#some designs aren't so well-done but that's okay

[hurtspideyparker]

Emotional Support Intern Peter Parker

Tony and Peter finally arrive in the large room, polished leather Oxfords and stained-lace Converse making their way through the crowd of professionals. Tony has a hand on Peter's back guiding him, because no matter how many meetings, conferences, and office buildings they traverse together, Peter always manages to get lost the second Tony lets go. 

Thankfully Pepper is easy to spot, shaking hands with some blah blah from wee woo Industries. Her hair is the only splash of colour in the constant white black grey of everyone's pencil skirts and collared shirts. 

"Hi Ms. Potts!" Peter greets as soon as the woman turns and spots them. 

"Hi Peter—Tony. I told you to stop bringing the kid to these things. No offense Peter."

"None taken! You look lovely, did you get your hair done?"

Pepper's hair cascades over her shoulder in perfect curls, splayed out over her white button-up. 

"Yes actually, a trim and some highlights. I think she went shorter than I asked though, because I always get half an inch, and this does not look like half an inch."

Peter steps a bit closer and squints at the piece of copper hair she's holding out. 

"I think it's just because she curled it. You usually get it blow dried after."

"Hm. I think you're right actually."

Tony rolls his eyes, "I'm so glad you guys are having such a great slumber party. C'mon kid I have to avoid that senator and he's starting to glance this way." He tries to head over to some tall plants that happen to be great blind spots. 

"Ah ah ah Tony! We are talking about this. I told you to stop dragging Peter to all of your work responsibilities. I'm sure he's bored to death with these meetings and work events."

"Pep, he's an intern, he's supposed to be bored and taken advantage of. Besides, if you take away my emotional support intern then I simply wouldn't show up! So."

"You aren't even paying him for his time!" Pepper says at the same time Peter mumbles "emotional support intern?"

"Um excuse me, that 3 million dollar suit he stuffs between his math homework and Go-Gurt begs to differ. And anyways, I pay him with experience. I brought him to that seminar in LA on Saturday, and he's following me to Tokyo for that week long conference in July. I highly doubt he's complaining," he squeezes the boy's shoulders, Peter looking up and beaming at him and Pepper. 

"I'm really fine with it Ms. Potts. Besides, the more of these things I go to the more lab time I get!" Peter pipes in.

Pepper glares at Tony. "Really, bribery?" 

"Okay well, if us grown adults don't want to be here how else am I supposed to get a 15 year old to talk about environmental reform to people who don't even believe in climate change." 

Pepper and Tony hold each other's stares.

"You mean he spoke to Mr. Ellis about the generator you designed for his carbon plant, and it didn't end with him calling us a pansy corporation and you calling him a decrepit geezer who's business is the only thing that's going to die quicker than he is?"

There's barely stiffled hope supressed under Pepper's professionalism. 

Tony smirks. "Yep, I think Mr. Ellis even smiled. The kid's got charm! Who knew."

Pepper glances at Peter in consideration. 

"Peter have you ever considered pursuing anything further in business? Engineering is great, but if you really want to be successful it's incredibly important to build interpersonal skills, leadership, and even current market and finance knowledge. I mean you might want to sell your designs one day, or start a company." 

"Oh, I haven't really-"

"You could shadow me! I mean interning with a CEO is a once in a lifetime opportunity, it would give you a glowing resume, and I know a lot more about this stuff than Tony. He didn't even perform his executive duties when he actually was the CEO."

Pepper has that gleam in her eyes, the one she gets when men call her sweetheart, or when Tony isn't even dressed for their reservation that started ten minutes ago. 

It means she's already had the argument in her head. 

Peter is still stuttering, flustered with this side of Pepper. Her business face isn't usually directed at him, and it's a far cry from the woman who sends him home with leftovers from dinner. 

"Wait wait wait, are you trying to steal my intern?" Tony asks incredulously. 

"If anyone even needs an intern Tony it would be me. I have to babysit you and the company, meanwhile you just need him to hand you wrenches. Competent help is hard to find these days and you're wasting his talents." 

"Um, excuse me, he's the only thing keeping me together. You already have your fancy day planner and Excel spreadsheets, I need him to get me out of the house. He's the only thing keeping me a responsible adult, if you take away my emotional support intern then I will not attend a single meeting for the rest of the quarter." 

"You are such a man child!"

"La la la la can't hear youuu," Tony says with his fingers in his ears.

"Um, guys, I think people are staring."

Peter tugs on the corner of Tony's sleeve to get him to unplug his ears, glancing nervously at the groups of people sending them judgemental stares. The three of them give a wave and pleasant smile, most of the crowd continuing to move along on the grey carpet at the sight of their unsettling synchronicity and false turn of the lips. 

Pepper speaks through her teeth, a grin still presented at passers-by. "Fine, you can keep him, but only because he's doing half my job for me. The only person you can emotionally regulate around and it's a teenager. I'm glad you finally found someone who can keep you entertained." 

"Love you too honey," Tony says while putting a hand on the small of her back and kissing her cheek. He sighs, looking around the room at all the government officials who think these tech companies are spying on them. 

Apparently a surveillance state is only cool when they do it to manipulate their incarceration numbers, rig elections and lobby votes, and not for data mining and targeted ads. 

"I say we hit the cheese and crackers, take an awkward amount of sips from those tiny water bottles, and then speak to some old ladies till we have to do our presentation."

"Sounds great Mr. Stark. Will you make sure they don't grab my face again? I smelled like old lady perfume at school and Flash started making fun of me for stealing people's grandmas."

Tony looks into Peter's eyes questioningly and finds nothing but sincerity and resignation in them. 

"Well. Not my fault your cheeks are so gosh darn cute. But I'll do my best," he wraps an arm around the shorter and starts heading through the room again. 

The weight is comforting. Peter used to get anxious at these events, but Tony never leaves his side and is always looking at him like he's the Michaelangelo in the center of every room. He became accustomed to being Mr. Stark's favourite part of the event. While that may not seem difficult, especially considering the droning lectures and snooty company, it always feels special making jokes about people's ridiculous work jargon, and comparing the staleness of crackers at conferences. 

"Emotional support intern huh?" he says smugly. 

Tony glances at him, but instead of scoffing or denying anything, he just speaks with honesty. "You and Pepper are the best, most important things to this company. And to me. I'm really glad you're here kid."

Peter doesn't know what to say. The words stick in his throat while Tony hands him a water bottle with the lid already cracked. 

Peter has super strength; It's completely unnecessary to open his bottle for him. He doesn't point this out. Tony will do it at the next meeting, just like he did at the last one, and Peter will never mention it.

[itzcherrybonbon]

For the Cookie Run fans.

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[Before I start with this ranting essay I'd like to apologize beforehand. I'm really really angry right now. So I'm gonna swear a lot and definitely sound rude. I'm sorry. It's toughness you all need, really.]

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I think it's about time someone talks about one of the greatest flaws the Cookie Run Kingdom has: The problem with shipping characters.

Now, there's no problem with shipping the characters with eachother! (as long as it's not toxic, fetishizing, abusive, minor x adult or incest, like ew, what the actual fuck is wrong with you.)

But here's the problem. Something that really pisses me off about the Crk fandom is how they're so goddamn gatekeepy of the characters and some ships in particular. Like, chill the fuck out. They're just fictional characters, snap back to reality.

For example, Espresso x Madeleine. You people have made me hate this ship with all my heart and soul. No, I won't bash you for shipping it, I'm a nice person and I respect everyone's opinions and boundaries. And I expect you to respect mine, please. Please try and understand where I'm coming from.

One of the reasons I hate this ship is because I don't see them involved in a romantic relationship at all. I only see them as close friends. Plus Espresso used to be so irritated around Madeleine, like- the guy didn't even want to be around him until later on at the end of the odyssey when their friendship started getting better a little. Espresso clearly disliked Madeleine.

Here's the part where I'm gonna sound rude.

The main reason however..is you. Yes you, toxic fans. You all act like Espresseleine is the only thing people are allowed to ship. I've been bashed a lot of times for liking Espresso x Éclair, and that alone added fuel to the fire. And now the damage is done, so next time I get bashed expect me to lash out all my anger at you :)

Hell Espresso can't even be shipped with a woman. Because you people are convinced he's gay-coded. I'm sorry? Did the fucked up Devsisters confirm it? No, no they didn't. This is just something your delusional asses made up and thought it was canon.

No I am not homophobic, I'm literally pansexual myself. So don't even try and bash me. I've actually wanted to ship Espresso with a woman before, him with Chocolate BonBon! It seemed cute to me but then someone told me "Espresso is gay-coded so nah". They know who they are. I'm not mad, just disappointed.

Again, no it isn't confirmed. You all made this up! Let Espresso be shipped with someone else other than Madeleine, goddamn! Ship him with any other character, man or woman! Any gender! Go wild! People are allowed to ship whatever they want, so who are you to stop me? Who are you to bash me??

Mad respect to the actual sane fans, you all are gems. But seriously, let people ship what they want. Don't bash people for what they like and what they don't.

WAKE. THE FUCK. UP. PEOPLE.

THEY'RE COOKIES.

C O O K I E S.

FUCKING. FICTIONAL. C-H-A-R-A-C-T-E-R-S.

People are allowed to ship whatever they want, who are you to start lecturing them when you don't like it? Keep quiet and respect eachother, you wild animals.

"But he's gay!" "But she's a lesbian!"

I'll believe it when Devs say "Haha yes they're gay!", got it? Because so far nothing about the cookies has been confirmed, NOT EVEN THEIR AGES.

And when a ship is confirmed to be canon, again, people are still gonna keep shipping what they want. That's how fandoms WORK.

In conclusion: Please, stop. Stop bashing others for the ships they like, and stop putting labels on the characters and act like you own them. You can't expect people to completely agree with you when you say "Espresso is canonically gay!" "Espresso x Madeleine is canon! >:(("

Like, no. Shut up. Don't act like you own them. I'm getting sick and tired of the Crk fandom, I only stick around to see where the story is gonna go, and also to continue writing my Crk Oc's and roleplaying them. I'm actually scared to interact with other Cookie Run fans, because you all act like spoiled brats when something doesn't go the way you want or people don't ship what you like.

