#literally my username

[nyancrimew]

Hi, I'm new to this, but, from what I've seen are you the person who made nyan cat?

no im popular for even more insane reasons

[yourlocalabomination]

Lords in black Yeah’s for the Twitter users. Go wild with them.

[storm-theory]

It was Uzi

[draakart]

Appreciate my dragons... today :)

[delhe-dalim]

Context: A while ago I took a test about which Jedi master would choose me as a padawan The results:

Conclusion: I'm cringe

But I'm free Edit: I think the quiz isn't available on phone, so here it is

[human-trainwreck]

rules: pick a song for each letter of your url and tag that many people (if you can)

Thank u @lovelyteuvo for the tag💕 , this took me so long but I had a lot of fun doing it!!

HOT TO GO : Chappell Roan

Uptown Girl : Billy Joel

Maneater : Nelly Furtado

Andre The Giant : Prof

Not Like Us : Kendrick Lamar

Toiset samanlaiset : Elastinen and Käärijä

Red Wine Supernova : Chappell Roan

All the Small Things : Blink 182

It Boy : bbno$

No Sleep Till Brooklyn : Beastie Boys

What was I Made For? : Billie Eilish

Rude Boy : Rihanna

Exes : Tate McRae

Carmen : Stromae

Kitty Kay Meagan Thee Stallion

no pressure tags; @cardiaccanesblog @callsign-denmark @ripley-lv426 @cooter-n-tooter @ohhhhmercy @canesqueen @versace-thong @mrsrempe

[cranneo]

Neopets character sheets

[blitzwhore]

Blitzø is literally so pretty and attractive and hot, I will die on this hill I don't even care

[danrifics]

b̴͓̠̙̿̐̍̋a̸͖̭̍d̸̢̙͙́̅ ̵͓͕̄̍̀ṱ̷̛h̶̥̤̳́̇̂͠î̶͓͚̮̣͗̾ǹ̷̗͖g̶̨͚͙̟͛͆̑͝s̵̞̞̯͔̎̏

Song: Bad Things by I Prevail

[stoshasaurus]

tattoos tend to be difficult when you're just winging them with no references

haha. winging them.

based on the Osiris picture of all time

if those are his tattoos, it would imply that he's wearing the cowl with no shirt on underneath it, which is....weird, but he looks hot doing it so i literally can't complain.

if anyone has any full references for what his tattoos might look like, self-made or otherwise, please hand them to me. i hate just winging them.

[neonvioletlight]

*hits violet with the light beam because it looks cool*

[jouska-the-deer]

Sonic Twitter and TikTok Takeover 2023 Masterpost

Guess what? I saved every response to the takeover like I did last year, and here they all are, with a bonus.

I created a transcript of every single answer and saved it in a Google Doc, which you can find the link to [Here]

Links to all the individual Tweets and Tiktoks can be found below in order of when they were answered.

Intro [Twitter Link][TikTok Link]

Sonic: Question from @MetroGamer21: “How often do you keep your quills sharp? Do you brush it yourself or do you have someone else do it?”

Sonic: Alright. Question from At Xyn…qieqie underscore- “Okay Knuckles, I just gonna know what’s under your gloves!” Uh, geez. “Is it weird spiked hands or is it just the design of the gloves?”

Amy: This question is from @SilentNayuri. They ask Eggman, (Clears throat) “Out of every machine you’ve built, which one was your favorite?"

Tails: This question is from @Prisma_Sonic. “To Sonic, have you ever wondered if there were other versions of you out there? Asking for a friend.”

Sonic: This question’s from Jack. “For Eggman.” Oh. “Why did you get rid of the yellow cape? It was so fashionable!”

Sonic: Well this question is for me from At daniel nu beh n… “For Sonic, who in the group do you think is the prettiest!”

Amy: From @Rayfun_25028. “To Knuckles, I always wondered, how are you able to glide, actually.”

Sonic: This next question comes from @pabloandoogway. “Why do none of you use the emerald power anymore?”

Eggman: Question coming in hot from @BlueBlur68. Let’s see. “For Sonic, since you guys were in Eggman’s dream, what would Sonic’s dream be like?”

Tails: Question from Leyla. They ask, “Do you guys sometimes feel dizzy when you do a spindash or jump? If not, why?”

Amy: Aw! This next one’s from @selkadombom1n. They said, “Hey gang, big fan here. Today’s takeover is actually very special because it’s also my nineteenth birthday.” Aw. “If it’s not too much to ask, could I get a happy birthday serenade from your beautiful singing voices?”

Knuckles: wyattron asks, “Do the Chaos Emeralds have different tastes with the different colors?”

Tails: @Razer, Ooh, asks, “Are there any moments where going fast is not the best option?”

Tails: This question is from Pastelz. “Knuckles, does Rouge ever come by trying to steal the Master Emerald?”

