#loved it btw. epic lovely characters all around

[chompe-diem]

guess who finished unsleeping city and is starting chap II?? hellllll yea

[samdeanbitchjerk]

I'm all for people shipping whatever they want, but some people seem straight up delulu. 🤦‍♀️

[sophswritingthings]

SIXTH PART LOL 😸😸😸

So now the reader and Mizu are so well Acquainted that soon they get married to each other but it was literally just a small wedding and when i say small I mean Mizu proposes and says some sappy stuff and Reader says something sappy as well and then they call it a day. (MIZU AND READER DESERVES A BEAUTIFUL WEDDING IMO).

Mizu is out doing whatever and reader is at home making dinner and BAM someone breaks in again (Girly needs better security honestly 🤨🤨) and she goes straight for the kill with her ninja stars and Kunais but the guy is really good at dodging them and goes like "all that training and you still can't throw properly" and shown to be her dad and she starts to fight him and asks why he's here and he says he's here to collect Mizu for her bounty and reader ain't letting that slide.

They start to fight and reader has the upper hand during the first part of the fight, but then her dad pulls a quick one and starts to talk about how her siblings are all dead and it's her fault and she starts to cry and gets pinned against the wall (Via neck btw) and Mizu comes home to seeing reader crying and pinned against the wall.

Readers dad comes for Mizu and an epic showdown happens and Mizu wins ofc but reader is left crying on the ground and cue a fluffy scene where Mizu kisses readers head and comforts her (via pulling her to a hug and into her lap while reader cries abt her siblings).

pairing: mizu x fem!apothecary!reader

warning(s): blood, injury, swearing

a/n: damn reader is just getting SLAMMED. also yes, she very much needs better security 😭

summary: the ask summarizes it I’d say

word count: 977 words / 5,291 characters 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

the two of you were taking a walk, along the mountains, hands clasped together—like you'd never let go. little did you know… that was the plan.

mizu stopped in her tracks.

you paused, turning around to face her.

“uh, mizu? Is something wrong?”

no, nothing was wrong. 

she grabbed one of your hands again, rubbing her fingers over your knuckles. you continued to look at her, confused by her behavior. 

“we’ve been seeing each other for a while, now, (y/n),” she murmured, glancing up from your hands. “if this were.. traditional, we would be considered married.”

your eyes widened. was she really…

“I wanted to know, if we possibly.. could, be married.” she said rather bluntly, “I love you, (y/n), more than I have ever loved anyone. If you would accept my hand, in marriage, that would make me happier than I have ever been.”

you were close to tears, at this point. hearing her proclamation of love for you, it warmed your heart.

“yes,” you whispered. “yes—I love you, mizu, I really do. I’ve never loved someone so much,” you rest your forehead against hers. “but it isn’t like we can have a ceremony.”

she nods a little, holding your waist. “this is enough for me. we don’t need anything special… just to call you my wife is enough.”

you're humming softly, making you and your wife dinner. she was out, probably trying to collect information again—usually that came up with nothing—and you were waiting for her to return.

knock.

Knock.

KNOCK.

the beating got progressively louder, sitting off a red alert in your head. you grabbed your stars and kunai's, ready to protect yourself.

wasn’t the first time you had to do so..

as the man burst through the door; you couldn’t see his face. his face was concealed, and he was dressed in all black. you had no clue who he was; but he was going down.

you begin to toss your weapons at him, trying to either pin him or kill him, at worst. 

he laughs, a big bellowed laugh, dodging each and every one, “all that training and you still can’t throw properly, can you?”

you stop in your tracks as he tossed off his mask. your eyes widen, your eyes wide—they begin to sparkle with tears. a man you feared so very much; he'd shown up at your doorstep.

“what the fuck are you doing here?” you ask, your voice raspy with emotion.

“I am here to collect the onryō that resides here,” he takes a pace toward you. “I know you're hiding him, little flower. I am here to collect him for a bounty. where is he?”

your eyes narrowed to slits, “you mean my husband?” you grumble, “yeah, I don’t think so.”

he scoffs, “husband? i always knew you were a fucking idiot, but this? marrying an onyrō? I thought you were at least better than that, little flower.”

you launch yourself at him, knocking him off his feet. you tussle and tumble for a few moments, knocking over flowers and vases along the way.

“your siblings are gone, and it is all your goddamn fault. and now.. married to a demon?” he scoffed. you stopped. you were holding his collar, a kunai pointed at his throat. “they died. they're all fucking dead, because of you. after you ran away; they had no one to protect them.. their big sister abandoned them, and they died in your wake.”

you shook your head, your entire body shaking as you began  to cry.

“I-it isn’t my fault, y-you—“

“trying to pin this on your father? how pathetic,” he pushed you to wall, pushing a kunai through the skin of your throat.

you cried out in pain; pinned to the wall with a kunai through your neck—

“now where is the onryō?” he hissed.

“onryō? I’m right here.”

your eyes snap open as you hear mizu's voice, a small ensemble of relief washing over you.

“ah, there you are,” he released his grip from you, turning to face mizu. “prepare to die.”

“prepare to die?“ she scoffed, tossing off her overcoat, hat and glasses. “I’ve been prepared to die since the day I was born, do you seriously think I am scared of the idea?”

mizu reached for her katana, unsheathing the sword in one fell swoop. she narrowed her eyes, gazing at your father.

“I think it is you who should be prepared,” she hissed. “you were dead the minute you laid a hand on my wife.”

he lunged at mizu, his blade attempting to slice her waist, but she was too quick—she moved with speed and stealth, her moves unable to be accounted for.

he turned on his heels, yet another attempt to slide her in half—but to no avail. he missed once more, and this time, mizu grabbed her sword—sweeping past his waist in one precise, clean cut as she moved past him.

he stopped moving.

his body fell limp.

you watched the scene unfold; your father's body falling into two halves, blood gushing from both sides.

mizu turned to you in an instant, pulling the kunai from your neck. you cried out in pain, falling into her arms, sobbing.

she moves you to the floor, pulling you into her lap in a tight hug.

“It’s okay.. it’s okay,” she whispered, brushing her hand through your hair. “he's not something you have to worry about ever again.”

