#isn't that that one ms paint guy

[icewindandboringhorror]

Recent game related things .. hrmm...

[erosoftitan]

[[oh no I'm addicted to AI it's like the easiest Photoshopping tool of all time, look at my FC made into my blorbo]]

[sanguineterrain]

about a boy - e.m.

Summary: You've never had a boy in your bed. You're not sure what you're meant to do with one.

Pairing: Eddie Munson x gn!reader

Word count: 1.3k

Warnings/tags: none i don't think? mainly fluff and an overthinking reader (they're so me)

divider by firefly-graphics

There's a boy in your bed.

"M&M?"

You turn your head. Eddie holds the bag of candies to you.

"Okay," you say, and take a blue M&M.

Eddie smiles, about fifteen M&Ms in his own mouth. His attention returns to the screen. You have no idea what's playing.

A boy is in your bed, and he's put a movie on, and now his thigh is pressed against yours, lean and warm.

Eddie's socks are green and have tiny yellow stars on them. He's pulled them over his jean cuffs to keep the cold away. Not that it matters when he has a sleeveless Metallica shirt on.

But Eddie doesn't seem to get cold, anyway. You went for ice cream last week even though it had snowed the night before.

Eddie had paid for your ice cream, which isn't something to look too into. Steve's paid for your ice cream before, because Steve's a nice guy. And Eddie's a nice guy too. So maybe nice people pay for ice cream. And that's all.

Your eyes trace the dip of Eddie's belly, the slice of skin that peeks out between his waistband and shirt hem. His exposed arm and neck is sprinkled with freckles and you can see the edge of the demon tattoo on his breastbone.

Your heart races. That's wrong, isn't it? Looking at Eddie like that? Hoping he'll give you more?

You don't know. You've never had a boy in your bed. There's no guidebook.

Eddie laughs at the screen. You relish in his swelled cheeks and glimpse of fanged canines. You love Eddie's smile; bright and all-encompassing. You can't help but be pulled into his orbit every time you're around him.

You ought to give Robin something for introducing the two of you. A fruit basket, or maybe Vickie Summers in a gift box.

Need curls deep in your chest as you watch Eddie sink further into your pillows. You wonder if he can feel your eyes on him. That would be embarrassing. But maybe he'd be flattered that you're looking at him; that you can't help but.

He's touchy. Affectionate. You're really not, but Eddie takes it in stride. He gives you little half-hugs instead of his usual squeeze-the-soul-out-of-you ones. He bumps your shoulder or simply walks beside you, respecting your space.

And funnily enough, through all that, you've begun to wish Eddie would touch you more.

"'M gonna get more popcorn," he says. "Y'want something else?"

You turn your head in a vain attempt to make it seem like you haven't been mooning over him like a lovesick calf.

"No, no, um, thanks. Thanks."

You cringe at your clumsy mouth. Eddie's oblivious, hopping off the bed and disappearing into the hall.

Are you even allowed to want more? You and Eddie are friends. Maybe even Good Friends, especially after the 'murderous monster tries to swallow Hawkins' crisis died down.

But you don't hang out like this. Where Eddie can see all the Polaroid pictures of trees you thought were good reasons to love the earth and of your mom and of the deer you saw once, and your sky blue wallpaper with clouds painted on it. You wonder if he thinks you're childish or silly.

Why does he even spend time with you? Are you the only one free? Was today a non-Hellfire day and that's why Eddie had agreed to come over? Nothing better to do?

You haven't the slightest idea what's happening in the movie. You should pay attention because Eddie might want to talk about it afterwards, and he'll be cross if you don't know what he's talking about.

Except, that doesn't really seem like Eddie. Still. You've never had a boy in your bed. You don't know if they expect you to pay attention to the movies they play.

You chew on a cuticle. Eddie returns in a couple minutes, climbing onto the bed with his knees. He offers you the bowl of popcorn. You shake your head.

"Everything okay, sweet thing?" he asks.

Oh, don't you just melt over that. You feel like the yellow M&M between Eddie's fingers.

"Yeah, f-fine."

You stare at the foot of space between you. Once, you'd dared to lean on the shoulder of a boy you didn't like that much. Your head hadn't stayed long on his shoulder, and afterwards, you wished you'd been struck by lightning.

What if this is like that? What if Eddie sneers at you and shuffles away. God, you can't handle that. You like this boy in your bed so much, it frightens you.

"This guy, the one in the raincoat." Eddie points. "He's one of my favorite actors. I like the way he talks. You ever get that? Liking the way someone talks?"

You look at him. Eddie looks at you. He's trying to pull you out of your head. He thinks something's worrying you. You're so anxious all the time. And Eddie knows that, so he tries to ground you. You withdraw and Eddie will call out to you and ask you questions. He always sounds lovely. Sometimes, you try to gather the courage to ask him something back. But the words remain lodged in your throat.

"Yeah, I get that." Be brave, be brave. "I like the way you talk."

You wait for lightning to strike.

"Really?" Eddie asks, sounding genuinely curious.

"Uh-huh. You have a nice voice."

Nothing. Not even a rumble of thunder.

"Sweet thing, you're gonna give me a big head," Eddie says with a grin.

He's not teasing you. Once upon a time, you might've thought he was, because it seemed like that's all people were capable of. But Eddie's not. He thinks they're nice, the words you say. You want to say more nice words. You want to keep this boy in your bed.

You also want to close this distance. Be a permanent planet in Eddie's orbit. Be brave.

You stare at that tiny foot of space between you again. You're probably being too quiet and still, and Eddie's probably worried you're stuck in your head again.

So before he can coax you out again, (because he cares about you. He cares about you, and you're just going to have to get used to that, alright?) you scoot an inch.

And another inch. And another.

You move at a glacial pace. You don't think Eddie's picked up on your little scheme. How fiendish you are, attempting to cuddle with the boy in your bed. Wicked!

Now, you're so close you can feel Eddie's body heat. His shirt looks soft and worn. You wonder what he smells like.

You move closer. Now, your chest is touching Eddie's side. He looks at you.

His eyes are dark like the blackest parts of space. If you do this and fail, those eyes might just swallow you up.

You listen for thunder, but the skies are clear.

"What's goin' on, pretty?" he murmurs.

"Do you like me?" you blurt, helpless in his pull.

Eddie's brows lift. He blinks, cocks his head.

"'Course I do, sweet thing."

"No, like." You squeeze your eyes shut for a moment, then open them. "You like me enough for a movie, but do you like me enough to let me put my head on your shoulder?"

"Is that all?" he asks, eyes dancing. There's stars in them. "I like you so much, I want your head on my shoulder forever."

Cinnamon. Eddie smells like cinnamon.

You no longer wish to be struck by lightning.

"Oh," you breathe.

Eddie hums and gently taps your head with one finger.

"That what you've been thinking so hard about?" he asks.

"I've never had a boy in my bed," you say.

"'M honored to be the first."

You nod, jittery with hope. "I'm glad it's you."

And then Eddie eases you into his side. It's perfect. It feels like you're young and don't know any better. It feels like you'll never find anything else like it.

Eddie bows his head. His curls tickle your cheeks and shroud you from the rest of the world.

"And will you kiss me too?" you ask.

"As much as you want, pretty."

You think you can get used to having a boy in your bed.

[madamegoodparty]

This season is about depression. But WHY is The Big Guy depressed?

Let's take a look at the clues Mr. Brennan "Anti-Capitalist" Mulligan has laid out for us 🔍

The Big Guy aka Elias Hodge, works for a "retro-futurist conglomerate" as a "mento-technological" researcher

There's a Prohibition on oxytocin, dopamine, and serotonin -- citizens are only allowed cortisol & adrenaline (hormones that're released when someone is under a lot of stress)

This Prohibition will (allegedly) be lifted once Elias receives recognition from his bosses

All Elias's pleasures and non-work related urges have been driven underground to the red light district -- so he's not allowing himself to focus on anything that isn't work

The Fix is basically a hitman working for the District Attorney, Mark Bition (Ambition) to eliminate any urge that has the potential to distract Elias from his work

More on the above point: District Attorneys are prosecuters, ie, are the ones responsible for punishing those who go against the state. So this further emphasizes that Elias is very strictly policing himself in order to succeed at work

Conrad Schintz (Conscience) is a tiny kid who has trouble making himself heard and doesn't have a lot of power

Speaking of kids -- all of Elias's childhood interests have also been driven underground, this time being kept under the care of Ms. Loathing. This, plus the line about "not deserving pleasure", hints that Elias is potentially struggling with self-loathing as well (also Loathing's line about "focusing on me is not going to do anything but make me stronger")

CONCLUSION:

All this paints a picture of someone who is driven by logic and ambition, to the detriment of his emotional well-being. Elias seems to feel that his only value comes from what he is able to produce for his superiors, and this causes him to suppress any part of himself that doesn't make him a more productive worker. This has led to him becoming extremely isolated and lonely as a result

We can also guess that the work Elias is doing doesn't align with his values, and that he needs to keep his conscience as quiet as possible in order to do it. Even worse, we now see that he's thinking about killing his conscience outright

This season is about the psychological toll being a cog in the machine takes on a person, and I cannot WAIT to see where we go next

[thankskenpenders]

Help me out here: Why is there so much Ian Flynn hate going around lately? I thought everyone loved that he was contributing to the games. Now suddenly they aren't. I guess that's par for the course for this series but I don't get it. He isn't perfect but I like what he's done. Am I a weirdo?

