#but we enjoy the act of creation itself

[darkwood-sleddog]

been talking about it a lot on my personal blog, but the whole AI as a replacement for creative work makes me feel sick to my stomach and i just needed to share my feelings with the wider audience i have on this blog. like physically it makes me feel ill.

[prokopetz]

I think a lot of folks in indie RPG spaces misunderstand what's going on when people who've only ever played Dungeons & Dragons claim that indie RPGs are categorically "too complicated". Yes, it's sometimes the case that they're making the unjustified assumption that all games are as complicated as Dungeons & Dragons and shying away from the possibility of having to brave a steep learning cure a second time, but that's not the whole picture.

A big part of it is that there's a substantial chunk of the D&D fandom – not a majority by any means, but certainly a very significant minority – who are into D&D because they like its vibes or they enjoy its default setting or whatever, but they have no interest in actually playing the kind of game that D&D is... so they don't.

Oh, they'll show up at your table, and if you're very lucky they might even provide their own character sheet (though whether it adheres to the character creation guidelines is anyone's guess!), but their actual engagement with the process of play consists of dicking around until the GM tells them to roll some dice, then reporting what number they rolled and letting the GM figure out what that means.

Basically, they're putting the GM in the position of acting as their personal assistant, onto whom they can offload any parts of the process of play that they're not interested in – and for some players, that's essentially everything except the physical act of rolling the dice, made possible by the fact most of D&D's mechanics are either GM-facing or amenable to being treated as such.*

Now, let's take this player and present them with a game whose design is informed by a culture of play where mechanics are strongly player facing, often to the extent that the GM doesn't need to familiarise themselves with the players' character sheets and never rolls any dice, and... well, you can see where the wires get crossed, right?

And the worst part is that it's not these players' fault – not really. Heck, it's not even a problem with D&D as a system. The problem is D&D's marketing-decreed position as a universal entry-level game means that neither the text nor the culture of play are ever allowed to admit that it might be a bad fit for any player, so total disengagement from the processes of play has to be framed as a personal preference and not a sign of basic incompatibility between the kind of game a player wants to be playing and the kind of game they're actually playing.

(Of course, from the GM's perspective, having even one player who expects you to do all the work represents a huge increase to the GM's workload, let alone a whole group full of them – but we can't admit that, either, so we're left with a culture of play whose received wisdom holds that it's just normal for GMs to be constantly riding the ragged edge of creative burnout. Fun!)

* Which, to be clear, is not a flaw in itself; a rules-heavy game ideally needs a mechanism for introducing its processes of play gradually.

[drchucktingle]

Chuck, how do you deal with people who are rude about you and your work? I write queer romance and I want to put my writing out there for people to read, but I'm a very sensitive person and I know it will be hard not to take insults personally and let them affect me. I don't want to let that stop me from expressing myself and sharing my art, but I'm scared!

very good question buckaroo. i am a good example of this as pretty much EVERYONE was rude about my work for many years calling it 'so bad its good' (it is just good) and 'terrible photoshop' (i think it has a great and instantly recognizable style) and 'intentionally stupid premises' (i dont think there is anything stupid about sex being fun and whimsical and playful). even these days the reaction of the VAST majority of buckaroos who discover chuck have this reaction AT FIRST, and then learn to appreciate the tingleverse in a more sincere way over time.

all that is to say BEING DOUBTED HAS WORKED OUT VERY WELL FOR ME. art that changes meaning over time can be very powerful, so if someones initial reaction to my trot is one thing and then it evolves into another thing, well that is just good art. while it can feel bad to get a bad review, i would say a bad review just means you have entered a realm of tension and change and discord and WE ARE TALKIN ABOUT ART BUD so that, in itself, is very exciting.

i think of what i do as 'punk writing', and a big part of that means pushing against preconceived sensibilities. not many other authors will proudly say 'there SHOULD be some spelling errors in my erotic shorts because i wrote it in a day and edited it once. that is the FEELING i want to create', but that is my way. by creating what is in my soul i KNOW i am going to bother some buckaroos and that is okay.

now i am NOT assuming you are also doing punk writing (that is okay of course we all have our own styles. what i am doing with tinglers is pretty rare), but it still stands to remember that there are 7.8 billion people on the planet of this dang timeline and some of them are bound to be bothered by your creations. that is not a problem, that is just part of baring your authentic self.

the other thing to remember is theres no REAL right or wrong in art. it can be analyzed in different ways and i tend to look at it in a way of comparing intention to result, but even THAT is not strictly correct. therefore any bad review of something you make is not actually BAD it is just someones information and feedback for you to take or leave. a one star review is just another opinion, it is no more right or wrong than your own opinion, and that is wonderful. it is freeing.

if i see a bad review of my own book, lets just say CAMP DAMASCUS for instance, i do not get upset because i know this: that reviewer is not wrong. camp damascus is five stars for me, but it is one star for someone else AND THAT IS OK. THAT IS THE WAY IT SHOULD BE. THAT IS GREAT ART. also MAYBE THEY KNOW BETTER THAN I DO. just because i wrote the book does not mean i am the authority on it, and the conversation and tension between those that enjoy something and those that despise it is a creative act. the audience engaging with your work is just your art emerging from its cocoon and saying 'here i am. lets see where i flutter off to now'

do not fear the river of this timeline sweeping away your creations and carrying them where it will. this is inevitable, but it is also beautiful and freeing. you cannot swim against it and that is okay bud, because YOU HAVE ALREADY WON. you have already created something and given a piece of yourself back to this timeline and that is a great honor and privilege. it is literally all there is

by creating ANYTHING you are proving love is real, and that is something to be proud of

[lastoneout]

I was too high last night to formulate this into proper words but something plagiarists(and by extension AI techbros) don't get about people who make things out of a love for that thing is that they are, consciously or not, doing it because they enjoy the process itself. Yes, it is easier to have a machine make a mug or painting or essay for you, or to steal someone else's, but again, people who actually like making stuff don't want someone else to do it for us because you have fully removed the thing we enjoy: the process of making a thing.

Like sure it would be nice to have a finished Gundam model or a trainset, but people who build gunpla kits and trainsets don't WANT someone else to do it for them, they want to do it. The sculptor or painter doesn't want a machine to just give them finished works of art, they want to MAKE that art themselves. The home gardner can just buy fresh food at the store, the tailor or knitter can buy a finished shirt or sweater whenever they want, but they don't because the act of gardening and sewing and knitting itself is what they enjoy.

Plagarists and AI techbros don't get that because they do not enjoy these processes. They enjoy making money and having social clout, and so they are perfectly happy stealing and automating things so that they don't have to do an ounce of real work while still getting all of the benefits of having created something. It really is all about finding the fastest and easiest way to get someone to hand you money or elect you god-king of the internet.

And the reason these two groups have such a hard time understanding each other is because of that fundamental disconnect. People who create things can never understand someone just wanting to press a button or copy-paste their way to having art because we want to indulge in the joy of creation itself, and those plagarists and AI dudes can't understand artists because to them it's just a means to an end so ofc it's in their best interest to make it as easy as possible. They don't get why someone would do this, or anything, if not for the social capital and/or actual capital it brings. Ofc it's better to automate it or steal it from someone else, that means you can make money faster and spend your time enjoying actual meaningful things like being wealthy and looked up to or w/e.

Plus creators(for lack of a better word) know keenly what it's like to BE stolen from or at least know people it has happened to, and so we are generally anti-plagarism by default.

Anyway yeah thats why to anyone who creates the other group seems so soulless and empty. It's because they kinda are. Because they don't value art or artists or care about creating things, and they certainly don't have any ammount of respect for the people they're hurting, they just want money and for "lesser" people to bow down as they walk by, and they are perfectly fine stealing to get there. It's the same mentality you get from people who pressure you to monetize your hobbies, they only see skills as an opportunity to make money. And it's really fucking sad.

[brabblesblog]

Lore Dump: Whither and Remember

Art by my bestie Leira Art

With Remember ye not the former things finished, I can now post a sort of look into the internal logic or lore for these two fics.

Spoilers for the fics below!

Disclaimer: I am by no means saying this is absolute truth. We are all welcome to headcanon as we want, and that is the beauty of fiction.

The main premise for Whither is that the Rite of Profane Ascension did not do anything to alter Astarion’s personality. He was the same person as he had always been - irrevocably changed by what he (and Tav/Ban) agreed to do in the process, yes - but there was no fundamental alteration. The Vampire Ascendant is a new creation by Larian. I interpreted it as him taking a step in combining the benefits of being mortal and vampiric. Raphael after all, had said that the rite would return the 'arousals of man' to him.

Then what are the consequences of such a deed? This is where a quick delve into infernal pacts makes itself valuable.

As revealed in Remember, there are two: the Pact Certain and the Pact Insidious.

From the Forgotten Realms wiki on devils, under Faustian Pacts:

The Pact Certain was a contract that the devils favored, because it was fast. The mortal immediately handed over his or her soul to Baator on death for some services. Barring proving that the pact was signed under some form of duress like threat of torture, these pacts' terms were impossible to adjudicate.

The Pact Insidious was a bit different. Here, a mortal and a devil agreed upon exchanging services. Namely, the devil provided the mortal with something and the mortal had to act in some manner that the devil wanted to. It was possible to make multiple follow-up contracts that gave the receiving mortals more benefits in return of additonal behaviors it had to follow. Failing to act in such manner meant that the mortal lost the contract's benefits. Agreeing to such a Pact Insidious in itself was not an act that shackled one's soul to Baator, but acting in ways that were specified within the contract or contracts meant that one acted in ways that put him or her ever closer to reach Baator on death.

The rite could have concievably been a Pact Insidious. Seven thousand souls for the luxuries that mortals enjoy and vastly increased power. In this situation, Astarion would get to keep his soul until his death, at which time he would inevitably end up in Cania.

This is the dilemma Ban and Astarion encounter at the end of Remember, and what they attempt to address in the third installment, For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell.

Why does his behavior change post-ritual, then? The fics are framed and informed by a background story for the pair that follows in-game dialogs and events faithfully. Readers of Whither already know the answer to this, and I will say the answer is best discovered reading through its chapters.

Anyways. Thank you for listening to me yap! I've had this idea in my pocket for the longest time, and I'm glad it's now out in the world. And if you ever hear these of these pacts anywhere else - you'll know what its origins are.

[twisted-wonderland-shenanigans]

Hey so I just found your account and omg?? it's literally so amazing 😭✋

Anyways-I was just looking through a bunch of the twist monster au headcannons/stories, and I thought of a scenario that could be done!

Basically the cast reacting to gender neutral or female reader/yuu acting stuff out in their book they are reading like poses, dialogue, just genuine reactions to the text itself

ex. Throwing the book across the room and them being genuinely concerned that something happened bc reader is just staring off into space or cursing but what actually happened was either a character died/did something embarrassing/the mc and love interest finally kiss

Anyways that's all I had in mind hope you have a good day/night! <3

Omg thank you! I’m so glad you’re enjoying the content! QvQ

Ah, books. Such a wonderful creation humans made to fill us with raw, pure emotion or shattering our hearts and souls into a million tiny pieces—only for us to read it again and again! Don’t you just love those moments as a reader? UvU

Except for cliffhangers. Readers have a love/hate relationship with it, writers adore cliffhangers! ÒvÓ

So, what happens if we take a bookreader!Yuu (they/them) and throw them into Twisted Monsterland where even the history books read like a world guide/omnibus to a game or TV series? Oh, and I took a bit of inspiration from a Disney princess comic and a Bill Watterson “Calvin and Hobbes” comic for two of these scenarios. 😂

/-----------/

“Jeez, you sure you’ve got enough books, Yuu?”

“The librarian wouldn’t let me check out more than ten at a time,” Yuu replied, their backpack and arms filled with thick books. “Wish I could’ve gotten ten more at least, but this’ll do for now.”

“Are you sure you can even read all those before next semester?” Deuce asked in concern. “Those look pretty…dense.”

“Oh, I’ll be done in a week. Maybe a week and a half if we get a lot of homework.”

“Funya?! You gotta be kidding me!” Grim said. “Can humans read that fast?”

“Not everyone. Some people are slow readers, but that’s okay since they enjoy it at their own pace while I enjoy it at mine. Only problem for me is choosing which one of these I want to read first!”

/Later that night/

“Yuu? It’s time to eat!” Grim called out. Silence greeted him as he stared at Yuu, who was sitting on the couch with their face practically buried in a book. Frowning, the chimera padded over to the couch and repeated, “Yuu! I’m hungry!”

Still the human didn’t seem to respond, their shoulders hunching as they turned the page.

“Yuu? Yuu!” Huffing, Grim crossed his arms as he glared up at them. “You’ve been reading for the past three hours! How much longer are you gonna read that book?”

“What’s going on, pal?” one of the ghosts asked as the trio appeared.

Gesturing his paws at Yuu, he said, “They’ve been reading ever since we got back from the library today, and now they’re not reactin’ to me. It’s dinner time and they haven’t made any food yet!”

Before anyone could even think of what to say, a loud, shrill squeal filled the dorm.

“Eeeeeee!!!” Yuu squealed, a huge grin on their face as they flopped to the side and kicked their legs like a nervous rabbit while holding the book against their chest. “Omg it happened, it happened!!”

“Mrah!? What?! What happened?!” Grim yelled, wings flared out defensively while his fur bristled. “Why are you yelling!”

“My new OTP!! They finally kissed!!” Yuu said, their eyes wide as they rocked from side to side. “They kissed!! Yes!! Yesyesyesyesyessssss!!!”

“OTP? What’s an OTP??” one of the other ghosts asked.

“It’s what we like to call the ‘one true pairing’ in a story,” Yuu explained, a positively giddy expression on their face with eyes shining brighter than the stars as they struck a dramatic pose. “It’s two characters who vibe with each other on a level that you just can’t help but want them to be together—and the author brought these two together!! Yeeeeeeeee, I’m so happy!!”

“And loud,” Grim grumbled, paws clamped over his ears. “Why are you standing like that?”

“It’s how the main character professed their love for the other!”

“…are all humans as weird as you?”

“Trust me, there are people out there that are way crazier in their excitement than I am right now.”

“Really?!”

“Oh yeah. Don’t even get me started on the fanfics people write.”

“Fan…fics?”

“Oh, you sweet summer child…”

/Two days later/

“Heeeey, lil’ Shrimpy~!”

“Mm…”

“Eh…? Hey, Shrimp…why are you ignorin’ us? It’s not very nice.”

“Now, now, Floyd. One mustn’t interrupt a reader when they’re indulging in such a riveting story.”

“Shh,” Yuu muttered, their brow furrowed as they hunched closer to the book. “I’m at the best part!”

Floyd frowned as he laid his head on his arms, the basilisk slumping against the table. “Man, this is lame,” he said. “You promised to come play basketball with me today!”

“Once I finish this part, we can go do whatever you want, okay, Floyd?”

Jade hummed in amusement as he said, “A rather daring proposition you just offered, Yuu.”

“We have to do a buncha reading for class anyway,” Floyd said with a bored expression. “And Crabby and Mackerel said you finished two other books already, so what’s the point of thi-”

“AAAAIIIIIEEEEE!!?!?” Yuu shrieked, leaping out of their chair as Jade and Floyd recoiled in shock. Before the twins could react, Yuu had ducked back into their chair and pressed the book even closer to their face than before.

