#but i have put my entire soul into its concept and it gets so. so insane.

[enochianribs]

What if Mary Campbell had a little sister who she adored very much? What if her little sister was soft and sweet and no matter what she tried, Mary could never be like that because she was so so angry all the time? And what if she felt like there was something deeply, intrinsically wrong with her? And what if forces beyond her comprehension were working to ruin her family?

PART ONE CHAPTER 1/4.

[bitethedevil]

Am i delulu or does raphael admire tav/durge? I know its him performing, but as gale says "inviting to dine with devil is devils equivilant of serenade and roses" and first scene where we meet him he does eye tav/durge througly from bottom to top. Also he says "im fan of your work" to durge. So idk?? It lowey feels like raphael is fond of us in game but i need proof/ professional analysis. [Ahem you are the professional mouse afterall heehee~]

He Loves Us, He Loves Us Not: What is Raphael’s Relationship with Tav/Durge?

*Puts on my little mouse glasses* I’m glad you asked. I’m summing up a few points that I have also written about in another analysis called ‘Raphael and weaponized mortality’, so if that sounds interesting, you can find it in my reading list.

Everything about Raphael screams wolf in sheep’s clothing (or a cambion in man’s clothing if you will). Here are a few points illustrating this:

Cambions naturally have a really predatory kind of stench to them because they are entirely carnivorous. Yet, he is described as a perfumed trickster who smells of cherries and sulphur, most likely because he is trying to cover up that smell.

Poetry, an art that is very dependent on nasty mortal concepts such as ‘feelings’, is something we know he uses a lot. He’s not really good at it and he even says it’s not his ‘main interest’ to Karlach in the second act. His theatrical nature and use of poetry humanizes him, and I think he is well-aware of this.

When you call him out as a devil in front of Mol, he says something about how she wouldn’t believe them anyway, ‘not with his angelic complexion’. We also know that Gortash’s parents sold him to a ‘warlock’ and that’s how he ended up with Raphael. I’ve seen multiple places that that warlock is supposed to be Raphael himself.

Now this all makes me believe that he usually does not reveal his true nature to his clients unless: 1) they’ve already signed, or 2) they are so utterly fucked that they have already reached the point of no return with him and are forced to take his deal no matter what.

Yet, he reveals his true nature to us from the get-go. Yes, one could argue that the tadpole-gang does fulfill option 2) according to him and that’s why he does it, but I think it could also be something else. I think he knows from early on that we are his best bet, so he chooses to lay out all his cards on the table and tries to build as much trust as he can from the beginning.

This is also the function of helping us with Astarion’s scars. Dealing with a devil when you’ve never dealt with one before? Scary. Dealing with a devil when he has proven once before to keep his word? Much less scary. He’s ‘grooming’ us for trusting him to keep his word with THE deal (and he gets to fuck over Daddy Meph by potentially robbing him of a lot of souls. Win-win.)

I think Gale is right on the money when he says that it’s ‘a devil’s equivalent to serenades and roses’. Raphael is like a bird or something. He’s showing off, charming us, but also reminding us that he is big and scary. Although despite the fact that he is big and scary ‘he simply wants to help us’.

He’s done his research and already knows everything about us, so he knows exactly how to play us. This is demonstrated in the comment to Durge in the beginning and the thing he says in Last Light if you tell him he knows nothing about you: “Don’t I indeed?.

I really think that we turn into an obsession for him at some point and that the lines between the obsession about the Crown and his obsession about us blurs. This seems definitely to be the case in his journals. I mean the poor guy has nightmares about us…

I also am so sure that he is not even trying to trick us into anything with the Orphic Hammer. He truly does believe that the Emperor is a threat to us. See this:

I DO think he admires us or at the very least is heavily rooting for us. I don’t remember the exact quotes, but Korrilla tells us in Sharess’s that her and Raphael made a bet about if we would make it to the Gate, and Raphael won that bet because we had. He really believes in our merry little band of idiots.

His reaction if we betray him is also very telling I feel like. Notice how his eyes widen for a moment before they narrow and say the ‘You’ line. He seems surprised. In that whole sequence he is obviously pissed, but most of all I also just get the feeling of a man that has been humiliated and who is angry that he had put so much time, work, and trust into us.

He says that ‘he is fond of us, in his way’ and that I completely believe. It might not be out of love or affection or anything like that, but he is as fond of us as a cambion can be of someone. We’ve grown on him, and he sees potential and use in us. We fascinate him and I’d even go as far to say that he respects us. I feel like even if you give him the Crown of Karsus and he gets to rule the Hells, he will not forget the people who brought him there. He would not flaunt the fact that he had mortals help him get the Crown, but I think that when he goes on his spree to fuck up the realms outside the Hells, Tav and gang would at the very least be spared or even given privileges in that new world order. Is that a bit fucked up? Yeah…But we have to remember what he is: a devil.

(Thank you so much for the ask <3 That became a long answer. I love to yap lol)

[bestworstcase]

Took a look at the image organizer you linked the other day, and MY OH MY is there so much to unpack there. While I think I understand most of it, there's still some stuff I'm unclear about. What are those quotations from? What's Jaune doing here (and I think I remember you mentioning him as the Oz stand-in for the Ever After)? What about those scattered extra panels in the Jaune column, like Bumbleby-Adam and the maple leaf? What're the entire bottom three rows doing, what is the truth, and who is the "she" who knows it? I really need to do a rewatch...

By all means, go as overboard as you want to (or not), I just love hearing what you have to say.

the quotations are all heraclitus (there’s a link to the fragments at the bottom – the Bn tag on each quote is the fragment number) – heraclitus being a pre-socratic philosopher who had a significant influence on plato, and rwby being a story that draws heavily from plato (see also: atlas/atlantis). the philosophical ideas articulated in v9 regarding balance and creation/destruction get at concepts like flux (everything rests by changing; equilibrium is a state of constant motion and transformation, like a top which stays upright only while it spins) and strife (not conflict, but the push-and-pull between opposite forces, like the tension on a string which creates music).

i get very exited about this because it is the basis for rwby’s destruction-is-not-bad thesis; true equilibrium cannot be found without destruction because creation must have its counterweight. conflict is antithetical to balance specifically because it is a rejection of strife—it’s, to continue the metaphors, creation smashing the top because it doesn’t like that destruction causes it to spin instead of standing perfectly upright, or destruction cutting the string to free itself from destruction.

the OP specifically is about my thesis that rwby’s narrative is fractal—reflected aspects of the ozlem story repeating over and over again as this shattered fairytale strives to get it right this time. jaune (like cinder, like ruby) is a mirror held up to salem—the girl in the tower refracted in the “lovable idiot stuck in the tree”—but he’s a funhouse mirror. he’s a salem without her faith in humanity; a salem who is fundamentally cynical (he cheats his way into beacon, he wanted to be the hero to prove himself worthy to his family, he is ultimately corrupted by his rejection of change—which twists him into a reflection of ozpin instead) and thus repeatedly puts himself in the tower. and the point of him with respect to the fractal narrative is that being Good and Kind did not save him from his cynicism, and that the essential difference between salem and ozma is that she truly believes in her cause (that the gods are unjust and humanity must live free) whereas his commitment is hollow and borne of fear.

(likewise cinder is a salem whose tower is her faith, because what cinder believes in is the innate cruelty and injustice of the world and her destiny to be crushed beneath it, and she is in want of something true to believe instead; and ruby is… more or less literally who salem was when she was young)

jaune is also specifically paralleled with cinder in this regard – his time in the ever after mirrors her exile after haven, and both reflect salem’s isolation after the moonfall; he gives into despair and stagnates (like oz), cinder angrily drags herself out of the pit and keeps clawing her way forward (like salem).

