#toby post. ╱ out of character.

[despairforme]

some more haikyuu fanart. ~

[front-facing-pokemon]

[abstract-personnel]

thinking about mick mercury.

thinking about mick mercury watching his loved ones suffer again and again through the misery of old town. juno, sasha, probably his dad (I don't really remember the mick dad lore well), annie, benzaiten, hell. wilco., and staying flippant and silly and naive and a mess.

thinking about how we know he's not stupid, how even juno admits that.

do you think, at least partially, that some of that's a front? do you think he recognized that sasha and juno were the angry ones, and he internalized that he wasn't supposed to be?

do you think he realized that his friends were so prickly and angry that to get them to open up to him he had to be stupid? that juno wouldn't tell him what was wrong unless he got him to yell?

do you think, somewhere inside of mick, there's rage towards old town, towards mars, that he never expresses?

thinking about mick jumping in to save juno from the proctor's mannequins. how many times do you think he did that as a kid? was "stupid" enough to throw himself into a dangerous fight to protect the people he cared about?

thinking about mick watching the dark matters stream. thinking about him seeing juno pointing a gun at one of the members of his family, in the prison uniform mick helped him get into. thinking about how this time mick couldn't jump in. he couldn't stop what was happening.

and sasha wire, goading juno. trying to force him to shoot him.

thinking about mick mercury watching sasha wire force juno steel to aim a gun at someone he loved. thinking about how much mick must know about what happened to ben. thinking about how mick must know that sasha knows too.

thinking about that cup of oolong tea. do you think mick thought of it too? do you think he thought of juno trying to tell him something, looked at juno on the screen and sasha next to him, and thought of a cup of oolong tea going cold?

I'm thinking about mick mercury.

[jobey-wan-kenobi]

The Engines as Mentors

Okay but I'm eternally salty that TVS in particular—though it was RIGHT to expand the NWR fleet—failed to use the dynamic of the OG characters from the books all functioning as Mentors and Elder Statesmen to the newer and more obscure and younger engines.

It would have been THE way to effectively integrate the newbies (looking especially hard at you, HIT era). Like, some of the best use of the new characters already are when they fall into a mentee dynamic with one of the established characters. But the TVS writers really only ever let this happen with, like, Thomas? To a degree? And Edward? A bit? And then the best and most beloved BWBA episodes (BWBA!) are when Gordon and, again, Edward get more of this sort of material. And then again, in fuckin' AEG, the most popular thing so far seems to be Gordon's whole Grumpy Dad shtick.

But I think canon and fan writers should have done this with all the classic characters. After decades as The Famous Eight—erm, Ten—(but not Eleven—to me Oliver is in that category of newbie that needs looking after. which is what the rest of the Little Western spends most of his one book doing!) they are all  kinda old af and well-qualified and honestly just should be mentoring the diesels and younger steam engines and whatever wide-eyed newcomers are brought to the Island Where Fever Dreams Come True and Culture Shock Is Probably One Hell of a Bitch.

LIKE. Percy. Yes, absolutely Percy! He's inconsistent about standing up for himself or making good decisions in his own working life but honestly his instincts when it comes to others have always been completely on-point. And he never has any hesitation about acting on his instincts so there is a recipe here for big-brother success. He must be so wonderful with uncertain new engines. I think he would have been much better for taking Molly under his wing than Thomas, and he must be a god among many of the newer tank engines. Like the dynamic I tried to paint in my headcanon post about Harvey—Percy gives whiplash as your mentor because he will always support you 100% but sometimes he will suddenly make the most baffling decisions and if you are not, yourself, a natural chaos gremlin, you are just along for the ride and possibly dying of secondhand embarrassment. But again, you also get over it because no one will ever show up for you more consistently than Percy the Caterpillar Engine.