Get a life. <3

[loves4ge]

tattoo artist!au, cw: partial nudity, mdni

choso can feel his heart stutter in his chest, bumping against his ribcage. god, who just walked in? the pen he's using to draw in his tablet clatters to the ground, though he can't be bothered to pick it up because he is too busy staring at you.

oh, you, with your lovely little dress hitching near the middle of your thigh. strappy sandals and painted nails, you have him hooked. the parlor is dimly lit and smells of ink and paper and alcohol. the kind that's used for cleaning wounds and not the one that you get drunk on with your friends on friday nights. he doesn't even hear your words and you have to repeat them.

"sorry, what did you say?" he sounds out of breath despite not doing any physical exertion. and you grin, that smile would put the sun to shame.

"that's alright. i wanted to get a tattoo but i wasn't sure if you accepted walk-ins?" you trail off towards the end in an inquiring tone. you know that they don't. it's their pinned post on social media.

he does not accept walk-ins. "sure we do, what do you have in mind?"

your eyes brighten, grinning even wider, and choso thinks he might just die and go to heaven right now. he can't stop glancing at you when you show him the designs on your phone.

"where do you want it done?" he asks at the end, opening a blank page on his tablet to finalize a design. you can't help but observe him, leaning over the counter, hair in two twin ponytails and eyeliner done to perfection.

"i was thinking my hip? like if i wore a bikini, i want the tattoo to be partially obscured by the bikini bottoms." choso thinks he may as well have short-circuited with the speed his brain is malfunctioning. you notice his delayed response and almost cooed. he's shy.

this isn't the first time a client has asked for a tattoo in a risqué position, and he's never batted an eye at nudity either. but he's entirely unsure of himself when you strip down to your panties (you ended up taking off the short dress, though you did wear a cami underneath it), and he's thinking maybe he does have a problem with nudity after all (most people call this problem an erection, but choso's not that crude).

"you're gonna have to pull it aside, or i can cut it off." he doesn't specify which part, and now your eyes widen.

swallowing thickly, you ask, "what do you mean?" you know what he means, but you sort of hope he meant something else.

"the side of your underwear, we can just cut a slit—oh," he understands what his previous sentence sounded like when he sees your face contort into disbelief and then promptly dissolve into relief.

he doesn't look at you directly, "sorry, i don't know why i said that. it's, oh god, sorry to make you uncomfort—" he's cut off by your words of understanding.

"it's my fault really. i swear i'm not uncomfortable. really, choso." oh, the money he'd pay to hear his name leave your lips again.

"…if you say so. i'll use the scissors now, if that's okay?" you nod, smiling to encourage him. god knows he needs no encouragement to cut off your panties. there's silence in the parlor except for the sound of fabric being cut. he hands you a small towel to cover whatever you need to, but you just place it to the side. you know what you're doing. choso isn't sure if you're an angel or the devil.

he makes sure his ponytails aren't loose and puts on some nitrile gloves, black like his hair. you're wondering if you should break the silence, make some small talk, put the boy out of his misery, or just let the tension simmer.

"i really like the face tattoo thing you've got going on." he snaps up to look at you, then immediately reddens. his fingers hover above the black stripe across his face.

"yeah?"

"mhm." you lift your hand, thumbing his cheek where the tattoo ends. he's still the entire time.

you'd be the death of him.

with careful hands, he sanitizes the part of your hip where the tattoo would go on. he may have taken a little bit longer than usual, his fingertips pressing into your skin with the thin layer of an alcohol wipe acting as a barrier. your skin is soft, and he wants to grip your hips more actively. without the façade of a tattooist doing his job.

you're not feeling calm anymore, and in a sudden fit of unadvised decision-making, you grab choso's wrist (this choice was not peer-reviewed by your groupchat, but at the moment you find it in yourself that you don't really care). he startles but doesn't say anything.

"i'm nervous," you murmur. he instantly softens, melts, and reaches out to grab your shoulder in a sort of platonic 'i'm there for you' way. you're not planning to be platonic.

"that's alright lovely, everybody gets nervous before tattoos. it's more common than you think. would you like water?" his voice is soothing, and the way his lips move. you know what you need. you know what would calm you down.

"i know another way we can get rid of my nerves."

"mm, how so?"

"kiss me."

he almost chokes. he looks at your dead serious expression.

he is so fucked.

[tgcg]

fond regards

… OKAY? AND WHO IS SAYING THAT? WHAT THE FUCK?

I -- ACTUALLY, WHO THE HELL JUST TOLD ME THIS INFORMATION? I'M COMPLETELY ALONE RIGHT NOW. ARE YOU SEEING THAT?

ARE YOU WATCHING ME RIGHT NOW? BASK IN THIS OVERWHELMING PRESENCE OF NEGATIVE SPACE. THE ABSOLUTE ABSENCE OF AIR SURROUNDING ME.

THERE IS FUCK ALL. NOT A THING.

NOT EVEN SOME KIND OF SEATING APPARATUS FOR ME TO STAGE THIS INTERVENTION FOR YOU ON. I GUESS I'LL HAVE TO "RAW DOG" IT OR WHATEVER THE FUCK DAVE WOULD DESCRIBE THIS AS.

I -- I MEAN… FIRST OF ALL. SHIT.

THANKS, I GUESS… FOR DOING THAT?

LOVING ME.

WHATEVER YOUR VERSION OF "LOVE" IS.

OKAY, ENOUGH BULLSHIT.

… LOOK. I DON'T KNOW WHO IN WHAT UNIVERSE IS RECEIVING THIS MESSAGE. NOR THROUGH WHAT KIND OF TENTH-DIMENSIONAL IMAGE PROCESSING PLATFORM OR WHATEVER-THE-SHIT DEVICE IT IS BEING DELIVERED.

AND FRANKLY I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF A FUCKING WEEK ALREADY TO BE DEALING WITH SOME POSSIBLY HIGHER LEVEL OF BEING THAT JUST "LOVES ME".

I WAS FLYING WAY PAST THE THRESHOLD FOR BEING ABLE TO GIVE A FUCK ABOUT EXISTENTIALISM BY TUESDAY AT THE LATEST.

SO SURE, THIS MIGHT AS WELL HAPPEN.

BUT IF YOU'RE STILL LISTENING TO ME RIGHT NOW: I'LL HAVE YOU KNOW THIS IS WHAT YOU'D CALL A "PARASOCIAL RELATIONSHIP", ASSUMING YOUR UNIVERSE HAS ANY CAPACITY FOR THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS BEYOND BASELESS QUOTE-ENQUOTE "LOVE" OF THOROUGHLY UNLOVABLE INDIVIDUALS. HONESTLY, NOT A GOOD SIGN THAT YOU CHOSE ME OF ALL PEOPLE TO HEAR THIS, BY THE WAY! THIS IS NOT A GREAT LOOK FOR YOUR SUPPOSED NTH-DIMENSIONAL GODLINESS!

THE FIRST THING A TROLL WOULD FEEL TOWARDS YOU RIGHT NOW IS PITY. I WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT.

AND THERE'S NOTHING PARASOCIAL ABOUT THAT WHATSOEVER, BECAUSE APPARENTLY WE'RE NOW MUTUALLY AWARE OF EACH OTHER.

I LEARNED ALL ABOUT PARASOCIAL BULLSHIT FROM ROSE WHEN I WAS TELLING HER ABOUT TROLL WILL SMITH, SO I'VE BEGRUDGINGLY BECOME KIND OF A MASTER ON THE TOPIC.

WAIT, FUCK. DOES THAT MEAN YOU AREN'T BEING PARASOCIAL TOWARDS ME ANYMORE? HOW MUCH DO I HAVE TO TALK TO YOU BEFORE IT STARTS JUST BEING A REGULAR RELATIONSHIP? WHAT ARE THE BOUNDARIES HERE.

DON'T GET THE WRONG IDEA BY THE WAY. I DON'T HAVE A PARASOCIAL RELATIONSHIP WITH TROLL WILL SMITH OR ANYTHING. THAT WAS JUST A CLASSIC LALONDE "MASSIVE ILLOGICAL REACH IN CONJECTURE THAT IS COMPLETELY OFF-BASE AND GENERALLY ONLY DONE TO MAKE FUN OF YOU IN A SNIDE AND INSUFFERABLE WAY, INEVITABLY LEADING INTO AN HOUR-LONG DIATRIBE ON PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT DESIGNED SPECIFICALLY TO FUCK WITH YOU".

SHE JUST DOESN'T GET IT. HE'S COOL AS FUCK AND THAT'S ALL THERE IS TO IT! THE AMOUNT OF BULLSHIT THE DERSE HUMANS CAN EXTRAPOLATE FROM THE SIMPLEST OF SPONGEDEAD NOTIONS IS MIND-BOGGLING TO ME. IT'S AS INCREDIBLE AS IT IS MONUMENTALLY FUCKING AGGRAVATING.

ANYWAYS, SINCE WE'RE APPARENTLY IN THE REALM OF SHARING COMPLETELY UNFOUNDED SENTIMENTS WITH PEOPLE WHO POSSIBLY DON'T EVEN EXIST, I HAVE SOME ADVICE FOR YOU: IMPROVE YOUR STANDARDS. MAYBE LOOKING INSIDE YOUR OWN DIMENSION WOULD BE A GOOD START. AND I'D SUGGEST SOMEONE WHO DOESN'T WASTE HIS TIME TALKING TO THIN FUCKING AIR IN VAST WHITE EXPANSES LIKE THIS ONE.

JUST A THOUGHT.

JEGUS, TALKING TO NOTHING IS HARD. I FEEL LIKE I'M JUST SPUTTERING COMPLETE INANE GARBAGE IN CIRCLES LIKE A DELIRIOUS WRIGGLER HERE. IS THIS HOW DAVE FEELS ALL THE TIME? THIS IS HORRIBLE.

WHERE'S THE EXIT?

[jji-lee]

then if its okay with you can i request something with haechan, like you’re obsessed with best friend! haechan hands and you’re always looking at them thinking nobody notices but he did, he always does

easyy cause i'm already obsessed with his hands LMAO. thank you so much for waiting, hope you enjoy! <33

you weren't always this obsessed with your best friend's hands. it just so happened that one day you had asked him to help you bake, and watching how he used his hands to knead and roll out the dough, you suddenly felt a subtle attraction towards them. well, subtle is what you thought you were, but clearly haechan had caught on to your not so little infatuation with his hands, doing things that he knew would have you drooling over him.