(yang and blake killing adam are just there because i didn’t have a better place to note the echoed framing when cinder kills rhodes – different camera angle, but there is a striking visual comparison drawn here. the narrative does not smile on rhodes)

and then the last three rows are my unhinged mumbling about salem having met the blacksmith before in picture form. Ma’am Why Is Your Illustration Of The Human Soul A Blacksmith. What Do You Know.

like the thing is. heraclitus again: fire is arche. it is the beginning. the transformations of fire, first into sea, and of the sea half becomes earth, half whirlwind. from the outside, the tree is earth and air (the holes in the ground, the leaves on the wind) – on the inside, it’s an ethereal cosmic ‘river’ of souls flowing to their next life; and in the center, it is a forge. and this rhymes also with ‘for it is death to souls to become water, and death to water to become earth, but water comes from earth, and from water, souls’ – like

???

before she’s drowned in the fountain, salem is engulfed in dark’s flame – the flame he once used to restore jabber to life. and then she drowns and returns, with aura, now immortal. salem leaps into the pool of grimm seeking change and is transformed – the faunus in the myth she quotes immerse themselves in magical waters and are transformed. and then we have this recurring motif of a character (or symbol thereof) engulfed by flame, trees, katabasis, drownings, spiritual or physical rebirth. and salem waving the blacksmith under our noses since 2014. maple leaf carved into the frame of her family portrait – maple leafs shed by the tree – the maple leaf guiding jaune to pyrrha’s statue. it’s very

it sure is pointing in a direction!

[absolute-flaming-trash]

congrats!! #3. Movie Night + Mahito??

Ohhhhh I loved writing this so much, I hope you both like it!!

Warnings: Yandere, Implied forced relationship, Mahito

Word Count: 578

Additional Notes: Some spoilers for the movie Annihilation.

Movie night with Mahito was always a gamble.

While he could get absorbed in a book like nothing else, media was a different story. Unless the images on screen immediately held his attention or sucked him in with a great hook, he would either pester you the entire time with questions, or he would rip the film to shreds with his commentary.

Thankfully you’d managed to pick one out that had him captivated almost at the very start.

Annihilation was a trip, and you had said so when you mentioned the movie to him in the first place. He was doubtful, of course. What could possibly be so interesting about a movie that had aliens coming to Earth? However, as soon as you mentioned DNA and mutations, he clicked his tongue and decided it didn’t sound too terrible.

You were watching him more than the movie itself as it played. He was the most attentive you’d seen in a while, sitting beside you cross-legged on your couch - eyes glued to the screen of your TV. No smile of malintent on his face, rather one of pure intrigue.

You couldn’t help but smile yourself for once. “Still think it’s boring?”

“Shh.” He didn’t just put his hand over your mouth, no, he wrapped his entire hand around your face and pulled you against his chest, muffling your cry of surprise. You didn’t have to crane your neck up to know he was grinning. “You’ll ruin it.~”

In all fairness, he had a point. This was the sequence you enjoyed the most in the film and you figured he would as well as you watched from between his fingers.

The concept alone was, in your opinion, one of the most terrifying put to screen in decades.

“Oh my god! Help me! Help!”

Whereas the characters on screen were shaking with fear, Mahito was practically radiating with excitement as the bear on screen cried out in the voice of its last victim.

“Don’t react.”

Mahito giggled, the line from Natalie Portman’s character adding to whatever sick train of thought he had going on in his head - one that wouldn’t be hard to guess.

Not reacting to a monster like this would likely save the skin of the characters here, but in real life? Not reacting to a Curse never worked.

You’d know. You had tried.

He still had his hand over your face when all hell broke loose on screen. You tapped his hand with one of your free ones in a silent request, and he looked down at you.

“What was that? I can’t hear you.~”

You narrowed your eyes and he giggled again before taking his hand off your face. You weren’t completely freed though, his arm still wrapped around you and keeping your body close to his.

It was deceptively domestic.

“What do you think?” He whispered by your ear as the scene continued to play out. “Do you think the woman who died was aware of what this animal was doing? If her soul became bound to the same thing that killed her?”

You didn’t answer, partially because it was explained later on in the movie, but also because you’d learned that Mahito’s questions on this sort of thing were mostly rhetorical.

He placed a chaste kiss on your temple, something he only did when he was exorbitantly happy. You frowned, keeping your eyes on the screen.

“Thank you, doll, you’ve given me lots of new ideas.”

© absolute-flaming-trash 2023. Do not repost, modify, copy, or claim.

[asha-mage]

WoT Meta: 'Salvation and Rebirth'

One thing that is fascinating to me about The Wheel of Time is that, despite the fact that the two of the biggest influences on Robert Jordan's cosmology are traditional Hinduism and Protestant theology (in general but especially American Protestantism), as near as I have been able to determine on my 20+ re-reads his world has neither a concept of karma or heaven.

Karma- the belief that your deeds in your current life will impact your rebirth in your next life (to vastly simplify)- is very Big Deal in Hinduism (and several other related religions, such as Buddhism- another big influence on Jordan's cosmology) and yet it is entirely absent from anyone's belief system in the WoT. No one seems to attach strongly to the idea that terrible deeds in your past life might be the source of your misfortune in this one, or that the reason to do good things in this life is to ensure a better rebirth next time. People hope for rebirth into a better life all the time, but they treat this as a capricious whim of fate, not something their actions might reasonably impact.

Interestingly though, some characters do subscribe to semi-related idea, not from Hinduism, but Christianity: Godly living. This is the idea that all troubles are self inflicted, and that if you just work hard, live virtuously, and embrace God ('walk in the light') nothing bad will happen to you ('you wont attract the Dark One's attention'). But their is no serious suggestion that this might be tied to past or future lives, and also the series takes great pains to demonstrate that it's wrong. Bad things happen to seemingly good people all the time (including Our Heroes), and if their is rhyme or reason to be found in it, it's usually the result of a working of fate so vast that the characters involved can not perceive it with their limited knowledge and view. This is one of those central themes of the series that I find so compelling and one Moiraine lays out in TDR (and during her confrontation with Logain in the show): The Wheel itself is not good or evil, it just is, and it weaves fate to a design so intricate and so massive that the human lives pulled about within it are given as much care as....well, as the loom gives to a single strand in a tapestry.

In the same vein the idea of a heaven- an enteral paradise, even just an intermediate one between rebirths, is also absent from Jordan's world building. Their is a belief that your soul will return to the nebulous 'Light' upon death if you where a good person and be taken by the Dark One if you where a bad, but no one seems to equate the 'returning to the Light' with being rewarded for good actions with a paradise where all their desires and needs will be meet, and where they get to chill out until, presumably, its time to be reborn. The idea of Heaven- that earthly suffering being rewarded after death with eternal salvation is a Big Deal in pretty much all Christianity but especially Protestantism, which fundamentally is/was about the idea that salvation could not be gate kept by earthly institutions and was solely the providence of God to deny or grant. The closest you get in Jordan's world any kind of afterlife is the World of Dreams, where the Heroes of the Horn (and only the Heroes) await their rebirth. But that can't properly be called a Heaven- not when nightmares walk it, and the conflicts of the living world can easily, and frequently do, seep inside. Not to mention any mortal can reach it without having to die- by just going to sleep.

