#cipher thread

[blastlight]

[mikaikaika]

Quackity : Chilling after unleashing his social experiment on the ccs

Meanwhile Cellbit :

[paper-sunflower-lane]

Small Spoilers For The Book of Bill:

I still can't get over that after all that shit that Bill did to Ford that the thing that truly affected Ford, that what truly horrified him was Bill picking up the phone and trying to call Stan to tell him that Ford never loved him.

Like even after everything and even after Ford was still so angry at Stan the thought of the last words Stan ever hearing from him was that he didn't love him (not just that he didn't love him but that he had never loved him) about made Ford completely lose it until he heard that the payphone was no longer in service.

No one can tell me that if he hadn't heard that dial tone Ford wouldn't have gone off the deep end right then and there.

[cucumber-icepop]

[connect404]

Some pictures from Emmy cicierega's new Twitter thread that I really like

Unused drawings for the tattoo page

THE DETAILED FEET AND ASS 😰

I'm honestly fw the teeth dress

Little triangular specimen on a petri dish

Some cut searches from dipper's search history ! One of my favourite parts of the book so I was surprised to find out there were more searches they were considering for this part (ALSO WHYD THEY CUT OUT THE "normal to miss parents when away?" ADJDSVJEGEUDVJSH)

Alternate theraprism logo designs

A few bills

Ok I know this pic was shared on here already but it's still funny to me,,,,,like the way he clutches what is essentially his diary

Full image of the goosebumps parody book cover

Unused illusion illustration that was deemed "too hard to look at". I admit,it is hard on the eyes but regardless I love this version and wished it stayed in the book

[xx-disco-inferno-xx]

just realized i probably look insane doing my own book of bill hunt

oh, the realizations a having a roommate will make you have

[infiniitefrequency]

@nightmdic started following you

Bill stumbled into the office, blood dripping from his nose, unsteady on his feet. There were several small incisions, jagged across parts of exposed skin.

"I need a disgusting growth removed! Stat!"

[ckret2]

Hey, do the Henchmaniacs actually consider Bill a friend and vice versa or just a means to an end, in Weridmaggedon it didn't seem like they were actual friends but more like he controls them through intimidation and they follow him because they have a similar goal. Does Bill just not know how to act towards friends in a healthy way but still consider them such? Love your fic btw.

It varies from member to member.

Most of them, if not all, did consider him a friend—often their best friend—when they joined.

Some still consider him a friend, some call him a friend because they desperately want him to be, some call him a friend because of the sunk cost fallacy ("if I've done this much and gone this far for him, and I CAN'T even count him a friend, then what was it all for??"), some call him a friend because they fear the consequences if they don't, some call him a friend because it's convenient and he wants them to but they solely consider him a resource, a boss, an ally, whatever.

He both does and doesn't see them as friends; he can change his mind twice a sentence without changing it at all. It depends on how he feels at any given time. Yes they're his friends because he's desperately lonely and he craves friends; no they're not his friends because he's above them and they're idiots and they're useful but he certainly doesn't like them. He loves none of them; but he loves how they love him. He tells himself they love him, except when it's useful for him to tell himself they fear him.

But: if they ONLY feared him, they wouldn't stick around. There's a mix of fear and admiration, fear and camaraderie, fear and affection. Something to balance out the arm-twisting, the feeling of always being watched, the ever-present psychological pressure.

Intimidation is a tactic of last resort. Intimidation doesn't mean he's lost his temper; it means the Henchmaniac screwed up. It's an effective punishment but it's a poor way to maintain long term control.

It's a lot easier to control people by convincing them you're the best thing that's ever happened to them and you have their best interests at heart.

You can see how he controls them in the last chapter. His power is laced through the entire scene.

A side-effect of growing up in the Henchmaniacs was that Paci-Fire regarded The Authorities as a nebulous bogeyman that was personally out to get him and all his family and friends. Do you think he picked up that belief accidentally?

"Oh, yeah, pretty much every world in my galaxy was still ground bound when Bill recruited me." Go after someone who isn't knowledgeable about the multiverse; who doesn't know Bill's reputation; and who can't call on the people he left behind to help him get home...

"But the rent's really reasonable for a place this size in this part of the Nightmare Realm." ...then minimize the resources he has to get out—finances included—and make him think you're doing him a favor.