“…lemmie see that,” Floyd said, leaning over the table to grab it.

“No, no! It’s fine, go do something else!” Yuu said all too quickly, sinking even lower and turning away from Floyd’s reaching claws. “I think I heard Riddle in the hallway.”

“Lemmie see it!”

“No! You can’t read it!” Yuu cried out, bolting away from the table holding the book tight to their chest.

“Get back here, Shrimpy!”

“Noooo!!”

“Oh my,” Jade uttered, eyes wide for a moment before he chuckled. “Perhaps I should look into this book when they’ve finished it.”

/The next day/

“Oh no…oooh noooooo, I hate this so much!”

“Then why are you reading it?” Jamil asked, the naga curled around them. “If you don’t like it, just take it back to the library.”

“I can’t! It’s soooooo good!” Yuu said, practically throwing themselves backwards onto Jamil’s snake half with the book pressed against their face.

“Eh? But wait, you just said you hated it,” Kalim said in confusion.

“I hate it, but I love it so much,” Yuu told them with a whine, their head now touching the floor on the other side of Jamil’s snake body yet still draped over him like a cat. “This book will ruin your heart and shatter your soul into a million pieces!...you should read it too!”

“Given how dramatic you’re being, it might not be wise,” Jamil said with a sigh.

“Read it!”

“It’s okay, Yuu. We can read together! It’ll be more fun that way!”

“Kalim, no. You still need to study for the next potions exam.”

“Augh, I need someone to talk about this story with so we can lament in solidarity!”

“…have you been taking lessons from Rook lately?”

/Three days later/

“Um…is Yuu okay? They’re looking a little…tense.”

It had been several days since Yuu borrowed a stack of books, and already they had gone through nearly half of their hoard. Between classes and on breaks or after finishing tests, it wasn’t hard for students to notice the lone human with their nose between the pages of one book after the other. Even the researchers had taken note of Yuu’s behavior in between tests, making note of their expressions and how their body changes with each scene depicting their emotions. It was noteworthy how they reacted when a character in the story did something “cringeworthy and stupid” (as Yuu would explain when asked), it looked as though the human had swallowed a lemon.

At the moment they were sitting in Heartslabyul, yet another book in their arms as they sat on one side of the lounge. Cater had taken progression snapshots of Yuu’s body slowly curling into itself, eyes steadily growing wider and wider to the point it looked as though they’d bolt away in panic.

“They’re fine,” Grim told Trey as he munched on a snack. “They’ve been like this since they got all those books. That’s the pose they had last time when their Ohteevee smooched or somethin’.”

“Oh, you mean ‘OTP’, Grimmy,” Cater corrected with a smile. “That’s so cute! Our human has an OTP already~!”

“I’ve heard of hitting the books, but this is ridiculous,” Ace commented with a sigh. “They’ve been reading so long that I forgot what half their face looks li-”

“GRAAAAH!!!!”

SLAM! Fwump!!

“Gyah!?” the boys yelped, everyone staring at Yuu as they sat on the couch with a dark scowl.

“Yo, what the heck? Why’d you throw the book like that?” Ace asked, pointing at the large tome on the other side of the couch now.

“Um…Yuu?” Deuce began when they didn’t respond. “Are…you okay?”

“……I’m mad,” came the response, Yuu’s expression growing more annoyed as they stared off into space.

“About what?” Riddle asked in surprise.

Yuu’s gaze turned to the discarded book, their expression as though they had been betrayed by a trusted friend as they said, “Because my favorite character died, and I refuse to read how the book ends when there’s literally two freaking pages left! That’s not enough space to bring them back in a satisfying way!!”

“Y…you’ve gotta be kidding me,” Ace grumbled with a sigh. “That big of a reaction just because a fictional character was killed off?”

“You weren’t there to see the struggles they went through! I saw them change from an annoying bully into a fully developed and vulnerable character who wanted to take charge of their life—and the author killed them off!” Jumping to their feet, Yuu marched towards Ace and Deuce’s room where they’d left their stuff and said, “Where’s my notebook? I need to fix this!”

“What are you gonna do?” Grim called out.

“Write a fanfic, because my scrunkly deserves to be happy!”

“Huh? Scrunkly??”

/Final day/

“Oh, Great Seven…what happened in your book this time?” Vil asked with a sigh.

Yuu sniffled as they tried to dry their tears, though it was difficult as more continued to flow down their cheeks. “I…I just finished my last book,” they said, their voice cracking a little with emotion as Grim pat their arm reassuringly.

“All ten books in a week?” Vil said in surprise. “That’s…impressive. Even so, why are you so upset? Was the story that horrible?”

“No…it…it…it was too good!” Yuu cried out, clutching the book so tight that their knuckles turned white as the tears flowed freely now.

“Ah…such pure, raw human emotion,” Rook crooned. “To express it so freely without fear…beaute!”

“Was the book really that good?” Epel asked.

“Yes!” Yuu wailed. “Now that it’s over, I…I don’t know what to do with myself now…”

Peering at the title, Vil gave a thoughtful hum and said, “Oh, that story. I hear there is supposed to be a spin-off book series. The first one should have released just the other day.”

“Really?!”

“Mrrr…now you’ve done it,” Grim grumbled with a sigh. “Here we go again.”

[talonabraxas]

Nataraja ॐ

The symbolism of Nataraja, the Cosmic Dancer

The Cosmic Dancer The cosmic dance is the dance of life itself, including creation, preservation, destruction of the entire universe and spiritual grace to understand and go beyond to liberation.

In Hinduism, the objective of life is not to go to heaven but to attain liberation, which means to understand the true nature of ourselves beyond the ego-person that we are familiar with.

I have always wondered why dance was chosen as the art to represent this, not music, painting, poetry, sculpture or any other art. In my view, it may be because dance is the only art that cannot stand by itself without the artist.

One can observe and enjoy paintings, sculptures, poetry and even listen to music, but there is no dance without the dancer being present and visible in the moment. It is a powerful way of showing God is immanent in all of creation. The creator and creation are inseparable.

Ring of Fire

Shiva’s dance is set within a ring of cosmic fire, prabha mandala, which represents time (which destroys everything) and which is shown as a circle to symbolize the Hindu belief that time is cyclical and without end.

Within the cosmos represented by the ring of fire, the form of Nataraja is seen as comprised of five concepts:

Srishti, creation, evolution Sthiti, preservation, support Samhara, destruction, evolution Tirobhava, illusion Anugraha, release, emancipation, grace

Srishti His upper right hand holds a small hourglass shaped drum (damaru) that makes the primal sounds of creation Shrishti.

There is this interesting idea in Hinduism that creation originates as sound, as vibration. Fritjof Capra found echoes of quantum theory in this, where all matter is vibrating at the atomic level.

Here are a couple of extracts from Fritjof Capra’s The Tao of Physics:

“The Dance of Shiva symbolizes the basis of all existence. At the same time, Shiva reminds us that the manifold forms in the world are not fundamental, but illusory and ever-changing. Modern physics has shown that the rhythm of creation and destruction is not only manifest in the turn of the seasons and in the birth and death of all living creatures, but is also the very essence of inorganic matter.

“According to quantum field theory, the dance of creation and destruction is the basis of the very existence of matter. Modern physics has thus revealed that every subatomic particle not only performs an energy dance, but also is an energy dance; a pulsating process of creation and destruction. For the modern physicists then, Shiva’s dance is the dance of subatomic matter, the basis of all existence and of all natural phenomena.”

In recognition of this profound and seamless bridging of mythology, religion, science and the ever-changing universe, a large bronze Nataraja stands at CERN, Switzerland, home to the Large Hadron Collider and the main home of modern research into particle physics.

Sthiti His lower right hand makes the abhaya mudra. It is the gesture of fearlessness or protection for his devotees. It also indicates preservation/support for the cosmos

Samhara His upper left hand holds a blazing flame or agni, symbolizing his power of destruction.

The way both creation and destruction are held in the dance pose signifies the balance between the two.

There is another interesting aspect of balance as well, that’s not often discussed.

Nataraja has different earrings in each ear. On the right ear is an earring in the shape of a crocodile, usually worn by men. His left ear has a traditional circular earring worn by women. The divine can be seen as male, female, both, and neither, another facet of Hinduism.

Tirobhava His right foot is on a dwarf, personifying human ego, ignorance and spiritual illusion which he keeps under control. This is the act of tirobhava or veiling — that is, reality is veiled from our understanding.

The serpent around his neck represents both our evil tendencies but also the coiled kundalini shakti within us (those interested in yoga would likely have come across the term kundalini).

Anugraha Anugraha, grace and emancipation, is indicated by the combination of the lower left hand, which points toward his upraised foot, showing the way to moksha in surrendering to the lord.

The uplifted left leg is revealing grace, which releases the mature soul from bondage. Hindus touching the feet of their elders in respect is an echo of God’s feet being considered holy.

[yanderes-galore]

Hello. Can I request Fluffy!AU Roxanne Wolf with a darling that is a sweetheart?

Darling is a sweetheart but also somewhat sensitive, so when they always try to make Roxy feel better and laugh, she quickly becomes obsessed?

-💌

Of course! I'd love to :) This is softer than my usual fluffy AU stuff. I hope the ask isn't butchered due to the new update, it looks weird on my end.

Yandere! Fluffy AU! Roxanne Wolf with Sweetheart! Darling

Pairing: Platonic/Romantic

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Obsession, Implied stalking, Angst, Some narcissism, Poor mental health, Possessive behavior, Fear of abandonment, Biting, Violence, Forced but dubious companionship.

As this is the Fluffy AU, we can assume this all takes place in the "glory days" of the facility.

Roxy is part of the newest set of experiments, the Glamrocks.

A flaw of Roxanne appeared to be her narcissism and insecurities.

As a result, her handler was expected to "keep her in check" and watch over her.

Each creation had at least one scientist to watch their development.

The purple wolf happened to have you as hers.

Fluffy AU! Roxy is what you'd think she'd be.

An anthropomorphic furry purple wolf, if you need a better visual imagine her cardboard cutout pictures.

As the Fluffy AU goes, she isn't a robot, she's like a living mascot.

At first Roxy doesn't like you as her handler.

She acts like she's better and stronger than you, often distancing herself and growling.

It's upsetting to see the wolf this way.

This behavior doesn't change until you see the wolf curled up and crying.

To calm her you enter her room/enclosure and silently stroke her head.

He ears go back for a moment, maybe with a bit of a growl, yet she calms.

The feeling of you gives her a newfound comfort.

You may even catch her tail wagging slowly as she focuses on your hand.

You stay there like that for a long time until Roxy calms down.

It's then Roxy realizes you're just meant to help and care for her.

You're no threat to her... if anything, you're a personal companion.

Let's be honest... the facility isn't the most welcoming place.

Such a thing makes her stressed.

Yet now she knows that you and her are meant to stick together.

Now you have the opposite problem.

The wolf used to not like your presence, now she won't leave it.

Stable experiments are able to take walks with their handler.

Roxy is scared at first but soon really enjoys following you around the facility.

She's most likely introduced to Glam! Freddy, Glam! Chica, and Monty through these walks.

You're happy to just give the wolf more friends.

The issue with growing this bond with her starts to manifest itself though.

Now you can see Roxy's eyes never leave where you are.

Even weirder it seems like she follows you through walls?

Others who walk past her enclosure notice her sitting patiently and staring at a wall.

Maybe this is a power found through the experiments being performed?

Roxy also now expresses possessive behavior around you towards scientists and other experiments.

She often rants to you about how she feels only she deserves someone as sweet as you.

Roxy may also express a want to bite you, not out of violence, but a way to claim you.

Maybe she succeeds one time? This results in her being muzzled.

A fact she's quite unimpressed about.

Even when muzzled she'll still insist on dragging you into her room and curling around you.

She places you in front of her and wraps you closer to her body with her legs and arms.

She essentially cages you to herself while wagging her tail, he snout laying atop your head.

This behavior continues until Roxy starts to get more violent.

It's really strange... even towards friends she tries to claw and bite over you.

Roxy only ever seems content with you.

Worried that she may sabotage the survival of the experiments around her, Roxy is separated from you and placed in her enclosure indefinitely.

You feel bad that the wolf is being punished like this.

But... it's for the safety of others, right?

Roxy still stares at you from inside her enclosure.

You frown at this but realize you can't do anything but feed her as her handler.

As a result... Roxy becomes mostly starved of attention.

Something that rots her mental state.

Roxy thinks she may never interact with you again.

All she has is watching you through the glass and through the walls.

She fears you've abandoned her.

That is until the breakout of Golden Freddy, previously known as Fredbear.

It's then the wolf is released, determined to find her handler again to make up for lost time...

Even if it means she loses sight of you in the process.

[negobeauriva]

The Windows95manifesto: In defense of Finland's performance for 2024

Happy first rehearsal week everyone!

The first wave of rehearsals is done, and with it, we have gotten a wave of comments about the performances. Some filled with praise and approval, but some others completely hateful and rude. And today I'm going to talk to you about this second kind of comments about one of this year's controversial entry: Finland's "No Rules!" by Windows95man (Teemu Keisteri) ft. Henri Piispanen.

Many people have said that this entry is a joke, or that it doesn't deserve to be in Eurovision because it's distasteful. But here I am, in defense of uniqueness and weirdness, not only because this entry is in my top 5 this year, but also because it's important to understand what "art" is about. Here's to all the "weird" Eurovision entries that have been called unworthy of stepping on stage because they've been misunderstood.

A special shoutout to @/tottakaibi on Twitter/X because she gave me one of the pointers for this article in particular! And she's constantly in the lookout for Teemu and Henri's projects.

Without further ado, step in and enjoy the read.

No Rules! is, undoubtedly, the most distruptive entry this year - the nudity, fast-paced music and unique mise-en-scene, all make for an entry that many have deemed nonpalatable or not artistic. But behind every art display, there is a story, and I'm here to tell you a little bit more about it.

To start, the staging of No Rules! refers to the Kalevala, a book of finnish folk poetry from the 19th century that contains the myth of creation: Earth was born from an egg, with the shells forming both sky and land. Goddess Ilmatar, mother of nature and creation, soon realized that whatever she touched would grow and her every move was an act of creation itself. And so, she gave birth to Väinämönen, the first man to ever walk upon Earth.

Teemu arising from an egg is a clear reference to the Kalevala myth of creation, and he's even referred to it in some way in a video recently posted by UMK, in which he tells the tale of how Windows95man was born and Henri, in the figure of an eagle, becomes his friend so he can walk on the rule-burdened Earth without caring much for the impositions. It's both a mythical reference and a song of liberation: to not care about what others think and what others say to live freely and happily. To disregard societal "rules" in order to pursue happiness (this, of course, in the sense that you shouldn't care about "neat" or "appropriate", and not about the lack of order).

This song has also been called an anthem of liberation for LGBTQ+ members: No Rules! refers to the absence of gender norms ("Quiet, as I speak / I am the king, I am the queen" // "Is there something wrong with the way I look? / Is there something wrong with who I am?") and to live your life expressing yourself in the way you deem the best fit for you. As an agender person who's constantly told what to wear, what to say and how to act, this song is very meaningful and close to me. It makes me feel a bit better about my identity.

Now, to the point that interests you the most - how can No Rules! be considered an artistic performance, with the disruptive elements that make many shriek in disgust?

