#sp-writing

[some-pers0n]

Memoir of an Albatross

Chapter 4 - Have Mercy on a Wounded Bird

[1] [2] [3] [4]

(Art by Loquatic)

Chapter Description: Queen Lagoon is throwing a party, much to Albatross's displeasure. However, it is only then when it is revealed that Lagoon has certain plans for his brother's future.

Five years had since passed Queen Lagoon's rise to power, and yet Albatross still had not felt any more respected the day since he hatched. If anything, he felt as though this newer attention was more fabricated and soulless. 

These days, he would receive praise and admiration for his magic. Any dragons who stopped by for the queen would bow their heads to him. They'd call him "Albatross the Animus Prince", as though him having these powers and being of royal blood was something other than a curse he begrudgingly accepted. They talked about how powerful he was. They spoke of him as this glorious dragon.

He knew what they thought though. He knew that they thought he was just as deplorable and horrific as when he was a hatchling. They just now had to be nice since he's capable of harm. They know what animus dragons can do, even without being aware of what he's done to Sapphire and Queen Gannet. In some ways, it felt no different than being politely ignored and glossed over; just that now he had to stand around with dragons.

Yet, life could be worse. Could be better though. For as many edits and changes as Lagoon's reign had brought with it, Albatross's internal life remained the same. For one, Sapphire had not returned. Lagoon had visited with her several times, all of which she came back with the same news: Sapphire had not forgiven him. She hated him with all of her fragmented mind. She did not want to return as long as he was still alive.

He couldn't blame her. Who would forgive a dragon like him? A dragon who had been so easily influenced by his darker thoughts and gave way to the temptation of violence and destruction. He was but an animal compared to the rest of them.

At least that's what Lagoon implied from her lectures. She would go on and on these days about how she needed his magic. That his magic was a dangerous force bestowed onto him by the moons themselves or whatever spiritual belief she held. He only saw them as a sick joke, one that only Lagoon found funny.

He had been her glorified circus freak for her to parade around at parties. There had been many since her uprising, and while they did certainly bring more diplomatic leaders and open trade routes and better relations with the surrounding kingdoms, Albatross found them a waste of time. Had he been able to skip them, he would have found some joy.

Yet, his home, the Island Palace, was used as her party area. It was the one thing he wanted, his own place away from Lagoon, and even then she abused it as her party palace. His emotions became secondary, as she would drop by and announce to him that she was hosting some new event between her and whatever queen this time. How wonderful. Even better with her parading him around like an object to ogle at.

He felt more alone and isolated at those parties than ever before. He had to put up a charming, nice exterior, even if all he wanted to do was just retreat into his quarters and wait until all the guests were gone. Play nice. He didn't hate the dragons he saw, not at all, but rather felt as though they were never genuine. Playing up a nice, friendly facade like he was.

He was tired of it all. He wanted to be alone, forever.

"Albatross?" a voice called for him.

"Hm? Yes?"

"You've been standing near the fruit and juice area for a while. Are you alright?" The dragon tilted his head to the side. 

It was Humpback, Lagoon's husband and King of the SeaWings. Better yet, a brother-in-law. He was nice enough; certainly a lot better than Lagoon, that's for sure. He was an upper-class noble, one that Lagoon took an interest in. He tended to ramble about his life back then, but anything he said was infinitely more preferable to being around Lagoon. He at the very least cared about him a little.

"Yeah, I'm just a little tuckered from the chit-chat," he laughed. "Standing by here, sipping this...juice." He took a sniff from his chalice. "Mango and pineapple blend, right? Though, I'm also getting a hint of lime too."

"Couldn't tell you, honestly. All I know is that the guests love it." He grinned, checking Albatross in the side playfully. "Why don't you come on out later? When you've mentally recovered a bit. It's not like this is some big diplomatic meeting anyway. Just a bunch of dragons."

He looked around. They were in the central room, one that was connected to the rest of the halls and areas. Water flowed through river-like paths on the floor, just barely deep enough to go up to his talons. Tables were set up along the sides, carrying rows upon rows of meat, fruit, and drink. SeaWings of all shapes and colours were dotted all around, chatting with one another. Some on the floor, some on the balcony. All of them nobles from various houses, coming together for some grand reason that only Lagoon seemed to know.

In the center-most part of the palace was Lagoon herself, her voice somewhat audible to Albatross even amongst the deafening sounds of dragons laughing and talking. She was with some SeaWing noble he had never seen before, showing them the statue. She blabbed about its marbling and how beautiful it was. The same inane mumblings he had heard a dozen times over.

Then, Lagoon looked at Albatross. Even across the room, her eyes were piercing. He knew she wanted him over. To have him there as some symbol of the power she has. For him to be this performing animal.

"Oh, that's her." Humpback clicked his tongue. "Might wanna get over there before she starts nagging in your ear about it." He snickered. "Geez, I can't blame you for sticking your distance if you had to grow up with her."

"That's an...odd thing to say about your wife," he said.

"What? Joking about her being a bit of a you-know-what? I mean, it's just pointing out the obvious."

"Well, you would be right. She can be a real pain in the tail..." He grumbled. "I don't know though." He shook his head. "I find it somewhat strange to sort of make fun of her."

"Oh c'mon! She yells at you all the time, and you're defending her from a lil' comment. Besides, you'll understand once you're married." Humpback nudged him. "Speaking of which, any plans for that?"

Albatross bit his tongue. Admittedly, no, he had not been thinking about getting married. The thought didn't even cross his mind. He knew it had to happen sometime, all dragons in this family eventually have to settle with somebody, but he didn't feel anything. No real pull or desire to rest with another. Whenever he imagined his future, he saw himself happily alone.

"Honestly? I've got nothing for plans." He shrugged. "I don't really think I'll settle for a while."

"Ahh, wanna stick with the bachelor life? Trust me, it was great. But, y'know, the time comes. Plus it's somewhat hard to pass up becoming royalty when the SeaWing Queen herself comes and drags you along to be her husband. Drags you away from that great ol' life, but, hey, this gig ain't that bad either. Just miss the freedom of doing whatever I wanted without coming back to see somebody scream about how reckless it was. Constantly on your case about the smallest things. Annoying, really."

