#if you read this far you get the context to this doodle

[kj-munch]

4 am post this no context acton

[sysig]

I wasn’t using that heart anyway it’s fine (Patreon)

[cloudysarts]

Sosososos the bill having a hard time reading just imagine.... the axolotl gets him a appointment to the eye doctor LIKE BRO THE WAY HE WOULD HAVE THE HARDEST TIME TRYING TO READ THE LETTERS

(this anon is referring to this comic i made, check it out for context!) (edit: you can find some more glasses!bill doodles here too!)

THIS IS SO REAL. bill 100% fought the theraprism staff who were trying to get him to the eye doctor in the first place for MONTHS. they kept telling him it would improve his quality of life but he is NOT HAVING IT. he only eventually agreed to go ON THE CONDITION that he doesn't have to get saddled with any medication. turns out, he doesn't need any.....just glasses :)

glasses bill is so real to me. thank you for sending this ask, i was looking for an excuse to doodle him <3

kind of personal, but i have severe astigmatism, and didnt know that until i was 18. the first night after i got my glasses, i looked up at the sky, and i realized that i could suddenly see WAY more stars than usual. and i remember tearing up, because i thought the sky was boring and star-less for everyone, but turns out they were just too far away for my nearsighted-ness to see. and i love projecting so i couldnt ignore the mental image of bill realizing that the stars-- that he already loved-- were even better when he could see them properly, without being medicated or having to squint.

[divine-donna]

burnt out passions

because i watched the red shoes and this idea just popped into my head.

tashi duncan they can never make me hate you. i am a tashi duncan defender until i die. (sorry art)

character: tashi duncan

context: stanford. 2007 - 2008.

you and tashi understood one thing: passion was everything.

your lives revolved around your passions. for her, it was the sport of tennis. and for you, it was the dance of ballet.

your step-father was quite rich, bringing you and your parental figure out of poverty. it was through him that you started going to tennis matches. and you were a fan of tashi duncan.

she was meant to be a star. she was meant to go far. she was meant to have that grand slam career title that most, if not all, tennis players envied.

you always admired her from afar. but when you walked into class on your first day of class in your freshman year, you were not expecting to see tashi duncan.

the class was your typical writing 101 class, the kind that was meant to prepare students on research and how to write. within the class were workshops. after all, part of making a good essay was to proofread and have everything peer reviewed.

"you have a great voice."

your paper was dumped in front of you. there were barely any corrections on it. just a lot of underlining and side notes. looking up, you saw the woman that was tashi duncan.

"thanks." you hand her paper over to her.

tashi flips through it. she sees a lot of doodles on her paper that express your annotations through speech and thought bubbles.

"i also thought your voice was great. your passion for tennis really comes through. although i think having seen you play enhanced the reading experience."

"so...you've seen me play?" she crosses her arms over her chest.

"my step-father loves tennis."

"fun. i learned some new things in your paper. you really like ballet?"

"ideally i'd like to be professional. but who knows how stable that is." in comparison to being a famous tennis player. "which is why i'm here. to get a degree in...something."

tashi glances down. you're wearing red shoes. "so...do you wear red because of the movie you mentioned?"

"maybe. it's been a thing since i was a kid."

a small smile begins to curl on her face. "you wanna get lunch?"

"so you do ballet? do your feet ever hurt?"

"all the time." your feet hurt just thinking about dancing again. "i can't imagine my life without ballet."

"i can relate to that." she lifts her cup up and you gently tap your own against hers.

"you should come to the show. we're having one near the end of the semester."

"so soon? we just got here."

"i need to train. keep my muscles flexible and ready."

"you should try tennis. you might actually be really good at it." ballet took a ton of control and coordination. tennis would be a perfect sport for you. or, at least, a decent fit.

"i tried. i'm terrible at hitting balls with a racket."

"who said you had to be good?"

"i would like to think that if i'm playing with tashi duncan...at least i should be mediocre."

you became one of tashi's favorite people to hang out with. and you were also her favorite gym partner. your schedules just lined up perfectly.

every time you guys went to work out, you would lead the stretches beforehand.

sometimes, you guys would visit the dance studio and you would teach her some basic moves. when your finger tips grazed her arm, she would shudder. you were careful when touching her and asked her all the time if you could hold her waist.

"you don't need to ask (y/n)! we're friends." tashi has that soft look in her eyes. she always looked at you with those eyes.

"still!" you say. "don't want to make you uncomfortable."

"you won't! you could never."

you took a deep breath when she said that, trying to ignore the heat beginning to swirl in your body. your body so close to hers. her smile. her smooth skin. her voice. and her smelled.

she always smelled divine.

tashi never knew ballet could be so intense.

she came with art to the show, holding a bouquet of flowers. you had been working hard and she wanted to make sure your efforts were acknowledged and received by her.

you moved with such precision and fluidity. she swore you turned into a blur.

your body was nimble. and that outfit...well, she could see your body. she had a boyfriend. but you were right there and a lot more present than patrick, who was currently on tour.

she has to push the thoughts aside, not noticing the fact that art sees the way she looks at you.

"you were fucking amazing!"

you were surprised when you feel just how hard she hugs you. she squeezes almost a little too tight.

and yet, you accept it. you lean into it and savor her touch.

"thanks for coming tashi. i saw you in the crowd."

finally, tashi lets you go. she takes the flowers from art. you could feel your face heat up. "t-tashi...you didn't have to."

"nonsense!" she playfully hits your arm. "you worked hard. remember that breakdown you had?" a small laugh leaves you when thinking about it.

it happened at the dance studio in the gym. you guys were stretching and all the emotions from midterms, finals projects, and your upcoming lead role came crashing down.

"you deserve it. you were amazing. if you're not hired when you get out of college..." she shakes her head. but she cannot stop grinning.

you bought flowers for tashi. it was the first game of the season. her and art have been training for this. and you were excited to see her play not as a spectator, but as her friend!

earlier during the week, you had convened with art to try to pick out which bought to get her and exactly how big.

when you got there though, it was just art. you were expecting to see another white boy. and you sit on art's right. "so...what happened to patrick?"

you wanted to see for yourself who tashi duncan's boyfriend was. who exactly managed to bag tashi duncan? you wanted to meet him. not that you were jealous...

but you were.

art leans back in the seat. "he's not coming. him and tashi had a fight."

you frown and continue holding the flowers. "...he sounds like an ass."

"tell me about it."

when tashi tore her acl on the court, you swore you could feel the pain in your own leg. a sort of phantom feeling.

you were frozen, trying to determine if what you saw truly happened.

art was quicker than you, rushing down and even jumping over the net.

you're walking to the infirmary room when you can hear the argument.

"out! out!"

"listen-" says the guy with messy dark hair. he looks disheveled. and like shit.

"patrick get the fuck out of here!"

you've never heard art yell. ever. he never even raised his voice.

patrick seems defeated and he abides by them, leaving. his eyes meet yours. "nice flowers." he notices the card attached to a string.

