#like this is supposed to make me More Good At Arting not question my existance thank you very much

[the-mushroom-faerie]

hey uh tomorrows prompt is "something that represents [my] personality" and that's kinda giving me an existential crisis so I'm probably just gonna redraw an old drawing or something

[gallusrostromegalus]

You don't think matcha is tea????

Matcha isn't a Tea in my humble Opinion.

Matcha is an experience.

The year is 2009, the place is the University of Hawai'i at Manoa in Honolulu, and I am recovering from a still-undiagnosed disease that left me with a 100+ degree for over three weeks, extreme weight loss and permanent Brain Damage.  I have signed up for an introductory Art History class because I need an additional Humanities credit.

It's called "The History and Philosophy of the Japanese Tea Ceremony", and for a class I can only sort of remember, it stands out.

So I'm in professor Roberts' Japanese Tea Ceremony  class, looking and feeling like death warmed over, but I'm genuinely interested in the subject matter and show up to every class because I have nothing better to do, and ask questions and turn in my homework, even if neither are particularly coherent at times, and rapidly become his favorite student.  The thing I learned in public school was how to show up to events even if I don't want to, analyze tests and other written materials for patterns and charm educators by holding up my end of a conversation, skills that have served me in the modern world far more than learning actual course content would have.

The Tea Ceremony, historically, takes a good month to prepare and the entire evening to carry out- the guest list is curated to create social bonds and intellectual stimulation alike, a poem is composed for the season, and a seasonal flower arrangement created to decorate the space. When the guests arrive, they must all crawl through a small door to enter the tea garden, regardless of profession or rank.  Hands are ritually washed in spring water, and there is a slow processional walk through the garden, to admire the artistry of the landscaping, and the composition of seasonal elements to create this particular night of beauty.  The entire ceremony is about appreciating both the joy of existing right now, in this time and place, and the unification of the self and the universe and the endless cycles of nature. 

The guests arrive at the tea house and meet the Tea Master, who will be making the Matcha that evening. The guests are seated in particular order, the Most Revered Guest- sometimes a high-ranking official, sometimes a visiting scholar or artist- is seated closest to the Tea Master.  The Poem is read aloud.  The Flowers are admired.  The tools for making the Matcha are taken out, examined as objects of art, and their history told.  The matcha powder itself is taken out- the case examined, the cultivation of the tea discussed, and only then does the Tea Master make the Tea. 

Matcha is not brewed- it's a fine powder made of crushed green tea leaves, and the powder is whisked together with not-quite-boiling water in a bowl to create a much more substantial and flavorful drink.  This drink is presented to the Most Revered Guest first, who is expected to take a sip and, in a moment of Zen spiritual clarity, comment on its flavor and how all the elements of the tea, art, garden and season all complement each other, and perhaps offer some sort of philosophical statement.

At least,

That's how it's supposed to go.

About a month before the spring semester is over, Professor Roberts announces that he has a surprise for his class- a good friend of his, a Professional Tea Master, will be visiting Hawai'i, and has agreed to perform a Tea Ceremony for our class!  I am very excited. The other 10 people in class are varying levels of amiably confused to distressed by having to go to An Event (TM) for a grade, but agree. One of my classmates, an astrology hoe named Jessica, pointed out that with the 11 students, Professor Roberts, and the Tea Master, there will be 13 people present, which is basically inviting disaster.

"Jessica." Sighed Professor Roberts. "It's a Tea Ceremony. What disaster could happen?"

Despite Jessica's misgivings, Preparations for the ceremony went on.  We learned about Ikebana while deciding on the Ceremonial Bouquet and tried our hands at it with what Professor Robert could get at the grocery store for $12. We learned about calligraphy and different types of poetic compositions while making the Seasonal Poem, and stain the hell out of the classroom carpet learning the brush strokes.  We learn about different types of Matcha Bowl sculpting and glazing and we are not allowed to touch the demonstration bowls or the kiln because Professor Roberts was beginning to suspect that some of his students (me)  were suffering from coordination issues. I apply myself with zeal, if not necessarily talent.  I was, at the time, an Art Major, but my professors in the art department had been grading me on a secret "this bitch almost died last semester and is re-learning how to hold a pencil" curve, and boy howdy did I stumble and break leaves and splatter ink like it.

Despite my ongoing unmonitored recovery, Professor Roberts viewed my enthusiastic class participation with rose-colored glasses, and about a week before the ceremony we had a class where he brought out the used Kimonos and Obi and other forms of japanese dress he'd borrowed from the theater department so that we would be traditionally dressed(ish) and experience the ceremony authentically(ish).  While people were trying on clothes to see what would fit, he took me aside and told me he wanted me to be in the position of Most Revered Guest, the person who makes the zen statement upon which the entire event hinges.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" I asked.

"You're the only person who doesn't fall asleep in class and you talked about how the flowers stagger their blooms to not compete for the bees- you're perfectly engaged and conscious of the seasons!" He said, blindly. "You will need different shoes though."  He indicated my flip-flops.  "I won't make you learn how to walk in Geta, but nothing with Heels. Ballet flats are fine."

"...These are the only shoes I own." I said.

Professor Roberts stared at me.

"-I used to have a pair of sneakers but I think a homeless guy stole them while I was at the beach last month."

"What?" Roberts blinked.

"He probably needed them more than I do. I'll see if I can borrow some flats."

"...I don't think I've ever met a woman with less than 10 pairs of shoes."  Said Roberts.

"I'm not a woman, I'm and undergrad." I said, still three years away from learning the term 'Nonbinary'.  "Those are Jordan's only pair of shorts, you know." I pointed at my classmate, who had been wearing the one (1) pair of basketball shorts for the entire semester.

"I WASH THEM." Jordan shouted defensively, wearing the longest Men's Kinmo the theater department had, which barely came down to the top of his calves.

"Oh God." Said Roberts, a horrifying new world opening up to him like a tub of Expired sour cream.

*

It was the day of the Ceremony.

The Seasonal Theme we'd worked on was "The Turn Of Summer", and the weather was complying maliciously. 

Normally, Tea Ceremonies are scheduled for the more temperate evening, but due to the school needing to host something in the adjoining cultural center later, we could only use the Tea Garden in the middle of the afternoon, and the summer sun was a sweltering 98 degrees and a similar level of Humidity.  The Camelias were melting.

Where Jordan had difficulty finding a Kimono that suited his ent-like proportions, I'd had the opposite problem and the only Kimono short enough to not trip my Hobbit-sized self was a Child’s size.  My roommate had helped me get into the Kimono and Obi before the ceremony, and leant me a pair of her Ballet Flats, but we discovered an issue- this Kimono was designed for a flat-chested prepubescent youth, and even though I barely scraped 5'0", I had the robust proportions of an Irish Peasant, and the only way to avoid displaying a frankly offensive amount of cleavage was to use the widest Obi we could find and sort of tuck my boobs into it. 

"Hm" I said. "Kind of hard to breathe."

"Yeah, but you're sitting for most of it, right?  It can't last more than an hour, so just like, shuffle and don't talk much?"  She suggested.

To her credit, the first forty-five minutes of the ceremony only involved shuffling through the gardens and not talking while the Tea Master lectured us on some of the finer points of the garden's design. 

But then we got to the Tea House- a small structure only barely able to accommodate the 13 of us, which was in the shade but hotter than the outside because of the roaring fire in the middle of the room, where the water for the Matcha was boiling.  The room was surrounded by a narrow sort of porch, part of which hung over the Koi pond, where several massively overfed carp blurbled expectantly for treats at the arrival of humans. I sat down, legs folded under me like Professor Roberts had insisted, and realized that this pushed the Obi UP, and now my rib cage was being compressed in all directions.

I tried to pay attention to the rest of the ceremony, but two and a half hours is an awfully long time to listen about lecturers you've already heard when your body is undergoing a sort of internal horserace to see if the heatstroke, sciatica pain and numbness, allergies or suffocation-by-compression will cause you to pass out first.  My legs had gone numb below the knee by the time we were done with the flower arrangement.  My entire legs were numb before we were done with the Poem.  By the time the Tea Utensils came out, I was seeing spots of colored light in my vision and could only breathe if I focused on it very, very hard.

But! The ceremony was genuinely interesting! and Professor Roberts was counting on me!  So I did my best not to sway or throw up from watching the Tea Master whisk the Matcha, and dutifully took the bowl with a pair of hands that felt like slabs of ham that I was attempting to puppet from another dimension, and took a sip.

They say that Smell and Taste are far more closely connected to the emotional centers of the brain than any other sense, and I believe it because the instant I inhaled both the grassy, powdery smell, and tasted the moderately viscous bubbly liquid, I experienced an intense flashbulb memory back to a previous late May-

The Year was '98, the place was my elementary school art room, and we'd been using the seasonal hot weather to paint on a massive scale as the art dried quickly- each third-grader had been given a roll of butcher paper, a cheap brush, squirts of non-toxic paint and a water cup, and allowed to go hog-wild on our murals, and the rush of creative energy and the imminent sense of freedom as the semester drew to a close truly embodied the summer of youth, carefree but with an almost psychotic fervor, where lack of care was both freeing and dangerous as you lost track of your surroundings in the act of creation-

Which isn't a bad seasonal-philosophical connection statement to make, but the actual words that came out of my mouth were:



"Wow. This tastes exactly like paint."



The first sound I heard after the moment of silence was the cartoonishly loud gasp of horror from Professor Roberts, which was almost immediately drowned out by the thunderclap of laughter from the Tea Master, slapping his thighs and wiping tears from his face, unable to stop. I desperately tried to explain the connection between the fact I might be dying of heat stroke right now, and how I ended up drinking my paint water back in Mrs. Krantz's art class because back then I was also dying of heat stroke, but mostly ended up wheezing half-formed sentences as the rest of the class took sips and offered opinions varying between "Wow, that's thick. Like a Hot smoothie." and "Oh yeah, it tastes like summer. Like how a freshly-mowed lawn smells like summer." Professor Roberts slowly melted into a pile of shame, and the Tea Master slapped him on the back, still howling with laughter.

"They're honest! Nobody else will be honest!  This is magnificent!"  he wheezed.

Eventually, everyone had their taste, and the ceremony was concluded.  The second the Tea Master had packed up his tools and stepped outside for a breath of fresh air, Professor Roberts was in my face.

