#but it was more like the mimic and less a corpse but. you know

[crunchchute]

wanted to draw burntrap before going to bed. failing cause looking at his model im only thinking about his canonicity and the lore again...

#his ass is Not drawing #i dont know how much longer i can hold onto the thought that hes partially canon as in ggy saw him thats why he drew him #but it was more like the mimic and less a corpse but. you know #everything aside its a cool design and i dig the flesh growing over the endo and stuff #his face looks a bit goofy from the side without a lower jaw mask but every other angle is cool #and like the... eyes glowing magenta instead of orange... people saying hes not the mimic are onto something #well my mind is only being changed after the foxy mask #basically i thought hey different endo? can still be the same character (burnt. and mimic) since roxy had a different endo now #and now they confirmed it as a mask so. hm #also to the eyes. if glitchtrap is magenta and mimic orange. but glitch = mimic. then burntrap = mimic. and people disagree #same thing as saying mxes is glitchtrap but glitchtrap is also mimic and mimic and mxes arent the same. oh naur! #well. mimic and glitchtrap and burntrap are all separate and theyre all making out right now

[starry-bi-sky]

thomas wayne au excerpts - things that could've been part of a grander fic except there's no grander fic

thomas wayne au - an au i made last year where danny is literally just. thomas wayne. his full name was Daniel Thomas Fenton and he started going by Thomas Nightingale after he was disowned. because of course. here is a link to the first post if anyone wants to see a more in depth view of the au (its also the start of me using the ‘danny fenton is not the ghost king’ au lmao

additional info: bruce is the result of a failed cloning attempt from vlad - vlad used a combination of danny's dna and an unnamed girl (Martha's) to make him to try and balance out the ectoplasm use. this resulted in a slightly liminal but otherwise completely human and stable baby boy. Bruce is, by all accounts, Danny's biological son. Danny named him Bruce

Danny was 24 when he died, he took in Bruce when he was 16. He is, so far, a single father in this au. (But if I WERE to add martha she wouldn't be sam or a DP character but rather a separate character on her own.)

Essentially they would go as:

Martha, 19: water does terrifying things to corpses

Danny, 19, half ghost: *heart eyes* really? tell me more they're morticia and gomez your honor

---- Like starlight -----

Bruce's father could light up a room. He was like a sun, his gravitational field could just pull you in, and before you knew it you'd be orbiting around him like one of his many planets.

He's seen it in action before, in the rare moments Thomas Wayne would allow him to accompany him to the socialite events he went to; the fundraisers; the charities. Bruce, as tall as his father's waist, would cling to his leg and watch as people drifted towards him and his star-blinding smile.

It's fitting that his father's favorite thing in the world were stars, he fit right in with them.

As an adult, Bruce has tried copious amount of times to mimic him. To try and capture a fraction of that light, that charm, in his own act - but here's the thing. Thomas Wayne wasn't made of starlight only in front of the cameras, he was made of starlight outside of it as well.

(So when older socialites laugh and tell him he's so much like his father, Bruce just thinks they are liars. They've only ever seen the Thomas Wayne his father showed them, Bruce is nothing like his father.)

In the manor, whatever room he stepped into seemed to brighten, and maybe it was just Bruce's own child-memory fuzzing it to raise his father onto a pedestal, but he stands by it. His father was a solar system, his very own galaxy. Bruce was just the lucky planet that was close enough to orbit him.

--------- arrival time ------

Ancients, ancients, what the fuck convinced Danny to ever go to Gotham of all places? Crime Capitol of the world? He's not sure, but he's been wandering around the country for the last few months, swapping between flying late at night as Phantom, and taking the busses and trains when he had the money, and was too exhausted to fly.

And of course, what convinced him to come here with his kid no less, who was just at the cusp of turning a year old? Whose curiosity of the world was growing greater by the day? Who wanted to look around and explore, and was growing tired of being held at all hours of the day by his father.

But he was going to be held, at least for as long as they were in Gotham for. He didn't trust the stuff on the sidewalks, and he didn't trust the people walking on it. Bruce was tiny, and Danny would lose his mind if he lost him in a crowd.