Let's begin with this - art is subjective and it's meant to make you feel something, whether good or bad. Art is meant to move something inside you, to make you question things. Have not many artists in the past made paintings about poor people's lives to protest poor living conditions or to showcase how hard it was to get on by? To many, art forms like paintings and sculptures that we now consider artistic were once considered scandalous or distasteful. This is the exact point of this performance.

In a recent documentary called "No Shame", Teemu referred to this - the point of his art is to appeal to disgust, to weirdness and to what makes you question what's tasteful or not. Shock factor also plays an important part in modern art performances. It's about going into the raw parts of your psyche and make you uncomfortable.

Teemu has been a visual artist since 2008, under the name Ukkeli. Vibrant colors, strange outfits and drawings, uncovered butts as part of his art installations and the message "No Rules" as one of his oldest mottos (not surprising, considering that in an interview he said he grew up with hippie parents that were very permissive) are the main features of his work. It's reminiscent of early 2000's adult animation shows, who also had a big shock factor and were frowned upon back then.

In this appeal to weirdness resides the charm of Windows95man's performance - in making you feel uncomfortable and weird, you're proving the exact point of the song. You will be bitter about how Finland could've "sent something better", but that won't change the fact that Teemu and Henri were chosen by his people because they understood the art beyond the shocking display. They understood what living with no rules means, to embrace weirdness, to embrace unique, and not care about what others say. If it makes you feel happy, who says that you're not allowed to like or pursue it?

Let's take a look back - Go_A's Shum, who was also catalogued as weird due to Kateryna's bewitching voice and vocalizations, made it to 5th place with no problem in 2021. Zdob si Zdub & Advahov Brothers' Trenulețul 2022 got to number 7 in 2022, after being called disruptive noise, and Konstrakta's In Corpore Sano made it to 5th place even when it was called creepy by some. Mama ŠČ! by Let3 made it to an impressive 12th place last year, and 3rd place in Dora this year with their strange Baba Roga.

If every country sent the same cookie-cutter type of "safe" song to Eurovision, the contest would be very repetitive and monotone. Let's face it, the public loves unique, loves something that will blow your hats off for three minutes and wondering what happened. They love songs that go off the "normal" standard because it takes you for a trip and makes you jump off your seat. It's no wonder that, in contrast with No Rules! getting so much hate, along with Doomsday Blue (another of the misunderstood entries, reduced only to its wrongly called "satanistic" character), 5Miinust and Puulup seem to be favorites this year, along with Joost Klein, who is rumored to win. People either love or hate weird and unique. Sadly, Finland got the worst end of the stick, and I think that's very unfair.

There's also the double standard, many think that it's inappropriate for Teemu to show up in nude-colored underwear, but they had no problem with female contestants in revealing outfits in previous years. Here's the thing - it's either okay for everyone to wear revealing outfits, or it's not. The argument that 2022's Chanel is given a pass to wearing revealing clothes because "she's a sexy girl speaking about being sexy" is invalid. Beauty, much like art, is subjective. And I do think that Teemu is very beautiful. He is allowed to wear what he wants (of course, according to EBU's standards, and they seem to have approved of the performance as is) and you don't get to say what's tasteful or not based off an aesthetic standard settled in sexism.

To finish this off, let me sum up the most important points of my mini-essay: No Rules! is an artistic performance because it's disruptive, it has elements that refer to Finnish myths and it's a liberation anthem that is meant to reach all those who feel like being themselves is wrong, to make them forget about this world's standards for three minutes and remember that the only person they need to please is themselves. As such, this song accomplishes its goal perfectly and beautifully. To call Teemu and Henri's performance a joke is to bypass every element of its artistry and to insult the artist standing on stage. Finland chose them, and so we must respect their decision and refrain from sending hateful comments.

I do think that we need to keep high hopes for this performance. I know that the two of them will go beyond everything we know and expect and will blow us all away when the Semifinal 1 comes in May 7th. After all, Henri's vocal skills have improved greatly since UMK, and Teemu's charisma can only grow by the second. These two have everything to go far and to show everyone that sometimes, all you need is to not listen to your surroundings and act as your heart commands.

Sometimes, the only rule is no rules.

[santoschristos]

THE POWER OF SEX

If you knew the Power of Sex you wouldn't need therapists, or substances to stimulate you to joy. You wouldn't open the doors of your life to just anyone, looking for that someone who wants to love you.

If you knew the Power of Sex, you'd know that your body is a temple, and you wouldn't let anything or anyone desecrate it.

You would feed him pure energy, pure feelings, good love. You wouldn't allow toxicity into relationships or other poisons (like many of those you call medicine or food).

If you knew the Power of Sex you would know the body heals itself. Moreover, you should never have been sick. Why? Well, because the body is nourished with love, it is nourished with pleasure, of joy... And thats sex. A portal to the greatest love we can give ourselves, an emulation of primitive ecstasy. An evocation to the Origin of Stellar Being, a fractal of Creation in which to recreate ourselves. You can re-create yourself through sex.

Plus suppressed sexuality, resentful sexuality, has led us to extreme darkness. He has filled the sex of the mind and not of the spirit, he has desecrated the most Holy turning it into a source of pain, torture, distortion, self-punishment.

He who gives up his body without desire, without love, is condemned. Whoever seeks palliatives to his ego, his loneliness or his pain, only attracts more scarcity when, after sexual act, he becomes empty. And so matter degenerates. This is how disease, depression, dependence, fatigue, apathy appear. This is how personal power and couples dissolve. This is how the Holy Being, the Spiritual Being is lost into oblivion.

Sex is beauty. Sex is Purity. Sex is the Life-giving Force, that runs through your body right now. When you deny sex you are denying your own life energy, your connection to the whole, to life itself. When you exalt physical sex, you are denying a part (the most important) of yourself, and thereby hurting your energy and your physical body.

Therefore, if you want to resume good use of your sexual energy, you must remember that you are Spirit. That whoever shares with you is giving you his own Being, his own Holy Temple. Enter filled with humility and respect, honor the immense act of love of that moment, of that contact.

Sex to be "good" must start in the heart, not higher or lower. It must be imbued with Sacrificiality, not lust. And it can either be gentle or wild, as long as it follows the rhythm that bodies and hearts ask for. Also remember that there is sex in breathing, that looking at can be a caress. That your way of honoring your sexual expression is your way of honoring Life.

Like this one: enjoy it. Like this: Dare. Like this: Take it to the next level.

Feel, seek, explore, try and don't limit yourself. Remove your mind, put your heart in it and have fun! Be a kid playing forever.

From the wall of SYRIUS. 1.1.1.1.

Art: Embraced by Light by Phazed

[cosmiccannibalcamille]

What Venus trine Jupiter Means for YOU

What: Venus in Libra trine Jupiter in Gemini

When: Sept. 14, 2024

Who’s Impacted: EVERYONE, but esp. Air signs (Libra, Gemini, and Aquarius)

Takeaway: A brief, but potent day for love, luck, beauty, and bounty.

     This Venus-Jupiter trine on Sept. 14 is one of the standout moments of 2024. Why? Because Venus and Jupiter are the “benefics” in astrology, aka the feel good, have fun, enjoy yourself planets that bring (and/or facilitate) ease, pleasure, enjoyment, benefits, and blessings. When these two planets come together this way, it means nothing but good news. And with the way things are in the world right now, we could all use a little good news.

     Interestingly, we haven’t had a Venus-Jupiter trine since Jan. 28. (I don’t know about you, but I have no idea what I was doing or what was going on for me during that time.) That trine took place in earth signs, so it probably facilitated some sort of financial, material, or career blessing. Since this upcoming Venus-Jupiter trine takes place in air signs Libra and Gemini, you can expect its feel-good, good vibes, beneficial blessings to be more about connection, conversations, writing, relationships, ideas, friendship, or love. Venus in Libra

Venus trine Jupiter Meaning in Astrology

     Venus and Jupiter are like the fairy godmothers of the zodiac. Venus rules love, beauty, art, and pleasure, while Jupiter is the planet of abundance, opportunity, and optimism. When these two meet in a trine—a smooth, 120-degree aspect—it’s like you’re being handed a golden ticket.

     The trine itself is Jupiterian in nature, meaning it acts like a gift that brings gifts, blessings, and protection. Equal parts fairy godmother and Santa Claus. Since this Venus-Jupiter trine happens in the air signs Libra and Gemini, we’re looking at benefits coming through connection, communication, and creativity.Venus-trine-Jupiter swooping in with golden gifts

     Venus is at home in Libra, her ruling sign, which makes this aspect even more potent. In Libra, Venus is all about harmony, beauty, balance, and relationships. She wants you to indulge in all the finer things—whether that’s dressing up, treating yourself to a luxurious day out, or simply enjoying beautiful conversations with people who inspire you. This Venus placement is less about passionate love and more about cultivating connections that are balanced, fair, and aesthetically pleasing.

     Now, Jupiter in Gemini is like that friend who has a million tabs open and wants to tell you all about them, one by one, while simultaneously sending you funny memes. In Gemini, Jupiter’s growth-oriented energy is more about expanding your mind, your communication, and your network. It’s about connection, learning, and sharing ideas. How I imagine this transit will feel

     So, when these two planets—Venus and Jupiter—get together in the airy duo of Libra and Gemini, it’s all about expanding your minds and our hearts. But let’s be real: Jupiter in Gemini can be a bit scattered, and Venus in Libra can be a bit shallow. That’s why it’s important to use Sept. 14 as a day to reorient your focus on the meaningful connections, conversations, and projects that truly light you up.

     You don’t have to do all the things (even though Jupiter might convince you otherwise)—just focus on the relationships, creations, or connections that bring you the most joy, fun, and fulfillment.

Get the FULL SCOOP on this ~lovely~ planetary meet-cute (including how to work with it & bespoke horoscopes) on the Cosmic Almanac:

[svsss-fanon-exposed]

I'm the anon! I wasn't meaning you specifically. I actually think you've been doing an amazing job at stating the facts without letting biases show one way or another. Mostly I'm referring to some tags I saw and the salty post, in addition to YEARS of seeing people on twitter acting snobbish and like the western fandom (in particular after the 7s novels came out) are lesser, ignorant, or a plague. Might've been a bit of projection on my part but the aforementioned notes and comments from others in your posts reminded me of those attitudes (or how if unchecked they could become as rancid). My bad that I didn't clarify specifically what I meant. I love your posts and that's why I would hate to see them be used by bad faith actors to delegitimize "western" voices. Yes, we need to be humble and come from a place of being open to learning and not imposing our pov, but it's also unfair when we're being subject to higher standards and scrutiny that other non-english speaking parts of the fandom are.

Ahh I see!

Even though SVSSS is a Chinese novel written primarily for Chinese readers, the fandom itself is massively diverse. All sorts of different people from everywhere in the world have found things they enjoy about this book, and it means a lot to them— and I think that’s neat.

No one should be made to feel like they have no place in the fandom, or aren’t allowed to create fanworks. No matter where you come from, what your background is, there’s no reason you can’t be an equal part of the fandom — and yes, this also includes western fandom.

One other thing: there is nothing wrong with ignorance itself either. Everyone is ignorant of everything until they learn. If western fandom is ignorant, but they are trying to learn things, then what good is beating people down going to do? Only take any joy out of learning, only creating bitterness.

Western fandom is still SVSSS fandom, still people who enjoy this book.

It’s important to remember this is for fun. All of this, all fan creations and fandom in general is because a bunch of people from all sorts of backgrounds all liked one novel. As a Chinese person, I really love that people actually care to learn about Chinese culture through things like this. To see people genuinely interested in a positive way, it’s really nice!! It’s refreshing, and while my own life experiences make me quite wary of westernization, it also gives me an appreciation for this genuine interest, and this embracing of learning. I’ve seen much more instances of western fandom actually wanting to learn and being interested and curious than being willfully ignorant.

Everyone has a place in fandom, no matter if Western, Chinese, or anyone else. There’s nothing good that will come of gatekeeping people’s enjoyment of a book or participation in fandom.

[haveyouseenthishorrormovie]

Maybe this is "chronically online" of me but I feel it's disrespectful, or at least tone deaf to be posting about films made in "israel". Maybe you could skip them at least for the time being, if not disregard them entirely? Given the ongoing genocide, it puts a bad taste in my mouth to see things they've made be put up without any sort of acknowledgement of it or anything. I don't believe it's a political statement or whatever (and this isn't meant to be a call-out) it just seems weird. Cheers for considering it if you do.

I'd like to first make a reminder, that this answer is exclusively written by mod Sus only, and should not be considered as entire blog's or other mods' (or its original mod's) collective opinion. They can make their own statement if wishing so, but I take the full responsibility for this answer.

I don't think you can make this kind of topic apolitical considering what it involves and touches. If you make a statement about something that involves something as heavy as war, it's going to be political.

It's not like the thought of "is this right thing to do?" hasn't ever occured my mind when I've seen these movies in queue and their country of origin is Israel. But I, personally, have been looking at this topic through the lenses of "separaring art from the artist." Movies are a form of art, and they are made by the groups of invidiuals with their own ideas and views. While I do understand the idea of not wanting to give an artist, group or in this case, a country, visibility and wanting to boycott them, I don't think it can't really be applied in art. Not if the said problematic target is not even the one who created it or benefiting from it. These israeli people who made these movies are not their goverment. These movies were made before the current political climate boom (the conflict itself has been going on for longer than some of us are old) by individual people because they wanted to create. The country or the people causing the fuckery are not benefiting from the visibility enough to make it matter.

That being said, I think trying to ignore or erase something that's not directly related to the problematic thing in attempt to not support it is the laziest from of activitism. It's "boycott everything russian" again. Us refusing to acknowledge these movies made by people who are not benefiting their country does not help people in need and facing horrible, awful things in their own home.

This is under no circumstances, in any form, meant to be taken as supporting the genocide, Israel or to erase the existence of the conflict and genocide going on. As much as here in the horror circles we love joking about violence and killing, causing deaths of any real life people is awful and one of the most unacceptable things there can be. We acknowledge there's horrible things going on in the world and don't want it to be not acknowledged. But this is not a place for that.

Art, that was not made to reflect and represent those awful times, should not be the victim of sins of someone who didn't create it. The artists should not be the victims of sins of their group. The movie creators and their creations shouldn't be blamed for awful acts their goverment makes. Blaming them does not help the people that are the real victims.

I'd like to imagine Tumblr, as a social media site, as a place of escapism. This might of course not be same for everyone, but when I come into Tumblr, that's when I want to leave all the real world news behind and just enjoy things I like without remembering world has awful things in it. This is a mere small, independent horror movie tumblr blog, where we encourage people to talk about movies and horror genre. I'd wish we could leave as much of these heavy real-life topics outside the blog and posts we make, even if they are good to be acknowledged. (Now if other mods of course want to be the ones to discuss these things, they can. I'm not taking part of them.)

Now, what you can do if you don't want to see movies that were made in Israel by israelis?

We tag movies by country of origin, using Wikipedia as source for these. You can block "israel" tag to avoid seeing them. You can not vote in the poll. If following a blog that allows Israeli movies to be published in it, you can unfollow us. Curate your own social media feed. If you see something you're uncomfortable with, erase that from your own exposure.