Tails: This question is from @thatblockholevt. “To Eggman. What would your fursona be?”

Amy: Yubby asks me, “Do you wear inhibitor rings?”

Sonic: Question from @HannahW_1031 to Amy, “When or how did you get into reading fortune cards and where did you get them?”

Knuckles: knulaa! asks, “What are your thoughts on knowing that you have a biggest fan?”

Tails: Question from At Real-Mephi-One-es-Fan, “To Amy Rose. How was the concert with Shadow? Did you go to any other concerts by any chance?”

Knuckles: Two Stars asks: “For Tails, where did your fear of thunder come from?”

Eggman: Question from @ShadowsTrueBiggestFan, “Can I adopt Shadow? He can’t say no he isn’t in the Twitter takeover.”

Eggman: @DigiDevilTrig asks, “Sonic, if you’re the fastest thing alive, why did you use the train to go to the Mystic Ruins?”

Sonic: This one’s from spiro. Hi Eggman, are you looking for another henchman? I could be your henchwoman? I’m on your side all the way! Team Eggman!"

Sonic: This next one’s from holz. They say, “Since Shadow isn’t present this time, what’re your opinions on him?”

Knuckles: @Sonic_Sunset asks, “We know Sonic was a huge inspiration for Tails, but does he have other sources of inspiration? Like Dr. Eggman’s machinery for example.”

Sonic: Let’s see. This next question is from ‘the dog is very cool’. Interesting, uh, username, there, but, I’m happy for you. They ask, “Can I borrow a couple rings? I wanna buy a bag of funions.” 

Tails: @45Euvee asks, “For everyone. If you were a flavor of cake, what flavor would you be?”

Knuckles: Uh, I think this is for everyone. thehiddenface52 asks, “What’s your favorite winter activity?”

Sonic: This is from sam. “To everyone, how much sleep do you need? Does the fastest thing alive need a full eight hours?”

Eggman: Question from @valiixe. “If Sonic was a worm, would any of you guys still like him?”

Knuckles: Autumn asks, “How can I convince my dad to give me all Sonic stuff for Christmas?”

Eggman: @TailsAustin9922 asks the class, “What is something that you don’t do very well that you’d like to improve on?”

Amy: Okay! Question from @JopieTropi. They ask, “If the five of you could swap roles with someone for an entire day, who would each of you choose?”

Sonic: Question from fan, “Why is it called an oven when you ove in the cold food of out hot eat the food.”

Sonic: At creator-super-long-underscore asks, “Is it painful to give Knuckles a fist bump or handshake?”

Amy: @SpongyRabbit asks Sonic, “Why don’t you just put Eggman in jail?” 

Eggman: @thefortnitelegend190 asks, “Eggman, why don’t you team with Sonic? You guys would be a really good team.”

Tails: @squidboi7674 asks, “Eggman, do you do commissions? Like can I pay you to do a custom badnik all for me, because that would be really cool I think.”

Sonic: @TyphonTwister asks, “You guys have beaten a lot of baddies over the years. This might be a little weird but, who was your favorite to fight? Besides the good doctor of course.”

Tails: ExcaliburSonic asks, “If flamingos are pink because they eat shrimp, then why are you blue? Do you eat blue paint?”

Knuckles: This is from kittyxpickle. They ask, “To Knuckles, rougher than the rest of them, are you allowed on the internet without supervision? If yes, please reconsider.”

Outro [Twitter Link] [TikTok Link]

Feel free to let me know of any mistakes or missing responses, in either this post or the transcript doc, and I'll try to fix it. I'll also take suggestions on how to improve the transcript, since this is my first time making one.

[lost-in-fandoms]

Hi friend, please give us more streamer Max AU! First interaction between them maybe??

part 1 here

Daniel blinks awake, groggily turning off his alarm and rubbing his eyes, blindly reaching for the water on his bedside table.

The room is still pitch dark, the night quiet outside.

2:55 am.

He grabs his phone, settling again onto the pillows and clicking through his apps until he can open the now familiar twitch app and navigate to Max's channel, just in time to see the starting soon screen appear as it goes live.

He knows this is ridiculous. He knows that he is not helping himself or his unstable sleep patterns by setting an alarm in the middle of the night to watch a guy stream from somewhere in Europe, but as long as nobody knows nobody can judge him either, so that's okay.

He yawns, scratching at his chest, watching people say hello to each other in chat as it comes alive.

He has yet to ever type something there.

In the two weeks he's been watching Max, he has managed to figure out what subscriptions and gifted subs are, Max's schedule (stream four times a week plus whenever he feels like it), and has started to recognise some usernames in chat. But there is something about actually typing that feels...revealing.

His username is generic, just Daniel_358, the number randomly chosen until twitch stopped telling him the username was taken, but that's still his name. Connected to his private email. And he knows he's not doing anything wrong, but it still feels forbidden, to wake up at night and spend about two hours just looking at Max.