In his arms, Bruce whined and wriggled, pushing at his shoulders in the signature way he did when he wanted to be let down. Danny tightened his hold, and adjusted his place on his hip.

"I know, bumblebee." Danny muttered, resting his chin on Bruce's small head. His hair was still thin, but it was dark and soft, and tickled his throat a little. "But not yet, I need to find somewhere for us to stay first."

He needed to find somewhere for them to stay, permanently. He couldn't keep living like this, and he couldn't let Bruce grow up like this either. Constantly moving, homeless, unsure of when he was going to eat next? It wasn't good for him. But he needed to find a city he liked, and after that? He wasn't sure. Where did he start?

But Bruce doesn't like his answer, he whines at him, louder, and his wriggling increases. He wants down, he wants to move. They were in a new place again, he wanted to explore. He's too little to fully understand what his dad's saying. "Dada." He said, his voice thick with the accent of a child first learning to speak.

"I know," Danny repeats, stressing the word as his eyes flitted about. There was a park nearby -- maybe he and Bruce could stop there for a bit. Bruce could move around, and Danny could figure out his next move.

It was getting dark, he didn't want to be out in Gotham when it was dark. Shuffling, he moved the inside of his jacket to wrap around Bruce better. It was getting cold, too. Last winter with Bruce had been hellish - Bruce's liminality meant that Danny's immunity to the cold hadn't been passed down to him. Danny had spent all winter terrified that Bruce was going to get sick and die. He didn't want to go through that stress again, especially now that Bruce would be moving.

He hoped they could find new living arrangements soon.

---- dniwer eht klolc - clockwork's conversation ---

Laughing quietly as Bruce ran out of the room, Danny turned his attention back to the mirror, his fingers curled around the knot of his tie. They'd been planning this outing for weeks since the movie was first announced, and Danny wasn't going to let anything ruin tonight.

Humming under his breath, his hands fell from his tie and he steps back. They were leaving in half an hour, at best, but experience from the last six years has taught Danny that he wants to be ready before then.

In his reflection, the clock behind him stops ticking, and a wave of nothing washes over him, a subtle shift he's gotten used to that was the sensation of time stopping. Ticking, soft and coming from all four sides of the room, filled his ears.

Danny's smile drops. And behind him, Clockwork swirled into existence like a blackhole reversing its pull. "Don't go out tonight, Thomas." He says, his voice stern.

That wasn't happening.

He reaches up to push back a loose strand of hair out of his face. "Does something happen to Bruce, Clockwork?" He asks, his voice deceptively calm. That would be the only reason he would postpone tonight. If it endangered Bruce, then he would just have to break the news to him that they'd have to go tomorrow.

In the reflection, Clockwork's lips thinned, pressing together tersely. He looked tense, the grip on his staff was tight, tighter than Danny's seen it before in recent years. And it worried him a little.

Clockwork is silent for a few seconds, hesitant, before he finally speaks. "No, Bruce will be fine." He says, and uncharacteristic of him, he shuffles, "But--"

Ah, good then. Danny's smile returns briefly across his face. Then it could be something Danny can handle. "But nothing then, Clockwork." He says, interrupting the Ancient firmly. He leans back slightly to look over himself again in the mirror, before going to undo his tie. He's changed his mind about it.

"Boo has been looking forward to our movie all week, I'm not crushing his hopes by changing my mind last minute." In just a few seconds the tie was off his neck and tossed onto bed behind him. And Danny was reaching over the dresser beside him to grab a pearl necklace, he normally didn't wear it, it belonged to Mrs. Wayne and he inherited it after she and Mr. Wayne passed away last year. It wouldn't hurt to wear it for a special occasion like this.

Clockwork's lips tightened, and his shoulders tensed up. "Thomas," He says lowly, "Please."

...Clockwork never said please. Danny's never heard him say please in the last ten years he's known him. This... must have been pretty serious -- but, his core tugged at him. He couldn't cancel without finding the reason why. Bruce was so important to him, Danny couldn't break his heart with this without learning why. He wouldn't allow it, and neither would his core.

