#i think the best version would be if there turned out to be some hybrid flexibility within the job but

[whentherewerebicycles]

applied for the research director job!!! cross your fingers for me!!!! 

[originalwinnerfanfish]

Well, I did it

Megatron - I love his tfp design. Probably one of the best iteration of Megs. He is huge, heavy armoured, his face covered with scars… He doesn’t looks like an ordinary military leader who is only capable of giving orders, but like real warrior who can destroy any enemy with his bare hands.

So, in the WOF version, he definitely shares some features with Princess Burn, not only because of his might, but also because of his horns shape and dirty-dark scales (that absorbed blood of his enemies)

Starscream - Boy, I hate him so much 🤣… but in the good way, trust me! In my opinion, when the show's creators make you feel such strong negative emotions towards a villain, it means they've done a great job. Also, I think that his animation in the show was absolutely incredible, because even though he's a 3D model, he still manages to move like a 2D character, which is amazing!

I feel that in my design he still looks more like a skywing, than an icewing (which is kinda logical)

Soundwave - This one was tricky. I couldn't figure out what his mask would look like, so I just made his face a really dark color. I think Soundwave has both gifts of the nightwings, and he’s equally great at telepathy and a future vision. So he doesn't really need equipment to predict enemy movements, which makes him an ideal communicator in the WOF setting. His Laserbeak is part of the armor enchanted by Shockwave, and it might also allow him to open portals (but I'm not sure with this one)

Shockwave - My favourite evil genius. He would definitely have animus magic and mind reading. I think Shockwave is the only one who has advanced the study of magic so far, precisely because he combined it with scientific knowledge and created safer methods of using it, that don't damage the mind. It's like if a Mastermind got animus magic in books.

I also like to think that he didn't heal the damaged part of his face just so that his enemies would fear him more)

Dreadwing - This man deserved better! It's really a shame that he was removed from the show so quickly due to financial problems. It would be great if his arc got a proper conclusion in season 3.

Considering that I didn't want to make him a hybrid, it was difficult to choose a suitable color palette. So let’s just say, that I tried my best😅

I don’t think that he would have any nightwing powers, but honestly it doesn’t even matter - this guy can make a bombs, what else does he need to be cool

Arachnid - Did anyone even doubt that she would be a hivewing? Damn, she even got her own “Othermind” virus. Her design was the easiest to work with - just a little poisonous ass (suspiciously similar to Maleficent).

Just like Starscream, I hate her, but in a good way. She's one of the creepiest characters in the entire series, who’s acting like a fucking heartless monster, especially with Arcee, but even so, there's always was something mesmerizing about her. I just really like strong female villains

Knockout - Wery bright and charismatic guy, definitely one of my fav cons!

I tried to draw him as handsome as possible. Worked a lot on the face shape and coloring, and as for me it turned out pretty nice (finally).

Most decepticons think Knockout is as stupid and lazy as all the other rainwings. And it's not like he completely disagrees with that. Of course he’s not stupid and lazy, but if it’s means less dirty work on the battlefield, well, he’ll continue act like a tipical rainwing

(I also believe that Megatron keeps him as an “art”)

Breakdown - Fun fact: "Operation Breakdown" was the very first thing I saw in this series. And it was an interesting experience for 8 year old me. Maybe that's why I'm so scared of eye gouging scenes in movies now…

I think that he didn't have any siblings initially due to his parents nature, and even after meeting Bulkhead, he felt uncomfortable among the other mudwings. And this is why he later chose the side of the decepticons. And maaaaybe because of one cute rainwing influence)

P.s.

I think that, being mostly nightwings and icewings, the decepticons are much more concerned about purity of their blood and rarely accept half-breeds into their ranks.

During the war, there were many animus dragons among decepticons, which is why they have so many artifacts that allowed teleportation and communication at a distance. But, honestly, I still can't imagine what Nemesis would look like in this AU

[weebsinstash]

Just when I was chugging my Batfamily juice and was trying to nail down an idea for that, here comes season 2 of Invincible, "hey you wanna see an alternate universe version of Mark who turns evil like his father and when Eve rebels against him he literally PRACTICES AND PERFECTS how to non-lethally PERMANANTLY PARALYZE HER so he can stop her without killing her"

Like genuinely the actual psychotic yandere adjacent behavior and he's also gaslighting her the entire fucking time, like genuinely one of my favorite but most infuriating tropes of the "unwilling hero x infatuated villain" dynamic is when the villain is like psychologically manipulating their intended conquest with the whole, "I didn't kill your friends, YOU killed your friends when you recruited them to stop me/run away/save your planet whatever. sweetie i hate seeing you upset so why did you make me break your toys"

I know the clip is about Mark but I can just see Nolan and a human/hero darling and you're desperately trying to run away from him, break up with him, literally run away and disappear, and you've got all your friends and coworkers helping you literally like, leave the country, maybe even leave the planet, and here comes Nolan crashing in, reducing all of your friends to just PASTE and you're sitting there mourning and screaming and horrified and here's Nolan just tut-tutting at you, "why would you make me do something like that? You think I WANT to make you cry like this? You got a little scared and got your friends involved on some little scheme and now look what happened! Honey can't you see why I'm worried about leaving you alone? You need me"

It's like. It's like in Don't Worry Darling where the boyfriend would rather keep her completely helpless in an unfulfilling mediocre life when before she actually used to have significantly more agency and played a role in society but he thinks THIS is what's best for her, and inherently implying being his wife is all she needs. You could be like a molecular scientist or some shit and Nolan will think you're so cute and smart but it's in an "oh look at you and your little human tech, that's so cute, not anything like MY species though" infantalizing way. You could've been a scientist on the cutting edge of technology furthering your species and Nolan is just like, "but it's just human stuff" and thinks it doesn't matter because. I mean. He loves you but your lifespan is NOTHING like his, and your planet is already going to be conquered and Viltrum doesn't really need your work, so, just, settle into being his complacent little mate ok? Just focus on being his companion and, if you're able, he'd like to start on making a family--

I think it would be absolutely horrifying to find out you're pregnant and be trying to run away from this man with the baby because like. Fuck off if you think he'll let that happen. And in another twist, could you even imagine if you turned out to be a viltrumite hybrid or some kind of powered mutant too. Imagine being absolutely terrified and running to get an abortion and they can't even sedate you because suddenly your skin can't be pierced by a needle. Like actually on a conceptual level just, brine in the concept of not even having abortion as an option, knowing there is some inhuman hybrid growing inside of you that has now completely taken your body for itself, cannot be removed, holding you hostage like a malicious little parasite. Meanwhile Nolan is OVERJOYED because this is going to be his first baby ever and, obviously, the first baby the two of you are having together. The first of many, he hopes

I also think it'd be like. So fucked up if this is some twisted "something unrelated and unfortunate happened to Debbie" scenario where Nolan is raising Mark on Earth already as a single father and THEN Nolan falls for you because like. Imagine technically being not that much older than his son and the second these yandere aliens attach themselves to you, you've got a husband who you don't even know how old he is and a "son/brother" who's like. Maybe not even 5 years younger than you. Like can you imagine making friends with Mark and you're like hanging out and playing video games and suddenly it's just "Oh hey dude your father's been acting kind of weird around me, and-- wait what? What do you MEAN you guys want me to live here. What do you MEAN I could be like a big sister to you, bro we were just playing Xbox--"