For the best tennis player I know: TASHI ♡

"have fun. now's your chance too. but you should know. art's restless."

you clench your jaw and walk past him. art was right. he was an ass.

tashi glances at the door when your head pops in. she doesn't say anything, but her shoulders slouch a little bit. you take it as a sign to come in and walk over to her side.

she looks at the flowers and at the card attached to the string. "i don't deserve those."

"if anyone deserves flowers...it's you." you could feel your eyes tearing up. you feel her pain. you understand her frustration. and most importantly, you feel her devastation.

tashi takes the flowers from your hands, her fingers touching your own. she takes a deep breath and inhales their scent. it was nice. you chose a good bouquet.

little did you know that it was the death of her career. and you had brought flowers to her funeral.

your next role was a challenging one. it had you straining your legs every day while you trained, trying to get your tempo right. nothing seemed to work though.

the stress of midterms also didn't help. you had a lot of work on your plate. many papers, almost too many exams. you didn't sleep much. you couldn't sleep.

tashi felt some guilt towards you helping her. you were taking time out of your own day to get her back into shape.

you were her cheerleader. you believed that she could heal and return to the court. you helped her with her exercises, woke up early to go to her room and help her stretch.

her frustration continued to boil over when she couldn't do the things she wanted to do.

not only was she a failure, but she was also letting you down.

"are you disappointed in me?"

you look at her as you stretch her leg for her. it was bent beneath you and you're careful when adding the pressure. she's staring up at the ceiling.

it was still dark outside.

"i could never be disappointed in you."

"don't bullshit me (y/n)."

"i mean it tashi. i could never be disappointed in you." she looks at you. there are tears threatening to spill.

"...i'm afraid my only skill is hitting a ball with a racket." and that without it, she was nothing. you didn't need her to voice it. you could see it in her eyes, in her posture, in her demeanor.

"no. it is not. you're tashi motherfucking duncan. you're smart, you're gorgeous, and you're ambitious. you can write! you're great at organizing! you give awesome advice! and most importantly, you get shit done. if anything tries to stop you, you find a way around it. and you see to it that you have a way to participate."

her heart skips a beat.

"you're kissing my ass." a smile cracks on her face.

you wanted to tell her that you loved her. it threatened to spill from your tongue.

"i would love to."

tashi laughs, covering her face with her hands. she takes the opportunity to wipe away her tears as you pull her leg back into a resting position.

"today's dress rehearsal, right?" she sits up as you stand and grab some of the bottles of gatorade you put in her fridge to keep cold.

"yeah. you don't have to come if you're not up for it."

tashi gently rubs her knee before looking up at you. "i could use the time to rest."

"is art coming?"

tashi purses her lips. "art and i...aren't really talking anymore..."

you frown. "i'm sorry to hear that." you decide not to ask or push it. but part of you felt elated that he was gone. it always felt like a crowd with you and tashi. and art.

while working out and practicing earlier, you decided to ignore the throbbing pain in your hip. when tashi asks if you want to come with her for a break, you tell her that you wanted to keep training. you were close to nailing it.

you were perhaps overconfident when it came time to dress rehearsal.

at the climax of the shower, the music surging, your heart beating, your costume flaring out, you hear a loud pop. and when you land, you hear another pop.

it seemed that fate decided to fuck with you that night.

the pain in your right side was nearly unbearable.

tashi recognized that cry of pain. she heard it when she went to bed, when she reflected upon her life at night. she rises out of her seat, getting over to the stage as fast as possible.

you overexerted yourself, tearing your achilles and your labrum. at the very least, it would take you out of your role currently. at the worst, it would inhibit your movements for the rest of your life.

tashi was with you the whole time. you could only stare blankly at the x-rays.

without knowing, you're leaning towards her. until your head is against her body. she puts an arm around you, keeping you close in silent understanding.

you heard a knock at your door. ever since your injury, you had barely come out of your room, only for class and to eat to spend your dining dollars.

you groan, sitting up and carefully getting off the bed. you use your crutches and open the door. "tashi...it's late..."

tashi holds a bag of snacks and drinks. "you look like shit."

"that's because i feel like shit."

you guys were kind of matching. her in her brace and you in your splint.

you move aside to let her in and she closes the door for you. "i bought all your favorites." she says, putting the drinks into the fridge to keep them cold. she sets the bag of snacks down on your desk.

tashi watches you go back to your bed and set your crutches aside. you try your best to get onto the bed using your upper body strength, but your arms were failing you.

she walks over and gently lifts you up at your thighs while you push yourself up with your arms. it works, and you're able to sit on the mattress topped by a mattress topper.

"can't even...get on my fucking bed!" you grit your teeth. and you didn't have the strength to adjust the height of your bed either.

tashi frowns. "there's no shame in needing help." you showed her that.

"i know. i just..." you lick your lips, looking at her. "i wish i took that break. i wouldn't be in this position if i did." you sniffle.

tashi's eyes glance down at your lips before going back up. "i spend too much time worrying about the what ifs."

"i shouldn't. it's...stupid."

there's a comfortable silence between the two of you. you look at tashi. the way her hair frames her face. her big brown eyes. her lips that you desperately wanted to taste. she was still gorgeous even dressed down in her stanford sweater and athletic shorts.

she leans forward, her kiss soft and gentle.

your hand goes to rest on her neck, kissing her back.

tashi kisses you harder, her mouth moving in hungry motions. you match her pace, kissing her with just as much hunger.

you let her push you down onto the mattress so she could be on top. her hands begin to trail down your body, finding the end of your sweater. she slides her hand beneath, feeling your cool skin.

you pull away, your breathing heavy. "are you sure?" you didn't understand why tashi duncan would want to kiss you of all people. even if you wanted to kiss her.

"i'm sure." she kisses you again and you moan against her lips, letting her tongue slide past your lips and dance with your tongue.

[neonfretra]

does anyone want to discuss hrpf outside of shipping + written fic context . because i think about where what i do sits in relation to it all

for brevity i will be referring to the real person as the player and the fictionalized interpretation of the player as the character

to get things outta the way, i dont think theres very much you can say about real life people before you start crossin into real person fiction (rpf) territory LOL

transformative art is rpf. speculation is rpf. narratives is rpf. the second you start steppin away from a direct relay of the facts as is, we gettin in ficticious waters IMO. its really a neutral thing to me and my ethics begin and end at "dont show people who dont wanna see"

and its real funny to think about how i do art just because it feels like i set up way less barriers compared to people who DO write fic . i see all this talk about making sure you make your stuff login exclusive, about not sharin it to the people involved, disclaimers about how its in fact NOT a reflection of reality that your favorite athlete is mpregnant and YOU are are mfather.

and i just hit post and call it a day LOL

TO BE CLEAR there is definitely layers to it in the sense that i see similar amounts of caution with say ship art or certain degrees of raunch.

shipping in the rpf scene is funny to me in the sense of the tendency to treat shipping as THE exclusive rpf thing. like no i dont think my tomas tatar fanart is 1:1 on the reality front either. for example, nj devils hairline is not that far back and thags the only inaccuracy.

