#the new character off the bat was pretty cool too

[undreaming-fanfiction]

I am massively busy with work and finalizing my Big Bang, but this idea just won't leave...

Steve and Eddie are both actors. They're in their mid thirties, well established, but they never starred together in anything. Steve tends to be cast in the same type, the dumb but pretty love interest, Eddie has lots of indie and disturbing movies under his belt. But this time, they both landed something big.

They get cast in the new Batman movie.

Steve is, of course, Batman. He insists on doing his own stunts. He refuses to get dehydrated for his shirtless scenes because he knows how damaging it is to both young men and women alike, he's not going to contribute to shitty expectations. The director (Dustin, duh!) sees something in him other directors never have - a potential for depth, for internal turmoil. He gives Steve the chance to prove himself as an actor and Steve pounces on it.

He's still very hot.

Eddie is cast as the Joker. He is a fan of the comics and scoffs at how absurd and deranged the character is becoming. He gets hired because he immediately says he doesn't think the character needs to rely on cheap tricks and shock value to be terrifying. Cutting off his face? Not cool. He suggests to play the Joker according to one of the older comics he has - one where the Joker is actually absolutely sane, but hides it to never be held accountable for his actions. The only person who ever saw through his ruse was Dr. Harleen Quinzel. Joker took care of that issue very quickly.

The chemistry between Steve and Eddie on screen is insane. They go toe to toe, it's impossible to look away when they interact. Eddie utilizes his bright smile to the maximum, tweaking it just right within moments so it becomes unsettling. The first time he laughs, Steve gets goosebumps.

Steve encompasses Bruce's loneliness so well Eddie's heart breaks for him. Dustin finds him in the trailer, giving himself gentle slaps over the face and muttering "you're evil, damn it, you don't want to comfort the Bat!!".

Batgirl (Robin) and Harley Quinn (Chrissy) find their slow descent into love hilarious. They all become good friends on the set.

Hopper, an acting veteran who plays Commissioner Gordon, grasps Steve's shoulder after an intense fight scene and mutters: "Good job, Steve, but maybe don't stare at his lips so much?"

Robin doesn't give him the same courtesy and once Dustin yells "Cut!", she screeches: "NOW KISS!"

The movie is a hit. People love the cast and the story, some of the OG fans complain as they always do, but the ratings are great, there are many interviews, panels, all of that.

And of course, there's gossip about Steve and Eddie being a thing, which enrages the macho Batman fanbase. Their Batman isn't gay!

But the rumors quickly disappear after an award ceremony where Eddie is nominated for the best supporting actor. He wins, of course. And as he gets up to accept the small statue and deliver a speech with enough "fuck"s to give the censor a headache, he drags Steve up and kisses him in front of the whole world.

A week later, Steve and Eddie are together in front of a camera again, answering questions in an interview.

The host asks: "What do you say to those fans that are disappointed, who say that their Batman isn't gay?"

Steve just snorts, pulls Eddie closer and answers: "They're right. Their Batman isn't gay. But he's definitely bi."

Also the comic story I'm mentioning exits and is short but fantastic. 10/10 recommend.

Oh also. The first spark happens when Steve sees Eddie's hair and blurts out: "Please tell me they're not making you cut it shorter. It's too gorgeous for that."

Also because people were asking about the comics - it's Batman Black and White - Case Study and it can be found on Tumblr HERE

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

Mad Season 1

Warnings: non/dubcon, social anxiety, chronic illness, and other dark elements. My username actually says you never asked for any of this.

My warnings are not exhaustive but be aware this is a dark fic and may include potentially triggering topics. Please use your common sense when consuming content. I am not responsible for your decisions.

Character: Bucky Barnes, Peter Parker

Summary: a class project gets messy. (short!reader)

Note: you can't stop me from giving a tiny reader to these two and I will not listen to anything ever.

As usual, I would appreciate any and all feedback. I’m happy to once more go on this adventure with all of you! Thank you in advance for your comments and for reblogging ❤️

You can't focus on one thing. Your eyes flit around. Shining tables, floating screens, metal tools and gadgets, cabinets with glass doors house endless supplies, Stark-branded emblems from wall to wall...

The lab is extraordinary, well above the shared spaces at the university. A dream come true for any but especially for a student used to ramen and a used single mattress. 

"You... you really get to come here whenever you want?" You rasp as your throat tickles. 

"Yup!" Peter answers at twice your volume. You wince. You tend to mumble and you're just not good with loud noises. He pauses to measure his voice, "uh, yeah, so I figured we could do our project here, study buddy." 

"Oh, mhmm," you hum as you fold your hands over your chest and sway. As awesome as it will be, that usual dread comes over you. What if you break something? What if you get in the way? 

"Pretty cool, right? Mr. Stark is so awesome." 

"Mr. Stark? Yeah, yeah..." you cough and lower your hands over stomach. "Thought it was a rumour..." 

"Yeah, he helped me out in high school after I won a robotics tournament. He's chill." 

You nod, almost frantically, as your eyes skitter around without focus. Your chest starts to tighten and you blink big. Peter shifts away from you. 

"Hey, you need a minute?" He asks. 

You look at him and keep nodding. It's why your happy you got him as your partner. He checks in. Not to mention, he's never annoyed by you. 

"I'll be here, wanna take a breath in the hall?"  

You squeak but don't quite get out a yes please. You spin and scurry to the door. You flinch and jump back as it slides open on it's own. Peter laughs and a small smile curves your lips but you're too nervous to laugh. 

The hall is empty. You bask in the solace, calming yourself against the wall. You just get a little worked up in new places. Or loud places. Or crowded places. Then it makes it so you can't breathe and then... 

You pull out your reliever inhaler and take a careful puff. You close your eyes and lean your head back as you wait for your heart to slow. In, out, in, out. 

You grip your inhaler as you stay unmoving against the wall. Your ears prick, listening for any sign of life, as you retreat behind your eyelids. Another breath and you'll be okay. 

"Um, miss?" A rocky voice jars you away from the wall and your eyes snap open. You nearly collide with the man before you. How did you not hear him coming? "Are you alright?" 

You bat your lashes and reach to play with plastic bow clip in your hair. He watches the motion as you nod, "yes, sir. Sorry. I..." Your mouth is sticky and parched, your surprise balls on your tongue. You clear away the lump, "you're... the Winter Soldier." 

His brow twitches, "Bucky." 

"Sorry, sorry, er... Buck...y," you trail off. You swing back and forth, "sorry... again, I..." 

You're embarrassed and lost. You give a sheepish look and turn away. You hurry back to the door and hit the keypad. It blares back at you in rejection. You don't know the code and you don't think your fingerprint will work. You stare at it helplessly. 

"Here," Bucky approaches and presses his thumb to the pad. "You new here?" 

You shake your head. Your chest wracks. You bring your puffer up and suck without thinking.  

The door slides open and you flit through. Peter leans on a table over his phone. He looks over as you enter and stands straight, tapping his fingers on the metal. 

"Hey, you found Bucky!" He grins. 

"Kid," the man follows you inside. Wait, why? Is he going to tell Peter on you? You didn't mean to call him that. You didn't know he wouldn't like it. 

"We're just having a look around," Peter explains, "we're both in engineering. Classmates." He introduces you by name, "Mr. Stark won't care too much if I'm doing homework." 

"Mm," Bucky grumbles as he goes to a far table. 

Peter shrugs and faces you again. "He can be a bit grumpy. We can get outta here." 

He comes forward as you hear metal tinking behind him. You glance over as Bucky works on his metal forearm with a thin tool. His vibranium fingers seems to work on their own as he wiggles the tip in a groove.  

"Grumpy and has super hearing," Bucky snipes as he keeps his attention on his arm. 

Peter's brows pop up and he rolls his eyes, "come on, let's get outta here before he gets his arm calibrated." 

You turn and go back through to the hallway. The door shuts behind Peter and he sighs. He points you down the hall as you shuffle aimlessly. 

"This place is sweet but you know, some of the regulars can be a bit much," he jokes. "You'll get used to Buck. He's never in a good mood. Better when Sam's around but... well, he's grown. Shouldn't need a chaperone, right?" 

You tilt your head but don't say anything. You don't know much about them. You learned about Captain America and The Winter Soldier in history back in high school. Your knowledge of the Avengers and their current roster is extremely lacking. Other than the Spidery one. Everyone on campus talks about him. 

"Mmhmm." You drone. 

"Gee, sorry, I know it's a lot, huh? Didn't mean to overload you!" He chimes. 

You shake your head, "I'm okay." 

"I know, I know. Kinda nice having someone quiet around. Ned is a chatterbox and the worst project partner. He just wants to talk about girls or lego." 

You dip your head to show you're listening. You glance at your inhaler and yuck is away in your crossbody bag. You drop your arms straight and continue next to Peter to the elevator. 

