#first ever open to interpretation from me /hj

[butterfrogmantis]

what the hell do archie and skelly have going on lol

FDJSKFKS GOOD FUCKING QUESTION

I don't.

I don't know fjdkf

The best way I can (and have in the past) described it is 'married in all forms except legal and physical' and what I mean by that is there's no canonical romantic relationship but they're basically a package deal at this point and act like a married couple but their official status is /p besties because Butters is a coward and denies the "Archie [REDACTED] [REDACTED]" allegations (//inside joke).

When I first made Skelly I thought he was gonna be a kind of 'draw him, think about him once every three years and never again' and for a while he was, it wasn't UNTIL I realised how funny it would be to have a skeleton and an archaeologist as friends that I started to actually develop Skelly and the historical brothers more so I can no longer separate the 3 of them. And I do love Pal also but he's slightly less relevant to Skelly since Pal's thing is dinos.

Anyway back to topic, Skelly and Archie's original dynamic was gonna be 'Archie wants to study him, Skelly hates his guts' but now it's 'Archie wants to study him, Skelly hates this aspect but otherwise loves Archie (not romantic or queerplatonic but a secret third thing- carbon dating)'

For some reason romancing a skeleton seems weirder than say. A ghost or vampire? Character dates thousand year old ghost/vampire? Cool pop off a love story for the ages no one finds this weird. Skeleton? Eyebrow raise, someone's going to jail. The lack of flesh perhaps? Skelly is a fully sentient / sapient being after all he just lacks ... errrr skin, organs and muscles. Tho that never stopped the Sans fangirls.

But more so than that the dynamic is just twice as funny if they're not ACTUALLY dating but everyone thinks they are / jokes are made around the topic. Like I'll make 1 million jokes that are shippy in nature without it actually being a 'thing'.

Now Archie DID have a crush on Swashbuckler that much was canon. But that exists within a fraction of a small part of a 'going back in time' part of an au and isn't super relevant other than to be the morally correct version /lh . It's like a weird love triangle where there's only two characters and Archie is down bad for Swashbuckler but "come on dude Skelly's a corpse" - but on his end, Skelly has some canonical jealousy issues surrounding Archie (noted in particular towards Rafflesia but that may because she's a more socially acceptable form of undead)

As far as BV goes they exist in a sort of outside the venn diagram situation where literally any dynamic between them goes it just depends on the day and mood they're in. (I'm in, I'm the one making the dumb bone jokes) It's like a weird red string of fate thing they're life partners but not life partners. Just some guy and his skeleton tombmate. Roommate. Oh my god they were shroommates.

There's also gonna be an issue of Archie's gonna die one day and that's really gonna fuck Skelly up because it'll be one of the first deaths since his reanimation that's gonna hurt. Maybe give it a thousand years and get a new necromancer to bring back SkeleArchie then we can have this convo again.

[humaudrey]

Time to procrastinate rant about my comfort show, and a particular episode of said show that has me giving a side-eye.

It's under the cut so I won't annoy anyone who isn't interested, but the episode I'm referring to is Impeach Fuzz, from the 1998 television cartoon, the Powerpuff Girls.

To summarize the episode, The Mayor runs for mayor despite the fact that no one ever runs against him. His redundant, and very loud campaign tour through Townsville annoys Fuzzy Lumpkins, a fellow citizen of Townsville, who tells him to "shut up". This act of standing up against the Mayor impresses quite a few citizens and before you know it, they vote for Fuzzy Lumpkins and he wins the election, fair and square.

We then see the Mayor depressed and possibly homeless, in an attempt to garner sympathy. Our main protagonists, Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup, (as well as our beloved side character, Ms. Sara Bellum) are also not pleased with Fuzzy as the new mayor. He calls upon the Powerpuff Girls to help with tedious chores around his office.

The former Mayor then confronts Fuzzy, and they eventually agree to a wrestling match, where the winner becomes the Mayor of Townsville. Fuzzy brings along a few family members, while the former Mayor tags in the Utonium family. Eventually, the Mayor wins and the episode is over.

Here's my gripes with this episode.

