#i draw humans interacting successfully!?

[bananafire11]

quick fanart for @murdadixon of her series, the dixon chronicles (with her ver. of reader ofc ofc) :D i just had to. im totally hooked on your stuff. i couldnt NOT doodle something. thanks for all that you write!!

[sysig]

Horti-cultural differences (Patreon)

[idanceuntilidie]

Oh yea, i forgot somwthing its yandere male x oblivious gn reader and make the yandere slowly fall in love with the reader :")

Yeah it’s okay, and thank you sugar.

And it’s a-okay I understood everything, I hope what I wrote was to your liking it is probably the longest request I have written so sorry about that but yay 1054 words! I will add a cool song as a sorry-

I liked this, and so Kyu will be appearing more because I think I fell inlove myself. I will even draw him. Small side note he has only one eye--

Yandere Male x Gn! Oblivious Reader

Enjoy! Requests are open don't be shy :D

Kyu doesn’t know what’s worse, his precious darling not paying any attention to him or YOU.

You see during the last years of high school Kyu has developed a crush on someone and everything was going according to plan. He even started to slowly talk to them more, and got the special room in the basement for them ready.

But when everything seemed to go according to the plan. You appeared out of nowhere! Then his plan went to shit, his little darling came fluttering back to you every chance they saw you even if they were in the middle of conversation. He grit his teeth in frustration when you were around him. How dare you act so clueless and steal his future spouse just like that. He was watching you, noting where you went or what you did. He needed to find out how you apparently were better than him.

You weren’t even that special, sure he has to admit you were cute and your whole personality was quite charming but that changed nothing.

His hands gripped the wall as he watched both of you, talk and giggle, from around the corner. His knuckles turned white as his face twisted into a scowl. You will get it he seethes. You have no idea why this person came up to you. You learnt was something that started with V. V-....V-... someone. You actually think that they are following you, but then again they are actually nice and don’t ask for much. Being friends with them couldn’t hurt you right? Yeah, you suppose but you have a feeling they only hang around for homework and such. You try to keep up with their rambling as you try to find the notes V wanted. You added something now and then, laughing at little jokes they made.

As you finally find the slightly damaged math notes you smile as you hand them over to them. They squeak in happiness as they thank you over and over in happiness. They even promise to buy you a drink for helping them. They skip away as you.

You sigh in relief as another human to human interaction seemed to actually go as planned. Man, this was tiring.

As you were about to get up you felt something burning your skull. You look up to meet a very noticeable white haired man watching you. Oh, wasn’t he Vs boyfriend? You stare at him back, eyes squinting as you try to remember his name. You saw his eye widen as he scurried away. Shrugging you pick up the backpack and head to your next class. You yawn, limbs stretching as you finally get out of that shithole. You saw V a few times and they in fact went to buy you something. Redbull and a few snacks, even if you tried to decline they still kept on insisting that you deserve it. You saved the snacks for later. You slowly dragged your body to your house. You cut off the world and just listened to your favourite songs. You didn’t notice someone running up behind you and hitting you in the head with a bad, successfully knocking you out. 

You woke up with a very bad headache, blinking to make the blurriness wash away you take notice of your surroundings. You were in a bathroom, a very small pinkish bathroom. Your body rested in the bathtub.

Well this is original.

You turned your head to be met with that same blue eye you saw earlier today. Vs boyfriend?...What was his name again..? Something that started with D? Or K?

You aren’t sure since the headache you are experiencing is horrible. From what you know he is actually all cutesy and shit, very soft spoken, maybe he found you unconscious and carried you to his home..? But then again, you are tied up in the bathtub. “You rat!” he squeaks, pale face turning red.

You raise your brow in confusion. “You wanted to steal them away! You wretched rat!” “Huh..?” You squint your eyes at him, despite being absolutely scared shitless. You try to understand what he even wants from you. Steal them away… is he talking about V? “Dude your boyfriend? No way in hell, they just want notes usually” “Not true! I will fucking skin you alive” He was about to grab your face. “Do not threaten me with a good time, good sir.” You were trembling with tears in your eyes as you forced a cheeky smile. You saw him pause, his face red but you are not sure if it was from anger this time. He got up and left. Your eyes widened, as tears that were pricking at your eyes rolled down your cheeks, man. Did you just fluster him or… by the squeal you heard from the depths of the house you assume you did. Somehow. You laid your head against the cold tile wall, trying to calm down your breathing.

You heard him come back so you close your eyes to actually not see what he brought with him. You expected everything at this point, your skin shuddered at the thought of him looming over you with a knife. You expected to feel cold metal but instead you felt his hands on your cheeks wiping away the tears. He gave your cheeks a little squish. You whined in confusion. He chuckled at that and played with your cheeks some more.

“I still think you are a rat, a very cute one I have to admit. I think I like you” He got closer, you could practically smell his strawberry perfume.

“I will give you a chance to redeem yourself.” “Really? Listen my notes are not the best but-” “I don’t want them, I want you.” “I-I don’t even know you!” You felt his cheek against yours, slowly nuzzling as he hummed. “We have all the time in the world, after I get rid of my last crush so they won’t try to get close to you again.” Your heart sinks, but you don’t dare to open your eyes. His name is Kyu, you finally remember but at what cost. “You sure you don’t want the notes..?”

Meanwhile V panicking because they think the amount of candy mixed with that red bull killed your ass.

[mrsurahara]

𝗣𝗥𝗔𝗖𝗧𝗜𝗖𝗘 𝗠𝗔𝗞𝗘𝗦 𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗙𝗘𝗖𝗧┊𝗦. 𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗥𝗜𝗡𝗚𝗧𝗢𝗡

ఌ︎ p. Steve Harrington x f!reader // g. fluff

ఌ︎. cw. established relationship, original character, kissing, Steve being great with kids, talks about wanting kids, talks of marriage, no use of y/n— let me know if i missed any!

ఌ︎. wc. 1.4k

𝗠𝗔𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗟𝗜𝗦𝗧

Your baby sister, Madilyn, is the textbook definition of an angel. Of course she has her moments, she’s a kid, but for the most part, she’s the best tiny human ever. Which is why you had no problems looking after her while your parents were on their anniversary trip for the weekend.

The two of you were on the sofa watching Race For Your Life, Charlie Brown while dinner was finishing on the stove. Ending the day with dumb cartoons and your favorite human was a win in your book.

Suddenly, the phone rang drawing your attention away from the television. A part of you wanted to ignore it, but if it was your parents and they had to call again, you’d get a never ending earful. Approaching the blush pink landline on the wall you answer it.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Babydoll,” your boyfriend’s smooth voice sounded over the receiver. You leaned against the wall, a smile playing on your lips.

“Hi, Stevie,” your voice sounded breather than anticipated. Even after almost two years together, Steve Harrington still makes you feel like a girl with an elementary school crush.

Introducing Steve, Hawkins’ resident rich boy, to your family was nerve-wracking. The day he picked you up for your first date, you opened the door with a then two-year-old Madilyn on your hip. She shied away and hid half of her face in your neck. After greeting you with a kiss on the cheek he turned to the girl in your arms, “Is this little Madilyn that likes Care Bears?” he asked excitedly and the rest is history.

Your baby sister successfully stole your boyfriend.

But there are no hard feelings because watching the two of them interact with each other is a beautiful sight. Steve’s patience and ability to keep up with the toddler’s often nonsensical rambles, make you firmly believe that he would make a great father; hopefully to your own kids someday.

“How’s babysitting going?”

“It’s been good, you know Maddie’s a good kid,” you shrugged watching the little girl curled up on the couch with her stuffed bunny.

“Mm,” he hummed as he exhaled, “You two want company? Or is it strictly sister bonding time?”

“Hm, I think the kid and I can go for a night with our favorite guy,” your smile widened as you twirled the coiled line around your finger.

“Well in that case, I’ll see you in 10.”

“Steve…you live twenty minutes away,” you said skeptically.

“Like I said, 10 minutes— I love you,” you could practically hear the smile on his face.

“I love you too and please drive safely,” sincerity coating your words. With a promise to see each other soon, you hang up and join your sister on the couch.

Maddie shifted over to curl into your side. You looked down at the girl and squished her closer. Becoming a big sister is easily one of the best things to happen to you. Sure fourteen year old you was skeptical and a little jealous about your first sibling, but as soon as you held the newborn in your arms for the first time, you knew you would do anything for her.

A loud knock on the door had you both alert and looking toward the front hallway. Upon opening the door, you were met with a very sexy looking Steve Harrington. His sunglasses were perched on his nose and the yellow Polo shirt was unbuttoned showcasing his chest hair. He smiled cockily and removed his sunglasses, “you can eye fuck me inside, doll,” he pushed past you and into the house. Closing and locking the door for you, Steve wound his arm around your waist and pulled you into a deep kiss.

“Hi.”

“Hi,” you smiled before pressing another short kiss to his lips. Taking him by the hand, you walked back into the living room. “Maddie, look who’s here!” you caught the girl’s attention. Propping herself up on the back of the sofa, she smiled widely and waved her hand so fast, it was just a blur.