Albatross blinked. "Is that really how you feel about Lagoon?" he asked, barely masking his disbelief. Is that really how a dragon is supposed to feel about their partner?

Humpback paused to sip his drink. He laughed. "Like I said, Albatross, you'll understand one day."

Albatross awkwardly laughed. "Haha, yeah..." He swirled the drink in his talons. What felt more uncomfortable than Humpback's comments was still the idea of settling with another. It was strange more so the fact he couldn't place a claw on why he felt that way. Maybe it was from him being young, but even so, he was eleven years old. Somewhat exiting his young adult years.

Maybe it was time for him to find somebody to spend the rest of his life with. Yet, the very thought of that made his scales itch. Why?

"Hey!" Another voice squawked in his ear. It was sharp and made him jump.

"Moons above– Lagoon?"

"Yes, it's Lagoon. I was trying to call you over for ages, and you just ignored me." Her scales were lit ever so slightly and her ears were pink from embarrassment. "Come. You're better off entertaining some lovely guests instead of standing there."

"Why should I?"

"They're bored and want to have a little chat with you. They think I'm an idiot.They think I can't even get my stubborn brother to do what I say."

"I doubt that somehow."

"Just come over. Stop being a grouch. Loosen up a little!" she said. From behind, Albatross could make out the faint sound of Humpback snorting.

She grabbed him by the talons. "Get over here." She began dragging him along. "You're like a hatchling. Can't you listen to me for once in your life?"

He pulled his talons away. "You don't have to treat me like that," he said, a little harsher than he'd like. "I can walk on my own." He glanced back at Humpback. "Nice getting to talk with you."

"No problem! Besides, now I can eat all the scavenger sashimi I want." He grabbed one of the delicacies in question, plopping it into his mouth. "Good idea sticking around here. Maybe I'll stay and eat all the snacks too."

"No, dear, you'll have to be with me soon enough. King business."

"Aw..." He looked at her with the eyes of a baby turtle. Sad, vaguely pathetic, yet somewhat cute.

Albatross let out a small, bemused chuckle. He then turned back to Lagoon, trailing behind her. "What do you want with me To have me explain how I made that statue of you again?"

"No, actually. Besides, I only made you do that twice."

"Twice more than I should have."

"You just can't help yourself but complain about everything, huh?" she asked. "I try and make light conversation and include you and all you do is whine and pout." She shook her head. "At least smile this time."

"I always smile. That's what I'm supposed to do at these parties, no?"

"Well, yes, but not that way. The way that shows all of your weird teeth. Fewer teeth, a little less wide. You look like a serial killer that way."

"Thanks Lagoon. You're always the best with compliments."

"Tone down the sarcasm as well. You're always like this at parties. This time it's slightly important. You need to make a nice impression."

Lagoon's face lifted as they approached the SeaWings she had been chatting with earlier. A complete shift in character. "Apologizes for the wait, Prince Albatross simply was helping himself to the buffet. Have you tried any? The best chefs in Pyrrhia have prepared the most delicious platter of seafood a dragon could ask for. Be a shame if it went to waste."

Two SeaWings stood before them. Behind was an imposing marble fountain of Lagoon. Sculpted from marble, it displayed the queen holding a spear above her head. Water flowed from the spouts below her talons, pooling in the basin.

That statue was one of the things Lagoon had asked Albatross to enchant for her. Her old sculptor had fallen ill and Lagoon didn't want to wait until they had gotten better. Instead, she had given him the diagrams and asked him to create it with the bonus of being a fountain as well. He tried to argue back, but she insisted. He complied.

Oddly enough, since that enchantment and many others before, he grew more irritated and sensitive to Lagoon's chatter. Most voices and noises in general were harsher on the ears, but Lagoon's voice in particular stood out as being shrill, especially when she raised her voice. He had chalked it up to getting older, and yet, something didn't feel right about it. Looking at that statue only reminded him of that.

"Oh, thank you, your majesty. We'll be sure to see." One SeaWing, one with sandy yellow scales and cloudy grey eyes, spoke before her husband could get a chance to. "And thank you for bringing Albatross!"

Guests had a habit of crowding and even demanding for Albatross whenever these parties happened. By all means, he is the first-ever SeaWing animus. They'd come and ask him basic questions like how he discovered his magic, to which he gave a fake story about reading a scroll that described it and jokingly tried to see if he had it. Perfectly mundane.

"Yes, yes, Albatross, the grand SeaWing animus," he playfully began. "A little birdie here told me that you two wanted a chance to meet me. Well, today is your lucky day!" He tipped his head lightly. "Whereabouts are you two from?"

The blue-white SeaWing tried to speak once again, only to be cut off by his wife. "We're from the Shifting Sands Grotto. That whole general region."

"Oh? Really?" He tried to mask his mild surprise. The Shifting Sands Grotto wasn't typically a place where Lagoon would invite guests. They were mainly a neglected area on a small island near Maelstrom's Eye. A common area mainly for trade. Not seedy or dangerous by any means, but nothing of note.

Lagoon didn't typically care for commoners. She would make passing remarks about their whininess whenever an advisor would tell her things. Strange that she would act this way to dragons who are, at best, minor nobility. Albatross would've figured she'd laugh in their face. What was she up to?

"I recall visiting there once," Albatross continued. "Very wonderful place. Is it true that the typhoons are as bad as they say?"

"Well, yes, of course. My dragonets always love going out during those storms though." She shook her head. "Reckless. However, our eldest always listened to my pleas. Oh! I'm Perch, and this is my husband, Swordfish. Terribly sorry, I forgot to introduce ourselves."

"Pleased to make your acquaintance." He smiled. Fewer teeth, less wide.

Perch turned towards Lagoon. "So, will you announce it now?"

"Hm, why not? I figure it's about time. We're only putting it off if we wait any longer." Lagoon looked at the wine chalice in her talons.