And which, on that note, the very idea of the Heroes of the Horn is contradictory to the idea of an eternal salvation. In a system where their is salvation after death, the Heroes would be rewarded for their valor and heroism with eternal peace. Instead their reward is endless lifetimes of adventure, which means endless conflict but also endless legends and stories, as well as the chance to keep making the world better, righting wrongs and putting fate back on track. In this way the Heroes of the Horn are clearly inspired by the idea of the Dashavatara from Hinduism- mortal incarnations born specifically right the ship of cosmic order when fate/the world is getting out of whack. But interestingly, in Hinduism the Dashavataras (and the other avatars) are all Gods taking mortal flesh, and so inherently divine. This is an idea, once again, that many people in Jordan's world believe to be true (most notably the Prophet and his followers) but isn't- Rand isn't the Creator in the flesh, or a vessel of the Light. He's just a person, one whose heroic nature and kind heart earned him a place as a Hero of the Horn, but still mortal beneath all else that he is. And that fallibility, that reality that he isn't a God, that he can bled, be hurt, die, even turn to the Shadow- is a core part of understanding Rand's character arc.

One final thought on this (and the thing that started me thinking on the subject to begin with since The Fires of Heaven is where we are introduced to this idea for the first time in the books): there is something incredibly fascinating to me that to the characters in Jordan's world, the highest and most sacred oath you can swear is on 'your hope of salvation and rebirth'- which taken in the lens of our world are two fundamentally opposed ideas. For Christians salvation is eternal- the salvation of the immortal soul in Heaven free from earthly suffering. In Hinduism, rebirth by definition means continuation on earth, a chance to redeem past mistakes, to better the world, to make new good karma that will enrich your fate.

And yet, the characters in Randland don't view them as contradictory (or if someone does we never hear them voice that thought). Which makes me suspect that salvation and rebirth refers to the Prophecies of the Dragon and the hope they will come true. Salvation in this context is not the salvation of the soul, but the salvation of the world, the wheel, the pattern, fate- saved to continue on into eternity. Rebirth refers the hope you will get to be reborn again- which would only be denied to a person should the Dark One triumph and remake the world....or maybe even the hope that the Dragon will be reborn to save the world, to bring salvation to earth.

That would mean the oath came from a time when the Prophecies where fresh and new, before False Dragons tore countries asunder in wars and before hatred and fear of the Dragon had time to embed itself.

But by then, as often happens we are told, the origins, the why, where forgotten, even the tradition remained, and so no one realizes that, to this day, the most sacred of oaths, including the Three Oaths of Aes Sedai, are sworn in the name of the Dragon and on the hope of his coming.

[brightgoat]

My thoughts on JJBA OVER HEAVEN

So first of all -

it seems my JJBA binge is not over yet, I am still on the desert island and instead of their being water sources large enough to get waterboarded in like last time, I am instead finding small refreshing puddles.

This is copy pasted from my twitter so pardon if its formatted weirdly

I read the novel and- (spoilers under cut)

although it might be dubiously canon, I like it a lot that I think it should be considered so, and in my mind overrides any inconsistencies that the anime/manga may bring up. The timeline seems fucked either way you look at it, fittingly for this story I guess

I liked how it showed the evolution of his idea of ‘heaven’ and how it slowly became what Pucci defined it as. I like how it gives depth without straying from Dio’s insane villainy. and the mommy issues were certainly something as well It actually made me appreciate part 1

I have realised this while I was still watching the anime, but the novel confirms it; all the villains either represent a part of Dio, the big bad

Kars - Dio’s desire to constantly transcend his current state, humanity and whatnot, keep moving up the power scale

Kira - Dio’s idea that all humans live for ‘peace of mind’, as he puts it for himself- ‘preparedness’, knowing that the future will be fine

Diavolo - Dio’s resolve to move only forward, only towards the future

I do love how for the two Stand users, their Stands complement their motives, Kira creating time loops to ensure nothing bad happens to him, and Diavolo ‘skipping time’ to move into and foresee the future. Kira is more ‘stuck in the past’ and Diavolo is heading for the future

Dio is in the present, he merely stops time for a few seconds. It sets up the time manipulation premise in the simplest way and also gives him the further mindfuckery he needs to arrive at his conclusion

And then Pucci, the final villain, is Dio’s resolve to get to ‘heaven’, the culmination of the mindfuckery- their conclusion of it being that the definition of ‘heaven’ is obtaining peace by knowing all of the future and all of fate, and living it out in preparedness.

Their Stands are also opposite of one another, Dio stops time for a brief moment and Pucci accelerates it for all of eternity. Pucci is the kind of fucking guy to spoil the entire movie before watching it

I do love how they define fate as ‘gravity between people', and connect that to the theory of relativity (i’m always a sucker for this kind of shit) combining scientific theory with ideas of fate through a religious character is also just a cherry on top, I love it

THAT and how his Stand Whitesnake, whose powers are to extract ‘souls’ (or so to speak), is covered in the abbreviation of DNA compounds. Also fun fact whitesnake’s voice is based off of patrick star from spongebob

Overall, it was interesting to read how Dio became obsessed with the concept of fate, Ironically, were JJBA to be written with more foresight (preparedness even), then maybe Dio’s thoughts could’ve been more implemented into the story. Don’t get me wrong, he should still be his insane-cartoonishly-evil self at the same time, I love him for that. However, this novel was not written by the OG author, so who knows how canon it even is.

Another thing of note: Dio and Pucci seem to arrive at their idea of ‘heaven’ independently (you could argue Dio kind of began it by suggesting the idea of ‘gravity’ to him), but it was Pucci’s circumstances that ultimately led to it. Dio, at least for a few pages, believes that what one is born into decides everything. And they were born into vastly different situations. Dio talks a lot about his hate of nobles and ‘inheritors’ and hated both his biological and adoptive family.

Pucci is from an influential wealthy family and loved them so. Dio’s sibling was a miscarriage and Pucci’s presumed-dead-twin was actually alive. But both lived circumstances that arrived to a shared idea of ‘heaven’. Dio knows at least the deaths in Pucci’s life, I wonder if he knows his background and if knowing it would challenge or confirm his idea of fate.

I can’t help but wonder how Pucci felt reading the diary through Jotaro’s memories. Also wonder if Pucci saw how Dio died through none other than Jotaro’s memories as well.

Also i don’t know why, this is probably not what is implied cuz it wouldn’t fit characterwise(unless?) but……… did Pucci take Dio’s memory of showing him The World????? Why is it written this way and if so then adhsagdah??

Anyways if you ask me if i’m team ‘ora-ora’ or team ‘muda-muda’ its the latter for me baby

[hiemaldesirae]

Thorn here:

One day the entire hotel crew are watching TV (Alastor included Charlie somehow got him too) when there show is interrupted by an emergency broadcast.

It's Valentino and Velvette with someone dressed up as Vox, and they start singing a showtune announcing Vox's death.

Alastor....*FREAKS* his antlers start growing, and static erupts from his staff as bellows of grief erupts from his mouth--Husk instantly Pat's his back, trying to comfort him while Angel turns it up.

Only for Papermint's grasp of "Sir!" Is heard over the T.V. and the camera swings to see a very groggy but alive Vox blinking at everyone in the studio And then:

Valentino: "I thought you were dead!"

Vox: "No, I was just down here taking a nap. What the fuck going on?"

