#motivate to do comics of. AUGH

[brother-emperors]

Could I ask for your thoughts on why you say that Cassius should have been Crassus' political heir ?

so largely I’m half referencing this collection of quotes and the various attempts to fill in the space/grave with a body (like Cicero! Cicero was a contender for this!) and I’m sort of taking shots at Antony for fun and whimsy.

like in sports!! I gotta root for my man Cassius over Antony, especially because no one can actually fill the space left by Crassus after his death (literally, the political landscape makes this impossible), but Cassius assumes a command position due to everyone else (notably, Crassus) dying (so: inheriting Crassus’ leadership position) and wouldn’t be a bad follow up to Crassus in the realm of military command since they have a similar (strict, as opposed to friendly in a way is commonly associated with Antony) relationship with the men under their command.

& also bc Marcus Crassus jr seems to be disinterested in taking up space in the political spotlight on his return from the Gallic Wars otherwise I’d be advocating for him on the basis of family tragedy compounded. it’s time to fill the space/memory/grave of your father and brother, buddy!

[size-two-shrimp]

We're bein' abnormal on this wonderful Wednesday night boys >:]

[chatonyant]

Short stories are so hard

Like really big props to those who write short stories because subtlety and compressing details and making sure things are short and sweet is so HARD

Its fun, don't get me wrong, it's satisfying to figure out how to present something in a short form and still tell a whole story

There's an art to it, I just gotta learn it

[modernsuperhero]

Who are these fun characters and why are they taking over my dash? /pos /please tell me abt your blorbos

i'm assuming you mean these little guys:

These guys are my newest silliest dudes from the webcomic School Bus Graveyard! It's free to read on webtoons here and is currently in talks to get a TV adaptation soon so now is 1000% the time to be getting into it!! It's basically a supernatural mystery about six high school freshmen from Georgia who go on a field trip and end up sucked into a demon dimension every time it hits midnight! It's super cool - the pacing is very good imo, a good balance of the Main Plot (oh no we need to survive the Demon Dimension again, also Why Are We In A Demon Dimension) with character development and backstory stuff!

The characters are badass but in a way I feel is very realistic? Like, not just "oh i'm the protagonist suddenly i know how to judo flip armies the moment i'm in danger" but more like "i'm going to train for months in self defense classes to build up some basic muscles" kinda way. The characters themselves are also pretty well fleshed out - they're not just the typical archetypes. Like, the "weak bullied nerd kid" isn't JUST a weak bullied nerd kid, he has well developed motivations and backstory and simultaneously realistic and satisfying character growth.

There are implied potential/future romances but it is so NOT the core point of the story, so whether or not that's your thing you can either ignore it or get excited about it in equal measure. The characters also aren't just edgy and gritty "we must deal with this alone... augh misery woe is us..." they actively do what they can to use all the resources available to them (including trying to get help from their parents, which is an ick for me in other media when the kid protagonists just refuse to ask for help? or assume they can't without trying? anyway).

I would say to be careful about any warnings at the beginning of specific chapters, because some can get quite violent.

The six main characters, without giving to many spoilers, are as follows under the cut (cuz this got long):

The protagonist Ashlyn, an asocial ballerina with her loving ex-military parents, who has a condition that gives her incredibly sensitive/enhanced hearing (she ends up using this to help detect the monsters after them, since they're otherwise silent to the other protagonists!)

Aiden, a creepily-smiley ex-homeschooled rich kid who has no concept of social convention or personal space. Has forcibly chosen Ashlyn to be his friend during his first year in school against her will and ends up accidentally setting off the chain of events leading to the Plot. (I love him. He definitely has Every Mental Illness <3)

Ben, Aiden's incredibly physically intimidating cousin, who is mute and so, so sweet and gentle and follows Aiden like his shadow, in part to take care of him when Aiden's antics get him injured and in part because Ben's muteness makes it incredibly difficult for people to understand him. Aiden, however, can understand his nonverbal communications with ease

Taylor, a friendly girl's girl who tries (often in vain) to befriend Ashlyn. Is also a talented mechanic who ends up putting googly eyes on her weapon once they end up in the Demon Dimension. She's the most Emotionally Aware Person Here but also she's like, 15, so, the bar is on the floor

Tyler, Taylor's twin brother, a somewhat aggressive and rude baseball jock who mostly Minds His Own Damn Business aside from his clinginess to Taylor. In fact they wear matching outfits in almost every episode of the comic it's so funny and cute. Is often found fighting bullies to defend their victims so i forgive him for all his own asshole crimes he's just a dude. he's one of my little guys

Logan, who is canonically compared to a puppy. Shy, intelligent, and incredibly empathetic! My partner's favorite character who has one of the best character arcs so far imo. Likes photography, astrology, and gardening. I think they should give him more guns, as a treat. He can never have enough

anyways thank you for the ask! overall i highly recommend - it's still ongoing, we're currently in the middle of season two!! the mystery is unfolding, there's funny and sweet moments along with the intense ones, and i am INVESTED. :DDDDDD

[kindlespark]

waogh im going insane over the cohortswap au. the brother dynamic feels even more interesting to me than the canon dynamic and theres just so many cool ideas. any rough timeline for when something related to this au is released? not to pressure tho, i know it takes time im just too excited 😭

AUGH THANK U ANON i am going to be insanely busy for the next two weeks working on a play unforchy but i have some sketches i want to finish soon!! but i probably won’t have time for a comic until after that 🤧

eren’s response:

(we are going to start doing cohortswap parallel play in the groupchat vc so hopefully sooner rather than later 😭)

it is super motivating that ppl are rly interested tho thank u sm !! ummm whats a fun cohortswap fact to tide you over. hermes!robin goes semi-regularly to canton to work with people over there in its political underbelly, and does slowly pick up cantonese again. because china in the 1800s had a lot less social stigma around homosexuality that britain did, he’s also come to terms with his sexuality, with the caveat of his experience with ramy being largely too traumatic for him to act on it. hermes!robin knows he’s gay but very rarely hooks up with ppl, if ever.

[angelpuns]

AUGH, L330-N AU HAS MY HEART AND SOUL AND VERY LIFE- I am so excited for more of them dude you have NO IDEA!!! I honest to god can't wait- also super excited for more kid leo >:3 GRERUIVERNOJVINSU I LOVE THEM!!! THEM! (aka please for the love of everything ever take this as an excuse to infodump about anything and everything regarding any of your aus :333)

heheheh I'M SO GLAD YOU'RE ENJOYING IT AHAHAHA

I am also getting excited for Kid Leo au, which is GREAT because I was terrified that not working on it would make me lose motivation ;-; but if anything it's made me way way way more excited!!!!!

I don't really have much to infodump - actually jk I DO

I think I might include some vignettes before the next L330-N Arc ( which I won't be working on for a while, but STILL) so instead of the next arc I have planned I'd sort of do a flashback arc where it's more about Leo before he was robotified :)

I don't really like that sort of thing in actual books just because it takes me out of the story (and ofc if someone else feels this way I probably will wait and do it later rather than in the middle of the current storyline) but for some reasson I think it will work with this comic. Like- the comic is ABOUT found family and Cj and L33, but I also really wanna make some mini comics about Leo before he was a robot and about the apocalypse before now. I also might take the oppurtunity to flesh out Casey and Cj - both before Cj was born and after. Like backstory episodes for both Cj and L33.

And also I'd have to address why Casey wasn't with the Hamatos in the first place and why she never took Cj to meet them (which I actually haven't thought about too hard but I have some ideas)

me: i dont actually have anything to say-

yeah I apparently DID.

