#jade figure of crab

[imitationcrabs]

Jade figure of crab in the collection of the National Museum of Asian art

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

more tlm references 😳

Part 1 (Episodes 1 + 2) here! This post covers references in Episode 3 of the event.

Many people walk dogs in Seaglass Park. It seems dogs are a popular pet in Ultramarine City! This is because the mermaid princess’s human prince—Eric—is said to have cherished dogs. In fact, he once leapt into danger to help his dog (Max). The people of Ultramarine City honor his courageous act by keeping dogs of their own and by holding dog races and grooming contests. (Side note, Jade claims that a stray cat is also a dog??? And I recall Azul also saying he had trouble telling what is and is not a dog…? But is Jade just saying this to fuck with us?? Because he, Floyd, and Azul seem to understand what dogs are in Jack’s Labwear vignettes…)

Tile crafts are popular since building materials strong against moisture and salinity are needed in a coastal town. For the same reason, ceramics are also popular. Jade mentions music boxes with ceramic figures are common. AND ARIEL PLAYS WITH A MUSIC BOX IN HER TREASURE GROTTO IN PART OF YOUR WORLD… (A music box is also what King Triton gifted Queen Athena, Ariel’s mom, before she died.) He used to find such items in shipwrecks and played with them. (We know that Jade likes to scavenge and collect things from the bottom of the sea, which is very Ariel-like!)

The Port Inn Plaza looks EXACTLY like the town square from Eric’s Kingdom 😭

In this part of the world, it’s perfectly okay to walk up to puppeteers and take their puppets to put on your own shows! The tradition started when a merman unfamiliar with land took a puppet from a performer; this ended up livening up the show and getting more audience engagement.

The puppet show the NRC students put on is reenacting Eric in the aftermath of Ariel rescuing him 😭 They recite lines about a girl with a beautiful voice having rescued them… Jade goes the extra mile and also acts out Grimsby’s lines + Max the dog’s lines OTL (Yes, barking.)

I don’t recall horses being prominent in TLM outside of the carriage date, but it’s interesting to see them being taken care of in Ultramarine City. Because the sun is so strong, they swap out horses to avoid them getting heatstrokes. The stores also sell many equestrian supplies, including mane combs and hoof brushes, wood carvings of horses, photos, paintings, and charms.

The town sells old fashioned telescopes as a popular souvenir item, even if their performance is limited. Just like how Scuttle used one!!

The mermaid princess and human prince’s wedding was held on a ship. That particular ship’s design is often depicted in story books, paintings, and in model ships.

During the couple’s date on a small boat, fish spouted water and circled them. Water guns shaped like fish have become a local specialty because of this tale.

Dancing is popular! Of course, this is a nod to Ariel and Eric’s dancing scene in the film. Yuu gets a dialogue option here; if you express not being confident in dancing, Jade tells you not to worry; no matter how bad you are at dancing, he will support you. LIKE HOW ERIC HELPED ARIEL...

Riddle and Malleus, who have only ever been taught formal dancing, feel awkward just… moving along to the music. Rook encourages their hearts to lead them and to move how they feel. While this may just be me projecting (it’s much less explicit than everything else so far), this could be a reference to the musical version of TLM. In the song One Step Closer, Eric encourages Ariel to let her emotions come through in her dancing, which is a sentiment VERY similar to the advice Rook offers his peers.

AYO A KISS THE GURL RHYTHMIC?????!?!?!?! 😳 WitH J WoRD ROWInG THE BOAt???!?!?!!?! (So they can get a preview of what the bride snd groom’s course will look like!) HALLELEIGHSH, prAISE bE \o/

LOL????? One of the crabs they caught for dinner escaped (SEBASTIAN OUTSMARTED THE CHEF)…

The plating of the crab dish is also the exact same as how Sebastian was almost served up in the film!

Grim tries to capture the escaped crab and causes a big mess + ruckus! Just like in Les Poissons!!

[redisthenewblue]

𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐁𝐁𝐄𝐀𝐍 𝐁𝐋𝐔𝐄𝐒—𝐀𝐙𝐔𝐋 𝐀𝐒𝐇𝐄𝐍𝐆𝐑𝐎𝐓𝐓𝐎 𝐗 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐑

-

[Name] was undeniably an enigma, a stunning beauty wrapped in layers of mystery. Unlike other mermaids, they rarely lingered long enough to join in the festivities, even turning down Prince Rielle. Their scales glimmered with an otherworldly sheen, their fins danced with ethereal elegance, and when they spoke, their voice flowed like the entrancing melodies of deep-sea currents. Yet, this captivating charm felt more like a burden, a constant reminder of the unsettling image that haunted their reflections. The sea's inhabitants were known for their superficiality, and nothing seemed to pierce their gaze. The only thing that held [Name] back was their own distorted reflection, reducing them to a mere shadow of their true self. But there was a flicker of hope—a boy with the magic of an octopus, who could help [Name] realize their dream of unveiling their true beauty.

One fateful night, as [Name] admired the stars from a secluded grotto, they heard a sound that sent a thrill through their heart—he was here! Tentacles peeked from the cave's edges, and [Name] called out, “I heard you hang out here.” The boy appeared startled, but they pressed on. “You make deals, right? I’ve seen what you can do. That boy you helped get a girlfriend traded his deep voice for a handsome face. Could you do something like that for me?”

With a soft "Um," the boy dove back into the water, splashing [Name] in the process. [Name] sighed as they gazed down at their reflection. Am I truly that unattractive? They bit their lip in distress. “My mother’s going to kill me,” [Name] murmured as they slipped back into the water, battling the tears that burned in their glassy eyes.

⋆.ೃ࿔*:𓇼⋆.ೃ࿔*:⋆

Years later, [Name] had matured, becoming more beautiful than ever. Yet, as their beauty blossomed, their reflection grew increasingly distorted.

The weight of years pressed heavily on [Name]'s spirit, each tide carving deeper lines of sorrow around their radiant eyes. Their beauty had indeed flourished, their scales now a breathtaking tapestry of shifting opals and emeralds, their fins flowing like liquid moonlight. Yet, the phantom in their reflection persisted, a grotesque caricature that mocked their true form. The cruel irony wasn't lost on them: the more radiant they became, the more distorted their mirrored image appeared.

As [Name] wandered through the market, they avoided glancing at any subtly reflective surfaces. Initially, their mother had sent them ashore for errands, but they found themselves enthralled by the vibrant stalls. There was jewelry, delicious food, toys, clothes—everything [Name] had ever dreamed of!

Before they knew it, they had accumulated so many items that their vision was entirely obscured. Perhaps they should have accepted help from the guys earlier, even if it meant sharing their number. Suddenly, [Name] collided with someone else.

"I'm so sorry!" [Name] kept apologizing while hastily gathering their fallen items. Tears welled in the corners of their eyes as they felt the gaze of those around them. A wave of nausea washed over them, and their legs felt like they might give out. In that moment, all [Name] wanted was to dive back into the sea, swim away, and never show their embarrassed face again.

"It's perfectly fine," a smooth voice reassured them, blending with the gentle beach breeze. "I wasn't paying much attention either." The guy placed the last item into [Name]'s hand and adjusted his glasses. As the blur cleared, his jaw dropped in surprise. Just as he was about to speak, two imposing figures approached.

"Wait, no way! Is that Hermie?!" It was Floyd and Jade, the Leech twins.

After all these years, he still calls them Hermie?! "I don't even look like a hermit crab..." [Name] shrank back, ready to scurry away, but this time, Jade called out.

"I knew I could recognize that face anywhere," the more mature twin teased. "Although, it's hard to forget the person who was named 'Pearl of the Ball' and didn't even show up because they got too lost looking in the mirror. It's always been a mystery why you were so scared of mirrors."

[Name] froze, their eyes widening in shock. The school dance… the entire day had been a disaster. Everything around them blurred as memories flooded back.