Valentino: "You were very still i---"

Vox: proudly: "I'm a very sound sleepe--SORRY," *He lifts up a hand, sparks flicking off his antenna.* "You thought I was DEAD? And instead of calling for help or, using some of the souls we have for medical care you got someone to dress up as a shitty oversize version of me and started singing fucking SHOWTUNES ON LIVE TELEVISION?!?"

Velvette: "Well we had to let Hell know of your death."

Valentino: "The Show must go on?"

Vox: "Oh this is BULLSHIT!"

Alastor: *warps into the shadows and into the Vees tower and snatches Vox while decapitating Valentino and Velvette.* "MINE!"

wait oh my god this would be perfect for an atticwife adjacent oneshot (you guys really. like that concept huh). vox accidentally conks out on set after pulling a few all nighters too many and then when he wakes up again his (second) eulogy is being broadcast on live television, and before he can even start to chew them out and wipe the airings of the broadcast, the shadows in his room coalesce and, oh god, fuck, is that fucking ALASTOR-

vox can barely even scream before he watches alastor kill his best friends right in front of his eyes (its not PERMANENT, of course, but still, the fact that he just broke into the office room and murdered them in front of his fucking eyes- well, for one, it's Unnecessarily hot in just how deadly and efficient he was with the action, but also... what the FUCK does alastor want with him??? did he piss him off somehow???) vox goes through like 60000 different scenarios in his head in the minute or so it takes them to get back to alastors penthouse on the top floor of the hh, and he can hardly process anything at all when instead of saying anything, alastor just simply puts him down and tucks him into bed w/o saying anything

[umbreonkin197]

Journal of a Questioning Otherkin (Entry 2) (Repost)

This morning I woke up and immediately was hit with a massive amount of dysphoria. It was as if every fiber of my being was screaming with the pain of being confined inside of the wrong body. I just felt awful in a way that is almost impossible to put into words. My skin was crawling because something inside me just knew that this skin was wrong. I felt wrong. It really hurts, mourning a body that I know I'll never have.

The dysphoria hasn't been quite this bad before. All these years I've suppressed the feeling deep down inside of me, pretending it was fine, but now that I finally see it for what it is, I can't pretend anymore. I can't just ignore it and hope it fixes itself.

I started to dissociate due to how bad I was feeling and I wasn't able to think, or really do much of anything for the entire day. The brain fog was just that severe. I realized that this brain fog and dissociative spells might have been affecting me for years and I hadn't even realized that's what it is.

I really need to figure out how to cope with that feeling of dysphoria better, because I really can't afford to spend every day in a dissociative haze, riddled with anxiety, and unable to get basic tasks done.

I am struggling and I don't know what to do. I'm so new to all this. How do you connect to your kintype? What does it mean to be a pokemon? What does it mean to be an Umbreon? How do I figure that out, and how can I help alleviate that all encompassing dysphoria? Right now it feels hopeless, but I know logically that isn't true.

On a different, less depressing note-

In an attempt to explore more about myself and to distance myself from the concept of being human, I decided to try out it/its pronouns. I had an interesting experience with that, but my findings were largely that it didn't feel euphoric, but also, it surprisingly didn't feel bad either. Perhaps there is something there, but as of yet, I don't quite know. Trying out Bre/Bre's/Breself was actually kind of nice too.

I've never gone by any pronouns other than he/him before, so this is new to me. If this ends up developing further, I could potentially see using He/it/bre. The dehumanizing aspect of it/its is nice, but I still strongly feel connected to my identity as male and don't want to discard those pronouns.

I've already done my soul searching in regards to gender, and I'm confident and comfortable identifying as male, despite being very gender non-conforming. However, that's neither here nor there at the moment.

And ending on a little funny note, a friend that I haven't talked to at all about any of this identity fuckery sent me this today. My friends send me Umbreon related posts because they know I like Umbreon, but I found it hilarious and ironic that they sent this to me and had no idea how relevant this really was to me right now.

Anyways, long story short, today sucked. Dysphoria hit so hard that it caused a full day of dissociation. I still feel very good about being an Umbreon Fictionkin, but I'm doing my best to be open and considering possible alternatives. I try not to fall victim to confirmation bias.

Any tips from otherkin (especially fellow pokemonkin) on how to handle dysphoria and connect to your kintype would be greatly appreciated! Until next time.

[givemewallywestorgivemedeath]

I'm currently suffering from my own hubris so what better time to delve deep into horror concepts I want to see the Flash series explore???

1. The Speedforce

Yeah, so this thing is insane. It isn't really talked about much in canon but when it 'bonds' to a person it permanently changes their body. This isn't always readily apparent and sometimes it doesn't even happen. But it's a necessity. Because if the person's body doesn't change they will die. The power will be too much for them and they will literally burn up and keel over.

Now, the actual change itself isn't much better than that. The speedster experiences a tremendous amount of pain and their entire body explodes into energy. If their bond is strong enough then the speedforce will replenish and replace each cell in their body as they explode. (As seen with Wally West, Bart Allen, Barry Allen, Irey West... Oof, you get the point) Bit of a 'Ship of Theseus' moment there. If your entire body is replaced by speedforce are you really the same person you started out as? Who knows! Anyway, after that they are permanently bonded to the speedforce and their bodies, essentially, belong to it.

What does that mean? Well, for starters? They can't die. Their bodies are no longer mortal. If they die then the speedforce just reclaims its material. If the speedster is strong enough then they can gather up enough speedforce energy from within the speedforce to create a new body. If the speedster is especially skilled they might even be able to escape the speedforce with said new body.

But their minds? That's a different matter. Their soul, their essence, everything that is 'them' resides within their minds. Its the only thing that separates 'their' speedforce energy bodies from the rest of the speedforce. If they lose that... then they become nothing but energy, permanently. It's what happened to Johnny Quick and you can see it start to happen almost immediately whenever they enter the speedforce. They start forgetting everything. Their names, their loved ones, their personalities, everything. They can't escape unless they know who they are, unless they can separate their sense of self from the energy around them. (As seen in any Flash story ever)

Because that energy? It's all just processed speedsters. The entire speedforce is made up of speedsters who lost that fight and forgot who they were. Every iota of energy the speedsters draw from the speedforce is just recycled speedsters from across the multiverse. And they know that.

So, yeah, there's definitely a horror element there. There will be no relief of death for them. Their souls have been sold off and all they have is borrowed time until they eventually give in and become semi-living fuel for the next generation. (As seen in DC Rebirth) Not a very comforting thought but they can't exactly do anything about it.

Their speedster states cannot be undone. You can put an inhibitor collar on them but that only stops their bodies from using the speedforce. It doesn't sever their connection. It just pools in their bodies, unused and agitated. (as seen with Wally West in Flash Forward) You can attempt to drain all the speedforce out of them but even that has proved to be impossible. You can drain them enough that they don't have the energy to run but their cells can never be completely drained of speedforce. (As seen with Barry Allen in Williamson's run)

Really the only way to sever the bond is to do so before it changes their body. (As seen with Jai West in Flash Rebirth)

Which leads me to my next point!

2. Body horror!

Yo, they don't have fucking bodies.

I'm serious, do you know how often they turn into pure energy? It's all the time. You know how they can just snap their fingers and create clothes? Or how they can create energy clones? Or how they don't age? Or how they can regrow severed limbs? Or how they don't really need to eat, breath or sleep after their body changes???

They don't have bodies.

Not really. They think they do but what they have is energy that they have shaped into a body form. Because their brains can't really handle the fact that they no longer possess human bodies.