Ian Flynn has always had a lot of fans, but any creator putting their work out there is going to have detractors as well. That's just the nature of being an artist. To some extent, it's no big deal. He's not a perfect writer. Nobody is! I consider myself a fan of his work, but I've criticized plenty of individual writing decisions from him on here.

But Ian doesn't just have critics. He has his own obsessive hatedom. And the specific nature of Ian's hatedom is... interesting.

A decade ago, Ian was only the guy writing for Archie Sonic, meaning any debates over his work were quarantined within that tiny niche of the larger Sonic fandom. Only people who kept up with the comics month to month had any real reason to have an opinion on the guy, which means we're talking about merely thousands of fans as opposed to millions.

Within that group, he had some haters. You had the people who were mad about story changes made during his run, particularly things like ancillary characters getting killed off (although over the years we've learned that most of those were editorial mandates from Mike Pellerito). You had the people mad that Ian didn't push their favorite ship, with feuding SonAmy and Sonally fans claiming that he was CLEARLY biased towards one or the other. You had the people who just really, really liked one of the previous writers way more - usually Penders, as hard as that may be to believe today. That sort of thing. Pretty normal comic fandom type stuff. Again, it comes with the territory.

Unfortunately, many of those haters only got worse over time, morphing into reactionaries who constantly try to incite Comicsgate type culture war bullshit.

There are people still mad at Ian for making Sally bi and pairing her with Nicole instead of Sonic in the later Archie comics. There have been elaborate MS Paint red string conspiracy boards explaining how people like Ian and Jon Gray have apparently been destroying the franchise from the inside for years by Making Sonic Woke. (Jon gets dragged into this because people are still mad about him drawing The Slap 20 years later. Yes, really!!) There was an unhinged change.org petition trying to get Ian fired, specifically from people who were mad that the Freedom Fighters aren't in the IDW comics. There was even a very sad little fan campaign from these people trying to get Sega to move the Sonic comic license away from IDW and over to Udon, because they thought Udon would bring Sally and Bunnie back and also make them sexy again. There's a lot of this.

(Unfortunately, Penders has also exacerbated this by gossiping about Ian on Twitter and giving these fans ammo, but that's a whole 'nother discussion.)

The thing is, for years, people who only played the games or watched the cartoons had no reason to pay attention to any of this. Now, though, Ian isn't just writing for some weird spinoff comics that only the super nerds read. Now he's writing comics that are canon to the games, and ALSO some of the games themselves, and ALSO consulting on other tie-in media like Sonic Prime, and ALSO writing the official Sonic encyclopedia, and ALSO serving as part of the new Sonic Lore Team at Sega. And on top of all this, he's got an increasingly popular podcast where he fields questions about his work on all of these things, which serves as one of the fandom's main windows into creative decisions being made behind the scenes.

As a fan of Ian's work, it's been really cool to see him rise in prominence. But the dark side of this is that his obsessive haters from the Archie days now have WAY more of a potential audience of their own. Now, every Sonic fan has to have an opinion on Ian. What this frequently means is that you'll have the Comicsgate types taking things Ian writes or says out of context, attempting to get more of the general fandom to yell at the guy.

Unfortunately, there are a wide variety of Sonic fans who take the bait:

You've got hardcore fans who disliked basically any recent piece of Sonic media and are looking for someone to blame.

You've got the people who are concerned about the sanctity of Sonic's canon, who shoot the messenger any time Ian mentions a new retcon from Sonic Team on the podcast - or any time he even mentions the THOUGHT of changing anything about the canon, as we saw recently with the Sol Dimension nonsense.

You've got people who romanticize some sort of mythical artistic vision that Sega of Japan supposedly has (or had) for the franchise. To many of these fans, American contributors like Ian just don't "get" the heart of the series and are trying to turn Sonic into something different. (This "heart of the series" tends to be some mix of Japanese instruction manual lore, the cinematics from Sonic CD, the OVA, and/or the games written by Shiro Maekawa, depending on what Sonic media the fan in question grew up with.)

You've got fans of specific characters or ships who pin the blame for how their faves are depicted entirely on Ian - most vocally fans of Shadow, even though the root problem is that Sonic Team hasn't known what to do with Shadow since 2006. At best this stops at regular old criticism, but at its worst this devolves into claims that Ian has an agenda against certain characters.

You've got fans annoyed by a perceived over-emphasis on comic-original characters in the IDW comics, ignoring the obvious facts that these characters exist because the game cast is so tightly controlled by Sega, and also, you know, that people just like the IDW characters and want more stories about them.

You've got a LOT of discourse over IDW's Sonic being a hero who tries to give his enemies second chances, as if half of Sonic's closest friends aren't already former villains and rivals. Honestly this is very transparently just reheated Steven Universe discourse lmao

You'll also see people who just think they could do Ian's job better. They can't believe that THIS GUY is the American fan working on all these Sonic projects, when clearly THEY understand the characters and lore and themes SO much better than this charlatan.

All it takes is for someone in one of these categories to be unhappy about some recent piece of Sonic media, and for them to come across an out of context quote or comic panel that rubs them the wrong way, and suddenly the leftist Zoomer Sonic fans will join the latest dogpile on Ian alongside the reactionary Comicsgate types who are mad at him for Making Sonic Woke.

In general, when fandoms get upset, they tend to want a scapegoat. A person or two to point a finger at and go "THAT's who ruined the thing I love!" This tends to be based less on reality and more on which contributors are the most visible online. You'll sometimes see teenage and adult fans of children's cartoons single out a storyboarder who's particularly vocal on Twitter, blame them for every story decision they don't like, and harass them off the platform out of a sense of retribution for their favorite ship or whatever. Failing that, fans might choose to blame every nitpick, down to individual lines of dialogue and frames of animation, on a showrunner, just because that's the name they associate with the show. And unfortunately, when it comes to Sonic, Ian is now arguably the most prolific and outspoken contributor on the English speaking internet, and therefore a common scapegoat.

Some of the things I've seen Ian blamed for are truly wild. A lot of people have claimed for YEARS that he's just lying about the existence of creative guidelines and restrictions from Sega - or, as fans call them, The Mandates - even though they're just an inherent aspect of working on a licensed property. Others claim that The Mandates are real, but somehow Ian's fault. A vocal minority of fans have convinced themselves that Ian is the sole reason the Freedom Fighters don't exist in the IDW comics, even though Ian says he's been pushing to bring them back since day one.

Sometimes you'll see people say he ruined shit he didn't even work on. A few weeks ago on Twitter I saw someone claim that Ian had written a rejected script for Sonic Forces in which Tails died. I could not find a source for this for the life of me. As far as I can tell, the rumor seems to have been born from an alleged leaked script for Forces with margin notes from Aaron Webber that criticized the way Tails was written, and also an old tweet where Aaron joked that Tails would die in an upcoming episode of Sonic Mania Adventures. These merged into "Aaron Webber criticized a draft of the Forces script in which Tails died." How'd Ian get dragged into this? Who fucking knows!

It's all just a big game of telephone. All it takes is some asshole to make something up about Ian on Twitter or YouTube or a DeviantArt journal or some forum, and at least a couple people will believe it, and then it gets repeated as fact. Again, this used to be contained by the niche nature of the Archie Sonic fandom, but now there are WAY more people who are receptive to this shit.