"Wanna get a slice? I'm starving," he says. "My treat." 

"Oh... you don't..." 

"Nah, don't worry about it. I just want pizza without May telling me not too," he chuckles. "Trust, I know a great place." 

You purse your lips and push your shoulders up again. You give a silent surrender with a tilt of your head. Even if you feel a bit guilty, you won't say no to free food. 

[jewish-vents]

this new hatsune miku nationality trend is starting to piss me off and of course the watermelon crowd just had to ruin it. at the beginning this trend was super cute and cool and now it just turned into a fest of antisemitism and xenophobia. i’ve been a vocaloid fan since 2016 so miku is one of my biggest comfort characters ever, and seeing her now being swept into this bullshit makes me so angry yet exhausted at the same time. people just won’t leave israelis alone and it’s sickening at this point. stop being so obsessed about us already!! let us have fun with trends and fictional characters too!! why do you want to erase our identities and cultures so badly? how on earth does that even help palestinians exactly. and the funniest thing is that they continue saying it’s only antizionism, not antisemitism lmao.

there’s an israeli person who drew miku as an israeli on twitter (or x. whatever), and the amount of death threats and other horrible things people commented about them is outrageous. i think they eventually deleted the post because of the harassment, and it’s just… so unfair. miku can be drawn as every nationality in the world, and no one will bat an eye. i bet even if somebody draws her as russian or something nobody will give a fuck. people will only lose their marbles and be racist/xenophobic when israel is mentioned and it’s disgusting. i know i may be extremely dramatic over a fictional character and a bunch of buffoons on the internet, but this just shows how ‘leftists’ aren’t really who they represent to be. they act like nazis in a death cult. it’s like they only pretend to care about palestine just to have an excuse to hate on israel and dehumanize half of the world’s population of jews. and yes, believe it or not israelis do have a culture, one that’s more diverse than you’d imagine. cry about it.

it’s pretty ironic how i became so emotionally drained because of a japanese vocal synthesizer. and i really love miku. but i’ll never forgive these hypocrites for not allowing us to breathe anywhere. not to mention the fact they really like to fandomize the conflict for some reason, which is just. insane.

i wish a day would come and people could just treat us like humans beings. let us fucking be

.

[asleepinawell]

sorry if this seems a bit out of the blue, but ever since youve been posting about fallen london, im a bit curious about it! What is the game about and where can I get it?

oh no worries! I'm happy to ramble about it

fallen london is a free to play browser game you can find here. the basic premise is that sometime in the 1800's the entire city of london is engulfed in a swarm of bats and then falls through the earth into a cavern a mile below. this is the neath, a huge underground cavern where london sits on the shore of a vast ocean. queen victoria is still around locked in her palace being a typical shitty british monarch, who, amongst other things, decided that 1900 was cancelled and we were just going to have 1899 for a second time

things are a little...different down there. humans are far from the only ones running around. there's devils, rubbery men (think mind flayer vibes), clay men, and the shadowy cloaked figures running the bazaar (and the city) called the masters. death mostly isn't permanent and the dream world is a little too real. also, most importantly, cats can talk! and there are tons of them! and tigers too

it's got victorian, gothic horror, dark humor, lovecraftian vibes. also it's extremely queer as is everything the dev, failbetter games, makes. something I especially appreciate is that you don't have to give your character any particular gender (though you can) and some of the little avatars are very gender neutral:

since it's free to play it comes with the normal things that type of game has such as real money transactions (completely optional and unnecessary for enjoyment (though some of the bonus side stories you can buy are extremely cool)), limited number of actions you can take (max of 20 at a time and refills 1 per 10 minutes). it is definitely grindy too though there's so many things to do (cannot emphasize the insane amount of content enough) I will usually just switch things up every so often

it's single player for the most part but you can ask friends to assist you in certain actions and there are some specific items that can be sent to other players

(if you like the setting but not the free to play part you can check out mask of the rose which is a visual novel they just released set right after london fell. it's a romance but with full aro and ace options (which I actually preferred) and a murder mystery. that one is a normal just buy the whole game deal and I think it's on most platforms. there's also sunless seas and sunless skies which take place in the same world but are a very different type of game and would require their own post. all of these have great writing in them)

but back to fallen london. it works based off of 'storylets', or little short stories when you usually do a skill check to accomplish something in return for advancing the story, levelling your skills, and reward items. you unlock more and more things as you go and get access to new stories and areas. here's an example of one of the little activities and its resolution

since it's a game designed to be able to play endlessly there isn't really a way to lose or game over. you can die but dying is just a minigame of its own and sometimes even a thing to do purposefully. (the only actual way to die is the notorious story called seeking mr eaten's name which you may have seen me post about, which is a very unique story that will permanently erase your character at the end. why you'd ever want to do that would also be its own post. it's pretty hard to stumble on accidentally I think and extremely well-marked as a thing with severe consequences that you probably shouldn't do. or should you...)

anyway I'd definitely recommend giving fallen london a try if you're interested in the premise and aesthetic

[pararororurun]

TBHK x reader

Summary : how'd they react to reader being similar to mitsuri.

Note : SOME (most) ARE PROBABLY OOC. SO. I'M SORH SORRY GUYS. Also I forgot to write some character oopsies that's my fault lolll but I'll do them some other time hopefully. ANYWAYSS PLEASE ENJOY AND BAIIII^_^!!!

──────────────────────────────

• Hanako

> You're pretty fun to tease! (lol)

> but whenever he sees you fight in any

scenario he finds it interesting. Someone

who's usually all cheery and happy could

actually be this strong? Someone grab him a

notebook and a pen he needs to figure some

things out about you.

> as much as he treats you like a little kid he's

actually kiiinda deeply afraid of you!

Especially when you're a bit angry.

> tries to help you with your work as much as

he can! But unfortunately fails due to still

having the intelligence of a 13 year old.

──────────────────────────────

• Nene

> THINKS YOU'RE ABSOLUTELY

ADORABLEE

> honestly would love you with all her heart

and tries to protect you as best as she can.

> when she sees you in action she stares at

you in awe, flustered at how cool you looked.

Then after you finish she'll immediately run

up to you and hug you tightly.

> once she invited you to help her clean the

bathroom and she couldn't stop staring at

you. Talk about lovestruck..

> THE POINT IS. She love you with all her

heart and would do anything for you.

──────────────────────────────

• Kou

> you are his inspiration. (After Teru)

> everything you do will make him interested

and he'll keep on praising at how cool you

were, and how you're always so kind and

smart, and

> head over heels. Oh it's not even subtle

anymore it's SOOOO OBVIOUS it's crazy.

Even tiara notices something off about him.

> tries to protect you. Everytime you're in

danger he gets in front of you and tries to

help you get away from the danger.

> please trust him, he wants to (always) be by

your side.

──────────────────────────────

• Mitsuba

> would start by hanging around you first,

then dent that he was following you.

> everytime you mention someone else he

would always try to mention how he's a lot

more cuter.

> easily jealous, doesn't show it but it's

obvious.

> would try to take some of the flowers from

the garden, then gives it to you. Saying

how it's just a show of gratitude and

nothing more.

> gets all giddy after.

──────────────────────────────

• Teru

> at first he didn't trust you too much, he has

a little suspicion on you.

> would sometime let his guard down when

he's around you, but then remembers you

aren't quite human? So he keeps on

reminding himself.

> even if you weren't somehow human, he

would still try to help you when you get

attacked.

> wishes you were human.

──────────────────────────────

• Akane

> worst crisis ever.

> oh he likes Aoi but he also like you?!?!??!??

CRY ME A RIVER.

> walks around the council room in stress as

Teru stares him down, teasing him about

this new 'crush' of his.

> he tries to hit Teru with a bat.

> everytime he sees you he would go the

other way and try to avoid you. He's

confused.

> he would feel a little bit of joy but also

bitter whenever he talks to you.

──────────────────────────────

• Aoi

> who knew letting out your feelings on

someone you trust dearly could be so

helpful? Huh?

> whenever you compliment her on

something she would go quiet and not say

anything else, then puts on a sour/pouty

face.

> is actually really embarrassed by your

compliments. She would immediately go

red whenever you compliment her too

much, then she would ask you to stop.

> you are very dear to her. She just doesn't

know how to show it.

