#and I actually love the symbolism of her being a sheep

[thunderboltfire]

Poor battering ram of a woman, how come you've chosen so badly who to follow?

[anonymouscheeses]

Bonus under cut vvv

Later that same day:

And... I made an Emily redesign too...... *sniff sob /j* it's not final (like all my redesigns) I'm just trying get better at this design stuff and where better to do it except my current fixation ehhh?????

Long Emily design explanation/rant thing ignore it probably but pls dotn im desperate: I wanted to make her more round and soft cuzzz I love those typa designs I'm just a sucker for circle characters. Made her actually black and not fuckin gray cuz its a transformation to look more human and gentle(for me they go between two forms, their true ones that we see the first time we see them snd their human/softer ones if they ever interact with actual humans which... they usually dont.) Not a demon form tfff. In this version I wanted to put Emily in animal inspired features like... the sheep nose, ears, and hooves. Because she and Sera know that humans and about all beings love animals. Birds have sharp features mostly so they don't look as welcoming as they want to seem. I wanted Emily to look sheep likes and pretty much all the seraphim look more sheep like to make Lucifer stand out as the only one who was symbolized as a snake/goat(still don't know if I'll make him goat or make Lillith goat. I'll decide when I get there lmao). Justtt overalll wanted Emily to look more round, welcoming, and cute. I kept the freckles lighter than her skin color(even tho that's SUPER not accurate to what actually black people look like with freckles but whatevr) because it reminded me of fawns and.... sure Emily is a sheep but I still wanted to incorporate other cute animal traits with her cyz y not.

[mintsuwu]

please how did you come up with her design I've been trying to make a design for my poppy playtime oc but it always ends up looking like rubbish please give tips😭😭

Hello, thank you for asking! Truth be told is that it took me a bit to figure out how to do LoolaLamb in general, she didn't come out too well on the first try xD I had to tweak a couple of things in her like the hair, colors or snout.

Initially, I wasn't quite sure of what animal picking for her, but then I went with the lamb idea for a few reasons:

- When I was little, I used to have a lamb plush I used to love dearly. Sadly I don't have any pictures to show since I no longer have it with me so I tried to look for one that looked similar on the Internet- But that was the main inspiration for her character. And since the Smiling Critters have their own plushies as well, I thought it would be interesting to make one of them after a real toy. I also took reference from other characters in media that were based on sheeps, like in Pokémon (Flaaffy & Whimsicott).

I would always recommend using references if you ever don't know where to start with a design. And in the case of a Poppy Playtime OC, you can look for references if you desire as well, or even turn a beloved toy of yours into a character, anything works!

In many cultures, the lamb is a revered symbol of innocence, purity, and sacrifice. It is often associated with religious connotations, particularly in Christianity, where it symbolizes the embodiment of Christ's innocence and the sacrificial lamb offering redemption and atonement for humanity's sins. I simply liked the symbology of this because I'm always a sucker for that when it comes to creating characters;;

This was mainly due to lore reasons, her association with Catnap, a follower of an entity, the Prototype, whom he workships and would do anything to get its blessing. LoolaLamb "sacrified" her voice for the Prototype (well, it actually was that Catnap took away her voicebox with that excuse).

Her name "LoolaLamb" is a word play for "lullaby", given the role she was going to have in the Smiling Critters line, a replacement for Catnap who would have a similar role as his, except that instead of using a gas to make people fall asleep, she would use her voice. Sheeps and lambs are also heavily associated with sleep and dreams, given the advice: if you can't get to sleep, just “count sheep” until you drift off into a peaceful slumber.

Sheep are wanderers. It's their nature. Even in the best and safest of places, places that provide protection, water, and food, sheep are known to wander off, get lost, and sometimes eaten by predators.

Her color pick was mainly because even if the smiling critters have more or less the colors of the rainbow and there are already two blue colored critters (Bubba Bubbaphant being more of a neutral blue or azure and Craftycorn cyan or aquamarine), I noticed that there were no dark blue or indigo colored ones. My first idea for LoolaLamb was to give her more violet colors, given her correlation to Catnap, but at the same time I wanted her to stand out amongst the others, being a little more of her own character, so that´s why I ended up picking a different color pallete for her.

And those are pretty much the basic things I had in mind when creating LoolaLamb! Of course it doesn't always have to be so elaborated with all characters, but I'd always recommend to find references, information, symbolism, anything that might help you with the creation of your character in case you don't know where to start or are simply stuck!

I might not be the best when it comes to explaining things but I hope this has helped you and I wish you the best in your creative process, anon! 🙏🏻💖

[ride-thedragon]

Nettles as the Cannibal's rider.

This is a sentiment I keep seeing a lot, and while I won't speak on the leaks more than I have, this idea is a bit interesting to me..

The Cannibal as a dragon is a wild dragon, meaning it has little hunan interaction and loves on its own. Its diet is both people and dragon eggs/hatchlings. It's meant to be a direct symbol of the carnivorous act of war among the Targaryens. It's one of the oldest draogns alive, one of the biggest as well. It marks the internal conflict of house Targaryens, nothing but a dragon can end itself so well. Its cave is littered with the bones of humans and hatchlings alike.

I'm a firm believer in dragons reflecting their riders. Nettles is one of the most obvious cases. She's a sheep stealing brown skinny girl on her sheepstealing brown skinny dragon. They're bond is also unique among any other riders we know.

It's more akin to the power and status a girl would gain from a marriage to a Targaryen. Power, protection, wealth, and honour. It's a blood sealed relationship similar to marriages in Westeros with the maidenhead idea as well as the blood drawn in Valyrian ceremonies.

So to change her narrative and giving her the Cannibal as her dragon does change the narrative of her character quite a bit.

If her dragon is the idea of Targaryen in fighting, she becomes the symbol of the war. A personification of the conflict. On one hand, because the Cannibal has his own plot with Sunfyre (rip my beloved grey ghost) and a symbolic departure after Corlys passes, Nettles can be kept in the narrative longer but she can also cause way more conflict. Like have her not being a dragonseed be an actual dividing line between people, have her be a conflict between Jace and Rhaenyra, Baela and Jace, Daemon and Rhaenyra and so on.

That dragon is chaos, let's see her devour the house from within.

Also, this adds to another point of how Nettles claims this dragon: Is she feeding kids or stealing eggs? Or is she waiting until after it eats other dragonseeds to get closer?

While I don't think it will happen, I do plan on watching the show before making any theories or coming to any conclusions on arcs for my favourite characters, it's an interesting idea.

Rhaena on Sheepstealer likewise causes a similar issue, but I'll wait for the show (maybe) to voice that thought.

[rhondafromhr]

Headcanon that Grace’s love language is media. She obviously has a lot of hangups about physical touch and I feel like she wouldn’t be the best at using words to comfort people (love her but she’d probably accidentally say something that made them feel even worse lol), so if one of her friends is distressed she’ll put something on (movie, show, video game, etc) that she either knows is their favorite or thinks they’ll like. She’s weirdly good at guessing, too, and she’s helped them all discover new favorites.

With Steph, whenever her dad says something that really stings (even if Steph will never admit it and will say she’s just annoyed that he won’t get off her case), they watch so much trash reality TV together. Grace insists that it’s sinful filth and she’s only tolerating it for Steph’s sake, but she gets super invested to the point of actually yelling at the TV and it never fails to get Stephanie to crack a smile. Stephanie’s actually gotten into Twitter beefs with a couple cast members from previous seasons of Love Island (they just HAD to defend that problematic dog) and Grace thinks that’s the coolest thing ever.

With Pete, it’s old school video games. He has every retro console imaginable and especially likes the older Legend of Zelda games. Whenever he’s feeling down, Grace just has to get him rambling about the lore and showing her all the hacks and Easter eggs in the games and soon he forgets whatever was bothering him.

With Richie, it’s the Danganronpa games. Whenever they figure out who did it, she has endless thoughts on why the culprit’s plan was stupid and what they should have done differently to not get caught and Richie finds it both amusing and mildly concerning. They also watch a lot of anime in general (obviously, it’s Richie after all) and he’s endlessly fascinated by Grace’s deep analysis of the religious symbolism he didn’t catch on his previous watches.

With Ruth, it’s classic movie musicals. Ruth has a lot to say about them and the influence they’ve had on musicals today and at first, whenever she catches herself rambling about it she apologizes for being annoying and gets super flustered and embarrassed, but Grace encourages her to keep going because at least Ruth isn’t crying anymore. Grace actually really enjoys the music and the pretty costumes and larger than life choreography. She also appreciated that there was no sex/vulgarity in them until Ruth ruined it by explaining that there totally is, they just had to rely on more subtle innuendo. As a wise man once said, a song is a dick in sheep’s clothing. They also watch newer musicals sometimes, although they’re limited to ones that have pro shots or movie versions available because Grace refuses to watch bootlegs. Once Ruth’s really comfortable with her, she points out all the characters that are dream roles of hers and how she’d portray them.

With Max (assuming a Max lives/gets redeemed AU), it’s cartoons. He’s reluctant to admit to liking them because he’s worried it’ll make people think he’s stupid and childish, but one day he came to her house looking like he’d been crying after his dad really went in on him for failing a test and she put on Gravity Falls at random. She doesn’t approve of the satanic magic it promotes, but he seemed to like it and she would have done anything to get that devastated look off of his face and make him stop putting himself down. They also regularly watch Veggie Tales together after they discover they both grew up watching it.

