#the concept of people absorbing powers of others is so good

[archaeren]

How I learned to write smarter, not harder

(aka, how to write when you're hella ADHD lol)

A reader commented on my current long fic asking how I write so well. I replied with an essay of my honestly pretty non-standard writing advice (that they probably didn't actually want lol) Now I'm gonna share it with you guys and hopefully there's a few of you out there who will benefit from my past mistakes and find some useful advice in here. XD Since I started doing this stuff, which are all pretty easy changes to absorb into your process if you want to try them, I now almost never get writer's block.

The text of the original reply is indented, and I've added some additional commentary to expand upon and clarify some of the concepts.

As for writing well, I usually attribute it to the fact that I spent roughly four years in my late teens/early 20s writing text roleplay with a friend for hours every single day. Aside from the constant practice that provided, having a live audience immediately reacting to everything I wrote made me think a lot about how to make as many sentences as possible have maximum impact so that I could get that kind of fun reaction. (Which is another reason why comments like yours are so valuable to fanfic writers! <3) The other factors that have improved my writing are thus: 1. Writing nonlinearly. I used to write a whole story in order, from the first sentence onward. If there was a part I was excited to write, I slogged through everything to get there, thinking that it would be my reward once I finished everything that led up to that. It never worked. XD It was miserable. By the time I got to the part I wanted to write, I had beaten the scene to death in my head imagining all the ways I could write it, and it a) no longer interested me and b) could not live up to my expectations because I couldn't remember all my ideas I'd had for writing it. The scene came out mediocre and so did everything leading up to it. Since then, I learned through working on VN writing (I co-own a game studio and we have some visual novels that I write for) that I don't have to write linearly. If I'm inspired to write a scene, I just write it immediately. It usually comes out pretty good even in a first draft! But then I also have it for if I get more ideas for that scene later, and I can just edit them in. The scenes come out MUCH stronger because of this. And you know what else I discovered? Those scenes I slogged through before weren't scenes I had no inspiration for, I just didn't have any inspiration for them in that moment! I can't tell you how many times there was a scene I had no interest in writing, and then a week later I'd get struck by the perfect inspiration for it! Those are scenes I would have done a very mediocre job on, and now they can be some of the most powerful scenes because I gave them time to marinate. Inspiration isn't always linear, so writing doesn't have to be either!

Some people are the type that joyfully write linearly. I have a friend like this--she picks up the characters and just continues playing out the next scene. Her story progresses through the entire day-by-day lives of the characters; it never timeskips more than a few hours. She started writing and posting just eight months ago, she's about an eighth of the way through her planned fic timeline, and the content she has so far posted to AO3 for it is already 450,000 words long. But most of us are normal humans. We're not, for the most part, wired to create linearly. We consume linearly, we experience linearly, so we assume we must also create linearly. But actually, a lot of us really suffer from trying to force ourselves to create this way, and we might not even realize it. If you're the kind of person who thinks you need to carrot-on-a-stick yourself into writing by saving the fun part for when you finally write everything that happens before it: Stop. You're probably not a linear writer. You're making yourself suffer for no reason and your writing is probably suffering for it. At least give nonlinear writing a try before you assume you can't write if you're not baiting or forcing yourself into it!! Remember: Writing is fun. You do this because it's fun, because it's your hobby. If you're miserable 80% of the time you're doing it, you're probably doing it wrong!

2. Rereading my own work. I used to hate reading my own work. I wouldn't even edit it usually. I would write it and slap it online and try not to look at it again. XD Writing nonlinearly forced me to start rereading because I needed to make sure scenes connected together naturally and it also made it easier to get into the headspace of the story to keep writing and fill in the blanks and get new inspiration. Doing this built the editing process into my writing process--I would read a scene to get back in the headspace, dislike what I had written, and just clean it up on the fly. I still never ever sit down to 'edit' my work. I just reread it to prep for writing and it ends up editing itself. Many many scenes in this fic I have read probably a dozen times or more! (And now, I can actually reread my own work for enjoyment!) Another thing I found from doing this that it became easy to see patterns and themes in my work and strengthen them. Foreshadowing became easy. Setting up for jokes or plot points became easy. I didn't have to plan out my story in advance or write an outline, because the scenes themselves because a sort of living outline on their own. (Yes, despite all the foreshadowing and recurring thematic elements and secret hidden meanings sprinkled throughout this story, it actually never had an outline or a plan for any of that. It's all a natural byproduct of writing nonlinearly and rereading.)

Unpopular writing opinion time: You don't need to make a detailed outline.

Some people thrive on having an outline and planning out every detail before they sit down to write. But I know for a lot of us, we don't know how to write an outline or how to use it once we've written it. The idea of making one is daunting, and the advice that it's the only way to write or beat writer's block is demoralizing. So let me explain how I approach "outlining" which isn't really outlining at all.

I write in a Notion table, where every scene is a separate table entry and the scene is written in the page inside that entry. I do this because it makes writing nonlinearly VASTLY more intuitive and straightforward than writing in a single document. (If you're familiar with Notion, this probably makes perfect sense to you. If you're not, imagine something a little like a more contained Google Sheets, but every row has a title cell that opens into a unique Google Doc when you click on it. And it's not as slow and clunky as the Google suite lol) (Edit from the future: I answered an ask with more explanation on how I use Notion for non-linear writing here.) When I sit down to begin a new fic idea, I make a quick entry in the table for every scene I already know I'll want or need, with the entries titled with a couple words or a sentence that describes what will be in that scene so I'll remember it later. Basically, it's the most absolute bare-bones skeleton of what I vaguely know will probably happen in the story.

Then I start writing, wherever I want in the list. As I write, ideas for new scenes and new connections and themes will emerge over time, and I'll just slot them in between the original entries wherever they naturally fit, rearranging as necessary, so that I won't forget about them later when I'm ready to write them. As an example, my current long fic started with a list of roughly 35 scenes that I knew I wanted or needed, for a fic that will probably be around 100k words (which I didn't know at the time haha). As of this writing, it has expanded to 129 scenes. And since I write them directly in the page entries for the table, the fic is actually its own outline, without any additional effort on my part. As I said in the comment reply--a living outline!

This also made it easier to let go of the notion that I had to write something exactly right the first time. (People always say you should do this, but how many of us do? It's harder than it sounds! I didn't want to commit to editing later! I didn't want to reread my work! XD) I know I'm going to edit it naturally anyway, so I can feel okay giving myself permission to just write it approximately right and I can fix it later. And what I found from that was that sometimes what I believed was kind of meh when I wrote it was actually totally fine when I read it later! Sometimes the internal critic is actually wrong. 3. Marinating in the headspace of the story. For the first two months I worked on [fic], I did not consume any media other than [fandom the fic is in]. I didn't watch, read, or play anything else. Not even mobile games. (And there wasn't really much fan content for [fandom] to consume either. Still isn't, really. XD) This basically forced me to treat writing my story as my only source of entertainment, and kept me from getting distracted or inspired to write other ideas and abandon this one.

As an aside, I don't think this is a necessary step for writing, but if you really want to be productive in a short burst, I do highly recommend going on a media consumption hiatus. Not forever, obviously! Consuming media is a valuable tool for new inspiration, and reading other's work (both good and bad, as long as you think critically to identify the differences!) is an invaluable resource for improving your writing.

When I write, I usually lay down, close my eyes, and play the scene I'm interested in writing in my head. I even take a ten-minute nap now and then during this process. (I find being in a state of partial drowsiness, but not outright sleepiness, makes writing easier and better. Sleep helps the brain process and make connections!) Then I roll over to the laptop next to me and type up whatever I felt like worked for the scene. This may mean I write half a sentence at a time between intervals of closed-eye-time XD

People always say if you're stuck, you need to outline.

What they actually mean by that (whether they realize it or not) is that if you're stuck, you need to brainstorm. You need to marinate. You don't need to plan what you're doing, you just need to give yourself time to think about it!

What's another framing for brainstorming for your fic? Fantasizing about it! Planning is work, but fantasizing isn't.

You're already fantasizing about it, right? That's why you're writing it. Just direct that effort toward the scenes you're trying to write next! Close your eyes, lay back, and fantasize what the characters do and how they react.

And then quickly note down your inspirations so you don't forget, haha.

And if a scene is so boring to you that even fantasizing about it sucks--it's probably a bad scene.

If it's boring to write, it's going to be boring to read. Ask yourself why you wanted that scene. Is it even necessary? Can you cut it? Can you replace it with a different scene that serves the same purpose but approaches the problem from a different angle? If you can't remove the troublesome scene, what can you change about it that would make it interesting or exciting for you to write?