[limeade-l3sbian]

i was going to leave it at just the shipping discussion at first, but i decided this bothered me too much, and i need to vent it out. i've had this on my mind for quite some time but i don't know many people into atla who are radfem or adjacent, and i absolutely do not trust anyone outside of radfem circles to not have the most status quo, heteronormative, male-centric, "things are exactly as i first imagined" / "i cannot imagine right or wrong or natural outside of the literal text given to me by the original writers" views on this topic (based on my own experiences with trying to talk about atla with others).

the show would have been far better if zuko were a (gnc) girl and azula were a boy. i know you may be resistant to this because i know you had at least some level of a formative crush on azula, but i'm begging you to hear me out on this one.

aside from the fact it would give a hero role to a fully gnc girl (as opposed to partial, like suki or toph), it just makes sense. zuko not being able to get approval from ozai no matter what, while azula is favored at every stop turns into a matter of familial misogyny, rather than "azula is just naturally better at being evil" (which takes a vaguely eugenicist angle when considering the comics, which say that zuko is probably not ozai's kid, but azula is). it doesn't matter that zuko is older, it wouldn't matter if she were more cutthroat, it wouldn't matter if she were better at bending, it wouldn't even matter if she caught the avatar. a patriarchal dictator like ozai would always favor a son over a daughter.

second, it would make all of the fire nation characters' situations more realistic and more poignant, in general. aside from the aforementioned favoritism towards a son over a daughter, it would make azula's characterization as a violent narcissist who believes (s)he deserves ownership and control over the world make more sense, it would change the context of mai and ty lee standing against azula for the sake of zuko (and each other) into a vaguely anti-feminist situation to a wholly feminist one (i don't ship mai and zuko at all, so the context of being a romantic couple here doesn't really matter to me; it could be motivated by romantic love or platonic love and solidarity imo), it would make zuko and katara's relationship and growth stronger (both of them would have a history of facing near-constant misogyny that served as barricades in the way of the direction they want to take in life), and it would almost completely erase the uneasiness of the fact that zuko was entirely redeemed and azula wasn't redeemed at all (even in the comics), because the real life context of violence and perpetuation of harmful cycles committed by women vs men supports that women can very frequently recover and be redeemed, and men recovering and being redeemable is much less common (because they don't want to).

this is just one aspect of the series i could talk on and on about, by the way, but this post is already too long. as a bonus, though: i believe this minor change would give so much more potential for better lesbian ships than whatever was happening in lok (which i hate for a number of reasons; mainly that it completely destroyed previous worldbuilding and i felt that the plot was just outright stupid in comparison to the original series, and the shipping stuff in that show was sooo...ugh. as i said, a completely different topic i could go on and on about).

OKAY WAIT ANON BECAUSE - AUGH YES WAIT!

It is true that I had a crush on Azula, but I'm almost CERTAIN I would've come out much earlier if Zuko had been the female GNC sibling LMAO.

I think the decision to make Azula the evil one and all that was based on making a good, long term female villain. I think the creators were trying to break a few barriers (which, in many respects, they absolutely did!). But what you're saying would have played so much deeper and allowed so much more insight (canon or otherwise) into this world. I imagine having a GNC daughter would also foster some resentment from Ozai compared to Iroh who has shown in canon time and time again that he's not going to get pressed about a bender's sex (I avoided the rhyme on purpose).

I haven't read the comics so correct me. But to me, Ozai always appeared to be a traditionalist where it benefited him. The topic of gender bias in the series isn't nearly as touched on as they could've gone. And in a way, I understand because it is technically a kid's show and as far as I'm aware, they were constantly on thin ice with Nickelodeon. But goddamn would this have made the whole show just that extra layer of *chef's kiss*.

My basis for Zuko and Katara were the usual points made. But what you said just AUGH ANON YES 😭😭 it would've been amazing! 😭

Talk as much as you want! Leave a whole essay for me to read idc when you're this based. 🫶🏾

[finsterkiibo]

How do you think confessed their feelings first out of Kiibo and Shuichi, and how do you think the confession went?

HI ANON I AM SO SORRY FOR TAKING SO LONG GETTING TO THIS ITS BEEN LIKE A MONTH OR LONGER IM SO SORRYYY AUGH at first I was planning to make one of my usual comics to answer this bc I Honestly Need To Make One for this concept BUT MOTIVATION WORKS AGAINST ME. I HOPE TO FINISH IT SOMEDAY. ITS STILL SOMETHING I NEEDDD TO DO.

BUT TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTION! I have many many confession ideas in my head, self indulgent ones, hypothetical ones, accidental ones, etc. etc. BUT for my most canon compliant, most realistic, most canon TO ME confession scenerio, shuichi is the one to confess! And it’s postgame as well! obviously after kiibo is rebuilt, probably a few months to a year after he’s rebuilt? (realistically). I feel like shuichi most certainly fell for kiibo first, and definitely caught some sort of feelings ingame, especially in some of the later chapters and ftes. but realistically? in a situation like that? especially after kaede and kaito? I don’t think he’d ever want to confess not knowing if either of them would ever make it out. And kiibo on the other hand has a very loose grasp on love ingame and knowing how he kind of looked down on shuichi as inferior for their first few interactions, I think it’s very likely it took him A Bit longer to properly appreciate shuichi as a person and start gaining feeling for him himself (I do think it happens later ingame for him too, but he’s just a lot less aware that those feelings are love as opposed to just strong liking or trust in shuichi after properly interacting with eachother)

but for the scenerio itself, I headcanon all the survivors living together in an apartment postgame! himiko and maki sharing a room and kiibo and shuichi sharing a room, to save space and pay less. Himiko and Maki got jobs almost immediately after they escaped the kg to pay for their home properly while shuichi stayed home figuring out how to rebuild kiibo (though ofc himiko and maki helped when they could!!) So! in that inbetween time before shuichi got a job as well and after kiibo was rebuilt, they spent A LOT of their free time together. They learned things about eachother they never got the chance to ingame. Saw sides of eachother they never got to see before. Without a killing game looming over their head (despite the trauma still very much effecting them) they both were really able to get so much closer. Spend so much more time doing mundane everyday life things, walking, running errands, cooking, cleaning, just. Living. This is when it really settled in for shuichi. this wasn’t just some sudden crush and attachment he had in a killing game, he loves kiibo. he loves seeing kiibo smile. he loves hearing kiibos voice. he loves walking alongside him as they stroll through the neighborhood. he loves kiibo. and this sort of settled in for kiibo too, though he’s still new to the emotion, he’s realizing his attatchment and want to be around and spend time with shuichi is more than just the feeling of friendship. but he just can’t figure it out. why does he feel horrible when shuichi is away. why do his fans go off whenever shuichi smiles…. he must be malfunctioning.

until one night, shuichi laid in his bed, having made the excuse he was going to bed early, leaving the others to finish off dinner. yet he laid there wide awake, his mind racing, going back and fourth on whether he should ever even bother confronting kiibo on his feelings, when kiibo walked in a few hours later to plug himself in for the night too. “this is it.” “just get it over with.” shuichis mind screamed. shuichi sat up, asking to see if kiibo was still powered on. Kiibo perking up from the desk across shuichis bed and telling him he was, and wasn’t expecting shuichi to still be wide awake himself. shuichi stayed silent for a moment, looking down at his hands, fidgeting them a bit. kiibo asking if he needed anything and if he was okay. shuichi looks up at kiibo and just. says it. “I love you, Kiibo.” Kiibo sat in silence for a moment, processing the four whole words that came out of his friends mouth, buffering like a computer. was this just some sort of elaborate prank? shuichi wouldn’t…. then it hit him. that’s what kiibo was feeling. his dread when shuichi leaves and his want to be around him constantly and cheer him up wasnt just some fucked up malfunction. he loved shuichi. And shuichi loved him too.