"What announcement?"

"What announcement?" Perch echoed. She snickered. "Prince Albatross, you're so funny. Modest and humble too."

Before he could get another word out, Lagoon's voice boomed. "Attention guests!" She spoke like a clap of thunder. "Thank you all for coming here on this fine evening! I ask of you to gather around for a very important announcement."

"I'm so happy for you, Prince Albatross." Perch crooned. "But, where is she? Marlin should be here as well. Swordfish, do you know where she is?"

"Dunno. She wandered off. Said she was getting some food." He shrugged.

"Well, she'll hear the news. Oh, she'll be overjoyed."

"I'm sorry, did I miss a memo or something?" Albatross awkwardly laughed. "What is going on?"

Once more, the only answer he received was the voice of his sister. Despite being several paces from her, it was like she was talking directly into his ear. "Thank you, thank you." She thanked the crowd as they all turned to her, shushing themselves. "Tonight is a very special night where we will honour two dragons in this very room right now. This arrangement will lead to prosperity in our kingdom, as we will have further generations with gifts bestowed onto us by the moons themselves."

She glanced back at Albatross. A coy, wicked smirk was painted on her face. "Tonight, I am pleased to announce the engagement between Marlin, daughter of Perch and Swordfish, and Prince Albatross, royal animus my very own brother."

It was as though a tsunami had crashed down on him. Within an instant, his stomach dropped. His eyes widened, becoming little more than dark circles of shock, fear, and horror. A lump formed in his throat. He struggled to find the words. What words could he even say? 

Why was she doing this? An arranged marriage?! No. No, no, no. This wasn't right. This wasn't fair. She could order him around and scold him, but to do this? Was she out of her mind? She knew he was hesitant to marry. Why? How?

Between the mass clapping and clamouring, he saw a lone dragon on the other side of the room. Standing next to some boiled snails was a dragon, the same silent horror painted on her face. Her overscales were a deep, rich navy blue. Her webbed spines were long and her barbels dangled. She had yellow streaks and hints in combination with her golden bioluminescent scales. Her eyes, the hue the same as a golden hour over the sea, were still. Trapped in this expression of shock.

That had to be Marlin. His fiancé. 

He couldn't hear what Lagoon was blabbing about. It sounded like rogue waves crashing against him, dragging him under the waters. He stared at the dragon in disbelief. She looked just as scared and confused as he was. 

He did this. Because of his inability to find a partner of some kind, Lagoon decided to drag things into her own talons. Now he's doomed this dragon to stay with him. That's what he always does anyway. Hurts dragons.

"Pardon me, please." He mumbled. He pushed passed dragons, quelling their remarks by saying that he just needed a moment. He began to shut down, feeling as though he was acting wholly on instinct rather than conscious choices. Back in this dissociative state.

He walked aimlessly through the halls of the Island Palace. His talons clicked against the cold floor. What was he supposed to do? There was no way he could convince Lagoon to call it off. She was stubborn as an orca. His stomach felt more like a bottomless pit. His limbs were heavy. He couldn't think straight. Thoughts crashed into one another. Rigorous self-critique, parroting everything Lagoon ever said. It was a storm of self-hatred and anger.

He managed to find his room. He took a sharp breath the second he entered, gritting his teeth. He could feel tears attempting to form in his eyes. Why was he having such a violent reaction? It was an arranged marriage entirely without his consent or knowledge, but this cut deep in him. A nerve he never knew existed that had been sliced. 

He kept pacing back and forth, picking at his webbing. Same old nervous tick, but never to this degree. Why was this happening to him? What had he done for the moons to curse him like this?

Then, from behind him, felt a new presence. He turned, choking back a small sob. 

The SeaWing. Marlin. She was in the doorway, her expression more sympathetic and gentle.

"Hey, are you okay?" she asked. The question sounded so absurd (obviously he was not okay), but the way she framed it made him feel slightly more relaxed.

Albatross bit his tongue. "If I'll be perfectly honest: no, not exactly."

"Yeah..." she sighed. "I can't believe any of this is happening. I'm sorry."

There was an odd way in which she spoke. She sounded so genuine. Not in a way like Lagoon being bluntly rude, but like she was trying to talk with him. 

"I can leave if you want. It's a lot. For both of us, but you seem to be...well, not too great."

The corners of Albatross's mouth perked up. "Yeah, hah. I'm just..." He placed his talons on his head. "Moons above, what's gotten into me?"

"If it helps, I'd try to focus on something. I get like this sometimes, but one of my younger brothers has it a lot more. Maybe you could focus on the waves."

The only real thing of comfort to him was the thoughts about her. Trying to figure her out. Why was she like this? Why did she talk to him like this? She only just met him. He never knew she existed until a few minutes ago. How could a dragon be so kind despite everything he is? Isn't he the royal animus, harbinger of a new era to the Kingdom of the Sea with his magic?

Why was she normal about him?

"Again, it's okay if I can leave–"

"Please, no," he blurted out. "No, wait. No, you can leave if you want. I don't want to force you to stay if you don't. You've already been more than helpful." He mustered up every ounce of strength to say those words.

Marlin's gaze softened. She took a step forward. "If it makes you feel a little better, I can be here to talk to."

"...why would you want to do that?" he asked.

"Why wouldn't I?"

"Am I not Albatross? You must have heard about what they've said. I mean, look at me." He gestured to himself. "My eyes, my snout, my weird tail, even the way I talk, it's all off. It's different. Most dragons can't stand to be around me that long. Get weirded out."

"Why would they? You seem nice."

"Why would you stay then?"

"Because you seem nice."

He paused. "How could you know that?"

She tapped her talons on the floor. "I've definitely heard about you. I guess even then I thought it was sorta weird how they'd point at you like you're some deity or some blemish on the family. I thought they were overblowing things. That isn't to say I wasn't shocked when I heard I was being shipped off to marry you; and, moons above, it still feels so surreal to me."