And I can't write sitting up to save my damn life. It's like my brain just stops working if I have to sit in a chair and stare at a computer screen. I need to be able to lie down, even if I don't use it! Talking walks and swinging in a hammock are also fantastic places to get scene ideas worked out, because the rhythmic motion also helps our brain process. It's just a little harder to work on a laptop in those scenarios. XD

In conclusion: Writing nonlinearly is an amazing tool for kicking writer's block to the curb. There's almost always some scene you'll want to write. If there isn't, you need to re-read or marinate.

Or you need to use the bathroom, eat something, or sleep. XD Seriously, if you're that stuck, assess your current physical condition. You might just be unable to focus because you're uncomfortable and you haven't realized it yet.

Anyway! I hope that was helpful, or at least interesting! XD Sorry again for the text wall. (I think this is the longest comment reply I've ever written!)

And same to you guys on tumblr--I hope this was helpful or at least interesting. XD Reblogs appreciated if so! (Maybe it'll help someone else!)

[honeycreammilkshake]

Reading your anons and your answers I think the problem with those fans is that they only accept a character if it's involved with satoru.

Like, apparently you are not allowed to like Sukuna anymore nor like both yuji and sukuna, but you were only allowed to like AND analyze Sukuna when he was fighting Satoru loool

I'm sorry but Sukuna is more than that, sukuna doesn't need THAT fight to be a character in his own, Sukuna also kept analyzing and having cool moments with other characters, just because your favorite character was dead doesn't mean other things stopped existing. This is one of those cases where fans keep thinking the manga is about some secondary character

hi, anon. thank you so much for this ask. i'm going to follow this up by making an unnecessarily long and ranty post nobody's going to bother to read, but i felt the overwhelming need to go in-depth for this anyways. apologies for the length of this.

to start off, i'm going to point out something that will probably get me a lot of hate or at least criticism from gojo fanatics, but i think it should be said for all those out there who keep twisting jkk to fit their own problematic concept of morals.

so we all know sukuna is the big bad of jjk. he's the main antagonist, the evil cannibal monster, a god of chaos and apathy and murder. i'm not here to argue against this, though. it's been clear from the beginning sukuna is a true villain in all of his actions and beliefs. however, we really need to look at the contexts behind how he became such a monster and consider if he's actually the most "evil" sorcerer/curse in the jujutsu world or not.

i'm going to address the underlying problem with the pro-gojo/anti-sukuna fans who twist the story to suit their own views first.

so gojo was born with a tremendous amount of power, so much that he's been branded the strongest jujutsu sorcerer of the modern age. he literally shifted the flow of cursed energy and from the start was set apart from others. it's truly terrifying how much power he has...

so it's a good thing he's a real sweet and caring guy, right?

if only.

gojo is irredeemably self-absorbed, unhealthily egotistical, obsessed with his own abilities, demeaning and insulting to others, brutal to his students and dismissive of their safety, and more than willing to commit mass murder.

when fighting with jogo, for example, he doesn't seem bothered at all by the massacre of innocent people during their battle, and is even willing to sacrifice bystanders all in the name of winning.

he's displayed this same kind of general apathy for the lives of others in his past as well.

in his past arc, it was geto who saved gojo from becoming an actual villain and instead managed to set gojo on the path of becoming the slightly less evil antihero he is today. however, after riko's death, the experience turned both of them on each other as they settled on opposite sides of "good vs evil."

without geto there to guide him, though, gojo would have easily lost his way and turned evil .... so where was a person like that for sukuna?

the jujutsu world is extremely heartless and obsessed with strength. the jujutsu higher-ups were willing to kill yuuji - an innocent teenager who just happened to become dangerously involved with the world of curses and the host of sukuna - as well as risk the health and safety of countless others, sorcerers and normal people alike. the whole jujutsu world is full of corruption and cold, cruel people.

but this is just in the modern world - during the golden age of jujutsu, in the heian era, conditions were even harsher and crueler than they are now. during this time, existence for regular people in japan was demanding, quality of life was very low, and so many died of sickness and starvation. the amount of curses that arose from all this suffering was immense and required the extreme powers of sorcerers to balance it out.

this is the context of sukuna's birth. he came into this world as a child of a starving mother and he himself would have starved if he didn't consume his twin in the womb.

during his conversation with kashimo, who asks if sukuna was born with that much power or if he gained it throughout his life, sukuna himself seems to not know. all he can say is... he was an unwanted wretch.

societal demands and religious fights back then would have led to an overwhelming stigma and dehumanization of anything that people feared or didn't understand... which probably means that sukuna, who was able to be born from the act of eating his own unborn twin, was seen as monstrous from the day of his birth on. and if he was indeed born with such strength and a body merged with that of his twin's, or at least the compacity to become that, he was also most likely villainized for his nature as well.

where gojo was more embraced and highly coveted by the jujutsu world, the world sukuna was born into most likely shunned him and led him to adapt the kind of mindset he has now.

sukuna sees strength as the only means of survival, rising above the cruelty shown to him to become the cruelest himself. this philosophy, which a lot of people at this time believed in - especially in the jujutsu world - shows us that sukuna probably saw his own really option to endure was to become a monster. those at the top are above all the weak feelings and suffering of the ones beneath, after all, or so he believes.

and it seems like so many of the strongest sorcerers still believe in that concept as well. both yorozu and gojo thought they could reach sukuna by challenging him, but in the end... only yuuji ever connected with the king of curses.

(yes i will fit sukuita in here... even if you don't ship them romantically, it's an undeniable fact that their relationship is much more complex than it seems and that yuuji does in fact care for the very monster he's supposed to destroy.)

when sukuna's dying in chapter 268, yuuji makes it clear that he's willing to serve the kind of caring, understanding role in sukuna's life that was most likely never given to him.

instead of dehumanizing sukuna, yuuji actually accepts that sukuna turned out to be the monster he is and says it was all a matter of chance how they became like this.

this a level of empathy, intimacy, and compassion that someone like gojo (and pretty much the vast majority of jjk characters) could never show. sukuna himself seems at a loss for words for this unbelievably caring treatment from yuuji - he's even surprised enough to use the brat's full name.

and i dislike that fans are starting to twist this interaction between them to make it fit their own views of sukuna and gojo.

look, i like gojo objectively. he's a fine enough character and serves an important role in jjk. i'm not against him or his fans, and i certainly don't want to hurt or make light of other people's feelings towards him. however, i do want to point something out that some fans should really know better. so many antis are against us sukuita shippers and/or sukuna fans and their main argument, over and over again, is how evil and monstrous sukuna is and that gojo is obviously better in every way. they claim that because gojo is on the side of good, it means sukuna is the worst in terms of morals (when villains like kenjaku are arguably just as terrible if not more so but dismissed so easily) we are delusional or wrong for sympathizing with sukuna.

so i would like to say to these people... please stop using these pallid, baseless arguments against us sukuna lovers because they're just so inaccurate and keep misunderstanding the whole story. it's more than okay to have your own headcanons and depictions of a fictional character, whether they're sukuna or gojo or any of the others - but do not force that depiction on others and do not force your interpretation of the source material on us just to appease your own opinions.

please be more respectful to others, please keep your own dislikes to yourself instead of lashing out at other fans you could instead just avoid, and please stop being so mean to gege. whether or not he makes gojo return should not be a reason to spread such hate about him. it's disrespectful towards both him and all writers who work so hard to make the content you treat so harshly.

thank you.

[jewishvitya]

While repeating that I don't believe in a state that prioritizes the wellbeing and safety of one ethnic group, so I oppose the concept of Israel even beyond the crimes against Palestine, I've been talking to friends about a personal struggle - I don't know how to feel safe without an ethnostate. This doesn't mean I should get to just... have it. But it's something for me to work through. Figure out what comes from indoctrination, and what comes as a natural reaction of the trauma of genocidal antisemitism, and how to handle this all.

A good friend came to me when I spoke about that and told me that, as a rule, ethnostates don't deliver on the promise I was taught. They will take people in as far as is beneficial in terms of money or power, and as soon as it's more beneficial to leave the refugees out than let them in, it will forget the promises it made.

This makes sense when we see so many abuses of refugees by the early zionist movement - the point wasn't just to give them shelter, but to mold them into whatever shape was useful to settle the land in the form they wanted - secular, not religious. A copy-paste of a European enlightened country, not a Middle Eastern one.