You think of Mark as a buddy and friend and you eventually find out he and his father are straight up stalking you and starting to dig their fingers into your life and your business. You're at work running back and forth not knowing the figure floating and watching from however many hundreds of yards away amd scowling as you're worked to the bone. You grab a drink with a coworker and they kiss you at the door of your apartment and the next day they got into an accident that sent their car off the road, killing them. You vent personal private feelings to Mark because he's a good friend in your relative age group and he's running off, "DAD LISTEN--" "oh so That's why they've been like that. Huh. Good work, son." like the actual fucking levels of SCHEMING

And just when you think maybe you've gotten away and shaken them off, then you've got some third motherfucker suddenly showing up at the secret hideaway in another country you poured the rest of your money to. An old man with white hair and an unamused expression introducing himself only as Cecil as he not so subtly threatens you that he has Nolan on speed-dial and that the American government has an especially vested interest in you returning home, maybe or maybe not to pacify the not one but TWO extremely irreplaceable alien protectors of the planet, and then you've got Seal Team Six already shoving you in a duffle bag and dropping you off on the Grayson doorstep just in time for dinner

[edgepunk]

Earth-2710 thoughts yapfest

I've been mulling over the idea of Peter having the symbiote permanently and I think I'm gonna go with it in this AU. It's mainly from pettiness, because the comics refuse to give Peter any new powers, or anything to shake up the status quo. Meanwhile some of the other heroes get neat gadgets or powers.

I've talked about this, but I can't find the original post, so anyway - I got the idea from the ps5 game where the symbiote left remnants in Peter's body when he wore it for a longer time, and it was starting to bond with him on a cellular level. However, in this AU he was completely unaware of the remnants. They are dormant and slowly growing inside of Peter’s body, using some of his tissue and nutrients to get stronger. This symbiote is its own entity, now. It's not the Venom symbiote anymore (Eddie is Venom ofc).

Fast forward about 8 months later when Peter notices his super strength is a little wack. At first, he thinks he's just being careless, but after he accidentally sends a couple of thugs into the hospital, he starts getting worried. It's driving him a little insane, thinking that he doesn't know how to hold his strength back anymore. It causes him a lot of stress and he has trouble sleeping. He becomes more careless and makes a lot of mistakes during fights. All the stress and sleep deprivation catches up to him during an intense fight with the Sinister Six. He's anxious, tired and he can't keep up with them. They defeat him.

They carry Spider-Man's unconscious body to Times Square and hijack the billboards, livestreaming his defeat. They wanted to do this to humiliate him in front of all the citizens he promised to protect. However, it's not enough for Doc Ock and he has other plans. He wants to kill him and make sure all of NYC sees it. The other villains try to stop him, but one of his tentacles pierces right through Peter’s chest.

Side note: Peter and Otto weren't close at all in this AU. However, Peter used to look up to him and his scientific achievements when he was in high school. That is until Otto became a villain, of course.

So, you've probably put two and two together - when Otto killed Peter, the symbiote fully awakened and revived him. Peter is freaking out that he somehow has the black suit again, but shifts his focus to send the Sinister Six back to jail. Then, he tries to remove the symbiote, but it hurts him so bad that he collapses and is physically unable to do anything. He seeks help from Reed Richards who does a full body scan and finds out the symbiote is a part of Peter - removing it would kill him.

Peter is in full freak out mode, unable to think clearly. He goes home and has a breakdown. Days pass, his stress levels are off the charts, but he tries his best to keep it together. MJ is there to keep an eye on him, she's scared for him. The last time Peter had the symbiote, it almost turned him into something unrecognizable. MJ doesn't want to lose him this way.

All the stress and lack of sleep isn't doing Peter any favors - he's getting more aggressive and sending thugs into the hospital left and right, and he starts isolating himself from everyone. And he completely loses it, he goes feral and turns into this spidery humanoid alien amalgam.

ngl I'm not good with monster(-ish) designs but here's a rough doodle of feral symbiote Peter with regular Peter for scale. I've never liked him turning into big muscular Venom, I think that should be Eddie's thing. Peter should be more spidery imo

With the power of love, Peter turns back and spends weeks learning to control the symbiote. And then we'll get the Hybrid Suit, which IS the symbiote but Peter made it look like an edgier version of the classic suit.

Peter still has the lingering fear of turning into that thing again, but tries his best to control his anger since removing the symbiote is impossible without killing him. Sometimes he gets a little too agitated, though. But it would require a lot more stress/anger for him to turn again.

[twisted-confessions]

https://www.tumblr.com/cheekinpermission/746227919612936192?source=share

Hope not late! 25 , 5 and 28👀👀

Nope not late at all!!

25. Which character(s) would you actively avoid? Personally, you would not see me anywhere near Vil, Rook or Sebek.

I can appreciate Vil's efforts to have people more self-confident in their own image however I absolutely despise how forceful he goes about it, especially with Epel and the dance troupe. If I EVER caught him trying to change parts of myself that I'm proud of (my australian accent, my nerdy sense of fashion, etc.) it would be ON SIGHT- (Can you tell I'm still not over Book 5?)

For Rook, i can say I..... respect his dedication and loyalty to his beliefs. However? That man... he scares me... Also, i'm still extremely salty over the VDC/SDC results WE SHOULD HAVE WON THAT AND WE LOST TO THE TWST EQUIVILANT OF BABY SHARK- Rook, i don't care about your reasonings for why we weren't at our best, I've seen the video performance AND THE NRC TRIBE FUCKING NAILED IT!!!

And then our croccy boi- Now don't get me wrong, I do love Sebek as a member of the first year gang of idiots. I also don't know a lot about him personally since I've only known him in events and havent started Book 7 yet. From what I have seen, he does annoy me a lot with his blatant disregard and disrespect to anyone who isn't Malleus or Lilia. His ego and his racism also really piss me off and make me wanna slap some sense into him. I understand it comes from a place of self-loathing but dude, PLEASE read the room for once and not screech our ears off. I'm certain that I would eventually befriend him but if we actually met face to face, it would be a miracle for me to not punch him 1 minute after his insults.

5. If you could have any unique magic / signature spell in the game, which would you choose and why?

Ooooh I've never thought about that until now actually. Personally, i would want something that would be useful and practical both in a day to day life or in a fight since I'm not very physically strong. Going with that idea, i'd more than likely pick either Split Card or Paint The Roses/Doodle Suit. Multiple me's to help me do chores around the house or distract someone in a fight? YES PLEASE!! I also have a lot of sensory issues so I feel like Paint the Roses would really help me eat the things i need to or make a certain texture that feels funny to me turn comfortable. We've also seen how useful it can be in a fight during Riddle's Overblot when Trey turned the rosebush into cards and saved us.

If just for fun though, I'd love to try out any of Savanaclaw's UM's/SS's. Now THAT would be chaotic heheh.

28. What is the TWST related content that you've produced that you are most proud of?

I personally really love my HTTYD x TWST fic that i've been writing. Knowing myself, I probably wont ever finish/post it so I'll have what I've written linked here for anyone who's interested in my favourite brainworm lol. Bella is a very special oc near and dear to my heart as she's the first one that I've enjoyed writing for since being kicked out of home over a year ago. She gave me back my creativity and I couldn't be more thankful for it.

