#i think i will collapse if they start fr going into his backstory

[fallindomino]

sooo do we think kaz falling into the water is a set up for a flashback ,,, i wonder if they’re setting up for the crows centered seasons now bc i can’t imagine kaz falling into water like that and not having Problems yk

[oniriver]

FYI! Spoilers later on, (depends on what you consider spoilers tbh, but I wanna be safe). None for orv really, more so sctir considering that's the medium where I will specifically dive into a certain character's actions. I'd say the spoilers go until roughly the end of the Japanese Dungeon arc. Along with some mentions of Crescent Moon.

So there are a lot of parallels to be drawn between orv characters and sctir characters. I mean, despite having different stories, the backstories and personalities of some characters are similar between the two universes. You can talk about Kim Dokja and Han Yoojin's self-sacrificial natures, the fact that Yoo Joonghyuk and Sung Hyunjae have both had their existences worn out by a more powerful existence, etc. Now while those are definitely interesting parallels, I could probably go on hour-long rants about them, they are surprisingly not the parallels that have plagued my mind for months. The parallel that I constantly think of (unfortunately) is one between Uriel and Jellyfish. It's honestly a bit of a weird comparison, I am aware of that. However, I have come up with a ridiculous amount of justification for it in my head. (Whether the justification is good or not is, uh, certainly debatable).

So with that, please hear me out:

I want to start by saying I won't try to argue about Uriel and Jellyfish's similarities in terms of morals. I think, morally, they are very different characters. Uriel has a strong sense of justice, she is known as the Demon-like Judge of Fire after all, while Jellyfish, suffice to say, has very few morals if any at all.

Despite all of that, I will argue their similarities in terms of being an obsessed fan. Anyone who reads orv can see Uriel's love for Kim Dokja and how much she admires him, (to the point where a huge portion of the fandom looks at her and goes "just like me fr"). The real argument would come in the form of whether Jellyfish is a fan of Han Yoojin. This, in my opinion, is less glaringly obvious when presented in Jellyfish compared to Uriel.

Now, why do I think Jellyfish is a fan of Yoojin? While I could bring up her obsession with him, that isn't really concrete evidence in my opinion. One could say Diarma was partially obsessed with Yoojin, (constantly trying to catch and or kill him), however, Diarma was certainly not a fan of him. I feel that the reason behind Jellyfish's obsession with Yoojin is important and what she is willing to sacrifice to get him.

Let's start with their initial meeting. I don't really have much to say about it other than it was the start of her interest in him. Although in fairness, anyone would find him interesting considering he is an F rank constantly surrounded by S ranks.

The next meeting is the one in Sung Hyunjae's house, where Jellyfish attempts to coerce Han Yoojin into signing a contract with her. The thing is, this barely benefits her. At the time Jellyfish didn't know Yoojin was connected with the immoral people, she thought Sung Hyunjae was. So if she made a contract with him, it wouldn't matter to the immoral people (from her pov at least). Furthermore, Han Yoojin is an F rank. Not a born S rank, not even a regular S rank, an F rank. Other than his qualities as a caregiver, nothing (skill-wise) really sets him apart from others of his rank (again, specifically from Jellyfish's pov). Her job as a Filial Duty Addict is to recruit powerful people and, as much as I love him, Han Yoojin's rank does not reflect that. Yet despite that, she still takes an immense interest in him. So much so that she bends over backward, willing to accommodate ten people of his choice, some of which don't have to be S ranks, just to get him to sign her contract.