It's just sad to me that Ian tries to be so open and honest about his work, to try to explain the rationale for certain things, to keep fans looped in on the direction the franchise is headed, and this just gives the Flynnspiracy types more quotes to take out of context and try to paint him as the devil. If it sounds like I'm being overly defensive and dismissing his critics, man... some of the things I've seen people say directly to him are just unbelievable. People will send paragraphs-long angry screeds in to his podcast that completely tear him apart, and he has to sit there and be like "Well, that's your opinion, and you're entitled to it." People literally pay for special guest interview episodes where they just rapid fire complaints about his writing at him directly to his face. I don't know how he does it. I would snap.

All of this over Sonic the fucking Hedgehog of all things.

I don't know how to wrap this up. Engaging with fandoms online is very tiring, which is why I tend not to do it. Things like this are too common. I guess, just... remember that making art collaboratively is a complicated thing. The people involved are generally trying their best given the circumstances, but they're only human. They make mistakes. But please treat them like humans. Criticism and dogpiling are not the same thing.

[prettyboypistol]

Tf2 Random Headcanons

Heavy can outpace Scout in a soda chugging competition, this has become a near weekly activity (Heavy refuses to let Scout win)

Sniper is cracked at card shuffling tricks and usually keeps a deck on him to fidget with.

Spy was also hired as a translator to help keep everyone on track, since he speaks French, German, Russian, English, and Greek.

Medic loves sweets- specifically vanilla soft serve ice cream.

Demoman always wanted a little brother, and finds that sort of bond with Scout and Pyro.

Well, everyone views Scout as a little brother figure. He's got that snot nosed brat energy about him that makes all the older men see him as a brother.

Engineer is so fond of Pyro because he can't have kids of his own.

Ms. Pauling likes hanging out with Scout and finds his advances lowkey kind of charming, even if she isn't interested. She gets golden retriever energy from him.

Sniper has the widest music taste, ranging from jazz to rock to reggae, he's probably got a record of most genres!

Pyro suffers from psychosis and schizophrenia, Engineer is the only one who really gave Pyro the time of day to find out this information.

Medic has thought about giving Spy breasts "for espionage purposes". Spy has not outwardly gawked in displeasure.

Sniper is actually really good at pinball. The machine always has his highscore at the top. When he is beaten, he is back on top within the week.

Pyro constantly feels cold.

Soldier knows he's not the smartest guy around and he is- or at least was- fully aware that he smuggled himself into WW2. He has a lot of imposter syndrome and paranoia that people will find out.

Spy always wanted tattoos, but because he needs to be unidentifiable, he made a habit out of painting on his arms. (His favorite pattern is roses and thorns wrapping around medieval daggers)

Engineer can pace Demoman in bar drinking, but can't constantly daydrink like Demo.

[xavslilslut]

His little girl. || Xavier thorpe x reader

Warnings , size kink, P in V, unprotected sex, cussing, readers a vampire .

𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲: reader and Xavier are dating, but reader has a kink her boyfriend isn't aware of..

You where Xavier thorpes girlfriend, also a vampire. You where known at nevermore because you where a special type of a vampire, not like the normal ones. Your venom, is poisonous and like a drug, you can control if you poison someone with your bite, thats what makes you special. Also the fact that you age like a human but you can never die, unless someone stabs you with a stake to your heart.

On your first day of nevermore when your dormmate, enid, was showing you around your eyes couldn't help but wonder on a certain someone, a tall, skinny, pale boy with long hair was on a latter painting, as you where looking at him he looked back and you quickly looked away. Later that day when you walked into Ms. Thornhills class, you saw him again smiling at you, you sat next to him and you guys became friends. Well, best friends, then you two started dating. He was head over heels in love for you, you felt the same, there where so many things about him that made your heart flutter, but one thing stood out, your height difference.

Your boyfriend was 6'2, you where 5'0. So that means that he's a whole foot and 2 inches taller than you, something about the way he looks down at you, the way he has to bend over to kiss you or to hear you or to tell you something, the way he's so much bigger and stronger than you, the way his hands are way bigger than yours, just everything makes you so crazy, absolutely crazy. And he feels the same way, he loves how much smaller you are compared to him.

You love the way his hands can cover your boobs when he grabs them, just like what hes doing right now as he's pounding into you, fast and hard, while your a moaning mess under him, legs shaking and your hands hold his arms. "mmmm, fuck xavi, m'fuck me so good!" You say, completely cock drunk. Xavier just looks down at you and gives you smile at how much he's fucked you dumb, "I know baby I know." He coos, you whine and bit your lip as you take one of your small hands of his arm and slide it down towards his chest, then to his slightly seen abs, you run your tiny fingers over his abs then bring them back to where they originally were on his arm.

You clench around him thinking about how small you are compared to him again, he let's out a low groan and a small 'fuck' as he feels you clench your already tight pussy around his cock. "mmm fuck xavi, pl-please use me, de-s-story me plea- fuck!" You try to say while he continues ramming into you, not stopping. He seems shocked by your words because you've never said anything like that, but just thinking about how you are so small compared just makes you go crazy, so crazy.

He doesn't question it though and instead just keeps fucking you at a inhumane paste, to the point where your literally screaming. All that can be heard from his dorm is skin clapping, moans, and low groans. You start to feel your release coming quickly as he brings one of his big hands down to start rubbing circles on your red swollen clit, making your stutter and your mouth to make an 'O' shape while letting out a long loud moan. "mmhhhh, fu-fuck xavi m'gonna cum!!"you moan stuttering due to the overwhelming amount of pleasure.

"fuck, cum all over this dick baby" you hear Xavier say in a low raspy voice, his thrusts start getting sloppier and he starts moaning a lot more, with hearing his words you start to cum all over his cock, letting out loud pornographic moans, clenching around him. He reaches his release not to far after you, slowing pulling out and laying down next to you and pulling you into his chest to cuddle.

"What was that about you wanting me to use to you?" Xavier says while giving your head a kiss. "mm nothing." You say drifting off into your sleep already knowing he knew what you meant by that.

[yumeka-sxf]

Spy x Family Exhibition Pamphlet

I got my copy of the Spy x Family exhibition pamphlet! I wanted to make HD scans of some of the notable pages and try to translate if I can.

First off is this great "Main Character Correlation Chart" (sorry for my amateur editing, all I have is MS Paint!)

I love how Bond has a different "bofu" (woof) for Loid and Yor!

Several of the pages show the creation process of the manga, starting with rough sketches to final drafts, using chapter 1 as an example. There were a lot of pages for this, so I just scanned the ones that showed the end of the chapter.

Probably the most interesting pages of the pamphlet are the early character designs/concept sketches. Most of these have already been shared by @sy-on-boy on her post here, but I thought it'd be cool to have them in HD! Unfortunately, even with higher quality images it's very difficult to decipher Endo's handwriting. I could make out just a few words here and there, and Google Lens is very unreliable when the writing isn't clear.

The first page has early concepts for the Forger family, Loid, Anya, the WISE logo, and the Eden uniform.

Things to note are that "Oscar" was a working name for Loid, as was "Yolanda" for Yor. What's also interesting is that a beta version of Franky is shown along with the Forgers. Unfortunately I can't make out the notes about him, but I think this has significance because of a sketch on the next page...

Most of the next page shows concept designs for Yor, with a section for Bond and Yor's coworkers on the bottom.

However, what's really intriguing is the sketch in the upper right of the whole family, titled 疑似家族 (pseudo family).

Once again, a Franky-looking character is with them, and he has the title "Uncle" (叔父) Was an uncle originally going to be part of the main Forgers? Was he actually related to Loid or Yor, or if that character did eventually become Franky, maybe he would just pretend to be Loid's brother? I can also make out the word "otaku" (オタク) in the notes for this character as well as "enjoying life" (人生を楽しんでる) Also in the notes for beta Yor it looks like 最強 (the best/strongest) and バカ (idiot/dummy) All I can make out for Loid's notes are 孤独 (loneliness) I think? And what's up with the older and more sinister looking Anya? She really looks like Ashe there. But these are all just early concept designs/notes so I wouldn't take them too seriously.

The next page titled "East and West During the Cold War" has concept designs for Franky, Yuri, Fiona (referred to as a female WISE spy), a male WISE spy, Melinda, and various assassins from the cruise arc.

The first interesting thing to point out is the notes next to the very crudely drawn woman at the bottom of Yuri's concept designs. It says "Yuri's girlfriend?"(ユーリの 彼女?) though I can't make out clearly what the rest of it says. For the Franky designs, I could make out "tsukkomi or boke". So it looks like at some point Endo was deciding whether to make him more of a tsukkomi (straight man) or boke (wise guy) personality. There's also mention of giving him a high IQ (IQ高い). Also, the fact that the sketches include Melinda and the cruise arc assassins gives the impression that Endo had ideas for these story elements very early on.