Right now, I've even been imagine a Fairly OddParents x TWST fic in my head which I think would be a BLAST to write, where my Twisted version of Timmy Turner (a girl called Izzy) would use their rule free wish to be a part of Wanda, Cosmo and Poof/Peri's family as their bio daughter when they're no longer her godparents and becomes a half-fairy hybrid in the process. The idea of a "magicless" girl at NRC who out of nowhere suddenly can not only make but GRANT wishes that bend the laws of reality around her is absolutely hilarious to me. Haha take that you pricks, you thought I was weak? BOOM you're a hedgehog, now you really are a prick. Rewatching FOP and seeing how Timmy can be such a menace/pos really makes me think he would fit in GREAT amongst NRC lol.

I'm also really proud of the Card edits I've done for other people where I turn their OC's into different rated cards so it looks like it's from the game. Seeing all the different kinds of OC's and hearing about their characters is so amazing.

Feel free to send in any more asks or questions!! I love interacting with the Twst Community <3

[solaneceae]

consume

a team bolas oneshot (read on ao3) tw: cannibalism, fuga impossivel references

“Hey, Slime. Can I eat your leg?”

The hybrid makes a huh of confusion, still adjusting his trusty gas mask over his face as he loots his own dead body, codified arm still glitching from fresh respawn. Cellbit can hear Jaiden and Étoiles conversing nearby, Bagi and Tina not too far from them, and the entire area reeks of blood and death.

Red Spawn had, strangely enough, become some kind of safe haven for now — people from all teams that were begging for a break, for a chat, for any modicum of normalcy had started to flock there as the end Day Four drew near: separated lovers falling into each other’s arms, Étoiles coaching everyone on PvP techniques regardless of affiliation (because the guy just thrived on being kind and helping people become the best version of themselves, it seemed. Cellbit appreciated that), his very presence a deterrent to anyone who would dare to come and break the temporary peace (BadBoyHalo).

And now that they didn’t have to look over their shoulder every second, the cat hybrid had started to think. A risky endeavour in a place such as Purgatory, but after exchanging a heated kiss with his husband and getting the sudden urge to bite his mouth off, he had started to wonder.

There were so many bodies around their spawn. He had seen many for the past few days, most of them belonging to his own team, but the urge to chow down on fresh meat had been nowhere as strong as right then with Roier, not even close. (First day had been the odd one out, as everyone in red team had lost their minds to the fog and joined in on that fucked up banquet.)

A hypothesis is blooming in his mind. He needs to test something. “Can I eat your leg?” he repeats to a befuddled Charlie, who looks at him, then at his body, then back at him. “I mean. Sure? Knock yourself out.”

Cellbit does — and it’s disappointing. It starts off nice, his heart hammering inside his ribcage as he severs muscle and bone and tendon to rip Slime’s leg off his still cooling body, saliva pooling in his mouth as his pupils dilate to eat up all the blue, and he can feel it, the thrill, the desire, the manic joy; but then he bites into it and the leg loses solidity, turning into green goop that tastes like grass and it’s so sour, like an unripe lemon. He spits it all out, grimacing — his palate and tongue almost feel burned. He forgot slimes were corrosive. “Tastes like shit,” he huffs, and Charlie lets out a disappointed aw.

Results: inconclusive. Cause: negative bias, because Charlie is a fucking slime and hence an outlier. 

He asks Jaiden next, and she shrugs and tells him to go for it. (Maybe they should be worried about how flippant they’ve all become about cannibalism, but that’s a problem for post-Purgatory them to deal with.) And this time, it’s good. Her flesh is tender and moist, just the right balance of muscle and fat, and he gets a sick sense of satisfaction as she watches him tear into her thigh with morbid fascination. “How do I taste like?” she asks him. He tells her ‘delicious’ between two mouthfuls of prime cut, and she smiles. “Nice! I’m glad.”

Contrary to what some might believe, he hadn't eaten anything off the Federation workers he had killed. Hadn't reached that point at the time. But now there he is, seeking an enemy body among the dozens of Jaidens lying around. When he finally does, he stares down at it for a long moment, and finds that he has no desire to sink his teeth into it at all. Mmh. He looks up to find Roier, still silent to mind his recovering lungs and plopping down signs that make Étoiles crack up, and he’s so funny and cute and strong and Cellbit wants to crawl into his chest cavity and— “Ah,” he realises, something old and crooked at the back of his mind finally clicking into place.

He thinks of Pac. He thinks of Alcatraz, of that desire that had torn its way into his brain as soon as he had seen that youthful, terrified face for the first time. He thinks of those nights tossing and turning, tongue flicking out in a nervous tick as he obsessively rotated the new guy into his mind from every angle, trying to imagine what his screams would be like, how his flesh would taste, how it would feel going down his throat. He thinks of the pure, unadulterated pleasure of finally making that fantasy a reality, details blurring into red-mist bliss and the song of Pac screaming and crying. He finds that if he had to do it all again, right now, he would, but not like this. This time, dream-Pac would offer himself willingly, repeating I trust you, I trust you as dream-Cellbit reverently slices through his flesh.

He thinks of that thing humans have, when they experience the urge to squish or bite when they see something cute. He thinks of the result of his observations, that he only enjoys eating people if he cares for them.

(Maybe he had loved Pac once, in a fucked up version of a crush distorted by his mania and lifetime worth of trauma. Maybe that was why he had done what he’d done. Now the engineer was more akin to a brother to him, close and important, but that obsessive attraction wasn’t there anymore.)

Maybe it’s just in his nature, to consume the very things he loves. “Something on your mind?” Jaiden asks him later, sleepily, her head resting against his side as the rest of the family dozes off within the Nest in a tangle of limbs and soft blankets. Cellbit shakes his head. “Just. Processing stuff.”

Jaiden hums, and Phil drapes one of his large black wings over them both. The conure chirps, flock, home, and the crow replies with a quiet yesyes.

[gaysheep]

Touching is Good: A Retrospective

My trusty Nintendo 3DS, which has held out since I was gifted it for my 15th birthday, has turned one decade old with my 25th birthday this past November. Given new life with custom firmware and nds-bootstrap via TWiLightMenu, the 3DS is stellar for visiting any past handheld title or console title up to (and somewhat including) the N64. (Quick plug for the CFW/hacking community for the less popular PS Vita, too, which has accomplished some pretty crazy-cool stuff this last year.) I use my 3DS more often than I use my Nintendo Switch most weeks.

The Nintendo DS (minus the three) launched in late 2004. The second display and stylus support were novel tools for developers to experiment with, and the NDS is best remembered for its robust catalogue of RPGs and visual novels. Where it lacked in power, narrative-focused games flourished under its technical limitations.

That being said, while browsing the ROM archives on Vimm's Lair to pick up some titles, I was reminded of what an interesting era the mid-to-late 2000s were for games. While Sony and Microsoft were fighting over the "core gamer" demographic, who had outgrown Nintendo mascots, Nintendo led a series of wildly successful marketing campaigns for its hardware after the light failure of the Gamecube, where the Nintendo DS and then the Wii were targeted at...everyone else.

[Image source. Image description in alt text.]