WENT INTO MEGA RAMBLING TERRITORY AND BORDERLINE FANIC WRITING SORRY ABOUT THAT OOPSIESS APOLOGIES IF ANYTHING DOESNT MAKE SENSE IM NOT AN AUTHOR OR ANYTHING

I JUST REALLY WANTED IT PROPERLY LAYED OUT AND IM GLAD SOMEONE ASKED!! THANK YOU SO MUCH ANON! I HOPE THIS ANSWERS YOUR QUESTION!! hopefully I’ll finish that comic someday eheheh been struggling with it for over a month now and I don’t even color my comics </3

[wildissylupus]

Would you rather anon, at it again

I 100% agree a comic would suit her better. I feel showing her grief and emotions through visuals (especially in chateau Gulliard. Big, empty, deteriorating house and the shell of a woman. Parallels.) would be so much better than what could be done with words.

Also I think I might’ve misused slice of life? I was envisioning something about her reflecting as she went about her daily tasks.( perhaps something’s spurred an idea and she’s mulling over leaving talon? a girl can dream…) It’s always been interesting to me to see what these folk do day-to-day. It can’t be action for them all the time.

AND AUGH I WOUKD KILL FOR A C.O.V. RE-WRITE OR SOMETHING

I think the words you looking for is a reflection storyline, where a character looks back at all they've done and thinks about about all they've gained/lost. Honestly if the next lot of Story Missions ends with Widow being captured I could see the writers doing this in between releases, to both save time and to explore Widows arc by itself without having to worry about everyone else. Anyway Widowmaker herself is a very artsy character and it's really hard to translate her type of character into a written media, you either need voice acting a visuals to actually communicate what she's like as a character. What she's thinking.

Also with the parallels with Widow and chateau Gulliard, I would love if Widow got a redemption arc if she ended up allowing some OW members to stay with her in chateau Gulliard and as a result we see it progressively come back alive, like Widow would be doing.

As for CoV I too would love a rewrite, again, there is so much wasted potential presented. Not only that but opportunities missed with characters like Sombra and Doomfist, specifically Sombra. This was Sombra first meeting Sigma, someone she ends up growing close to. someone who I think ended up changing her motivation a bit. So what was she like before that? Was she less playful? More reckless? What was her dynamic with Talon as a whole? What did she think of Reaper when he joined?

None of these questions are really answered because she just the "lol quirky random" character. Being reckless and annoying Reaper for no reason, she doesn't get any new information. I would understand it if Reaper was thinking about anything other than Martina in that story because it would have been useful information for her. But no, she just decides to annoy him.

I can't even say I'm mad about how it's written because again, there are good plot points brought up. I'm just dissapoi8nted because all the other short stories explores the characters in interesting ways and CoV just.... doesn't.

(That and it falls into a lot of really bad cliques, specifically misogynistic ones.)

[daredevilexchange]

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See what this is about here, or if you’re using the app here.

What’s your fannish ID? I go by TheSwordWizard on twitter and tumblr, and WizardKicks_ on instagram, as well as when I do conventions and tabling events. I picked the sword wizard based off a variation from the swamp wizard, a background character that shows up for like one page in an old and short never-completed webcomic. I've also always really liked old-timey wizards and I also think swords are sick. End of.

What types of fanworks do you create? I do fanart! I struggle with mediums that require long term commitment over being able to power through with the motivation of starting a new project, so while I've started some writing projects and do non-fan related zines and independent publishing projects (I dream about getting an MFA but I'm to addicted to that full-time paycheck). In my fanart I tend to focus on composition and intense mood, which is usually what I'm inspired from.

What are your favourite types of fanworks, when you’re not creating? I LOVE FANFIC. I love fanart of course but I LOVE reading people's interpretations of my favorite characters. I'm a dirty multi-shipper and while I'm addicted to the insanity of Fratt and Mattelektra (And Frattelektra - YOWZA lmao), I've read probably every Mattfoggy, Mattkaren, Mattclaire, Mattetc, Daredevil-themed-femslash fic on AO3. I want to see what grinds people's gears about different character interactions! How different people and different interactions, to being in just a different place at a different time completely changes contexts and brings out something totally different between characters! It's a nice juxtaposition to why I'm addicted to making fanart - never being able to translate into stable form the sort of platonic, collective ideal of a character - so I want to tease out a specific, tiny vignette of a single aspect of a character… I majored in basically Thinking About Art Concepts so I could go on literally all day I just love transformative work so much… If you've written a couple Fratt fics you might already be recognizing my writing style from the comments I leave even with a different username… I GET REALLY EXCITED!!!!!!

What do you like in particular about this fandom? AUGH there are so many reasons! My first instinct is because Matt's mental illness is legendary. He's such a funny character you know instantly why everyone who knows him is obsessed with him but also wants to murder him, just a little bit. I'm a pretentious artist so I'm enamored with his perception of the world, and how unique and intense it is and how much TRUTH he has to hear so much and yet how subjective and susceptible to his own messed up headspace his reality is. I was obsessed with NBC's Hannibal (Fratt is MCU's Hannigram you can't tell me I'm wrong) for so long there are so many places where a lot of what I appreciated about that show can tie into Daredevil (both the show and some of the comic runs). I can never get into a lot of comics because the power creep gets nuts, but it's perfectly likely for Matt to basically deal with the same shit every week in new flavors, especially when you can count all the ways through the LAW things can get hairy. Which brings me to another factor, how there's a little bit of a higher bar in terms of research that's required (imo) with having to deal with the law and having plots grounded in reality. I just really love the DD comics where Things Have Consequences. Also I'm older so I want to read fics with more… mature characters. Undergrad fic? Hell yeah let's go! LAW SCHOOL FIC?????? YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Pretty much all Mattfoggy starts in undergrad at the soonest so I always win. And then Fratt is like tom and jerry to me I love them. Hit each other with hammers. Make those rituals even more intricate. Can you find love even as two crabs in a bucket? Also Elektra is a Vr1ska to me so I'm obsessed with her, she slays. Sorry I think it's funny when Matt dates people who kind of want to make him worse.

Do you like participating in fan events? Right now I've mostly been doing conventions! I haven't done too many big ones yet (I'm nervous about COVID) but I've been ramping up from local ones. I've also got a lot of side projects from these so I haven't done as many exchanges as I would have liked recently - I used to do them a bit more. I made myself a promise that I was going to at least do the next Fratt bang 👀

What about your creating process? I tend to have two different methods of making fanart - one that starts with me wanting to make something, but I'm not sure yet, so it takes a bit of back and forth and trying to nail something down that I'm happy with. The other one is when I'm struck by a very specific mental picture and that inspiration keeps bugging me until I'm able to carve it out how I want it to look. These tend to be my cooler/better concept pieces imo. I'm pretty much always listening to music, and sometimes if something I'm working on is directly inspired by a song or specific vibe I'll loop a single song until I'm done LOL. I have so many little worlds in my head and different versions of characters that I often get too overwhelmed to put down on paper so I tend to stick to my vignettes.

Do you interact a lot with other fans? Noooo I want to though :(. I'm shy on tumblr - I've been here for so long but never talk to people here, it always feels awkward! I also use twitter a lot (shame shame shame) and I find that form way more natural for starting casual conversation so I talk to people a lot there. IF ANYONE HAS ANY GOOD DAREDEVIL DISCORD GROUPS PLEASE LET ME JOIN. DOUBLY SO IF IT HAS MORE ADULTS (no hate to teenagers I love y'all but the last younger discord I was in betrayed me for stranger things).