heres the kicker: mmy foot.

most of my doodles tend to evoke a degree of characterization or narrative. yeag maybe its a little less 30k slowburn and a little more fabian zetterlund shot putting a man but. that is fictional, that is a character

im not saying that rpf defines players more than the reality of them does but i do believe it does enforce certain views

in the spaces i hang around ive noticed the narrativization around certain characters being part fueled by the information that is filtered by reporters and part interpretations bounced back and forth by fandom . and when you have eyes on a story, its easy to pick out information solely as it agrees with you

maybe the most prominent narrative ive seen for the sharks has been macklin celebrini having a jock dad -> therefore he got daddy issues, joe thornton houses him -> therefore mentor and father figure joe thornton? where even though i havent seen any direct relay of information from any players (though ivent been looking LOL) a lot of the discussion around it revolves around this common understanding that it just is (the funnier part is arguably that will smith hockey has been doing more for this narrative for patrick marleau BUT NEITHER HERE NOR THERE.)

and its really interesting to note HOW fandom warps or weaves the story by going off common tropes or dynamics to make sense of the public facing parts we do see, which is what i think is magnified through the lens of fanworks but not (necessarily) CREATED by fanworks

which is where i feel my work is part of the. ecosystem??? life cycle??? and then we all return to the dirt and the worms eat us???

how much or how little we define the gap between player and character changes from person to person. i simply do not have that goin on here. devin cooley eats joey daccords hair take it or leave it. annnnd main tag that

other times i feel we wear the divide thin are when there is headcanon that uses facts about the player (ie a lot of ship talk) or when the character becomes the kneejerk understanding of the player (ie liveblogs. very fun way to get a read of a communitys feelings on something because of how immediate the reactions on it are)

the point of this post isnt to shame or interrogate people about participating in rpf, im not looking for those sort of feelings, im fascinated by fandom culture as a twig off the old branch and i would love to hear other perspectives on the same topic (and different communities! i dont have much involvement in fic. which is. a massive hole in my perspective on this probably)

is it possible to cross the line from rpf to plain old original content LOL (the answer is intent i know but. walk with me here its fun to think about)

naturally theres a degree of "original character" to every depiction . you gotta make up some amount of it. theres no clear separation OF rpf and original content because everything is about borrowing. you make characters with inspiration from other things. its near enough universal for someone who deals with characters to have at some point lifted a character directly out of their original context and made them their own.

its not just their face or name or some other physical attribute that makes it rpf id also argue because i have seen people using attributes of real people as "claims" for origubal characters (like a "faceclaim" to say "this is how i imagine my character to look")

on top of that there is fluctuating interest on actually depicting the player, with approaches that i have heard of ranging from "character that shares the quantitative aspects of the player and thats IT" to "character that was made heavily referencing to things the player has said/done"

its interesting when certain players in rpf have a consistent character! which trends to be in teams with a more active rpf oriented fanbase (vs interest mainly in the real life hockey played), comparing the fandom of kraken to the golden knights on tumblr for instance. its also interesting to note that more popular teams just have more rpf centric leans. because there are more people to write rpf. i mean also we are on a fandom centric site and rpf bridges that gap from narrative/character fueled media and sportsball more LOL

(if you like sports from a purely sports oriented angle do you enjoy watching it? genuine question. because at what point is it "i could just be doing this myself" because ive hit that point with other things before LMAO)

i do call the difference being more "fandom" oriented but IDK if thats correctly using the word or just less syllables. and on top of that i cant exactly tell you if its popularity or stand out personality that holds more sway. though then again i guess those two traits arent separate from each other necessarily. or even that those are the only two factors to broad appeal (probably popularity with another player is up there. but im not trying to find a formula for most attractive to make rpf of)

to return to the kraken because that is the most rpf oriented team i follow, i do notice when players portrayed consistently. i can definitely tell you like. one or two character traits about players i do not follow the media of solely from liveblogs and art. complexity of the character varies by a lot, though i do think its interesting to consider the hows and whys.

a trait or interest being highlighted by media (i tend to see this in offical media coverage that gets spread by jokes) -> the character heavily revolves around this feature in jokes or casual reference, with heavy personal interpretation

media pushing a narrative by following a more cohesive timeline or story structure (i usually see this in fanworks. easier to identify the influence of IMO) -> fairly consistent character backstory or , at least in the broad strokes of it

just general agreements about tropes that are appealing with little basis on the player -> this is usually the more relationship focused character interpretation

there isnt usually just one factor (and this isnt an exhaustive list of factors) to one characters history. unless its a super new player on the radar.

its definitely a character that belongs to the fandom! as in the unique character to the unique community! its actually really funny how they evolve. you could probably fingerprint someones influences if you tried hard enough. with how new the kraken is (and the fact the fandom leans more towards being united as one body than any other team ive seen so far) it does get pretty easy to get it down to the post but. do your own treasure search. I wont deprive you!

(also its EMBARASSING... what if the people i mention SEE... im SHY...)

harder with an older fandom like the sharks there are so many dead and defunct sources or jokes so widely spread that it gets hard to locate the origin . because dead and defunct sources. though i think its growing a new ring around the fandom tree because of the newer players! so its a thought. to think about how different events influence the size and activity of a fanbase and to ask how different fans from different. eras? of a fanbase interact (or dont).

again i notice this in the sharks fandoms by comparing fans from the playoff contending sharks era (last playoff season was 18-19? start is a little murky but ill toss out that 2012 was the year tomas hertl was drafted because tomas hertl was an era of the sharks LOL a whole 12 years! i know people younger than his professional career and those people are catching up to me in height. humbling!) and fans from when the sharks were very much not playoff contending (quite an amount of the current active fans LOL). not sure if theres much to say without looking stupid. different jokes, notable players, friend groups, feelings towards other teams. all still feel very strongly about general manager mike grier scattering players like dandellion seeds to the wind.

(AGAIN. HOPING NO SHARKS FANS NOTICE THIS. IM SHY)

how many sharks fans havent seen logan couture on ice

again i am saying all this as someone who ACTIVELY participates in this BTW!!! does anyone notice that players i dont know definitely have a flatter "whatever is the funniest thing to say" angle . or that characters of players i know a few things about have like one punchline . or even that certain characters are consistent and not just bound by direct interpretations of one moment (which i do a lot of when im liveblogging) (dont get your hopes up for anything new here, the character usually is "pathetic and a little bit of a bastard")

i keep writing these disclaimers like. if someone disagreed this strongly they would not be reading this far. hi! is anyone still here. is someone still reading.

i have created life and i dont know to kill it.

i talk about one of my depictions of a player as a separate character (that is to say, a SEPARATE character from the character intended to represent the player) and i have NO idea if this is like. an OC? a defamation case in waiting? my spawn? do i have to pay childcare. does anyone know who or what im talking about or has the character been festering in my mind like an infection.

is it just me???

my advice to you: if you dont want somethin to come back dont give it a name.

consider dissecting your personal and the more widespread fandoms take on players and characters! its fun for me but i also just like taking things apart ^_^ i fear i may not be as analytical as this post demands i do a lot of restating information and thats it

[amorganva]

Just a bunch of random interesting Lies of P stuff I've seen so far because I still love this game:

So the workshop was established 1868....which means that we're in the year 1889 or around that timeframe based on the grand exhibition signs.