⋆.ೃ࿔*:𓇼⋆.ೃ࿔*:⋆

It was the day of the Under-the-Sea Spring Fling, a monumental occasion for the seventh graders at Trident Middle School. [Name] had eagerly anticipated it for weeks, even though dances typically weren’t their vibe. They preferred the tranquility of exploring serene coral reefs or getting lost in ancient kelp forests. Yet, they yearned to feel included. Sporting a new outfit—a shimmering, scale-patterned top and a flowing kelp skirt crafted with their mom’s help—they even allowed a friend to assist with their scales, which shimmered with a delicate iridescent glow. Tonight was meant to be special; tonight, they were ready for the title of "Pearl of the Dance."

The title of "Pearl of the Dance" was a prestigious honor. The winner would sit atop a magnificent, giant oyster shell adorned with fairy lights and other decorations by the eighth graders. They would receive a crown made of braided seaweed and a sash embellished with sparkly, recycled plastic scales. It was a moment for their family to shine.

However, as evening fell and kids began arriving at the school’s main grotto—transformed with vibrant streamers and inflatable sea creatures—[Name] felt lost. Not in the usual sense, but lost in their own reflection.

Approaching the grotto, they felt a mix of excitement and overwhelming anxiety. Dances were loud, crowded, and filled with... people. It was their worst nightmare. While navigating through the crowd, they passed a large, unusually smooth section of the reef. It was almost perfectly flat and still, reflecting everything like a mirror. That’s when it hit them. Not the fabulous outfit, not the glowing scales, but the image staring back.

All the things they had tried to ignore, the feelings that made them uncomfortable, were right there, glaring at them. Their scales looked odd, the outfit felt constricting, and their face... it just seemed off. A wave of nausea washed over them. They were frozen, caught in a relentless cycle of self-doubt.

The music kicked off—a catchy pop song that everyone else probably adored. Laughter and shouts filled the air, likely from kids enjoying those silly dance moves. They were missing out on everything. Yet, they couldn’t summon the courage to swim any closer. The smooth reef held them captive.

Hours slipped by. The music transitioned from slow songs to upbeat tracks and back again. Kids probably received the "Pearl of the Dance" crown, slow-danced with their crushes, and devoured all the sea-kelp pizza. [Name] remained by the reef, the distorted reflection their only companion, until the final song faded and the grotto gradually emptied.

They finally returned home long after midnight, feeling cold, empty, and utterly despondent. They slipped into their room, too drained to even change.

Their mom, Coralina, was waiting up, her face a carefully crafted mask of concern barely concealing her irritation. She was a vision of polished scales and flowing fins, and the wasted evening clearly felt like a personal affront.

"Where have you been?" she asked, her voice tinged with disappointment. "Do you have any idea how late it is? I was expecting to see you crowned! I even practiced my gracious smile for the other parents."

[Name] simply shook their head, tears threatening to spill over. Talking about it felt impossible.

"You were supposed to be the Pearl of the Dance," Coralina said, her voice rising slightly, disappointment morphing into thinly veiled anger. "I was so looking forward to this. It would have reflected so well on me. All that effort, all that potential, wasted! Because you couldn't manage to show up and be beautiful."

"I couldn't help it," [Name] managed to choke out. "I... I saw myself..."

Coralina's perfectly arched brow furrowed. "And that’s enough? Honestly, [Name], sometimes I think you enjoy being this way. You have such a lovely appearance, but you allow this... fixation to consume you. It’s incredibly selfish."

She swam closer, lowering her voice to an insistent tone. "You embarrassed me tonight. Do you have any idea how it looks when your own child can’t even attend a simple dance? People will talk. They'll think..." She trailed off, horrified by the implications.

"I don’t care what they think," [Name] mumbled, turning away.

"That’s precisely the problem!" Coralina snapped. "You should care! You represent me! You have a responsibility to uphold a certain image. But no, you’d rather wallow in self-pity than put on a smile and accept a compliment!"

Coralina sighed dramatically, as if she were the injured party. "I try so hard with you, [Name]. I’ve given you the best scales, the finest silks, everything you need to be admired. And this is how you repay me? By hiding in the shadows?"

With a flick of her magnificent tail, Coralina turned and swam away, leaving [Name] alone in their despair. The echoes of the music they had missed and the image of that smooth, reflective reef paled in comparison to the weight of their mother's vanity and disappointment.

⋆.ೃ࿔*:𓇼⋆.ೃ࿔*:⋆

“I didn’t realize I had a fear of mirrors… or of dancing… I really need to go home.” [Name] took a step back, intent on making a beeline for the water, ready to jump in.

Before they could make any progress, Jade and Floyd appeared behind [Name], effectively cornering them.

Amidst a crowd of unfamiliar faces and the lively sounds of the bustling marketplace, [Name] found themselves in an unexpectedly intimate yet oddly detached closeness to someone draped in elegant, silky fabrics. The air was charged with unspoken tension, the space between them a tightrope of awkwardness. Just when the silence felt like it might become unbearable, a smooth voice, reminiscent of polished coral, broke through the noise.

"[Name],"

[Name]'s breath caught as they truly saw the person in front of them for the first time. The refined posture and subtle shimmer of otherworldly grace merged into a striking realization. This was Azul, the shy, ink-stained little octopus who had endured cruel teasing on the sandy shores of their childhood.

Recognition ignited in Azul's multifaceted eyes as he finally noticed [Name]’s presence. A flicker of startled panic crossed his face, reflecting the same instinct that had driven him to flee all those years ago. He struggled to maintain eye contact with [Name] for more than a fleeting moment, overwhelmed by the intensity of their gaze. [Name]’s eyes sparkled like stars in the night sky, enhanced by their lush, thick eyelashes. Their skin radiated a soft, smooth glow that seemed to outshine even the sun. The delicate shell necklace resting just beneath their collarbone added an exquisite touch to their overall appearance. Furthermore, hair framed [Name]’s face perfectly, drawing attention to their beautifully plump lips, amplifying their enchanting presence.

"Hey, why did you run off that day when we were kids?" [Name] called after the retreating figure, finally voicing the old question. Azul froze. Would they mock him for backing down?

“I’m not sure what you mean?” Azul replied, pressing a curious finger to his chin. Jade and Floyd exchanged unimpressed glances. It was clear he had been the topic of conversation.

A wave of self-doubt washed over [Name]. "Am I really that... forgettable?" they whispered, their voice nearly drowned out by the market's hustle.

Just as [Name] began to spiral into self-pity, Jade's soothing voice interrupted, skillfully redirecting their thoughts. "How about we help you with those bags, [Name]? We were just heading that way."

Jade’s name rolled off his tongue, and in a daze from the unexpected encounter with Azul, [Name] blinked.

"I... I’m not sure. I really need to deliver these things my mother sent," they said, gesturing to the bag of carefully packed goods. "She’s expecting me before she..."

But their explanation was abruptly cut off. In a flash, Jade and Floyd sprang into action. One moment, [Name] was firmly on the ground, clinging to their mother's delivery; the next, they were airborne, effortlessly lifted by the two enigmatic figures. The groceries were swiftly secured too. Before [Name] could voice any protest, they were being propelled at incredible speed toward the shimmering ocean, the salty air rushing past their face. Then, without a moment's hesitation, Jade and Floyd dove into the cool depths, pulling a bewildered and sputtering [Name] along with them into the underwater world, leaving Azul to follow behind.

Taglist🤍: @ihatemyselffromthestart-blog

Sorry for the late updates but I am happy to say that I now have a Co-author!! This means quicker updates(3–9 days)!!  Redamancy will be updated later!! As always, TY for reading 🤗

[iamapoopmuffin]

Birthday gifts my Yuu would give the boys

Riddle: A fancy Queen of Hearts rulebook, a homemade strawberry tart, crossword book

Ace: One of those shiny sand filled animals (a crab because of Floyd's nickname for him), some funny novelty gifts

Deuce: Blastcycle figure, a pink scarf (so he has more pink clothes for Heartslabyul tasks)

Cater: Phone charms (heart shape, star or planet themed, skateboard themed, music themed etc)

Trey: Cool new baking utensils

Leona: Nice pillow, a game of chess

Jack: Nice plant pots

Ruggie: Various baked goods, hand made and wrapped to last

Azul: A game of a board game of his choice, birthday card with money in it, therapy

Jade: Plush mushrooms, a shiny rock she found on the floor, nice tea, cookies in sea creature shapes

Floyd: Plush shrimp, nice scarf, cookies in sea creature shapes

Kalim: A hug and good company and a cool rock she found on the floor

Jamil: Snake phone charm, plush parrot, stories of the parrot her family had when she was a child

Vil: Custom handmade scrapbook with some pages filled with a showcase of how far he has come since his overblot, things that bring him joy and people who love him. Also, a book she thought he might like.