But you know what a human body can't do? It can't be crammed into a metal wand like a genie, Bart. And it can't run through space without oxygen, Barry. And it certainly can't be stabbed through the heart without dying or bleeding and then start leaking energy, Wally.

These guys are literally just energy in human wrapping paper because they live in a state of denial. And it'd be really fucking wild to actually explore that as a concept.

3. Timelines!

Time is weird and nobody knows that better than the speedsters. Why not have fun with it? Do some cool existential horror stuff with the timeline. Some moral quandaries and ethical dilemmas. Jazz it up a bit. Idk there is a lot that could be done with this one.

[sky-kiss]

hello <3 I’ve been lurking around the raphael tag little niche and I see that a fairly popular concept is tav/durge duchess (love the concept love the energy, very big fan of it in your fic as well) and I was wondering, since raphael struggles with sort of minimising how much his mortal side is perceived in favour of appearing as much as possible as a devil with a capital D (see his celebratory paintings being all about his devil form), whether that by itself would be a peculiar choice to take a mortal as a consort. or if you think he sort of did the math and went well tav/durge is a very effective asset he can keep close and its sort of worth it take the loss of sort exposing himself to other archdevils being judgemental over it (especially since the hells seem very much like a only devils can sit at the grown up table lmao)

/Stares at you. Sighs. Sips scotch/

So, I see. You're finally here to kill me, anon.

Alright. Let's get into it. If we're being entirely honest, I do not believe that Raphael would offer Tav/Durge a place as his consort. I genuinely don't. Especially not directly after they've given him the Crown. I've done it a few times recently, mostly because it's the only place to conveniently put it. And it works for short-form posts.

But if we are talking about genuine Raphael, it's my opinion that he would not offer. He may be fond of you, but his version of fondness would translate more to like...how fond you are of a good dog, or a subcontractor who put in great work. You aren't equals. "Friends," but not equals. Raphael's interest in Tav/Durge stems from what they can provide him. Once he has the Crown, he sees himself as having succeeded. You might meet for drinks like he's promised, but he has no reason to continue the relationship.

However, there is something to be said for an adventurer's soul. And Tav/Durge would be a massive catch further down the line. By the endgame, the TadFools are a bunch of freaks if we're power scaling. They're only level 12, but the games mechanics and the psycho gear they acquire allows them to punch well above their weight class. With their stat blocks, their party of four could probably fight Zariel. And on that note, because of game mechanics, Raphael could probably take Zariel (based on her 5E statblock) in a cage match, even without the Crown. He'd at least make it close. That's how powerful the crew is by the end. So, they would be a crazy powerful asset to acquire.

To the point of offering them the role of consort: no. I don't think he'd do it. Not right after the Crown, at least. And it's something I wish I'd made clearer in my long fic. I'd clarify it in a rewrite. Raphael never actually offers Joi/Durge the role of consort. Haarlep moves for her to be in that role. Haarlep informs Mephistopheles that she's his new consort. Meph is the first one to actually state it and does this in front of Dispater to discredit his son. Raphael then plays along with it in order to build his influence with the succubi/incubi. It's self-preservation, power, and arrogance that motivates the decision, not affection.

So uh...yeah. Sorry. I don't....I don't think he'd take Tav/Durge as his consort. Maybe after he's had his assbeat for a while? And they crusade and prove themselves to be incredibly useful?

But we lie to ourselves for fiction. Sorry for the longpost.

[weirdmarioenemies]

Hey look. It is one of those Mounds they are always putting in the backgrounds of Mario games! Are they mountains? Hills? Whatever the case, they seem impractical to me! So extremely vertical with nary a foothold. Mario is all about platforming, and yet these iconic structures are not even platformable! What gives? What are they here for? What is their purpose?

They are here to eat trains, of course! Yum yum yum! Honestly, it was bound to happen sooner or later. Trains never get eaten. They’ve had it too good for too long! I love trains, but even I can admit this is a necessary evil to keep them humble.

...Hey, wait! This isn’t right at all! Mountains don’t have digestive systems! There’s no telling what will happen if a mountain eats something!

Name: Fawful Mountain

Debut: Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story

Wow! What a scientific breakthrough! It turns out that if a Mario Mountain eats something, it turns into a Funny Guy. Who would have thought? Of course, there is only a sample size of one. Would the same happen if any old mountain ate a train? Or if this individual mountain ate a different train, or something else entirely? We need more tests done! Someone get the train out of this mountain, toss in a chicken parmesan, and see what happens!

Anyway, I love this design a lot a lot! It is so cute for a massive lumbering pillar of earth! The way its dirt arms emerge make it seem like some sort of artificial mech, but then its little feets with toes feel so natural! Maybe there are even paws on the bottoms of those. With this in mind, as well as the closed eyes visible before its awakening in the 3DS remake, I am getting the impression that this is truly some sort of ancient, slumbering dirt giant! Usually content to just sleep, it will awake if it senses anything wrong with the soil it is so in tune with... or if a train goes in its mouth! Rude!

Fawful Mountain appears during Giant Bowser’s battle with the Fawful Express, and that is how Fawful Mountain gets its name, because sadly nobody bothered to ask its name before Fawful laid claim to it. (I would have asked) After the train has taken damage, the Monty Mole operators drive it into a mountain to use as cover while they make repairs, and do not seem at all bothered when the mountain comes to life! Shame on them for leaving this innocent mountain creature to be beaten up for their own benefit.

I will give them one thing, though. That 100 in the corner is a distance counter, and they measure in Kilomoles. That is cute.

This isn’t cute, though! Fawful Mountain is weak to fire, what with all the flammable greenery covering it, and once it is on fire, it will stay that way. It is in pain! This is the worst day of this mountain’s life! Also the last one. Though it fights with all its might, Bowser kills it. Sorry mountain :( you were my best friend who was also a location.

Sorry to post such graphic imagery, but Fawful Mountain bursts into clumps of earth... maybe this isn’t so bad? Maybe it can later reform like nothing happened? Maybe its soul is released and can inhabit another mountain to use as a vessel? I hope so! But we will never know because no Mario game has ever dared to revisit the concept of trains animating mountains into monsters. I wouldn’t mind if they did! It would be pretty cool if that became the new generic plot instead of Peach being kidnapped. Imagine gamers complaining on the internet because ugh they did ANOTHER train animating a mountain plot? And I would just smile.

[soaked-ghost]

If its any reassurance, i do have to say i like. completely get the distaste you have for Underverse.

Whats so fun about UTMV is that: when you let all the characters mingle you can do whatever you want & come up with so many possibilities & have fun & its like playing with toys!!! And Underverse does just that!!.. but. then it just crosses a line where everything starts to act like its Factual To Everything Regarding Aus (and Sanses in particular) and it starts becoming really.  irking i guess

Is Ink really some sadistic manipulative killer or is that just want Underverse has shown you. Does Cross really have an infatuation for Dream or did you just get that from what Underverse has shown you. Did you think literally any of this up from your own imagination; or is it just what Underverse has implied to you.

FREE YOURSELF from the RESTRAINTS Underverse has PUT on your SOUL... Remember that this series’s core bases around a game where one of the enemies is a tsundere plane who uses emoticons in their speech & another one is a dog-knight who’s neck can elongate to baffling proportions. Do you really think that the sans aus are exempt from having a strange quirk with whimsical-nature & that they would rather fight bloody between themselves daily.