As the final statement, as a singular person in the Internet. You don't have to agree with me and in places like Tumblr or anything, I don't think we can agree with everything. But the kind of black-white thinking, where you think everything with any kind of connection to problematic thing is bad and people attached to it are bad, is not healthy. It will make you stay on your toes all the time, and it's not flexible way of thinking. You're not going to make it in the world if you see everything inside it only that way.

Focus on what matters. If you're going to fight, fight the actual enemy, not the gravel under its shadow.

[exitpursuedbyavulcan]

The Silver Dragon (31/?)

Pairing: Aemond Targaryen x Original Female Character

Word Count: 4559

Story Summary: Lady Arianwyn Targaryen, the Lady of Runestone, was seeded by her father, the Rogue Prince Daemon Targaryen, in an act of unbridled hatred, and borne of her mother, the late Lady Rhea Royce, as a desperate grasp at revenge.

Ignored by her father, and alone following the death of her mother, she is raised in King’s Landing alongside her cousin, Prince Aemond Targaryen. As they grow, the two find themselves indelibly bonded. But their lives are far from the fairy tales they read, and as tensions in the family rise, they find their paths may diverge.

Will they be pulled apart when the dragons dance?

Chapter Summary: Arianwyn asks for an audience with her uncle Viserys. He has not woken since the family dinner two nights before, and she is not sure that he will even hear what she says. She is not even sure what she wants to say. Still, she needs to say it.

Warnings: None

Series Masterlist

Taglist: @thelittleswanao3 @trap-house-homiecide @50svibes @literishdegree99 @dc-marvel-girl96 @henriettadreaming @multiple-fandoms-girl @gyuxmilk @somemydayy @kittykylax @whore-of-many-hot-men

(Please let me know if your tag isn't working, and I'll do my best to correct it! And if you would like to be added to the list, just shoot me an ask!)

The King

Arianwyn had only ever visited the King’s chambers once. But she had been a babe then, and her memories were faint. She could vaguely recall the sheer size of the model of Old Valyria and the magnificent white stone domes and towers that adorned it. Though, she was unsure whether that was truly a memory, or only an image she had conjured from all the times Aemond told her of it.

Aemond had always so admired his father’s creation. It was one of the few subjects Arianwyn could always rely on to get him talking, even on his quiet days. He would go on and on about how accurate the King had been in his design, how it had been necessary for each tower to be precisely the right size and carved in excruciating detail, or else the magic of the spectacle would be ruined.

He would empty entire shelves in the library to explain to her what each building was, the purpose of each tower, and the magic that had helped to build them. Of course, Arianwyn already knew most of the information – they had discovered it together. But listening to him, basking in the excitement he so rarely showed, never got old.

Despite his enthusiasm, Aemond had never been invited to work on the model with his father. Alicent had tried to console him by emphasizing that it was the King’s ‘personal’ endeavor and that he shared it with very few people beyond the stone masons and other artisans who completed the actual craftsmanship.

But then the King had called Jace and Luke – and only Jace and Luke – to help him assemble one of the Blood Mages’ towers.

After that, Aemond never mentioned the model again.

Perhaps it was the memory of the heartbreak in Aemond’s eyes when his nephews told him why they were late to sparring practice that horrible day, or maybe it was simply the low light in the room. Still, when Arianwyn set eyes on the model, she could hardly stand the sight of it.

It had all been carved of the same white stone, as if the entire city had risen simultaneously from the earth. But there was no truth in that.

Valyria, like the Freehold itself, had been built over hundreds and thousands of years from stones brought from across the known world. It had been even more than stone, with some buildings said to be hewn from massive crystals, grown from the earth itself by many years of taming vines and trees, or even made of pure Dragonglass.

Compared to the vibrant and extraordinary Valyria that lived in her imagination, the model seemed small and mundane.

Alicent caught Arianwyn’s gaze lingering on the model and stepped around it. “Before we were married, I used to sit with Viserys while he worked on it. He enjoyed having someone there to listen to the history, or perhaps just to look impressed.”

But the words only drove the pain deeper into the girl’s heart. How Aemond would have loved to sit at his father’s side and listen to him tell the story of their shared ancestors.

Fortunately, the Queen saw the pain and regret in Arianwyn’s silver eyes and stepped away from the model to take her hand and lead her into the bedchamber.

The light there was even dimmer, with only a single oil lamp lit by the King’s bed. Arianwyn had to look quite closely to see his chest rise and fall. He was still breathing, if just barely.

His golden mask was gone. Instead, the decaying side of his face had been covered with clean strips of cloth, making it easier to look upon his face. The memory of him at dinner two nights ago had been thankfully drowned out by the whirlwind of events – both good and bad – that had happened since, but it still haunted her.

“The Maesters tell me that he may yet be able to hear us, even if his body will not allow him to respond,” Alicent explained, gesturing to a pair of chairs next to the bed. She let Arianwyn sit in the one nearest the King, taking the further for herself. “There have been times when he can say a word or two. Or move his hand, or smile.”

Arianwyn looked to the Queen, “Have you been with him often since he fell asleep?”

Alicent grimaced. “Not as much as I would like. But… it pains me too much to see him like this. There is only so much I can bear.”

There was nothing Arianwyn could say to ease that pain, so she simply looked back to the King.

“Hello, uncle,” she said.

The King gave no indication that he heard her. She had been warned that it was likely, but it still caused her heart to clench.

“It’s Aria,” she continued. Then she remembered, the last time he had used her name, it had been at Driftmark, and he had not called her ‘Aria.” She leaned forward again. “It’s Arianwyn. Your niece, do you remember me?”

The Queen also leaned forward, speaking with careful enunciation. “Arianwyn arrived several days ago. With her father, Prince Daemon, as well as Rhaenyra and all the rest from Dragonstone.”

At the mention of Rhaenyra, the King whined softly, turning his head toward the women.

Of course, Arianwyn thought. It was always Rhaenyra.

Alicent pushed past that particular hurt and continued, “Aria has some wonderful news to share with you, my darling.”

At the Queen’s signal, Arianwyn looked back to the King, trying to force a smile to her face. “Yes, I do. Well… Aemond and I have been married. We are very much in love.”

Again, the King was still.

It broke Arianwyn’s heart. That just the mention of Rhaenyra could rouse him from his sleep, but not her, not Aemond, and not their marriage.

Once, she had thought the King cared for her as if she were his own daughter. Of course, he was distant, as he was with his children by Alicent. But whenever he saw her, he offered a smile. When they found themselves seated next to each other on the ramparts of the training yard, he would ask her thoughtful questions about her studies or her progress with Emrys. And he had always given her sweet gifts on her nameday.

But now, as she recalled each fond moment, Arianwyn wondered whether it was ever really her that he was so fond of, or whether she had only ever been a substitute for her father. Just like she was to Rhaenyra.

In their eyes, she would never be anything more than Daemon’s daughter.

Though her face was as still as the stone Valyria that sat in the next room, a tear ran down her cheek, stinging her skin as it mingled with the cool air.

“May I speak with him – alone?” she asked the Queen.

Alicent wiped the tear away as she stood and did not speak until she reached the door. “I will stay nearby.”

Then she closed the door, and Arianwyn was alone with the King.

She did not know what to say. Words and memories raced through her mind too fast for her to catch. Her tears continued to fall as she felt the world spin around her.

“I always hoped you would be the one to escort me at my wedding,” she blurted out, hearing the words for the first time as they left her lips.

For a moment, she fell silent as the admission sunk in.

“All my life, I knew my father did not care about me,” she said, allowing her mind to simply spill over. It seemed safer than agonizing over her words until they split her skull. “I knew he would not want to escort me, if he even bothered to attend. So, I wanted it to be you.”

The King took a deep, shaky breath but did not reply.

“Ser Criston Cole did it instead,” she explained. “Even if we were not so hurried, I think it would have had to be him, anyway. Or perhaps Aegon – no, actually. Not Aegon. It was almost painful to watch you walk to the Iron Throne. I don’t think you could have made it to the Weirwood tree.”

Arianwyn blinked, forcing herself to stop talking and take a breath. “Oh, I have not told you that. We were married under the Weirwood tree, not in the Sept. It was my idea. I was scared, and I wanted the protection of not just the Seven, but of the gods of my ancestors – my Royce ancestors. Obviously, the Targaryen gods are of no help anymore.”

She laughed at her pitiful attempt at a joke, made even more so by the fact that she was still endeavoring not to cry. Beyond the first, no other tears had fallen.

“I have not told you that either, that I was afraid,” she fought the urge to take his hand, crumpling the fabric of her skirts in her fists. “I was terrified. I was so sure I was going to die. That Daemon was going to kill me. He almost did.”

Arianwyn lifted her hands to her throat and her bruises. The markings had reached their darkest stage. To anyone looking from a distance, it would look like she was wearing a deep plum scarf or perhaps a necklace. But the King could not see it, for his eyes were still closed.

“Did you know?” she asked, lowering her hands. “Did you know what he was capable of when you sent me with him? How much he hated me, and the memory of my mother? Did you know what he did to her?”

She had to take a breath to calm herself so she wouldn’t scream.

“You must have had some idea, especially after Gerold and Lady Arryn came to speak on my behalf and Aemond showed you his note. I never thanked you for forcing his hand when it came to Emrys. He was my only escape on that gods-forsaken island. But even with him, and Brynna, and everyone else from Runestone, it was miserable.

“The isolation in that little tower was bad enough. But then they made me eat dinner with them every night, and they would never talk to me. About me, yes, but never to me. Jace and Luke – and Baela, sometimes – took it as a game. They would take turns saying mean things. About me, about Runestone and the Vale, and even about Aemond, sometimes. They wanted to see if they could get me to break. To snap and make a fool of myself. To scream and curse them, or something.

“But I never did. I think they thought it was because I was weak. In truth, I was just afraid of what Daemon would do if I did react. And I guess I was right to be afraid, I finally did snap a few days ago, and he threatened to kill me.”

Though she knew she was safe now, the memory still sent a shiver through her.

She grimaced, “Eventually, they gave up. What fun is it to mock someone who doesn’t react? Jace continued to tease me, but never at dinner. He learned that if Daemon wasn’t there, I would fight back. It amused him. Luke never did, not after he saw Emrys.”

That particular memory brought a quiet laugh, but it soon faded.

“As horrible as it was, I do think that Aemond had it even worse than me.”

If Arianwyn had not been keeping her eyes locked on her own hands, she would have seen the King frown slightly and furrow his brow in distress.

“No one has told me much in detail, especially not Aemond. And I don’t hold that against him. I know if I ask, he will tell me. But I think he was very, very sick, so I am not sure I really want to know.”

She looked back up at the King after his previous expression had already fallen back into one of pained sleep. “Did you know? How sick he was? How hard it was for him to adapt to the loss of his eye? Did you ever visit him as he healed? Do you know how much you hurt him?”

No reply.

“Do you know how it hurt him to know how much you didn’t care – don’t care? Do you know what it does to someone to know their father does not love them?”

She had to take another calming breath before she continued. “He could hardly believe it when I told him I loved him. I actually don’t know if he does believe it, not entirely. That is what you did. When you brushed what Luke did aside simply because Aemond called them bastards – which I know you know they are – and when you did not rebuke Rhaenyra for calling for his torture –!

“By the gods, she was serious, uncle! She was willing to torture an already mutilated boy in order to maintain her lie! A lie that no one believes! That is the woman you want to be Queen?” she scoffed.

“You took away his ability to believe he could be loved. If his own father had such disdain for him, why would anyone else feel any different? Even if he became the greatest warrior, the best scholar in the world, the most dutiful son, he could never feel worthy of anything beyond the indifference you showed him.”

Arianwyn leaned back, tilting her head to the ceiling to try and stop her tears from falling. “The Stranger is close. I know you’re supposed to forgive people when they’re on their deathbeds… but I can’t.”

She looked back at her uncle, not seeing the broken, dying man that lay before her, but the man he had been on Driftmark. The man he had been when he brushed Aemond aside, when she first began to hate him.

“You broke him, Viserys,” she cried. “So thoroughly, I don’t know if I will ever be able to fix him.”

Lacing her fingers through his, ignoring the chill that went through her at the feel of his cold, papery skin, she continued. “But I will try. If it takes all my life, I will not stop until he is whole again. I promise it.”

Abruptly, she stood, wiping away her tears and smoothing her skirts. She looked upon the King’s hollow face one last time, watching him take a slow, shaky breath.

“There,” she said. “A deathbed promise. That’s better than forgiveness, isn’t it?”

Though she knew it to be futile, she waited for a reply. But, of course, it did not come.

“Goodbye, uncle,” she said and turned away.

She left the room so quickly that she did not see his fingers uncurl as he reached out for her. The sound of her own crying was too loud for her to hear him whisper.

“Aria, I’m sorry.”

Next Chapter

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Ch. 4: Overtune

Charlie Narrating-

"Once upon a time, there was a glowing city protected by golden gates, known as Heaven. It was ruled by beings of pure light. Angels that worshiped good and shielded all from evil. Lucifer was one of these angels. He was a dreamer with fantastical ideas for all of creation. But he was seen as a troublemaker by the elders of Heaven."

"For they felt his way of thinking was dangerous to the order of their world. So he watched as the angels began to expand the universe in their ways. From the dust of Earth, they created Adam and Lilith."

"Equals as the first of mankind, but despite this, Adam demanded control, and Lilith refused to submit to his will. She fled the Garden. Drawn in by her fierce independence, Lucifer found her and the two rebellious dreamers fell deeply in love."

"Together, they wished to share the magic of free will with humanity, offering the Fruit of Knowledge to Adam's new bride, Eve, who gladly accepted. But this gift came with a curse. For with this single act of disobedience, evil finally found its way into the Earth. With it, a new realm of darkness and sin."

"And the order Heaven worked to maintain was shattered. As punishment for their reckless act, Heaven cast Lucifer and his love into the dark pit he had created, never allowing him to see the good that came from humanity, only the cruel and the wicked."

"But Lilith thrived, empowering demonkind with her voice and her songs. And as the numbers of Hell grew, so did its power.”

“Threatened by this, Heaven made a truly heartless decision. That every year, they would send down an army, an Extermination, to ensure Hell and its sinners could never rise against them. But Lilith's hope remained. And her dream was passed down to their precious daughter, the princess of Hell." As Charlie finishes narrating, she closes a book titled "The Story of Hell" and looks out to Pentagram City.

"Don't worry, Mom. I'lI make you proud." Charlie soberly looks out the window to Pentagram City burning to the ground, just as Yn and Vaggie come into the room.

"Charlie?" Vaggie questioned, looking at Charlie. The key Charlie was holding transforms into KeeKee who scampers away.

"Aah! Oh, shit. Did you hear all that?" Charlie looked down as she turns to Yn and Vaggie in surprise.

"Yeah. We were right there at the door.." Yn points her thumb to the doorway.

"Sorry. I get pretty worked up after an extermination happens. The story helps..." Charlie smiled.

"Don't worry. I enjoy your theatrics." Vaggie chuckles.

"Are you okay?" Yn and Vaggie sit down with Charlie

"I'm fine. Just... thinking, ya' know? Family stuff." Charlie sighs, Yn could feel how sad her girlfriend was.

"Did you hear anything from Lilith?" Charlie shakes her head in dismay. Yn sighs, Vaggie was rubbing Charlie's back.

"Oof... how long has it been now?" Vaggie questioned.

"Not that long, only... seven... years, off doing something important, I'm sure. But this kingdom was something she really cared about. Something I care about." Charlie looked at the city.