Rook: A nice hat, a novelty arrow that screams when you fire it, a framed picture of Neige, singing happy birthday on his request

Epel: Wooden figurine of a rabbit

Idia: Gaming themed cupcakes, gaming stickers, the twst equivalent of a plush Pikachu backpack

Ortho: A drawing of herself and Ortho being best friends (looks like it was drawn by someone under 10), cool rocks she found on the floor

Malleus: Gargoyle facts, cool rocks she found on the floor, a hug

Sebek: A copy of every photo of Malleus taken with the ghost camera, a book she thought he might like, letting him talk to her about Malleus for as long as he liked

Silver: Bird call whistle, flower crown

Lilia: A silly novelty gift, guitar pick

[ariseur]

CAN WE GET SOME SLEEPY IGNISSSSSS

“iggy,” you call softly, into the depths of the dark. finger poking at your boyfriend’s shoulder, your brows furrow at the lack of response. “ignis?”

it’s almost like he senses your distress (if you can even call it that), and you see jade irises slowly open in the dark, with the help of the moonlight that bleeds through the half-veiled windowsill, illuminating even the smallest of pores on his face. brown lashes flutter open and a hand comes up to wipe the sleep from his eyes.

“ye-yes? what is it?” he tiredly asks, head turning in the direction of which your voice came from. his lips quirk up a bit, already able to see your gentle smile even with just your silhouette in the dark.

“would you still love me if i was a crab and you were an octopus?” you ask, and ignis has to ask you to repeat yourself because he can’t believe you just woke him up to ask that.

“what?”

you tilt your head, as if his confusion was outlandish. “would you still love me if i was a crab and you were an octopus?”

his hand comes up to rub at his temples and he huffs out a small noise of amusement. you nudge him softly, to which he is all to sleepy for. “it’s a serious question!”

he hums, hand coming down to rest on the bare skin of your thigh — a shiver of warmth wriggling through your body. “i.. suppose i would,” he finally answers.

“but octopuses eat crabs.”

“octopi,” he corrects, and he can practically hear how hard your eyes roll. he cracks a smile, much to your liking as you can see the way his lips fight back the grin with the way the light hits him — a soft glow against his skin. you have half a mind to kiss him, but this question is far too important to you.

“same difference,” you say. with that sass, ignis contemplates saying he would eat you if he was an octopus, just to hear you whine and complain about his teasing. but instead, he settles for a more responsable option.

“what’s the meaning of this question?” he finally asks, as he realizes that’s probably what should’ve been questioned in the first place.

you huff and plop back down against the pillows, crossing your arms as you gaze at him confusedly. this time, ignis can finally see the moonlight trickling down onto your figure, and he swears he can feel his pulse in his head with how intently he looks at you.

“to see if you really love me,” you press your lips together in a soft pout. he suppresses the urge to point it out and instead lets you continue. you prop yourself up on one elbow, chin held in your palm as you look down at him. tilting your head, you say, “now answer please?”

deft fingers find your own and intertwine them with his; muscle memory, at this point. he savors the smoothness of your skin against his own, thumbing at the ridges of your protruding bones. you almost crack, and try not to melt at the soft gesture.

“have i not shown you i love you enough?” he mumbles into the back of your hand, lips pressing a soft kiss to the cold skin. even in his half-asleep state, he can’t help but be so sweet. you sigh dramatically, much to his amusement.

“but would you love me if you were an octopus and i was a crab?” you persist.

ignis thinks for a moment, both hands leaving the confines of your comforter to clasp one of yours. “i would,” he whispers.

“what about the eating part?”

“i would try my very, very hardest not to eat you,” he mutters. “i would be the only octopus in history never to eat a crab.”

at his answer, a silence follows. he blearily looks at you through his lashes, fingers rubbing at your wrist absentmindedly; a small habit he likes to do when his gloves are off. your face almost seems a little shocked, as if you weren’t expecting it (which ignis thinks you totally were, but he’ll keep the magic alive a little longer). he swears there’s starlight in your eyes, as they dart all around his face.

a low chuckle rumbles through his chest, as he presses one more kiss to your wrist and lets go — unaware of the way your fingers flex when you don’t want him to let go. he eyes you fondly, one last time, before turning over and pulling the covers up to his shoulders for more warmth.

alongside a small whisper of your name, he mutters a gentle, “goodnight.”

“i would love you too, ignis,” you call softly.

he hums. “thank you, my love.”

(oops almost forgot) taglist ; @sagetealeafs @camryn-haitani

requests are open — check pinned for more !

[miss-tc-nova]

S/O Goes Under - Octavinelle

You know, I liked this one. I know I could've made it more sinister, but apparently rip currents are more common and more deadly than most sea creatures...so I'm not going back into the ocean again.

But I hope you enjoyed this! Hope Floyd's not too ooc. He kinda got away from me. Slippery bastard.

Premise: The boys have to rescue their S/O that goes under

Words:

Azul - 363

Jade - 360

Floyd - 331

~~~~~

Azul

The housewarden relaxes in the shade, going over the Lounge’s numbers because, yes, that’s how he relaxes. Every now and then, however, he glances up, a smile playing on his lips as he spies his beloved frolicking in the water not far off.

Peering up from his book, he surveys his companions. The twins are happily building the most elaborate sand castle in all of Twisted Wonderland. Meanwhile, his darling has ventured a little further into the water, paddling about contentedly.

Without warning, the human goes under in a peculiar manner, causing Azul to sit straight. Immediately, his eyes dart back to the eels, both still in perfect view.

A jolt shocks his heart and Azul is on his feet, racing across the sand, ignoring the occasional stumble that threatens to break his ankles.

Hitting the water, Azul’s form shifts, drastically increasing in size as he races along the rush of water kidnapping the land dweller. Spotting his helpless human being dragged out to sea—drowning—tears at his gut, spurring the merman to swim faster.

Within reach, an arm flies forward, his hand snatching up his beloved as soon as he can. Immediately after, his direction changes, thrusting the pair sideways. Knowing better than to fight against a rip current, Azul swims well out of the current’s grasp, scrambling for the surface.

Breaking thought, the young man lifts his hands, palms open where lies the tiny human. Before he can panic, his darling coughs up a mouthful of water, blinking and sitting up. Gorgeous eyes peer up at his monstrous-sized form in awe, but Azul—self-conscious like no other—simply sighs.

“Do they not teach you about rip currents in land schools? Yes well, admittedly, this form is far more suited to water rescue, so thank you for forcing me to use it. Excuse me?! S-Stop being ridiculous! If you continue this nonsense, I’ll place you back in the rip current.” *Sigh* “Fine. I suppose I can indulge you just a little while, but we’ll have to stay in the water. I’m even less agile on land in the form if you can believe that. Hm? I’m just glad your safe, sweetheart.”

Jade

Jade has his fun in the water, now choosing to admire the scant beach foliage and fauna he comes across in his stroll. However, his gaze repeatedly and frequently wanders back to the water, where his dear happily splashes about.

Chuckling at the scuttling crab far too small for any worthwhile meal, he surveys the sands once again. Azul hasn’t left his lounge this entire trip, grumbling about the sun and avidly avoiding the water. Meanwhile, Floyd pestered Jade and his partner until they dug a trench in which to bury him and he couldn’t be any happier. Yet nothing pleases Jade more than seeing his love enjoying this time of relaxation and fun in the water.

 Just as he’s about to continue his walk, he hears a large splash and his gaze jerks to the water, entirely undisturbed and no human in sight.

Knowing that Azul is still lounging in his chair and Floyd is still buried to his neck in sand, Jade takes off. Before he can even hit the water, his mer form is in full effects. In the distance, he can just see the flailing figures being whisked to deeper waters.

Faster than he ever has, Jade bolts the current towards the struggling human. Even with his love in his arms, Jade’s speed never falters, only changes direction to escape the current. He breaks the current but receives no immediate response and continues the race back towards the shore.

However, about half way back, a cough rips his attention back. Turning onto his back, Jade floats in a way to keep his partner above the water. Shaking the water from the face, the human peers up at him.

“It seems you’ve gotten yourself into some trouble. But don’t worry, you’re safe now. I must teach you how to avoid rip currents in the future. Hm-hm. You like it? Oh yes, I can swim considerably faster in this form. Shall we return to the shore? Are you sure? I see. Then would you like to float with me? Certainly, feel free to hold onto me if you’d like. Of course, I’ll always have my eye on you.”

Floyd

Floyd’s hands scrape through the sand, heaping mounds and mounds out ground and letting it pile up high around him. He’s spent plenty of time on beaches in the water, but not nearly the same amount of time in the sand. This whole sand castle thing his babe told him about sounded fascinating and he’s attempting to build the best one ever seen. The couple began this journey together, but recently his other half abandoned him for the waves, which he didn’t mind.

Happy with his mote, Floyd takes a glance around. Jade was off on some nature walk, being boring, while Azul was reading in his chair, also being boring. That partner of his, though, appeared to be having fun, splashing around.

Suddenly, his babe goes under with a yelp. At first, Floyd cackles, knowing exactly what happened. But the longer it takes the land dweller to resurface, the more his laughter fades. Ultimately, he starts cursing as he runs for the water, diving right into the current.

His mer form takes over as he speeds through the water, easily spotting his drowning other being carried away—no longer struggling. Snatching up the human and slithering out of the current, Floyd rushes back towards the shore. He reaches the shallows and hoists the victim up on the sands.

The harsh heave is enough to coax the water to come back up. Yet as those eyes blink, Floyd glares back down with a pout.

“Are you stupid? You can’t swim against a rip current. No, you’re supposed to swim sideways out of it. Geeze. You’re lucky I’m a good swimmer. You’d be toast if it weren’t for me. Huh? No, you made me change forms, so now you’re gonna sit here with me in the shallows. You arguin’ with me? Don’t make me put the squeeze on you. My grip’s a lot stronger like this. That’s right. Like this! Ahaha! You know I wouldn’t let nothin’ happen to you. You’re mine.”