"y/n what do you think of my rings? this ones new!"

he pointed to a shiny silver ring on his middle finger. but that ring was the least of your concerns. haechan flexed his hand to make the rings shine, veins becoming more prominent. you gulped,

"uh, yeah, they're nice hyuck."

as you quickly averted your eyes, hoping haechan hadn't caught you staring at everything but his rings. he'd suck his teeth,

"you didn't even properly look."

𖡼

then there were times where haechan would send pictures of him holding things out of the blue.

as you opened his message an image of him gripping his pillow popped up on your screen. you eyes widened, quickly clicking on the image, zooming in on his hands, veins on full display as he tightly gripped the fabric. you clicked out of the picture reading his message, got some new pillows! couldn't he just have sent a picture of them on the bed? you responded with a quick, nice 👍 closing out of the messages app before you actually lost your mind.

𖡼

haechan sighed as he read your response to the image he had sent you. was he being too obvious? well, he couldn't be more obvious than you. he had caught you time and time again staring blatantly at his hands, quickly looking away when your eyes met his. whether he was holding a cup at some party, or opening a package, your eyes were always on his hands, watching every move he made. so why wouldn't you just admit that you thought he had nice hands?

he even went out of his way to get his nails done, occasionally letting the nail artist draw on a little design on one of his fingers. and of course, it always made you stare, but never for long enough that he could accuse you of liking his hands. he was running out of options.

𖡼

like every other sunday, you and haechan were sprawled out on the couch, a random show playing on the tv as you both scrolled through your phones.

haechan glanced past his phone looking over at you. you were laying down, phone on your chest as you scrolled with one hand, the other resting on your face as you nibbled on your nails. he sat up pulling your finger away from your mouth.

"what the hell donghyuck?"

he sat there confused by his own action.

"oh, uh, don't, don't bite your nails. it's bad, look"

he showed you his fingers,

"i bite my nails all the time, they just make your hands look ugly."

you put your phone down, sitting up to grab his hands.

"you hands aren't ugly hyuck,"

you turned his hands, examining them. your voice was soft, barely audible as you began to ramble,

"they're really nice actually, you don't even have to take care of them. they're just naturally nice, and your veins look nice too when you're holding something."

you lightly traced a visible vein that started at his wrist and led up to his ring finger. haechan grinned wide, making a fist to accentuate his veins,

"think my hands are nice huh?"

you looked up to see him grinning down at you, a sly smirk on his face. he laughed as you rolled your eyes, pushing his hands away.

"shut up donghyuck, i don't think they're ugly, i think they're super ugly!"

he chuckled, knowing that you were lying. he extended his hands forward, showing them off in your face.

"if they're sooo ugly then why are you blushing hmmm?"

you reached up to touch your cheeks, and just like he said, they were abnormally warm. he whined as you slapped his hands away, bringing your finger up to point at him.

"i swear if you use this against me lee donghyuck."

he smirked at you as he hid his hands behind his back,

"of course not!"

𖡼

after that haechan would didn't let you rest, bringing up his hands in almost every conversation, finding any excuse to make you look at them. and if he didn't find a way to fit it into your in person conversations, you'd 100% receive a pic of his hands later that night as you got ready for bed captioned, cleaned them just for you <3

[dicenete]

I repainted his face more times than probably necessary but something always caught my eye and still does, but it is done. is done. It's fine. xD IkePri Tagteam:

@scummy-writes @goustmilk @solacedeer @m-mmiy @mxrmaid-poet

@pawnkyyy @ludivineikewolf @violettduchess @floydsteeth @wistfulwanderingone

@sh0jun @lorei-writes

A little bit of rambling of him below the break, spoilers (Keith's route, and little bit of Nokto's route) and such :0 so you have been warned.

TL;DR: I enjoyed the route despite its questionable elements. MC is too forgiving at times, but other than that, romanctic route was cute. Licht, the third wheel, was funny but sad.

Okay first about Keith's visual design: I really love how his design is the most asymmetrical from the suitors. Like the jacket and the vest he has. The jacket is very interestingly layered, almost like you aren't sure which part is the main thing and what is the accent. The green or the gold? The host or the alter? : D Same with his vest. His duality is battling in his clothing too hahaha

Keith's route was interesting. I had heard lots of differing opinions about it and I had my own reservations.

One mainly about the portrayal of DID and how the route does it. First things first: I'm not an expert at all. I won't even humor the idea that I had any say in anything regarding it. But overall, it could have been worse? Of course it might be very extreme in the way Alter Keith is hostile towards Host Keith. And of course you shouldn't take this as the only way the alter systems work. But as I said: I'm not an expert.

I had heard that the dramatic route follows Alter Keith and romantic route host Keith. I picked the romantic one. I had my personal reasons for that tho. But aside from that, it was nice to be with Keith that who struggled with self-worth. It was nice to see him grow as a character and find that strength to stand up for himself. (The fact that the host Keith seems to think that he is inferior to Alter Keith and that people would prefer the alter over him. The amount of stress that will bring. )

Keith's uncle was your very generic villain/antagonist without any real depth. He was a spoiled noble and so on. But since this was more about Keith inner journey I thought it was fine that it was like that.

The drugging scene… Well. That's a… a topic. Hmm… Host Keith himself felt very guilty about it and was full of remorse. Not that it was his choice to do it. Alter Keith well… He might justify it because he was gathering information about a rumor that might endanger his home country and people if it were true. I kinda can see where he is coming from, but also...IT CERTAINLY WAS DESTROYING OF TRUST. Like that time when Nokto "accidently" gets MC drunk. but hey ho. Since there is limited time frame for the chapters, I do understand they can't really jam all the things there, but I wanted Belle be more angry with him with Alter Keith for longer.

Maybe that's what bugs me sometimes. That Belle/Emma/MC is sometimes too forgiving and too much of a doormat. It works in routes like Yves and Licht (from the routes I have played, Leon seems like the most respectable gentleman too), because they are not being insulting towards her. I would even think that she works with Clavis, tho I would love to see him with someone who shares his chaotic gremlin energy. But with characters like Chev, Silvio or Alter Keith the their "power" doesn't feel balanced. MC seems to be completely on their mercy even if they stand up to them in some way. (Gilbert is another can of nasty things.)(With Chev's route, well, that is also a rambling for another time. But I haven't finished his route yet. so I will keep my ramblings to myself for now.)

Is Keith's route more about acceptance then? Accepting the good and the bad of a person? Possibly. I would think that is a good way to put it. Both Keiths have good and bad sides. And it seems that they are working on them.

[digitalagepulao]

My sincere Black Myth: Wukong review

Full disclosure! This is from a recent but earnest fan of JTTW as the original novel, as well as all the social, cultural and religious layers of it. I've seen my fair share of adaptations and derivative media, from shlocky to silly to grimdark to cutesy. I'm a bachelor in visual arts, with an interest in the field of game development since high school. I am also, white and brazillian, and have talked with other jttw fans, both Chinese and not, on this game. If any of these are for some reason motive to not read further, then fair enough. Hope you have fun and continue to enjoy the game, do not let me or my opinion stop you!

Now to the review proper <3

First things first, let the obvious not remain unsaid. This game, is supremely gorgeous. In every sense of the word, and I mean this fully, it's a work of art. The sound design, the character concepts and execution, the animations, the voice acting, the visual effects, the UI design, the cinematography, the 3D scanning of actual historical artofacts and heritage sites throughout China, and everything beyond and between, are phenomenal, full stop.

This was never a debate, I'm sure, but I don't think I can in good conscience not praise them for their work. It's no news that Asian talent, not just in China either, have been often hired to supplement projects on the West, and we can all agree it's about time they got to shine in their own AAA project. My issues with the international game industry notwithstanding, I hope this brings some much needed acknowledgment and appreciation for Chinese culture and arts, both traditional and modern!

Now, from this point on, THERE WILL BE SPOILERS, so proceed with caution!

(word count: +1.8k)

I also deeply enjoy their choices in arcs to revisit. Some like the Flaming Mountain arc are classic picks to adapt but still a very good match to the whole Six Senses throughline. I don't think you can do a JTTW 2 electric bogaloo without bringing up Niumowang and his family in some way (um, put a pin on that), but the other arcs like Yellowbrow or Black Wind Mountain aren't as explored imo, so it's nice to see them being given a bit of a spotlight.

(speaking of the Yellow Ridge arc, whoever made the executive decision of Lingji Bodhisattva being a Xaanxi singer is, genius!!)

I'm also kind of in love?? with Bajie's design and role in the story overall?? Gameplay wise he sticks around just enough to not feel lonely, but not too long to be a nuisance or overstay his welcome. He's no Atreus (GoW) or Ellie (TLoU) of course, but he doesn't need to be, and most importantly, he isn't trying to be, which I feel is admirable of the devs. Given the visible inspirations from the recent God of War games, it would have been easy to lean a bit too hard on it, but I'm glad they didn't overreach.

Him having a more complex love life is also a nice touch imo. It explores more his womanizer ways in an interesting way, and I appreciate it. I love when people complicate the pig! Also, the way he treats Xiaosheng (Destined One) like a nephew?? The scene on the Huaguoshan throne??? I'M GONNA CRY!!!

I think, I've run out of positive things to say.... time for the spicy takes.

I, kind of detest the premise by default. I'm not a big fan of "Superman is Dead" plots, cus it's usually either done for shock value, or taken so lightly that the weight is totally lost. I have such a love-hate situationship with the introduction cutscene because of this. On one hand, it's phenomenal cinema, and seeing Wukong stand up to the Heavenly armies in glorious 4K high fidelity graphics is delicious. On the other hand, the whole debate they are having has me going "?????", not because I don't get it but just, why?? Why did this have to be the premise?? (put another pin on that)

Also the set up and call to adventure is kind of blergh.

Now is as good a time as any to talk about the gameplay. It's, okay. If you enjoy trying to figure out the most stylish combos, or to mash buttons, then you'll definitely have fun. I was sorely disappointed that I pretty much have been going through the bosses rather easily. Chapter 1 it was mostly the struggle of learning the controls, but I never stuck to a boss for longer than seven tries (Whiteclad Noble, the snakeman that you are). Chapter 2 I only struggled on Tiger Vanguard, because I was sorely underleveled and had missed a pathway to explore before him. After that I second tried him. Chapter 3, I have and I'm not joking, gotten halfway through first or second trying every boss.

