#this is actually from like... march?

[sunlight-shunlight]

i wish bioware had not somehow regressed with their female characters. none of the veilguard female companions have a strong personality. they're all kind, soft, never overconfident or angry or abrasive, never have any unexpected hidden agendas, have no moral lines that they'll ever get angry with the pc about or leave the party for. and all extremely conventionally attractive and feminine. in 2024... not even a single woman can have like. mildly short hair? bleak 💀

even morrigan is now nice and polite? somehow flemythal reconciled with her offscreen and proved herself to be an Okay Mom™ rather than someone that morrigan hated and feared and spent years hiding from? flemythal gave up on all that stuff about revenge and betrayal and reckoning or whatever, and is now just another hapless victim of solas' schemes? mythal(2) doesn't want revenge either and is basically just there to manage solas' emotions? mythal(1) also having vallaslin and presumably slaves, despite being the "best of the evanuris" is never mentioned? NONE of these various iterations of mythal ever show autonomy in terms of doing anything unrelated to solas? isabela cares about cultural appropriation in the exact same way a modern liberal would, despite being a pirate whose main incentive is profit? her outfit is now even more sexualized, but this time in a grossly stereotypical bellydancer costume way? AUGH.

are women only allowed to look unconventional or be rude or morally murky, only if they're either minor characters, or one-note enemies with no chance at dialogue with them during their quests? andraste didn't die for this. bioware had better women characters way back in the kotor 1 era, by the incredibly low bar of "can they be rude or weird looking and still shown as sympathetic and interesting people". that bar is literally on the floor and they dug under it!

i guess it's not technically(?) sexist bc they did also make everyone else incredibly soft and mild too, but oh my god. if this is what's coming out of Progressive™ AAA companies we're in a really cringe fail cultural moment. it does not spark joy💀

[portia-wife-of-brutus]

big shoutout to brutus for helping with the spring cleaning! today he sharpened the knives.

[mismarch]

i still think that the conclusion to daniels downward spiral in season 5 shouldnt have been everyone getting together to be there for him. the issue isnt that people were unwilling to meet daniel halfway, the issue is that daniel never expressed his trauma. he spent three seasons avoiding mentioning terry silver by name, only vaguely referencing the events of karate kid 3 without much detail. and when he does to johnny in season 4, it's off screen, which makes me sincerely doubt that daniel actually talked about how that fucked him up emotionally.

daniels trauma with silver is just a fairy tale to sam and the rest of the miyagi-do's. he tells it like a story, one where he pulled away from the dark and one where he triumphed over fear. but he leaves out the bitter, ugly truths, the way it has damaged him even after all this time, leaves out the details, the blood, the pain. the only people who were there at the time dont even really truly understand the extent of it, either, and i doubt daniel wouldve opened up to either jessica or miyagi about how badly terry silver traumatized and hurt him. no one gets it, and no one will--except, well, maybe one person.

with that, i think that it wouldve been more appropriate to tie that arc into johnnys with kreese by making johnny the person daniel actually confesses the extent of his trauma to after the events at stingrays apartment. have the emotional breakdown, or whatever, and have johnny relate, because they have similar experiences! and it tightens the narrative conceivably more because ultimately the catalyst for johnnys regression over the decades was his trauma with kreese, and daniels behavior in ck was due to his trauma with silver. they were both badly abused by these guys! they both developed massive trust issues! it also makes johnny remain significant in season 5 if it remained daniel centric in its plot points, but thematically you still tied johnny into it with kreese.

and, like, it makes sense then that this would be the true start of their friendship, because they recognize they are similar not only in their personalities, but in their trauma, in the ways they hurt, and finally, a recognition of why the other does the things they do. that recognition of "oh, you were a hurt kid too.", and like... you can tie it back to johnnys cobra kai, the refusal to stay the fuck down, because why should they let their abusers have the satisfaction of watching them give up??? and THAT revives daniels drive, and even with a miyagi-do heavy season its still a call back to the (supposed) core of the show

then, you can have the whole getting the gang back together thing for miyagi-fang or whatever lol idk i think there was a ton of missed potential there

[kinnoth]

I don't know how to phrase this in an acceptable way so I'm just gonna say it the way it's been rattling around in my head:

Vergil is not the scary twin at this point, yes he is crazy but Dante is fully order of magnitudes crazier

Like Vergil has a low regard for life he considers beneath him but he is also proud, and part of that pride is his code of honour which includes a code of combat and a code of mercy

But Dante fully 👏does 👏 not 👏give 👏 a 👏 shit👏. Like if he has decided you're a threat, he has decided and that is the end of that discussion. He's just going to hunt you down and kill you.

Like I'll fully stand by my interpretation that Vergil actually does not have the disposition to hunt, and would actually make a poor addition to Devil May Cry™ LLC. He is not inclined to pursue people/monsters/things that are not pursuing him, and can't really be persuaded by external motivation. This man has no concept of money and nearly no concept of gratification. And if something is hunting him, he'd much rather wait for it than spend any amount of time or effort seeking it out. Hence every time we encounter him waiting for Dante on the top of something very tall.