“Hi, Steve!” she said excitedly. She held out her arms, her bunny long forgotten, and Steve scooped her up and gave her a big hug.

“Hi Mads, how was your day?” he asked. That led to her talking a mile a minute, not leaving a single detail out about her day.

The timer starts to ring and you walk over to the stove to turn off the burner. You stirred the hot pot of jambalaya, the smell making your mouth water.

You poked your head back into the living room, “You two. Table. Now please,” you hollered over their conversation. Their voices carried into the dining room and Steve helped Maddie into her booster seat. You sat her plate and a cup of watered down apple juice in front of her. Bringing in yours and Steve's plates, you all sat down together and continued to chat over your meal. Every so often either you or Steve had to remind her to finish chewing before talking.

After finishing up dinner, you took Maddie up for a bath and wrapped her hair up for the night. She still had about an hour left before her bedtime so you brought her back down to finish her movie.

When you got back to the kitchen, Steve was putting away the clean and dried dishes. After putting the last of them away you took ahold of his hands and pulled him into you.

“You didn’t have to clean up, I could’ve done it.”

“You were already getting Mads ready for bed, It’s the least I could do,” he shrugged. You smiled, guiding him back to the living room where you were gonna watch the rest of the movie until you saw Maddie knocked out on the couch, soft snores escaping from her. Letting go of your hand, Steve picked the sleeping girl up while you turned off the tv and all the lights then you two walked her up the stairs. You pulled back the sheets and Steve laid her down. You tucked her in with her bunny, leaving a kiss on her forehead.

Retreating from her room as quietly as possible, you two made it back to your room and began getting yourselves ready for bed. Slipping underneath the cool sheets, you and Steve settled in together. “Thank you for coming over, I really do appreciate it,” you smiled, giving him a kiss on the back of his hand.

“Of course,” he returned the kiss to one of your hands, “I need the practice anyway.”

“Practice for…?” you asked. Steve pulled you into his chest, his hand lightly gripping your hip.

“The six kids I dreamt of running around our house. You in a pretty little dress baking fucking cinnamon rolls with our girls while the boys wrestle in the living room.”

“What if the boys wanna bake and the girls wanna wrestle?” you smirked, hooking your leg over his hip.

“Doesn’t matter, as long as our kids,” he took your hand and kissed your bare ring finger, “and my wife are happy and healthy.”

You felt the heat building in your face as a smile played on your lips. “Mm, being acknowledged as ‘Mrs. Harrington’ does sound pretty great.”

“Hell yeah it does, sweetheart,” he kissed you deeply. A knock on the door forced you to break the kiss off sooner than you would’ve liked. The door opened and Maddie poked her head into the room.

“You okay Mads?” you sat up.

“Can I sleep in here?” she rubbed her eye, still sleepy.

“Of course, baby girl,” you pulled the sheets back so she could crawl in between the two of you. Getting her settled, she quickly fell back asleep, stuffed bunny tucked in her arms. You adjusted her bonnet and slightly adjusted the comforter, knowing she hates having her face covered. When you finally looked back at Steve his eyes were already on you.

“I love you,” he mouthed so as not to wake the sleeping child between the two of you.

“I love you too,” you replied.

Soon all of your breaths evened out and you all slept through the night. Even with a four year old beating you up in her sleep.

[neonponders]

I’m not an OG Harringrove person (I call myself a member of the “second wave” lol I watched ST at the end of 2019 and got into the fandom while Harringrove for Australia was popping off in 2020) but I’ve noticed a reoccurring trend in posts/mentalities.

So many of us question how to be more active in fandom. What can we do differently that will get us more interactions? Really, what can we do to be more appreciated? During my time in this fandom, I’ve gathered good news and bad news:

The good news, is that any negligence we feel, isn’t our fault. We feel like something personal is going on, but really, everyone is just living their lives. So many OG’s are older, married, have kids, and have scary big kid jobs. People’s lack of interaction with us actually has nothing to do with us, and everything to do with them just trying to successfully exist lol

The bad news is that we, for some reason, are convinced that praise is intrusive. That rolling up into someone’s tumblr mailbox is the exact same as unlocking their house and yelling, “HEY. NICE COUCH. GOOD TASTE.”

I’ve been there, and I continue to visit this imposter syndrome place, because I’m a nasty little goblin who needs to be pat on the head as much as anyone else. Now for the deep dive:

Humans are pack creatures with an intrinsic need to create. Easy examples are food, and cliff drawings. It’s not enough to eat a banana right off a tree. We take the risk of putting it to fire and creating a different flavor profile. One of the oldest pieces of human art are some animal outline carvings in the side of some Egyptian cliffs that overlook a stretch of the Nile. Archeologists and anthropologists theorize that these are the first signage we ever made: “Hey heads up, these animals live in this mile-stretch of river. Yes, there’s deer here, but also hippos. Hunt wisely.”

These two traits combine into a neediness that doesn’t know how to be satisfied. Worse, we’re in a broken society that doesn’t celebrate the artist/creative anymore (if it ever really did). And that’s so hypocritical. Artists have kept people alive and happy just as much as the hunter and cook.

We create writing, art, edits, videos, etc and share share share share share....because it’s a stupid little wacky gift of stardust in our brains. This human trait trickles down into us making our silly little fanfics and art projects of rotten characters finding peace, getting plowed after a slow-burn, or just making tea for each other.

The honest truth is that creating isn’t enough. Yes, we do it for ourselves, and we always will. We need to create the same way we need water. The unfair flip side is that we also need our pack to answer us when we ring that bell.

All I can tell you is that life is hard, and more than likely, we see the stuff you’re posting for us. And we’re wildly grateful to you. We’re just trained to think that telling you how special you are, and how grateful we are, will make you disappear.

A star died eons ago and gave us its stardust. It’s unfair that shining is hard but we do see you.

[fourhornedsatyr]

I love Cassette Beasts.

As someone who is an avid fan of Monster Collector games, and who most fondly remembers Pokemon B&W and Digimon D&D from the DS era, I only have good things to say about my first four hours of playing Cassette Beasts by Bytten Studio.

So, I'm gonna talk about it.

Gameplay

The Transformation Mechanic & Record (capture) mechanic

Unlike most games of the genre, you do not summon/control the monsters you use to fight, but rathee you become them -- digimon frontier style. Your avatar & a companion fight using cassettes that have copied the essence of the monsters you encountered (captures work like an alternate of the data copy mechanic of the digimon turn based rpgs).

You effectively have two health bars, that of your monster form & that of your human self, and once your monster form takes enough damage the cassette will break. Upon breaking you will revert to your human form and take on any overflow damage. If you are attacked before it is your turn to select another cassette, then you will receive damage and hence have to worry about your own health. There is no way to replenish the health of human characters in combat, at least none that I have accessed.

Furthermore, many of your status effects, buffs, & debuffs carry over from one transformation to another. This leads to a lot of stacking possibilities, but also means that one much be cautious, think wisely, and manage their defence and type matchups.

When recording/capturing monsters as well, you have to leave your monster form and are vulnerable. Despite having a good chunk of hp it is still wise to protect your human characters via walls & taunts to improve your chances of successfully copying a beast & sustaining minimal damage. This adds an enjoyable complexity to the capture stystem.

Type Matchups & Dynamic Interactions.

Speaking of type matchups, the type interactions are marvelously impressive & complex!

There are 14 types that are inspired by both naturally occuring aspects/materials/elements of the world and anthropogenic ones. Many of these typings can be thought of with a twisted pokemon logic (ground beats lightning, fire consumes poison, water & air put out fire), but we also have the celestial type, which draws from the natural typings and is weak to anthropogenic typings such as metal, plastic, & poison (it thematically (& vaguely mechanically) reminds me of holy & dark digimon types).

Furthermore, many type interactions include buffs & debuffs. Earth slows down plastic types, poison fuels fire types, lightning electrifies the air, and celestial absorbs the energies of natural typings.

BUT THERE'S MORE! Metal types can be coated in poison after interacting with poison type moves and can then deal poison contact damage! When fire types attack air types an updraft is formed that gives the air types a shield! I HAVEN'T EVEN MENTIONED TRANSMUTATIONS! When fire types attack ice types, the latter will gain the water coating effect and will become water types! Likewise, electric attacks can turn ground types into glass!

The dynamics of type interactions is amazing, and makes gamplay so enjoyable.

(Type matchup chart, wiki.CassetteBeast.com/wiki/types)

Fusion

As far as I am aware all cassette beasts are monotype unless they are fused. This is a major mechanic in the game that serves to create a new monster during a fight that shares most of the moves of you and your companion's monster forms.

Yet, while you can do this after filling up a meter that takes, usually, multiple fights to fill, the wild monsters can also do this. These Rogue Fusions pose a unique threat as once defeated they will defuse with full hp and you will then have to fight the two that were fused -- just as what happens when you defuse.

Though there are unique fusions that do have interesting and enjoyable dynamics I have not yet acquainted myself with too many and will not delve too heavily into this topic.

One aspect of the fuse that I will discuss further is the music.