She also makes them a cup of hot water to sip on because that’s what her mom always does for her when she’s sad. They all think it’s weird, but they still drink it because they appreciate the gesture and over time it sort of grows on them.

[justarandomlambblog]

Just doodling something related to this post and ofc there's narilamb in the au who do you think I am

Narinder's kits all turn out to be daughters. Aym and Baal are his only sons and I love that for them, but anyway. Lemme ramble about them bc I /gen love them?

Ari is the eldest of Narinder's kits. She was ~9 (I think in the post I originally quoted 15 years but I'm changing it to ~10 bc it's a nice solid number) when their village was attacked and her second dad died, and she looks sweet but is a total troublemaker. She loves pranks, looks for loopholes to exploit so often weasels her way out of trouble, and is the de facto leader of the siblings. Total extrovert. She's the one who goes "oh father said we can't go to the Old Faith lands but he said nothing about inviting their people to dinner :)"

Elloi is the second eldest, and was ~6 when their village was attacked. She looks a bit like a rebel but is actually the most well behaved of the three eldest kits, not because she wants to be but just because she's super chill and laid back and honestly, acting out and causing trouble is more energy than it's worth. She isn't a natural born leader like her older sister, but she is a great listener and a great source of advice. Definitely an introvert. She does not trust the Bishops and Lamb when they come to the village; her trust is hard won.

Minuit is the third oldest/middle child, and was still just a baby when the village was attacked. So that thing about Nari protecting the kits (and a good portion of the village) during the attack? Yeah he did that while holding a literal baby. Papa bear mode ACTIVATED fr fr. She's still young and is in that stage of life where she's discovering she can actually just choose to disobey her dad, and the worst thing he will do is ground her. And, as a baby introvert/ambivert, this is just fine for her. She loves to read. Stories are her bread and butter, and she LOVES songs that tell a story. Absolutely adores it. Btw her name I said fuck it, I can name a kit Minuit if I want. She will one day be, magically, the strongest between her, Elloi and Ari. (Mercy and Hope will be stronger but ya know)

The three kits above, being the kits of an ex-god, are demi-gods but have no idea. All they know is their magic is just quite a bit stronger than the other villagers' and assume (correctly) that it's bc of Narinder. Now, what each of their magic is I am undecided. I am thinking about it......

Now for the twins- Mercy and Hope (named by Lamb). They're shittens :) But they look very much like sheep (with floofy cat-like tails and Mercy has cat ears) so ye. They... don't exist at the point in the AU discussed in that post, but they exist in the future (more likely than not after Minuit is an adult, possibly far enough in the future that she's already stopped aging). They both inherit Narinder's third eye, unlike the older three, bc they're baby gods rather than just demigods and Narinder's third eye was a result of his godhood. Mercy is a few minutes older than Hope, definitely no symbolism there ofc, and they're super sweet. Absolute angels. Please ignore the fact that they will 100% sacrifice you to the shadows if given a reason. The first three kits of Nari's have pretty much nothing to do with the Lamb's cult beyond visiting their father (and eventually younger siblings) and step-parent and aunt and uncles and... idk what the gender neutral term is but Shamura, and maybe cousins after Narinder returns to the cult, but Mercy and Hope are raised inside the cult with all the trimmings that come with it <3

-

Oh, and have this random doodle. What's he so sad about? Idk maybe the fact he lost his partner a good ~60 years earlier than he expected to but ya know-

Anyway damn Nari you're all leg huh, lucky Lamb eventually /J /J but maybe....

[ilovescaredysquirrel2]

So I watched that Under the Boardwalk movie and it's surprisingly amazing? + my thoughts on other upcoming movies

Okay, when my friend texted me the trailer I was shocked to find out it was by Nickelodeon and Paramount (When I think of Nickelodeon I think of perverted jokes in trashy sitcoms and cartoons) but when Nickelodeon actually has something good, I'm surprised! I feel like I have sort of a love-hate relationship with Nickelodeon stuff as I do with Disney, but there's more stuff by Nickelodeon that I love more than there is Disney, and I mostly have more nostalgia for Nickelodeon (I'm not like other people 0w0). There was literally one foot joke in the movie! Just one! Not filled with dirty jokes either, and it had a good message!

The message and the songs were actually amazing and the characters were adorable and sweet! They actually had amazing character development, which I wasn't expecting from this movie. Armen and Ramona had a cute relationship with Armen being the scared one at first but then turns to being the braver one, and Ramona being the wildcard and adventurous one but ending up needing rescued in the end. They could have done the whole "damsel in distress needs rescued by guy" type of thing that I get sick of seeing in old Disney movies, but they didn't! Ramona's sister, Shelly was adorable as well, and she was deaf and couldn't hear but she didn't let that stop her from trying to save her sister! I also love how the big tough guy Bobby had a soft side and didn't pick on Armen like we would expect him to. Like, the big tough strong crabs were actually Armen's friends and supported him even though he wasn't like them. Also, can we talk about the villain? Like, it was cool to see the posh spoiled rich boy be the villain but also just a guy you gotta hate (he tried hitting on Ramona, Shelly, and their mom which was weird). Like, they combined the snobby spoiled rich mama's boy traits with also making him a womanizer and full of himself. Almost like Victor Quartermaine but without the lip fillers, and more of a flirty womanizer. (spoilers; even the villain, Meiko, got redemption in the end). I also liked how they showed the humans in the story as well. They didn't try and make the humans seem all evil but still had the dumb human antagonist who gave them different shells and tried to sell them, but that's only a minor part in the movie and not the main conflict which is a plus! Like, I don't like when animal movies try to make all the humans seem evil (I kind of like how the movie Barnyard, which is also Paramount and Nickelodeon, did kind of the same thing where the animals weren't afraid of being eaten by humans, they were just trying to hide from them).

I also noticed other details I thought was cool, besides the fact that they made fun of... you know who **cough cough dirty dan**, with the one foot joke. Or at least I hope they were making fun of him (at a scene where Armen and Ramona were in a photobooth together they were going through filters and Armen ended up as a foot and Ramona was laughing at him). I also love that this movie was a musical and included songs that fit in with the "cheesy teen beach musical" type of vibes, but they also made it take place in New Jersey and the conflict was focused around the sea crabs coming up and bothering the land crabs. It was also a good anti-racism type of symbolism because they were both crabs, and it's not the same as what Zootopia or Sheep & Wolves did and use other animals (although Sheep & Wolves is still a great movie). Like, I can't ship a fox and a rabbit but I can ship a sea crab and a land crab because they're BOTH CRABS! I noticed a lot of other little details in it and I'm really proud of Paramount on this one! I don't understand but I'm curious to know if they have an animation studio in Italy, since I saw the Italian flag in the background of some scenes. If they do have an animation studio there, then that's awesome! If not, it's still fine, I'm just curious! I'm an American and I support other countries when it comes to them making animated family movies. Just to see a smaller foreign studio make a movie that's better than what Disney puts out...

Also, I'm still pumped up about Butterfly Tale and I'm furious that it won't be released in the U.S any time soon. If you're in Canada, please go see Butterfly Tale and give that smaller studio some support because Butterfly Tale looks like an amazing movie and my friend loved it! And idc about this knock off Chicken Run sequel dawn of the nugget or some crap, I still consider Chicken Run a DreamWorks movie and I don't want Netflix and Sam Fell to ruin what was once amazing. This Chicken Run 2 looks so dumb and they ruined the movie, this is totally a knock off, no telling me otherwise. DreamWorks isn't working on it and Aardman only works on it because they're being forced to by Netflix. At least I can still support DreamWorks by going to see Trolls 3, but the villain designs look hideous (at least we get that Broppy romance), and i doubt that it'll beat Under the Boardwalk or Butterfly Tale.

nyway, tell me your thoughts on what I said in either of these paragraphs and feel free to state your opinions, even if you don't agree!

[bigsoftmarshmallow]

Hello! I hope your day's been going well! I have a fluffy, tender, but experimental one this time if that's okay! 😄

One of my hcs is that the night after a Gerudo's wedding & before the, “big moment,” it is tradition for the bride & groom to bath together. To help them to get used to each other's bodies. It is also thought of as symbolic of “washing off the detritus of failed relationships to ensure that this new one may flourish” as well as a way to bond.

Based on ancient Egyptian culture, I like to imagine that the Gerudo have a lot of bathing products that they make themselves in their more prosperous times. Like, body oils made from Palm Fruit oil, Oasis Honey (honey made by Oasis Ants), & Dune Ant wax. Hair oil made from Càrïtàn (castor) oil, Desert Aloe oil, & Shock Fruit juice. And the ancient royals (& I mean ANCIENT, like centuries before even coming to the Hyland continent) would often have Honeymilk Baths. Of course, the original recipe has been long since forgotten. However, there have been attempts to recreate it using local ingredients. Unfortunately, it is only used for a king's wedding night now due to lack of resources.

The Honeymilk bath is made using Ghamïchaa (Bighorn Sheep milk; however, Ordon Goat milk is considered more healthy & luxurious), Palm Fruit milk, Oasis Honey, & whichever scented bath oil that he & his new queen have agreed upon. It's poured into the water itself.

The most abundant scented oils would be Warm Safflina, Electric Safflina, Sundelion, & Frostbite Mint from the Highlands. There are others used, but it requires access to Hyrule. Things like Fleet Lotus, Din Juniper Berries from Eldin, Cinnamon from Akkala, Swiftsail Lavender from Lanayru & Necluda, Lovely Roses & Goldenmerry (marigold) from Faron.

