#see we're pretty dedicated haha

[andthendk]

Can you recommend people to follow who like DamiRae and Raven in general, please?

I didn't wanna @ dozens of fine ppl on a fine Monday morning so here's a written list 😎🎶 unless mentioned otherwise they're all on Tumblr!! They're mostly ppl I interact with but tbh I don't interact too much???!!?? (I'm busy drawing or reading damirae fanfic more than half the time no kidding)🤔 so it's not an extensive list 😂😂 hey the magic of fandom is starting somewhere and ending up everywhere! Von Voyage!

[caligvlasaqvarivm]

Do you feel comfortable with us recommending your blog to others or...?

Because there are blogs dedicated to analyzing homestuck and they are usually very good but the moment they talk about Eridan all the magic disappears and, I just want to know if it is acceptable to recommend you as like, homework i guess (?).

In the style of, if they are going to talk about complex characters then they should do their due research.

It's okay if you're not comfortable with the idea, maybe I shouldn't be that interested either, it just hurts to know that they can do better, and they are not (on the contrary, its just worse).

Unfortunately, not with that attitude!

I actually have a pretty strict rule to never go out into the fandom in search of fights, and to never answer asks asking me what I think about another fandom member's interpretation of canon ("official"/semi-official works like PQ are exempt). This is because, if I go onto some other guy's blog with zero intention to change my opinion, and say "you're wrong," that makes ME the asshole.

Nobody likes it when someone rocks up to the discussion to tell them they're wrong and try to own them with facts and logic. It's actually kind of a dick thing to do! That's why I contain my takes to my own blog, which, thanks to the block button and blacklists, means that nobody has to engage with me if they don't actively want to.

I've had several instances on this blog before of either having to dismount a conversation where neither side will change their mind with "agree to disagree," told people I can't/won't comment on something because I don't engage with the fandom overall, or straight-up blocked people. I do this because I've made the mistake before of trying to be Correct on the Internet, and the truth is it's an unwinnable battle that makes everybody involved look like a clown. At the end of the day, we're all squabbling about what a webcomic "means," and it's impossible to be 100% correct. God knows I've been wrong, sneakily edited posts, and hoped nobody noticed (if you did, thanks for not saying anything).

If you like my posts and agree with my opinions - great! I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't like the ego boost. If you don't, I'm usually willing to hear people out, but I'm pretty egotistical and we'll most likely agree to disagree. I pretty exclusively reserve actual retaliation for people who rock up (especially while hiding behind anon) pretty much just to tell me I'm wrong. Like I said, the person who does that is an asshole! I try not to be that asshole.

If someone's takes are so "bad" to you that you can't stand seeing them, you have the power to banish that person from ever appearing before you again. Block they ass. You literally don't need a reason. But if you want to do the hard, thankless, joyless, unrewarding, and nearly always futile task of changing someone's opinion, then step one is to take a deep breath and trying not to think about it in terms of enemies and allies, right and wrong. This person is another human, just trying to make a living on this shitty earth, talking about this thing you both like. The vibe should be excitement that you can share an insight they haven't considered, not a tribal monkey instinct to hit another monkey with a big bone club.

If these blogs already do a lot of Homestuck analyzing, chances are, they're receptive to Homestuck. Instead of using me (some rando on the internet) as a source, you should use the comic itself. Lucky for you that I cite my sources, or at least make it easy to look up the parts of the comic I'm talking about. It's a little more legwork than just linking an essay, but you're trying to perform the nearly impossible task of changing someone's mind, so put some elbow grease into it.

And if that doesn't work, welp. Agree to disagree! Haha.

[genericpuff]

What kind of color palettes you normally use?

I'm gonna sound like a total noob when I say this but I kinda. don't LOL

Like I don't work from any specific set of color palettes, more so I pick colors that work for a specific character design or an environment's tone and go from there! I like consistency in my colors, especially with recurring characters, it feels weird to use colors that aren't dedicated solely to that character. It's probably the 'tism LOL but like... even when I was doing black and grey pages, I had it down to a SCIENCE to ensure every tone of grey was consistent - I wasn't using flat colors, I was using a milli pen set to a lower transparency and then would cover the area a certain number of times to get the correct RGB number LOL (I still have so many of them memorized even though I haven't drawn a black and grey page in like 3 years LOL Uzuki's hair is 163, Mitsuhiro's hair is 42 huehuehue)

So when it comes to Rekindled which actually has color, I have dedicated color palettes that are saved in Clip Studio for me to use, many of which are based on colors that were used in either S1 or the pilot episodes of LO.

As you can see, some characters were pretty straightforward and thus have small palettes, others wound up going through a bit of a trial and error process so they have a lot more colors to pick from (though I will say a majority of the colors that Hades and Persephone have listed here go unused, some of them I've managed to retool into other characters / uses; ofc the characters who changed shades the most throughout the original comic would be the hardest to pin down colors for in Rekindled LMAO)

Any color changes from there are usually rendered in post, so for lighting/environment mood coloring/etc. Banshriek and I will mess around with gradient maps, clipped color layers, glow layers, etc. to get the desired result! This means even if the base colors are the same as usual, they can still be manipulated to match whatever tone we're going for with correction layers, it keeps the workflow consistent and easy so then we're not eyedropping colors or anything.

Speaking personally, black and red tones were my favorite vibes for years while working on Time Gate, but working on Rekindled has definitely broken me out of that pattern and helped me grow new appreciation for softer color schemes haha

[the-judicial-assistants-notebook]

I see your tags on the Wocky and Alita art, I would love to hear your thoughts on Alita actually!

I only need one person to show interest in what I have to say for me to talk forever and ever, thank you. HAHA Okay, in seriousness, this won't be as thorough/long as the Klavier post because... there really isn't much to her, but I find it extremely interesting how Alita falls into the same category of witnesses as April May and Dahlia without being — and I mean no offence to her when I say this — stunning? Like, with April and Dahlia, there's a very clear mass appeal to them which most people point out. Contrariwise, Alita's appearance is really only commented on by Trucy, and just glancing at her portrait, you can see that, without her slightly outlandish fashion, she's frankly nothing to write home about.

So why am I discussing this? Surely it's a little reductive to analyse female characters beginning with their appearances? Usually, yes, but that's the thing about this category of witnesses: their pretty faces aren't just pretty faces.

For April and Dahlia, their beauty is part of their arsenal. It functions as both their defence and their weapon of choice; they know how to wield it to bring people under their heel. Alita being ordinarily pretty instead of drop-dead gorgeous deprives her of that weapon and leads you to wonder how she became a mafia heiress to begin with. It also parallels her to Mimi Miney in a way that goes beyond the 'murderous nurse who worked for and killed her awful boss' comparison you get on the surface. Presumably, Alita, like Mimi, only got to where she was because she managed to fool the people around her into believing she was less dangerous than she actually is. Mimi did this by feigning stupidity and inviting people to underestimate her. Alita seems to do this by showing them what they want to see.