Later, in the Japanese dungeon, when Jellyfish has the chance to leverage Han Yoohyun's safety (considering Earth was about to collapse until Gyeol/Changling intervened), she no longer offers the choice of picking ten people to save. Instead, she only promises to save Han Yoohyun, because Yoojin wouldn't be willing to leave Earth without him. I think it's important to note that despite Han Yoojin knowing multiple powerful people who are special even among S ranks, Jellyfish only cared about a deal with Yoojin. She ignored Sung Hyunjae whose power was fostered by Crescent Moon. She ignored Bak Yerim who, despite not being born an S rank, was special through her water manipulation. She ignored Moon Hyun and Noah despite them also having interesting attributes (Moon Hyuna constantly going against born S ranks and Noah being an A rank who turned S rank through the Filial Duty Addicts intervention). She ignored Peace who, despite being a monster, was incredibly intelligent and loyal to one he perceived as his caregiver. Even Han Yoohyun, who Jellyfish offered to bring, was only offered a chance at survival because of Han Yoojin and not his nature as a born S rank or the fact that he constantly fights said nature. In the end, despite the fact that you could argue everyone in the dungeon was unique in some way, all she cared about was Han Yoojin. I simply find that noteworthy and I feel it reflects her thoughts on him.

So in my opinion Jellyfish is a crazed fan who is willing to collapse a world or two just to get Han Yoojin's autograph. And while Uriel is certainly more normal, (though she has her moments occasionally), I think their obsession with the main character is at least slightly similar.

Thank you for reading my nonsense <3

[aarcade]

heyyy so i may be fixating on ur melon shaped guy again (stickade) so do u have anything about them i can spin in my head

oh wtf fr??

yeah that lil creature was from the period I was thinking of getting into Hyun's dojo and stickfight duels in general. it never really happened, because animation is hard, but I had alot of fun thinking through the character. the idea for stickade was a techno-organic-magical frankenstein with a weird body. long text post ahead

their demo animation was about some secret mountaintop lab being raided by unknown purple figures. a large containment tank gets shattered and stickade falls out and experiences their first moments alive with guns pointed at their face.

they break out into a fun fight sequence, and reveal that their body can mechanically shift around to mimic other's weapons. a sword grows out of the hand etc. there's a comedy beat where they mimic an attackers gun, but their body only mimics the shape, not the function. so they have to use their false gun as a club for a few seconds.

as they run through the facility (all synced to some synthwave song) , they end up running across a flexible bridge suspended over a giant spinning fan. it's implied that the purple troops, whoever they are, had broken through from the exterior into this fan room and bridged across to the facility proper. stickade mimics a riot shield and hunkers down in the middle of the bridge as the purple boss appears (some sort of spooky glasses wearing boss who generates magic crystal platforms to step on and walk around the air), and orders heavy sustained fire on them.

the troops advance on them, closing in from both sides of the bridge, when the video highlights their second strength: creativity. they use the edge of their shield to sever the bridge in the middle, riding one half into the wall (and stabbing into the wall with a mimicked sword) as all the purple troops fall into the fan.

the final battle of the demo. the purple boss is walking on magic platforms inches above the spinning blades, firing upwards with an assault rifle, while stickade clings to the wall, with the riot shield on their back. the gunfire starts to break through the shield (which is formed from their body, mind you). they seemingly slip and fall, launching away from the wall, when the video slows down for a second to highlight their third and final strength- magic mimic. they land on an awkwardly generated crystal disk, and the two have a final slick choreographed fight. stickade eventually pushes him down into the fan, and he teleports away moments before his death.

now alone, stickade climbs up the broken bridge to the hole in the wall where the purple group had broken into this lab. they look back for a moment, but the place starts to crumble and collapse. so they jump out onto the snowy mountaintop, sliding down on their riot shield as their birthplace implodes.

the point of all of that is that there are no answers to these mysteries. I have no idea why the lab created stickade or who the purple troops are. it's a backstory that destroys itself, leaving the character as a blank slate. from there, the idea is that they would figure out who they are and create their fighting style through their different opponents, permanently recording one mimicked weapon or spell from each fight, and figuring out their own values as a person. I'd animate them being a real impressionable underdog, losing alot of fights but learning and growing.

if i ever really committed to the character, I even had ideas to eventually give them some sort of lore arc. I have twists in mind for dramatic reinventions of the character. if any of this is of interest to you, I can totally make a follow-up post about the directions I was going to take stickade in.