HAVE FUN WITH THEM HAVE FUN HAVE FUN.. Undertale has its dark moments but it rremains to be a largely lighthearted game HAVE FUN

u explained my thoughts better than I ever could

the thing is that underverse has such a GRIP on the utmv fandom, that when people go looking for how to make aus and such, they don't go back to undertale, they go back to UNDERVERSE. Which is the most disheartening thing ever imo.

Ink being unredeemable? underverse made it up. and the second the first episode came out the tone was set for the entire fandom.

This serious, no fun allowed tone. where all what characters do is fight and die and fight. because that's all what people took from underverse, right? since every episode is 90% fight scenes with the rest of the 10% being the actual plot, which even if it's complicated and long, the plot LACKS considerably.

It's introduces all of these characters and concepts but then does nothing with any of them because it's too preoccupied with making it's characters fight

This is why I keep telling people to go back and play undertale. because do u know who sans is in undertale? some fucking dude that makes farts jokes.

Do u know who gaster is in undertale? literally no one we straight up don't know who gaster is, and yet gaster in undertale manages to be more captivating than gaster in xtale ever wishes to be.

go back to the nicer, better story of undertale. take in it's whimsy and it's actual well written characters. and then go back to utmv. please.

[adri-2022]

Promise

Fandom: Chicago PD

Characters: Jay Halstead x FemReader / Olivia "Liv" Halstead

Warnings: fluff/ platonic

Word count: 1745

Jay Halstead Materlist

A/N: Hello guys. So I’m not entirely in love with this, I’m sorry if it’s not that good and I'm sorry for being a little disconnected. As Olivia "Liv" Halstead is Maggie Elizabeth Jones. Hope everyone likes this original idea.

Don't be afraid to leave your comment!

----------

Being a kindergarten teacher had its perks. For once you worked with the young, creative minds and had the chance to potentially make a positive impact on them. But other times it really sucked, for example like a couple of hours ago.

You were in your classroom having lunch by yourself as usual. When one of your students Olivia came to you with a troubled expression. Obviously you thought the worst about it, call it instinct.

“Hi, miss Y/N” her sweet voice said as she took a seat in front of your desk. You smiled at her being met with a small one in return.

“Hello sunshine. Are you okay?” you asked immediately putting your lunch on pause and giving your full attention to her.

“I’m sad” she said casting her eyes down, this made you furrow your eyebrows

“Can I help you? We can talk about why you’re sad” you asked warily but gently giving her a sympathetic smile while you searched for her eyes

“I don’t want to make you upset miss Y/N” she said as she fiddled with her little hands.

Why would you be upset? But then again, Liv was probably the most selfless child you have ever met and obviously she would say something like this. Even in her short years of age she always thought of others first, she was a really empathic kid.

“Little miss Olivia. It’s alright to talk about feelings, they are valid, and you would never make me upset” you said in a serious manner as you nodded encouragingly

“Even if it’s sadness, Miss Y/N?” “Even if it’s sadness” you confirmed nodding

“I don’t have a mom for mother daughter day party” she said looking at you with big green doe eyes as if you held the answer to every question. But before you could say something, she continued.

“My daddy said my mom went to a place called heaven and that she watches over me” she said sighing as she crossed her arms over your desk placing her chin on top. At her words you sighed too

“My mom went to heaven too, when I was your age” you said lips tight as you tried to keep your emotions at bay

“Why?” she curiously asked, making you avert your gaze before looking back at her and mustering a smile

“That’s how life works. Sometimes heaven needs more people to help watch over us” you said taking a deep breath

But how could you explain the concept of death to a little girl. You were sure that her dad had done the absolute best at it. Although you had only briefly talked a couple of times between drop out and pick up, and at teacher parent conference day. Nevertheless never touching the topic about Olivia’s mother. Jay Halstead seemed like a really great father to this little girl and quite frankly you didn’t want to overstep. You were broken out of your thought as you heard a little sob,

“But I don’t want her there” Olivia said as her little voice broke slightly along with your soul.

“Oh Liv. I’m sorry. I promise you, it will be better, one day you’ll understand” you said as you reached her side. Kneeling to her height and caressing her head as you hugged her

That conversation going on in circles in your head as you waited patiently biting good mornings to each of your students and their mothers at the drop line. While there was another conversation taking place in a car, as the passenger was getting ready for the drop off at school.

“Liv I’m so sorry I can’t come to your get together” Jay said guiltily as he sighed looking at his daughter through the review mirror. He was heartbroken knowing he had hurt and possibly disappointed the only important person in his life.

“You promised you would come” Olivia sadly said as she blinked rapidly in order to not let the tears fall as she avoided her father’s gaze

“I know. I know baby. But I have to go chase bad guys remember” Jay said turning to look at her once he parked in the drop line. A pained expression took place on his face when he saw her little tears.

“Hey-” he started as he was about to reach for her hand, stopping

“I know…” she whispered disappointed brushing her tears away before Jay could see her, but of course he already had

Before Jay could muster a response the back door was opened, and Jay met your eyes. Big smile on your face as Olivia climbed out of the truck, hand in yours for support.

“Hello little miss Liv” you said enthusiastically but as a response Olivia mustered an unenthusiastic ‘hello’. You glanced at Jay again smiling sadly before Liv waved goodbye to her father still not meeting his eyes.

“Hi I’m sorry. She’s in a bit of a mood. I broke a promise” Jay said as sad eyes followed his daughters retrieving figure.

“No worries. I understand. I’ll look after her, she’ll have a good time, I promise” you said smiling,

“Thanks for that. Have a good day” Jay shared a smile as he shook his head before biting goodbyes

You both had a thing for each other, but neither had made a move upon it. You had always stayed professional for the sake of Olivia and so has he. There were always lingering looks at parent-teacher conferences, but they were ones of admiration. Add obviously the fact that you are his daughters teacher, so being in a relationship would stir up a lot of drama between the other parents including your superiors.

When you entered your classroom all of the mom’s were sitting with their kids already doing the activities and eating the snacks you had brought for the occasion. With the exception of Olivia, who was sitting at a little table all by herself and this stirred something inside you.

In the district Jay was struggling to concentrate and the guilt was eating him alive. The look and the tears that he saw on Olivia’s face hunting him relentlessly.

“Hey, didn’t you have little nugget’s mom-daughter thing today?” Kevin asked as he walked into the breakroom

“Don’t remind me. She’s gonna hate me” Jay said as he stirred his coffee

“Man. Don’t tell me you’re missing it” Kevin asked leaning besides Jay, being met with a hum in confirmation

“There will be more in the future, I just-” Jay was interrupted by the other detective

“Hell na, man. You go do what you gotta do” Kevin started looking at his friend like if he had grown two heads

“Kev-”

“Don’t let her down, bro. I’ll cover for you. Go” at this Jay looked at his friend trying to get his thoughts in place.

Kevin took a deep breath before taking ahold of Jay, dragging him into the bullpen and practically throwing Jay’s stuff in his arms before rushing him out to his truck.

“You go be a dad. I got your back” Kevin told Jay as the latter turned his truck on.

“Thanks, man, I’ll owe you big time” “Don’t worry about it, a beer at Molly’s can work for me”

Guiltily he thought of the brief conversation he had with Olivia and the mistake he would be committing if he didn’t make it. As he parked in the school he knew he wasn’t about to let his daughter be by herself, he wasn’t going to let her down.

Entering the classroom he looked over the heads and tables trying to identify his daughter. There she was on a table gluing something, but before he could move he saw you sitting beside her. Now noticing Liv’s laugh mixed with your own.