"HOW COULD YOU SAY THAT?" he hissed, grabbing my arm and pulling me up. "GO APOLOGIZE RIGHT NOW!"  he shoved me out onto the porch where the Tea Master was looking at the Koi, who had started bubble-begging aggressively again.

Except that my legs felt like blocks of wood that my pelvis was renting from another planet where legs hadn’t been invented yet, my vision was entirely static between the dehydration and lack of oxygen, and my vestibuar system had fucked off an hour ago, leaving me to stay upright by purely by the virtue of the over-tightened Obi.  So instead of bowing and apologizing profusely like my professor expected, what I actually did was stumble out of the room, say something like "Hsdfkf" and topple head-first into the koi pond.

Fortunately, the impact of the bottom of the pond with the top of my skull activated a sort of last-resort emergency self preservation system and I inhaled with enough force to break the Obi-Jime and probably a couple ribs from the pain that hit both my sides like lightning.  Unfortunately, the thing I was inhaling was fish-shit riddled Pond Water, so my emergency self-preservation system ordered an even harder Exhale. 

The Tea Master, to his immense credit, had immediately jumped in after me, and pulled me upright just in time for me to forcibly exhale half a gallon of rancid pond water directly into his face, then start screaming.  Screaming is an extremely appropriate reaction to have when injured, because it alerts everyone that you require medical attention, but is very unpleasant to experience from four inches away, which is probably why he then immediately dropped me.

Fortunately the pond wasn't very deep and this time I sat there, scream-gasping as my lungs reinflated, Koi fish burbling and sucking at me with tremendous excitement, until the EMT from the campus clinic arrived, a vanguard before the actual ambulance.

"Okay uh. You're bleeding." he said, cautiously wading into the pond.

I opened my eyes to find that I had apparently acquired a large and profusely bleeding head wound, which had activated some long-suppressed Shark Instincts in the Koi, which were eagerly gumming at the streams of blood and trying to suck on my forehead. "Good thing they don’t have teeth." I said in the distant bliss that only zen masters and people with serious head injuries get to experience.

"Do you want a towel?" he asked, helping me up.

"No, this is rather refreshing, actually." I said, still absolutely smashed on endorphins, Koi still enthusiastically swarming at my kneecaps.

"I mean like for your-"  the EMT Gestured Vaguely at my torso.

I looked down and realized that not only had I broken the Obi-jime, the entire Obi had come undone and was floating several feet away, and I was only wearing the Kimono, fallen completely off my shoulders and was only being prevented from performing a full Lady Godiva by the valiant efforts of the safety pin my roommate had put in to keep it folded correctly while we figured out the Obi.

"Professor Roberts?" I stood up all the way, soaking wet, bleeding from my forehead with such force as to create actual streams of blood down my face, neck and chest, tits out, and addressed the poor man standing, white-faced on the deck above the pond.  "I don't think I'm going to be in class on Monday-" I paused to fish a small Koi that had gotten trapped in the remains of the now-ruined Kimono, and tossed it back into the pond. "-Can I schedule a make-up exam for the Final?"

"FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, GET IN THE AMBULANCE!" He screamed.

I was x-rayed for a skull fracture, but my lifelong membership to the Lactose Tolerance Club had protected me, and I happily texted my roommate to come pick me up as "They x-rayed my head and found nothing" while the doctor stitched part of my scalp back together.

The following morning, I discovered that Professor Roberts had graded my exam before I took it.  100%. Truly, the best way to get a good grade on your finals is to get a serious head injury.



So, Matcha is not a Tea, in my humble opinion.

Matcha is an Experience.

And sometimes that experience is drinking something almost exactly like paint, ruining an important cultural ceremony, traumatizing your professor,  and introducing a bunch of fish to the taste of human flesh.



***

If this made you laugh, there are more funny stories on My Patreon, or you can help support me by tipping my Ko-Fi. Thank You.

[featureenvyproductions]

ARE Y'ALL READY FOR THIS THING I MADE THAT I WANNA MAKE YOU WATCH

*drum roll* My first traditionally 2d animated short is done (well. Done enough. Not perfect but it's just an informal practice thing so you know what it's fine for that) BEHOLD

Sound on for questionable quality keyboard noises

So yeah this is a little experiment I churned out in a month of neglecting other more important projects....it's supposed to be like.....the feeling of slumping into burnout and then the ups and downs of trying to get out of it? does it make sense...?

But yeah basically it's traditional animation - like ink and paint on cels and composited and scanned manually. More rambling under the cut. :)

I kinda made this bc it annoys me the mainstream has decided this is an obsolete art form and I'm protesty about it because IT'S ART IT DOESNT BECOME OBSOLETE JUST BC SOFTWARE EXISTS DO NOT PASS GO DO NOT COLLECT 200 DOLLARS.

I did cheat a little and digitally cut the water and copy-pasted it onto some frames but that's because I could find ONE TRANSPARENT BLUE SHEET IN THE ENTIRE METROPOLITAN AREA I KID YOU NOT. and I didn't want to cut my only precious water sheet in case something went wrong or I had to redo a shot. But everything else is pretty manual.

Also the music is op 76 no 2 by Sibelius - ATTEMPTED 🙃. Sorry some notes are just SO QUIET but it's good enough it's whatever. My level of piano skill is like. Not professional by any stretch of the imagination and this is about as good as I can do rn.

Oh and backgrounds are generally various kinds of charcoal with ink

anyway hope you at least found my project interesting thanks for watching

(actually not to make it weird but my whole life has led up to me trying this and I blame Joe Murray for making me want to be an animator when I was a little kid and I always wanted to try this kind and now I finally had the time and money and enough drawing skills to try it so yeah it's not like friggin Disney or whatever but I am happy I got to make it exist. feels like I checked a thing off my bucket list)

[shuttershocky]

what do you make of samurai remnant so far? As it's a weeb game, I don't expect any of the normal review sites I trust to cover it

I /hate/ Musou combat and I'm sick of Servants, so me avidly talking about this game means it's way better than even my biases can overlook.

Here's the thing: the vast majority of Type-Moon games fucking suck, because they make visual novels, not video games. "The story's good enough to make you play through this abomination" is the battlecry of Fate/Extra fans. If it wasn't for Melty Blood they might not even have any games where people play for the actual game.

This is not the case with Fate/Samurai Remnant. It's not here to blow your mind out of the water, but it's clearly a title made by people who are both great fans of the source material and are very experienced with producing games on a budget. Solid execution all-around from combat design to character art to environments.

The most notable thing about FSR though is that this game cares a lot about how things are supposed to feel. I've talked enough about how great it is to have Servants feel like real powerhouses again, but this level of care exists within the rest of the game.

"How would it feel to be partners with a superpowered being?" is the defining question informing the majority of the game design. If there's a high place you can't climb without a ladder, Saber simply throws you up there with their superhuman strength. If you're squeezing through a tight alleyway, Saber simply reappears via magic on the other side, sometimes getting ahead of you and waving mockingly while Iori can only grumble and slowly pull his fleshy human body along a tight crevice. There is actual destruction in the aftermath of the first Servant battle that you can see for yourself, which informs Iori's motivation of putting an end to this death game. Iori's neighbors express relief that he's safe because they saw his house explode, or tell him about the whereabouts of his sister Kaya, making the town feel just a little bit more like a setting Iori actually lives in.

As Iori's relationship with Saber grows, the game also tacks on more and more mechanics involving their cooperation. At the very start, Saber cannot be controlled whatsoever and is entirely dependent on the AI. As you progress though, you unlock the ability to give Saber commands and even play as them for a short time. But that's not all, Saber's AI will also start to cooperate with you, following up on enemies that Iori knocks away with a finishing move, or calling for special partner moves called Link Strikes. When you're in trouble, there's even a chance Saber will come rescue you, activating a quick time event where they lock blades with the enemy, attempting to push them back.

This is what the whole game is like. Samurai Remnant doesn't have the resources of an AAA game with an army of developers to create features like ultra HD 4k textures for all environments or realistically shrinking testicles, but you can feel most ideas started with a question of "What would it be like to have Saber here and how do we depict that in some way?" Saber would be fascinated at modern (17th century) Japan, so they often run from place to place pointing out new things to gawk at and demanding explanations from Iori. They didn't have food stalls, paper, or money in their life, so Iori has side missions to buy from every food stall to satiate Saber's hunger, which murders your wallet in-game as you are a poor ronin living hand to mouth every day and need odd jobs to make money.

It feels good to play, and not even as a Type-Moon fan where a lot of these things are something I've been asking for. I mean it's good to see another mid budget game that's neatly focused on simple, solid execution. Most review sites are giving it around a 7.5-8/10, and I'm telling you this isn't a 7.5 from a Type-Moon fan pleading with you that playing Fate/Extella's Altera route makes it actually worth it, this is a 7.5 from people seeing a decently hefty, well-made title.

[average-mako-enjoyer]

Bigots and Failed Promises of Mass Effect games

(I had this thing in my drafts for almost a month, and it would have stayed there if not for the wonderful post by @androidtrashfire, because I saw it, and I was like: "Fuck it, I have to rant about these games." I love Mass Effect, and I really think we should critique it. We should criticize things we love because silence = compliance.)

So I was talking to @liss-art recently about the bigoted fans in the Mass Effect fandom, and I think I need to make a post about it because it's something that really, truly bothers me, and it needs to be addressed.

Canon

Mass Effect is a story about deeply flawed people with a lot of problems, and through them it touches on issues like xenophobia, sexism, corruption, elitism, morality, identity. That's why we like it, right? But why are there so many bigots in the fandom? My theory is that it happens because Mass Effect, for all its supposed complexity, only touches on these issues without giving any meaningful commentary on them.

Here are a few obvious examples:

The Quarians are a distasteful allegory of the Roma people (right down to their accents). They are persecuted and ostracized for creating Geth, but the game never gives us any socio-political reasons why the Quarians did that. They just developed real AI because they were naive and stupid? Or because they were the only ones smart enough to do it? Did they do it in secret? Why did other races not make the same mistake?

Same with the Batarians. Yes, the game mentions tensions between humans and Batarians because humans try to claim territories that Batarians think are theirs, but that's about it. Batarians are all racist slave traders and they're bad, don't think about it, here's some memes about 300,000 of them dying, good job. And yes, I know you can read more about their history in the Codex (why is it an Asari who writes about Batarian history,btw?), but it's basically the same thing as saying D*mbledore is gay (I really am sorry for this reference). If no one ever mentions this rich Batarian history, then it doesn't exist.