#1. Fuzzy won the election fairly. So for the Powerpuff Girls and the Mayor to conspire to impeach Fuzzy, when he technically did nothing wrong, has me a little heated. Aside from "trashing" his office (and forcing Ms. Sara Bellum to dress more provocatively), Fuzzy didn't commit one crime. This episode is giving me January 6th vibes tbh. /lh /hj

#2. The wrestling match was rigged in the Mayor's favor. Fuzzy had the Mayor pinned for more than three seconds but that referee took his sweet time to call the match. The Mayor then pins down Fuzzy and suddenly, the referee counts to three faster than the girls could fly home. Tsk tsk.

#3. Back to my first point, Fuzzy did nothing wrong. The chores he had the Powerpuff Girls do for him weren't any different from the Mayor asking the girls to open a pickle jar. It's not as if Fuzzy was less competent than the Mayor. The girls should be used to being tools for the city, but that's another discussion for another day. Buttercup also complains specifically about how they haven't fought crime in weeks since Fuzzy became Mayor, which is a very interesting line. You could interpret that as Fuzzy not caring about what happens in the city, HOWEVER, that would be very out-of-character for him. Fuzzy's main character trait is that he's very territorial over his belongings and property. His second character trait would be his short temper. As the mayor of Townsville, the city is essentially now his property. Given how detail oriented Fuzzy was to redecorate the office, and how happy he was with winning the election earlier in the episode, tells me that Fuzzy was willing to take this job seriously and that's more than anyone could ever say about his opponent. Based on this, I'm willing to make a few theories as to why Fuzzy never called the girls to fight crime. Either 1.) The criminals in Townsville (save for Mojo and HIM) respect (or fear) Fuzzy Lumpkins enough to not mess with anything he might deem as "his property" or 2.) The crime rate in Townsville has dropped because The Mayor isn't EMBEZZLING funds from the city so the citizens don't have to resort to crime to make ends meet.

#4. Let us dig deeper into my second theory, shall we lol? We see the Mayor living on the street after losing the election, as if we're to feel sorry for him. YOU LOST FAIR AND SQUARE, GET A JOB. What annoys me further about this episode is that throughout the show, it's implied that the Mayor is wealthy. He had a one of a kind porcelain poodle, a stash of jewels hidden in his office, and even states in one episode that his "sugar daddy days are over". So if he's dirt poor after losing the election, we can only assume that the Mayor is living his lavish lifestyle BECAUSE he's the Mayor. We can even take this one step further and see that he's easy to bribe, as seen in the episode where Princess Morbucks becomes the Mayor and was bribed with candy.

That's pretty much it folks lol.

[enderspawn]

🎼 (I can’t find the correct emoji lol) exile arc tommy?

Oh boy! (opens up breakdown playlist) /hj

Montreal – Penelope Scott

Sleep with a Baseball Bat – Cosmic Johnny

Brother – Gerard Way

breakdown under cut, tw for suicidal ideation on the first song esp

1.       Montreal – heehee hoohoo suicidal/depression thoughts baby!!

I mean in short this is tommy saying he wont Survive exile. The intro of the song lists when the singer would be home from college/school and that “another 90 day summers gonna take [their] fucking life” which is rlly just. Tommy not gonna live THAT long in exile.

“And I would rather die And let me make it clear It's nobody's fault But I think we all know That I won't make it to Montreal”

So the thing here is that its “nobody’s fault” bc on one hand it is that he doesn’t blame tubbo but worse he doesn’t blame DREAM. Its just meant to happen, its not bc of anybody, yknow?

“And I would rather die I'll jump before I'll fall And I'm having lots of fun But I won't make it Montreal”

Mans tried to jump to his death before he “fell” whether bc of dream or an accident, hes makin the active CHOICE to end it rather than just waiting. Even w the fun he’s having w dream, he’s miserable and he knows he wont make it to see lmanberg again

“You like to talk about the future As if it's real And when you tell me that you love me I can almost feel it”

Dream keeps promising him stuff for the future. Maybe he can visit to see the tree, maybe he can get another visit, maybe he wont be alone. But tommy doesn’t care, its all fake to him (which like, it is so good for him but fjkdlsjf)

“It's not that it's a bad plan No, the plan fucking slapped I was so excited you don't know how bad I wanted all of it The coffee shop, the weather, the apartment But I don't want anything anymore I don't know, I guess I just got bored”

Okay so. Tommy kept trying to get shit together to leave, right? He wanted to go back so bad and have this domestic life w his friends but in the end he just got so downtrodden that after his shit got blown up he was so ready to just GIVE UP.