The screen suddenly changes, switching to Max's camera, his pretty smiling face filling Daniel's small screen. Not for the first time, he thinks about setting up the projector, just to be able to see more.

"Hello everyone, it's Friday! And we're playing Minecraft today."

Daniel lets Max's now familiar accent wash over him, feeling himself smile back instinctively. Max looks soft today in the dim golden glow of his light, a faded sweatshirt almost covering the very short grey shorts he's wearing, and it makes Daniel wish he had Max right there, in his bed, warm and sleep rumpled in the sheets.

Yes, he is aware how weird that is too. He knows that it would maybe be less weird if he only got off watching Max's streams.

He has by now mostly figured out Max's deal. He'll play his games, talk with chat, and from time to time do something that will make Daniel's breath stutter in his chest. Touching his legs, squeezing himself through his shorts, raising his shirt to touch his stomach, trailing his fingers down towards his pants. One memorable time, he had pushed it high enough to touch his own nipple, a visible shudder traveling through him. Daniel had almost come on the spot.

The whole stream sometimes ends up feeling like a 2 hours long edging session, and he is so painfully hard by the end of it he comes as soon as he gets a hand around himself, waiting until Max has said goodbye to do so.

He doesn't always get off though. One time he had actually fallen back to sleep, Max's voice and Stardew's soft sounds lulling him straight into dreamland. But he always gets at least a little bit hard, something too sensual and alluring about Max for him to help himself.

Today though, Max seems more subdued. He still has his legs splayed open, miles of fuzzy skin on display, but he's focusing more on the game, even replying less to chat.

Daniel frowns, knowing he's not the only one who has noticed it, other worried messages popping up, mixed with a few more rude ones, telling Max to get on with it already.

"Sorry chat," Max says, finally acknowledging the messages with a small laugh. He takes a hand away from his keyboard, but instead of one of the usual teasing touches, he brings it up to his face, rubbing at his eyes and then dragging it down his cheek.

"It's been a long week," he adds with a sigh, before pushing himself to sit a bit straighter, pulling his smile back on. He's playing with the hem of his shorts now, pulling them high enough they completely disappear under the sweatshirt, but Daniel can tell it's an halfhearted attempt at best.

For the first time, he pulls up the chat, fingers itching to write something, but not knowing how to word it without being offensive. "You don't have to touch yourself if you don't want to"? Nobody ever actually acknowledges that bit out loud, he can't be that direct. "You don't have to stream if you are tired"? Would that feel like he's telling Max he doesn't care about his stream? He doesn't want that to be the first impression Max has of him.

Daniel_358: anything we can do?

He feels stupid as soon as he sends it, cringing at himself. What would he even do? He's on the other side of the world, a complete stranger.

And yet Max smiles, soft and sweet, and Daniel's stupid heart jumps in his chest.

"Hello Daniel, welcome in. You just being here is enough."

Daniel knows, he knows, that Max is just saying that, just a throwaway line to make him feel good, but at the same time he can't help but melt a little at the way Max says his name. At the thought of Max wanting him there.

He watches as a few more messages pop up, offering vague support, and sees the moment it gets too much for Max, his face closing off a little as he goes back to the game, trying to redirect chat's attention to it.

Without thinking too much about it, Daniel navigates to Max's profile down to the donate button. He's hovered over it often enough he doesn't have any trouble finding it, but it still takes him a couple tries to figure out how to properly go through with it.

A few moments later, a new alert pops up on the stream, startling Max (and Daniel, even if he knew it was coming) badly enough he accidentally falls out of a tree.

Daniel_358 has donated €358: for making it through the week and as good luck for the next

Max blinks. Pauses the game, then blinks again.

"I..uh...thank you Daniel for the donation? That's...a lot of money, mate," he stutters out, shaking his head slightly in disbelief. "Are you sure?"

Daniel_358: of course Daniel_358: you deserve it

Max's cheeks are red, his blue eyes wide, and Daniel's heart is still doing something weird in his chest.

"Thank you, then. It's...I of course appreciate it."

His voice sounds off, and for a moment Daniel is afraid he did something wrong, but then Max smiles, some tension in his shoulders disappearing.

"Well, Daniel just made the week better, so let's go back to chopping trees, yes?"

The chat explodes in a flurry of yeses and nodding emotes, and Daniel settles back on his pillows, feeling warm and satisfied.

The rest of the stream is more normal, Max going back to his usual teasing a few moments later, but for once Daniel doesn't feel like getting off, content with just watching Max's pretty smile and rosy blush. He still gets hard, he's not suddenly gone crazy (...or more crazy at least), but it doesn't feel as consuming as usual.

By the time Max says goodbye, Daniel is half asleep, curled up in his blankets, his phone laying on the pillow next to his.