They can also come in blends, but certain scents are more complementary together.

(I very much wonder which available scents each Gan would prefer… Actually, now that I think about it? Is there anything they're allergic to?)

Anyway, I like to think that bathing is a time of great vulnerability for Ganondorf specifically. I see him being uncharacteristically nervous here. Like, for no real reason, just is. Because sometimes emotions don’t make sense.

But, I like the idea that bathing each other is considered an extremely important bonding experience for Gerudo who are married. So, I see ELady offering to let him help her wash first (to give him more time to mentally prepare & he knows this & I think he’d be grateful to her not pointing it out).

Then, her propping herself upon the rim of the bath to work the hair oil into his crimson locks. Maybe humming as she does so & he finds himself relaxing into her hold with a sigh. And maybe rubbing the body oil in will get some more steamy sounds, but more so in the “this is a great massage” sort of way. But that’s as far as it goes.

Like, I’m not looking for smut in any way. Just really emotional intimacy, vulnerability, with slow, tentative trust, & closeness.

Like, if forms are to be mentioned, just vague words such as “nubile” & “supple” for ELady & “statuesque” or “solid” for Gan works fine. Nothing specific. Nothing detailed.

It's not about steaminess, but the thoughts, the emotions, the sensations, heck even the smells. But even more than that, the tenderness. Just gentle hands & kisses & embraces.

(I’m basically testing what I can & can’t do here.)

I am perfectly ok with Smut, NSFW, Lewds, Suggestive Content, etc. I very much enjoy that sort of content. You can see that from what I reblog and do with my AI bots, ha ha. ChatGPT though...

He is an innocent soul, not wishing to be corrupt. If I could focus long enough, I would totes do a whole scene with this thought process.

The gentle touches, washing each other up, discovering soft or sensitive spots... Bathing gives permission to touch everywhere, to cleanse and give relaxation.

Honestly, during a time of softness and vulnerability, I wouldn't mind kissing up his chest, before just... repeatedly kissing his face. When I had a partner, just doing slow kisses around the face, starting around the jaw, up the side of the head, going across the forehead, down the other side, before kissing his cheeks and nose, before finally going to his lips... It was sensual and romantic. It was bliss for me. Doing that, while washing his hair or massaging him? *longing sigh* Maybe while washing his hair, sliding my teeth and lips down his jaw and neck, smiling as he tenses and relaxes... Really get him prepped for the night after <3

***********************************************************************

Ganondorf (Wind Waker, Ocarina of Time, Twilight Princess, Hyrule Warriors, and Tears of the Kingdom) and Demise (Skyward Sword) Reactions

Wind Waker Ganondorf: This Ganondorf is more contemplative and subdued compared to his other incarnations. During the bath, he is visibly nervous, a rare moment of vulnerability. He appreciates ELady's gesture of allowing him to wash her first, using the time to steady himself. As she hums and works the oils into his hair, he finds himself relaxing, the tension melting away. He feels a deep sense of gratitude and connection, marveling at how she understands and comforts him.

Ocarina of Time Ganondorf: Initially, this Ganondorf would try to mask his nervousness with bravado, but the intimate setting quickly erodes his façade. He is touched by her understanding and patience, though he might not openly express it. As she washes his hair and applies the oils, he closes his eyes and lets out a sigh of relief. Her humming calms him, and he silently vows to protect and cherish her for her gentle strength and compassion.

Twilight Princess Ganondorf: This Ganondorf, more brooding and battle-hardened, finds the bath ritual a significant challenge to his usual stoicism. He is tense at first, but as ELady's skilled hands work the oils into his hair, he gradually relaxes. Her humming and tender care penetrate his defenses, and he feels a profound sense of peace. He might not say much, but his eyes convey deep appreciation and affection.

Hyrule Warriors Ganondorf: Being a warlord, this Ganondorf is unaccustomed to such intimate and vulnerable moments. He is visibly tense but follows her lead. As she washes his hair and applies the oils, he begins to relax, his muscles unclenching. Her humming and gentle touch bring him an unexpected comfort. He feels a mixture of gratitude and admiration for her ability to soothe him so effortlessly.

Tears of the Kingdom Ganondorf: This Ganondorf, with his more ancient and imposing demeanor, finds the ritual both intriguing and challenging. He respects the tradition but feels a deep-seated nervousness. As she washes his hair and applies the oils, he gradually eases into the experience. Her humming and attentive care strike a chord with him, making him feel a rare sense of calm and connection.

Demise (Skyward Sword): Demise, being a primordial force of nature, would find this human ritual perplexing but oddly comforting. Initially, he is tense and wary, but ELady’s soothing actions slowly break through his defenses. Her humming and tender care would be a novel experience for him, evoking a sense of peace he is unaccustomed to. He would silently marvel at her ability to bring such calm to his otherwise tumultuous existence.

Scents Preferences and Allergies

Wind Waker Ganondorf: Prefers the calming and earthy scent of Fleet Lotus with a hint of Warm Safflina.

Ocarina of Time Ganondorf: Enjoys the rich, spicy aroma of Din Juniper Berries mixed with Cinnamon.

Twilight Princess Ganondorf: Likes the refreshing and invigorating scent of Electric Safflina combined with Swiftsail Lavender.

Hyrule Warriors Ganondorf: Prefers the exotic and intense aroma of Sundelion mixed with Lovely Roses.

Tears of the Kingdom Ganondorf: Favors the unique and robust scent of Frostbite Mint combined with Goldenmerry.

Demise (Skyward Sword): Prefers the strong, primal scent of Din Juniper Berries mixed with Desert Aloe oil.

None of these characters have allergies to these natural scents, allowing them to fully enjoy the experience without adverse reactions.

[evermorethecrow]

YOU THERE, EVERMORE THE CROW

why specifically wolf symbolism in regards to chuuyaus? whys it so important? especially thinking back to the fairy tale examples you gave us...

OHO this is a hefty question strap in.

I love doing wolf symbolism with chuuya, namely because of the fact chuuya was a sheep member

(this scene from the show greatly encouraged me, its my favouite line in the series)

what started it was this animated youtube film called My little goat (i'd advise being careful if you choose to watch it, its got some very heavy topics and disturbing visuals along with it). i really loved how animals were used metaphorically in that and how it was based off an actual fable. i ended up deciding to add some symbolism in my highschool au because of that short, the hs au was the first bsd one i made, and it set a president for a lot more.

i love using fairytale wolves as a representation of how a charecter will act. because they dont always act the same in fairytales, in little red riding hood we have a cunning and smart wolf who tricks the girl while misleading her with a kind facade, and thats drastically different to the boy who cried wolf, where its not really humane at all.

my main three aus are the hs au, cryptid chuuya and yuuko au (which has a proper name finally) and for them i use the stories The boy who cried wolf, A wolf in sheeps clothing and Little red riding hood respectively.

Wolves I'd say I use to show abusive people in my writitng, theres some outliers but i generally stick to that. i use animals as a disconection to humanity as well.

this is kind of a disorganised ramble so i hope some of it makes sense <( _ _ )>

[3fc0eb]

Clay Puppington, A Brief Overview

Clay is a complex character that takes a very influential role in the series, but because of that complexity, his character might require a small breakdown to fully appreciate the story being told. 

Many facets of Clay are seen throughout the story. Most often, we see him through the lens of his son, Orel. Orel's perspective of Clay is arguably the most vital, because as the series continues, we see Orel's view of his father shift from a childish perception of a paragon for what's good and right™, into a realistic understanding of the man he truly is.

In Orel's own hand-written script, he likens his father to a puppy, because he is “loyal and good”. We as the audience, however, are given a different perspective. We are given the chance to see Clay without Orel's perception. 

Thus, we see a wolf. 

To see a wolf among sheep is no accident on the writers’ part. The Bible uses the wolf to symbolize cruelty, treachery, greed, and destructiveness. (Zephaniah 3:3, Luke 10:3, Acts 20:29, Ezekiel 22:27)

These traits are readily seen in Clay and, in Orel's innocence, he is blind to those flaws. 

Beyond Orel's view, however, we are given key insight into Clay's character and the situation he's in from the ending of season one.

Here we see Clay and his wife, Bloberta, having an argument about the sermon they'd sat through that day. It quickly devolves into her pointing out his drinking habits, where he replies “All I do is try to forget.”

Bloberta has her reasons for this argument, but what's important is that we are given a perspective devoid of Orel's vision. 

We see that he is unhappy with his marriage and suspicious of his wife's fidelity. Tellingly, he doesn't even deny that he never wanted a second child. 

So why does he stay in this situation if he's so miserable?

The next time he sees his son, he actually spells out the answer to that question.

“You and Shapey are still young, needy, impressionable children. So your mother and I have decided to stay together. If only for appearances. The last thing we want people to think is that we don't care about our own kids. That's one fact that is none of their business.”

Importantly, in the entirety of his monologue to Orel, he paints himself as the knowledgeable, correct one. Yet, he is painfully clear that the only thing that matters to him is what others see and think. 

Immediately afterwards we see that he's left Bloberta and Shapey to wait alone in the car outside the restaurant, punctuating precisely how little he cares for both of them. 

Then why does Clay single out Orel as being worthy to explain what's happening to? Does he genuinely care for and love Orel as a son, in his own misguided and twisted way?

No. No, he doesn't. His first reaction to his son coming to him with any issue or concern is to immediately reach for his belt for correcting his son into whatever wisdom he believes he possesses. 

