#screenshots from a WIP

[himemeiya]

Fuck you *unwhitewashes your Anthy*

[kohi-karasu]

here's some old unfinished art that i dont plan on finishing anymore, but not posting it feels like a waste too 😔

[vynnyal]

I've been having a delightful time stumbling over my emojis being used in random servers, so here's more

[demaparbat-hp]

Mutual damage (a WIP)

[elowhinn]

OMFGFGFGFG HE"S SO EEPY

Bro was caught lacking not once. but twice. this is so tiredsalarymancore /j dudes like me frfr

[short666bread]

nighttime routine in an au where the marauder’s map has pinch zoom

[nahoba]

I was tagged by @thatzombiecat for WIP wednesday 😳😳

Funny enough I just finished a big drawing yesterday 😭 So I guess it is the best time to show some of my sketches (even though probably most of them I won't finish :""^))

@shalfea and @andrigyn I tag you! >:D (I hope it's okay :""D)

[off-mozzarella]

Considering I deleted the original, thought I'd bring back home this drawing from 2019 xD it's the least I can do for my younger artist self

[junoboxparty]

ayo my copy of s2 kinda f*cked up

[meruz]

your raph and casey art makes me so unbelievably happy that i cannot even express it in coherent words. i cant even think of anything to say that could be funny or entertaining to see in an ask, its just really fucking good and thats all i can think of right now!

THANK YOU!!!!!! I'm glad to hear it... I actually have. a truly insane amt of drawings of them that I'll eventually either clean up to post or idk... put in the inevitable tmnt zine. But here's some sneaky peeks

inexplicable scenarios and even more inexplicable 10 Things I Hate About You au dialogue LMAO (mikey could be bianca i guess. raph is just so kat. To me. to ME... I repeat over and over as if it makes me sound less insane)

[nitetrait]

[tomaturtles]

She finds Kaworu in the same place she left him, sitting against the wall with his head in his hands. The candlelight sets off an amber glow, and in the halo of light, she can see Kaworu’s shoulders shaking, his breath hitching in little hics. The tallies drawn on the wall behind him shine like hundreds of tiny white gravestones.

Kawoshin Week Day 5: Rebuild/Q + Timelooping Gays Crossover! Based on the Evangelion x Madoka Magica crossover fic graduation day by phollie, which I adore

[ei-encora]

in the middle of a screenshot redraw and this toki i drew is definitely one of the tokis of all time

[whump-is-love-whump-is-life]

An idea: whumpee bound with their hands behind their back and a collar around their neck.

The key is dangling from the collar, right against their throat

YOU. I LIKE YOU.

Make sure their hands/wrists are also attached to a wall or smth though, otherwise they’ll just use the trick™️ to bring their hands to the front.

BUT YES YES YES. Oh imagine that helplessness, the humiliation— having the literal key to your freedom so close yet so far. A perfect taunt. Bonus if whumper pulls them forward by and/or generally manhandles them by the key.

[grey-wardens]

Forget the weakling matrons, the fools your house brims with, and every last one of your useless soldiers. We'll claim this victory ourselves. All you need to do is trust me.

NIGHTSHADE, a No Tadpoles AU in which Minthara still gets her very own dream visitor.

[degrees-of-seracchii]

Hey hey, you know how Sydney has a past with Harper? So, I was reading your "Sydney has a darker side" post and I just felt the need to mention, the only ways of leaving the asylum are with 0 awareness (you're innocent. It substitutes your trauma. You're flattered so many people want to spend time with you) or with 0 trauma. I guess Sydney probably has 0 awareness rather than trauma, judging by the way he acts.

Anyways, by doing the temple quest line, you're pretty much let in that only a particularly innocent individual can protect the temple, similarly to how low awareness makes it pretty much impossible that you'll find a tentacle in your game, that's what this individual does for the whole temple.

So, about Sydney being really malleable, I guess it would be fair to say that he was (maybe even unnecessarily) sent to Harper, got his awareness to 0 and now he's clinging desperately to the temple and it's beliefs, for it is the only reality he has left.

The fact that he has phrases like "the temple is all he's ever known" and even while pure panics at the sheer prospect of having even loving feelings for someone, you can say that the Sydney that's the closest to whom he was before being brainwashed is probably mid-corruption Sydney.

Therefore, the act of corrupting Sydney is really saving him from being turned into a shield in the temple. This is specially sad when you consider that his other parent once occupied a similar position. Maybe it's been happening for a couple of generations?

So, it's a matter of choice to the player, in the end. Do you free the mind of this innocent individual, at the cost of the safety of the whole temple? Even a temple with a dark past and a dark present?

Think about Sydney as your typical "prophecy child", protecting the town with his sheer purity.

Then think of the player character as more of an Anakin take on the "prophecy child", specially with them being the Elk's offspring; not so much on either side, but a force to end the stalemate the faith finds itself on.

Wowee!

Sure, one can say I know how Sydney has history with Harper.

Ain't there just lots to uncover. I will try my best to address everything, but no promises!

Forgive me for paraphrasing and shortening, but the major points that you listed out were:

The Temple's shield is an individual with low awareness.

Sydney's low awareness is wanted by the Temple.

Sydney's awareness was lowered to "Innocence" by Harper.

Harper's treatment for Sydney was the Temple's wishes.

Corrupting Sydney is an act of "saving", "freeing" them.

Let's tackle everything individually cause I tend to go on a tangent!

Continuing under the cut <3

1. The Temple's shield is an individual with low awareness.

This is false. I think the Temple's concept of Innocence is different from that of the game mechanic.

