#mona's main course...

[mona-risms]

my first ever request is sub navia getting dicked down in public. thats my wife i love my blode wife!!!

◆ MAIN COURSE: sub!Navia x dom!Reader

◆ TYPE: NSFW

◆ ALLERGEN WARNINGS: Public sex? Semi-public sex? Idk actually, reader has either a dick or is packing tbh reader's choice

◆ NOTES: blode lol. Also I might've slightly maybe missed the point a teeny tiny bit..maybe??? Idk tbf. ALSO also if this sucks, my bad 😭😭😭 I don't think I've written in a WHIIIIILE.

NAVIANAVIANAVIA MYYY LOOOOVE OH my god this woman has a CHOKEHOLD on me...........and this woman wants your chokehold on her LOL

Navia was never the shy type. Not the showoff type either, she's a great balance, but when it comes to you? OH she's an absolute menace when it comes to bragging about her love of her life

This DOES translate to.....teasing the living shit out of you though 🫶 and she's a MENACE at it too

This was supposed to be a fun date between the two of you, a day out with no responsibilities and a lot of food.

And it was. It is. Yeah.

But with the way Navia was acting, you were feeling.. other things too.

It started off with subtle gestures throughout the day—accidental grazes, lingering touches and heated looks. Though perhaps the hyperawareness that came with being in the proximity of your lover didn't help with noticing every 'accidental' microgesture that gripped your attention like a vice.

But then came the.. less-than-subtle actions.

Leaning forward a touch too far that it exposed the curve of her chest, getting too close that your bodies are pushed against each other, using all sorts of wordplay as if it were a private joke between the two of you, bending down to inspect something further or pick something up that you'd have to stand behind her as her skirt rode up just a bit too much, amongst other things. You knew your girlfriend was a tease—she has no shame in admitting that she finds your reactions adorable—but right now she's being especially...

Your thoughts trail off as you see her. Or rather, the impish smirk she wore as she watched you.

This girl wants to 🤗🤗 rile you up 🤗🤗🤗 to see what happens 🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗 and oh wow oh WOW she gets what she wants ahahahahaha she's like one double entendre away from being forced down on her knees in a dressing room at a clothing store, her mouth being given a better purpose aka deepthroating you LOL

You barely even have walls you only get curtains bc it's one of those chain stores like. Idk. Primark or smth idk what example to use for Americans BUT IT'S JUST FUCKING CURTAINS AND INCOMPLETE BARRIER WALLS so you can hear every single noise from anywhere and everywhere.......and you know what THAT means 🤗🤗🤗

KEEP QUIET or don't. The staff might investigate though

Ughghfh Navia moving up and down your length, most likely with her gag reflex long since beaten from Very Energetic Nights. You'd have to control her movements yourself though via clenching onto her hair to minimise the absolutely FILTHY noises that she'd make too

I personally think Navia would be MESSY 🤗🤗🤗 like she's proper and everything normally—dabbing the corners of her mouth daintily with a napkin when she eats, dusting imaginary lint off herself, so on and so forth—but when it comes to sex, all that polite cleanliness is OFF THE TABLE❗️❗️❗️ Drool would be seeping from the corners of her mouth and her cunt would be dripping if it weren't for her ruined panties absorbing her wetness

In terms of vocality, I think she'd be deliberately vocal too LOL like she CAN keep quiet.......but does she want to? Kinda no! While MOSTLY obedient, she's a bit of a brat when it comes to that, especially when you're absolutely railing her six ways to fucking Sunday in public

The whine that escaped your lover forced you to keep still.

It's not as if the changing rooms were so quiet that you could hear every micro-movement echoing within the space—not only was it bustling with people coming and going, but the music lightly blaring from background speakers was already more than enough to drown minor sounds anyway. Though it could just be your hyper-awareness from the risk of getting caught in a public space, you noticed a conversation from next door's cubicle cut off seconds after Navia had made a sound.

You looked at your blonde lover, her crinkling eyes full of lust and mirth a contrast to your rising panic reflected on azure blue. Hell, you could feel the light smirk against your covering palm.

Beyond the bustle of the environment was a piercing quiet between your cubicle and the cubicle next door.. and then?

You hear the sound of a curtain being shoved aside—theirs, not yours—before footsteps faded into background chatter. You'd have breathed easy, if it weren't for the sudden movement of Navia's hips, your length suddenly enveloped by velvet heat. In retaliation, you thrusts were frustratingly shallow as her other hand snaked up to wrap around the other's neck, not squeezing but holding. Owning.

Later, she would be disciplined properly. Right now, she needed to be tortured.

(The both of you don't even make it back to your shared home before discipline was due.)

[xxplastic-cubexx]

For your birthday I offer the gift of Erik and Wanda as cats doing what cats do best: judging you. I hope you enjoy?

A WONDERFUL BEAUTIFUL GORGEOUS SPLENDID GIFT OMG darlings ...... theyre so cute ... and judgmental ..... as they oughta be ....

[desire-mona]

ilysm and i love your cat youre my fav oomf and also like one of my realest friends im so glad we talked more mona ilyyyyy

CHANDLER I LOVE YOU!!!!!! and i love my cat too!

youve always been one of my fav mutuals ever ever ever and i was counting down the days til we started dming consistently im so srs HELENA JUST MEOWED anyway i was just waiting for it. im very very very glad u r my friend, ur just like me fr

[lokisprettygirl]

Rain to his Fire (Modern! Daemon Targaryen x Female Reader) (Non Canon 80s Au) (18+)

Read chapter 1 here // Series Masterlist

Chapter 2

Summary: Dr. Vis gives you the responsibility of the patient in room 393.

Warning: 18+, discussion of mental health (it's a fic based in a mental health facility), the fic would contain several mentions of several disorders like mpd, did etc, if something triggers you don't read, smoking.

Note : This fic is a bit of a slow burn so don't expect overly heated smut in the second chapter itself.

Species dysphoria, that's what they called it, a feeling of displacement or non-belonging in one's own species and feeling as if you belong to another. Your mother used to talk about one of her patients who felt this way and believed he was a crow - he would make crow sounds, walk and act like one, and even attempted to fly like a crow, which led to him breaking most of his bones.

Upon learning about Daemon's condition, you recognized the similarity to the patient who thought he was a crow, but you also recognized that Daemon was not constantly pretending to be a dragon, he just said that he was one, not just a dragon but a hybrid instead. As you had woken up this morning Mona had informed you that Dr. Vis wanted to meet you which had immediately made you all nervous.

“Good morning Dr. Vis” you mumbled politely so he gestured to you to sit down. He was an intimidating man with brown hair and few wrinkles that came with age of course, eyes always hidden behind those thick glasses, and you had never seen him in anything but the professional suit he would wear and of course the doctor's coat. As the silence made you uncomfortable you began to pick on your nails nervously like you always did in anxious situations.

“The new patient in 393 is not allowed to leave his room for two days, I want you to make sure his meals and medicines are taken care of” he passed you a piece of paper as he spoke so you nodded. The paper contained a breakdown of the patient's diet plan and a list of medications.

“Anything else sir?” You asked him so he gave you a smile,

“Don't be fooled by his charm, he's insane but very sharp minded, he can read weaknesses and he will try to manipulate you”

You felt slightly offended at his words, just because he was a semi good looking man that didn't mean you were going to salivate after him like Shyla and others.

“Don't worry sir, I don't get overly involved with patients”

He gave you another smile but it only made you more uncomfortable.

“That's why I'm giving you this responsibility, get going now”

You got up and proceeded to step out of his office, there was always a shortage of staff in the center, the main reasons being that it was located right in between the dense woods where it wasn't really possible for everyone to spend hours commuting back and forth everyday, and not everyone was willing to stay here 24/7, only single people and those desperate for a job did so. People like you.

During Lunch time you grabbed the plate for Daemon and placed it on a tray as you made your way to room 393, you knocked on his door twice before you entered yourself.

It was dark in there as the blinds were off so you placed the cart on the side and were about to open the blinds when you heard his distinct voice.

“Don't do it” his voice came out all groggy so you hummed in response and turned on the bedside lamp instead to not irritate him further.

“You need to eat before your medication” you mumbled softly as you neared the bed, he was laying on his front with his head squished into the pillow, as usual he didn't have a shirt on. You couldn't help but stare at the large, diagonal scars that stretched across his back, which looked like they'd been inflicted by a large object. Despite the urge to touch them, you refrained but you wondered how he had gotten them.

“Daemon?” You called out his name again so he rose from the bed and stepped towards the bathroom, letting out a low moan of discomfort. You had to turn around quickly because as the sheets dropped his naked sculpted behind came into your view. His room was also freezing cold so you wondered how Dr. Vis had allowed him this privilege in this cold weather.

As Daemon stepped out of the bathroom he smirked as he saw you standing with your back against the bathroom. You had your usual work uniform on, a light brown colored dress with a cardigan on top.

“Never seen a man naked before?” He asked as he pulled his pants up you so you rolled your eyes, that was none of his business even if you hadn't.

“Don't speak to me like that, I'm not your servant” you warned him as you turned around hoping that you'd not see him naked again.

“Mmmmmhhhmmm of course you're the doctor's servant aren't you? That is why you are here, attempting to impress him with a job well done so perhaps he'd pity fuck you finally and you'd get a promotion?” He spoke with that annoying smirk on his face but his eyes softened as you teared up, you had never been spoken to this way, people mostly respected you here, patients and staff alike.

“Finish your food, I'll be back in half an hour” you told him sternly as you walked past him but your breath hitched as he grabbed your upper arm.

“Stay, I'm sorry, I don't want to be alone” the tone of his voice had changed suddenly so you sighed,

“Will you behave?” You asked him sternly so he nodded before he sat down on the bed so you passed him the plate of food you had brought for him.

“I'm not your enemy alright, i have been assigned to take care of you-” before you could even finish your sentence he cut you off and looked you in the eye,

“Take care of me? Pretty girl you have no clue what you'd have to do for me if you really want to take care of me” he mumbled as he shoved a piece of steak into his mouth. You never had an urge to slap a patient until now.

“You're doing it again”

“I'm jesting..I'm bored senseless,”

“Well you must have pissed them off to deserve the confinement, otherwise you'd have been out there doing fun activities with other patients” you retorted so he opened his mouth and smirked again,

“Does the fun involve orgies?”

Taking a deep sigh you didn't respond this time as you didn't want to encourage him. When he was done eating you made sure he had ingested his medicines before you left him alone for good.

After two days of isolation, Dr. Vis had granted Daemon the brief privilege to take a walk outside. You were entrusted with accompanying him throughout the premises. Despite the fact that he was handcuffed, you couldn't help but feel nervous about being alone with him, given his unpredictable nature.

As the two of you reached the conclusion of the walking path, Daemon chose to settle on a grassy patch, he seemed calm for once so you didn't want to disturb him.

“Sit with me y/n” he mumbled softly so you nodded and sat down next to him to offer him some company. Isolation wasn't pleasant.

“What's a lady like you doing around here? Does the constant exposure to such madness not drive you mad as well?” he asked you with a touch of curiosity so you turned to look at him.

“First of all What do you mean a lady like me?” You asked him so he made eye contact with you before he smiled like a cheshire cat.