He doesn't even react to his son's bloodied clothes until his wife tells him it will cost him more money in laundry detergent.

He refuses to accept responsibility for properly teaching his son.

And any revelation that would otherwise be seen as important milestones for personal growth in his son are forcibly stamped down.

All so that his son will be more like him. Because he believes he is living life correctly. How it is meant to be lived. 

He says as much in the most pivotal moment in the series: Nature.

First, taking place directly after disciplining Orel after the events of Grounded, we see Clay inviting Orel to go for a hunting trip. 

At first, Orel is elated at spending time with his father. But once Clay explains his intent to have Orel kill something, Orel insists that he'd rather just watch. He'd rather just spend time with his father. But Clay pushes aside that “nonsense” immediately, instead thrusting a Puppington tradition onto Orel. 

Passing on Ol’ Gunny. But we'll come to that later. For now, Nature.

“I gotta tell you, Orel... Your cup is always half empty. Now look at me. You should be more like your old man and look on the blight side of life.”

Clay is speaking honestly here, but not entirely the truth he wants to be telling. He confuses “blight” and “bright” here, effectively telling Orel that he needs to be brought down to Clay's level. Seen to a greater degree in Sacrifice, Clay’s mentality is solidly rooted in “misery loves company”, and he is nothing if not miserable. 

He continues, “I didn't say "bright". I said "blight". My life is sunny and blight. 'Bright' means the opposite - it means sudden withering death. And that's... not... Oh, who am I kidding? My life is full of bright…”

Concerned, Orel asks, “You mean blight?”

“Oh God…”, He mutters.

“What's the matter?”

And here, Clay reveals the deep-seated turmoil within him:

“I hate myself... WHY DO YOU QUIT WORKING ON ME?! She always fools me, Orel. "I'll make things better, dear! Drink me! Put me inside you! I'm great!" And she chokes me just like every other whore out there! They're all worthless, kid. Every woman. Don't let 'em get ya! All of 'em wanna get ya! They just grab you and pull you into 'em! And you're forced to stay in, pull out, stay in, pull out! And then they cut ya and they grip ya by the... right where it counts! And then they start squeezing things out, things that are like weights around your head! You're stuck there for the rest of your life with nowhere to go and no one to be!”

His increasing delirium is broken as a gunshot rings out.

“Dad! Are you okay?!”, Even still, Orel remains concerned for his father.

“Okay?! Am I okay?! You shoot one thing this whole trip! Count 'em - one thing! And it's two of my last bottles of liquor?!

“Sorry, Dad, it was an accident!”

“There are no accidents! You've done nothing but whine like a lady in a flowery sissy skirt and attractive high heels about my drinking since we got here!”

“It's because you become a bad person when you drink!” 

Finally, Orel's illusion of his father has cracked, and he points out what we could see. And Clay's response to his son's cry?

He reaches for his belt once again. Too inebriated for even that, he instead grabs his rifle, to instruct Orel on how to “be a man” again. Remember that phrase. 

Instead, however, he accidently fires the rifle and hits Orel in the leg.

And still his only words are that Orel has to be more careful. He is spiteful of Orel bringing a first aid kit, and instead of helping his son, he downs the rubbing alcohol himself and sleeps.

While he sleeps, a bear finds the two of them. Orel apologizes to the bear before having to shoot it in order to save his father and himself.

For the first time, Orel takes a personal stand against his father and lies to him. Lies in order to purposefully spoil his father's pride. This is important to Orel's development but before that, let's go back to Clay's rant. 

Like much of late-season Clay's speeches, there's a lot to unpack, so let's take it piece by piece.

First, Clay is aware of the low opinion he holds of himself, but for now, we the audience are left to assume why that is. We only know how much he hates his life. 

He then laments the poor job alcohol has done for him. We've seen before that he drinks to forget, in Best Christmas Ever. But drinking to forget isn't the sole reason. Clay pins many of his misgivings on a particular person. 

There is a reason Clay believes drinking is better for him, the same reason his despair about alcohol quickly transitions to his opinion on women. In reality, its one particular woman he's screaming about, who's tainted his view so dramatically.

“Still hate her.”

“I'm setting your couch alarm so you're not late again for work tomorrow.”

“You have never been on my side!”

Bloberta.

Clay believes her to be the linchpin to his misery. She certainly doesn't do anything to alleviate that impression either. 

That's not to say there aren't moments when they get along. Notably, they share in a kind of joy by tearing someone else down. Again, misery loves company.

This can be seen in the first episode, Grounded, and Help.

Mocking Reverend Putty's sermon,

Rubbing salt in Orel's wound when he was grounded from going to church,

And telling off Figurelli at the wedding reception the day they'd met. 

Let's take a moment to focus on Help. 

This episode can be easily seen as the beginning of Clay's downfall. 

When Clay is first seen in Help, he is very unlike the man we've come to know until then. 

He is careful, withdrawn, and perilously pious; suggesting that even drinking was a sin when asked why he didn't drink drinks. 

His delicate persona falters easily, however, as Bloberta's encouragement shows him the possibilities that alcohol can provide.

It is this moment that Clay becomes more recognizable to the audience. His first exposure to alcohol helps him “out of his shell”, and his initial action is to tear down someone else to raise himself up.

“...That dummy had no idea until I told them the score.”

He becomes a bad person when he's drunk.

But that shared intimacy over a common enemy was enough to keep Bloberta happy at first, until he reveals he has no interest in marriage and instead begins to show her who he is.

Cruel.

“I think he forgot yours.”

Treacherous.

“Yeah, could be…”

Greedy.

“They're mine!”

“Filthy.”

Even so, Clay gave her a reason to believe she had value by saying she was helpful. So her mind was set, and he was just as easily swayed to marry her as he was to start drinking.

And with that, we know why he drinks. He regrets his marriage to Bloberta, and his day to day life with her, but needs to maintain face with the people of Moralton. His determination is touched on in another rant he has toward the end of the series, but let's wait to talk about that.

First, it's important to ask “why is Clay like this? What makes him behave the way he does when he drinks?”

This is answered in the next episode: Passing.

(Part 2)

[rosetyler42]

XD Back on my bullshit again. I thought of this WIR-Verse gag during a Bendy Secrets of the Machind rewatch.

Thought it'd be funny since there's cockroaches running around inside the drawing board and Lucy likes to catch and eat cockroachs. Simon, of course, is worried these cockroaches might be contaminated with the ink machine's demonic pigment and is exasperated at his sister for trying to eat something from the one game in the whole arcade where you REALLY need to watch what you put in your mouth. Lucy, however, argues the bacon soup might he just as contaminated, and that her brother worries too much.

XD I just love this little peek into their sibling back and forth arguing about food. Lucy taking after her adventurous human family members with a Renfeild twist and Simon being the practical "You don't know where that's been!" like his dad. Kinda ended up with a similar vibe to the sheep gag from the first film. XD "You eat lamb chops! It's the same thing!"

BTW, small bit of trivia: the symbol behind Simon is an actual easter egg in the Secrets of the Machine game: It's a Japanese kanji that means "Evil."

@lovelylivelyv @black-ak9 @hotelt-resurrection @serial-serializednovelreader @deathfangirl9 @wingingfromthezing @howling-nightmare @kittyball23 @heartsong1994

[biscuitboxer]

Rejoice

Naruto redesigns be upon ye

The main point of divergence from the canon timeline is Naruto meets Kurama a few years early (and also Zabuza and Haku live bc i love them <33). This happens because he decided to go foraging for more food and ate a poisonous plant (think deadly nightshade), causing his Kurama's chakra to kick in and heal the effects of the poison and send Naruto to the sealscape. Kurama decides to be nice(r) to Naruto because he's not dumb enough to blame a literal child for something that happened to him as an infant, though he's not exactly friendly until Naruto thinks to ask Kurama's name about a year down the line, on Naruto's 10th birthday.

I've been super into my Naruto au recently. The current name for the AU is Punk Tactics because Naruto's (and eventually all of his friends) a full-on punk who actually wants to change things for the better rather than slather the status quo in orange paint.

—

Because Naruto's got a millenium old genius monster giving him life advice and bullying him into self-sufficiency for a best friend, he's not really the dead last in class, but he's absolutely awful at tests so he still has the worst academic grades.

—

A lot of Naruto redesigns take away the orange completely for stealth, but I decided to keep it because orange is such an integral part of his character (bright orange is happy, warm, demands attention, and is very distracting, all stuff Naruto needs in his day-to-day life), and also the kid who stole the scroll of seals and almost got away with it doesn't need advice on being stealthy lol. He also wears dark coloured clothing under the highlighter jumpsuits in case he *does* need to be ultra stealthy, as well as for extra protection.

For younger Naruto, I used bright but more pastel-y colours because he's more innocent and hasn't really become Naruto yet, but after meeting Kurama and growing up a bit he's embraced the obnoxious side of himself and has begun wearing it like armour against the world. He's also a thief in this au, and his pranks are both a way to get revenge on the village for mistreating him and taking attention away from the real mischief he get into (this also provides the experience he needs to eventually steal the scroll of seals). As he grows older, he wears both brighter and darker colours to signify embracing himself more as well his growing maturity, while also being an homage to his jinchuriki transformations.