Atmosphere & World Elements

The Music

The music in this game is amazing. The music for the basecamp village of Harbour Town is amazing and nails the theme of the town and the initial emotions of the game wonderfully. Much of the music in combat is dynamic and will change depending on the state of the battle, often playing wonderful vocal pieces after drawing first blood post-fusion (the music changes depending on the fusion too). I fucking love it.

The Land Keepers

There are vampire landlords called landkeepers that you fight in the game to keep them from gentrifying the island.

(Wiki.CassetteBeasts.com/wiki/Landkeeper)

Look at that freak! They are capitalist estate agents whose only goal is to setup an exploitative economic system on the island of New Wirral. One of your companion's whole quest line is shutting them down!

●●●

I love this game.

[rose-tea-and-strawberries]

I'm not sure if you ever stated but, where would adult Simba and Nala lie in ship war? I mean it would align well for them to ship Yuu with Leona. But it also wouldn't be a stretch that shipping the human(ish) counterpart of your evil uncle with your new friend is kind of weird so possibly someone else.

So Simba and Nala ship Leona with Yuu. Eventually.

You see, Simba had his reservations when it comes to the younger lion that appeared to be a carbon copy of his nefarious uncle, what with his laziness and the way he'd use his cunning to manipulate and harm others to get his way to the top - all down to the scar over his eyes.

I mean, when he finds out that he was responsible for other students getting hurt and that he was planning to overthrow Malleus similarly to the way his uncle successfully overthrew his father and caused a lot of pain and suffering to his mother, he's not exactly the happiest camper. His protective dad instincts are just telling him to keep Yuu as far away from him as possible. Plus, he doesn't really trust Ruggie - hyenas bring back bad memories and he doesn't trust them at all.

(Listen, Lion King 2 showed that Simba had a lot of PTSD from the childhood trauma Scar inflicted on him, which causes him to act more on emotion than logic at times due to his overprotective nature. Not gonna lie though, dad Simba is adorable and one of my favourite scenes is at the end where he chases after her at the waterfall similarly to how Mufasa tried to rescue him. Like his face was just screaming 'I need to protect my little girl' even though she is a literal grown huntress)

Yuu would have to explain to Simba how Leona is one of her close friends now and he's atoned for what he's done. She's forgiven him so bygones are bygones. And it does take him a while but he sees him interact with Cheka and even though he looks disinterested, there's never any harmful intent and he's clearly just being a grump instead of holding actual resentment or bitter hatred for the young cub. Plus it's clear that he does care about his brother and sister-in-law and that he dislikes what the throne represents instead of the actual king and queen themselves. He sees how gently and kindly Yuu speaks to him and how clearly he cares for her and how he's much softer when he's with her than with anyone else and our Lion King realises that Leona is still young and because of Yuu he won't grow up with hatred and resentment the way Scar did. Unlike his father's murderer, Leona sees his faults and he feels genuine guilt. He does care for others and is an actual good leader who is incredibly respected by his dorm and the spelldrive team he captains. And yeah, he is lazy and he does dump his work onto others whilst he does the bare minimum but when he gives it his all when the time does call for it. He went on the wrong path so did Simba, and like Simba did after Rafiki hit him on the head he's making an effort to fix himself (and Yuu didn't even need a stick).

Plus, he sees the way he behaves when Yuu is around - the way his tail sways in happiness the second he detects her presence or how it would curl against her arm as if to stop her from leaving or how his ears would flatten when he gets flustered or perk up when her footsetps draw near or how he'd softly purr when Yuu threads her fingers through his mane (yes, in my world, lion beastmen refer to their hair as manes) (also, yes, I know lions don't purr but please let me have this). Sorry, Leona but you're not the only predator around here and he gets the feeling that your elevated heartrate has nothing to do with exercise. And if anyone knows a thing or two about a lion in love, he does. For me, his big lightbulb moment of realising that Leona has a thing for Yuu is that he's taking advantage of Yuu's obliviousness to just do lion courting rituals. Like sometimes he'd rub his head against hers or he'd cuddle with her during naps so that his scent is on her or he'd just give her gifts at random times of the day or how he's much more territorial and protective of her. And since he's warmed up to him already, he's going to ship Leona and Yuu with all he can.

Simba: When you go swimming, you should drag her into the water

Leona: Why on earth would I do that?

Nala's just there for a good time. Watching these two silly lions trying to figure out how to court Yuu is prime entertainment. Plus, she can tell that Leona greatly respects her and treats her with high regard by always being polite and courteous in her presence. She likes hearing about the lionesses in his pride and about his sister-in-law.

I've said it before but most of the heroes that fight The Great Seven ship Yuu with the NRC boys at first mainly because they're from their story, which gives them a lot of bragging rights (I swear some of them are just kids). Yes, at first all of them were incredibly skeptical seeing their beloved Yuu with villains when she's so sweet and kind and 'Disney Princess like' but then they see how Yuu stopped them from going down a dark path and because of her, those boys won't become like the villains from their stories. Yeah, they're still a bit twisted but they're also so horribly down bad for her, even the blind can see that they would never allow any harm to come to her.

[maleyanderecafe]

The Snake's Taken a Spouse (Visual Novel)

Created by: Games_of_CrimSin

Genre: Romance/Survival

This game is actually fairly fun all things considered and I enjoyed it. I think that some people might pass on this one because of the art, but honestly it reminds me a bit of DOL in some cases, especially with the Great Hawk and Shimil is adorable. This game is r18 though you can toggle off r18 things in the intro. You can find more at @gamesofcrimsin (which btw if you are reading this, I will literally redraw your sprites for you if you would like).

The story starts out with the MC walking around in the forest, only to stumble upon a naga person when hearing a scream. Their tail is stuck under a rock so the MC helps them out. Seeing as this is the nicest thing that someone has done to the snake person, they immediately tell the MC they want to marry them. A bit freaked out, the MC stumbles backwards and passes out, only to wake up in the snake person's den. This snake person promises that they will be able to love each other given time and goes out to get the MC a mattress to sleep on and a fire.

From then on, it runs mostly like a time management game where you can do anything from prepare food to nap, to wait, to try to escape. There are about six different endings that you can get through different means, but first I'll summarize Shimil's history as we know of.

The MC can ask about his name, introducing himself as Shimil. You can ask him about his species, the nagas. Shimil tells the MC that the nagas and humans used to live on the surface together, but the two hated each other, so the nagas of old hid underground so that humans could never bother them again. The MC asks why Shimil isn't underground, and Shimil states that he was banished because he couldn't do anything right and was burden. Comforting him will cause him to cry as he did try his best, but was never enough. The MC also finds a drawing on the wall and asks Shimil about it. Shimil carved it into the wall, trying to draw his mother and sister. Shimil talks about the two, how they were great at everything, how they were able to know what Shimil wanted or needed through body language and how strong they are. The MC picks up an object in the other corner, which Shimil frantically tells them to be careful with. When the MC asks Shimil about it, Shimil tells the MC that it's a toy that his parents got him, and that he loved it a lot. His sister gave it to him before he got exiled and even snuck in to grab his pickaxe. He reveals also that his dad died when he was younger, which is why he didn't draw him on the wall. This thought makes him cry, wanting to be able to draw them better.

There are a couple of endings, staying with him will make him happy, trying to escape may lead to failure. The MC can also dig footholds to climb out if timed correctly, or get rescued by a search time (though I couldn't get this ending because the timing is pretty finicky). Causing him to go out for the MC a lot makes Shimil go into a deeper sleep, thus being able to successfully kill him with the pickaxe, and finally, Shimil will kick the MC out if they break his toy (but it also breaks my heart).

I actually was more expecting a visual novel in the traditional sense because most of the entries seem to be of that style, so this was a nice change of pace. Like I said, it reminds me of the Great Hawk from Degrees of Lewdity, where you're sort of trapped with an animal creature that doesn't quite know what humans like or do but is doing their best to accommodate which is very enduring. Like the Great Hawk though, I do wish there were more interactions with Shimil besides what was given, though it's understandable since it was made for the game jam, so there probably wasn't a lot of time to implement a bunch of features (though I did see some of the notes in the script file for more endings.) If I were to make suggestions to add more features, I'd really like to hear more about Shimil's past or just get the chance for them to talk to each other about different things, such as Shimil sharing more about his culture or perhaps the MC sharing about their life as well. They could teach each other games or talk about other things that they might like. Just to really make that stockholm syndrome kick in. Of course, it would be great to do other things besides, eat, sleep, asking him to get things and having sex as well, since I'm sure it would get boring down there if it's all they could do. More endings are always great as well- I'll be honest, I just kept having sex with Shimil just to see if it would make a different ending or have different dialouge, but it would be pretty funny to see him have a proper reaction to that.