When the screen goes dark he yawns, stretching slightly and dipping two fingers into his boxers, trying to decide if he feels like getting off or if he's sleepy and content enough to save it for the morning.

He's brushing a finger against the tip of his dick, still contemplating, when his phone dings, a new notification sound he's never heard before. Curious, he takes his hand out, reaching for it and unlocking it.

The twitch app is still open, now with a red number 3 next to the messages icon, and when he clicks on it he almost drops his phone again in surprise.

Player00Max: Hello Daniel Player00Max: I hope it is okay if i message you I wanted to thank you for the donation Player00Max: but it is a lot of money so I of course can reimburse you if you changed your mind

[aliensfuckmeup]

Another page from the Loop Being Emo In The Woods WIP! The aftermath of the little episode from the previous page I posted. This one’s finished, and I need to think long and hard abt whether this level of detail is like, sustainable for something 15 pages long 😅

This comic originated from wanting to see more straight up sifloop romance, with pining and sad eyes and angsty internal monologues and tropey romcom bits and a healthy mix of drama/comedy. I plotted out a couple funny little one page comics, then got into thinking about character motivations and emotional beats, and now we’re like, maybe 15 comics/scenes/chaoters plotted and storyboarded in this universe? But because I hate keeping things simple, every one of those fucking comics is between 6-15 pages long and dialogue heavy, and I’m getting mired in the characterization of it all (not even counting getting mired in the visual storytelling and the plot progression of it all! And not even getting started on the “still very new to digital art, how does one use procreate” of it all!) Soooo haha I’m in danger :3

If anyone wants to talk in dms or on discord abt this comic and the greater sifloop shipping trash story it’s part of, hit me up! Especially if you know your way around plotting out a story a lil bit. I don’t know how to start conversations online 🙈 but I like to think I bring a lot to the table talking meta, trading wips and other art that I can’t post here, making lil comics from discord bits, and exchanging help with plotting/storyboarding/dialogue/character interpretations.

[g0nta-g0kuhara]

The Chapter 4 Essay Part 1: Kokichi Ouma

A metapost on my thoughts on Kokichi’s overall motivations and Gonta’s actions during ch4. Split into two parts. You can find the Gonta half here: (LINK)

I think the way Kokichi acts when he’s telling the truth says something crucial about his personality. When he’s telling the genuine truth, his expression becomes carefully neutral.

(post trial, chapter 1)

To me, it feels like he’s trying very hard to keep this face of neutrality. Normally, he’s able to expertly express any emotion that he wants to. In these moments, its almost like the emotion he’s feeling is so overpowering that he’s trying to repress it in order to maintain control over the face he presents to everyone else, but isn’t quite able to do so.

Kokichi is very careful about keeping people from seeing the parts of himself that he doesn’t choose to show. His villain persona and constant lying is part of this- He wants to keep people away from him. During the events of the killing game, he uses the distance that he creates in many ways. Part of it was that not having many close alliances allowed him to go off and do whatever he wanted during daily life. This let him explore the school and investigate the truth of the killing game without interruption or much attention. Lying also gave him distance between the game and himself. Pretending that the killing game was fun might’ve been his way to cope with everything that was happening. I think Kokichi is really damn good at separating himself from his emotions, lying to himself to do what he thinks needs to be done. This line from Chapter 1 is pretty telling…

(post trial, chapter 1)

This was also something he says himself to Kaito in the exisal hanger during chapter 5.

(post trial, chapter 5)

I’m inclined to believe everything that Kokichi says to Kaito in the exisal hanger. As Kiibo says when Kaito questions it, “I think his dying words may have been the honest truth.” Knowing he was about the die, and that he absolutely needed Kaito’s help to get his plan to break the killing game to work- to achieve his genuine, true goal- I don’t see any reason for him to lie.

This emotional distance extends past just the killing game. I think it's a key part of how he interacts with others around him.

Kokichi is an ultimate leader. I think he uses his talent throughout the game in an attempt to “lead” everyone from the shadows. He wanted to stop the killing game and escape with as many people as possible. However, his methods are very ends-justify-the-means. I believe that he did genuinely care about everyone at the ultimate academy, but in the detached way a distant king might care about his subjects. On the other hand, if he had to use or sacrifice a few as pawns for the greater good, that is what had to be done. It’s not like it didn’t emotionally affect him, but I think he was deliberately trying to keep his distance so that it would not impact him as much, and so that he could continue trying to tear the killing game apart with as many tools in his arsenal as possible.

(post trial, chapter 5)

With this core motivation in mind, this brings us to Chapter 4.

In my opinion, the Killing Game Busters was never a plan that was meant to succeed. From an in-game perspective, the idea that he was originally going to follow this mercy kill plan doesn’t make sense to me. Firstly, Kokichi already had suspicions that they were being watched as early as chapter 3.