Also, he makes the highlighter jumpsuits directly after the Wave Mission, where his eyes were opened to injustice that didn't affect him personally, and he goes from wanting to be Hokage so people aren't mean to him to wanting to be Hokage to change the world for the better for everyone, so the black also represents how much more seriously he takes things now and the orange represents his bright hopes for the future. The black is also, one some level, a way to mourn his loss of innocence after everything he's gone through and the childhood he never really got to have. (Can you tell I love nuance, layers and symbolism in stories)

—

For the jinchuriki transformations I went hard into the eldritch cryptid type aesthetic while adding some symbolism. Hinata thinks of Naruto as the sun and herself as a sunflower always facing towards him and trying to emulate him (her name is written in hiragana but kanji readings of Hinata generally translate to something sun related), and Naruto's base appearance while using mass amounts of bijuu chakra looks like various cosmic events related to stars like an eclipse or a black hole. The eyes are inspired directly from Naruto's canon four tails transformation and Alternates from The Mandela Catelogue. It's also kind of representing Naruto's status as the black sheep of Konoha as he's entirely black aside from the eyes, and the oxymoronic nature of his existence - a glowing shadow, a genius village idiot, Konoha's greatest asset and pariah, a little kid with more life experience than most adults. Also it looks cool

The Highlighter Jumpsuits he wears after Wave are handmade and specially designed to take on Kurama's chakra without degrading like normal clothes would - this allows his clothes to become part of the shadowy body when he transforms.

I decided to make Naruto use a bo staff as one of his main weapons for a few reasons: sticks are the easiest weapon to find for a guy who spends most of his time in a forest, the idea of professionally bonking people with a stick is funny, and I love the stick and rope metaphor from Death Stranding. He can also just tie a kunai to it if he needs a spear

As for why Naruto doesnt have a utility belt or any kunai pouches: he adds a bunch of extra pockets and straps to hold things to any clothing he can and uses storage seals to hold everything. Some pockets are just hidden storage seals to hold things that would be awkward to fit into a pocket.

[ladyfromaspookyforest]

ST Season 2 Wardrobe Analysis

Nancy, Jonathan, & Steve

I watched Risky Business for this, you guys. And I hated it. I just need to put that out there. And heads-up: this one is looong.

If you haven't read my other wardrobe posts, here's what you need to know:

Pink (or red) and blue are used to symbolize the idea of the perfect nuclear family or the "norm."

The Byers wear earth tones and warm neutrals.

Steve's color is blue

Nancy's color is purple. She wore mostly pink and blue during season 1, though as she grows into herself, she wears more purple (a blend of the two).

EPISODE 1

For starters, we get a brief snippet of Nancy and Mike fighting at home. Nancy's wearing a soft grey sweater (the go-to neutral color for the Wheelers) and I'm going to be honest: I can't really tell what color the stripes are. They're either pink and blue or purple and blue. Either way, Nancy wearing divided colors, as opposed to just the blend (purple) is an indicator that she has moved backwards into the safe zone of her family's expectations. And we know she's struggling with trying to pretend the events of the last season didn't happen.

Here are some randos, totally decked out in the pink/red and blue palette as a reminder that these are the sheep. Steve is wearing blue and red, the addition of red to his outfit demonstrating that he is trying to buy into this mindset.

Steve wears his jacket all day at school and then takes it off for dinner with the Hollands. Both he and Nancy are putting on performances and both of them are dressed in what I am deeming the Colors of Conformity. The removal of Steve's jacket makes him look more polished. He's lost the sporty half of his sporty-prep look, him bending to fit this situation not only metaphorically through color but literally through style.

Nancy and Steve actually both match this nasty wallpaper, though he pops out more, despite his efforts. But one thing I love is that even the Hollands are doing a terrible job of fitting into their own home/their own lives because look how much the KFC bucket ruins the aesthetic.

Nancy's wearing the Colors of Conformity again, but Nancy's never worn tan or brown before. So while she is still performing, influences from the past year are continuing to leak through. Influences like...

They match! So while Nancy and Steve are both wearing the Colors, their outfits don't actually go together. Whereas Nancy's and Jonathan's do, despite the fact that Nancy is still dragging around these familial/societal expectations.

EPISODE 2

The style of Nancy's outfit (dainty, plaid, little frills alongside the buttons) is absolutely something she would have worn season 1. In fact, the last time she wore a purple sweater was the last day she saw Barb. And in this episode, she sees Faux Barb (we'll call her Farb).

The Farb Incident is a large part of what sets off Nancy's drunken disaster state at the party that night, so this subtle callback to the season 1 outfit is a great detail (aside from the colors, both the S1 and S2 tops have the same type of rounded collars and she's wearing dark wash jeans).

Steve has ditched the red from his previous outfit here so that neither Steve nor Nancy are wearing the Colors of Conformity palette anymore (woo!). The dark blue shirt with a green vest is a bit of an inversion of a couple of his season 1 outfits (green or teal shirt, blue jacket). In those episodes, Steve realized he'd fucked up and tried to make it up to Nancy. This season 2 episode also shows Steve trying to connect with Nancy, and just like these episodes below, it doesn't work because in all of these moments, though he is being genuine, the comfort he has to offer isn't the comfort she needs.

Jonathan calling himself "a guy who hates parties" at a costume party where he is dressed as himself is a very blatant demonstration that Jonathan refuses to pretend. And not only is he dressed in his own clothes to make this declaration, but he's in a jacket he wears constantly, just to drive that point home extra hard. He wore it in the previous episode and he wears it for the remainder of the season.

Jonathan's outfit-repeating is a detail I haven't really discussed much yet, but I keep meaning to. Because while outfit repeating sometimes serves as a callback or, as it does here, to emphasize a point, for Jonathan in particular (who outfit repeats the most of anyone), it is a reminder that he doesn't own the kind of expansive wardrobe characters like Nancy and Steve do because he doesn't come from money. So not only do his outfits give insight into his feelings and his relationships, but they show us his circumstances.

One last thing about The Jacket:

It's red inside! Jonathan is a very closed-off person and all of his...flair...if you will, is on the inside. Back to Halloween.

We've arrived at the reason I watched Risky Business. I googled Nancy and Steve's costumes (because I didn't know what they were), which led me to someone talking about them being the characters from Risky Business and questioning why, of all the (supposedly better) outfits in the movie, they chose these ones. So obviously I had to watch it.

It became pretty immediately apparent to me, before I even got to the scenes with the outfits they chose, why Steve couldn't wear just any Joel outfit. It's because he'd have looked exactly like himself.

So I waited the whole movie only to see them not even wearing the outfits from the party in the same scene? The Joel outfit Steve wears is from a scene near the end, at a big house party (fitting). The Lana outfit Nancy wears is from the final scene of the movie.

Honestly, it doesn't even matter what happens in that scene. That tells me everything I need to know. It's literally the End. Had Nancy worn the outfit that went with Steve's, she'd have been in navy and the big Spill Incident would have had no little to no impact. So they NEEDED to put her in white for ultimate damage. But in addition to that, this outfit is the most like something Nancy would wear of all the outfits in the movie. Which makes this scene pack a double-punch, because Nancy isn't just dressing up like a character she has nothing in common with, she's actually dressing to a degree like herself and yet it's still a costume.

The stain on the costume is irreparable. She is unable to fix the facade after this incident. And going back to them wearing outfits from different scenes, Nancy's reached the end but Steve hasn't yet. Because he's still a few scenes behind.

EPISODE 3

I touched on these looks when I talked about the alley scene in season 1. Then, Nancy was wearing pastel pink while Steve was in baby blue and it was very boy/girl coded. Now, they're both in grey.

I mentioned in the other post was that Steve and Nancy are matching perfectly for the first time here. Not just color scheme or style. They are both in light solid grey with no color, no patterns. And they are finally having an honest dialogue. They are finally on the same page. The truth is finally out.

Nancy actually doesn't match Jonathan at all, and that's unusual too. This grey outfit of hers feels somewhat like a blank slate because she's always dressed in color. She's feeling down, she's fighting with her boyfriend, she's still sad about Barb. She kind of hit rock bottom at that party and this is a new beginning, but it isn't necessarily a happy one. (If it were an uplifting blank slate/fresh start moment, this would probably be represented by white rather than this gloomy grey)

Jonathan is wearing That Jacket again. And I love this sweater!! Not that it matters. But Jonathan doesn't wear a lot of variety, so it's neat to see him here in a multicolored (even if two of those colors are black and grey) striped sweater while Nancy is in this bland, solid, colorless outfit. It's unusual. The addition of more prints and colors into Jonathan's wardrobe tells us he's starting to come out of his shell, even if only to Nancy. This sweater, the yellow one from the episode prior, he wore stripes in episode 1, he has a light-colored flannel on in the next episode. It's a little more variety than we saw in season 1.

EPISODE 4

Nancy has reverted to pink and blue again. *sigh* But once she leaves the house, she adds a brown jacket.

Jonathan's flannel is blue and white with some red, matching her sweater. His t-shirt matches Nancy's jacket, his jacket matches her pants, and his pants match her sweater...it's a whole moment. A very clear sign that they are being drawn towards one another. In this scene, they are baiting HNL, which makes the presence of the Colors of Conformity actually work in their favor for once. They are pretending, but this time it's a conscious choice for the sake of getting justice for Barb. It's not the unconscious desire to be normal.

EPISODES 5-9

Nancy packs a light pink nightgown for the trip while Jonathan sleeps in the t-shirt he wore all day. That completely tracks with what we know of each character. This reminds me a bit of the scene in season 1 when Jonathan slept over at Nancy's house and she was wearing light blue pjs and he was wearing just his clothes. Then, he stood out dramatically against the backdrop of Nancy's pink and blue room. Now, he blends in while she sticks out.