"Bill Cipher was always a most droll prankster." Get the people around you to laugh off your cruel, controlling behavior as "just a joke." Do you think they'd call charging just one guy rent a "prank" if Bill hadn't done similar things in the past and gone "C'mooon, relax, it's just a joke!"?

"I mean—I was paying it to Bill. But I dunno who took that over, so I guess, kinda... no one?" "You were supposed to give it to me now." Keep people close by who will back up your bull. (Useful if they tear each other down; they'll be more likely to resent each other than you.)

"I don't know... Bill and I were talking about them once, and I realized they're as bad as Mom was. Bill said probably the only reason they didn't treat me as bad is because they never got the opportunity—" Make him believe you're the only one who cares about him. Cut him off from potential support networks.

"Face it: the only reason the rest of us didn't leave the Nightmare Realm millennia ago is because Bill couldn't leave." Keep them all isolated.

"Bill's not a liar!" The people who have been around him the longest have sunk so much into trusting him and following him that they can't afford to think it might have been lies.

"The only reason we've stayed so long is because everyone's too starstruck or too scared to ditch him!" 8 Ball's hit the nail on the head. To some extent, he's figured out how Bill operates and he's gotten past the stage where he tells himself it'll be all right if he just sticks it out...

8 Ball, he'd tried to split four or five times before crawling back, but Kryptos didn't care about him anyway. Bill had always been right about him: he was too selfish to care about the rest of the gang but too stupid to make it on his own. They'd taken in losers like that before. ...and, not coincidentally, Bill's been badmouthing and undermining 8 Ball to the others. "Selfish," "stupid," "loser." Also: 8 Ball, too, has been unable to make it out—do you think Bill offered any help any of those times he tried to leave?

The shapes were here because Bill had promised to make them a new home. He was the only one in all of reality who could do it. They'd held fast to Bill's promise for a trillion years. Who would they be if they lost it? Hell of a sunk cost. If you've been waiting one trillion years for somebody to fulfill a promise, any rational person would assume they'll never fulfill it; but, after waiting one trillion years, how can you possibly leave? When you've waited an eternity of eternities? Was it all just a waste? But it'll all be worth it, if—when—he keeps his promise.

Yet he was still here, and still waiting, because he didn't know what else to do. And who was it that convinced the shapes to pin their every single hope for the future on Bill?

You didn't get many chances to be the star of the show when you lived around a supernova like Bill. And what do you think being kept down like that so long does to somebody's sense of self-esteem and self-sufficiency?

Be their protector; keep them dependent on you; keep them isolated; convince them to give up everything (time, money, family, freedom) for you; ensure they have nowhere else to turn.

And that is how Bill controls the Henchmaniacs. His friends will never leave him if he's given them no other choice!

Because when he does leave them a choice, inevitably, they do leave, and it breaks his heart. They leave him quickly, and angrily, and never come back.

Gee, I wonder why.

(I've said before I headcanon Bill's backstory as a former cult leader. Honestly? I shouldn't be saying "former.")

[fxirytxlcfxtc]

For @descended-from-fairytales - Every Bubble's Got to Pop Starring Ash Waltz/Cora Vaguely Guest Starring Caladium "Cal" Waltz, Marella Cipher, Mary Delilah Rubinstein

"And just like that," Marella cocks her head to herself, as Iris climbs into her car to go back to the rehab, "We're ready."

"Ready?" Delilah looks at Marella. "Are you sure?"

"Completely, angel. She'll call ahead of her arrival, and when they remove him from his room, I'll--"

Blue fire flashes across the grass, forming a circle around the group. "--know. Now."

And with a snap of her fingers, ignoring Cal's overemotional reaction...

Waking up in her bed to the sunlight streaming in the window, she stretches and sits up, yawning and rubbing her face.

And, sitting there a moment, it all starts to hit her again.

Growing up in something that could count as a house, tight on space for the number of people in it. Her father's smile when she came in the door, last in line, whenever she and her siblings went out.

Joining Hemlock's gang, Aneela, the struggles she'd faced trying to keep her sister safe.

Kate, "Katie" before, someone who needed a friend, who needed people who cared.

Yarrow being released, the subsequent disappearance. Insisting to anyone who would listen that he hadn't run away, not really.

Learning the art of dance, learning to dance.

