#which is hilarious because I too have changed gender since then

[lungs-and-gills]

Lungs and Gills Taglist

Hello everyone! If you're tagged here, it means a few years ago you were interested in a story called Pearl Thief, back when my main blog (@joyful-soul-collector) was a writeblr! That story is now called Lungs and Gills, and you can see the new wip intro for it here! If you'd STILL like to be on this taglist, please reblog this post! If not, just ignore it and I will remove you from the list after a week has gone by. If you're new, and want to be on the tag list after reading the wip intro post, just reblog this post and you will be added! This post will be updated a week from today with the new taglist based on what blogs reblog this post. Thank you so much, and I hope you have a wonderful day!

Tag List: @emerald-roses @van-lukas @commasinsidequotes @pen-in-hand @wangmangagavroche @thescholarsninja @oneleggedflamingo @bitchqueen1114 @bogsheep @writingiswilde @brekkerzkazz @toomanystoryideas @sunnybunnywrites @raspberrylimeriche @idonthaveartideas @topazastral @sunlight-and-starskies @quirkysquid @words-in-the-works @precise-magic @kos-ire @apocalyvse @gray-sometimes-writes @aspectacularblog @time-space-and-the-muses @h-faith-marr-writeblr @captainrynna @kosyisa-tries-to-write @peachiekittenwrites @adaparkwrites @sunripemango @andifthestarsweretodie @frazazzled @where-rmysocks @musicofglassandwords

[zombie-eats-world]

Crocodad Theory: The not-so-Crack-pot Theory.

Making this post in order to replace my old Crocodad thesis since I think I can do better now. Plus I was still using the old theory name then and I dislike seeing it pinned on my tumblr now. You can find that older post HERE if you desire to!

Crocodad theory, chances are you have heard about this theory if you are even slightly invested in the One Piece fandom. But despite its infamy, and outside its stanch believers like myself, it's mostly considered a crack theory and used for a laugh.

Now let's be clear, Crocodad theory is not a crack theory. A crack or crack-pot theory is more of a headcanon built on vibes, it's a fun idea made up out of thin air and isn't really serious. If the Crocodad theory was a crack theory it would have evaporated into the nether by now. It's over a decade old, after all, and yet it persists to this day! That is because the Crocodad theory has real evidence from the canon, the One Piece offshoots, and maybe even Oda himself.

If you weren't aware of the Crocodad theory, sometimes lovingly called Dadodile, let me summarize it very succinctly. The theory is that Crocodile is a transgender man and gave birth to Luffy. Crocodile is Luffy's other father and his birthing parent. If you think that sounds ridiculous or even hilarious, let me walk you through it because I assure you- that is intentional.

Let us begin where the theory began... Impel Down.

The possibility for this theory was born in 2009 with these panels:

The simple fact that Ivankov exists and that he knows Crocodile, from "when he was just starting out" mind you, makes this not only possible but probable.

What other "secret" could Ivakov be speaking of here? It's definitely not his weakness to water, that would just be bad storytelling. It could be that Crocodile is the child of Rocks which is possible considering we now know Ivankov was at the Gods Valley incident. But if I could speak as a writer for a moment, it would really be a waste for an author to introduce a character that can change genders and then bring back one of the first big villains like Crocodile, AND THEN connect the two with the mention of weakness but not make that secret that Crocodile had once been a woman. Or even at least a part of the reason.

But if that reasoning falls through for you, here is some in-canon evidence for the idea that Crocodile is transgender:

First of all, the agents' code names are so gendered: Every single digit agent is Mr with a Mrs, or Ms partner.

Crocodile’s name. His moniker is different from almost every other powerful pirate the story introduces to us. He isn’t just Desert King Crocodile, he is Desert King Sir Crocodile. Again it is oddly pronoun-centered. As if he is trying to remind people that he’s a guy.

The introduction of Bon Clay. Bon Clay is our first canon queer character in One Piece. He makes mention of being a girl many times and feels like a joke character when we first meet him. But as we know in One Piece, a pirate crew is a reflection of the Captain. Crocodile isn’t prejudiced to queer people like Bon Clay alludes to others being a few times. Crocodile even allowed Bon Clay to be both the male and female of his team!

Next up was the reveal of Baby Crocodile and how it’s deliberating ambiguous what gender Crocodile is. In every other Warlord's childhood look reveal, their gender is obvious, so why was Crocodile left out of that?

Then of course we have Gold Roger's execution, and how almost everyone got a reaction panel. But not Crocodile. No, we only see the back of his head. Oda has shown that he loves to get every single character's reaction to major events, sometimes to a fault. So why is he trying so hard to hide Crocodile from us? It just isn’t Oda’s style to leave someone out unless there is some kind of secret he wants to build up too. Now be sure to keep this in mind for later.

Last but certainly not least is just how much of an absolute troll Oda is. This will not be the last time I bring this up, Oda is a HUGE troll. He loves to play to his favorite fan theories and he decides most everything on how funny it is. And wouldn't it be funny if the first antagonist in the Grandline was secretly the birth parent of Luffy?

I mean just look at this! Oda, you absolute troll.

Bottom line: Trans Crocodile is more likely than not.

But this is where a lot of people decide the rest of this theory is crack, they take Trans!Crocodile and leave Crocodad out for reasons I honestly can't understand. Despite that, Cracodad has just as much if not more evidence than the Transgender part of this theory.

Before I begin I would like everyone reading to keep a few things in mind. All throughout the Impel down arc and the journey to Marineford, and even the first few chapters into Marineford, Crocodile could not have given a shit about Luffy, Ace, or the war at all. He did not care who won the war or if everyone involved died. He came to the battlefield for the sole purpose of killing Whitebeard. PERIOD. He was never once shown reacting with any concern when Luffy began facing down anyone strong. Not even Magellan. Crocodile had been around Luffy, seeing him do inspiring things for a massive amount of chapters by the time we get to Marineford, and yet Crocodile literally didn't care if Luffy lived or died, he just wanted to fight Whitebeard.

With that clear let's move on to what happened after Luffy's father was revealed to the world in Marineford. This moment is where the most obvious evidence first came about:

When Sengoku announces Luffy's father to the world we get many reaction shots, but once again Crocodile is conveniently missing from the lineup. He even disappears for a whole chapter! The young man who took down his decade-long plan to take over Alabasta just got announced to be the most wanted man in the world son, and we get no reaction from Crocodile... its suspicious.

Crocodile stopped Ace’s execution: Now Crocodile explains this by saying he ‘didn’t want to let Sengoku have the pleasure of victory’ but seriously? What kind of petty ass BS reasoning is that?! Crocodile has dreams and ambitions, and yet he gives up trying to be the one to take down Whitebeard to randomly save someone he canonly mocks in Impel Down? Someone he doesn’t care about. Some people will tell you it’s because Luffy inspired him like Luffy does many others, but what exactly is Luffy doing in Marineford that he didn’t in Impel Down or even Alabasta? Nothing. That means Crocodile has an entire about-face for no believable reason while completely off-screen. Which we've already said isn't Oda's style.

Daz and Crocodile face Mihawk to help Luffy: When Daz blocks Mihawk’s strike, Luffy questions it. Daz answers: It’s an order from above! That means Crocodile ordered Daz to specifically protect Luffy. Again, why? What reason did he have to do that? If this was some latent Crocodile has been inspired™️ moment, why wouldn’t Oda show it? Oda loves to hype up those moments, and loves to detail it all to the smallest piece. But Crocodile just randomly decided to have his main man Daz look out for this person that he COULDN’T HAVE GIVEN A CRAP ABOUT JUST TEN EPISODES BEFORE does not fit within the story. Then, right after Daz blocks Mihawk, Crocodile appears out of the woodwork to block another attack.

When Mihawk questions why he’d protect Luffy, Crocodile’s only response is “I’m not in the best mood now, Mihawk, you better watch yourself.” It’s interesting that he has no reason, none, he just comments that he’s in a shit mood. Maybe because he just found out he once stabbed his own child in the gut and left him to die?!

Crocodile vs Akainu: The brother killing Lava Man™️ is probably the most dangerous person in the war. He has no mercy, no morals, no restraint. So the fact that as Luffy is lying comatose and weak, with Jimbe slumped over him, Akainu about to deliver the final blow, Crocodile coming out of nowhere once again is so telling.

The fact is: Crocodile went above and beyond to save Luffy. That final stand against Akainu is so powerful. Crocodile doesn’t just save Luffy, he rushes to Luffy's aid, slicing through Akainu and reassembles to stand protectively between them. He did not need to do this at all. Oda didn’t need to have him do this either!

There were plenty of other characters that could have essentially done the same exact thing, but Oda chose to have Crocodile, someone who shouldn’t have been on Luffy’s side at all, save his life in the final moment.

Lastly, without a word, Crocodile uses Sables to get Luffy to Law’s ship. He risked his life, faced down the one person who could kill him without a second thought, and sweeps Luffy away to safety without any stated reason at all. In fact, everything he says is deliberately vague. Crocodile doesn’t believe in loyalty, he dumps people if they are weak (see; Alabasta Crocodile vs Luffy desert fight) so his line of “you gotta protect the one you wanna protect! Don’t let them have their way!” Feels so out of character. Crocodile has to have a reason for this odd behavior. And no, it doesn’t end there! In the defense of Luffy, Crocodile has an awesome and powerful moment where he stands in unity with all the Whitebeard commanders. HIS ENEMIES. Crocodile stands in unity with the people, he himself stated he hated more than anything, for Luffy!