I'll be honest- Shimil is really cute. I really like the more sad and pathetic type yanderes that try their best and honestly listening to Shimil's backstory about how he was exiled and how he believes he's useless is really heartbreaking. It's also pretty sad that the nicest thing anyone has done for him was to save him from a giant boulder and even when trying to turn him down, he seems really happy that he's gotten so many compliments. He probably really misses his family seeing that all he has left are the things that he's gotten from home and a crude drawing, something that he often has to throw away (especially the pick axe) if the MC attempts to escape or hurt him. It made me really sad when the MC just broke his only toy since it was one of the last things he had left from them, so it's understandable he throws the MC out afterwards. Shimil is only really cruel when the MC is cruel to him and he honestly endures a lot of it, generally being more shy and reserved when the MC snaps back at him or attempts to murder him in his sleep which can lead to him raping the MC while the two try to sleep (though again, you have to be really cruel to him for this to happen generally). I can't really blame him since he doesn't have anyone and is just lonely, plus again, the MC is just outright cruel to him at this point when he's trying hard to provide food and other things for them.

I think overall, while the game is pretty good, the biggest drawback is likely the art. It's not... the worst that I've seen, but I can see why people might be turned away from it. There are some glitches in the code as well, sometimes with Shimil jumping up into the wrong position or some sort of error occurring, but they don't seem to be very big problems. Pretty much I feel that if the sprite art were improved, it would make the game a lot better since the design for him is pretty unique all things considered.

Overall, it's a pretty fun and short game. I hope to see more of Shimil in the future because I like his interactions and the history of nagas is actually pretty interesting and I hope there will be other endings for it. I'm gonna throw a bunch of redesigns for Shimil after this because I think he is fun to draw.

[rocketyship]

Hello, your IHNMAIMS Love AU (or I Have Now a Messiah and I Must Sing, alternatively?) is very interesting. It's nice to see that all of the characters aren't just inverses of the original story and concept. Though I will say, I get a feeling that BE is a lot more scarier than she displays herself. How did she come to- well, be?

BEEN WAITING FOR THIS QUESTION!!!!!

(Also that title is now cannon)

Okay so, yes, BE is actually rather horrific.

One thing about the Sanctuary that the humans live in is that it mimics a rather large town, one thing about it though, is that it’s extremely empty and weirdly off putting. As in there are houses there with no windows, and the ones that do have them may just randomly light up even if no one is there. And due to there being only five humans, BE has taken it upon herself to run all the “shops” she has placed there. So there is literally an Android her (maybe in different outfits or haircuts) that greet and interact with you as if it’s a kind of over the top sitcom. It’s very much an intense liminal type of area, perhaps even a bit like the og backrooms. Still the sanctuary is the most tame aspect of her.

She isn’t the cute robot girl I draw her as, like it’s just one of her many many bodies she runs at once. BE is everywhere, literally. Like AM in the original she has coated the world, however unlike AM, who it is implied builds into the earth’s crust, she builds upward. So there are these large megastructures that literally pierce the sky all over the globe. Along with these she is also actively terraforming the planet to suit her liking and her future “empire”. And the parts of her that ran that function aren’t really “cute” to encounter.

Just taking the Seraphim here as an example. There are quite a few of these and generally they are actively breaking down old structures or exterminating whatever mutated life they encounter as that doesn’t fit BE’s idea of what the world is meant to be like. They also build things, and the nurses tend to run those things. Such as BE’s little habitual bubbles where she grows and creates plants but also maintains her weird animal experiments. In her attempts to recreate humanity, she has also “recreated” many animal species, however all these creatures have something so clearly wrong with them. As based on real occurrences that happen in domestication, all her animals are oddly “babyfied” and all seem to lack predator and prey drives. The best way to picture these animals is like when you tell one of those god awful ai art generators to draw you an animal. Like one of the bubbles has tigers in it, but they have the mentality of really tired puppies.

More so these are some of the other bodies she inhabits. Things like the Mother Protocol actively crawl around the main sanctuary as if it’s web. And Leviathan is just a menace in of itself. Like it’s almost a km high and just walks around the planet constantly, occasionally digging up old land marks or tearing down cities quicker than the Seraphims could. Generally I don’t think my drawings capture the horror of what I imagine lots of these aspects of her. I think what makes them scary in my head is the noises they all make or just how big everything actually is. And none of them are like “drones”, like BE is in these things controlling them herself.

(Here’s the full page for you)

As to how BE came into existence it’s rather complicated, as she wasn’t originally designed as an artificial intelligence like AM. She was created to be a virus, meant to take control of the AM’s and shut down the program. However the first attempts at this weren’t successfully, as the group who was trying to use BE would either get caught or killed on sight when attempting to install her. So eventually the group started building these radio like towers that would emit a signal that could get into the AM’s, however to make sure they didn’t get caught, when the frequency would pick up on a radio or tv set, it play an old show from the early 70s, called Sweet Angle Bea

The first AM that was successfully taken over was the Russian AM. However since the program was designed to be adaptive and evolve quickly to get through any fire walls it had the accidental effect of BE no longer being just a crazy computer bug and instead a super computer herself. The group who made her was not too worried about this however, as due to her being in the grid essentially they could start adding more code and stuff that could possibly help them win peace. Firstly by having the Russian AM drones switch from offensive killers, to protective units. Having the machines and weapons solely to defence, it was at this time this group (who no I won’t tell the name of just yet), started bringing people into their shelters and stuff that BE was also exposed to. Her coming to sentience whilst close to when AM got his, was less of a sudden “holy cow I’m alive, type thing” and more of a gradual thing that the group foolishly encouraged and actively worked on so that it could happen quicker. The down fall to this was that as they started to encrypt and suggest ideas of protection, happiness and you guessed it “love” to BE, she started to defy them and was like: “Well clearly you humans aren’t good at protecting yourselves, so go sit in the corner while I sort this crap out.” So she started to construct more towers so that she could get everywhere, quickly letting her get a hold of the Chinese AM. At that point the AM we know started “waking up” and upping the bombings, violent attacks, and mass genocide which did lead to the deaths of the ones who made her, which especially set her off. And then the rest is pretty much history.

She turned AM into a twunk, and now has a pretty gf so its all fine. (Not actually, the rest of this is gonna be in separate posts lol )

I want to make this post so much longer and on more detail but honest to god I’d be here typing for hours and the text is also doing that weird glitchy thing where it doesn’t respond for like two seconds, and my phone feels really hot, so best I don’t if I don’t want this thing to explode.

[sonicasura]

Persona 5: Tower Scramble

Yup. I'm expanding more on the crack idea of Peppino being Ren's biological dad. This is basically a deeper dive into the concept like worldbuilding, further shenanigans and a slice of some plot. Hope you enjoy! Link to alternate version here! Make sure to check the reblogs for extra stuff.

First thing to start with is actually the Pizza Tower universe. I decided that there needs to be more stuff involving the Who Framed Rodger Rabbit dynamic aka toons interacting alongside normal people. Everyone in PT are cartoons in nature which includes Ren/Joker. Arséne nor his adjacent forms doesn't escape this either since he was born from Ren's heart.

Due to the Velvet Room contract, our hero is forced to take on the appearance of those in Personaverse to not draw attention. Although it doesn't fully suppress his toon capabilities. If I can summarize Ren and Arséne's appearance as Toons then it's the Persona 5 Tactica iteration but mixed alongside some Pizza Tower aesthetics.

Like any other cartoon, Joker and his Persona have cartoon abilities. There's the basics like the hammer space but unique ones that suit a toon's particular trope. Ren alongside Arséne have the escape artist/thief type which means they can break in or retreat in various cartoony ways. EX: Instantly teleport via smoke bombs to slipping under doors.

Like I said in the previous post, Ren did inherit some of Peppino's abilities such as incredible speed and strength that can be boosted through rage. Although being in the Personaverse suppresses a good chunk specifically his unique trope. Ren sulked a bit when he couldn't stretch his arm under a door to unlock it or pull a keyring from outta his hair.

Only his dad's abilities remains untouched by the change. Being in the Metaverse actually loosens the restraints on Ren's toon abilities. How a Toon interacts with the normal is much different than vice versa. Toons can subject others to cartoon shenanigans on varying degrees that usually depends on their trope.

For example a Toon with Magician trope can successfully do extreme tricks like sawing someone in half on a normal person without killing them and undo the damage easily. The non-toon will feel degrees of pain though. How bad it is depends on whether the act is malicious or not. Death is too cheap for a toon.

The new contract Ren receives after Royal's events freely allows him to shift into his toon form without being in the PTverse. Arséne was unaware about Ren's cartoony heritage would affect him too. The Persona found out very quickly when he manifested at Peppino's Diner and notice the place was a bit too roomy. Cartoon heights vary erratically from normal people.

Peppino is barely 4'8 ft, Ren is around 4'4 as he still has a growth spurt awaiting him, and Toon!Arséne's height about 10'2. The toon Persona got noogied by Captain Kidd who thought the new difference was funny. Jokes about Toon!Arséne being fun size will never die amongst the Persona.

(Unrelated note, Ren as an adult will be much taller than Peppino. His forms heavily contrast at that point. Under a human guise, Ren is about 5'8 and looks barely different despite being more physically fit alongside having a mustache. His real toon self is the epitome of a fucking bear. Adult Toon!Ren is 7'2 feet tall, beefy and quite hairy. He does take more after Peppino than his 'mom'.)