I was reminded of this conversation when I read the words of Haim Weizmann, the first Israeli Prime Minister.

Palestine is no solution for the Jewish problem of Europe. Palestine cannot absorb the Jews of Europe. We want only the best of Jewish youth to come to us. We want only the educated to enter Palestine for the purpose of increasing its culture. The other Jews will have to stay where they are and face whatever fate awaits them. These millions of Jews are dust on the wheels of history and they may have to be blown away. We don’t want them pouring into Palestine. We don’t want Tel Aviv to become another low-grade ghetto.

... And I was only ever taught about him in a positive light.

This is not what became law in Israel. Israel takes in any Jewish person. So he didn't have the impact he might have wanted. But there's something about the way there are horrors for me to keep finding about every single person who was involved in founding it and making it what it is today. Every single name I was taught to admire, they had a disgusting mentality. And it's something I expect now that I know the details of our crimes against Palestinians, but it still manages to shock me with the nature of it.

This quote reeks of eugenicist thinking, and as a group that was - and in most of the world, still is - one of the primary victims of eugenics and white supremacy, it's sickening to see.

[phantomoftheskies]

IT’S BACK! FINALLY- THE ONE, THE ONLY, TONE-DEAF BARD HEADCANNONS PART TWO!!

Who knew I’d get super sick on Venti’s birthday and then forget all about this? Not me- but uhhhh it’s here now! Soooo…

Sorry •^•

-Venti got his cat allergy from the nameless bard, as well as his hatred for cheese.

-When Venti first shifted into a human form, he didn’t know how to use it. It took many tries to really grasp how to walk, and especially how to talk…

-Adding onto that, when Venti first tried to talk, only squeaks would come out of his mouth, although he adapted to basic language rather quickly.

-When first grasping the human concept of “love”, Venti was weirded out by the thought of a kiss- it just really didn’t make sense to him. Why would people press their faces together to show affection? That’s disgusting!

-In his spirit form, when he drinks water or any liquid, it looks as if he’s absorbing it like a sponge because he hops inside the liquid and it slowly dries up as it’s inhaled into the void.

-Zhongli and Venti share a special relationship, but are famous for keeping how close they are to each other a secret. Some of the archons think they’re married, while others think they hate each other. It used to be a guessing game between the gods about how much they care about each other.

-Venti’s weak point in battle is that he’s much more reliant on air than other beings. He can’t stay underwater for long, and being choked will render him unable to throughly connect with Anemo.

-Mr. Fox and the Clockwork Guardsman is a reflection of Venti and Zhongli :) also if you haven’t read the storybooks in the Archive they’re actually so good you should

-Venti actually chooses whether to be drunk or not. Sometimes he’ll decide that he wants to be drunk, and deliberately lets the alcohol affect him while other times (AKA almost never) he chooses not to get drunk and simply enjoy the flavor of the wine.

-Venti’s worst fear is to be trapped alone, which is why he’s so afraid of his slumbers

-During his slumbers, Venti dreams of an almost alternate reality of Teyvat, where everything is perfect. Khaenri’ah never fell, the Original Seven never died, etc etc

-When he wakes up, he usually secludes himself for several days as he tries to recover from thinking that that was reality, only to find out it isn’t.

-Ehe~

-Venti is very self-conscious of his singing, despite what he acts like- but not in the way you might think. The voice he uses is the nameless bard’s voice, so whenever someone compliments him on having a beautiful voice, he silently feels guilty because he feels like he’s stealing the nameless bard’s praise.

-When archons cry, their tears glow the same color as their element because of the pure elemental energy in their bodies.

-Venti can speak to animals (proven by the NPCs outside Mondstadt), Sage claims to have seen a young green boy with white tights speaking to animals in the forest

-Venti hates mirrors because he’s reminded of the nameless bard every time he looks at himself

-Whenever Venti is embarrassed, his braids light up

-Since Venti canonically knows all songs past, present, and future, I like to think he really likes present-day k-pop songs and randomly starts singing them and everyone just stares at him

-The archons have a tradition where, to celebrate a new archon’s rise to power, they create a gift for them unlike anything in the mortal world as of that age. The first ever kite was a gift to Lord Barbatos

-Venti fidgets with his braids a lot when he’s nervous

-The feathers on Venti’s fake vision are the feather pair he tried and failed to give to his friend- in one of his stories, it’s told that his friend wished to see birds, so he tried to get a feather for him and for himself. However, when he returned, the battle with Decarabian had already begun and by the time he found the bard, he had already fallen

[miilkphone]

MCD REWRITE LONGPOST :

The Divine Warriors/Irene powers/Relic Thoughts

okay so starting off. I know I did a poll over if I should rename Aphmau and people said to keep her name as Aphmau but I got attached to the name Amalthea

HERE !!! are a couple of Amalthea concepts, + a face close up of her after unlocking Irene/Malthasso's powers/memories AKA it's her starting her transformation ig + the beard she kinda has going on is her moth fluff, which also runs down her neck ON TO MY THOUGHTS

i will say that a lot of this is copy + pasted from where i rambled in a few disc servers

I'm considering naming the rewrite Metempsychosis

" me·tem·psy·cho·sis [ˌmedəmˌsīˈkōsəs, məˌtemsəˈkōsəs] noun metempsychosis (noun) · metempsychoses (plural noun) the supposed transmigration at death of the soul of a human being or animal into a new body of the same or a different species "

unsure if I actually will or not

I want to rename Irene to Malthasso because the name Amalthea is derrived from it, and it always bothered me that Aphmau and Irene's names weren't a little similar

all of the divine warriors have something buggy going on

Irene/Malthasso - Moth

Shad - Beetle

Esmund - Cicada(thinking of the golden cicada)

Enki - Spider (Because of the Web from TMA)

going along with the moth theme, when Malthasso slumbers to become Amalthea, she goes into a sort of cocoon? and eventually Amalthea comes out, Amalthea has very vague and fuzzy memories of the cocoon and the Malthasso dimension (probably also going to get renamed), but she doesn't actually know what it is until her and the others get sent to the dimension

Now for Malthasso's powers, I saw someone give her time abilities instead of healing, and I liked how they did it so I wanted to do something similar, but I think instead I want to do something similar to how Nhika's(The Last Bloodcarver book mc) powers work. It's a bit hard to explain, but by touching people Nhika can feel every bit of someone's body, all their organs, all their veins, etc., and she can go in and heal whatever needs healing but it's not an instinctual thing, she has to actually learn about the body and how it functions. It's a dangerous power that could either be used for good or bad, it's not only used for healing. Anyway, I was thinking of Malthasso's power working similarly, except instead of being just humans/animals, it could also work for plants n such, like she can feel every bit of the earth and the roots as if it was a body and veins

LAURENCE he does not get his sight back completely, either it'll be like Kenshi from Mortal Kombat or similar to Toph from ATLA leaning towards similar to Toph since he'd be healed from the effect of the Malthasso statue, or at least somehow from Malthasso/Amalthea's abilities, he'd also be able to sort of 'connect' with the world around him

Adding in relic thoughts,

Absorbing and having a relic taken are both very painful things too, as well as having your Jury title renounced(thinking of something specific for the Garroth n Katelyn scene)

Absorbing a relic, when not gone to it's "rightful" owner(but still to a compatible body), it feels very unnatural, suddenly your body doesn't feel like your own anymore, you feel stuck inside a hollow shell and there's always a part of you trying to claw it's way out

Absorbing a relic, when gone to it's "rightful" owner, it still feels unnatural but not in the same way, it just feels like you've gained another limb or organ, you feel more whole than before

Having a relic removed is like having an organ or your heart ripped from you, it's very very painful

I DO HAVE MORE MCD REWRITE THOUGHTS but I figured it'd be better if it wasn't shoved into one big post, trying to kind of 'sort' which thoughts go together. but anyway lmk if you have any questions:))

[ckret2]

Hi! Been keeping up with your fic for the past few months, absolutely loving it!

What is your take on Bill and empathy? In an earlier chapter he refers to it as an alien concept. I was wondering if he's never felt it before? Or if he's repressed it through eons of denial and self-absorbed partying?

Thanks!!

Let's start with definitions, because empathy is one of those words that gets a broad range of definitions from the colloquial (such as "empathy = caring about people") to the academic/scientific ("empathy = capacity to comprehend what another person is feeling"). I'm skewing toward the academic definition. You can care about people whether you experience empathy or not.