──────────────────────────────

Note : happy Friday guys. Yay? I don't rly have much to say sooo

[beatcroc]

a year!!! as of today i have now been drawing these funny little pizza freaks, to the exclusion of almost everything else, for!!! an entire year!!! i wanted to do a nice group shot/lineup of everybody to compare to when i first started trying to draw them because oh boy were they bad. i never even posted most of them anywhere because they were so bad. but im posting them here, now, to see how everything's changed/evolved.

this is probably the hardest time i've ever had trying to figure out how to work with a style, but we got there eventually; i'm pretty happy with the handle i've got on everybody now...dont let ur memes be dreams. lots of unimportant journaling and idle thoughts abt it below.

older pics

the first one is the VERY first time i drew them, before i thought i was going to actually have any interest in drawing them [lmao]; it was just the one isolated image, for my friendserver, to illustrate the funney message, so there was no attempt to make it Good or actually understand anything going on w/ the designs or style.

second is the original run of practices sketches to start trying to figure them out for real; done after i started having ideas for the comics and such and realized oh god maybe i am actually gonna draw fanart for this. [again, lol, and lmao.]

third one is the first pt art thing i posted on here. there were a couple weeks of sprite studies between this one and the previous image. the one on the top right wasn't part of that post i just threw it on as space filler; i'd intended to shift to doing Sprite Redraws But Stylized to explore tings more, but that was the only one i did. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

individual characters

peppino: by far the hardest dear god. bro what ARE your shapes how DOES your face work. jesus christ. everything i have trouble with this style for, peppino has it in excess. i draw in polygons! i need consistency! and that is the last thing this kind of style is concerned with. they are made of squarshy clay and i do not understand how to mold them. i was really hoping trying to learn this game's style would GIVE me that kind of flexibility for fun exaggerated facial expression but i don't think much came of it in the end 😔. anyway on the bright side all this means once i got peppino figured out a little bit everybody else clicked way easier.

fake peppino: honestly i never did anything with him on purpose except for how his eyes work + the perma-smile thing. i figured ok hes supposed to look weird and off model so whatever happens with him happens. and it did. and it kept happening. it is still, in fact, happening.

noise/ette: somehow, for every bit that peppino was the least natural thing i've ever tried, these two worked pretty much right off the bat. i still don't understand it, seeing as pretty much all the things at play for peppino are also at work for them. i think the new sketches are actually a little worse than older ones but not enough that i care.

gustavo: really funny bc i drew him on model twice and just went 'okay, cool nice, easy, um. he doesn't have any fucking legs?' fortunately he was the only one i had a strong idea for how to stylize him [square] and it worked exactly as i was hoping so wahoo.

brick: is an animal and therefore 5000x easier and more natural for me to draw/stylize than anything else in the cast. that is Just a rat bro. i can draw a rat.

gerome: i think the funniest one here. the most drastic and least necessary change imo. i was gonna have him be really small at first, like smaller than the noises, but then i just... didn't. he's just peppino-sized now. also i gave him like. actual human facial structure, which is funny bc in most cases i'd do anything to avoid, but it works well for his being A Rock to give him some angles and definition like that+ to differentiate his vibe from the rest of the cast who are all very squishy. also since he is essentially Just A Head it's good to emphasize that too ig.

john: i only drew john a couple times but he gets to be here because i like him. and because most of the stuff i applied to gerome was readily applicable to john, though i did try to keep him a little more uncanny because he is a Huge And Lanky Freak. i hate that he is barefoot btw but idk how to make his color balance look right with shoes.

pizzahead: i did not want to put him on here honestly but i Have drawn him a handful of times and more importantly i didn't know what i was gonna do with john's pose if i didn't have him there to be glared at. the only thing that's different with him is giving him wider-bottomed pants, which i got from when i tried to draw these guys in clone high style [i never posted that one either][i will eventually]

snick: he gets to be here because 1. he's like 6 lines 2. i like him and 3. ive scribbled him a few times offhand and it went pretty well

misc

there are some guys missing because those are guys i didn't draw enough [or at all] to have gotten comfortable with them. sorry

i would have Liked to shade these but for the time being i have accepted that my grasp of light/shadow has decayed to the point im not going to be happy with anything i try there, so For Now i am working on my presentation with flats i guess. gerome has a shadow only because he's shaded like that ingame and looks naked without it

anyway if you are still reading [hi?] i get to shamelessly plug now. i'm over the hill of my pizza run now, and while i still have plenty of things i want to make here, most of the bigger more in-depth ones have passed. pizza tower was the first thing in THREE YEARS to get me out of my oc groove to doing fanart, and once i am done with my ideas here i will be going right back to it. if you like my art or how i write characters/interactions you should check out my oc/webcomic blog @jamverse . i can't promise people who like pizza stuff will be terribly into my designs, but i can guarantee i treat my guys with the exact same sort of tone i handle the pt guys with. and hell, i've mentioned it a few times before, but like 70% of my characterization for fake pep is just copied off one of my characters, so if u are going to miss him... he will still be there in spirit >;p

and if you dont care about any of that and are still reading thank you anyway. actually making these comics + seeing how shockingly well-received they've been has done a lot for my confidence, and for seeing that my kind of stuff IS something people enjoy :')

[meaningofaeons]

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈ mr. cold feet

⊹ character(s) - sampo koski ⊹ word count - 1.8k ⊹ notes - gn!reader, spoilers for belobog museum event (opportunity makes the thief p4), reader is NOT trailblazer!!!, but they ARE part of the silvermane guards!, reader and sampo are implied to be in a ... complicated relationship, suggestive? making out ig counts as suggestive but obviously still sfw within reason /ᐠﹷ ‸ ﹷ ᐟ\ﾉ

I am once again here 2 apologize for no majesty update... I just finished the event as soon as I was well enough to get up and I... had to. I love hate love to hate and love sampo (=^-ω-^=) enjoy! also sorry this got more suggestive than I expected it to.... (=♡ ᆺ ♡=)

"Oh... I mean, oh! Oh, haha! If it isn't my favorite Silvermane Guard in the entire world, my dear Y/N~"

"Cut the chitchat, Sampo." You crossed your arms, unimpressed. "Really? I thought you mentioned a 'new lease on life' after the whole saving Belobog thing. You're still running cons?"

"Come, now, no need for that! I daresay it was fate that brought us—"

Sampo trailed off weakly at the sight of you bringing out a pair of cuffs, sweat visibly dripping down his temple.

"—...together... again..."

He chuckled warily, opting for a wisecrack.

"Well, I'm certainly open to hearing you out on your bedroom preferences—after all, Sampo Koski is nothing if not flexible, if you catch my drift—but don't ya think this is a little sudden, sweetheart? I mean—"

You advanced on him, scowling, and he visibly leapt back, arms up.

"W-Woah, woah, cool the jets! I know you've got your duty to do, all of that, hehe, and believe you me I know how dedicated you are! 'S one of the things I love about you—"

"I'm not being bought this time, Sampo Koski. Arms behind your back."

"Come on, just hear me out! Please, Y/N? For old time's sake?"

"What old times?" However hostile your tone, Sampo noticed the way you slowed just a bit, giving him a chance to speak. Then, in fake-contemplation, you placed a finger thoughtfully to your chin.

"Oh, you mean the time you snuck ten crates of Geomarrow out from under my platoon's noses, and got us all in deep shit with Captain Landau. Or, no. Perhaps you were thinking of the time you forced me to go on a 'date' with you, only to trick me into meeting your cronies at a handoff point for your stolen goods? Oh, or maybe—"

Sampo shrunk in on himself with each story, grin growing more and more sheepish and catlike with every word.

A small correction, he realized: You hadn't slowed to allow him to defend himself, but rather, to rag on every inch of his schemes and stoke what little remained of his guilty conscience.

He only acknowledged that you were finished with your story time when you began tapping your foot, brow raised. Sampo reached for you, taking a seat at the small table to move ever-so-subtly closer to your touch.

"Honey? Darling..." Your lip curled at his puppy-dog eyes, yanking your hand away. Despite the malice he could hide in those emerald irises, he was damn good at making himself appear vulnerable, too.

"Don't call me that! Especially not in public!"

"We're in a hotel room..." he pouted, tapping his fingers together. "Listen. I've got an idea that could be beneficial to us both...? I get away, and you say you lost me, and you get a little something-something? Eh?"

You were about to say no. As you should've, as you usually did, but those eyes...

"Ugh!" you slammed the handcuffs onto the table, causing Sampo to start. Even with all his wiles and exit routes, he couldn't quite escape the mild fear he had of you.

Or maybe what he feared was more so upsetting you than anything else.

"Spill! What lame deal have you cooked up in that dumb, pretty little head of yours?"

"You think I'm pretty?" The blue-haired man batted his eyelashes, but toned down the theatrics only at your frosty glare. "Um, so, hear me out. I made quite the pretty penny off of this deal, and I can offer you a whole third of what I made! In exchange, you... let me go? Scot-free? No strings attached? ...Please?"

You sighed heavily. Why did you even bother sometimes...

"Sampo, I told you, I can't be bought. I don't want stolen money, and besides, I make plenty."