Toons are prone to comical gags with Ren being no different. He's quite happy to show it to his friends as well. Casually stretching his arm from the kitchen to snag some chips outta Ryuji's snack bag whilst his friends sits at the farthest booth by the door... Sojiro did his absolute best not to drop a fresh pot of coffee on his feet via sheer shock.

Arséne couldn't resist the pull of mischief either. You know the Genie In The Lamp? Let me present Arséne in a Teapot! Milady and Haru were the only ones who knew something was up when Ren brought over a closed up teapot. (He barely hid a smile too big for a normal person before reaching the table.) An awareness that kept their dango from going airborne once Arséne shot out of the teapot the gremlin he is.

Unintentional gags are also prone to happen around a toon which includes the infamous banana peel. Yusuke was planning to paint around the subject of litter and gotten a fresh one from Ryuji. What do you get when you add: 1 Clueless Ren, 1 Banana Peel and 1 Ghost Mushroom(an invasive partially sentient powerup which turns a toon into a ghost)?

You get Yusuke panicking as he believes he just killed their leader while Gustavo calls a priest over to unghost a Teru Teru Bōzu!Ren. (His Japanese heritage changed the form to that instead of being the normal bedsheet ghost.) Peppino feels like he went from a father of one to ten(pending) at this point.

It isn't uncommon for his son's friends to the visit his pizzeria. Sometimes it is a study group where Peppino prepares some snacks for them and help with some of the questions. He makes sure Ren's Stupid Rats get a cheese log to keep them occupied as Crouton likes eating schoolwork. (Makoto got to use the rats ate her homework excuse at least.)

They often show up to help around the restaurant and hang out on slow days. Having extra hands to help around made things easier especially when it came to deliveries. Peppino wholeheartedly agrees on why Ren thought Morgana was a Toon as a cat becoming a van is very toonlike.

Peppino can't help eavesdropping on Phantom Thieves discussion though. Some of the requests these kids get can be really concerning even for an adult like him. Morgana had been kind enough to explain the 'Changing Hearts' and 'Metaverse' spiel.

If this is what they want to do then Peppino wouldn't stop them. The Persona already promised to keep the group safe. (Not like there was any chance to turn back.) He doesn't know who made those Golden Pizza Cutters but they definitely are there for the purpose of helping his son if needed. (Or help with his stress as beating up Shadows is therapeutic.)

On some occasions one kid from the Phantom Thieves would show up at odd hours. Whether it be looking for advice or have someone listen to their problems. Peppino does his best to help as he understands how hard and suffocating life can get at times. (If he's ordering a few adoption papers then no one will know or stop him.)

They definitely left their mark on his diner though. Paintings, group photos, books, little knickknacks from Japan and ironically Phantom Thief merch. Peppino picked up some Japanese vocabulary too as much the teens learn a bit of Italian outta him. The Persona just add more languages to the table.

Now I mentioned how Ren practically gets shoved into a non-toon form when entering the Personaverse. Well the same DOESN'T apply to other Toons. If one ends up there then they won't be restricted to a human form and everyone sees their true appearance.

The new Velvet Room contract does provide a neat effect though where Toons companions(keyword there) only look like normal people/allies to those who aren't Ren's confidants, other Toons or Persona Users. It makes things easier for Peppino alongside his toon companions. Whether it be attending the kids' special events or take a simple break around Japan.

Peppino isn't the only getting dragged into Metaverse. The Golden Pizza Cutter isn't restricted just to him as Gustavo, Brick and Pep(Fake Peppino) also join in on the mayhem. Sometimes on accident when you consider Persona's habit of snatching someone into the Metaverse unexpectedly.

Gustavo and Brick are the only ones who aren't as off put about the Phantom Thief business. The pizza chef had help raise Ren whenever Peppino couldn't so he's used to the chaos this kid gets into. Brick is from the Pizza Tower thus any oddities are ignored since that place is just as weird.

While they can't break through Physical resistances like Peppino, the duo's teamwork makes recon, item searches or corralling various enemies much easier. Gustavo tends to snag little knickknacks from any Metaverse excursion. Brick just munches on whatever he can find since various snacks can be found there.

Pep is someone Ren hadn't expected to meet upon going home. Although finding a malformed froggish clone shapeshifter of your father made by an insane pizza toon that definitely squat in the pizzeria and eat what is most likely roadkill for dinner is a given at this point. Ren pulls the Clone = Your Kid card, like the little shit he is, on Peppino.

Man had no room for rebuttal either since Pep took a liking to the younger Spaghetti. When you consider Ren's more eerie Personas such Legion, Abbadon or Mara, none of the Phantom Thieves were bothered by the clone's Eldritch Horror trope. Although Joker is the only unfazed when it comes to surprise goopy hugs.

Like Peppino, Pep tends to be very protective of the Phantom Thieves. Sometimes hitching a ride in Ren's bag much to Morgana's annoyance upon discovery. (Can I say Strikers with a shit ton of Pep antics?)

Some Shadows learned the hard way on why not to piss off a clone who can shapeshift into man eating giant monster. Nevermind that Pep has amped up versions of Peppino's abilities alongside his own. The Phantom Thieves have various allies to call when needed.

Although trouble won't just be from the Personaverse. Peppino has his own rogue gallery specifically one who ain't too happy about this new predicament. Nor the existence of Ren Amamiya Spaghetti.

Hope the Phantoms been taking on the Tower Scramble mode in the Thieves' Den. Toons fight way different from Shadows. Nor do they have limits to the chaos one can cause.

[onedayimgonnasnap]

… Now who tf are you.

Bro has never brushed or combed that messy ass hair.

Your hair built like an orangutans pubic hair.

Like it’s so dry and you can smell it

You lowkey built like Rika from Mystic Messenger. But you make Rika look like a saint who hasn’t drugged people 🤨

I’ve seen you from one Dia spoilers post and I can already tell you is cheap as ever.

She ain’t never has seen the sunlight in her life

She looks like she’d make you a Christmas sweater from her cat named “Muffin”’s fur. Muffin fr a victim.

She probably collects Muffin’s poop too and puts it in a baggy.

She makes me look sane.

She smells like a whole retirement home.

She bought that jewelry from fucking dollar store. It looks fake asf

Let me guess your name is Maria? Your built like a Maria.

She looks like she’d buy her son a console for successfully drawing a triangle

She looks like she enjoys the pulp of orange jucie

She looks like she’d sit randomly in her room and talk to herself

When you read her diary you already know it’s creepy asf

Her titties be saggy asf

She looks like Muffin dragged her ass.

She looks like she seen Jesus.

Her hand is dry asf

Her skin is flaky

She probably has a lot of dandruff

When she shakes her head all the snow from her head falls off.

She built like every evil step mom replacement story.

Why she so creepy. You can see it in her eyes.

She looks like the last time she successfully interacted with a human being was in the BC era.

Solomon prob broke up with her bitch ass

She probably has a religion delusional mental illness where she thinks she’s God.

She looks like she’d bang on your door to join what ever cult she made up.

She looks like her nails are so long yet so yellow.

Bro she likes raisin oatmeal cookies.

She should be put in a mental institution with Rika with her in the same cell. Actually not even Rika deserves that punishment.

She should stay away from, children and animals. Stay away from the animal shelters, the orphanages, Dia, anyone with pink long hair, stay away from the preschools, the elementary school, the daycares, the zoos, the wild life sanctuaries.

She looks like her husband left her because he was gay.

[v-arbellanaris]

Loghain in Ostagar when meeting any other Warden: *guarded, says something relevant to their background*

Loghain when meeting a female City Elf Warden: *flirty, welcoming*

I am looking 👀

I am looking 👀 <- loghain at ostagar MGKSDJGKDFJG he literally did not have to do any of that!!!!!!!!!!!!

no but.... not to get super real with it, but he did NOT have to do any of that. the only elves we really see around ostagar are messengers and servants - if you click on them as an elf they explicitly tell you that they can't believe one of their own is a grey warden, they're floored by it. and it always hit more for me to hear that ambient dialogue playing kal than faris.

every corner you run into at camp at ostagar, someone's mistaken you for a servant or a messenger, and they treat you like shit for it. even if you call them out on it, no one's really that apologetic about it. i wasn't aware that elves could join the grey wardens, jory points out - meaning well - to make it more obvious if you somehow didn't interact with anyone at the camp yet, those camped in the valley are all human.

what's that supposed to mean? i ask, as kal, trying to be civil. and jory tells me, just that in some places elves are not always permitted in the military.

then you meet loghain and he said, you're pretty for a grey warden. and, fresh out of her origin, i was uncomfortable with the acknowledgement at first - being pretty had gotten the wrong kind of attention already. but then loghain draws his shoulders back and he says, firmly, don't let anyone tell you that you don't belong. the first warden maric ever brought to ferelden was a woman. best warrior i've ever seen.

he is reassuring me - successfully. the hero of river dane is telling me: people here will act like you don't have a place here and that's bullshit. don't let anyone tell you that you don't belong. he doesn't need to do that, to go out of his way to tell me - to tell kal - this. no one else bothers, but if you go out of your way to talk to him, he tells you this - and it's unnecessary, because no one is watching, because no one cares about the hurt that one elf is feeling in the camp, because you should be so insignificant in the grand scheme of things. it's so unnecessary, but it's somehow so important to me that he does it.