These days researchers define two kinds of empathy, "cognitive empathy" and "affective empathy". "Cognitive empathy" means "I can use my intellect to identify and understand someone else's emotions," and "affective empathy" means "when someone else is feeling an emotion, it makes me feel an emotion too (e.g. I'm sad because they're sad)."

When Bill says he considers empathy alien, he's referring to affective empathy. When he's not busy lying to himself about how others feel ("I'm sure Ford would be thrilled to be my friend again!"), he can be very good at cognitive empathy ("With all the stress Ford's under from his dwindling money and his parents' demands for financial success, he'll be desperate for a big break. This is my chance"). But Bill doesn't consider that empathy, he considers that "being smart enough to figure out what people are thinking."

I don't know whether Bill has never-ever-ever experienced affective empathy. He does possess the capacity to care about other people; and he does have the capacity to feel happiness when good things happen to them and anger or sorrow when bad things happen to them; and what exactly is the dividing line between "a person I like is happy -> that makes me happy" (empathy) and "a person I like is happy -> because I like them, I want good things to happen to them -> so I'm happy a good thing happened" (something that's not empathy)? Where do you split hairs between "I feel bad FOR you" and "I feel bad WITH you?" If Mabel comes home crying and Bill immediately gets angry and asks who he needs to murder, do you consider that affective empathy or just (a violent kind of) sympathy/compassion?

What Bill DOESN'T do is feel casual affective empathy for just, like, anybody. If a woman's husband is murdered and she loses the house and she loses her job and her children are sick, Bill's less likely to go "awww :(" and more likely to go "lol. 🍿" If he's in an unusually noble mood, he might go "man, what kind of a messed up society are you guys running that a lady gets fired for crying at work a week after her husband died? Do you not understand how grief functions in your own species?" but like, that's "disbelieving and condescending about how stupid y'all are being," it's not being sad because she's sad.

I don't know whether he's always had low/no affective empathy, or whether he initially had more and then it was reduced. I do know that if he ever did have more affective empathy, it had decreased before he was out of childhood, long before he destroyed his dimension. One of the things that drastically reduces empathy is receiving too much power without a stable social network and coping skills to keep you grounded, and Bill was given a LOT of power as a teen with zero healthy relationships and all the emotional maturity of a typical socially isolated teenager. By adulthood, he had already emotionally walled himself off from the world—there's me (superior) and everyone else (inferior), and anyone with the potential to be my equal is a threat—so if he'd ever had a capacity to feel with other people, he'd shut it down by then.

I'm trying to imagine what he would've been like at eight years old. If he saw some rectangle with an ice cream cone get bumped, drop the ice cream on the ground, and start crying, would he feel sad too? Maybe a little bit. Not enough to share his ice cream though. He'd just keep eating and hope someone else gives the rectangle a new cone. So at one point he definitely felt affective empathy. Not a lot, but some.

But that was a trillion years ago and Bill tends to say what feels truthy rather than what is true, so "empathy is alien and I'm suspicious it even exists" is what he thinks to himself.

[glitter-stained]

More Batman Magical Girl AU lore: list of transformations

Everybody:

-Semi-transformation: this one is easy, takes little energy out of the Star and doesn't require a transformation sequence. It only triggers the emergence of some star traits, like bat ears and little bat wings for the constellation of the bat, wolf ears and a wagging tail for the constellation of the dog, translucent boxing gloves for the constellation of the clenched fist, etc. They enhance physical prowess and regeneration, though not to the level of Wonder Woman or Superman, as well as semi-flight through the ability to jump from building to building.

-Classic: the classic transformation which is accessible without too much struggle (aside from the concept of awakening) by everyone and probably the only one used for the first three seasons of the show, it's cool and has a transformation sequence but has to still be easy enough to draw. It grants flight, enhanced speed, strength and regeneration as well as access to Basic Moves and Special Moves.

-Meteor: after a Star gives themselves away to the Night of Gotham, if their heart is open enough, the crystal core can channel the pool of star dust inside their heart to grant them access to that transformation, which is objectively cooler and prettier than the classic (for example after someone loses a hand, someone takes a bullet for a civilian etc.). This grants them the ability to make Meteor Special moves, as well as an additional increase in physical abilities.

-Ultimate Starlight: when the Villain Conglomerate kidnaps Batman to try and syphon the power of the Bat, the other Stars come to rescue him. During the fight, the Stars' different attacks overcharge the machine meant to absorb the bat's star magic and use it to permanently mind-control the Gotham population, the Ultimate Transformer of Starlight (UTS), and it basically explodes in a bomb that hits everybody with the very powerful Ultimate Starlight transformation. They can afterwards channel this transformation at will, which is so pretty, and powerful in specific scenarios that require the use of the Starlight Avalanche power it grants: if someone good is brainwashed, possessed or committing evil through some fort of coercion, like some of the key characters used by the villain conglomerate in that arc, this magic frees them of that control and can even make them into allies; one Star's Starlight Avalanche is enough to free an entire mob of people.

-Aurora/Galaxy: The Galaxy is the final arc of the series, in which all the constellations join hands and all the fragments fuse together to summon the Night Sky, which is to say they summon the spirits of the Night Sky Constellations through a phenomenon called Aurora Borealis that opens the gateways and leads to the Stars and the constellations sharing a body moving together in complete symbiosis, in an all powerful costume that shows both ethereality, specificity to the constellation and full power glitter and detail. There are actually two costume changes in that epic final scene, the Aurora where as they hold hands and summon the Nightsky they are in uniformish galaxy/northern lights colours emitting and pastel neon light, and then the Galaxy when they merge completely with their constellation.

Twisted:

-Jason (Constellation of the Wolf): Unleashed: During this Under the Red Hood inspired arc, Jason is grappling with severe trauma and pain and rage, which all bubble to the surface as he tries to figure out what's happening. In an access of pain and grief, Jason decides to flood his crystal core with energy with the goal to implode, but instead the core is damaged and defaced (it will be healed at the end of the arc), leading him to take in an alternate transformed form that showcases his grief, rage and pain to the world and half-controls him, leading to an extreme increase in violence.

-Bruce (Constellation of the Bat): Dark Heart: Bruce's plummeting mental health leads him to attempt to shield his heart and accidentally leads to the corruption of his core by the Dark Spirit Zurr' En' Arr, who turns on his family and, among others, kidnaps Jason and tries to deactivate his crystal core to avoid a reiteration of the Unleashed Arc, which leads to consequences similar to the Gotham War storyline (though Jason is later healed through the waters of the fountain of the Astral Lost).

Star Fusion:

When two stars enter complete partnership their fragments might fuse temporarily, leading to both having costumes and powers that share traits of both. Examples of this phenomenon are the Stephcass fusion fight or that time the We Are Robin movement triggered by Duke induces a fusion between all of the Robins.

[maxphilippa]

The Super Object Energy + Cobalt Blue's Unknown Story.

So. This just dropped. Let's talk about it.

In the video it is explained that the Super Objects were the ones that created life amongst objects, this already saying a lot about the fact that the Super Object Energy is genuinely the strongest power ever known to object-kind.

They used that power to create life the same way others could use it to destroy. But then. We KNOW that Cobalt Blue was an artificial Super Object. But he was responsible of rock based objects.

So this means that Cobalt Blue was just as strong as the others, but he didn't win because again, he's just ONE super object. His army was strong but we're talking about four other super objects here.

But then that makes me wonder. Why did they choose Cobalt Blue anyway? How did they create said life? We know that to an extent, it really is just very linked to the person and what they use the power for. Let's take a look at Supreme EC and (Super) Computer.

Supreme EC's example on the power being able to destroy but also to create life are really obvious, but his are more of an hurting the enviroment heavily (the skies turning red and glowy) and as well the thunderbolts that come from him. He has the power that WAS GIVEN TO COBALT BLUE ON THE PAST. SO OF COURSE HE WAS THAT STRONG.

ESPECIALLY EVEN MORE since he did absorb the powers from his minions, after all. Which means that The Super Object energy can only get bigger and bigger, and the damage that it causes can get worse. It can also change the aspect of the person as well, this being obvious with Cobalt Blue (the red veins) and EC's horns and tail.

But apparently what holds the Super Object Energy from being stupidly overpowerful is. The body of those who have it.

The Super Objects are quite literally Gods, but they're not immortal by any means. They are strong and can take a lot of damage, but their body can take only so much power.

And. This brings my doubt.

HOW did Computer not die instantly when EC got to him, EVEN IF he wasn't an Super Object?

And again. Super Objects can create life, in theory, "they can even turn death into life". What does Computer do? Exactly. He is alongside EC, the only guy able to revive people, but EC probably only had his abilities once he got his Supreme form. Computer is STILL a mystery. And.