“You're too pretty to be cleaning up after crazies” your face felt warm as he said that, you didn't appreciate him calling the fellow patients crazy but his compliment almost sounded genuine and you weren't used to being complimented this way, it also sucked that he was kind of sort of beautiful, you couldn't help but stare at his sharp features, perhaps those strange features contributed into making him believe that he was an otherworldly creature that don't even exist..

“What's wrong with helping people? Besides they're not crazy…most of them are just sick and traumatized from their past, there's a reason behind every ailment” you emphasized so he let out the sort of smile that you could hear.

“How old are you?” He asked you so you shrugged in response.

“30..close to 31” you mumbled softly and you could tell he was surprised by the knowledge.

“You don't look a day older than twenty five darling”

“Well there's not much difference between 25 and 30.. how old are you?”

“Why would you want to know?”

He asked you and you almost felt embarrassed, now you could see what Dr. Vis meant when he said that Daemon was a charming man.

“I'm just countering your questions buddy”

He chuckled as you said that.

“I'm thirty four sweetheart”

“Mhhhm and since when you feel that you're a uhhh…a dragon?”

The look on his face changed as you brought it up , he turned his whole body towards you and scooted closer as he looked at you intently.

“Don't mock me frail little thing, it would do you no good” he hissed his words, perhaps in an attempt to intimidate you but he was handcuffed. What's the worst he could do? And why did you want to figure it out so badly?

“I was just asking you a genuine question”

“Did Vis ask you to shove your nose into my personal business?” he questioned so you shook your head immediately.

“Noo i am curious”

“Ohhh I know you're curious”

He tilted his head and pressed his nose against your neck to sniff you again, this time in broad daylight, if someone was to see you like this it wouldn't go down well.

“You didn't answer my question”

You mumbled gently so he dragged his nose over the vein on your neck before he stepped away, that's when you were able to let out the breath you had been holding in.

“For as long as I could remember, I knew what I was”

His voice was deep as he whispered, pupils dilated now as if he was drunk or high on something all of a sudden.

“Why do you sniff me like this?” you asked him, curiosity apparent in your tone.

“To read, to assess, to judge”

“What are you assessing?”

“Assessing whether you are as sweet on the inside as you smell and look”

“Alright…umm we need to get back now” you stood up suddenly so he snickered as if he was proud of himself.

You knew you had to maintain some professional distance from him if he was going to sniff you out of nowhere.

And you knew you had to deny the fact that it made you feel so warm and tingly sudden whenever he was so close to you.

Perhaps you had an ailment of your own because you had never really felt a genuine sexual attraction towards a man all your life, the only crush towards the opposite sex you remember having as a child was on this actor from the movies, Paul Newman. Men didn't attract you, nor did women, you loved the idea of romance and love but you had never experienced it, you never found yourself thinking or dreaming about anyone constantly. It made you yearn for that sort of connection but you were never able to find it in a man. You had learned to accept it as it was.

But something changed that night, as you laid down on your bed you found yourself thinking about him, his hazel eyes that you could have sworn were glowing under the sunlight, his silver hair longing to be touched.

“Fucking stop it..he's sick ..he's sick…he's a patient, you're responsible for him in a way so stop indulging him” you mumbled in your head over and over again until you were drifted into sleep.

But the sleep didn't bring you any relief, it worsened it instead. You saw him in your dream, you saw yourself laying on the same patch of grass and he was on top of you all naked, as you pressed your head up you realized you didn't have any clothes on either, your legs were secured around his slender waist, his hair falling on your face so you tucked them behind his ear, that's when he lifted his head up to look at you.

He licked your lips with his tongue, before he kissed you and it was as if you could feel his touch all over you, he was burning like a fire but you didn't feel uncomfortable, it calmed you instead. The wet grass beneath your flesh, the warmth of his body all around you, the smell of the forest, everything intoxicated you.

He then let out a growl as his hips moved slowly against yours,

“Daemon–” you couldn't help but moan his name, your fingers clutched onto the strands of grass so he grabbed your hands and placed them over your head,

“You're mine you know that right? I have got my eyes on you and I'm not leaving without you, the moment I saw you i knew you belonged to me, a part of my soul that I have been missing”

He mumbled between his staggering breaths and all you could do was whine and whimper in response, your arms wrapped around his upper back and then you felt something.

Something protruding out of his back, wings, you felt the wings….

That's when you were awakened by the loud sound of your alarm, drenched in your own sweat, breathing was faster as if you had raced away from something, and worst of all your panties were soaked.

“What the fuck…the fuck” you groaned as you got out of the bed.

The dream, it was so vivid, it felt so real. It felt like a memory you have never lived.

That afternoon you were asked to grab his meal and leave it outside of his room but that bothered you. Why wasn't he present in the cafeteria with other patients? Had he done something to warrant confinement again?

As his plate was made you placed it on a cart along with a glass of water and made way to his room..

You were instructed to leave the food outside his room with a knock but you felt restless. Why weren't you allowed to see him?

After wrestling with your thoughts for a moment you decided to enter instead, there was no one around the hallway and if you were caught you'd simply tell them that you only went inside to check up on him because he hadn't come out for his food in a while.

As you stepped inside his room you found him on the floor instead of the bed so you quickly closed the door behind you,

“Daemon.. hey” you crouched down to check up on him as he wasn't conscious and immediately checked his pulse for signs of life. Upon confirming that he was indeed breathing, you proceeded to look around for signs of injury or drug overdose, but found nothing out of the ordinary. Desperate to awaken him, you snatched the glass of water and sprinkled the droplets over his face.

And it worked, you saw him moving his eyes before he opened them up slowly,

“Heyyyy ..oh thank God, are you okay” you asked him worriedly so he sat up slowly. He was still in his uniform as he had returned from his therapy session with Dr. Vis.

“What happened?” He asked you so you looked at him worriedly.

“You were unconscious..I don't know for how long” he placed his hand over his head and that's when he cursed loudly.

“The bastard zapped me”

“What?” You asked him confused so he groaned as he tried to stand up on his own but his body felt weak so you offered your support and that's when it clicked what he had meant.

“He used a stun gun on you?” You asked him as you helped him sit down on the bed.

“Leave me alone” he mumbled as he placed his head down into his palms so you sighed and got up,

“Will you eat?” You asked him and perhaps it was the gentle tone of your voice but as he looked up at you, his eyes were teary

“Don't go…don't leave me alone”

The sad murmur of his voice made you feel really awful for him, the constant mood swings, the way he seemed so broken bothered you alot.

“I can't stay, I was asked to leave your food outside, I'm already breaking my code”

You said to him so he grabbed your hand, his thumb ran over your fingernails, they were red and flamed from the recent biting and picking and you felt a little embarrassed by them, not to mention his touch was making you feel weak at the same time.

“Why did he use a stun gun?” You asked as you crouched down on your knees and placed your palm on his shoulder to comfort him.

“So I'd accept that I'm not a dragon, that I'm just an ordinary man like him.. like all of them”

He mumbled somberly, his words were broken in pieces and it made your own eyes tear up “I am not crazy y/n”

“I know, you just need help-”

“I don't need help, I need to be understood”

“I..” you were at a loss for words as he said that, you wanted to comfort him but you didn't want to lie to him.

“Understood?”

“I know what I am..I'm not delusional or whatever they're trying to make me believe”

“Okay..then why did you agree to come here?”

He went quiet as you questioned him. This wasn't an asylum where people were forced against their will, it was a wellness center. If he didn't want to get better then why did he come here?

“I made a mistake out there .. I didn't know.. couldn't control my powers–they come and go in waves..i have no control..no–” the moment he saw the perplexed look on your face he stopped his rambling, he was saying too much too soon, you weren't going to believe him, nobody believed him “Just go ..I'm done talking”

You nodded as he said that as you didn't want him to get upset or mad again but before leaving you made sure that he was fed.

You felt conflicted about him, he didn't seem dangerous, sure he had his moments of aggression but so did several other patients, why was he being treated so harshly by Dr. Vis?

You couldn't stop thinking about him even when your shift had ended. Sick people were capable of convincing you that they were not sick at all, it wasn't their fault, that's just how their brain operated but Daemon seemed different, you couldn't put your finger on it but he seemed different from the rest of the patients.

That week you didn't see much of him because you weren't really allowed to, Dr. Lisa had informed all the members of the staff that Dr. Vis didn't want anyone interacting with Daemon due to his aggressive and unstable temperament.

Such restrictions only made you want to seek him out further, your mother always told you that patients flourished when they were allowed to be free and form human connections with their caregivers and fellow mates so why was Daemon being treated so differently? That night on the way to the terrace you knocked on his door twice before you climbed the stairs, as you reached up there you didn't lock the door this time from the inside,

“And here I was thinking you were a stickler about this job”

You heard his voice so you smiled and turned around, you had your coat on and your arms crossed together due to the cold but he was without a shirt again. Why didn't he feel cold? Or was he good at pretending he wasn't affected in the slightest?

“I am not going to offer you a cigarette if that's why you came here” you told him so he walked closer to you.

“Tchhh that's a bummer but this ain't too bad either”

He mumbled as he walked past you and leaned against the ledge to look at you intently. What was he thinking you thought, perhaps the fact that you had invited him upstairs when you had no obligation or rights to do so.

“You're cold” he mumbled softly so you chuckled in response

“It's cold out here”

“Mmmhm come here” he tilted his head as he spoke and it made you nervous, the look on his face sent shivers down your spine. You had to remind yourself of your situations to snap back to reality.

“So they will be lifting the restrictions tomorrow..you must be doing well in the therapy” you switched the conversation so he rolled his eyes in response,

“I'm doing what he want me to do”

“And why is that?”

“I want my freedom” he mumbled so you nodded but what he said next made your heart skip a beat “and i miss a certain lady's presence in my room and her forcing me to fucking eat all the time”

You couldn't help but smile as he finished his words.

“Do you feel better?” you asked him in the hope that he won't notice the warmth his words had brought.

“I do now”

Was he flirting with you? You couldn't really tell, you had no idea what he was planning in his head.

“Okay we should go back now–” you mumbled softly so he followed you as you walked side by side, being as careful as you could be.

As his room arrived you whispered a soft good night so he grabbed your hand in his own, his eyes then raked over your fingernails before he looked at you intently

"Next time you're anxious you can use my flesh to pick on, don't ruin yourself"

And then he went in without causing a scene. You hadn't realized all day that you had been smiling constantly these days for some reason. Perhaps you had a crush on him, if this is what a crush on a real man felt like. It was wrong, completely wrong but a crush was just that, a crush. You'd get over it, you were confident about that.

However the next morning you were greeted with an unexpected turn of events as you arrived at the staff area. Mona informed you that Shyla was let go that morning so you'd have to take up double shifts for a few days until the new member was hired,

“Wait ..what happened?” You asked her worriedly so Mona's expression turned serious as she glanced around, ensuring no one was in earshot before stepping closer to you.