[leia-imogen]

aaron & the family he's found all by himself; vol. 2 // vol. 1

( ft. short jokes, a belated birthday shopping trip, & an ultra-chaotic winter break )

( for @criswisstuff & anyone who enjoyed the first one <3 )

savannah, who is 5'9, is constantly teasing aaron and cleo for being short. katelyn's good at 5'6, and also a bit impossible to tease bcs she's the actual best, so she gets to escape this

cleo ( 5'2 ) is perfectly delighted to have someone shorter than her for once in her life, even by only 2 inches

aaron: guys, just try and see this from my point of view

sav: [ collapses ]

katelyn: [ crouches down ]

cleo: [ sits cross-legged on floor ]

aaron: dude you're literally 2 inches taller than me

cleo: 2 and a quarter

sav is so smug about this but in a good-natured way, in that she and cleo call aaron "kid" or "kiddo" or "pipsqueak" and he doesn't mind bcs they always say it w such a huge smile and he likes to respond to sav with "how's the weather up there, tall-ass?"

and katelyn thinks it's ridiculously adorable how tiny aaron is and obviously she uses him as an armrest all the time

katelyn, petting aaron's hair: guys guys omg he's like an angsty mini blond kitten and i would kill for him <3

sav, popping up between them: mini-yard :))

before i get super distracted, i just wanna mention that aaron met sav and cleo towards the end of november, so they missed the twin's birthday

but sav still insists that she must take him shopping bcs sure his fashion sense is fine but there's always room for improvement, isn't there, aaron??

he relents, so long as she and cleo and katelyn ( who already gave him a birthday present?? why's she doing this??? ) don't spend too much money

sav drags him all around south carolina to the best thrift stores she can find and cleo and katelyn are amazed that she can get such fantastic deals on the supermodel clothes she wears

fr she's literally a fashion design major ( + minoring in business management ) and she shows up to class in skilfully done drugstore makeup and an absolutely killer outfit for like 15 bucks

she grew up poor, and she's still poor now, even if she ( thankfully ) managed to scrape a cheerleading scholarship

sav, flicking through a rack of dresses labelled $4 apiece: RIP to little miss rich bitch reynolds but i'm different ;)

no hate to allison she's awesome but she grew up in the lap of luxury surrounded by designer brands so she knows NOTHING about thrifting and rationing money in general

oh and sav and allison have kind of a frenemies thing going on bcs they're both fighting for the top spot of their fashion design course

they spend the whole day shopping and aaron ends up with a highly upgraded wardrobe that contains a lot of cute pastel stuff and sav's promise to do his makeup

aaron insists on paying for dinner at the really nice pizza place a short drive from campus even tho they all protest

and andrew knows he's found new friends, but has no idea that it's the vixens and he's dating one of them. nicky does tho, but he's sworn to secrecy

nicky thinks his new clothes are adorable and is stunned when aaron tells him the total cost

"oh my GOD that girl sounds like a genius."

"yeah, her name's sav. you guys,, would get along, i think."

okay now for the winter break part!!

i think that you can get permission to stay at dorms if you're an international student or something??

anyways since sav's super upset bcs her father straight-up told her not to come home bcs he has a new girlfriend ( god i hate sav's father )

katelyn would stay with her, but her dad can finally have her home in new york for christmas and she really doesn't want to miss it

cleo, the only one with a properly functional family, is going back to her big family house and loving parents and grandma and aunt and siblings and cousins. love that for her.

so aaron and sav are stuck at psu for 2 weeks and aaron's surprisingly cool with this. and sav's excited bcs for the first time since her mom died, she can spend her christmas with someone she actually wants around instead of her shitty-ass father and his constant stream of bitchy girlfriends

they spend a lot of time together, stealing food from the athlete's dining hall to make their own weird combos, which usually ends with aaron making something Cool and Interesting and sav gagging and spitting out whatever strange concoction she had previously insisted would taste good

i literally can't bring myself to give a shit about the twinyards' deal bcs andrew literally became best friends with renee?? and hooks up with guys at eden’s??? idk what's going on there but it's like andrew is trying to control aaron's life while he can do whatever he wants??? and honestly wtf????