You placed a free hand on your head, sliding your cuffs back into your belt. "And what's the miraculous secondary offer Sampo Koski has concocted today?"

You seemed to open slightly, and that gave the man all the push he needed.

As though flipping a switch, Sampo's contrite expression morphed into a wicked smirk, fingers dancing across the table until they reached your hand. This time, you did not pull away, much to your own chagrin and the conman's delight.

"Well... if there's one thing Sampo Koski is, it's reasonable."

"You just said the one thing you are is flexible."

Sampo chuckled, taking advantage of the absence of venom in your tone as he rose from his seat, allowing his gloved hand to run up your arm. You tilted your head away, refusing to look him in the eye.

"I can be both," You couldn't stand the look on his face. Cocky, like the cat that ate the canary.

"You know," he murmured, voice suddenly low and breathy—and, of course, right beside your ear. "If you wanted a 'lil love from your dear Sampo, all you had to do was say so."

Before you could cut off his husky words with an indignant shout, he was swift in taking your chin in his hand, pushing his lips onto yours with a self-satisfied smirk.

Your legs felt reminiscent of jelly as you clutched onto his arms, but you did not fight off the kiss he deepened with each passing second—though they felt more like hours.

Sampo Koski is flexible, indeed. He can also be reasonable, though you'd argue more against that than for it.

But above all, Sampo Koski is annoyingly, infuriatingly, irritatingly astute. Especially when it comes to you.

Your brow relaxed as you felt his tongue slip against your mouth, your grip on his sleeve loosening as he practically manhandled you. His prying hands were quick to move down your arms, your sides, and you only gained enough clarity in the single moment he brushed your rear to give his wandering hand a smack.

He only rumbled a low chuckle again, sending shivers down your spine as he settled on your hips. Sampo pressed on further, nibbling your lower lip before invading your mouth with his tongue, eager to taste every inch of you.

That was another word for him, you thought. Eager. He could never take two seconds to stop and think about anything, as always, especially not when it came to you.

But while Sampo Koski was quite prone to causing (unpleasant) surprises to those around him, so wily was he that he never quite expected them to happen to him.

As a Silvermane Guard, you were by no means weak, and certainly not weaker than even the shockingly well-built conman.

You snatched his wrists from their place atop your hips, pulling back just enough to relish the shock in his eyes as you slammed him against the wall opposite, shoving your lips back onto his before he could make even a sound.

That didn't stifle his noise afterwards, a soft groan humming into your mouth as you kissed him with new fervor.

If he wanted to play dirty, you'd dish it back out twofold.

You shifted his wrists, clasping one hand around his two arms while your other began to roam, dipping beneath his hip windows and sliding along his side. This elicited more small whimpers from the Sampo Koski, his squirming picking up.

Even though he never expected them, you knew how much the man just adored surprises—especially yours.

Your tongue swiped over his lip, and you slowly pulled back, giving him no reprieve as you latched onto his neck. The blue-haired man groaned again, making no moves or effort to fight back against you as he angled his neck to give you better access. You had to fight the urge to release his wrists and slap a hand over his mouth from how loudly he was beginning to whine for you.

"Y/N..." he keened.

Just as you were about to nudge your knee between his thighs and give him a nice, vibrant mark on his pretty pale skin, footsteps echoed loudly in the hall.

Pela.

"Y/N hasn't been answering their phone. Prepare to search each room. If Mr. Cold Feet got to them—"

Shit!

You pulled back at once, Sampo being too dazed to even really listen to what the voices just outside were saying. He chased you immediately, face flushed and eyes teary.

"Aw, c'mon, Y/N... Feels good, keep going? Yeah? Please? I like it when you—"

"Sampo, those are the guards!" you hissed under your breath, emphasizing each word carefully, watching the slow snap to reality that dawned on the man's face. He paused inquisitively, as though waiting for you to call your comrades in to arrest him, but you only placed a hand to your forehead.

"Go."

You had to barely restrain your yell of annoyance as Sampo grinned wildly, planting a big, sloppy kiss on your lips before vanishing out of the hotel window. His whisper-shout was the last thing you heard from him.

"I'll pay ya back big time for this one, honey!"

The remaining seconds you had were spent trying to fix your clothing and rub at your lips, trying to scrub away any hint of puffiness. Before long, Pela entered the room herself, raising a hand for the other guards to stand by.

"Y/N, are you okay?!"

"Fine," you tried to answer as coolly as possible. Luckily, your friend didn't seem to notice, poking about the room.

"And Mr. Cold Feet—"

"Gone before I got here. Left the room a mess, and the window open."

She raised a brow. "You weren't answering my texts."

"Sorry. I got caught up in investigating, trying to find leads... He couldn't have gone far."

"Right... Well, let's get back. We got the film, so... no harm, no foul. We can try again."

"Right. Let's go."

You tried to ignore the subtle stare of one of the guards, trying to let the mortification of your state swallow you whole.

Were you that obvious?

Still, you grumbled about it to yourself all the way back to the museum, trying to rid yourself of the floaty feeling in your chest and your mind.

This was the last time, you swore to yourself. The last time Sampo Koski gets away with his cons! The last time he goads you into an impromptu make-out session!

You knew that was a lie, and so did Sampo, who gleefully watched you from the shadows, a museum volunteer application perched in his hands.

After all, you two would have all the time in the world together if you were coworkers...

...that is, more specifically, after hours at the museum.

He couldn't wait for you to finish what you started.

[thefaiao]

Do you remember what hooked you on the LISA series? It's a decently impactful set of games so I'm curious as to why you've created so many drawings from it

A great question. I don't think I can answer this with absolute precision, but I'll try. I'll begin explaining how exactly I first got into drawing LISA, and we'll work from there to the reason I believe I am still compelled to draw more of it.

I first played and finished LISA at the end of 2016. I was decently active at that point, but hadn't garnered much attention to my drawings. I had made a Hotline Miami post that had gotten decently popular, and a few Yogscast(1)(2)(3) drawings that also did decently well, but overall nothing super noteworthy. Most Yog fans at the time weren't into what I liked mainly, which was Shadow of Israphel.

I was immature at the time, so had a hard time connecting with people in fandoms. Not to mention, I was a Brasilian in a sea of Americans and Europeans. You'd be surprised how hard it was to relate with people in that setting, but I tried here and there.

I felt pretty strongly about the HM post though, since it felt like a great personal achievement. I felt a drawing I had a clear vision for had achieved what I set out to do with it. Seeing how much people liked it, it was pretty magical when you've never had a post "do well".

Anyway, people were hopping out of tumblr and onto twitter, and I did as well. Twitter, despite everything, sort of puts you way closer to other people. Your reply to someone important is very visible and hard to ignore. It was a type of equalizer. There I had gotten to get my drawings actually seen and shared by Austin, the guy who made the LISA games.

Having had my drawings shared and recognized that way had a strong impact on me, and I even got to talk with an artist I really looked up to at the time, Maren, who had also gotten into LISA. She had done art for SBFP and TF2, so it felt surreal to me to be acknowledged by someone like that. Up to that point I really felt like more of a passive observer to everything.

In 2014 I finished high-school, and 2015 I spent the whole year learning how to draw better. I tried so hard that I ended up dissociating, a very scary emotion, that I didn't even know was a thing at the time. It felt like all that time and effort was starting to pay off, and that there was a way forward here.

First I posted sketches, and the passion I had for the game and motivation from the recognition led me to put a lot more effort than usual into my drawings. I ended up making these, which got really popular, it was very validating.

So because of all that I kept drawing. I'll be honest, a lot of the time I just wanted to get even more of the attention of these weird new cool popular friends that were paying attention to me for some reason. I was very lonely at the time. I think I stayed lonely for a long time after too.

But eventually people move on, as is normal with fandoms. I didn't really feel my passion for drawing and LISA die out though. I had started a massive LISA art project at the time, that took me 5 long years, and also was more focused in college, where I did Game Design.

Drawing wise, eventually I branched out to other RPGmaker games, but LISA was very easy to draw. It was sort of a home-base for me. Something I could come back to when I was uncertain.

I think Urasawa put it quite well, with Billy Bat:

Drawing the same characters over and over is extremely rewarding, and a great way to reflect on your progress so far. I suppose it's meditative, but that's not quite the right word. It's very fun and constructive, and people can also keep track of your progress through that. I did the same with OFF characters, a game I had drawn way before all this.

Of course, I had a lot of issues because of how things developed. I related a lot of my self-worth with the validation I received from people online, and I still do, to an extent...

When I started taking the game I'm making, Meanderer, more seriously, and started living alone, posting anything felt awful. I didn't have the energy for bombastic posts, or the time spent developing the way I draw the characters like I did for LISA, that is, with ease and style. It felt very humiliating, but I understand it was a warped view of things.