“She was caught fooling around with the dragon boy, such a stupid girl”

😏😏😏😏😏😏😏😏😏😏😏😏😏😏

Taglist

@anukulee @ammo23 @littledark11 @stupidthoughtsinwriting

[canmom]

music and narrative {[0]}

so. as part of the ongoing music researches, I've for a while wanted about the relation between music and narrative. that's going to be a long project! but to begin with I wanted to run down the examples I know, and maybe solicit a few more~

now, on some level, nearly any song has some degree of narrative. your basic love song introduces us to some characters - singer, object of their affection - and furnishes them with emotions and desires. moreover, music can play a role in a narrative without literally relating events - indeed, the art of soundtrack design is definitely a subject I want to look into at some point. even songs addressed directly at the real world, such as political songs, construct some kind of narrative.

however, for these purposes, I'm interested in songs that go a bit further in the direction of telling a fictional story, especially when those link together into whole albums (sometimes called a concept album, though this is a slightly broader concept). which can work in a lot of ways!

for example, Janelle Monae's The ArchAndroid tells a sweeping scifi story of an android fleeing an oppressive society and becoming an unintentional figurehead of revolution. it sketches out a wide-reaching set of influences in constructing a scifi world, but you'd be hard-pressed to boil it down into a simple series of events - it prefers to leave a lot to interpretation. by contrast something like Splendor & Misery by clipping. deals with kinda similar subject matter - a scifi story, an escaped slave, artificial intelligence - but with a different musical approach and perhaps a slightly clearer narrative arc; sometimes directly narrating the thoughts and actions of characters, or slipping into memory, but also drawing less direct musical parallels with e.g. gospel tracks and slave spirituals. both excellent albums - both solve the problems of conveying a story musically in different ways.

of course, the largest pool of examples here comes in the context of musical theatre, and further back opera. (the exact transition from one to the other is something I'm going to need to research). particularly interesting to me are sung-through musicals such as Les Misérables, in which there's no spoken sections in between the songs. this restriction means the songs (and staging etc.) have to do all the work of conveying the events of the story.

there's a lot to be said about the various traditions of musicals (for example). there's even more to be said about the history of opera - both the Western traditions and other musical traditions that have been given the label such as Chinese opera. but that will have to wait for later day in the project because otherwise this entire post would be a huge list of musicals, and I want to try and wander all over the shop.

what I'm most curious to find is music that tells a story all on its own - no actors or staging, but more similar to oral narration. of course, in the present era, music is often released along with videos, and these can tell quite elaborate stories that will become part of the overall 'message' communicated by the song, so the lines are a bit blurry! but since the aim of this series will be to look for ways to convey narrative using music, I'm looking for examples where the music does most of the heavy lifting.

music that tells stories is something with a looong tradition in folk music, pretty much the world over. in Europe, the ballad was a common form for it, a word that survives into the present. it seems that most cultures have had some kind of tradition of wandering itinerant musician-poets - for example, at various points in history, there were biwa hōshi in Japan (pictured) and griots in West Africa, medieval Europeans had minstrels, the Celts had bards, the Occitans had troubadors...

moreover, work and marching songs such as sea shanties would also have a certain degree of narrative to them, in addition to their main function of keeping a group moving in time.

in modern times, people will sometimes attempt to reconstruct how this kind of music and lyric poetry would have been performed. you can naturally only go so far with the archaeological evidence, but I'm fond of Peter Pringle's recordings of segments of the Epic of Gilgamesh, using period instruments if not necessarily a period musical style!

in the modern age of recorded music, these traditions have become much more niche, but there are still artists who use music as a vehicle to tell a fictional narrative. (fair warning: I'm a huge nerd, so most of the examples I know are like, supreme nerd shit. also about ten years ago I was given an assortment of metal from a friend which included a bunch of what I'm about to put below.)

to begin with I've naturally got to talk about my friend Maki Yamazaki (Dr Carmilla) and the band she founded but later left, The Mechanisms. They tell a story of a sprawling gothic scifi universe, with the band playing the role of travelling space pirates who observe the (invariably tragic) tales that unfold. The Mechanisms' music starts as folk song pastiche, but gradually gets more original, although narratively they keep the approach of crossing over mythology with genre storytelling (fairy tales as space opera, arthuriana as space western).

The Mechanisms got a significant measure of international fame washing back after their frontman Johnny Sims got really big on some podcast or something.

Maki's solo music as Dr Carmilla took things in (from a narrative sense) a more abstract direction, using elaborate production and an incredibly textured sound to tell a (so far!) fragmentary story of the tragic space vampire Dr Carmilla and her doomed relationship with another vampire Lorelei (for example). And I'm gonna have lots more to say about them all, in the future, but this is just an overview so let's not get ahead of ourselves!

In a related vein (though I'm much less familiar with them) comes indie band Decemberists, who often create narratively driven songs - for example, The Mariner's Revenge Song depicts a sailor's motivation for extracting bloody revenge on someone who wronged him, with the actual violence conveyed by an energetic instrumental break. A subject that reminds me of the Clockwork Quartet, now long gone, who managed to record just three of their songs from a larger project, yet stand out as way more interesting than most of the steampunk milieu - with for example The Clockmaker's Apprentice giving a very fun antihero-revenge narrative to the ticking beat of a clock, and The Doctor's Wife a compelling tragedy of desperate medical science.

There's definitely something in common with this type of storytelling and the subgenre termed rock opera, which has a pretty long history going back to the late 60s (SF Sorrow by Pretty Things and The Story of Simon Simopath by Nirvana, thanks wikipedia), with notable examples including some incredibly popular albums like Pink Floyd's The Wall (which was adapted into a partly animated film using animations by Gerard Scarfe, c.f AN86) and My Chemical Romance's The Black Parade. In many of these, the connection between songs and narrative is fairly abstract and metaphorical - most of the examples mentioned are about the psychological arc of one character.

Calling this a genre or subgenre is kind of a stretch recently - just in those four examples we see a pretty wide range of musical styles, so it's more like an approach to album writing. Still, for want of a better word, there's definite overlap between this 'genre' and musicals. For example, the history on wikipedia cites The Rocky Horror Picture Show as an example of rock opera, which in my head it's just a musical. (Anyway, exactly the taxonomy of regular opera/libretto, rock opera and musical theatre is not that important anyway, because we want to look at the techniques of all of them!)

A more direct narrative comes in the work of The Protomen, who have the 'no way that would work' premise of creating a huge, dramatic, emotional story based on the plot of the Mega Man games. By putting the focus on the tense relationships of the fought main characters (scientists Light and Wily and robot boys Proto Man and Mega Man), and their sense of rejection and betrayal by the broader society, they somehow pull it off.

Moving gradually in the direction of (progressive) metal, we encounter Ayreon, whose entire career has been telling psychedelic and occult stories of time travel, aliens, warnings projected into the past, out of body experiences, and the history and direction of humanity. I'm not sure if all of their albums fit together into one big story exactly, but certain ideas seem to keep coming up - for example, future societies or aliens sending warnings to humanity to fix our shit before it's too late. In some of their albums (e.g. The Electric Castle) they follow the device of having each member of the band play a character in an ensemble cast, bringing it a bit closer to something like a radio play.

Also in metal land we find the rather unique project Charlemagne: By The Sword and the Cross, best known for that time Christopher Lee shed the blood of the saxon men. This is using music as a vehicle for a (more or less) historical story, featuring an old Charlemagne (Lee) reminiscing on the various awful things he did over the course of his life. Apparently they made a sequel to this album, which I never realised!

As well as history, metal also likes to lean on literature and poetry. For example, Kamelot (classed, apparently, as 'Power Metal') have a rather fun adaptation of the story of Faust into two albums, Epica and The Black Halo. Iron Maiden famously took on the Rime of the Ancient Mariner in a 13 minute song. And that's not even to get into all the songs dealing with Tolkien.

Moving on from metal before we start listing a hundred songs about vikings, it's worth looking more broadly for music about history, since it's a pretty major overlap with fictional storytelling! For example, the Boney M song Rasputin tells an incredibly catchy account of the assassination of Grigori Rasputin. Another rather more charged example comes in Nakam by Daniel Kahn and the Painted Bird, about the unsuccessful paramilitary plot to poison six million Germans as revenge for the Holocaust.

If you go looking, you can find an impressively long list of historical songs compiled by 30 users of lyrics website Genius - though many of these I feel don't really count, since they were describing contemporary events when they were written.

Of course, there is a heavy overlap between this subject and political songs - in many cases the historical subjects are invoked to comment on the present. For example, Wernher von Braun by Tom Lehrer was written at a time when von Braun was leading the US space programme. In many cases, the songs simply invoke a historical event to express a feeling, assuming you already know what happened. Others may recount events more or less directly, before seguing into a verse or two at the end about why it matters now. Most of the songs in this list focus on recent (20th-century) history, sometimes they reach further back - mostly to talk about colonialism.

Historical songs can also be quite oblique. For example, Mili's song Salt, Pepper, Birds and the Thought Police is about the life of Korean poet Yoon Dong-ju, but you wouldn't necessarily know it from the content of the lyrics unless you were already familiar with Yoon's life. More on Mili in a moment - most of their songs are more fictional.

One thing I'm curious about is whether there are examples of more historical fiction in music, which tries to imagine the thoughts and feelings of historical characters... well obviously there's Hamilton, and perhaps that illustrates why there aren't a lot more songs about non-recent history, because the vibes can be off.

Storytelling is still a powerful mechanism even in a contemporary, political song. Take Construção by Chico Buarque - the story it tells is of the pointless death of a construction worker; with the lines ingeniously remixed over the course of the song, this turns into a wider illustration of the ruthlessness of the system that killed him. Its lyrics are absolutely fucking genius, even if you don't speak Portugese.

Speaking of language, most of the examples I've covered so far are in English, since well, that's my native language. It's naturally a little harder to access a story in a language you don't speak, but in these days of subtitles, we kinda can! So for example I can encounter projects like MILGRAM, something of a combination of music project and voting-driven story, in which we are introduced (by character song) to a number of characters facing execution - and then invited to vote on who should die. Heavily illustrated, it is somewhere vaguely in the space between album and straight-up anime.

I mentioned Mili already, but many of their other songs have a strong narrative arc to them, and sketch out the contours of a fictional setting. For example, one of their best-known songs is world.execute(me), which portrays the failure of a bdsm relationship between an AI girl and her creator. Which is relatively grounded by Mili standards - other songs depict for example the relationship of a jiangshi and a mad scientist cooking food, or a witch reanimating a knight with scientific methods to kill on her behalf.

And I think that will suffice for now. But we are of course only scratching the surface - this is by no means supposed to be an exhaustive list but I'm sure there's stuff that I'll be kicking myself for not mentioning. Mostly, however, this is a request for recommendations - particularly, of music from genres I haven't addressed in this post, and especially non-English languages, or that convey their stories in especially creative or unusual ways.

This project will likely be a long time in the works - it's something of a supplement to the Music Theory Notes (for science bitches) series - but my aim will be to pick out a few of these to examine how they go about conveying narrative through songs. Because I think that's kind of one of the big things I want to do with music.

ok canmom out i gotta go play some music. see you next time!

[iscdisc]

Hi!!

What are your favorite ships besides Jonatello(Caseytello)?