She looked at him. "Then I saw you. You had this look that undid every sort of belief I had about you." She shook her head in disbelief. "I don't think I've ever seen a dragon look like that. You weren't some regal, intimidating, fancy-schmancy royal animus. You were just some normal dragon."

She chuckled. "Sounds weird, but I dunno. That's how I felt. I saw you run away and I wanted to help. I don't even really know if this is helping you or not either."

"It's...helping," he muttered. His heart began to slow. He could breathe easier now. "Thank you, Marlin."

"No problem. Helping you actually made me a little calmer. Thank you, uh... Albatross? Are you fine with that?"

"More than fine. Just call me Albatross." He smiled. He didn't care if he showed his teeth and was a bit too wide.

Maybe, out of all of the dragons that Lagoon could have paired him up with, she had picked the one that could perhaps be his friend.

[artsarasp]

[Mission Objective: Run.]

[Prev] [Masterpost]

[mogamuncher]

Heeey I'm back! It's finally time for the full Cakeverse analysis gang!

Ok, so, for a refresher:

There's the Forks, the Cakes and the Plates (normal people), and it goes like this:

Plates are just normal people, the majority of the world population, nothing new here.

Forks: Can't taste and sometimes can't smell either, sometimes they used be able to taste but lost it with age; either way, they can only ever taste cakes.

Cakes: Basically normal people except that they're delicious, everything from them (flesh, tears, saliva, etc) tastes like cake (or other foods if you want). You can't tell who's a cake or not unless you're a Fork that's tasting them in some way.

Now, I have to add some stuff that's really interesting and that the og author said, that we'll be getting into today.

• Forks go absolutely bat shit insane when they taste the Cakes most of the time, that can lead to a lot of things, cannibalism, sex, or (if you're cultured) both.

• Both Cakes and Forks suffer from their own societal plights. Cakes die a lot, and Forks when discovered are instantly pinned as murderers, criminals and perverts, even if they haven't done anything wrong yet.

• Cakes can derail a Fork's entire life, and Forks are like sin and temptation to Cakes.

Now, I want to talk about these because they absolutely fucking vexed me and now I want to make this all of y'all's problem.

「The First Taste」

It's essentially a common rule as said by the author that the Forks go insane after feeling the taste of a Cake, now, let's talk about: Why?

See, Cakeverse is technically an Au based from the likes of Omegaverse, which you can see by the structure being similar to Alpha/Beta/Omega with the three types of people out there. But, in ABO the Alphas going insane is due to a specific event, heats, which are there specifically for reproduction and are said to bring out animal instincts out of people's control, while Forks are based on simply taste, food, and not something as biological.

Of course it's up to the individual writer to an extent, but my interpretation of why Forks lose it when they taste Cakes is more psychological when compared to Alphas in the Omegaverse.

Imagine that you are completely unable to see color, never once have you seen one, you grew up hearing all about how wonderful colors are, you saw others compliment the colors of several works of art, you heard all about the colors of the world around you, but all that you see is beige and grey. Now, imagine that one day you bump into someone, and suddenly you're able to see all the colors, for the first time ever in your life, you can finally experience blue skies and green grass, you can see the same way the rest of the world sees, something that was fundamentally missing from you is finally gifted to you by this stranger on a silver tray.

You're finally complete.

That's the reality of what Forks go through, years of eating tasteless food, seeing people enjoy food wholeheartedly and rant about the tastes, hearing about the differences between expensive food and cheap food, and then suddenly finally tasting cake. Of course they go insane and fixate on it, it's like the final puzzle piece finally sliding into place, something that they've been missing this whole time being manifested with only a taste.

Before, eating was a chore, something simply to survive there was no joy in it, no fun to be found in desserts or snacks, but with only a single kiss the Fork finally feels what it is like to crave food, to want food for the taste.

Cakeverse in nature is oddly psychological, playing with the concept of taking away something extremely core to the human experience, taste. It's inherent and everyone has it, you'd probably feel like a freak of nature if you didn't have something while everyone else has, right?

That's what Cakes bring Forks; normalcy, joy and purpose, it's basically like a shot of endorphins all at once straight into your bloodstream, there's a good chance it'd hit like a truck and fuck you up majorly.

Forks acting rashly probably looks different than when Alphas do the same, because the motive is inherently different, but the desperation is arguably more raw.

A lot can be written on what that reaction would be:

Immediately trying to taste the Cake (kissing, licking, biting), trying to play cool only to strike later (potential kidnapping, manipulation, planning and scheming in general), the Fork can try to resist temptation or maybe the Cake can notice the extreme reaction and run away, maybe the Cake can instigate and bait the Fork to take a bite.

It could lead to fluff, to relationships starting, relationships ending, it could smut, it could be gory cannibalism, hell, it could be both.

Either way, the sheer amount of character study that could be made out of this tidbit alone is insane, and the story concepts don't stop there!

「We Do, In Fact, Live In a Society」

Cakes don't know who they are until it's too late, but I can imagine that in society they'd be treated with a lot of extra care if they are known beforehand, as they are constantly in risk of dying.

Imagine that they'd also be majorly babyfied, the "nooo poor babies that can't do anything wrong, poor helpless and weak Cakes, they clearly can't take care of themselves, they're so vulnerable, don't worry I'll speak for you to protect your honor" would be insane. Any Cake that consensually and willingly gets with a Fork will be doubted if they truly wanted to do it, think nosy people pulling them aside to ask if they're ok and pressing to see if they're abused, think people immediately thinking that Cakes can't consent to anything with a Fork on principle despite them being grown adults.

Online discourse would definitely have people saying "Cakes are minor coded" or some shit, mark my words.

While Forks would be instantly persecuted for everything. Because of something they didn't choose, that was inherited at birth, they now are fully seem as murderers, kidnappers, rapists and just the lowest of the low. People will gossip, people will get defensive, people will cower any time you slightly raise your voice, you're seen as a predator, treated no different than a wild bear. To society at large, you're an unruly dog, and all eyes will be on you forever, watching, waiting for the day that you take a bite.