If you look at ads for the DS and the Wii, you'll see that adults are featured much more prominently than children, especially women and seniors. (This did not go unnoticed, as I found this ancient relic of misogyny while looking for images for this post.) A Nintendo handheld was already an easy sell to parents with small children (though I think it's also notable that ads which do focus on children often prominently feature girls. Munchlax is pretty hot...), but Nintendo's angle for the DS and Wii was that their hardware wasn't just for children. The Wii was a way to get up off the couch and to play board games with grandma. The DS was a great gadget for a working woman to keep in her pocketbook.

This worked. The Wii and DS were two of the best-selling consoles of all time. In particular, the DS's marketing campaign only worked because it came out in the perfect window of time. PDA-phone hybrids had been around since the 90s, and the Blackberry had been kicking around for a few years, but the iPhone wouldn't be introduced until 2007, and the 4G LTE standard wouldn't be released until 2009. While the Blackberry was popular with businesspeople and the PDA was out of style, smartphones were luxury toys for several years; they wouldn't become near-ubiquious until the mid-2010s. I didn't get my own smartphone until probably around the same time I got my 3DS, a full handheld generation later.

Browsing the software library for the Nintendo DS and DSi with that in mind is really interesting. Many titles released for the platform serve the same purposes that would be fulfilled by simple smartphone apps less than a decade later: planners and diaries, fitness trackers, calculators, language learning and SAT prep software, even a guide to the then-most-recent version of the driver's test in the UK. These proliferated with the release of the DSi's virtual store, but they existed even with the base model. You could go to a brick-and-mortar store and buy them on physical cartridges. (You might be wondering, "Why would you bother carrying those around over just buying a Blackberry?" You can't underestimate how expensive the service bills for a smartphone were before companies realized they were the most powerful spyware tool in history.)

There was never a time where every single businesswoman in New York carried a DS Lite, but adults did buy and use them, and a not insignificant portion of the DS's software library is aimed at a casual adult audience. Another niche covered mostly by smartphone games these days—games designed to be picked up and played in short sessions on-the-go, in places like waiting rooms and subway commutes.

Nintendo made crazy bank in the seventh console generation. Publications of the time talked about a console war between Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo, but the real battle was between the PS3 and the Xbox 360 over the gamer demographic. Nintendo was producing hardware for a niche who would quietly disappear once smartphone sales began ballooning by hundreds of millions per year over the course of the early 2010s.

After the failure of the Wii U, Nintendo's marketing strategy pivoted again, though I doubt they'll ever completely abandon their family-friendly image. Currently beat out only by the PS2 and the DS, the Nintendo Switch may very well climb to a status as the best-selling console of all time before the end of its lifespan, but the "gamer" demographic is much bigger than it was two decades ago at the dawn of the DS. As more and more devices become consolidated into the Swiss army knife the smartphone has become, consoles can only carve out a role as dedicated gaming machines.

I'm not sure we'll ever see anything like the Nintendo DS or the Wii again. I think they're worth looking back on for their uniqueness in that way as much as they are for the more celebrated parts of their libraries.

[panlight]

More than a few folklore around the world makes no distinction between vampires and werewolves,if twilight!vampires and twilight!werewolves had a common ancestor that branched out what would they be like?

Genuinely, one of my Twilight Conspiracy Theories is that we'll eventually find out that the shifters themselves are descended from vampires.

Look, I don't WANT that to happen. For a whole lot of reasons, but if you think about how Breaking Dawn goes out of its way to point out how similar Renesmee is to the shifters: growth spurts, high body temp, same number of chromosomes you . . . you gotta wonder, right?

Part of me thinks that the backstory is that hundreds of years ago there was a vampire who had some sort of shapeshifting ability of his own who had a hybrid child, and that hybrid child had children, who had children, who had children, etc and the shapeshifting powers and limited immortality of the wolfpack are the watered down versions of that vampire's powers after all this time.

AGAIN. I don't WANT that to happen. I don't WANT the Indigenous characters to be absorbed by the vampire blob. Trust me! I want them to be their own thing and have their own identity separate from the vampires. I'm just saying like . . . I could see her doing that, and the weird insistence that Nessie and Jake were similar supports it.

So, like, well, there's the link. Some vampire dude who could shapeshift. Maybe he was the origin of the 'vampires can turn into bats/wolves/mist' legends. But it was JUST him. Then he has a hybrid who has more limited shifting abilities. That hybrid has children and the genes continue to get passed down but are only sometimes activated by the presence of other vampires.

Because, yeah, it's true in a lot of folklore the definitions of things like vampires, werewolves, even witches are kind of nebulous and overlap. And there's also folklore that children of vampires often are the best vampire hunters, so THAT works with this common ancestor theory, too.

Now if we want to go with what I think is the original spirit of your ask, which is that way back in prehistoric time there was a creature that was the common ancestor of both vampires and shapeshifters (or children of the moon?) then that's different. I guess it would have to be some alien or demon or something that then had offspring that turned out Not Quite Human but did so in different ways. The vampiric child couldn't have biological children but could pass their condition on through venom; the shifter couldn't pass the condition on through a bite but could have children and their supernatural abilities got watered down over time; and a third (the child of the moon type) could have both human offspring biologically but also pass on their condition via bite.

Edward and Carlisle would not like the demon origin if they ever discovered it. Emmett would think it was dope.

[vilisisms]

˚☽˚.⋆ ― riley shaw / post event self-para

Every second since she opened her eyes in the oea headquarters she hadn't been left alone. It wasn't a mystery to her as to why. Her friends and family had lost her, seen her displayed like a pig after slaughter. That does damage. The kind that was hard to repair, only time and a good therapist could stitch back up. That didn't change the fact that riley was not a people person, she wasn't clingy and she hated when people hovered. The hybrid knew it was all out of love, concern, worry, and though they might not being saying it to her, she could smell the guilt. Riley only blamed the oea, the people responsible only got a taste of what they have coming to them, especially now that she had completed her transition.

It was hard to think about anything though, with everyone suffocating her. She was trying to best to be there for them, despite being the one to have gone through the trauma of being tortured and killed and then waking up in transition, she felt she had to keep a facade up for them. So they knew she was ok, to do her own twisted version of comforting them with dark humor and sarcastic comments. The truth was, every time someone looked at her she could feel every ounce of her body flood with emotions begging to overflow and pour all over them. As a werewolf, she was used to the heightened emotions and had damn near perfected repressing them. Now it was harder, where as before they grew like a flame, but now it felt like a bomb igniting within her. It was getting more difficult to keep the explosion behind her brick walls, they were growing weak with every attempted smile, every failed attempt from her sister to not cry, every time oliver couldn't even look her in the eyes (not that she wanted him to, they have since turned into a glass window)...

Riley knew she had to get away. Away from it all. There were moments where things felt normal again but she couldn't even be around her friends without being excessively aware of the sound of their blood pumping through their veins. The thirst was the worst part, it consumed her. A blood bag does the trick but not when she was constantly surrounded by the real deal. Hurting her own family friends was the last thing she wanted but it was getting harder to pretend like she had it all under control. Not when the truth was that she had never felt more out of control in her own body.