~~~~~

Nova’s Twisted Wonderland Masterlist

[tenaciouschronicler]

March 17-18 2025 2010

Hi. Why does coming back from vacation leave you more exhausted than when you left??

Lots of taking between characters especially as Toreador and Grim seek advice on how to speak to their respective kid. While I dont see any specific connections, the four trolls we've met so far seem to have main trolling/assisting targets. We do find out Grim potenitally has a crush on Rose and that our last remaining roles, Knight of Time and Witch of Space, belong to Dave and Jade respectively.

Now, so far each troll has had a zodiac sign attributed to them and seeing as there is 12 of them its highly likely the others will take the remaining ones. So, Im going to put here my predictions based on their handle names plus the ones we already know. Starting with:

carcinoGeneticist - Cancer. Easy enough. Carcino, as @homestuckreplay noted comes from the greek word that can literally translate to crab.

adiosToreador - Taurus. Also pretty simple. Toreador refers to bullfighters which lines up with bull as the symbol.

gallowsCalibrator - Libra. The name is more abstract and less of a gimme. Concidering Libras symbol is the scales you can connect it with gallows as both can be seen as objects relating to the execution of justice.

grimAuxiliatrix - Virgo. Another abrstact one. Again, as @homestuckreplay noted, auxiliatrix is Latin for a female assistant while the symbol for Virgo is a maiden so both have a female figure

Now for the guesses:

arachnidsGrip - there are no zodiacs pertaining to spiders, however, Scorpios symbol, the scorpion, is also an arachnid so this is likely their zodiac.

twinArmegeddons - Gemini is represented by the twins Castor and Pollux making this thier likely zodiac.

caligulasAquarium - here its more on the spelling than anything with aquarium being close to Aquarius.

arsenicCatnip - here we have more just simple association as Leos symbol is the lion which is, at its core, a cat.

cuttlefishCuller - same as arsenicCatnip, just simply associating cuttlefish with Pisces whos symbol is the fish.

centaursTesticle - likely Sagittarius as it's symbol is a centaur archer

terminallyCapricious and apocalypseArisen - these two don't have anything that really jumps out and says Zodiac. Seeing as the remaining ones are Aries and Capricorn, its likely just word similarities, Arisen = Aries and Capricious = Capricorn.

Anyway, Ill make a post later delving more into our confirmed trolls and the zodiac implications though its already clear to me that their connections dont really have much to do with personality stereotypes.

[allykakamatsu]

"Please let this be a normal field trip!" "With Floyd as the guide, no way!"

Aka, I saw a post about how Floyd is a likely candidate for the the 'host' when we get a Coral Sea home visit event and I got inspired. (I tried to draw Ace as a crab so they'd all match their nicknames but I could not figure out how to make it look good so shark it is)

Also, given what day it is, happy birthday Floyd, and while I couldn't get something drawn in time for him, happy birthday to Jade as well!

[buzzkillers]

FABLES AND PARABLES blurb (because I couldn't fit it in chapter three so😮‍💨)

Summary- namor comes to the call (tw:stalking)

Chapter one

On the horizon, a figure lurked in the shadows. Inconspicuous, strange. No one noticed him, nothing outside of the creepy crawlings things and flying beast of this land.

He glimmered in the shadows, a star on land. With a chest and each limb covered in glittering golds and chips of shined jade jewelry.

It irritated the figure to even be here. On this land, where the ground was cobbled and the air choked itself with pollution. From the sky, he quickly grew sick of the language they spoke, the way it fell off their tongue and twisted into something ugly. Did they know of the blood drenched in it? Of the slaughter entwined in each word? They must’ve. What human didn’t? Yet they spoke it anyway. The men, the women, even the children. No one was innocent.

For this, the figure contemplated murder. A slaughter in the name of justice. It would be fitting.

A fine price for being forced to watch petty human squabbles and ordained to hide like a crab in the sand. Gods did not hide. Nor did they watch fools as they walked home alone, completely oblivious of the dangers that lurked in the corners, in the sky. But the shadow was tired, bored even. The humans were an irritating bunch. This apostate, even more so. But it's been centuries since a surface walker has prayed to him. And a promise was a promise.

Even if the wish was small, inconspicuous. Like the hiding of the sun. The shadow had no problem with granting it, despite the almost benign way it was requested. The casualty in the voice, the looseness in their tongue as if it was a challenge. As if you didn't think it could be done. And now the deed was made and here you were, running. He should've striked you.

Prayers in his name from the lips of the surface usually lasted hours. He remembered the way the natives would dance and sing for him to come. They made a spectacle of praying to him. It was hard to not listen to them. Lest he wanted to be tortured with human music for days to come.

Still, the shadow beneath the clouds was here. His feet gliding him through the wind, while he wore jewels that could be mistaken for stars. The air was muggy when he arrived, wet and sticking to his skin in a way that only the surface could do. While he looked for whoever seemed to be kissed by Chuc. It was a hard task. These humans were clearly inebriated. Their youthful laughter loud amongst the other beach goers who glared at them. It would be easy to kill them. But a promise was a promise.

So he watched.

And he watched.

Then one stumbled away from her friends–Female. Human. Her feet were bare, and with the coordination of a drunkard. Her mark was clear. Yet, it was alarming how anticlimactic the revelation was. How he was convinced, she'd look up and plead for mercy, understanding even, but instead, she struggled into that hostel, shutting the door tight.

The gods' eyes twitched.

What a gracious God he was to let your insolence pass for a reward.

[valle-de-sombra-de-muerte]

Homestuck Reread: Act 3, Part 1/3 (p. 760-891)

Read the previous post here. Read the next post here.

Time for the beginning of Act 3! An inauspicious start, since the Act begins with Jade's introduction.

So I guess the "reader" is still acknowledged as a thing. And they're actively attempting to manipulate Jade. I wonder how much longer this will last for.

Jade has so many interests, you guys! So many! And I'm sure each and every one of them will be relevant to her character as well!

Also, she needs reminders so she doesn't forget about the things she's interested in? What?