Mind you, this is not being some godtier gamer or whatever, I'm pretty average and only a recent player of soulslike games too (maybe playing Lies of P made too OP, but I sincerely doubt it lol). No, this is me saying that if you do explore the game and not rush through it, you won't struggle nearly as much as some people have and still are. Most of the final chapter bosses can be trivialized with the chapter's Obsession Realm gimmick artifact, which isn't in itself a bad thing, just feels like an odd choice personally.

Which leads me to, the level design. So far? Preeeeetty lame! It's very pretty and fancy, but so chockful of invisible walls that it feels stiffling and discourages exploration. I can never tell what is meant to be a path or just fancy scenery, and I never know when a jump will get walled or send me to my death by fall damage. When it's not being confusing, the level design is either a bunch of looping circles, or straight lines. And so far, besides a few interactables and loot, there is not much else to look at. That is, bad level design, plain and simple.

Also, the animations are glorious, but what is the point if I can't see the enemy?? That camera is my true nemesis, and I mean that. the fact that a boss can be beyond my field of vision at ANY POINT when I'm locked on and it strifes sideways, is dreadful. GameScience, FIX IT. It is also, very hard to tell what parts of a boss will damage me if I collide with them or not. The Kang-Jin Long fight was baffling on a design point of view, same for Captain Lotus-Vision. Some clearer hitboxes would be swell.

This is the point where I say my main issue with the game lies: it's very pretty, and adoringly crafted, but it lacks substance design wise. I feel like it needed to cook more, the level design polished more so I wouldn't get lost every five minutes, and clearer.... well, everything. Mechanic explanations, level progression, gimmicks, etc. It all needed to be less murky and convoluted to understand.

It also needed more meat in between bosses. I have yet to run into common enemies that give me actual trouble, so it ends up being just a jolly waltz from boss to boss. Boss rushes are fun and great, but not as the base game experience (for me at least). I had to stop one boss away from completing Chapter 1 cus I was just so exhausted. And I had been playing for like, an hour and a half?? That left a sour taste in my mouth, I'll be honest.

Okay, I'm gonna pick open those pins now.

#1 the Flaming Mountain Arc. I'm gonna be very real here chat, that was so cringe. What do you MEAN, Red Son wasn't Demon Bull King's biological son, and Princess Iron Fan was forced to drink from the Childbearing River??? And Red Son hates him????When I watched that cutscene, I had to pause and walk away for a moment, legitimately. This plotbeat is SO WILD to me, I got nothing to say. Just, why??Soooo bizarre. And that the Flaming Mountain Keeper has such a presence in Iron Fan's life is also, weird?? Not bad weird, just Weird, but that's like a nitpick more than an actual criticism. Ping Ping is fine though, I like that Bull has a daughter with Princess Fair Fox, that's cute and interesting. Wish she was in a better plot and adaptation but lol

And #2, the premise. Now we are getting to the meat of it all.

The underlying premise of the whole plot, including the true ending, is flawed by default. The premise runs on what is sometimes called as a "conspiracy theory plot", as in, "what if the gods were bad actually??". It's reddit movie theory content in very short terms, and while it had a place during the 00s grimdark years pre-Marvel, it's become quite a jaded and boring take nowadays. Now you may say that it comes from a genuine desire to show distrust and critique to insitutions and the powers than be, and I can see that.

There is a hiccup in that though.

In JTTW, Wukong is the Mind Monkey because of the religious text and subtext of the stories. Its interwoven in the whole thing, and makes it cohesive. It still offer critique and mockery to institutions, without entirely invalidating their foundations. Not only for genuine fear of prosecution, but because, shockingly, religion and belief is a major component of human society in general. But going back to my point, JTTW is *already* a critique of institutions and the power that be. Adding further layers into it feel like angst and edginess just for the sake of it, and that feels hollow to me.

To go further, this intent also clashes with their own plot. See, they bring up that Wukong's Mind, his Sixth Sense, died. Thus they need another Mind to guide his other senses and reform him, so that he may be reborn.

For one, that is such a convoluted way to do a reincarnation plot, it feels complicated just for novelty sake. Secondly, Wukong being the Mind Monkey, as I said, implies a tie to the underlying themes of the Journey as a person's path to enlightenment. If enlightenment itself is flawed because the gods are flawed/evil, then both themes are clashing. By making a "what if the gods were evil all along" plot while also going by the laws and order of said gods, then what are we even fighting against? What is the point of this whole rebellion between Erlang and Wukong??

my friend @ryin-silverfish said it best a while back, and I'm paraphrasing here (do pitch in or correct me if needed! <3), but the issue with these conspiracy narratives is the inherent anti-religion of them. They don't believe in anything, and thus they cannot properly retell the story of JTTW through a postmodern lense, because they refuse to engage with the religiosity that runs throughout the story.

It also leaves a sour taste in my mouth, because this game will likely be many people's first genuine experience with the JTTW mythos and story, and I tend to be concerned for how much this will "sour the pot" in the conversation. The novels are sadly innacessible enough as it is; the sheer size of them scare many people away, not even to mention the amount of underlying cultural context you'll miss out without proper footnotes and commentary. Most people will not engage with them directly, and certainly not most gamers.

While the narrative of someone embodying Wukong's spirit is not new in itself, I do find that it coexisting with such a poor premise and spin on it will be a sore first experience for new fans, and I can only hope that them meeting fans of the OG novels won't cause much friction in the fandom (we have enough as it is imo).

It also concerns me that, sadly, people and gamers in particular, get too swept up in the ooh-aah beauty of flashy sfx and highly detailed graphics, and fail to notice some of the underlying issues in game design. As I said, this game is a work of art, but it has flaws, and I don't think people are speaking of them enough. No, the issue is not "lack of diversity" or whatever the hell.

It runs deeper than that, and it's an issue I've come to see in recent movies as well. I'm aware it might just be different cultural expectations of the pacing and span of a story, and it may as well be! But I think if there was more care given to the bones of a media, it would bring much needed longevity and weight to these wonderful artworks.

All this said, I wanna see what acolades this game gets and see what the devs are cooking up with the DLCs (they said at one point the game was supposed to have 12 chapters and my god, that game would be TOO LONG. So glad it didn't get like that!), and further more see how this ripples in the eastern game dev scene. While this is a flawed game with a flawed story, it can be the first on a genuinely wonderful wave of new creations, not just by GameScience, and overall I'm hopeful for what might come next!

[al1fers-haven]

Adam x Innocent Sinner Reader?

Like, a reader who is a sinner but only because they went to hell on accident or the sin they did was so minor/they were forced into it?

Adam finds them during an extermination and they're just trying to calm down some kids and he's just like "aw, I can't hurt you 🥺"

They totally don't remind him of Eve, totally not

Sorry if that's a bit much >-<

AHH (as much as i hate Adam, they designed him way too good) ; 0 ;

I am so sorry about how long this took and how short it is, Adam is harder to write for since I don't see much of him in the show. but I hope this did well!

Adam x Sinner! reader You hadn't really done much in your life, let alone your death. You tried and tried to stay away from trouble when you were alive. And the only thing you could think of was stealing a couple things as a teenager. But everyone made those little mistakes, right?

The sound of the sinners running around in the streets and screaming was as evident as the smell of blood. The angels flew around the streets and killed many of the inhabitants in the area. You looked back at the group of children behind you, panic flowing through your body as you pushed them back towards the classroom corner, staying as far away from the windows and the door. "M-Ms.L/n. What's going on?" The little girl tugged on your jacket, letting out a sniffle as she hugged onto your leg. Your eyes widened a little as you sighed. Turning around and leaning down in front of her. "Sweetie....you remember how mommy said at the meeting that she was worried about that extermination thing? Yeah! Well- that's happening right now.." The little girl nodded, a couple of the children letting out yelps and screams as the door to the classroom slammed open. A couple of holy-looking beings wearing helmets and masks run into the room. "There! Look at those-" You stood up, shielding the students behind you with your body. The larger demon with a golden face looked towards you, laughing a bit. "You see this shit? Am I seeing this shit, Lute?" One of the exterminators shaking her head no. "You stay away from them! They have done nothing!" Adam looked towards you giggling, letting out a loud groan as he stared at you and the group for a bit. "Fuck! You're making it really hard to kill ya' hottie. Doing this selfless shit in front of me...." He looked you up and down, his heartbeat speeding up as he saw you now. Your bright blue glowing eyes and the more human-like features reminded him a lot of his second wife. Your black hair went down to your waist and you shielding the children reminded him a lot of how Eve had shielded their song, Cain. "Fuck!!" Lute blinked a couple times, looking over Adam's shoulder with a quirked brow. "You...you aren't going to hurt us...?" Your stance weakened a little bit, looking confused as you kept one of the children from looking out. Tears flowed from many of the students. "Awh! No, I could never babe! Damn, I have a soft spot huh? Gotta work on that shit. Hey! Lute! Danger tits, write that down in my log. 'Work on marital problems'." The woman nodded, walking over to the door with a notepad. "What are you doing here? Peter mess up?" Adam walked around you, huffing a little bit as he sent his little angels away. A couple of children walk out from behind you. "Im...I stole a bit. That's all. I'm glad to be here- so I could help these children--" Adam hummed, nodding. seeming not to care that much anymore as he sat in your desk chair. "Yeah- uh-huh. Sure. Okay miss virtue, You got boring. Tell anyone I spared you and I'll be back quicker than you want." He pointed at you, patting one of the children, and walked out of the door yelling for that woman.

"...what the fuck?" You quickly covered your mouth, looking down at the gawking 5-year-olds.

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Mammal bias is esp rampant in the pet community. I've had pet reptiles and spiders/tarantulas since I was about 10 and being told right to me face that the animals I cared for and cherished were gross and weird and some even "jokingly" staid they would gladly stomp on.

Nothing against dogs and cats but if you wouldn't say that about someone's dog or cat why would you say that to anyone who loves their pets?

Yup yup yup. Honestly, I've always known mammal bias was a thing, and when I majored in biology it was shoved down my throat, but I kind of figured its scope was limited or not really that damaging until I got my pet birds.