P.S. I love your artistic style!! Donny is a cutie(~˘▾˘)~

Hello ! 👋✨

Thank you so much for the compliment !! I'm glad you enjoy my art ! 🥺

Some of my favorite TMNT pairings that aren't 2012 Jonatello are:

2003:

• April O'Neil and Casey Jones (Capril) ! They're a classic, I love them so much- 😭🫶

2012:

• Raphael and Y'gthba / "Mona Lisa" (RaMona) !

They're the only canonical relationship with one of the main Turtles that I actually enjoyed and thought wasn't as poorly written- 💀👍 Lmao

• Karai and Shinigami (ShiniRai) !

You honestly cannot convince me that there's not something going on between them canonically- Plus, I don't have the image anymore and I don't know where to find it again, but somebody on Twitter a while back who (I'm assuming??) did the concept art for Shinigami referred to her as, "Karai's girlfriend" in the caption of that post- So Like- 😭✨

• Leonardo and Casey Jones (Caseynardo / "Hockeyblades") !

I think they had a lot of potential if Leo was allowed to interact with Casey more (And honestly April as well, because he didn't get a lot of interactions with her either imo-),, It felt like the writers were allergic to having Leo form significant bonds with any character that wasn't his Brothers / Splinter. Lmao || I also feel like they could've bonded over having younger siblings, since Casey is the eldest compared to his younger Sister (Who we never got to see-), which could have been a great way to start that bond between them since Leo would feel like he has somebody who can relate to his problems or struggles with being the eldest child ! I've also said this many times in the past, but is Casey not just the male version of Karai (As well as the less problematic version of her since he's not related to Leo- 💀)?? Leo found Karai interesting because she was rebellious and impulsive and challenged authority and was very charismatic / flirty (Which in Karai's case was purely just a form of manipulation, but I digress-), and radiated confidence in herself, and was a, "Lone Wolf" that never stuck around long, etc. All things that Casey is / does-?? Like, dude- How does this not make sense? 😭

• Michelangelo and Casey Jones (Caseangelo / "PepperoniPucks") !

This pairing is very fun in my opinion ! But I find it challenging to make any content with them in a romantic sense, because everything that I try to come up with for them that's meant to be a ship thing just comes off very platonic and "dude bro" because of their personalities- 😭 Lmao || But I honestly can see them because they had one of the most organic friendships within the series in my opinion ! Not that I'm trying to say that Raph and Casey weren't friends in 2012, because of course they were, but I feel like their friendship was very poorly handled by the writers in comparison to Casey and Mikey whose friendship felt so effortless / not as challenging on screen-? If that makes sense?

• Raphael and April O'Neil (Raphril) !

This one is purely fanon and based on my own interpretation of what April could've been like as a character if she was written better- Lmao || I know a lot of people find it kind of circumstantial and not as damning as it could be, but I feel like April and Raph had a lot of similarities within the series that go kind of unnoticed? Mostly referring to the fact that April had a lot of anger behind her that I feel gets overlooked with her character- She's always making the same facial expressions that Raph makes during situations in my opinion (Some examples below-), she's constantly shown to have a fiery attitude and (usually) has no problem talking back to people or making her opinion very clear when nobody asked for it which is something Raph does as well. Episodes like, "The Kraang Conspiracy" or "City at War" really showcase her anger or her angrier side as well. When she grows incredibly frustrated during her sparring match with Shinigami, that mirrored Raph a lot in my opinion, since we've seen him react similarly during episodes like, "The Good, the Bad, and Casey Jones" and "Mutant Gangland" with Leo.

They're also other things, not to harp on the anger that they both share too much- Like their clear love of and connection with animals, the way they're not the most physically affectionate people (Both have been shown to be kind of uncomfortable with hugging sometimes-), they both seemingly have their walls up to be honest, they both struggle with friendships (Despite these being writing issues, Raph's friendship with Casey was handled very poorly and April's friendships with pretty much all the characters felt very non-existent or not given enough attention-?), they both constantly complain about the others not taking things seriously enough, they both can be very competitive, they're both incredibly skeptical of other people, they both act on their own sense of justice (Meaning they'll do what they want even if Leo tells them no- Lmao), they both have high pitch screams (LMAO), etc. There's also narrative things such as both of them unintentionally starting the alien invasions of Season 2 and Season 3- 💀 LMAO

I just think that, if given the opportunity, Raph and April could've been really cool on screen ! Like April developing the same sense of humor that Raph does through constantly being around him (That sarcastic / snarky kind of humor-), those two building an animal shelter of some kind after seeing all the unhoused uncared for animals roaming around NYC, April being allowed to be unapologetically angry / frustrated around Raph and him not making her feel bad for that or like she needs to be this "composed / lady like" individual all the time, Raph recognizing April as a person and valuing her individualism and autonomy (Something I feel Donnie didn't do canonically- Raph's a girl's girl in my eyes. Hands down. Lmao), having those two play competitive ping pong since April enjoys ping pong (According to, "Target: April O'Neil"-), Raph 100% being the reason why April's combat skills improve since he wouldn't treat her like some "fragile thing" and I think it would be interesting for him to kind of see himself in her which is why he wants to see her rise above it?? You know??

I just think they could have been really special, I don't know- 😭👍 (They can also be the "smart + not as smart" trope like 2012 Jonatello is for me, since April technically would be the smarter out of the two of them- ❤️💛)

• Master Splinter / Hamato Yoshi and Tang Shen !

I know this one is a canonical established relationship / marriage, so it's not really like a, "ship" per se? I guess?? But I've always loved Splinter and Tang Shen ! I thought they were a cute couple ! Obviously their relationship needed some improvements from Splinter's end, but I don't think Splinter was ever incapable of fixing that, and I feel like if he had their relationship would've been THE relationship of 2012. Period. 😔🫶✨

Some honorable mentions??

• Leonardo and Timothy (Leothy) !

I'm putting this one in honorable mentions because it's more of a one-sided thing in my head-! I just can't help but think of how adorable and sweet it would have been if Timothy had this sort of crush / strong admiration for Leo as the Leader of the group, you know? Not that that crush would be super obvious though-? Since it mostly would just come across as Timothy fanboying all the time- LMAO || Something about their personalities just makes this "pairing" really cute to me !

• Karai and April O'Neil (AprilRai) !

This one is an honorable mention because I'm still 50/50 on it. I really like the art that people make about it, and that is what influences the positive 50 the most ! But then I remember their dynamic within the series and how (in my opinion) Karai was torn down by the writers whereas April was lifted up by them, despite both of them struggling in their own ways / being victims of things they genuinely weren't in control over. Not to mention April's just overall behavior and treatment of Karai even during Karai's redemption Arc during Season 4. Like, it boils my blood- Lmao || So I'm a little torn tbh,, !

Rise!:

• April O'Neil and Casey Jones (Capril) !

This is another instance where the art of these two really sold me on the pairing and I now think that they're very cute ! 😭🫶 || It also makes rewatching episodes like the one about the Girl Scouts cookies feel very different as far as April and Casey goes- LMAO

• Master Splinter / Lou Jitsu and Baron Draxum (BaronJitsu) !

Their interactions in the series were not helping their case at all- LMAO || I also totally get / respect Splinter and Big Mama as well !

• April O'Neil and Sunita (I'm unsure what their ship name is-??)

Again, it's mostly just the art that I see of these two that really sells me on it ! But their friendship within the series was one of my favorite things as well ! ✨

Mutant Mayhem / TOTTMNT:

• Leonardo and April O'Neil (Aprilnardo) !

THIS IS HOW YOU DO ONE OF THE BROTHERS HAVING A CRUSH ON APRIL IN MY OPINION, OKAY- 🗣️ (Looking DIRECTLY at 2012-) || Nothing on this Earth could ever convince me that these two are not the cutest thing imaginable. I'm totally fine if nothing comes of it in either the TOTTMNT series or the upcoming Sequel film ! I just think how Leo is when he talks about April and what not it's just super adorable and what I feel should be expected of a teen having a crush on somebody?? Like, it's so innocent and harmless- 😭🫶✨

(However, if Casey gets introduced anytime soon and I enjoy the dynamic between Casey and April more, I feel like I honestly wouldn't hesitate pushing Leo to the side and being like, "Yeah, sorry-" LMAO / But that depends on what the writers decided to do with Casey and how Casey interacts with April, etc. !)

Honorable mention:

Any MM / TOTTMNT Jonatello interpretations, cause I love those sm- 🫶✨ Lmao

IDW Comics:

• Jennika and Sheena !

I just love their relationship and how it was executed in the comics ! 🫶

• Donatello and Mona Lisa !

I don't really have much to say here, I just think that they're cute to look at / their personalities seem to mesh well with each other in my opinion !

Honorable mention:

• Raphael and Alopex !

I guess I was a little indifferent about them for a while, but I don't think they're a bad pairing ! They definitely felt a lot stronger when they were first introduced to each other in my opinion !

• April O'Neil and Casey Jones (Capril) !

Another situation where I enjoyed them a lot more at the beginning of the story, but then we got to the comics centering around the road trip to Cali and it made me start disliking the relationship personally,, 💀

I didn't put them under a specific category, but LeoSagi pairings for any version are also cool (As long as it's appropriate / not problematic as far as ages and whatnot- For example, I have a version of Usagi that I made that's completely separate from the Usagi that we see during S5 of 2012 to pair with 2012 Leo ! I like him a lot, he's a hare instead of a rabbit ! I need to draw them again sometime- 😔👍) ! Lmao

[sirfrogsworth]

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but what I believe OP is referencing that in Fine Arts and other similar 2D drawn/painted/etc arts, the general goal of taking photos is to keep the light as flat as possible so that the photo itself has no change in values aside from the actual ink/paint/etc. I.e. in taking a picture of the Mona Lisa, you generally don't see a cast shadow from, say, a tree branch (ignoring that it's in a museum, of course with minimal lighting for preservation reasons). You don't want to see shadows from where an artist may have pushed down the pencil too hard on the paper, or the crags in oil paintings (typically). It's why scanners got pretty encouraged for high res/no shadows/etc in early online art communities.

However, I would also like OP to check out art from the 60s and 70s I believe, where a lot of artists did play with the reflection of light and shadow in their works, and while a good lot of them are 3D or Installation artists, there are others that working more 2D, and also more contemporary artists that specifically use light and shadow play in their work (I forget the artist's name, but there's one who uses lights to create window glows in his ink and pencil drawings), and how shadow puppetry with flat, hinged cut outs was a very early style in animated films.

So please, play with shadows and light in your flat/drawn artworks if it makes you happy! Art is made to play, and there are some extremely unique ways to incorporate your surroundings into that work. And who knows, you could be the one to start another movement. That flat lighting has its place in college portfolios, but not every piece of art can be so neatly packaged.

Art preservation has two main ways to document fine art. Scanning or photographing.

The standard photographic way is typically to use a very high resolution medium format camera (Usually a Phase One) with a lens with minimal distortion. Two lights are placed on either side of the painting angled at 45 degrees toward the center. And this creates a very evenly lit photograph with minimal shadows. Color charts are placed near the painting in the same light so the photo can be calibrated later on.