Apparently Sophia has a diary? and this is the only page: Master Cherry gives the Piece of wood to his friend Geppetto At that very moment a loud knock sounded on the door It was Geppetto, an old friend of Master Cherry. The boys of the neighborhood called him Polendina because of the wig he always wore, which was just the color of yellow corn. He was known to dislike children, and even more so when they called him Polendina.

on some of the plaques at the grand exhibition

The Krat k for reference and the devs having fun sneaking pics onto bottles lol

The music sheet on the piano is the sheet music for the Oblivion soundtrack of the game. I also wonder why P chooses to play that particular piece that he plays as his humanity increases, why is it stuck in your head P?....on to another Carmeo doodle! I mean seriously the first few notes of the Estella Opera theme sound like humanity level 1 P trying the piano....like there's this specific tune in his mind. Like the two used to play together or Carlo the bougie being good at playing would teach Romeo, the kid from the streets. And the whole level P would hear that tune ....operafied and extra because it's Romeo, cmon, but also as a reminder like -Hey...remember, buddy?

Just for reference purposes, when exported directly, Romeo is a giant at almost 9 ft - while P is about 6'4" when not constantly in battle stance. But Sophia and every other NPC in Krat is also about 6 feet when directly exported so the characters aren't made to scale - youngest of the BRBH is as tall as Sophia without ears. I read somewhere that Carlo is supposed to be around 5'3" on average and 5'6" at the tallest (people being shorter back then etc....our short king) so in my headcanon for my doodles reference I scaled Romeo to be about 5'10", just a bit taller than Carlo. Idk why I make him taller but there's something about his nickname Lampwick which just meant that he's skinny and polished looking in the original context but it got in my head that he's just tall and skinny and I'm rolling with it. Funny that his puppet form is so rusted and kinda clunky and raggedy looking for someone so well put together presumably before he died. The most unruly of Pinocchio's friends but also the nicest guy in this universe--- don't get me started on Romeo again gigachad of a friend///

Also something you can't really see ingame cuz resolution but irl all records are by Trilogy Records and Feel in particular is "Song of Vamp, Rosa Milan" ....no clue what it means.

the placeholder used for Romeo's play in the trailers....but also Hotel Krat before it became a Hotel in a bustling city?

Question: Blue hair Sophia or Brown hair? Short hair P or long hair P? (I like short hair because it's an iconic look and the devs clearly spent a lot of time fine tuning it when you look at the trailers lol, long hair to me just feels so....basic) Also P's hair is aktschually brown.....it just looks really dark ingame and in all the artwork they just chose to make it black-looking. So Carlo and P technically have the same hair, he just doesn't have P's freckles which....a choice was made by Geppetto and I respect it.

You can read this oddly specific daffodil newspaper texture and this letter.....like why is this so high res??

It's a shame you can't see some of this stuff unless you actually take a close look at the game files but I like to snoop. I just wanna see more of Krat...like a tour video or something or a book before it all kinda went to hell. Thanks Geppetto ....and/or Simon.

[vargaslovinghours]

EleVeN!11!!1! (1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10½)

Fuzzy Edgar forever. I don’t remember the context now, maybe there wasn’t any to begin with haha, he’s just so cute with slightly longer hair! And upset :)

Some Diaryfic snuggles ♥ Scriabin can be so sweet to him at the worst time ah, I love Edgar’s hard on his arm and Scriabin’s pulling his hair out of his injured eye 💕

While I was very inspired by the Red Flags meme going around (we’ll get there), I was just as inspired by Mixed Messages - this exchange is so silly and them to me. He’s just trying to flirt back, you don’t have to make it harder! That’s just what Scriabin does haha

🥐 🖕 D:’

What else did you expect Scriabin to do with texting capabilities?? I’m still very enamoured with the thought of Scriabin using emojis and Edgar using emoticons - they are sort of different generations!

Here’s the Red Flags! So gd catchy, damn lol. I was specifically inspired by the X is on a date with themself edits, it was so tempting to consider a Ladyverse version as well haha. Edgar’s uncomfortable smiles were so incredibly fun hehe ♪

Y’see because with that many eyes- you get it

Edgar’s little “Or do I??” makes me laugh haha, anything to get out of this situation!

Waiter Jake ❤️💕💖💞💗 Rescue him!

Very inspired by this one specifically, he’s totally innocent! Not offputting at all! ♥

Alright well good luck with that bye. I love Edgar being menaced into continuing this date hehe ♫

Scriabin just keeping on the pressure for this date to keep going! Slight neg in “Couldn’t you have dressed up a little nicer though? ✨” pft

Brief aside with Scriabin!Edgar out drinking with my OC Mint who has very openly had a crush on the Vargases for a while now, thanks Mint

Honestly it was all just an excuse to turn him down and have Scriabin call Edgar his “landlord” haha; I was feeling nostalgic and went back to reread some old YuGiOh fics and had been so long away that I forgot that was a term used in the fandom to refer to the bodies of people the various Yamis would take over hehe ♪ It felt very fitting!

I can call him that but don’t you call him that >:(

Angy Scriabin!Edgar, the usual

Handplates re/reading doodles!! Hghgh!!! The theses of these stories of codependent relationships cut me to my very core I’ll have you know 💕 I managed to avoid falling down the rabbit hole of Handplates!Vargas but I was this close, lemme tell you. The subtle shift in phrasing changes so much ;; I love them dearly

A kind-of leftover WOY style Scriabin, since I made his hair all pointy in my first doodles - the WOY style is quite soft and round! He looks very silly hehe

Another song that is, yes, unironically in my Vargas playlist. This is a Nny song to me and you can pry it from my cold dead correct hands. That beautiful facial hair ♪

More Handplates/Vargas, this time obviously inspired by my holiday request 💕💖💞 I honestly rather like how calm Gaster seems whenever he’s in Edgar’s vicinity, he is a fairly unassuming human haha. Is it because he doesn’t laugh very often? Oh no that’s sad actually haha

I’m not done with Blank Slate Ch. 4 just yet - hopefully soon! - but this lineup stands out to me especially since I made it while rereading Handplates. Specifically after Gaster is pulled out of the Void - Gaster having to face the people he loves who have no memory of him really spoke to me in a Blank Slate way - the scenario of being able to completely start over and have never done anything to hurt your loved ones, at the expense of never having done anything to them, as far as they’re concerned, ah! It hurts so beautifully!! That’s one of the central themes I’m chasing so it was so cool to see in that context! Very inspiring ♥

So remember how in my Sims post, one Vargas family ended up with two Todds? Well what if that but actually

Twin Todd AU, just try and stop me

The saddest little twins y’ever did see ahh 💔 Having to share Shmee because there’s just the one of him! Who has a greater need :’0

I actually went and skimmed the SQUEE! comics to get a better grasp on the Casils, I’d forgotten basically everything haha. It seemed in keeping that if they could barely keep track of the one Todd, they wouldn’t bother even differentiating between two :’) Taking Todd shifts to better share the load

At least they have each other! More helpful than a stuffed bear who eats trauma? On par at least?