“And I don't wanna die I don't wanna get left behind But it's better half than none I hope to god you have some fun”

He doesn’t want to be in this situation, he still CARES abt the lmanberg crew but in the end hes been told that they’re happy WIHTOUT him. He’s not angry at them, not anymore, he just wants them to be happy bc he isn’t.

2.       Sleep with a Baseball Bat – tommy and dream relationship baby!!

“And every time you wake up Thinking this could be the day Well something, something just”

Every day in exile he had no real plans. He just had to exist out there alone and hope someone else came. This IS the day he can do…. Something. He doesn’t know. He doesn’t have a goal.

“And when your love is an anxiety attack Don’t settle for that, don’t settle for that And when you wake and find the claw marks in your back Sleep with a baseball bat, sleep with a baseball bat”

Hes been manipulated into thinkin dream is his friend, that dream “loves” him but it makes him miserable! Hes paranoid and stressed and falling apart!! Boy!!! Fjdsklfj

“Siena says you’re getting used But something’s broken in your head And you can’t run away when you need to”

The other ppl who visited him, like ranboo, KNEW something was happening and that he was in a bad place but tommy had been manipulated by dream so much that he couldn’t process it. No, dream couldn’t be bad, dream was his friend, right? He couldn’t leave exile, dream would be upset. Its all what DREAM wants, not tommy.

“Hey, space cadet Are you still floating round the rock That you spent so much of your life trying to get away from? And does it at least look different from up there?”

OKAY SO ONE. SPACE CADET? THAT’S CLARA BABY!! TWO: he spent ALL his time on this server fucking fighting dream, trying to “get away from” him. But now hes stuck “floating around” with him as his “friend”. The last line feels sarcastic and bitter but like. FUCK it hits, yknow??

“It might take a couple tries till you believe it But love is real, you’ll figure it out, you’ll live to see it But you still have to take a couple of falls And you can’t make an omelet without breaking your balls So batter up Is your bed made? Is your helmet on?”

HAPPY ENDING POG!! HE STARTS HEALING!!!! HE STARTS REALIZING DREAM WASN’T HIS FRIEND!!! He still “falls” and relapses into wanting dream w him but hes so much better!!! Also,,,,, “is your helmet on” w the turtle shell helmet (eyes emoji)

3.       Brother – IF TECHNO AND TOMMY NOT BROTHERS WHY THIS SON—(gunshot rings out)

Okay so on a serious note this song is abt addiction and while I don’t want to take away from that Serious Topic, it Does relate but w tommy dealing w his ptsd of dream

“And brother, if you have the chance to pick me up And can I sleep on your couch To the pound of the ache and pain? Oh, in my head 'Cause I'm awake all night long To the drums of the city rain”

Hhrhnrng staying at technos place to hide from dream and get better a lil JFKDLSJK. Also “the drums of the city rain” is referenced a LOT in this song but like. It keeps him up so,,,,,, dream JFKDLSJF. Mans barely ever slept in exile so it WORKS okay jfkdlsjf

“The lights we chase The nights we steal The things that we take to make us feel this (To the drums of the city rain)”

This is him and techno livin together!! Like in the first chorus you could see lights we chase being tommy finding techno’s place, then later it’s the lights of lmanberg as they sneak in. the nights they steal is both just time spent together and also straight up the times they stole shit JFKDSLJ. “the things that we take to make us feel” is the gapples tommy always eats so that he can feel safe (also, bc in the og song this is PROBABLY abt drugs and potions are drugs in universe so. Arguably getting a potion effect from the apple means it is Also Drugs? Fjdkslfj)

“I can't go back I don't think I will I won't sleep tonight as long as I still Hear the drums of the city rain”