Why does Jade have so many variants of fetch modus when none of these will ever show up again? Actually, the whole modus system continues to be really dumb and that's probably why it's rarely mentioned in the later acts.

Jade's precognition again being treated as just a fun lil' quirk. Gosh, she's just so quirky, right fellas? So many modi, so many interests. She's just so silly and fun, right? Right???

Honest confession time. When I first read Homestuck, I had no idea that a "eureka lemon" was an actual variety of lemon. Of course I've heard of crab apples, key limes, and mandarin oranges, but it never occurred to me that a eureka lemon was also a real thing. I didn't figure this out until years later.

Wait wait wait. Hold the phone. Jade is a fan of old cartoons? When is that ever referenced again outside of the occasional mention of Squiddles (a show that isn't real)? What the fuck? John likes movies, has posters in his room, and name drops his favorites on a regular basis. Why does Jade not talk about any cartoons she likes???

Physics, gadgetry, and gardening are all shit that aren't ever mentioned again either, but I was at least aware of those things being related to her, at least on a surface level. Jade's whole thing (well, what I assume Hussie ostensibly intended to be her thing) is that she's this genius wiz kid. And her username is gardenGnostic, so of course horticulture has to be somehow related to her character. This whole cartoon thing is seriously new knowledge to me, though.

Grandpa Harley was a real renaissance man with a multitude of interests, so it's natural that Jade takes after him. The problem is that Grandpa is dead and he's less of a character than he is this mysterious symbol that Jade both admires and resents. It doesn't matter whether or not he's fleshed out, but Jade is a main character, so by necessity she must be or else she comes across as half-baked.

Jade has two pages dedicated to her interests, yet none of them are relevant to her character. She never talks to anyone else about gardening or anthros or anything like that. She doesn't use her scientific knowledge to help solve a problem. Her guns only serve the same basic combat purpose as the other kids' kind abstratus, but beyond that she isn't a gun nut.

One can point to stuff like John's interest in programming or Dave's love of photography as examples of extraneous character traits that don't ever manifest later on in the comic. But in Jade's case, it's nearly all of them. Hussie could've filled these pages with anything he wanted, but nothing would alter the existing perception of Jade being nothing more than "silly, upbeat girl who can see into the future." This is what I meant when I said earlier that she doesn't have any character to speak of. Or rather, she's just extremely shallow.

And because Jade doesn't have enough quirks already, her shirt randomly changes designs. Wow! Incredible!

These "manthro chaps" are honestly more unnerving and sexually charged than the smuppets. I don't ever see anyone reference them nearly as often, and probably for good reason. Unlike the smuppets, they're too close to resembling humans and are very uncanny. This feels like a deranged fetish thing, but it's being played off as more silly, quirky bullshit. "Slop trough" is a phrase I never want to read again.

Right. Hating furries was very much en vogue back in 2009, I'd say more so than the present. However, Hussie is going to great lengths to portray Jade as one of the "good ones." Her interest in anthros is non-sexual in nature and she does not partake in "cringe" furry activities like wearing fursuits and engaging in sexual activities with other furries. As stated before, the manthro chaps are being depicted as wholesome make believe, not in a feral/pet play context (despite the fact that that's exactly what it looks like).

This is just Hussie taking pot shots at a subculture that has historically been a very easy target for ridicule. I'm not even sure why he decided to make Jade a furry in the first place if he was going to draw lines in the sand like this. What an incredible dickhead. And since this is written from Jade's perspective, it makes her a dickhead too.

There are a few times later on where Jade comes across as rude or judgmental, coming at odds with her otherwise unflinchingly polite and optimistic disposition. Needless to say, this does little to endear her to me.

Like John, Jade also has a chest full of shit that doesn't end up mattering. Come to think of it, this whole intro sequence feels extremely drawn out, kind of like John's. John at least had the excuse of being the first character and he required a long intro in order to establish the tone and mechanics. We've gotten a good handle on things by the time we reach Rose and Dave, so their intros weren't nearly as involved. So why the fuck is Jade's taking so long? We know this whole routine, we've done it three times now. Can we get the fuck on with the story already!?

This is a really bizarre sequence of pages where the "reader" is forced to match the memory cards of Jade's modus, only to fail at it repeatedly while both Jade and Hussie judge them for it.

Man... I know it's a common fandom notion that Jade is the most neglected and underutilized of the main cast of kids, but you seriously wouldn't have guessed that based on all these early pages. She feels more like Hussie's favorite, if anything.

Every passage he seems to talk about her with affection and a total absence of snark, not like the other kids who are regarded with bemusement at best or mockery at worst when they do something foolish. Here the derision is solely focused on the reader for their apparent cluelessness, and both Hussie and Jade are on the same side. C'mon, Jade's just offering the reader to play this game and they fail because they're obviously not as smart as she is. Serves them right for that earlier, boorish suggestion that this wonderful girl might be a, gasp, disgusting fursuit-wearing degenerate!

There's something a little off about how this then-30 year old man created this 13 year old girl who's so sweet and perfect in every way, and whom he dedicates so many pages showing us every single one of her quirks and all the amazing things she has in her home. But I don't really want to dwell further on this, so I'll be moving on.

"But he does like his steak well cooked."

"He does prefer his steak rare after all."

Well, which is it??? Does he like his steak well or rare? Does Hussie not know the difference between these terms? Has he never cooked a steak before?

Dave Strider? More like Dave Simper. He is incredibly down bad. She's obviously not online, dude. Get out of her DMs. He's also facetiously engaging her with furry roleplay. God, Dave, get a clue! ERP is something only cringy furries do and as established previously, Jade is most definitely not one of those types of furries!

The Midnight Crew get their own dedicated flash. These guys sure are getting teased a lot, despite just being characters from an in-universe webcomic. I wonder what it could mean...

FINALLY we get to the Strider fight. Well, it's more like Dave vs. Cal rather than Dave vs. Bro. Not to try and crack open more Bro discourse, but the idea that people will try to equate Dave getting clowned on by a puppet with actual child abuse is absurd. I don't see how this is any different than the previous strifes John and Rose had with their parents.

FUCK it was only for one page. We're back to Jade again. You know, if I had a friend who knew whenever I was about to have an internet outage and acted all smarmy about it, I would probably stop talking to them.

"Grandpa Moreau over there on Hellmurder Island" is a good line. Thank you Rose for providing some levity to this slog of pages I've been enduring.

Another GameFAQs page, but this section is written by John for some reason. He brings up a great point about how nobody is reading these damn things. If you're some nudnik who truly gives a shit about how punch card alchemy works, oh boy do I have a page for you!

Jade dislikes hunting and it was mentioned earlier that she'd never shoot an animal. It strikes me as odd that she has such a passion for guns, but not hunting. What does she shoot then? She's a "skilled markswoman" but do we ever see a shooting range or anything to practice her skills? I can't imagine there's much else to shoot on this island aside from wildlife.

Grandpa Harley says Jade will grow up to be like the women in the photos he gets off to. I uh... I don't know how to feel about that. Other than perhaps it's for the best this old man is dead.

Wow! Who's this rude customer? What a crazy guy! Oh well, he was blocked so I don't think we'll ever see him again.

Finally at this point we take an extended reprieve from Jade. For the record, we're 99 pages into the Act. It took Rose 25 pages from her intro before the plot returned to John, and Dave 48 pages from his before turning back to Rose. (I'm not counting brief cuts to other characters for these counts, because the main focus is still on the recently introduced character). Nearly 100 pages of Jade showing off her house before going back to the plot. Augh!

Anyway, Rose actually reaches out and grabs the captcha card, which isn't something we've seen up to this point. This whole inventory system is weird, man.

I think it's all but directly stated that Mom Lalonde became an alcoholic because she has known the exact date the world was going to end. A sad detail.

Part 2 of the Strider fight ends with Bro yeeting Dave down the stairs. Again, I can't see this scene as serious representation of legitimate child abuse, especially with the fucking SBaHJ jokes at the end. The tone is so comedic and outrageous I don't understand anyone who takes it seriously.