But the character relationship chart in the lower left is really intriguing.

I'm not sure how accurate these translations are so take them with a grain of salt, but they do make sense to me. But I have to wonder why Anya and Becky are connected to Desmond. For Becky, it could be because her family has ties to the Desmonds, but why Anya? Could the "mysterious institute/lab" she comes from have ties to Desmond too? Again, these could just be early concepts from ideas that Endo is no longer using, so best not to take them literally. Also, the lack of Shopkeeper/Garden in the character relationship charts, the concept art, and the exhibition overall, really does portray them as a "mysterious organization" that Endo perhaps didn't plan out until later in the series' development and is still trying to figure out. But as far as this sketch, I have to say that despite how terribly crudely drawn all their little heads are, it's easy to identify every character...proof of Endo's top notch character design skills!

Another sketch that stands out is on the same page...

It's a very rough drawing of what appears to be either Loid holding Yor or Yor holding Loid with Anya next to them. But honestly it's such a rough drawing it could be any other parents+child. All I can make out of the text directly above is "My wife is stressed!? At this rate..." And the drawing next to it also appears to be two parents and maybe two children? I also have no clue what the "WJ4C 9/20, etc" at the top means. Very mysterious sketch, lol.

The next page has Eden related concepts, including Becky, Damian, George, and various teachers. The drawings in the bottom section appear to be an alternate/abbreviated version of how the Forgers met.

Pretty funny that an image of Franky is covering what's supposed to be a sketch of Demetrius. The text from Franky says "I can't show you this information yet" which is pretty solid proof that Demetrius will make an appearance in the series eventually. There's also nicknames for Damian and Demetrius in the notes - "Dami" and "Demi."

Some notes on the Eden page says there's 2,000 students in the school, with 13 grades divided into 8 classes/houses. The chart on the left is a list of teacher names and their classes, all of which are given names of colors. None of the teacher names have been used so far in the series.

And all that's on the last page of sketches is a continuation of the previous page with the early concept of how the Forgers started (it honestly looks pretty cute, wish it wasn't just rough sketches). And the following section looks like drafts Endo did for promotional material.

The final pages of the pamphlet are the new extra mission chapter which I already fully translated here.

And that's all I'm going to share for now from the pamphlet! I could spend more time trying to decipher the concept art notes but it was giving me a headache after a while, lol. But if anyone wants to try translating them, go ahead (I have higher quality png files of all the scans if needed...they were too big for Tumblr). And again, these sketches are just trial and error pre-serialization ideas that don't necessarily reflect Endo's final vision for the series, so I wouldn't dwell on them much other than for fun theorizing.

The pamphlet does have other interesting information, including an interview with Endo, a timeline of his work on Spy x Family and other manga, and his notes about random things from the series. So I might return to translating the pamphlet at a later date when I have time/motivation.

[solid-white]

Canon vs Fanon [TF2 edition]

Okay so I finally got to reading the tf2 comics after being gone for 7 years and never having read the comics, so here's a comparison between Fanon and Canon:

Fanon: The mercs all care for each other and are like a family (but who doesn't love some found family?)

Canon: They could give two shits about if they die or not. The only ones that actually "care" for the team is arguably Ms. Pauling and/or Scout. Even then they have their separate reasons for why they're sticking around around. They refer to and think of each other as coworkers. Though they're friendly with each other and do think of each other as work friends (helping each other out, making jokes with one another)

Fanon Demoman: a drunkard who's excessively flashy and eccentric. Ruins a lot of stuff by being drunk and shares the same braincells as canon Soldier.

Canon Demoman: A pretty chill guy when he isn't in battle. He's also pretty serious when it involves matters he needs to be serious about (ex. Having to go undercover in the lead paint town). Overall? 8/10 character. Currently my favourite besides Pyro.

Fanon Pyro: (will refer to Pyro as him) Sometimes his childish trait overlaps with his violent nature, the opposite spectrum happening as well. He's also sometimes depicted as being unaware that he's killer. Loves the team and sees all of them as family. Non-intellegent.

Canon Pyro: He's very much aware that he's a freak of nature. He's a gentle mix of childish and pyromaniac. Is actually pretty intelligent, having gotten a company rich in a matter of 6 months. Won't hurt people just cuz, only does so when it's a job or they dislike fires, and when he does, makes sure the person suffers because it's fun. Extremely chaotic. Barely interacts with the team (besides Engie) outside of jobs.

Fanon Scout: Childish, yaps, reckless, dies a lot because he's the runt, narcissistic, and doesn't know how to do anything (idiotic). "Erpy derp, me twink scout. Will not hurt you because bad." (Depicted as non violent). Comic relief. Doesn't get along with any of the mercs due to his childish nature, particularly Sniper and Heavy.

Canon Scout: Likes to yap a lot, has a brash attitude, and is self-centered/egotistical. He's also in deep denial that Spy is his father. He isn't book smart, but he's smart enough to know how to play his cards right (persuasive when it comes to things he wants). Knows how to drive. "And brother, I hurt people!" (Enjoys hurting others). Pretty close to Sniper (Hangs out with him outside of work/buddy-buddy with him. Ex. The fist bump, Sniper jokingly smiling at Scouts joke during expiration date, etc) he's arguably the only one who's truly buddy-buddy with the entire team.

Fanon Heavy: Big beefy guy who doesn't have a single brain (that assumption has corrected itself over time). He's also obsessed with sandviches, will pummel Scout if they're even in the same vicinity, and gay for Medic and will go out of his way to be close to Medic.

Canon Heavy: Intelligent (Russian literature PHD), doesn't speak much unless spoken to, serious and has a 24/7 stone wall expression. Only gets annoyed with Scout because of his constant speaking, willing to die for Medic and sees him as a close friend (now I understand where all the ship art came from). And loves sandviches.

This is getting long and I'm tired. Will continue analysis soon.

[anonymous-dentist]

Playing fast and loose with the rules here, but: an Ordem Paranormal AU (kind of.)

-

So, okay, here's the thing: Roier really doesn't believe in ghosts anymore. Ghosts aren't real, demons certainly aren't real, none of it is!

What is real is Instagram, and so that's what he does best: Instagram.

But the thing is- the thing is! Roier doesn't believe in ghosts, but he's pretty sure his bosses do, because all he does at work is photoshop cheap-looking graphics together and post 'Paranormal Safety Tips'.

"Some people may not realize that they're getting involved with the supernatural," Mr. Veríssimo says, "It's important to make sure that they're at least somewhat protected."

Which is fine and all, but also. Ghosts aren't real. Neither are demons- demons especially aren't real.

But Roier does his job, and he does it quite happily. It's decent pay, especially considering he's been in Brazil for just under a month now and this was the only place to actually respond to his job application. He gets to work from home. He gets one free coffee at a local cafe once a month.

That's right. Roier is the first ever social media manager for the Ordo Realitas, and he's doing a great job at it.

...But also. Ghosts aren't real. Neither are demons. Hell isn't real, and neither is the Devil. Blood is blood, and it doesn't breathe.

(Usually.)

-

Roier's neighbors like to argue all day and throw things and cause immense destruction towards themselves and their property, so Roier usually ends up spending at least one afternoon a week at the nearest library doing his job and watching YouTube videos.

He likes the library. It's quiet-ish, and it's across the street from this really good restaurant that makes Mexican food that almost tastes like the genuine article.

He especially likes the librarian: the one with the scars and the freaky vibes. He doesn't blink a lot, and Roier isn't sure he's ever seen this guy breathe, but that's fine. He always saves a table near an outlet for Roier and his laptop, and he doesn't question the absolutely freakish shit Roier has to make for his company's Instagram page.

Like today's 'Paranormal Safety Tip': 'If you find yourself face-to-face with a restless spirit, it's important to remain calm. Loud noises startle spirits, so stay quiet and back away slowly. Chances are, you'll get out of the situation unharmed. Once in a safe location, call the Ordo Realitas, and we'll send an agent out to handle the spirit for you!'

The text is the second photo out of two on the post. The first photo is going to be a MS-Paint sketch of a pissed-looking cartoon ghost holding a shotgun and shouting, in a white speech bubble, "I'm going to shoot you!!! >:("

Roier doesn't have a mouse, so he draws using his trackpad, and the librarian watches from over Roier's shoulder and only laughs a little.