(post trial, chapter 3)

…and he later confirms that he was fully convinced of this fact when Monokuma agreed to reuse the chapter 4 motive in the virtual world.

(post trial, chapter 5)

He knew that this killing game was for somebody else’s entertainment. I’ll go a bit into the secret of the outside world in a moment, but considering this, I don’t think he ever fully believed in it. Choosing to mercy kill everyone, in the name of a “truth” that was incompatible with what he had discovered… just doesn’t make sense to me.

Not to mention, from a narrative standpoint, I think the idea that he was completely for this mercy kill plan, decided to throw out the plan mid-trial, and then start an entirely different plan to end the killing game in chapter 5, isn’t very compelling. It weakens Kokichi’s overall character by making his motivation less cohesive and making him seem less organized over all, which I think is one of his strengths as a character. A Kokichi that is this fickle with what he’s trying to do would not have been able to write the script for chapter 5.

I think he always had different goals in mind with the Killing Game Busters. The first was something that is made very clear in chapter 5, but started here in chapter 4: He wanted to stop the killing to give himself room to break the game while minimizing deaths. The second was to further villainize himself, for all the reasons I talked about above, and some more I will get into in a little bit.

Seeing the secret of the outside world was undoubtably disturbing, regardless of whether he believed it or not; there is a noticeable shift in how Kokichi acts before and after he swipes that card key. Combined with discovering that Miu, someone he’d been working with closely, was planning on murdering him, I believe that seeing the destruction of the outside world pushed him towards more drastic measures than what he had been doing in previous chapters. He decided that in order for his plan in chapter 5 to work (which he had almost certainly already been planning at this point, considering how elaborate it was), he needed to make everyone question if pursuing the truth was the right thing to do at all.

After Miu’s body discovery, nobody was really worried about losing this class trial. Everyone had seen how Shuichi had guided them all to the truth and caught the blackened three times in a row, despite the unique difficulties in each case. They had full confidence in his abilities.

(investigation, chapter 4)

Shuichi is also not really doubting his abilities as a detective anymore. One of Shuichi’s core internal conflicts is his fear of the consequences of revealing the truth. Up to this point, it seems like he’s been moving past it. Especially after catching Korekiyo “Actual Serial Killer” Shinguji, who had no regrets or grey motivation for his killings. Shuichi’s morale, and subsequently everyone else’s, was at an all time high. (Of course, he was starting to feel a lot of pressure to solve these cases and save everyone on his own… but that’s another issue. ily Shuichi)

If Kokichi could take the wind out of Shuichi’s sails, really destroy the confidence he had built up so far, he could set up his impossible trial in chapter 5 to be more likely to work as intended. Everyone will be less motivated to try and figure out what happened if they are uncertain that finding the truth would actually result in anything good.

And I do believe he was trying to knock Shuichi off balance specifically. Damaging his confidence is one thing, but he was also deliberately trying to drive a wedge between him and Kaito. He antagonizes Kaito all chapter 4 investigation, including making up a nickname for Shuichi (“Shumai”) that directly riffs off Kaito’s closeness with Maki. He insists into the trial that he and Shuichi are partners now.

(class trial, chapter 4)

(Sidenote: Kokichi’s behaviour during trial 4 is genuinely really interesting to me. On top of the direct digs like this, he says a lot more subtle things to get under Kaito’s skin during trial 4 that I think are super neat to pay attention to.)

Theoretically, pushing Kaito away from Shuichi, combined with the powerlessness he’ll feel in the wake of the truth of both trial 4 and the outside world, could make him easier to convince to join Kokichi’s “side”. He even directly asks Shuichi to team up with him before leaving the virtual world:

(daily life, Chapter 4)

This leads me to believe that Shuichi was originally the one that Kokichi intended to use to build his impossible trial. I mean, if Shuichi was the one in the exisal hanger and presumed dead instead of Kaito, the chances of everyone else solving that mystery drops Significantly. Everyone else, aside from maybe Kiibo, was 100% convinced that Kokichi was the mastermind at that point. No one except Shuichi would’ve tried to dig as deep as he did, for better or for worse. I think this idea is supported by the note that Kokichi wrote next to Shuichi’s face on the whiteboard in his room (“trustworthy?”). He was clearly considering Shuichi as a person for one reason or another, and I believe this is it.

By condemning Gonta, who everyone else perceived as a kind soul who would never hurt anybody, someone who was struggling to understand what the virtual world even was with his amnesia, would be perceived by the others as kicking someone when they were down. Gonta has an absolutely miserable time through the accusations and wholly blames himself for how things turned out in the end. That, and Gonta’s actions were even well-intentioned. The secret of the outside world was apparently so horrible, Gonta thought it would be kinder to mercy kill everyone rather than force them to face it. This result would make everyone question if the truth was really as undoubtably good as they had come to think so far; Not only did Gonta suffer because they had to find the truth, but seeking the secret of the outside world would apparently also only lead to suffering. This would make them hesitate during Kokichi’s impossible trial.