In a sense, it's almost like any Forks that do commit crimes instantly have a justification to do so, it's expected, really, you're a Fork, of course you'd snap one day. It's both maligned and normalized, everyone expects it and it almost gives Forks a reason to do so. Forever a self fulfilling prophecy.

Now I'm sorry that I'll keep bringing the Omegaverse up, it's just that it's really handy for comparison, but I find it fascinating that in a way, the societal effects of this are a mish mesh of the societal views seen in ABO, but like, in a way that doesn't make me want to vomit.

Can I be so fr with you guys right now? I don't like the societal parts of the Omegaverse, ever since I was a kid in the early hay days of the internet, that always made me uncomfortable, and it's also a bit lazy in a way. The problems in society with the Omegaverse are basically just Sexism, it's misogyny with mpreg, and a lot of fics end up feeling like a Handmaiden's Tale with mpreg. Replace Alphas with men and Omegas with Women and you get the Omegaverse, though it gets a bit interesting since there technically is a built-in "fuck or die" and aphrodisiac system with heats/ruts, but very few writers do something interesting with it.

My problem is that it's always either uncomfortable or outright boring, very little fics do it well and most of the time authors simply choose to side step it altogether, which I completely understand and actually prefer at this point.

I bring all this up because Cakeverse actually brings a lot of interesting concepts up in it's consequences on the world at large, the nature of Forks and Cakes mirrors a lot of real life concepts, but leaves enough fantastical elements that there's still intrigue in what could be explored and seem from authors writing certain details of it.

Would there be Cake support groups? Would there be Fork rights activists? Would there be people who are both Forks and Cakes, like a hybrid type? What are different relationship types seen as in the eyes of society as a whole?

It's all so complicated and the problems are different between the both of them, also, they're evenly split, which is a breath of fresh air.

Now, it's time to get even deeper into this, what are exactly Forks and Cakes relationship with each other like?

「Would You Still Love Me If I Was Cake?」

According to the author, Cakes can derail a Fork's life and Forks are temptation to Cakes. Now, why is that?

Imagine you're a Fork, living your life trying to do what you can with what's been handed to you, probably being discriminated against if you haven't been able to hide it well, when suddenly you taste someone (kiss or by accident, like a shared water bottle), and next thing you know you lose your mind. Your entire world falls apart, thoughts of dreams, future, your own sense of morality, it all melts away like sugar in water because you just experienced heaven and now it's all you can think about.

Someone completely normal beforehand, suddenly driven to obsession with just one moment, an entire life detailed into the unknown because they just had a taste of cake, thoughts being all about one person and their taste, the inability to stop even you're desperate to do so. It's madness, and almost like a tragedy, doomed by their own personal narrative of Fork meets Cake, the Forks turns into a starving beast whether they want to or not.

But Cakes? Imagine you have someone you love, and they want you so badly it drives them mad, imagine kissing the same lips that want to be stained with your taste, imagine putting yourself in the way of jaws that any of these days can close down on you and swallow you whole. You're constantly in contact with someone that could just straight up eat you, consume you whole and leave nothing behind, but your heart aches for them, you present yourself in a silver platter again and again.

Maybe you want to be eaten, to be consumed. Maybe you like being wanted, maybe you enjoy providing something to to others, you made them so happy that it doesn't even matter to you that they are taking chunks out of you, you'll gladly let yourself be torn apart if it means someone else is satisfied.

It's all about the usage of "Cannibalism as a Metaphor for Love™", it's all about loving someone but constantly wanting to eat them into non-existence, it's about to struggle between your brain heart and stomach.

It's about having your cake and eating it too.

The themes, the metaphors, the opportunities are endless and frankly I'm driving myself insane just imagining all of it, the angst also would be utterly fucking insane, imagine you live someone and you eat them, wouldn't you be upset? You loved them and you killed them yourself, with your own hands, their taste is on your lips and you licked your plate clean.

I'm screaming and crying and throwing up as we speak, the number of things you can do here are endless, soooo. . . Let's talk about some of my ideas!

「All My Fanfiction Titles Are Just Songs」

Last post I basically tagged a bunch of fandoms that I wish would use this trope (I'll also be doing that with this post), so now I'm going to showing some of the ideas I had for this AU that I might or might not write in the future, all of which you guys are totally free to use as prompts as well (just tag me on them lmao)

So, going ship by ship:

「Loveit」: Dead Plate fanfic, Vincent x Rody, Fork!Vincent and Cake!Rody. I imagine that the moment Vincent finds out is during the Best Served Hot ending, after biting Rody's ear, his reaction would show instantly on his face and Rody would notice right away. After that it can lead to a lot of things, fighting, smut and cannibalism galore, their relationship would only get more complicated after such a discovery. Hell, you can even have Vincent find out earlier, if you truly want more juicy drama, maybe Vincent will attempt to make Rody into the meal instead of Mason this time? For funsies you could even reverse it, Rody as a Fork would be fascinating to see, him bonding with Vincent that he also can't taste anything, only for him to find out later that he can taste Vincent himself, holy shit the intrigue.

「Eat You」: Death Note, Lawlight, Fork!Light and Cake!L. Imagine Light both having to hide the fact that he's Kira, but also having to hide the fact that he's a Fork, imagine the never leaving stain that being a Fork would be on his own self-perception of perfection, imagine the so called god that punishes criminals also being considered a criminal by default in society's eyes if he's ever found out. Kira selling out his own kind because most criminals would likely be Forks (whether they were rightfully convicted or not), and then comes in L, a detective, a nuisance, Light's equal and a Cake. Maybe Light would find that out later on, maybe while they're playing as friends in college or while chained together, and now L had effortlessly thrown another wrench in his life yet again by default, like they're meant to be opposed by fate itself, where Kira is a Fork L is a Cake. L would likely goad Light on, trying to bait Kira out, by any means necessary, even if it means being eaten.