Honestly, the earlier scenes with Dave roaming the apartment, being surrounded by weapons and sex toys, making comments of how he has difficulty accessing food, and being videotaped for Bro's fetish films paint a much better image of an abusive household than any of this strife shit. I don't want to try and argue that Bro isn't a bad guardian, because he definitely is, but there's this notion in the fandom that he does all this because he hates Dave and wants him to suffer, and I don't think that's true at all. His actions read more like neglect and carelessness, not malice.

You can make a list of all Bro's crimes, but hating his brother is not one of them.

John wins his fight against the ogres. There's an earlier page where we see him getting the tar kicked out of him (with the same over the top slapstick animations during the Dave vs. Bro fight, mind you), but it's only after Nannasprite and Rose join to help that he's able to achieve victory. He really can't do anything on his own, can he?

How about a "thank you, Rose, for beating those ogres for me"? Dickhead.

No "thank you" for Nannasprite, either. Instead he asks her to carry him to the gate, since he already knows Rose can't do it. This kid really sucks.

Now that I'm a third of the way done with Act 3, I have to say Jade is some honest to god Mary Sue shit. I don't like using that term because it's been misused to the point of uselessness, but come on. Compare Jade to the three previous kids and tell me that this girl isn't the most ridiculous character in this lineup.

We have John, the goofy cornball that likes pranks and watching bad movies; Rose, the smug pseud that likes the occult and writing lousy fiction; Dave, the aloof hipster that likes rapping and making shitty comics; and Jade, the genius manic pixie furry girl with a randomly changing wardrobe that can see into the future, lives on a private island full of crazy hi-tech gadgets, was raised by a radioactive dog, and likes physics, gardening, sharpshooting, bass guitar, and inventing.

Fuck me. If I was DM for a DnD session and someone submitted a character sheet like that against three normal ones, I'd tell them to leave. Why can't she just be a normal kid like the others? It's all so jarring!

Suddenly I'm wishing I was back reading Act 1 again.

[here4tripitaka]

Chapter 60: In which Wukong thinks he's a lot more of a stud than he is

Alright. Let's get this barf-fest of a chapter over with.

It starts out fine. The mysterious local spirit from last chapter tells Wukong that the Mountain of Fire is, in fact, Wukong's fault.

He also tells him that the only way to get the palm-leaf fan is through Bull Demon King (BDK).

This begins an entire chapter of misogynistic fan service. There's misogyny by Wukong to Princess Jade Countenance (PJC); from BDK to PJC; from Wukong to Princess Iron Fan; and from BDK to Princess Iron Fan.

Very little happens along the way. The chapter is almost entirely an excuse to have scene after scene of gratuitous misogyny.

If you cut out some of the more egregious stuff, the plot boils down to this:

PJC, a wealthy heiress, has taken in BDK as a toy boy. (There's a thin pretext that she paired up with him because his magical powers could help protect her estate, but frankly with her wealth I imagine she could hire any number of mages - like those parents who hired a string of mages to try to rescue their daughter from Bajie. So I suspect she just says that to soothe his ego, so he doesn't just feel like a pretty face.) He's still married in theory, but he hasn't looked back since moving in with PJC and has consistently been paying alimony to Iron Fan.

Wukong runs into PJC on the mountainside. Wukong decides to physically attack her. PJC, being quick on the uptake and a survivor, decides this would be a good time to GTFO.

Wukong chases her as she runs back home. Hence he finds Cloud-Touching Cave, where BDK is.

BDK comes out, and he squares off with Wukong. BDK agrees to give him the fan if Wukong can best him three times in a fight, but gets called away to a banquet after just one round. He jumps on a water-repellent golden-eyed beast and heads to the banquet.

Yes, water-repellent.

Wukong stalks him to another mountain, where he loses track of him near Green Wave Lagoon. He transforms into a crab and sinks to the bottom.

Lo and behold, there is the water-repellent golden-eyed beast - and the banquet.

It's a beautiful sight:

Interestingly, footnote 9 explains that 'young boys' is 'malang',

which has multiple layers of significance here. One is that 'malang':

I couldn't find Yu's version of the story, but I found a video version and transcript.

Anyway. Generations of dragon spirits are hosting BDK as the guest of honour.

Wukong quickly proves that he is no James Bond. There is nothing clever about his attempt to infiltrate the banquet. He just walks right in, albeit in crab form.

He's seized immediately and threatened with death, but he pleads that he's just an ignorant bumpkin crab who didn't mean to cause any trouble. They decide to spare him and just kick him out.

Wukong figures that if he steals the water-repellent golden-eyed beast, it will help him to pass himself off as BDK, and he can trick Princess Iron Fan into handing over the fan.

He turns up at Iron Fan's place, riding the beast, and greets her disguised as BDK. Apart from the disguise, Wukong is, once again, incredibly bad at espionage. He just straight up asks her:

Subtle.

Iron Fan spits the tiny fan out of her mouth, where she's been hiding it, and gives it to him.

Wukong stares at the fan really blatantly: so much so that Iron Fan asks him what's up. It's like he isn't even trying to maintain cover at this point, because he straight up asks how such a small fan is meant to extinguish 800 miles of flames.

Iron Fan calls him out on how bizarre this question is, but answers anyway:

With this, Wukong reveals his true identity, just to spite her.

He runs off with the fan, which he enlarges to 12 feet, and then can't shrink again.

The real BDK arrives at Princess Iron Fan's place, but too late. He borrows Princess Iron Fan's swords and goes after Wukong.

And that's it for this chapter!

So why did I say Wukong thinks he's more of a stud than he is? Well, I cut that out along with most of the misogyny. Half the misogyny involved scenes where rich, attractive, powerful women threw themselves at men in highly implausible circumstances. I'm not even going to get into the other half. If you've read chapter 60 for yourself, all I can say is, yeah right, boys. In your dreams.

@journeythroughjourneytothewest

---

Image credits: The usual spiel. The images above are random pictures/videos from the web, some modified, some not. They are not original. Many of these are from the 1986 version of Journey to the West. The pre-existing images should turn up with reverse googling or have links embedded, but feel free to ask and I’ll dig up sources.

[korpikorppi]

蓝家家规

Lán jīa jīa gūi

Lan Clan Household Rules

云深不知处内不可攀树

Yúnshēn Bùzhīchù nèi bùkě pānshù.

Tree-climbing is not allowed in the Cloud Recesses.

Previous rule || Next rule

Breakdown:

云深不知处 - Cloud Recesses

内 - inside; interior; inner part or side

不 - [before a verb, adjective, adverb] no; not; won't; not want to

可 - can; to approve; to permit

不可 - cannot; should not; must not

攀 - climb; clamber; crab; cling to; hold onto; seek connections in high places

树 - tree; plant (verb); set up; establish; uphold

攀树 - tree-climbing

Alternative translations:

Climbing trees is not allowed in the Cloud Recesses.

I went for the straightforward translation with this one, and could not resist choosing the wording "tree-climbing" as it is (in English) said to also refer to short women people having sexual preference for very tall male partners... so, No climbing the Twin Jades! (says Uncle Qiren) 😄.

I was also wondering, given the other meanings of 攀 and 树 if this rule should actually have been translated more "figuratively" as "To seek to establish connections (with people) in high places is not allowed in the Cloud Recesses", as forbidding social climbing? But my trusty translation software tells me "social climbing" is 社会攀登 (shèhuì pāndēng), so perhaps the tree-climbing interpretation (with or without the Twin Jades 😁) is right, even if a rule against climbing trees sounds oddly specific (then again, the Lan...)?

Any mistakes in the translations or in the characters are mine, and if you spot any, please let me know 🙂.

The chosen images:

Ok, that particular tree-climbing (and jumping) scene took place in Lotus Pier, not Cloud Recesses, but it is pretty clear someone has never climbed a tree just for fun 😕.

And yeah, as this took place during the Unfathomable Redhead Era of the manhua, I had to fix the colouring a bit, because *repeat after me* Lan. Wangji. has. ink. black. hair. Canonically. (Oh, how I miss the original manhua art style 😭!)

[ariesgamesandminis]

Another huge restock for BattleTech from Iron Wind Metals has come in!