Is there any particular piece you'd like to showcase for this post?

This is one of my more recent pieces… I worked up the focus to do some painting styled stuff again (I used to do traditional watercolor/oil painting before it became too cumbersome… digital art I love you) and in a similar style as to a Blade piece I did and was really happy with. I think it turned out well and was proud I got through it :). I do really like the minimalist color palette/compositional pieces I do, it gives me a lot more mental space to experiment and try new things, but I do try to keep up my portraiture!

Do you have other fandoms you'd like to talk about? I talked about Hannibal before (I actually recently started making more fun DD pieces because I remembered that I could make Marvel fanart in the same way I used to make Hannibal art and NO ONE COULD STOP ME!!!!!) but I also spent a long, long time in HS (the webcomic that I know a lot of people have muted so I shan't say), and I think I took a lot of that in my philosophy toward experiencing different versions of characters and taking liberty with character designs, making really thematic work, etc. I promise I was a really good fan. It honestly prepared me a lot for reading comics!

Is there anything else you want to tell us about yourself? As you can tell, if given an opportunity, I love talking about Concepts (I was in a worldbuilding server for a comic fan AU once and it was so fun). And Matt :D. I want to lock my powerful jaws around his calf and death roll him like a crocodile. And like crowdfund him therapy or something.

Where can your fanworks be found? https://theswordwizard.tumblr.com/tagged/my%20art https://twitter.com/theswordwizard (I have some art moments and you can always search my mentions of "matt" and "daredevil" but Read My Posts Boy)

Thank you, @theswordwizard !

banner by @context-is-for-kingpins !

[vonlipvig]

i hope this isnt too weird but i wasnt on tumblr for A WHILE but now im kinda back and i saw you on the tl i was like. holy shit. how is the hotel crew doing

omg no, this isn't weird at all, it's made my day for sure! like...you know blorbo?...from my brain!?

but yeah, they're doing alright! they're, uh, very much still in my mind (i did draw that one piece that looked like my idea for a comic cover way back when, that was very cute), but i love them so much and they're very much always in my thoughts. my little dollies i rotate in my mind ♡.

but yeah, i've drawn them a couole of times, i've continued making moodboards for them (tho i still think i'm missing tori's augh), and i even wrote a short story about adam getting kidnapped back in the Great Pandemic Motivation Boost that i'm still really proud of! (it's a lot more funny and wholesome that it sounds, i swear).

and since i doodled him last friday during class, have a lil doodle of adam, my beloved blorbo from my brain my beautiful delightful boy.

[unproduciblesmackdown]

@uberoll-oystercrackers putting this PT convo on blast just for the sake of switching to this format where u don’t have to break everything up via replies because [comically deep inhale]

honestly like idc idc i guess ppl are just like “uhh mytho’s got nothing going on b/c he has no feelings!!” like Yeah Correct, that’s a premise / inciting factor for this series and everything everyone’s doing lol, it’s only Boring if you don’t think about the character at all lmfao which i guess some ppl don’t, but like, there’s only 4 of them.....it’s Wildly Interesting that he literally has no feelings at first, like, for one thing it’s cool how there’s always the Idea of characters who don’t have emotions or act on them, but this is like the rare “realistic” situation where having no feelings means he needs someone to steer him around and make choices for him (and how Vulnerable that leaves him lmfao like episode 2 is wild but also that ppl just haven’t really realized that they Could just pick mytho up and pitch him into a wall, and fakir and rue are sort of careful neutral alliance keeping tabs on him) and you know, the whole s1 structure of mytho regaining both Capacity For / Experience of An Emotion and his sense of identity and by extent of all this his agency, and how like, Thematic everything surrounding this character is that’s reflected in the overall series like. trying to control someone for your own benefit vs being willing to sacrifice your own interests (and then some...) for their freedom & the Protecting Someone (And/Or Wanting To) As A Love Language that all the characters show for each other at various points & hope vs despair.......and like No Shit he’s dispassionate & passive b/c he can’t Feel Feelings & resultantly can’t make decisions or feel motivations but obviously he’s still Motivating other characters to act on his behalf, & there’s so much mystery & drama already in “yeah this guy you think is just a neat handsome guy is also an actual prince from a story who’s Real & sacrificed his heart in the fight with an evil giant raven monster that eats people & so he can’t feel anything or remember who he is” like damn!!! epic of him even if right now he can’t do much of anything on his own. i’m interested, and then i’m Interested every time in the Drama & Mystery of this person regaining parts of himself and completely rediscovering An Emotional Experience and how that is totally recontextualizing his entire existence for him.....

plus also even though “person literally lost heart via magic and doesn’t know what Feeling Things is” isn’t a We’ve All Been There situation i was like oh and you know it’s not like what mytho’s got going on isn’t potentially Relatable....can get into a side essay about dapressione and trauma and other types of stuff that can make it seem like someone can’t/shouldn’t have full access to their feelings / self / agency &/or it’s Dangerous if they try.....whew

but continuing on YEAH ugh just completely fascinated with mytho the Entire Time actually lol like, i’ve tended to lose steam in early s2 b/c he’s sort of Less involved beyond the [hehe time to cause some trouble in this particular ep] role lol but even so it’s like well it’s kinda fun when at least somebody’s being a bitch who lives for drama lmfaooooo & we get mytho Struggling Internally & sometimes punching through that way but again it’s like yeah oops the guy was basically autonomous but zwoop here’s a problem where that doesn’t mean shit anymore lol b/c he’s got this alternate evil self steering the ship all the time now lol got em.....the Peak of that i guess is where we get to have an epic swordfight between raven!mytho and fakir like you know what fuck yes!!! the intrinsic drama of that lmfao!!!! and then it’s like “oh no :/ loving the drama? that’s just what drosselmeyer wants” except Not b/c actually what makes it totally rule is that it’s this chance for Real Mytho to come through for the sake of protecting fakir (tbt “i wonder what i think of you, fakir”...) and really like that being what prompts fakir’s “you know what, even though before i was afraid my role as a knight would kill Me and i’m afraid my coincidental(?) role as a guy who can Reality Write could kill Anyone Else, i gotta try b/c that’s the only thing i could possibly do here and i want to try protecting everyone else b/c everyone else including mytho is protecting Me” and like augh everyone is so Thoughtful about how to try to help mytho out even as like, they can’t hardly interact with him or undo the situation lol.....as you’re getting into the series finale and everyone’s just outright Voicing things and you get “i/we want to protect mytho” like 32x and it’s beautiful each time ;___; like and well sorry but him & his heart/lack of are also the heart of the whole story here.....