(class trial, chapter 4)

As I said before, Kokichi’s second goal for trial 4 was villainizing himself even further. He says that this was a goal himself to Kaito in chapter 5.

(post trial, chapter 5)

Part of this villainization was just adding to the persona he had already created for himself and that I already talked about his motivations for before. The other part was what he says here. He specifically wanted everyone to think that he was the mastermind. This gave him leverage in two main ways. First, making himself appear to be the mastermind with an actual mastermind as hands off as Tsumugi genuinely gave him power over everyone else. He used this in chapter 5 to put a pause to the killings and give himself more room to enact his plan to break the killing game from the inside.

(daily life, chapter 5)

Although he then says “You guys can commit suicide together or kill each other… / Or, you can change your mind and stay here! You’re welcome to do that too!”, having experienced the secret of the outside world already, I think he’s pretty confident in what they will be feeling in this moment. No one is going to kill each other, and he knows that. He wants them to take that second option for the time being while he sets up his plot.

Making himself appear like the mastermind also benefited his impossible trial plan directly. Everyone would be much more likely to vote for someone they were convinced was the mastermind rather than one of their friends. No one would suspect that it was really him that was the victim.

“Using Gonta and making him into a murderer” was a significant part of how he villainized himself, but the way he treated Gonta during this whole experience was also a major factor. Starting as early as just after Miu was killed, he begins to be really aggressively mean to Gonta. He just straight up bullies him throughout the second half of the trial.

(daily life, chapter 4)

(class trial, chapter 4)

And then, after all this, he acts remorseful and sides himself with Gonta at the very end. It isn't genuine emotion like he felt before Kaede's execution, shown by his neutral expression. To me, this uncharacteristically open expression of grief feels like it was just set up to exacerbate the impact of his cruelty after Gonta’s execution. At this point, everybody’s little faith in Kokichi has been shaken significantly. With the shock of the trial, maybe you Could start to believe they were on the same side, as a team. Then, at the reveal of the extent of Kokichi’s manipulation, that is all ripped painfully away again.

(post trial, chapter 4)

(post trial, chapter 4)

Even if these parts of trial 4 make my stomach turn, I don’t want to imply that Kokichi is completely cold-hearted and unfeeling. Actually, I think there were multiple moments in chapter 4 that show him struggling to regulate his emotions and keep face around everyone else while he enacted this plan.

1: I don’t think Kokichi initially planned to make the reveal that Gonta was the killer as dramatic (or frankly, a bit traumatic) as it ended up being. He had been carrying himself a certain way during the first half of the trial, and I think Shuichi lying to his face in front of everyone about Kokichi’s own alibi dramatically changed his attitude. I mean, Shuichi lied (as he had done almost every trial and gotten 0 flack for) and Tsumugi even called him out on it, but everyone believed him over Kokichi anyways. So when Kokichi lies, it’s completely inexcusable, even though he’s been working tirelessly on his own trying to save everyone?* But when SHUICHI lies, and gets caught in it, people go along with him? They don’t doubt their trust in him for even a second? This double standard infuriated him. It’s at this point that he completely shifts in energy. If Shuichi, no, everyone, is going to disrespect him like this, he was going to make them suffer for it.

(class trial, chapter 4)

2: Kokichi only goes full villain after Kaito says “Kokichi, If you really cared for Gonta, explain yourself to everyone” in the post trial. I think that even though he was always going to paint himself as the villain, he was legitimately affected by the things that had just happened (Gonta’s death, Miu’s attempted murder, the secret of the outside world, even if he knew it wasn’t real) and what he’d just done. Even if he was trying hard not to be. The sudden shift he has from not saying anything to cackling about how little he cared about Gonta feels to me like he was kicking himself back into gear after trying to process some genuinely difficult emotions. 3: After Kokichi punches Kaito down, and everyone completely ignores him in favour of helping Kaito up, Shuichi says these iconic words to Kokichi: “Kaito always has us by his side, see? But no one wants to be around you. / You’re alone, Kokichi. And you always will be.” Kokichi responds like this:

(Post-trial, chapter 4)

There’s something about the way he cuts himself off, pauses, and then his mask falls. I think Shuichi’s words got to him more than he wanted them to. Honestly, Kokichi’s attitude towards cooperation, keeping everyone at arm’s length, and insisting (to himself) that he (as a leader) must fix the killing game completely on his own just seems so lonely to me. Even if he is intentionally trying to alienate himself and get everyone to hate him, being so viscerally cut into like this must have hurt. Especially from someone he was trying to work to get onto his side. It’s no wonder he quickly left after this moment.