10-039 Recon Lance 20-041 Vincent MK 39 Corvette 20-192 Essex Destroyer (3057) 20-218 Crimson Langur 20-250 Anubis ABS-3L 20-255 Heimdall Monitor Tank 20-275 Heavy Tracked APC (2) 20-288 Enyo Strike Tank (2) 20-300 Odin Scout Tank (2) 20-310 Forestry / Forestry MOD Variants 20-353 Zephyr Hover Tank (2) 20-371 Light SRM Carrier (2) 20-385 Scarabus SCB-9A 20-391 Hauptmann HA1-O Prime 20-409 Joust Medium Tank (2) 20-421 Ronin SA-RN7 20-424 Bombardier BMB-12D 20-462 Sunder SD1-O Prime 20-5010 Koschei KSC-3I 20-5059 Septicemia E 20-5061 Osteon Prime 20-5070 Shen Yi SHY-3B 20-5089 Cizin Hover Tank (2) 20-5107 Malice MAL-XT 20-5108 King Crab KGC-009 20-5179 Neanderthal NTL-AG 20-5183 Locust LCT-1V 20-5186 Thunderbolt TDR-5S 20-5205 BattleMaster BLR-1G / 1Gb 20-5207 Black Knight BL-9KNT 20-5220 Jade Phoenix A 20-5226 Inferno INF-NO / INF-NOA 20-5227 Iron Cheetah L 20-5228 Mad Cat (Timber Wolf) A 20-633 Naga Prime 20-634 Epona Pursuit Tank Prime (2) 20-642 Berserker BRZ-A3 20-652 Mandrill 20-702 Corsair Fighter CSR-V12 20-707 Riever Fighter F-100 20-725 Cavalry Attack Helicopter 20-800 Hex Bases (4) 20-853 Panther PNT-9R 20-868 Dragon DRG-1N 20-873 Spider SDR-5V 20-900 Cicada CDA-2A 20-901 Trebuchet TBT-5N 20-938 Mars Assault Vehicle 99-201 Large Flat Top Hex Base #1 99-202 Large Flat Top Hex Base #2 99-207 Large Flat Top Hex Base #3 BT-002 Chrysaor Protomech BT-005 Grenadier Battle Armor BT-007 Rottweiler Battle Armor BT-026 Union (2708) BT-028 Cavalier Battle Armor BT-062 Hover Bike BT-063 Track Bike BT-066 Scout ATV BT-074 Corsair Micro Fighter BT-079 Eagle Micro Fighter BT-097 Chippewa Micro Fighter BT-130 Hauberk Battle Armor BT-134 Gray Death Legion Battle Armor BT-181 Tharkad Battlecruiser BT-189 Kobold Battle Armor BT-190 Purifier BA A (standing, wpn. forward) BT-193 Purifier BA D (2 pc) (kneeling) BT-238 VTOL Infantry BT-289 Gestalt D2X-G BT-319 Wheeled APC BT-321 Hover APC BT-332 Phoenix Hawk LAM MK I PHX-HK1 (Air Mech) BT-338 Yurei S-YR-1LAM (Air Mech) BT-361 Noruff Dropship BT-370 Kurita Infantry (3) BT-377 Satyr Protomech BT-381 Basic Inner Sphere Battle Armor (3) BT-382 Kanazuchi Battle Armor BT-388 Salamander Battle Armor (3) BT-391 Fenrir Battle Armor (1) BT-406 Trebaruna TR-XB BT-427 Balac Strike VTOL (Standard) & (LRM) BT-439 Black Wolf Battle Armor CE-003 No-Dachi 3X OP-109 XL Launcher Plates OP-112 Inner Sphere XL and XXL Launchers 20-440C Fireball Weapon Sprue 20-805B Flea FLE-15 Arm Sprue 20-863B Cyclops Head / Arm Sprue 20-907D Black Hawk-KU BHKU-O Arm Sprue

[baekura]

Happy birthday to my two little trouble makers!!

Taking a trip backwards in time to give these two "Birthday Boy" cards since I skipped over this design for their first birthday celebration.

Birthday boy card asset from @thoselethalarts. I traced the fish from a stock image and stylized it to be a pen sketch. The other surrounding images are stock.

More details/ramblings under the cut.

I just wanted to ramble about choices I made for these drawings without it cluttering up the main post lol. I had a lot of fun drawing these two and enjoyed the challenge trying to somewhat mimic the Twst style. I took a lot of notes and studied all of the Birthday Boy cards before getting started to make sure the ones I would draw felt authentic-ish. I noticed in Jade and Floyd's designs, the colors of their rosettes were inverted, and I figured that would work out well for Jett and Micah since their hair colors are inverted, as well.

Jett- He has a geode lapel pin to represent his love of stones/rocks since he collects them as a hobby. The crab to the upper left represents his favorite food; the rocks to the lower left again represent his intrigue with them, and the striped beakfish/barred knifejaw to the lower right represents the fish he resembles in his mermaid form. I wanted to used a drawing to resemble Jett's Unique Magic that allows him to get away with steal (almost) anything, but I couldn't really find any stock images I liked that would represent that well.

Micah- Her lapel pin isn't visible because of her hair, but it would have been a cassette tape to represent her love of music, especially getting to listen to them on cassettes. As with Jett, the striped beakfish/barred knifejaw to the upper left represents the fish she resembles in her mermaid form; the stack of pancakes in the lower left represent her favorite food; and the hand with the puppet represents her talent of puppetry. The puppet is also meant to subtly symbolize her tendency to lie; Pinocchio's nose is sometimes used to symbolize lies, but I didn't want to fully reference Pinocchio since she's not particularly inspired by that Disney franchise. So, I settled on using puppetry in general to symbolize her lying nature. And since Micah's Unique Magic allows her to convince others that her lies are the truth, the puppet is also a bit of a nod to her UM. I had considered using a stock sketch of a cassette tape instead to represent her love of music, but I couldn't find one that I really liked and wanted to use.

[sapphicgarland]

karkat or Dave playing animal crossing for the first time and getting really into it please!!!!

I interpreted this as davekat as it gave me more room to work with since I could have dialogue. It was a bit hard to expand on the prompt since there's no conflict but I did my best! I hope I made it cute enough to be interesting

“Okay, so how does this thing work?” Karkat asks as if they haven't had a Nintendo Switch for a whole year now.

Dave just shakes his head and gets up from the couch, once again showing him how to set it up. “How are you this bad with electronics?”

“Listen, last time I tried to do something more complicated than open a Google Chrome window I got a computer virus so bad it killed my crab dad. I think I'm allowed to just give up and accept that I shouldn't touch this shit.”

“Maybe you're right,” Dave says with a bit of a smile. “Okay, I got it hooked up. Ready?” He asks as he sits back down on the couch. 

Karkat follows and sits next to him, grabbing his pair of controllers. “Ready!”

“Okay, so, Jade said this isn't immediately two player so I figured we'll take turns setting up our characters and stuff and then play it together?”

Karkat nods in agreement, so Dave starts up his profile first and opens up Animal Crossing for the first time. “This game better be worth the $50 plus tax or I'm making Jade pay us back.”

Karkat laughs a bit and playfully slaps Dave's arm, a gesture that Dave has gotten used to over the years. No more flinching now that he knows it's a safe affection. “Shut up, I'm sure it'll be fine. Besides, it's not like we can't afford it.”

Dave just shrugs and goes quiet as the game continues. He mumbles the dialogue and text aloud so that he's not skipping too fast or too slow for Karkat. Karkat gives a chuckle, which causes Dave to stop and look at him. “what?”

“Oh, I just like the little voices,” he says with another chuckle. Dave cracks a small smile and nods in agreement before continuing. 

“pick your style…oh yes. The two genders; short hair or ponytail,” Dave chuckles.

“Hey they say style!” Karkat chuckles. “which will you choose?”

Dave lingers for a moment before just picking the short hair, non-pony tail one with a shrug and continues on. They debate on which island to pick before finally settling on the one with the River cutting the island straight through into 3 sections, and finally moving on.

“If you could only bring one thing…huh. What do you think, babe?” Dave asks.

Karkat thinks for a moment, “well, presumably there'd be something edible on the island. I'd say a lamp? Though I'd prefer aflashlight.”

“That makes sense but there'd be no electricity. Once the battery dies you're screwed if you can't make a fire.”

“You'd have to make a fire anyway to cook a lot of the food you'd be eating.”