Super objects have great resistance after all. But that's the thing. He wasn't a super object there.

[gets close to the mic] what i'm saying is that computer might just be an even more interesting guy because he has shown to have abilities that are similar to the super objects, EVEN WHEN he was still just some guy.

Now remember the thing I said about the Super Objects being literal Gods? And that even then they can still die?

Super Computer wasn't able to kill Supreme EC because he was not only limited by his emotions, but his body was also LIMITING the power.

So when he dies, since he does not have a body, The Super Object Energy doesn't need to put limitations to itself in order to not put the person at risk, or to keep them safe anymore.

It's a complete weapon. Way stronger than EC.

Because it managed to completely delete him from existence, but it also managed to fix ALL of the damage he caused. Because it came from Computer. From the purest part of him. From his soul.

It destroyed death and gave life a new chance.

So I think that the Super Object Energy is a really interesting concept as a whole. It makes sense that it makes life.

It can be used to destroy or to create it. To hurt or to protect. To hate or to love. Can you believe that the only person that used all of that power, from all of the past super objects, loved that place so much that he didn't mind if he was dead because of it at the end? That he was the only person in the last couple of decades to use that power for good? (Alongside the s1 competitors)

Now, with Cobalt...

What makes it the more tragic for Cobalt is that his super object energy... led him to believe that he was a saviour of sorts.

And the worst part is that he was convinced that he would surpass the others.

Cobalt Blue is just a perfect example of going mad with power, although with initially good intentions.

However, my point remains. Cobalt's actions seem to pretty much have started from a wish to protect others, but later on he ended up being consumed by his own thoughts and power. Not saying that this excuses his actions, but that it gives him some more depth.

Him being described as an rather mysterious object is fascinating. The historians don't know much about him, even if he was the biggest threat back in the day. We don't really KNOW much about CB on an emotional and psychological perspective.

We also DON'T know why he had that ability on the first place.

We know that it's a product from being an artificial super object, but then, why fumes that can control people? Was it that the Super Object energy just choose itself? Did it consume Cobalt?

... he wanted to protect his group, or he didn't want to be forgotten.

Or probably, wanted to make sure he could be just as important as them.

The way he looks so happy on past times before he got exiled makes me wonder what was going on inside his head.

Of course it was wrong. But look at his smile. It isn't a challenging one or a threathening one at all. But rather a proud one?

He wanted to be known. And he is. But was it worth it?

He was so obsessed with wanting to be strong that it ended up being what it killed him. It's also possible that there wasn't any hurting in his original plan.

Of course, kidnapping IS fucked up, but it was stated that he attacked the towns after he got exiled.

"And he was strong"

I think that's the part that shocks me the most.

His army was strong. He was strong. But he still wasn't a match for them. And yet his power remained there for years even after dying.

And all of these factors make his final scene on TDOS so so much more worse.

He's alive without a purpose.

At least with his power he had an idea of who he was.

Without it... he's nothing.

Or maybe he never was someone.

No one knows him. Not us. Not the historians. Not the cast. Not even himself knows who he is.

He outlived them. And yet he has done nothing but hurting others. Was this the saviour he wanted to be?

Was it?

[robsheridan]

Poster for the unproduced 1984 live-action horror adaptation GARFIELD: FIRST BLOOD.

Following the success of CUJO in 1983, studios were scrambling to find the next hit “killer pet” flick. Notorious grindhouse auteur Ron Sharleton, seeking a big-budget movie deal to fund his struggling production of CANNIBAL QUARTERBACK 2, set his sights on the most unlikely of properties: Jim Davis’ beloved comic strip Garfield. Sharleton, a self-proclaimed fan of Garfield who called the strip “a subversive celebration of misanthropy,” believed an “alternative, adult” spin on the character could thrive in tandem with its kid-friendly cartoons. Describing his rationale in an interview later, Sharleton said: “You have all of these R-rated films that come out and become big hits and the studios want to suck every penny out of one idea, so they sanitize it and repackage it as a cartoon for kids. So I said, why can’t we do the reverse?”

GARFIELD: FIRST BLOOD was pitched as a dark, gritty reimagining in which the titular cat, pushed to the brink on a particularly bad Monday, finally snaps and kills Jon’s dimwitted dog Odie. As he tastes Odie’s blood, Garfield is overcome by how good it felt to put a permanent end to something that annoyed him. He then realizes that everything and everyone annoy him, and his murderous rampage begins.

Describing his take on the character, Sharleton said: “Garfield never really sat right with me as a children’s character. He’s so much darker, more complex. You have this cat who is filled with contempt; he looks at the world around him with radical skepticism and scowls at the prison of tedium mankind calls ‘society,’ and he responds with this very self-indulgent nihilism: Be lazy, be a glutton, don’t participate in anything because it’s all bullshit. Garfield looks at Jon waking up early on a Monday and putting on his tie to go to a job he hates, and he sees a pathetic fool. It’s all such a powerful rejection of the Reagan Wall Street capitalist disease that has poisoned the 80s. ‘Work hard, climb the ladder, buy a boat!’ Garfield says fuck that, stay home, eat lasagna, accept no master. But living as an iconoclast in a conformist world has filled him with all this tension. There’s anger in there, you know? So I wanted to examine what would happen if Garfield was finally pushed over the edge. Where’s the line between a passive nihilist and a violent anarchist?”

Warner Bros execs were intrigued by Sharleton’s pitch (and the lucrative cash cow of the Garfield brand) and funded a short “proof-of-concept” trailer, directed by Sharleton, to convince Garfield creator Jim Davis of the idea. The trailer reportedly went “all-in” on Sharleton’s signature “splattercore” horror, including a scene where Garfield grinds up Liz Wilson alive in a meat grinder and bakes her flesh into a lasagna he then serves to Jon. The presentation to Davis was described as “one of the most disastrously miscalculated meetings in modern Hollywood,” with Davis stopping the trailer midway to ask the room “are you people completely fucking insane?” before storming out.

Reflecting on the meeting years later, an anonymous former Warner exec said “we knew it was a long shot, but we really felt like the only way to sell the concept was to push it as far as possible. In retrospect I think yeah, we did let it go too far. We were so absorbed in it that we didn’t realize how jarring it would be for a guy like Jim Davis to just be thrown into this cold. I think it was a mistake to open with the Nermal blender scene, but we wanted shock, and we thought… I don’t know, everyone was doing a LOT of cocaine back then. Well, everyone except Jim Davis."

-----------

UPDATE: T-shirts and poster prints now available!

NOTE: This alternate reality horror story is part of my NightmAIres narrative art series. NightmAIres are windows into other worlds and alternate histories, conceived/written by me and visualized with synthography and Photoshop.

If you enjoy my work, consider supporting me on Patreon for frequent exclusive hi-res wallpaper packs, behind-the-scenes features, downloads, events, contests, and an awesome fan community. Direct fan support is what keeps me going as an independent creator, and it means the world to me.

[batter-sempai]

Hello hello! ...Dorry for my last ask. Got a bit overexcited and brainspewed all over your inbox.

Guess who's gotten into Ultrakill thanks to you! I'm definately not complaining, that's for sure.

So... I have decided to spice things up with a bit of a Ultrakill ramble instead of my usual Papyrus Nonsense (Does this mean I'm no longer the Pap Anon? The sacrifices I make for new blorbos... /lh)

One thing that I noticed was that I couldn't find a single role reversal fic. Which is fair. The Idoits (aka Gab and V1) are Too Damn Similar to just swap without making it the practically exact same story. So.... I came up with an idea. What if the setting was a "holy crusade" type of story? The angels culling humanity on the surface instead of machines in Hell? And the machines (either previously made for OG purpose or made specifically to fight the angels) have been sent out by humanity in defense? I just think it would be neat.

Side ramble from story ideas since that's the only one I've got, but something that interests me is... how do the machines WORK? I know there's.meant to be suspension of disbelief and all that but I want to Know. Do they have little suction holes all over their plating to suck in the blood? Does the blood work like with humans, only they lack the ability to regenerate that blood? Or is it that the blood works more like oil for a car? And the concept. Oh wow the concept. Imagine being in a weapon design commitee or whatever they have and some saying "you know what would be really messed up?" and everybody just nodding along and saying what a good idea that was?

Wow this is getting long. Going to cut myself off here but tldr thank you for the Thoughts.