“I-it’s all my fault,” you whimper. “t-they’re all dead because of me, mizu.”

“no. no, don’t think like that, my love,” she hissed. “it isn’t your fault. It’s that monsters fault. and he’s dead; you can rest now.”

you nodded, burying your head in her neck.

she kissed the top of your head, pulling you into a tighter hug. she never wanted to let you be hurt ever again—

—and she wouldn’t.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

a/n: the mizu gifs are killing me bro. SHES SO HOT

[modernsuperhero]

Btw ages ago I came up with a Scarian au where Scar is of course the mayor of a lovely city. He's quite wealthy too - before his venture into politics he designed the very successful Scarland theme park, which rejuvenated the city's economy and boosted his own pockets too. He's very active in the community and generally beloved by the people.

He is also secretly HotGuy, the city's vigilante superhero, using his wealth from Scarland and his connections as mayor to try to untangle the mess of corruption and organized crime throughout the city! And also like, saving cats from atop trees and things if he happens to come across those too. The city however has recently become host to a deathly parasite, the lethally beautiful Mother Spore. Because she's an independent villain, HotGuy has no way to anticipate her attacks and just has to drop everything when she starts to try to take over another city block or something.

However, HotGuy is not the only person running around the city with a mask and a dream! There's one character who's known just as much for his menace as for his heroism: Poultry Man! Poultry Man may not be a villain, but far be it from him to veer away from pranks or minor shoplifting. HotGuy has chased him down after catching him egging buildings or nicking treats he didn't pay for, but he's also shown up to help HotGuy pull survivors out of the water when there was a terrible bridge collapse, or help break up fights that start to get too violent.

And then, of course, there's the final masked figure in HotGuy's career: his sidekick, CuteGuy! He simply appeared one day, kitted out in military grade weapons and body armor spray-painted pink and white, complete with frills and bows and bullets, asking how he can help. HotGuy is skilled at combat and firing his bow, but CuteGuy is on another level. For some reason, he follows HotGuy's every command to a T, never taking the lead despite obviously having extensive experience. Despite his compliance, he refuses to discuss his past or identity.

Somehow, though, none of these three characters are ever in the same place. If Mother Spore is ravaging a street, Poultry Man doesn't make a peep, and CuteGuy never comes to HotGuy's aid. Poultry Man always gets away with his pilfered knickknacks before CuteGuy arrives, and so on and so forth. And you see, Scar is no fool. He knows all three's secret identities - or rather, identity.

[More under cut]

It is none other than one of Scar's long-time friends and neighbor: Grian.

Grian has known Scar since his dreams for Scarland were nothing more than doodles in his teenage sketchbook. He adores knitting, baking, and taking his cats (however unwillingly) on walks outside. Scar moved into the mayoral home when he was elected, but he still owns his old house right next door to Grian's. Grian is a cheery architect who proudly boasts about being Scar's friend.

And Scar has no doubt in his mind he is also secretly terrorizing the innocent people around him, and that he has both attempted to kill, protect, and annoy Scar as HotGuy on countless occasions.

...Okay, he doesn't know WHY Grian is doing that, or... how, but it HAS to be him! He swears all of their voices are the same, and even with the different masks on they all look exactly like him! And, he's never seen any two of them in one place! Scar is sure Grian's innocent civilian facade is nothing more than that.

It also explains some things: Mother Spore's flirtatious remarks whenever they fight, Poultry Man's annoying cackling when he leads Scar on another chase across town, and CuteGuy's insistence on keeping him alive and following him like a shadow.

Grian and Scar used to be close. But as Scar's life got more complicated, he had less and less time to spend with his friends.

As baffling as it is, Scar is certain that while he was gone Grian became a supervillain of epic proportions, and he's probably only just begun toying with HotGuy and the rest of the city for his own amusement.

...

The truth is Scar is completely wrong!

Grian, Mother Spore, Poultry Man, and CuteGuy are, legitimately, four different people (or entities, looking at Mother Spore) who have never met.

Or, well, that depends on your definition of "met". :)

[sprinklenoodles]

Basically though, I binge-read ALL of A Legacy will Be Crowned Like, ALLLLL that was there so far and my gosh am I hating myself for not reading it sooner! I was a fool! A looooser!!! No joke, I was just hooked, enthralled. Also, since I am far too excited to put my thoughts into a coherent structure, some other disjointed thoughts are the following: 1. Kijo Togami. Even without the fic note at the end of his introduction chapter mentioning how he was fun to write for you, I could just sense it OOZING all over his dialogue and actions. Really like this interpretation of his character. He sucks yet he fascinates me. Makes me wish I had a consistent design for him so I can just draw him. 2. Byakuya is really fun to follower here. Even with knowing the end result of the competition, the fun lies in his decisions, how he solves problems and the said problems he faces. Also, it helps that, due to his age, one is already bound to route for him as the underdog of the family, even with the trajectory of how he preforms in the competition being clear to the reader. Like, even though we KNOW he's not going to fail due to the nature of the canon as this is a prequal, one can still worry about him and his wellbeing. I like that a lot! You fond a good balance with that since a pitfall that can occur is that the reader isn't invested with the main character because they already know what will become of them. Also, one other thing I wanna add is that I like how he's not written in a belittling way or as an over-competent super genius. He's still a kid but it's also apparent he has exceptional qualities that make him different from the others but not annoyingly different 3. The siblings. Though there isn't too much to say, I like just their being. There isn't much info on all of them but it fits since we're following Byakuya. We get small details though. Do wish I knew what they'd look like cus I am just at a loss still. Also, I liked Byakuya's dynamic with a "certain character" I don't wanna spoil btw for those who are just seeing this, so I will just say "that one prick" and those who know will know B] 4. I know I already mentioned Kijo but I just LOVE the staging of those intermission chapters where he's talking with Aloysius all sinister with a glass of wine. Like, he's giving diabolical energy with just a hint of camp that makes him so fun to read. And, I just adore his remarks to Aloysius, very cold, uncaring. How he clearly tears the butler down with his sharp words and the showcase of Aloysius's character with how he handles this. Cus, he's been around as Kijo's main butler for ages and it shows! Also, I swear. If I didn't have art block at the time I'm writing this, and could draw some backgrounds, I'd SO draw a detailed, colored piece of Kijo sitting in his fancy chair, turned away from Aloysius as he monologues, eyes intent on the screens watching the contestants. Like MMM I LOVE IT!!! It's so moody and I can just feel the atmosphere oozing off the page!! AAAAH!! Also, mentioning it now, while reading, to set the mood, I listened to some Pokemon music. And, since why not, here's what I listened to Here is Number 1 - listened at the beginning before it got epic. basically the first chapter only AND here is Number 2 - was a general listen. something eery but not horror like AND, my favorite Number 3 - THIS GAVE ME THE SHIVERS WHEN I READ CHAPTER 9 MY GOOOOOSH! WHY DOES THIS FIT SO WELL FOR KIJO?! Or at least, I fits for me at least! I could be wrong though! You can decide for yourself if it does!! Dunno if it's just be but my gosh and I just aaah! I can't even word it right cus I'm too busy being so hyped for this! Got the metaphorical chills!! Will totally draw art of this like, sometime. Might take me ages and I totally have to get better at backgrounds in order to draw these set pieces but like, yes!!!!!!