“Ah but if you bring food you can buy yourself time until you can make weapons and figure out what's edible or not.”

“See, this is why I always say a survival guide based on the biome and general geographical location of the island.” *karkat says with a huff,* “why isn't that an option??”

Dave rolls his eyes and picks lamp, a small smile on his face, “because they don't have your brain, I guess.” 

They move on and finally arrive on the island. Their first two villagers are Canberra and Raold. They rush through Tom Nook's dialogue a bit, Dave reading it out loud quickly. They're bored at first, too much exposition for their taste. Though, Karkat isn't complaining, and Dave knows that this is just how games work sometimes. It probably means there's very little non-skippable dialogue for the rest of the game. 

“Finally.” Dave says as they are released into the wild to explore.”okay, we've gotta put up our tent. Where are we putting this bad boy, babe?” 

“Uhhh probably pretty close to the plaza right? I'm sure we'll be doing a lot of walking back and forth.”

“Agreed. I'm sure there's a way to move it in the future.” Dave sets the tent right next to the plaza. They go back and Dave finishes the beginning missions while Karkat watches. Eventually, Karkat's Head is in Dave's lap, just quietly watching as Dave gets their island ready. It takes a bit but eventually Dave stops and looks down,* “Okay, ready to join?”

Karkat nods and sits up. They switch profiles so that Karkat can get his character ready. 

“Okay, so should I just keep going or do we wanna switch back to your profile?” Karkat asks once his character is ready and his tent is placed.

Dave shrugs, “Nah. Go ahead and do some…uh….collecting? I was about to say mining,” he chuckled, “this isn't minecraft. Whatevering. I'll watch you for a while.

Karkat nods and just continues. Eventually Dave's head is on Karkat's lap, watching Karkat play. This continues for a couple of hours actually. Before long, almost everything that can be set up in just a day with no time travel is already set up. They switch profiles so that Dave can finish up some stuff that only he had permission to do (much to Karkat’s snarky disapproval). 

“I'm not sure what else to do for right now." Dave says after about another hour of playing with Karkat's Head in his lap. His hand goes down to pet through Karkat's hair a little. "I feel like we should wait for all this stuff to open up y'know? Like the museum and stuff.”

Karkat nods, “I mean we could grind a bit and get a bunch of…what was it, bells? But I don't want to sell all the resources and find out we actually needed them. Oh, we could bug the villagers, though.

Dave smiles a bit and nods, going to talk to Raold first and then Canberra. They both smile.

“aw the villagers are kind of cute. Okay, okay, I see what Jade meant,” Karkat admits. “I really like this game. It's cozy and really relaxing.”

Dave nods in agreement, “this is fun. We should play tomorrow too.”

[moonfurthetemmie]

Slaps mer AU on the table

This is going to need a little bit of Lore, and I’ll probably ramble on more than I need to, but this is Soft(ish) Supernova Propaganda.

So this thing has existed for aaaaages, this isn’t new.

Within the mer AU, we got:

- DINTIS and Jade and Obsidian

- wholesome JMV/DINTIS in its entirety, very soft very fruity

- Dreamswap

- Horror!Dreamswap

- weird royalty AU that would take way too long to explain right now. It explains a bit of lore, but that’s not really relevant right now.

The mer AU is also technically part of the very large Supernatural AU, but it’s treated as its own thing most of the time.

Mer come in many different shapes and sizes. Their fish half is a specific species of a fish, or other aquatic creature. The W!JMV/DINTIS part is the exception, because we wanted to commit to the fruit thing, but again that’d take too long to explain. It’ll make sense when the fruitverse stuff comes out

There are eels, jellyfish, crabs, and hagfish which I think aren’t technically fish. There may be whales also but I’m not sure

But there’s also leviathans.

Specific families (taxonomy) and species of mer are insanely huge, for reasons unknown to pretty much everyone.

These are:

- Sea dragons

- Whale sharks

- Hermit crabs

- Sea snails

- Crabs (not hermits)

Within the great big ocean, there’s a lot of mer. Including in the deepest depths of the ocean, where food is scarce.

This is where we decided the H!DS Idiots would live.

Due to reasons that boil down to “we said so”, they all get along well. Some of them still bicker constantly (in particular, Byte and Hunter’s relationship is just starting to be repaired), but they’re still friends.

Pluto is a Dumbo octopus

Byte is a Bluntnose sixgill Shark

Gouge is an Angel shark

Hunter is a Frilled Shark

Delusion’s also a shark, though we never figured what species.

Slash was originally a bull shark. And then we created the leviathans and said “what if Crab Slash?”

So she’s a giant fucking crab. Probably a bit like a crab centaur. I don’t think we figured out whether she human-like hands or actual crab claws, but in this exact instance I’m imagining both?

The sharks are only just bigger than her hands, and Pluto’s slightly smaller. We didn’t figure out her species either, I don’t think

Since she can’t travel as fast as them, or hunt the same, she, Byte, and Pluto do a little better with separation, but for the most part they stick especially close together.

If I remember right we said that her podmates had made sling/hammock things on her legs for when they’re all resting, and there were at least a couple of more permanent slings for carrying stuff. Mostly bones. For chewing. Because sharks are just sea puppies and all six of these guys are feral little shits.

Delusion’s emotional state is similar to normal H!DS, but since he’s not magically filling the void of his emotions with a happy aura he’s a little more expressive. He’s just actually emotionally constipated now.

It’s very easy to piss Slash off, but since she could easy kill everyone even if she wasn’t trying, her impulse control is…Impressive, actually. She could break another crab’s shell though. Or a sea snail’s. Quite easily.

On a much darker note…since food is so rare in the deep dark down deep down, a lot of mer down there will eat other mer if given the chance. Generally not of their own kind (other sharks, other jellyfish, etc. It’s not species-specific), but it’s not unheard of. It’s much rarer to see mixed pods down there, just because so many of them are incredibly mistrustful of others

The horror pod is not an exception. They will also hunt other mer. Very quickly, in fact.

The fact that Pluto’s with all these sharks, and the fact that all five of them are with Slash, says a lot about how much they trust each other. And how much Slash, who could easily grab ‘em and monch, cares for them.

Now. what we’re really here for:

Please. Please imagine a leetol shark Delusion and a giant crab Slash.

She hol gentol and smooches his head. He curls up on her shoulder when they all go to sleep. gentol nuzzles. bringing each other food.

They still bicker almost constantly, but it’s not as bad. At least in the sense that Slash isn’t actively trying to hurt him, and he’s not manipulating her to get his way.

…well. Sometimes hell convince her to give him a teeny (for her) fish like “It’s far too small to be satisfying for you.”

And then she calls him a greedy little bastard, but gives it to him.

They almost definitely hated each other when they first met so their friends pick on them for ending up together like this.

tiny shark and lorge crab. And they smoomch

Some additional AU trivia, unrelated to Supernova:

- Hunter is, surprisingly, the most aggressive. He needs to protect the others. Being passive isn’t going to help any of them. When it’s just him and his pod, though, it’s like a switch flipped and he’s really cuddly and sweet and flirty.

- Slash, as a crab, is a little less aggressive than her bullshark version, but only because a creature her size really needs to conserve energy. She and Gouge are still not that far behind Hunter in regards to aggression.

- Pluto is slow. Cecelia generally are slower than other mer. He’s mostly an ambush predator, though he does use the bioluminescent lures from some of his prey to lure in more creatures. They die after a while, with no nutrients coming to them anymore, but they usually attract other creatures with lures, so he has a fairly steady supply.

- Delusion and Byte are more cautious, but will still tear a bitch to shreds.

- whale falls. They love whale falls. Most mer do but whale falls are generally one of the few times they can all eat their fill in one sitting. Also bones

- sometimes the more bitey ones will chew on Slash’s legs. So long as they don’t crack the shell, she hardly feels it at all.

- unrelated to the H!DS part entirely, cecelias tend to experience a lot of racism. This was originally just a plot device. Now there’s lore.

- Cecelias also have three hearts, and can survive if one is damaged. With a more enhanced healing speed, they can recover from a lot of injuries. Pluto has a lot of scars.

- Jet and obsidian, cecelias, also have a lot of scars but that’s a story for another time