I also happened to catch this screenshot of the Todds gossiping about their shadow-dad, though I’m not sure who had seen him :0 By now I have found an adoption memory-loss prevention mod - thank goodness :D - but it wasn’t installed at the time! :0 Blue Todd is the Todd who’d already been the Vargases’ kid, Red Todd is newly-adopted Todd :)

Greetings in order! One of the Todds came by to scout out this strange new person

It’s a name to go by, if nothing else

Reporting back from the field, he has served his big narrative influence hehe ♥

Uh, yeah, about that- While I don’t doubt you were seeing double at times, uhm-

Surprise! Double the sons!

Only so much space in this apartment! They’re probably used to sharing a space to sleep weh, the implications of this AU are sad! I have no one to blame but myself haha

I have never been able to give up this twisted love I have for Edgar getting flustered about incredibly silly things and Scriabin chiding him with just his name haha ♥ Real twins do not delegitimize whatever the hell you two are to each other 💕

Who me? An affinity for how names shape identity and what it means to be a whole separate person? In love with this story in particular? You must be mistaken. But really, what would their name(s) be? I also love the subtle differences even just here - one Todd speaks up for the other! Dynamics ✨

1994, 2004, basically the same year innit. Scriabin is so much more on the up-and-up about the latest technology than Edgar, that old man

In which the offscreen is me lol, I was so blown away by how much more advanced the Sims 2 was from the Sims 1 ♥ Scriabin doesn’t need a box with a program in it, he has the absolute funnest toy in the world already!

And isn’t that the most important part ♪

Scriabin immediately makes himself and hooks up with every Sim he can, Edgar uncomfortable and totally not watching a~ny of the animations hehe ♪ Honestly though, the thought of Scriabin being genuinely excited to virtually get it on with any-and-every delights me haha

Look. Look, okay, look- If I could choose what to be inspired by, I would but sometimes

Obviously Scriabin would be a long Furby lol, this exchange can be summarized to “Scriabin no D:” “Scriabin yes >:D”

He’s complaining that Edgar ignoring him sleeping is boring haha

I did briefly lose my mind over how the Furbish word for “I/me/my/mine” is all the same - linguistically it makes sense, self-possessive, but in this, in their context ♥

Based on that one Wojak format - looks into the camera like “Yes. I am in your head. Insanity tracks” pfft

And it’s @jaspravex with the steel chair!! I hadn’t drawn any of them in like a month and then all of a sudden- I was 1000% not expecting to be hit with such a huge wave of inspiration but gosh and dang did this line of thought light me up. The implication! The jealousy! Wow that’s a lot all at once I wasn’t expecting ♥ Somehow these two never ended up on my shipping chart, dynamics I swear haha ✨

There’s September through February for the fourth go ‘round! Wild when I put it like that :0 Like clockwork, these lads ♪

[mrs-luigi-vargas]