The BWBA era thing where Gordon winds up mentoring Rebecca is... like, fine, I guess. I don't have any complaints about it, but—as I tried to show in my ficlet with him and Derek—I think Gordon's most typical mentorships have two unmistakable characteristics:

it is insanely arbitrary as to whether or not he decides to take you on. if you wind up in his circle of trust you probably weren't trying or even remotely expecting. it is also hard for anyone else to understand why Gordon looked at a new engine and said to himself "Yes. That one." Because the way Gordon makes emotional decisions is utterly impenetrable—this is RWS canon. Why did Gordon one day go from being Pure Unadulterated Jackass Whose Only Thought So Far In His Life Has Been "Me! Me! Meeeee!" to the engine who (evidently? without?? snark???) suggested the Fat Controller let Henry out of the tunnel to take a turn on his train? Honestly we don't know but it remains Gordon's signature style. Why did Gordon do an about-face after James took the express and graciously decide James was his new buddy? Well, to save face of course, but Gordon is also not above a good grudge so it feels like a coin toss. Why did Gordon decide to be super gracious when he rescued Percy and Thomas from their RWS scrapes? No one knows but somehow these moments are so quintessentially him (even though showing up moaning and scolding would have also been quintessentially him). And—most relevantly of all—there is what I regard as his archetypal moment with BoCo. 'My dear engine! You SAVED MY LIFE.' 'I mean, you're welcome for getting rid of them but they were never actually going to kill you.' 'YES THEY WERE. THEY HAD MURDER IN THEIR HEARTS. YOU ARE A GOD AMONG DIESELS, STANDING STRONG AGAINST THE FORCES OF DARKNESS.' '... Sure.' Gordon logic is not the same as earth logic and his reasons for rejecting or accepting others seldom make much sense.

If he does take you on, you may not even notice. Gordon is very stuffy and kind of... emotionally remote. His mentorship style consists of long rambling bouts of relating/boasting about his own experiences and/or advising you, without you able to get much of a word in edgewise—but then, he does this with everyone who is ever stuck with him—and doing extraordinarily nice things for you such as pulling strings to get you the best assignments or upgrades but he'll do it all behind your back, so it might take a while before you realize. (But you'd better, because even though he deliberately decides to do these things in secret, he will also privately feel hurt and hard-done-by if you don't figure it out and thank him. Or at least exclaim happily in his presence and sing the praises of your unknown fairy godfather.)

So yes, mentor!Gordon is a lot like friend!Gordon and worker!Gordon. He is pretty damn high-maintenance but he is also genuinely quite worth it. What his relationships lack in... comprehensibility they make up for in loyalty and generosity. ALTHOUGH. It's worth laughing because I think most of the engines he takes on are decent, polite engines who perhaps have some self-confidence issues. Basically it's like any engine he meets afterwards who is in the Edward mould he is actually magnificent to, which is hysterical considering that one of the keynotes in early canon was Gordon bullying the shit out of Edward. (I still think that wasn't malicious though, and more Gordon did not yet have the remotest understanding of Himself, Theory of Mind, or How to Be a Friend.)

If you have self-confidence issues but you do not win Gordon's capricious favor, never fear! You have James. Who is even more capricious, but that's not to say he's never been the most faaaaaabulous mentor in the world, c'est ne pas? Look. I want to see James as the catalyst for shy newcomers having a glow up. In appearance and attitude. I don't think he does he often but it has definitely happened around twice. I somehow have never actually watched "Rosie is Red" or "The Fastest Red Engine on Sodor" while paying attention but I've been assuming that's exactly how Rosie's Confident Girl Arc went down. Maybe he could be a similar idol for Neville or Flora. Another thing that has happened twice is James just flat-out corrupting a couple of the Good, Buttoned-Down Boys and Girls. I still want to see James take, like, Porter or Arthur and teach 'em anger. Introduce them to the world of (tiny) rebellions. By the time James is done with them, they are starting to Display Behaviors, and Act In Certain Ways.