When she first meets Apollo and Trucy, Alita stays quiet and spends more time listening to them than she does talking. Once she has a hold on who they are, then she slips into her persona, and I find it interesting how she doesn't even attempt to come across as particularly delicate or lovelorn? Instead she goes for the relatively typical role of a distressed, indulgent loved one earnestly entreating Apollo for help. I'm inclined to say she does this because her read on Apollo makes her realise that he'd likely be exasperated or annoyed by such a person; but it's also almost as if she knows she doesn't have the disposition to pull off that frail, damsel-in-distress archetype and has resigned herself to being ordinary. Like how she looks. The next time she has to reapply her persona, Alita's appearing in court, and again she makes subtle adjustments that best suit her situation. The judge is old, so she takes a chance on expressing her dedication as a wife while balancing her dedication as a righteous citizen, which works. But oddly enough, despite her successes, I don't think Alita is actually good? At donning disguises? Everyone I've seen discuss this case has been able to guess almost immediately that she's the culprit, and maybe we're just prepped by past characters like her that have appeared, but I don't think she's even that convincing in the game.

Both the identities she assumes are risky manoeuvres that happen to fall in her favour, and she's not particularly dedicated to maintaining the front. When she asks Apollo to be Wocky's defence, she admits that marrying him is largely a chance at a more exciting life than some great love story; Plum Kitaki straight up says that there's a darkness in Alita she doesn't like, despite how docile Alita behaves in front of her; and Wocky has moments where he slips up and calls her things like, "imposter" and "fallen angel", implying that at least subconsciously, he knows she's not what she makes herself out to be. Even her general mannerisms don't greatly differ between her actual self and the mask who's blunt her claws — nothing is ever overtly coy or cutesy — and when Apollo brings up the fact she was Wocky's nurse, she drops the facade almost immediately. There's no waffling, no, "Whatever do you mean?"s or, "You're scaring me"s, just the statement, "I don't know what you mean by 'meaning', Mr. Justice!" delivered in a sudden cool, frosted steeliness.

And I think that steel is what really makes her different.

See, the other women are all driven to crime by some defining trait in themselves caused by their circumstances. For Dahlia, it's her desperate need to be free of the Fey clan; for Mimi, it's grief over her sister's unjust death; and for April, it's her fear of Redd White. You don't really get that with Alita. Instead of there being something dark in her life that leads her down this path, she just seems... tired. Tired of being "pretty enough" but not "gorgeous", tired of being the obedient nurse to the corrupt doctor, tired of being ordinary. There's no predatory external force pushing her into a corner, there's no abusive family beliefs pinning her down. There's just an ordinary life, lived dull and ordinarily, and she had had enough. So what does this girl, who's tired and ordinary in every way except the steel that lines her spine, do to get out of this?

She gambles.

Marrying into the mafia was a gamble, seeking Apollo as council was a gamble, shooting Dr. Meraktis was a gamble. Every decision she's made since she met Wocky has been a series of high-stakes gambles that leave her life on the line all so she won't be second-best anymore. This time, she was going to be the one on top. No matter what.

... And I'm sorry for loving evil women, but girlboss?? Girlboss???

I've heard people say they're disappointed that her "breakdown" is just an extension of her usual damage sprite, but it's honestly one of my favourite "breakdowns" in the series ever? Just because it isn't really one? Everything Alita has done up till now has been reckless, calculated risk, of course being convicted for murder is no different than losing in any other aspect of her life. Of course you're not going to get more than her damaged sprite, because this doesn't warrant a more dramatic reaction. She's lived this whole time knowing it could all come crashing down around her, and it finally did.

She made a bad bet. You caught her. Oh well.

The frosted girl of steel, standing tall to the very end. It's kind of sad that, even after all that, she's still seen as only second-best, incomparable to mimi, dahlia or any of the other women who've stood in her place.

[endless-season]

9 Fandom Peeps to Get to Know Better

tagged by @defeateddetectives /o/

3 ships you like: *looks into void* do I even have 3 proper ships

1) MikoIzuTotsu (Suoh Mikoto x Kusanagi Izumo x Totsuka Tatara) - K

And no one was surprised. I MEAN ITS BEEN OVER TEN YEARS. BUT A GOOD CHUNK OF THOSE TEN YEARS WERE DEDICATED TO HOMURA TRIO (well technically... the real answer is Totsuka Tatara however we will ignore that for the sake of this meme). Get yourself two others who will go through it all with you thick or thin. Get yourself a leash i mean what. Get yourself a Kusanagi-san! Settle down in a bar and raise i mean gather a gang family!

2) Qin Jiu x You Huo - Global Examination

Felt obligated to include them since I'm currently trying to drag ppl to read this lmao. Also bc i have no ships to answer with, help. BUT THE CHEMISTRY! I mean, this is probably the first time I clearly see what people mean by the word ~ chemistry ~. Qin Jiu is such a chaotic menace, You Huo is such a chaotic menace, they are similar but also different and then put them together and everyone suffers, it's beautiful *wipes tear*. But they are also so so so soft together (i was going to say, in private.... but also in front of people's salad so!!!) *clutches heart*. The author, 木苏里 just does a create job exploring the two throughout the story, READ GLOBAL EXAMINATION! THERE'S ALSO AN ONGOING MANHUA THAT COVERS LIKE A THIRD. DO IT. and then send me liveblogs pls and thanks.

3) H-h-help... ships... are hard... I... don't ...

first ship ever: IzuTotsu (Kusanagi Izumo x Totsuka Tatara) - K Shamelessly links to that post where I sobbed over everything #Actual Marriage Goals The trust! The intuitive understanding! The communication! (sorry Mikoto, your grunting fails you) The ~ G o S s i P i n g ~ ! The mutual support and comfort ;_;! The domesticity of it all! The quipping and doting! The we're all in this (this = Mikoto doom but with matching wing tattoos) together! The seemless division of labor haha

last song you heard: i turned on my playlist when i saw this question so that by the time i finish answering the meme and come back to this question, i will have an answer… Anyways, so the answer is…. ~ wHAT A coINcindENce ~ Dark Night Fireworks, Lucien's season 1 theme from MLQC.

favourite childhood book: Uh........ idk.... Deltora Quest? Alex Rider series? If manga counts then maybe Detective Conan? lmao.

currently reading: I’m Not Shouldering This Blame (这锅我不背) Current novel in my danmei binging spree. 40 chaps in, enjoying it so far. Synopsis gives a pretty good idea of what to expect. Hordes of book transmigrators trying to derail or benefit from knowing the plot, military dealing with the supernatural mess and notifying MC and ML who are supposedly the villains, MC... just trying to work in peace cmon, ML... just trying to seduce MC cmon.

currently watching: Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End Just finished it over the last few days hence why there's a few posts in my queue. It’s nice and chill. I admit I was eyeing Himmel the moment he appeared in the first episode and didn't know whether to laugh or cry at his instant transformation / flashforward to old bald man. Was pleasantly surprised to see him appearing constantly in flashbacks haunting the narrative ethereal dead wife style lmao.

currently consuming: I waited for dinner to write this! Was lazy tonight so just a bunch of easy to prep in 5 min sides. Rice, Prawn dumplings, Chilli Bamboo (Fu Chi brand), Century Egg + Tofu + Pork floss, Smashed cucumber salad that I managed to ruin :/

currently craving: A reason to live A shiny new satisfying fandom obsession... Motivation and energy and wisdom to adult... A yakult and WangLaoJi... ... ...... *walks to fridge and grabs yakult and wanglaoji*