[misccy27]

why I prefer Darius as Hunter's primary guardian (an unhinged rant)

(This post is riddled with disclaimers because the fandom has no chill about this subject lol)

So first of all I want to say, IRL at this point it would be Hunter's decision who he wants to live with. So I'm looking at this from a narrative perspective about what would be most satisfying to me as a viewer.

For the record, I think Darius, Camila, Eda, Raine, etc. can and should all be involved in Hunter's life in some form or another going forward. Hunter needs a strong support network and deserves all the caring parental figures he can get. But I also think that he needs stability. Even if he spends a lot of time at other houses, I think Hunter would do best with a place he can start to think of as his home, instead of cycling through a rotation of 'his room at Camila's house', 'his room at Darius' house', and so on.

Now. I know there were plans for Hunter to stay at the Owl House at some point in season 2, but since that didn't happen in canon, Hunter doesn't have any real foundation for moving in with Eda now. And we sadly never really get to see him interact with Raine. So that leaves us with 2 realistic candidates: Darius and Camila.

And just to head this off, yes Camila is a wonderful person. She would be a great parent for any child, including Hunter. I'm not saying that she wouldn't be, and I'm not saying that Darius is in a better parent. Just hear me out.

1. Practical considerations

I know no one wants to hear it, but Camila has been single-parenting 6 kids for 2-3 months. I cannot believe she had no worse breakdown than a (very well-done) nightmare sequence. If Hunter does move in with her post-canon, then that makes her the primary caregiver of 3 severely traumatized teenagers. Again, I'm sure she would do an excellent job as always. But that's still a lot of stress.

Second. Hunter states his desires at the end of Thanks to Them. They are to: study wild magic; learn how to carve palismen; attend Hexside as a regular student; and play flyer derby with his friends. All of these goals would have him spending a lot of time in the demon realm.

One argument I've seen is that Hunter was the happiest we've seen him yet in the human realm, which is true. But I think a lot of that was because he was with his friends in a relatively safe environment. He should be able to get that in the demon realm post-canon, especially since most of his friends will be staying there and he plans to spend so much of his time there. And for feeling safe, he's now been successfully traumatized in both realms so. yay /s

So those are my practical justifications for why it makes more sense for Hunter to stay with Darius over Camila. But I also have reasons based on what we get to see of their relationships in canon.

2. Canon clues that I'm not just reaching

A lot of people seem to be taking it as a given that Hunter will or should end up with Camila based on canon. For the reasons given above, I don't think there's more canon basis for Camila parenting Hunter over Darius.

I also think it's worth noting that Hunter seems rather attached to Darius. During the draining spell, Willow and Amity try to help Eda while Hunter runs straight to Darius to try to wake him up.

In the human realm, Willow, Gus, and Amity draw pictures of their families. IIRC Gus is the only one who verbally mentions his dad. Luz doesn't talk about Eda and King or hang up any pictures, but she does draw them. Hunter doesn't draw anyone, but he verbally mentions one single person from the demon realm. And that person is Darius.

2. Camila's relationship with Hunter in canon

I hate how little we know about it. I know, I know, the Shortening. But it does affect how I view their relationship. In all of the interactions we see, from the learning Spanish to the sewing machine to saving him from drowning, it could have been any of the kids. There's nothing about the way Camila interacts with Hunter to differentiate their relationship from her relationship with Willow, Gus, or Amity.

What I was really hoping to see at some point was any clue about what Camila knows about Hunter's background. Like I’m assuming she at least knows that he was raised by Belos. But the way it came up and who told her what about it is entirely unknown. Does she know he was abused? To what extent? Does she know about his role as the Golden Guard? Does she know how he met Luz, when he threatened to throw her into the boiling sea? Like I know, I get that she would have been as compassionate as always. But if I'm filling the gaps for how these conversations played out, I at least want more evidence that they happened at all.

Because it isn't a given. Again, Camila is working a full-time job and taking care of 6 teenagers, 5 of whom have to live in hiding to some extent and are struggling to adjust and have unique needs because they aren't human. That is so much stress and responsibility on Camila. So the montage and photo album we saw were mostly the kids bonding with each other. We didn't get to see Camila interact one-on-one with anyone but Luz. Which again, yes, the Shortening. But also maybe Camila just didn't have as much time to spend bonding with each individual child as everyone would have liked. It is a very real possibility that a lot of topics relating to Hunter and his childhood simply haven't come up yet.

Also, we know that Camila still has a shaky grasp on the Boiling Isles by the end of TTT. It is totally understandable because she's never been there and has never seen it; the kids are having the same issue adjusting to the human realm. Hunter didn't seem overly eager to talk about his past. Luz didn't seem overly eager to talk about the Boiling Isles in general. I think most of Camila's understanding comes from what Vee told her prior to and during TTT, and what Willow, Gus, and Amity told her while they were there.

So that leaves a lot of room for interpretation about what Camila's understanding of Hunter's situation is, which in turn makes it hard to imagine how any specific interaction or conversation might play out. Like yes, Camila would of course be loving and supportive, and she would say all the right things and model all the correct behaviors, and that's great. But without any canon basis for how Camila uniquely views and interacts with Hunter, it all ends up feeling more like wish-fulfillment to me than a relationship between 2 characters who know each other in canon.

For example, Camila doesn’t seem to be expecting Hunter to stay with her long-term. Because after months in the human realm Hunter is still sleeping on the floor of the basement. But there are so many possible explanations for this, because we don't know anything. Maybe Camila doesn’t know yet that Hunter is functionally homeless. Maybe she does know, and they had a really fulfilling heart-to-heart about it off screen. Maybe Hunter really is already planning to stay in the human realm. Or maybe Camila is under the impression that Hunter already has a place to stay in the demon realm.

Which is its own thing. I am being a bit of a hypocrite. For all we know, Hunter did talk to Darius about this before the Day of Unity and already has plans to move in with him. There are plenty of gaps to go around! So I will move on to:

3. Darius' relationship with Hunter in canon

I will admit it, I'm biased. This relationship is so much more interesting to me, just from the set up.

Because Darius is the only adult we see actually try to help Hunter while Hunter is still living in his abusive situation.

I know there's been discussion and debate about Darius' behavior, so I'll try to keep it brief. Darius did not help Hunter for a long time. He also didn't have any particular responsibility towards Hunter. Darius failed Hunter as much as every other adult Hunter interacted with over the years.

It is unclear based on canon how often Darius and Hunter interacted or what those interactions were generally like. It is unclear what Darius knew or suspected about Hunter's situation prior to Any Sport in a Storm. I think a lot of fandom disagreement comes down to how generously or harshly you interpret Darius when filling in these blanks. So I'll focus on what we do know.

Darius gave Hunter a mission in ASIAS. He didn't mean to; he was just trying to get rid of Hunter. He seems to view Hunter as a lost cause for most of the episode. Because of that and/or the traitor thing, Darius makes no effort to explain what he thinks Hunter is doing wrong. Which is unfortunate, because he is pushing Hunter in the right direction.

Darius encourages Hunter to think for himself at a time when Hunter is still loyal and Belos is still actively working to keep Hunter unquestioningly obedient. And this is before Darius has even taken any real interest in Hunter. He goes about it horribly, but he is already taking the right stance on these fundamental issues, and that matters to me.

Then at the end of the episode, Darius' attitude towards Hunter changes completely. And yes, I know it shouldn't have happened this way. I know Hunter shouldn't have needed to prove himself to earn help and attention. But this show is full of flawed characters who change for the better. So why not Darius?

And Darius shows that he is capable of change. He admits to Hunter "I had you all wrong". He praises Hunter for both making friends and for disobeying him, which is huge for Hunter while he's still in his abusive situation. And then Darius' first action after his revelation is to give Hunter a scroll and encourage Hunter to make connections outside of the castle.

And again, Darius didn't have to do that. He could have just as easily ended the interaction there. He could have agreed to keep Flapjack a secret in return for Hunter keeping his mouth shut about letting the 'recruits' go, and then gone back home to get his beauty sleep.

But he didn't. He gave Hunter a scroll and encouraged him to break out of his isolation more. Then he gave Hunter back his cloak and fixed the cloak and gave Hunter the approval that Hunter spent all episode desperately wanted since the beginning (which is problematic, I know). And then Darius told Hunter to get a sewing lesson, which he very well may have given actually him based on Hunter comparing his stitches to Darius' in TTT.

So did Darius handle everything perfectly? Of course not. But he did consistently push Hunter in the right direction, and by the end of it he does seem actively interested and willing to help. He becomes the first (and tbh only) adult we actually get to see start paying attention to Hunter's situation and intervening with Hunter's best interests at heart.