and you know what *i* want to protect mytho, sympathizing with all the characters like fuck yes you’re so right, this guy rules, episode 6 aka The Fear Episode is SO good, like, you’ve gotten kinda used to the episodic format here, ep 5 did sure also make it obvious that things are Building on what’s happening prior here & that there’s stakes and stuff but it’s such a shakeup, like, that maybe just kinda sneakily dipping in and out of the arena giving back a piece of his heart until it’s done with, no problem, Isn’t Gonna Happen, and again, the Drama of it all......that the heart shards are yeah kind of their own People who are these fractions of mytho’s self and the way you interact with them is gonna like, affect things, since tutu didn’t like “resolve” things with that heart shard and just kinda got him on a technicality there lmfao so it’s like, yeah not only does mytho have a more general / abstract cause to be afraid of tutu & her bringing all these Unknowns & completely new things to him / changing things up and apparently introducing conflict, but you’ve gone and gotten his capacity for fear all recently riled up and specifically afraid of his interaction with You from 5 sec ago, and how could anyone know this mysterious magical being giving you Negative Feelings is like, Safe......and i’m sure it’s all compounding here, like, it’s Wild to be suddenly experiencing A Feeling for the (seeming) first time, and that in itself sure could be Scary, he just hasn’t had the proper emotion available with with to Be Afraid, now he’s gotten back a freshly stoked (capacity for) Fear and how off the shits it must be to be afraid for the first time anyways, or to be feeling the other stuff for the first time, and who knows what Unfun Feelings could come next, there’s a lot to freak out about.......and not like it’s trying That hard to never suggest like oh fakir's not that bad even though he’s technically an antagonist at the start b/c of being at odds with / against the protagonist, it’s pretty telling there lol like he’s unhappy with mytho having feelings again at all and has already been getting mad about it but is just being Helpful here and trying to comfort him, like aw that’s neat i think it’s nice, and again throwing it back to “I Wonder What I Think Of You, Fakir” you get fakir reassuring mytho that nobody but him is around, and mytho having this capacity for Fear is choosing to confide in fakir re: what he’s dealing with here (not that this would on it’s own be some guarantee that mytho’s Right to be unafraid of fakir, but, knowing all we eventually know...) like again lol it’s funny that drosselmeyer’s loving the Drama of mytho only having regained Negative Feelings like, i mean i’m soaking it in as well but it’s like, that guy’s all about Angst and it’s like no im here all about the Hurt/Comfort more like, thank you lmfao

it’s also SO good how it’s like, the next episode is turning around & giving the story a way forward not by like, oh let’s just counteract this Fear mytho’s struggling with by returning the....emotion of Courage i guess, but rather by giving him back Curiosity to ultimately lead to him actually seeking a conversation with tutu.......and it’s like AUGH it’s soooo fun that he goes to that river and has a conversation with his own heart shard lmfao like that’s you!!! and that You does not realize you’re them!!! that’s wild and i love it......wait i took low res screenshots when i rewatched this a few weeks ago lmfao

i Love it lmfao like it’s Such a good choice to have him not only have lost his Emotions but also memories / knowledge of who he, himself, even is.....like yeah man it was all on you to fight this heart eating raven monster!!!!!!!!! which you know, it’s also Fun that earlier in that episode when he and fakir are hanging out in the secret Problems Mill (which....fakir is hilarious like that lmfao. whole other tangent here like ppl are not only rolling with Animals As People but stuff like “yeah fakir might just be like ‘oops gotta go!’ and whisk mytho away to various out of the way Locations” like lmfao these teens have some free rein, but it’s nothing compared to s2 where it’s like “They Were Roommates but ig fakir tried to kill mytho who’s now being really dramatic and weird which is v different from before and maybe he’s in love with that one random dude who’s around now, which sucks for everyone else, oops now he’s just like Vanishing for god knows how long at a time it’s fine!!!!” lmfao like god. ballet school just is like that sometimes...) anyways Yeah that mytho’s been having nightmares about the raven and fakir is just going like IT’S FINE JUST DON’T THINK ABOUT IT lol and knowing fakir is also being pretty driven / restricted by fear, reasonably, as he thinks (well. and is correct) that he’s The Knight and his fate is literally written as “yeah if the story gets going and you’re a part of it you’ll just be killed” like yeah, oof......Wonder What I Think Of You Fakir like yeah AND he is that knight you actually did know who was suddenly killed trying to protect you and he’s sorta accepted that role again except he’s not really a fan of that Being Killed thing so here we’re having some issues in his misguided approach here re: Mytho Should Not Get His Heart Back, but he’s also trying to protect them Both from the story, and he’s only So Willing to act Against mytho, like, well hey thanks for apologizing after you hit him and then like, not doing that anymore lol, v reasonable how he’s struggling here lol where he’s trying to Protect mytho but the story a) wants to invite tragedy and b) has already said that The Knight has been / will be killed and can’t actually protect the prince within the story, also c) he’s just like one random high school guy out here......and also that it must just be kinda hard to adapt to this changing situation where mytho Is regaining this sense of self and motivation, but for like the past decade or whatever he Has needed fakir to just be in charge and tell him what to do all the time and, if he had the sense of what it was to trust someone, trust fakir to just always be acting in his best interest, but then mytho’s idea of his own best interest a) starts to Exist and b) is at odds w/fakir’s b/c also c) he doesn’t have All his feelings yet, Or all his memories, while fakir is like “noooo i know the story”.....like there was never any need to just like tell him he sucks at random times lol but it’s also kind of funny that’s just part of fakir’s shtick, calling mytho a dumbass one more time when he’s just fully himself as The Prince again lmfaooo. but prior to that, surely fakir could wonder what mytho thinks of him (or potentially Could think of him) too.......it’s just soooo good when mytho is like, expressing things verbally while trying to work through / figure out Feelings and even ones that he doesn’t have back yet, and it’s always fun how that inevitably throws off whatever character he’s musing about this to......including whenever ahiru’s just like “oh fuck yes he can do this b/c he has more feelings back now, that rules” and/or “aw :( he’s struggling w/this b/c he only has Some of his heart back”

and also that reminds me it’s SO good when the characters just kinda get to Do Something together lmfao like. ahiru and rue hanging out when looking for mytho that one time, iconic stuff, mytho and ahiru hanging out in the previous episode, iconic, maybe it kills me that in the first ep of s2 you have mytho saying ahiru’s his friend and the only person he feels like he can tell anything (and ahiru feeling bad she hasn’t Told Him Everything lol) and then he basically never gets to interact with her again knowing and as himself like Scream it’s fine ;v; !!!!!! let these people spend more than 3 seconds together Interacting lmfao it’s soooo good when they do :’0

and THEN you get into how there’s all this stuff re: The Story, like, fakir is the reincarnated knight, ahiru is the duck given tutu’s abilities Via a piece of mytho’s heart, but we had the original knight and tutu in the story as these actual ppl who we only hear a Little bit of lore about, but mytho actually knew / knows, and like, the original genesis for tutu only being on 1 Page of the story and apparently drosselmeyer doesn’t even really put any thought into what her motivations could be lol like yeah idk whatever she wants to marry the prince or whatever so that’s why she loves him and Says It and disappears......and like we have almost No direct info about her but uh nbd at least some of her actual essence is actually now an intrinsic part of mytho’s actual heart and specifically embedded in the heart shard of Hope, like damn!!!! you Know there was something more Real and Complex going on there and i love it so much.......and the original Knight, lohengrin.....might have been doomed to be unable to protect mytho with his sword, but there’s other ways to protect that guy and Someone needed to be doing it.......i’m just like wow mytho’s gf and bf!!!! and they both sort of died but hey. there’s still a lot to think about

so yeah lmfao love that you can originally see this series like, a decade ago and here it is like damn still lying down / yelling / generally riled up about mytho and just having So Much to think about / appreciate from this series like. it’s so Singular and has so much going on.......cherish it and i’m just still anytime like [epcot vine voice] Mytho...........

[despairingvacation]

come with me, and you’ll be... {CHAPTER FIVE: MOTIVE}

IN A WORLD OF PURE IMAGINATION. 

----

One week of relaxation and freedom- and another week or so of absolute destruction and chaos. It’s become routine at this point, and unfortunately - something that you have grown used to. It had been storming for nearly two weeks straight now, but you were hoping that maybe with the wake of Grimnir’s attempted destruction, maybe you would receive a small break. A little bit of time to yourself to relax, before everything went to chaos again and you once again stood face to face with despair. 