---

A rare meme where I'm gonna actually tag!!! See what ppl are up to and eating these days >:)

@qserasera @chiaki-c @nervous-sheep @alice-chan-chan @jelly-cooperation

@laxmiree @caesurables @pu-san @vanishing-apples @dijeh

@ittybi @ellie-winthrope @bloomingmitsuri @a-justaway-is-just-a-justaway @constastan

As usual feel free to skip if tagged or do even if not tagged :> Edit: why is tagging not working *squints*

[seriousbrat]

im literally so obsessed with the post saying peter pettigrew would never be a traitor… that’s like basically The first thing we truly discover about him. right there from book three. like that is The Basis of his role in the narrative, that he was the traitor and sirius was not. that he was willing to bow to the winning power rather than risk dying for his friends and values (which is. the one issue the narrative never flinches on. doing the right thing rather than the easy.) like these aren’t real people, they are characters with narrative functions. peter is everything harry doesn’t respect, everything characters like ron and neville defy, when they doubt their places among their friends and still fight for what they believe in, and a foil to snape — snape’s love for lily causes him to make a good choice, peter’s lack of dedication to his friends causes him to make a bad choice. a bad choice that KICKS OFF THE ENTIRE PREMISE. like. yes these are characters and you can choose to play with them like dolls. but hp is a very tight narrative, and it’s silly to claim they are somehow at heart the antithesis of the space they fill.

I know like... if there's ONE detail about him then that's it. It showed up as a recommended post on my dash and I was so baffled for a moment haha. I could understand an attempt to defend his reasoning (I certainly like to understand it) but like... his character is nothing without that moment, it literally defines him as a character, so to say it's bad writing is so silly.

It's like if I made an impassioned post claiming that Voldemort would NEVER kill Lily and James. It moves past headcanon into just... outright denial of the basic facts of the characters and the story. Harry would NEVER have green eyes!!!! Tbh though Peter Defence Movement in general is the last thing I'd have expected a few years ago.

Recently just before I really started getting back into marauders fandom on tumblr, I posted in a discord asking for people's views on Peter, explaining my own interpretation and wanting input. And I was legitimately SO confused when EVERYONE replied in the vein of "hmm well that's not how I see him but ok. he actually was a poor little meow meow who took care of his friends and rubbed their shoulders after a battle, he was a scared little boy and he couldnt help it."

I was VERY taken aback by the complete 180 that peoples views on Peter seemed to have done, since I assumed my portrayal was controversially sympathetic. Fandom used to largely just ignore him, and when he wasn't ignored he was reviled. It once would have been heresy for me to imply Peter had any sympathetic qualities at all lol, whereas here I was pretty solidly shouted down for saying he had the unsavory characteristics we're shown in canon, such as enjoying watching James and Sirius bully others.

It's honestly so fascinating, like when did this happen lmao

[sunflower-eddiediaz]

@edmundodiazz asked : i see your posts about kaamelott and have to try reeally hard not to give up to temptation and search for/start something new. i have responsibilities! but… french and arthurian legends… it’s so tempting

FRIEEEEND I'm sorry, I am not even a little sorry. You've caught me on the verge of a Kaamelott obsession renaissance. Let me sit down.

You've seen my attempt at a short and concise summary here. This will not be that...

Quick facts: Seasons 1-4 have a short format (lots of ~5 min episodes), seasons 5-6 have a long format (a few ~40-50 min ep). Season 6 is a "prequel" and the last episode is in the present. The seasons are called books (livres).

I will add that, although I never looked it up myself, I know for a fact that there's english subtitles available. Also, I remember hearing about the episodes being on youtube in certain countries, so that's something to check, maybe, possibly.

I just, imprinted on this show as a kid (it started in 2005) and never let it go. So, I'm probably gonna wax poetics about it (as it deserves!)

I like the expression 'crack treated seriously' because the author (Alexandre Astier, who plays Arthur, and has his name all over the credits) approaches comedy as something that cannot work if it's not treated seriously. It can't be funny, it can't resonate with people, it can't tell a compelling story, if it's not treated seriously. All that AND it's fucking crack, it's stupid and I love these silly characters. It's a story of/about characters, you could get attached to any that appears on screen. (Which is probably a consequence of AA writing characters for an actor/with an actor in mind.)

Okay, let's talk about the characters then : (PS writing this is english is weird)

Le Roi Arthur - He's designated by the gods to unite the kingdoms, find the grail, bring light the people; simple enough mission, right?. He's trying to achieve that with the knights of the round table, who are an eclectic and incompetent group of people. They all have their skills and qualities, but to achieve that mission, to understand the purpose, to work together as a group, etc, it's... complicated. And at first, it's all fun and game, especially in the beginning of the story since we're getting to know everyone and their dynamics. Throughout the show, we see Arthur struggle with the burden of that divine mission, whether it's in a light and silly context or an intense and dramatic one.

La Reine Guenièvre - She. She is the wife of king Arthur. That's her mission, right. Support your king, produce an heir, standard queen stuff. Except, it's pretty hard to do that when your husband is emotionally distant and no one taught you sex ed. (They marriage has never been consumed, it's a whole thing). They share a bed, they have little chit chats before sleep, he acts like she's annoying and repulsive, clearly she's adorable and gorgeous. I guess, at first she comes off as haha here's yet an another incompetent, but she's a very sensitive and intuitive person (and I love her). We get to see her and Arthur's relationship evolve throughout show; how much affection Arthur actually as for her; Arthur realizing how blessed he is to have her as queen; her relationships with other people (like the official mistresses of Arthur who she's friends with, or...)

Seigneur Lancelot - He's the competent knight of the round table. He cares about their mission. He's dedicated and loyal. He and Arthur have a good relationship, you could definitely call them friends. He's cordial with the queen, friendly even. He is very much the type of person who's flaws stem from their qualities. I could say more, but I won't.

I'll try to be shorter and stay superficial for the rest.

Seigneur Léodagan and Dame Séli - They're Guenièvre's parents. They're competent king and queen of the Carmélide kingdom. They're good at politics, strategy, war. They're very much In-Laws.

Seigneurs Perceval and Karadoc - They're the least competent knights of the bunch. They don't know what's happening. They're an epic and iconic duo. Keep an eye out for Perceval (positive).

Merlin l'enchanteur - We know for a fact that he can do magic, but like, how many times has he done a useful spell...?? And actually, he's a druid not an enchanter, thank you very much.

La Dame du Lac (The Laby of the Lac ?) - Only Arthur can see and communicate with her. She is his link to the gods. She has to be his guide through his divine mission.

All the other knights - some are at the head of their kingdom like Léodagan, some are not like Perceval and Karadoc or like Seigneur Bohort (I just had to mention him by name) or Seigneurs Yvain and Gauvain (another epic duo), some are just following along, some are more antagonists, etc

And so many more amazing characters I know I'm omitting some major ones

Special mention for the sword Excalibur because I love her special effects and her impacts on the story.

[aichi-division]

Shouta's thoughts on Itabashi Division

Bernard Miyamoto

"Bernard looks like a pretty eccentric guy. I like his clothing style, he looks great. It's nice to meet other people with a passion for the arts. Even though we are in different areas, the performing arts really come into their own, and Bernard looks like someone who is quite talented in that regard. Haha, I even feel like he's going to start giving me a performance of some Shakespeare script any minute now.