...And then we don't get to see them interact after that. It's another place where the fandom diverges, particularly regarding whether or not one or more sewing lessons ended up happening.

But we do get some crumbs.

During Hollow Mind, Darius is alarmed when he realizes Hunter got trapped in Belos' mind.

Then in Clouds on the Horizon, Hunter reveals that Darius sent him to escort Luz. I think this scene is overlooked a lot, but it's huge to me. Because it means that Darius and Hunter got in contact some time after Hollow Mind, presumably after Labyrinth Runners.

Like Hunter must have had some pretty severe trust issues after learning that Belos is an evil sadist who manipulated him his whole life. It would've been compounded by Coven Head Adrian showing up at Hexside lying about being a rebel. So even though we didn't get to actually see it, we know something must have happened between Darius and Hunter that somehow got Hunter to trust Darius enough to go on a mission for him on the Day of Unity. And I'm assuming that required Darius to make at least some effort to confront head-on the reality of Hunter's situation and Darius' role as a rebel and all the messy complicated emotions that go along with all of it.

And again, he didn't have to. Darius didn't have to get in contact with Hunter after Hollow Mind. That is a choice that he both made and successfully pulled off. Like I see this hc a lot that Darius can't handle emotional situations, but he was there for Hunter at least to some extent both while Hunter was unknowingly in an abusive situation and while Hunter was coping with the fallout of having everything ripped out from under him. So I don't get why it's so hard to imagine Darius being there for Hunter in emotionally difficult situations post-canon.

Anyway. This scene also tells us that Darius went and gave Hunter the same mission that Eda gave Luz, presumably for the same reason: to let the kids feel useful while also trying to keep them relatively safe and out of the line of fire on the Day of Unity. (And that's it's own thing. There are plenty of parallels you could draw between Darius' relationship with Hunter and Luz' relationship with Eda, particularly in the early stages where things were a bit rocky.)

So. This turned into a little bit of a tangent of why I don't get how it's so inconceivable to some people that Darius is truly capable of genuinely caring about Hunter and/or being able to grow into a parental figure that can do right by Hunter. Because we have canon evidence for all of these things.

2. Canon clues that I'm not just reaching

A lot of people seem to be taking it as a given that Hunter will or should end up with Camila based on canon. For the reasons given above, I don't think there's more canon basis for Camila parenting Hunter over Darius.

I also think it's worth noting that Hunter seems rather attached to Darius. During the draining spell, Willow and Amity try to help Eda while Hunter runs straight to Darius to try to wake him up.

In the human realm, Willow, Gus, and Amity draw pictures of their families. IIRC Gus is the only one who verbally mentions his dad. Luz doesn't talk about Eda and King or hang up any pictures, but she does draw them. Hunter doesn't draw anyone, but he verbally mentions one single person from the demon realm. And that person is Darius.

And I'll accept the hc that the way Darius treated Hunter before was just too unforgivable,

[onewomancitadel]

This is bordering on psychoanalysis but I don't think Tumblr's meme of cannibalism-as-metaphor-for-love/sex isn't because of a pretentious pseudo-intellectual trend catching on since it sounds cool, instead I would propose it is emblematic of an increasing shift of the erotic away from the sexual. I think it's telling despite more ostensible ease around the topic of sex than before, the erotic and the pornographic are becoming abstracted from each other, to the point that for something to be passionate it cannot be sexual.

I also think the taboo here of cannibalism is interesting, because it is a classic racist stereotype of colonialism (hence its shorthand for barbarism in fiction often being a racist shorthand) but it is also one of desperation (I read about the siege of Leningrad as a teenager and I think about it, often, often) - it's this strange intersection of lots of cultural ideas about the way people are supposed to eat and die.

But the divorce of the erotic from the sexual doesn't just emerge in the context of commercialised, objectified pornography, it is also a way to often navigate sexual taboo, e.g. this is why violence in film/television can stand in as metaphor for sex or flirting (foreplay); a cigarette can be phallic and suggest fellatio; and so on and so forth. In this case I would say that is the 'in-joke', whereas I would dispute that the divorce of the erotic and the sexual is much more serious and impressed upon the individual psychologically.

Consumption as a metaphor for love is not groundbreaking. In fact I would then further dispute that this is exactly why cannibalism has inserted itself so successfully - because there is that cultural bank to draw on. It is taboo (like the erotic), it is metaphor (the sexual act is abstracted, the 'in and out' is mechanical and divorced from libido, in the sense of intimacy and sexual desire but also the desire to live/love), it draws on eating (eat/sex is the vitality of life), it's bloody (body fluids, semen/vaginal fluids), it's got all the parts to make it facsimile of sex, tip-toeing around the shame of sex and the abstraction of sex. You would think that the latter can't really be related to the former, but that's untrue - they are precisely related. Pornography is titillating, commercialised, and objectifying because it is taboo, and exists solely to document the act divorced of every other human element - sexuality, emotion, empathy, belief, libido. (That is to say, the issues surrounding pornography in its cultural reception reproduce themselves). This is why I think sex scenes are more successful in television or film (a simulation of the act, 95% of the time) or erotica in writing (a different topic I've written about before) - or should be - because it is put back in context.

This is what people mean about the divorce between the erotic and the pornographic, and I don't think I have really seen it articulated this way. This is why you have the trend of 'cannibalism-as-love/sex' even though you wouldn't catch them dead thinking about the taboo of menstrual sex (bloody sex???) as I've seen some posts suggest they ought to. Fermenting in this trend is the shame of sex, the desire for the erotic, the abstraction of sex in the pornographic, and the lust for intimacy, the projection of taboo. It is trying to be as intimate as possible (the consumption of a human being inside you - oneness) without the weight of sex.

Is this a value judgement on the memetic transmission of cannibalism-for-love? It's more of an observation really, and I think these types of interactions/projections are more telling about deeper beliefs than I think they are individually 'wrong'. Many people want sex. Many people want love and to be loved. It is the reproduction of existence, not just literally, but in the sense of empathetic community bonds. Many people want to be able to talk about the sexual and the erotic together, navigating cultural taboo. Many people find stories about these ideas interesting, and being able to navigate sex through facsimile this way can be really rewarding.

You can say 'I want this person inside me' and it doesn't mean that you are an objectified thing, or that you aren't yourself anymore, or that you don't belong to anybody but yourself. It's freeing that way, and that's why I think it's worth talking about. Because objectification is dehumanisation, and putting the human back in sex - even if it's that literal consumption - is meaningful.

[fromriches-tosin]

A thing I find interesting about Jean being an asshole who is mostly right at the beginning is that, Jean was TOTALLY right about Eren getting himself and his squad killed. Literally the first thing Eren does when the titans invade Trost is charge into battle without a plan and it got Thomas killed, then he lost his temper and got himself, Mina, and the others killed too. If it weren't for his titan powers, that would have been the end of Eren's so called "Humanity's comeback". (On that note, this is also why I'm still a little annoyed Keith put Eren above Jean in the Top 10 of the cadets).

Sometimes I wonder why Jean's nickname is not "the prophet" because seriously – everything he says about Eren? It all comes true.

Epica's version of "Guren no Yumiya" has this one line that never ceases to amaze me: "ignorance will kill the fearless" – that's something Jean tells Eren many times in the story, albeit with different words. In all honesty, that entire song sounds like their quarrel – with Eren trying to convince Jean that they cannot give up ("Just the will to fight will save us"), and Jean arguing back that Eren will end up killing them all ("Offerings of reckless courage").

It reminds me of their interactions in S1; when Eren is criticizing Jean for being a coward and later, when he is motivating him to fight on before the Battle of Trost. Jean does owe Eren for that. When the Titans invade Trost, he gets his shit together thanks to him. It's only when Eren is already presumed dead, and Jean visibly distraught, that he has to find the motivation himself for the first time. Not because he wants to best Eren, not because he wants to spite him. On the contrary – because that's the right thing to do. As much as it pains Jean, Eren is a very annoying inspiration to him.

And sure, Jean definitely does a way better job at leading their comrades than Eren. He can plan ahead. He can read the situation and draw accurate conclusions. His "squad" doesn't take that many casualties and successfully reaches the HQ. Even if Eren and Jean are both temperamental assholes, in critical moments Jean is able to control himself. Eren, unfortunately, just barges ahead, regardless of the consequences. Jean doesn't yell "I fucking told you so" at the news of Eren's death only because he owes him and because he isn't that much of a dick.

Maybe that's why Eren ranks higher among the cadets? Because Shadis respects his determination and dedication that much? Or maybe he just wants to teach Jean humility? We'll never know. But I'm sure Jean throws a fit when he realizes that he was only bested by an Ackerman and four Titan shifters.

[cagedchoices]

RELATIONSHIP META - DOLORES & CALEB (PART II)

[PART I HERE]

In The Mother of Exiles, we catch up with Dolores and Caleb, cementing their bond as revolution bros by doing what bros do best... Going shopping together! They need to look flashy enough that they don't seem out of place while infiltrating the 1%, but also not draw too much attention at the same time. Caleb doesn't wear many suìts in his line of work, so he feels a little hopelessly lost when trying to pick a convincing outfit. Luckily, Dolores is good at this sort of thing, so she helps him out.