For museum quality documentation, this process may be done in a stitched panorama to increase the overall resolution. But there are also pixel shift technologies where the camera can offset the physical sensor by one pixel in any direction to allow capturing maximum detail. A 100 megapixel camera essentially becomes 400 megapixels. It's a very finicky process requiring concrete floors and sturdy mounts (any microscopic movement will ruin the process), but it produces amazing results when captured by an experienced professional.

Scanning is best if the form factor of the artwork allows for it. There are high end "touchless" scanners that run the art through on a conveyor belt system. This also results in a pretty flat looking representation.

One technique that is becoming popular is 3D microscopy. This allows them to capture the fine texture of the painting. They can also put the painting in any lighting environment after the fact. So you can do shadowless, even lighting or you can do a side light that rakes across the texture, allowing you to see paint cracks and brush strokes more defined.

Here is the Girl with the Pearl Earring's eye catchlight, which apparently is a bit of a glob.

There is a video on this process including a huge 3D print where people can physically experience the texture of the painting.

And you can check out the 3D scan of the Girl with a Pearl Earring here.

With VR headsets growing in popularity, I imagine these professional tools for creating 3D representations will become more accessible. And people will be able to scan their own art in a similar fashion. Canon is already developing a dual lens system that might be applicable.

[sanarin]

“MONA LISA” by Jhope

Okay, so... Sweet Dreams was like the foreplay, and MONA LISA is the main course 😭😭😭

he doesnt give a single fck abt my sanity…

[cupcakeslushie]

Asking a handful of creators:

Do you save things that, for one reason or another, you never ended up posting? I always love seeing scrapped WIPs / deleted scenes / etc, and was just curious!

(Absolutely no pressure to post any of it, of course!)

Hmmm for the most part I’d say, not really. It’s just usually the case where I sit down and I work on one file at a time. It really ends up hurting me if I hop around and leave stuff in the planning stage for too long.

Like this guy👇. I stalled on the details for this one, and I’m not sure if I’ll ever come back around to it.

So now, especially for comic plots, I do not let them stew. Even for the main EW comic. I wait until I have a few days off in a row, so I can just bang out all the pages I want in two days, uninterrupted. And however many I get through, that’s what’s going up. My style is already not what most ppl might call…refined, and things go from works in progress to finished pretty quickly.

The thing that produces the most drafts will be character designs I think? Posting to my Patreon will allow me to let the design stew for some time before I might consider changing it.

For Mona, she changed a little bit.

And Timothy’s future look is solidifying but still in the works, so I’ve probably got the most drafts of him lol.

Most of the time though it’s just hit the ground running, zero planning 😆. That’s the only way stuff gets made in this house.

[mona-risms]

Heyo, I’m familiar with ur old blog, and I saw one or two posts in particular about a reader x Ei and Yao Miko throuple, and I was wondering if you would consider doing a similar thing Beidou and Ningguang

Potentially amab reader, is a renowned artisan that comes to liyue to help rebuild after the events of the liyue story quest, Beidou and Ningguang are dating at this point cause I adore that ship, but they also find that this artisan who’s helping with the jade chamber and the crux fleet is almost filling in an empty spot in their relationship they didn’t know was their, and that they end up working better as 3 than 2… if that makes sense

◆ MAIN COURSE: Beidou x gn!artisan!Reader x Ningguang

◆ TYPE: SFW

◆ ALLERGEN WARNINGS: None. Well. Poly..? Does that count as a warning LMAAOAOAO

◆ NOTES: I mean it can be interpreted as amab!! But I didn't see much of a need to really specify as such, felt like this could go either way. But anyway god I love Beigguang they're so mother I want them both BUT WHY IS IT SO LONG OH MY FUCK

Look at YEWWWW catching the eyes of Liyue's favourite power couple 🥰🥰🥰

God they sure as hell NEEDED the help for those reparations bc as much as all of Liyue COULD assist with said reparations, realistically yeah it'd absolutely take so long....and so much resources too but like resources? Yeah they have a lot, and if they ever run out they can just go ask Beidou for import. It's just the manpower and the craft they fucking need

And lucky for them!! Cuz YOU'VE come to lend them a hand

◆ If you DIDN'T live in Liyue:

Seeing the Crux Fleet at the harbour stocking up, while an uncommon sight, was unsurprising. Seeing what, exactly, they're loading up on, however, was something else entirely.

The ships were all loaded with what you could only conclude as materials, and none of them were fit for any sort of exciting adventures one could have at sea—in fact, they were.. what you could only think of as construction necessities, woodwork, and mining materials.

Were they building something?

You approached a nearby onlooker, focus still on the crew loading up heavy loads on their ships.. or rather, on one specific Captain that spoke with some dockworkers—to organise and allocate, you assumed, "Excuse me, do you.. know what's going on? Doesn't seem like they're stocking up on rations or necessities like usual."

"Hm..? Ahh, you mean the Fleet?" The elderly woman confirmed, "Haven't you heard? They're remaking some floating castle in Liyue Harbour."

"Floating... Oh, you mean the Jade Chamber?"

She nodded, "Yes, that's the one. From the papers, apparently it sunk to the bottom of the ocean after fighting some horrid beast from the water."

"Huh."

You chat a bit more with the elder before stepping away, though now you pretty much know all there is you needed to. This was more than a supply run—this was a high effort operation for the entire region.

When you accidentally lock eyes with glimmering ruby, something snaps into place at that very moment—this was an opportunity.

You strode over, shoulders set, and it was as if she had waited for you to come right over to her as she crossed her arms, "Hey, need something? Could tell you were eyeing m--"

"You're heading back to Liyue, correct?"

"..Yes?"

"Let me come with you."

Beidou raised an eyebrow at the sudden request.. before barking out a laugh so hard she threw her head back. "Sorry, sorry," she composed herself and shot you a grin, "'s just that usually an introduction is in order before we let hitchhikers in for a ride. A certain someone back home could benefit from having your directness."

You couldn't help the slight flush of embarrassment, your cheeks heating up at the call-out, "Sorry. I just heard what was going on and-- look, you're trying to reconstruct the Jade Chamber, right?"

"Yeah... What happened to the first one was a shame, so Ningguang's been trying to remake it from scratch. Not to mention," she scratched the nape of her neck with a sigh, "not like the Harbour got off scot-free either, so we've been trying to put things back into shape. Hence all the wood and the tools and everything. What, you got magic hands to help with our relief process?"

"Yes, actually. Well, less magic and more expertise, but either way."

"Oh!" The pirate captain's smile widened, much like a kid in a sweet shop, "Seriously? We'd appreciate any help you give us, though.. 's not like you'll be doing it for the sake of altruism, right?"

"You think I'll extort you?"

"No, no, just.. have to be careful. Fixing Liyue Harbour means a lot to me, y'know?"

"The Harbour, or Ningguang?"

You see her uncovered eye crinkle in softness, "One and the same."

The only answer—or any sort of acknowledgement—you give her is a hum, with the outside's crowded bustle filling the content silence between you.

And then?

"Alright, you've got a seat on the deck. Still," she nudged your side with a wink, "you gotta tell me your motivation. Or at least your name."

You couldn't help the chuckle escaping your lips and the light-hearted eyeroll, "It's Y/N. And don't worry, the Harbour'll be sorted out soon."

"Well, it's nice to formally meet you, Y/N." She held out a hand, "The name's--"

"Beidou, yes," you shook it, "I think everyone knows."

◆ If you DID live in Liyue:

To the citizens of Liyuean nation, you were a well-liked wonder—your artisanal work was often beautifully intricate and expertly crafted, the love for your creations evident in every curve and intended crevice. To the Adepti that roamed the land (more specifically the Cloud Retainer), you were competition—how could a mortal's work actually out-do some of their own?

Though, perhaps... With the era of humans beginning, as concluded, there is something to be admire about such expertise.

Expertise that was needed at this exact time, even.

You hear a knock on the door and you answer with a "come in", your attention still laser-focused in your current hobby project to stave off boredom—a small Rex Lapis carving made out of Noctilucous Jade.

The door opens to reveal a smiling young girl, Little Liu, as she wanders inside, "Hi, Y/N! There was this tall lady with a really pretty Vision who wanted to know where you were, so I lead her here. Is that okay?"

You lifted your head up with a curious tilt of your head, "Yeah, that's fine. You did a good job, Little Liu."

The child lets out a happy giggle at the job well done before rushing out the door, presumably to go back to playing with her friends. Out of all the people who strode into the entrance, though, you hadn't expected--

"Lady Ningguang?! It's a pleasure to-- oh shit--" In the rush of getting up from your seat, you had almost upended your entire workspace and your ongoing little project. Almost.

You heard her chuckle softly as you fussed around your tools and carefully placed down the half-sculpted jade. "Is my presence that jarring? My apologies for startling you."

"No, no, it's okay, I swear," you waved the apology off with a shake of your head, "I just didn't expect a visit from you—hard not to stand in attention when the Tianquan's at your doorstep..." Your words trailed off as you finished organising the last of your tools.. or at least organising them enough that you knew none of them were going to fall. Once you were satisfied, you let out a relieved huff before turning your full attention to the other, "So? What-- What business does Lady Ningguang have with me, here, in Qingce Village?"

She doesn't answer immediately, opting to look at your displayed tools and little projects and trinkets you've made over the years. Though, as she sits down at the small table, you notice that her vermillion eyes linger on your current Noctilucous Jade project. "..Are you currently occupied with a commission?"

"What? Oh," you picked the half-finished sculpture up before carefully presenting it for Ningguang to observe on her own, "not really, my work's kinda both.. well, my work and my hobby. No commission's been coming up lately, so I've just been burning time."

She inspected the half-carved jade with an expert's marvel, "My, the detailing is made with such care..." She looked back up at you, "I came here personally to see the quality of your work for myself, though I had expected requests for your services to keep you busy. Convenient for me, yet a wonder all the same—why the lack of activity, especially with the Harbour's need for reconstruction?"

"Ahh, well..." You went to sit opposite her, "My services haven't really been.. tested for large-scale projects like—ahem—the entire Harbour."

"How about we change that, then?"

...

"Excuse me?"

She leaned in closer to you, the jade softly placed down on the table with a tiny clack. "I would like to commission you," she says.

"..With what, fixing the Harbour?"

"No."

"Then--"

"My Jade Chamber."

"..I--"

"Though if you were to include the Harbour too, we wouldn't be opposed to it—the Qixing would be indebted to you."

"But--"

"And of course, I wouldn't let you work without sufficient payment and liberty over resources and manpower."

You could only stare blankly at Ningguang's face, and if you had the capacity of doing so, smoke could be coming from your very head from the sudden barrage mixed with the other's 'business neutral' face, you've decided to label it.

..Though after a short while, she laughed softly again—kind of akin to wind chimes, "It appears I may have been a bit too eager, my apologies."

"You're telling me..." You hands went up to massage your temples as you organised your thoughts in silence, to which she simply waited at her spot. When you spoke, her attention is peaked, "Okay, so, I have many.. MANY questions."

"And you are entitled to every single one of them."

"Yeah, well, I have a lot so... We'll start with—" and you point at yourself, "—why me?"

"That is an easy question," she mused, "with my answer being: it would be ignorant of me to ignore what people say about you and your dedication to your craft. Along with.. you know how to work with certain materials, no?"