And please don't get me started on Hanar. They "mercifully" saved the Drell by inviting them to their planet, immediately assimilated them into their own faith and also put them in conditions where they have to train as assassins from the ripe old age of 6 and eventually die of sci-fi lung cancer. But don't worry about it, Drell actually love to serve the Hanar, they do it willingly and consider their servitude an honor. Do you really want to criticize some stupid jellyfish who talk funny? Do you really want to talk about why the so-called Council races do nothing about it? LOL

Another thing the trilogy does is present entire races, including humans, as amorphous blobs. Do all Asari believe in the same "goddess"? Do all Turians obey the same Primarch? Well, what's important is that all humans in this bright future speak English.

But what about the genophage? That's a profound story, right? Well, not really, and it raises more questions than it answers. We hear a lot about how brutal, aggressive, and short-tempered Krogans are, but every single Krogan we meet is extremely well-mannered, and they only resort to violence against other races in dire circumstances. So why not save them? Does the game really present you with this moral dilemma or not?

And can anyone tell me why Salarians are allowed to abduct and experiment on sentient beings, and why Turians are allowed to wage wars? Why does no one talk about Asari in this context?

I really want to say that at least the characters are well written, but I can't because they're not.

Kaidan is a good example of this. We are told about his implant, we are told that he has chronic pain, but do we see him suffer from it? Do we see him in those moments of weakness and vulnerability?

The scene where he gets annoyed with Jenkins acting like he's a circus monkey who has to do a trick and biotically throws a cup at him was cut from the game. We occasionally hear him mention some of the side effects of his migraines ("Too many lights, too much noise"), but that's about it. What has happened to "show, don't tell"? And no, I'm not saying that the writers should feed me the story or walk me through it. What I am saying is that if you gloss over your characters' mistakes, flaws, and circumstances, you're getting people to ignore them. Do people who call Kaidan "boring" and insult him think about how his chronic pain, his trauma from Brain Camp, and the loss of Jenkins and Ashley affect who he is? Hell no.

Thane is another great example. What Mass Effect is telling us as a story is that you can completely abandon your family and your child and be forgiven if your reason for doing it is good and heroic enough. Like avenging your dead wife, because of course there has to be a dead woman thrown somewhere.

Everyone's favorite Garrus (mine too) is a cop whose character arc basically consists of deciding that he is above the law (since the law forbids him from killing people he thinks should die) and then involving his squadmate/friend/partner (depending on your playthrough) in the public assassination of his former squadmate, whom he never even bothered to confront first. Are there any consequences for Garrus for his actions? No. Again, it's all glossed over, and that's unfortunate because it removes the conflict and therefore the character development and depth.

And if you're going to tell me that ME is just a space opera, and that I should just enjoy the spectacle and the romance, then I'm going to tell you that I know that, and that I think it's a wonderful spectacle, and that some of the romance subplots are absolutely amazing story-wise, but the superficial commentary (or lack thereof) on the most important issues that ME covers actually harms the audience.

Fandom

On the one hand, we have people making mods that remove all the clothes from all the female characters (or remove all of femShep's organs and replace them with giant tits). We have people reposting that horrible, horrible art of Miranda and Jack fighting, tearing each other's hair and clothes, and maleShep smirking and saying "I should stay". We have people who say ME2 is the best game in the series because "there are no f*gs". On the other hand, we have people saying things like "there are two Commander Shepards - female and the wrong one". We have people who say "only weird people play as dudebro in 2024". We have people who think that simply playing as a female character is some kind of feminist statement, and that it makes them better and smarter than everyone else (the same people who use the term "dude gamer" as an insult). And all of those things are kind of the trilogy's fault.

Both maleShep and femShep have the same story. The only differences are the romance options, sexist remarks directed only at femShep, and flirtations from various NPCs directed only at femShep. What this tells you is that sexism exists in the Mass Effect universe, and only women suffer from it. It also tells you that only women are worth flirting with.

Another thing this game does (and modern games like Cyberpunk do the same thing) is equate the female experience to the male experience by giving both femShep and maleShep the same lines.

So there are some mixed signals here. Sexism exists and doesn't exist in this universe, Shepard is both genderless and very gendered, romances with underdeveloped characters are all over the place, and bigots thrive in this kind of environment.

The lack of commentary, the lack of perspective, the disastrous worldbuilding allows you to freely choose your sexist, racist adventure and not be punished by the story in any way.

Mirrors

There's a passage from Solaris that I absolutely adore and think about often.

"We don't want to conquer the cosmos, we simply want to extend the boundaries of Earth to the frontiers of the cosmos. […] We have no need of other worlds. We need mirrors. We don't know what to do with other worlds. A single world, our own, suffices us; but we can't accept it for what it is."

I think that perfectly describes what Mass Effect is as a universe. And in a way, it's a reason why it's so compelling. It's just empty enough for us to invest in it, to fill in the blanks of that narrative with the stories of our own. And it's also a reason why this fandom is a fucking hellscape.

[l0ves1ckf0ol]

ISSUES. . . . xavier thorpe x gn!reader

"after that night he knew it was you all along."

genre: hurt/comfort

part 1

tags: @gutterrataesthetic

semestral break begins, students went home. well, most of them. you however decided to stay behind, after all the events that happened with wednesday you didn't want to go home to your family annoying you with questions about her. it's also because if you go home you would see xavier more since your father was close friends with mr. thorpe it wouldn't help you because your cause was to ignore him to get rid of the feelings that you felt for him. yes, he's a nice guy, and yes he probably is worth the wait- you just didn't want any distractions, or so you would call him.

you couldn't shake the memory of the night where you visited xavier in prison. you were sure you were going insane, but after that meeting you pretty much avoided xavier.

truth be told, he really is a good guy. you just worry for him because wednesday treats him like shit and he still seems to chase her around. you also thought of his trust issues towards bianca, he definitely did not have a great childhood. you didn't want to do something wrong and he'd go along with it, you were scared of hurting him unintentionally.

but thus, the universe ignored your prayers and there he was, sitting at one of the picnic tables at the quad, waiting out the laze of the semestral break.

it was nighttime thankfully, more places to hide within the shadows, though you could move and travel in shadows, your figure ought to be seen, kind of like how peter pan has his own shadow.

you weren't so lucky that evening.

xavier lowers his sketchbook to his lap and stared at the cobbled wall that you were hiding in, the warm candlelight illuminating your shadow. you held your breath, did he see you? "y/n?"

you cursed mentally and walked out the walls, as if it was a portal.

"didn't know you stayed behind for sembreak." you muttered, approaching him. you couldn't walk away now. do you even want to?

xavier closed his sketchbook and placed it on the table along with his pencil. "my dad's busy anyways." he sighs, sadly. you almost felt bad. "well you know, i'm supposed to be going home now, they gave me an earful earlier this afternoon rambling on and on about addams and how she must be making her parents proud and bla bla bla" you told him with a laugh, he chuckled.

he kept giving you this look, as if he was waiting for something- expecting from the lazy poltergeist.

"i haven't been talking to you lately after you got bailed out. you okay?" xavier scoffed, "don't give me that. you were the one ignoring me, why should you ask." he muttered bitterly. you sighed through your nose, "because i'm your friend, thorpe. believe it or not." you told him stiffly, crossing your arms. xavier stood up, towering over you.

"you're one to talk about being friends, you just pop up in my life when i'm in doubt, whenever i'm feeling low. you're like my personal therapist." he told you and you chuckled sarcastically, "oh i'm sorry, for trying to cheer you up. should i stop? i gladly will." you slightly raise your voice and he notices this, he has never heard you yell before. "it doesn't feel like we're even friends anymore, y/n." he clarifies. you stare at him, raising a brow.

"we used to meet up at the art studio, copy off of each other's homework, literally skipping class together- you never talk to me anymore. it's like i don't exist unless you feel the need to comfort me, i'm not a child." xavier argues, you wanted to shove him and run away right now but you had to face him somehow. you swallowed harshly, trying to restrain yourself from saying something stupid, but you did.

"you're one to talk about my own flaws when you can't even see what's happening right in front of you." you shot back, breathing heavily, you felt provoked by him. xavier's face scrunched up in confusion, "what do you mean??" he demands.

"hello! i get that you're head over heels for wednesday, and by seeing how she treats you? you can't even fucking see that, xavier." you told him, practically yelling at him now. he was stunned, he always saw you- carefree, wild spirited and funny. now you were an angry grenade about to go off. "your daddy issues are fucking showing xavier. i just want you to feel i'll be right here whenever a certain someome treats you wrong. because frankly, for some reason i can't get enough of you." you went off, stammering between your words as you're not used to arguing someone so tall and intimidating. xavier scoffed, picking up his materials and walked away.

you scowled, in disbelief "you're seriously walking away?" you tested him, he didn't turn around, your heart falls to the pit of your stomach, a feeling you loathed. "i don't even know why i like you!" you yell after him and ran straight to the shadows.

did he hear that right? xavier stopped in his tracks, looking behind him. you were gone. he didn't know why you said that, he didn't want to like wednesday, after that night- he knew it was you all along. you were there whenever wednesday wasn't, you were there when bianca couldn't make it. it was all you. he needed to find you. more or less in your dorm, that'd be creepy he thinks. whatever you said was the truth, he had issues. you were there to stick around and see how that unfold. you don't like racing, you didn't like pursuit, which is why xavier begins to theorize that you don't want to be some sort of an option to him. you just wanted to be there for him.

he didn't want to be a creep really, so he sat outside your door, sketching away into the night, hoping to catch you, sooner or later fell asleep.

you open the door, you couldn't sleep and figured might as well go do something. then you saw him. layed down on the floor, using his sketchbook as a pillow and his pencil right beside him. he looked ridiculous you could've laughed. he looked so at peace, lately its always been a sour face or a forced smile, now he's slightly drooling but at peace.

you knelt by him and traced your index finger on his nose, his cheekbones, his jaw, hearing him breathe gently caused you to feel more regret.

"y/n?" he slowly opens his eyes to see you, blinking twice to process what you were doing as you pulled back your hand so quickly. "you have a dorm, idiot. good night." you mumbled towards him, making him pout as you felt an arm reach out to you and a hand grasping yours, not letting you go. not this time.