「Eat You Piece by Piece」: Hear me out, Batjokes. Fork!Bruce having to hold himself back from breaking his own morals due to finding out Joker is a Cake, Fork!Joker only getting deeper into his Batman obsession after tasting a Cake!Batman, Both Forks bonded by not having taste, maybe both are Forks that differ on how they react to Cakes (Joker regularly eating them while Bruce retains his morals and chooses to not hurt them), maybe both Cakes that got here because they were almost eaten (different Batman and Joker origin stories?). The opportunities are all intriguing and promptly end in bloodshed, expect angst and discussions of what is moral, also just so much angst holy shit this shit hurts.

「I Eat Boys Up」: Dungeon Meshi, Labru, Fork!Laios and Cake!Labru. I'm thinking post canon by accident, maybe something like sharing utensils, and I'm going to be so fr with you right now, this story coming from me would be a lot of romanticism through food metaphors and unending smut, feral Laios is my equivalent of heroin and I could imagine him describing Kabru's taste in detail to him while eating him out. But if smut isn't your jam, exploring how Laios and his monster obsession, especially in the form of food, as someone who can't taste would be intriguing, in a story so closely tied to food, you have to wonder how it would all change if the main character couldn't even taste. Also, I doubt Kabru would take the knowledge of him being essentially prey well, so there's that bag of worms to go into if you want.

「Blame Gluttony」: This one is purely self indulgent but like, Re:Zero with any ship, Cake! Subaru and Fork!anyone else. Imagine Subaru's world doesn't have this Cakeverse nonsense at all, but the world he's transported to has, imagine how scary it would be that one loop he suddenly finds out that he's essentially universal prey here (maybe in the second loop with Elsa), imagine the weight of all the things that already are trying to kill him along with the fact that he's also got a new thing to worry about? Maybe instead of just the rabbit loop, there's now multiple loops where Subaru is eaten alive, maybe there's loops where his dear friends themselves are eating him. Can you imagine if Emilia was a Fork? If he found out after the kiss of death and she commented on the taste of his lips as he was dying, if it came up again after their kiss, Subaru having to tackle with his love and heart belonging to someone that would one day eat him whole. Imagine the witch not longer just wants to touch his heart or kiss him, but she also bites him when he tries to tell the secret. Imagine maybe Rem is also a Fork, imagine that his death by her hands also involved her tearing into him chunk by chunk. What if Otto was a Fork, what if Reinhard was one? Seriously all the opportunities are equally traumatizing and I'm living for it!

Honorable mentions include: Persona Shuake and Shuada (Fork!Protags and Cake!Detectives) for the optimal mutual murder extravaganza, Okegom DSP Satanivlis (Fork!Ivlis and Cake!Satanick) for a rare case of role swapping, South Park Kyman (any way works tbh) for mutually assured destruction, Slay the Princess (Fork!Princess and Cake!Birb) because themes, Soukouku (Fork!Dazai and Cake!Chuuya) for making canon even worse than it already is, frankly any investigrave game would be peak here, Hannigram for obvious reasons.

But that's all I have for now, so, what have we learned here?

We learned that: I'm mentally ill and you need to write about the Cakeverse NOW.

[zeroaddzero]

Letter to the editor of Newsweek magazine after their 1975 Bruce Springsteen cover story (via)

[yannisdesk]

Kind of hilarious that Caitlyn fumbled Vi not once but twice, like damn girl you're lucky she's not as popular as she is in the game otherwise you'd be battling her exes and potential lovers like you're in Scott Pilgrim.

[green-alien-turdz]

Almost didn't finish this in time

[runtwithwolves]

humaaaaan kite!

[brokegoatartz]

how dare you interrupt them on their sandbox date 😡

[orphiclovers]

The tension in the OD household between Uriel and Secretive Plotter must be CRAZYYYY they cant possibly act normal around each other. To Uriel its like.

"my dead captain and love returned to life as a part of you, which is something I didn't even dream of as a possiblity, but also, he's still actually dead and gone and unreachable and you're not really him despite having his soul and memories. To ME, for thousands years, you were the man who killed my captain and took him away from me. For so long my only goal in my twisted painful undead existence had been to enact righteous vengence upon you. I've come to accept your actions now, but can I really let go of the hate and anger that fulled me for thousands of years in a day? How do I even act around you?"

AND how does she feel about 999? Bitter, that he won't stay with them even NOW, after all this pain and time they've gone through? That he leaves her behind once more?

AND all this as they live together in domestic bliss in a shared apartment and co-parent a teenager?? they're bumping into each other at 7 am by the coffee machine in the morning while no one else is awake and just. all this goes through both of their minds and they don't quite know what to say to the other and stand in awkward silence until they're both done. my ideal spuriel situationship

[marshbarks]

concept comic for a scene from a fic in my head...

[some-pers0n]

Hey guys I rewrote that Battlewinner death scene lol. This time I decided to make Mastermind a weeee bit of a silly guy as well as make her death a bit..y'know.. No real TW or anything other than death and Bad Parenting

The ground quivered beneath Starflight's talons as he raced down the corridors, Glory, Princess Greatness, and Fatespeaker in tow. He had been in a cave his whole life, but never had one felt as alive as right now. The rocks felt hot to the touch. The walls rumbled. The distant sound of lava moving was all he could hear.  It was as though a slumbering beast was being pulled from its sleep, waking to the sight of a colony of ants nestled into it. It wants them out.

"Question," he began, "how long until the volcano erupts?"

"Erupts?" Greatness echoed. "Not for another two years. Mastermind took some calculations and predicted that the next one would be soon, but not right now. What you're feeling is just...abnormal activity. The volcano does that."

"Really? I've lived here my whole life and I've never felt something this strong," Fatespeaker said.

"We'll worry about whatever the volcano is doing later," Glory snapped. "Right now, we have a mad queen to talk to."

"I- I don't get it." Starflight slowed his pace. "Don't you have oracles? Prophets? Why did Mastermind have to guess? Wouldn't a future be more accurate? Not to doubt my father's research but..." His words trailed off. "Why? What's going on?"

Greatness turned away, staring straight ahead. "We're almost there. I can hear Mastermind."