Hello! A few days ago I read @stripetkattelalala54-gf's headcanon about Mario in Bowser's lap and then some dialogue popped into my head. So here's my attempt to give context to that dialogue! I think I ended up straying away from the original headcanon in the end but this was still fun to write! ^o^

~~~ [AO3 Link] ~~~

“He was hardly sleeping the last I saw him, you know.”

Peach’s words stayed Bowser’s hand. “Is that supposed to mean something to me?” he asked, eyebrow raised.

Peach didn't answer, only waving her arm in a ‘go on, then’ motion. Bowser narrowed his eyes at the sarcasm in the gesture. Still, he didn't move to jostle Mario’s shoulder just yet. Even though he didn't see a reason why he shouldn't wake Mario up; he’d been a pain in Bowser’s neck ever since he’d spotted him a few days ago. At the market in the town nearest his castle, no less, the Princess still safe at home. With a damn backpack on his shoulders.

Bowser had watched him closely from afar, sure he was going to cause trouble, but all he’d been doing was looking at wares and buying trinkets and being disgustingly nice to the vendors he’d talked to. He hadn’t even been haggling; how he hadn't been snubbed for that rudeness was beyond him.

Regardless, Bowser had meant to walk away and let Mario burn under the late summer sun, but the tank top Mario had been wearing and the freckles on his shoulders it had exposed had stalled him long enough for Mario to notice him. Which was a mistake, because from the second Mario had seen Bowser he’d stuck to him like gum on his sole and it had been distracting. Distracting for his troops, when Mario’d swept himself up in their training exercises — which Bowser had meant to watch for insight into Mario’s fighting moveset but ended up watching for the way his sweat-soaked muscles tensed before he threw a punch — distracting for his kitchen staff, when Mario’d decided to visit their workspace — managing to wrangle a recipe for Hot Drumsticks out of them that he then made and had the idea to deliver to him in his office personally, which considering how poorly the dish came out should have been terrible, but it somehow wasn't — distracting even when Bowser tried to bore him with paperwork to get him to leave — parking himself on the couch and doodling who-knew what on a spare page, humming a tune that should have been annoying and looking up whenever Bowser moved something to the ‘done’ pile and shooting him that damn cheery grin that lit up his whole face —

“I hate having feelings.”

“You didn't seem to mind the ones you’d had for me.”

Bowser glared at Peach. Peach smiled placidly. Bowser glared harder, because the entire reason he’d sent his lieutenants to kidnap her in the first place was because after that first day of Mario making a nuisance of himself, it had become glaringly obvious that he was running himself into the ground for some stupid reason or another. And with Greenie apparently out of town, somebody had to knock some sense into the idiot, and it wasn't like Mario had listened to him so far.

But instead of doing that, Peach had sat herself in his chair behind his desk and watched Mario fiddle with literally everything in the room until he finally ran out of energy, at which point he'd draped himself over Bower’s lap and passed out. Half an hour ago.

Bowser lowered his hand onto Mario’s shoulder. Mario sighed in his sleep, expression relaxing. Bowser scowled against the blood rushing to his cheeks. “I hate it,” he repeated.

“You’ll deal.”

“I wouldn't have to if you’d just take him home.”

Peach shrugged. “Give him a break; he’s lonely.”

“What, and you weren't good enough company?”

“Not when I’m in so many meetings.”

Bowser scoffed. “As if I don't have work to do, either.”

“You foist it all onto your advisors, though!”

“So? That’s what they’re there for! I have better things to do than reading.”

Peach rolled her eyes. In doing so, she caught sight of Bowser’s ‘done’ pile by his desk. “I don't suppose all those papers magically signed themselves, then,” she teased.

“I —! It was him!” Bowser sputtered, pointing at Mario. Peach stifled laughter.

Mario stirred, the volume of Bowser’s outburst interrupting his nap. Bowser clacked his jaw shut. “Don't you dare,” he hissed.

For once, Mario listened to him and didn't dare, sinking back into sleep. The relieved slump of Bowser’s shoulders was minute, but Peach giggled at it anyway. Bowser ignored her, because she sucked and he hated her, actually, until that giggling moved and Bowser looked up from staring at Mario’s face to find her partway out the door.

Peach waved at him. “I’ll bring back snacks,” she stage-whispered with a grin, and then disappeared. With the weight of Mario on Bowser’s legs preventing him from stopping her from wandering around his castle unsupervised.

“I should wake you up,” Bowser muttered to Mario, who only snored in response. Bowser sighed, and reached his other hand to carefully move him, because the way Mario’s neck was bent was shooting phantom aches into his own. Not because he actually cared about the state of Mario’s neck, or anything. But regardless of the true reason, almost as soon as Bowser settled Mario into a better position Mario stretched and rolled over to smush his face into Bowser’s stomach. Bowser’s scowl did nothing to stem the blush forming on his cheeks, this time, despite how hard he tried. Feelings. Hated them.

Bowser sighed, leaning back against the couch. No, he thought, with the weight of Mario curled around his waist, who was he kidding? He couldn't say he hated this. And wasn't that the problem he’d been trying to ignore for a while now?

Mario shifted, a sleepy smile growing at something playing out beneath his eyelids. Bowser wondered what he was dreaming about. Something stupid, probably, like a mountain of pasta. Or maybe someone. Like his brother. Or Peach. Or —

...or.

Bowser frowned, shaking his head to dispel that train of thought before it could travel any further, a train of thought that’d had Bowser’s hand finding its way back to Mario’s shoulder without him even realizing. He huffed. What a ridiculous mess, this was. Maybe he did hate his feelings, after all.

Well, whatever. He’ll deal.

[a-bit-lonely]

Ive discovered that doodling my blorbo from my games talking about what im studying as i study helps quite a bit actually.

So heres some of my doodles of Mirage Ultrakill having sociology opinions with explanations of the sociology stuff under the cut.

Doodle 1

Doodle 2

Doodle 3

doodle 4

Doodle 1

Secularization theory is a sociological theory which was originally thought up by Emile Durkheim. It basically says that as a society gets more modern, the religiosity of the people in that society declines, eventually leading to the complete disappearance of religion.

This theory was based on several inaccurate assumptions. Namely: people are less religious now than they were in the past, and scientific thought will inevitably lead to a decline in religious belief. As it turns out, neither of these assumptions are accurate...

But because this theory was introduced in the early days of sociology, it was just kind of accepted as fact even though there was no data to really support it.

Over time sociologists began doing studies on religiosity and found some major flaws in secularization theory. There wasn't evidence to support its conclusions despite decades of study, new religious movements continued to emerge in societies which were supposedly secularized, and religion remained an important influence in politics globally.

Anyways, Mirage Ultrakill strikes me as the kind of person who would hear about secularization theory and get excited because she's a bit of an asshole who thinks that religious belief is a comfort blanket shielding people from reality. Basically: Mirage Ultrakill strikes me as a reddit atheist.

Doodle 2

This doodle is right next to my notes on a concept coined by Thomas Luckmann called "invisible religion".

Don't get me wrong, Luckmann has made great contributions to sociology. He wrote The Social Construction of Reality which was hugely influential and also good shit. But... invisible religion does not make sense to me.

Rather than using a more accepted definition of religion, Luckmann made his own which asserted that religion is thought or action above an animal level. So, dear reader, if you are transcending your biological nature, then you are doing a religion. Eating with a fork? That's religion. Reading words? Religion.

To be fair to Luckmann, he was writing Invisible Religion at a time when Secularization theory was still widely accepted. At the time it was also believed that religion acted as the social glue that held society together, so Luckmann was trying to explain why society wouldn't fall apart as religion disappeared. And his explanation was that actually being human is religion.

But yeah, I reckon Mirage Ultrakill would be mean to him.

Doodle 3

This doodle is next to my notes on pluralism (pretty much just multiple religions existing in the same time/place). Specifically next to a section referring to pluralism as a "marketplace of ideas" which is a phrase I've heard far far too many libertarians throw around.

So basically, this doodle was a visceral reaction to seeing the phrase "marketplace of ideas". Honestly, it makes sense as a metaphor in this context as long as it isn't extended to far.

Doodle 4