"'m sorry." he hums softly, getting up as he's yet again tugging your sweater sleeve like a little boy, inviting you to sit next to him. so you did, he was only looking at you now, a look with dreadful longing. "i've loved you since forever. did you know that?" he told you, his words slurring due to being a little bit tired than usual. "i mean i did like bianca, but at first it was just for you to stop avoiding me." he huffs out, childishly frustrated, leaning his head against your shoulder. "don't talk about wednesday anymore, she was just another lookalike. you both dress the same, you used to braid my hair when we were kids- she reminded me of you." xavier whispers to your ear. "admit it, you were pretty dang attracted to wednesday too." you chuckled, thinking the same.

"i had a feeling you liked me back, i just thought you didn't want to be friends with me anymore." xavier muttered, you hum in thought. "hey please. talk to me, don't leave me hanging..." he huffs.

"prove it, that you like me." you told him, xavier gave you his sketchbook. "here."

you flutter through the pages, it was either you or your shadows, a drawing caught your eye though. it was when you were coming out of a wall, at the rave'n dance, wearing a flawless white suit, your hair styled in a different way. "want more proof?"

you looked at him as he was 3 inches closer to your face. "sure." xavier held your cheek and caressed it with his thumb, pressing your lips against his. finally, a moment you waited and loathed for.

[graceful-not]

SORRY IM INSANE??????? WHAJT THE FUCK??? I CANT EVEN FOCUS ON WHATEVE NYA AND JAY ARE DOING RIGHT NOW THERE'S ANOTHER FUCKING ZANE???? MY BOY???? EXHO???? DI WE EVER SEE HIM AGAIN??? ISTG IF THEY JUST LEAVE HIM IN THIS LIGHTHOUSE AFTER THIS WHY ARE THEY NOT FREAKING OUT?!?????? HE WAS STUCK HERE THIS WHOLE TIME?? WHY DID DR JULIEN NOT SAY ANYTHING IM INSANE?!?!?? HES SO RUSTED IM. I. ok I actually really like the steampunk vibes VS zanes more modern ones but HUH???? JULIEN JUST LEFT HIM HERE?!?!??? ok good they're fixinyg him up but ????? WHYAT???? I LITERALLY. HUH. HUH SO DOES ZANE HAVE ABROTHER THEN??? IVR NEVRR HEARD OF TJIS GUY WHICH MEANS HE ISNT RLLY IMPORTANT BUT I. THERE ARE SO MABY GODDAMN IMPLICATIONS THIS SHOULD BE SO IMPORTANT I. WHY ARE THEY BRUSHING THIS OFF??? I UUST GOOGLED IT AJD HE WAS SUPPOSED TO HAVE AN ARC BUT IT WAS TOO COMPLIXATED SO THEY CUT IT??? WHY ADD HIM??? THE ROLE COULD BE FULFILLED BY TAI-D WHY WOULD YOU GIVE ME TJIS AND THEM RIP IT AWAY FRO ME. IM SO WORKED UP IM DOING THE FLAPPY HAND STIM AND I /NEVER/ DO THE FLAPPY HAND STIM. WHAT THE FUCK. WHAT THE FUCK. IM INSANE ABOUT ECJO?? AND THEN THEY JUST LEAVE HIM??? I DJONT GIVE A FUCK ABOUT NADAKHAN WHRE IS MY BOY? MY SON?? WAS HE JUST IN THE SECRET BASEMENT WHILE JULIEN GREETED THE OG ZANE?!?????? I CAN'T DO THID WHAT THE FUCK. THIS IS SO TRAGIC. WHERE IS HE GIVE HIM BACK TO.ME. WHY WERE THEY ACTING LIKE HES JUST SOME CONVENIENT WEAPON OR TOOL HES A WHOLE ASS PERSON?? LIKE THEYRE SO NONCHALANT ABOUT IT ALL "aww awesome we have another Zane at our disposal!" HES A WHOLR PERSON. HE HAS FEEKINGS??? LIKE HE FEELS THINGS HES NOT JUST A COOL WEAPON??? IF THAT WAS A HUMAN CHILD THEYD HAVE BROUGHT HIM WITH THEM???? I CANT DO THIS WHAT THE FUCK

ECHO ECHO ECHO MY SON IS BACK MY BOY MY SON MY DARLING MY SWEETHEAR COME HERE I NEED TO PICK YOU UP AND KISSYS YOU. he seems. okay with being in there??? has he ever left the lighthouse??????? does he KNOW what's out there??? HE CANT HAVE UNTIL JULIEN LEFT BC OF THE KRAKEN THING SO??? HAS HE EXPLORED SINCE THEN IS THAT WHY HE SEEMS SO CONTENT THERE??? HE DOESNT MIND BEING LEFT THERE?!???? I DONT UNDERTSTAND. HES JUST CHILL. LIKE *salutes* yessir! NO ECHO!! ASJ QUESTIONS!! I LOVE YOU BUT RHAT WHOLE SEQUENCE WAS FOR NO REASON HE ADDS NOTHING TO THE REPLACEMENT NINJA TEAMM. WHY DID THEY GIVE ME THIS WHOLE ASS CHARACTER WITH 300000 IMPLICATIONS AND THEN JUST NOT MAKE HIM RELEVANT AT ALL!! HE DIDNT EVER NEED TO BE THERE I HONESTLY WISH HE DIDNT EXIST BC NOW IM GONNA BE THINKING ABT HIM FOREVER!!! WHAT THE FUCK!!! ZANE WHY ARE YOU CHILL ABOUT HIS EXISTENCE "I see you brought some friends" YOU SHOULD BE FREAKING YOUR SHIT RIGHT NOW!!!! WHAT THE FUCK???? YOUR DAD BUILT THAT DUDE THATS SO FUCKED UP. TJATS UR BROTHER. THATSUR FUCKING BROHTER. AND THEN THEY JUST RESET TIME???? SO HES STILL IN THAT GODDAMN LIGHTHOUSE IM INSANE??? HES STILL IN THERE IS HE FUCKING ALIVE??!???? WHAT??? IS HE OKAY??? IM INSANE IM LITERALLY INSANE. AND UR TELLING ME TJEY NEVER MENTION OR DO ANYTHING WITH HIM AGAIN?!??? IM INSANE ABOUT THIS. IM INSANE. I CANT DO THIS WHAT THEFUCKN????? AUUAUAUAU. WHAT? HUH. WHATA???I need to find contebt of him right nowwhy is it all just shipping with Morro. good for them I guess but I don't CARE about the gay ghost what the FUCK is echos DEAL!!! WHAT IS UP WITH HIM???? ITS LITERALY ALL CITRUSSHIPPING ART WHERE IS ANY SPECULATIVE LORE??? WHAT ABOUT HIM AND ZANE WHATS THEYRE DEAL WHAT IF THEY METM WOULD TJEY BE BROTHERS?? IM HAVING SO MANY THOUGHTS RIGHT NOW. Zane deserves a little bro dude... another one I mean. falcon and Tai-D can be bestfriends. I'm insane I'm fucking insane. I love Morro and all but goddamn that's really all there is here shdbsjdb. it's cute and all but very "what if errytjung was ok and they were alive and we didn't have to worry about canon" but WHAT ABOUT THE OTHERS??? DO JAY ABD NYA JUST NEVER TELL ANYONE?!?!?? THATS A WHOLE ASS SAPIENT BEING??? HES LITERALY CONSCIOUS??? WHAT THE FUCK. YOU LEFT A WHOLE ASS PERSON BEHIND THATS SO FUCKED UP. IM INSANE.

[stromuprisahat]

"I didn’t know whether to laugh or scream."

Siege and Storm- Chapter 15

Oh nein! Mal has issues! With consequences of his actions he should be grateful for, and his girl not sharing every waking thought with him, when her worst worries spring from his most hated topics- the Darkling and her role in politics.

And Alina once again feels responsible for his feelings.

Yeah, this would have a bit more weight, if Alina didn't do it only for appearances' sake. Or if she granted the position due to merit, not random pick of what she views as the lowest low. Or if she didn't continue speaking as if she were a narrator of wildlife documentary, describing a new species of animal that just appeared.

Not necessarily, but it's one of Alina's less far-fetched deductions.

Aleksander could've been aware of David's fascination with Morozova's work. He could've picked the most skilled in bonework or the one most experienced in forging amplifiers- they're supposed to be rare, so not many Fabricators will have that.

*mumbles* And somehow we're to believe this pragmatic man chose to follow Alina, because... ? She's the good one, or whatever?!

*chants* Double agent Kaminsky, double agent Kaminsky!

Alina: Why would you want to kill this man! How horrible! At least question him first!

She would make a delightful morally flexible character, if she were acknowledged as such, and embracing that quality.

Says who? Zoya?

He KeEpS mE So BuSy!

Saints, Alina, you can't believe everything people say about themselves!

Alina: I'm not sure my three months of training are enough, but I can do like two things with my powers, so let's focus on increasing them further AND on the mythical forbidden art that created my goal no. 1 in the first place. I bet nothing can go wrong...

Only signing? Not reading to get into picture? And who prepares them?!

Bureaucracy, baby!

Welcome to responsibility!

I would sympathize with Alina much more, if she showed genuine interest in those she doesn't know. If her motivation weren't merely "Do the opposite of (what I think) the Darkling did". I she truly believed in her own philosophy.

Shocking!

People forced to sit next to half-strangers they're not used to interact with, create unpleasant atmosphere!

My work experience considered- you're lucky there's no visible enmity- you could've made the wrong people sit next to each other and tableware could've ended up in wrong bodyparts.

Also: How is Nadia sitting next to Marie? I thought breaking up already existing friend groups was a point of this whole exercise.

They're not gifts, Nikolai. They're just your father's property, but let's remember the Darkling didn't wait for the Queen to request a specific one's service, and turned it into a gesture of his own thoughtfulness. Fuck his strategems!

Alina's misplaced sensibilities are incredibly frustrating.

She wants to lead Second Army, but not order them, not assign them tasks directly, because that would somehow make her a bad person, instead of efficient leader.

What if no one will volunteer? What if weak, incompetent Squallers will? You don't look at special assignment and think- Yeah, whoever wants to do it... You PICK the most capable person with both sufficient skills AND suitable personality.

Awwww!

Poor granny deserves an Oscar!

[viviennelamb]

Artists don't have temporary passions that fizzle out quickly, but a lifelong obsession to explore every facet of one topic or perspective and release art based on it quickly.