Dante! on! the! other! hand! Has been a hunter his entire adult life! And he has lost So Much. Indescribable loss, just constantly, his entire life. So would he pre-empt perceived threat before it could reach him? You bet your ass he would. Would he be primed to perceive threat, be possibly oversensitive to it, would even the passing whisper of the opportunity for another loss to him send him immediately into hunter-killer mode?

You. Bet. Your. Ass.

Anyway, Vergil's about to have a very secure reign in hell, is all.

[jenniferjareauprotector]

Cragen and Alex | 5.04 "Loss"

[eggoatt]

mulling

[gingerswagfreckles]

It's really depressing to watch your circle of allies get smaller and smaller and smaller as you realize just how many people are willing to cut you off and throw you under the bus if they think doing so might help them save themselves.

[fuumiku]

Demon AU (krkb)

+ bonus Kuro

Kurokabuuu!! If Kabru gets to be naked then so does Kuro, equality for all 🔥Not to break the mystique but in that intro comic Kuro isn't flexing he's just pushing Mickbell away bc he about to be in business mode gdbdg. Was weird trying to make Kuro look more demony, did not work very well except for making him buffer but hey...! A black dog demon yeah yeah yeah...!

I have accidentally recreated Howl's Moving Castle... NOW HEAR ME OUT- The base concept for my satyr Kabru AU (the initial idea was the sketch where he has no horns haha) now turned demon AU was materializing Kabru's fear of anything monster, particularly his insecurity as a kid of being an incubus('s child and that making him a monster), and helping him work through it so he can love himself and others and the world better, but everything started clicking only after thinking about Kuro's role in the setting more. He's this feared dude with a witchy reputation and a lil rhyme about how everyone should stay away from him for their own sake etc etc, but he's not a demon just a dog dude really. The setting in this AU is much like Dunmeshi, but all monsters are called "demons" instead and tied with this concept of demonic not just monstrous, there's special generalized fear in them being kinda fundamentally evil. But they're just beasts, and sometimes just demihuman races, like Kuro. Magic does exist though, and curses, and yeah just a folk kinda vibe!

Kabru because he's become supernatural knows how to speak Kuro's tongue now too, or maybe he's always known it idk... But Kabru sought Kuro out because he's The demon guy around, thought if anyone around would know how to do anything about his having become a monster it'd be him- Mickbell is there too ig like waaa this innocent-looking (def isn't) human loves this demon and lives with him, alone but peaceful as hermits in the woods? Wah wild. Wah we can still have love?? Wah we can fall in love together and live happy monster lives even if ostracized??! Wah wait I'm not even a monster it was just my own latent magical powers cursing myself because I worried and believed myself to be a demon so intensely for so long?!! Wah we can truly have it all...... Growth feels so nice. Except Mickbell, that grown ass man is not finding inner peace yet. Still he's chill here since he's a side char not a main one

It's how Kuro's confident in himself despite everything being stacked against him, it's how he still trusts and likes himself, it's how he just wants a simple happy life and pursues what he wants, it's how he takes things simply... Self-critical Kabru always neglecting himself over obsessing about the greater good could learn from him........ Kuro is the only one after his transformation that unconditionally welcomes him and shows him compassion and it's all so confusing to him, especially since at first Kabru wouldn't even offer that same humanization to Kuro, only risked it out of necessity for his own circumstances, but he gradually becomes able to see the humanity in him despite his appearance, mannerisms, way of life and ideals, until he sees the humanity in him and himself too despite their appearances, until he finds there's nothing wrong in this routine and life of theirs in this isolated magical little place, until........... Just about accepting all of those fuzzy inbetween ways to be that are unclean and hard to understand from the outside, and growing comfortable in them and loving himself and kuro and the life they've made together.......!!!!!! What if through humanizing you I humanized myself... What if through growing a understanding for each other wevalidated ourselves, love as self-love...

I love including Rin into things, for a more plotty story it'd be neat if she tried and followed Kabru... He up and disappeared and she's a capable mage and she doesn't know what his plan was because he never tells her anything so she goes out and pursues him- Could even be the main antagonist besides just idk self-hate and townspeople lol, like she thinks Kuro is keeping him prisoner or something and also because she kinda represents the same kinda social trauma Kabru has, where she's strict about conforming and being an irreproachable undeniable human so she kind of wants to drag him back to that state he was in of anxiety over acting and being human enough...... But of course in the ultimate confrontation when she has her staff pointed at Kuro and they talk, she's hurt by him not confiding in her and thinking of her as someone who wouldn't help, but she understands and stops and yay happy ending :> And if we want them to be in this Holm and Dia may be allies I feel 🤔Like maybe they help out Kabru when they see him, help him escape their human village at one point or something, Holm is quite nice and cares for spirits and Dia's fled her home too so they kinda get it in a way, it'd contrast Rin... This isn't about the Laios party lol. Rin & Mickbell shenanigans would lowkey be fun like maybe Mickbell tricks Rin into thinking Kabru IS there against his will so she can take him away and the status quo of Mickbell not having to share Kuro with anyone is preserved, or maybe they just shittalk and grumble together. Gbdgd this is a plotline about accepting change and these two are noooot happy about it