AHHHH. Got so excited while reading this!!! Thank you SO much.

But lemme go into what u said.

1. Kijo- he really does just suck. Guy couldn't care less about his children unless they're his heir. But also, he's entertaining. The stupid dude is just like that.

2. Byakuya- He really is the underdog, though he refuses to believe that. The thing is, he does think he is better than his siblings- he is destined to become heir- yet he can't exactly show it to them. He knows that they're physically stronger- he's a scrawny 11 year old.

But since he isn't heir just yet, he is not that overconfident. He knows that he needs to work hard to become heir. Plus, his siblings aren't idiots (for the most part) They're Togami's, and just cuz he is gonna be the heir, doesn't mean that they couldn't prose a problem, like a certain somebody.

3. The siblings- Yeah, there isn't much known about them since Byakuya simply... doesn't care. He sees them as his competitors, nothing more. Unless they become a thorn in his path to become hei, he just doesn't think about them unless the situation calls for it.

Like I said, he doesn't (fully) underestimate them but that doesn't mean he ever focuses on them. Their looks aren't really described since Byakuya couldn't care less about that for the most part.

I do have small descriptions for all of them tho if you're interested! Have a little page in a document with just a wee bit of info about each sibling. That also includes which THH character they represent.

4. The intermissions were also some of my fav things to write. Just seeing Kijo's thoughts on everything and how his... behaviour towards Byakuya changes a wee bit with every chapter is just very fun to write. And Aloysius goes perfectly with this since there is just such a big power gap between them which leads to Kijo being much more open.

And Kijo does trust Aloysius- in his eyes, he's the best servant possible. Doesn't change the fact he just sees Aloysius as a servant though... Poor dude.

But glad you liked it so much!!! For some reason, people really like it, despite it being such a small fic in my eyes. Can't wait to see what amazing art you come with once your artblock is gone! Be sure to take your time :D

[venomspecs]

felt like translating a little bit of the preamble to the edition of the odyssey I own (very good translation with super insightful annotations btw):

Through all these tales we see the traits that make up the personality of the protagonist of the Odyssey. Odysseus is, at the same time, a liar and a generous man, he's cautious and brave, a smooth operator and a loyal husband. This is what's extraordinary about this stupendous character: he's not one-note, like Achilles, who only yields and is humanized at the death of Patroclus, hellbent on revenge, or at the tears of a supplicant Priam, this time moved by compassion by the suffering old man and afflicted by the thought of his own aging father Peleus. In contrast, Odysseus has a much richer personality. Throughout the poem he never stops thinking about returning home, he, however still takes on risky adventures, and while he is intelligent enough to trick the cyclops, it was him who couldn't resist the temptation of entering the one-eyed monster's cave.

One minute he's incredibly prudent (like when he covers his crewmates' ears with wax to resist the deadly fascination of the sirens' song while he gets tied up to the mast of the ship, following Circe's wise advice to a letter), and the next he's recklessly daring (like when he gets armed, grabs two spears and gets ready for the grueling and disproportionate feat of fighting rocky Scylla). Such is homeric Odysseus, a hero with a complex personality who acts in an equally complex epic poem wherein diverse legends have converged. While the Iliad tells of a mere episode of the Trojan War, which serves both as a setting and a cause of Achilles' rage and allows for war feats and human feelings and passions to be described, the Odyssey is the epic poem about a character who integrates not only the adventures he experiences, but also the actions of other characters into a narrative whole. Around the figure of Odysseus polytropos and polytlas, gather gods, beggars, suitors, loyal and disloyal servants, nymphs, witches, giants, cannibals, hospitable men, the souls of the dead, the caring nursemaid, the loyal dog and his dearest loved ones: his parents, his son, his loving wife.

Antonio López Eire

[dootznbootz]

I'm not very fond of Epic AUs where Odysseus adopts Astyanax.

It's fine for a one-off joke or comic and ofc this is just my opinion but... if Astyanax lives (like in Racine's play), he should always stay with Andromache. His actual mother, yk. Not with one of the men who sacked Troy. Zeus' prophecy is bound to happen and Odysseus knew keeping the infant around was a bad idea.

If Astyanax dies, I want to see him in Elysium with his father, finally in a peaceful place and having all of eternity to catch up. Then Andromache joins them (sending her to Asphodel would be too cruel) and they finally reunite.

Would anyone picture Neoptolemus adopting Astyanax ? The son of Achilles, who dragged Hector's body in a chariot. No ? So Achilles' associate doing the same would be weird.

And Odysseus ? I want him CRAVING for a son, waiting for so long until he can express his paternal affection (and always cursing Palamedes even after his revenge 😂).

Him meeting Telemachus all grown up should be his first real shot at fatherhood. It'd be underwhelming if he already had a little boy with him. If Telemachus has a little brother, Penelope should be the mother. Or they adopt another baby together afterwards. No Astyanax and ESPECIALLY NO TELEGONUS !