From what I hear, he comes from London, right? It must be beautiful there, I've never been out of Japan. I wish I could meet him and share travel talks and tastes in art. Maybe he could recommend me some plays to see? Well, hopefully for free, I don't have the money to pay for a ticket with my kids- I mean, teammates".

Raiden Koyama

"WAIT A MINUTE! R-Rai? Rai is part of this whole competition thing? No way. He never mentioned to me that he was part of a division…. Wha-

Well, umm, how should I put it…. Rai and I had a few encounters before, y'know, through dating apps and stuff. We found some common ground, like a passion for the arts, parties and cigars. I don't remember exactly how things went down because I got drunk and…. well, I can remember his eyes and his hands on my thighs, whispering something... He's someone hypnotic, I can't deny it. He is my type, if you know what I mean...

After those encounters, Rai has not maintained much contact with me. Well, we're from different locations so it's understandable, isn't it? I wonder how he would react if he knew I was a division leader, I can't help but smile at the thought of his face-"

Issey Ito

"Oh wow, another Issey!! Although this one looks… completely opposite to our Issey, for sure.

He seems to have a rather surly attitude, reminds me a bit of SOMEONE. Anyway, he seems like a pretty talented and mysterious guy. Maybe our Issey can get some smiles out of him or something…. well, if he doesn't get killed first.

I hear he is a medical student, what a nice career! I wish him all the best! Heh, I can't help but feel a little nostalgic when I see guys his age accomplishing their goals. There is only one way to make a living and that is with hard work and dedication. I hope this kid has everything he needs to succeed in life."

Itabashi Division

I won't deny that seeing Rai- I mean, Raiden, has been a great surprise. I didn't openly know his musical side, although I sincerely believe that it was still expected that he would accept to be part of something like this. I'm genuinely glad to be able to see him again. Anyway, I think this division has a lot of potential and a lot of talent. Unlike other leaders I've met, Bernard actually looks like a pretty cool guy to spend time with. Eccentricity is part of the magic of art and music is not exempt. I already want to see what they are capable of doing.

-@itabashi-division

[whumpbug]

in dearest response to our silly crossover shenanigans:

lemme hear it!!! what do they think of my guys!!! i must know!!!!! <3333

YIPPEE!!!!! YIPEE!!!!!!!!!!! (haha i beat u too it)

about jj:

like you said, gene really likes that kid. he thinks he'd well-mannered and polite, but obviously a little reckless and he finds it endearing. i think he is able to clock the Tiredness in jj's eyes though, and knows he's been through more than he is letting on. still, he respects him and enjoys the fact that jj is able to act a bit more like a kid around him. he sort of reminds gene of himself when he was younger. he does the Dad Older brother thing where he just pats him firmly on the back whenever jj Does Anything. its endearingly awkward

(if gene found out about the four-wheeler thing, he would give jj a very Strong talking to. thats very dangerous buddy)

cassidy really likes jj too! he likes his attitude and his work ethic and moral code and overall thinks of him as a pretty stand-up guy. he appreciates his dedication to carrying out the mission and helping others because its something he takes very seriously as well. i need a dance off between them IMMEDIATELY. cassidy gets VERY competitive very easily and i think jj is his biggest threat to being the Best Dancer In The Room

about morrigan:

they,, they kind of creep gene out at first. especially if we're considering the time period difference. something about the way that fellow moves and looks is just. off. they're too clean and too perfect. gives gene the heebie jeebies. once he gets a bit more acquainted with them, he starts to see them for who they are and he comes to like their demeanor. he will never get over they way their eyes are though. it sends shivers down his spine.

cassidy's sole goal in the beginning is to flirt with morrigan (platonically. if that makes sense.) they are very beautiful to him and their programmed flirting is really fun to riff off of (and make gene a bit jealous in the process, of course). as for their parallels, i think cassidy can see them but chooses to ignore it. he is aware of the irony of him and a literal robot having a eerie amount in common but he's still DEEP in denial. very much unwilling to admit montana's faults.

set i am genuinely having such a blast writing about our guys. our sillies!!!! in your words, they are TURNING in my mind. spinning, perhaps. twirling even.

[lovelylittlelevity]

This is to the fans: I’m going to say this once for all and it’s that most of you guys are actually pretty big a-holes to the lovely levity team. These people aren’t professional game developers they’re a group of people making a game on a show they love and some of y’all are taking it as something really serious thing. These guys are making a game while your calling them narcissistic and just really bad stuff (please stop genuinely it can seriously damage someone ) may I remind you that their making this game for you!? I’m sick of seeing some of you be so rude it’s not even criticism if you thing calling them narcissistic or stupid it’s just pure hate. ekko, melody I don’t know if your reading this but if you are I hope you get better ❤️‍🩹 as for you guys grow up. Some of you guys think your such heroes like “oH mY gOd YoU aRe LiKe FcKiNg ChiLdReN hAhA lol CrInGe” shut up you aren’t the main character. (Sorry for me being rude I just got in a car crash and I’m feeling all these emotions)

Oh no, I hope you're okay now!! I really hope you weren't injured, anon, car crashes can be so dangerous :(

That being said I do appreciate your wanting to stick up for the team. We've been through a lot as a friend group, but we're committed to seeing this through, though of course we have decided that if things get too stressful we're not going to risk our health over it. Luckily things have been relatively quiet and peaceful these past few days (KNOCK ON WOOD KNOCK ON WOOD-).

Putting me opening up under a cut since it has to deal with cyberbulling and talking a tad about mental health pertaining to myself. Nothing too personal ofc but just in case!!

~ Melody

I guess I can open up a little bit about this... since I've been gone there have been people following me to every single blog I have, even ones I have never linked or posted anywhere to send me harrassment. On top of the severe upset surrounding the event of my leaving the blog and what happened in the subsequent months, it made it very hard for me to want to create. I made a side bog just for fun OC x Canon for me and my friends but someone found me within a matter of days and ran to my askbox trying to stir things up and claim I was trying to "hide my identity". I've begun getting my spark back and so I dedicated myself to working harder, even picking up the basics of coding to help lighten the load on Puppit's shoulders. Even then it's still a challenge.

Guess the point I'm making here is what others have said: Please don't jump someone or follow them across several blogs to send them harrassment telling them to kill themselves and calling them mental disabilities as if that's some kind of slur to be used rather than a genuine diagnosis that people struggle with. You don't know the full side of the story, and even then no one deserves to be treated like that even if you hate them. At the end of the day this is a silly little fangame made by fans for fans, it should not get so serious that you're actively hunting one of the devs down.

[leaderoffestivals]

Poltergeist Chapter 4

The Sketch in the Rubbish Heap Ch 4

Natsume: Mikejima-senpai. Your first task of the day is heRE. There’s some mop-headed trash on the ground over theRE—Bag it up immediately and get rid of iT.  Madara: Aye, aye, sir~ ♪ Tsumugi: Hey, wait—! You’re joking, right!? 

Scenario Writer: Akira Season: Winter Characters: Mikejima Madara, Sakasaki Natsume, Aoba Tsumugi, Narukami Arashi

<About an hour later…> 

Natsume: ——That’s iT. And with thAT, your orientation of this place should be compleTE.