"..Like what?"

"Large quantities of Sunset Vermillionite."

"Like, Xiao Lanterns? Yeah."

"No," she drew out a scroll holding diagrams and measurements, "in bulk."

"..Next question, am I gonna go to jail if I screw up?"

"No, no, nothing like that. I would never punish someone simply trying to do their job."

"Oh, thank--"

"Maybe."

"WHICH IS IT?!"

There was that laugh again, and your panic simmers down near immediately.

"Well... Third question."

"Mm?"

"When would we be officially discussing plans and etcetera for this?" Despite your reservations, you smiled anyway, "This needs to be meticulous as hell, if we want it to work."

"You accept?"

"Against my better judgement for my reputation, yeah."

And you just notice, she had worn the 'business neutral' look the entire time, and only now did it melt down into.. 'genuine gratitude'.

"Thank you. It.. means a lot."

"Yes, well... I did pick this job up for this type of thing."

"Which is?"

"..sentimentality."

Bye I did NOT neee to cook so hard 😭😭😭😭 BEE ARE BEE KAY EM ESSING joke but fr I lost the plot so hard I need death

Anyway obvi you can meet them however thr fuck you want, but these two are just. How I imagined it yk, with two differing personalities

Either way from then on, they both end up getting to know you from how closely you three actually work together: Ningguang with conferring over the construction work, sometimes with the Qixing or other involved personnel, sometimes with just the two of you; Beidou with organising different resources needed and exactly where to get them and how to handle ones that are much more precious than usual cargo, along with joining her on her voyages when needed sometimes to the point where you even get dragged into crew parties after a while; and then Beidou and Ningguang together as you three settle on a combination of each others' parts to play in the reparation before the meeting melts into something much less business and more idle chatter

Somehow it felt easy to slip into the middle of their dynamic. Beidou and Ningguang were seen as the couple that was perfect for each other—dishing light-hearted barbs at each other, professional dynamic flowing smoothly... It was best left uninterrupted

Until you lol

It was in small increments, and then it evolved. You started off simply offering little bits and pieces of feedback while watching them from the sidelines. But then they both took effort in getting to know you, and you don't think neither woman knew why they spent the effort beyond professional comraderie

Without knowing, they had let you carve your own existence into their own as their balance, and at some point they do actually notice the hollow absence. Beidou finds herself wanting to invite you onto another voyage despite it having literally nothing to do with you or the Jade Chamber, and Ningguang has to stop herself from visiting you when you calculated and worked by yourself as necessary in the workshop she had supplied you. It's not long until they realise they feel something deeper for the artisan that made a mark on their lives

I think at first they'd be confused, and then kinda guilty. After all, they were ALREADY DATING EACH OTHER!!!!! What are they DOING, LIKING SOMEONE ELSE AND EACH OTHER❗️❗️❗️👹👹👹👹👹 But then I also think they're actually masters at communication—they have to be, when they're usually on and off with their proximity, eith how the Crux goes everywhere and Ningguang stays independently tethered to Liyue—so they both kinda realise they both like you AND each other

The pressure doesn't lift until they actually admit it though. And I'd like to imagine they decided to admit it when the Jade Chamber was finished and it was Lantern Rite time, with Ningguang dressing up in that blue dress. She also manages to get you all dressed up as well HAHAHA to your preferences obvi like imo I'd be wearing a SUIT!!!!!!

"Hey, check you out..." You hear Beidou as she approached you and Ningguang, the captain putting her hand on her hip as she spoke, "Looking pretty fancy."

"Archons, yeah," you snorted, gesturing to Ningguang, "she looks fancy. I, however, look like an imposter amongst the rich."

Before Beidou could shoot back a response, Ningguang lowers her smoking pipe as she spoke, "Only a true treasure catches the eye of Captain Beidou, and I am more than inclined to agree with her assessment." And then she looks at her side—at you—with a soft crinkle in her eyes, "After all, it seems we've both struck gold with this one, no?"

"Wh--"

"Finally. I did wonder when we'd ever say anything," Beidou flashed a grin, one that Ningguang flicked her pipe at with an affectionate eyeroll before the brunette continued, "We knew you were special, just.. didn't know just how much your value was until--"

"--until re-assessment," the Tianquan finished for her. "We both.. spoke. Realised that the two of us held feelings that were much more.. personal than it should have been. We simply couldn't find the time, or thought it would be inappropriate."

You didn't even notice Beidou approach your unoccupied side until you heard her speak, "So we both decided to keep it to ourselves until we were finished with the Harbour's reconstruction, and the Jade Chamber's recreation. After that, well... Actually we had no plan, barring from knowing that we had to tell you soon and keeping you as close to us as we could." She leaned closer to stage-whisper with a joking grin, "Surprise, the Qixing's Tianquan is actually a clingy softie."

"Captain."

She drew back, "Ha, yes ma'am."

"In any case," Ningguang drew her attention back to you, with Beidou's eyes locked onto you all the same, "what do you think?"

I'd kiss them both right on the mouth immediately your honour!! I could die today or tomorrow so I may as well do it now!!!! I FUCKING WISH.

Kiss them though please kiss them with the fireworks make Hoyo cry

After this, your relationship?? Changes??? But also not really

It's as if everything's stayed the same between the three of you, except everything feels much lighter 🥰🥰🥰 as if there's no need to really hold anything back anymore

People would obvi riot (bitch nevermind Beigguang being homo, you're in a THROUPLE I think the oldies might have a seizure) but no one, and I mean NO ONE, can deny that the three of you are Liyue's hottest bitches in a dynamic that works for all three. I say own it babes

Look at that maybe things CAN be interrupted after all

[seva-over]

I'm quite surprised so many people voted for "The Painter" in my analog horror poll.

Personally, I think that "The Painter" has a lot of potential. I feel like its main problem is the repetitiveness of what happens from episode to episode, and the format. For example, I'd definitely watch a full-length film about Mona and her accomplice. I feel like it just misses the point of analog horror, and would have been better of as a film. Of course, it's easier said than done.

What I like about "The Painter" is its main antagonist. Mona is cruel just because, and it makes her character very refreshing. She's not the typical "I'm evil because nobody loves me", and I genuinely want to see more of her in the future.

🪐 If you have anything to say about this analog horror, be my guest in the comments! 🪐

(Also this was one of my most 'trust the process' drawings in a while)

[seandwalsh]

Where do the characters get the stuff they use In the Mario Kart Games from? And did the characters design the tracks that have their names?

I’m not quite sure what stuff you’re specifically referring to, but regardless, the answer is quite complicated. Assuming you’re talking about Karts and Items, the answer is “various places”.

Back in Super Mario Kart, while Mario was likely the one who organised, funded or at least initially proposed the event, Lakitu was the coordinator of the event, and ran the tracks. In the beginning they had more conservative rules surrounding the vehicles in use on the courses:

Hi everybody! Thanks for dropping by the Super Mario Kart race track. My name is Lakitu, I run this track. If you need my help, I'll be around. We race one seater, metal pipe frame go carts here. There are two engine sizes to choose from: 50cc or 100cc.

[Source: INTRODUCTION, Page 2, Instruction Booklet of Super Mario Kart, September 1992]

Mario Kart stated out a a fun recreational event with a handful of trophies. That’s the main reason the characters take part, and it has been the reason since the very beginning, in Super Mario Kart. Each one of the characters is competing due to their connection to Mario.

An adorable little kart racetrack has been built in the Mario world! Mario and his happy-go-lucky friends have gotten so enthusiastic about kart racing that they're already causing a ruckus! Even now, they're smack in the middle of a race! Let's take a quick peek at how it's going, shall we? Oh, it's just about to start! Even the usually cute characters look a little tense. Let's watch Mario and friends fight hard!

[Source: Intro, Japanese Store Promo for Super Mario Kart, August 1992]

However, in the years since it has become the Mushroom Kingdom’s premiere racing event and grown significantly. Racers from various Kingdoms take part resulting in an incredibly diverse audience. Mario Kart now has dozens of sponsors for each Grand Prix, extended tournaments, its own television network, branded tracks and inter-dimensional courses and guest racers.

Mario Kart 64 was the first major step in this direction, but Mario Kart: Double Dash!! brought things even further. From its manual:

THE MUSHROOM KINGDOM’S PREMIER RACING EVENT IS BACK! HOWEVER, THERE’S BEEN ONE MAJOR CHANGE TO THE RULES OF THE ROAD… THERE ARE NOW TWO RIDERS PER KART! NOW, RIDERS FROM THROUGHOUT THE LAND HAVE COME TOGETHER NO TEST THEIR DRIVING SKILLS. WHICH PAIR WILL PROVE THE FASTEST?

[Source: The Double Dash Grand Prix!, Page 6, Instruction Booklet of Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, November 2003]

When Mario Kart started out, standard Pipe Frames were the only legal builds for the Mario GP. These models were likely built by Mario and his friends themselves.

However, with Mario Kart: Double Dash!! the Pipe Frames were retired in favour of a variety of Karts. Many of these karts were custom-made or modified pre-existing cars. Take Luigi's kart of choice in Mario Kart DS, for example: the Poltergust 4000. This Kart is part of the Poltergust series, a line of inventions created by Professor E. Gadd.

Another pair of examples are the Wario Car, which Wario makes use of in Mario Kart: Double Dash!! and Mario Kart Arcade GP 2, and the Wario Bike, which Wario makes use of in Mario Kart Wii. These are Wario's personal car and bike, which he uses in the Wario Land and WarioWare titles, and both were built by Wario's friend Dr. Crygor:

I AM DR. CRYGOR, THE GENIUS SCHOLAR. OTHERS HAVE SAID A "DANGEROUS" SCHOLAR, BUT I PAY NO MIND TO THEIR OPINIONS. MY LABORATORY IS SET UP TO FURTHER MY EXPERIMENTS IN REALITY GAMES. FEEL FREE TO STOP BY AND CONTRIBUTE TO MY RESEARCH. IT IS QUITE FUN. DID YOU KNOW THAT I WAS THE ONE WHO CREATED WARIO'S CAR? WHAT? YOU DO NOT KNOW? DO YOUR RESEARCH!

[Source: The Laboratory Authority - Dr. Crygor, Page 21, Instruction Booklet of WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$!, May 2003]

This odd genius lives in seclusion. He built Wario’s bike. Mona’s moped, Kat’s sword, and Jimmy’s cell phone. He wears a cryogenic suit that doesn’t protect his head.

[Source: Dr. Crygor's character profile, WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Party Game$!, April 2004]

The Standard Kart series of builds was then introduced as a replacement for the Pipe Frame in Mario Kart Arcade GP 2 and carried into tournaments from Mario Kart DS onwards. As a result of this, in later tournaments, custom or pre-existing vehicles were allowed to enter the tournament upon being modified to be legal for the Grand Prix. The Pipe Frames did eventually return in tournaments from Mario Kart 7 onwards, which featured more in-depth kart customisation.

Speaking of which, the Mario Kart events are sponsored by other brands Mario owns, such as Mario Motors, Mario Star, etc. These sponsors, as well as the many others not otherwise connected to Mario, likely fund the events and even provide them with parts and supplies.