This doodle was next to my notes on a section of my textbook that was talking about medieval monks (honestly why it was talking about that isn't too important, it was just some stuff about discrediting secularization theory). Anyway, did you know that a lot of Monasteries also brew a lot of beer and have done so since the Middle Ages? I think that's cool.

Anyway, this doodle happened because I was bored and Mirage Ultrakill strikes me as an underage drinker (which you minors out there should not be doing btw, it doesn't end well).

[thenationaltreasuregazette]

hi! i just found your account, and since i’m neck-deep in my national treasure obsession i’ve been reading all your articles!! they’re so good, and so thorough, i absolutely love them. safe to say you’re my favourite tumblr blog ever (sounds hyperbolic, but it’s true)!

my favourite character by far is Riley (but who doesn’t love him?!), and i’d totally love if you did an analysis/deepdive/something of the sort on his character:3 if you already have one planned/in the works (or if you already posted one and i somehow missed it), then disregard this, and what you should take away from this is that you’re awesome, and your work is appreciated beyond measure!!

thank you for doing what you do hehe♥️

Hey @memory-and-sky!

Aww thank you so much 🥰 I'm so glad you've found the blog and that you're enjoying it! I love collecting fellow sufferers of National Treasure brainrot. Before I started this blog I didn't know there were any others out there!

And actually, I was inspired by a blog full of needlessly/deliciously thorough articles about CSI. Stumbling on that in the peak of (re)obsession was like finding a gold mine! I was hoping this blog would be something similar.

I also love Riley! He's the heart of the movie, the everyman, a genius trapped in the wrong genre. But umm....he hasn't even made the table of contents yet? Why??

So...I've set up this series of dominoes in my brain where I'd like to write a big intro article for Riley,

but in order to do that I have to do the separate character analysis of the Riley in the 2003 script first for context,

and in order to do that I have to post the remaining pieces of the 2003 script breakdown,

and in order to do that I have to draw the missing storyboard doodles,

and in order to do that I'd have to get over the lovely trifecta of chronic neck pain, even chronic-er procrastination, and general surplus of hobbies per available free time that keep me from doing it in the first place 😅

Thank you so much for your enthusiasm, kind words, and engagement (I love when this blog gets like-bombed). And also thank you for reminding me that maybe I'm over-complicating this! Like maybe I've set up a minefield of useless expectations and doing any one of these projects in any order would be fine actually??

September is a particularly busy time for me, but I'd like to set a goal for myself to have any one (1) Riley-centric article before the fall is out.

Happy Treasure travels!

[autisticstevenuniverse]

The Doctor's journaling styles as I have established them so far:

One: generally grumbles about everything so you have to read between the lines for both his feelings and actual events, but will randomly and unexpectedly include very amusing jokes and anecdotes

Three: starts complaining about being stuck on Earth with imbeciles and gets distracted talking about his latest experiment or something fun he did with his current companion

Four: so much editorializing. The most unreliable narrator. I think he actually writes down the feelings he doesn't share aloud, though. Also has a habit of realizing what someone/something meant days later but only writing this down

Nine: writes about his adventures while leaving himself out of them as much as possible

Ten: writes TOO MUCH about his feelings, the emo bastard (affectionate). Like, two paragraphs describing his adventures and then ten about how sad it made him

Eleven: starts off writing about his adventures and companions in an excitable tone, only to get distracted and make a list ranking planets by the view of their moon, write himself an out of context reminder that makes no sense, doodle some bow ties, and then circles back around to the end of the adventure without writing down the second half of the middle

Twelve: grumbles and complains mostly, sometimes writes about the newest hobby he picked up ("ironically"), tends to mention adventures long after they happen except the particularly traumatic ones, which he will rave against the universe about. Missy got hold of it for a few decades and wrote entries basically roleplaying as him

Thirteen: so! many!! exclamation!!! points!!!! Writes in accurate detail about her adventures (still infrequently), in ways that look emotional because of the enthusiasm, but really she never says much about her own feelings

Fourteen: has a routine of writing every night and though he doesn't keep to it perfectly, manages to write much more frequently than the others. Writes with wonder and awe at the most random human things he's been trying out because he has the time now, and sometimes amusement or sometimes annoyance or even boredom when he notices some Earth-shattering thing happening that isn't his problem now. While in therapy was made to practice writing out his emotions not connected to something that just happened, and then letting them go. As time goes on, he practices sharing them more out loud instead of in the diary.

Fifteen: keeps the habit of writing more frequently (at first, while Ruby is around, anyway, and slowly gets more and more distracted from it) and in almost painstaking detail about his adventures and reactions to them, though his reactions tend to be focused on...not the main thing. Like he almost died but prefers to write about how great the food was or something. He still includes the fact that he almost died, but spends much longer talking about the food

[beevean]

I think the reason I keep getting distracted to write short one-shots is that at least the input (effort) equals the output (feedback).

It's one thing when something I wrote in 20 minutes, or even a few days, gets little to no attention: it's the equivalent of venting, who cares. It's another, and much more soul-crushing, when it takes me weeks to write a piece of a chapter, and I get ignored.

I think that in this sense, art is more convenient. It takes effort, absolutely, but at least I can imagine people look at it, even if they don't say anything. Writing gets glossed over because it requires effort to write, and why would you put any effort in reading something you don't care about? I'm not fishing for attention, far from it, I understand.

Art can also be doodling without any context, which is far less taxing on the brain than coming up with a story no matter how simple. This is something that weighs on me with art trades. Alas, I'm far from the level of being able to show my art. Maybe one day.

This is also why I swing between "everything must be perfect and you must waste minutes just to choose the right word, otherwise you're just stagnating and wasting your time" and "just write shit, it's not like anyone else will care, at least you can get it done - besides, you're nowhere near as good as you believe, stop thinking you have high standards to uphold".

But I can't let go. I can't lower my arrogant standards that low. There is only one person that needs to like my writing, and that is me. If I don't like re-reading what I wasted so much time on, why am I even here?

And this is the reason I keep yelling into the void. Because my brain might be scared of opening a doc, because I'm fully aware that it's nothing productive, but I do have fun in choosing the right words and metaphors and ways to subtly imply details, even if I think the end result is mediocre. I have fun playing games with the language, and I have fun dissecting a character on the operation table lol.

So yeah, writing is a thankless job, but I'm too deep into this to be stopped by loneliness.

It's kind of like bench pressing. No one cares about it, because c'mon, a woman lifting weights? You're just ruining your body. But I find satisfaction in improving my record and learning new techniques.

[pastelwhile-art]

DID SOMEONE SAY ALVA'S BIRTHDAY??

Here's all the messy Alva doodles + writing I've done the past while (since oct 2023). Context doesn't exist and you get em at the crusty quality I made them at

My entire Alva doc where I categorize one IDV guy's lore

Canon/Once

My Silly Twoshot ONCE AU before they... made the actual one

If you've scrolled down this far... You get this

(If you like Alva's lore plz read Perpetual Motion by roguestained it's the reason I got into Helva hell)

[enter-the-performapals]

A couple of people said they liked my Older Yuya design in my MerMay piece, so I whipped up a quick reference!

Anyone is free to use this design in anything creative! No credit is needed, but I'd love if you would tag me in anything you do with this design!

A little context below the cut:

I thought up this design before I created this blog, mainly because when I went and looked up 'older yuya' on google all of the designs were kinda... boring. Mostly Yuya looking like his younger self, just taller or with different clothes. I designed him to be roughly in his mid to early 20s

I love designing male characters with long hair and earings. While the earrings have always stayed the same, his hair has gone through a little workshopping to make it feel like a natural progression from when he was younger. I also wanted it to be reminiscent of Yoko's hair.