Starflight's ears perked up. Amongst the bellows of the volcano, he could make out the faint mumblings of a scientist. They turned the sharp bend and entered into the queen's chamber.

It was a large, spacious cave, with a lake of lava in the center. Stalactites hung from the tall ceiling, embedded with a rich, deep shade of red. A deck of metal and steel was built, leaving way for Mastermind to stand upon.

But that wasn't what caught Starflight's attention the most. A cauldron of iron stood above them, with Battlewinner poking her head out of the top. Lava dripped off her as she stared them down. Next to her was Mastermind, absent-mindedly babbling and talking to her. The armour rack that he saw in his lab was with him, with all but the headpiece missing.

"– which, need I remind you, makes this completely safe. You can sort of walk, but ultimately your presence is more about your imposing lava-filled...armour– where are you looking– OH!" His eyes followed her gaze, widening as she saw the group. "Ah, hello! Starflight, my beloved protégé! I'm pleased to see that you've come to your senses and decided to turn over this band of revolutionaries. Shame to see it happen, really."

"No, dad, uhh–"

"Fools..." Battlewinner hissed. "All of you..."

"Mh-hm." Mastermind nodded his head.

"You too, scientist... If only your pride did not blind you to the truth..."

"Blind me?!" he snapped back. "Pardon me? I may be hard of sight, but I assure you that I am no fool, right Starflight? Utter brilliant genius. Oh, I'll be so proud to see you grow up. Perhaps you'll too come around to understanding your father's achievements."

Starflight winced. It was hard to hear a dragon talk like that.

"Your son is not here to help you, Mastermind," Battlewinner snarled. "He is here to stop us. All of them... They--" Ice frothed up in her throat, cutting off the words. The shards of frost melted as she took a mouthful of lava.

"What? No! Starflight would never betray us. He is a NightWing. He serves his queen, right?"

Starflight glanced at his talons. He couldn't dare to look him in the eye.

"Mother–" Greatness began, but was cut off by a sharp growl.

"Queen Battlewinner."

"– Queen Battlewinner," she continued, "I'm sorry but we must call off the attack. The RainWings are too powerful and our tribe is too weak to take them on. We cannot afford to lose any more of–"

"We will not surrender to these dragons." Battlewinner's voice boomed. Smoke coiled from her nostrils. The light of the frost in her mouth reflected in her eyes. "We are NightWings. We do not bow to any other dragon..."

Glory clicked her tongue. "Well, that's annoying. I was hoping we wouldn't have to do this the harder way." She walked forward. "Battlewinner, I come to propose an offer: you call off your invasion and, in return, I set up trading between the NightWings and RainWings. Your dragons are starving, diseased, and dying. You should be ashamed of how you've let them rot like this. I am only offering you this as I cannot let dragonets die, even after all you've done to my tribe."

She kept going. "You will also step out of this war. I am aware of how you and Mastermind have been trying to tip the scales. Leave my troop, the Dragonets of Destiny, alone. You will also step down as ruler. I see you as personally unfit to rule. You are a tyrant. You allow your dragons to suffer. Greatness is..." Glory squinted at her. "Marginally better."

"Thank you." Greatness dipped her head to her.

"If you do not comply, I will destroy the tunnels. I will not hesitate to kill any NightWing that dares enter my kingdom. I already plan on informing the other queens of your conspiracies. If you want your tribe to ever lay a claw on Pyrrhia again, take my offer. Relinquish control. Perhaps, in some years' time, you can find your way off of this island and rejoin the continent."

Silence. The rumbling of the volcano was all that remained. The caverns shook as the white noise surrounding them grew in intensity. Battlewinner's gaze remained fixated on Queen Glory. They both remained locked in this silent war.

"Bold words for a RainWing dragonet..." she said, amused. "Step aside before I drag you into the lava myself."

"No." Glory repeated. "You will comply with this offer or let your tribe die."

"You can't be serious," Mastermind spoke, half laughing. "You're just making a joke. You cannot expect something like that to work out. You? You're a dragonet! You're overly emotional. Not thinking things logically."

"Overly emotional?!" Glory snapped. "You're the ones who have been kidnapping the RainWings! Innocent dragons who were holed up in your dungeon!" Red splotches faintly appeared along her neck and frill. "If I had my way, you would be dead as you stand."

He snorted. "Ha! You truly don't understand science. Ethics and morality are mere roadblocks. Others of a more intellectual nature would understand." He shot Starflight a look. "Besides, we need the rainforest more than anyone else. As you said, it is a lush and thriving environment. What has your tribe done with it? From what I've seen, nothing! It's asinine to watch you flaunt your fruit and your peaceful lives while the NightWings have suffered for two thousand years!"

"So? Why should you have it? All you've done is lie and hurt my tribe, you murderous snake!" She spat. "We lived there! We have lived there for thousands of years! You do not deserve to wipe us out just because you feel it's necessary."

He adjusted his spectacles. "Starflight, son, you can't honestly expect this to work. You're reasonable. Come now, try and tell this RainWing some common sense. Do you honestly believe that the NightWings would accept it?"

"No, I don't." He shook his head. "Battlewinner would never agree to that."

"Precisely!" Mastermind beamed.

"So..." Starflight tapped his talons anxiously. "We can compromise? Maybe?"

"WHAT!?" Mastermind and Glory called out in unison.

"I know, I know!" He winced, waving his talons to try and calm them. "I was thinking that, because the Rainforest Kingdom has plenty of space and the NightWings are so few in numbers, we could donate a sizable amount of land to them. Have them build their own village." He turned to Battlewinner. "But, only if they accept Queen Glory as their ruler."

"Starflight, that is the worst idea I've ever heard from you--" Glory began, but was interrupted by the animalistic roar from behind.

"NO!" Queen Battlewinner screeched. She jerked around in her cauldron, spilling lava. "Never! Only I rule the NightWings!"

"Please, listen!" Starflight called out, matching her voice. "The NightWings cannot survive here anymore. Even if we set up trades, they cannot live. If we allow them to exist peacefully in the Rainforest Kingdom, we can leave the volcano behind. No more disease. No more hunger. Nothing."