This is what I think drove Kokichi in chapter 4. He’s a leader who wants to “lead” his classmates into safety, but he isn’t afraid to use underhanded, cruel tactics if he thinks it will get him ahead in the game for the greater good. He viscerally represses his emotions in order to keep himself going and keep everyone else away from him. He tried to destroy Shuichi’s confidence and drive a wedge between him and Kaito to get him on his side for his plan. He used and made Gonta into a murderer to villainize himself and discourage everyone else from seeking the truth.

Whenever I imagine Kokichi on his own, out of the spotlight of the Audience or the eyes of his castmates, he’s never as expressive as he is in the open. I think in reality, Kokichi is a pretty depressed and lonely person. His clownish personality isn’t entirely a facade, and outside of a killing game scenario, I think he would act pretty similarly to how he does in game. But I do think that he uses it as a mask for his true emotions. While I feel like the “evil villain” persona is a genuine part of Kokichi’s personality, outside of the killing game he probably doesn’t act on it as deeply as he does in-game. I also think Kokichi struggles with letting people become close to him, even without anything on the line. The killing game just caused him to lean into these aspects of his personality hard, and in potentially the worst ways.

*I feel like here it’s important to mention that personally, I still think the collateral damage he caused in his attempts to stop the killing game matters. A lot. I don’t think he should be excused for the things he did, even if he had good intentions. This makes him a really interesting, morally grey character, and I like that about him. EDIT: I can't believe I have to add this, but please do not use this essay as ammunition for harassing people who ship ougoku… I don't agree with doing that at all. I hope I made it clear that I find Kokichi to be a complex character whose mistreatment of Gonta was never targeted, and more just an aspect how how he isolated himself and how he manipulated others to end the killing game, even if it caused suffering to them in the moment. Kokichi cares about everyone in the ultimate academy, in his own weird, detached way. He's not completely heartless nor is he an abusive monster. And even if none of that was the case, it's never an excuse to harass people for disagreeing with you. Please be cool!! Thanks <3

[guppygiggles]

Hooooboy, okay. /////// I had a really bad day yesterday, so I wrote this as stress relief.

This is, um. Very vulnerable and emotionally intimate. @////////@ A-heh. It also contains some of my favorite descriptive imagery that I've ever written, so I'm going to to share it anyway, but,,,,, I'm,,,,,,, yeah, don't look at me. ////////// Contains: ~1.2k words, Ler!Avery, very underarm-focused tickling, teasing I can't even believe I managed to write out, lots of vulnerability, and GAY. Seriously, this is so sappy and gay, if you do not like sappy gayness do not read this okthanksbyeI'mgonnahideforevernow ////////////

“Alright, Casper. Lay down, and lift ‘em up.”

I flushed hotly, squirming in place as we stood in my bedroom. It was evening, and we had already changed into our pajamas. Avery looked wonderful in a tank top; tall and powerful, his bare arms pale and smooth as marble. Lacking two nights worth of sleep, I looked like a frazzled raccoon by comparison, my own oversized tank and gym shorts only adding to my gremlinized appearance.

Ravaged by an unrelenting bout of insomnia, I was exhausted, and I looked like it. But, as I seemed to learn again and again, with Avery... I was never too tired to be sheepish.

“Ah-! Avery, please, I…”

He chuckled knowingly, nudging me toward the bed. 

“I know, I know. It flusters you terribly, but you always sleep so well afterwards. The last thing you need is a third sleepless night, my dear; I won't allow that to happen, if I can help it. I know it's tough, but it will help you relax, I promise. Go ahead and get comfortable, now… Let me take care of you.”

I offered an embarrassed glance before turning toward the bed, my knees wobbling as I laid down on the quilt. He dimmed the lights, then floated over beside me and made himself comfortable, the brawny elemental's feet nearly hanging off the bed. For someone so big, he always moved with effortless grace.

“Alright, now… Arms… Uuuuuuup up up~” He ordered playfully, taking my wrists in his big, chilly hands and gently guiding them over my head. I tried to relax, the cool air wafting over my now open, vulnerable armpits. My hands balled into fists. 

“You know what I'm going to do next~ I know how much this makes you laugh, but just try to stay still for me, okay?”

I swallowed hard. Easy for him to say! I took a deep breath, but caved to more whining on the exhale. 

“Avery… Please, not the pits…” I was already glowing, my lips warbling into a twitchy smile before he had even laid a finger on me. A surge of giddiness welled in my chest, threatening to burst from my lips at any moment. 

Simpering deviously, he pushed right into my anticipation. 

“Hehe, ohhh, why not~? Does somebody have tickly pits, Casper~?”

And there went my resolve.

“Ah-! D-dammit… You already k-know-EEEEEHEHEHE?!” 

Without another word, he leaned down and pressed a soft, cool kiss into the middle of my right armpit.

I gasped.

Kisses?! 