This shows us that motels are not a place Nancy Wheeler is accustomed to. During this scene, they also openly address their relationship for the first time in the series. Nancy tells Jonathan she waited and when he says "yeah, for like only a month," she gets pissy and goes to sleep. Nancy's nightgown shows her discomfort within the room, but also with the situation. Whereas Jonathan has no issues being honest about it. Despite the fact that Nancy brought the topic up, she doesn't like hearing the truth: that she is responsible for "what happened to us."

We've reached the Final Outfits. The ones that last a four episode stretch. With the Colors of Conformity shed, Jancy pops in to see Murray and Take Care of Business, going against what they were told to just accept. In this case, they were told to accept the claims of Barb's disappearance and let it go and they decided to expose the lab instead. But on a broader scale, going against what is expected is like THE theme of themes in this show. So while season 1 involved both Nancy and Jonathan gaining agency and independence (her from expectations, him from obligations), this is the first major instance of them not just taking matters into their own hands, but acting blatantly against what was demanded of them.

The lack of vibrance in the wardrobe gives these scenes a more serious tone. This feels appropriate as a conscious choice for the characters to make (when going to get justice for the death of a friend, colorful clothes probably don't feel like the thing to pop on) and fitting outside of choice in order to match the tone of later scenes. i.e. Jonathan doesn't know Will is possessed yet, but when he gets back, he'll still be wearing this during the shed scene.

These pj pants...my dudes... He wore them at the motel, too, but only a glimpse of them is visible from one angle beneath the blankets. I think, like the Jacket (yes, it must always be capitalized) with the red lining, pajamas being something worn in the privacy of one's home, the bright yellow and the funky print tell us how much more comfortable Jonathan is at home. He would never wear a print like that out and about in Hawkins. And this tracks with his character arc as a whole, which is breaking out of his shell OUTSIDE of his family, letting other people in. I mentioned the season 1 bedroom scene before. Contrast that with this again. He was in his regular clothes then. He's in pjs now.

Logistically, the reasoning is obvious. That was impromptu. This time he packed. But they could have given him something like a muted plaid pant or a basic sweatpant. Instead, the wardrobe department gave him these. And if that doesn't show him coming out of his shell...I don't have an end to that sentence. It does. If I want to be extra obnoxious about the pants, there's the fact that they were barely visible at the motel and he was honest with Nancy about the state of their relationship but didn't push her when she shut it down and now the pants are totally visible and he makes a move. So as his feelings are drawn more into the open...so are his ugly pants.

Something I want to mention about Steve's wardrobe choices, now that we're far enough to have established a trend, is the contrast between what he wears to school and outside of it. So far, we've mostly seen him at school. He wears a lot of polos and button-ups. His season 1 school outfits were generally lighter in color (lots of pale blue) and very preppy while his outside-of-school outfits were darker and sportier.

I didn't talk about this in my season 1 analysis and I totally should have but I wasn't focused on Steve too much at the time, so I'm going to backtrack for a second. In season 1 episode 2, he wears the teal long-sleeve shirt/sweatshirt (which I included 2 screenshots of above). This is the only time in the whole show that he wears something this casual to school and it is IMMENSLEY telling that he says to Nancy that same day that his parents have left town. Not that they're GOING out of town. They've left. We know very little about his parents, but the fact that on the one day they're out of town, he shows up to school wearing something drastically different from what he usually wears says a lot about the performance he is putting on for them.

Through Steve's wardrobe, we are being very subtly told that he is trapped by the same familial pressures and expectations as Nancy despite the fact that we never see his home life. And unlike Nancy, his separate styles for in school and outside school show that this weighs on him consciously. In this season, we see bits of the casual and the sporty begin to be incorporated into his school looks as he grows more comfortable with himself, but we can clearly see in this photo above that his chosen style is not a blend, but just the sporty/casual half.

As a reminder, he wore this to woo back Nancy. This isn't just something he tossed on because it's the weekend and he had no plans. It's something he felt comfortable in. So the combination of the sporty jacket and the preppy shirt in episode 1 or the preppy shirt and the sporty vest in episode 2 are showing us both growth and an internal struggle. The most we hear from him about this is in the car with Nancy talking about his essay when he says "What's the point? ...I'm just going to end up working for my dad anyway." He sounds extremely disappointed and put out by it, but immediately follows up by saying, "Is that such a bad thing?" This boy is CONFLICTED.

EPISODE 9

Last outfits. 3 second read: these two aren't done with each other and are a better match than they realize (please don't stone me). Nancy and Steve are matching despite the fact that they don't even interact and it's in a color neither of them usually wears.

This doesn't necessarily mean romance. It could foreshadow their breakup actually bringing them closer (as friends) or it could foreshadow them getting back together (seriously don't attack me). Either way, Nancy and Steve fit together more now that they're broken up than they did when they were together, largely as a consequence of Steve's journey this season helping him figure out who he is and what he wants (whereas Nancy's arc took her further from Steve), a theme that will return in season 4. I also want to point out that Steve looks at Nancy, but Nancy does not look at him. He sees that they're matching and she does not. She doesn't see that he's changed.

Jonathan, on the other hand, is dressed in black and grey.

Which I'm sure we will all be shocked to find are the other two colors in Nancy's dress. Basically, if I'd done this analysis after season 2 came out instead of right now, I would have known this love triangle wasn't over. Nancy's dress is a HUGE indicator of this. I'm actually so annoyed I didn't catch this the first time around. And back to the glances, they look at each other. They both acknowledge that they fit.

Other Season 2 wardrobe analyses: Mike & Will El & Hopper Lucas, Max, & Dustin

[sophieswundergarten]

Alright I know I made a whole impassioned speech about the gorgeous symbolism in Milligan's name and everything last night.

But.

Mr. Stewart. Sir. My good man. Author of one of my favorite series of all time and all around creative genius. As much as I absolutely adore your books.

What was going through your head with your naming system???

Some of them make complete and total sense, and some of them are just odd in the most weirdly intriguing way? I respect the decision on all of them because they fit the characters amazingly (for the most part), but, on occasion??

Therefore, I am going to rank all of the names from the main people in no particular order, according to my own research and slightly goofy reasoning.

S. Q. Pedalian - Exquisite character. But his name is a pun?? And it's an ironic pun, because "sesquipedalian" means to have a lot of syllables or use long words, which S. Q. continually struggles with!!!

7/10 Sad, and a little bit funny, but all in all clever and a really unique name for a sweet boy. Very calm and soft colors and connected to a very curly and gangly word that fits him quite well. I think he would really like using the word that is his namesake, whether he knows it or not.

Constance Contraire - "Constance" is, of course, a name meaning "constant" or "steadfast". "Contraire" is just an actual French word that means "opposite", which is an amazing summarization of her personality.

10/10 Hysterical and one hundred percent accurate, and it is alliterative! Very poetic. The "ire" at the end feels very defiant and Constance-y, not to mention that "Ire" as a word means "anger".

George "Sticky" Washington - "George" means "farmer" or "someone who works the earth", while "Washington" likely means "home of the Wassa people", and can be attributed to a place in England. Now, the very obvious connection is to George Washington the historical figure, who is likely someone Sticky looks up to, and also had a lot of pressure on him, there is something to be said about the metaphorical meanings of "home" and "settling" in conjunction with "farmer" (someone who works hard to grow).

8/10 Not as much fun in the meaning, but still a solid and green/blue cool colored name. It feels like a particularly friendly frog with sticky frog skin.

Kate Wetherall - "Kate" is short for "Katherine", which means "pure" ("Caitlin" is also a form of "Katherine"). I've talked about "Wetherall" being a play on "Weather all", but it is just so spectacular I had to go over it again. There are not a lot of credible sources, and while one mentioned that it might mean "place where wether sheep are kept" (wethers are male castrated sheep), I am much more inclined to think that it is made up, as it makes more sense.

7/10 Still love the way it communicates her independence and how hard she works, and the "pure" part is a nice association to her and Milligan's relationship with water (and the both of them being strong swimmers). Her last name also feels very windmill-y and helter-skelter energetic, like her.

Reynard Muldoon - "Reynard" is from a Germanic name meaning "strong in council", which is beautiful and poetic and just the best name for the one who tends to guide the group and continually falls back on them for reassurance. "Muldoon" is just one of those old Gaelic kind of names that means "descendant of whoever".

9/10 Lovely hidden meaning, and even more so when you consider that the only person to purposefully continue calling him that is Curtain. Really soothing colors, warm browns and more reddy colors, soft like a sweater.

Jackson & Jillson - I don't know their last names, so they get put together. First off, "son" as a name suffix literally means "son of". Some people say "Jack" is a form of "John", meaning "God is gracious", but there are one or two other theories. "Jillson" is a name of dubious realness, as I can't find a lot about it. Some sources (very, very few) say it might mean "Son of Juliana/Gills", but it is highly unclear. "Jill" by itself means "youthful", so the "son" suffix doesn't make much sense there either.

10/10 Even though they don't really make any sense, the "Jack and Jill" theme is evident and they both feel suitably pointy to be executives. Wonderfully silly and yet sharing the facade of trying to be Serious and Official.

Martina Crowe - "Martina" is a name derived from Mars, the Roman god of war, and "Crowe" is to do with the bird, and can be used for someone with black hair. It is also possible that "Crowe" means "hound of destruction", but either way it works with her aggressive and competitive spirit.