"That doesn't sound like a bad idea," Princess Greatness said.

"You are a terrible heir..." Battlewinner hissed.

She paused. "I know. I never was a good queen. Queen Glory is more fit to rule than you and I both."

"Sure, yeah, but really? You want me to rule over two tribes?" Glory shook her head. "I can't do that, especially not with the tribe that has been torturing my own dragons." She glared at Mastermind.

"I think it's a bit much to call it torture," he interjected. "I only tested on them for years. Some died, sure, but they were just the weaker ones." He shrugged. "Should've been better."

"I hope that, even if you survive, your body is feasted upon by snakes and ants."

"Anywho," Mastermind continued, ignoring her threat, "I still fail to see what would happen to our queen. She has her armour."

"She won't make it," Greatness said. "She knows this. Your armour is nothing more than to prolong her life in time to see the trees. She will die either way."

He scoffed. "Preposterous! My design is flawless!"

She squinted. "I'm not too sure about that..." She shook her head. "She knows she'll die here. Buried under the rubble. It is the only option."

Battlewinner raised her claws, slamming down on the edge of the cauldron. "You will NOT speak for me!" she screeched. "It is MY kingdom! I will not allow for this!" And with that, she began to lift herself out of the vat.

"Mother, no! Please!" Greatness called out.

"Your majesty, control yourself! Your armour is not fully prepared."

Battlewinner did not listen. Her body slipped over the edge, spewing lava in all directions. Starflight jumped back as a large chunk almost hit him directly. He looked on, seeing Battlewinner's full body for the first time.

As the magma dripped off, it revealed her heavily scarred and discoloured body. Her scales were charcoal black, with burn and scratch marks dotted everywhere. Her wings were damaged, with the membrane showing a hint of blue. She was massive, but couldn't hold her own weight. The armour on her held the lava briefly, but it spilled out the instant she collapsed onto the ground.

She dug her claws into the ground, dragging herself towards Glory. Wordless threats spewed her way, little more than menacing grumbles. Yet, as she did so, she began to slow.

Then, the frost appeared.

Starting from her chest, a vibrant pale light emitted. It was inside her, in her veins. Ice formed, rapidly covering her body. Starflight heard her scales snapping and breaking as the ice pushed their way out. He could only watch in horror as her movements slowed.

Her eyes were wide, a mixture of malice, hysteria, and an utter refusal to die. A futile effort. The ice travelled up her next, encasing her entirely in it. In her final moments, she looked to Princess Greatness. Her expression was incomprehensible to Starflight, but to Greatness...

He turned to her. There was a sadness in her that he could feel even from there. Her breath was heavy and staggered. Her eyes were blinking, just barely holding back tears.

"Queen Battlewinner!" Mastermind lunged to her side. "No, no, no! You can't be! It was all perfect! Everything about my armour should've protected you! How could this be!? My calculations were perfect." His talons grazed the frost formations. "...it is fascinating to see the effects of the frostbreath in action, however. Mesmerizing."

As his eyes glazed over her, he caught a glimpse of the dragonets. "Oh, yes, you!" His snout scrunched. "In my scientific opinion, that was a STUPID IDEA!! Idiots! All of you! You've doomed our tribe!" He stood, glaring at Starflight. "I'm ashamed to see you do this, son."

A lump formed in his throat. Rejection from the dragon who understood him the most.

And, yet...he didn't care.

"So?" The word leaped from his mouth.

Mastermind blinked, squinting in disbelief. "So?" he barked back.

"So what? You're a terrible dragon! You tested on the RainWings! You never even cared about me! You just wanted to see a successor who would listen to you ramble." Built-up emotions spilled out of him all at once. "I'm ashamed for you to be my father!"

Mastermind opened his mouth, perhaps to make a snarky comeback, but a loud crack! interrupted them. It shook the whole cave. The lava boiled with more intensity. Starflight's stomach was tied into knots as the realization dawned on him.

The volcano was erupting. If they did not leave now, they would be reduced to nothing more than charred corpses buried under rubble.

[beigetiger]

What’s your #1 Skulduggery Pleasant hot take? 👀

Ooo...had to rack my brain for anything that could possibly be a hot take about this series lmao.

Hot take that a lot of the criticism surrounding the SP is about stuff that is actually super standard for literally any YA series that goes on for more than five books. Doesn't make the criticism non-valid, but that kind of stuff is everywhere a lot of the criticism I see kind of acts like it's a problem that is specific to SP when it is really, really not.

[zeroaddzero]

Born to Run, chapter 51 / Springsteen on Broadway (2018)

[treyparkinglot]

im legally obligated to redraw the hat swap every once in a while its like a stanky requirement atp

[qingwaaa]

Can u share... your style headcanons... please...?

YEESSS OFC !!

Stan is shorter and he has really bad posture (jst like me fr 😭) so he looks even smaller next to Kyle who actually stands up straight

Kyle has little folders where he keeps all his school work and its all neat whereas Stan just has a bunch of crumpled up papers at the bottom of his bag (and exactly one pencil which he borrowed from Kyle and never gave back)

Cartman ships them hard and totally locked them in the locker room once

Stan just goes "haha lol yeah" and agrees with everything Kyle says even if he doesn't understand it

They share drinks and food like alllll the time

Kyle's got a 20 step haircare routine whereas Stan has one of those 10 in 1 shampoo things (that he uses like once a month)

Kyle has like a daily crash out (normally at Cartman) and goes on long ass rants and yells and kicks shit and Stan will just listen and nod along supportively

its always "hey, where's Stan?" and "Where's Kyle??" whenever one of them is gone for even a second

"dude" and "bro" but like romantically

They are both stupid dorks/aff

[shroomerr]

Wham bam bam! Couple of Agent stuff!! I was initially just going to post the two images but then it felt a bit empty, so I decided to doodle an interaction between Agent and Mysterion.

More process drawings under the cut for those interested!!