He'd tickled plenty, but Avery had never kissed me before… Not there. I’d never known the elemental to be squeamish (not as if I weren’t hygienically meticulous...), but I would’ve never foreseen such a gesture – apparently, I didn’t know what he was going to do! My shocked body struggled to react, emitting a combination giggle-squeal as my back arched and ears burned with exploited sensitivity. His lips were a hunter’s arrow clad in cold silk, penetrating right to my core. My arms trembled as I struggled to keep them raised; even his breath tickled. 

Though my face was a billboard of fluster, Avery wasn’t content with my suffering. He continued to tease, smirking down at me as he thumbed through the pages of my expression; panicked delight, terrified desire, excited dread. Like most who had ever willingly submitted to a tickling, I was the embodiment of a war between philia and instinct, waged on a battleground of trust. Just by looking at him, I knew that he saw everything behind my eyes… and loved it.

“Keep ‘em up… The left one needs kisses, too~” 

“NohoHOHOHOOO!” 

“Mhmmm~ Right here…”

Holding my left arm up, he planted three swift kisses right into the hollow. I screeched and twisted as he giggled, his lips vibrating against my skin as he held onto my elbow, easily preventing me from lowering my arm. 

I was still laughing and squirming as he stopped to speak again. 

“Ohhhh, somebody really likes this, don’t they~? Tickle, tickle, tickle, Casper likes tickly kisses in his pits~ Hehehe~ Keep those arms up, or I'm gonna getchagetchagetcha~”

“AHaHahaAvery p-plehehehease~!” 

What had I done to deserve such savagery?! He was positively merciless!

“Are you going to be a good boy and sleep through the night, for once?” He leaned down again, brushing his satin lips back and forth across my left underarm, before planting another deep kiss into the center. I bubbled up with gleefully hysterical giggles, making him chuckle again. 

“YEHEHEHEhehes! PLEEHEhehease, no mohohore k-kihihisses~!” My heart palpitated fiercely. I was certain I couldn’t blush any deeper, but my face still managed to betray a wisp of regret as he relented. Like a center-fielder with an unbroken streak, Avery caught this, too.

“Alright, alright. I won't give you any more kisses… But that doesn't mean you're safe!” With that, he scribbled his plush fingertips into my pits, making me clamp my arms down as I shrieked and howled, curling into a ball as I did. 

“Aaa-gitchygitchygitchy~! Who's my ticklish, handsome boy?” 

“EEEEEEEEHEHE-AAAHAHA~!” My eyes welled with tears as he continued to wiggle his trapped fingertips under my arms, the limited range of motion doing nothing to lessen the sensation. How did it tickle so badly? I could hardly think…! My heart raced as the sensation ran all over me, making me tremble as my vibrant blush spread down my neck and chest. Enduring a tickle from Avery wasn’t a rarity by any means, but I couldn’t remember the last time he’d made me laugh so hard; he really did intend to exhaust me!

“We're going sleep alllll the way until morning, right? Or does the tickle monster need to wear you out a bit more~?” 

“I’LL SLEEEEHEHEHEHEEP!” “Wonderful! Now, I don’t think I received an answer to my first question. Let me ask it again…” “NOOOOHOHOOOO!” “Who is it, Casper~? Who’s my pretty, sensitive, ticklish boy~?”

His gentle fingers were so fiendishly persistent as they wriggled into my pits, I could scarcely get the word out. “M-MEEEEHEHEHEHEE!” “There we go! Good boy~!” 

I couldn’t believe it; even after such an admission, he continued to tickle me!

As my laughter began to border on screaming, he finally gave my armpits a break, switching instead to my ribs, belly, hips, feet; anywhere he could reach. My laugh was too big for me to keep my eyes open, but I could feel that he’d conjured extra hands to assist him… The sheer cruelty of it all! I quickly slipped into silent hysteria, which afforded me an opportunity to listen to Avery’s melodic, affectionate chuckle as he tickled me. Oh, how wonderful… how terrible, how unbearably tender. Enough love to fill every ocean radiated from that laugh, and I wanted to swim in it until the end of time.

Once he was satisfied that he’d soundly melted me into a flushed, ticklish puddle, Avery finally stopped. He leaned down to give me one last kiss, this time on my forehead, as he tucked my hair out of my face.

“I love you, dewdrop. I'll be right here, okay? If you wake up scared, just wake me up, and I'll help you get back to sleep. With tickles, or without.” He softly caressed my cheek, then winked, causing the light in the room to flick out. Pulling me into his arms, he nuzzled into my neck as a deep, exhausted sigh rolled from my chest, my body buzzing with the characteristic tingle of a thorough tickling. His plan was working… I could already feel the tug of sleep on my consciousness, pulling my thoughts into a wooly haze. My eyes slipped closed as I snuggled my back against his pillowy, cool body.

Just as he anticipated, I slept straight through until dawn.