So yeah, imo Astyanax and Odysseus don't belong with each other. Any thought ?

Headsup: This is just an opinion. My opinion does not matter. If you like this AU, PLEASE don't let that stop you from creating! Just because it's not for me, doesn't mean it's not for you or for someone else :D

I absolutely agree and you absolutely put into words WHY.

There's the term "woobifying" and in some cases...I think that's what people just often do with Epic/The Odyssey. (especially from Epic) I'm saying as someone who is a very soft and fluffy person. I love soft and sweet fics and ideas. I love stuff that makes me smile. But I almost feel as though with certain soft things, you're taking away what makes characters who they are. which DOESN'T make me smile lol

like I think there's more fun in simply a "no-war AU" than the "Astyanax lives AU" xD like, that way, Odysseus is with his family, gets to be a dad, Astyanax gets to live (let's not think too hard about how "no war may have meant no Astayanax")

As that way, they still get to be in character as well.

Penelope and Odysseus for example, are scallywags lol. They scheme and swindle. They giggle and kick their feet when they get extra cattle. They hold grudges. They can be snooty and prideful. They're as full of love as they are full of hate. Odysseus, during the Sack of Troy, in both the Odyssey AND Epic, will do whatever it takes to get home. Like yes, in Epic, Jay has it where Odysseus has to "become ruthless" but I can understand what he's doing with the narrative. Odyssey Odysseus? Um...Iphigenia is proof that Odysseus is already ruthless.

Btw, why is Astyanax the only one Odysseus would want to save with these AUs? What about Iphigenia? Is it because of Epic?

Yes, I DO think Odysseus (and Penelope for that matter) have a lot of parental instinct. I plan to write Odysseus carving lil wooden toys for random kids just as something to do. He does tricks. (ngl, while it seems they weren't around in the Mycenaean era, Yo-yos were a thing in ancient Greece. I just KNOW Odysseus would be the type to do so many tricks. (also string and wood🥹)) He has a soft spot for Greater Ajax's boy. My goober was friends with Menelaus and Agamemnon even before he met Penelope (he saw two exiled guys take back their kingdom and thought "hm??? vulnerable state??? They're very rich?? hehe >:3" but then became fond of them. The reason why he went to Sparta was to help Menelaus with Helen but fell in love himself.) and he's carved lil toys for Agamemnon's kids

He's carved lil Iphigenia toys. She likes Dolphins. He still helps sabotage the letter in some myths and even hypes up the crowd.

Even if it IS just based on Epic, "The Horse and The Infant" and "Just a Man" are HUGE turning points for Odysseus. Or even just a show of character. Like yes, "Odysseus is learning ruthlessness" but he already is ruthless. He literally says "I would trade the world to see my son and wife". AND HE STILL DOES THE DEED! HE WAS RUTHLESS SINCE THE BEGINNING! The Second song in the Musical and it already tells you about Odysseus and what he is willing to do. Is he sad and haunted? Yeah. Still did it.

And I really love that as that's Odyssey Odysseus as well! Odysseus isn't an unfeeling violent villain. He's just a man.

Also...What happens in the Odyssey is no fucking place for a child. ;~; The cyclops, the Goddesses, the monsters? Why should a lil boy be anywhere near that? How did he survive while drifting to Ogygia? Does Poseidon try to keep them together? As no one would be in the state to take care of each other together for that many days.

And in general, in the Odyssey, to me, it's such a huge thing that he literally lost EVERYONE. THAT HE IS ALL ALONE. All of the people who were with him are now dead, and there was nothing he could do. It was already fated.

It's horrible but there's something so poetic in him being the "Sole Survivor", especially after all the hell he went through.

Also yeah, I DO really hate the thought of Telemachus knowing "You took care of this baby when I needed you?". Like my OdyPen have a daughter after he returns as the whole "only one son" and that's already really hard for Telemachus to watch Odysseus be a father for her, regardless of how often and how adamantly Odysseus reassures him that Odysseus desperately wished to do the same with him.

[aranock]

Just had someone claim that I maliciously stole ideas from a friend without acknowledgong them when said friend is litterally in the video, and I was in the video I supposedly took thing from, despite my not even once thinking about either thing as being even remotely similar. Like not even slightly an influence. Also I am pretty open about when something influenced me. I don't exactly hide it. Idk I feel like people are really stretching to find anything they can hate Jessie and I for this video with. Like really? Really?

Anyway just to be clear The Editor is not a ripoff of my friend Neil from The Leftist Cooks video on metamodernism, great video btw go watch it. I wrote the editor in because as I was doing the script editing proccess on Jessies initial script and came up with a new structure and worried that if I didnt draw attention to this people would maliciously misinterpret part 1 without getting to the part 2 twist. The Editor is LITTERALLY representing what I did in the script editing proccess for this video. Though there role and purpose expanded to represent more broadly what editing and editors do to works, reinforcing the points we make on art as collaborative and the importance of the influence of for example Marcia Lucas on making the original trilogy as good as it was. If there was any inspiration for The Editor it was chatting with my friend @wonderful101gecs about Pathologic and Brechtian Epic Theatre. I wanted to disallow the audience from suspension of disbelief and force them to reconcile with the world as it is and with how narratives are manufactured. Even then its pretty loose inspiration. The Editor was just a natural result of needing a purpose fulfilled and rounding out my layers within layers structure. Im not sure if it was Jessie or I that named them that, but we made them a named character because we worried at one point early on if we didnt do that people might get really shitty towards me. Like originally in the script it was just "Aranock" and as they became a character I pushed it further towards them being a sort of amoral embodiment of concepts masquerading as a villain who was masquerading as a Hero, pretendint to be the great person behind everything. Thus I came to "oh I need a second rug pull" and thats where layer 5 came from because I needed to really REALLY make the audience go "oh I need to question the narrative" and not treat The Editor as the great man myth. Layer 1, the animation, came from a desire to have a narrative layer below the documentary and video essay layers, below any meta layer. So yeah originally this was just a long very direct essay by Jessie about the making of and politics of star wars, my reediting of those become layer 2 and 3, with some small bits of those ending up in layer 4. Oh also some elements of what became the editor and of the script existed before I even began my youtube channel. Like I have been kicking around aspects of these ideas for over 3 years. The Editors opening monologue is almost all from something I wrote about a year before releasing my first video. So yeah I was not stealing stuff from a video by my friend that released last year, and frankly its really shitty that people assume that of me.