Henry, I firmly believe (sticking out my tongue at most of the TVS and magazine writing for him), is actually regarded very intimidating. Like Gordon and James are intimidating too, but they are also known jackasses and the universe is known to have slapped them around reliably when they get too far up their own tenders. Also Gordon usually puts on an air of affability—in RWS it's Henry who is the Grumpy One (and meanwhile James, though he has a foul temper, is just too ADHD to be properly intimidating). I suspect Henry's actually always had the reputation for being extremely snobbish. Which is silly because he's only mildly to moderately snobbish, but there you are. He also doesn't put himself out there socially, but of course if you put yourself out there to him he's perfectly friendly. Anyway newcomers and young engines wouldn't know this right away. I think Henry's specialty is mentees in the mold of Bear and my OC Laura and even Rebecca—extroverted, expressive engines who show him respect. In those cases you see his best side, all kindliness and unstinting support. And Henry's support is really valuable, for the usual reasons that all the OGs have a lot of pull on the railway but also because Henry is surprisingly sage and sensible. He doesn't have the reputation for it the way Edward does, due to some of his notoriously poor decision-making in his earlier years and the way he can still sometimes be a bit literal or naive. But even if he's had to learn most things the hard way, he hasn't lied to himself about it and therefore he's developed a very clear-eyed view on things. Refreshingly simple and sound. We see this already in the RWS Super Rescue—he's got Bear and Spamcan pretty well-pegged long before the story ends. He also values engine solidarity in a really consistent, utterly unpretentious way that shows you he doesn't even think about it, it's just become a part of who he is. I love it. And, of course, he's bold as brass. He once hissed steam at his boss and essentially told him to fuck off for no better reason than it was raining and he just wasn't feelin' it. He had the most horrid wreck in the series and after being rebuilt he just got right back on that horse, pulling Flying Kippers again for the next century without the slightest sign of trauma. So if you need him for something, he won't hesitate to move earth and heaven for a friend. He may be a bit of a hypochondriac and likes to predict doom and gloom but he is fundamentally pretty fearless when it comes time for action. (Cut him a break with the elephant thing—he's allowed to have tunnel-related trauma, okay?)

Of course there was one extroverted engine inclined to hero-worship that Henry rejected in canon as a mentee, and that was Philip. Which brings us to Edward, and I fully agree with the fandom consensus that he is the mentor ever, capable of and inclined to look out for, like, everyone. All I'm saying is that I think the others can also step up in this way... Anyway, Edward's specialty of course is engines who are in the mould of Thomas, engines who are excited and eager to work but who talk a lot and might have a streak of mischief and who are definitely considered Too Much by everyone else. Edward likes energetic gremlins. They've always kept him young at heart. And, more importantly, they trust him so completely. Probably because they can tell he's one of the few who genuinely doesn't mind them at what everyone else considers their Most Annoying. He never tells them to hold still or quiet down or make themselves smaller in any way, so they are incredibly receptive to whatever he does tell them.

But what if you're Too Much and you are not eager? If you are not susceptible to admiring Edward's stellar work ethic? I think this is where Thomas shines. Like I think HIT abbreviated and simplified the conflicts with Dennis and Billy too much but it was such a gold mine. Because Thomas, see. You get these little sneaky rotters who don't want to listen to anyone—and at first Thomas seems like the most out-of-touch engine on the rails. Coz Thomas is a tryhard. He also has that whole "corporate positivity" thing going on. Like, the way I resolve the way TVS massacring my boy is by supposing that, after all, Thomas might have really tried to adopt that persona, especially in the '80s when he was inducted into the National Collection and the, well, television series got underway and Thomas becomes damn near the most famous locomotive in the world, certainly he knows he is an icon for children, and he might have figured that, well, this means I have to be a Good Role Model and Teach Children Valuable Lessons. And so he really did try to do this whole pep-talk, moralizing, sugary sweet encouragement thing (and he has a Word of the Day calendar, lol).