The decision to leave was easy. All it took was one look in rykers eyes, her beautiful hues told a story and she didn't like the ending. every time she looked at the girl that had her heart in the palm of her hands, she knew she was now being unfair to her. she was a hybrid now. her family friends may have watched her displayed by the oea but at least they didn't know they were going to see that. riley knew she was going to have to watch the people around her grow old and die while she remained. she knew she would watch ryker do the same and the thought of holding ryker back from the life, no, from the love that she deserved to have, it was paralyzing.

the blonde left a note on her bed explaining she was going to be gone for a while to work things through, needing the space and the wide open road to clear her mind, to adjust, to say all the things her fucked up head struggled to say out loud. asphalt, gravel, and the speed of her bike have always been able to comfort her, speak to her in, help her in ways people never could.

'who am i?' she asked the sunset one night, and the silence that she got back was deafening.

she didn't know who she was anymore, what life would look like for her anymore. was she even pack anymore? she knew she would always have parker as her pack now, and that brought a little comfort but after a week of the road, she still had no answers. the only silver lining to the trip was she learned how to snatch, snack, erase. she had met some pretty awesome people at dive bars along the way, but they only helped her temporarily forget her situation and then she was back on the road.

"shit, brace for impact, riles" she whispered to herself as she passed the mile marker heading back into town. she thought the roadtrip had worked, or at least slightly fixed her but everything that she had ran away from came rushing back. with the open road, the moon overhead, and the wind all around her the hybrid let it all out. a scream ripped through her, joining the night. she hadn't screamed like this since the night of the gala. a part of riley wanted to stay away, like it would be easier to go ahead and cut the ties to avoid the slow burn that her immortality would bring but she never could stay away from new orleans for too long, no matter how many times she swore she'd never come back. she knew there were people there that needed her, as fucked up as that was, she couldn't leave them.

just, not yet. she had to do what she could to make the oea pay for what they've done first, and she was determined to do whatever it took to make that happen. then.... maybe then she would rip the bandaid off.

[sceneself]

warning: manic thoughtspill.

irt the (trafficstuck art i made).. some thoughts :

i should clarify i'm ignoring name conventions and just yapping

bdubs!

as a human i think his signature color would be green, rather than red. i also believe bdubs and etho would have a 'balance each other out' type of relationship. one could compare it moirails (which are not exclusively platonic, i should say,) mostly due to how they equalize and also im including their marriage-divorce-marriage debacle. kind-of want to give him a stick specibus of some sort just to cuck him.

as a TROLL.. i considered making him a limeblood; not for anything super important other than the theory of that caste having a high emotional charge over others and he's just a beloved guy ykw.. in the art referenced he's an oliveblood due to being particularly capable but not inherently power-influenced. a hybrid might be the most appropriate position for him but i haven't decided!

etho!

as a troll i figure his presentation to be either be like a chameleon (e.g wearing colors not belonging to his respective class) or hemo-anonymous (wearing no clothes with sigil or indicative color) there's definitely a part of me that would consider him someone to end up being a helmsman (with the clockers) or mage (with team best originally) i think he ultimately is apathetic towards his position whichever way i put him. i'm not sure what the redstone equivalent would be in the hs universe but i see him as having the power to utilize telekinesis at least. ..someone with psionnics but can be difficult. maybe his sylladex should have sth to do w/ crafting or sand. ..i'm not sure how i feel about people drawing etho as a highblood.

as a HUMAN.. in the mini doodle included in the art i changed his design so his off eye is covered by a bang. (i don't think as a human he'd have a damaged eye, even tho his skin is kakashi) i altered his outfit to be more reserved versus the troll design which has some of his midsection exposed.

skizz! (oh boy)

as a troll.. i mentioned in the image that i made him purple rather than indigo. wanted to add a point saying he'd likely be an active slime consumer and would lash out in moments of sobriety (i'm just trying to reflect when skizz entered red and had mentioned smelling blood, and being typically more aggro, etc) he's also assigned purple to reflect his obsession w/ brotherhood (seen in team best) and/or companionship (his part in the dogwarts war) as far as indigo goes.. indigo would be fitting primarily cuz its often to being boiled down to 'strong person' but ALSO generally being loyal to the caste system. (unrelated to his blood, i think he'd have some kind of fisticuffs specibus)

as a HUMAN!! i actually haven't put too much thought into this. the way he hams up himself as a 'character' definitely seems more align w/ being a troll. alas. unnecessary thoughts.

tango!

as a human.. as said, i didn't draw a troll version of tango to respect that him drawn with horns bothers him a bit. think his outfit would be similar to jades, that being long sleeve shirt and skirt.. or maybe a labcoat. either or. think he'd have a interest in tech and would have some kind of annoying moustrap-type sylladex. (like the stupid board[?] game) i think he'd be.. maybe the most competent at understanding the game than everyone else. i also think he's petty. (said because of the 'team t' thing) i ALSO think he'd be the most likely to be turned into a sprite for the same reason in parenthesis.

as a TROLL.. it feels easy to make him a psionnic, lets be real. in team best at least it makes sense to me (bdubs w/ his respective gold partner and tango w/ his respective other partner ykw) i FEEEEEEL like he's best (har) as a low to mid blood caste.

if i have more thoughts you will be subjected to them

[detectivemaker]

idea dump

This is just me jumping out ideas I've been having into The Fray

1. I've been seeing a lot of DC My Little Pony stuff especially Batman My Little Pony,  here's the Dork Squad and Michael and my MLP AU  that I probably won't write much about after I dump this into the world 

Jervis is either a unicorn who can't do magic so good (sort of like retrovrt's Pony Jervis) or non unicorn Type of Pony who really wants to be a unicorn (for anyone who also has an Instagram and follows @hatterhare, it's sort of like their version of pony Jervis)

Jonathan is a unicorn who due to experiments by his father was turned into  sort of a hybrid changeling creature who feeds on fear and can't shapeshift,  what makes it worse is that not soon after his horrible transformation he got his cutie mark, so it was his Destiny to be horribly mutated into a fear sustained abomination

Edward is a Pegasus blank flank,  he hides the fact that he is a talentless loser by trying to be the smartest guy in all the Equestria,   my idea is that he thought the best way to find his talent was to learn about different things, but he sent so much of his time learning those things he never actually did them to see if they were what he was destined to be good at

And finally Michael he's a draconoquist,  he sort of a lesser draconoquist cuz he's  only made up of snake and Cat parts, he's a draconic lord of insanity (still in training, his dad's the ascended Lord of insanity and that guy's pretty possessive of that title), but he says he's the draconic Lord of love when he's freed from his Stone prison he was put in by his father by the Dork Squad, who got into the heated argument (it was mostly John and Edward fighting jervis was trying to make them stop), and he bribes them into helping him gain more power by spreading Insanity (which will make him powerful so he can go back to the  draconoquist Dimension and kick his dad's ass to become the new ascended Lord of insanity) by promising them these things

To either turn Jervis into a unicorn or get rid of his pounding magic induced headaches

Give Edward the knowledge of what to do to get his cutie mark

And nothing for  Jonathan,  and he would undo the horrible hybridization he went through, but that's part of his Destiny and Michael cannot screw  with Destiny, so he just uses the old finger Boop  induced draconic hypnotism and make  him help