Go back to logstedshire or lmanberg you ask?? The answer is yes. Both. He feels like he doesn’t belong in lmanberg and logstedshire is too traumatizing for him to return at this point. As long as he “hears the drums of the city rain”, or is thinking of dream, he Cant Sleep:tm:

“Does anyone have the guts to shut me up? 'Cause I believe that every night There's a chance we can walk away So hold on tight Because I won't wait too long In the drums of the beating rain”

Okay so hear me out but. This is just tommy and dream. “I believe that every night theres a chance we can walk away” is tommy hoping desperately for dream to let him go home, to walk away from logstedshire. He never will be permitted, not really, but theres a chance that tommy clings to. He wont “wait too long” while out in exile and stuck w dream bc hes desperate and miserable (also fun fact these analysis is basically me just pmv’ing shit in my head and rambling vaguely abt it but like. Listen,,,, flashback verse jfkdsljf) ALSO. The line “does anyone have the guts to shut me up” in relation to exile!tommy is just VERY important to me. Mans was so quiet and afraid to speak up when in exile.

“'Cause the nights don't last And we leave alone Will you drive me back? Can you take me home? (To the drums of the city rain)”

Following up that last paragraph, this is still in flashback. The days end and dream leaves again, making tommy alone. He asks if he can go back, if he can see home and lmanberg and everyone. But echoing the “to the drums of the city rain” after home CAN imply that “home” has become logstedshire WITH DREAM even tho it keeps him up and aaAAAAAHHHH

I swear this ends up okay and techno + tommy focused fjkdsljf

“Faces I don't know I am tired in the glow”

He feels isolated from everyone during his exile and lashes out at those who visit, to the point he feels like they’re all more or less strangers and “faces he doesn’t know”. Being tired in the glow is, imo, him over the lava.

“Of the freezing club Keep me breathing Don't make the lights come back Can you take me home? We all need this When we leave alone”

Hhhngg okay so tommy breakdown time! Hes in techno’s house (the freezing club) and is just pleading for techno to help. Don’t let “the lights come back” (lava again maybe? He doesn’t want to be Like This?) and just wants to feel like hes at home because hes just left exile and hes Messed Up Over It

“Remember when you and I would make things up? So many nights, just take me down To the place we can hear them play I miss that sound 'Cause now we don't sing so loud To the drums of the city rain”

OKAY SO THEY MAY NOT BE CANON FAMILY BUT WILBUR REMEMBERS SPARRING W TECHNO AS A KID AND PHIL IS HIS CLOSE FRIEND SO THEY STILL KNEW EACH OTHER AS KIDS SO SHUSH FJSDKL. Tommy just wants things to go back to how they were, before everything. When things were easy and they were kids just having fun. He misses it. Before exile, before lmanberg, before dream. But it doesn’t matter, because they’re stuck in this now. With his brother dead and his closest friend being the man who killed his best friend and helped blow up his country. Again, the drums of the city rain is dream. Because of his influence, its all different.

Hhhngngngn this is too long so I wont go into the last outro bc you can interpret it a LOT of ways, esp depending on how you want to Pace this song w the exile arc. But like. The analysis is THERE if you really wanna push it/animatic it babeyyy

[kettlewrites]

smile the pain away — hjs

summary: jisung made everything better. even if you had been crying in a janitor’s closet for hours.

warning: angst with a happy ending. you can interpret the relationship between jisung and reader. hopefully this gets rid of vic’s writer’s block thanks. (1.2K words)

you were stressed out to put it simple. everything in your life had continuously gone completely wrong and you finally broke. there was nothing that could have been done to save you from the final tear that would cause you to snap.

you had went several nights without sleep. your heart had ached with the lost of multiple friendships. your grades had started to slip. you felt as if you were finally losing your mind and there was nothing there but a dark tunnel with end for you to arrive to.

the people around you had began to notice that there had been something off with you. although no one had dared to ask, afraid of you snapping at them but little did they know you craved for someone just to ask so you could finally let it off your chest. yet no one did, so you were left with the weight of your problems pushing down at your shoulders while you cried in the first room you had found when you ran out of class.

then there came one person who finally decided to do what other’s didn’t.

jisung was on his way to taking some papers down to one of the music teachers, as it was his job during the last class periods of the day, when he halted to a stop in front of the small janitor’s closet at the end of the hallway. his hands shook in fear as he heard the muffled sobs escaping from the crack of the door that was left open. he thought back to how seungmin used to tell him stories of the school being haunted by a ghost, but at the same time it was seungmin. every ounce of his body had screamed to turn around and run the other direction, but he continued to reach for the door.

to his surprise, he was not greeted by a ghostly entity but instead with the sight of one of the closest people to him in the corner of the janitor’s closet crying.