...and that’s what it certainly feels like! 

Perhaps Oswald, or Willie, decided to play it safe for the time being. It’s starting to get pretty late in the day, and there have been no announcements. Just simple birthday greetings, to both Haruto and Kaname. Surely, the two in charge of this game decided to play it nice and give everyone an extra day of rest…? 

...Ah, that doesn’t matter. There was a party to attend to. 

The fact that you’re able to attend the party, without Oswald or Willie doing something to interrupt it, seems a bit surprising. That wasn’t like either of them, they always wanted to cause problems. 

Nothing feels off- of course. The sound of music playing in the room the party just happens to be taking place in, as well as decorations hung up. It’s clear that those who worked to make this perfect absolutely worked their hardest to make sure it wasn’t anything but perfect, given what they had. However, there is something that catches your attention - something that might not have been there before previously. 

A pile of individual small boxes, perfectly wrapped with a little ribbon on top of it. All of them appear to be wrapped in black and white gift wrapping, reminiscent of ink dripping. Just from the look of the gifts, it’s clear to tell that those who had left behind the gifts were none other than the omnipotent beings responsible for your misfortune for the past couple of weeks. 

“...WELL?” A voice catches you off guard. But it’s a familiar one - one you’ve come to expect by now. Taking in a deep breath, you turn to look at the large screen in the boarding room, finding none other than Oswald grinning at you in delight. He rests his chin in his hands, and although his legs are hidden beneath his desk - you can tell that he’s kicking his legs, in an almost child-like manner. 

“Nice party you all have set up here.” Everyone narrows their eyes towards the screen, and immediately, Oswald grows defensive. 

“No, no! Seriously! I mean it! It’s sweet of you to go and host a birthday party for Haruto and Date today. Really, I mean it. I just HAD to join in on the festivities. You see those presents over there? Those are all gifts! From me! Go ahead, open them! I’d love to see your reaction to it!” 

Unsurprisingly, nobody budges.

Oswald frowns. 

“DID YOU NOT HEAR ME? I SAID OPEN THEM.” Oswald slams his hand on a remote, that  seems to just appear from thin air. A shock goes straight to everyone’s bracelet, though, not a shock strong enough to cause serious damage. Just strong enough to cause a quick instance of pain, letting everyone know that he was deadly serious. 

One by one, everyone approaches the pile of small boxes. Picking one up from the pile, you tug at the ribbon holding the box, prying the gift wrap away from the box. As you do so, the box opens - almost comically, and reveals to you a medium-sized piece of hard candy. Each one is a different color- your favorite color. Along with the candy, you find a small note resting against it, one that just simply reads: 

Eat me! 

Much like those little candies in the infamous Alice in Wonderland stories. Upon flipping the note over, you’ll find another little message for you. Contrasting the bright and colorful wording of the eat me message on the other side, this one appears to be covered in ink - and the words are almost covered. But you can make out the words beneath it, without a doubt. 

Ǫ̵͛R̷͇͋ ̵̠͌E̴̯̅L̸͓͌S̴͈̆É̴̳.̶̼̃

You turn your attention towards the monitor in the boarding room, finding Oswald’s grinning face staring you down. His finger hovers over the button of his remote, threatening you with another shock. You’re not sure if you want to deal with another shock, so you unwillingly pop the candy into your mouth. The taste is… well - surprisingly delightful. It’s your favorite sweet flavor - from either your childhood, or whatever it is you’d like right now. Even if it was a flavor that couldn’t be replicated, it tastes exactly like it. (and for those who can’t taste anything, well - you don’t taste anything. Obviously.) 

Oswald’s grin only grows wider as everyone finishes their piece of candy. It’s obvious that something’s wrong with what you’ve just eaten - but what it is, you can’t entirely tell. 

Before you even get the chance to speak up, and ask what it is you just ate, Oswald cuts you off. 

“You all look at me as if I poisoned you, or something.” He laughs - and continues on with his thoughts before anyone gets the chance to say anything. 

“AND THAT’S BECAUSE I DID! But, not everything. You all probably tasted your favorite flavor, or something. Or something that brought you back to your childhood, who knows. I can’t tell. But here’s a surprise - one of those candies is poisoned!  Don’t worry too much about it, though. It ain’t gonna kill ‘ya. Yer just gonna be actin’ a bit off, that’s all.” Oswald shrugs his shoulders, as if he didn’t just say anything wrong. 

“It could be fatal, or it won’t be. Who knows? I ain’t tellin’. All I know is if yer gonna want to stop livin’ in paranoia about whether or not you’re goin’ to be poisoned, you know what to do.” Oswald pauses, as if for the dramatic flare. 

“KILL SOMEBODY. Simple as that. Now, I’m gonna leave you all to have yer party. I added enough fun to it. But I will say one more thing…” Oswald leans close towards the screen, his grin only growing wider. How is that possible-? Augh. 

“KEEP AN EYE OUT ON THOSE CLOSE TO YOU. YOU MAY THINK YOU KNOW THEM, BUT THEY’LL SURELY BE ACTIN’ DIFFERENTLY. KEEP YER HEADS UP AND TRUST NOBODY.” 

...and with that, the monitors shut off. The music from Ahn’s playlist continues to play, and everyone is left to stand in the boarding room in almost an eerie silence. 

… 

19/33 REMAIN.

----

Hello, everybody! Welcome to our fifth motive- while it doesn’t have any “game” mechanics - it takes heavy inspiration from... you guessed it, CANDYLAND. 

If you would like to offer yourself up for this motive’s victim or culprit, you’re definitely more than free to message Willie’s discord account letting us know. You will be thrown into the victim and/or culprit pool - however, if nobody offers, everybody will be thrown in. 

You will have until 8:30 PM PST to message the mods if you’re interested in offering up your character. We will be giving frequent updates on how much time is left in the server.

If selected for culprit or victim, you are not allowed to discuss it with anyone - unless you absolutely need to. Just be sure to let the mods know and ask if it’s okay ahead of time. 

You are allowed to keep previous threads pre-motive. 

...Oh, yeah - there’s no food at the party. Just the sweets. :) 

and of course, unless you want your character to die via NG code, remember to keep your NG code in mind. ;] 

MOTIVE NOTES--;; 

While this motive has no shared game mechanics with the game itself, let’s play a little game of CANDYLAND! What does this mean? Simple! 

Everyday until a victim shows up, everyone will receive a little gift at their doors. The gift holds a random piece of candy, that will always taste like your favorite character’s sweet - or if you’d like to be dramatic about it, a taste that could not previously be replicated from their childhood. Most of the candy will be perfectly fine - just a delightful little treat for your character. However, someone’s candy will be poisoned. You will be messaged if your character gets the poisoned candy. 

Everyone will receive a candy everyday at random times. There is no set schedule for when candies appear. 

IF YOU GET A POISONED CANDY: You will receive a DM from Willie that details what your characters symptoms of their poisoned candy will be. The one thing in common with those poisoned is that all poisoned individuals will have something affecting their personality. 

IF EVERYONE GETS POISONED BEFORE A VICTIM IS FOUND: There will still be a poisoned candy in the mix. If you get a second poisoned candy, the symptoms you received prior will become more strong. Each stacked poisoned candy you eat will only make it worse. 

IF YOU ARE POISONED: You are not allowed to tell anybody you received a poisoned candy. The only ones who should know you’re poisoned are you and the mods. You also have the choice of how much your character’s symptoms will effect them. You can have it be mild, moderate, or severe. Just know that if you get stacked poisoned candies, it will only worsen the symptoms. 