"well, at least you're not alone." Vaggie smirked.

"Yeah, even if Hell froze over, you can be sure that me and Vaggie will be by your side." Yn added too.

"I just hope that what I'm trying to do here will work." Charlie said with a small smile on her face.

"It will. We have faith in you." Keekee then leaps into Charlie's arms, Yn and Vaggie smiled as they stand up.

"Alright, come on now. Alastor says he has something interesting to show us." Yn said as she and Vaggie head to the door. As they leave, a loud bell rings throughout the city, and Charlie turns to the Bell Tower at Heaven Embassy. She looks on with sadness, knowing that it's another year before the Extermination comes again before she leaves.

-Time Skip-

In the Commercial-

The scene turns static before it fixes itself to reveal a sinner stabbing another demon to death with a knife before Alastor caught their attention.

"Well, hello there you wayward sinner. Do you like blood violence and depravity of a sexual nature? Of course you do. That's why you're in hell." As the camera rolls, scenes switches from the front of the Hazbin Hotel, to Charlie on camera and she waves at it.

"But what would you say if I told you there was a place to stay that had none of that? Welcome to the Hazbin Hotel, a misguided path to redemption. Founded five days ago by Lucifer's delusional daughter, Charlotte Morningstar! Come place your fate in her inexperienced hands as she tries to work through her mommy issues by fixing you." Angel Dust omes into view, putting two-fingers over the head prank behind her.

"Here we offer fun things such as somewhat functional staff and 24-hour pest control. Custom rooms. and just look at this tacky parlor, enjoy riveting conversation with our singular resident and our residential Overlord. Wow." The camera to the bartender, Husk, who was clearly drunk, passing out on the ground as Niffty, the hotel maid, tries to stab and chase after a bug, and then to Angel Dust, with a support beam falling close to KeeKee, scaring the demon cat before running off, and Angel Dust flipping Alastor off who films Yn who smiles and waves at him.

"All this and more at the Hazbin Hotel. Your last desperate attempt at salvation starts here." Then the poor drawing of the hotel before the commercial ends.

Back to the Hazbin Hotel-

Alastor turns off the television.

"So what do you think?" Alastor crossed his arms. On the couch, Yn, Charlie and Vaggie were surprised of the commercial being poorly misleading and very offensive to their nature, that Vaggie throws a fit at Alastor.

"I'm sorry. What the fuck was that?" Vaggie cursed at him.

"That was... interesting for sure Alastor." Yn compliment his work.

"Uh, Yeah. One note, Alastor, I mean, first off, thank you so much for making this seriously amazing, but um, maybe the tone is a bit off, We want people to want to come here. This makes it look, um." Charlie thought of the nicest thing to say.

"Bad. The word you're looking for is bad." Vaggie bluntly replied.

"It wasn't that bad, it could have been worse." Yn added.

"That was as bad as it can get." Vaggie stated.

Alastor gave a slightly annoyed face, "Funny. I was going for hilarious." He smiled.

"It didn't explain anything about how we're trying to save demons from extermination, which is the whole fucking point." Vaggie grumbled.

"Okay, Vaggie does have a point Alastor. The commercial was supposed to let sinners know we are trying to help them." Yn stated.

"Well, Darling, you know I haven't been active in hell for some time and everyone remembers me from my radio show, the proper medium to express oneself. But you insisted on this noisy picture box advertisement." He taps the Television twice with his microphone cane.

"So I had a little fun with it." Alastor said passing his cane to his other hand.

"Oh fun? You had a little fun with it?" Vaggie stands up on the couch.

"Well, this is not what we want to represent us. When you showed up here a week ago, you told us you would help run this hotel. Instead, you're mocking us. Nobody's gonna wanna come to a place that a powerful overlord like you thinks is a waste of time." Angel Dust then raises his hand from the couch, catching everyone's attention. Holding a bottle of whiskey in his hand.

"Yes angel?" Yn sighed.

"If'n ya filming a commercial, can I suggest you take better advantage of the talented celebrity you have right here?" Angel Dust takes a bottle with one arm before pointing all three arms at himself, but Vaggie doesn't like it.

"Angel, you're a porn star." Vaggie noted.

"A famous porn star. I'll have the horniest sinners knocking these walls down to get in." Angel smirked.

"We are not filming a porn as a commercial." Vaggie explained.

"Why not? Sex sells don't it? I swear if you film me going at it with either Yn or Mr. fancy talk creepy voice here, you'd be rolling in participants willing to stay at this tacky hotel." As he was explaining, Alastor appears right besides the couch next to Angel Dust and laughs with amusement.

"Ha ha. Never going to happen." Alastor stated with a creepy smile.

"Yeah, I'm not going to film a porn." Yn stated.

"Oh! What about a video of both Yn and the creepy going at it?" Hearing that both Vaggie and Alastor twitch, both for completely other reasons.

"No." Yn said bluntly with a small blush to Angel.

"Angel, I appreciate you wanting to use your special skills to, um, attract folks to the hotel, but I really don't want to exploit you... in that way." Charlie noted.

"Oh, please, baby. This body was made to be exploited. I got the arms, I got the stamina, I got the legs. I got the lung capacity." He laughs.

"Oh, I got the legs. The gag reflex, the holes, the chest fluff." Charlie chuckles nervously until Charlie's phone rings from Lucifer calling her.

"hold that thought? I'll be right back."

"I could keep going all night, baby." "Please don't Angel." While Angel drinks her beer, Charlie breathes nervously and answers the call.

"Hello? Dad?" As Charlie take the phone call, the scene switches to Vaggie, Angel, and Alastor.

"Hey, I have a question. If Yn and freaky face over there are so powerful, then why can't they just make people stay here?"

"Oh, trust me," Alastor smiles in a mischievously creepy look with dark magic.

"We can." Yn smirks with deadly glowing eyes and dark magic surrounding her.

"Why do you think I'm here?" Husker spoke from the bar as he puts his bottle down.

The camera moves to Husk at the bar.

"You actually think I'd be cleaning bottles and listening to you fucks bitch and moan all the time if he wasn't forcing me?" Husk grumbled, "Puff is the exception..." He gestured to Yn.

As Husk cleans a bottle, Niffty pops up from behind the counter with a hand raised.

"I like being forced." Niffty smiled.

"Keep that to yourself, Nif." Husk grumbled.

"What? You don't love being here with me, Whiskers?" Angel Dust pouted.

"Call me Whiskers again and I'll jam that bottle down your throat." Husk threatened, holding the bottle.

"Kinky. Come on, keep talking dirty." Angel Dust arches his back in a seductive way as Yn giggles quietly.

Vaggie sighs, "Angel. Let Husk do his job. And, no, we can't force sinners to stay here. They need to choose to." Vaggie crossed her arms.

"I'm choosing to be here and I think it's all stupid. We're in hell, toots. That's kind of the end of the road, ain' it?" Angel Dust smirks.

"Well, Maybe it doesn't have to be. Just because nobody has made it out before doesn't mean it's not possible." Yn states as she plays with Angel Dust hair.

Angel Dust places a hand on Yn's shoulder, giving her a deadpan expression while the latter makes the same one.

"Hey, whatever means I can keep crashing here rent-free. Crack is expensive." Angel Dust snickered.

"You don't have to be blunt about that." Yn said pushing Angel back down on the couch.

The scene comes back to Charlie, and after the phone call, she seemed really happy with the news her father brought to her.

"Yeah, I can totally, yeah. I'll head over there right away. Okay?" Charlie hangs up the phone and gasps in excitement.

"Yes..YES!" Charlie chuckles in excitement when she hears about the news until she calls Yn and Vaggie in gibberish, waving very franticly that freaks Yn and Vaggie out, "Vaggie! Yn! Holy, shit!"

"Ah! What?" "Whoa!" Vaggie and Yn turned to see Charlie.

Charlie whiel biting her lip with excitement waves them to 'Get over here!' for some exciting news.

Yn and Vaggie sigh happily and come to Charlie while she is jumping around in a very happy mode. As Angel Dust drinks in the background, Yn and Vaggie meet Charlie behind.

"So, what's going on?" Vaggie asked. Charlie breathes in and out to calm her nerves so she can explain, but she was explaining so fast due to her excitement. Yn pats Charlie's back, trying to calm the poor girl down.

"My dad just called, he said that the leader of the Angel Army wants to meet. He asked if I could go instead." Charlie was hyperventilating, grabbing Yn and Vaggie to get up close. Yn and Vaggie, however, were confused since the Angels were already done with their extermination and won't be back for another year.

"The leader of the Angel Army wants to meet?" Yn asked.

"But...but, the extermination just happened. What could they want this soon after..." Vaggie started. As Vaggie went on, Charlie was in the mood to get her hotel project to work, and remained hopeful that she starts singing.

Song starts here-

"~I can do this! Somehow, I know it! I'll get Heaven behind my plans!~"

"~Charlie, hold on...~"

"~There's just no way I could blow it. Not this once-in-a-lifetime chance!~"

"~It's just a meeting.~"

"~To change their minds, And touch their hearts, Or... whatever angels have!"

"~This could be bad...~"

"~Most likely will be bad.~"

"~Cheer up, girls! This could be swell! Something tells me that today will be a happy day in Hell!~" Charlie grabs Vaggie and Yn's hands and spins them around. She lets go of them and runs off.

"Okay, but just don't... sing to them."

"Charlie?" Just before Vaggie could warn her, Angel Dust, Alice, Niffty, and Keekee were already at the window where they can see Charlie singing out in the destroyed Pentagram City, as Angel Dust turns back to Yn and Vaggie still drinking from a bottle.

"That bitch is halfway down the street!"

"Is she?"

"Oh, she's dancin'!"

"Ugh, no..."

"Charlie! Come back here!" Yn runs after Charlie.

Pentagram City-

Charlie makes her way down the street, oblivious to the destruction and bodies of dead demons everywhere as she continues to sing her song.

"~There's a warm, fuzzy feeling. That wafts through the air. Every street so revealing: It's hard not to stare!~" Charlie comes to a a window of a sex dungeon where a Hellhound is humping against an Imp wearing a sadomasicism mask. They notice her, and Charlie awkwardly fees before continuing to sing.

"~It's a realm so appealing it beats anywhere. If you don't mind the smell...~" Charlie accidentally steps on a dead shark demon that was releasing a very bad smelly fume into her nose. She cautiously avoids the corpse and presses on the street.

"~It's a happy day in Hell!~" Charlie waves at a demon who was holding a newspaper before she catches his attention, revealing himself to be a meth addict with a spoon full of meth.

"Hi, mister!"

"Go fuck yourself!" One demon opens his window, revealing his apartment on fire.

"~There's an endless trash fire that's burning my soul~"

"Hello!"

"~And a ton of barbed wire to shove in his hole!~"

"Ah, excuse me!"

"~Doing what is required, we all have our role.~"

"~I'm not doin' well!~"

"~Another shitty day in Hell!~" Charlie climbs on the trunk of the destroyed car and faces the other direction.

"~If I can show them the dream I've dreamed. That any soul can change!~"

Hazbin Hotel-

From the Hazbin Hotel, Vaggie comes into the watchtower, as if she's calling out to her girlfriends.

"~Those angels minds are hard to change.~"

"~Then they will know everyone can be redeemed. From the evil to the strange!~" Yn pushes through a group of demons that run away or moved aside at the sight of Yn.

"~They're bloodthirsty and deranged!~"

Pentagram City-

"~I can hear all their stories. The lost and displaced. And I know that they're more of an acquired taste. But if I open the door and I give them a place. At my Hazbin Hotel. It'll be a happy day in Hell!~" A truck comes by, and Charlie hitches a ride from behind so she can get around the city such as the porn studios, and the Cannibal Colony. Yn sighs as she looks Charlie riding away.

"Come on Charlie!"

"~From the porn studio. Where the cinephiles go. To watch award-winning demon bukkake shows! To the cannibal town. Where they don't wear a frown 'cause.~" Charlie was shot in the eye with blood from one of the corpses that the cannibals were eating on.

"~Holy shit! Ew, my gosh! WHY?! And I don't give a crow that His brain's got in my eye! Cause I know I can spare them. From Heaven's genocide! I can do this, I just know it!~"

"~There's an endless trash fire that's burning my soul.~"

"~I'll get Heaven behind my plans! There's just no way I could blow it.~"

"~I kinda like the barbed wire that's shoved in my hole.~”

“~Not this once-in-a-lifetime chance! To change their minds.~" Right in the moment, a slug with a Trenchcoat comes into picture, exhibiting his nudist body in front of Charlie, which creeps her out.

"~And touch my parts!~"

"Uh... No thank you. I'm just gonna... ~Fulfill my destiny!~"

"Your loss, bitch!"

"~I can already tell! Today is gonna be a fuckin' happy day in Hell!~" Charlie has gotten to right where she wants to be: the Heaven Embassy with the watchtower.

Song ends here-

Yn run up the stairs and stand next to Charlie while panting a little and wiping some blood off her face, Charlie looks at her conerned.

"Are you okay?" Charlie asked.

"Yeah... Just had to break through some crowds of sinners to get to you... You could have slowed down a little..." Charlie chuckles a little.

"Sorry." removes a piece of flesh off Yn's hair.

"No, never change." She smiles at Charlie and kisses her cheek.

"Why don't we go in, we don't wanna let the Angel Army leader wait." Yn suggested.

"Right!" She opens the door to peek inside with Yn.

"Hello!" Charlie's voice echoes.

Yn and Charlie enters through the door and finds the whole embassy deserted. She walks to the front desk to check in.

"Hello?" Charlie's voice echoes again, "Well, this is Creepy.." Yn said.

She and Charlie comes to the front desk with no one but a single bell. She taps the bell to ring it, and at the instant, a golden scroll and feather ink pen floats from above over to them.

"Oh, okay.." Charlie signs it.

"That's also creepy." The scroll and feather flies up before disappearing. Right then, the twin doors slide open to show Yn and Charlie the meeting room, and they enter inside the dark room with no one around.

"Uh... hello?"

"Is anyone here? Did the assholes prank us?" The lights suddenly switched on, revealing two angels at the end of the room, with one being a exorcist lieutenant, Lute and the big boss leader of the Angel Army, Adam, who is eating a rib in his hand.

"Sup!"

"Holy shit!" Charlie immediately falls back but Yn catches her after getting surprised by the sudden appearance of two angels in the room. Yn places Charlie back onto the ground and she readjusts herself to introduce herself properly.

"Hi, I'm Charlie, this is Yn. My dad asked me if I could meet you."

"Yeah, I know." Adam eats his rip like a buzzsaw.

"Okay, well. It's nice to meet you."

"Totally. It's nice to meet you too." Adam reaches over to give Charlie a handshake, and as she was about to shake his hand, her hand slips right through, revealing him to be a hologram, fizzing on and off after being touched, which freaks Charlie out.

"Ha! I fucking got you." He turns to Lute.

"Did you see that?" Lute nods once.

"Ha. Good shit." Adam laughs more. Charlie was trying to get something straight with Adam being a hologram.

"Wow, what an old trick." Yn said not amused.

"Still fucking funny." Adam laughed.

"Whatever gets you hard buddy..." Yn said, Charlie was trying to get something straight with Adam being a hologram.

"Uh... so wait. you aren't here?" Charlie questioned.