You are right that Innocence is achieved through decreasing the PC's awareness to lower than 0. However, this would make no sense if the likes of Jordan's awareness is that low.

Jordan's flock and Jordan themselves is capable of perceiving and injuring Aurigan Monstrosities™️. As such, their awareness cannot be low.

Knowing as much as Jordan do, it is impossible for them to be so low in awareness as an Innocent PC.

I cannot say for certain what the Bishop meant when they say "innocence".

However, my assumption that it has something to do with the ideal that "belief is power."

If you have played the Hopeless Cycle event sequence from the most recent update, this is a motif and theme that has popped up pretty frequently, from the collection of the painting to the story that was told.

Belief is power. Something is only as powerful as you believe it is.

This leads me to believe the Innocence that the Bishop speaks of refers to the unwavering faith Jordan has in the order and the religion. Jordan believes in their power, so they are powerful.

The Bishop themselves said how powerful Belief is!

Jordan is left unaware and sheltered from the "dirtier" doings of the Temple because it could make their faith waver. Because without that strong wall of faith, they won't remain standing.

That's how I interpret it at least!

It would make sense when you apply it to Sydney, the potential successor to Jordan, too!

Sydney's faith in the Temple is strong and steady, even when corrupted. They have doubts, they act rebellious but never once did they try to leave the Temple or stopped believing.

Which leads me to my next point!

2. The Temple wants Sydney's awareness to remain low.

Seeing how Jordan has to deal with all the monstrous manifestations that require a good amount of awareness to perceive, I hardly think so!

In fact, the reason why Sydney is so fainthearted is because they were sheltered by Jordan, and the Bishop expressed gratitude if PC managed to aid Sydney in progressing in the Temple.

I am aware this refers more to their lack of willpower than awareness, but progressing in the Temple will naturally increases your awareness, being enlightened on all that's wrong with the world and trained to combat it.

So Jordan might want to shelter Sydney, perhaps out of love and care, but I wouldn't say the Temple as a whole wants to keep them unaware.

3. Sydney's awareness was lowered to "Innocence" by Harper.

I cannot comment on this! We do not know enough about Harper's treatment for Sydney.

... Not that it means we know nothing

The last part especially intrigues me, it's oddly similar to the Innocence mechanic does it not? You gain zero trauma during the Innocence status, but the moment you get out of it, all of the trauma you gained is dumped on you all at once. Quite fascinating!

Now you read all of that and come to your conclusions, I shan't comment further!

4. Harper's treatment for Sydney was the Temple's wishes.

I do not know if the Temple was involved in the choosing of Dr. Harper for Sydney! All I know is that Sirris seeked out a psychiastrist for Sydney and followed their instructions.

The Temple could have recommended Harper to Sirris, but I am reluctant to conclude so, seeing as Harper is a member of the Children of Auriga.

If anything, I am more to inclined to believe that Sirris' connections/coworkers, likely Auriga worshippers, at the Compound directed them to Harper.

Other than that, I have no idea! We have no information on how the Temple feels about Sydney's reaction to their other parent's disappearance. We don't know how they reacted to Sydney's treatment either.

They did aid in raising Sydney though! And there doesn't seem to be any visible animosity that they have towards Sirris, so who knows?

5. Corrupting Sydney is saving them.

Where do I start?

Short answer, are you sure?

Long answer, it depends on how you are viewing it.

First things first, the Bishop is fine with Sydney not being the next High Priest(ess).

So it's not like the Temple will fall apart without Sydney, they're not that important. The Bishop is perfectly fine with Sydney being corrupted. For what reasons I cannot tell.

One way or another, Sydney being corrupted isn't as big of a deal that you might have made it out to be.

Sure, their unmoving faith in the Temple is essential but from the way the Pale Yellow One put it, I will not be surprised if it is possible to force them back to obedience.

And again, they do not stop believing in the faith even after their corruption! So if my theory was correct, it shouldn't matter that much.

Moving forward, I disagree with the notion that corrupted Sydney, at any stages in their corruption, is "true" or "most like themselves pre-brainwash".

Corrupt Sydney is unique to only after meeting PC, because only PC have managed to make them succumb to lust.

In fact, I doubt Sydney even know who they are for there to even be a "true" Sydney.

I have many things to say about what PC's salvation means for Sydney.

For sure, corrupting Sydney opens up their eyes to lewdity, introduce them to "freedom" or however you interpret it and get them to let loose and just live life for once. Perhaps one can even see it as enlightening them for their own sake, letting them know just how fucked it is out there and how corrupt the Temple can be (to a small extent). But at the same time, they ruined Sydney's future, damaged their reputation at the Temple, and let's be honest, is that really Sydney or just who you shaped them into.

How do you know that is who Sydney actually is and not a mold they mended, nay, YOU mended for them to lie into and be reshaped?

On the other hand, keeping Sydney pure is going to ensure them a future, their support system still stable and their relationship approved by everyone around them. With the price of Sydney actively participating in a toxic and harmful mindset, staying ignorant and essentially playing puppet under the hands of the temple. But ignorance might just be bliss.

In the end, I think it is pointless to try and figure out what is better for Sydney. The entire point of Sydney's character is that they are what others shape them to be, and they do what is decided for them.

PERSONALLY, I feel like a "true" Sydney is something not for us to decide, but for Sydney to discover on their own.

As for me, everything about Sydney is true, and real, and Sydney. Me from a few months ago at 3 am worded it not the best but the sentiment is there!

That's what my takes on this! Thank you for the question!

we outta buckets