Also I'm tired of how frequently people have been specifying out just me to be shitty about. Attacking my voice for being feminine, being weird about my body. Really makes me feel great. Love being a trans woman making art on the internet. Love how y'all attack me if my voice sounds how you perceive womens voices should sound and you attack me when it doesnt. Im tired people suck, and its really weird that some of you want me to sound more "manly", but thanks for the validating my self taught voice training I guess????

[malwaredykes]

ok. finished honest hearts. most of my inventory is plants and mushroom and Soups And Potions And Elixirs made from said plants and mushrooms. which is excellent.

the salt-upon-wounds confrontation was Tchruly garbo like. first of all they lit up ole josh before anyone even had the chance to say anything LOL that wasnt like Bad necessarily just rly funny. like yeah we can negotiate before anything breaks out *the camera pans to Jotchua Grams lifeless body on the pavement* but um second of all what the hell was that dialogue. "grrrr im gonna kill you" "[speech 75] no thats stupid. dont" "umm okei :) but i'll be back >:(" *runs away* Like. man. listen. throughout the entire dlc i Did Not want to be fighting all those white legs lol. i didnt know those people. you know i generally hate the Hostile By Default Irredeemable Canon Fodder Raiders crap and in this case its just especially egregious to me, with them being a Tribe and with me being some random ass normie strolling into the area getting instructed by the local white saviors. like, okay, since i Was getting involved, then if anyone deserved to Feel The Judgment Of Mine fall upon them it was in fact salt-upon-wounds with his track record of being a horrible fucking person. so i had to fight my way through all those white legs only for the Problem Guy to be like "Hm Okay. Deal. You Leave Forever And I Get To Live. Sounds Good. Sucker" like. fuck no. youre dead. this is for waking clouds husband how DARE you make my bald queen SAD

which btw i did encourage cloud to get mad at daniel for hiding that from her. like yeah girl dont take this shit from him. youre allowed to feel angry. who does he think he is. making decisions for the sorrows like youre all children. be mad at him. chase him out. tell him to never show his stinky mug around these parts. If You Want. ahh but then the ending slides said she forgave him.... well i suppose i have to respect her choice... but... cloud honey if you ever wanna team up and chase daniels stinky mug far away just give me a call

i also encouraged follows-chalk to go out there and experience the world outside... i really hated how he felt obligated to ask joshua permission, and how joshua was like Well 🥺 I wont tell him what to do but 🥺 Is it wise... I just worry about my foolish little lamb 🥺... like. Shut Uuuupppp.... chalk is an adult. i think. either way what do You know. jotchua. last time you ventured into The Civilized Lands (lol) you were a fucked up genocide army general so forgive me for thinking you might not have the most objective and up to date outlook here. Anyway. chalk come hang out sometime. come to the lucky 38. youll meet my epic swag friends and family. LOL bit of an aside but (mostly so i dont become insane because of the dlcs writing) i like to imagine that most of the time chalk expresses incredulity about some Civilized World Concept like gambling (-_-) or big dams or big weapons, hes literally fucking with you. like hes joking around. he used to mess with daniel and jotchua like that and now hes doing it with you. like Wow... How Strange... You Say It Is Called A... "Window".... 😂😂😂...

loving how the ending slides barely mentioned joshua also. like wtf happened to him. who knows. damn maybe he did die and i didnt even notice. im sorry jotchua. may your soul quickly find its way to NOWHERE lol #owned

final verdict: waking-cloud and follows-chalk are great, joshua graham is an extremely funny character, daniel is nothing to me, the area is cool, the plot is dumb as hell, the whole thing is racist, the quests are boring. 3/10

[aliceisathome]

Was busy over the weekend so am only now catching up with My Stand In. Honestly, why do people make me be sociable? I'd much rather stay in and watch BLs ffs.

So... JOE wtf are you doing? Wut has offered help and nope, you're going to take the job as Tong's stunt man because you're too proud to accept his offer. Grr. You are your own worst enemy (not that we didn't know this already).

The bar scene was so tense - when the guy, the almost stand in for Ming wearing the same jacket, approached Joe my shoulders were up around my ears. Up is so good at looking completely contemptuous btw - if anyone ever looked at me like that I would just shrivel and die.

Jim, your 'Khun Ming doesn't drink' line would be a lot more convincing if we hadn't just seen him sippng from a glass of booze. Just saying. And I can't believe you (literally) ran away and left Joe to his fate with your drunk boss. Tut. When do we get to see Mike again? I've missed Inntouch's little face - the new haircut suits him.

I gasped when Joe nearly smashed the couple mugs.

Why did you turn down all the help from nice people Joe? First Wut now Sol Is it because, despite everything, you still want Ming? (hint: yes) And so Ming wants Joe to be a stand in for himself but Joe thinks he wants a stand in for Tong (again). And next week Ming will discover that it wasn't Tong's back at all so he was always a stand in for Joe. Gah.

The layers are layering.

I can't WAIT to see Ming lose it when he finds out the back he fell for was Joe's all along. His meltdown will be epic and I am here for it. But the thing I want the most (other than his utter humiliation and loss of all he holds dear naturally) is Tong's reaction when Ming discards him. This is a man who's been stringing Ming along for years. YEARS. He drops crumbs, is jealous when Ming pays attention to anyone else etc so what is his reaction to Ming coming to his senses and pulling away from his manipulative arse going to be?

Actually Tong reminds me of Ter from Wandee Goodday - also Wal from My Dear Gangster Oppa and the 'friend' in Roommates of Poonduck 304. They're all characters who absolutely know the MC is in love with them. They accept EVERYTHING that the poor man offers and uses them, stringing them along purely for either what they can get materially or for an ego boost. Or both. I loathe this type of character. LOATHE. I want to see these emotionally manipulative bastards get their comeuppance* </rant over>

Roll on next week. Can't wait! And now I have to cleanse my palate with Saturday's Wandee Goodday

*Roommates is a great little series with some seriously good chemistry and the cafe scene where Jae Yun finally discovers that he's been used for all those years is gutting.