It stands to reason that Mushroom Piston Engines provides engines, Fuzzy Battery provides batteries, Bob-omb Plugs provides spark plugs, Dream Gliders provides gliders, 1-Up Fuel provides fuel, Bowser Oil provides oil, 100% Organic Antifreeze provides antifreeze, etc.

Mario Kart Arcade GP 2 makes reference to a Grand Prix Committee, which sends letters to Cup winners to invite them to the Cup’s special Challenge stage. Their letters are closed with an “M” stamped seal. This would imply Mario is at least on this committee, if not the head of it. This is presumably the committee that organises the events and decides which participants to invite, what items will be used, etc.

As mentioned previously, all of the participants either know Mario directly or have connections to people who know Mario. The Super Mario Kart manual seems to call attention to how each of the participant racers connect to Mario specifically.

MARIO & LUIGI The Mario Brothers have pretty much the same abilities in cart driving. Mario and Luigi have had a friendly rivalry that goes back to their childhood.

[Source: THE 8 CART DRIVERS, Page 21, Instruction Booklet of Super Mario Kart, September 1992]

PRINCESS & YOSHI At first, you might think that The Princess and Yoshi would have nothing in common (except their fondness for Mario).

[Source: THE 8 CART DRIVERS, Page 22, Instruction Booklet of Super Mario Kart, September 1992]

BOWSER & DONKEY KONG JR. These two drivers have long been Mario's arch enemies.

[Source: THE 8 CART DRIVERS, Page 23, Instruction Booklet of Super Mario Kart, September 1992]

While Toad and Koopa Troopa's descriptions don't specifically connect them to Mario, Toad is of course a long-time friend of Mario and servant to Peach, while Koopa Troopa is a minion of Bowser:

Usually a faithful underling of Bowser, [Koopa Troopa] shows even the big boss no mercy during a race.

[Source: Characters and Special Items, Page 20, Instruction Booklet of Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, November 2003]

Koopa Troopa, of the Turtle Tribe. Usually one of Bowser's minions, but as far as races go, it's a different story!?

[Source: Characters, Mario Kart Wii, Nintendo Co., Ltd. website]

In short, Mario is what brings them all together - and in turn they each bring their own special items. The iconic Banana Peels thrown by racers in the Mario Kart series are actually from the Kong's Banana Hoard on Donkey Kong Island, having originally been brought to the races by Donkey Kong Jr. back in Super Mario Kart:

Because of Donkey Kong Jr.! He likes bananas, and the peels are slippery, so they got the okay.

[Source: Tadashi Sugiyama, Director and C.G. Designer of Super Mario Kart, Nintendo Classic Mini: SNES developer interview – Volume 4: Super Mario Kart, September 2017]

In the original game, the only CPU-controlled character who throws banana peels is Donkey Kong Jr., which was a way to characterise the characters.

[Source: Hideki Konno, Director of Super Mario Kart, Nintendo Classic Mini: SNES developer interview – Volume 4: Super Mario Kart, September 2017]

Despite Donkey Kong Jr. not appearing in tournaments after Super Mario Kart, it seems his son, the current Donkey Kong, continued to supply Bananas from Mario Kart 64 onwards. Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong even brought along some Giant Bananas in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, Mario Kart: Arcade GP 2 and Mario Kart Tour:

Special Item GIANT BANANA Only DK and Diddy know where these monstrous fruit can be found.

[Source: Characters and Special Items, Page 19, Instruction Booklet of Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, November 2003] From this we can speculate about the origins of other items. Shells are common clothing/armour worn by Koopas, but seeing as the shells in Mario Kart are standard Koopa Troopa Shells, it stands to reason that the Koopa Troopa racer or perhaps Bowser brought the Red Shells and Green Shells originally used in Super Mario Kart.

These shells are worn by Koopa Troopas, both within and outside of Bowser's Army. We can even see one of Bowser's Airships in Super Mario Galaxy equipped with a shell dispenser:

The Green Shells and Red Shells even function how you'd expect - with Green Shells flying straight forward and Red Shells heading towards the nearest target!

However, with the expansion of Mario Kart in later titles the shells, which are mass-produced, appear to be provided by a company, with sponsors for "Green Shell Strike Equipment" and "Red Shell Strike Equipment" making appearances:

Koopa Troopa and Koopa Paratroopa seem to have their own supply in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!:

Special Items TRIPLE SHELLS (GREEN / RED) Don't let Koopa and Paratroopa worry about not having enough shells.

[Source: Characters and Special Items, Page 20, Instruction Booklet of Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, November 2003]

Bowser also provides his own shells for the tournaments in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, Mario Kart: Arcade GP 2 and Mario Kart Tour:

Bowser's Shell This big ol' shell on loan from Bowser will crash any karts it hits and keep on going. It can only be thrown forward.

[Source: Items, Tips and Tricks, Mario Kart Tour, September 2019]

On the topic of items, Super Mario Kart used ? Panels to dispense its items. These panels are likely made by the same people in the Mushroom Kingdom who make ? Blocks. While they weren't used in later Mario Kart tournaments, they have still made a few other appearances since, such as in Mario Party 9.

From the Mario Kart 64 Mario GP onwards the ? Panels were replaced with the iconic Item Boxes, which were likely much more convenient for transportation and addition to the racetracks. But it wasn't until Mario Kart Wii where we actually learned where these come from, through the course Toad's Factory.

This is actually the Item Box Factory, as we can see not only from the trackside banners with the Item Box logo and giant sign of Toad with an Item Box, but from the shipping containers with items ready to go into the Item Boxes:

Inside the factory, we can even see the process of how Item Boxes are made. The Items are put inside standard Brick Blocks, before the Brick Blocks are placed on a conveyor belt with stamps of some sort. These stamps appear to be filled with some sort of magical rainbow liquid, likely sourced from Power Stars, which transforms the Brick Blocks into the Item Boxes, giving them their translucent rainbow appearance and their ability to float:

Circling back to the Kongs for a moment, Funky Kong is actually the one responsible for the construction of the DK Barrel Cannons featured prominently throughout Mario Kart courses.

We learn this when Donkey Kong mentions Funky in the context of their creation in Mario Super Sluggers:

Oooook! (Looks like Funky Kong has been busy.)

[Source: Donkey Kong, Best Friend of Funky Kong, Playable Character in Mario Super Sluggers, August 2008]

This isn't all too surprising though, given Funky Kong's previous barrel-based mechanic work and his appearances in Mario Kart Wii and Mario Kart Tour, as well as the barrel-inspired Funky Stadium which he presumably also built:

Speaking of which, it's about time I discuss the stadiums, circuits and other courses and where they came from!

Mario is world-famous and incredibly wealthy from his adventures, businesses and sports stardom. Multiple of the circuits in the games are also clearly built by him or at least in honour of him. He‘s the only character with actual circuits named after him in Super Mario Kart:

State-of-the-art racetracks in the Mario world that are rich in variety. The effectiveness of the pipe obstacles is the key.

[Source: Mario Circuit's description, Japanese Store Promo for Super Mario Kart, August 1992]

Mario Circuits have also been described as the primary circuits of their respective Grand Prix:

Mario Circuit This is the main circuit in Mario Kart: Double Dash!! Familiar denizens of the Mushroom Kingdom can be spotted here and there. The road's filled with curves, so this is a good place to practice drifting.

[Source: Courses, Page 31, Instruction Booklet of Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, November 2003]

It stands to reason that most characters had a hand in designing the tracks that bear their names. In fact we know that's the case for several courses, such as N64 Wario Stadium:

That rascal Wario was in charge of the design and construction of this course. A fan of motocross races, he brought in major amounts of sand to fill this huge stadium in an attempt to build a course more suitable to bikes than Karts. Each lap's distance is extremely long, making it difficult to stay concentrated on the race.

[Source: MARIO KART 64 COURSE MAPS, Page 30, Instruction Booklet of Mario Kart 64, February 1997]

Meanwhile the Bowser's Castle courses are modified from or otherwise based on the real Bowser's Castle:

Surprisingly, the Bowser's Castle has been transformed into a race ground! Because it's inside the building, most of the corners are tricky right angles. However, the most difficult part of the course is where the Thwomps are. They will block your path, and if you run into one, you will spin out. Should you be stepped by one, you'll find yourself squished flat as a pancake.

[Source: MARIO KART 64 COURSE MAPS, Page 31, Instruction Booklet of Mario Kart 64, February 1997]

Bowser typically designs his courses with the help of his minions to be filled with traps in the hopes of beating Mario. This goes beyond the Mario Kart tracks and also applies to his Tennis Courts, Golf Courses, etc.:

Lord Bowser designed his course to defeat Mario, so it’s kinda full of lava and bombs and stuff like that.

[Source: Spiny, Minion of Bowser, Non-player Character in Mario Golf: Super Rush, June 2021]

Bowser enlisted his minions to create this course in hopes of defeating Mario with all the traps and hazards.

[Source: Koopa Troopa, Minion of Bowser, Non-player Character in Mario Golf: Super Rush, June 2021]

However, this isn't universally the case. For example, Peach Beach is merely Princess Peach's favourite beach resort in the Southern Isles, while Toad's Turnpike is on a public road in Toad City!

I could go on and on about the Mario Kart series and the depth to its worldbuilding, but I think that's quite enough for today. Thank you for reading!

[indieyuugure]

Hi I love your art it has so much emotion and detail! But I was wandering if the turtles from 2018 will learn about the 2012 love interests, and what would be their reactions?

Thank you! I try my best to put as much raw emotion into the pictures as possible!

So the Donnie-April-Casey love triangle disaster has been brought up a few times in the comic (mostly as a joke)

The first time it’s brought up is Colliding Worlds part 2, where the Donnies find Rise Leo, 12 Casey and April. Donnie and Casey throw each other’s their favorite insults (Gap Tooth and Cave Mouth) hinting at the tension between them and April. Leo and Donnie definitely acknowledge the tension as Rise Donnie then says:

“Not to intrude on your conversation that is apparently of extreme importance, but perhaps we could pick this up any other time!?”

The next time their love triangle is mentioned is in Eye of the Storm Part 2, where if you look closely you can see this interesting little scene while the others are recapping the book so far.

Later in Eye of the Storm part 3, you can see that Rise Casey has taken notice to the 12 Casey and Donnie’s tense relationship.

He asks why Casey and Donnie dislike each other so much, but is cut off with a harsh “No.”

A few pages after, Rise Casey sees 12 Casey flirting with April and Donnie walking in very upset. Rise Casey sees what’s going on a puts it together out loud, to which 12 Raph says:

“‘Love Triangle’ makes it sound so romantic. It’s more like what happens when you add water to hot oil.”

And of course in the most recent update, you see while the 12 boys are hugging it out, Casey and April flirt, April asking “What’cha thinking about Jones?” And Casey delivering the corniest one liner, “A red and yellow sunset.” (Give Casey a break, his two brain cells worked really hard to think that one up!)

As for Leo, There’s some scrapped dialogue from Retribution Part 1 where the Leo-Karai debacle was going to be brought up.

As you some of you probably noticed, Rise Leo is accidentally quoting Karai. In some of the ideas for the dialogue, it looked something like this:

R!Leo: You always talk to yourself when you’re alone?