He hooks the necklace around his neck and turns to face Clockwork, frowning deeply. "Does something happen tonight?" If he knew the reason -- he just needed to know the reason.

Clockwork stares at him, and something that Danny can't catch appears across his face. "...I cannot tell you." He says after a long moment, his voice quiet.

That... is not the answer Danny wants. He won't cancel.

He frowns. "If something happens tonight..." He says slowly -- Clockwork said that Bruce is unharmed. That must mean Danny was able to handle it. He allows himself to smile reassuringly, and he steps forward to clap a hand on Clockwork's shoulder. "Then I will handle it, alright? I promise."

He gets no response back. Clockwork's expression unreadable as he nods silently - Danny's anxiety curls in his gut. He's being so unlike himself. But he shakes Clockwork's shoulder gently and steps around him, leaving the room.

After a minute, he feels time return to normal.

#dpxdc #dp x dc #dp x dc crossover #dpxdc crossover #dp crossover #dpdc #danny fenton is not the ghost king #dc x dp #dp dc #dp dc crossover #dc x dp crossover #danny is thomas wayne au #danny calling bruce 'bumblebee' >>>>> #he adores his kid man. absolutely loves him. he'd give him the world on a silver platter if he even so much asked. #dont have many tag thoughts for this au unfortunately. its pr straight forward considering danny is going to die when bruce is eight #left the movie they went to see pr ambiguous since mark of zorro came out in 1940 #only thought of it now that danny wore the pearls as i was writing this. just for the extra reference to canon #single dad danny #martha and danny would fall in love with each other via hyperfixations. they'd be engaged by the time they died. #their wedding would be in a month - little bruce was gonna be ringbearer at his dad's wedding :) and he'd already be calling Martha mom #danny: CW said bruce was unharmed tonight so everything will be fine :) i will handle it. #danny: dies and becomes a whalefall - and thus incapable of returning as a ghost to watch over bruce #yeah clockwork meant physically unharmed. he was in pain while talking to danny - his boy was gonna die tonight and he was never gonna see #him again bc danny wasnt coming back as a ghost.

[astro-pioneer]

Dottore's Monster 『Il Dottore』

He dared to advance in his experiments while also reviving you forever. He succeeded in both; it was something Abattouy failed to replicate. | Minor spoilers for Tighnari's story quest and major 3.2 spoilers | Usage of Dottore's (unconfirmed) real name | Mmmm psychopathic hot bastard <333 | Small gore warning!!!!

"Don't worry, my dear, soon you'll no longer have to worry about me outliving you. We'll be together forever, no matter what." It saddened him to see your cold body cut open on his workshop table like this. Your blood stained the gloves he wore while he worked on you, tweaking with the mechanical parts and wires that sat in your emptied chest.

"I'll give you a steel-cast heart, running the current through your body to mimic blood. You'll think like me — no, like how you did. No one will know you're now a human being fueled by electricity! Isn't this amazing, my love!?"

It was tragic, your death, but you're still helping him while in the state of limbo. He knows you wouldn't mind waiting there as he fills his curiosity until there is nothing else to learn. Then he'll fix your body up until it's in the same condition as it was before you were attacked. You'll be back to normal and live with him for eternity. Yes, that's the perfect plan!

No one ever had even the slightest suspicion that you were technically a walking corpse. You were basically the same as you were before, the only evidence being the faint discolouration the serum that was applied didn't heal as of yet. The only person who was allowed to lay eyes on them was Dottore, his segments being an honorary mention.

Lesser Lord Kusanali could sense someone a little less than human enter the borders of Sumeru. Even from her physical location in the sanctuary, the feeling was strong. It was a weird feeling for the archon; being the god of wisdom and knowing that something that defied the natural phenomenon such as life felt wrong. The need to tell the traveler of this outlier of the world was strong; the need to find out who was causing the disturbance was even stronger.