[fragilehuge]

Erik & T’Challa thoughts below the cut that I word vomited last night in a Pillowfort comment (I meant to write the first paragraph only, but then all subsequent paragraphs just fell out). I just have so many feelings dear god when will I be able to talk about this movie with people.

Obviously, Black Panther spoilers! So many spoilers! Don’t read if you haven’t seen the movie!!

I feel like, if you could discount fandom racism, we’d get about a million fix-it fics where Erik (/N'Jadaka?) is saved/rehabilitated/whatever (and probably this happens through kissing T'Challa…. Obviously.) I don’t know if this will HAPPEN, because we obviously can’t discount fandom racism? So I’m definitely wondering how many people will write BP-centric fic. (I think T'Challa will probably get thrown into AUs, but will people write him as a main character, or as a side character? I think that will be telling.)

But ANYWAY - I was SO heartbroken through the whole ending fight scene and Erik’s death because I KNEW, OF COURSE, that he couldn’t succeed, and that T'Challa was going to win, because the narrative had been set up in such a way that I couldn’t see a way out of it. (And GOD, I loved that that was actually REFERENCED in the text of the movie?? Like T'Challa doesn’t want it to be the way it is, and he starts to say maybe they can heal Erik and work something out, and Erik just comes back with… So you can lock me up? Because he’s killed Zuri, he nearly started a civil war between W'kabi’s tribe and the Dora Milaje, HE TRIED TO OVERTHROW T'CHALLA HIMSELF. Like, a king can do a lot, but he can’t pardon the guy who overthrew him?)

BUT I REALLY WISHED HE COULD. And Chadwick Boseman was so good in that moment, and I could just feel how much T'Challa wished things could be different. But they weren’t. And then you get Erik’s last line and my HEART BROKE because… of course that’s how he felt, how else could he have felt?? He’d stopped thinking of his own life as valuable years ago; he’d made himself a tool to accomplish what he knew was right, and once he’d failed… well. He failed. He’d built his whole life around this dichotomy that he could either free himself in one specific way (a glorious revolution – where he could finally hurt all of the people who had hurt him, free himself from the pain he grew up with, and stop it from happening to anyone else ever again), or… he’d fail, nothing would change, the world would stay exactly the same, and he’d be trapped with his pain and failure forever. Of course he couldn’t live with that scenario.

It was just. So good. Because the whole movie I’m like, of course Erik believed what he did, and did what he did. And T'Challa’s journey through the movie is really coming around to see the validity of Erik’s arguments. (Not his tactics, obviously.) But T'Challa begins the movie so sure that his father was right and Wakanda needs to stay isolated from the rest of the world, that that’s the best solution – he argues with Nakia about it!!  And then by the end of the movie he’s having the press conference. It’s because of his interactions with Erik that he changes his mind (not his conversations with Nakia!! Though of course I’m sure her arguments have an impact on him. Also–side note–Nakia’s arc is so interesting too sdlkjsd but that’s a whole ‘nother conversation and I think I need to watch the movie a second time to really evaluate it coherently).

But anyway. T'Challa’s arc. That third spirit world sequence. Where he tells his father he was wrong to abandon Erik as a child, that he was wrong to keep the truth about his brother a secret just because he didn’t want to risk losing everything if it all came to light. Just like he was wrong to keep Wakanda a secret… because he didn’t want to risk losing everything if it all came to light. AHH. THESE PARALLELS. I just. *yells* And I felt so VINDICATED for Erik when T'Challa had that moment! But of course… Erik never gets to really experience that moment? Like, he doesn’t know how profoundly he’s impacted T'Challa’s perspective, and he doesn’t know that maybe things CAN change (in a different way than he imagined). Like, Erik thinks this really bloody revolution where he’ll “finally be on top” will fix things, but of course he’s just trying to institute a new hierarchy where he isn’t powerless anymore (and like. Yeah. Of course he has that fantasy. It’s completely relatable.) But there’s no room within the movie for Erik to see that change can happen in other ways. And like of course one outreach center in Oakland isn’t going to fix the entire world, it’s not like Erik’s dreams have been realized by the end of the movie, but that outreach center is something, and I think the movie definitely posits that it’s a really meaningful/hopeful outcome… a kind of first step toward accomplishing some of the goals Erik died for (regardless of any real-world arguments about what someone would actually have to do to accomplish meaningful global change.)

But anyway. This is a really long ramble but my MAIN POINT IS, I understand why Erik’s arc played out exactly the way it did in the movie, and I loved it, and it broke my heart, and I would not change a thing. HOWEVER. IF I WERE TO WRITE A FANFICTION. I would fix it and let Erik live a long and happy life. Obviously. (Like, I just keep thinking… what if he could somehow come around to believing in different methods to achieve his goals…? What if T'Challa could time travel and FORCE HIS DAD NOT TO LEAVE ERIK THERE…?? What if instead of T'Challa getting thrown off the waterfall, Erik and T'Challa both fell off TOGETHER and then had to talk it out while they hiked back to civilization and maybe they fall in love along the way, who knows? What if what if what if.)

edit: two additional thoughts for those two aus:

Time Travel au: T’Challa comes back after making his dad go back for Erik, and it’s the first scene of the movie with Shuri and his mom before the coronation, except he and Erik have apparently been LIFE-LONG BEST FRIENDS, because Erik is THERE, sMILING, SAYING HOW PROUD OF HE IS, and T’Challa is like, “Erik????”  to which Erik replies, “…Who’s Erik?” (Because of course in this situation he’d go by N'Jadaka AHHHh). Also, it’s apparent that N’Jadaka doesn’t know the truth about this father–he thinks his father was killed by police in Oakland, and he’s grown up believing that T’Chaka RESCUED HIM. His politics are similar (but not as extreme) in the face of these changes to his background… and T’Challa has to wrestle with telling him the truth without ruining everything and having it all turn out exactly like before. I think N’Jadaka would still challenge T’Challa during the coronation (motivated by his grief and pain and his belief that T’Challa knew the truth for YEARS without saying anything–because T’Chaka is dead, and Zuri swears to N’Jadaka that he never told T’Challa the truth, so the only reasonable answer is T’Chaka confided in T’Challa while he was still alive. Augh!)

And my idea for the water fall au is just that they’re both pretty injured when they hit the bottom, but T’Challa breaks his leg. And Erik is going to kill him, but it feels too gross and weird to kill someone who’s incapacitated like T’Challa is, so then Erik is like, “WELL I’LL JUST LEAVE HIM TO FREEZE TO DEATH.” And he almost does. And he gets like 30 minutes away and then he yells into the icy tundra and turns around and stomps back and puts T’Challa on a sling and starts dragging him back to safety. Once they’re back and T’Challa’s leg is healed, he’s GOING to kill him and take the thrown, okay? He is. But if he just leaves T’Challa there, maybe people will question if he’s really dead? And if T’Challa dies along the way, fine, Erik will show everyone the body and then he’ll be made king. Win-win. (Maybe this is more believable if Erik is the one who is incapacitated and T’Challa saves him? But I also feel like if you want to rehabilitate murderer-of-many-people-Erik-Killmonger he needs to decide not to murder T’Challa at some point, lol.)

eta: just forget they’re cousins lmao -___- anyway that’s a movie!verse change and not comics canon so i’m ignoring it GOODBYE

[journeysintowebcomics]

Homestuck Liveblog #153

UPDATE 153: All the Pieces are Here

Last time Gamzee had completely fooled Terezi, and by extension, me. Yeah, he’s right now beating her with no remorse at all, and it’s awful to see. Yikes. Also, Jane is now asleep but her body, still under control of the tiara, has latched on Aranea like a tick. So let’s continue from there!