[somethingclevermahogony]

WIP Announcement (and re-re introduction)

Hello everybody! I've been busy for a while and I haven't been able to respond to a lot of the tag games and asks that I've recieved, but now finally I am done (for now) and I can get back to responding to y'all and posting about my WIP!

(Left) My MC'S Narul and Ninma courtesy of @faeporcelain and (right) Narul courtesy of @veggiebr0th !

For those of you who haven't seen me before, Hello! You can call me C. I am currently working on a series of fantasy novels, The Testaments of the Green Sea. The story follows the journey of the giant Narul and the princess Ninma as they travel the lands of Kishetal. Along the way they encounter spirits, monsters, demons, magic, war, gods, pirates, and slavers.

The setting and story is based around the mythologies and cultures of the Bronze age, no knights here sorry to say.

Genre: Epic Fantasy

Themes and Tropes (Or more accurately a random assortment of words vaguely related to the plot): Found Family, immortality, loss, love, war, power, memory, magic, insanity, political shenanigans, The passage of time, growing up, queerness in the ancient world, violence, spirits, fantasy outside of medieval europe

I finished the second draft of the first book (and started book 2) and I thought that I was happy with it, but lately I've been thinking more about a lot of the characters that I've included and the stories that I want to tell and I have realized that even with 208,000 words, I wasn't able to fully capture everything that I wanted to. And so I have decided to give myself more work and to split my first book into three separate books which will let me give all of the characters and stories the attention they need without overcrowding.

And I have finally come up with titles! The series overall is called The Testaments of the Green Sea and the three new books are as follows:

The Giant and The Princess

The Pirate and The Poet

The Hammer and the Spear

Some things you can expect in the next few days:

An absolute deluge of tag game responses and ask answers, I have a lot of catching up to do ( @illarian-rambling , @mk-writes-stuff , @elizaellwrites , @elsie-writes , @willtheweaver , @phoenixradiant , @agirlandherquill , @the-ellia-west , and anyone else that I might have missed)

I will finally be posting the intro to my OC, Zatar (I'm including a drawing of him down below), and will be posting a poll or two about other characters that y'all want to be introduced to you.

I might do a poll about a poll, to see what sort of thing y'all would be interested in seeing

I will be posting a recipe for a cheesecake recipe from my world, this is a way to celebrate 200 followers (thank y'all so much btw!)

I'm excited to show y'all some new things about my WIP and to introduce you all to my OCs and world! Also, I don't think I've ever actually made an official taglist. If y'all are interested in being in a taglist for this project, send me a message or comment on this post!

[arkhamjack]

EDIT: Ok so originally I reblogged this post -> https://www.tumblr.com/madnessmadness/720786271203655680/trigun-like-many-apocalyptic-and-wasteland-epics?source=share

with a very very lengthy response and thought I'd make it a post on its own, so before you read on please read the original post!! Thanks

-

I LOVE this analysis and the Mad Max examples! (biased as I am an inhabitant of the cursed land Down Under myself) and I would like to indulge in some further analysis of outfit (or lack thereof) symbolism!

I'll mostly be talking about Knives and there's also some SPOILERS for Trimax Vol. 7 and 13 (discussing the twins' childhood, Elendira's outfits and Legato).

Knives' getup here reflects the fear that drives him. He is completely covered - he is safe and protected from the outside world. There's even spikes protruding if anybody dares get too close. It expresses his need for safety but also reflects his need for control.

His nudity during the Fifth Moon incident is also interesting. If he's so hung up on protecting himself, why is he waving himself around on a mountain butt ass naked in front of his employees? 

(I love the hair flip panel lol) 

It's a display of power. He's just been reborn and he's all giddy. He's putting the fear of his divine angelic form into them. However, Vash is there too.

His nudity is NOT SEXUAL IN ANY WAY - it's a reflection of his plant PURITY. 

Knives makes himself an example to his brother. He's saying, 'Why can't you be like me? Why are you dirtying yourself with human contact?' (Despite Knives' whole thing being, yknow, wanting connection and understanding blah blah blah)(also plantc*st FUCK OFF)

The rest of Knives' wardrobe consists of lost tech exploration era space suits. They're not too bondage adjacent, but still cool and cunty imo. Though why is he hanging onto wearing shit from a very shitty time of his life? Simple: it sustains his drive for vengeance. 

These type of clothes were worn by those in a position of power who abused him, or more accurately, abused and eventually murdered Tesla.

In contrast to Knives' all or nothing approach to power dressing, Vash's underclothes expose his scarred skin, reflecting his willingness to degrade himself so openly to such a degree (remember the shit he pulled as Eriks?). However, the clothing that does restrict his body - his chest, the high collar, his shoulder, his right arm, his pants/boots - look... awkward? Uncomfortable? Idk but it SLAYS. 

My point is, Knives' clothing reflects a need to protect HIMSELF, whereas Vash's odd restrictive gear (particularly looking at the covered angel arm) reflects his need to protect OTHERS at the expense of himself. And of course, the suggestion of deviancy that OP mentioned. To Knives, Vash's deviancy is his love for humanity. It's fascinating visual coding and I love it. 

(This collaged pic from cellois on Pinterest)

On the subject of deviancy/perversion/queerness, I find Nightow's depiction of Elendira pretty well handled. She's trans and a villain yes, and she's a bit flirty with LR, but ultimately, he doesn't lean into portraying the transfem character as deviant/perverted/hypersexualised/fetishised. 

It could've been SO much worse.

We unfortunately don't know much about her backstory, but the fighting outfit she reveals during the fight with LR in volume 13, I believe mirrors the symbolism of Knives' suit. 