So yeah he hates being a monster that's the schtick!! Won't a cool dog man pleaseeee turn me human again. Surely he can do that right. So he goes to live with this feared coolass magicky guy and that guy's little guy at his weird home and through making connections and self-love the curse you actually unknowingly put on yourself gradually lessens and disappears, but you don't care anymore because that's the point 😌 Which is why I call it a Howl's Moving Castle recolor gdbd

Kabru is usually the voice of reason within kurokabu so it's really fun switching the roles in that way. If you're just stumbling into this and are sooo confused first of all congrats on getting so far second I can't overstate how unironic this is + if you want more explanation about the ship I made a brainstormy manifesto here <3 Like, did you know Kuro's name is actually Yodan? He was likely called Kuro by Mickbell due to the language barrier. In this AU it's because no one's interested in him as a person so people just give him an ominous title that means black. But Kabru learning his name and Kuro willingly giving away that information and Kabru feeling the weight of it because he really thinks this'd allow him to control him (he can't actually control bc he's not a demon! No one's a demon yay! Just weirdo humans who get otherized)......

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Other vers because I 1) really like it and 2) am very indecisive. I overthink every single slight color change I stg lol

Sigh....... Like bro what if we were both so so far away from home and we knew we can't really go back and we've made our peace with that but man I miss not having been ripped away from my homeland and we are both so so isolated in our own ways in our presents and with a small yet gigantic gesture of compassion and of seeing each other we can learn and grow together with secret study dates where I teach you how to communicate the same way you're teaching me your language, we are both reaching across to each other we are both finding in one another a presence and humanity that feels so rare anywhere else. A sliver of warmth a sliver of home but also a sliver of the new, and embracing that things are changing and that we've changed and wow the animality within humanity and the humanity within animality!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey bro your humanity I am only now fully grasping and coming to terms with is so hot bro............ What if your beastly features ended up making me more comfortable in my own stinky human animal flawedness bro........ What if we could just be together reassured through each other that we're human enough no matter what and that's all we need to just be and wahhhhh aughhhhh

Kurokabu is Kuro needing to choose between Kuro and Yodan. Kurokabu is needing to feel comfortable in animality within humanity. What if we stopped repressing ourselves 🫶

[kooplah]

jessica in pokemon black, just a glimpse into my peaceful and calming mind.

[solfinite]

hello finally putting my au stuff down on paper after several months.. also finally chose a name for it !! it's called Sonic Aeroventure :)

(+xtra traditional sketches below)

[royalarchivist]

Congrats to YD for having her first Cucurucho jumpscare!

(She is experiencing The Horrors with the boys right now)

[knockknockitsnickels]

Ryis & my farmer

[st-hedge]

It wasn’t on my 2024 bingo card that I’d draw V again. Anyway I’ll go ahead ramble in the tags

[surreal-duck]

june brides in may

[the---hermit]

March 2025 reading wrap up

I was not expecting so many books this month, but I guess those are the consequences of the big return of audiobooks in my life! I had missed listening to audiobooks and my overall lack of energies this month made me pick the habit back up, and I am having a great time! It was overall a lovely month of reading. It was quite chaotic, but I feel like it perfectly represents my goal of embracing whatever feels natural in my reading life. I picked books up, let them go, paused stuff, had some rereads, found my love for audiobooks again, a lot happened, but I am happy. This proves that letting myself be chaotic and just listening to my needs in reading makes a great reading time, which is exactly the point of my yearly goal of no goals, and just going with what feels the most natural.

Books read:

Cultish by Amanda Montell (audiobook)

The Decagon House Murders by Ayatsuji Yukito

A Psalm For The Wild Built by Becky Chambers (audiobook) (reread)

The Lord Of The Flies - the graphic novel adaptation by W. Golding and illustrated by A. De Jongh

Nimona by ND Stevenson (reread)

Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faries by Heather Fawcett (audiobook)

Deadendia: The Watcher's Test by Hamish Steele (reread) (read this for the trans rights readathon)

The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irvin (audiobook)

Deadendia: The Broken Halo by Hamish Steele (reread) (trans rights readathon read)

Dnf:

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix (when I started it I was having a good time but by the end it became a painful task. I risked a reading slump. This was way too long and slow. I doubt I will attempt to read another Grady Hendrix book in the future)

Paused:

Compound Fracture by Andrew Joseph White (I read around 60 pages, was loving it, but I realized how emotionally heavy it is going to be, and I am not at all in the right headspace to deal with those kind of emotions. So I decided to pause it and save it for when I'll feel a bit stronger emotionally)

Current reads (books I have not necessarly started on March but I have been reading and haven't finished yet):

Re:carmilla (audio adaptation of Carmilla by S. Le Fanu)

Emily Wilde's Map Of Otherlands by Heather Fawcett (I actually finished it today but it is the new month so I won't include it in the reads for March)

[kaiserouo]

omen noodle