2. So you guys know that fetch me the souls audio,  I listen to a song that had it in there and I had this idea, about Michael absolutely  body horror transforming our favorite tree of dorks in to creatures I can best imagine as sort of like Hellraiser demons, and then absolutely evacuating the minds and making them more attack dogs than actual people, this idea also Associates this idea I have from time to time of all of them being stripped of one of their senses (think sort of like See No Evil Hear No Evil speak no evil monkeys)

jervis loses the ability to speak,  but not the ability to make noise, he's rendered the most animalistic of the three and can only make animal noises, also he's given a dog muzzle, I think either he wears no clothes or just some pants, and walks around like a dog

Jonathan is stripped of the ability of sight,  dressed up like a demented priest,  his eyes are covered by a blindfold either decorated with eye imagery or snake imagery, and can now  only yell words,  just imagine you a burglar, you just entered some weird Victorian hell mansion and just escaped a dog man, you walk into a place that looks like the interior of a church, suddenly some guy standing at the older whips his head around that your footsteps, points at you and he  yells the word heresy at the top of his lungs,  then you're tackled from behind by the dog man who  heard that and then your throat is ripped out with his terrible filthy dog man claws

Edward lost the ability to hear, he just doesn't have ears, he's the most normal looking other than the lack of ears but he sure can see pretty good

3, so I've been thinking about the hattercrow kids relationship with their grandmother, more specifically the grandmother on crane's side,  my John doesn't really know the specifics of his birth but he think it might either be   teen pregnancy or rape, maybe a little bit of both, but what he does know is his mother's is current location,  he informs the children when Dorothy is 20 and the twins are 10, they decide to visit their gram gram and have a pretty good time, John comes to,  reconnects with his absent mother  who gives him a hug and her cookbook, he comes back home and he doesn't stop smiling till next week

They don't really visit much after that, John and his mom text and call every once in awhile,  but not soon after the move back to Gotham Mrs crane kicks the bucket, and John cries harder than he did in that  Crow Barn

He never does learn about the circumstances of his birth, his mom asked if he wanted to know but he said he didn't, and truth be told he actually does not, it doesn't really matter he was born, he lived hated,  and now he's being loved by a wonderful husband and wonderful children, and  though only a little while a mother he barely knew and cried like a baby for

[hopeful-hugz]

♔

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Send me a ♔ for me to describe a favorite rp character of mine.

🕯️ Okay so I'm sticking to this blog's muses for now and since I don't play favourites in general. I'll just talk about one of the muses that has had my braincell lately.

So, Leah! A muse I have yet to draw a reference for. His original iteration was made on Discord cause I wanted to expand more on the aethers' opposite species, nagete. That soon evolved into my wanting to test aether-nagete hybrids as well and expand on that.

I tend to test a lot of storylines with close friends on Discord so I can bring a more fine-tuned version of things here for you. I did that with Maria and Leah is another example of that.

Leah in particular I've struggled developing beyond him being a permanent antagonist on the blog.

His goals are horrific and terrible (something I'm not spoiling) and has accepted playing the role as the villain for the sake of that. But he really is just a guy who wants to run his radio, tv and online shows with his cast. He's a gameshow host mainly, but he's got some other things he films for the air too, more often than not having a live show or three every night when his shows are available.

Currently he's got a small group of four that make up his main cast!

Amygdala is one of them! Leah made her shortly after he ended up self-corrupting into a mix breed hybrid. Mixing nagete shadow manifestation and Hope's own DNA, she is to epitome of a stoic mad scientist and is responsible for making any beasts and creatures that are used for security and the games Leah hosts. Treats every creation like they're her pets.

The other two I can't go into much since they aren't officially debuted here yet and are written by a friend, but they are Leah's co-host and his best friend. Folks he originally thought would be interesting to save from a "bad end" timeline of their universe.

Originally he was gonna be "just the bad guy for this episode." Now he's attached and has lowkey started to make the amusement park grounds, the tower at it's centre where shows are filmed and the living spaces at the top of the tower a home he and his cast can use even after his plans come to fruition.

Lost Now Found from HOAAR is a good song for him regarding his Cast.

As far as his relationship with Cam, Hope and Teal, it's not a good one.

Leah originally tracked the two siblings down in regards to his investigations regarding Maria and the interest he took in her life, story and legacy. Things didn't exactly work out and he put them in a state of distress instead.

Naturally this got Chamyle's attention and made Leah pay dearly for even laying a metaphorical hand on them. [He's still salty about that and Cam's job as The Archivist having meant she was keeping an eye on him. Now he's more than aware of her "passing" and has instead directed that Pettiness towards Melody.]

Despite this, Hope still gave him another chance. The two talked for a while after that incident, exchanging questions on their views and goals. Until Hope gave him- a purebred nagete at the time- an answer to a question that made him start thinking. Too much logic can start turning an aether into a nagete or completely hybrid them; something that is considered the worst fate for any aether and nagete and something incredibly taboo.

In reaction to this, Leah snapped and had a breakdown. In the midst of said breakdown, he not only kidnapped Hope- having blamed her for the change- and demanded she fix him. When she couldn't, he decided if he was going down he'd take multiple universes with him. He really wasn't in his right mind at the time and even he will admit that if you ask.

Teal was the one to solve this issue and get back Hope. Still bears an aggressive view on the host; believing him to be a heartless monster who's only true goal is destruction.

Hope is terrified of Leah and tries her best to avoid him when possible. Though she doesn't hate him. If anything she feels sorry for him.

Leah still blames Hope for his hybrid state and hates her for it. Heavily dislikes Teal because of him being one of Maria's experiments among other petty things. He won't hesitate to actively mess with either sibling and will often do elaborate things to them just out of that hate and because he finds it amusing and interesting.

As far as the rest of the multiverse?

He's a heavy believer in people being free to do whatever they want or they should be given the power to wield autonomy. It's the main motivator behind his current overarching plan.

He takes freedom very seriously and treats his usual contestants and guests with that. Picking on a volunteer basis and making sure people know what they are getting into (and that they may not leave the studio ever again should they participate in certain games.)

But he can't tell the multiverse this. Doesn't care to with how bored and tired of everything he truly is. It has to stay all behind-the-scenes. He's their enemy of the multiverse; the Big Bad Evil Guy! The Villain!!

People need to believe he's such so they can come up with their own reasoning behind his actions.

He knows the path he's taking, but he's taking it of his own free will.

[ofpineapplesanddawns]

@out-grid Here’s that idea you suggested to me, with the hair washing!

I wonder when was the last time Crowlien had actually gotten a shower, is that even something a hybrid alien needs? Probably, haha.

Warning: vague body horror in terms of Crowley, mentioned undressing (it is a shower after all)

On with the fic!

--

“Just... sit down on the floor, I don’t think standing is going to work well in the showers.” 

Aziraphale got a grumbling growl in response, an annoyed agreement. He was learning what Crowley’s noises indicated, what emotions they were trying to express. He thought he was rather good at it now.

He watched as the tall creature walked into the shower area of the large, communal bathroom that had been for the staff of the ship, claws clicking on the floor as they moved to what had originally been Crowley’s normal stall. It was a bit of a tight fit, what with their long limbs and body, but they sat themself down under the shower head, waiting patiently.

Aziraphale had made a comment that Crowley’s tangled, messy hair had been driving him up a wall for days now, he had no idea when Crowley even last washed it, so it was now time for a shower. He removed his clothing, not wanting them to get wet, before he felt a bit self-conscious.