It was a long and depressing time in my life, but it taught me a few important lessons, and made me sort of re-evaluate how I engage with "online" overall. But I still liked drawing LISA throughout all of this, I almost felt ashamed of it to a certain point.

All of this isn't to say I didn't love the game itself. It wasn't all just context. I really, really love LISA. It drove me to sobbing tears, which I don't think another game has gotten out of me. It's a fantastic game, that really showed what fresh things you could do with the medium. When I played it I'm not sure I fully understood how much I loved games.

I just grew up with the characters of LISA. Maybe not in my adolescence, but definitely in my adulthood, and with my art. These characters help me orient myself, understand my limits. And it's damn fun to get better at drawing them. Even just a character on an empty blank canvas, with only black and white lines. It's the most fun in the whole world.

To finish it off, I have a general philosophy of not republishing drawings. So whenever I want to do a LISA post I have to draw a LISA post. Just keep drawing and drawing. Don't get hung up on one drawing or idolize one thing you did. Keep making things. It doesn't have to make sense. Just keep drawing.

(There was a power outage while writing this and I had to retype this whole damn post by the way. Appreciate it!)

[deathmetalunicorn1]

If I had to describe Lilia Vanrouge without trying to spoil Twisted Wonderland, I’d say that he and Buddha would most likely be best buddies, Zerofuku would love and respect him, and he would be the ‘Nightmare Duo’ with Loki *Of Pranks* especially towards each other (He’s a really funny and cool character)

Plus I would 110% believe that if Child!Reader ever asks him “Are you my Fairy Godmother?” He would instantly say ‘Yes’ in less that a Heartbeat (He’s a silly character) All his cards are really beautiful, he knows he’s a cutie and likes to show it off (Also today is his Birthday and he pulls on your heartstrings to come to his party, or else he’ll cry *He uses his cuteness*)

He would also definitely call Child!Reader ‘Baby Bat’

Here are some Emoji’s that fit him 🦇🍅🎸🖤🩷💚

I decided to do this request with Eri!reader as I feel like that would make it adorable. This character does sound like a lot of fun!

-You didn’t know what to make of this new person who came to Valhalla and was hanging out with your family members.

-He and Buddha were almost always having tea and eating snacks together, and you had seen him always be really nice to Zerofuku, who looked up to him like a big brother, Zerofuku told you that you would like him too.

-You were a little shy, as you normally were with new people, staying close to those you trusted until you deemed a new person safe, as you knew that your family would always protect you.

-Zerofuku did tell you that Lilia and Loki had gotten into trouble and had been put into timeout, after they had gone on a prank-spree, pranking anyone they could.

-You knew Loki was funny, as he would always hide behind you if he got into trouble, and he would pull harmless pranks on you, like dumping flower petals over you, which always made you laugh.

-You began to follow Lilia, which is what you did when you wanted to get to know someone, as you would watch them from afar, investigating them.

-Lilia knew you were doing this, and he had learned from Loki, Zerofuku, and Buddha, that you were a very fragile child and that he should let you come to him in your own time, else you would be scared of him.

-Lilia didn’t want that! So, he made sure to never do anything scary around you and soon you were getting closer and closer to him, wanting to see his pretty cards up close and you wanted to have a tea party with him too.

-When you finally got the courage to approach him on your own, but Zerofuku and Buddha were also there, Lilia beamed brightly down at you, “Hello my little bat- I could feel your cute little stare!” He ended his statement with a wink, surprising you, he looked so pretty up close!

-You looked a little shy, looking over at Buddha who gave you a grin and a small nod as Lilia held out one of his hands, so you could take it, letting you be in charge before you looked up, your eyes sparkling lightly, “Are you my fairy godmother?”

-Silence filled the room before Lilia collapsed out of his chair and to the floor, clutching his chest as Buddha roared with laughter while you were confused about what happened.

-Lilia couldn’t stand it- you were just too cute!

-He quickly got you a chair for the tea party before he gave you big puppy eyes, “Y/N- my birthday is tomorrow and I’m having another tea party- will you come?”

-Your eyes went huge, hearing that it was his birthday as you smiled, killing all of them with cuteness, “Can I?” Lilia wanted to hug and cuddle you close, but held back, for now.

-He did not hold back the following day, when you presented him with a crayon drawing of himself and you holding hands, with ‘my fairy godmother’ written out on top, misspelled and a little messy, but he collapsed to his knees, hugging you close as he ugly cried, “It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever been given!!”

-You were happy that he liked it, as you had worked really hard on it! You liked this funny man, he was a bit loud at times, but he was always really gentle and kind with you, so it was hard not to like him.

-When you called him big brother for the first time, he was sure he saw a light at the end of a dark tunnel, which strangely sounded like Buddha and Loki laughing.

-Lilia loved the idea of being your big brother, at least one of them, as he was quick to realize why you were so special to all of them, he would protect you with his life!

[cynicalstudy]

I’ve translated some Precure interviews from the 20th Anniversary Character Chronicle! This post is dedicated to Mahou Tsukai Precure. Information under cut😊 (Note: I am not a professional translator! There will/may be some errors, but I tried my best!)

~🧹~🧹~🧹~🧹~🧹~🧹~🧹~🧹~🧹~🧹~🧹~🧹~

Plain Text:

🩷🧸🩷🧸🩷🧸🩷🧸🩷🧸🩷🧸🩷🧸🩷🧸🩷

Page 1:

1.“Cure Up! Ra-pa-pa! Diamond! Miracle-Magical-Jewelry-le! The Miracle of the Duo! Cure Miracle!”

2.The Precure Mirai transforms into. She meets Riko, a girl who can use magic and falls from the sky, wanting to help her find something. Batty appears, and they are attacked by a monster called a Yokubaru. When Mirai’s pendant shines, she becomes a Precure. Mirai is overjoyed when her beloved teddy bear, Mofurun, can talk!

3.A 13-year-old girl who will soon be a second year at Tsunagi First Junior High. She likes strange and interesting things and is very curious. Later, she attends the Magic School. Her catchphrase is “How exciting!”

🩷🧸🩷🧸🩷🧸🩷🧸🩷🧸🩷🧸🩷🧸🩷🧸🩷

Page 2:

1.“Witchy was the first season in the series to follow a “magic” theme. The main starting point for both Miracle and Magical was “contrast”, to go with their matching “twin” theme.” (Next Quote) “The witch hat is a motif in all Linkle Stone transformations. Decorated with a headband and little jewels, it felt very refreshing!”

2.”To create a mysterious atmosphere, the accessories, such as bracelets and waist bands, were made to appear as though they were floating. In contrast to Magical, Miracle’s design was made to feel cute and fluffy rather than sharp. Her boots were given an angelic look. With both Miracle and Magical, there was an angel/devil idea behind both concepts. One major point of contrast is that Miracle does not have a big cloak.”

3.“Many new features arose from the concept of magic. Hence, we had to create a rich variety of styles for them both.”

4.“We asked Rie Takahashi (Miracle’s VA) for words of inspiration as Miracle. She stated, “Cure Up! Ra-pa-pa! I want to meet everyone! I learned the words of honesty can make miracles happen~” Takahashi-san believes both Miracle and Magical paired together is a lovely sight, making them inseparable.”

Plain Text:

💜🪄💜🪄💜🪄💜🪄💜🪄💜🪄💜🪄💜🪄💜

Page 1:

1.“Cure Up! Ra-pa-pa! Diamond! Miracle-Magical-Jewelry-le! The Magic of the Duo! Cure Magical!”

2.The Precure Riko transforms into. While searching for the Linkle Stone Emerald to escape supplementary lessons at school, she meets Mirai. They are then attacked by a Yokubaru. When in a pinch, her pendant glows, and she and Mirai become Pretty Cure.

3.A girl who attends the Magic School. She is good at studying, but not at magic. She came to the No Magic World in search of a gem with great power. Her catchphrase is “Just as I calculated.”

💜🪄💜🪄💜🪄💜🪄💜🪄💜🪄💜🪄💜🪄💜

Page 2:

1.“Keeping in mind our idea to contrast Miracle, her design incorporates a cool atmosphere, almost a devilish-look. The fluffy hem on the cloak accentuates this idea.” (Next Quote) “Magical’s hair resembles a bat with its wings spread. The straight, sharp edges also contrasts Miracle’s fluffy feel. The boots are also straight with a V-cut too.”

2.“The off-shoulder look accentuates a feel of an older sister. And a fluffy hem was chosen to trick the viewer! It invokes the feeling of a mischievous witch~”

3.“With not much else to say regarding the design, we did select a look that kids would find cute, but still cool in Magical’s own way.”