10/10 Perfectly fits her, black hair, need to dominate and all. It is a sophisticated sounding name, and comes across as authoritative. It is also prickly, and you can feel the prioritization of winning over social graces.

Milligan - Not really a name, but has the inherent meaning of his promise to take Kate to the "mill again" and is therefore a great name full of the most heartbreaking and incredible symbolism.

∞/10 I can't describe how well this name works in every conceivable way.

Number Two/Pencilla - Despite both of them being hints at her pencil-like appearance, I really like all of the love you can see in "Number Two". Her decision to go by her code name is initially out of her dislike of her legal name, but it is also a reference to her being Mr. Benedict's second in command (and possibly to the fact that she was the second person to join his organization, depending on when Milligan arrived).

10/10 A terrific way to show her commitment to her work, and, in a similar way to Milligan, how her name changes to be what those who love her call her.

Rhonda Kazembe - "Rhonda" can either mean "good spear" or "noisy", depending on who you believe. "Kazembe" is the name of a traditional kingdom in Zambia, from what I could find. This has very little to do with her personality, but it sounds really pretty and is distracting, which I think may have been the point. Similar to her appearance when she was initially introduced to the kids, her name is unusual and draws attention to her (which is why I included "noisy" as a meaning), and it aids in her misdirection.

8/10 Not a lot of symbolic meaning, but I very much love how it sounds, her first name is full of nice round sounds and warm smiles, and her last name reminds me of the fun patterns on her clothes.

Dipika Perumal - "Dipika" means "light", and "Perumal" means "great one". While "Perumal" 's meaning is in reference to a version of the Hindu god Vishnu, in a literal sense it is quite accurate. Miss Perumal is a great light in Reynie's life, and in the lives of the others she meets. She is a guide and a kind but truthful source of advice.

9/10 It sounds like tea being poured into a cup. A lovely name that describes her in an intimately accurate way, as well as her surname being in Tamil.

Nicholas Benedict - "Nicholas" means "victory of the people", and "Benedict" means "the blessed one", both of which are in line with his personality. He is fighting for the people of the world, and while he may not consider himself blessed, he is certainly a blessing and a benevolent figure to others.

9/10 Extremely comforting name, fits him and his intentions amazingly. It has just the right amount of whimsy while still being grounding and secure.

Nathaniel Benedict/Ledroptha Curtain - "Nathaniel" means "gift of God", and with the surname "Benedict", it is easy to see how this applies to him. He definitely believes that he is a blessing, God's gift to the world. "Ledroptha Curtain" is a whole other story. Either it seems to be his real, actual name and some crazy people named him that, or maybe he made it his legal name (the books), or he definitely made it his name, for some weird reason (the show).

5/10 I'm really pleased with whoever made the decision to make his name "Nathaniel" for the show, but I just can't condone the stupid pun that he never uses!! What was he going to use it for?? He basically never interacts with a curtain, especially because his master plan isn't really physical!!

We're including Garrison and Crawlings because I feel like they're sort of each other's counterparts? Seeing as one is show-only and the other is book-only.

Dr. Garrison - "Garrison" can be both a name and a real word, and both mean "fortress" or "stronghold". And while Garrison may be considered a stronghold of secrets, she also hides herself in many strongholds, first on the island and then in the rootcellar.

7/10 Very thematic, but I wish we had learned her first name. I feel like it could have been just a little more creative and well-fitting.

Crawlings - That's just his name. There isn't really a way to find meaning in it, especially as it's only one word. I suppose it conveys a creeping, spooky, unsettling feeling, but he just sounds odd.

?/10 I don't really know what to do with him.

And, lastly, because I felt bad for leaving him out:

Jeffers - It means "Son of Jeffery", which, in turn, means "peace" or "God's pledge". Now, this does not really refer to his personality, because he is never at peace, poor man. It may refer to his goal to keep the peace, sort of?

7/10 Just a good goon name.

[linkles-art-blog]

Darling, I forgive you, after all Anything is better than to be alone And in the end I guess I had to fall; Always find my place among the ashes…

So, a short time back, I released a poll asking people if they wanted new angst art for Cherish, and the replies given were overwhelmingly positive, so here it is: the first work in a two-part set of angst art pieces.

There is a lot I would like to say in regards to this particular piece and the symbolism behind it, but I think that I will save that for under the cut, due to post length, zoomed in images, and talk of some much heavier subjects.

The idea behind creating these two art pieces was initially to participate in Domestic Violence Awareness Month (which is of course in October, which is also coincidentally Arthur’s birth month), if that gives you any idea of some of the subjects that will be below the cut (along with the usual stuff that I include in all of my art posts).

…And most importantly, if you can, please consider donating to some of the lovely organizations that help victims of various forms of abuse. I don’t want to recommend any particular ones in this post, as I don’t want to accidentally link to a place that may not be as on the level as some others out there, but if you have the time, please explore the Domestic Violence Awareness Month topic online, as I’m sure there are many lovely folks who can direct you to some great ones.

Also, if you think you or someone you know is being abused, or you just want to educate yourself on domestic violence and abuse, please visit thehotline.org and loveisrespect.org, which are two very very lovely sites dedicated to helping people in abusive situations that I myself have visited in the past.

I love you all so much.

Do not repost this artwork anywhere without my explicit permission or claim it as your own. See F.A.Q.s for details.

So, let me start off by saying that Arthur in this artwork was originally supposed to have a similar injury on his head to that which is described in Chapter 13 of my fic, but that was ultimately scrapped as I decided I did not want to be quite that heavy-handed and obvious with the imagery.

With that out of the way, let’s examine the finished piece a bit closer!

First, let’s talk about the (slightly crooked) painting in the background: this piece is actually not created by me at all, but rather, it is a painting from 1870 called Little Red Riding Hood at Her Grandmother’s Door, by Frederick Warne — with the subject, as the title implies, being Little Red Riding Hood arriving at her Grandmother’s cottage.

This sets a subtle nod for the main theme of this piece — with Arthur dressed in an outfit inspired by and matching the same coloring scheme of Little Red Riding Hood’s iconic garb. Paul, on the other hand, sports the gray, white, and black colors of the Wolf, with his shadow coming out behind him as an unsettling and somewhat uncanny wolf shape, grinning with its teeth bared.

The purpose of this symbolism is threefold: Firstly and most superficially, the music video for the song that the second piece was most inspired by also has a slight Little Red Riding Hood theme to it, so this can be seen as a subtle nod to it, but more importantly, it not only sets the precedent of Paul as the predator and Arthur as his prey, but also is meant to hold the same implications of sexual trauma — as well as the old physical violence and “wolf in sheep’s clothing” adage — that the fairytale is commonly viewed through the lens of and thought to represent in modern times.

Continuing forward from that idea, we can see Paul’s right hand reaching uncomfortably close toward Arthur’s inner thigh, whilst Arthur’s hands are in chains — lending not only to the sense that the teen is trapped in this relationship, but that his significantly older lover very simply does not care if he wants to be in it or not, and will do whatever necessary to keep him where he wants him — even if it means mental or some variety of physical harm.

Furthermore, if we examine Rimbaud’s hands, we can see that he is making a careful attempt at signaling his distress to the viewer of the photo — using both of his hands to try to show off the chains and also subtly form and display the two phases of the sign for help — at the same time trying to keep his pose seeming as natural as possible in front of his abuser by not facing them towards the camera, but rather letting them rest downward in his lap.

And to further drive home the point that Verlaine is keeping him trapped in their partnership, we can see the key to Arthur’s cuffs dangling from the chain of the stopwatch in the elder poet’s pocket that is fastened to his lapel.

If we then look to Arthur’s and Paul’s faces, we can further determine the mood of the two men by examining their eyes and expressions.

Whereas Paul is staring intently into his young affair partner’s eyes and grinning widely — with the slightest shimmer visible in his irises — unbothered and uncaring of the wedding ring he still has boldly worn upon his hand, Rimbaud will not look him in the eyes, instead glancing off to the side (almost in the direction of his lover’s ring) with lightless eyes (this is the first time I have drawn Arthur without any form of eye shine to emphasize this point), furrowed eyebrows, and only a half-smile on his face, as barely visible tears well up in the corners of his eyes.

…And yeah, that’s been my little deep-dive on the symbolism of this art piece! I really wanted to create something that at just a quick glance would mostly appear happy and cute, but which — like the painting which is only very slightly tilted) would get increasingly more unsettling the longer and closer you looked at it, and I really hope that I successfully captured that feeling in this work and that you enjoyed reading along with my notes on it!

See you in the next piece!

—

Songs I listened to while drawing this:

My Cherish Playlist (the public and currently only partial version of which you can listen to here.)