The traveler watched the documented video with Tighnari and Paimon, listening as Abattouy talked about a past event. "Zandik, that crazy bastard! He was able to do this to his lover! Figuring a reverse way would be a breeze...if only I had his papers with me. Maniac took them with him after he succeeded and kicked out..." The tape ended there.

Both blinked, the same question appearing in their heads while Paimon voiced it, "Who's Zandik? And what'd he do to his lover?" Tighnari placed his hand on his chin thoughtfully.

"We can only assume this 'Zandik' was a past Akademiya student who used mechanical parts to keep his lover alive and acting normally, like a human. It seems as though Abattouy wished to do something similar but less morbid, thankfully, in order to present the research to the sages." The traveler couldn't help but feel a little sick at the thought.

The want to achieve something that no one in Teyvat has ever even thought of was what led you, Dottore, and his Omega segment in Sumeru. Corruption of the sages in the Akademiya had already begun long before the preparation for the journey happened. Both versions of Dottore were adamant on not allowing you to go, but caved in at the end. He didn't want you to have a run in with the traveler, either. That'd be a whole new issue.

The Balladeer was more trusting of you than he was of The Doctor. It was a well-known fact to all of the harbingers, so Dottore had you slowly manipulate the puppet into being more welcoming of any new ideas. If you said it was for the better, then it was, right? It had finally got to a point where you no longer needed to be in the laboratory the whole day and could finally sightsee.

The somewhat close relationship you had with the lower ranked harbinger threw you into the radar of the traveler and his Sumerian companions. With their consciousnesses connected, the blond was able to see how you looked, acted, and even felt, weirdly enough. Whenever you appeared, the outlander would get lightheaded due to the ley line energy that laid inside you.

The news of you was quickly shared and spread through the small group. However, it was advised to not interfere with anything you may do in order to not be deemed suspicious. If one word of them reached the ears of Dottore, their whole mission of saving Sumeru could be ruined.

You were seen once by Paimon in the city. Strolling calmly with no fatui guards in sight, just looking at the stalls and occasionally asking questions. It was such a contrast from what she actually knew. Not really being alive, somehow dating the sociopath they had the misfortune of meeting earlier, and manipulating The Balladeer did not at all seem like anything the person she saw would do or be.

Too bad it was. Your loyalty lies with your Zandik, and nothing anyone says would change that. You'd do whatever it takes to help in his experiments.

Neither Dottore nor you were there to witness The Balladeer fail. He already knew that creating a god with the group the traveler rounded up wasn't going to lead to success, but it did its purpose anyway. You were not there to witness what your manipulation did to the boy as he crashed headfirst to the ground.

You were with Omega as Dottore and the archon made a deal. The gnosis for information on you and the destruction of all of the segments. You were the only witness to see the clone have a small breakdown before collapsing into nothing but a ragdoll. It was terrifying, but not as terrifying as knowing the same fate could happen to you at the blink of an eye if desired.

#✎ expedition #✩ neptune #genshin impact x reader #genshin x reader #il dottore x reader #dottore x reader

[dragonshoardofwriting]

Any quirk ideas for like a detective? I'm thinking of making a oc that's a detective

Oooo, I love detectives!

Quirk: Faint Presence Desc: Upon activation, living beings stop noticing the user. Does not work on people who were focusing on the user at the time of activation. Effect disappears if the user does something to bring attention to themself. Notes: Good for tailing people, listening in to conversations, or sneaking into places if your detective is more of a not bound by rules variety.

Quirk: Last moments Desc: Upon touching a corpse, the user relieves the last moments of the person it belongs to. Notes: Classic of supernatural detective stories. So long as your victim didn't actually see the killer as they died, it just gives clues instead of destroying the whole mystery. But! If they do see the killer, it can instead be a plot of "I know who the killer is, but I need to get the evidence/get them to confess or else they won't get convicted!"

Quirk: Enhanced senses Desc: Gives the user enhanced senses. Notes: Plain and basic, but very useful for story purposes. The detective has easier time finding clues, and might even get some regular humans couldn't (like noticing a smell that's too faint for human senses) - it also explains why the culprit didn't try to destroy said clues, they were just impossible to notice for a basic human.