- No Longer Just Pap Anon

Hehe hello there Pap Anon. :D I’m so happy I got you into Ultrakill. I’ll reply to your other asks too, I’m sorry it took so long. ;_;

I guess you’re both the Pap and Ultrakill anon now? Nice. ^^

Now that I think about it, what would a combination of both games be called? Underkill? Ultratale? Both sound pretty great.

Yessss I love how similar Gabriel and V1 are, while having the opposite goals. Both of them are, or now were, pawns to a higher force (the humans and the angel Council) and tend to act on instinct. Their dynamic is fascinating to me.

Ooh! I love the idea for this AU so much. :o Maybe in this world, humanity didn’t destroy itself with war and making the war machines, and managed to live on somewhat peacefully. But the Council didn’t like that and sent an army of angels, including Gabriel, to purge the humans. Would be very messed up if the angels sent down had to consume blood to survive too. Humanity’s last-ditch effort to survive was to send machines to fight the angels, and V1 being the last and most powerful weapon they made. V1 and Gabriel meet and fight like they do in the game, only on Earth instead of in Hell. ^^

On the topic of how the machines work, the game says that all machines who aren’t V1 have a “separate blood refueling process”, though it’s never specified what it is. V1 is unique that he’s the only machine that can absorb blood through his metal plating. So maybe V1 has very tiny suction holes on his plating to absorb blood. But the other machines might have to stop and siphon the blood into them somehow. I like to think they have some kind of blood vacuum, but I still need to give it more thought.

Also I think blood is actual fuel for them, due to the tagline “blood is fuel”. It’s mostly like gas for cars, they need it to keep moving. I've seen some people depict machines as having tubes as veins for blood in their bodies, or having parts that look like metallic human organs, which are amazing ideas, but I don't know how canon that is.

Here’s a screencap I took from the game explaining V1’s refueling process.

And honestly, the humans should have seen this coming. Imagine making powerful machines that NEED blood to survive and not expecting anything to go wrong. Then again, I guess humanity in real life isn’t any less foolish sometimes. But hopefully we won’t make something as awful as blood machines.

It’s okay ^^ Thank you so much for the ask.

I guess I can be both a Papyrus theory and Ultrakill theory blog too, because this was really fun to type out.

Also, here’s a screencap I took in Roblox of Papyrus and Gabriel. Hope you enjoy it Pap/Ultrakill Anon. ^^

[evolutionsvoid]

There is no denying the power and presence of the Church of Divine Wealth, the golden religion that has ruled over these lands for so long. Many would even struggle to remember what the world was like before the Church was established, choosing to believe it has been with us this entire time. However, there has been time before Ichor, time before the Church. Other religions existed before the first drops of gold fell from the sky, but they were inevitably drowned in the divine downpour. To cement their dominance in these lands, the Church was certain to squash those who did not bow to them. Some groups were absorbed and repurposed, bending their beliefs and ideas into concepts that would fit the Church's framework. Others were eradicated, with the hopes that no trace would remain to even trigger a memory. With this, the Church of Divine Wealth was the one and only faith, while what pathetic scraps of their foes remained was labeled as heresy and deranged lunacy. The era of Ichor reigned for quite some time, but it seems its end may finally be nigh.

When civil war broke out within the Church, its infighting created fractures through the whole system. Parts of the faith began to break away and choose their own path, while others accused doubting fragments of blasphemy and violating the "true" way of worship. And as the Church tore into itself, other organizations who had feuded with the Church smelled the blood in the water. The Academy of Veritas Mundus certainly saw its opportunity, and their actions soon led to the all out war that consumes these lands. And as the titans wrestle for control of everything, the smaller foes and cast away cults began to scurry for scraps and grow upon the doubt in many people's minds. Other faiths have returned to this world, finding their own place in this power vacuum, when many Church followers are left lost and hopeless.

While there are certainly some odd religions to be found in the shadows of the Church, those who kept silent and small in fear of the golden boot, there are few more puzzling than the worshipers of The Great Egg. While other faiths turn their prayers and hopes to invisible entities above or below, The Great Egg is a physical thing that can be seen and touched. The Shrine of The Great Egg is tucked away in a wild land, keeping far away from the reach of the Church in order to not draw attention. It remains in the outskirts, where even the nearby villages have weak ties to the golden faith, as all the good blessings and wonders are saved for closer settlements with far larger populations to woo. Even then, the Shrine of The Great Egg is hidden well and guarded, as one never knows when the Church may come to eliminate this unwanted religion. If one can befriend the right followers and prove their divestment of the Church, then they may learn of its location. Then comes the trek to reach this secret shrine, facing the dangers the wilds has to offer, on top of the war that rages on ceaselessly. Find the path and give the needed key to the guards to allow entry. When you have done that, then you may at last meet The Great Egg in all its glory.

The sheer simplicity of The Great Egg would make one think it is easy to explain, yet many struggle to put proper words to it. To describe it on a physical level is no challenge, as it is a large blob of meat and fur. Add in a single toothless maw, and that is all there is to The Great Egg. Its swollen mass sits within a nest of furs, which serves as throne and altar for this odd faith. Many cerumen candles surround this draped bowl, lighting the round bulk and showing the myriad of offerings left to this spherical deity. The faith found in this cult is a simple as their god. They come here bearing gifts and prayer, hoping to receive blessings and guidance in return. All offerings are to be food, be it meats, organa, bugs or fluid. In time, they will be fed to The Great Egg, who gleefully and messily devours them. Yet, this action can only be done when the moment is right, and when the Speaker deems it to be so.

The title bears no flamboyance or trimmings, fitting for a faith so barren and plain. The Speaker has gained this name purely because they have offered no name of their own, and it perfectly describes their role. The Speaker is they who speaks for The Great Egg, able to translate its gurgles, burps and grunts. They listen and then they spread the word, so that the followers may know the wisdom granted to them. The Speaker is also responsible for tending to The Great Egg and signaling when it is time for offerings and ceremony. Only when The Speaker says you can, can one step forth and present their gift to The Great Egg. The food is offered to the shapeless mouth, and one waits for it to be taken. With a rumble and a gurgle, it will open wide and gobble up the offering, making quite the slobbering mess when it does. While one may be disgusted by the display, the true horror is when The Great Egg turns its nose up to your gift. While very much lacking a nose or any other features, it would seem that something will upset The Great Egg and they will refuse to accept the offering. If it had hands, then this could be considered a slap in the face, a sign that you are unworthy. The Speaker has explained these moments as The Great Egg sensing sin and wickedness within the presenter, that they have come with selfish prayers and wretched wants. When this occurs, the offering is taken and thrown out like trash, and the guilty party must leave to reflect on their failings. Return when your essence has been purged of this darkness, when you have realized your sin. Then The Great Egg will see your healing and happily accept any morsel given.

While The Great Egg commonly gifts followers with translated words of wisdom and hope, in some cases, the faithful may receive a greater blessing. When one feeds The Great Egg, its content rumblings may turn to wobbling and gurgling, ending in a belch of raw fluids. It will spit into the carved bowl before it, a sickly and sweet pool of liquid filling it. Outsiders see this as vile, but followers know what this is: a blessing. They must thrust their hands into this filled cup and retrieve the solid mass within. What emerges is a hardened wad of bone, hair and humor, a truly malformed thing. Though some may think it grotesque, it is The Great Egg's version of a blessing, a sacred object to bring the wielder comfort, hope and luck. Those deemed worthy of this gift shall wear it upon themselves like a talisman, warding off bad energeiai and attracting brighter things. These blessings are sought after by the followers, and those who gain them are sure to always keep the close and safe. Thankfully, their mangled appearance makes them unattractive to bandits and thieves, though some keen and knowledgeable traders may know their worth. Eccentric fellows and rabid collectors will pay well for these trinkets, so those with these special connections may find interest in these gnarled items. And for a certain folk, those whose appearance is shared with this odd amalgamation, its presence brings about a calm and comfort. There is beauty in the malformed and art within the different, and these talismans are proof of that.

A regurgitated blessing is certainly an incredible gift from The Great Egg, but there is indeed one thing greater than even that. A chance granted to only the most reverent and unflinching in their devotion to The Great Egg. Those who have proven their worth and faith time and time again. If they are pure of spirit and devout in faith, then one day The Speaker may approach them with the words they have always wished to hear: "The Great Egg has chosen you. You have been welcomed into its essence." This is the ultimate gift to get from The Great Egg, the opportunity to feed yourself to it and become one with its body. This prospect is wondrous to the faithful, the chance to have your essence join with this deity's own. To become part of something far greater than one could ever be. Many accept this offer on the spot, stripping down and partaking in the ceremony that ends with them being consumed. Some have hesitated, claiming they still have duties in this life that they must see to. They cannot go just yet. The Speaker will say that The Great Egg understands and it will happily wait. When thy soul is content and the work is done, return to the shrine and be welcomed home.