4.”We asked Yui Horie (Magical’s VA) for words of inspiration as Magical. She stated, “Cure Up! Ra-pa-pa! These are the magic words in MahoPre (Abbreviation). When I said them, I felt motivated~”. Horie-san claimed that her favorite style sense of Riko’s was her swimwear, as she described it cute and “something I would wear too”. She believes it is different and a change of pace.”

Plain Text:

💚🪷💚🪷💚🪷💚🪷💚🪷💚🪷💚🪷💚🪷💚

Page 1:

1.“Cure Up! Ra-pa-pa! Emerald! Felice Fun-fun, Flower-ly! A blessing unto all life! Cure Felice!”

2.The precure Kotoha (Haa-chan) transforms into. When Miracle and Magical are in a pinch with a powerful Yokubaru, she appears and defends them. “Precure! Emerald Reincarnation!” is a special move only she can use.

3.A fairy girl born from the Linkle Smart Tome. After she goes missing, she returns all grown up. Because Mirai and the others took care of her, she inherited their personalities and mannerisms. She can also use difficult magic.

💚🪷💚🪷💚🪷💚🪷💚🪷💚🪷💚🪷💚🪷💚

Page 2:

1.“Felice’s design was started almost immediately after Miracle and Magical, despite her not appearing till much later. Since she is a fairy, she had to feel very different from the two witches.” (Next Quote) “She was given a short veil to feel like a goddess. A crown of flowers were given to add a divine appearance to her, along with the flower motif within her eyes.”

2.“Since braids were popular at the time, we decided to give her heart-shaped braids. Her design was made to show off her forehead, contrasting the original duo. Our sponsors consulted us about a see-through skirt, so we added a layer of green fluff beneath. There was much trial and error, but we arrived at her current design, which we felt was cute.”

3.“Originally, we wished for her to have sandals. However, with much of the focus as magic, we added the ribbons to act like sandals, but kept pumps on the bottom. There are fewer guard-like parts since Felice is more magic-oriented.”

4.“We asked Saori Hayami (Felice’s VA) for words of inspiration as Felice. She stated, “Haa~! It is Haa-chan’s favorite phrase and is incredibly versatile! It filled me with much motivation, along with being cute!” Hayami-san adores the flower on Kotoha’s outfit, and believes the skirt gives the costume a “light, fluffy feeling”. There were many flowers as well.”

[frogletscribe]

A:FoP Sky Breaker DLC Thoughts...

Alright so i finished the main story of the DLC and have let my thoughts cook for a minute. This is just some of my thoughts/opinions overall. I will have to do a separate post for my more intense thoughts because I managed to actually hit the character limit and I wasn't even halfway through everything (i didn't even know tumblr had one of those and I've been on here for over a decade)

Spoilers for Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora Sky Breaker DLC under the cut.

The opening? Gorgeous. Amazing. Fantastic. Obsessed with the little cut scene of our Sarentu on their Ikran. I am in love. I was really pleasantly surprised to see Kin right off the bat too! Thats my grandpa, i love him! And then walking with the Zakru and getting to hear other NPCs talking was really nice. I loved the banter about So'lek.

Getting into the main games camp was visually very pretty but confusing. I got lost immediately (distracted by the wandering Zakru) and accidently came in from the back? and then proceeded to not be able to find anything or anyone. I kept getting turned around and winding up back with Etuwa and Ka'nat. I did eventually find everyone else but it was a struggle.

Was Eetu only there at the very start??? He was hanging out with So'lek and having a very cute banter and then as everything progress he completely disappeared. Sosul too for that matter. It made me a little worried when he wasn't there after a while bc it felt like almost all the other key npcs got at least a small cameo in other quests but not Eetu? I got paranoid he died but also i think hes an important enough NPC that someone else would have said something if that was the case. I guess i just wanted more of him in general. (Im biased/delusional and ship him with my Sarentu, i will take literally anything)

Theres also a smaller moment, walking around where Teylan calls and starts talking about Nor, about how he would have loved the games, that really got me. For a second i actually thought Nor might come back later in the story, but given how things went it makes sense that he wouldnt. I do really hope that Nor shows up in the next DLC because I really need closure for him. He deserves to see and be a part of what his fellow Sarentu are building and to heal from all the hurt he has been through.

Can the Zeswa PLEASE catch a break? 😭 First the arches are collapsed, then Pasuk, now this?? I need this to be the last big bad thing that happens to them for a while.

More So'lek all the time please! I love him. I loved his role in the over all story and how he helps us throughout the final mission. He is the reason i am desperate for a romance in this game, but i can't have that so i'll just have to write it myself fhdjskghfs

I will be making a separate post about my thoughts on everything with Alma and Mokasa.

With the last of TAP (more or less) gone now, I'm really curious about the next DLC and the general future of Frontiers. Secrets of the Spires comes out in Fall, which is rapidly approaching, but i doubt we will hear anything until like September at the earliest. I think I remember hearing about a new clan in the new area for that one?? (Could be wrong though) Im really curious what the plot for that one is gonna be now that Mercer and Harding are gone.

Hopefully we will see Nor again. I'm kinda also hoping for a movie cameo? like Norm or Max showing up? We got an audio cameo of Ardmore, i think it'd be cool to see some friendly faces or at least audio for one of those guys. I don't think we will get a Jake cameo but i would lose my mind if we did lol.

Im also really hoping that theres more content coming in the future? More DLC or comics or something cause AFoP is the only thing keeping me sane when it comes to Avatar Brainrot rn.

[danothan]

started reading robin 2021 and i wanted to take the time to appreciate two of the most beautiful spreads in issue #1. they captivated me with how gorgeous and momentous they felt, which must have been the point bc i ended up staring at them sm that the symbolism finally kicked in

SPREAD 1:

1) LOVE the red and green at play, it’s such a difficult color scheme to get right lest you end up making the whole piece feel like a christmas card, but gleb melnikov pulled it off. the environment is rich and elegant and well-contrasted; it rly brings out damian’s classic red/green robin combo, even tho he’s not actually wearing his robin suit here. the green of his clothing highlights the green of talia’s, as well as the assassin’s tattoos, and, when combined with the cool-toned background, makes the red just pop out at you. pretty palette aside, it’s a very calculated choice in colors.

2) speaking of red, melnikov rly wanted you to notice the blood in these two pages. from the emphasis of the words DEMON BLOOD to the reflection of damian in the blood puddle, it only draws attention to the fact that his blade is perfectly clean of it in the second panel. one can only assume that talia killed that guy so hard that damian’s sword was caught in the collateral (damn talia !). it frames damian as the one to land the killing blow, as though his doubts/restraint with killing mean nothing because he still has the blood on his hands, blood passed down from talia. that doesn’t necessarily make it true ofc, but it does give us a reflection of his mindset with the blood acting as a literal mirror.

now before we delve into the second spread, lemme preface this with some context: many characters will refer to damian as an actual bird (“what better way to take out a robin than with a hawke,” “i’ve fought little birds like you before,” etc.) which speaks to his reputation, but i think it’s most notable when coming from talia:

at first, it’s used condescendingly, as it usually is from most ppl, and she speaks in a possessive tone when she talks abt returning him to the nest. she even tells him that if he IS to be taken under her wing, she would not treat him as her son but as a weapon. however, we know that this contradicts her intentions as she later uses the same “baby bird” petname as a term of endearment, even to calling him her son—notably when he is out of earshot.

you get the sense that they have this unspoken code of conduct around each other—family dynamics tend to be rigid in that way—but there’s also this feeling of regret as well as unfamiliarity navigating it coming from talia. i mean, she said it herself: damian was just a baby bird. he flew out of the nest too early.*

*see read more

so why does she taunt him for running back to his mother? why is she pushing him away? and why does she monologue for so long that she lets her guard down and closes her eyes long enough for him to disappear…?