Madara: Umu. I’ve more or less got the layout of this facility memorised nowww. It reeeally isn't that big of a place at all. In fact, it’s practically the size of a bean if you compare it to Seisoukan!

Natsume: That is a monument to entirely needless extravaganCE. I can only wonder at whose nouveau riche tastes it aims to satisFY, thouGH.  

AnywAY, this facility is equipped with all the essential amenities needed for the children to live comfortabLY. There are enough rooms for each child to have their own roOM, and for every staff member as weLL.

Madara: Hmm. Are the staff who work here expected to live on site, too?

Natsume: YeS, but for uS, we’re in a position where it’s okay for us to commuTE. 

It might be the end-of-year and New Year holiday period nOW, but we're still pretty popular idols after aLL—we still have work to dO.

Madara: I see. That’s why you won’t be able to stay on site 24/7, huh. On the other hand, I’m reeeally free now, so I’m fine with staying over!

Natsume: WeLL, that’s entirely up to yOU. If you wish to stay oN, just fill out the paperwork and go through the proceduRES, and a private room will be assigned to yOU . 

There’re plenty of vacant rooms availabLE, so it shouldn’t pose much of an inconvenience to anyone if you were to stAY.

Madara: You’re right about that. It might be small in comparison to Seisoukan, but it’s still quite a sizable facility. I’d say it could easily accommodate a hundred people at least.

However, there’re only thirty children living here, and if you factor in the staff, the total population here most likely wouldn't exceed fifty. There must be plenty of vacant rooms in this facility. 

This place doesn’t seem to be particularly popular, huh~? The building itself is remarkably well-maintained; everything's so shiny, it almost looks brand new!

Natsume: YeS, this building seems to have been recently construcTED. It is likely only a few years oLD. 

Madara: Hmmm~… … I wonder if there was a fire here, and they had the building rebuilt? 

Come to think of it, there was a considerable amount of burnt debris scattered around near the facility… …  

Natsume: FuFU. WeLL, I will gradually explain all of that to you in due tiME. 

Apart from the roOMS, the facility also boasts a large communal baTH, a dining haLL, and a small convenience store where one can purchase essential itEMS. 

I believe there won't be any significant shortages or inconveniences for the children to lead a regular life heRE.

Madara: I don’t know if I should say it’s unexpected or not, but this is shaping up to be a pretty normal orphanage after aaall. 

In contrast to an elder-care facility, which might have specialised amenities like accessible baths, there doesn’t seem to be any special facilities here. In fact, it looks just like an ordinary pension or hotel.

Natsume: You would be wrong to say there are no special facilities heRE, thouGH. As you can sEE, there are soundproofed rooms situated throughout the faciliTY, much like “lesson rooms”. 

This facility is primarily focused on providing an idol-like education and entertainmENT. 

The children who reside here sing and dance every dAY, in accordance with the curriculum offered by the faciliTY. 

This Dancing Cranes Home is a facility dedicated to the nurturing of idol taleNTS, you sEE. 

Madara: Haha! I think I’ve heard of something like this before. In a word, this place is a scaled-down version of ES or Yumenosaki—is that it?

Natsume: I don’t think it’s as ambitious as all thAT. I’ve only heard about this through rumoURS, but it seems this facility was established by some big shot in the idol industRY. 

Madara: Haaa... ... I don’t have a good impression of anyone with the title of “big shot in the idol industry” at aaall.

Natsume: AhahA. TruE, it does stink of fishy busineSS, doesn’t iT?

Madara: Well, I guess that would mean this facility was chosen for this project, precisely because of its strong connection with idols—but that’s just my speculation, though!  

Natsume: That's riGHT. It could present quite a challenge for uS, outsiders that we aRE, to interact with typical childrEN, but if the children here are aspiring idol taleNTS, there might be areas where we can offer mentorsHIP. 

HahA, it really brings back memorIES. I, toO, attended a small idol training school back in the day when I was a chiLD. 

Tsumugi: Yes, yes! Aa~h, those were the days when Natsume-kun was still going by “Natsume-chan”, right? I really miss those days. ♪

Natsume: Mikejima-senpai. Your first task of the day is heRE. There’s some mop-headed trash on the ground over theRE—Bag it up immediately and get rid of iT. 

Madara: Aye, aye, sir~ ♪

Tsumugi: Hey, wait—! You’re joking, right!? 

I may indeed be a trash-like human, but there's no trash lying around here! And that's because we’ve already cleaned this place up properly!

Arashi: That’s right~. Both of you, do be sure to get along… … okay?

Fuuu... I’ve never been interested in household chores, and am totally unused to any of this. I’m really exhausted now!

Tsumugi: Fufu. Thank you for your hard work, Narukami-kun! 

—————-To be continued——————-

Chapter 3 / Chapter 5

Translator's Notes:

This chapter hasn't been proofed, so. if you have any feedback, please DM me.

[sky-scribbles]

I just read your post about you gushing on Skyrim's Thieves Guild Questline, I'm sorry, I don't know if it's something really old or if it's pretty recent, but then I wanted to seriously ask you something about it.

I love Karliah as npc, her and Serana are my absolute favorite of all Skyrim and like they're my top top top everything..! But while reading about Karliah all over the internet, I found some users speaking about how at the end of the day she used us. And since you seem to love the questline and the character as much as me, and having a pretty decent insight of the plot, I'm turning the problem to you, curious on what are your thoughts.

Basically, first thing is: Karliah turn us Nightingale to fight Mercer, even if Nocturnal's power are still blocked bc of Skeleton Key. She basically force us a bit, saying it's something we must be if we hope to survive against Mercer, which at the end of the day it's not true. (Another point is that no one said anything about serving Nocturnal in the afterlife, but my Dova wouldn't care about that).

The thing is, for how much I want to deny it, it's true. We don't gain absolutely anything for being Nightingale (apart the armor) at this point of the story. Karliah instead present 2 new warrior, rebuilt the Trinity, and thanks to this obtain the forgivness of Nocturnal.

The second point is 'but at the end of the day she saved our life'. True but. Why Mercer try to kill us in that moment? Because we're incapacitated. What if instead of us Karliah would have pierced Mercer? Mercer would have fainted, we then attacck Karliah, and a) kill her b) she kill us. If the b is true, she just have to tie Mercer and took him out and took him to Riften, while hoping to try to read the diary? At the end of the day, Karliah said this herself: 'Even if I carry out Mercer in front of the Guild I don't have any proof, it's just my word against his'.

So, Karliah both using the arrow on us and saving us after (because she come back after running away) are due to convenience. But that's is okay, it's afterall the first time she see us, she don't have any obligation toward us, and she is dedicated to her purpose.

What bother me more anyway is the first point. At that moment we aren't stranger with Karliah anymore, we maybe don't know the complete story but we have travelled a pretty amount of time with her. So yeah, she don't lie to us, but she don't tell us all the info.

I have my theories about it, being:

- if she was killed by Mercer, the Nightingale would have died with her. At least like this we're somehow involved and would carry on the legacy.

- at the end of the say she didn't know us and still didn't trust us.

- she was ready to do everything, and everything meaning ometting truth to anyone to accomplish her revenge.