Quirk: Voice Mimicry Desc: Allows the user to mimic voices and sounds they've previously heard. Notes: More so for less law-bound detectives, it's a nice plot piece where deception is key. Impersonating others by voice, tricking people with noises, a crafty person can find many uses for this ability while pursuing a case.

Quirk: Empathy Desc: Allows the user to feel what emotions other people are feeling. Notes: A rather popular quirk idea, and a good fit for a detective. They know what someone is feeling at any time, *but* they might not know why. Allows to keep the mystery while providing clues.

Quirk: Cyberlink Desc: Lets the user link with electronic devices, letting the user access anything on them while bypassing their security measures. To link with a device the user has to either touch it directly, or go through a network it's connected with via another device. Note: A very useful quirk in the age where everything is connected to the internet. Basically results in a super-hacker type of detective. They can access classified documents, personal messages and all other sorts of stuff they lawfully shouldn't have access to, but which will likely help them pursue a case.

Quirk: Spirit Board Desc: The user can summon a spirit board, which only answers yes or no questions. Notes: Allows the detective to get clues, if they can figure out the right questions to ask. However, as readers would probably notice, the detective may just go around asking "Is this person the culprit?" with every person of interest they find. For some mysteries it could be a feature, not a bug. For others, I'd personally advise adding some conditions to quirk usage that'd prevent brute-force methods like that, like only getting a set number of questions to ask a day.

Quirk: Perfect recall Desc: The user has perfect memory and doesn't forget anything. Notes: Pretty basic of a superpower, but a useful device for a detective story. Removes the unrealisticness of a character being able to remember every little detail to put together later. Also, if you give your character a backstory of reading books on many subjects to be well-versed in whatever may be needed, it accounts for them having plot-convenient knowledge (since they would remember all the book details - you just have to be sure it's realistic for them to have studied something. So, knowledge of basic medicine is more viable than, for example, knowing symbolic meanings of flowers in a culture in a time period - they just have more reasons to believe basic medicine would come up [like for examining bodies] than that flower meanings would. Not to say they can't know both, it may just feel less reasonable to readers)

Quirk: Strings of Fate Desc: Upon activation on a person, the user can see strings tying that person to people they have some relation with. The colour informs the kind of relation it is, while the thickness of the string signifies the depth of the relation. Notes: It's basically free clues. Might help with uncovering motives. Also, lends itself well to an emotionally intelligent detective, who can use those different relationships they get to know about to their advantage.

#quirk ideas #quirks #superpower ideas #bnha

[blackjackkent]

I said in the last post that Lae'zel was looting the bodies, so I gave her the interaction with Edowin's body and, needless to say, she fuck-no'd the influence of the worm in his head with a WIS check, so all we got off of him was the absolute crap-ton of sausage that he is carrying for some reason.

Rakha probably would have accepted the worm since the narrator phrases it as a source of potential knowledge, but as of right now she doesn't really argue with Lae'zel when she makes a decision.

Onward to a much more pleasant interaction. HI SCRATCH!

"*Arf! Arf! Grrrrrarf!*"

Rakha does not know what a dog is and, unfortunately, she doesn't immediately care. Her attention is all for the corpse and the lake of blood surrounding it. The scent of it laces the air, shivers along her skin - a death not yet marred by time, fresh and clean. It resonates with those blurred memories she has seen before, the only hint she has of a past before the nautiloid.

Sidestep him to get to the corpse.

Immediately the beast's eyes go back and he darts sideways to get between her and the body. He growls, low in his throat, in a noise not unlike some that Rakha herself has made when the rage takes her.

She looks the creature over with a flicker of curiosity. Beast. Bloodstained. Dangerous - yes, if pushed. Guarding the body. Why? Something valuable?

She sets her jaw and growls back without hesitation. [INTIMIDATION] "Stand down!"

The dog flinches back, whines softly. Looking towards the corpse, it gives a low bark that sounds, somehow, immeasurably sad.