Apartments list themselves as pet friendly, but they only ever mean cats and dogs (and good luck trying to find ones that have other pets listed as okay online - same for temporary lodging)

Vets are usually only trained in cats and dogs, and it is impossible to find vets for other species close by - sometimes, at all - fish literally are done a major disservice alone

Homes and group living areas like townhouses, apartment buildings, etc. are not built with the safety of non-catdog pets in mind. How many have linked ventilation systems, which would endanger birds to emissions from other homes?

Service animals can only be dogs. Because dogs were literally bred to be our obedient servants. Never mind that other animals are more intelligent, and can also be trained. Just dogs.

Heck, cats and dogs even form a binary! Are you a cat lover or a dog lover? If you say neither, you get weird looks, and are accused of hating animals! Even though that's only two animals out of the billions!

And of course there's the death threats. Whether its someone threatening to kill someone's pet tarantula, to stomp on their snake, or eat their chicken, that just comes up again and again.

Cats and Dogs are elevated to essentially human status, because they are companion animals in our society and seen as part of the family. But no one can fathom that other pets are seen as family, too, that we'd like the same level of care and respect given to them.

like take this example: many people suggest eating non-cat/dog pets on the internet, and they're hardly ever called out or criticized. "It's just a joke!" and all that. Never mind these pets are beloved animals, and not actually a threat to anyone. Meanwhile, outdoor cats are actively causing ecological collapse. But if you suggest any form of aggressive population control - not of people's pets, of feral cats - you get called a monster. These aren't even beloved animals, just the *concept* of a cat is enough to make people lose their heads. this is a blatant double standard. an actively damaging double standard.

anyways if you want a non cat/dog pet remember to research vets and housing rules for your area before you accidentally screw yourself.

I would be remiss if I didn't add an afterthought that while small mammal pets and other mammals other than cats and dogs do have better vet treatment and some other benefits thanks to mammal bias, they often face similar struggles, and this hierarchy for pets really has cats and dogs on a pedestal lording over everyone else - including rabbits, hamsters, and especially mice and rats, and all other mammal pets as well as pets in other groups.

I hate cat-dog supremacy so much it sends me into a blind rage. Like, there isn't a 24-hr emergency vet for birds within three hours of me. I either have to drive that long or wait till my (hour away!) daytime vet opens up if I have an emergency. Birds can bleed out fast. This is just negligence. And there are so many animals, not only birds, that have been bred for captivity and rely on us. It is irresponsible and cruel that we designate them second-class pet...izens.

oof, you probably didn't expect this long of a ramble, I'll leave it off there.

[insanelyadd]

ONE MONTH UNTIL LET PAPYRUS SAY FUCK DAY (June 16th)!!!

Don't forget, it's now the third year of #LetPapyrusSayFuck ! I will be making an additional reminder about it a week from the day (so on the 9th of June)

Another wonderful year to celebrate Papyrus and his ever-present ability to say fuck! Before I talk about the day a bit more and give prompts as usual I would like to thank everyone who participated last year, especially those that showed your support for the additional #BringBackTheCoolDude campaign, which allowed the official cool dude shirts a limited re-release with a new easter egg on the inside referencing LPSFD!

(Image ID: a picture of the new cool dude shirt, folded and displayed in such a way to predominantly feature the "COOL DUDE" design on the front, with the easter egg from the inner back of the shirt being a small doodle of Papyrus with a speech bubble that says "FUNK!" end ID)

As far as I'm aware there's still some available to purchase if you want!

Okay so for Prompts!!

Papyrus saying fuck or other swear words of your choice (maybe his puzzle electrocuted him, maybe he stubbed his toe, maybe he is tired of Sans repeating the same joke to him for the 38th time in an hour)

Papyrus commits arson

Papyrus as the Ambassador of Monsters is tired of human's political BS

Anything else your heart desires!

Bonus!

Include another character, from UT or anything else, that you want to be saying fuck with Papyrus (Inspired by the @let-them-say-fuck-tournament ) If you do include another character from Undertale or another fandom, I encourage you to make a #Let(character)SayFuck tag (no spaces so it's the same on twitter and tumblr)

Papyrus is encouraging others who deserve to say fuck for whatever reason to join him on the wonderful #LetPapyrusSayFuck Day! I already have an idea for what to do with this prompt, in addition to a completely normal standalone of Papyrus.

Rules:

Tag your posts with #swearing (if that applies) #LetPapyrusSayFuck (regardless of whether he is or not) as well as #Papyrus #undertale and any other fandom or character tags that may apply.

You don't need to go all out and paint a masterpiece, you can draw a shitpost-y doodle, write a fic, knit a sweater?? Whatever you want! Just have fun. <3

If you aren't able to get your piece done for the actual day that's completely fine! Papyrus can swear any day of the year, and no matter what I'll be reblogging as many posts as I can to @letpapyrussayfuckofficial (which you are free to tag in your post!)

Don't forget to join the festivities by reblogging and liking other participants art, fics, whatever they've made! This is a fun communal event and I want it to be uplifting and supportive! :>

Have Fun!

[prettyboykatsuki]

✮  tags ; desi-coded reader (tbh...specifically bangladeshi dkjfsdj), pre-wedding celebration, so blatantly selfship coded i might have to delete it if the shame kicks in , 18+

Night air wisps against your warm skin like thin threads of silk as you step away from the party - with the assistance of Sakura, who held the door open like his life depended on it.

Your arms are stiff from how long you've been holding them in the same position, but after upwards of three hours - all the mendhi required for your upcoming wedding ceremony has been put on.

From the tips of your fingers all the way down to your elbows and even some parts of your feet. It's the one aspect of the celebration you've always looked forward too. When you glance down and see it, its completely surpassed your expectations

Through the light of your window is your family and friends, traditional folk music and ballad love songs play as guest dance and laugh in the warm lights of your living room. Laughter bubbles through the crack letting out some air and you smile to yourself, careful not to touch anything.

The feeling of drying mendhi on your skin is nostalgic even in it's mild discomfort, a slight itch in the intricate designs covering your palms. You sniff a little from the cool air, lungs filling with the earthy, heavy scent of mendhi paste and the sharp bitterness of mustard oil.

You slip further away until you end up enough distance away for the sound to quiet. Crickets chirp and the wind blows - as if the whole world is feeling soft.

You aren't expecting Umemiya to pop out from anywhere. He must've noticed you leaving and followed you out. You try not to smile and fail when he makes his way towards you.

Umemiya grins brighter than the sun. In the dead of night and even amidst the pleasant atmosphere - nothing shines quite like him. He looks good in the clothes your extended family so painstakingly picked out for him. A panjabi and salwar to match, a pleasantly deep shade of blue to go with his eyes. Your kameez is more complicated, but the tailoring similarities of the florals and beadwork make you happy no matter how trivial. It feels a little more worth getting three outfits tailored looking at him.

He cuts a fine figure in general, you think.

He approaches first with worry. A furrow in his brow.

"You okay?"

You smile at him and then smile a little more at the way it makes him relax instantly.

"I'm good." You take a deep breath, hands stiff at your sides and suddenly itching to find his to hold. "Was getting hot and stiff sitting for so long."

"Oh, is it done finally? Am I allowed to look?"

"Were you gonna avoid looking at my arms for three days if I said no?" You tease. Umemiya's eyes fill with mirth and sincerity.

"If I had too."

Silly. You love him, you think. You shake your head. "You can look. Might be a little hard to see even with the street light though."

"That's okay." He says, and there's something deeply doting in his voice that makes you feel like you might sink. "An excuse to get close to you is always nice to have."

You hold out your arms and lift your palms gently to Umemiya. His admiration makes your heart swell ten folds. His hands are careful as they slide underneath your own decorate ones, careful not to touch the actual design but to support your forearms and wrists.

"It's so beautiful."

"Right? She did a good job. She's doing Kotoha-chans now."

He makes a little affirmative noise while he draws his eyes along the different shapes and patters. Traditional shapes of roses and marigolds along with inspired cuts. There's a mix of imagery, well integrated - patterns of cranes and cherry blossoms well woven into it as symbolism. Umemiya pauses, most certainly noticing the nuance.

"I like it a lot. You're gonna look so beautiful."

You brush past the words, unable to respond to them without feeling earnest flush. Umemiya is undeterred by this, just offers a smile and another light touch. He leans it to place a kiss to your temple before pulling back.

A thought pops into your head. You wanted to show him eventually - you thought at least after you washed it off, but now seems like a better time.

"Oh and..." You carefully hold your wrist up to him. "See?"

He squints for a long while before breaking out into an impossible grin. Hidden in the wrists of your mendhi design are the characters of his name - integrated into the piece. You can see the very moment it clicks.

"Is that...is it traditional?"

"Maybe? It's common at least. I thought it'd be more special with the Japanese characters though.”

A little nod to him and to you. He's silent for a long while, deep in thought about something. You don't know what exactly.

"I love it," He says, then looks up at you. He presses his forehead against yours, a gentle tap that still manages to catch you off guard as he does. The decorative teep on your forehead presses a little into his skin as he does it but you don't make a move to pull away from his affection. "I love you."

You tilt your head a little, pretending to wipe sweat from your brow.

"That's a relief."

He shakes his head. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Could you feed me something off the table inside? I'm hungry."

He almost seems upset he didn't think of it first. He nods. "I'll be right back. Stay put but be careful."

"I'm right infront of the house Hajime."

"It's always good to be careful. I'd be sad if my wife went missing just days before,"

“I’ll be safe,”

“And I’ll be quick,”

He pauses before he goes back through the door, turning suddenly before he smiles again. Impossibly gently, he runs his fingers through his hair before running back to you.

Another kiss to the corner of your mouth followed with one to your lips. The last one carefully place on the drying mendhi on your arms just where his name sits.

“I love you,”

You soften. “I love you too, Hajime. You can dote on me as much as you want when you come back.”

He grins. “I’ll hold you to that.”

glossary of terms:

mendhi - more commonly known as henna, a special skin safe paste used for decorative designs. commonly red or black.

panjabi - bangla word for kurta. basically a long item of menswear that stops just past the knee or above.

teep - also known as bindi. a decorative sticker or red dot placed in the center of the forehead.

** more cultural notes: in bangladesh mustard oil is often used to deepen the color of mendhi. it normally goes on after or while almost dry.