It wasn’t like Crowley hadn’t seen him naked before, but... this version hadn’t seen him bare before. He wondered if that would be a problem or not. He grabbed for the shampoo and body wash, approaching the shower, where Crowley was still waiting.

The alien looked up, making a pleased trill, which made Aziraphale feel warm. 

“Ready for that shower?”

He got a nod in response and Aziraphale reached around them, turning on the water. Both reacted to the sudden burst of cold water, a shout from Aziraphale, a terrifying screech from Crowley, before it became hot. “I always hated that part...” the android grumbled before stepping back, shaking off his head.

He looked at Crowley, who sat under the spray, their unusually long hair covering their face as water and dirt pooled off of them. Best to get started.

He grabbed for the shampoo first and started to rub it into Crowley’s hair, his mind wandering as he did. When Crowley had saved him, before he disappeared and returned some time later as this, his hair had been short. Still longer than was normal for man-shaped beings on missions, but still, much shorter than this.

Crowley’s hair now was longer, at least by a foot or more, still the same shade of red, but the texture felt a bit off. Maybe it was from how dirty and messy it was, or maybe it was like how his skin felt strange too.

The length bothered Aziraphale, did it just mutate like that, or did it naturally grow as hair normally did?

If that’s the case, how long had Aziraphale been left alone here? 

A strange growl caught the android’s attention, and he looked down at Crowley, who seemed to be relaxed, the sound was... was it purring? In a sense? Could aliens purr? Crowley seemed to be able to, they looked so pleased and relaxed as Aziraphale massaged their scalp.

At least someone was enjoying this instead of worrying over one too many things.

He washed Crowley’s hair three times, making sure all the dirt and grime was out, before making some attempt at washing their body. It was... overwhelming, and Crowley seemed to pick up on that, silently offering to finish the job themself while Aziraphale went to clean himself up.

Once they finished, Aziraphale toweled himself off, then Crowley, it was easier for him to do so than the creature. Now it was down to the next task, combing that blasted hair.

“If I tug too hard, let me know, alright?” He got another nod, and Aziraphale got to work, being as careful as possible.

As he combed and brushed Crowley’s tangles, he noticed that their hair wasn’t all the same length, some of it was clearly damaged, cut, there were even spots where it looked like whole clumps had been torn out. It made Aziraphale worry that something had happened to Crowley, had there been a fight? Or had they done this themself when they realized what had happened to them?

He didn’t know, Crowley refused to acknowledge what happened that day. Aziraphale had tried asking a few times, but Crowley either refused to reply and would distract themself, or they just left the room and Aziraphale wouldn’t see them for hours.

He sighed softly as he worked on another tangle, deciding to start telling Crowley about the book he was reading to distract himself from his thoughts.

It took a bit of work, but eventually Aziraphale got the worst of it managed and he looked at his friend, smiling as he cupped their face. “There, that’s much better, you look like you didn’t roll out of bed fifty million times.” 

Crowley’s hair was much better look, more manageable, even with some of the different lengths and the missing parts. For a split second, Aziraphale saw that young redhead he had met ages ago at training for space travel, hair too long, bright eyed, and already starting trouble by getting on their trainer’s nerves.

He saw a familiar face for a second, in his mind’s eye, golden eyes instead of acid yellow, a crooked nose, freckles for days, and a sweet smile.

But he blinked, and he was looking at someone who had been human before, but was... 

He wondered if Crowley even blamed him for what happened to them, because if it wasn’t for him, Crowley could have... he could have gotten into the escape pod and... 

Aziraphale twitched when he felt a cold hand touch his own face, and he looked at Crowley, their face hard to read, but they made a sad, questioning sound.

“Sorry, I... I got lost in my own mind there for a second, it happens. No need to worry.” He smiled, or tried to. “I’m guessing we’re done here, let’s get something to eat, yes?” 

Crowley didn’t look like they wanted the subject ignored, but they stood up anyway, following Aziraphale out. 

--

And there it is, Aziraphale’s true problem with Crowlien, he blames himself for what happened. (but don’t worry, he still loves them dearly, it’s just hard when you think you ruined their life) 

This turned out sadder than I wanted, but I knew that Androidziraphale has a lot of issues to work out involving his situation and his guilt towards his friend. 

i need to come up with a name for this au so it’s easier to have all of this story put together here

[catsconflictscopicsandchamomile]

Serious Post For Once. MAJOR trigger warning for some fully-mask-off discussions of (mostly my own internal) racism, generally Actually Talking Abt Real Shit For Once.

ok, so..hm

I don't have the energy to try to write this academically rn so I'm just going to word-vomit it out.

I am really having....Feelings... about the characters of Grendel and Grendel's Mother, specifically re: race and BIPOC identities.

I personally am white as the driven snow (though Jewish, whatever that counts for in 2023. still 'wtf' abt all that personally).

I have been putting my heart and soul into a story centering modern/reincarnated versions of Grendel and Grendel's Mother for about three years now. they are some form of shapeshifter, usually take animalistic/monstrous/hybrid forms, often eat humans, and are canonically descended from Cain (kinda. its complicated but basically they are). they are also both EXTREMELY white.

I'd actually made this choice with an intentional eye on race, way back when this story started outgrowing its roots as a supernatural fanfiction (please dont ask). no longer limited to spn's Genuinely Concerningly White Actor Pool, I had to really look at these characters re: race and decide what I was doing going forward. At the time, I was already looking into Maria Dahvana Headley's "The Mere Wife", and its centering of race both intrigued and really repelled me. At first, the (lbr) graphic depictions of how this story's Grendel's nonwhiteness informs the violence against him shocked me in the way I think they were "supposed" to, and made me really take a step back and reconsider the entire narrative of Beowulf (though to b clear I was already pro-Grendel's side of things at this point) in terms of how closely it matched more modern treatments of BIPOC and specifically young men.

...and then I went "wait. isn't Maria Dahvana Headley white???"

after a LOT of research failed to provide any contradicting evidence, my self-reflection and serious though turned to genuine strong disgust. It felt, and still feels, VERY weird that a white woman with (afaik) white kids wrote a lot of the sentiments in this novel. if you've read it, you know the ones that I mean.

I attempted to research racial themes re: Grendel further and ended up in a rabbit hole about Cain, Ham, Mormons & Bigfoot (seriously.) and all of this, along with some other research, eventually led to the following conclusions:

narratives placing Grendel and His Mother as victims of racialized violence/heroic or sympathetic figures in a racially- and/or socially-conscious work are both amazing and necessary

not if they're written by white people. there's probably some exceptions but honestly that's just weird and makes my hair stand up(derogatory).

I am White People. I should not try to do this.

given the association (certain modern media almost bafflingly aside) between Cain/Ham and justifications for SLAVERY, I, a white author, should not only NOT make these characters BIPOC, but should lean pretty damn hard into their whiteness- it's not "reclaiming" exactly, it's like... "reclaiming"(derogatory)(ironic)

given the current political movements around Viking Shit, and SPECIFICALLY pseudopagan, christian-based anglo-saxon warrior male social orders, the figures of Grendel & His Mother can and maybe even SHOULD serve as symbols of active and violent resistance from within the communities (White As Shit) that the current alt-right claims to represent.

given ALL of that, the best way for me to write these characters is how I'm currently writing them- very white, very monstrous, would probably state their race as "fae" if asked and "white" and/or "european" if specified for human racial terms, explicitly monstrous, symbolic of both (my own) queer/disabled/neurodivergent rage, feeling of incompatibility with most/all friend groups or communities, as well as a larger theme of a "KILL ALL VIKINGS" fantasy enabled by them being Big Scary Creature Beasts.