After all this papyrus, sorry about it really, what do you think? I'm sorry it has to be you but I need a new prospective..! 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏 Thanks even for having read till here!

Haha, no worries, I'm always in a mood for talking about the Guild questline!

Here's the thing: Skyrim's character writing is... honestly a bit thin. It's hard to know what Karliah's intentions are, because the game just doesn't go into that amount of detail. Which means that a lot is open to interpretation.

Looking at the Guild questline from a Doylist, out-of-universe perspective... let's be real, the reason Karliah comes across as having lied about us needing to be Nightingales to defeat Mercer is that the game writing isn't good enough to make us feel like we need to be Nightingales. Whoever wrote that quest didn't think to, y'know, give the players actual powers at that point and make those powers essential for defeating Mercer. I love Skyrim, but it isn't subtle in its writing. We're meant to believe that we Have to be Nightingales to defeat Mercer, because the writers (through Karliah), say so. The real reason Karliah shoots us rather than Mercer is so we can be a captive audience to the writers' cool reveal cutscene.

So... we're just left to interpret logic into the very thin reasons the game gives us for Characters Doing Things.

One interpretation for Karliah's actions is that she's using us. Karliah does actually tell the PC and Brynjolf about the serving-beyond-death thing; after getting the armour, she then explains how 'in life and in death, you must serve as a guardian of the Twilight Sepulchre.' But she does still bring you to Nightingale Hall to accomplish her own goals.

And I think this is a perfectly valid interpretation. I adore her with my whole heart, but yes, she is a career criminal, she's a pretty decent manipulator (seeing as how she set up the first half of the questline through her 5D chess game), and she is absolutely fixated on avenging Gallus and herself, and regaining Nocturnal's favour.

But because the writing is so thin in regards to her character (and she's one of the more fleshed-out characters in the game!), we can honestly interpret anything else we like. If we want to believe that there is a benefit to the PC, Karliah and Bryn becoming Nightingales - even a subtle one, like luck playing in their favour in Irkngthand, making some falmer distracted, helping arrows strike true - we can absolutely choose to believe that. That's a valid explanation too, imo.

What do I think? I do think Karliah uses the PC to an extent. I think she is fixated on her goal, and respecting the PC's agency is a second priority to her. And... I like that. I like the idea that she's flawed, and so obsessed with her plans that she can't think beyond them, and that she fucks up, and manipulates perhaps without meaning to because how can she be otherwise? She has been alone for twenty five years. She has not trusted anyone in that time. Her plan is the only thing that gives her any semblance of control. Manouvering others is the only thing that's keeping her alive. She has lost some of her ability to treat others like people because she has not been treated like a person for twenty five years.

I think she wasn't thinking clearly in that moment in Snow Veil Sanctum. Why should she be, with the bones of her lover not fifty feet away and his murderer approaching? When the PC appears in the doorway and her plan goes all to hell? She probably could have shot Mercer. Maybe 'I never had a clear shot' is what she tells herself so she doesn't absolutely break with fury at herself when she thinks of how she had her chance to avenge Gallus, and she let it go.

Maybe she does bring Brynjolf and the PC to Nightingale Hall for her own reasons - because she has to see this done, she has to see Mercer dead and the trinity restored, because that vow is all she's been for a quarter century and who even is she if she stops?

Karliah is filled up to the eyes with self-loathing. She constantly talks as if she's responsible for Gallus's death. As if by loving him, being loved by him, she distracted him enough for Mercer to kill him. Killing Mercer and restoring the Nightingales isn't just about her own desires. It's also trying to restore everything Gallus created, to ensure that his death isn't the end of all he worked for - because if that's gone, so is everything he was. Like he never existed. Every trace of him in the world gone, except for her grief. And she cannot fail him again.

Restoring his legacy is the only way Karliah could ever even begin to forgive herself.

So yes, I do think she uses the PC to an extent. Her behaviour was, however, coming from a place of deep pain, and while that doesn't justify it, it does explain a hell of a lot about it.

But perhaps there's something more important to consider: how do you think she acts after Mercer is dead, the Trinity restored, and she's reunited with Gallus's spirit? After she's seen that he's not lost forever, he loves her as much as he did before, doesn't blame her for a moment, and knows she will see him again?

We don't have anything canon to go on, really, because at this point the game practically forgets that she exists and shunts her into Nightingale Hall, but that means we can decide whatever the hell we like. And personally, I think she heals, slowly, tentatively. I think she slowly comes back to the Guild, works alongside the PC again and again, forgives herself at last. Realises that she is not responsible for anything that happened.

And after a bit of time of being treated like a person, like she matters, like she's cared for... maybe then she has the emotional energy at last to look at the PC and Brynjolf and think I just assumed you'd go along with my plans, and it was for me, for my purposes, not for you. And that wasn't right. Perhaps to talk to them, and tell them she's sorry. To resolve to deal with others better from now on. But also to understand that she made the decisions she made in one of the most painful and stressful periods of her life. To not hate herself for making flawed choices, and resolve to move on, looking forwards, not back.

I like to think she does.

[bugsbenefit]

okay i'll say it again. i'm personally not a very big fan of the theory that Alice Creel and Karen Wheeler are the same person from a personal perspective. However, looking at the show, i think at this point we should consider it as more of an option because aside from the multiple weird instances about it. i think the most notable is that it's one of the most solid explanations for what Nancy saw in her vision.

Vecna specifically threatening Karen, Holly, and Mike. leaving Ted out. is funny to us from an audience perspective because it allows for the assumption that Nancy just doesn't give enough of a shit about Ted for Vecna to use his death as something shocking.

but this makes very little sense in universe and with the way it was shot:

While Nancy is never shown to be close to Ted it's also clear she doesn't hate him. they're very ambivalent to each other, we rarely even see them in the same scenes. from a character perspective, jumping from this to Nancy not caring if something happened to him is very inconsistent character writing. most people would care if someone in their lives died even if they weren't personally very close. for Nancy to really not care if he died they would require a more negatively afflicted relationship. which they don't have.

the moment is also not played like a joke. the entirety of Nancy's vision serves as foreshadowing to the end of s4 and s5. it's all taken very seriously both by the characters and the audience. Nancy leaving Ted out of her vision is subtle and something we only talk about in hindsight because it's weird Vecna left only him out. causing jokes like "even Vecna says fuck Ted Wheeler" to spring up as an explanation. but the scene isn't shot like a joke and the exclusion of him falls flat. it was just subtle enough to be there and pass by ga's prime focus since no character drew attention to it, or asked afterwards "what about your dad?" "what about my dad?" which would have made it an actual joke and given pay off to this weird list. but none of this happens. Ted is just Missing from the vision and we're moving on. it's not played like something funny to notice, Nancy is crying and everyone is serious.

so. why IS Ted missing from the vision? summing up what we know:

it does not come across like a joke at all. without drawing attention to it the GA misses it, causing the joke to not work. and even more attentive audiences who pick up on it, recognize it's not really a funny haha joke. and while we can try and turn it into something jokey and say it's because Ted is stupid and nobody likes him, that explanation makes much less sense for the characters themselves. Nancy and Ted don't have a bad enough relationship as far as we're shown to justify Nancy suddenly not caring if he died. he's still a person she sees every day, even without a parental bond she would at least have an opinion on him dying.

so if this dialogue doesn't serve the purpose of character development/ exposition or comedy, why is it there?

well like the rest of the vision, it's part of the points that pretty straightforwardly tell us what will happen next season. s5 will have a creature with a gaping mouth, monsters all over Hawkins, and the Wheeler family minus Ted in danger.