These are the moments that alerted people to what would soon be called the Crocomom theory, now called Crocodad. But just because it began there doesn't mean there wasn't foreshadowing from before Marineford.

Let's go over all of that now:

First to talk about is once again Crocodile's crew. Miss Father's Day debuted in episode 124 of the anime and chapter 205 of the manga. She has a green amphibian theme to her, which is interesting because she is a woman with the moniker Father's Day while also having a theme of an animal that is famous for being able to change its gender. Her debut episode even has her introduced along with the reveal that Luffy's using his blood to fight Crocodile.

The next point is something Oda has never explained. Crocodile has strange relationships with children. From hiring a sixteen-year-old Miss Goldenweek, leaving her out of the Mr. 3 assassination order, and her history of actually sinking Crocodile's ships before getting hired, all the way to how Crocodile lectured Luffy in their fight. It just had the cadence of a parent. Not even Luffy's parent, just a parent. He lectures like someone who has experience with children.

Next, Luffy does not look like Dragon. That is a direct quote from Luffy in the manga. But you know who he does look like?

That's right! Luffy looks a lot like Crocodile. If you need more convincing on this, there is a great post by Dashevacotton that puts together many of the best canon pictures of Luffy dressed up like Crocodile. That post is here!

Crocodile and Luffy are incredibly similar. Not just in looks, but in personality, and in their general life.

These two have so much in common. From having a way with animals, to the amount of unadulterated loyalty they've inspired in their crews, all the way to the cadence of their speech.

Crocodile and Luffy even have a similarly goofy reaction to seeing the underground passage to the Alabasta Poneglyph.

Episode 123, episode time 13:16 Crocodile spots the entrance and laughs, "Ha, now I see secret stairs." Also in episode 123, episode time 20:47 Luffy looks around and spots the secret stairs. "That hole... it looks gator-ish."

Even what we know of Crocodile's backstory is that he had a rapid rise to fame just like Luffy by being a rookie who came in and beat down non-canon characters like Douglas Bullet to the shock of the world.

Next, let's bring up an earlier point: Oda-sensei is a mega troll.

This isn't exactly new information, Oda once deflected to bringing up a dick fight instead of answering if Zoro or Sanji was stronger. He is a Troll. He loves wordplay, and he likes to hint hint nudge nudge us all day long. Just look at Oda having Sanji call himself a prince in Alabasta as a joke, only to realize years later that he actually was a prince.

It's because of Oda's tendency to play around and make knowing jokes we've gotten some pretty compelling evidence for the Crocodad theory.

First would be the wordplay!

-Crocodile is closely linked to a Bananawani-> Monkeys like Banana -> Monkey D. Dragon is a reptilian Monkey attracted to Banana reptile. Fight me - A 'crocodile smile' is a term most often used to mean a fake or ingenuine smile. Crocodile's scar has been liked to look like a 'crocodile smile', which would mean Crocodile is the only character that always has a smile on his face. What a fun bit of wordplay to foreshadow the birth parent of Joyboy!

Then there is this SBS alongside the One Piece School spin-off manga by Sohei Koj.

What a great way to get out of revealing Luffy's parentage without actually revealing it!

And of course, we have the One Piece Mafia Theatre episode of the anime.

Oda would certainly make this canon just because of his troll tendencies. This is a hilarious theory because the story supports it yet only a fringe group believes in it. It's hilarious and therefore it's probably true.

Lastly, the symbolism makes this theory truly great.

I've already mentioned how Crocodile's scar being a 'crocodile smile' and thus giving him a permanent smile on his face would make him the most meaningful candidate for Luffy's birth parent. Joyboy, our Sun God Nika, was born from a man with a permanent fake smile; who is also named after an animal with the world's biggest smile.

It's just such a perfect setup, it makes my writer's heart swell.

Since Oda has stated a mother in One Piece would stop the adventure, it would fit that the first major villain in the Grandline to try and stop Luffy's adventure ended up being the man who gave birth to Luffy.

If we are going to speak of symbolism, I'd be remiss not to mention what a crocodile spiritually symbolizes. I really don't think I need to explain why adaptability, creation, ambiguity, and duality mean so much to this theory.

This theory could die or be confirmed any day now that we've entered a God's Valley flashback. I will love it either way but truly, honestly, I believe this. I hope I convinced a few of you to. If you are interested in the succinct list of Crocodad evidence that post is Here!

So in conclusion...

Crocodad is canon!

[camilieroart]

Hey so, i came across your leo's gender reveal comic again recently, and there has been a question bugging my mind about it

I really am just genuinely curious, and i dont wanna sound or be offensive and I'm so so sorry if i am

But i remember a fomic about splinter and leo, and how Splinter was all "oh you're a boy they cant wear dresses" bc of his then conservitive views, wouldn't he have raised leo as a girl if he had a female body? Or did he just not know turtle anatomy and assumed he was boy bc he looked like one? Cuz that's actually kinda funny

Again i really am sorry if this comes off as rude, i just wanna learn more about your au, since i really love it, your April was actually a huge inspo for mine own desing wise! (I really loved the floffy hair)

Don't worry, it's not rude at all !

It's hilarious sometimes the change of tone between Tumblr and Instagram. On Insta I was called transphobic for this comic (which is super nice since I was depicting my own experience with the trans label through Leo, even if mine is slightly different)

Splinter genuinely didn't know he had a female body. I went for the thing that our subconscious does usually in France, where we default someone we don't know to male, because our language makes us thinks that (it's terrible). I thought since Splinter is pretty conservative, he's probably default to that too without realizing it. I think if he had known Leo was a girl since the beginning he would have raised him differently, and probably in the negative sense of the term.

It took him a while and the help of his children and friends to get out of that mindset. He's still working on it. We love seeing people grow and change !

[shirefantasies]

From mossthebogwitch I had no idea what i was doing but I did my best.

Since it was now a dare i am submitting myself for a matchup: presently I am mortified.but too curious to back down now. I have sealed my own fate per usual. I appreciate you taking me on this journey and hope you enjoy the experience! I don't know what gender I prefer in partner: I have a huge weakness for Kíli - I have no hard fast rules- just have fun it's a Tumblr matchup yknow?🤣

I would prefer Hobbit based matches since that is my current hyperfixation.

I radiate golden retriever energy: loyal, never gonna give you upn never gonna let you down, never gonna turn around and desert you. I'm the unofficial security guard according to my boss. I have a level head under pressure and I don't back down.  I have a constant stream of humor. The comedy doesn't end. I enjoy being an artist and writer in many media's. I study folklore and weird nature things. Im the weird facts kid grown up to the ' adult who knows how to do a bunch of different things'.

I have trouble socializing due to anxiety and OCD. Because of this I'm naturally more of a watcher until I feel comfortable.  I'm either casually friendly or hiding behind other people talking.  I'm a mom friend and the one people go to for help. I work in counseling its natures pipeline.

If I'm not working, reading, tending my pets, wild foraging for supplies or exploring hiking trails, I can be found cobbling together my house and garden from whatever I get my grabby hands on.

I have a community garden and regularly supply winter camping gear, food, first aid, and hygienic supplies. I do feral cat housing too so I just do a lot of weird stuff. Last week I saved a squirrel?? Befriending crows is starting this week lol. Never dull.

I plan on painting my entire house in fantasy based murals and hiding meme paintings behind appliances..Spock is behind my stove.

One funny thing i do that my coworkers thinks is hilarious is I have an entire measurement system for measuring animals using only potatoes as a counting system. Yknow how you count horses with hands?I count animals using potatoes and i am right every time the key is when to switch your counter between Russetts and Yukon golds. It's a good day when a growing animal graduates from being counted from russetts to Yukon golds.

I'm 5'0  and don't mind because I grew up LOTR with Gimli!! He's short and I'm short too!! I am told I have mood ring eyes that change shades of blue with my emotions and I'm red green color blind so that's fun.

Voted most likely to have a mug of coffee or tea in hand at work while I give one of my coworkers a gentle peptalk which turns into me pulling out the Gimli scale and asking them where they are on there today.

Yes, this is great @mossthebogwitch ! More detail always helps on my end 🥰 also you sound like such a fun person I wanna be friends 😆😆😆 the potato counting & secret memes are legendary OMG! I definitely saw you with a dwarf right away, but after some thought, I decided on...

Bofur!

You meet under curious circumstances, you having settled at the foot of the great mountain after the war. Thinking you are alone, you had made your way to the woods, idly walking until a chattering squirrel spiraling up a tree distracts you. Given your love of animals, you strike up a conversation, getting quite lost in it all when a jovial voice rings out behind you, asking if you’re getting along, then. Turning, you see a dwarf with a large floppy hat and twin braids standing a ways behind you, apologizing for startling you- you must've jumped more than you realized. In the end, he introduces himself as Bofur and offers you a piece of one of his brother's biscuits from his pockets to give to the squirrel. Finding out that he works as a toymaker, you promise to visit his shop, and when you take in all the wonders he creates with his cousin, well, you can hardly stay away! Bofur ends up enlisting you to paint murals upon the walls of his and Bifur’s shop, which the young ones of Erebor and New Dale alike delight greatly in. Bifur is very impressed by your art and building skills, elbowing Bofur at every chance he gets and waggling his eyebrows over the amazing lass that’s seemingly just fallen into his life.