“y/n?” his voice was quiet, as he still didn’t know whether or not to leave you be or to help you. jisung’s feet were glued tightly to the floor as he continued to hesitate.

“y/n,, are you okay?” he called out again, but there was still no answer from you and that’s when jisung had used that as a push to go sit right next to you.

you had acknowledged his presence when you felt his side touch yours. you could feel his eyes bore a whole straight through you as you were curled into your knees crying.

“hey, do you want to talk about it?” he asks, his arm snakes its way around your shoulders, with his thumb rubbing soft circles into your arm. “it’s okay if you don’t want to, but i feel like it could help.”

“i don’t even know what to say if i did want to talk about it.” you finally mumble out, lifting your head to be greeted with jisung’s saddened eyes.

you had instantly looked back down to your knees, completely embarrassed for him to see you in such a terrible sight. your eyes being a puffy red with tears still streaming down your cheeks, you hated being so vulnerable to someone even if you knew they wouldn’t use it against you.

“that’s a start.” he smiles softly, “we don’t even have to talk about it. i can tell you a joke if that helps you feel better or talk about something else to help get your mind off of things.”

you nodded, gulping down before raising your head to look at him again. his eyes were glossed over as if he was close to tears but maybe his eyes had always been this shiny.

“i have a story of seungmin falling down the stairs one morning,” he tries his best to hold the chuckle that sat in his throat now, “he threatened me to never tell anyone and to forget about it, but how could i forget? it’s seungmin. falling down a flight of stairs.”

jisung’s heart did a flip when he saw your lips twitch into a smile, his mind racing as he found himself making progress of helping you feel better.

“it was at the beginning of the school year. we were both running late because his mom took the wrong turn while taking the both of us to school so the two of us were running to class so we weren’t caught by the tardy bell. seungmin’s class was right next to mine and it was upstairs,” jisung couldn’t hold back his giggles anymore as he giggled between every word, “i was a bit behind him because who knew seungmin could run so fast. then when he reached the middle step of the stairs while i was only on the first, i just watch seungmin come tumbling down.”

and now you were smiling even if it had been a small one, you were doing something you hadn’t done in weeks.

“i couldn’t stop laughing, but i was a good friend first and checked if he was okay before laughing again. he was bright red and yelling at me to shut up. i’ve never seen seungmin so embarrassed, but i never told anyone until now.” 

with jisung laughing, it caused you to softly laugh along with him and it caused him to beam with the brightest smile you have ever seen.

“i’m so happy that you’re laughing now.” he says, pulling you closer to him with the arm he had around you, “you know it made me really sad to see you so down. you can always come to me for anything and i’ll do everything in my best abilities to bring that pretty smile back on your face.”

“it’s not pretty shut up.” you laugh, nudging him away with your shoulder teasingly.

“would you like a hug before we go back to class so we don’t get in trouble for getting caught in the janitor’s closet?” he asks, after helping you get back on your feet.

“why not?” you smile, opening your arms to receive his hug. quickly realizing the answer to your own question.

his hug had started off like every other one, tight but warm and lovingly before he used every ounce of strength in his body to squeeze you until you felt as if your ribs were being crushed.

“jisung i can’t breathe!” you laugh as you try to squirm out of his hold.

after he lets you go, jisung takes a hold of your hand with a softened smile on his face unlike the one before.

“i’m being serious. just come to me whenever you’re feeling sad because i don’t want to see you crying alone anymore. come to me if you want to cry and i’ll cry with you. promise?”

with slight hesitation you wanted to say no, but you knew that he was being genuine unlike others had been before. his hand still holding yours and that smile finding its way to reflect on your own face.

“i promise.”