"Shut up," Roier huffs. "It's art!"

"It is," the librarian agrees. "But that isn't what ghosts look like."

Roier turns around to glare at him. "What, and you know?"

The librarian nods.

Roier turns back around. Everybody's a critic...

"Don't you have a job to be doing?" he taunts.

"Normally, yeah, but nobody else is here," the librarian responds. "It's just us."

He pulls out the chair opposite Roier and sits, arms crossed across his chest. This close together, Roier notices that some of the scars on the librarian's arms almost seem to make patterns: triangles, spirals... words? Huh.

Whatever, that isn't any of Roier's business. So what if his favorite librarian is a shady guy? So is Roier! He can't judge.

But, looking up from his laptop (and from the librarian's very nice arms), Roier notices that there really isn't anybody else in the library. He hadn't even noticed how quiet it had gotten, he was so caught up in his masterpiece drawing. All of the usual patrons- the old man reading the newspaper, the mother and her children in the corner, the students arguing over their latest project- are all missing. So are all of the other librarians.

"Huh," Roier smartly says.

He looks back at his laptop, and then he starts scrolling down through the Instagram page. He's sure that he's written something up about sudden disappearances...

"I was honestly surprised to find you over here," the librarian continues. "I figured you would have gone where everybody else did."

Roier shakes his head. "Nah, I'm here. I've got shit to do, man. Important shit."

The librarian nods. "Instagram."

Roier looks up from his laptop and points a finger at the librarian.

"Work," he corrects, waggling his finger just a little. "I'm doing work."

"You're drawing shitty ghosts and posting them on Instagram."

"And I'm getting paid for it. I'll fucking take this over my old job."

"Really? What was your old job?"

Roier thinks back to Mexico and the weeks leading up to his wedding. Sitting outside of his soon-to-be husband's window at night with binoculars, following him around town, slashing his tires so he wouldn't leave to go to the bar when Roier had a game night planned between them.

"Surveillance," he quickly says. "Like, cameras and shit. It was boring, though. Lots of waiting."

"Sounds fun, honestly." The librarian shrugs; his leg bounces under the table hard enough to shake it, nervous. "I could handle that."

"What, is librarian-ing that boring?"

"No, but it's a lot more socializing than you'd think. It can be a bit... much sometimes."

Roier nods sympathetically. He's more of an introvert than a lot of people think he is, especially now after... after everything.

He frowns as he reaches the bottom of the Instagram. Nope, nothing about weird group disappearances.

...It's probably fine?

Roier cranes his neck to try and look over the librarian's shoulder.

"Where is everybody?" he asks.

The librarian shrugs. "I was on my break. I came out of the break room, and everyone was gone."

He turns his head to try and follow Roier's gaze.

"Sometimes we do community events," he continues, "but I don't think that there was one scheduled for today."

"Huh," Roier says, a perfect echo of when he had last said it. "That's kinda weird, right?"

"...Yeah."

They both sit there in silence for a moment before the librarian awkwardly clears his throat and turns his head to the side.

"Should we... look for them?" he asks.

Every single post that Roier has done for the Ordo Realitas has ended with him telling the public to call the Ordo when they're experiencing something paranormal in nature. So... should he call them?

But also. He's the Ordo Realitas. He's the guy who goes through all of the dms the Ordo gets on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook... everywhere!

Besides! Ghosts aren't real! Neither are demons.

So Roier pushes back his chair and stands.

"Come on," he tells the librarian, hurriedly packing his laptop away in his bag and slinging his bag over his shoulder. "I bet they just went outside. We probably missed a fire alarm or something."

"We would've heard a fire alarm," the librarian huffs.

But he stands, anyway, and he joins Roier as he starts making his way through the library.

It isn't a huge library, is the thing. It's small. Its shelves are short enough for Roier to easily be able to see over the tops of them. There's only one main room, and then there's the break room that the librarian seems to believe is also completely empty. There is one set of main doors at the front of the main room, and then there are a few windows along the walls.

As Roier and the librarian pass through the shelves and make it into the open area in the middle of the room- where the circulation desk is, Roier notices a weird chill in the air that he swears wasn't there a minute ago.

"Huh," says the librarian, looking down at their feet, "maybe there was a fire, after all."

Roier looks down, too. His nose wrinkles. This, he remembers posting about.

A thin layer of smoke covers the floor, not quite enough to reach halfway up Roier's shoes. It's cold, of course it's cold. It isn't even smoke, really. It's freaky mist... stuff.

Roier's hand tightens around the strap of his bag: white knuckles and stinging palm. Not again...

The librarian swings a foot through the mist absently; the mist kicks up briefly, but it settles back down almost immediately.

What did that post say, again? God, Roier needs a rubber bracelet saying, 'WWMVD?': What Would Mr. Veríssimo do?

Roier has met Mr. Veríssimo only twice, and he had a gun in his hands both times.

Roier does not have a gun now.

...But, really, are guns even necessary? It's just mist, right?

Only just a little freaked out, Roier shuffles a step closer to the librarian.

"Maybe we should get out of here," the librarian says, reading Roier's goddamn mind. "I mean. If there is a fire, we definitely need to leave."

Roier nods in agreement. "Yes. Definitely."

Neither of them move.

Roier jumps and bumps into the librarian as a book falls from a shelf on the other side of the room.

The librarian grabs him by the arm and stabilizes him, not letting go.

They both look in the direction of the fallen book.

"Dude," says Roier, "I think your library is haunted."

"We're in Brazil," the librarian responds. "I think every building is haunted here."

Roier nods. Makes sense. Ghosts aren't real, but Brazil is probably haunted as shit. That's why the Ordo Realitas is based here and not in, like, Paraguay. Or something.

They stare at the book some more. The mist reaches towards it like a needy baby, but it doesn't quite make it.

"You're a librarian," Roier says, "you should go pick that up."

The librarian shakily sighs, "Yeah. I should, shouldn't I?"

He sucks in a breath, lets it out slowly. Straightens his shoulders. Marches towards the book, pulling Roier along with him; Roier doesn't fight too much. He doesn't want to be alone right now, either.

They get to the book.

The librarian looks down at it.

Slowly, he bends down. He picks the book up with one hand.

And then he immediately drops the book and skitters back a few steps, bumping into Roier's chest and almost knocking them both over.

Panicked-sounding, the librarian wheezes, "It's hot!"

"It's a book!" Roier argues. "It can't be hot!"

The librarian shakes his head rapidly. "It's hot. It's warm. Like you."

Through all the terror in Roier's heart, he manages a faint blush.

"Are you really calling me hot right now?" he asks.

The librarian looks back at him with a very unhappy expression: wide eyes, unblinking.

"The book was breathing," he wheezes. "Dude, we need to go."

Breathing books... that's new.

Oh, no. That's new. That means that Mr. Veríssimo doesn't know about it yet. That means that it isn't on the Instagram yet. That means that it's Roier's job as social media manager to get it on the Instagram.

Nose wrinkling in disgust, Roier shakes the librarian off of him and crouches down next to the book. He pulls out his phone with shaking hands, opens the camera app. Takes a picture of the book's cover- a children's book: Learn Shapes With Bippi.

"Oh my God, you really are an Instagram guy," the libarian flatly says.

Roier waves him off with a 'Shush!'.

He grabs the book's cover by the corner with his thumb and pointer finger, and it takes everything for him to keep holding it because hooooly shit, it's breathing. It's warm and it's breathing and Roier swears there's a heartbeat, he swears!

"This sucks," he declares. "One more picture, and we're out of here."

He flips the cover over, ready to take a picture of just the title page, but he doesn't even finish reading the title again before dropping his phone and screaming and falling back onto his ass and scrambling backwards like an upside-down spider because oh God what the fuckOh GodWhatTheFuck-

"What the fuck?" the librarian screeches. "Alan?"

The face inside of the book lets out a moaned, pained breath. It blinks slowly, the page it's on trembling with the exertion. Its eyes are open and blank and staring and red and staring at Roier and- and its mouth! It's open and gaping and black and entirely too deep-seeming for the front page of a children's book. No nose, but two nostrils right in the middle of the page opening and closing with every ragged breath the face takes in. No skin, just the faintest indentation of a human face's internal musculature. No bones, just muscles, just muscles-

"'Alan'?" Roier gasps. His back bumps against the librarian's legs; the librarian pulls him up by the back of his shirt and tries to push him behind him. Yeah, no, Roier is the professional here. He's... he's the professional!