The first time Bofur actually initiates some time alone with you, he asks you to join him for a night in town, and that’s when he learns you work with livestock. You best believe he laughs his mustache off at your counting technique and also vows to steal it. You can see in his manner, though, and what you know of him that he would be great with the animals too. He can see that you prefer him not to ask so many personal questions and to lead the conversation which he is more than happy to do! He tells you all about his family, the quest he went on, his funny nice hobbit friend Bilbo, where to get the best ale in town if you’re into that sort of thing, a cool rock his brother found in the mines the other day, you name it! Everything is lighter when you two are together. Ever the gentleman, he waits to share your first kiss until he is completely sure you’re ready.

Bofur loves your height; you are a few inches taller than him, not much but just so that he can rest his forehead against yours and put his head on your shoulder. Either one of you can cuddle against the other’s chest as desired. Knowing how much of your time goes to helping others, though, brings the dwarf to lean heavily towards caring for you whether that means he is the one holding you or singing for you or simply by giving you lots of time to get comfortable and express your needs, even if it’s hard. Even in your most tender moments, though, both of you are cracking jokes. Always laughter between you two! Anything big gets called a Yukon Gold with you two because he just loves that saying so much.

If you are comfortable with it, Bofur loves to take you dancing just to show you off! He also adores the way you’ll stand up for him if anyone is mean or pushy- your loyalty is astounding and you truly have a dwarf-like spirit. He gets heart eyes when you become a de facto bouncer and actually throw a drunk or two out of the place. He also takes you camping, pitching a tent and bringing your supplies so you can stay wrapped outside with your animal friends and some weenies to roast beneath the stars.

Teases you to high heaven about being colorblind, though. Overdramatically reminds you what color you’re painting that toy, asks you if you’re sure that’s the right color for the leaves on your mural. Feel free to smack him lightly, he knows he deserves it and he’ll just laugh! If anxiety or OCD symptoms lead to you having a routine or a placement of things that being comfort (if so, big mood friend!), Bofur is definitely the best at remembering to have them out there and follow that for you, no questions asked. You’ll feel so cared for, that his house is a home. You are his warm hearth, his neverending laughter, the only person who could convince him to take home a wounded opossum and call it Bofur jr. but this is his life now and you know what? Bifur was right- he’d run into quite a catch in those woods, a lass far more beautiful than any old fern or flower.

Taglist: @lokilover476 @fuckyoumakeart @kilibaggins @pirate-lord-of-narnia @ibabblealot @joonies-word @stormchaser819 | Reply/Ask/Message to join!

[itsbenedict]

Bullet Proof: Postmortem

Waaaay back in the day, when I was 19 and I'd just discovered Dangan Ronpa (back when we put the space in the title, because all we had was the Orenronen LP and we called Ultimates "Super High-School Levels"), I decided to do my own. That was the heyday of forum adventures on the MSPA Forums, and there were no standards. I didn't know how to draw, but I decided to learn. I wanted to make a thing!

I got a good ways into it, honestly! It went through a few format changes, skipping over a couple cases in the middle in an abridged format on Tumblr, but I'd finally found my groove for the fourth case, playable from the perspective of the murderer. It was going well!

Then the MSPA Forums got hacked and the admins didn't keep any backups and everything was lost.

So that sucked! And once it became clear they were never going to recover the forums due to a mix of security incompetence and not giving a shit, I didn't really have a choice but to try and reboot it. I'd lost all the text, apart from a few garbled pages from a corrupted archive snapshot.

But... I've got way too much else I want to do at this point, and it's not looking too likely I'm going to have the time to come back to it. So if you want to know everything about what happened and where it was going...

You've clicked the readmore. So you do want to know all that. Here goes! Activate theme music.

You remember how it opened, right? It was a forum adventure, and at the time, I asked the readers to select an SHSL talent and gender as the protagonist entered the American branch of Hope's Peak Academy.

That was diegetic. "Alice Bayko" was an SHSL Impostor, or- I actually kinda waffled on having her not technically be SHSL anything, as she infiltrated the school with a false identity. She has, however, forgotten this, and her original identity and mission, leaving her with nothing but the mask. I believe there was a scene planned, or maybe a scene that did happen, I forget- where Alice would be called upon to demonstrate some sort of stage magic trick... and completely not know how to do any of that.

But what was she up to?

Well, that's a good question, with a complicated answer. Let's start pulling back the layers, here.

Seventeen students, and of the seventeen... somewhere between six and nine of them could be considered secret masterminds. Hilariously, I seem to have ordered this old banner issue in order of who's the most technically the ultimate mastermind, which was very cheeky of me. Would've been fun if someone ever caught that.

Let's start with...

Mastermind Level 1: Disguise

This creepy kid, SHSL Prodigy Billy Bookerton, was supposed to be the original secret mastermind in charge of the school. As came up in the adventure proper, this iteration of Hope's Peak was intended to be a safehouse from the ongoing despair apocalypse pictured in the Danganronpa canon. The son of the headmaster, he would control their Monokuma puppet and be in charge of faking to the outside world that this Monokuma-themed airship was in fact a murder-happy despair cult (like everywhere else on Earth somehow.)

This was not supposed to be a secret to the student body. And this 27-year-old man was not supposed to wake up in the body of a malnourished child and pose as a student. After events occurred, he found himself like this, with a note in his own handwriting instructing him to lay low and play this role.

What events occurred?

Mastermind Level 2: Blackmail

Also explained in the adventure proper, since these two were culprit and victim of the playable case 4: Gwendolyn and Ursula Schultheiss, SHSL Sysadmin and SHSL Retro Gamer nothing at all. Gwen was admitted to Hope's Peak on the basis of an actual talent, and pretty quickly gained control of their computer systems, sneaking Ursula in under the guise of Sakura Aran, and learning about the plan to escape Ultimate Despair by disguising the school and taking to the sky.

She thought that plan was really stupid.

Specifically, she thought Ultimate Despair was a flash in the pan, and it was ridiculous to think that some student riots all the way in Japan posed some sort of apocalyptic threat. (In her defense, this is a reasonable thing to think! It is ridiculous! Danganronpa's worldbuilding is fucking nonsense! But unfortunately for her, we're rolling with it.)

So she and Ursula hatched a plan to get rich. Hope's Peak is full of the progeny of the super-rich, like the Bright conglomerate. Obviously people like this would have loads of incriminating secrets, with which they could be blackmailed, and by which they would deserve to be blackmailed because screw those nepo babies. The plan was to run a Deception Game, not a Killing Game- they'd steal Billy's remote-control scary apocalypse terrorist, and pit everyone against each other in a contest to uncover each other's darkest secrets.

Once they had the dirt, they'd pretend to lose control and land the ship somewhere safe and sound, and Hope's Peak could deal with the scandal of the Monokuma hijacking and the consequences of their bonkers overreaction to some airhead fashionista's trendy protest.

If you recall, their plan went like this:

Each of them assumed that the other had somehow betrayed them and hijacked the school's systems on their own- Ursula retained control of the damaged Monokuma puppet, and Gwen retreated to her secret closet base to try and wrest control of the systems back from whatever super-hacker Ursula found to compromise her control. It took Gwen a few chapters (and accidentally murdering her sister) to realize that there was a...

Mastermind Level 3: Reality TV

It all started with SHSL Heir Henry Bright, heir to the Bright Conglomerate and active vice director of the company. Specifically, he directed vice. The Bright Conglomerate, in his opinion, did things too by-the-book, and were passing up big opportunities for growth in the organized crime sector. He was fostering connections with the Hit Deck (which led to the altercation that led to his and Dominique Martine's deaths in case 2), and...

Unlike Gwen, he didn't think the emergence of Ultimate Despair was nonsense. No, it was a growth opportunity. His plan was to invite a film crew to the airship and broadcast an exciting (fake) killing game to pander to this emerging despair-based market! With illicit funds provided by his contact in the Hit Deck (in exchange for his help securing a place on the ark for the Hit Deck's boss and trusted confidantes, posing as students), he assembled a team. Bribed some students, located an SHSL Doctor and some effects artists for realistic murder effects, did some networking, and...

...well, word gets around. The team he put together had bigger ambitions. A creative vision. One that had no room for executive meddling. They cut him out of the production team and forced him into the cast.

(I'm honestly not sure if this layer of convolution was necessary- I was on the fence about cutting him from the cast. The show's team might've found out about the school just because Gwen and Sakura screwed up the school's stealth measures. He's gotta kind of be there to explain the Hit Deck's presence, though, since aside from Dom none of them were actual Ultimates.)

Realer Reality TV

Before I reveal the members of the final mastermind tier, let's go over how they did this.

I never ended up using this portrait, but this is Davi Rossi, SHSL Doctor, though he prefers "Ultimate Necromancer". He's a graduate of the original Hope's Peak in Japan, and his technology is the cornerstone of the whole setup here- underneath the school, in the restricted areas in the body of the ship, he has a whole secret lab with vats of glowy chemicals and fancy futuristic surgical tools.

He can bring back the dead.

Well, sort of. He can do all sorts of repairs on ordinary tissues- lose a limb, get a vital organ mashed up, bleed out, he can fix that. He can make alterations to the body, too- such as surgically reverting someone's apparent age, or implanting remote-control death chips, or strategically weakening someone's skull.

He can even fix a certain degree of brain damage- the kind of stuff that might occur if you suffer blunt force trauma or total deoxygenation, where the brain is still mostly intact.

As a result, most victims are recoverable. When someone dies, he can bring them back again and again. However: he can't fully reconstitute the brain, and he has a number of limitations when it comes to working with it:

If the brain is completely torn apart or otherwise destroyed, he cannot revive the victim.