also let me just make it clear that i ADORE andrew so so much he's one of my favourite comfort characters ever but i'm not gonna make excuses for his shitty behaviour. i fully believe he heals and puts away his pride to apologise to aaron, nicky, and kevin for his treatment of them

that's definitely not to say that aaron's internalised homophobia isn't eww, but with so many important people in his life gay, he makes a huge effort to get over it

so andrew just thinks that aaron is spending a lot of time in the library or out with nicky or something

and when aaron tells sav about this deal, she's kinda horrified, but it's pretty clear to her that aaron so desperately wants to fix his relationship with his brother, and she's not in any place to discourage him, is she?

the only thing she can do is hope that he won't come out all the worse for it

and stare at the boy curled up on the other end of the pale pink sofa cleo's parents had gotten, wonder just how much shit he'd been put through, and decide she was going to be his best friend

aaron's face has gone entirely impassive. sav nudges his fluffy-socked foot with her own, then reaches out to smooth the crease between his eyebrows. "careful, you'll wrinkle your pretty little face."

aaron is very caught off guard by this, and very promptly flushes bright red, which contrasts with the pale teal hoodie he stole from katelyn

"okay, enough talk about depressing crap. wanna go make christmas cookies now?"

"yeah."

so they make christmas cookies. well, it was supposed to be christmas cookies, but it turns into double chocolate fudge cookies somewhere along the line. neither of them knows how

them baking together is the definition of chaos. they're still blasting songs, and sav is singing along terribly

"yOu'Re A mEaN oNe, Mr. GrInCh," while poking aaron's cheek as he tries to mix something. he throws a handful of flour at her. "yOu ReAlLy ArE A hEel."

anyways obviously sav retaliates and that ends in a flour fight. it only stops when aaron deadass cracks an egg on sav's head and she smears chocolate into his hair

she also tries to make him sing along to baby, it's cold outside

"i'Ve GoT tO Go `wAAyyy~" she holds a spatula up to his face

"go away."

they video call katelyn, who takes one look at the mess in the cramped dorm kitchen and sighs so loudly and dramatically that her dad pops in and asks if everything's okay

aaron freezes up at the sight of him and sav quickly turns off the camera, bcs they both want to make good impressions on him, and being covered in various cookie ingredients just won't cut it, ya know?

the cookies turn out delicious and sav sends all their group chat various photos of the process, most of which consist of selfies with her making goofy faces while aaron is simultaneously baking and flipping off the camera

plus a several videos of sav enthusiastically dancing and mouthing the lyrics of, as follows, all i want for christmas is you, let it snow, and santa claus is coming to town and aggressively pointing a spatula at aaron

"c'mon aari, just sing! please??? please???? please you can do it i believe in you!!"

finally he just. gives up. "okay, you know what? fine, i'll sing to ONE and then you will STOP bothering me you insolent dumbass."

sav beams. santa baby starts playing. aaron is very clearly going through five stages of grief in 0.5 seconds

"go on," sav says sweetly as she slides in next to a pouting aaron, "i'll sing with you."

sav slings an arm around his shoulder and sways with him, so it's just her doing that and him grumpily mumbling the lyrics

and when the cookies are cooling down, they start cleaning the kitchen up. aaron rubs some spilled egg yolk into sav's hair but it goes pretty okay otherwise, since they're just listening to more christmas songs and chatting about light stuff, like aaron's biochem course, sav's fashion course, and their dumb classmates

aaron mostly listens tho, and learns that sav kind of hates allison reynolds for giving up her inheritance when she would do ANYTHING for even the tiniest fraction of that money

but she still thinks allison's gorgeous bcs c'mon

and that sav's dream is to one day open her own boutique!!

aaron spends most of the actual christmas day with the monsters at eden's bcs nicky and andrew wanted to

he spent a lot of the time texting on their group chat

doessavvyisgay: so u just go to a nightclub every week??