She's loyal to Knives (in which she beefs with Legato about lol there's also a lot of BDSM stuff goin on with that guy..(not referring to his SA at all btw)) and his 'all humans are trash' ideology which is so rooted in fear of being hurt, I can't help but see this reflected in her own character, for reasons we may never know. (I have theories) (I'll get to it at some point)

Anyway back to the outfit - it's very armour-like. It's also reminiscent of one of Knives' outfits, and dare I say they're a little yonic near the crotch and lower back. Their clothing expresses a need for self-protection, and by extension a reclaiming of power. 

I started talking about Wolfwood's deal but I think I'll leave it for another day tee hee I LOVE TRIGUN feel free to add ur own thoughts ok bye :))))

[howlsofbloodhounds]

Delta anon here and I have returned to do the ask thingy!

I'm gonna be real, I have only a vague memory of entirely why I started following you. It was probably after I had SCOURED all of Tumblr for Delta-related things, and then I found a post you had made. I remember that it was the post you made about Delta being plural, and that i immediately sent it to one of my friends out of excitement. And out of the sheer joy of finally finding someone who even as much as knew of his existence, I followed you immediately (this is also how I started following the majority of the people I do now lmao).

I also began sending asks relating to Delta somewhere around that time, too. It was all on anon obviously, but sending anon asks to you about Delta helped me actually learn a lot more about Tumblr and interactions through it. And when I got a positive/respectful response (I say this in the fact that I didnt think you would be mean, but rather in the fact that I'd never previously interacted with anyone that i could directly send asks to and remain secret so I was incredibly nervous), it encouraged me to keep going. Which is why I said in a previous anon that I was probably at least a solid half of the contributions about the asks involving Delta.

So, in this, thank you for making me feel more confident and comfortable with both interacting with people and also contributing to things I enjoy. I really enjoy getting to send asks and receive responses, which is why I'm around so much lmao. I don't have to worry about being seen as annoying, which is a massive weight off my shoulders - especially knowing that I can remain anonymous and not have the fear of being judged publicly where everyone can see.

In truth, I've always been afraid of directly contributing to content, especially on a platform that's known for judgement sometimes. I've always been afraid of being judged in sharing my own personal headcanons about my favorite characters, but being able to go anon made me feel much more comfortable just sending an ask.

So, all in all, thank you. However I will continue to stay on anon because I like the idea of people not knowing who I am lmao. The mystery entertains me /silly

(And btw, same as crow, we are also secretly mutuals lmao)

ahhhh i love my mysterious secret mutuals!! Im so glad i was able to help you feel more comfortable and confident engaging and contributing to content about your favorite characters! It took me a long time to manage to get there on my own and im glad i was at least able to do that for someone else, even if unknowingly.

And as goes for anyone sending any asks to me on anonymous, I will always try to keep yalls identities/users secret.

including if you accidentally send something without turning on anonymous (which i can tell if the end message is still signed [nickname] anon near the top or end of a message), in which case id probably just screenshot the ask and crop out any usernames before I answer the ask and post it.

And I completely understand the worry about being judged Del, I’ve been on and off Tumblr as a quiet lurker for years before I begin posting at all. But I’m honestly glad I managed to find the courage to do so, it gave me the chance to meet and talk to some pretty amazing people and it’s just so nice to have fun with everyone.

And i honestly enjoy reading everything you have to say about Delta, Beta, the Epic Sanses, etc. You have such cool ideas and I can tell how much you really seem to love this AU and this character and all his potential. And I love talking about him, he’s such a goober. I could never be annoyed by seeing an ask from you, im always overjoyed see one or even sixty lmao.

[mothxmoons]

HELLO FRIENS I HAVE A WESKER REQUEST, A WESKQUEST IF YOU WILL…

What do you think dealing with a self aware yandere Wesker would be like?

Do you think he can see you playing other games (or killers if it’s DBD) and gets jealous and starts like trying to get your attention or makes it so you just…can’t play those games/killers anymore?

Like I imagine him subtly trying to just sorta…get the entity to lock some killers for you, or trying to epic hacker man his way into deleting files off your computer so the only games you can play are his.

What do you think dealing with his ass would entail? 🤔🤔

Also I love you guys’s work btw!! I’ve been having a tough time finding some real good Wesker x reader stuff that I haven’t read already and you guys are keeping me FED!!!!! 🥺 THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE!!!

Helloo!! Someone had to feed us so why not me?

But yes it depends on the game!

Dbd Wesker locks you out from playing survivor and any other killer besides him, he knows that you would feel bad if you tried to fix it because that would mean potentially saying goodbye to him so you’ll do almost anything he wanted to do. And he wants to spend time with you. Not allowed to play survivor because the other resident evil characters “don’t deserve your time”, can’t play the other killers because he’ll get jealous, so he locks you out from playing anything other than him. Try to play the tutorial to play as the trapper? Nope. Just him.

You can prestige the other killers but you can’t play as them, you’re only allowed to play as him and give him the other killers’ perks. He might allow you to play survivor once he figures out how to copy himself onto a survivor so you’ll continue to play as him…even though he doesn’t fit the survivor role, he’ll do it for you since you want to play survivor so much.

It’s either a deal with the entity or him being sick and tired of you playing other killers and survivors and doing something about it himself. Entities and rules be damned. Will not outright tell you though…even if you do know he’s sentient.

In Resident evil, Wesker definitely makes it harder for you to get through the game and simply watches as you go through it, it’ll take longer and that’s what he wants. For you to stay longer with him, even though you’re playing as Chris and Jill, and then during the end game where you can play as him, he makes the sequence as long as possible, to feel your comforting control as you two go through the level together.

Resident evil Umbrella Chronicles? You’re stuck with him most of the game and he absolutely loves it. There’s nothing better than having you by his side the whole time. He still watches on during some events but at least you’re still with him, giving that same warm control over his aim.

You only see him briefly in RE 2…and he’s not very happy about that but there’s not much he can do about it either. However, he still watches your playthroughs, you’re still his player after all.

In resident evil 4 mercenaries, he’s definitely locking you out of playing the other characters. There’s only him that you’ll ever need to play as after all, you’re his player and he is the only one who can truly be your best character. He also gets jealous if you coo over Leon in the main game and might just have to edit the game code to fix his character model onto his, so you’ll continue to fawn over him instead. He’s very adamant that you spend time with him and doesn’t really like when you play other games but will watch from his little place on the screen.