SPREAD 2:

BECAUSE DAMIAN IS JUMPING OUT OF THE HELICOPTER!!! BECAUSE TALIA IS PUSHING HIM OUT OF THE NEST !!!!

talia doubled down on her militaristic plans as an opening for damian to leave. with that sense of regret mentioned earlier, talia knows she raised damian under harsh conditions, but she doesn’t know to raise him differently either, so she urges him to find his own path. presenting “the way of the demon or the way of the bat” as the only 2 options to her already rebellious son was guaranteed sabotage. she pushed him too early when he was younger, but she knows that her baby bird is ready to fly now :”)

bonus: what a classic jason todd move to wear a mask underneath your mask btw. guess it just runs in the family! (but on a deeper, unironic level, damian switches out both his robin and his demon suit into this new one. this obviously symbolizes his forging a new path, but also reveals his intent/doubts abt the whole confrontation. a mask underneath his mask? he was never truly looking to rejoin the league. after running away from bruce, he runs to talia to test the waters and see if he would do better there. and when it ends in the same shadowing of an ambitious parent, he ditches the whole thing. the fact that he had a back-up plan meant that his heart wasn’t in it, just as talia’s heart wasn’t in keeping him caged. a confirmation bias given permission by a mother’s facade. god, the al ghul mindgames are truly smth to behold)

*so much can be said abt how talia’s approach to parenting parallels and contrasts bruce’s. they both have the same good intentions for their son, and they both realize that he’s too young to face what he had and what he’s abt to. but talia wants to start the healing process of her control in his upbringing, and bruce wants to prevent damian from having to face it alone knowing firsthand what suffering he “endured to become batman.” one is letting go, the other is desperate to bring him back.

it’s such a fascinating look into the push and pull of their fatal flaws and mistakes as parents, as well as making them feel human and reasonable within the limits of all they know and are capable of. OF COURSE they’re overcompensating for their regrets, that’s just so… them!

and the fact that you can see both parents’ traits and influence in damian as he searches for his own identity just makes the whole family feel well-rounded. robin 2021 is so good you guys, it’s too fucking good

[cows-have-secrets]

I was going to write, but I need to yap first.

Hi! My name is Cam, thank you if you're reading this post. I understand it's not what people typically look for on Tumblr, but I'm desperate for friends of a specific kind and didn't know where else to go.

I grew up with the Aphmau Minecraft roleplays and I watched her content up until My Inner Demons season one ended. Since then I've taken a step back from watching her new content, but I'm still enamored with what she built before. Minecraft Diaries, My Street and Phoenix Drop High all hold a very dear place in my heart.

I have a couple of friends that share the mutual interest, but since I (unfortunately) grew up on Amino when it was thriving, I deeply miss the sense of community. Aside from three TikTok accounts that seem to really be carrying the fandom, there aren't many people out there that still talk about Aphmau's old content.

I know as the fandom we all long for more connection, and with the release of Season 7 being confirmed, I hope to see everyone thrive again, even if for a little while.

But that brings me to my point!

If you have a deep longing for original character creation, silly fandom roleplay, character rewrites, and have an itch you need scratched, PLEASE hit me up. I'm just a girl who has rewritten the Aphmau series with her friend 3 times over. I am but a humble yapper who wants to share my ocs and the headcannons I've built.

Full disclosure, I'm not much of a drawer, most of my ocs are collages and jumbles of images off of Pinterest lmao.

If you're willing to do group discussions please let me know! My friend and I would love to have a small group of people who all just write and talk about it. Despite being adults she and I cannot seem to shake our childhood hyperfixations away.

If you want to know a bit about me I have experience roleplaying (like seven or eight years under my belt). I've done writing for oc x oc and oc x cc dynamics, as well as some LGBTQ+ writing! I am so insanely non judgemental. When I tell you your characters can be insanely over powered and I won't bat an eye, I mean it. The only thing where I'm like "mm, no" is insta kills.

While I don't dabble in it much from the writer's point of view, I do like reading angst. Granted that's probably from all of my years as a girlie that grew up on Creepypasta.

But yeah to round it all out, if you have Aphmau stuff you want to yap about, let me know. I'm down to talk about pretty much anything in regards to it. Again, people comfortable being in a small group (4-5 people) are preferred, but if you're shy and just want to be my friend then that's cool too!

[aihoshiino]

chapter 138 thoughts

ruby's honkshoosnorkmimimi pajamas are back fuck 137 this is REAL cinema

All joking aside, there's a lot less to talk about in (MOST) of this chapter, though that's obviously by design. This is a cool down chapter (FOR THE MOST PART) to give us (SOME) breathing room in the aftermath of the RBKN fight and while it's not totally devoid of substance, it is for the most part just a good time spent with some members of the cast who haven't gotten as much focus lately and it does what it sets out to do pretty well, aside from some minor gripes here and there. I won't lie, I smiled a ton while reading this one even if I don't have so much as half as much to say about it as I did 137.

That said, my first gripe off the bat is the biggest one which is, once again, the total lack of reaction from Aqua to… literally anything that just happened. 135 didn't really go that deep into his feelings and despite 136 very deliberately highlighting Aqua's presence during the filming of that pivotal scene and even focusing on his stunned reaction to Ruby's adlib, he is jarringly absent from 137 and the return to Aqua focus here (even if we are still being excluded from his POV) feels all the more sudden and strange for not patching that back up. I've already said a ton about what I think of Aqua being written this way recently so I'll just reiterate that if this is an intentional choice, I still really don't like it.

Moving onto things I did enjoy about this chapter: basically everything else! For some reason that panel of Taiki outside Aqua's place in his car absolutely fucking killed me, if nobody makes an edit of him saying GET IN LOSER WE'RE GOING SHOPPING i'm gonna have to do it myself. frill's lil sippy drink too. god bless.

Taiki and Frill are honestly kind of he MVPs of this chapter. Their banter is fun and Frill is, as usual, an unparalleled delight. Her inviting Memcho along and casually admitting it's because Mem is her oshi……. Frill is the most powerful Oshi no Ko character because she can effortlessly flirt with girls AND boys. Bisexual women truly are stronger than God.

himekawa crashing his car is like the funniest thing that's ever happened in this manga imagine being the wettest funniest most pathetic little failboy in a manga where aqua hoshino is the lead character

mem continuing to be the last person to realize she's in the manga she's in was also really good. the psychological toll of being the only normal person in oshi no ko

The talk that the gang has when Mem finally starts putting two and two together is basically my other only gripe about this chapter, though I do really like it in a lot of other ways. Mem's expression when she finally puts together just how young Kamiki would have been when Himekawa was conceived and what that means for both Kamiki and Airi was more excellent expression work from Mengo -- tbh she has been killing it on the character work in general these last few chapters.

This does, however, imply something very interesting about the movie which is that Kamiki's victimization at the hands of Airi may not be part of it. If it was in the script, this would not be new information to Mem the same way Himekawa and Aqua's relationship is but she seems genuinely sincerely aghast when she puts it together. This (AMONG OTHER THINGS) raises some really interesting questions as to exactly how Kamiki (or 'Boy A', as it seems) is being incorporated into the movie's story and how his relationship with Ai is going to be portrayed.

From here, this potentially recontexualizes Himekawa's lack of reaction to the script. He didn't learn this information through those means and in fact seems to have taken the role specifically because he already knew and because he feels some sense of responsibility or even just a desire to take on and purify the weight of the sins his parents committed. This does resolve my issue with how quickly Himekawa seems to adjust to this new information, because it turns out to not be new info… but it does end up just sort of coming back around to my original issue of Himekawa not being given the time or focus to process this.

Honestly… now that I think about it, it's kind of a lot worse?! Given what he shared of their (presumed) family history with Aqua in chapter 68, it's pretty clear he had no idea what Airi had actually done. Aqua himself only finds out the truth in chapter 98 so we can presume he shared this info with Himekawa at some point… just, you know, entirely offscreen with no indication this had happened or that they were still in regular contact and, once again, with no time or focus spent on Himekawa finding out and coming to terms with the idea of his mother being a child rapist. We've had almost 40 entire chapters since that point… are you really gonna tell me we had no time for that??

It's frustrating for a lot of reasons but mostly because it makes this conversation fall a little flatter than I think it COULD have if we had more time following Himekawa as he processed his feelings about it. Just one of those things I wish OnK would take more time to breathe with.

rip himecarwa we'll never forget you

ANYWAY. LET'S TALK ABOUT THE REAL STAR OF THIS CHAPTER. BARKBARKBARKBARKBARKBARK

i'm only mostly kidding here the explosion of kamiki thirstposting in the wake of this chapter was so funny we are all hoshino ai

Anyway, all joking aside, this was a really interesting conversation in terms of the implications it has for Kamiki's involvement in the movie. Off the bat, it addresses the issue that's been kind of the elephant in the room which is that you can't just… make movies about real people without their permission! This chapter explicitly clarifies that everyone involved in the movie gave their permission for it to happen (which explains some of the in-universe fictionalized elements; without permission to do certain things, the story has to be changed to accommodate it) but that the movie equivalent of Kamiki doesn't even have a name. Given that this is a movie intended to 'kill' Kamiki as revenge, it raises some shrimptresting question as to wtf the final product will even be

This also confirms Kamiki to be at least a step or two ahead of Aqua here; some folks were speculating that he had Nino as his spy on the production but given Kaburagi's presence here - and the fact that he most certainly seems to know more about Kamiki than he's letting on - it looks to me like my man already has people at the top feeding him information. Not only that but he's sponsoring the very movie supposedly set to destroy him? Very shrimptresting… I don't know that we'll find out what Kamiki's up to anytime soon but hearing more about his involvement was exciting anyway.

also just one final shout out for that final page of Kamiki. It feels like Mengo changed his design a bit so he's not so much of a flat out Aqua Clone and I do like said changes. my man hasn't slept a DAY since ai died.