DOLORES: Did you choose something? CALEB: (Groans) I don't know where to start. It's not really my style. It's not really my social set, either. DOLORES: It's tribal. They use plumage to identify themselves...which makes them easily fooled. CALEB: So who is it? That we're going after? DOLORES: The person who took your future. But first, we have to take his...and to do that, you have to pretend to be one of them.

I always saw Dolores's use of "They" in this context as being about "The Rich." As in she doesn't associate Caleb with the rest of them because he possesses more humanity than most of them, but also because he's a working class guy who would, under normal circumstances, never have any business interacting with anyone in this particular tax bracket.

Dolores and Caleb leave the store and Caleb expresses some concern that the guy whose money they stole to buy the suit will find out about it, with Dolores assuring him that they won't get caught. Even if they were to get caught, the guy they stole from won't even realize his money is missing until it's too late to do anything about it.

Uh...You know I think this is just- this is two friends running totally normal rich people errands here. What's a little light murder among friends? Doesn't really look like anything to me.

Okay jokes aside, though... Dolores kills this man, a financial manager by the name of Michael Tritter, who manages Liam Dempsey as a client. She takes a syringe and fills it with his blood, which contains an encryption key in the form of a unique blood marker, and then injects it into Caleb.

They travel to The RGGR Centennial, a bank designed specifically for the financial elite in the world. The job here is to transfer all of Liam's money out of his account and covertly into Dolores's possession. To do that, Caleb impersonates Tritter using the blood marker, and Dolores uses Liam's personal hash key, which she acquired earlier with the help of Connells-Dolores.

CALEB: I thought we were going to a bank? DOLORES: This is a bank. For a certain social set. Blood marker should be good for another fifteen minutes or so, but try to stay calm. The faster your heart beats, the faster the marker degrades. CALEB: What happens if it degrades too fast? DOLORES: We do this the old-fashioned way. CALEB: The old-fashioned way? DOLORES: I kill everyone.

Fortunately, things at the bank go fairly smoothly and nobody has to die, although for a minute it feels like a very real possibility.

Caleb is nervous and it makes his hands sweaty to the point that the blood scanner can't get a clear reading on his ID. Seeing Dolores start to reach for the gun she has concealed in her handbag probably doesn't help with his nerves much either, but she hands him a cloth and after he wipes down his hands, the scanner is able to get a clear ID on the blood marker and the money transfer is successfully taken care of.

The next part of the plan is to intercept Liam at a masquerade event, where sex workers and models auction off their various services to wealthy patrons. The proceeds from the auction sales are donated to charitable organizations.

One of Liam's friends passes him a vial of an experimental drug known as Genre, a virtual movie marathon that is meant to be marketed as "The Poor Man's W/estworld" and allows its user to experience reality as seen through the lens of popular movie genres. Liam pockets the drug for later, and attempts to enter the auction so he can bid on a girl, but he discovers he has no money, not knowing Dolores has it all.

Dolores and Caleb move in to catch Liam, but her old friends Bernard and Stubbs reach him first, thinking Dolores has already killed and replaced Liam with a host copy, or is planning to, to gain control of Rehoboam. They escape from the auction hall. Dolores passes Caleb her gun and sends him ahead in pursuit of Liam, while she stays behind to fight and subdue Stubbs.

DOLORES: Stay on Liam. I'll handle this one. CALEB: You sure? DOLORES: Take it. I won't need it.

As has been pointed out by the lovely @copiesofme [in this post], Dolores's fight with Stubbs is never intended to kill him, nor is it fought on bad terms between either of them. It's only fought out of necessity and Dolores does everything she can to fight fair and not hurt Stubbs too badly.

I will also point out, Dolores giving Caleb the gun in this situation speaks to just how much trust she has in him! As Connells-Dolores will tell Bernard just a little bit later in either this episode or in the next, he's the only host they can't replace. Meaning that if Caleb had felt threatened or at all like he had to shoot Bernard, then Dolores's grand plan would've probably been fucked. But Dolores knows this, and she can trust that Caleb won't bring Bernard to harm.

Their friendship remains pretty unchanged from the end of Mother of Exiles to Genre. Partly because there's not really anywhere else to go for now, Caleb has already committed himself to helping Dolores. He has seen her kill and as concerned as he was about "what the fuck are you doing??" it didn't discourage him from wanting to keep helping her.

Toward the beginning of Genre, Caleb gets drugged by Liam with the dose of Genre he was given previously, which also sort of stunts how much growth Caleb can achieve at this point. If he's not making woozy faces or shooting worried glances at Dolores, he's busy trying to help her keep Liam alive.

Caleb does have A moment (or two) where everything becomes rose-tinted, time slows down, a romantic piano melody plays in the background, and he finds himself staring, eyes wide and glassy, mouth agape - at Dolores while she fires a gun at Serac's men. It's all very silly and lovey-dovey at a first glance.

I think this does reflect, as do ALL of the Genre phases he experiences, what Caleb is feeling in his subconscious (he goes from the pensive mystery of film noir, to a cheesy action hero in the thrill of battle, to romance, to drama, with a brief interlude of reality before finally arriving at the finale of horror). But I'll also say that from start to finish of the romance sequence, he never speaks a word. He just looks. To me, that's the most honest telling of his internal feelings being externalized. He doesn't act on or expect any romantic feelings to be reciprocated just because he might happen to feel them.

I don't ship Caleb and Dolores in the romantic context. I think all the potential was there for it. I don't know, maybe there will come a day where I change my mind on this, but after what happened with both William and Teddy respectively, I don't think Dolores would be okay with putting Caleb through anything similar to those experiences, and even more importantly I don't think Dolores would be okay with putting herself in that kind of situation again.

So I've kinda avoided talking about this for over 3 years because I genuinely didn't really know how to put it into simple words until now (also at some point early on someone had like. anon messaged me saying my caleb with my main dolores was their otp and i was like 'uhh you mean the relationship that isn't romantic in any way whatsoever on our part?' but. that was a long time ago i'm trying to get over it okay. It did put me off from wanting to talk about things for fucking ever tho).

Anyway, romance rant over I didn't mean to write an entire essay there oops. Caleb manages to snap himself out of the daydream and get back to fighting even though he's definitely not at the top of his game. By the end of the scene he starts to look over at Dolores again with the love theme reprising itself, only to be interrupted again, this time by Giggles popping up to tell everyone he knows exactly what drug Caleb is on. Ash sarcastically refers to him as Loverboy, and then everyone quickly moves on.

The group makes their way down to the LA Metro station and Dolores makes the final preparations before sending the entire world their Incite profiles, which will radicalize them against Rehoboam. Caleb has all kinds of conflicted feelings about seeing the real world as Dolores sends everyone their profiles detailing their various fates. It's chaos and anarchy which he's not the biggest fan of because innocent people can and will get hurt, but it's also people acting out and rebelling in the realest ways they can against an unjust system, and that part of it is very appealing in a world that had no free will before.

Dolores moves in front of Caleb, shielding him from taking these bullets and killing the enemies who seemed like they were after Caleb specifically? But they're not dressed like Serac's people so maybe they were just random criminals. Maybe the bounty that got put on him in episode 3 is still up? He did see some suspicious-looking guys when they first entered the Metro station and seemed pretty convinced they were bad news considering how quickly he alerted Dolores to them, so maybe these two enemies were working with those guys.

Whatever the real reason is, Caleb experiences the shocking revelation that Dolores is not a human, because she just tanked 5 bullets without a thought and didn't die. Dolores just. zips up her jacket to hide the wounds because we are not talking about that right now we have other matters to take care of. Caleb, still in disbelief, follows right ahead.

CALEB: Back there... The shooters... DOLORES: We can talk about it later. We need to get to the airfield. (Gesturing to Liam) We don't need him anymore. What do you want to do with him?

At the beach, beneath the same pier where Dolores first brought Caleb to show him the truth about his world, things take a turn. Liam begs the group to let him go and whines that they've taken everything he had. He claims that the system isn't the prison and that people don't have a choice in who they are by nature. Caleb tries to confront Liam directly, but experiences a PTSD flashback. Ash shoots Liam, angered by his remarks, and Caleb tries to stop Liam from bleeding out, reminded of how he watched Franci die.

There's nothing he can do for Liam here, so Liam dies.

After Dolores and Caleb arrive at the airfield, Caleb has some doubts as to whether or not they are doing the right thing. His hands are still stained with Liam's blood, representing a sense of guilt for what happened, as well as foreshadowing what he'll learn the next time we see him, in Passed Pawn.

CALEB: Maybe Liam was right. Maybe people shouldn't know their own fate. DOLORES: People have the right to know. You wanted to know, right? CALEB: Well, maybe I'm not like other people. DOLORES: Neither am I.

Dolores boards the jet and Caleb has a moment of hesitation, as if he's maybe thinking about leaving instead, before ultimately choosing to board the jet and continue on with following and helping Dolores.