unaliveme: i mean yeah, i literally worked here for a while. we needed money and nicky was already working 2 jobs night and day

actualblessing: babe ur backstory is so tragic

unaliveme: i'm a fox for a reason ig

cleo.magda: Yes but-

doessavvyisgay renamed this conversation "aaron miniyard support group"

unaliveme: oh ffs

unaliveme: sav subject change go

doessavvyisgay: i'm at the clothes store what should i get?

actualblessing: something pretty :)

doessavvyisgay: sorry, i can't buy the cashier

cleo.magda: Wow.

doessavvyisgay: I DID GET HER NUMBER THO

unaliveme: lmaooo what's her name?

doessavvyisgay: uh

unaliveme: savannah istg u don't even know her name??

actualblessing: s a v

actualblessing: damn u really do be turning on the Charm tho

actualblessing: respect i didn't even talk to aaron till i asked him for notes bcs he has rly pretty notes and also a rly pretty face

actualblessing: and even then i was like :0

unaliveme: IT WAS CUTE I PROMISE

doessavvyisgay: u 2 = the only valid heterosexual couple

actualblessing: rt

unaliveme: oh shit i'm getting super drunk

cleo.magda: Aaron, you drink? That's not legal, get out of there right now. Kids these days-

unaliveme: cleo u have literally seen me get drunk af,, the first time we met,,, and anyways this is how my family bonds ✌🏻

doessavvyisgay: that's. so damn weird kiddo but go off ig

actualblessing: no go find better things to bond about other than alcohol and weird sweaty dancing

cleo.magda: Yeah, go watch some Christmas movies!

unaliveme: nicky makes us watch die hard every year

doessavvyisgay: see u in hell, kiddo ;)

cleo.magda: I meant things like The Polar Express and Home Alone.

actualblessing: merry christmas ya filthy animals!!

doessavvyisgay: merry xmas y'all i'm gonna go to that christmas party bcs i'm super bored

unaliveme: merry christmas mothers and fuckers

cleo.magda: Merry Christmas, you guys!

[roses-flyingin-sky]

Songs that i connected to the legions and made up backstories for (well i was drunk):

Duality (set it off): Frank meeting all the other legions before they form legion and try to recruit them. 

Plastic Promises (set it off): Susie getting anxious that Julie is leaving her for Frank. Julie left feeling too overwhelmed, and Susie has a breakdown over it. 

I’d Rather Drown (set it off): Frank moving to Ormond, before he met the others, he was already building up his walls. 

Partners In Crime (set it off): Frank and Julie going crazy with havoc in Ormond. Frank has her under his spell, until they go a little too crazy and the cops catch on. 

Happy Pills (weathers): Joey going on a date with some random chick in Ormond, he tries to use her to hide his depression. He’s convinced himself that everything is okay, when its all crumbling. 

Thnks fr the Mmrs (fall out boy): Frank never made it into the entity's realm, after they killed the janitor. He heard some noises, following them only to be attacked by a pack of wild coyotes. As he bleeds out on the snowy forest floor, he thanks Julie, Susie and Joey for the memories. 

HOLD ME TIGHT OR DON’T (fall out boy): Frank severely lacking love or affection, he is thinking about Julie along with the song. Thinking about the time they got high and shared their darkest secrets. 

Dance, Dance (fall out boy): Joey is hanging at a party with Susie and Julie, his only two friends. When Frank is invited to join them, Joey is wary about him. He gets defensive and protect of the two girls, which causes Frank to tighten up, and bite back. There little fight is ended with a bottle of vodka, Susie smiling and saying “we’re falling apart to have fun”. 

For You (get scared): Joey gets fired from another job, he and Susie celebrate by getting drunk together in her basement. He’s had way too much and starts flirting with her; she can’t stop blushing and giggling. 

Nicotine (panic! at the disco): Frank and Julie get high, when Frank out of nowhere kisses her. Embarrassed, she goes out for a smoke but can’t shake the feeling of his lips. Your love is fucking drug, but I need it so bad. 