If you're an Artist, you're creating for a future generation, not the current one. Our current generation is filled with rigid, yet highly emotional adults, with only a handful of sweet souls who understand what they're looking at.

Most people are envious because they don't stand for a message. They don't do anything that brings them enough joy to openly share either.

The wild thing is when they finally gain some courage, and put out something that's true to their thoughts instead of pandering to their friend groups, they will want support for it and they will receive the judgement they've doled out for other people's bravery.

What is something about you that you like? Most people can't answer this. They typically respond with how good of a slave they are.

"What makes you happy?" isn't a question most people can answer earnestly as well. If you can answer that, you're ahead of most people in this existence.

Shame is the emotion the ordinary person experiences 90% of the time even though they have followed the "formula of life" that has been pushed down their throats since birth.

This isn't an assumption. I've had a few people who weren't jealous types tell me they wish they had the drive to just sit down and paint or write something in a short period of time without giving up or constantly postponing it. Since they can't, they opted for what's commonly accepted.

I restrained myself from my motivation spiel and asked "why not?" and one person's excuse was "I have to work, cook, and clean because my boyfriend won't do it."

"Damn, that sucks."

End of conversation.

Slothfulness is why people opt for "sex as art" or "divine baby birthing" and deem anything else offensive.

If you're a real artist, as in you depict Reality, you know that there's no solidarity, anyways. This is why a true artist will always choose their purpose over a person and sacrifice over fear.

Your purpose exists so that you evolve. Your purpose will never betray you, but a person will. Your purpose will never fail you, but a person will. Your purpose will never lay you off, but a job will.

There's excellence and then there's mediocrity. The mediocre give their ordinary opinions like mediocre people do, believing that they said something interesting.

They don't and never will understand what real art is. It's supposed to be considered crazy, thought-provoking and polarizing. If it wasn't, nobody would give a shit about it.

The best art was from people who didn't even know they created masterpieces, but they are just honest in depicting reality.

The most shocking art is and always will be telling the truth. There's an unsaid rule that you have to play pretend which is why almost everybody goes anonymous when they have something to reveal.

Most people are fake.

Whatever somebody says is "too much" triple down. You have to be okay with people assigning the polar opposite of what you to you are because they're upset that you exposed them.

The more hate you get, take it as fuel and go further in that direction. That's a sign of fresh land.

The ordinary person is going to be wrong about you like they're wrong about everything else in life. This is nothing new. Don't worry about it.

Also, I strongly recommend that if you're somebody who easily draws attention IRL, has stalkers, harassers for "nothing" to take that as doing something bigger in your life.

In cases like that, people see something that you're not aware of about yourself. This a sign you're being pushed out of a small and unknown life.

[heliomanteia]

Everyday I wonder how Rick could have made the Greek Gods and Olympus based in, you know, Greece, instead of America and have the story go that the Greek Gods always roamed around the world and had kids at random locations, which could then lead to the existence of multiple CHBs across the globe in almost every country. This would not only help maintain the integrity of Greek culture but also make a lot of sense - because is Rick really trying to tell us that the demigod kids from places on the other side of the globe have to necessarily come to America in order to live a safer life?

Hi hon! 🌻

You hit me in the "agh, I've been thinking that this entire time" with your ask because ever since first getting into PJO as a child, I've been getting a weird vibe over how America-centric it is. It only hit me later on what exactly has been annoying me so much.

There are a few very questionable ideas in the core of PJO as a series, which are:

The Mediterranean is a "dangerous" place for Mediterranean Gods and their descendants.

Modern day America is a "good" place for Mediterranean Gods

America is the cradle of Western civilization so "of course" Greek Deities would move there

Let me just say that I find it ridiculous that Riordan never dwells on the Mediterranean in his Mediterranean Deities series. Sure Nico goes back there at some point for a bit but Nico's proposed to be a Northern Italian boy from Venice of all places. It's like trying to represent, say, Egypt by picking someone from the wealthiest home in Cairo - or Ancient Greece by talking about just 5th century Athens. Venice is a rich place that was under control of France of all places for a long time. Did you know Italy was colonized by at least three wealthy European powers? Not talking about Magna Graecia now. It's not representative of Italy, and it's definitely not representative of Italo-Greek people, which Nico is supposed to be. In my opinion, Nico should be Sicilian or Southern Italian. Venetian Nico does not exist to me.

But! I just find it a little weird that across dozens of books about the Greek myths we never hear about Eastern Mediterranean? Lebanon, Turkey, Iran and more? I cannot emphasize how important Islamic influence was in Ancient times, and how much interesting and fun stuff you could find there, not to even mention the ethnicities you can represent.

Now, the "cradle of the Western civilization" talk is notably frequently used to make Greece/Ancient Greece more palatable for Westerners even though it's arguable how "Western" Greece is/was. There's a lot of talk about the degree of Eastern influence in Ancient Greece and how an average Ancient Greek would probably be closer to the Eastern civilization than the Western one. Music, culture, art, way of life, trade routes, you know? But, again, no mention of that. And I know he knows because he mentions extremely episodic characters of Greek folklore - he has to know about all the talk on Lycian/Carian/etc. influence on Ancient Greek culture and life.

The whole "Mediterranean is a dangerous place" thing is just gross to me. If he talked about the gradual anti-pagan (word used loosely) views building up in Italy and Greece, he could just say that. But even then, moving is unnecessary - polytheistic heritage organizations exist in modern Greece and Italy. They are not always the best but they exist. Also, the religion never died, families from the area have carried it through generations, but I shouldn't be even specifying that. "Dead Gods that need to be resurrected" is a savior plot.

Westernization is weird. I'm Eastern European and I feel more relation to Greek concepts of the life/afterlife/Deities than I will ever feel to a common Westerner (British/German/French/British American conceptual clusters, etc.). I just find the whole "moving Deities from their native habitat to some American city" idea very gross and borderline colonizer-mindset-aligned.

I do have to comment that he doesn't handle the topic of "otherness" well and it's especially prominent in Nico.

Nico moved to America in the beginning of the century. If you didn't know, Italians were treated like scum back then, and because most Italian immigration to the US was from the South, they would be called racial slurs, forced to work low paying jobs, and eventually be forced to naturalize and "drop" their language/culture/heritage to align themselves with the growing "white" cluster in America when anti-Black hatred was coming to its full power. But, there's plenty of period literature talking on how first Italian immigrants closely worked with/related to other immigrants (Irish, African American, etc.) and how quickly anti-Italian hate crimes grew when the general Italian populations started establishing businesses and earning money. All the same story ain't it!

My point is, Nico di Angelo would absolutely be treated like shit when he moved to America. "Otherness" is his entire character theme, and we NEVER see it explored past the gay stuff. He's an immigrant, a "time traveler", a gay boy, and so much more. Where's all that, Richard? I also have to point out that he's not handling diaspora talks well either. Italian Americans exist. Greek Americans exist. Somehow he kinda brushes over that and grabs random American kids, then assigns them Greek/Greco-Italian heritage, then drops the topic altogether. Sometimes you really get reminded that an American man wrote this.

NOW TO YOUR POINT!

YES it would be SO MUCH BETTER if he wrote about Greek and Italian Deities traveling the world because that's what HAPPENED when sailors crossed the Mediterranean and went from Greece to Lebanon to Egypt to Turkey; when they crossed into modern Central Europe, into Scythia/modern Ukraine and Caucasus, and more! That would be correct and historically respectful because you don't just remove local fucking Gods from their culture and add American flare to it.

It would be so much cooler to have LOCAL CULTS TOO because the way someone in Syria experiences adopted Deities would be so much different than someone who moved to America and retained their national faith - and so much different than someone in modern day Italy or modern day Egypt would. There's more! Imagine the cultures you could get! The local versions of Deities! Imagine not having the dumbass militarized Camp of Jupiter and instead having local cultural clusters across Europe and American places that Mediterranean immigrants settled in?

It would be much better of a series, and would actually be respectful of local cultures without assigning them to singled out nationalities.

[boopshoops]

💆 and 🏘 for yuu if thats alright?

OK- so a lot of yall asked for the same emojis SO i'm gonna format Yuu's all in one post then do another for Jocia+Ezra-

UHHH DJJDJD THIS IS MY FIRST TIME ANSWERING QUESTIONS IN CHARACTER so lets say the default text is me/narrator then orange is Yuu

@ceruleancattail @the-trinket-witch @rabioa @scint1llat3

💆how do you relax?

"Well, let's get right into it then, shall we?" Yuu clasped her hands together, a sly smile spreading onto her lips, "Relaxation... well I guess listening to music would be my go to. Genre doesn't matter to me mostly," The woman tapped her chin, lightly humming as she thought, "Though I suppose my definition of 'relaxing' isn't exactly universal... I often enjoy getting up and around and even dancing a bit, maybe having a quick chat as well... it helps me center myself. Too many thoughts in this big brain of mine sometimes!~ A way to focus is most definitely what relaxation is to me. Some people find it chaotic, but I don't care about some people. It's fun to me. Besides, it's not like I never sit down and rest."

🏘️where's your happy place?

"Huh... some of these questions are rather deep, aren't they?" Yuu cleared her throat, doing her best to keep a neutral expression, "Much like a lot of people, my happy place isn't an actual PLACE. It is more like a state. All that being said, I'm... not quite sure. Not to say that I'm not happy, of course! There are hard times and good times, but I suppose I'm still trying my best to find such a 'place' for me in this new world. Let's call this one a work in progress, yes? I'll get there eventually, not to worry. I have my plans, of course~"

✏️What are your hobbies?

"Oh! This is a fun one. I'm a musician. I have been taking band and theater courses my whole life," Yuu lifted her head triumphantly, gladly taking the opportunity to brag, "Singing, acting, playing instruments... I managed to get into a pretty prestigious performing arts school back home, and what more could one ask for than to spend their life doing what they love?" Her peppiness suddenly dropped, resulting in a roll of her eyes, "Not that it's useful now that I'm stuck here though. Damn Crowley."

🥣what's your favorite food?

"Bungeoppang!" The prefect chirped, leaning forward in her (imaginary) seat for this (imaginary) interview, "Or, ah- taiyaki, or bread with a sweet red bean filling. I was trying to learn more about my ancestry, and came across this pastry thanks to my father. Originally I didn't think I was the biggest fan of sweets, but, wow~ Only then, after I fell in love with it, did I learn it wasn't even a traditional dish from my father's home... figures. Nonetheless! You'll have to try some!"