"Eh, makes senses, I hardly think anyone would willingly come down here." Yn said, Adam laughs.

"Yeah, no, I mean, I love the vibe, totally, I love your tunes. Pretty fucking hardcore, don't get me wrong. But it's such a bummer man. Everything down there's just so "ugh", ya know?" He chuckles dryly.

"Ew."

"Right. 'Snobby c**t.'" Yn insulted him mentally.

"So, I'm happy we've got this opportunity to meet. There's a project that I've been working on that I really want to talk about-" Charlie smiles nervously.

Adam puts his finger on Charlie's lips to quiet her down for a moment.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey, slow down. We've got time. How about we get to know each other a little. Mmm. How about lunch? You hungry?" Adam smirked as he took a plate of ribs he's been eating toward Charlie, "Here's my personal favorite. You'll love it."

"Uh. thanks." Charlie smiled a bit.

"No Charlie, don't-" Charlie went to take a piece of a rib, but her hand past right through them, also revealing to be a hologram, as they fizz on and off from the touch, and Adam laughs while Yn stares at Adam clearly not being amused.

"I got you again! Bitch! Fuckin' hilarious!" Charlie makes a small unamused chuckle alongside Adam's hyper laughter.

Hazbin Hotel-

Back at the Hazbin Hotel, Angel Dust was constantly looking at Husk with seductive gaze while Husk was glaring daggers at her. Vaggie's feet comes into the camera before switching back to in person.

"Okay, so, Charlie is dealing with something very important, so while she's gone, we are making a new commercial. One that represents her vision and what we're doing here. So, we need a camera." Vaggie said, turning to Alastor, "Alastor?"

Alastor snaps a finger to conjure up a camera for Vaggie; however, the camera is a folding-type old camera from the 1930s with no recording films at that time. Vaggie is unamused.

"A video camera?" Vaggie questioned.

"Hmmm." Alastor's lips made a straight line in annoyance.

Despite his extreme distaste for modern technology, Alastor did what Vaggie requested and snaps his finger again to conjure up a video camera that was poorly used with tapes sticked together.

"Alright! Let's do this!" The camera switched into the camera point of view recording the bar scene with Husk behind the counter reading a script in his claws with Angel Dust at the opposite counter. The camera whirrs back to get a better focus of the two.

"And. Action!" Vaggie called. Husk carefully reads the lines on his script, bringing the script closer to read.

"Welcome to the Hazbin Hotel. Can I help with anything?.." Husk read slowly.

"I've been a bad boy, and I need a big, strong daddy to put me in my place..." Angel Dust spoke in a seductive tone before straightening himself up, "on the path to redemption!" He smiled.

Husk groans with displeasure and reads the script again, "Well, you come..."

"Oh, yes!" Angel Dust starts moaning.

Husk paused, bored, "to the right place." Vaggie has had it, and stops recording.

"Cut! Okay, Angel, I need you to be less horny if possible, and Husk, can you maybe not have a script in front of your face." Vaggie demanded.

Husk spoke angrily, "I ain't no actor! I can't memorize this shit!"

"Well, we could improve this shit, baby cakes." Angel Dust then got closer to Husk's face, "Rraww.." He purrs seductively.

Husk gets irritated by Angel Dust and shoves him out of the counter painfully hard.

"Whoops." Husk blankly he then grabs a bottle and drinks it.

Vaggie spoke offscreen, "Husk, come on."

The Embassy of Heaven-

Both Yn and Charlie look bored, Charlie propping herself on her elbows while listening to Adam exaggeratingly boosted himself and his sex life. The camera cuts to Adam.

"So, I was playin' this gig, and for some fuckin' reason, this virtue chick was diggin' on the drummer, and it's like, 'do you know who I am? I'm fuckin' Adam. I'm the original dick!' Adam pointing to his penis down the table, "All dicks descend from me. You think you want drummer dick?" Lute shaking her head, "No way! I'm the Dick-fuckin' master!" Adam eats a mouthful of ribs sloppily, "So, anyway, then we fucked, and it was awesome. What'd you do this weekend?" Charlie caught on what Adam said and realizes one thing about the boss.

"Wait, your name is Adam? The first man Adam, that means you... Oh...." Yn laughs at Adam while Charlie pieces the puzzle together and was surprised that this is very awkward and disturbingly cringy from hearing the story Adam was proclaiming, realizing that this is the reason why her mother left him, making her wince with gawkiness.

"That explains so freakin much." Yn tries to calm down.

"I know. I fucking rock, Hottie." He holds a rock pose and smirked at Yn.

"More like suck." Yn stated.

"What did you say?!" Adam shouted.

"I said. You. Suck donkey balls!" Adam scoffs, clearly feeling offended.

"What the fuck do you mean?! I'm awesome!"

"Man, you're the first human ever created, I have a long list of things you fucked up!"

"Oh yeah? What's that?" Adam questioned, Yn summons a scroll in her hands and rolls it open making it roll all across the room very comically, she clears her throat and looks down at the scroll.

"Let's see here..." Yn suddenly burns the scroll and slams her hands onto the table startling Charlie and Adam.

"Why don't we start with the fucking animal names!" Yn shouted at Adam.

"There's nothing wrong with them!" Adam

"Really?! What were you smoking when you named two insects a cockroach and a grasshopper?" Yn questioned.

"Well one of them eats its own shit, what else would I call it?" Adam said, Yn thinks about that and scoffs a little.

"Alright, cockroach is passable but what about grasshopper? You saw that bitch hopping around in the grass and thought: "Oh shit! Thing hops around in the grass like crazy! That's a grasshopper! Bet Heaven would love that." Yn looks at Adam with his eyes wide like a crazy person.

"Yeah, that's pretty much how it went. How'd you know?" Yn's eye twitches.

"You fucking... What about..." She looks down at another scroll.

"A fucking Sarcastic Fringehead! What the hell is that?!"

"It's a very fucked up fish!" Adam answered.

"A fucked up fish? A fucked up fish?! You're a fucked up fish!" He points at Adam who gasps.

"Did you just call me a fucking fish?! I'm not a fucking fish!" Adam threw his hands up dramatically.

"Wow! Congratulations! Then we have a damn.." Yn looks down at his scroll with disbelief.

"A Aha ha Wasp... Were you laughing while naming that and you decided to go for it?! There's a fucking bird called Boobies! What are you 12?!" Adam chuckles when he hears the name pissing Yn off.

"Then we have a small spider named: Sparklemuffin. Sparklemuffin! Now even I'm starting to get offended, that's a name a small girl calls their new pet cat!" Yn stated.

"You know, I'm... I'm really starting to get bummed out." Adam said.

"Oh? Is the little bitch boy getting upset? You wanna take a nap before you throw a tantrum?!" Yn said with a hand on her hip, Adam slams his hands on the table and gets up into Yn's face as the two glare at each other.

"Fuck you! I can see why you're in hell, you hotass looking whore!" Yn gasps feeling offended.

"Did you call me a whore?!" While Yn and Adam argue Charlie and Lute just blankly stare at them.

-Time Skip-

After a good 20 minutes of arguing and throwing insults at each other Charlie groans as she's slowly getting fed up with the arguing and yelling.

"At least I don't look easy to draw!" Yn insulted Adam.

"You did not just say that to me!"

"Yes I-"

"Yn!" Charlie shouted, Yn freezes when she hears Charlie yell out her name. She slowly turns to look at Charlie who is looking at her sternly.

"That's enough! You're on time out!" Yn looks at Charlie in disbelief while Adam laughs at him.

"What! Time out? But Charlie." Charlie points to a chair next to her, Yn lowers her head with a groan and sits down on the chair with her arms crossed.

"Victory!" Yn glares at Adam as she mumbles to herself.

"At least I've slept with Lilith unlike you! She must have seen how sad your dick is and that completely turned her off, you might be the original dick but mine (Yn sometimes like to change her gander during a fun time) is evolved to another plain of existance!... I mean it might not be me really fucking her, it's more like Lilith fucking both me and Lucif-" Charlie slaps a piece of tape over Yn's mouth and forces her to sit back on the chair. The whole room stays in silence, the only small noise heard is the small huffs coming from Yn who is quickly silenced by Charlie.

She brushes off the awkwardness from Adam and gets to her subject of matter in hand.

"Well, Adam, sir. Mr. Adam, sir." Charlie tried to grab Adam's attention.

"Call me, Dickmaster." Adam smirked. If looks couldn't kill, Yn was so done with this guy.

"Adam. You seem like a smart..." She paused, "well, stand up guy" Charlie smiled nervously.

Adam picking his teeth, "Uh-huh."

"And I know you are the leader of the angels. And you are a big thinker, a revolutionary. A...A genius!" Charlie noted.

"I mean, your words, babe." Adam leaned forward.

"Who would really love to put his name on something." Charlie smirked.

"Fucking love putting my name on shit! Shit's the best!" Adam seemed excited.

"It's a solution to our biggest problem!" Charlie got excited.

"Oh, Herpes. Yeah, that's a bitch." Adam sighed.

"No! Our... other biggest problem." Charlie stated, slightly annoyed.

"Oh...uh. ugly people? Math? Global Warming? Nah, wait, that's Earth's problem." Adam tried to remember.

Yn and Charlie could not believe how dumb Adam is about the oblivious fact to their overpopulation and Extermination problem, as Adam tries to make something sense only to him, and stared at him with a deadpan annoyance

"Ummm..." Adam thought.

'Now I get why humans are a bunch of morons...' Yn thought.

Hazbin Hotel-

Niffty tries to stab a bug. She tries to stab the bug, but misses, and starts stabbing the bug multiple times before Vaggie stops her.

"Stab! Stab! Stab!" Niffty smiled brightly.

"Alright Niffty, Niffty. Your line is "We have the cleanest rooms", okay?" Vaggie informed.

"Got it. I'm ready." Niffty gave a thumbs up Vaggie turns the camera to Niffty, "Action!"

Niffty freezes and stares blankly at the camera, leaving Vaggie puzzled. Angel also peers in.

Niffty freezes and stares blankly at the camera without a breath or blinking from the scene. Vaggie panels away, looking puzzled. Angel also peers in. Close up on Niffty making a blank stare with an ominous shrinking pupil. Angel slowly backs away, already creeped out.

"Uhh, cut." Vaggie stated. Niffty snaps out of it and back to her cheerful self as she giggles, "How was that?"

"Well, Niffty you actually have to say the line, so let's roll again..." Vaggie sighed.

"Ok!" Niffty smiled wildly.

"Action!" Vaggie yells as she sat in her director's chair.

Niffty freezes again staring blankly at the camera.

"You're doing great, Vagina." Angel Dust leans over to Vaggie, smiling smugly.

Vaggie seemed irritated, "Cut! Alright, uhh maybe we can try to fix it in post."

"Do you even know what that means?" Angel Dusk asked.

Vaggie sighed, "I'll figure it out!" She yells out angrily.

-Time Skip-

In a dark room with Vaggie sitting in front of a broken TV, watching the poorly edited shots of the commercial. She groans with frustration before Alastor enters the room.

"Seems like you're having a bit of a trouble there, hmm?" Alastor smirked.

"Ugh, este pendejo (this asshole)... Why are you even here?" Vaggie grumbled.

Alastor takes a seat on a couch next to her, "For the entertainment," Alastor's shadow slips out of his form before reappearing behind the couch, making laughing gestures, "I came here because I love seeing wasteful souls struggle to accomplish something meaningful and..." The shadow disappears, "..fail spectacularly, like you are doing now. Good job!"

Vaggie was getting ticked off by Alastor and his carefree insults, stands up and turns the camera toward him.

Vaggie points the camera to Alastor, "And here is Alastor, the egocentric piece of shit that..." As Vaggie was viewing the camera scene up to Alastor's face, the video camera glitches violently from green to red and Vaggie freaks out, dropping the static camera on the floor.

"UGH!" She groaned.

"I wouldn't try that, my dear." Alastor said, pointing to his face, "This face was made for radio." As Alastor explains, his pupils turn into the shape of radio dials, He had a nightmarish smile while red symbols float around him and the scene goes nearly static before fixing itself back to normal on Vaggie. She has had it with Alastor's insults and walks up to him.

"That's it. I don't care who or what you are. If you're staying here, you're going to make this work, because it won't be so..." Vaggie spoke imitating Alastor's voice, "...' entertaining'.." She went back to her normal voice, "to watch over an empty hotel, will it, shitass?" As Vaggie returns to her chair, Alastor approaches her, "Fair enough. I'll tell you what." Alastor smirked.

"Let's make a deal." Alastor smirked.

"Pfft, you think I'm that stupid making a deal with a demon like you?"

"Not for you soul, just a simple deal. I do this for you and you never ask me to engage with this frivolous television technology every again. Or my dear Yn and Charlie can come back to absolutely nothing: Your choice." Alastor crossed his arms. Vaggie glances away for a brief moment before making her decision as she sighs, "Fine" Vaggie picks up the camera and gives it to Alastor, which he evaporates it with a clap of his hand.

"Now then!" Alastor smirked. Alastor snaps his finger and transforms the hotel into a film set with the hotel staff into a 50s style film crew. Ink demons conjure up as additional background characters.

"Alright everyone, let's make a fucking commercial." Vaggie smirked.

The Embassy of Heaven-

Yn who's mouth is still taped while sitting down and Charlie looking exasperated with another of Adam's sexist rants.

"When you take her out for the fifth time and she still expects you to pay the check but you're like." Adam speaks in a high pitched-voice, "Hey, I thought you wanted equality."

"NO! our shared problem of overpopulation in Hell!" Charlie exclaimed.

"Ohh, well that's not a problem! We got that covered!" Adam said turning to Lute, "Lute, how many demons did you kill this year?"

"Got a good 275 this year, sir." Lute stated.

"275? Woah! Badass! Awesome job, danger tits! Pound it." Adam raises a fist for Lute to make a fist-bump, which she did.

"Uh no, not awesome. Those are my people, you know that right?" Charlie exclaimed.

Adam paused, "Oh yeah. That must suck for you!" Adam bursts into laughter.

"But these are souls... Humans souls just the same as the ones you have up in heaven." Charlie stated.

Lute spoke coldly, "They're not the same. They had their chance and they earned damnation."

"You're wrong. Sinners made mistakes, sure, but everyone makes mistakes." Charlie noted.

"Angels don't make mistakes." Lute noted as Adam glared at her, "Excuse me. I'm sorry."

"You really think that." Charlie exclaimed.

"I know that." Lute looked away.

'I bet to differ bitch, than what does that make Lucifer?' Yn thought.

"Yeah, I've never made a mistake in my fuckin' life." Adam smirked. Lute starts to walk around Charlie while the room starts to slowly become dark with a hit of red light inside.

"The only reason you're still here is because daddy gave you and your hellborn kind a pardon from an exorcist blade. How does that feel, to know how little you matter?" Lute looked at Charlie close.

"How does that feel, to know how little you matter?" Yn glares at her, her eyes glowing red with fire.

"Oops, almost out of time. Guess we should get into it." Adam smirked.

Song starts here-

"Oh fuck!" Charlie rushes to present her plan as fast as she could, "Okay I've got a lot to get through and not a lot of time and I feel like you weren't hearing me before so here it goes."

she opens a small portal where she takes out her drawings of her plans.

Charlie coughs as she starts making a fast-talk, which is close to singing as she gets all over stuff out on the table to show them what she means.