Far Too Young To Die (panic! at this disco): Susie tries to talk Julie out of the killing spree they’re planning. She’s not ready to lose her best friend to some murderous jerk who just showed up. Julie says she’s talking hysterics and goes off with Frank anyways. Just before they break into the back, Frank whispers this to her, “give me one last kiss, we’re far too young to die”. 

Collar Full (panic! at the disco): She can’t be left behind, not again. She’ll do anything to stay with Julie, and Joey. They’ve done so much for her, how can she just leave them behind. Why can’t I stop shaking, why is it so hard to breathe? Please, don’t leave me behind. Susie collapses to the ground as Julie, Joey and Frank walk up to the lodge. Not noticing that Susie is gone with the fog. 

Everybody Talks (neon trees): Frank and Julie meet for the first time in the cafe, after Julie was caught sketching him. He decides to tease her a little bit, “hey baby, you can be my drug, you can be my new addiction”. 

Hi, It’s Me (ashnikko): The night after Julie hooks up with Frank, she realizes she fell in love. Confiding in Susie, she tells her to slap her for falling for such a guy. Susie calls her later that night, after figuring out from Joey that she is still thinking about him. “Hi, it’s me, your best friend. Here to remind you that he’s not worth it. Take his old t-shirt off and burn it”. She can’t bring herself to take it off, only reliving the night before. 

Choke (i don’t know how but they found me): It’s Frank’s last day with his old foster parents, as they put him up again. He couldn’t care less, barely being able to stand living with them. Promptly flipping them off and telling them “I would smile well you choke yourself to sleep”, as they sigh leaving him at the adoption center. 

Loser (jagwar twin): Joey lost another job, and celebrates with Julie and Susie. They call him a loser, but he slings his arms around both of them saying “Baby im a loser, ya ya yeah, just like you”. Julie laughs and pours another shot for them. 

fever dream (mxmtoon): The stars shining down on them, the flickering light of the lighter illuminates their faces. Susie takes a long drag before turning to Joey. The night is still around them, she can’t help but smile. “Getting by, so boring”, “Take your time, enjoy it” Susie glances at him from the corner of her eye. 

the apathy song (maxime.): “Tell me why I don’t deserve it, then do it to me anyways”. Frank can only smirk at her reply, “Key the car, just for the fuck of it,”, rolling her eyes Julie took a long drag, blowing the smoke into his lips “I just wanna go start shit, get a black eye and broken bones.”. 

Friendzone (huron john): Susie tries to flirt with Joey, but he’s too dense to pick up on any of the signs. “Why do you come hang tonight? We can play my PS3, no one home, just you and me.”. 

Dreams Where Ur Murdered (x lovers): Frank keeps having these violent visions. Blood, staining, striking dark red. He gives a deep chuckle, twirling the knife in his hands as Julie backs away. “Fuck the fuck off,” the blade pressed against her neck. “You know Julie, you always had such beautiful eyes. A prized possession, I could say” The knife starts trailing up, pressed into her cheek. The tip dancing across her skin as it starts to sink in, choked gasps coming from Julie. “Such a beauty, be a shame if something were to happen to you, my love” The blade inches up, until its positioned in front of her eye. “Frank please, can we jus-” “Shut up! I’m fucking done with this bullshit! All of you! You really think you could leave me, leave Ormond? Don’t fucking try me with that shit!”. 

The Village (wrabel): Before Susie met Julie and Joey, she was alone. The outcast. The girl stuck in poverty. The immigrant. They stare in the village. There’s something wrong in the village. Something wrong with the village. 

i love you (billie eilish): Julie confesses to Frank her feelings, wanting to run away together, getting out of Ormond and truly live. He’s been hurt before. “Say you were tryna make me laugh,” he can’t look at her, “I love you, and I don’t want to.”. 

Let’s Kill Tonight (panic! at the disco): Frank convincing everyone to go along with the plan of killing anyone in their way. “Let’s kill tonight, show them all we’re not the ordinary type”. A sadistic smile graces his face as everyone agrees to the plan.