"Ah, Here's a fun fact for you, I learned the language a long time ago along with trying to learn more about my family's history, but no one here seems to recognize it, which... makes sense, I guess. It was a bummer at first, but then I learned I can simply say whatever I want without them understanding me. What a breath of fresh air~"

The woman momentarily giggled, "...배고파요"

🙂where do your morals lie?

"Hmph. What a complete 180 of a question..." Her lips pursed into a pout. She offered up a quick glare, but it didn't last very long at all, "I'm just trying my best to exist and let others exist at the moment!" She beamed with the flip of a switch, her suspiciously innocent smile nearly blinding. She kept this one brief. Barely an answer.

🥰do you think you're attractive?

"Yes," The woman answered... almost too quickly, "I like how I look. I spend a lot of time on myself, so it's only natural to get a bit of an ego boost from that, yes? Confidence is a healthy thing! I spent a lot of time carefully crafting my sense of style, it makes me feel... like me." Yuu momentarily fluttered her lashes, accompanied by laughter through a rhythmic tease, "Come onnnn~ you get it, right? You know I'm just a sweetheart? Completely innocent and well-meaning? Aren't I just like a princess? Of COURSE I'm attractive."

😍are you a romantic?

"....Hm," The woman paused, thinking deeply about the question in a moment of silence, "It depends on what your definition of 'romantic' is in this case, but I'd say I'm rather neutral. It's been awhile since I've been in a relationship myself, so I can't really say for sure..." Yuu tilted her head, crossing one leg over the other as she leaned back in her seat. Striking a pose to simply ponder.

"I'm not a hopeless romantic, but I highly value romantic gestures. Does that make sense? I particularly value physical touch along with gift receiving as far as love language goes. At least, that's how it used to be with my ex-girlfriend. I don't think that has changed too much. So, hey! If you're interested, feel free to just hand over your credit card as a gift, I'll get back to you," The woman finished with a joke, attempting to turn the mood away from being sour.

"ALSO HELLO YUU SHI YOU ARE GORGEOUS HELLO LIKE ARE YOU AN ANGLE FROM HEAVEN??? CAUSE YOU'RE A-CUTE"

The prefect blinked, leaving an uncomfortable amount of awkward silence as she read the words on the page of (imaginary) interview questions.

She held back a snort, doing her best to hide a guilty grin along with her horrible sense of humor, "Wh-Who wrote this? Who wrote these questions?" She giggled to herself, setting down the page in finality, "Sevens, that's awful... I love it. I'm well aware, but thank you. I needed the laugh today."

"Will that be all?"

Ask game!

[cellarspider]

16/?? Chemically inert

(Previous) | (Index) | ⛬

⛬

We return to a movie whose biggest enemy is its own script, Prometheus. This is the second post today, because the previous one was so awful and I had very little context to add beyond anger.

So, now we come to a scene that made me wonder in the theater: what the fuck is going on with straight people?

A tangent is required at this moment, before we get back to pondering this question. Some of my friends like to watch their favorite science fiction shows with me, particularly if they have to do with genetics. Orphan Black, for example. This is because it is understood that I will regularly call out “Pause!”, and then they get to sit and listen to me alternatively praise or sputter over the fictionalization of my field of study. 

“Look. Their genetic material pre-dates ours. We come from them.”

Pause!

This is, probably, meant to hammer in the premise of the movie to a lay audience. However, the way she phrased it left me confused for a good long minute, trying to figure out what the fuck she meant. We don’t speak of any extant species as “pre-dating” another, even if they look exactly like their fossilized ancestors: all modern organisms are modern organisms. They have been continuously evolving the whole time they’ve existed. What we talk about is species diverging from each other. We didn't come from chimpanzees, or from neanderthals for that matter: we diverged from them.

(https://news.wisc.edu/naledi/) 

If I were to try and explain what she actually means by this: The particular Engineer they sampled from possess genetic sequences that are present in our evolutionary precursors, but have been lost in humans. That, and/or the Engineer possesses no sequences that are specific to modern Homo sapiens. 

To which my response is: no shit. They’re eight foot tall, completely hairless humanoids, surrounded by advanced technology. This is not Futurama.

This still doesn’t answer all my other logistical problems with when they got involved on Earth, which I already rambled about at length. 

But now we get to the real mystery of the scene: why are straight people?

I’m asexual as a rock. No, not that rock. But I’m not sex-repulsed. Sexual media and art is fine by me, but Hollywood does such a shit job with romantic chemistry that I thought I was for quite a while.

Shaw and Holloway are a couple. We know this, because they are a pair of female and male adult humans who work together in a movie. They have held hands and smiled at each other. Honestly, if Holloway hadn’t called Shaw “baby” soon after they woke up from stasis, I wouldn’t have known. 

Admittedly, this may be due to the fact that my “flirting or not” radar is hilariously non-functional most of the time. I have been on dates before without realizing it. Multiple times. It’s that bad.

This is the scene where we are supposed to see how they are romantic together, and how they grapple with their present situation. Holloway froze a rose in the cargo, along with a bottle of champagne. The fact that he has already been drinking heavily will surely make this especially fun, I’m sure.

Shaw, at least, acknowledges “[t]his is The most significant discovery in the history of mankind,” though I’d argue whichever early hominin first saw the big bald bastards already called dibs on that. I appreciate the gesture toward understanding the enormity of this situation, but her behavior hasn’t demonstrated it so far. Holloway’s, however, is even worse, and I think we are supposed to take Shaw as the more staid and reasonable one because of this.

With this and her further evidence that the Engineers made humans, Holloway immediately says “Okay. I guess you can take your father's cross off now.”

Yes. This is what you should say, when you’re in a long-term relationship with a religiously devout person who lost one or both of their parents at a young age. Definitely.

I get what this is trying to do, thematically. This movie is about the creation of life. We have a religious character squaring her faith with a piece of information that is incompatible with the literal text of her religion’s doctrine. 

Funny enough, we have a lot of religious people who work in biology already. Unless your religion was created last tuesday, there is literally no way it won’t contradict with some aspect of what modern science has discovered. People create the mental space for the supernatural, either merging or separating it from their field of expertise. Or they may not believe in the supernatural at all, instead subscribing to belief systems that provide an ethical and behavioral framework for their lives. 

A lot of scientists who are religious state that their religion is part of why they study the material world: Out of a love for the world, a call to aid others, or because the act of learning is seen as divine in itself.

This is also the kind of conversation that, frankly, two lunatics who believe in ancient alien contact with Earth should’ve had a long time ago. ‘Hey, you believe that big men from space were talking to the Sumerians, how’s that fit in with the whole Christianity thing for you?’

But no, he’s going somewhere hilariously baffling, via a direct route through the state of Wildly Insensitive as he barrels along the Clunky Dialog Highway.

“But here's what we do know: That there is nothing special about the creation of life. Right? Anybody can do it. All you need is a dash of DNA and half a brain, right?”

“I can't. 

I can't create life. What does that say about me?”

He FORGOT HIS LIFE PARTNER WAS INFERTILE.

“Ellie, that's not... I didn't mean… I wasn't talking about…”

Have you ever been so drunk that you made your girlfriend feel like Natasha ‘I’m a monster comparable to the Hulk because I was sterilized’ Romanoff in Age of Ultron

This is, as with most of the most thunderously clunky dialog in this movie, a plot point. There are ways they could’ve done this differently that I will get to at that time

But you know what’s even more baffling about this? Apparently that didn’t kill the mood.

It makes the next scene where Janek seduces Vickers with a jumpscare accordion and “Are you a robot?” almost make sense.

Or, frankly, Idris Elba and Charlize Theron are acting wizards who somehow managed to strangle some chemistry out of that scene.

Next time, the not-so-little death!

⛬ 

(Previous) | (Index) | ⛬

⛬

Citations for alt-text rambles:

https://archive.org/details/abbott-and-costello-meet-the-mummy 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nepenthes_cultivars 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecce_Homo_(Garc%C3%ADa_Mart%C3%ADnez_and_Gim%C3%A9nez)#Failed_restoration_attempt_and_internet_phenomenon 

https://youtu.be/cZyj6GECjZ0 

https://youtu.be/nRr1t80TayE 

http://www.totheescapehatch.com/2012/06/escape-by-playing-stephen-stills.html 

https://www.discogs.com/artist/236968-Stephen-Stills 

Overflow Ramble 1 

I want it noted at the start here: I try to use screenshots where everyone looks as dignified as they can without losing objects or gestures I want to comment on, because otherwise it breaks flow. I could not find a screenshot where Shaw wasn’t stickin h leggy out real far, or making this extremely weird face. I tried. The movie defeated me.

Medium wide shot of Shaw sitting on a couch (loose pillows that don’t have velcro surfaces to keep them in place if the ship rolls), with Holloway in reverse shot, sitting on the other side of a coffee table (no lip to catch rolling objects), with a rose sitting in a cup between them. Shaw is about to stand up, and has just the most goddamn weird expression on her face. 

In the background is a side table (does have a lip, not tall enough to do anything), with a lamp (might be magnetized/gripped to the surface, doesn’t look it), a pile of books (falling hazard), a stick of incense burning in a cup (falling AND fire hazard), and, as previously noted during Vickers’ introduction, there’s the required Cultured White Person African Art Pieces just sort of. Leaned on a tiny little shelf in the background (how have they not fallen over already). Finally, a tropical hanging pitcher plant can be seen hanging behind the lamp, probably a Nepenthes cultivar. Did David keep these alive for two years? 

There is a bewildering buttload of Nepenthes cultivars, with an active enthusiast community in Japan. So, SO many of the cultivars are called ‘[Adjective] Koto’ (cite 2). Like, to the point where someone was clearly breaking out the dictionary to find more words for Koto. Decorous Koto. Effulgent Koto. Effulgent Koto again, there’s two of them. Elfine Koto. Emotional Koto. Felicitous Koto. Feminine Koto. Feverish Koto. Igneous Koto. Immobile Koto. And that’s as far as the Kotos go, apart from Zonal Koto. Somebody in 1984-1994 was literally going A-Z on Kotos before they suddenly stopped at I, turned around, and went back up to throw in Gerontic Koto and Ferny Koto.