And the Dennises and Billies of the world look at that and—understandably, I think—retch a little. But then they double down. And the thing is, when they push Thomas too far, Thomas forgets to be sweetness and light, and just becomes himself. First of all, a foul-mouthed little drill-sergeant wannabe ("Cinders and ashes!!!!" "Who's been late every afternoon this week?!" "You're too fat—you need exercise!" "IF YOU DIE? IF YOU DIE, MOTHERFUCKER? SO WHAT?! I WOULDN'T GIVE A SHIT COZ I'D BE TOO BUSY FINALLY RUNNING MY GODDAMN TRAIN TO TIME." - all direct quotes from Thomas the Tank Engine, ladies and gents) Secondly, an extremely experienced engine who really has done a bit of everything by this point (he even hitched a ride on the Wild Nor'wester that one time, lol) and who is pretty skeptical so he's hard to fool (Percy was the last engine to really ever get one over on him, during the Ghost Train incident, and that's ancient history by this point). If you try to get away with doing a shitty job he's bound to notice and he will be quite acid-tongued if you've pierced his PR Persona. Third, although he can be kinda self-involved and the last to "get" what's going on with newcomers, he is surrounded by his old friends, who are all pretty good about either clocking an engine's whole Deal, getting all the tea like the gossips they are, or both. So while he was still in his amiable-idiot stage of your acquaintance, you, poor rebellious fool, thought you had the run of things but all the while he was getting up to speed on your whole deal. Which means you won't be prepared, should you really commit to ongoing antisocial behavior, for Thomas the Beacon of Children Everywhere to abruptly cast up your entire life story to you and to read it for filth, telling you the merciless truth about yourself in a way that the other engines pieced together but with which they probably never hit you deadass between the eyes.

Of course, this doesn't mean the would-be punks and malcontents who get onto Sodor are instantly cured, lol (though it has gone down that way a few times—my alternate version of Billy's intro story would feature an end where he's just gobsmacked into submission). Sometimes it just means you are going to decide Thomas is your Hated Enemy for Life, but you know what? You will have to step up your game in order to compete with him or even to gain enough clout to try and sabotage him so you're still playing into his hand (if we accept TVS's idea that 'Devious Diesel' did become a part of the Sodor family, I think this is how he was successfully integrated. At some point Thomas unexpectedly read him the riot act and Diesel was like 'who the FUCK are you?? like i know i already had beef with all the main line engines but where the hell did YOU come from???' but then after decades of competition they are essentially frenemies). But mostly the thing is, you are shell-shocked for just long enough, and you'd probably shift to being a bigger asshole than before... but, during that period where you're still burned, you are also looking at all of Sodor and every engine on it with fresh eyes (because if Thomas the Merchandise Engine could ream you out like that, perhaps you underestimated everything about this place). And you are noticing something else. Once Thomas has scalded you with his bitchery, he's also your friend. It's almost his version of sharing his lunch with you on the playground. (Something something salt and vinegar.) For all he rode Henry so hard from some of the earliest days of canon, I bet you he also beat down any 'outsiders' who took shots at him. For all he and Percy squabble, they are the closest of friends (and they weren't! for decades! but the more they squabbled, the closer they got). Getting into a knock-down fistfight is alarmingly close to Thomas's love language, and by the time he's savaged you verbally he is also invested in you. Once he's told you what he really thinks of you, he's also going to start showing up for you genuinely.

And that's when the little shits see the final side of Thomas. The genuine good humor. Obviously it doesn't win over everyone but there is a real groundedness and humility that I am sure Thomas can show (I tried to show this in the fic I made with @shinygoku based off their artwork of Thomas and Daisy) that is hard to resist. He's also fucked up along the way in every way imaginable so even when he side-eyes you, he's not looking down at you. I can just see him showing screw-ups a lot of grace so long as they let down their guard even somewhat because he's been there. Hoo boy, has he been there. That's why kids actually love him (it's not your vocabulary lessons and beaming smile, Thom, though the effort is appreciated), and it's why young engines can wind up loving him too. He doesn't hold what you've done in the past against you; he genuinely believes in second chances (and third, and...). Plus he knows every engine needs some excitement and responsibility in their lives. He has never forgotten the insanity-inducing frustration of being tethered to Vicarstown station.

Basically, once you cut past Thomas's earnest (and bullshit) attempt to be Perfect Kids' Role Model, he's actually always been great at keeping it real. And that's where a genuine respect can often grow.

[recallback-art]

I've been chipping away at this for a second now, so I'm hype to finally post it. You can think of it as a hypothetical cover page for something I've been working on - but it was a fun experiment either way.