“So Liv, what’s your favorite color?” you asked as you colored the paper you had prepared for everyone, but Olivia didn’t respond. As you heard a gasp leave her mouth your head snapped up to her face following her eyesight to the door.

“He came, miss Y/N” Hazel excitedly said before leaping to her feet and running into her father’s awaiting arms, the latter picking her up kissing her cheek

“Hey baby!” Jay said with a smile on his face, as he saw how Olivia beamed happily

“Daddy you came” “Of course, I made a promise remember” he said matching her excitement.

At the same time he walked to the table Olivia was occupying as you stood up looking at them with a shy smile. When they reached the table Liv sat down explaining to her dad what she was doing, to which he nodded smiling with excitement. You took that as your signal to go back to your desk,

“Hey, uh, Miss Y/N” Jay said as he walked over to where you had stopped and turned to him

“Just Y/N it’s fine” you waved him off with a kind smile

“…Y/N-”

“I’m sorry for intruding-” “It’s-”

“She told about her mom; thought I could help” you rambled with a remorse expression waiting as you felt a hand being placed on your shoulder

“Take a deep breath” Jay said as he chuckled, to which you scratched the back of your neck nervously

“Thank you, you didn’t have to- but you did, and I really appreciate it” he said smiling sadly as you both looked back towards Olivia, before you shook your head again

“She’s a great girl, really smart” you said smiling slightly as you returned Olivia’s wave

“Yeah she is. That’s all her” he answered turning back to look at you

“I deeply apologize, the school should really mind what they write. If it was up to me it should be parent-child day” you said as you tilted your head, before Jay could answer another voice interrupted

“Dad. Can miss Y/N sit with us? She was going to braid my hair next” Liv said excitedly as she looked up to Jay

“Sure. If she’s not too busy, remember she has adult responsibilities” he answered looking down at Liv’s big eyes

“She’s not! She can teach you how to braid my hair, dad” Olivia answered. You bit your lips trying to fight the laugh that was trying to surface when you watched Jay’s mouth hanging

“Damn, why do you have to wound me like that, pumpkin” Jay said looking at you to see if you had heard. Shaking his head as you placed a hand over your mouth chuckling.

[postal-ech]

Okay, I'm back at it with more metroid hyperfixations.

One of the biggest things I love about metroid is its horror factor, but less so in the blatant sense and more so in its tasteful inclusion.

Metroid has always been a series of isolation, of exploration and pushing through the boundaries of the environment, and focused less on an up-front narrative and more so environmental storytelling. Personally though, it's also been about some really fascinating concepts of horror - biological weapons running out of control, their biological rivals that can Mimic their hosts down to the specific memories they carried in life, a sentient radioactive substance with eldritch origins, strange entities that have wiped out entire civilizations assimilating their technology and likeness to its advantage...

When I was a kid growing up in the early 2000s, the earliest exposure to the horror element of metroid I got was from the Phazon Mines. Imagine if you will, if you were in Samus' shoes: you drop down into the cavernous depths of the mines and find this volatile substance infesting a large majority of the caves, mutant fungi rising up from cracks and crevacises and metroids have mutated to such a degree they can now latch onto you from distance. It's dark, and all you hear is the electrifying, alien hum of phazon below you, knowing that if you fall into it, you will certainly die - or at the very least, suffer as great amount of damage.

Phazon really latched on to my mind as this strange, malicious entity that had a variety of practical uses if handled correctly, but you could clearly tell it took influences from such media as Lovecraft's The Color from Space. It's a poisonous substance that degenerates the mind, slowly turning you into a violent creature that craves more phazon like a drug, eventually either dying out right from its deadly radiation, or mutating into something stronger, faster, deadly and animalistic - you sacrifice your mind for power, in that instance.

Pictured here is Red Phazon, an extremely deadly variant of phazon found in the impact crater. It's only ever seen once throughout the trilogy, but it's still eerie to travel through it compared to Phaaze if you ask me. Instead of the ethereal and supernatural environmental soundtrack you get while traveling through Phaaze, the Impact Crater has this harsh, alien synth that's reminiscent of warped electricity, like something bubbling upwards to consume the planet whole.

https://youtu.be/AtSX2LGMgdE

The blaring alarms that fade in and out of the background even put you in the mindset that this is a VERY dangerous place that you don't want to be in forever

The second thing that really awoke the love of Metroid's horror was everyone's second favorite doppelganger right before Dark Samus,

The SA-X

I want you to imagine the first time you ever saw this.

For some reading this blog, it may be the first time they've ever seen thr SA-X sprite originally

You're playing Fusion on your Gameboy Advance/SP and as you're going down the elevator, you see something rip a fucking hole in the wall and march out

And it's...Samus' Varia Suit?

But then it looks at the camera

And you see that close up, followed by the stringer

This alone is more god damn terrifying than the Moon in Majora's Mask if you ask me. It's such effective horror especially as you learn more and more what the X Parasites are capable of and what the Varia Suit is like.

You are the hunted, the Metroid running from the Hunter.

Now the downside of course is that as a hardcore metroid fan, you'll lose out on the horror as you learn how scripted the SA-X's appearances were. It doesn't really show up dynamically or even in specified zones like the EMMI in Dread, which diminishes the horror over time upon various replays, but the concept is still there

It's Samus, without the Soul. Without the beating heart in the armor. Whereas Dark Samus is an animalistic beast that evolves into a malicious and tenacious leader, the SA-X is cold, emotionless, and runs purely on X-derived instinct: to reproduce, multiply across the cosmos, and destroy its biological predator by any means necessary to preserve the species.

It retains only the memories of Samus, the knowledge of how to effectively kill a Metroid, and if given the chance it could very well evolve past its mere limitations to become something that could of driven the entire galaxy into extinction.

The X as a whole are just as interesting to me as Phazon too, as Metroid always wears its influences on its sleeve - at least with the Japanese anyways, some influences of Phazon's design are still a bit unknown to yours truly, but with the X they take influence from John Carpenter's The Thing to a T (literally), as they are parasites that infect the host and either replace it entirely as a Mimic, or consume the host's body in its entirety, using its DNA to enhance other mimicries as an instinctive drive to combat the Metroid in what is essentially a biological arms race.

Dread shows that especially well pre- and post-quarenteen break, where you see just how drastically X-infected animals are mutated with designs reminiscent of their uninfected selves, mutated with dangerous additions.

God, I wish I could explore these concepts more. Phazon especially given it has its own variants IE Red, Black and Blue Phazon and even its own biosphere in the form of Phaaze and the creatures that inhabit it. Much like a certain Sonic Comic writer Ian Flynn, I want to explore every single god damn nook and cranny of this franchise, flesh it out in ways fans could truly enjoy, and not only that but get them thinking on their own interpretations of this stuff - the idea of the X-parasites evolving into something beyond its mere instincts into something that could prove even MORE dangerous than it once was, how Metroids could look depending on the planet they're inhabiting, if Phazon could even exist far beyond the Galactic rim (yes we know the director said that it was erraticated wholly from the galaxy, but I call bullshit on that when it's clear enough Phaaze has been reproducing well over millenia, well before the Chozo or even the Feds discovered it.) And more...

I really hope Prime 4 explores these concepts of Metroid Horror more, especially in relation to the Mochtroid and how far those experiments can go.

[sunsetsmakemesad]

Something I love about Demon Slayer fights is that they all have some sort of theme to them. The major ones especially. Like- they're not there just to flaunt the characters strength, they have such depth and symbolism to them.

It's actually one of the things I see people complimenting the most in kny- the symbolism. And, same, its honestly my fav part of the show, along with the characters.

