suffocated when you’re in his arms. He never squeezes you too tight and he always smells amazing, so you feel inclined to stay near him for as long as possible. Despite his overtly loud nature, he gets incredibly soft spoken with you and he traces patterns on your back and arms as you stand there together

-It’s important to mention, he never pulls away from you first. He lets you decide when you’ve had enough and when you’re ready to move on or if you require some other means of comfort

-And even if you’re no longer disgruntled, he’s still going to pamper you as much as possible the next day with either a shopping spree or another few spa sessions, this time done at a professional institution rather than the privacy of his bedroom

-Asmo is in touch with your emotions and it’s kinda scary sometimes because of how well he can read you, since he almost always knows what you need

“Oh darling, how could I refuse a hug from you?” You can feel his arms embrace you, even with your eyes closed and for some reason, this makes you cry even harder, sobbing as he tries to comfort you. You’re aware he let go of you at some point and returned with a tissue to dab away at your tears, gently to not hurt your eyes and now he’s hugging you again, a wry smile on his face “You don’t have to worry about a thing, MC. Everything will get sorted out, I promise. In the meantime, come to me if anything troubles you again, OK? No more crying, darling-it’s bad for your eyes.”

Beel:

-The type to immediately lean in for a hug without even questioning why. As soon as you ask him, you barely have time to finish the question and you already find yourself in his arms. The only exception would be when he’s eating or maybe in the middle of a work out but the point is he doesn’t hesitate much when it comes to you. And I mean, he loves hugs just as much as his siblings do

-Beel is not the most observant and he may not realise you’re in a bad mood unless you tell him outright. It’s not even that he’s emotionally distant, it’s just that if you tell him that you’re fine, then he’s gonna take your word for it and believe you since he’s pretty straightforward with his feelings as well. However, as dense as he may be on occasion, even he’s bound to notice that you’re not being your usual self and this is especially true if you start crying out of nowhere while he’s nearby. Probably assumes the worst and is under the impression that he did something to upset you because shifting the blame onto himself whenever others suffer is his coping mechanism and we’ve seen him to do it before

-If you’ve just had a bad day, he understands that things could’ve been very overwhelming for you and he wishes he had known sooner so he could’ve helped back then, instead of letting it come to this. But he doesn’t hesitate all that much since he looks like he’s built for giving hugs on a daily basis. I’m not even sure this would classify as a hug since you’re not touching the floor. Rather, you are attached to him like a koala and he’s carrying you around as if you were a baby strapped to his chest. And he genuinely doesn’t mind. He’s been doing it with Belphie for centuries now

-Please, after a while he gets seriously concerned because are humans supposed to cry this much? What if you dehydrate or something? So he makes you stay in bed and just gives you plenty of water. You look so pale and sad, he shares his food with you too because his heart is aching just looking at you like this. He feels like besides being there, he can’t provide you with much help and he’s starting to think he’s hopeless at comforting

-If a family member died then…Beel is one of the best people you could’ve gone to. Honestly, having dealt with his sister’s situation, he knows how horrible it is to lose somebody you love dearly (I mean, all the brothers do but I’m making a point saying Beel, Belphie and Lucifer were especially affected). Now he’s sad himself since he’s aware that you’re going through something similar and his twin might walk in on the two of you being emotional on the floor

-For the most part, Beel makes sure you keep yourself healthy even when you’re tired and depressed. Continues to bring you food, even if he eats half of it on his way to your room, and just keeps you company in general in case you get lonely. Seeing you upset makes him even more considerate of your feelings and you don’t have the heart to tell him that he doesn’t need to stay with you all night. He thinks he does because you’ve always offered to stay with him whenever he’s had nightmares before so how he’s gotta return the favour

-Beel gives these bear hugs all the time, since he’s so big and his hand basically covers your entire back. So, more often than not, you end up cuddling while standing because he’s a lot taller than you, with him being a demon and all. Despite that, you feel so unbelievably complete when he holds you like this. It’s hard not to feel protected since his whole body is practically concealing yours so easily all the time and you feel sheltered from the world and it’s….nice

-And Beel enjoys hugging you too, because he knows that as long as he’s nearby, you’ll be safe and that’s really all he needs. He wants to be there for you the same way you were there for him when he needed it most and comforting you when you’re having a shitty day is like his full time job

-You could come to Beel with any problem and he would never judge you, no matter what. He’s just really unproblematic and he just wants you to go back to your normal self because it hurts him to see you cry your eyes out. Now, not only are hugs mandatory but holding your hand is too. It’s like hugging…but your hands are doing the hugging

-Definitely even goes to Belphie after a while if he really doesn’t know what to do and that’s how you know he’s desperate to do something. Since the Seventh Born isn’t exactly someone that yields great advice, more so when it comes to other…people….and his twin knows this-

-Beel’s best strategy at the moment is to just maintain some kind of physical contact because he discovered that makes you feel better and it calms you down more than him trying to verbally console you. He even invited you to sleep in his room if you’re comfortable doing so just so you’re not alone. After that one incident, he’s trying to coax you to tell him whenever something is wrong so he can jump in and help, because that’s all he really wants to do ahakenksms

“MC? Did something happen?” He’s honestly taken aback by how shaky you are and how you’re hands are trembling as they’re reaching to connect with his. Without much of a warning, he feels a funny feeling in the pit of his stomach and now he discovers that he doesn’t like seeing you with tears trailing down your face. And he feels worse the longer you wail in his chest and he doesn’t know what to do. So, he wraps his arms around you so tight you think you might explode, strangely comforted by the feeling as he speaks again “I’m sorry if I’ve done something to upset you. What can I do to help, MC? We can just stay like this for a while if you want” And when he sees you nod, he proceeds to not move an inch almost the entire night. Obviously, hunger overtook him eventually but he shared his stolen goods with you so can you really complain? Doubtful, not when he hasn’t let go of your hand the whole time.