Mike being in danger here makes sense since he's already hinted at being a central character in s5. both from a "return to s1" perspective, because of the "love triangle" plot and painting plot that include him, AND the fact that him and Will had a whole scene dedicated to planning Vecna's death as a conclusion to the season. Mike and his relationship with Will and the overall story are being highlighted so him subsequently being in danger because of that is a given. (there's also the whole argument to be made of Mike getting targeted Specifically because of Will as a bargaining tool) still, why Holly and Karen would have that same target on their back is a little bit more unclear as of now.

but the Real question is why Vecna doesn't include Ted when he already lists the whole Wheeler family by name. naming three people and then being too lazy for a fourth is... pointed. again i've made it clear i do believe Nancy would be sad if Ted died. there's also the opposite question to be raised: why does Vecna go to Nancy and show her Karen, Holly, and Mike specifically? there's other people Nancy is close to, arguably even closer with than with Mike for example since the two of them Also have a very minimal bond. Vecna showing her Jonathan dead, or any of the kids, Steve, even Robin by this point. it would hurt her just as bad. if not worse. because Nancy is Not a family oriented character. she doesn't value her family over her friends, the whole blood is thicker than water is bullshit to her and her characterization shows that, she's actively afraid of repeating the suburban nuclear family life her mother chose. Nancy is NOT more scared of her family dying than she is of her friends dying.

so this raises even More questions now as if the one we have isn't out there enough already. into the question pile it goes:

why does Vecna only show her her family and no one else when it would arguably be equally as shocking for her, if not more so in some cases? why is only Ted missing? and honestly why does Vecna even show Nancy the vision? (there were 7 people present so it was a 1/7 chance it would be her. why didn't he go for Steve standing right next to her? he had to pick one of them but given he had 7 options and seemingly no bias towards any of them we can question this choice.)

as of now we can't answer any of these questions, we'll need more insight from s5 to understand what Vecna is trying to get at here. however, this is where the theory comes back in because as of now it's one of the only things that actually Could explain it.

if Karen was actually Alice Creel and somehow survived that night. (there's a Lot to say about this but this i'll get into it on another post) it would mean Henry's attempt at familicide went even worse than originally thought. not only did his father survive but his sister would have lived as well and even gone on to have a family of her own after the fact. Victor tells us that he fears the "demon" will return, kill him for good, even Vecna himself tells Nancy he's interested in paying Victor a visit soon, so by that we can assume Henry is finishing his sloppy family murder that really only killed his mom next season. (and in all honesty, i don't see Victor surviving it, he's got death flags all over him)

but this presents a new possibility. Alice, now having children of her own, means that Henry's original family he wanted to kill is now extended by a nephew and two nieces he didn't have before. which raises the question: why wouldn't he want them dead too? Henry's murders were never about the people he Lived with, it was targeted at his family specifically - it was about the ideals he hated so much and what their superficially perfect happy nuclear family embodied despite being "bad people" on the inside, according to Henry's perception.

so when Henry finally goes back on what he announced to Nancy and kills his family for real next time, who would he classify as family? just Victor and Alice? or Alice's children who are his blood relatives as well?

because "Mom, and Holly... Mike" would be the exact list of Henry's living relatives according to this theory. minus of course Victor (locked in Pennhurst) and Nancy herself (the one receiving the threat).

and this would also finally give us an explanation of why Ted wasn't included in the vision. being a random well-earning man Karen married years ago he has no blood relation to the Creel family and therefore no significant role in a potential familicide. giving us the explanation that it's not Nancy who doesn't care about him dying but actually Vecna, since he would really just be a Random Guy to him.

this theory would all in all go to explain why:

the 1/7 chance of having the vision fell on Nancy.

Vecna then went out of his way to give her his whole tragic backstory in an immersive dia show instead of us seeing it through El's NINA memories

AND why Ted Wheeler is weirdly missing from the threats known family killer Henry Creel makes.

again, i'm personally not a die hard believer of this theory myself, but at this point there's a lot that would make infinitely more sense when placed with the backdrop of this theory. for this scene alone it's the only solid explanation as of now to really give us a reason as to what could be going on here. of course we're still missing the facts s5 will give us but with what we're working with right now? this theory is actually a lot less crack-y than i initially believed.

(ngl i was pretty anti this theory at first. again, not the biggest fan of the "and they're related" trope in general so it's not my full jam. but I have to consider it at this point because there's just so much in canon hinting at it. it'll either actually be what canon goes for or it's supposed to be a deliberate audience misguide and fakeout to leave people guessing for s5 because there's Too Much going on here. this scene is just the tip of the iceberg too, i'm genuinely amazed how much there actually is both in the show as well as narrative wise)

[coprolite-posting]

Thinking about that one "how the US would do a kaiju" post and. I feel like NOPE might count? Like, I've seen at least @/bogleech compare it to the genre, and i can see the similarities- Jean Jacket is a critter, decently big, and brings ruin- while generally existing as an allegory in such (but still being, textually, A Creature)*. But I'd feel gravely remiss not to specify it's specifically a "Black (US)American kaiju" rather than a "general (US)American" one, out of respect for the creator(s) and also just. The film itself. You could maybe do an essay- or at least a short diatribe- about comparing/contrasting the scale of the film's events with more common genre standards and come up with some statement about how if atrocities befall a sufficiently minority (or directly marginalized) subset of the population, structures of power don't tend to like. Care. But I'm probably not going to write it because I'm white, kind of stupid, and- most crucially- don't have any sources on hand beyond "just watch the movie haha." Also? I'm sure something along those lines has already been written somewhere, come on.

One thing maybe-original I can say about NOPE is that a lot of people seem to assume Jean Jacket is an Actual Alien, or at least describe it as such, when I don't remember that ever being confirmed one way or another in the film? I guess it could've come from a director interview or something somewhere. Personally, if that isn't the case, it seems weird to insist on such a thing, when a) a lot of the latter half of the movie is dedicated to subverting and deconstructing the tropey "UFO alien spaceship" buildup, and b) there are plenty of terrestrial animals that have some similarity to the creature design, if not we're direct inspirations; guys like jellyfish and sea angles and maybe even rays if you Absolutely Need a vertebrate example for some reason. Despite living in a pretty dry biome in the film, Jean Jacket is pretty "marine animal"-coded to me. Besides waiting for something to drift into your mouth, sucking shit up is just kind of the default eating strategy down there! I know for a fact there was intent to portray the species as having existed "alongside" humans for a very long time**; I don't think a terrestrial origin is particularly outlandish, especially considering a creature that a) seems to lack or almost lack hard parts, and b) disintegrates upon death (more or less, from what I recall), wouldn't fossilize well.