With the outfit, I just wanted him to look like a entertainer/magician, yknow, to keep it on brand. I looked to Yusho's design as inspiration, but it kind of feels very Dennis as well. Oops. Of course, color scheme similar to his younger self to keep it recognisable.

The first time I concepted him was in this picture here a couple months before making enter-the-performapals, included with a very cute but scrapped design of older Yuzu. I didnt really post it anywhere at the time, but doodled Older Yuya a lot in my sketchbook, which I may share one day. I also posted a doodle of him with my designs of Older Yuzu and Sora, which I will hopefully get around to also doing references of one day.

I also have designs of Yuya being posessed by Ute, Hugo and Joeri, both older and younger. With any hope Ill share my designs of them one day because theyre super cute- especially the Ute one ;3

If youve made it this far, thank you for reading! Have a lovely day!

[plantcomic]

Q&A part 2

I'm doing this purely to give some much needed context for Months and Stuff. Below me are old sketches I rummaged up from my pile of sketchbooks.

Most named things in Plant are religious. There's no real meaning behind that, I just thought it would be fun and also helps theme the name pool.

Weekdays are named after our Easter week

Monday - malkamaanantai - beamday Tuesday- tikkutiistai - stickday Wednesday - kellokeskiviikko - bellday Thursday - kiirastorstai RENAMED - frayday Friday - pitkäperjantai - longday Saturday - lankalauantai - yarnday Sunday - sukkasunnuntai - sockday

Months are named after old agricultural year. They are just translated finnish month names and I do not take critisism on the quality of that. Tried my best

January - Tammikuu - Hubmoon or Heartmoon, haven't decided yet Although "Tammi" means oak in our modern language, it apparently used to mean the middle part of a wheel. It's the center of the winter.

February - Helmikuu - Pearlmonth or Twinmonth, also yet not decided. This one is funny since pearl simply means the ice pearls on trees.

March - Maaliskuu - Soilmoon The month when snow starts to melt away a little bit. There are three different possible meaning for "maalis", but the meaning of soil or earth (both are maa) makes most sense.

April - Huhtikuu - Ashmoon Comes from old tradition of burning woods into kaski or huhta, a nutritious, ash-rich land to sow

May - Toukokuu - Sowmoon "Touko" means fieldworks at the start of the summer

June - Kesäkuu - Plowmoon While "kesä" means summer, the origin is maybe tied to first growths of the field. Kesanto, fallow, means different thing nowadays so I decided to change it.

July - Heinäkuu - Haymoon There are other older namings for this, but decided to be literal for once.

August - Elokuu - Harvestmoon Pretty self exploratory. "Elonkorjuu" means the harvest season and celebration.

September - Syyskuu - Autumnmoon yeah.

October - Lokakuu - Mudmoon yeah two

November - Marraskuu - Deathmoon or Demisemoon Winter is here baby! Marras is an old word meaning death or premonition of it.

December - Joulukuu - Wintermoon or Knuuttimoon Joulukuu literally means "Christmas moon", but I haven't yet decided how important that holiday is for plant world. The older name for the month, before christianity was "Talvikuu", for the winter. So I think I'm keeping that.

The midseasons, Kaamos, Loska, Suvi, and Eloaika are about what you could expect.

As a thank you for reading this far, below readmore is some sketches I found while looking for these infos. I'm getting the start of next chapter ready and posted next weekend, so welcome to part 2 of Plant! It's pretty much the same as part 1 but hopefully less depressing and more fun and with more characters and lots of berry hunting and singing and crafts!

Fae houses: An entrance to an underground house of Woodland fae, riverside hunting hut of River fae, and an example of Floral fae's hibernation hole.

Abandonned doodles for an abandonned illustration of some lategame stuff

Chill sauna times

Raspberries, flowers and one depiction of a mature Veil over city landscape

[noisyballofvoidmuffin]

I finally started reading Good Omens (NO SPOILERS! I've already spoiled myself enough.) and this is so far (59 pages) one of the best things I've read. It's so clever and fun, and I must have left a dozen "hehe" notes on the sides of my book (in pencil. I only just started writing in books and I would die before I used any sort of ink that could seep into or smudge on the pages.).

What I can't stop thinking about though, is that one woman who named her sons, I think twins?, Crowley and Aziraphale. Because, alright, my opinions may be a tad skewed bc I started being interested bc Tumblr and tiktok have bombarded me with details about these two from the show (Tumblr also some book stuff) that gave me some preconceptions but,,,,

Lady, how did you not notice that this could be interpreted as like, romantic? They have the most 'married couple' vibes on multiple occasions.

Spoilers under the cut! I go on a gush.

They are hilarious.

"Well I'll be damned"/"It's not too bad when you get used to it"

The start of this book, ugh, and yes, I'm back to the book now, this is my book rant and I'll take it to whatever direction my brain wants to, the fucking, the song choice for the Bentley to play!! It's so clever!!

"It wasn't a dark and stormy night. / It should have been, but that's the weather for you. For every mad scientist who's had a convenient thunderstorm just on the night his Great Work is finished and lying on the slab, there have been dozens who've sat around aimlessly under the peaceful stars while Igor clocks overtime."

And later on fucking BOHEMIAN PHAPSODY PLAYS- excellent music choice btw- AND IT'S SO GOOD

They it should've been a stormy night and just the EXACT PASSAGE OF THE SONG TALKING OF THUNDERBOLT AND LIGHTNING PLAYS OUT RIGHT AFTER STAN GETS OFF THE RADIO-

The pacing and detail work is just phenomenal in this book, PHENOMENAL

"For Americans and other aliens" (paraphrasing) had me chuckling out loud. Been identified an alien.

There's at least 3 doodles of snake Crowley I've drawn in the book so far.

Also the bit about this being the most repaired book? I would've died of that was any of my books, grieving, but I admire all of these people so much. The sheer DEDICATION!!

Really hoping I get this book signed at some point, even if I just about die of anxiety and embarrassment if I ever get the chance.

Also, it took me, honestly, way too long to recognize David Tennant played Crowley in the series/ the bits of the series I've been force-fed by tiktok and Tumblr. Not because I'm blind to faces (partially, maybe) but because it took a whole fucking slideshow with both Crowley and The Doctor from doctor who for me to realise it's the same DAMN ACTOR!! LIEK, I KNEW I NO GOOD AT RECOGNIZING ACTORS BETWEEN ROLES IF I HAVEN'T SEEN MULTIPLE THINGS THEY'VE BEEN ON AND REMEMBERED THEM AS THE CHARACTER THEY'VE PLAYED TO THEN MAYBE UPGRADE ONTO KNOWING THEIR NAMES LIKE CHRIS EVANS AND HUGH JACKMAN BUT COME ON! My brother was laughing at me for that. How do people just, recognize others without the set context they were in at the time?

Anyhow. Back to this BRILLIANT BOOK!!!

Crowley is like, so me coded.

Wasn't feeling Crawly, changed it to Crowley. Only man-shaped, not man.

I too, wasn't feeling my og name and changed it slightly while it's still based on the first one, and am only human-shaped.

There's too much going on in my brain and I forget my vessel is a human being at some points, purely because I don't see the vessel as who I am.

Anywho,

I have in fact just noted 'Transphobe' next to the bit where Crowley is handed the Antichrist and has to sign a damn thing like it's a post package and told "Not [Name you literally chose for yourself, A. J. Crowley], your real name." mostly for myself because I'm funny like that, and bc it's my book copy, not because I don't understand the significance of "true names" or whatever. Sigil names, now those are cool. I'd make me one if I didn't feel like it'd be more intricately connected to me and in turn more vulnerable.

This book. This book I swear-

I've had such a hard time reading printed books after so long reading only fanfics online and this? This is perfect. It reads like the most fun fanfic I've ever read.

Like that one dp x DC fic where Danny wanted a grimace shake and it was spilt on the road or sth even if he said it was mediocre.

The brilliance of Crowley's sinventions (hehe) are so good.

I have doodled 👀 over Hastur saying he tempted a priest. Because I somehow didn't expect it.

This is comedy to me. I adore it.

The footnotes too. The one about the added verses where God asks Aziraphale where his sword is 😭 and that literally everyone recognized his handwriting as the one who added them in 😭😭😭😭

This is gold, man. Exactly what I needed to get back into physical reading. My eyes could for sure use a break from my phone.

Also, the little tongue my book has as a built in bookmark? Bring that back. Bring books with that feature back. I love this thing so much. Even my school books had it when I was younger, WHERE IS IT NOW?? HAVING MY OWN BOOKMARK IS ALL FINE AND DANDY BUT THIS IS ELEGANT, AND PRETTY, AND PRACTICAL, COME ON!

End rant uwu <3 I must sleep