Now let's look at the major fights in infinity castle:

-Douma vs Shinobu, Kanao, Inosuke

-Kokushibou vs Muichirou, Genya, Sanemi, Gyomei

-Akaza vs Tanjiro, Giyuu

-Muzan vs #everyone

When we look at these fights, we see that in every one of them there's some sort of connection between all the participants. Something that ties them together.

°•☆Douma vs Victory trio(I heard someone call them that and I really like it)☆•°

First we have Shinobu encountering Douma, once she is killed, Kanao enters the scene, and shortly after her, Inosuke.

There's something that they all have in common. What? Emotions.

All of these characters can be closely tied to the concept of emotion. Shinobu has suppressed all her inner rage for 4 years, and finally let's it out during the fight. She's furious. She's seething with rage. Kanao has been abused for her whole childhood before butterfly sisters came into the picture. She'd get hit if she cried, it was so bad that her brain registered crying as something that could get you killed, like how we know not to put our hands on a stove because it will get us burned. She CAN cry, but subconsciously suppresses it, in fear of punishment she logically knows won't happen anymore. She also closed of her heart entirely. She was never raised with love and care, thus not knowing how to express properly, finding it easier to just smile and not care. Inosuke was raised by boars in the mountains. Do you think someone like that knows how to perceive human emotion properly? He also gets surprised at small human gestures which don't really make sense to him. All of these characters can't properly express their emotions, but they ARE capable of it. They are human at heart. Emotion is a part of their soul. Then there's Douma, someone who hasn't been able to feel anything since he was a baby. That's the tragedy of his character. And only when faced with a true, emotionless person are the victory trio able to sort themselves out, and reflect on their own souls.

▪¤□¤▪Kokushibo vs Muichirou, Genya, Sanemi, Gyomei▪¤□¤▪

With these characters, what is it that's connecting them and tying them together? Family. All of these characters have at least one family member who they have a screwed relationship with. Gyomei and the kids, Muichirou and his twin, Sanemi and Genya.

But there's a difference here. All the slayers have something in common, they Love their family. Its not to be questioned. They want to protect them and wish the best for them even if their relationship is screwed. Kokushibo isn't like that. He doesn't love Yorichi. He doesn't wish the best for him. He definetly DID love him at some point, but that is lost to time. In their childhood interactions, we see Kokushibo pity him. Pity, not love, those two are pretty different. And then he's later consumed by a burning jealousy, which spirals into hatred.

Eventually, his own jealousy is the cause of his demise. And while many of the other participants of that fight die as well, we are shown people mourning them. Kokushibo dies alone, with no one but the brother he died resenting and wishing the worst upon to pity him in the afterlife.

》◇•°Akaza vs Tanjiro, Giyuu°•◇《

The theme in this fight? Weakness and strength.

Thorought the fight, we are shown the characters conserving on these themes. What does it mean to be weak? When are you considered strong?

Akaza hates the weak, simple as that. This could both be associated with the fact that he was too weak to save Koyuki and his teacher, or the fact that the neighbouring dojo members were weak, causing him to think of all weak people as cowards.

But then Tanjiro brings up a good point, that everyone was weak at some point. Akaza was a baby. Tanjiro was a baby. They were both equally weak. They needed someone to love and care for them. Someone strong. So that they could grow strong aswell and care for the weak. This creates a cycle. Akaza hating weakness is irrational because those he hates so fiercely could grow to become his strongest opponent. Then we have mental strength. Akaza is stronger than Giyuu and Tanjiro, yet he is weaker than them.

×○•♧Muzan vs #everyone♧•○×

This fight was honestly about the concept of humanity itself. What makes us human? Does immortality truly exist? Muzan is faced with everyone he has ever hurt. Hundreds of people. All holding nothing but resentment for him.

"You have stepped on a tigers tail multiple times, and that tiger has now awakened. And they are very angry"

-Kagaya Ubuyashiki to Muzan.

In this same conversation, Kagaya tells Muzan that immortality exists, but it is impossible for a human to become immortal. The only immortal thing are humans wishes and ideals, as they are passed down generation to generation. Muzan has lived for a thousand years. The goal to destroy Muzan has also lived for a thousand years. An immortality that killed Muzan.

Because even if human lives are fleeting, their spirits are everlasting. Because they make connections, because they hope. Because they leave traces of themselves behind.

Muzan is a being that should not be allowed to exist, stated by Tanjiro. Because Muzan is trying to go against nature. He is fighting a battle that he can't win. He hurts everyone around him for he is a coward too scared to face the undeniable truth.

"Ubuyashiki, you were right. All creatures die without exception. Only memories are eternal. You were right. I can't even remember a single person I murdered. When the body dies, everything is over. But the mind remains and it never perishes. Even I was defeated. I witnessed this fact, it moved me and I trembled."

[velnna]

This might sound like an odd question but I’m planning on making my own comic at some point and I was wondering if you had any advice? Specifically in making the plot, deciding what each character does and maybe panel/page composition and how to make harmonious colour palettes?

Also one more question but when you were at the beginning of developing Stray Souls did you post little lore/plot snippets and character doodles/info or did you mainly wait until the comic was out?

(Sorry I know this is a lot but I was just wondering sort of what your process is because everything seems so seamless and well-put-together :> )

Ehh first of all the seamless and put-togetherness is an illusion 🫠

A lot of my work is built organically (fancy way of saying I just sorta wing it) and very dependent on what makes me excited at each given point. Generally, I come up with an idea for a character or a plot point and from there start branching out.

Say, I create character A. A needs a story so I create some beats for them, a beginning-middle-end type thing. While thinking of this, characters B, C, etc pop up as placeholders/devices for A's story, and the world gets shaped around it as well. Then suddenly something in the world gets decided that in turn changes A's story a little, and so on. Then I go into B, C, etc and do the same thing (build a story, let it bleed into the world and let the world bleed into it).

There's pros and cons to this sort of thing of course. Most of the time I over-develop characters or world bits that are completely unnecessary and clutter the narrative (especially when it's something like a comic, where things need to be explained visually and economically), and because of this sort of chaotic process I also tend to get entangled in my own concepts and lose track of my main threads. I don't dislike it entirely so it's just a matter of figuring out what works best for your own goals and processes.

Some general advice for comics that I've learned from trial and error: try stripping your story down to its bare bones and see what you absolutely need VS what's there for flavour or added context. Only add flavour once you're sure you can tackle the minimum, both in writing and artwise. Keep your character designs simple if you value your hands lol. It's fun to design complicated details but you WILL get tired of drawing them after a while. Sometimes it's ok to tell and not show 🤷‍♂️ if you're a one-man team sometimes you just gotta bite the bullet. Bear in mind that long stories will take YEARS to complete in comic format. Not an end all be all, but you do need to think about that. Also just go for it once you've got a structure you feel good about. I personally don't like over planning and don't even script things, so I don't think you need to have everything on paper before getting some chapters rolling. Most of what I've learned about comics has been making them, not thinking about making them. Oh, and readers tend to be more lenient than we give them credit for - if you're passionate enough about your world or characters, chances are at least some people will be interested regardless of whether you think art or writing are up to par

As for the other question, I spoiled the shit out of stray souls before launching it and still kinda do it for fun LMAO. Nothing too serious ofc but I've always loved giving people an insight into characters and world outside of the comic since the comic itself is a little peek into the whole thing. It also kinda serves to keep people interested imo

And I just can't keep my mouth shut about my stories lol