Rakha, already in the process of reaching past him towards the body, hesitates and squints at the beast more carefully.

Take a closer look at him.

Narrator: Around his neck is a collar, etched with a name - Scratch.

----

"What do you think?" she asks uncertainly. Her desire to understand the situation has finally outweighed her interest in the corpse, and she squats down next to the beast and peers at it steadily.

"The man's pet, I'd wager," Wyll says with a frown. "Loyal fellow. Wonder how long he's been standing here."

"Pet," Rakha echoes slowly.

"A beast kept for companionship," Lae'zel says. "An inefficient use of resources at the best of times."

"Awh..." Gale says with a good-natured smirk. "No place for a cat or a dog in the great ranks of the githyanki? I think you underestimate the extremely positive impact they might have on morale. Why, my friend Tara has been known to bring a smile to my face on the darkest of days, though she of course is less of a pet and more of-- "

"Here," Wyll steps forward, cutting Gale off before he can quite get up to full voice. "He'll likely let you pet him, if you're gentle."

Rakha blinks. Wyll crouches next to her, reaches his hand out to the dog. Scratch gives a soft whimper, and then creeps closer and sniffs Wyll's fingertips. Then, cautiously, he rolls his head so Wyll can give him a gentle scratch under his chin. "There we are. That's a good pup," he says lightly, then looks at Rakha. "Give it a try."

Rakha tilts her head slowly, unconsciously mirroring the dog's position. "Why?" she asks.

The question throws him slightly, but only for a moment. "Well, because it feels nice," he says with a shrug. "Give it a try. And then you can paw around in the corpse if that will make you happy."

Rakha scowls uncertainly and looks at the dog, which is eyeing her skeptically.

-----

Pet him.

The beast is startlingly soft, and seems to relax at the touch. Wyll watches with a slight smile on his face as Rakha mimics him, scratching at the underside of the dog's jaw. And, oddly, she does feel the pulse at the back of her head seem to settle, at least for a moment, as if soothed into a fitful sleep.

The dog whines again softly, nudges his head into her arm. Rakha gives him another cautious pat on the top of the head, then draws back and looks at Wyll questioningly, as if to ask, now what?

Wyll chuckles and clicks his tongue gently at the dog. "Come on, Scratch," he says lightly. "Follow me."(*)

Narrator: He whines, but remains rooted by the corpse's side.

Wyll considers, then reaches out again, letting the dog again sniff at his hand, his clothes, his boots. After a moment's hesitation, Rakha mimics the gesture again, following his lead with the strange animal.

Hold out your hand so he can follow your scent to camp.

The dog has visibly calmed now. He sniffs her fingertips with intense concentration, looks her over with a sort of open, good-natured curiosity.

But he still does not let her touch the corpse, growls when she comes near, and watches her warily until the group has passed beyond the little grove where he keeps vigil.

----

(*) Rakha's line in game, obviously, but this seemed more likely. XD

#bjk plays bg3 durge #rakha the dark urge #pubbyyyyy <3

[captaincaptainfisher]

Growth records, entry 9.

The specimen began making it's way back to me in a very strange way.

It's first death was to the jaws of a Tank lizard. I would expect this to instill some kind of hatred... however, he very purposefully found a route towards the ground.

At this moment, he is sitting atop a pole, far above the exact lizard that killed him. It is going insane with frustration, snapping it's jaws at him and attempting to leap up to reach him. It is not working.

Each time it snaps, he flinches, as any creature likely would... but he seems far less afraid of it than I would have expected. It seems I've underestimated him yet again...

...He is on the move again.

I will pause the recording until anything significant happens.

Recording temporarily ends.

...

Recording resumes.

The specimen has discovered something interesting... Something I don't remember being told to him by Spearmaster.

With his new wariness of ceilings, he managed to locate and kill a Dropwig. He took a few bites, then dragged it back to the Tank Lizard and threw the corpse into it's maw.

Why he decided to share food with the previous cause of his death, I do not know... Some form of forgiveness? Perhaps I have yet again underestimated his intelligence...