This of course brings to question the purpose and ultimate end goal of all this. What does one gain from becoming one with The Great Egg? What do the followers hope to achieve by feeding it offering and their own flesh? The answer should be obvious, as what is the purpose of all eggs? Indeed, the faithful believe that a day will come when The Great Egg hatches, and from it will come salvation. What exactly that will be? No one knows for sure, but does any faith truly know in the end? As for the detractors and nonbelievers, they simply see a group of lunatics feeding themselves to a mangled lump of meat. Being consumed by this everlasting egg means that your essence does not return to the cycle, at least not until The Great Egg itself perishes. Perhaps that is why the Church has chosen to willfully ignore this cult, knowing that with each passing ceremony, there is one less fanatic to worry about. Yet, in these horrid times of war and chaos, the Church may be too busy to notice that more outer folk are finding comfort with this gurgling wad of flesh then within their own stained halls. Perhaps the golden blessings have lost their luster, or perhaps folk are realizing these gaudy glimmering temples were never truly for the dirty and downtrodden.

[imthepunchlord]

Thinking about those fox powers also reminded me of my ideas for the peacock. The first is how I could alter the canon power. So, along with the basics of removing the sentient life aspect, I would also make it more summoner-like. So, the user would use their own emotions, the emotions of those around them, and even the emotions that have seeped into the places they are in to create sentimonsters (no amok or item). The sentimonsters would generally be more animal-like, and the powers they have are more minor and depend on the creature. The user can control the creatures mentally and with hand movements. The user can probably make multiple at a time (both the same creature and different ones), but making too many can overwhelm the user and split their focus too far. Basically, it would be like what Maria Renard from Castlevania: Nocturne can do (https://youtu.be/xCFvixsZFhc?si=4OnHNv7A5taaOuKo)

Some other ideas for alternative powers are: stunning people with their beauty, delving into the mind of a target to discover their secrets by making direct eye contact with a target, absorbing negative energy to empower themself, scrying, seeing into the future (and if paired with the snake the snake could see into the past), and wind manpulation

Man, Peafowl and Rabbit really are the top two I want changed power wise.

On the topic of Peafowl's canon power, changed or not, I really should've been a power tied to Ladybug. Whether making sentient life to animated puppets, that's heavily ted to Creation.

Peafowl I stand should've had something different, something that should've changed up the status quo as it felt too similar/an extension of Butterfly. And it is a little funny that you have Mayura moving about when when she's a little more designed to be hidden away than even HM himself.

But yeah, a lot you brought up would work. They are iconic symbols of beauty and I also thought of a power of charming with their appearance, maybe even able to charm people to do as they ask. Mind reading, scrying, and foresight all make sense given the major eye motif peacocks have, Vision is one of their more iconic aspects and would've made more sense for Duusu's concept. Air/wind manipulation I'm the most iffy on, there is the fan to work off of, but that power may better work for a more aerodynamic bird like Falcon or Eagle. Peacocks I don't really associate with flight, and I don't know how good a flyer they are, especially with those long tails.

Other possibilities to add:

Healing/purification/rejuvenation, as the latter is an iconic symbol of it, as well as rebirth. Peacocks are associated with taking in evil/corruption and purifying it into beauty, eating venomous snakes to bring out the color of their feathers.

Peacocks also could've had a time power, even Snake's time resetting power could've worked. Mayura is a peacock that stands upon a snake and represents a cycle of time.

Peacocks are also tied to truth, and there's the idiom True Blue to work off of.

They're also tied to guardianship, royalty, luxury, and invulnerability. So they could've been related to fortune and wealth or being more defense.

They're tied to spirituality so could've done something related to spirits, or astral projection.

It's one of those animals that has a lot of possibilities in terms of powers, so the route they went is disappointing, kinda lazy, and convoluted a lot. It's also a little funny as I have read up that peacocks are tied to absolute goodness, being incorruptible; yet it's Miraculous is broken and misused (and maybe still? Idk if Felix is a good guy or not).

Also, idk about you guys, but since I've done various research on other animals and their myth, folklore, symbolism, and idioms, Ladybug I found to be kinda boring as a major lead animal to focus on and set up to be important. Why couldn't it follow a more interesting animals, we could've had Peafowl!Marinette instead. That also could've better worked off her interest in fashion too.

[crepe-of-wrath]

"Benefits Package" (Alucard x Fem Reader)

I kind of like this general concept for a x Reader, so it's likely that I'll write loosely-connected vignettes that revolve around it as the mood takes me. This is more teaser than anything, but is still rated for 18+.

As far as jobs with the Hellsing Organization went, yours was pretty normal. You were Sir Integra's private secretary, and you performed your duties in the same tradition of Lady Stanhope, Miss Layton, and countless others. The hours were long, but the people were interesting (to put it mildly), and Sir Integra was everything one could hope for in an employer: she took your expertise as an article of faith and was consistently occupied, allowing you to operate at your discretion.

Even the wages, benefits, and perks were good. Better than even you knew, as you found out one evening...

The Hellsing Organization was a laboratory of sorts, as there were always various prototype technological toys floating about, but you still preferred to keep old-fashioned back-ups of important records. Finishing these records often kept you quite late, and tonight was no exception.

It was after midnight when you stepped into a darkened hallway and turned back toward your door to turn the lock. Before you could turn and face the darkness, a hand materialized from behind you, clamping over your mouth and absorbing your scream.

"Shhhh, little human."

You didn't need to see to know it was Alucard. Your body did not relax, but your tension was quickly morphing from the tension of fear to the tension of arousal.

"Alucard," you spoke into his glove. It felt oddly fuzzy--or was that your head?

He dragged his fingers away slowly, running them down your neck, murmuring in approval as you reclined your head back, giving him more room to slowly wander. By the time the last of his fingers had traced your collarbone (alas, only through suit jacket, curse the wretched thing!), you had to actually take a second to make sure you were still breathing.

You turned to face him, and somehow managed to ask, "Do you require my services, sir?"

Polite. Formal. Dutiful. Stoic. Your ancestors would be proud.

He laughed and used his long arms to pull you into his chest. You gasped in a way that would not make your ancestors proud.

"I do not. But our Master is convinced you need mine."

Panic seized you again--Sir Integra wanted you drained?

Alucard let out a hearty laugh--his red eyes were twinkling, which was not a visual you would have though possible--and then leaned down to whisper in your ear:

"Not drained, little human. Filled."

It took you half a heartbeat to get it.

He tilted your chin up so you were looking into his eyes. "Master worries that the long hours you devote to her service leave you...lonely. "

You didn't know if you were blushing because of, you know, this, or because you had apparently not been as circumspect around Sir Integra as you had hoped when it came to the topic of her most handsome servant. Your breathing got shaky again. His other hand--his huge, powerful hand--was rubbing and lightly pinching everywhere. Your impulse to decorum yielded its control, and you leaned in, resting more of your weight against him.

"Goodness," said Alucard (so low and so deep!), "our Master is so wise and observant, as always. You are lonely."

He swept you up into his arms and carried you through the corridors until you reached the guest wing.

"My master suggested this wing would be quiet and discreet," Alucard said as he swung open the door and turned on a rather dim lamp. The room had seemed large at first, but Alucard had crossed over to the bed like it was nothing, depositing you gently so that he could get to the work of--oh God--removing his coat, and his jacket, and his tie, and...

You looked down and your hands seemed to have taken on a will of their own, as you didn't remember consciously deciding to remove the suit jacket, but there it was next to you. That just left your sheath and its notoriously difficult zipper.

You tried to maneuver your arms into position without alerting Alucard to your undignified situation, but no luck. One of his hands closed around your wrist, and he pulled you toward him. As you tried to steady yourself, your hand landed on the bare part of his chest exposed by his partially unbuttoned shirt.

"I'm sorry!" you exclaimed.

He chuckled and pulled you so tight--you writhed a bit but could not move. That sent a jolt through your body that did not escape Alucard's notice. There was a powerful yank and the telltale sound of fabric tearing. Cool air hit your shoulders and back as the now-tattered dress fell around your feet.

Alucard backed you toward the bed and pressed you into the mattress, climbing on top of you, caging you in his arms.

He leaned down as though he was going to kiss you, but stopped just short. His smile was toothy and terrifying, yes, but also oddly endearing. "How lovely, little human."