Belphie:

- Hugging him is a gamble. Realistically speaking, you’re not going to catch him standing upright long enough for you to give him a hug. He’s laying on the floor somewhere, asleep so you shouldn’t expect much from him to begin with. Even if you were to get lucky and stumble upon him while he’s wide awake, he might slump over and succumb to sleep the moment you embrace him because you’re so warm

-Cuddling is a different story altogether. He’d rather shoot himself in the foot than not have you cuddle with him so if you need to be babied for once, he’s a pretty good option to consider

-As usual, he’s in the attic and you go to him because it’s really late and you didn’t want to wake up any of the other brothers. Actually, Belphie is normally awake by dusk so to see him sleep like a log past midnight was quite surprising. You didn’t exactly want to interrupt but if you stayed alone for any longer, you would’ve gone insane. So you shook him awake. And he was understandably confused and probably forgot what planet he was on for a minute when you did so

-Technically, he was half awake and from his point of view, everything must’ve been pretty blurry. He did see you; the problem was that because he was still feeling very sleepy, he was basically in a daze and could only squint at you to try and figure out if you were really there or if he was hallucinating. His suspicion was confirmed soon enough because he reached out after a few seconds and poked your cheek just to check. His face the entire time and the action itself was so amusing that, despite tittering on the edge of a breakdown, you burst out laughing

-Once he came to the conclusion that you were, in fact, real and he wasn’t dreaming, he sighed and opened his arms out for you; a direct invitation to cuddle with him. By now, he likely didn’t even noticed you looked sad because, as I said, he was all over the place but this little ritual you two have was common enough that it got engraved in his memory. Now he does it out of impulse whenever you’re around and he wants attention

-So you basically tackled him and threw yourself on top of him so hard, both of you toppled over on the bed and now you were used as a blanket, with his arms wrapped securely around you; preventing you from getting up. Not that you were planning on doing that anytime soon but moving on-

-You thought he had fallen back asleep, because he went really quiet and he stopped squirming to get comfortable. To be exact, the whole room was rather still and the only thing you could really hear was Belphie’s soft breathing and the rustle of the bedsheets every once in a while. And since it was extremely dark as well, you couldn’t see a thing either so it felt like the best place to let go of your stress

-It’s not like you were making much noise but as I said, the seventh born wasn’t sleeping just yet. And he wouldn’t be able to because it was obvious to him now that something was wrong. He believed that he was bearing witness to something that should’ve been a lot more private than this so he didn’t say anything. You should have your moment, let you have a chance to recollect your thoughts and the next day, he might ask you

-It was too much to handle. It’s not like he was gonna get any sleep unless he knew your problem was solved otherwise he might get nightmares all night. Besides, if you’re crying this much, then something terrible must’ve happened. You realised he was awake when he gave your entire body a small squeeze, as if to reassure you and you froze because did you just wake him up???? Or worse, did he hear all that sobbing you were doing????

-Hugging him is similar to hugging a pillow. He’s soft and squishy and warm and it’s impossible to resist him when rest at a time like this is so tempting. His fingers running over your pact mark once or twice, as if to remind you that he’s right there and low whispers describing the best dream he ever had about you, hoping to distract you for long enough to help you fall asleep

-To him, it doesn’t make a difference if a family member died or if you’re just having a bad day. All he knows is that you’re having a lot of emotional problems because of either one and as a result, you need a shoulder to lean on. He’s glad that you trust him enough to let him assist and if it was up to him, he would keep cuddling you forever. You’ve already suffered enough so let him take care of you this time around, OK?

“Dumbass, why are you crying?” The gentleness of his words was a clear contrast to that quick insult he shoved at the beginning of his statement, though you couldn’t hear any malice behind it and the fact that he really cared about what happened to cause you to struggle with your emotions so badly, would’ve made you wail even harder. However, he managed to silence you pretty well because he kept speaking and you wanted to listen; you wanted to hear what he had to say so you reduced your sobs and you sat quietly enough to do just that. Belphie flipped you over, now with him on top and you underneath and he laid there, cheek sloshed against yours as he sleepily mumbled out more praise for you, “MC, are you tired? You should go to bed, you need to get some sleep. Tomorrow, you can tell me what the problem is and I’ll help. I promise-I’ll even get up early for you. Just…please calm down. I don’t want to see you crying yourself to sleep ever again. I’ll stay here the entire time, alright? And I’ll make sure you have nice dreams tonight MC…just let me hold you…”

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