In RE 5….oh brother you’re in a for a whole ride. First of all, he’s fucking pissed you’re playing as Chris and Sheva, he notices how you love to take screenshots of him in battles with him, so he makes sure to do all of his semi-rare animations for you to take photos of. Although he hates the thought of you playing as Chris or Sheva, he does love to hear you laugh as your friend gets charged by him, scaring them. You once ran around him in circles and he could not hit you even when he tried and good god did that make him angry but entertained. You’re so clever he would think. But once you finish the main story and start playing mercenaries and the other bonus content…and you’re taking more pictures of him. He will also make sure you will only ever play as him in mercenaries, he doesn’t need you to be playing as Chris now that he’s available to play as. As both STARS era and current era of him, you don’t need anything or anyone else. He also watches you play other games though, he likes watching you think.

Just be careful though…if these guys know of each other’s existence, unless they’re the same sentient Wesker following you through every game, they’re going to be very jealous.

[strangestcase]

My ideas for a League of Extraordinary Gentlemen theatrical musical which will never come to reality:

-based off the movie (if loosely) because the comics would be a pain to adapt

-also the songs would really help hiding the writing issues

-Mina’s actress wears a secret contraption that stretches into bat wings on command, and special makeup that highlights her features under certain types of light- thus allowing her to go Dracula mode onstage. She also gets costumes she can take off in one piece so that as her character develops she gradually ditches a more traditional Victorian getup for a modern, goth outfit.

-the Invisible Man is played by an actor in a bodysuit wearing a removable mask and moving puppet arms around (which represent face makeup and gloves respectively). To become invisible he simply drops them and moves around the stage, as other actors pretend they can’t see him.

-Hyde is a large stage puppet maneuvered by various actors, with Jekyll’s actor moving his face and providing his voice. The transformations consist of Jekyll simply entering or leaving his place in the puppet, the other puppeteers building it up around him or removing key pieces. And the mirror scenes are done with projections and pre-recorded audio.

-Lots of Puppets just. So Many Many Puppets. For the Nautilus for the Phantom’s men for Dante for all that sea life etc

As for the music:

-cheesy intro number on the line of “deviation from the norm will be punished unless its exploitable”

-We need at least one (1) sad song about Mina’s tragic backstory, or rather how she feels about it. Not very good this is.

-she also is given the role of protagonist back

-Jekyll is going to be framed as her love interest through and through btw. Same as Dorian. Tom already has his getting adopted by Allan arc. Literally a YA love triangle but they’re all goth middle aged queens.

-listen this is my idea so I make the rules

-EPIC NEMO THEME -the hunt for Hyde becomes a short but catchy dance sequence.

-The Nautilus is introduced with a HUGE high level song worthy of a Bollywood musical with the aforementioned sea life puppets. Please ignore how incredibly dark the lyrics are.

-YES I KNOW THOSE MOMENTS ARE LITERALLY BACK TO BACK IN THE MOVIE. I’LL FIND A WAY TO SPACE THEM OUT.

-Mina and Dorian MUST have a duet that makes it into Lovers To Enemies To Lovers To Enemies playlists I SWEAR TO GOD.

-Confrontation 2

-Jekyll and Hyde literally have Confrontation 2

-Captain Nemo is going to get a solo song about his past and his motivations and here he should figure out M first, like in the comics (Allan has more of a mentor role / common thread between the other characters)

-Dorian Gray villain song complete with a little dance! A jaunty little gothic vaudeville song that uses his motif (which will sound whenever he’s onstage)

-Moriarty doesn’t dance because he thinks he’s above dancing but he does sing. He also has a villain song but it’s way more serious than Dorian’s

-Allan doesn’t sing a single line until the last song (as he’s dying)

the musical ends with Mina becoming the new leader of the League and getting her final costume change which will include a question mark motif as a nod to the original comics

And then intro number reprise but with a more tongue in cheek cynical tint and a final hopeful note. I need people to come out of the theater as full blown anarchists.

[midnight-drip]

sketches for @skrimbled 's epic roleswap au, with a little of my own ramblings and ideas :)

If you're unfamiliar, the premise for this au is that,

-Polites takes Odysseus' place. He's the captain, and generally tends to lead with kindness, but his general drawbacks are that he is too trusting and doesn't always think things through.

-Odysseus takes Eurylochus' role as second-in-command. He reminds Polites to be cautious and typically does more of the planning.

-Eurylochus takes Polites' place. He plays a very similar role as he does in canon, being Polites' voice of reason and not letting him jump onto everything headfirst. He dies in the cyclops cave, causing Polites to begin doubting his whole "open arms" thing (he's never had to deal with one of his crew dying before.)

Hopefully I explained that well haha. Anyways, on to the drawings :)

Anything plot-relevant from here on is my own headcanon, btw, and not necessarily canon to the au because it is not mine

here are my designs for the main 3 :)

and them later on in the show (underworld saga and act 2) I really love the designs that give Odysseus Polites' headband after his death, and I wanted to do something similar. So, after Eurylochus dies, Polites replaces his red headband with the navy blue one that Eurylochus kept tied around his arm. Also, Odysseus is getting grey hairs due to stress, and they become WAYYYY more noticable after Eurylochus' death. (Just realized, I forgot Ody's beard in this one 😭)

i had the idea that instead of Athena, in this au Hestia would be Polites' patron goddess. (which is why the clasps on Poli's cloak have little chaste flower designs on them!!) I did two different designs for her. I think that she was pretty upset with him already because of all the things he did in the Trojan War, and she abandons him after the encounter with the cyclops, because the crew didn't give their fallen men a proper burial with the honour they deserved.

and finally here's some assorted sketches. These were made before I created the actual designs, hence the slight differences in the way characters look (specifically Ody, I originally wanted to give him a hairstyle sort of like Trucy from Ace Attorney but decided against it). Also, I forgot to include it in the other drawings, but Polites has a bow. He doesn't start carrying it on him consistently until after their encounter with Poseidon.