[dduane]

I have only finished writing the first draft of my first novel so I'm nowhere near considering the legal side of writing yet but I'm curious, so if you don't mind me asking I got two questions:

1) Do laws forbidding writers from reading fanfic of their work go over to other mediums, like visual novels for example? Or let's say I wrote a script and was lucky enough to get it produced as an animated short, would these laws still pertain to it? Or do stories outside the written medium have a completely different set of laws pertaining to them?

2) If an author writes a standalone and reads fanfic of said standalone, then goes on to write a series completely separate from their previous work with a different world and cast can the fanfic author still sue if they detect similarities? Even if their fanfic is attached to a completely different story?

Sorry if these questions are weird and rambly, it's 1 AM over here.

Let me clarify this. These aren't laws that I've been following: they're self-designed rules, based on the current legal realities obtaining in the markets where my IP is known and on offer.

Re 1): Written or not written—drawn, sung, or performed as interpretive dance for all I care—work created with consent in one's own universe must have come about with underlying binding written agreements in place. Without such agreements existing, viewing work in any format that's based in one's own universe will inevitably expose one legally. If I write a graphic novel and people write fanfic based on it, I will not read their fanfic because it could expose me legally to claims that further work done in my IP was based on their fic. Ditto if I write a script and it gets produced, and people see it and write fanfic about it, I won't read that fanfic either. The medium doesn't matter.

Re 2): If I write what for the time being is a standalone novel and read fanfic based on it, and then write a completely different series per your description, can a fanfic author still sue me if they detect similarities? Even if their fanfic is attached to a completely different story?

Well, if they've got the money, and depending on where they're located (for national laws differ), sure they can. The suit may well be sourced in confusion, or malice, or both, but they can. And the suit may in due time be lost or thrown out of court for being frivolous, but no matter how the cards fall, it's going to wind up costing you, the writer, a fair bit of money to get shut of it. A year's worth of your earnings? Two years' worth? Five? And what will be left of your career at that point?

The whole situation is better avoided by not reading any fanfic based on your work. In any format. Any time, any place. Period.

What's workable, and legal, and safe, is the following approach to derivative works from the IP owner's point of view.

Let's say that (for example) a producer or playwright approaches me and wants to adapt So You Want To Be A Wizard as a stage play. If that happens I have them get in touch with my agent, my agent proposes a license fee for allowing them to do this, and draws up a contract with that person essentially stating that they have my permission to adapt my book. Once that contract's in force (meaning it's been signed and money's changed hands), it's perfectly safe for me to look at those people's material written in my universe, because we're both bound by a concrete agreement on how the creative process will go forward and how the results will be used.

Or alternately: Let's say that some writers I know think it would be fun to write Young Wizards stories, and when I hear about this, I say "Okay, let's do a YW anthology." And I talk it over with my agent and then we call in a crowd of writers whose talents I trust and whom I think would be interested in taking part. Those interested all sign contracts with me that say they've got my permission to create those works using my IP / in my universe, and to get paid for them. My side of those contracts stipulates (as seems fair) that, if they invent something particularly cool while working in my universe, I retain the right to use and expand on that concept or language at a later date if I like. (If they have a problem with that, that's their call: they don't have to sign the contract or be in the anthology.) And I can obviously now read all this work and have it, legally speaking, be perfectly safe for me.

But let's try looking at the situation from a different direction. I open my ask box one morning and find that someone's stuffed the idea for a Young Wizards short story into it, also saying, "And I'd like to publish this as fanfic, if it's okay with you." Without an agreement in place, without my permission, this person has forced me to look at material which potentially infringes my copyright. But that doesn't matter in terms of my immediate legal options, because fanfic is also conditionally protected by copyright. (This is a complex situation, but this article deals with some of it, and links to more discussion.)

My first urge is to simply delete the thing and pretend I never saw it. But unfortunately Tumblr's records of my web accesses will now contain proof that someone logging into my account, from my computer (or iPad, or phone...) has opened and viewed that ask. Should I ever wind up in court with this person, their lawyers will have demanded that data from Tumblr and will use it to prove that I had access to their client's idea.

So now—assuming they've actually gone ahead and done this writing and publishing—I have to get hold of my lawyer and have them contact Tumblr and get that person's identity and contact info from them, so that they can be sent a cease-and-desist letter. I hate having to do this, but evidence that you have not been defending your copyright can be used against you.

Now let me be blunt. Like most writers, I'm not wealthy. And the simple business described in the paragraph above could cost me a month's income or more in billings from the lawyer. What am I supposed to eat, next month, while I'm trying to write? ...It's a good thing I like ramen.

...Though if I was wealthy, things could get much worse.

Let's say that in an access of utter pre-caffeine idiocy, and a weary desire to be nice to a clueless innocent, I just tell that person in the ask box, "Okay, fine, knock yourself out... just don't make money from it and don't do it where I'll see it." And they say "Of course, I'd never want to cause you trouble, your fiction has meant so much to me..." And then some kind of gloriously indescribable series of events occurs that somehow or other raises the Young Wizards series' profile way higher than it is at the moment, and makes its originator even a little bit rich and famous.*

...And a year or two or five later, in these increasingly litigious times, that person from the ask box who was so nice and said they'd never want to cause me trouble... suddenly starts having second thoughts. ...After all, I've got all this money now, and without their contribution, maybe it would never have happened, right? Don't they have a right to some of that? It's only fair!

You can just hear the thought processes, because we've seen this play out elsewhere before now. "Come on, she'll never miss it. She's probably got a castle in Ireland with solid gold toilets by now. She's got a TV series in the works, and when that comes out she'll have lots more money. She'll never miss a few thousand [ / few tens of thousands / few hundred thousand...] out of that!" And shortly they're on the phone to some lawyers, and the tabloids, and Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, with claims that the Young Wizards series in the works is based on their idea. In fact, they can prove I not only read it, I gave them permission to write in my universe!

...And suddenly Hulu/HBO/RandoStartupStreamingNetwork has stopped taking my agent's calls.

(sigh) So, as I said above: just don't read fanfic based in your own universe, mmkay? You'll thank me later.

*Without the universe's originator then suffering some kind of toxic ethical shift after the fact. (shrug) Stranger things have happened.

[its-a-me-mango]

I saw your post about art fight (and by the way congrats and I'm impressed by the amount of pieces you've done) and you mentioned drawing furries. I kind of never did but I want to learn, do you have any tips on drawing furries?

Hi yeah my advice is to have an older brother tell you what furries are at the age of 8 and then get completely obsessed with drawing anthropomorphic characters until the age of 18, so if you missed out on that I'm sorry. /j

Anyway, my actual advice is to get used to drawing animals in general. If you already know how to draw humans then you've already done most of the work when it comes to furries, if not thats ok you can learn as you go! I always recommend looking at other peoples work that you look up to and seeing how they do it. Learning to look and pick out shapes and features is always my best advice, it's something you learn to do as you grow but being able to pick out characteristics, shapes and all sorts of what you're looking at will massively help with your work, never be afraid to look up reference!

Simply taking the time to understand how to draw some animals can help set you up for drawing furries, you don't have to learn every single animal right off the bat, just the ones you're interested in to start off with. Once you know how to draw one or two, all the other species should become much easier to learn, or if you just wanna stick with the one species that's fine too, whatever you're happiest doing!

For example, say you wanna draw dog furries, thats fair dogs are cool! I like border collies so I'm focusing on them, look at these guys they're so fluffyyyy

Right away you can pick out some key features, the pointy ears, the medium length snout, the long fur (especially around the neck), the markings, the fluffy tail, these are all key things that make up our awesome collie dog, taking the time to practice these traits first will help you later on for drawing furries, you can practice as you go if you want but if you're starting with nothing, go basic!

Once you're comfortable with drawing animals, putting those traits onto a human shouldn't be as daunting, head goes where the head is, tail goes at the end of the spine, and fur goes all over! Obviously there are so many ways to draw furries but I'm trying to be basic to start off with! Practising with putting human emotions/traits onto animals will help a lot to refine what you're doing, your first attempts won't be pretty so don't worry about trying to make them so, they're for practice after all!

Using this as my excuse to draw my border collie SMG4 inspired OC, come look at Jay he sucks so bad, you'll never guess who he's inspired by. Again learning to mix human emotions and put them onto cartoon animal heads is hard to learn but I promise it's possible and great fun once you know how!

There's no one set of rules for furries, it's whatever you feel works best! Add and take away whatever you want, maybe you want them blue and green with horns and wings, that's totally fine! Get as creative as you want and don't be afraid to go wild, furries aren't real after all, you can do anything you want!

Furries are so expressive and unique, it's one of the many reasons I love drawing them! You can get so much diversity and variation with their design and characters, they can be as realistic or as cartoony as you want! It's always important to have fun with what you're drawing and to be okay with making mistakes, you're not going to get it first try so might as well have fun getting to a point you're happy with!

Hope my insane ramblings helped somewhat, I never know if these actually help because my advice is always just "look at reference and say "fuck it we ballin" untill it looks right", I can't teach that to anyone I have to sound like I know what I'm doing lmao

[genericpuff]

What the actual fuck are they thinking-

Okay, the caption might seem overblown but... this is not good.

The main LO subreddit has been closed for weeks now. It closed due to the API protests but considering the options in the community poll were to either "stay open indefinitely" or "stay closed until the decision is reversed", there's a tinfoil hat theory going around that the single mod that overlooks that place saw the API protests as an "easy way out", especially considering how hands-off those mods are. By the time the main sub decided to take part in the protests (after the height of the protests were over) it had already been stated by u/spez that they were not going to reverse the decision. Essentially, the LO subreddit is done.

Do you know what's been happening since it closed? Activity in ULO has been skyrocketing, but we've also been seeing a lot more discourse from people who have been forced to stomach the ULO content after having their main community shuttered.

Listen, I've got a lot of issues with the main sub and the things they've done over the past year. There are definitely some really shitty folks in there who have ruined things for those who are just casual readers by just being way too protective of this comic. But that doesn't mean the main sub shouldn't exist. The main sub, as dead as it was by the time it closed, was still an option for people who didn't want blind praise or relentless criticism/shitposting. Though there were people who tried to gatekeep the shit out of the main sub (attempting to make it a "positive vibes only" space) the main sub was never explicitly designed for only praise, and by the time it closed, it was seeing a lot more balance between praise and criticism (to no one's surprise, because criticism has become a lot more mainstream in the LO fandom, simply due to the comic's undeniably tanking). All that said, it made for a nice middle ground. Even I enjoyed going in there and reading people's takes on new episodes every week, whether or not I agreed with them. ULO was not designed to be the only route for discussion concerning LO, it's very specifically run for one specific purpose and that purpose will not line up with those who are now without a space.