Meeting Ciri.

Meeting Basil.

She remembered.

Ash launches out of her bed, barely stopping for anything as she goes scrambling downstairs to see if anyone else was up yet. Cal looks over from the stove where he's apparently undertaking making breakfast for them. "Cora?"

"Uh-uh." She bounces lighting up. "Cal, Cal it's me. It's me, I remember, I--!!"

[maykrisms]

Sam knows about Bill Cipher because I said so. Fuck you. My blog.

[frauleindermorgen]

A circlet but not a crown, gold traded in place of the silver ornaments given to you by your friends; while the mark of Daein does not yet adorn your head the dress you wear is a lighter approximation of what you would wear at your own ball.

Lighter in a fabric, but not in color; ruffles of black beneath bronze and gold pleats. No longer is dancing so fluid, so effortless.

You are not quite queen, but you feel the title; still, you carry at as you always have with pride. A king's cape in red is that of your partner's, so for yourself you wear a sleek garb of dawn.

The dance begins again.

ACCEPTING [Week 1 Prompts] [Week 2 Prompts]

BROOCHES:

black feather - to be given out

white feather -

string of pearls - nasir, ishtar

small bell -

teardrop crystal -

Daein style Royal Dress- One of many prototypes sent to Micaiah over her years at the officers academy. The sparse brown and black are suited to your country as the snow to its cliffs; the ruffled appearance was requested on Micaiah's behalf.

There is no need to look quite so threatening yet!

[bijoumikhawal]

wandered on reddit and saw the take thar Julian brings up the fact that he was second best in his class and the fiber vs nerve mistake because he's "arrogant" and basically is flaunting such an obvious mistake as proof that he's superior because no one's put it together... when did Richard Bashir get a reddit account?

Julian is arrogant and a bit of a dick but that's not. The way he's arrogant. Julian enjoys when people are as smart or close to as smart as he is. He likes being intellectually stimulated. It's why he tries to talk to Kira about Bajoran music, has a book club, and tries to debate a play with O'Brien at lunch. Julian doesn't believe he'll never be found out- he's aware and terrified of how precarious his secret is. It's why he insists on not applying for the Carrington and is a bit stressed when Jadzia applies for him. Julian's reaction when O'Brien warns him about Zimmerman has no suprise in it that I can remember.

Julian does think he knows better- as a doctor. If people ask him for other advice, he gives it, but he doesn't usually flaunt unless he's flirting. When he mocks/teases people it's not usually based on intelligence (actual examples: him asking Jadzia to give O'Brien a flute when he's dealing with the voles as Pied Piper reference, telling Worf he smells like lilacs and telling someone else to mention to him).

[annoyangle]

And you're fine with that? Him losing that forever memory of him pouring over novels and late nights in the portal room, the meditation, sure it was you using him and you guys may have had a very messed up-whatever it was- I guess I'm asking you to be honest here. Even if the plot wasn't the best-isn't it better it happened at all instead of pretending it didn't?

I also don't see how this is gonna hold up for long given you just erased his memories and not Mabels, or Dippers, or Stans, or even the whole 30 years in the portal thing. I'm giving you credit, I guess you could cover for that. I guess I'm asking you, are you fine with it ending like that?

HEY, I DIDN'T LOSE MY MEMORIES, YA KNOW! CROSS MY EYE, NOTHING DISHONEST GOING ON HERE! IT'S ONE SIXER. SAME RULES AS MY OWN EXISTENCE, RIGHT? THEY'RE LITERALLY EVERYWHERE. I THINK FRANKENSTEIN'S GOT AN EARLIER ONE IN THE POCKET OVER AT 55A!. THIS IS ALL JUST AN EXPERIMENT. BESIDES, YOU CAN'T TELL ME THIS ISN'T KINDA INTERESTING TO WATCH. C'MON, HAVE SOME CHEESE AND COOKIES. [WAGGLES PLATE TEMPTINGLY]

[princeseerow]

i think i fucked up my first playthrough of pentiment....

[boundlesschaos]

[ ...and that's threads posted for now! (>q < I still technically have one more opening for my starter call if anyone needs it! No pressure obvs~

[But in the meantime...I wonder. Does Threadtracker still exist within the 5 or so years I have not touched RP? We'll find out together...

[mvnces]

tag dump ft. the dorito bitch