He can't directly mind-control anyone, nor can he insert false memories.

He can delete and rearrange memories, but not read minds, and memory deletion is episodic- he can't mess with specific facts, only spans of time.

I think I... also made an exception so he could delete specific people? Which is clunky and doesn't really make sense in hindsight.

There's still a lot you can do by cutting up and rearranging the filmstrip of someone's memory- but except in one specific case, he only ever really used it to delete the last loop.

In case it wasn't obvious, this isn't the first killing game. This show has multiple seasons. It's been going a while- and while injuries that destroy the brain are rare, they're not nonexistent, and so there's quite a few students who died before the story began. There used to be a lot more students! That's why all the dorm rooms have bunkbeds!

And there's also unfortunately the one who received a fatal injury in this loop by blowing himself up with an improvised explosive device. Sorry, Mill!

(There's actually only a few people physically present running the show, since the show's been running for years now and they found that they really didn't need more than a skeleton crew to run it- Davi and some student plants, along with Monokuma drones and countless hidden cameras, are all that's necessary for production on the ground. There's no adult film crew present on the ship.)

(♪ Kids with guns. Kids with guns. Taking over. But they won't be long. ♪)

Davi is also responsible for rigging up the masterminds with the mental control rigs for the two Monokumas- and has a third Monokuma of his own, who was going to show up to treat Martha's injury during case 4, I think in literally the very next update planned before the forums exploded.

So who are the people in control of these Monokuma knockoffs?

Mastermind Level 5: Case 5

All that I just mentioned about Davi? You learn about this in the fifth case, after case 4 in which you play as either Sakura or Gwen after killing their sister and trying to avoid getting caught in the trial. You can't win case 4, but you can successfully stall and bullshit long enough for the trial to be interrupted by a sudden explosion before you can be executed.

Prior to case 4, Billy has disappeared into a secret passage, trying to track down the mastermind. Likewise, Flopsy-Turvy, Alice's rabbit, has also disappeared into a secret passage. Billy remains missing during case 4's trial.

After the explosion, the Monokumas call off the trial and lead the whole class to Davi's secret lab, which is the site of a set of murders.

Davi has been murdered via various small lacerations all over his body, including a slit throat.

Billy has been blown to bits by an explosion.

If Gwen or Sakura was executed during the trial, their corpse is found on a table in the lab.

Flopsy-Turvy, who was a robot all along, has been reduced to mechanical smithereens.

Violette, not dead anymore, but unable to speak aloud due to an incompletely healed throat injury

Some completely unfamiliar redhead kid, who doesn't know jack about anything and doesn't know how he got here.

The two survivors of this scene are naked save for some towels they found, and appear to have been spilled out from a couple of big glowy specimen tanks which were broken in the explosion that killed Billy and Flopsy. More on them later.

The subsequent investigation reveals all that stuff I just told you about Davi, blowing the setup wide open. In the course of that investigation, two of the masterminds find themselves confessing their involvement. After all- Davi's dead. There's no way they can run another season without someone to bring people back to life!

One in particular confesses before the other one- she doesn't care anymore, and she's happy to watch her co-conspirator squirm to try to avoid revealing his evil machinations to the people he desperately wants to think he's cool.

Lilakali Bhallu and Raymond Rizzini are my favorites. They suck so much. They hate each other quite a lot, and have gotten together and broken up like three different times. Their collective theme song is No Children by The Mountain Goats. They're like 25 at this point, stuck in the bodies of the teenagers they were when the show started filming and they fully agreed to be part of the production.

Why? Well, Lilakali hates everyone and enjoys seeing them turn on each other like rabid wolves repeatedly- and Raymond craves acceptance and is using his memory privileges and surveillance abilities to try over and over again to be Popular In High School (to no avail.) They're both pretty pathetic people.

Notably, they are both real students who're supposed to be here. I don't remember if I ever had Lilakali make any predictions, and she'll insist she's just making shit up, but I was gonna have her predictions all come true, because the Fortune Teller thing is a real talent. And Raymond really can make a pretty mean burger. (Cheekily, that old Tumblr post was supposed to have taken place in a previous season- you might notice Gwen in the background, who in this iteration was never convinced to leave her room for meals, instead sneaking out at night to raid the cafeteria.)

Lilakali also has an Edgy Backstory- she grew up in the circus, apprenticed under her grandmother, who refused to let her socialize with kids her age. She was supposed to learn the family divining techniques, not dance around like some harlot with a pack of urchins! Her grandma taught her to hate the world, and herself, and accidentally also her grandmother. One day, in a moment of perfect nihilist clarity, she took a Sixlizard cigarette lighter out of the trash, wandered amongst the tents, and burned down the entire circus, killing her grandma in the process. She looks back on that moment fondly as the happiest she's ever been.

Anyway. Those two are my favorites, but they're not the ultimate masterminds. In fact... they're quite sure there's supposed to be a third mastermind, and they suspect this third mastermind of having erased their memories of them and killing Davi. They can tell their memories were edited- they're fully aware of how the tech works and what the signs are, and they can tell there's big ugly gaps and gashes in their recollection of the past. Someone was missing, and Davi was being all cagey and weird about it. And last loop...

Well, what happened last loop is the direct cause of case 5. And at the end of the investigation... the two Monokumas go dead, and one giant Monokuma shows up, furious that Davi is dead and forcing the students to go to trial one more time. This will be the final execution- catching Davi's murderer.

Mastermind Level 6: Sailing No More

It doesn't take long into trial 5 for the identity of this giant Monokuma to be revealed- it's a mechsuit with a living person in it, not a robot, and he unmasks himself during the trial without too much objection once people start questioning... that confused redhead kid who they found at the crime scene. That character introduces himself as... the Super High-School Level Pilot, Nolan Cubbins.

Wait. What?

Didn't that guy die?

Well, you see--

--oh, shit, I forgot Tumblr has an image limit of 30 images per post. Uh, gonna have to break this up into two posts. Continue reading here!

[moiravim]

Marvel Characters react to you coming out🏳️‍🌈

Moon knight

Marc- Marc has been your best friend since you were children. He's always been completely supportive of you, so you weren't very nervous about coming out to him. The second you told him he made sure you got the point he supports you. He'd probably say something along the lines of "I know" in a humorous voice. He told you how your his best friend and he'd love you know matter what.

Steven- From the moment you met Steven you both got along very well. He has been your friend for a few years, yet you still haven't come out to him. You were nervous he wouldn't accept you even though you knew deep inside he would. When you finally told him it seemed he was confused at first. "What's wrong?" You ask in a concerned tone. "Oh nothing, I'm sorry- it's just that Marc had already told me". He apologizes for scaring you and tells you he completely supports you.

Jake- You had just one last person to come out to. You would've been happy there's only one left if it hadn't been Jake. You only knew him for a few months and even though he had been very kind to you, you were still nervous. Marc and Steven had assured you it would be alright so you finally convinced yourself to do it. You were terrified, knowing there was a chance he could be extremely homophobic. When you told him, he gave you a serious face. He asked if you thought he wouldn't support you in an offended tone. You assured him you were just as nervous to tell Marc and Steven. He gave you a sad face, responding "I'll support you no matter what."

Avengers

Loki- Loki had met you when he first came to Earth and he immediately became friends with you. He told everyone you were the only human worth his time. He had already come out to you as gender fluid so you felt guilty not coming out to him as well. You kept telling yourself it was too late to come out even though you knew it wasn't. Eventually you decide it's a good time to be truthful with him so you start mentally preparing to come out to him. When you do, he smiles, hugging you. He lets you know he supports you and tells you he's happy you felt comfortable telling him.

Bucky- You and bucky immediately became close friends. You had been terrified to come out to him since you heard people were extremely homophobic when he grew up. You decided it was now or never, and told him. "It doesn't matter who or what you are, you'll always be my friend" he reassured you. You smiled, thanking him.

Stephen- Stephen had been your friend since before you could remember. You grew up together and barely fought. Your friendship had been perfect, which was why you were so nervous to come out to him. You had no idea his opinion on lgbtq so you were terrified he'd turn out being homophobic. When you told him, he immediately told you that he still thinks of you the same way and will always respect and love you as a friend. He hugged you and told you how much he supports and looks up to you.

Natasha- You met Natasha when you started working as an avenger. You quickly became friends and have been friends ever since. When you decided to come out to her you were nervous she wouldn't support you, but you were very wrong. When you came out she happily reassured you that she supports you and that she has other lgbtq friends that she supports as well.

Peter- You and Peter had been friends since birth because of how your parents were close friends with his. You had been planning on coming out to him for a while now, but everytime you try to you get too nervous and change the subject to something else completely. You had finally thought of the perfect idea. You had bought a rainbow cake and wrote "I'm gay" on it with frosting. You had found it hilarious and knew he would too. When you showed him the cake he loved it and thanked you for telling him.

Steve- You and Steve had become very close friends while working together as avengers. He had been nothing but caring to you, yet you were still nervous to come out to him. You knew people weren't as accepting during his times. You were finally to finally push your anxiety aside and tell him. As you started explaining to him, he smiled and nodded understandingly.

Tony- You and Tony had been best friends since high school. The two of you always stuck together and protected each other. He had been very supportive as the two of you grew up, but as time moved on you felt more and more guilty for not being truthful with him. You've wanted to come out for years, but you were too nervous he'd be mad at you for keeping it from him. You both made sure never to keep secrets so it felt wrong to tell him now. You decided the best way to come out was to start leaving small hints. So you started talking about your past relationships and previous experiences hoping he'd get the point. But he never mentioned it so you forced yourself to just tell him. He laughed and told you "I've known for years, I just wanted you to tell me". He smiles at you and hugs you, letting you know he'll be there for you forever.