The librarian shakily nods. "Children's librarian. He's new. He's-"

"He's a fucking book!" Roier shouts. "What the fuck? Is this normal?"

"What? No! Of course it isn't normal!"

"Well! I don't know Alan! This could be normal! Who knows?"

"I know!" the librarian exclaims. He's still looking at the book. "Why is he a book!"

"How should I know?"

"You're the ghost guy!"

"Ghosts aren't real!"

The face groans and gurgles. The book it's in shakes, and it shakes so hard that it starts to move.

It starts to move right towards Roier and the librarian.

Roier grabs the librarian by his sleeve and starts tugging him away. Fuck his phone, fuck his phone! Mr. Veríssimo can just get him a new one! It's only fair! What the fuck!

"Cell... bit..." the face rasps.

The librarian grimaces.

"What the fuck is a 'Cellbit'?" Roier asks.

"Me," the librarian responds.

"Nice," Roier comments. "Stop looking at it. Let's go!"

But the librarian- Cellbit- doesn't budge, even with all of Roier's pulling.

"But... it's Alan," Cellbit insists. "He's a book. Is-" (He looks around the library, turning more and more pale with every passing second.) "-is everybody a book now?"

"Um," says Roier, looking around with him.

Now that he's looking, he can see that every single book on every single shelf around them is quivering in the same way the Alan Book is. There's a faint droning buzz around them that Roier is starting to think is actually hundreds of thousands of moaning, groaning, dying book faces.

He's going to be sick.

"This wasn't on the Instagram," is all he says before grabbing Cellbit firmly by the wrist and pulling him with all his strength away from the shelves. This time, Cellbit goes along with him even after jerking his wrist out of Roier's hold.

"This doesn't make any sense!" Cellbit shouts as they run. "People don't just become books!"

"I know that!" Roier replies. "This is fucked up, man!"

Another book falls from a shelf and starts wiggling towards them. And then another, and another, and another, and Roier knows that each one has a face inside. Every single one was a person ten minutes ago, but now. Now they're faces. In books. Flesh books. With heartbeats. And lungs.

Roier jumps over a fallen book. He glances down as he does so and gasps as he watches the cover fly open by itself and as the face on the title page snaps upwards and tries biting him with teeth that weren't there two seconds ago.

"They have teeth?" he cries. "Ew!!"

"They're book faces!" Cellbit huffs. "Why wouldn't they have teeth?"

"Fuck this. Fuck this!"

They make it out into the open area and the circulation desk. But the entire library around them is shaking and moaning and screaming- oh, the screaming!

Hundreds of books litter the floor slowly inching their ways towards Roier and Cellbit. They're all screaming as they drag themselves across the rough carpet.

Oh, God. The kids. Every person in this library except for the two of them are books. Including the kids.

"Doors," Cellbit wheezes, nodding towards the library doors.

Roier nods. "Doors."

They look at each other briefly before nodding in sync and taking off for the doors. Books fall all around them, tumbling to the floor and crawling after them with garbled screams and moans of pain.

"I'm trying to think," Cellbit breathes.

"Well, don't! Just run!" Roier snaps.

Cellbit ignores him and continues: "I wasn't holding a book. You weren't holding a book. We're fine. Alan was re-shelving the kids' section. He's a book."

He dodges to the side as a book lunges at him from its shelf.

"Okay?" Roier asks. "And?"

"And I bet everybody else touched a book!"

"We touched books!"

"But these ones are- fuck!" Cellbit swears and kicks a book that was trying to bite him away. "They're trying to bite us!"

Something sparks in Roier's brain.

"Werebooks?" he demands. "Really?"

Cellbit throws his hands up in the air. "I don't know! It's just a theory!"

Roier rolls his eyes, but he doesn't argue. Werebooks, sure. Those can be real. (Not ghosts, though. Or demonds.)

He and Cellbit get to the door.

They push the door open.

They run outside and wince at the sunlight blasting them right in the eyes.

But there are still books behind them. Roier can hear them.

Fuck! WWMVD?

The Ordo Realitas hunts the paranormal, Roier thinks. That's what everybody else does. But he's just a social media manager! He doesn't do that kind of stuff!

But if he doesn't stop all of those books from leaving the library, then God only knows how many of them would do... werebook things. They're disgusting. They're inhuman. They're monstrous. They're a danger to the world, and Roier has to stop them.

But how do you kill a bunch of books?

For whatever reason, his mind takes him back to the night after his wedding. Natalan stands in front of him with a lighter held to their marriage certificate, smiling as Roier struggles against his ropes to try and save their marriage from quite literally going up into flames.

"Fire," he gasps, suddenly back in the moment.

He spins to look at Cellbit, but Cellbit already seems on it. His hands are already searching his pockets desperately, and he's swearing under his breath.

Roier looks around the street desperately. There's the restaurant across the street. There are cars on the road. Tourists taking photos. Dogs. Cats.

An old man lighting a cigarette on the corner.

Roier grins and charges towards the old man.

"Sorry!" he shouts, swiping the lighter from him and ignoring the shouts (and the angry old man) following him as he runs back to the library.

Cellbit immediately reaches for the lighter. "Let me. It's my library."

But Roier ducks away and flicks the lighter open himself.

"And it's my job," he says. "Stand back."

He stares at the lighter's tiny little flame nervously, and then he looks at the doors to the library.

When he moved to Brazil a month ago, he didn't think he would be committing arson. But, well. Life isn't always what you expect it to be.

Roier takes a running start, and then he throws the lighter into the library. It hits the carpet, and the flames spread, well, like wildfire. (Thank God, the building is old...)

The books all scream in agony as they're burned, but Roier doesn't really give a shit. Fuck them, they're evil. Creepy-ass books...

He kicks the library's doors shut, and he walks back to Cellbit and the very angry old man.

Panting, Roier leans against a telephone pole. His bag is somehow still on his shoulder, but his phone is still inside.

He looks at Cellbit.

"Can I borrow your phone?" he asks. "I need to call my boss."

Cellbit doesn't look away from the library. He pulls his phone out of his pocket, unlocks it with his thumbprint, and holds it out for Roier to take.

Roier puts in the Ordo's number and puts the phone to his ear. He listens to the dial tone, and he smiles as he hears the secretary's voice.

"Can you give me Mr. Veríssimo?" Roier asks her. "He's gonna want to hear this."

[satureja13]

When the Boys just were about to finish their Yoga/Meditation/Tantra practise, Leander and Wesley arrived. That wasn't planned. The Boys were supposed to spend the day alone ö.ö Vlad sighed. Leander, his arch enemy... And Wesley, his first love...

Leander: "Hey Boys. Vlad. Ms Coombes asked Wes to prepare her next Defense against the Dark Arts lesson. So I thought I'd accompany him and hold my History of Magic lesson today. Meet me on the top floor after you showered." And even though Ji Ho knows how much Vlad despises Leander (and to a certain degree Wesley too), he can't help his feelings taking the downward path - again - into the blurry, red-hazed realm of jealousy, distrust and anger. And their Bond is still utterly quiet. Giving him no sense of Vlad's love for him - nor the slightest bit of reassurance. Over the last two years the Bond was Ji Ho's anchor. Whenever he felt unsure and helpless, the Bond was there, wrapping him in the utter security that Vlad will always love him. No matter what. Which carried him through all the hardships. And now he fears that this love was just a trick from the Council. Initiated by a Siren's Spell of his own grandfather... And all these overwhelming feelings he dug out only intesify these fears.

The History of Magic Classroom. Decorated with paintings and photographies of the members of the Resistance. One might think that History of Magic is a quite boring subject. But it wasn't. There's so much to learn and the Boys barely ever got any insights about how the Resistance was founded and by whom.

After a brief overview, Leander talked about the most famous accomplishments by other members of the Resistance. And the most devastating failures. Then he gave the Boys their homework. Each creature is different. Each has their own, very unique, abilities and traits. And each has their weak spots. There is no established method to succeed. So Leander asks them to collect their own abilities and weak spots - and the ones of their opponents. And after that - work out strategies. And lots of plan B's...

Meanwhile Ji Ho is in his own personal hell. Why do Leander and Vlad look at each other like this? Has something changed between them? He knows it is crucial to listen and pay attention and to do everything in his powers to find a way to detect and destroy that spell, but he just can't. He's fighting for every breath he takes and every beat of his heart right now. As if none of the things his body usually does on his own stopped working and he had to manage them all manually.