[v3x-y0urs3lf]

Love and DeepSpace x closeted trans MC.

Zayne: Okay, Last time I checked him and Mc have known each other for like.. years(?) I feel like he'd know something is off.

Like, Mc looking at their hospital reports that very obviously state (Male/Female) or some sort of ID that states their assigned gender at birth. I feel like he'd notice how focused they are but OF COURSE there isn't really a time or correct place to really talk about that sort of stuff (especially with how busy the two of them are.) and so MC doesn't mention it.

Which leaves Zayne to have to.

The next time the two get some downtime he asks about his suspicions, starting off with something like 'You've been off lately' or 'Have you been alright?' thinking at first it was about 'the attack' or about their job.

I want to say that asking him to call them by a 'nickname' is how this would go just because of the stress of trying to come out but.. I'm not exactly satisfied with that so let's say you actually tell him about what you've been thinking.

First off, Supportive. I don't think (Nor do I want to think) any of the characters are homophobic/transphobic. Zayne is a doctor for gods sake. He is not new to same sex relationships nor the concept of transgender people.

He's actually pretty cool with it (hah, get it?) He just asks whether you've decided on a new name, pronouns and if you're planning on any body modifications (Testosterone, Oestrogen, top surgery, bottom surgery, etc etc.)

I don't think Zayne would be all that knowledgable himself on how to do certain surgeries, but he would totally recommend you to other doctors/surgeons who he knows and trusts to be able to.

ALSO, VERY STRICT ON MAKING SURE YOU'RE NOT OVER-BINDING/TAKING CARE OF YOURSELF AFTER SURGERY. It's either he takes time off to help you recover(surgery) or he's constantly checking in through texts if he can't miss work.

Xavier:

Gonna be honest, don't have too many ideas for him. I want to say he wouldn't exactly bat an eye at anything Zayne would think was 'SUPER OBVIOUS' hints. He'd notice if you suddenly took on a new 'nickname' or if you started asking everyone else to call you by said 'nickname' and notice if you suddenly cut your hair/started growing out your hair.

He just wouldn't notice certain things like trying to dress closer to your preferred gender or if your voice started to gradually change (Whether it's from hormone supplements or vocal therapy.).. or he would and just wouldn't ask because 1. Those are pretty normal and tame things or 2. Because it's a gradual change and he just doesn't question it.

It's not until he thinks about it a little longer, let's say he's focusing on you that he starts to notice all the little things he missed. The way you've overall grown as a person and taken a liking to being seen as more feminine/androgynous/masculine.

I don't think he'd ask you directly, instead wait for you to bring it up to him. He doesn't want to overwhelm you or make you uncomfortable so.. he waits until you're ready. It's not like it isn't you just because you're finding out your gender after all.

I don't know how knowledgable he'd be on transgender people but he's definitely supportive. You could literally just tell him "I'm a ___, please call me __ and use __/__" and he'd just give you a thumbs up and continue about his day.

Raphael:

.

..

After Zayne I just got 0 ideas but I want to try and fit everyone in this so..

I want to say he'd notice certain changes like if you started growing out your hair, cut your hair, your voice was changing, etc.. thing is he'd forget and just think it was a normal. As in 'your voice was always that high' or 'you always dressed that way.'

If you started asking other people to start using certain 'Nicknames' then I'd imagine he'd start to notice after a while, He'd also be pretty annoyed if it was a name that he originally thought was just an 'us thing'. y'know? But he'd get even more annoyed and jealous if you got everyone else BUT him to start using different names for you, like, How DARE you? Did the two of you not have something special?

I don't think he'd notice if you started presenting differently(Dressing/acting more feminine/Masculine/androgynous.) and if he did then he wouldn't mention it. So what? you're just exploring different styles. That's fine.

It's not that he doesn't know what transgender people are / anything about queer people but he just.. doesn't really care? Like, He cares about you. Yes.

But your gender doesn't play into your worth.. why would he care? He'll respect your pronouns and decisions for yourself but unless you come out to him then he might not be too present in your transition.

He would try to help out with recovery, though. You might have to tease and pester him about it but at the end of the day, he cares and doesn't want you to hurt yourself by doing something you aren't supposed to during recovery.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I feel the need to mention I haven't finished the story, I mainly got most of the plot of tiktok and stuff but I really like the game.

This is in no disrespect to the original mc, I understand the game was originated in China so we're more than likely not going to get any queer rep from this one.

I also wanted to add Tara and Caleb, I just got incrediblyyy lazy. Sorry.

Again. Sorry if these characters seem mischaracterised at all, This is just how I viewed them.

[arialityy]

Honkai pt.2 first impressions (as of completing pt.2 ch.1 phase 1) (don't come at me)

I'm gonna be focusing mostly on the characters in this post, but I'll briefly go over the ui and open world

So... I really miss the old ui already lmao. Even if it did look old and outdated, I think it was pretty unique for a sci-fi game and personally easier on my eyes (I think I just need to get used to it, but everything looks to similar in the new ui and I can't focus as easily on it 😭 That's probably just me though) I also think it looks kind of out of place if you go back to play older chapters, but it's not horrible. Personally, I feel like I'll always prefer the old ui. However, it looks great in the new open world chapter! Usually, I don't really like the ow chapters, but this one actually runs well, and I've been enjoying it quite a lot, even the side missions. (Also, it's just really nice to look at) It definitely reminds me of hsr and apho, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

As for the new gameplay, it's... ok. The new battlesuits don't feel much funner or nicer than the old battlesuits. If anything, I like them less. With Helia and Coralie, the effects are fine since they're A-ranks, and the gameplay is also nice for an A-rank. Senadina's actual gameplay is fine. But her animations are so boring 😭 I like that it lights up the area around her but that's about it. I get that sometimes the animations could get too flashy, but Senadina's are just boring for what's presumably meant to be the fancy new S-rank. I'll cut her some slack, though, since it's still the beginning of pt.2.

Finally, I'll be talking about the characters themselves! Remember, these opinions are very subject to change, as it's only the beginning of pt.2's story. (I'll ommit my opinions on the designs for today)

Starting with the Dreamseeker!

I really appreciate how they didn't make them just another self insert who barely talks. Though I don't see why they didn't fully commit and give them a name. They could even keep the genderswapping thing by giving them an androgynous name. (Speaking of that, I didn't think I'd like that, but y'know what, it's cool that it's actual genderfluid rep!) However, the DS's personality so far has been kind of boring in my opinion. I think they're a very intriguing character. I mean, they were born out of the Sea of Quanta and hilariously chill over dreaming about dancing with a goddess who tells them they're gonna save the world, waking up in the SoQ with an amnesiac version of that goddess, and being thrust into a whole new bubble universe. I know they want to get home, but damn, I feel like I would freak out more. I really hope we get to learn more about them, and their personality shines through more!

Senadina- Ok. I'm pretty sure this is a controversial opinion already, but I don't really like Senadina. I want to because her selective memories and connection to a goddess are interesting, and she has cute moments, but she kind of just... annoys me. I mean, we've seen this kind of amnesiac but bubbly character before (*cough cough* March 7th *cough cough*), and something about her personality just annoys me. I can't pinpoint what it is about her, but like... I just don't really like her. She starts growing on me, and then she'll say something that annoys me. Right now, she feels like a character just designed to sell toys to me. I'm sure that will change, as she's one of the main main characters, but right now, she just isn't it for me. I hope she gets more interesting, and I grow to like her more.

Coralie- She's very much the Bronya of the group, but she's not just a Bronya clone, and I can appreciate her for that. I don't think I like her as much as I liked Bronya right off the bat, but of the main four, she has the most personality to me so far. She's also just kind of weird, which I like lmao. I have less to say about her and Helia, so just know that while I do like her, she's far from being an instant favorite.

Helia- She exists. That's almost all I have to say. Her bridge voicelines did make me like her a bit more, though. I think she's kind of cute, but nothing about her interests me. I also don't really like that she's yet another Durandal fan. I get that we only have like - 2 Dudu fans other than her, but it's not really an original character trait. Why couldn't she have been a Kiana fan or something? Even a Theresa fan would be cool. Teri needs more fans. I think she's fine, but boring.

Songque- She's definitely my favorite so far! There's definitely enough intrigue surrounding her for me to want to know more about her. What was that "dream" sequence with the DS before they actually met about? She's a shu, but what does she really know? I also like her personality. It's not like my favorite personality or anything, but she definitely has one, and it adds to the intrigue surrounding her. I hope she doesn't just go away after this story arc is finished.

So, that's most of my opinions about pt.2 so far! I left out some stuff, but this is really all you need to know about how I feel about the characters, gameplay, and ui so far.