[ruvviks]

– OC TAG GAME.

TAGGED BY: @aragorngf, @devilbrakers & @aartyom, thank you so much!! TAGGING: @reaperkiller, @faarkas, @morvaris, @cultistbase, @swordcoasts, @katsigian, @ncytiri, @adelaidedrubman, @henbased, @strafethesesinners, @shellibisshe, @dickytwister and YOU! – picrew director's commentary: did this one without including ocs from original stories because those guys go waaayyy back LMAO so i'm only including (semi) familiar faces here :D

– FAVORITE OC.

vitali dobrynin [cp2077]

alright fine you got me i KNOW vincent is the main character but this cunt has bewitched me body and soul officially now. sexy as hell in both the past and the present, gives me gender envy on a daily basis, i need to study him in a petri dish i need to wrap him in a blanket i need to pick him apart like a little lego figure i need to bend him over the nearest surface. do you understand me. he is fucking everything to me

– NEWEST OC.

kitty bennett [cp2077]

i create new guys so often but i think she's the newest one! kitty is reid's older sister and she recently FINALLY divorced her piece of shit husband and now she's showing her face in night city again to bother the shit out of her younger brother :^) she's got twins and they're taller than their uncle at the fresh age of 11 and that will forever be hilarious to me. i'm still spinning more ideas around for her but she's also very tall that's one thing i know

– OLDEST OC.

rafael rodriguez [jc3]

i don't actually know if he's my oldest oc of all of them but i feel like he is?? very self indulgent one because there's no fandom here but i loved the game so i made a little guy for it :^) most tired little man in all of medici and he hasn't changed all that much since i created him i just made him More tired over the years. someone please let him take a nap he's been awake for three consecutive days now

– MEANEST OC.

michele diaz [cp2077]

the baddest bitch out there in my honest opinion but also all she's ever done is constantly manipulate everyone around her so. hee hee!! she will make you feel so so safe around her until she doesn't need you anymore and then she tears you apart and you'll end up in shambles for the rest of your life. if she even lets you live in the first place. so yeas definitely not one of my nicest ocs i shan't lie!! cold and ruthless and likes ordering people around and doesn't care about the consequences of her actions. turned into a monster by militech and now she's constantly showing everyone her teeth but what can you do other than play the cards you've been given

– SOFTEST OC.

luna serratos [cp2077]

this one was difficult because a lot of my ocs have a very big soft side but i think luna is one of the few of them who's actually like. more than 95% soft. mostly because of the fact they're not a mercenary of some sort like most of my cyberpunk ocs LMAO luna is the one who patches everyone up after the gig is done and they're always so gentle with those around them even if they're complete strangers. that's how she met cassidy and by definition the rest of the gang too :^) throughout the entire story she remains a constant in everyone's life and despite all the horrible things that happen, not at any point does luna turn to the mercenary life themself. they have this very strong belief that they can make themself the most useful as a medic and as a friend, not as a fighter or an enemy

– MOST ALOOF/STANDOFFISH OC.

nathan dixon [tew]

man who will just stand there and autism stare at you until you start talking to him. and then he continues to do that actually he just occasionally says some words back (if you're lucky). he's mostly just distant because a lot of people have hurt him in the past so he doesn't warm up to others well or quickly, and he tries to look at everything very objectively so a lot of people would think he just doesn't care. which is honestly true a lot of the time actually. elevator music playing in his brain on loop

– DUMBEST (AFFECTIONATE) OC.

aubrey valentine [cp2077]

where the fuck do i even begin mein fucking gott aubrey. he's so. <3 like genuinely he is in fact very intelligent and capable he's running a fixer business and a club right now with the same kind of job guarantee + safety levels as vitali's business so he's got it all!! but he's also just dumb as bricks!!!! his siblings (three sisters and a trans brother) have successfully managed to convince him he will get his period at some point in his life. any day now aubrey. he eats crayons. sand. anything really he's eaten glass before (the counter is on five. he's still alive somehow. don't ask) and he'll do it again. will confidently use a random word in a sentence believing he's used it right but by god he is not right. he can drive but he also can't drive but he also can't not drive. he doesn't know what a horse is

– SMARTEST OC.

vatha nefiti [d&d]

this one was very difficult because vatha is in a party with artyom (nuclear artificer), lorelei (chronomancy wizard) and sascha (cthulhu warlock) but i think she (cryogenetics sorcerer) can be considered the smartest because she's got like. Everything. the high wisdom high intelligence high charisma kind of stat combination. they love reading books and learning things about the places they visit and have all this information stored in their memories but at the same time she also knows a LOT about surviving and living on the road, and she's usually the one to handle business with people they help. beacon of knowledge but also very passive in it, they're not someone who would rub it in your face but the party knows that if they need any sort of information, ask vatha LMAO

– OC YOU'D BE BEST FRIENDS WITH IRL.

reuben de la rosa [cp2077]

the sweetest little guy ever to exist he would be SUCH a nice friend to have. excited about basically everything, gives great hugs, always has Something to talk about and he will include you in Everything so you'll never ever feel left out or lonely basically. i wouldn't let him cook for me though he exploded an egg in the microwave once 🥚🤯

[presidentofthelipglossclub]

Hello, since you are literally BEGGING for someone to ask you about Transformers, I’ll happily do it. Besides, it’s been a while since I shared my opinions on Transformers with another Transformers fan.

So here I am, asking you to share every detail you like about Transformers RiD2015, I would also rant for hours about but no one ever listened to me about it. So yeah, start talking, give me everything you love about RiD2015, which characters you like, what episode you enjoyed the most, did you like the Insecticons? What about the Bee Team? Did you hate it when one of your favorite ‘Cons got put into stasis? Because I sure have. Are there any characters you absolutely DESPISED and felt internally salty about? Do you think Fixit is baby man? Would you like to be teleported into the RiD2015 universe some day? Start talking.

THANK YOU OMG I HAVE BEEN DYINGGGG TO TALK ABOUT THIS

first off, i am 1000% an unironic fan of rid2015. i loved every second of the whole show, and i wouldn't change a thing. except i would add more rescue bots references/crossovers bc those guys are my faves too, but the writing, characters and pacing all felt really good to me.

i liked all the characters. like, every single one, except steeljaw. he's a great villain and a well written character. his role as villain was so good, in fact, that i hate his guts. that furry pisses me off with his condescending attitude and his shifty schemes. i hate people who lie to others, and people who betray others, and ESPECIALLY people who are smug about these two things: all of which applies to him. i feel personally avenged when bad things happen to him.

my favorite is strongarm i think. she's so cool to me, and i really respect her work ethic, and the fact that we're getting more girl (used loosely bc i think that bots don't have feelings on gender) bots. also the fact that her design breaks away from the whole "the guys can be bulky and buff but the girls with the same experience and training can't" thing that tfp did. it bugged me, so i'm glad strongarm was allowed to be bulky and strong. i mean, she drags grimlock's trailer, and they've acknowledged that it takes a lot of brute strength. i loved that, and the fact that we get to see more girls who are strong instead of just agile or fast.

i don't know if i can pick a favorite episode. i really did like all of them, but episodes that i tend to really love are the episodes that focus on drift and the minis, anything where strongarm is the main focus/has a lot of screen time, and the episodes where we see more of denny and russel. i like the humans in rid, which is kinda surprising because i tend to kinda not care. i also like to see the subtle development they get, and how their relationship improves.

Fixit is hilarious, and i love him. he would not approve of being called baby man i believe, but it sums him up pretty well. i appreciated being able to see a character like him, where he was less of the fighting type and more of the helping from the sidelines. it's important to remember that the people we see in action can only be there because of the people behind the scenes, and i liked seeing a character represent that and be thanked/appreciated as an equal.

anyways long story short i really love rid2015, it's a great show with good humor, fun plots and interesting characters!! and once again, thank you so much for the ask!

[alfredsolos]

Hello, how are you? Can I ask for headcanons? What if damian wayne /or al ghul/ cheated on the reader with someone else and the reader found out and broke up with damian, how would damian react? Would he regret it? Would he be sad? Would he try to get the reader back? I mean, can you make headcanons by adding other things that you can think of like that? Have a nice day

Hi! First of all I'm doing amazing and thank you for the ask.

So, I don't really like x reader headcanons and I don't really make posts consisting of that. But since you took your time to ask, I'm gonna change it a little and give you my headcanons for "What would happen if Damian cheated on his partner?". You can still think of this as a x reader post though.

I believe that, to talk about this kind of topic, we need to get into details. Before going into the whole cheating thing, let's talk about:

What kind of person Damian's partner be?

I made a similar point in another post, but I don't believe in opposites attract. At least not with Damian. So for Damian to be involved in a romantic relationship with someone, that person needs to be similar to him.

By similar, I mean his past and life experiences. Damian had a very brutal and unloving child hood. He was never seen as a child so he subconciously became more mature and indifferent to deal with the trauma and abuse. What I believe is that, his partner would have a similar background. Maybe an assassin like him or a runaway or just someone with a very bad childhood. I don't think that person would be childish or immature at all. I think his partner would be someone either as indifferent as him or a little crazy.

As you may have noticed, I didn't specify a gender for Damian's partner. I don't think it would matter to him to be honest. I know that the fandom portray him to be very traditional and sometimes homophobic. But I don't believe that's a correct assumption to make. For one, Talia herself has slept with women in canon. So I don't think he would be homophobic either.