Really enjoy doing these bigger ambitious pieces, feel like I'm getting a lot better at art and enjoying it more in doing so.

[carlyraejepsans]

Is it really that far fetched to think pre-reset hell Sans believed in Santa and wrote letters to him? He could've written that thank you letter and never sent it after he realized the concept of resets being a thing. Why did you vent about Sans portrayals but don't accept the chance he believes in something silly and childish?

...dude. If you want to interpret it like that, that's on you. It's not what the game's implying though. Like one thing's headcanoning for the sake of headcanoning, one thing's trying to see what the text is actually trying to tell you.

The story establishes that Papyrus believes in Santa. He gets gifts from him even now. He also makes a comment about Santa that you're deliberately meant to misinterpret as him talking about his brother at first, before correcting you. On the other hand, nothing in the main storyline mentions Sans doing the same, while we have multiple evidence of him doing stuff with/for his brother (and vice versa, though in other contexts). And when we enter his room, what do we find? A thank you letter addressed to Santa. It's MEANT to be recognized as Papyrus'. It's been set up since the start, it's Chekhov's toy gun.

If it WERE meant to be Sans' letter before things went wrong in his life, either 1) we would've had more build up for it beforehand, like Papyrus, 2) there would've been more context in the flavor text to indicate it. Maybe a note on the calligraphy, maybe the lack of capitalization.

This doesn't negate that Sans IS childish in his own ways. Tell me one person in your life above the age of 6 who is unironically obsessed with fart jokes. But "childish" isn't just one big homogeneous category you can slap here and there without difference, it's got nuance. Sans' childish is more "deliberately gross, kinda troll-ish, meant to embarrass YOU and make you the butt of the (very immature) joke by association" (ie: the whoopee cushions, the stupid secret passwords, the ketchup prank, the dirty socks everywhere) while Papyrus' childish is much more "those joys and wonders from childhood you get peer pressured out of enjoying when you get older" except he still enjoys them for himself, and he does so wholeheartedly (es: still believing in santa, his entire room looking like a 10yo's fantasy, bedtime stories) etc etc.

So no. Sans doesn't feel like the type of character who still believes in Santa Claus. And I don't like your tone at the end of this ask, it's unnecessarily confrontational. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but if my take on the characters bother you, there's the door right there. You're more than welcome to find another blog more suited to your interests rather than be passive aggressive at me in my inbox.

[ksaru]

me, suddenly: oh right i have a bleach oc

[tenpixelsusie]

"Rick is the better scientist!" "actually, Reagan is the better scientist because-!!" shut up shut up shut up we all know the best fictional scientist is ALPHYS from UNDERTALE

[cozylittleartblog]

I loaf your Deltarune art. It is very shape. Also, have you drawn pirate Rouxls?

thank you. i have drawn pirate rouxls exactly one time in ms paint for a meme, and i should change that but also that entire fight makes me laugh hysterically. like. sir. what. are you doing. what can i draw that hasn't already been drawn. but also it's so stupid i Need to draw Something eventually???

every time i'm reminded he is canonically considered An Attractive Hunk in-universe i have to pull up this relevant picture, which i have so lovingly titled...

[theoldandnewfirm]

Besides Krel being able to whip up a machine that can nullify the power of gods, the other thing in TOA supporting the idea that magic = advanced science is the fact that Merlin understood he could use a microwave to create the cradle stone after brief exposure to said appliance and without a detailed explanation of the technology behind it. Unless there was some overlap between microwaves and whatever process he'd have normally used to create a crystal, I don't think he would have grasped the microwave's potential so quickly.

[suchasillygoofheehee]

When I say that learning how to draw Susie changed my life.... I mean that learning how to draw Susie changed my life

[despairforme]

INBOX CALL! ( multis please specify! )

[choices-creepypastaic]

Chapter 1; Beginnings

Chapter 1; Beginnings 

So, I bet you’re here for some cliché ridden, horror characters x reader. Right? Maybe your stereotypical blonde hair, blue eyes, she/her protag? Well, either fortunately or unfortunately, that's not what you’re going to get here. This is my story, you are merely a pawn in my game. 