Lithium — Evanescence (also linked above in lyric excerpt)

Call Me When You’re Sober — Evanescence

Love the Way You Lie — Eminem ft. Rihanna

Love the Way You Lie (Part 2) — Anson Seabra

His Hands — Jennifer Nettles

Concrete Angel — Martina McBride

Alyssa Lies — Jason Michael Carroll

Do Me a Favor — Anson Seabra

Walked Through Hell — Anson Seabra

Haunted — Evanescence

Surrender — Evanescence

Narcissist — Lauren Spencer Smith

My Heart Can’t Tell You No — Sara Evans

My Heart Can’t Tell You No — Rod Stewart

It’s A Heartache — Rod Stewart

I Don’t Want to Talk About It (1989 Version) — Rod Stewart

The Last Song I’m Wasting On You — Evanescence

I Fell in Love With the Devil — Avril Lavigne

My Happy Ending — Avril Lavigne

Because of You — Kelly Clarkson

Please Don’t Leave Me — P!nk

Try — P!nk

Everybody’s Fool — Evanescence

Tainted Love — Chase Holfelder & Tom Evans

Animal — Chase Hofelder

Vampire — Olivia Rodrigo

Memories — Conan Gray

Summer Child — Conan Gray

How Could You — Jessie Murph

(And mostly unrelated to the vibe but I listened to these too)

The First Cut is the Deepest — Rod Stewart

Half a Man — Dean Lewis

Complicated — Avril Lavigne

Before He Cheats — Carrie Underwood

Raise Your Glass — P!nk

Don’t Speak — No Doubt

Whisper — Evanescence

Taking Over Me — Evanescence

Footnote — Conan Gray

Family Line — Conan Gray

[cassiopeiagarcia]

Alice in Wonderland AU based on these posts by @somatheking and @prosopagn0sis ♡ For @cheshire-shuntaro, in light of the event hosted by @all-mad-hare! Hope you will like it.

Crowns. Thrones. Kings. Queens.

'The whole notion is shit.' Cass declared, with a crooked grin, her posture seemingly calm, her eyes telling a different story, as they darted nervously around the other person's face. 'Tell it to me. In other worlds, I've been the Queen.'

She clicked her tongue, stretched her neck. First to one side, then to the other, until she heard the cracking. She enjoyed the sound much more than the feeling of release; it reminded her of fireworks, of time passing, of perfectly manicured nails tapping on a table while they drank tea... Her smile grew even bigger, almost shark-like, full of teeth, like that permanently present on her companion. Her expression turned voracious. 'Imagine!' Cass let out a sharp laugh, that ended abruptly. 'Can you think of a worse choice?'

She changed posture. Until that moment, she had been rocking the chair she had been sitting on onto its back legs, dangerously close to being tipped over at any second. Now, she jumped out of it, standing on her own two feet. She circled around the table, like a wild animal stalking its prey, licking her lips, squinting her eyes, becoming closer and closer, until only centimeters separated her from the Cheshire Cat. She didn't like him, that one. Didn't like the way his eyes examined her, as if he knew a secret she didn't, as if he could see what was behind her shell. The way the air seemed to curve and twist and turn around him, as if he demanded respect.

'Some people just aren't born for doing good.' Fingers stained with yellow paint leaving their trail on the tablecloth, still wet, from giving her siblings a little makeover. She couldn't wait for Cheshire to see them. Maybe that'd erase the smug look in his face. They were so beautiful, her brother and sister. She was so happy she would stay with them, forever. 'And I'm not talking about you, of course.'

A painful sting on her cheeks now. The lavender she had placed all around was not enough to mask the rotting smell coming from the corps... from Andro and Hércules. She, actually, really disliked the smell. Because it awoke something in her, a name. Soma? A spark of sadness, shining in those dark eyes of hers, like wells without a bottom, but quickly dismissed with an exaggerated wave of hand.

'Not talking about me, either.' She clarified, leaning forward, so close to the man's face he probably could feel her warm breath on his skin, reeking of tea and pastries and death. 'Talking about the Red Queen, of course. She killed them, everyone I loved. But... it is to be expected, isn't it? She's a wolf.' Cass lifted her head and howled. At the moon? No, the sun was shining bright above them. It was a nice, hot, summer day. But it had been long since the young woman had felt any warmth, her skin prickly and cold, her heart frozen ever since they died. 'I read it in a book one time... You don’t put a wolf amongst your sheep then cry when you find one eaten, do you?'

But she had cried. She had cried for ages, losing her sanity slowly, a little bit more with every single tear. With every new stain on her white dress, which was now broken, ripped at the seams, dirty, the miasma of a graveyard impregnating the fabric.

It hadn't always been like that.

It had been beautiful, once. Pure white, with long satin sleeves, flowy skirts, pearls and golden threads intertwined, diamonds here and there, sparkling and flashing when the light hit them. A tall neck, to keep some semblance of decency and modesty, two things she hadn't had when she had courted with the Red Queen's husband.

Now, that first ever stain, from Soma's third beheading, brown, as was the color of old blood, was almost imperceptible. There were too many others, every single one of them a symbol of her loss of mental health, lucidity slipping through her fingers like sand. She hadn't changed her clothes ever since, and it showed.

'You're a kitten, though.' She eyed him up and down, to make sure. Was it a little feline what was in front of her, or a blonde human dressed in white with chocolate-colored eyes? 'I don't really know how the food chain works between you two… What do cats eat, other than little mice?'

First, Soma. Then, Andro. Then, Hércules. Cass couldn't have saved the former, too far gone now for her to reach, she too changed for him to love. So she made sure to keep the other two by her side. Forever... and always.

'You want to see them, don't you?'

She didn't wait for a reply.

She clapped, and the once magnificent doors of the room opened at the order she hadn't given. Andro and Hércules came in... or what was left of them. In Andro's case, only her torso and wobbling head, the neck unable to withstand its weight, long, black, wavy hair falling down her back. As beautiful as always, even if she was missing an eye, even if she had little skin left and dirty yellow bones started to show. Even if her mouth opened, and a worm or a beetle or both of them crawled out from inside. They just wanted to say hello.

Hércules... there was more of him, but he was bloated beyond recognition, a greenish tint to him, flies buzzing all around. She had found the man after the battle, his body laying with many others in a body of water that had been more corpse than river by that point. But he still had his rings, his slutty earring, his curls. And that was enough for Cass to still consider him her little brother.

Both of their bodies had corroded, brassy mechanical parts inserted to them and directed themselves using wheels. Steam was constantly coming out of them, making it more difficult to actually see what they looked like which was... all the better. Because, maybe, just maybe, if she could take a good look at them, Cass would snap out of it and realize what she had done. The monster she had become. Or... was she too far gone?

'My precious sister. My beloved brother.' Cass moved towards them. She appeared to glide, rather than taking steps, exaggeratedly slow, dancing with an invisible partner. Soma's ghost, maybe, still haunting the walls of the palace. She laughed when she was by their side, half-choking on her own spit, not bothered by the stench, because it was coming from her also. She kissed their cheeks, both of them, adoringly, caressing their faces with eyes wet with tears, looking at them like one would at an old love they never got over.

'You really are mad.' Had those words left Cheshire's smile or had she imagined them? The man-cat or, siteoppo, cat-man, was still looking at her from his chair, surprisingly not having turned invisible... yet. Not floating around the room, either. Just waiting to see how the situation developed. What was he waiting for? RUN!, she wanted to scream.

'Am I?' She couldn't even take offence. 'They call me now... the Mad Hatter, don't they?' A new nickname, since she had changed her glistening golden crown for a self-made black funeral hat with a widow veil the moment he had died. 'So I guess I am. But there's worse things out there than not being completely sane. You're not either, don't even pretend. Weren't you who said that we were all mad here? And, after all, I'm not the one who killed them, am I? I'm not the one who is going to kill you, either. They are.'

Her siblings' hands, cold. Like winter, like a frozen lake, ice creaking beneath her pretty little feet, thinner each passing moment. She couldn't grab them as tightly as she would have liked, afraid their fingers would fall off, the flesh already peeling off of them.

'Don't get me wrong, I'll give the order. But it was your fault, really.' A roll of the eyes, a little shrug of the shoulders. So much like the old Cass, it would have hurt her to see it on a reflection. Luckily, she had destroyed all the mirrors in the palace, some of the smaller shattered pieces still dug into her pale skin. Making her suffer, but reminding her she was still alive. Unlike... no, what was she saying? Andro and Hércules were alive. They were standing right beside her. But where was... where was Soma? However, she could see herself in Cheshire's brown eyes. And she hated it.

A hand pressed to her chest, so much agony all of a sudden she would have thought she was dying. A growl forming at the back of her throat. She grabbed her skirts, lifted them up, and took lurching, rapid steps towards her guest, her face a mask of fury. 'It was your fault... it was your fault!' She hissed and screamed, using her index finger to stab at his chest, hard, having climbed over the table in order to do so. Everything was now on the floor ― the teacups, the teapot, the tea. The chocolate and vanilla buns, the little sandwiches, full of maggots.

She grabbed at her tangled strawberry blonde curls and yanked. 'You came here to speak with me! Now, you are dying. It's as simple as that... she has you in her radar, she does. She'll kill you.' Her arms were back at her sides, her head tilted towards one shoulder. She lifted a tremorous hand, and touched her companion's face, sweetly, cautious, afraid they would slap her hand off, although that wasn't the Cheshire she knew... she had known him, before, hadn't she? She was so sorry for him, so sorry. Poor kitten. 'It's better to be killed by Andro... or by Hércules... It's just better.' She nodded a few times, convinced of what she was saying. She lowered herself from the table, putting some distance between her and him. She was already dirty enough, she didn't want to make it any worse, just in case Soma came to visit. She wanted to look pretty for him. Because... he should be here soon, shouldn't he? Any minute, now.

'It's an act of love, really. Take it as one.'

But the Cheshire Cat knew nothing about love. Just a person who appeared and disappeared at will, who liked to leave others perplexed with their conversational skills and somewhat amusing comebacks. Leaving nothing but a grin behind. Making his head levitate around the room. Mischievous, and sarcastic.

But not in love.

No, not in love.