Going on about the partner's character: I think they would be someone who'd be indifferent to Damian's troubled past and the crimes he (was forced to) commit. I think they'd be understanding and soft from time to time.

I personally think that It'd be very cute and hilarious if Damian's partner was someone who is very flirty. Or at least very blatant just like him.

Another favorite headcanon of mine is that, him and his partner would be the kind of couple who wrestle and playfully fight, throw shit at each other, make fun of each other. They'd look as if they hate each other, but deep down they're just in love.

My previous point + but his partner knows how to fight too. So they're just casually having a death tournament during a date.

Before the cheating, what happens?

I'd like to point out that I don't believe Damian would cheat on someone unless it's a misunderstanding or after a fight in which he thinks that they're broken up because he never had a relationship before and doesn't know how it works.

For that, I'm gonna split this part into two. One, it's a misunderstanding. Two Damian thinks they've broken up.

Damian thinks they're over:

As I've pointed out before, Damian's partner would be someone with a past like his and indifferent to most crimes. You can think of them as a villain, anti hero, or just a talented fighter who just doesn't give a fuck.

And since they're indifferent and potentially doesn't mind committing crimes, the Batfam would not like them. Especially Bruce. So due to that, a fight could break out between Damian and his lover and they'd respectively storm out.

You may be asking, why won't they just have a deep conversation with each other? Well like I said, bad life bad coping mechanisms.

And to Damian, who is very blunt in his actions himself, this would mean that they'd broken up.

I don't wanna keep this long so time passes and Damian, although still in love and confused about his partner, would obliviously try to move on with life. I don't think he'd seek out a relationship himself. But other people would. So maybe that could be how he gets "caught cheating". By his partner.

It's actually a big (and dark) misunderstanding:

In this headcanon someone makes a move on Damian without his constent. And that's how he's "caught".

There a lot of very dark scenarios for this. You could say he was drugged, forcefully held down or just frozen in shock. So when the partner finds them, the assaulter would quickly get the fuck out of there leaving Damian in shock. And seeing him stammer and in shock, the partner could assume the worst of the situation.

After:

Whether if it's the first or the second option, one thing the partner would do in both of these situations is to hurt or try to kill the person Damian "cheated" with.

Going from the first option, Damian would be incredibly confused and annoyed. Like he had thought that they'd broke up, but that person just shows up and randomly tries to assassinate people he interacted with. He'd try to stop the attacks and after a couple of misunderstanding they'd work the truth out of each other and hopefully move on with their life never talking about the "incident".

If you preferred the second and darker option: Damian would go off the radar while his partner kills the assaulter not knowing it was actually a rape situation. The partner would then try to forget about Damian but eventually seek him out because they'd be still hurting from the "betrayal". You can even go down into the self harm and body issues path for Damian.

They find Damian and after a very long and uncomfortable conversation truth comes out and everything is just fucked again. As they're both people who don't know how to deal with emotions properly, they'd seperate for a while.

You can end this with an unhappy ending like this. Or they can get back together after a long while and try to understand and bond with each other more thoroughly. Their relationship would be stronger than ever.

Anyways, this is the end of my headcanons. I know it's not really what you asked but hopefully you'll like these. And if you have any more headcanons you want to talk about, please ask!

[fountainpenguin]

Hi, no pressure in this question of course I understand life can be busy and interests wane. But is there any chance you’re updating “Frayed Knots” soon? I really love the fic, the romance is so good and the lore so in depth

Yep! That's the 'fic I'm hoping to update in June!

You can read more about my 2024 fanfic update plans in this post if you want a more detailed explanation. It also has a list of different series you can subscribe to if you only want AO3 emails for specific fandoms I post for, but not others.

I'm really glad you like it, especially the romance and worldbuilding :) Thank you, that means a lot to me.

---

One of the things that happened with Frayed Knots was that I cut a scene that I decided was "too long" or "not relevant," even though I really liked it. I killed my darlings, as it were.

/whispers loudly - It was a scene about Anti-Cosmo having a fling with the fairy prince Eastkal and I was like. "I can't actually do this... He already has 4+ people attracted to him at this point in the story; I can't just let another person fall at his feet, even though he DID save this guy's life and Eastkal is obsessed with him."

I personally think it was hilarious because it's mostly Anti-Cosmo tying Eastkal to a bed and robbing him blind while Eastkal slowly realizes what's happening, but I felt it wasn't clicking with the D3 stuff A.C. was dealing with at that time, so I scrapped it. Anti-Cosmo has a disorder and was in a weird point at that time of the 'fic, and I didn't want him to "stop experiencing symptoms" just to have a fling scene.

So canonically, Anti-Cosmo forgot to meet up with Eastkal because he was thinking about how much he wanted to have a fling and in doing so, he failed to have a fling

However, cutting the scene really threw off a specific groove that I've needed - Eastkal being loyal to A.C. so we can hit a specific scene during the war where they face each other and it's dramatic - so I've been trying to loop back around... hence why Eastkal followed Anti-Cosmo all the way to the Anti-Fairy migration zone.

It's been very frustrating and was a good reminder that hey, there's a reason my outline is the way it is, and I shouldn't just cut scenes because a chapter is long. Some of the chapters are very long and they should be that way because it's right for the story. That's honestly why I committed to the 27k-word chapter Knots currently has last- I didn't find a good place to cut it and I really did not want to, so I remembered how frustrated I was when I cut stuff and I chose not to cut.

The next scenes I have to deal with are sensitive in nature, as they involve some important relationship changes for Anti-Cosmo, including:

- Lots of self-realization about what he wants and how it differs from the strict requirements of his culture (i.e. deferring to certain people based on their zodiac year) - Difficult conversations with Anti-Lance - Difficult things happening in school since he's trying to get into the godparenting program - Dealing with the fact that Blonda just confessed she has a crush on him and wants to see him after he comes back from migration - The fact that A.C. still wants to see Blonda even though he's betrothed to someone who's asked him to be monogamous - Large interactions with Wanda (a major character; people are probably looking forward to this scene) - Dealing with the fact that his betrothed just called off his wedding and now he's reeling from it - Facing the fact that he just realized he wants to run off with his betrothed and cross-dress because Anti-Fairy culture is super strict with gender norms and he wants to try a different lifestyle, which is a very interesting thing for him to do considering he's been sexist this entire story - Meeting Cosmo for the first time (again, a scene that should be important and handled with care) - Upcoming drama with Anti-Buster and Ant-Bryndin, including stuff that changed from my original outline, where I was planning to kill off Anti-Buster but no longer can because I've tied his life to a character who's still alive in canon

So it's a lot of stuff I think is important to do right, and I didn't want to rush it.

Also, I've been struggling with self-censorship, especially since I did a lot of worldbuilding and outlining 8 to 9 years ago, and some of my views have changed (plus general writing style improvement- Origin and Knots feel choppier and more awkward for me than they did back then).

I spent a lot of 2023 re-unlearning these hesitations, and trying to rekindle my love for what these 'fics are. They've always been villain backstory 'fics, and they're labeled with reminders that the cultures I portray are fine for insect and bat people - trickster fae especially - and not necessarily good for humans.

It just took me a while to stop feeling overly self-conscious about them and the 130 Prompts as I've gotten older and started to wonder if people think I'm trying to promote these very harmful relationships.

There are some very bad things that happen in these 'fics. Things that are harmful. Do not use villains as positive role models, especially when you're seeing them in their villain arc before they enter their silly arcs. In fact, don't use the fey as good role models at all. They are not human, I have no intention of writing them like they're human, and they do some pretty messed-up things.

And I'm glad I've come around to tap into that again, because I'm sick of living in the mindset I was in for part of 2023 where I just felt very judged and self-conscious about what I was writing. If there's one takeaway you should have from my 'fics, I hope it's a recognition that fiction is not reality and the things I write about aren't necessarily things I endorse. I like dealing with trauma across a million-year lifespan, and some pretty bad stuff happens to a lot of these characters. It's just... how it is.

But I do want to handle some of these scenes carefully, like Anti-Cosmo meeting Cosmo for the first time, because there's stuff I don't want to rush, and I want a buffer prepped so that I no longer have these awkward, surprise gaps between chapters.

tl;dr - Hopefully next month I'll have some things to post. If not in June, I'd like to be posting in July :)

[skullchicken]

heyyy you can help me out if you like because I have choice paralysis about which project to work on while I take a break from my other projects ;_;

More Info/Synopsis under the cut!

(Sorted from how long they've been rotated from most to least so far)

Action/fantasy webtoon about a cursed school where students turn into monsters:

The class clown turns into an actual monster-clown, the sporty girls become cheerleader-zombies, the annoying little elementary school brats turn into screaming dolls and the teachers turn into boss monsters.

The only three people seemingly unaffected are Miyako (metalhead, bff of Cally), Cally (goody two-shoes, Miyako's bff) and Achintya (nerd, unrelated). With the former two, the reasons seems because they're not quite human themselves. But what's up with that shady little nerd? And he seems to know more than he lets on...

Whatever the case may be, they must lift the curse before things escalate.

Okay, so, imagine a Shounen Manga, except the demographic is all genders and women are people. Miyako, since she's secretly a demon, takes after a typical shounen battle protagonist, while Cally is a fairy and falls more into the magical girl mold. As for Achintya... he's complicated.