⛬ 

(Previous) | (Index) | ⛬

⛬

[radiostatik]

Would you consider yourself more of a Hazbin Hotel or a Helluva Boss fan, or are you into the entire Helluvaverse fandom as a whole?? I've known some folks who are fans and care more about Helluva than Hazbin and I've met others who care and love Hazbin more than Helluva, I'm someone who falls into the second category and even when I was a HB fan, I've honestly always loved Hazbin and it's characters more, IMO. I also wanted to ask if you have any concerns and worries for HH since it's not that far from release and we only have a couple of months, HB S2 hasn't been the best and some have expressed their concerns for HH as HB hasn't been the best honestly, I honestly wanted to know your thoughts if you don't mind responding and answering, it's up to you! 💗

I don't mind answering questions at all!

When Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss both released their pilots these were my first thoughts

Hazbin Hotel: I was awestruck by the pretty and unique art style and animation, I thought the jokes were pretty funny, and it seemed to have a lot of heart. I loved Charlie, she makes a perfect protagonist for taking place in hell. She's clever, optimistic, good hearted, but not afraid to throw a punch.

Sir Pentious was so silly, and had such a fun, hilarious dynamic with Angel Dust.

Alastor drew me in with his goofy, non chalant subtle sadistic personality, along with his old times radio voice that sounds straight outta the 30's.

I enjoyed the pilot and had a lot of hope that it would be a good series. An adult comedy with an appealing art style, an lots of heart is hard to find.

Now let's talk about Helluva Boss

I decided to check out the pilot, but it's whole existence weirded me out. I was like, "Why are you making a pilot for another show right after just making one? Why not just make episode 2? Isn't it a bit early to be making a spin off of a show that has barley started? The view count also said a lot, with Hazbin Hotel Pilot having almost double the views of the Helluva Boss Pilot. And I can see why.

The characters... aren't all that likable. They are all just mean to each other. I know Millie loves Moxxie, she gaslights him when he's rightfully upset.

There's a noticeable difference between the main couple in Hazbin (Chaggie), and the main couple in Helluva (M&M):

For example

Chaggie:

Vaggie: *Is rightfully upset at Angel, but is getting a little too worked up*

Charlie: *Agrees with her and tells Angel what he did was not cool, tell Vaggie to try to relax, things will be okay.*

Meanwhile M&M:

Moxxie: *Is rightfully upset at Blitz for stalking and filming him and Millie , but is maybe getting a little too worked up*

Millie: "It's not that big a deal" "Calm down, you're gonna have another panic attack"

👁👄👁 Millie wtf. How do you not validate your husband's concerns and condem Blitzo's action.

The whole Helluva Boss Pilot has terrible pacing. We have a flashback within a flashback, the first few times seeing it I was so confused. When Loona says "Come on, you know why", I expected the next flashback to explain the "Moxxie is fat" joke. But there's no explanation. Just another scene of Loona being mean I guess?

The next scene is of Loona telling Blitz he has a phone call. These flashbacks are supposed to show us how mean Loona is. But the Stolas phone call... doesn't show that. It just shows how Blitz has another problem because this one night stand is acting really clingy. We then get the flashback, within the flashback, of Blitz stealing the book.

Blitz says the line "If I hadn't slept with that privileged asshole, non of us would have access to the living world." Nothing wrong with this line, but the way it's delivered makes it seem like having access to the living world is a bad thing?? Maybe the line would make more sense if he said "Sleeping with that privileged asshole is the ONLY reason we have access to the living world." It still works even with Moxxie saying "You what?😶"

There are a few funny lines in the HB Pilot, but a lot more gore. The only "gore" in Hazbin are egg yokes, and some blood from an insect Katy kills with her pen.

The gore in Helluva is amped up and a bit disturbing. A child is shot, then mutilated. That scene made me sick to me stomach.

The kid wasn't even that mean. He said to Moxxie "If I wanted to hear from a spineless jackals, I'd Rip out your spine." Implying that Moxxie DOES have a spine.

Speaking of the kid, how did he enter hell without turning into a demon? How are they able to shoot him without him responding back into Hell? Why did I.M.P. even take him with them? Give him back to his mom or just leave him where you found him! It's weird to think they cared enough to take him with them, yet they'd kill him despite not getting any money for it.

I'd love to get into the other Helluva episodes, but maybe if I get another ask about it.

There are some thing I like about Helluva, but a lot of things I dislike. So, yeah I'm more of a Hazbin fan, but I still somewhat enjoy Helluva and look forward to new episodes coming out. (No matter how disappointing some of them have been)

Do I have any fears about Hazbin Hotel coming out?

I'm glad it's finally coming out, but I'll be honest, I wish it were under better circumstances. This is not the way I wanted it to happen. The entire voice cast has been replaced, the animation style has changed, the main characters all received major downgrades with their redesigns, and major characters that were part of the original lineup (Baxter, Mimzy, + Crymini) all appear to have been dropped from the series. So much for female focused.

I'm still excited for it tho because it will still have Charlie and Vaggie, and we will hopefully get to see more concrete proof that they are a couple within the series.

I'm hoping the new voice actors will do the characters justice, but I'm still not over how Viv screwed the pilot cast over in the way that she did.

[superbecky]

Meet Aislinn - Soriel Fanchild

>Please do not re-post or use my work in any way without my permission! Re-blogging is ok. Thanks!<

(CHARACTER INFO BELOW!)

My "first" art post of the year! Honestly, this kind of art is something I always shied away from making, at least regarding posting it online… but, I guess here we are! Nothing wrong with going into the new year trying out something new. Allow me to introduce to you, Aislinn! She is my attempt at an Undertale fankid for Toriel x Sans (because yes, Soriel is amazing and I love it so much).

The concept of this character actually dates back years ago as a little collaboration between me and a family member. I never was planning to make her known about, but during Soriel Week 2023 (so back in August), I decided why not? Thus, I started updating her design and did a sketch. However, during that time Soriel Week 2023 was ending and I got too busy until I eventually forgot about this kiddo. That is, until a few days ago when I got inspired by that same family member and decided “you know what, sure let’s just do this for fun”! So yeah, here she is!

I did have fun drawing/designing her, but I also think it is a little bit tricky when creating fan characters because, at least for me, I want them to feel like a natural inclusion to the world they are supposed to be from. I think overall I did good though at this goal!

Anyways, if you are interested in hearing more about her character, the family/story dynamics, and my design process, then keep on reading! Otherwise, I think she turned out cute and this was a fun little project to work on! I wouldn’t be opposed to drawing her again or even with other family members, but I think it will ultimately depend on if people would want to see that. Oh, and if you have any questions about her you want to ask that I don’t have answered below, then feel free to ask me! C:

🤍💙💜🤍💙💜 So… if you are reading this, then you are wanting to learn more, yeah? Well, buckle up because boy do I have a lot to share! Does Aislinn exist within an AU/alternate timeline? Well, I feel it would be more appropriate to consider her inclusion as being part of an alternative timeline because it’s more so my head canons/my take on a possibility of what could happen after the events of a pacifist timeline if Toriel and Sans end up together. Like, there isn’t anything drastically changed to what we know from canon other than me throwing some head canons into a pacifist timeline, so it feels incorrect to me to call it an AU. Do I have a name then for this alternate timeline? I guess if anything, you could consider her inclusion as a follow up to the stories/events told in my other Undertale alternative timeline, Scrapbooktale. Why the name Aislinn? Why not use a font for her name? Well, technically if you google “Aislinn font”, there is a font that I think fits her pretty well. But basically, Aislinn’s name means “dream or vision”, which I felt tied back to things in Undertale like “hopes and dreams” (Asriel) and just how like I feel that with monster kind being freed, they are able to pursue their dreams. Toriel and Sans are both shown to be very family-oriented, so why wouldn’t a possible dream of theirs be to extend their family? That’s where my inspiration came from. Her nicknames are Linn and Linny. Does she speak using a font like Sans and Papyrus?  Nope. More information regarding your design process for her?

So going into more details regarding her physical design, her head and part of her neck is completely bone like Sans and her hands are also skeletal. The only thing on her face that has fur is her little floofy eyebrows! The rest of her body is more like Toriels. She wears a big, green headband/bow as I decided that I wanted to give her some sort of visual element that would give the illusion of ears. I knew that I wanted to give her horns, but instead of just giving her horns that look like what Toriel has, I thought it would be cool to give her horns that resemble Sanses Gaster Blasters. Her eyes in shape are more like her moms, but they are just more so glowing pupils like Sans has (or in her case, glowing ring lights). Her eye color has a slight blue tint to it as I was inspired by Toriel’s official Nendroid design, which has blue eyes. One of Aislinn's most treasured items is her gold flower hair clip that was given to her by Frisk. She always keeps it clipped on her favorite headband/bow.

How old is she? How tall is she?

I find it hard to give an exact age for her because how monsters age is a bit… unknown in terms of canon? But if I had to give her some sort of age, Aislinn is 5 years old, and I think Frisk would be roughly 14 years old around this time. As for her height... well she is just a lil kiddo, so of course she is rather short! I imagine when she gets older though, she would be taller than Frisk. What is her personality? Likes and Dislikes?

Aislinn is cautious and sometimes can come off as shy. While she loves her family, their antics definitely freak her out from time to time.

She is very polite thanks mainly to Toriel. Sans tries to loosen her up a bit, but it is something Aislinn just can’t help!

She tends to keep to herself.

She can be very curious and playful, but won’t do anything that she deems unsafe (unless convinced). Because of her age though, she still struggles with understanding sometimes what is actually considered safe and unsafe.

Her favorite color is green, and her favorite food is snail pizza.

Some of her hobbies include playing with her toy trumpet, drawing, reading and hearing stories, and playing/hanging out with Frisk.

She likes puns and jokes. However, she is terrible at making them.

Aislinn dislikes fighting and dangerous situations. She also does not enjoy getting super messy.