*I should specify that the discussion is more around the "Godzilla represents nuclear warfare"-type filmography than the "giant monsters are really cool" concept. Anyone can do the latter, and probably already has. Hollywood has Pacific Rim, which I guess with the aliens at the end, you could say something about fears of colonization befalling the imperial core in a sort of role-reversal scenario, but you can say that about a lot of Hollywood sci-fi and adjacent cinema. Maybe even most of it, to be honest. (...I haven't watched the second one, and I've heard it isn't as good.)

**I think the design/behavior and worldbuilding/character reactions imply this well enough on their own, but I believe there was also a snippet of an interview somewhere that mentioned something along those lines. Not necessarily part of the work itself, I suppose, but outside context can enrich interpretation.

[pink-tears]

Hello everyone, I'm Mikan! This account is dedicated to my love of Jesus, my truamas, my life stories and well, my love for Mikan.

This blog will not be for everyone and that's totally OK! I don't expect anyone to particularly enjoy me. That being said I need a pin post haha.

About me!

Alias: Mikan

Age: 21

Zodiac: (I don't believe in them anymore but;) Capricorn

Personality type: INFP-T /INFJ-T

Race: mixed, heavily. African-American, Cherokee, Latin(a), Korean, White. (White passing)

Political standing: center, very slight right. (Not by much tho!

Religion: Roman Catholic Convert (Christian)

Patron St.: St. Mary Magdalen (Jesus' Mother)

Former faiths: Greek Mythos High Priestess (Apollo Devotee), Shia Muslim, Atheist.

Rel. Status: Engaged as of April 23rd '24

DNI will be in my rentry, tho, BYF will be here.

BYF: I will post about my truamas pretty openly here, that does Include very graphic things which I don't want minors to read regardless of your beliefs, children and minors shouldn't be subject to what I went through. That being said, other adults regardless of race, gender identity or faiths are free to read what I write. This will be my journal, an open journal.

I don't post NSFW content, I don't want to see NSFW content, this page isn't child friendly tho! Adults with NSFW accounts and want to follow me, follow me on your alt please.

I'm a proud Christian, that being said I may preach here from time to time. If you don't like that please scroll by or unfollow me that's totally OK! Jesus saved my life and I think that's beautiful. I will praise him here.

I am a Mikan Tsumiki IRL, if you think she'd be uncomfortable by you, I likely will be too! I don't mind kins or other irls as long as their aware it is psychosis and a delusion we are subject to. We are pro-recovery on this page!!

If you make a fetish of Mikan, I will have to ask you to DNI, it's weird. If she were real she would be traumatized by you, be aware of this!!

I am dyslexic, heavily, actually. Typos exist here please don't correct them, trust me I'm aware. Unless we're close, don't correct me!

Lastly, I am a HC-DID system, diagnosed and recovering to reach being a Singlet. I won't discuss my alters here, it makes me uncomfortable being a system isn't fun.

Diagnosed illnesses/etc: HC-DID, BPD, Generalized Anxiety, C-PTSD, Clinical Depression, Anorexia+Bulimia Nervosa, Leg Truama, GERD(still undergoing Diag.)

Working on Diag. From my Dr.: POTS (I may be forgetting some)

(Idc if yall post me on r/cringe, or whatever, I dislike fake systems too and what not. I am not one but still someone may suspect me since, it's the internet)

[sweetlikehoneystingslikeabee]

BTAS, Gotham, Arkham Jervis has a crush on a Scarecrow assistant who also likes disturbing stuff and people feel weird around her.

"She's just a little quirky!"

I had a lot of fun messing around with this one. I hope you like it!

Tw: taxidermy, dead animal mention, gore/violence mention

For the sake of my own fun, let's make up some interests and background for our fake assistant. Neurodivergent, socially clumsy but tries to be friendly- her home is decorated with grotesque horror memorabilia, articulated animal skeletons, taxidermy and preserved bugs. She did at least half of them herself. Naturally attracted to many of common fears or things that make people grossed out. Wants to talk about them anyways. With that said-

Btas

- Ooooooohhhhh my god please don't stab him.

- HAHA HE MEANS HELLO HOW ARE YOU? Always exceedingly polite and it's only partly because he's nervous.

- Shes so beautiful and uniquely herself and terrifying and-

- His crush is really confusing at first because she's intimidating to him? Yes, absolutely fitting for someone working with Scarecrow. But besides some darker quirks, he's rather... whimsy.

- It's when she's so kind and genuine to him that it falls into place and he realizes that he's in trouble. There's a moment where he has to come to terms with the fact that he is also kind of strange and makes people feel weird and uncomfortable- and she doesn't judge him for it!

- Once he actually works up the nerve to tell her and she actually accepts him? That changes everything.

- Expect him to fully divulge in all his weird special interests and do his best to indulge in hers! It's not so scary once he sees the process. He had to do a lot of necropsies and anatomical studies to become a neuroscientist, after all.

- Will get very defensive if anyone acts nervous around her or rude. She's better than all of them!

- If you haven't seen "Red Flags" by Tom Cardy (ft. Montaigne) on YouTube, you should because it's the vibe for this pairing. Slight warning the red flag in the song is that the dates favorite movie is Human Centipede so if that's a trigger, avoid.

Gotham

- We're going to assume both Scarecrow and his assistant are older/adults for this scenario.

- It might bother him to see the amount of dead things all around her space. Yet he's seen enough mansions of old money to be familiar with pieces like these.

- At first he finds the horror memorabilia a bit over the top. But he sees how quiet and dedicated she is. To... everything, really. How she actually listens to him when he speaks. What others might think of as a "creepy stare" is her giving full attention, which he actually appreciates!

- When he does realize his feelings, he decides he's going to court her in a gentlemanly fashion.

- First he seeks to gift his crush something special. It's a piece he has to really search for at auctions and antique stores until he found the perfect one- a special display cabinet to fit on her shelf. The start of her own cabinet of curiosities!

- The second is asking her out where he can take her to see all the wonderful little holes in the walls he's discovered around Gotham... finishing off with a projector movie in his home. Tonights show? 1960 horror classic "Eyes without a Face" with subtitles!

- He keeps his hands to himself unless she initiates. And then, very politely, he takes her to her home after and kisses her knuckle as he says goodnight.

- He wonders if she likes hypnosis? He supposes he'll find out it anyone is ever mean to her because that is definitely what's going to happen.

Arkham

- 100% ready to be a freak about this.

- He was already pretty dark both in his actions and mentally before he got locked up in iso in arkham and then his brains served scrambled by Strange. The disturbing aspects of her interests don't startle him in the least.

- If anything he watches her with hearts in his eyes as she handles the specimens on her "work" desk when he comes to visit Scarecrow to discuss plans.

- "You must have soft hands to work with something so... delicate. Delicate, delicate, you look affectionate to your creations. Just how do you go to development?" Tell him all the details!

- If she isn't aware, Jon definitely mentions that his friend has got a crush. To be wary. And that he can "crush" it if needed. She simply smiles and waves it off.

- She gives Jervis a taxidermy white rabbit dressed in waistcoat with a little pocket watch- just like the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland... yes, he gets emotional. It's SO thoughtful! He's going to have to find a special place for it to display!

- They are going to assists each other in murder and villain plots. Couples bonding! He gave her teeth he made his enemies yank out of their own skulls ♡

- If anyone were to mock her or make her feel poorly because of the wonderful person she is, well... they'll just have to play a role in his next tea party, won't they?