Then, almost too low for you to hear, "My Master is too good to me."

You were fairly certain your breathing had stopped yet again. Was it possible for pleasure to actually kill someone? As Alucard shifted so his mouth could settle on the softness of your breast, you realized you were about to find out.

[cacti-are-like-flamingos]

Cursed Sight: Chains

Gojo Satoru x Reader x Geto Suguru

The Cursed Trio | Central Masterlist

**Remember to read the Author's Notes under my post. They hold valuable info. on the characters, plot, futures, and, sometimes, how the cursed technique affects them

...

Curse Technique: Cursed Sight: Chains

User: One

Cursed Sight: Chains is a rare cursed technique that bestows its user with the ability to perceive the spiritual realm and interact with spirits, souls of living beings, and curses. When it comes to how powerful the technique is --- it truly depends on the user and their cleverness.

One could almost say it's a distant cousin to Six Eyes considering that the technique is always activated alongside the fact that it allows the user to see everything. This unique ability allows them to see the silhouettes of souls and curses as well as sense emotions, understand intentions, and combat curses more effectively.

...

Specifics:

Silhouettes: The user can perceive the silhouettes of souls and curses. The ability to see other souls allows the user to always have a sense of what that person is all about --- if they can be trusted or not, if their intention is good or not, and so on. However, they cannot perceive complex expressions or detailed features, only the general outline of an expression. This is why the user must train themselves to understand the more subtle nature of humanity, in order to be ahead of them in case they turn hostile. (Comparison: God from FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST.)

Cursed Energy Detection: The user's sight is attuned to cursed energy, making them highly sensitive to its presence. This ability helps in detecting curses from a distance and staying alert to potential threats.

Spectral Chains: With a focus of intent and cursed energy, the user can summon physical spectral chains made of their cursed energy. These chains are used to restrain and weaken curses, making them easier to defeat or purify --- this ability also allows the user to make chains for their own personal usage. Think of a love child between Ghost Rider from Marvel and Eraserhead from My Hero Academia

Cursed Energy Siphon: The chains serve a dual purpose: not only do they restrain the curse, but they also have a draining effect. As the chains make contact with the curse, they siphon away some of its cursed energy, further weakening it.

Empathic Connection: As previously mentioned, Cursed Sight: Chains extends to the souls of living beings, enabling the user to understand emotions and intentions --- in other words, when dealing with souls it's intimate business. People are not delicate but their souls are, they can be easily manipulated and deformed. Souls are delicate and sensitive, and sudden actions or disruptions can create imbalances within them. They should not be absorbed under any circumstance.

...

Limitations:

Light Sensitivity: The user's enhanced vision through the Cursed Sight: Chains makes them sensitive to bright lights, temporarily impairing their sight and causing discomfort. Note how the user's room is likened to a dark, cold cave.

Line of Sight: The user needs to maintain a clear line of sight on the target curse to initiate and control the spectral chains. Obstructed vision can disrupt the process and hinder their ability to restrain the curse effectively.

Multiple Targets: While the user can use the binding chains against a single curse, controlling multiple chains for multiple curses simultaneously is considerably more challenging and might strain the user's focus and energy.

Silhouette Outlines and Hues: The outlines of the silhouettes, as well as the color, hold great significance, carrying clues and information about the nature and emotions of the souls and curses. Deciphering these subtleties is crucial in understanding the intentions and emotions of those they encounter. In a way, you can think of it like Kokushibo's way of seeing the world from Demon Slayer. (The concept, not the intricacies)

Cursed Energy Consumption: Activating and maintaining the Cursed Sight: Chains requires a considerable amount of cursed energy. Extended use may lead to exhaustion, leaving the user vulnerable to stronger curses. Consequence --- the outlines of the user's souls may become permeable. Allowing the essence of the soul to escape and slowly become one with the spiritual realm. In other words, to dissipate and die.

...

Will update the more we learn about the user!

Drop a comment down below!

Hope you enjoyed!

[lammydraws]

more Former God of Death AU stuff, ref sheets of sorts. (notes and infos below)

and doodles

it takes place before Narinder got the crown and became the Bishop of Death

so this is basically pre pre canon back when there were still a few more gods in the land of the old faith Mercy is the god of death and has Isabella as her apprentice Isabella is a mortal, but eager to learn, by this time ascended gods have proven themselves to be accepted as equal to born gods, but the likes of Shamura and Kallamar bring some interesting concepts to the table. before most gods just existed in harmony with nature and people, there were some who were more power hungry and inclined to harness the power of devotion and a following as well as by fighting and absorbing powers of other god like creatures. When Shamura informs Mercy of a born god (Narinder) they see more fitting to be Mercy's apprentice it should have been the order to prefer a god over a mortal, but Mercy instead opts to take both as apprentices. the reason why she took an apprentice is because she kinda plans to "retire" aka pass on her crown not sure if she's just tired of dealing with the many tragedies that tend to come with death (although she's very compassionate and empathetic) or some of the recent developments with more and more conflicts and fighting mainly between gods but it obvs also affects mortals - they kinda die and stuff :v especially if conflicts cause natural disasters and whatnot she has a good relationship with Shamura but also sees their desire for war and power which she cannot really support bella is mercy's first apprentice and they have a good relationship. mercy likes her, loves her as if she were her own child. Mercy refuses to dismiss Isabella as her apprentice when Narinder comes along even tho she knows that only one can have the crown and the favor is definitely stacked towards Narinder. Bella knows that too, but she's really determined and hard working, but also never unhelpful or unkind to narinder.

sorry its messy, i have no energy to format this rn. maybe i come back to it and edit it ,_,

[libbee]

Tendency of Sun in 7th house to self sabotage?

Having sun in 7th house, I have dealt with a strange phenomenon all my life. It is as if I absorb the projections of other people directed at me and consider it to be my reality. So, if someone calls me "stupid and dumb", I accept it as my reality rather than seeing that it says more about the accuser than myself.

This tendency led me to be a people pleaser and have low self confidence because I also have 8th house placements, so I encountered traumatizing and toxic behaviour from people in my surroundings. They would project things directly or indirectly and I would absorb it as truth. As if my existence depended upon the opinion of other people.

As if being seen by others would keep me alive, otherwise I am a nobody and invisible. I dont know who I am so I needed others to tell me who I was. What they said about me was the gospel of truth, especially if they were close family. Opinions of others are their projection, whether good or bad all opinions are projections. People perceive other people by constant projection. It is impossible to withdraw all projections because then living in the world is not possible.

I remember being a child and thinking to myself "I wish I was married as a kid, so I would have a husband to think for me, take my decisions, tell me what to do because I am just so lost". At that time I did not know that it was my sun in 7th house effect that was sabotaging my self confidence and self image.

I would also mirror others, especially my mother who is sun in 1st house. Her being 1st house sun and me being 7th house sun, I was her copy, her mirror, enmeshed with her, identified with her, as if her story was mine, her reality was mine. All daughters are copies of their mothers, but I went a little too far and absorbed her identity.

There is also the tendency to idealize others, especially men, but also women. Seeing the idealized version of people in imagination and feeling flawed, inferior, lacking in comparison to them. I believe this can be understood with the concept of the 'inner gold' that the native projects upon other people as container of all the ideal and good qualities instead of accepting them in oneself because the native's ego is too weak to hold them. For example, the natural confidence is too shaky "no, I cannot do that, it's too difficult for me, I am not smart enough".

There is also a tendency to read other people's insecurities. It is as if I can watch someone's behaviour and read between their words and tell "aha! I caught you. This is your insecurity." and since I see it in others, I also see it in myself like a mirror "ohhh, so, I also do this behaviour in my life, this is my insecurity too". It makes me "socially intelligent" but not so confident because you need to have a force of personality to perform in physical world. If you spend half your time reading others' behaviour and words, when will you begin to live? And you will dread to socialize because you are always flinching and cringing at people's insecurities.

Lastly, there is also the tendency to have a weak ego which gets inflated when perceived to be disrespected. Disrespect is taken seriously, even indirect disrespect is disrespect. I believe this is because sun sets in the 7th house and loses its natural heat there, so the ego compensates for this feeling of inferiority by demanding a lot of respect from other people because it cannot respect itself since it feels invisible and hidden in this house. Barack Obama has sun in 7th house and he is the public figure well known for having a clean record in terms of cheating or extramarital affairs. And we know the stereotype of "sun in 7th house power couple" because of how much importance native gives to marriage and not take it for granted.