Writing this paragraph before starting. I’m predicting there’ll be a minimum of dialogue, the next fifty pages should have lots and lots of images. It’s bound to pass through real fast, isn’t it? Maybe I’ll go for 100 pages.

All these glitches make everything more ominous, in my opinion. It’s as if the world is going to shatter into pieces in any moment. Chances are that won’t happen, but who knows, maybe the end of Homestuck is the glitches making the universe explode. Thanks for nothing, Lord English, destroyer of paradox space.

Because Jake’s death wasn’t heroic or just, he revives, this time without hope powers. He is also right beside Terezi and Gamzee, just...watching. Gamzee continues hitting as hard as he can, dang. I’m kind of glad the glitches are obscuring the situation a bit. Rose, horrified, shouts for Gamzee to stop.

ROSE: Or, wait.  ROSE: Is this some sort of blackrom thing?  ROSE: I certainly hope not.

What the—Rose! This isn’t the time to be wondering if this is an obscure and weird alien romantic ritual! Stop standing there, go help Terezi! Even if it were a black romance thing, I think no one wouldn’t blame Rose for intervening. Terezi is getting her face smashed against the pavement. Anyone would intervene.

ROSE: I am the actual worst auspistice who ever lived.  ROSE: THE ACTUAL WORST!!!

Damn right you are; you’re just standing there! And Jake isn’t really doing much better, he’s just standing there and watching Terezi being suplexed. I know in real life a lot of people stand around and do nothing when they see someone being attacked or anything, so it isn’t something that came out of left field, but this is still rather frustrating to see. Gamzee slams Terezi so hard against the concrete it breaks, and she’s now hanging over the lava. Augh.

Kanaya and Karkaroni arrive right in that moment, finding Terezi in danger. There’s a rather cool sequence of lava seeping into the Skaia in Jane’s fork, and Jake and Rose finally intervene. Jake does it meekly, just asking Gamzee to kindly stop killing Terezi -- ...fine, Jake, you do that – and Rose takes a more hands-on approach, getting her wand ready. About time, Rose! Tge blast misses and impacts near Jake, making him fly away. Karkaroni had enough, he brandishes the sickle and swears to make a fight. Up on the building, Aranea struggles to pick up Brain Dirk’s katana with her psychic powers – no idea how that didn’t vanish away as well -- and then she arrives.

The Condesce is pissed. Oh, gee, who’d have thought that derailing the session like this would make her angry? Haha! Do you have a plan to counter the Condesce, Aranea? Did you expect her to arrive so soon? Everyone who is in the session seems to have converged in one place, this is getting good!

Aaaaaand because Hussie is like that, right when it gets good, it’s time for the so-called main act of Act 6 Act 6.

Oh, jolly. Well to his credit I’m happy it was now and not in middle of the intense events that are likely to happen. Now that’d have been annoying. Better get this Caliborn thing out of the way before things happen here in Jade’s planet! Besides, I admit I’m a bit curious how much Caliborn has progressed now.

Looks like he’s confident enough to mess with the manga book. Why do I have this strange sense of foreboding...again? I have it all the time when it’s about Caliborn, haha...okay, let’s get done with this. What artistic work do you have to show now, bud? As usual, here’s the warning: there’s a chance I won’t have much to comment about Caliborn’s antics. By now, dear readers, you may be aware I’m not a diehard fan of him. By now I tolerate him, but I’m not exactly reading his sections with excitement. Once again, I’m sorry for that.

Looks like Homosuck is getting into its equivalent of Act 5. There are the trolls. Krabkrab, Honk Friend – ‘friend’?! Is there something you’d like to share with the class, Caliborn? – Cape Douche, Smelly Horse Man, Other Guy, and Bull Horn Wimp. Oh, and all the female trolls, too, with no pejorative name other than ‘tha bitches’. Hah! Saw it coming.

The Beforus trolls are just everyone flipped and with a negative color scheme. Yeah, that’ll do...for the five seconds the trolls mattered. All these pictures go to the trash, because Caliborn has something better to show.

Hah! Okay, you got my attention, Hussie. Man Gaka Extraordinare! I’m amused, this may be worth a read, after all!

IT'S GOD'S GIFT. TO "THE YAOIS". MY RESEARCH TELLS ME.

Do you know that feeling of morbid curiosity one feels when one hears about something awful having happened in a video, and one wants to see how bad is it? Yeah, that’s what I’m feeling. I really like the giant watermark, though. That’s a good one, Hussie.

Well, to Caliborn’s credit, he has improved a lot from his first drawings, and he followed all the instructions about how to draw manga. Never let it be said Caliborn doesn’t motivate himself to improve himself!

This is truly “the yaois”. Manga Dave and Manga Karkat are here. What they do, hm, well, let’s say they’d both be upset to know how they’re depicted here.

IF YOU'RE CONFUSED, BASICALLY THE IDEA IS. YOU PRETEND THEM TO LOOK MORE LIKE GIRLS. TO MAKE IT LESS WEIRD FOR EVERYBODY WHEN THEY DECIDE TO TOUCH EACH OTHER. 

So that’s the key to draw manga. Haha! I know a handful of people from my school that’d have taken serious offense by that! Always with the finger on the pulse, Caliborn, eh?

Oh god, it’s American Comic Book Superheroine anatomy! We’re doomed. But yeah, other than the improved drawings, it doesn’t seem like this section of Caliborn’s intermission won’t differ much from the rest. Same old, same old, in terms of theme. The gals are dying in bloody ways. Yeah.

“Registered by the government as my legal artistic possession” Caliborn, you liar, there’s not even a government anymore.

SHE ACTUALLY THOUGHT SHE WAS GOING TO BE RELEVANT. KEEP DREAMING BITCH!

Right. So Caliborn may still have access to the radio tower? He knows what happened in the ghost bubbles. Well, not that it matters that much right now.

Oh my god, Caliborn has an OC.

...that is not what I expected. Dear reader, imagine that this here is what’s destroying paradox space. Imagine the big bad, Lord English, looks like that. Good thing he doesn’t, eh? Yeah, the skull, the hulking figure, and the billiard eyes does wonders when it’s about making someone threatening.

John arrives in middle of Caliborn’s games with his OC, and isn’t happy at all to see Caliborn. Thought so, what after seeing the kind of playing Caliborn does with those bad drawings of his friends.

HEY ASSHOLE, I'M TALKING TO YOU!

Oh, wow, he’s furious! I admit I underestimated how angry John would be. But yeah, another intense staredown. I’ll just...skip to the end of that sequence of images, thank you.

you're the one who vriska and her pirate pals are all trying to stop! it was you who put all this into motion in some way i don't really understand! which means you're responsible for like a trillion people dying, and universes blowing up, and all my friends getting scattered around and acting like idiots, and my dad being dead!

...huh. Well, that’s certainly...a bold accusation, John, and without anything to back it up, too. If what John said partly influences Caliborn to start doing everything he did once he was Lord English, hah, I wonder how John would react to that. It isn’t too farfetched to have that possibility in mind, I’d say, but if that were true, it’s possible there’ll be a second John to tackle the first one soon.

Turns out Caliborn is saying his monologue loud enough for anyone around to listen! I thought the narration was just text, not that Caliborn was actually saying it. Hah! It’d be kinda endearing if it didn’t come from Caliborn.

And then comes ‘game over. A flash file in Caliborn’s intermission. Um, well, that sounds a tad promising! Flash files are almost always great, I don’t see why this would be any different, Caliborn or not.

I’ll stop for now.

Next update: five updates