Jack doesn't do any better. The heat has its firm grip on him. But it's not his feelings. It's his body he can't control. His heart is racing, he can barely breathe, his intestines are intertwining... He tries to act as normal as possible to not upset Sai and Ji Ho any further. Only his good mate Kiyoshi seems to know what's going on with him and watches him worriedly.

After classes, they went down to the yard again. Vlad, Leander and Wesley are putting their heads together and talk quietly. And Ji Ho is watching them. What does that mean? Ji Ho is raging. First Jack is stirring Vlad up with his Omega pheromones and now Vlad is voluntarily hanging out with his exes! Is it possible they were finally able to cut the Bond? Because Ji Ho is a danger for Vlad?

Ji Ho ran away - crying. Adriano: "Oh no!" Kumo: "What are we supposed to do?" Little Goat: "I hope he isn't about to do something silly!"

Leander: "Don't worry. It will all be well in the end. We are going to take good care of you." Oh no! I've heard this before...

Jeb and Kiyoshi are in their own world. Jeb's talk with Sai lies ahead. And poor Jeb is losing it. Kiyoshi tries to reassure him. But of what help can he be after messing it all up with Jack and his relationship...

And the party goes on.

Skully dug out a matching song and sings along:

'I was dreaming of the past And my heart was beating fast I began to lose control I began to lose control

I was feeling insecure You might not love me anymore I was shivering inside I was shivering inside

I was trying to catch your eyes Thought that you was trying to hide I was swallowing my pain I was swallowing my pain'

Jealous Guy - John Lennon or, another great version by Roxy Music

From the Beginning 🔱 Underwater Love 🔱 Latest

Current Chapter: 'Here comes the Sun' from the beginning ▶️ here Last Chapter: 'Who killed Jack?' from the beginning ▶️ here

📚 Previous Chapters: Chapters: 1-6 ~ 7-12 ~ 13-16 ~ 23-28

[honey-minded-hivemind]

In the Bleeding hearts and missing parts au, the Brotherhood teens didn't really know Reader before they dissappeared. They knew of them, but kinda lumped them in as another annoying X-teen. When they went missing, they all felt kinda bad. They didn't like the X-teens but they didn't want anything terrible to happen.

Of course now the X-men have Reader back, but no one knows, so legally they're still missing and will probably stay that way.

Lance is the second one to meet Reader post-transformation officially (the hauntings they did don't count, the Brotherhood doesn't know that was them.)

Since they go to a normal school in Evolution (I think), they sometimes have to deal with crappy teachers spewing anti-mutant crap. One teacher does this and Lance breaks in her classroom after hours with a bucket of paint to prank her. Breaking the lock to get in, he surprised to see Reader!

At least...he thinks it is?

He doesn't exactly have Reader's looks down to complete memory but he's pretty sure they didn't have glowing eyes, freddy kreuger hands, piranha teeth, and fading scars all over. They look kinda scary.

And they're...stuffing the desk with frogs?

See, Reader also heard the teachers bullcrap, so they decided to mess with her too. Starting with filling her desk with frogs and mice. (live one this time. Don't worry Scott)

Reader looks at Lance's bucket of paint, gives him a thumbs up and then just...fades away.

Leaving poor Lance to figure out how to tell Kitty (who he has a crush on, if I remember) 1. That her missing friend/sibling/teammate/roommate (he is honestly not sure if the X-teens are related or not) is dead, likely murdered and 2. That their ghost is haunting the school and potentially the Brotherhood house.

The first one to meet Reader is Todd an hour beforehand, when they made accidentally made eye contact when they were both collecting frogs. They just nodded at each other and went about their day. Todd decided that it was #notmyproblem.

Bwahaha! I love this, @sugar-soda!

Lance was unsure how to break to his maybe girlfriend/maybe crush/kinda friend that he saw their dead sibling or roommate or teammatw or whatever Reader was, and that they're haunting the school and their house. He wasn't even sure what their mutation was, but their ghost is freaky as h*ck! Sharp, deadly teeth, clawed hands to put Freddy Krueger or a bear to shame, scars all over and fading into their skin, amd those eyes... those haunting, bright, glowing eyes... And they're stuffing mice and frogs and roaches in their anti-mutant teacher's desk drawers...

Well, someone had to do it! Who cares if it's a ghost?!

He wants to tell Kitty so bad, especially since he's pretty sure now that Reader is dead... but he wants to investigate first, make sure they truly are dead and that the ghost is truly them... and if it is... he might need to get some help sending sending back to their peaceful rest...

Todd, when he saw Reader, catching toads and frogs in the rain, high-fived them, collected his own pet frogs and toads, and went about his merry way. Look, if they're a scary, ghoulish mutant, who cares? It doesn't bother him, and they don't eat frogs or toads, so he's cool with them. Not his problem, not his concern. Of course, awhile later when he sees Lance, the guy looks like a nervous wreck covered in bright green paint smears, looking like he saw a ghost-!

Eh, oh well.

As long as paint isn't in his food and it doesn't clog the drain, then Lance can do him amd Todd can do Todd.

And on Friday morning, Ms. Snobbskey, the annoying and brutal teacher of English class, finds her classroom dabbled in bright grass green paint, her drawers full of hideous (cute) little mice and frogs, and roaches and a wasp nest in the corner and vents of her classroom. Suffice to say, her class is canceled for the day for everyone, and that classroom deemed a health hazard until further notice...

(This was so cute, @sugar-soda ! Ask any questions or share any ideas if you want! I love them!)

[pitviperofdoom]

OC picrews!

These are all from my main storyverse, Sacred Darkness or SDverse.

Picrews used:

1, 2, 3

Caleb Cooper:

This is the guy whose backstory keeps changing to make it sadder. He likes Jane Austen novels and hates feeling like a failure. Which he does. A lot.

Jack:

Jack is extremely difficult to make in picrews thanks to how weird his design has gotten over the years. This isn't even that accurate because he's supposed to have different skin tones between the stitches. Fun fact, this picrew game makes you choose between a face scar and a neck scar, so I just made two versions and put them together in MS Paint.

He likes poetry and music and his friends and the smell of green tea, and hates being talked over.

Sarah Cheung:

I used to do a lot more with Sarah; at one point I entered her into one of those OC art tournaments, but I dropped out after a couple rounds.

She likes singing and hates not being able to help when people are sad.

Rita Cheung Pruitt:

Rita's another OC that's gone through quite a bit of change, though I haven't talked about her nearly as much on Tumblr, if at all. As much as I love the sushicore picrew, there's only one body type option and Rita's supposed to be fat. It's hard to find picrews that look good and have more plus-size options.

She likes gardening and collecting animal bones, and hates littering.

Ryan Cheung Pruitt:

I used to roleplay with this guy. If you're wondering if I went for bisexual lighting on purpose, the answer is yes.

He likes arts and crafts and hates awkward social situations.

Maya Robinson:

Maya's just a cool werewolf lesbian that I'm very fond of.

She likes camping and collecting animal bones, and hates feeling like she's missing out.

Jake Molina:

Jake's one of the OCs I've talked about the least. He was pretty generic for a while, with his only discerning features being 'gay" and "telepathic", but at some point I was like "you know what this story's missing? A goth with a heart of gold" and Jake was enough of a blank slate for me to slap that on him and start turning him into an actual person.

He likes fibercrafts and hates big crowds.

Zuri Sullivan:

Out of all my characters, Zuri's been through the most change since her initial conception because proto-Zuri was a white boy whose name has been lost to time. The eyepatch is supposed to be on the left. The stuffed cat is plot-relevant.

She likes making plushies, and hates loud voices and the feeling of velvet.