An alarm blared, jolting you out of a dreamless slumber. The phone beside your ear rings, and in grabbing it you see what was the issue. ‘Now’ was the only context your sleep-addled mind was given by your phone alarm, and you groaned. Throwing a heavy blanket off yourself, you crawl out of an all too warm bed, and find yourself falling onto the floor. Another groan, and all too weak arms push you up into a sitting position. A yawn ripped past your lips before you can stop it, your arms pulling away from each other in a stretch. You grab onto the bed, lifting yourself up. Thankfully, you were the only one ever in your dorm. A sigh leaves from deep inside your chest, and instead of fully changing, you throw a dark colored hoodie over your night shirt, and replaced fluffy pajama pants with a pair of looser fitting jeans. 

You walk over to your mirror, and wince at the state of yourself. Your eyes had deep bags under them, somehow managing to dull the actual [e/c] of your eyes. Maybe you should start doing a better skincare routine, you start to mutter to yourself and you run a hand through your hair. “Eh, good enough.” You shrug, walking towards the mini fridge. You pull out a large water bottle, closing the door with your foot and grabbing a breakfast bar from the ‘counter’. In reality it was a foldable table you threw everything that wasn't meant for your bed. 

The phone rang again, making you nearly jump as you scrambled to grab it. Glancing at the contact name, you sigh and answer it. “Yeah mom? What's up?” You tuck the phone between your ear and should as you continue getting ready for the day. “Good morning sweetheart. Just calling you to give you the rundown on thanksgiving plans. Were you going to join us this year? Yaya is coming over.” You can hear some type of chaos on the other side of the call, but dismiss it. “Oh, uh.” You pause, thinking if there was any plans you forgot about with Damien, before you shrug, “Yeah, I can come down. You want me to drive or were you planning to come grab me?” In pulling on your shoes, you toss a bag over your shoulder, shove your dorm key in your pocket, and head out for your classes for the day. “I can’t come down there before hand, there’s so much food i have to make.” You hear a sigh, and a small smile crawls up the corners of your lips. “Are you alright to drive down?” “Yeah mom, don’t worry about it. But, ill call you later, I gotta get to class.” “Alright! Have a nice day! Ill see you next week!” “See ya. Love you,” You smile, pulling the phone from your ear. Your thumb hovers over the ‘End Call’ button, waiting for the- “Love you too! Ba-bye!” And you hit the button. Walking outside of the dorm building, your hit with the nice fall air. The leaves are still they're beautiful orangey-red hues, only just starting to fall to the ground. There was a calmness to the air, and you relax into it as you head to the most boring classes of the day, scheduled back to back. Sneakers hit slightly wet pavement, the morning dew still clear on the grass. You arrive at your first set of classes at about 10 am, the earliest most of your classes started. Most of the others around you seemed just as bored as you, and as the professor walked into the room, you started your day of only being half conscious and fully planning on stealing the English/math notes from Damien later on today.  The only class you really payed attention too was your arts course, as that was what your major was going to be. 