"~I know Hell's population is out of control. It's a bad situation It's taking a toll, If we rehab these Sinners And cleanse all their souls. At my Hazbin Hotel-~" Charlie rambles through the stacks of paper to get something. "Wait, I'm getting ahead of myself!" Charlie smiled and held up some more papers. "Right Extermination!"

"~I know you guys fly down Just to kill once a year, And it must be annoying To schlep all the way here, If they join you in Heaven That trip disappears! You can wave that chore farewell *deep breath* It'll be a happy day-~"

"~Let me stop you right there, safe us precious time~"

"Oh" Charlie gulped.

"~If what you're suggesting Is letting them climb. Up the ladder. Oh, they'd rather cross the Pearly Gates?"

"Well, uh..." Charlie tried to speak.

"~Sorry, sweetie. But there's no defin' their fates! 'Cause Hell is forever. Whether you like it or not. Had their chance to behave better. Now they boil in the pot. 'Cause the rules are black and white. There's no use in tryin' to fight it. They're burnin' for their lives. Until we kill'em again!~"

"Okay, but.." Charlie was interrupted.

"~Just try to chillax, babe. You're wasting your breath.~"

Charlie laughed nervously, "Hehe..."

"~Did I hear you imply. That they don't deserve death? Are they Winners? Are they Sinners? 'Cause it's cut and dry.~"

Charlie held up one of her drawings, "Well, actually, if you take a look..."

"~Fair is fair, an eye for an eye! And when all's said and done 'Said and done' There's the question of fun 'Fun' And for those of us with Divine Ordainment, Extermination is entertainment!~" Yn stands up and rips the tape from her mouth with an angry expression but it's replaced with a smirk as she levitates into the shadows of the room.

"~Bow-now-now-nownow Guitar solo, fuck yeah! Oh, da-ah-ah now-now-n-now-n-now-n-now-n-nownownow.~"  Adam plays a fake guitar. After Adam throws Charlie's papers at her, she gets so angry that she turns into her demon form, making growling noise.

"Ugh..." Charlie growls.

"~Hell is forever. Whether you like it or not. Had their chance to behave better.~" Four golden mirages of Exorcists appear, surrounding Charlie from all sides. Charlie seemed shocked, "Where the Hell did you people come from?!"

"~*Everyone except Charlie* Now they boil in the pot. 'Cause the rules are black and white. There's no use in tryin' to fight it. They're burnin' for their lives. Until we kill 'em again! Fuckin' Hell's forever.~"

"~And it's meant to suck a lot. So give up your dumb endeavor. 'Cause you don't have a shot!-" Charlie glares at Adam, starting to transform into her full demon form while burning her papers that are in her hands.

"~Long as I've got your attention. I guess I should probably mention. That we made the determination." Adam summons a golden scroll that he shows to Charlie. The scroll reads: FUCK YOU I DO WHAT I WANT!! with a crude drawing of Adam at the bottom flipping Charlie off, "~To move up the next Extermination!~"

"What?!" Charlie seems shocked. Yn's eyes widen in shock but her eyes narrow quickly and she grits her teeth.

"~Can't wait a whole year. To slaughter those little cunts. I know it's just been a week. But we'll be back in six months!~" Despite being a hologram, Adam grabs Charlie and throws her right out of the door.

"Um, wait, you-you Ugh, SHIT!" Charlie runs towards the closing doors trying to talk to Adam and when the doors close right in front of her she punches it with small tears welling up in her eyes.

"Yn!" She looks around and realizes that Yn is still in the room.

Inside the room Adan is laughing at Charlie, he turns to look at Lute.

"Did you hear that bitch?! She, she really thinks those cunt's could go to Heaven." Adam laughed.

"You really are pathetic, aren't you?" Adam and Lute turn to look towards a corner were they see Yn levitate out from with a smirk on her face.

"What the hell are you still doing here?!" Adam shouted at her.

"Oh, I'm here to kill you." Adam stares at Yn before he bursts out laughing while Lute smirks.

"And how are you gonna do that? Don't you remember?" He waves his hand through the table.

"We're not down there!" Yn smiles showing his sharp teeth.

"That doesn't matter." In a blink of an eye Yn appears in front of Adam and Lute, she grabs their hands but what they didn't expect happens, Yn is able to physically grab their hands.

Heaven-

In a similar room but in Heaven Adam and Lute stare horrified as Yn slowly starts to break through the "hologram". Yn's face becomes distorted, her eyes twitch with three glowing orbs floating in them, her mouth becomes wide revealing multiple rows of teeth.

"What's wrong? You getting scared bitch boy?" Yn laughed.

"Cut it!" Lute runs over to a switch that cuts off the hologram connection between Heaven and Hell.

"Ahh!" Adam screams in pain. Lute turns around and she comes face to face with Yn who grabs her arm and burns it causing her to scream, but she fights through the pain and pulls on the switch causing Yn to disappear but not without letting out a small haunting laugh. Adam stays silent for a second before laughing.

"Whoo! That was hot for a weird one! I'm hungry as hell, I'm gonna get some food." Adam walks out of the room leaving, he looks down at his arm that had a burnt symbol. Lute who falls onto her knees alone, looks down at her arm and sees a symbol burned onto it as well.

The symbol glows red and both Adam and Lute's veins turn red too as the energy travels up into their head. They groan but stop when the symbol stops glowing. Both opens their eyes that flash red.

"That fucking... Dirty... sinner~" Adam and Lute said nsync. They both held their arm and chuckles.

The Embassy's of Heaven-

Charlie is walking back and forth in the hall ways, waiting for the doors to the room to open and hopefully Yn walking out of there fine. She gasps as the doors open, and Charlie sees Yn walk out.

"Sorry I took-" She is cut off as Charlie hugs her tightly.

"You're okay!" Yn chuckles.

"Of course I am. I just had to stay for a while and show that asshole who he's talking to." Charlie hugged Yn tighter. She sighs, thinking about that Adam said.

"Can we just go home?"

"Yeah. Let's go hun."

Hazbin Hotel-

Yn and Charlie sadly return to the hotel. Vaggie runs to them and hugs them.

"Yn! Charlie! How did it go, did they listen?" Vaggie smiled.

"Oh, they sure did hear it But..." Charlie didn't get to finish.

"Oh come here, we have something exciting to show you." Vaggie leads Yn and Charlie to group, "Alastor pulled some strings and it's about to air."

"I pulled a few limbs too, hahaha.." Alastor laughed.

"Wait, the commercial? You all made a new one?" Charlie smiled.

"Yeah, one of my better performances if I do say so myself." Angel Dust fixed his fluff.

Charlie beams brightly, "That's... that's amazing."

"Well haven't you been productive." Yn smiles at Angel Dust.

"shh, it's starting." Vaggie squealed.

TV: "Welcome to the Hazbin Hotel -" The TV cuts to the News report. The group except Yn, Alastor and Niffty annoyed and angrily complain Charlie even slightly transforming into her full demon form.

"Breaking news in Hell today! We have just received word from the Heaven Embassy that the next Extermination is happening sooner than ever before. Do you know what that means, Tom?" Katie Killjoy exclaimed.

"No, what does that mean, Katie?" Tom Trench replied.

"It means we're all royally fucked!" Katie's eye twitches.

Screaming can be heard from Sinners as the time on the Clock Tower reduces to 176 days till the next Extermination.

"Wait what? Why?!" Angel Dust spoke.

Yn then stands up and starts to walk towards the front doors but she's stopped by Vaggie who grabs her shoulder.

"Where are you going?" Vaggie questioned.

"I'm just gonna go talk to someone... important." Vaggie looks at Yn who narrows her eyes concerned.

"Okay.. Just be safe out there." Yn smiles at Vaggie.

"You don't have to worry about me Vaggie." Yn kisses her forehead and walks out, six wings grow out of her back and she blasts off into the sky as Vaggie looks up at her.

"But I do." Yn flies higher and higher into the air when she sees a barrier that surrounds Hell. Yn closes her eyes and after a second they snap open revealing glowing white eyes. The barrier in front of Yn breaks open allowing Yn to fly out of Hell and right towards Heaven.

Heaven-

Yn lands in front of God's golden castle but her form has changed instead of her more demonic form Yn's form has changed into a beautiful angelic being that looks like she's made out of pure light and holy energy with multiple pure white wings and a huge white halo that surrounds a huge crown made out of holy energy.

Yn walks towards the gigantic golden doors that are guarded by powerful angels. When the angels see Yn walking towards them, they step back and bow in front of her acting if she was God himself. The doors open automatically in front of Yn who walks in.

God's Throne Room-

In God's throne room a seraphim angel is talking to God when they are cut off as the doors to the throne room open and Yn marches in, her presence shaking the room. God smiles at the sight of Yn while the angel bows, Yn looks down at them.

"Leave us please." The angel nods and walks out of the throne room. Yn folds her arms and looks at God who lets out a small sigh.

"What's wrong dear?" God questioned sitting on his throne.

"What's wrong? What's wrong?! What's wrong is that the extermination was shortened to six months!" She yells out shaking the entire castle violently. But the shaking eventually dies down.

"Yeah... I heard about that..." God said still smiling.

"You have to stop that, it's complete insanity!" She starts walking back and forth while waving her arms around.

"I don't even know how that was allowed! I know it's Hell but that doesn't mean everyone should be killed without a care!"

"I know, I know Yn." Yn looks at him.

"If you know, do something about it." Yn demanded.

"I can't. It's not that dire yet."

"Not that dire. That's bullshit." Yn scoffs and crossed her arms. God sighs and walks over to Yn and hugs her from behind, putting his head on her shoulder.

"I might do something about this, I only ask if you let me have you~" God offers. Yn moves away from him with an expression that tells him 'No'.

"Then that's that. Since when did you start caring about the sinners?" God question.

"I don't. but down there are people that I care about deeply and if this continues I'm afraid that they'll get hurt. And if they do, I'll erase all of creation as a whole!" Yn said. God spins Yn around to face him as he wraps his arms around her.

"I promise you, I'lI take care of this if it crosses the line." God swears to her dead in the eyes as he held her close to him.

Pentagram City-

A drone scours an area until it finds a dead Exorcist corpse with its head missing. The drone scans the corpse.

"We found the body, sir. They've never managed to kill one of us before. We should just go down there now and destroy them!" Lute spoke, upset and pissed off.

"No, no. We can't risk them catching on. But, don't worry, when we come back, there won't be a demon left alive to pull a stunt like this again!" Adam sighed as he looked at his burnt arm as it glowed.

(At this point I’m not gonna cover up the bad words so keep in mind I’m future they will be revealed bad words for some)

Previous Page: Ch. 3: The Murder Family

Next Page: Ch. 5: Radio Killed the Video Star

Beginning: Front Cover

[lotus-tower]

the orochi revisited: the takagin edit

the digital version of yaoizine vol.2 has been out for a while, so i thought i'd finally post my essay on here! some of the jokes don't work as well without the context of the zine's cover but lol. hope you enjoy anyway. a very brief overview of the takagin relationship in relation to my first essay's framework

The following paper is a commentary on and tribute to My Orochi Stood Up: A Draconic Response to "eat shit and die” (1948), in celebration of its 75th anniversary. Though much has changed in the anal-ytic landscape since Orochi was first published, much is still the same. As the pioneer of ouroboros theory, a now interdisciplinary framework that has made many valuable contributions to the study of literature both anally inclined and not, My Orochi Stood Up is a foundational work that has remained relevant and resonant across years and disciplines. However, in this text I will be focusing on Orochi’s roots first and foremost as a piece of Gintamaology.

To begin, we must acknowledge that it is impossible to discuss My Orochi Stood Up without also accounting for the work it was written in response to, T. S. Hirt’s eat shit and die (1938), or the original unnamed poem where most of its ideas first took shape (1944). Unfortunately, providing a commentary of the former would be beyond the scope of this paper. Readers interested in anality are strongly encouraged to familiarize themselves with this watershed text in Gintama escatology, as it lays the groundwork for everything that follows. As for the poem, it is referenced at length in My Orochi Stood Up, but I have decided to omit mention of it–among many other things–owing to this journal’s physical constraints. While I regret the necessity of this, there is simply too much to say on the subject of “the pole and the hole” in Gintama–particularly the pole, which Gintama explores with endless fascination. The sword, the pillar, the Terminal, the gravestone, the tree–with its fondness for substitution as well as its love of dirty things, Gintama’s collection of treasured motifs has no shortage of things that stand erect. 

Both pole and hole are equally important to the cycle of self-fertilization first described by My Orochi Stood Up almost a century ago. Yet Orochi was, understandably, primarily preoccupied with explaining its ouroboros thesis, leaving it with limited room to discuss in-story logistics beyond the conceptual framework and Gintama’s broad thematics. As you may have guessed, this paper will attempt to do so–and for this purpose it would be more efficient to start from the bottom up, so to speak. So this essay is dedicated instead to the hole, that gaping void named as Gintama’s ultimate antagonist. Let us now revisit the holeistic framework of the serpent swallowing its tail while examining one of Gintama’s most fraught relationships: Gintoki and Takasugi. 

______________________________________________________________

First, it cannot be overstated how much Gintama relies on duality and parallel structures. The Gintama cast and narrative is constructed like a hall of mirrors, parallels upon parallels upon parallels organized on each side of a central divide. This intersecting line, as shown in Figure 1.1, is what creates the reflection in the first place, allowing characters to be mirrors (or, in the prized language of fandom, foils). One could consider it the glass of the mirror, or the organizing force of the narrative itself. The creation of this dividing line provides structure to the characters, the world, and its temporality–but it is also an act of violence. See Fig 1.1.

Fig. 1.1: ⭩🢥⮀🢛❑⮅⮡🢜

On a diegetic level, bad things happen to the characters because life is difficult, and mostly similar bad things happen to everyone because the series rests upon the Joui war and its related conflicts the way a world rests on the back of a turtle. But perhaps more relevantly, Gintama’s central conceit is that one’s ultimate enemy is always oneself, so naturally all enemies can eventually be conflated. It is an efficient tautological loop. 

What separates the characters on each side of the dividing line, then, is not the degree of suffering they undergo but their response to that violence. My Orochi Stood Up terms these unfortunate souls who end up on the wrong side of the divide “hole-sided.” Their lack is caused not by their injury, but by their own response to it, by their failure, for a time, to live up to their own humanity. This is the position occupied by the antagonists (and, intermittently and continuously, yet somehow always away from the reader’s eyes, our protagonist Gintoki), those who have failed to fill the lack in their souls like responsible adults. 

That which Gintama prescribes to fill these naturally and unnaturally occurring holes in humans is dirt: the debris accrued from a lifetime of living, brushing shoulders with other people, becoming stained by them, becoming dirty and worn as you mature, subjecting yourself to the deeply humiliating and humbling experience of being alive. Of course, as both eat shit and die and My Orochi Stood Up illuminate, in Gintama “dirt” is also a synonym and euphemism for “shit.” We are thus not talking about just any dirt-filled hole, but specifically about the anus. The vulgarity of Gintama’s framing of bonds–as shitting onto and into each other–and its use of shit as a humanizing trait is highly characteristic of both the series’s general sense of humour and the ways in which it mixes gags and serious delivery of narrative to create a densely layered non-linear experience in which absurdity and tragedy are forcibly, jarringly concomitant. 