Without the main sub, there are people with nowhere to go. Some people casually grin and bear it through ULO, others have gone to /r/LowSodiumLoreOlympus, but considering how dead that sub is also, it's clear the popular opinion is swaying more towards criticism. I can't imagine what it's like to be a community refugee right now.

So what does that leave for those who don't want to use ULO? The Facebook groups, and the Discord. The Facebook groups are probably the most accessible communities - not everyone uses reddit, not everyone knows how to use Discord, but everyone uses Facebook.

So the fact that the Facebook groups aren't going on a small break, but are going on their own 4 month hiatus?

Not only does this further reduce the options for fandom interaction, but this is terrible for the comic. Hiatuses like this can kill long-term retention, and fandom communities are often the best way to keep that retention on some form of life support.

Think of it this way - if I didn't have the ULO community, I probably would have dropped off LO ages ago, cut my losses, moved on. But it's the fact that I have a community to keep in touch with and have fun with that keeps me on this series. This goes the other way as well, into the casual and praise communities - while I'm sure many will still eagerly return in October, for those who are more casual readers, Lore Olympus will essentially be out of sight, out of mind. And that is NOT something you want to happen to a comic that is already losing traction.

I genuinely do not know what Rachel is thinking closing these groups. And yes, I am pointing to Rachel on this decision because she literally runs the official LO Facebook groups. LO going on a mid-season hiatus over the summer when HALF OF HER DEMOGRAPHIC IS HOME FROM SCHOOL is already such a huge risk that will likely kill her numbers; but to go and cut off her official groups from being able to stay connected and talking about the comic during the hiatus, on a platform OCCUPIED BY THE OTHER HALF OF HER DEMOGRAPHIC, LITERALLY ADULT WOMEN ?? What is that supposed to achieve? If she wants to give her mods a break, sure, okay, do that for a few weeks, but four months? Is she so allergic to fans being able to theorize or "figure her out" (because god knows Rachel doesn't like being predictable) or, god forbid, is she worried about giving them too much "freedom" to reflect and discuss the comic during this time without the weekly dopamine distraction hits that they actually stop and realize how shitty the comic is right now?

All I can say is, as much as we're theorizing that LO is going to be getting a 4th season, I really do hope this midseason hiatus is its last. Whatever life this comic has left is being choked out by Rachel and Webtoons' own hands.

And when it does go out, it better go out with a bang. That's the least it can do for itself and its community at this point.

[the1entirecircus]

Reasons for why I dislike The Dark Knight Trilogy

The list I am going to make right now is in no particular order. Each part is going to be divided up and talked about individually. But before I begin, I want to preference that I do not totally hate this trilogy. I do think there are some good parts such as the aesthetics of Batman Begins and Heath Ledger's Joker. And with that said, I do think this trilogy is overrated (in terms of adapting the comics and lore of Batman). Mind you, this is not a constructed essay, so if you're bothered by the insults I give to this trilogy, you don't have to say anything. I am not here to make a formal argument, but just complain overall. Enjoy my whining!

---

The Lost Mysticism of Batman

Now, Batman Begins does establish Bruce as a sort of mythical character that acts as a symbol of justice and fear. Of course, this gets undermined by the equipment montage Bruce has with Lucius and Ra's. This is the main reason I like calling BatBale the armored furry version of James Bond, because that sequence is literally the whole "hey Mr. Bond heres this new gadget I have for you" they have in stereotypical spy movies. It reminds me of the saying "A Magician never reveals his secrets" and this is exactly that. Sure, Batman's equipment do receive explanations from HIM. He makes his equipment, not that he is presented with them.

Another part of this lost mysticism is that Christopher Nolan attempted to make Batman be "realistic" when the whole point of characters like batman is that he isn't "realistic". This has always felt like a strange way to adapt the character as Nolan isn't unfamiliar with unrealistic settings or concepts. The Prestige is a terrific example with its twist ending of utilizing clones, which is very unrealistic! Making Batman realistic also undermines the public's perception of him as, in my opinion, most people don't realize how much of an underdog batman is. Across his different iterations, he has face kryptonians, cosmic threats, immortal owl-themed assassins, and more! Sure he gets bruised and broken, but he's like a wolverine, he can handle enemies far bigger than him. Its why I like Batman vs Superman, because while it does get Batfleck's morals wrong, he's still capable of handling far more dangerous threats than him.

Batbale does whats impossible for a regular man that could exist in our world, not in a world like the DC Comcis multiverse. And sure, that is the point of the Nolan Dark Knight Trilogy, its a realistic setting, but it sets expectations for people that are damaging to the character.

---

The Batsuit

I get that the suit is based on military equipment, but this could have been done better. And it has, that suit debuted in The Batman and it looks phenomenal compared to what we were shown the TDK trilogy. And you know why that is? It genuinely feels inspired compared to the TDK trilogy suit. This leads to my follow up problem with the costume and its the sheer ignorance that went into making it:

"When they started addressing the question of it being a bull's-eye they took that opportunity to go: "well, yeah, okay, then it is a bull's eye." He wears Kevlar behind that section of the costume hoping that criminals will actually fire at that, and its bulletproof. Well, once you start doing that, the next logical question is: "Well, if you're gonna wear Kevlar there, why aren't you wearing Kevlar under the entire costume?"" -Wein, one of the costume designer from The Dark Knight.

Wein, no hard feelings, but I hate you for saying that. The whole reason why Batman only wears armor on that part of his suit is so that he can still be nimble enough to move around quickly. An entire armor of Kevlar adds weight and you need to still be agile in order to be able to react quickly to attack enemies.

Not to mention the suit itself isn't great aesthetically. Its over designed and you can barely see the detail in that over-designed armor in the movies. You can't even see the bat symbol for the most part unless there is light shining on it. And again, the most apparent part of the batsuit is the belt and the mouth-opening, which makes for great targets. Wein mentioned the bat-symbol thing, so why didn't they incorporate that?

All the other batmen have their symbols being present in some eye-catching way. Batkeaton's bat symbol is the iconic bat surrounded by yellow. Batkilmer's and Batclooney's first suit's symbols stick out of their chest, and their later suits spread out the bat symbol. Batfleck's bat symbol is big broad to both match with Cavill's House of El crest and act as a large target. Battinson's bat symbol has a double purpose as both a target and a bat-knife-arang-thingy. Not to mention, its holding place, is likely the armored part of his hefty suit. Batbale's symbol could be seen as a target in the first film, but in the second and third, its just there. He doesn't even need it as the long bat ears, the cape, you just know its batman without the symbol which I completely dislike.

---

Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne and Batman

Something about Batman that I totally agree with is that Batman is the face, Bruce Wayne is the mask. And Christian Bale does not do the mask thing very well. When Bale plays Batman, it feels like Bruce Wayne is the face and Batman is the mask. Even in the writing, he still feels obligated to make appearances as Bruce Wayne. While this changes slightly in The Dark Knight Rises, it isn't an entire change.

---

"I don't kill" he said just as he brutally murdered someone

People don't crap on Batbale enough for this. Even before he kills Harvey Dent, this Batman has set fire to the League of Shadows' hq, killing countless members and killed Ra's Al Ghul by not saving him. When putting that into perspective, it really makes you realize that Joker and Ra's trying to make Batman kill him has lost its weight. In fact, its very akin to how Batfleck kills criminals: indirectly.

"Oh, well those ninjas shouldn't have been in that temple!"

"Ra's shouldn't have been on that train!"

"Harvey shouldn't have been so high up when I knocked him down!"

"Talia shouldn't have been in that truck when I shot at the driver!"

You see what I'm saying? It's ridiculous how badly sticks to his supposed "one rule" even though its a key part in the story of the Dark Knight.

---

(The Lack of) Gimmicky Villains

Why are Scarecrow and Joker the only ones who have been adapted properly? Sure, there are differences between their comic counterparts, but they're still adapted beautifully and look like they were meant for a live action realistic batman. But Ra's, Two-Face, and Bane? What was Christopher Nolan thinking?? Ra's whole schtick is that he is the immortal leader of an elite league of ninja warriors that have controlled the governments of countless nations. How do you try to make that seem realistic? By removing the lazarus pits and immortality stuff? That still seems incredibly unrealistic! This is part of the mysticism that comes with Batman's lore, you can't take away certain elements and expect everything to make sense.

Then there's Two-Face. In the comics, Harvey is obsessed with the number 2 and decides things with the toss of his coin. He also has DID to explain how him and Two-Face are "two" people cohabiting the same body. In The Dark Knight, Harvey still decides things with a toss of his coin, but instead of DID, he has anger. I actually don't mind this change as although both Harvey and Two-Face are both inherently bad people (Harvey isn't as much of a white knight in the comics) people with DID often get a bad rap by the terrible representation they get in media. However, Two-Face's whole thing is based on the number two and his coin, however this element while there, there is something lacking, and I think its his relationship with Batman. His relationship with Gordon is fine, its just his connection with Batman is terrible. They just know each other, Batman isn't really trusted by Harvey in the beginning on TDK which makes sense but still.

---

The Race-Swapping and other racisms

Ra's Al Ghul is supposed to be pronounced similar to "Racial Ghoul" but is said as "Raz al ghoul" which is mild compared to the other things. Ra's was born as an Arabian Nomad and is considered Egyptian, not born in Northern Ireland like Liam Neeson. The Trilogy's version of Talia suffers the same problem. Sure it was fine to have a good plot twist on who the real Ra's Al Ghul was, but did it have to be a white guy?

Then there's Bane, who was race-swapped from being hispanic to arabian, but then he's played by a british guy doing the voice impression of an english wrestler. Its a unique choice, I can give Bane that, but again, why is he played a white guy if Arabic?

---

Gotham

Gotham city is supposed to be a dark and foreboding place that feels like its cursed. Mainly because in the comics it is, but thats not the point. We got this type of Gotham in batman begins, but in the Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises, that Gotham got recast by New Chicago-York City. Instead of those warm lightning from lamp posts needing new bulbs, we have colder lights. Wayne tower is covered with glass rather than being built up with bricks and other material. This is a Gotham that is completely different compared to the one we met in Batman Begins. Gotham was once covered in shadows, but now it isn't. It feels stale.