The Monday afternoon droned on; your three classes ending at about 2. But still, you yawned as you walked, heading to the nearby café area to meet up with Damien. The walk itself takes only about 15 minutes, walking by a fairly quaint little collage town. This café is a small place, thankfully not nearly as busy as the nearby Starbucks. You didn't think you could handle studying and working in such a crowded area. You sit down in one of the only booths in this place, pulling out your laptop from your bag and setting it down. Opening up to your English work, you started on it as you waited for Damien. He usually got there at about 2:30, his classes usually went on a tad bit longer. The waitress walked over, a sweet lady named Amanda. She was pretty, but in that textbook way. Curly blond hair, fair skin, all that stuff. “Hey [Y/n]. You getting your usual?” She asked with a small grin, having already been writing in her notebook. “Um. Yes please.” You nodded, and she chuckled. “Always predictable, huh?” she teased lightly. An eye roll followed. “I like my coffee goddamnit.” You crack a small smirk. While you wouldn’t call Amanda a friend, you two were friendly towards each other. She let out a small giggle, before half turning. “One boring, black coffee coming up, your dullness.” You laugh a little as she walks towards the counter. You flip one of the white mugs on the table so Amanda could just pour in the coffee. Time to start the dull research process. Why the hell was Damien making you do this, you may be asking. You two had the same professors, just different times. You two picked the same project subject for this exact reason. Amanda came back over with a simple coffee pot, and a plate in her hand. “Mom made some apple pie for next week. Figured Id give some out to customers for a taste test.” She said, putting down the plate as well. You glance up at her. “Uh-huh. And your not trying to fatten me up to cook me into the stew?” You joke. She covers her mouth in a snort. “If I wanted to fatten you up id give you the whole pie.” She smiles behind her hand. “I’m assuming your friend is coming too? Ill get started on his order.” Amanda turns to walk off once again. The café was rather empty. Only you, her, and an older man. You glance over at him out of a sense of curiosity. His jacket looked neat. Old as hell, but it seemed to be some sort of tanned leather if you had to guess. You were snapped out of your thoughts as Damien slid into the booth. “Man, does Professor Richardson ever shut up?” He sighed, nearly collapsing onto the booth table. You chuckle, and one quick look at him you could tell there was a difference. “Nope,” You chuckle, “But, You braided your hair?” you ask, raising an eyebrow. “Looks great.” “Thanks.” He sighed, sitting up and leaning against the seat. “Took me like 4 hours last night.” “Your kidding.” “God I wish.” He said, fiddling with the charms he braided into his hair. “So, whatcha got so far?” He asked, adjusting in his seat to lean forward, as if trying to read the back of your laptop. The two of you started to talk quietly. Drinking coffee and snacking on apple pie for the next hour or so. The two of you got a solid rough draft going, each having similar, but differently worded points. Amanda came over a few times, just refilling coffee and chatting a little. “Amanda, when do you get out of work?” Damien asked as you started to gather your things to leave,  “You need someone to walk you home?” Recently, a lot of odd and scary shit had been happening in the towns nearby. People were being attacked, maimed almost. So far there wasn't any deaths, but its better to be safe than sorry. Amanda, however, shook her head. “Stayin till close, Dad’s driving me and mom home. Thank you though.” She gave a small smile. Damien nodded. “Good, wouldn’t want you to get hurt.” He smiled a little in return. “What about you [Y/n]?” “Oh Im fine. Just gonna take a walk and go back to the dorms.” Damien gave you a look, his eyebrow raising. “Seriously? You trying to die some white girl in a horror movie death?” He asked. You laugh. “Yeah, actually. Maybe Ill finally have a use for someone.” You smirk as Damien reached forward, lightly hitting you across the head. “Alright dumbass. If you die I get to be in charge of your funeral music.”  He rolled his eyes. You both pay your tabs, leaving Amanda your usual combined tip, and headed out. You waved Damien off as you headed towards the park. In rummaging through your bag, you pull out a set of airpods and plop them into your ears, getting your phone set up with a playlist. The fall air here was just wonderful. Cold enough for a light jacket, but not so much that your freezing your ass off. The leaves around you fell peacefully onto concrete, than gravel roads. The houses turning into a open field and a parking lot. You continued on, walking into the peaceful woods. Mothers were out with their kids, pushing strollers around and playing with toddlers. A smile tugged onto your face. Just a small one, a twitch of the lips more like. This wasn’t your hometown, but it was close enough it might as well be. The woods were always such a nice place, almost grounding as you move away from the the normality of this town. As you continued to walk throughout the paths, the concrete turned to gravel, the gravel turning to dirt. As you walk, you notice a pinprick at the back of your head. A small, dull pain at the back of the head. Probably from a lack of water. You continued to walk, as dull as the writing sounds. Adjusting your hair, and changing the song on your phone occasionally. These woodland walks were something you did often, never straying off the paths. The pain in your head grew, each step seemed to add to it. Until it grew to the point it blurred your vision. Stepping to the side of the path, you sit down. Crossing your legs and pulling your phone out. It was only about 4pm, you had an hour to get home before dark. Your head hit the tree behind you, eyes drawing to a close. You blinked. That's it. A quick closing of the eyes, before you appeared in this pure white room. The walls and floor seemed to be made of smoke, with two floating panels in front of you. The panels were made of what looked like glass, and as you stood up to see further, there was a sense of weightlessness. Walking through the smoke felt like walking through water. It dragged you back towards where you used to be, each step a difficulty within itself. As you approach the panels, you see two words written on both. The panel on your left was labeled ‘Find them’, the one on your right labeled ‘Find You.’ “What the fuck?” you mumble, reaching out towards one of them. There was a tingling feeling in your hand, as if these panels themselves were some type of electricity. You pause, not touching it.