Aislinn and Frisk's Relationship

Aislinn idolizes Frisk. Even though she has a hard time understanding them sometimes (especially regarding all the shenanigans Frisk seems to get into) Aislinn still thinks that Frisk is the coolest person in the world. She loves hearing about Frisk’s adventures, especially the ones of their time Underground. Even though Frisk has a hard time understanding kids close to their age or younger, they still enjoy hanging out with Aislinn and sometimes envy her naïve nature. When Aislinn was a baby, though initially excited, Frisk ended up having a hard time of feeling like the "lesser child" since they are adopted and struggle with self worth. Luckily, thanks to Sans and Toriel, Frisk began to learn over time that they are just as loved and cared for as Aislinn. Though sometimes, they may fall back into this mindset. On the other hand, Aislinn sometimes feels like she isn't good enough compared to Frisk. After all, she is the sibling of the human who changed history by freeing monster kind! Aislinn and Frisk really do love each other though at the end of the day. Aislinn and Sanses Relationship

I am someone who head canons that Sans raised Papyrus and later on helped to raise Frisk after marrying Toriel. By the time Aislinn comes into the picture, Sans is a natural at the whole dad thing... or at least, he likes to hope so. For Sans, it definitely helps to have such a cool wife by his side and to have a kid this time around who is a lot more chilled out. Sans finds that raising Aislinn has actually been way easier than raising Papyrus, and especially Frisk mainly due to Aislinn staying out of trouble. That being said, Sans sometimes worries that he is not doing enough with Aislinn considering how much he seems to be keeping an eye on Frisk, because wow that kid is always getting into trouble and next thing he knows he is asking "uh kid, how did you end up flooding the bathroom... again"? He does make an effort though to make sure that Aislinn knows that he cares for her, and he tries to set aside time from all of the commotion around the house just for her. Though Aislinn is terrible at telling joke, Sans will always be proud at her attempt to tell one. Sans is the one who got Aislinn into trying out a musical instrument (her toy trumpet). He also came up with her nicknames Linn and Linny. Sans will call her baby bones, just as he did for Papyrus and still does for Frisk.

Aislinn and Toriel's Relationship

Aislinn really looks up to Toriel with how she presents herself. Graceful, polite, elegant, and sometimes just goofy. While Sans may be stuck watching Frisk all the time from almost doing god knows what, Toriel is the one who makes sure to keep more of an eye on Aislinn. Toriel enjoys teaching Aislinn things throughout the day, such as "72 uses for snails". Aislinn loves it when Toriel reads her stories, even if sometimes she does not understand what the heck is even going on in said story. When it comes to needing emotional support, Aislinn will usually go to Toriel first.

Aislinn's Magic Her magic consists of fire magic that is shaped like bones (so instead of a typical fire ball, it’s a “fire ball” that is bone shaped)! She has no blasters like Sans, nor can she teleport like he does. She can however use dark blue magic (gravity manipulation) like Sans. She can only use this magic to make someone still for a small amount of time. She cannot use this magic to push or move anyone. Aislinn also has the ability to use green (healing) magic, but is not really good at it. The most she can heal is up to 0.5-1hp, but over time as she gets older and learns her magic better, she will be able to heal just as well as Toriel does! At her current age, Aislinn's magic is still pretty weak and she is still learning how to use it properly.

🤍💙💜🤍💙💜

PHEW! Ok, I think that is all the main information I wanted to cover. But yeah, if you have any questions or want to learn more, then please feel free to ask! 💜

[new-revenant]

Mirror World of Mine AU art hoopla! It’s the Lunch Lady scene but it’s uh different. Danny’s basically saying that only he has the capability to defeat the Lunch Lady. I have a story bit under the cut. This is making me want to write a whole fic for this AU. Anyways, if you don’t know anything about this AU, just look at my previous posts about it under the MWofM AU tag. This is a magic AU. Neil is this AU Danny. Regular Danny also exists in this AU. Possession ieskai. You read that right.

After Neil had darted to the bathroom after the “garbage fight” he managed to start, Sam and Tucker barely had a moment to settle down before the temperature in the cafeteria started to plummet.

“Brr, since when did it get so cold?” Sam asked, shivering. Tucker shrugged, shivering as well.

“Maybe some garbage got in the AC?” Tucker suggested.

“It’s not garbage-“ Sam started before being abruptly cut off by a screech coming from the kitchen. Everyone in the cafeteria started looking over toward the noise, and promptly started panicking. Did they even notice the wind that came from nowhere? And that it started to swirl over to the kitchen? Sam and Tucker noticed.

“Sam, I think we might have a,” -Tucker leaned closer to Sam to whisper- “we might have a ghost problem.”

“Hopefully the ghost doesn’t show up psychically,” Sam whispered back.

Then the ghost appeared. A sweet looking lunch lady, clad with pink clothes and a white apron, seeming rather confused.

“Hello dearies, I’ve noticed that there isn’t any meatloaf, even though it was supposed to be served today, according to the menu,” the Lunch Lady asked quite calmly.

“Well it was going to be served until someone changed the menu,” Tucker glared at Sam, who responded with a huff.

Then the ghost’s appearance shifted. She got bigger, and her white hair outside of her cap burst into flames.

Green flames surrounded her body as she yelled, “WHO CHANGED THE MENU?!”

“You just had to tell her didn’t you?” Sam hissed through gritted teeth.

“What was I supposed to say?” Tucker asked.

“Nothing! Say nothing!”

“THE MENU HAS BEEN THE SAME FOR 50 YEARS!” The Lunch Lady continued. She growled as a green vortex appeared above her.

“We’re done for!” Someone yelled. Sam and Tucker could only agree with that sentiment-they had no idea how to deal with a ghost. Maybe if Sam actually bothered to learn more about her psychic powers, and if Tucker knew anything about supernatural creatures that aren’t vampires or werebeasts, maybe, just maybe they could’ve done something. And it looked like Sam was going to be the Lunch Lady’s first target, as the ghost pointed a fist of green at her.

“WERE YOU THE ONE TO CHANGE THE MENU?!” The Lunch Lady questioned.

“Um, maybe?” Sam smiled nervously. That was apparently a good enough answer for the Lunch Lady to lift one of nearby tables to throw at her.

A haunting laughter sounded out from every corner of the room. The Lunch Lady paused, lowering the table. The air seemed to still for a moment, returning to the same calm of before. Sam gave a sigh of relief before remembering the laughter.

A figure phased up through the middle of the floor. Another ghost, a boy that looked around her age. His lower face was covered by a white cloak that enveloped his entire body, only the toes of his white boots poking out from under it.

“It isn’t very professional to attack students lady,” the new ghost told the Lunch Lady with much more confidence in his voice then anyone else would have in this situation.

“Well someone changed the menu,” the Lunch Lady responded.

“The same menu that was in place for 50 years? How awful.” The new ghost seemed to know about the menu then. Or he was just listening in.

“Yes! You understand me then!”

“Oh I understand. I understand that you’re putting your anger onto innocent students!”

The oppressive air returned with the Lunch Lady’s anger, “LUNCH IS SACRED, LUNCH HAS RULES, HOW DARE YOU DEFILE IT’S IMPORTANCE!”

The new ghost just laughed. He clasped his hands together, and shaped a giant, odd looking scythe out of ice in mear seconds.

“I don’t think I’m defiling lunch’s importance, I’m just standing up for these kids.” The new ghost said. He stuck the end of his scythe into the floor and floated to stand on top of tip of it. He looked over to Sam and Tucker specifically, looking between the two before his bright green eyes settled on Sam. Sam looked back, but couldn’t bare to look him in the eyes. She focused on his white hair, which had a golden sheen on the tips of it.

“I think we’re all aware that without me, Danny Phantom,“ -the ghost-Danny Phantom-threw his hands out flamboyantly, unveiling the green coloring of the inside of the cloak- “You wouldn’t have a GHOST of a chance~“ He cackled after saying that, whether it because of his pun of for some other reason.

“Now let’s get this haunt on the road!” Danny pulled out the ice scythe from the floor and launched himself at the Lunch Lady, and the fight began.

Both Sam and Tucker wished they went to bathroom like Neil did.

[yuraslefttoe]

nyanyame nyanyajyuu nyanya do no nyarabi de nyaku nyaku inyanyaku nyanyahan nyanyadai nyan nyaku nyarabete nyaganyagame- or short about how I feel myself for the third wednesday in a row..) 

I’ll say again that I love your work, let’s go. 

1. oke, do your characters have an approximate age? I know you were already replying to a similar question, but you said that it would be a spoiler. soooo... how about now? are you ready to show your cards?? 

2. I remember ferry making headcanons on the voices of pafl characters. do you have something like that? like... are there any songs that you associate with adm characters voices? or maybe the vocaloids that you use would be suitable for this roles? 

3. I would like to know a little more about daily interactions between misha and andrey. what could it have been before misha got into a time loop? these two "hate eachother basically"(©my fav pic), right? was it something like the cold war and them trying to ignore each other's existence, accompanied by contemptuous glances? or maybe frequent and loud quarrels?? OR maybe they pretended that everything was fine and there was no tension whatsoever, but any of them often irritated the other one or threw caustic phrases in order to offend him???

4. and in general, how did this hatred arose? how did it begin? did something suddenly happen, ruining the calm relationship? accident?? or guys didn't get along from the beginning for some reason??? (god I love these two, I need to know everything *NotLikeThis NotLikeThis*) 

(I hope I managed to fit it into less space, huh? . . . okay, but this time there are four sketches! see? no need to hit me, enki, god, please, no!!!) 

(eh.. I kindly ask you not to take these..... concept arts(??) in full high, as well as headcanons(???) on misha's teeth and eyes of boiis(<зз), seriously. these are just silly things that I thought about briefly and my wife and I thought it was interesting (however, if you don't mind these ideas, I'd like to know what you think about them.....!! (*´∇`)ﾉ)) 

(and also, I had to greatly simplify the design of the dyusha's clothes for myself because... I spent a too much time, trying to copy the horror that happens in the canon art, but I SWEAR TO GOD I almost burst into tears, because nothing worked *laughter that turns into the start of a nervous breakdown*) 

(I.. should probably be very ashamed for the last sketch, and... to be honest, yes, that’s it, I’m ashamed. (IT'S ACTUALLY SUPPOSED TO LOOK LIKE ANDREY IS BEING MOCKED INSTEAD OF HIM GETTING A SINCERE COMPLIMENT) but my wife made me show this to you, so...... *blinks twice*)

i want to say they are around 20-25 yrs old

after thinking about this for awhile i cant think of any good voiceclaims for my characters..... but i might make one in the future now that i am reminded that that is a real thing

its like a love hate releationship but mostly hate

maybe ill reveal what happened between them in a future song or maybe not. it can also be kinda inferred from the current songs i think

the sketches are so cute!! you have such a fun and silly style and i love seeing my characters come to life :) ty