[spicehill]

inescapable paths of purpose, meaning in meaninglessness

or: why the path of nihility suits jiaoqiu so much better than abundance ever could, and it's fitting that his kit has no added healing. warning ahead for......... kinda rambling and talking in circles about this guy lmao. does this even make sense?????? help???????? uhhh... a tl;dr:

ah! would you look over there, it's my shameless favorite tv trope article happening off-screen in his backstory, break the cutie!

honestly it's kinda funny that both jiaoqiu and the emanator of nihility don't have a sense of taste anymore. the spice really is just to feel something. anything

somehow I didn't get to talk directly about him having like 4 different hats he wears and the fascinating psychology of role identities. how.

tried to get tf out of this field and they keep pulling me back in.

ms. arbiter general feixiao please one chance ( to prevent me, your loyal and devoted retainer jiaoqiu, from falling into utter and unending despair now that i've invested any remaining sense of purpose I have in this life in your survival )

jiaoqiu's character stories start and end in the same place, with him on the shore of rainsoar lake: the setting is the same, the environment the same, the beautiful details that paint the picture of a welcoming, pleasant place are unchanging.

the only thing that has changed is jiaoqiu.

he does not bother with the rain that runs down his ears now, he does not find anything to appreciate in the mild, sweet taste of wild rice. and even though he now sees his time here in the lake as serving a new endeavor, one that pulls him away from the pain and pointlessness of medicine, he is about to start anew on the path that he tried to leave in the first place: a single new patient, one with an affliction more challenging to cure than any wound he ever saw on the battlefield.

how did he get here?

bear with me through a short personal anecdote -- it grounds a lot of my perception of finding purpose -- a vivid memory I have of a conversation when I was younger with my father concluded with him telling me something. not everyone feels the need to find their purpose in their work, and that's okay. it's more strange to need your work to fulfill your life's purpose than not. and he felt that was important because, as the child of educators, I had only ever known adults who derive a deep sense of meaning and purpose from their work and the way they help others.

medicine, like education, is a field built of devotion, compassion. it is a selfish selflessness: by merely participating in it, you are seeking meaning and purpose. and as the child of prominent alchemists, I wouldn't doubt that jiaoqiu had never really known any adults who didn't help others while growing up, either.

that's kind of where his character stories start: the first time he's at rainsoar lake, he's young, enthusiastic, pleasant, hopeful. at the start, his demeanor isn't a diplomatic mask: its genuine, along with his desire to help others who need the most help on the yaoqing, cloud and verdant knights who face countless battles. maybe at this point in his life, several centuries prior, he would've walked the path of abundance with ease.

but that is not the man you meet now: the one we meet in-game wears politeness and pleasantries as a front most of the time, worries and plans almost-constantly, and really doesn't even think well of himself. jiaoqiu a harsh critic of his own shortcomings and mistakes, and isn't a stranger to feeling like a mistake or shortcoming of his own has happened. the contrast between the way he treats others ( pleasantness, gentleness, patience ) and the way he treats himself ( criticism, frustration, disappointment ), I think, is one of the first big hints we get outside of his character stories for traits that actually suit the path of nihility well.

to the next point, and circling back to his character stories: I always found it interesting that the drip marketing released for jiaoqiu portrayed his initial departure from medicine as being due to a broken heart.

this doesn't seem like it was a mistranslation or miscommunication with the localization, even though brokenheartedness is often associated with romance or love for another person of some kind. heartbreak is also when something is soul-crushing; heartbreak is falling out of love against your will with something you deeply loved once before. heartbreak is also irredeemable loss, often unsalvageable and irreversible. jiaoqiu's brokenheartedness stems from losing his passion for healing, his sense of purpose, and losing his sense of taste, all three of which were always deeply intertwined and interconnected.

character story details seem to suggest that his loss of taste may actually be physical more than psychological due to exposure to the lux arrow bombardment in the third abundance war: he was close enough to the impact that killed the previous arbiter general of the yaoqing while rescuing feixiao that it's almost like he has taste loss due to radiation exposure. combined with the building sense of pointlessness in his work as a military healer, seeing all his effort to help others and ease their suffering wasted again and again, he left healing after that -- seemingly to start a restaurant, which he called rainsoar eatery -- to try to salvage the little sense of purpose he has left after years and years as a healer made him feel purposeless.

the funny thing about cooking is that it's also a profession of compassion where your work is meant to help others -- cooking makes people happy, makes them feel warm, full. it's more temporary than medicine, but is a form of medicine of it's own right. in a way, jiaoqiu was still searching for purpose and meaning in his work, but now his scale and sense of personal impact was much smaller, much more temporary. he doesn't seem to believe at this point in his life that he's still capable of a larger impact. thus, in lost and adrift, the order of magnitude in which he describes impact are two extremes: either saving one person ( easy ) or saving the world ( impossible ). this is another signature conundrum of someone who has lost their way when their sense of self-meaning has been derived from work of compassionate service: what's the point of doing the hardest work if I can't really make a difference?

seeing pointlessness in effort spent on helping others is nihilistic, though it seems like jiaoqiu is still holding onto some hope for meaning.

so when his master from the alchemy commission comes to find him again years after the third abundance war at his restaurant near the lakeshore, he came with the purpose of persuading jiaoqiu to take on one more patient. just one, who his master promises will help him understand a healer's purpose -- and she's perhaps the most impossible person to heal in the world.

but he's saving all his medical effort for her: genuinely healing you is effort poorly spent. you're no longer part of his sense of purpose. thus far, I think working for feixiao has already redefined some of his sense of magnitude of impact, working to try and cure feixiao -- saving one person, in this case, is very important. and maybe the impossibility of the task is part of the point: it won't stop him from trying everything he can anyway.

[deimostes]

OK so like, there's alot of jokes about trans guys loving that after top surgery, they can go shirtless or wear things like mesh tops and was imaging Hammer lovingly thinking up all the new outfit styles that would open up for him.

But when I was looking through all the official outfits for male Sonic characters, most of them have tops but not bottoms.

So, like, Hammer imagines running around free from the confined of pants like all Sonic lads. (Would he actually go pantsless? Probably not but atleast he'd have the option.)

oh he'd open up to it for sure!! i'm gonna take this ask as an opportunity to infodump my thought process for the way i imagine him <3. my headcanon for hammer being transmasc involves a lot of other headcanon abt mobian vs human culture regarding gender presentation; i have a short little fic in the works about how his egg cracks and it's absolutely full of this LOL. basically my idea is that - having the "mobians see pants as feminine/shirts are unisex/clothes in general are lowkey optional + humans see topless as masculine/pants are a must" headcanon in mind - he grew up more around humans in station square, but he's still pretty young by the time little planet happens and that's when i think he starts going to mobian islands more often than before, so he's greatly influenced by both cultures.

all that being said, my intention with making hammer trans isn't to make him all the way masc but instead gnc in his own way! i think it'd take some getting used to for him to go pantsless, but once he starts he does different things with it ^__^ he likes dressing up and he likes breaking the different confines of gender presentation. he's a boy wearing his fun overalls most of the time, other times he'll do no pants (or clothes at all) as it opens up for him presenting as a mobian boy like you said, other times he thinks the topless look with pants that a lot of human boys do looks cool. most important of all he keeps the heeled boots. with just the same outfit he's gnc from one culture's perspective and masc from the other. i actually have a month old ms paint doodle in my files of him pantsless, no idea what the context is but for some reason i drew him in a fancy suit top :)

[homestuckreplay]

no such thing as a free fetch modus

(Page 111-130)

I'm trying to feel sympathetic for John, I really am, I love the kid, but... he found a free fetch modus in the back of a book called 'Data Structures for Assholes', where the whole premise of the book is the author yelling at the reader for being stupid, immediately applied it to his sylladex without knowing if or how he could switch back, proceeded to fill his inventory with the sharpest, messiest and most dangerous objects in his room... and was surprised when it didn't end well?

Like, John doesn't need to read Data Structures for Assholes because he's living it. Nothing else in that book could be more assholish than a modus that cuts off his hair and launches fragile objects out the window. It's a weirdly interesting comparison with his dad - John seems convinced his dad is an antagonist he needs to outwit, and he also called Betty Crocker his arch nemesis, even though his dad actually just loves him and goes overboard in showing it, and Betty Crocker makes sweet treats that most people enjoy. Meanwhile, Buckminster Funnyuncle aggressively telegraphs how much of a rude bastard he is, and John is like, 'surely this guy isn't trying to screw me over with this new fetch modus'. Is John naive? Bad at reading people? Or simply a massive contrarian?

John's frustration is so clear in the text, and I'm feeling it too from the update schedule. These past few update days have felt very one step forward and two steps back, like we're further than ever from achieving John's simple goals of playing a game and opening a box. And for all I'm judging him, I know the feeling of getting so frustrated with something that you can't think straight, and keep throwing shit at the wall instead of taking a deep breath and trying to fix things reasonably. It's a testament to the writing how well these emotions carry over to the reader.

Unrelated; I wonder why John is having connection issues with Sburb, considering his internet has been good up until now. I wonder if lots of other kids in the neighborhood are trying to play this game too, if they all got their deliveries today. The game is clearly a Big Deal and well publicized, and maybe the servers can't handle it. That, or MS Paint Adventures has given John's computer a virus that's getting in the way. Any other theories, I'd love to hear them.