Shadowrun-action-romance-novel about fixing malicious DRM on cyberware, m/f

Working title: You owe me

A story about maliciously designed cyberware, trust-issues, debt, being in your twenties, guilt and a wrestler-elf and hacker-dwarf being dumbass idiots who pine for one another and secretly think the other person is the best thing since sliced bread. Slow-ish burn.

The good news is, I have like a hundred pages already written. The bad news is, I would have to rewrite a lot of it because my writing process has changed a lot. But let me say no more, take a gander at our romantic leads, ladies, gentlemen and those that lieth betwinxt:

64.media.tumblr.com

64.media.tumblr.com

He is wearing a gorilla mask for plot-reasons.

Webtoon fantasy/romance remake of a story where a girl marries the carrot king

There is an german fairytale written by the guy who also wrote the nutcracker which is bonkers and hilarious and I'd looove to adapt it into webtoon format. I wrote about it here: click meee

I would update the story so it takes place in modern times and deals with the issue of aesthetics versus being... (think e.g. cottagecore versus actual farming) in short "it is fine and dandy to dream, in fact it's very important... but if you're too keen to only believe what you want to be true, you're gonna get duped."

But most importantly it would give me ample reason to draw a carrot with a handsome anime-face.

Shadowrun-mystery-novel about the worship of dragons (Blackout Sequel)

I wrote a shadowrun short story about loneliness, vulnerability, yakuza and mysterious lemon cake. I have ideas for a sequel - granted they are quite nebulous as of now, but I'm confident I'm reaching the point where I can start fleshing them out. This time around the story would be longer and more involved. The theme would be the worship of dragons, not just in the literal sense, but also in how people relate to power.

We would also see how the relationship between Hanne and Amanda progresses. I personally wish friendships would receive as much attention and nuance as romantic relationships and here I would attempt such a thing.

Webtoon-action-romance about the housing market and identity, f/f

Anansi and Muu meet, one day, via the matrix, when they stumble upon each other trying to get entry into the same matrix club. The reason they're here are quite different. Muu, a corporate princess, just hit her thirtieth birthday, only received presents she didn't like and has a minor crisis about it. Anansi, who is a technomancer, is always on the run and here to meet a Mr Johnson.

While Muu's journey is, at first, internal, as she starts to try out different avatars to figure out who she even is, Anansi holds on for dear life as a squatter and, gets screwed over with the payment and sets out to find that damn Johnson to make him pay one way or another.

Their paths in life are quite different, yet they keep running into each other and, despite everything, find themselves drawn to each other.

And then it turns out their worlds are not as far apart as suspected.

I would be quite excited about this one because I've never written a f/f romance before, despite being very, very bi (granted I've also never finished writing a m/f romance, but still). Mostly I just really like the characters and I think the story would be solid and not too convoluted... as mine tend to get sometimes :,)

... but I'm equally excited to do all of these! What do you say?

[junosfilmjournal]

my review for mutt (2023) dir. vuk lungulov-klotz

this is my first time seeing someone like me (a gay, latino trans guy) on screen. we barely get represented in film and i couldn't stop crying while watching. i'm also glad that feña's unlikable. it made me like him even more. trans people are always put into this box on who we're supposed to be. trans men are regarded as a "safe type of man" because we were born female. whether it's intentional or not, it's obvious the people who say that don't see us as men, but as gender non-conforming women. more trans men need to be assholes!

there were so many parts of this movie that were painfully relatable that it was just hilarious. i had the same conversation with my 11-year-old niece, who's basically my little sister, that feña had with his sister. she was my first and only family member who didn't look at me like i was crazy. if anything, she rolled her eyes at me because she already knew due to the trans flag in my room. she told me "okay? i have gay friends.", which just made me laugh.

his relationship with his parents is like mine but reversed. my mother wants to be supportive, but she just doesn't understand what being transgender is. i've been out for more than a year and my mother has only called me her son once. she still uses my deadname and misgenders me. in the beginning, i would remind her not to, but i've grown tired of that. we got into so many arguments over it. they would always end with me sobbing while she told me it was hard for her too. she still has her moments though. i'll never forget when we were shoe shopping together and i saw the cutest mary jane platforms. i gathered up the courage to tell my mother i wanted them, but it didn't change the fact that i'm a boy. she told me, "i don't fully get you, but i know." that was the first time i was sure she wasn't lying to me.

growing up, my father was pretty much my hero. i was closer to my mom, but i still looked up to him. he wasn't around much when i was in elementary and i would cry while looking through the family albums. he eventually came back for good and i was the happiest kid ever. though, it didn't last long. as i was growing up, i was also realizing just how much of an asshole my father is. the first time i hit back, i was 15, protecting my mother from his drunken tirades. i can still see his shocked face clearly in my mind. ever since then, our relationship has become nonexistent and it got worse when i came out. he looks at me in disgust because i'm "trying (and failing) to be a man" to him. he looks at me like he doesn't know where he went wrong.

everything about this movie pulled at my heartstrings. i'm so glad i had a box of tissues next to me. i'm gonna have a hard time moving on from this. it's just so special TO ME! thankful for all the trans artists out there who make me want to keep going and create art of my own. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

[raelynnteam]

A blog post from Jaina, 12/3/23

Friday December 1st the associate superintendent Karen Arnold singled me out under the guise of enforcing policy. She claimed it was against policy for me to be wearing a white shirt. She was too cowardly to address it with me personally. She went to my counselor and had HIM direct me to change my shirt. Ashley and I later discussed it with the counselor and asked to see the policy that directed us to exchange all our white shirts for grey ones. No such policy or written directive exists. Instead we were shown a state issue property list that is absent any mention of white shirts however, the clothing room was still issuing white shirts after this property list was added to policy, they had simply switched to ordering only grey shirts at that time. So to interpret this list to be a directive to exchange all white shirts for grey ones is simply a convenient weapon to turn against me. There is no such policy that says I am not allowed to wear the white shirts issued to me by this prison's own clothing room, that is absurd.

This is the same associate superintendent who was firmly convinced that Ashley and I were guilty of the previous bogus accusations. So convinced that she ignored the Unit Supervisor's investigation and conducted her own, spanning over the course of 90 days.

That same day I watched several other inmates wearing white shirts to whom nobody said anything. Another administrative staff member was in the unit the same day having a conversation with an inmate wearing a white shirt. Nobody directed this other inmate to change their shirt. Even my celly was wearing a white shirt, and still does.

Her complaint was that you could see my bra outlined through the white shirt. (Oh god, can't have that, someone might mistake that faggot for a woman.)

Side note: Please forgive my profanity, sarcasm, and facetious humor. My goal is simply to illustrate the point. I include hateful speech because it underlines the subtext of hateful actions against me, and I want my readers to feel the outrage that I feel.

Targeted for being trans in prison, what else is new?

I'd wager that woman misgenders me on purpose when I'm not around. She is incapable of seeing: a woman assigned male at birth trying desperately to present as female. She just thinks I'm: some faggot trying to sexually entice men. It's really sad too, because her attitude isn't just damaging to transwomen, it also serves to reinforce the patriarchal ideal that women in general are just objects of male sexual desire.

Her defensive posturing with the counselors was to express her concern for my safety as there are many sex offenders here. It saddens me that she feels compelled to force me to disguise the fact that I am a woman and hide my femininity for fear that her staff could not otherwise ensure my safety.

Also, let me just say that I was wearing was not at all provocative, and I am appalled by her attitude which is closely akin to: "she was asking for it, I mean did you see how she was dressed?"

Fact is, I wasn't doing anything inappropriate or else I would have been infracted. If the policy did in fact call for everyone to exchange their previously issued white shirts for grey ones by a certain date, then she should have enforced it the same for everyone, rather than singling me out for matters related to my gender. She just felt compelled to harass me about something, because she dislikes that I'm allowed to be a woman.

Hilariously, as it turns out, you can still tell I have breasts when I'm wearing a grey shirt, so maybe they should just put chastity devices on all the sex offenders since we can't keep them all separated from the apparent temptation of a woman within reach of their rapist paws. Oh wait, some of the staff are women too! Cisgendered women who look distinctively feminine without going to great lengths to present as such! I guess the only solution for women to be safe within these gates is to castrate all the rapists. No wait, just have all the women disguise themselves as men, so the rapists can't recognize them. Of course we would still have to worry about the GAY rapists mistaking us for men...

OR MAYBE THERE COULD BE CAMERAS ALL OVER THE PLACE AND UNIFORMED OFFICERS WALKING ABOUT WITH PEPPER SPRAY AND RADIOS, and women could just be ourselves.

Q.E.D. Nobody's safe in prison (or everyone is safe because the supervision is adequate).

Don't make silly excuses to justify your prejudice. I will always call out your transphobic bullshit.

[papermonkeyism]

That wasn't meant to be rude!! DD: You said yourself your changed a lot since your early days on the internet and you said you wanted to write a story featuring queer themes since that is something closer to you now that you're an adult and you also at one point said you treated Arcanth as almost a fictional boyfriend of sorts (unless i misunderstand!!!!) which is why you stopped identifying with him and which is why i thought he was meant to be what your thought was the """"default'"" at that age of a het cisgender male character and just wanted to suggest that now that you're revisiting his character you can do with him what young you couldn't bc of your preconceived notions abt gender&romance!!!

Okay. I'm still annoyed, so apologies if I sound clippy with this answer. It's residual, not aimed at you.

I thank you for clarifying.

Yeah, I've changed a lot since my teenage years, but I'm 35 years old, so I did a lot of the changing looooong time ago, and I swear I haven't spent all these years just fiddling my thumbs the whole time. My characters have changed with me.