---

Rachel Dawson

My opinions on Rachel are all negative. We have seen Batman struggle with love before and a want to get out of being Batman in Batman: Mask of the Phantasm. Rachel is basically Andrea Beaumant, but worse, because Christopher Nolan is directing the movie. Now, I have mixed opinions on the concept of Fridging. On one hand, I do think its bad that female characters are frequently killed off just to motivate the main (often male) character. On the other hand, I do like it when that loss of a character (who sometimes is coincidentally a woman) leads to the exploration of grief and guilt as seen in Christopher Nolan's Inception. Aaaand, because of what I said earlier about my opinions on Rachel, you can guess which side of fridging I'm on about this.

Andrea Beaumant and Rachel Dawson were both created to be Bruce's love interest and act as a way to show Bruce that there is a way out of his war on crime. Except Rachel is more a plot device rather than an actual character because B

---

This is a Comic Book movie trilogy?

Sure, Batman and a bunch of the characters in the trilogy are from comic books, but you don't really think that while watching it.

---

Thank you for reading my rant. I just want to say, I am no Snyder cultist or Battinson dick rider. I have my own problems with every version of batman. Battinson's costume, while great isn't entirely perfect. Batfleck needs could've used more specialized batarangs rather than guns/blaster weaponry. Batclooney did not need nipples on his batsuit, and theres other stuff I could mention. Its just I have a problem with Batbale and the Dark Knight Trilogy as a whole.

[charlottesbookclub]

should we talk about the interlace on gwayne's horse's armor?

since I spend altogether too much time looking at stills and gifs of gwayne anyway, I figured I might as well share some observations I have about the really interesting visuals that are happening with his horse's armor

this is part art historical analysis, part gwayne meta, and part "let's look at some gorgeous images under the guise of doing visual analysis" so if that's your thing, please read on! if not, that's also totally fine – I get that this is hyperspecific and also a symptom of my very serious gwayne brainrot, so I'm putting everything else below the cut! 💚💚 (also it's quite long – sorry! 😅)

okay I want to be upfront about my qualifications and my shortfalls here: I'm an art history phd student and so basically all I do is visual analysis of objects. I've studied a number of medieval manuscripts that feature interlace (which is where I'm going to draw most of my knowledge from here), and I've taken a seminar (an advanced graduate course) specifically on medieval manuscripts, for which I wrote a research paper entitled "From Kells to Celtic: The Aesthetics of the Book of Kells Illuminations as a Marker of Irish Identity." HOWEVER I am NOT a historian of armor, so I will be taking my knowledge of interlace on other objects and applying it to the armor we see in the show

a short intro

so, the first thing that struck me about gwayne's horse's armor is that it's really different than the other equestrian armor we see, even amongst the other men who came with him from oldtown. to be honest, my guess is that this was likely done in the show to help him stand out and also show that he is a special and precious princess (which he is btw 😌😌) who needs fancy armor for his horse. I'm not sure if further thought went into it than that (but maybe it did! I'm happy to stand corrected here!)

however, the catastrophic levels of brainrot I've developed over this man have compelled me to read much further into it than that, which I shall now proceed to do with great enthusiasm! ☺️

first, let's look at the armor:

it's hard to find really detailed close-ups, but it's clear that the armor is incredibly intricate. not only do we have this very complex interlacing, but certain designs are marked out with different colors and internal patterning, making the whole thing even more visually interesting and complex

while interlacing is used across a vast range of time, cultures, geographical regions, and artistic mediums, given both the visuality of this armor in particular and knowing that westeros is based on medieval europe, seeing this interlace instantly called to mind a style that we today call "insular fusion" (I'm not going to go into all the specifics of it here because that's a post all its own lol 😅). it's a style perhaps most famously exemplified by The Book of Kells, but it is found throughout many different objects of the same period (ca. 700-900 CE)

now let's look at some fucking interlace hell yeah!!!!!!

from The Book of Kells (ca. 750-810 CE)

from The Lindisfarne Gospels (ca. 698-721 CE)

and two non-manuscript examples:

Animal Head Post from a Viking Ship Burial (ca. 825 CE)

and a later example, but one of my favorites:

Wooden Portal of the Urnes Stave Church (ca. 1050-1070 CE)

do we see the vision??? are y'all picking up what I'm putting down???

"okay, charlotte, I see the similarities, but why does this matter?" you may be asking yourself (or maybe you aren't idk), and the answer is: this type of interlacing had some super fascinating meanings and uses, some of which I think we can apply to gwayne! 💚💚

let me break it down from least to most potentially related to gwayne:

the aesthetics of interlace as an identity marker

use of interlace in a religious context

interlace as a status symbol

the protective potential of interlace

and now let's go into detailllllllll!!!!!

the aesthetics of interlace as an identity marker

I bring this one up because it's what I focused on in my personal research on the topic of interlace, but I also think it's the least relevant to gwayne. my argument in my paper was that the aesthetics of the interlace in the Book of Kells have been thoughtfully and intentionally re-used throughout history and into the present as a clear visual marker of identity that draws a narrative back to the production of the Book of Kells. however, in terms of the show, we have very little indication that the particular style of interlacing we see on gwayne's horse is associated with any larger identity concepts. it doesn't seem to be associated with house hightower, as none of the other men with gwayne seem to borrow this motif, nor do we see it associated with alicent (as far as I can tell from the little looking I've done, but I'm more than happy to revise this!). for it to make sense as some form of identity marker, it would have to be clear what identity he's visually referencing, and since his use of interlace seems unique, I think it's doubtful that it's part of a larger visual invocation of identity

use of interlace in a religious context

part of what makes insular fusion so interesting as a style is that it is indeed a fusion of a number of different regional styles, including vine scrolls from the mediterranean, triskeles from the northern british isles, and zoomorphic (meaning "in the form of animals") interlace from northwestern mainland europe. although insular fusion is used to decorate christian objects (like gospel books and churches), its component parts are much much older and have connections to various pagan religions that significantly pre-date christianity. obviously it's impossible to be 100% certain of the exact significance of interlace in any of these religious contexts (there are no written records explaining it), but scholars have a few guesses

one suggestion is that interlace in some way represented the spirit world/the world of the gods, or perhaps even a point of connection between the human world and the world beyond. although the religion of westeros is obviously different than any of the real-world religions that used interlace in this manner, I do still wonder if there could be a religious connection here. it's pretty clear that gwayne's mother was quite religious, and alicent is as well. although we don't totally know gwayne's relationship with religion, we could certainly guess that it's at least a little bit important to him, given the beliefs of the women in his life. I know that the most common religious symbol in westeros tends to be the seven-pointed star, which is not something I see on the interlace on the armor, so I'm not sure how far I would want to take this hypothesis, but I did want to put it out there for anyone who might have further thoughts!

interlace as a status symbol

as I mentioned to in the beginning, I do think it's likely that this particular type of armor was chosen for gwayne's horse because it does come off as a bit ostentatious. the manuscripts with interlace that I mentioned above were hugely expensive and time-consuming projects, and only the most affluent religious communities could afford such luxurious gospel books. given the level of detail on the armor, I have to imagine that the same is true in the world of the show. in some ways, it's a mode of conspicuous consumption; a demonstration of the hightowers' wealth and influence. there's a reason gwayne's horse's armor stands out: because it's meant to. it's meant to set him apart, even from the other soldiers who came with him from oldtown

now this next part is just my own conjecture, but I also wonder if the armor is meant to speak to a more artistic sensibility on gwayne's part. after all, equestrian armor is a very functional object with a very clear goal: to protect the horse. from a purely functional standpoint, the interlace does nothing to serve this purpose (and may actually hinder it a little??), it simply adds a complex visuality to the armor. aside from just flaunting the wealth that must have been expended to commission such a piece, it also suggests that it was crafted by artisans who had both functional and aesthetic goals in mind while creating it. whether it was gwayne himself who directed the commission or not, it seems significant that he chose to use this armor that doubles as a kind of art piece. he does seem to be someone who enjoys the finer things in life, so it wouldn't surprise me if he had an artistic appreciation too, and was using this armor as a way to demonstrate that (or perhaps even just as a way to show his own personal artistic taste/preferences)

the protective potential of interlace

technically, I think "interlace as a status symbol" is the most likely reason for the armor being the way it is, but this one is my favorite theory, so I'm putting it at the top. circling back to the religious uses of interlace, another theory of its religious significance is as a mode of protection. some scholars think that its creators believed that the weaving, intertwined lines of the interlace would confuse and trap evil spirits. building on this theory is the fact that complex interlacing was often used at transitional or liminal points, such as the beginning pages of a gospel book or on the doors of churches. the idea here is that the interlace wields its protective powers at these key entry points against any evil entities that might try to enter sacred or protected spaces

interlace as apotropaic (a fancy technical term meaning "protective," often used in reference to magic or magical practices) seems particularly poignant for an object that was literally going to be worn into battle. now, I admit once again that there is little canon evidence to suggest that interlace is thought of in this way in the world of the show, so I'm running with this theory more because I like it rather than because I think it's legitimately based in canon. but I just think it's very sweet that gwayne's horse would be adorned with this complex interlace that seems to be woven with protective powers. even if gwayne (or others) didn't literally believe that interlace had those kind of powers, the fact that he still made the choice to invoke the idea of protection against harm and evil is a lovely thought. (it makes me think of how people today still might carry a rabbit's foot or have charms against the evil eye, even if they don't actually place stock in the beliefs surrounding those objects. I just think it's cool that generations of cultural belief still imbue these objects with a kind of magical aura). I just like the idea that he (or someone else?? otto? alicent? his mother?) chose armor that might have been associated with protection against harm

and now I'll finally wrap up!!

whew that was a lot! if you've read this far – thank you so much!! I'm honestly not even sure if these thoughts were coherent, but I kept thinking about this when I looked at that interlaced armor, and I just had to get the ideas out of my head lol

but I'd love to hear what others think about this topic! I'm certainly not an expert on the matter, and I'd be super open to hearing if others have different interpretations!

if nothing else, I hope you learned something cool about interlace! (and also just how far I have descended into madness over this man that I am writing pages-long analyses of his horse's armor 😅🤪)