As T. S. Hirt wrote in 1948, “the anus—the dirty human things—is the home for the phallus—the ideals we hold, the source of our power.” Indeed, were Gintama not so irreverent about its most valued symbol, the sword, due to its fondness for wordplay and for low-hanging fruit, perhaps the nationalistic bent of the series would be more questionable. But as My Orochi Stood Up argued, Gintama’s emphasis on wordplay and its fearless decision to call itself the equivalent of “Ligma” are integral to a thematic understanding of the series, and are key to the ouroboros thesis in particular.

But perhaps the singularly most important example is the -tama in Gintama, with its plethora of potential meanings, each of them just silly and dirty enough that you have to take it seriously. Beyond the obvious joke on kintama (balls) and the “silver soul” direct meaning, we’ve seen that tama is also easily conflated with atama (head), and even with tamago (egg). This is clearly demonstrated with the series’ fixation on beheading leading to the salvation of the soul and the bodyswap arc hinging on the pun between soul and egg. [...] The fact that the characters end up turning into giant turds, likening the soul-egg-balls to an asshole, only drives the point in further. (My Orochi Stood Up, 1948)

To return to the unfortunate hole-sided, these are the characters who lack dirt, who could not withstand the mortifying ordeal of being alive. The natural assumption to make here would be that Gintama then juxtaposes opposing forces, setting “desiring-pairs” of head and hole, sword and scabbard in conflict with each other. Indeed, Gintoki is stabbed again and again, with all kinds of blades–but the villains do not want to stab him as much as they want him to stab them, with his much more meaningful sword. Yet those who are hole-sided do not seek to be filled.

[...] But this is a different process than emptying yourself, which is what the antagonists are doing. All Gintama villains are hole-sided, desperately trying to destroy themselves while pretending, as hard as they can, that they don’t know that you can’t destroy a hole–only make it bigger. (My Orochi Stood Up, 1948)

Takasugi desires Gintoki, not because he believes Gintoki can make him whole again, but rather because he knows he cannot ever be whole again, and that is because of his love for Gintoki. Moreover, the series’ consistent use of language such as “broken” versus “unbroken” swords implies that those who cannot be filled are also those who cannot fill others. Just as the serpent cannot swallow its tail without filling its own mouth, its mouth cannot be filled without having a tail to swallow. As My Orochi Stands Up makes clear, the process of self-creation and other-creation are effectively one and the same in Gintama.

All Gintama antagonists are in parallel with each other and in mirror with their counterparts, who in turn contain echoes of our protagonist, Gintoki. In this way, the entire story can be folded in on itself, side over side, into the shape of Gintoki, the microcosm, like a piece of carefully designed origami. One of the most popular endings of the anime, ending 25, “Glorious Days,” demonstrates one half of this as Gintoki stands unmoving and unchanged as the anime’s large roster of antagonists replace each other before him in quick succession, different times and places flashing past without emphasis. “Nothing has changed,” Gintama constantly claims, while simultaneously showing us how the world has entered a different era, a different century, a different genre, in the span of ten years.

In the ending, Takasugi and Gintoki haunt each other’s footsteps. Takasugi’s feet in Gintoki’s reflection in the water lag one step behind, unable to keep up with him but unable to stop chasing after him, while Gintoki’s ghost is not even visible in Takasugi’s reflection; instead, Gintoki’s presence is indicated by Takasugi’s own reflection stopping and looking back.

Gintoki and Takasugi are the most important pair of mirror selves in Gintama, and inarguably the most yaoistic. Rather than homoeroticism, however, what they have could perhaps be termed a sort of homothematicism. Whereas Gintoki has filled himself with dirt and debris from the series’ overflowing, enormous cast, learning and re-learning how to be human, Takasugi is caught in an incandescent storm of rage and grief, a serpent futilely trying to swallowing itself in the literal sense. But he can never succeed, because he has nothing to fill his belly with other than himself; there is nothing he values in the self he is trying to destroy; thus, he can never satisfy his desire to hurt himself.

Takasugi’s immortality is of the same kind as Utsuro’s, which is to say, hole-sided. It is not that they cannot be killed, only that they cannot die. Takasugi therefore turns to the same drastic final resort as Utsuro: destroying the world in order to destroy themselves. Again we can observe Gintoki’s role as the microcosm in comparison to Shouyou and Utsuro’s exaggerated, macrocosmic style. My Orochi Stood Up details how Utsuro as well as the eponymous Orochi’s identities blur into that of their respective planets, likening them to world snakes. Tied to the Earth itself, Utsuro’s existence cannot end independently of it; his only recourse is to destroy Earth, and perhaps take the entire universe with it.

To Takasugi, however, the world is synonymous with Gintoki. 

Takasugi’s doomed love for Gintoki affords him an interesting position in the narrative, where his conflation between Gintoki’s sword and the pillar of the world aligns with the story’s folded structure centered around Gintoki. Takasugi is Gintoki’s shadow, Gintoki’s “other self”, as Gintama terms it, but weak, diminished, unable to carry the burden of living or live up to Shouyou’s teachings. Gintama’s villains–and its weaklings–are those who will recklessly hurt others in order to harm themselves; its heroes are those who will fight themselves in order to become better versions of themselves. Conveniently, in this cast the villains are the heroes are the villains–and so in defeating the villains, the heroes overcome their own shadows, while the villains knowingly throw themselves into this process out of desperate hope that this will finally end their miserable roles in this story.

Takasugi, then, tries to destroy Gintoki because it is the only way he can destroy himself. On one level, part of him possesses the same general meta-awareness that all Gintama characters have about their allotted roles, and knows that if they were to clash, Gintoki would be the one to successfully devour him. But for the most part, Takasugi’s motivations are painfully earnest and straightforward: harming Gintoki simply hurts more than harming himself can ever hope to accomplish, and if Gintoki were to die, so too would Takasugi’s world crumble to nothing. 

What is interesting is Gintoki’s response to these violent advances. Gintoki, of course, understands full well what kind of story he is in at all times. “Too bad,” he tells Takasugi, scraping himself back up from the ground. “I won’t fall. Until you stop, I’ll keep standing back up.” Here Gintoki himself is positioned as one of those things that stand erect. The Gintoki in Takasugi’s memory that is invoked is “a figure that stands before Takasugi”–or, put another way, Gintoki understands his duty in their relationship as that to keep standing, for as long as Takasugi needs something erect to throw himself against.

Thus, when Takasugi says that the world will not end as long as Gintoki’s sword remains unbroken, while Gintoki says that the only way to stop Takasugi is to stop his breathing, Gintoki becomes the immovable object and Takasugi the (un)stoppable force. However, in a fascinating inversion of the usual connotations, here the object is presented as something the force has chased after all its life, something unattainable and unreachable and yet no less immovable. Meanwhile, the force traps itself in a circular, looping motion, its unstoppable momentum doing nothing to help it escape its labyrinth. But in their battle, Takasugi and Gintoki do manage to reach each other; not because of Takasugi’s desperate violence, but because Gintoki’s interiority is as vast as the story they are in, and he is able to take Takasugi into himself. 

My Orochi Stood Up’s ouroboros thesis is famously anchored in western alchemical and philosophical concepts. It frames Gintama’s mission of human-becoming as the enacting of the Great Work, viewing Gintama’s parallelism through the lens of the individuation process. On the ouroboros as a symbol of two becoming one, it quotes Carl Jung:

In the age-old image of the Ouroboros lies the thought of devouring oneself and turning oneself into a circulatory process, for it was clear to the more astute alchemists that the prima materia of the art was man himself. The Ouroboros is a dramatic symbol for the integration and assimilation of the opposite, i.e. of the shadow. This 'feedback' process is at the same time a symbol of immortality since it is said of the Ouroboros that he slays himself and brings himself to life, fertilizes himself, and gives birth to himself. He symbolizes the One, who proceeds from the clash of opposites, and he, therefore, constitutes the secret of the prima materia which ... unquestionably stems from man's unconscious. (The Collected Works of Carl Jung, Volume 14: Mysterium Coniunctionis, 1977)

Gintoki’s assimilation of his shadow, of his other self, is best represented by the moment where he finally visibly attains “a human’s sword” at the end of the series. Takasugi’s reflection in Gintoki’s blade bequeaths upon him the honour of being the face of Gintoki’s “human’s sword.” This is a similar use of the reflection as in Ending 25. What is made clear by comparing these two moments is the same obvious truth that Gintama has impressed upon its readers all along: Gintoki is capable of containing Takasugi within him, but Takasugi is not capable of the reverse.

Or, more accurately, Takasugi is chiefly defined by the fact that he carries Gintoki’s ghost within him–and was driven insane by it. Gintoki was able to quietly shoulder the knowledge that his actions caused Takasugi’s descent into madness, but Takasugi was never able to inure himself to the sight of Gintoki’s tears. Takasugi is hole-sided primarily because he hollowed himself out in a vain attempt to scrape the image out. But dirt, as My Orochi Stood Up states, is what remains. 

Takasugi’s crushed left eye has ever been his most obvious hole. Indeed, confronting Gintoki again made him aware that the image of Gintoki’s face that he had been carrying around in his eye like a grain of sand was in fact a speck of “dirt.” And of course, Takasugi was never empty: though the Kiheitai are sparse characters, they serve quite clearly to illustrate that Takasugi had never stopped being surrounded by people who trusted and depended on him, people who could participate in Gintama’s dirty gags and absurd comedy in the ways he could not, and people who, on multiple occasions, physically emulated Takasugi in order to inject his likeness into the series’ gags even when he was not present. People who, in short, supplied him with dirt.

The linkages between the gross and vulgar nature of Gintama’s preferred jokes and the double entendre in the meaning of “dirt” are an intrinsic part of both Gintama’s vision of life and the ouroboros framework. As T. S. Hirt explained, “the persistence of those dirty things marks the permanence of one’s relationships. something clean would never stick so.” Gintama posits that living is mortifying, humiliating, and while not shameful, certainly full of shame and debasement. To be a character that clings to dignity–or to whom dignity clings to–in Gintama is to accept an unfavourable life expectancy. Takasugi, while participating in a few gags, was never thoroughly embarrassed by them. His friends’ actions thus helped to tether him to the world of the living, even at his most ghostly. 

Holes do not need to be completely empty to be deemed holes. Such a proposition would be absurd. Holes are identifiable even when filled partway with soil–even, perhaps, when brilled to the brim. No one is truly empty. My Orochi Stood Up makes clear early on that “head vs hole” is not a false dichotomy, but a misleading one: 

You can reduce everything in Gintama to essentially two things. Shouyou and Utsuro. Gintoki and Takasugi. Humans and monsters. [...] Those who take in and those who are taken in. Those who keep struggling and those who don’t. And then you can also always reduce these two things to one thing: Shouyou/Utsuro are, after all, the same being [...]. You can’t pick yourself back up if you never lost in the first place. We know that Gintoki has managed to become “a splendid human” by the end of the series–so what was he before that? Was he really a monster? At what exact point in the series did he become human? Was it while he was on-screen, while we were looking, but without us noticing? Was it off-screen, while we were flipping the page, or in the space between the panels? The answer, of course, is that he was learning to be human every day of his life [...]. And so “which one is the head and which one is the hole?” is the wrong question. Even if you assigned one to each half and managed not to be wrong, since they’re collapsible into one anyway, they’ll always be both. (My Orochi Stood Up, 1948)

To be hole-sided is not to be the hole. It is to be stagnant, to be trapped in a state of needing to be filled without being able to carry out the process of self-constitution with the dirt that is received. In the end, Gintoki, the “reluctant hole” as T. S. Hirt iconically termed, is the one who takes Takasugi into himself. My Orochi Stood Up quotes philosopher Bernard Stiegler: “The I is essentially a process, not a state, and this process is an in-dividuation [...]. It is the tendency to become one, that is, to become indivisible.” This is, I argue, the climax of their homothematic relationship. Not coincidentally, it is also the climax of Gintoki’s personal quest to become human, the individuation that Jung and Stiegler speak of. 

My Orochi Stood Up capitalizes on the ouroboros’ nature as a symbol of fertility to liken dirt not only to shit but to seed, and the hole to the womb where the tama (egg/soul) is fertilized. It is an intentionally paradoxical and anachronistic framework, where one must have an unbroken sword to be able to be fertilized by the dirt of others, yet it is only through that fertilization that one’s sword can be forged. This is simply another iteration of the classic chicken-or-egg dilemma, as befits the motif of the ouroboros. But for the characters of Gintama, this paradox reflects their continuous responsibility: the task of becoming human is a Sisyphean one that will span their lifetimes and beyond.

In other words, as Takasugi was folded into Gintoki, he found that he was already there; that his lack was filled by Gintoki because he was filling Gintoki; and that being a ghost did not preclude anyone from being human.

I have spoken at length about holes and serpents up until this point without mentioning the eponymous dragon, Utsuro. This is partially because this essay was focused on Takasugi and Gintoki’s relationship, and partially because practically all insights regarding Utsuro are contained within the framework of the ouroboros thesis itself. As the world snake, his body and bones were used to construct the theory we have been discussing, his lack identical in essence to the other hole-sided. It is worth noting, however, that for Gintoki, Utsuro represented the unreachable object. Gintoki’s deepest anxiety was over his blade not reaching Utsuro, because he had been told that he could only reach him with a human’s sword. In the end, as we have seen, he does indeed manage to reach him, with Takasugi’s soul in his hands. 

Takasugi, too, manages to reach Gintoki in the end. Cradled in Gintoki’s arms, he is brave enough–and selfish enough–to ask for a fleeting smile. My Orochi Stood Up argues that the moment Gintoki’s tragedy was revealed to us through Takasugi’s eye was the one that broke Gintama’s own narrative cyclicity. This was, of course, the original bit of dirt flung into Takasugi’s hole that he could not cope with, that halted his process of individuation. As previously mentioned, the ten years that separate the end of the Joui war from the present day span an entire age. At the very end, this eternity spent wandering, too, ruptures, and Takasugi finally finds his way out of the labyrinth, only to look back and see a clear and straight path through the trees.

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This essay has been a brief exploration of Takasugi and Gintoki’s relationship in the context of My Orochi Stood Up’s innovative ouroboros framework. In the seventy-five years since it was first published, it has been transformed in diverse and exciting ways. However, I thought it only fitting that for this major anniversary, the focus be brought back to the Gintama characters that first inspired it. Rather than the iconic dragon, Shouyou/Utsuro, this piece has chosen to focus instead on his two most intertwined disciples. While not necessarily treading any new ground, I hope to have presented an interesting snapshot of this relationship known for being simultaneously transparent and opaque.

As we have seen, this relationship is one made possible by the intense parallel structure it embodies. Just as Takasugi serves as Gintoki’s shadow, their journey and the cannibalistic nature of their duality echo the conflict represented by their teacher, and in many respects parallel the shape of the narrative itself. In this way, the position they occupy in relation to these other draconic structures–micro- or macrocosm–is perhaps a reversible one. 

In short, though Gintama “cannot resist the phallus,” as T. S. Hirt said, it is also singularly concerned with holes: how they are filled, what results from them, what constitutes them. The only question it does not ask is what creates them. It is instead implicit that human beings naturally possess holes, that they are a natural part of the anatomy of both our bodies and souls. And thus, it is natural both to fill them and to fail to fill them; the fertile infinity of the ouroboros guarantees that should one fail, there will always be tomorrow.