However... its been a few years. I've been drowing myself in Anglo-Saxon Everything but fully ignoring racial and diversity issues, a huge part of this admittedly being irl stressors in my life that, shall we say, EXTREMELY reduced my capacity for basic empathy & Current Events Awareness to a degree that I'm only starting to repair. as part of this repair, I'm really questioning this. I've read some super fascinating stuff about Grendel & race recently, and yet.

...and yet

I can't shake the feeling that

as a white author, making this a race-centric narrative isn't just not my job/not my turft, its actually kinda pretty racist

however, refusing to write these characters for that reason then involves (at least internally) saying that "this kind of archetype" is ONLY "meant" to be written by BIPOC ppl, because "they're the only ones who really Get The Experience", and HOO BOY. THAT IS RACIST. that is me doing a great big racism right there.

...so what do I do? I really love my take on these characters. I've grown really attached to them. It seems like everything is actually pretty well in order for me in terms of why I made the choices I did- I've looked at the other things I could have done with these themes and they're Extremely Problematic At Best...

but I can't shake the feeling that I'm still missing something, fucking up somehow.

I'd genuinely welcome discussion on this, I'm not going to be offended or defensive about ANYTHING, legit if you want to tear this whole post apart via critique re: art or just my own biases, please do. I'm just trying to figure this shit out.

and possibly overthinking it. that is also definitely a possiblity.

*to be clear I don't hate or dislike Headley. I just don't GET her. I'm not sure WHAT to think.

[tomeandflickcorner]

Writer Asks 3, 4, 5 & 6 please!

Shoot, I forgot I didn’t answer this! Sorry about the delay.

3) How many active WIPS are you working on / have in your WIP folder? (Active indicates a work with actual words and not just notes. Can be posting or yet to be posted.)

I believe I have three at the moment.

4) Share the titles (whether actual or just how you refer to them) of your active WIPS

The first one is Frozen in Darkness, the fourth and penultimate installment of my OUAT canon divergence series. Next is The Briny Willow Wars, my third Labyrinth fic. The third is called Comet and is a Lilo and Stich fic (which I admittedly keep forgetting about)

5) How many fic ideas / WIPs with only notes do you have a doc created for or have detailed in a journal?

I think I currently have three established fic ideas in the planning stages, but they don’t exactly have a doc created yet. At the moment, they’re mostly mapped out in my head

6) Share a few of you fic ideas / WIPs with only notes

One is a OUAT no-curse AU story in which Emma had the royal upbringing she was meant to have. I previously mentioned the plot here.

I did have plans for a OUAT at Hogwarts fic. But in light of the fact that I can no longer turn a blind eye to Rowling’s bigotry, I feel it’s best to shelf that idea indefinitely, unless I can figure out a way to write it without any direct HP references. (Sorry to those of you who were looking forward to that one.)

Another story I’m considering will be a collaboration with @revanmeetra87. This will also be a OUAT fic that will be an alternative take of the first season (not sure how far we’ll take it.) The premise will involve Emma trying to utilize one of those ancestry.com sites to try to determine where she came from, in the faint hope that it would help give her a clue as to who her birth parents were. But since she was born in the Enchanted Forest and was not technically from anywhere on Earth, her test results pretty much set off some alarm bells with government intelligence agencies, and in no time at all, Emma finds herself being forced to be on the run from the CIA. In trying to elude them, she unwittingly stumbles across Storybrooke.

Finally, I have tentative plans to essentially write alternative versions of select installments of the MCU, which would include an OC of mine. The OC in question was created by HYDRA as part of their efforts to create an army of human-animal hybrids. But the OC ended up being found and raised by the founders of SHEILD, instead. Unfortunately, that’s all I can say about that one without giving away important plot points.

Fanfiction Asks

[quibbs126]

So some time ago I had made some ideas for a Ninjago reboot, and recently I’ve been trying to work on it again, and I had a new idea for Lloyd and I’m not sure which version would work better

We have the original idea where he’s a normal human who was adopted by Garmadon and later on became part of his ranks, being one of his samurai warriors. However the armor tends to hinder him more than it helps as it’s just too heavy, and when the ninja fight him he’s not that strong, but after something happens and both Wu and Garmadon go missing, he joins the ninja in searching for them, ends up realizing he’s better without the armor and ends up joining the ninja because he just likes them better. He has no powers, up until they’re fighting the Overlord and need the help of the First Spinjitzu Master, so Lloyd offers to be essentially his vessel so he can help them in the real world, and afterwards being left with energy powers as a result of it. Oh also he’s blind in one eye and is missing an arm on the same side/has a prosthetic arm, due to whatever happened that led to him being taken in by Garmadon

The new idea I had was keeping him as Garmadon’s biological son, and he naturally has green/golden power, and also he’s centuries old, despite only looking like a teenager. He had a lot of latent power, and when something happened to Wu and Garmadon (the best I have is that they were turned into statues of some kind?), Lloyd got so distraught that his powers were fully unleashed and he lost control of it, going into his golden Oni form and causing a rampage across Ninjago, the likes of which no one knew how to defeat now that the protectors of the realm are incapacitated. Eventually they were able to stop him by sealing his powers away into four weapons, which creates the Golden Weapons, and him being sealed away somewhere so that he won’t cause any more harm. This becomes known throughout Ninjago as the Tale of the Golden Oni/Master, though in everyone else’s eyes, the Golden Oni was just some villain who took advantage of Wu and Garmadon’s situation; people don’t know who he really was. He does eventually get out, but what happens to him afterwards I’m not sure. He may become an actual antagonist, or he’s been wandering the realm for a while. I’m also not sure whether he wants to regain his powers again. I dunno, I haven’t fleshed it out much yet

So yeah, which one do you think would work better?

Oh yeah and for reference, I should probably explain Wu, Garmadon and FSM in this hypothetical continuity. So Wu and Garmadon are full blooded Dragon and Oni respectively, and they have no biological relation to one another. For countless millennia, the two fought one another across the realms, and one day they eventually came across the primordial Ninjago, still being created by the First Spinjitzu Master. They continue their fighting, only for it to be stopped by the FSM, who’s angry because they won’t let him finish his realm with their constant battling. When the Overlord shows up, the FSM makes them both help him fight the Overlord, and after finding some sort of beauty in this primordial realm, and coming to some level of understanding between one another, the two help and they defeat the Overlord. Afterwards to finish his realm, the FSM has to essentially become one with the realm, and in his stead he makes Wu and Garmadon the protectors of his realm, which they agree to, considering each other something akin to sworn brothers, or at least brothers in arms. One condition he has for them is to not fight each other, at least not at full power. And so that’s what they’ve been doing since. Oh yeah, and the FSM isn’t a Dragon/Oni hybrid. In fact, no one’s quite sure what he is, but he gives off eldritch horror vibes. He also takes on the appearance of a young boy, and even acts like one sometimes too, but he does have his mature moments. The two are honestly terrified of him