12Leo: Ka-L-Leo? *sigh* Gosh you sound like my sister…

R!Leo: Wait! You have a sister!?

12Leo: uh…well um, it‘s…kinda complicated…

Later on the next page:

12Leo: thanks…I…I needed that…

R!Leo: Hey! I’m just returning the favor! But, by the way, you seem really awkward talking about your sister, you didn’t like accidentally fall in love with her because she was adopted by your enemy and so thought she wasn’t related to you and you thought she’s super hot, right?

12Leo: … … …

R!Leo: WHAT!? Wait Seriously!? That was like the stupidest thing I could come up with!! Ohmigosh that’s priceless! What’s she like? Is she super into martial arts? Is she hot? Is she-

12Leo: I DON’T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT!!

R!Leo: *snicker-snicker* (so he still likes her, lol)

As for Raph’s relationship with Mona Lisa, I’ve posted this concept Art before, but I’ll post it again. Mona was meant to appear earlier(probably somewhere in Corrupted Logic) however, that was scrapped, and while I would like to put her in later, I don’t think it would work.

I do, however plan on doing some shorts that’ll go in the back of the comic, much like the holiday specials I’ve done and the Behind the Scenes Potty Mouths short. I really REALLY love Ramona and I think if any of the ships get a special, it’s that one.

Mikey and Renet or Shinigami(whichever you were thinking of I guess) haven’t been mentioned at all. I don’t plan on either of them showing up or it really being mentioned at all. Sorry Mike.

The vast majority of the romance(what little there is) in the comic, is played out in the background, as I don’t want it to take the stage as the main focus. The plot is not about the Donnie-April-Casey love triangle or whatever the heck is going on with Leo and Karai, it’s about the turtles defeating the Krang and learning to work with their counterparts and be a better team along the way. So sorry if it’s a little hard to spot/doesn’t exist in the canon, lol

Good question! :]

[taylorsssversion]

Before the *e word* talk started, Monday evening I was thinking about how The Louvre (that was a couple hours late to open Monday morning for “unforeseen circumstances”) would’ve been SUCH a Tayvis place to get engaged.

I would love a little one shot pretty please🥹

A quartet in concerts

contains: fluff, Taylor x Travis

words: 1.2k

Masterlist

It was the 8th of May. One day before the new Eras Tour started. Taylor and Travis entered the entrance of the Louvre museum in Paris.

Especially for them, the museum opened early before the normal visits. Travis had organised that. Taylor had no clue how he managed it, but it must involve a lot of money. Their bodyguards positioned in the main hall, right at the entrance. One of them wished them much fun as they followed the tour route to the first room. Taylor thanked him and took Travis hand.

Normally, it would be totally crowded here so Taylor was glad that they had their peace and togetherness. She admired the beautiful architecture and sculptures. She had always been a fan of this art and building style. It was so different from most the ones in America.

"You've been here before right?", Travis asked and squeezed her hand lightly. Today he wore a flannel jacket over his white shirt. He was growing out his hair again and it looked better each single day.

Taylor smiled. He was stunning and she was so proud to call him hers.

"Yeah", she answered. "But it was a lot more crowded back then." They laughed. "Oh I can imagine.", he said.

They stopped at a Greek sculpture. It was a man with a horse.

"Huh. Incredible, isn't it?", Travis asked. Tay just nodded impressed.

"And what are your favorite paintings here?", he asked. "Something special? Or more mainstream? Mona Lisa?"

Taylor chuckled "It's 'A quartet in concert'. The 'Mona Lisa' is pretty overrated. Sadly."

Travis grinned. "Of course it is the painting with the music"

They laughed and continued their tour.

"Are you nervous for tomorrow?", he wanted to know and gave her a concerning look.

"A bit", Taylor admitted.

"I've been on stage for so many years now and I still get nervous every time." She made a voicless laugh. "Kinda weird, huh?"

"No, I think not. I am nervous before every game. That's normal, I guess." Travis shrugged and put an arm around Taylor's shoulders. "But don't worry, you'll have me. I'll be on your side as your lucky charm." He gave her a heartwarming smile.

"Thank you." Taylor said. "But let's not talk about tomorrow. Let's enjoy this night. With only the two of us."

The entered the next room. It was full of paintings. "Oh look! There it is!", said Taylor excitedly and walked to a large painting on the right wall.

"A quartet in concert by Jean Raoux", read Travis. Four people were on that painting, one singer, one girl playing a flute and two girls reading.

"It's beautiful.", he smiled.

"It seems so peaceful.", said Taylor and admired the different colors. "I wish I could paint like that.", she admitted. And a dreamy gaze fell onto her eyes. Travis touched her shoulder.

"You can sing. Certainly better than those people.", he nodded towards the painting. Taylor laughed. "Who knows? Maybe that's the Taylor Swift from their time."

"Nah", Travis made a grimace and they had to laugh. For a second, they just looked at each other, happy to be here.

"I don't know how it could get any better than this.", Travis then said after a while. They still admired the painting. Taylor found more details in this art then last time she was here.

Her brows furrowed. "What do you mean?"

He gave her a look she couldn't determine. Then, Travis fell down on his knee and reached into the pocket of his jacket. A small dark box lay in his hand. He opened it and a dainty silver ring came to light. Taylor's breath got caught in her throat. Only to let her heart start racing. She put her hands over her mouth, only to realise they were shaking. Travis cleared this throat.

"When I made this friendship bracelet, I never thought it would lead to this.

I never thought we both would end up here. Together. You mean so much to me Taylor. And I can't imagine a life without you. You make me whole, I feel like a completely new person since I met you." He looked deeply in her eyes. And Taylor could swear his eyes were glazy.

"I know you may not be ready for this. But that's okay. I can wait. I will wait a whole lifetime for you, baby. I choose you and me."

He took a deep breath. "Taylor Swift, do you want to marry me?"

"Oh Travis", she whispered, tears in her eyes. Then she fell down on her knees and kissed him deeply. Their lips had been clashed together a thousand times but right now it felt like the first time ever.

"Yes! I do! I love you." The tears now ran freely over her cheeks. With a knuckle of his finger, Travis gently wiped her tears off her cheek.

Taylor put a hand on his face. Looking in his eyes deeply before tightly wrapping her arms around him.

"I love you baby.", Travis whispered in her hair. She could hear his voice tremble.

"You don't know how much this means to me.", she said with a teary voice. "I never thought, I could love someone that much again."

"I love you", he whispered in her ear. "You never have to be alone. From now on, I will always be there for you."

They let go of each other and Travis took her hand. Although he played a ruff sport, his hands were soft and gentle. Carefully, he placed the ring on her finger. It fit like it was specifically made for her.

"It's wonderful", Taylor breathed. She felt like hear heart would explode.

"You are wonderful.", Travis corrected and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. His eyes wandered back and forth between hers.

"Come", he said and pulled her up back in their feet. They hugged and kissed again and Taylor said: "You have no idea how happy you make me." She wiped her tears away and looked at the ring. At the new promise.

"How long have you planned this?", she asked. Travis chuckled. "Oh that's my secret."

Taylor poked him in the ribs. "C'mon", but Travis only shook his head with a wide grin on his lips.

"You're unbelievable", she laughed and took his hand.

"I know", he said and leaned in to kiss her deeply.

"Just one thing", Taylor said when they finished their kiss.

"No one has to know about this, okay? No one, just the two of us."

"Deal", Travis said and kissed her again.

When they came back to the entrance hall, their bodyguards grinned at them. Taylor had to laugh. They all knew what would happen this whole time.

She looked down at her hand, the new ring sparkled in the dim light. She was going to marry! That's all she ever wanted and Travis gave her this. It felt like a dream. Like a wonderland.

She could not wait for the future. Their future. Together.

[painfully-painful-pain]

Fran Foofaraw

Lately i have been interested in the character as she does not appear in-game (if we do not count CAS default design) yet she does appear in the guide, cutscenes and many promo material

She also appears with her original TS design in some prerelease screenshots from bustin' out

So i looked more into the promo material. As the postergal of course she has the most renders of all (probably Mona Lott as well). She is known to be the main character when first loading bustin' out, yet i do not think that was always intended to be the case.

A PlayStation magazine ad has a description of her character which i have not seen before.

Magazine issue unrelated i just wanted to show the render

For people who cannot see the image because of bad internet or whatever it says the following: "Fran Foofaraw lets it all hang out at Pixel Acres. Play your cards right and you'll be seeing more of her. A lot more"

(Also, Goldie Toane was actually blonde instead of brunette/Black?)

SO. What this whole thing implies is that she was supposed to show up at Pixel Acres as a nudist. Right now i am just saying what the description just said. This honestly just sounds like the "Worst week in the life of a sim" series. Specifically the friday episode where she goes to Pixel Acres. The 5 shorts show Fran/Pat whatever you call her live through different events like burning to death on monday, assaulting Humphrey on Thursday etc.

I am not sure if Fran was ever planned as a real character as she is shown to be the main character in all of the shorts. But she has that Playstation advert description for some reason.

The Simswiki also put in Frans bio that she might have been Bling Bling's girlfriend due to them being together in renders and the intro.

There is also Nora Zeal-Ott from the GBA version who is just Frans model with a different name. Apparently according to her Simswiki trivia she has a twinsister called Anne. So yeah thats... info. I wonder what other simmers think what Fran was though, This is the first time i ever talk about something sims related after keeping it in for 15 years. Was she always just MC-Sim or integrated in the story?

Yeah that's it with my internal thoughts.

PS: does anyone own one of those shirts or signed game copies named in the lower left corner today?

[iscdisc]

One thing I always wonder is how would Y’Gythgba/Mona Lisa interact with the Mighty Mutanimals as in the end of the two-parter episode “When Worlds Collide,” Raphael mentions them to her and suggests that she could join their team, yet we never see her interact nor join them on screen. Another thing that also leads me to wonder is why she wasn’t offered to join the main cast’s team in the first place, though I guess it was the writers decision to make that I suppose 🤔 😅

(Also, hi! I just wanted to say that your art style and headcanons are amazing and I hope your day is going well!! :D)

Yeah, it's super weird how they never addressed that or acknowledged Y'gthba's existence after this-?? You'd think she'd be more involved in Season 5 because of this, such as the Halloween centric episodes or even the 87 crossover episodes (Or at the very least, have Raph mention her??)- It feels like the two parter episodes featuring her return are honestly super irrelevant- Which isn't shocking to me because that two parter was a complete train wreck to me / was leaning to hard into it's forced ships for da services purposes (Specifically talking about April and Donnie + Leo and Karai- 🤢💀). Y'gthba should've been incorporated into the main group dynamic or at the very least the Mutanimals dynamic in the same way Shinigami and Karai were (At least, from what we saw in late S4-), but these writers don't care about their girl / women characters as much if we're being real. ┐⁠(⁠´⁠ー⁠｀⁠)⁠┌

My opinion is biased though, cause I personally hate Season 5 outside of the Usagi Arc trilogy and, "Lone Rat and Cubs", so of course I'm going to be super critical here,, Lmao

And thank you so much !! That means a lot to me ! 😭✨