My views on personal romance have always been between "nope" and zero interest, I've been very aware of myself being ace for practically my entire life. My gay awakening was also eight years ago by now, so this isn't a new developement. I just suck at making up stories to put all the feels in.

Okay? Okay.

(I had queer themes and characters before the great Gay Awakening, but since that point it's been personal and out loud.)

(okay so Arcanth is "any pronouns good" kinda character, this whole avoiding pronouns alltogether is annoying, and my antipathies towards English language are great and numerous. Now with that out of the way-)

I don't know why people keep getting this backwards. No, Arcanth never was my imaginary boyfriend. Arcanth was created as a character for myself to have fun playing as. Technically their gender is "my default", which for the teenage me having grown up in the 90s-00s meant male because of the old days cartoon logic of "well, I'm not interested in dating boys or make up or girly stuff, so it can't be a girl. Boys are allowed to be anything". Those were the options I knew.

My views on gender now, as an adult are way too complex to sort through here (and frankly not your business), but to put it simply binary it ain't. I'm most comfortable as undefined default, so that's what Arcanth gets to be these days. Basically I just found better ways and words to describe what they already were.

Now, the imaginary boyfriend thing was a popular thing at the time in certain circles. I had several peers who had such characters, and once I figured out there was a possibility people could mistakenly think that's what Arcanth was meant to be, I kinda immediately noped out of it and stopped drawing him, because the whole idea squicked me out.

So it was never a case of seeing them as a some sort of default heterosexuality, and more like "holy shit people could accidentally think I'm into this!" Absolute horror.

It's extra flavour of sadly hilarious how people STILL TO THIS DAY keep assuming that's what was going on. Congrats on hitting that exact same button. I hate it.

[moonssugar]

10, 16, & 20 for the pride asks please! :)

20. Have your ocs helped you in self discovery? How?

lets start off with 20 because its defintely the funniest lmaoooo

my main character sam is transmasc (a trans boy) and my tertiary protag is a lesbian (aubry) and she discovers this as the story goes out and let me to tell you there is nothing more hilarious than 1. writing and thinking extensively about how your character is a lesbian and pouring so much into that while being in total denial about yourself and 2. discovering even more about your own inwards trans feelings by giving your transmasc oc 90% of your personality and also through metaphor and symbolism by making a lot of the story a trans analogy. but wait, the character i see the most of myself in, sam, is transmasc but aubry, the second character i see so much of myself in, is a lesbian so how can these seemingly contradictory things be true simultaneously you ask? well it turns out that im a transmasc lesbian. who couldve saw that coming, right? (me. i saw this coming). still the funniest fucking thing about me like "yeah go ahead and tell yourself a story and accidently awaken something in yourself, this will be so funny and cool" and honestly it is so cool! one of the most writing things ive ever done

10. Does your oc celebrate Pride? How?

yes they do! sam has been to a local pride parade/event at some point with his parents (who are bi4bi). he also has a trans flag hanging up in his room that dual functions as a symbol of pride and also a window curtain that turns his room pink and blue at certain times of the day (its intentional). chelsie celebrates pride as well, mostly through self expression like with her clothing and style but she loves pride events too and collecting little pride themed objects that end up in random places. i feel like chelsie's way of celebrating pride is chaotic and spontaneous which suits her. both of them have pride themed bracelets and backpack pins, you know the baby queer stuff i love (i still love the baby queer stuff idc) and sam has trans, bi and rainbow themed tie dye shirts he made and loves to wear. aubry has never seen any pride flag or been to an event and she didnt even know gay people existed as well people and not the boogyman or theoretical person she heard about in church until she realized she was gay and met other queer people (and she literally has two dads LOL). but once she does she cant get enough of rainbows and the lesbian flag which in the alternate universe world where shes from no one knows its meant to symbolize queerness. so she gets to walk around with flags and colors that no one recognizes except her and her family. its hilarious, its her own "no one knows im a lesbian" pin. they just think shes from a different country or something (where all the pretty girls are from). sam and chelsie gifted her a lesbian flag through their mail system once she returned home and she cherishes it. mostly, i'd say my characters celebrate pride through living, being who they want to be and uplifting each other amd they love their glitter, music, make up, tie dye shirts, flags and rainbows too

16. Did you ever change an oc's identity when they were already established? Why?

my character's queer identities have been pretty solid since inception and through their development, its one of the things that have changed the least about them. sam used to be some flavor of trans/nonbinary but there are other nonbinary characters in my story now and sam ids with transmasc the most instead of nonbinary. chelsie has always been transfem as far as i can remember although i mightve imagined her cis one single time and then said "nah im gonna trans your gender no way in hell youre cis" when i didnt feel connected to her characterization [transgenderfication beam]. and aubry has remained gay as hell even as she started off as a completely different person that split into two then i used one half of the personality, refurbished it by gave it some religious trauma, pining and autism to create modern aubry then used the other half for something else. everyone else's personalities have started at the surface level idea of who i think they are and deepened and complexified from there and thats even more intricate than i could describe in one sitting and not always specifically about their queer identity

oh i almost forgot! one character (benjamin, aubry's father) has a bi panic awakening after he went through life identifying as gay and instead of a guy being the source of the panic it was aubry's mother (valid, i'd panic if i saw her too). his character started off as gay but aubry didn't hatch from a magic egg or grow from a pumpkin in a patch or fall to earth like a shooting start (amos's many joke versions of the birds and bees, amos is married to benjamin and is her dad #2) so i needed an explanation for that. he also discovers he's polyamorous in the process so good for him! other characters have become noticeably less cis over time but were already kinda gender weird to begin with if i squinted hard enough. like are you really cis if im writing you? be fr

also, sam's parents in my mind

[ajramblesagain]

I feel like I’m finally starting to feel somewhat confident in who I am as a guy. I’m not on T yet but I have an appointment lined up on Thursday to talk about getting on it. But anyway, now that I’m finally confident in who I am, I’ve been running over all the blatantly obvious childhood signs I showed that I just glossed over because I refused to believe that I could be trans. For context, I was raised fairly religious and attended a private christian school through eighth grade. So, religious trauma. Yay. Anyway, without further tangents, let’s dive in because honestly it’s hilarious how transparent my closet was in hindsight.

This is going to be in no particular order because order doesn’t matter and I have adhd and keeping my thoughts in a cohesive order is hard at the best of times and I haven’t been getting enough sleep lately. Let’s begin.

First of all, I came out as trans but putting my new pronouns in my Twitter bio (my whopping total of 8 followers, I know). I honestly didn’t think anyone paid that much attention to my bio so I was actually pleasantly surprised that people seemed to pick up on it relatively quickly. One of those twitter followers, I’m gonna call them T on here, needed help running this night market thing that they organized through our college (former college I guess since neither of us are students there anymore) for our organization as a fundraiser. Anyway, T was one of the people who paid attention to the pronoun bio change and actually corrected themself and referred to me me he while I was helping during the night market thing. That alone was enough to make my entire night though obviously I wasn’t going to say anything because I’m not sure if they knew I was even within earshot or not, and I don’t talk to even my closest friends about my emotions, and me and T aren’t that close to begin with.

One of the people helping us table for the night market but for a different table just across from us, ( idk why i’m talking about the location of the tables, like it matters lol) Anywat, I’m gonna call her RM.Actually I don’t remember if it was T or RM who brought up this quiz, but anyway one of them brought up this online quiz that tells you what your dick size would be if you were born a dude. It was actually based on scientific shit so I think it’s supposed to be fairly accurate. Which sucks because I took it and I got 5 inches and I would’ve gotten 6 if I had just eaten more white fish growing up. You can’t blame me though. That shit is fucking nasty. Anyway, me and my friend, A, who was also tabling with me were like, we gotta take this test right now. And again, my memory is absolutely dogshit so I don’t remember who said this, but someone kinda jokingly said that A and I were way too excited to take the quiz, which honestly felt really validating for some reason.

Anyway, I wasn’t happy with my measely 5 inch result, especially since A got more than me and I wasn’t gonna accept that as an answer. So I was like, fine then, I’m gonna take a quiz that bases it off of the vibes I give off but I kept getting lower and lower results until I gave up because that shit was pathetic and it was lowkey getting embarrassing. Anyway, A told me that I was acting like an insecure straight man, which was a super gender affirming insult by the way, so of course I didn’t stop thinking about that for a few hours. Not even exaggerating, that’s literally how my brain works. But I exaggerated my offense at being called straight. I was like, I may be insecure but I most certainly am not straight.

That wasn’t even the highlight of the gender euphoria I felt that night. For context, I was keeping a spreadsheet of all the sales we made during the night market thing, so T messaged me later that night and asked me for the spreadsheet and so I sent it and their response was just two simple words that I’m sure they didn’t even really think about but it just lives in my mind rent free now as a constant source of gender euphoria: thanks king. I kid you not, I was fucking smiling like an idiot at my phone and would not stop thinking about being called ‘king’ for the next couple of days. King is never used as a gender neutral phrase like ‘dude’ or ‘man’ is often used as, so it just felt like T really read me as a guy, which was just a really good feeling.

Honestly this is getting kinda long and I’m getting tired so I think I’m actually gonna dive into my actual childhood signs tomorrow. If you decide to follow, just be prepared that my context is always gonna be this tangent-ridden, impulsive, unscripted stream of consciousness type shit, so be warned. I know this style of content bugs some people lol so no hard feelings. I’m just mostly doing this for me because I like to sound off into the void.