 What were you supposed to do? What was this? Where were you?

It seemed, in that moment, that those questions wouldn’t get any answers. It seemed that you’d need to choose an option in order to escape this area. Find them? Or Find You?

[twoheadedoddity]

as july has ended, it is time that i post the attacks i inflicted on @tobiornot-tobi and @fadedjadestone

[archived-and-moving]

Maybe an unpopular opinion? I kinda think Anne should stay pissed at Hop Pop for longer than an episode. Maybe it's just me having a fucked up relationship with my father though.

Oh yeah definitely.

(I'm assuming you're talking about After The Rain and First Temple)

Hop Pop breached Anne's trust and well... lied about it. He made a pretty big mistake, and while it was to protect Anne, it was still something that Anne 100% had the right to be pissed about.

Because just because you're protecting someone doesn't mean that it's the best for them.

Even though Hop Pop really did want to keep Anne safe, and he didn't truly know all the repercussions for that, he still chose to lie about it until he was forced to give the truth.

And I actually really like the nod to this that they did in season 3... I won't go into much detail, since I know you're not there. But this is actually a really cool parallel between Hop Pop and Anne's character arcs, and what they really learned from each other.

I'm a sucker for character driven stories, and Amphibia is definitely one of them.

This was such a fun dynamic to mess around with. Because we really see Anne's side of the story. She wants to get home and for everything to go back to normal, but now she can't. She's understandable upset about that, but also on top of that how Hop Pop lied.

He was supposed to be this (while not perfect) kind and caring father figure, that would do anything to be on Anne's side. To help her however he can.

But in this case... his interest conflicts Anne's. He wants to keep her safe, as Anne is important to him, and he likely has some lasting trauma from Sprig and Polly's parents' death. So he sees himself doing the right thing, albeit he feels guilty about lying to Anne.

But Anne doesn't see that. She doesn't know that.

By hiding the box, Anne thought that Hop Pop didn't care about what her wants and needs were. While this wasn't the case, she definitely saw it that way.

He lied about the box. He lied about something Anne cares so much about.

And now I'm rambling but yeah I really like this plot thread.

However you are completely and 100% correct about your point, and I don't think it's unpopular at all. Because Amphibia is a show for a lot younger of an audience, it jumps from episode to episode pretty quickly to match a lot of the viewers' short attention spans.

While this usually is a good thing, given how popular the show is, it can definitely lead to some pacing issues through out it's run time, and I can definitely see why that could be problematic.

I personally would have loved to see Anne's grudge stay longer, and even some failed attempts at reconciling with one another spread out a bit more.

But we didn't really have time, considering what's to come with the set up of True Colors and all. Which um. Have fun with that.

Anyway. TLDR; You are completely correct in feeling this way, as Hop Pop kind of betrayed Anne's close feelings by going behind her back and flat out lying about the box (however deserved those feelings may be.) She probably should not have forgiven him within one episode but because this is Amphibia, the pacing is kind of off and we didn't really have time to explore this character development as much as you or I may have liked.

[recallback-art]

Day 31: Costumes! And with that.... we are done! I did every single day, and I feel super good about that. It was really fun. Definitely proud of myself.

Happy Halloween, brought to you by the Shibuya gang! Stay safe and have fun out there!