The lizard made a sound I have never heard before... Quite "cute", almost. When it returned from storing the meat, it was far less aggressive. It and the specimen sat and stared rather peacefully at each other for a few moments. I have the feeling it would still attack if my specimen was within reach, but for now, he is safe.

He is now walking away, seemingly making his way back towards the karma gate. This was an interesting interaction to witness.

Recording temporarily ends.

Recording resumes.

Yet another testament to his intelligence... he is back in the tunnels beneath my structure. He encountered a group of tunnelling Scavs there, a highly aggressive branch of the species. They immediately threatened him, and he quickly offered them his spear. Spearmaster may have taught him about Scav trading, but if that's the case, I'm still impressed he managed to charm his way out of such an aggressive group of creatures.

They traded him a lantern, which has been instrumental to his navigation through the dark tunnels.

He's currently making his way through them... He seems to have found the original path he took out.

He began running once he recognised it... He seems eager to be home. Or perhaps he is just trying to get away from the rain faster. That's more likely it.

He is approaching my structure. He dashed straight past a mimic lizard's lunge in his eagerness to get within my walls... F-for safety, surely. Surely.

He's doing remarkably well at guiding his way through my zero-gravity areas... he still seems shockingly excited, despite the fact he's now safe...he's very close to the entrance. He should be coming back in any second now.

...I'm shaking again... I don't know whAUGH-

[Editor's note: The thump you hear at this point in the audio is the specimen re-entering the room and catapulting himself directly into my puppet. He proceeded to cover my face in slime and slobber for several minutes. It was an unproductive use of my time. But... Not an unwelcome one.]

Recording ends.

#my ocs #rainworld #slugcat #scug oc #scug rw #rain world scug #rw scug #scugsona #scug #slugcat oc #rw iterator #iterator oc #iterator #SOC growth records

[cruelfeline]

I have such a deep love for this scene.

First because just funny. Frey has the magical gift of Not Taking Cuff Seriously, which I feel is instrumental to her ability to handle being bound to him. And Cuff is just... the dumbest? He is hundreds, possibly thousands of years old, yet he has the maturity of a five year old. Basically a "I know you are, but what am I?" level of maturity. It's ridiculous. He is so old, so dangerous, so... I don't know... supposedly dignified? And yet here he is trying to mimic Frey's accent and failing spectacularly, succeeding only in sounding like a dork.

I love him. He's so stupidly endearing, I just cannot.

And in terms of more serious concepts, two things:

Foreshadowing, for one. Ow that we know what Cuff is, we know that this is a humorous nod to the reveal. So that's nifty.

And for another, there's Cuff even mentioning this concept in the first place. This concept of destruction and corruption being beautiful things.

Like... he's not really wrong, y'know? The specifics of what he's doing are horrible, but in terms of the overall flow of nature, he's spot on. Fungi decomposing dead material to provide substrate for new life; wildfires burning forest to the ground to allow new plants to to germinate; the corpse of a whale settling to the bottom of the ocean, creating what is essentially a new ecosystem that will feed others for potentially years to come. These are all things that have to happen to allow life to continue in our world.

I wonder if that's - at least in part - how he views his duty. Second to the "vengeance" aspect. As a necessity in the overall flow of nature, so to speak. Or... well, at least the part of nature inhabited by Athia.

Still, no matter how he personally views it, it seems like a stupid thing to mention to Frey. At best, he gets the response he got: a snarky rebuff. At worst, he might blow his cover, or at least get her to trust him less. So why do it?

There's even a banter that's kind of similar: Cuff mentioning something along the lines of ruins being beautiful. And sounding almost dejected, disappointed, when Frey doesn't understand.

It honestly gives this sense of... like... him trying to fish for a connection. Trying to see if this woman might understand him in some way. Maybe not eventually be repulsed by what he's doing?

Sometimes - especially during these types of dialogues - Cuff comes off as so isolated and lonely. Like it truly bothers him that he's alone in this endeavor, despite his apparent "patriotism" and dutiful devotion.

There's a sort of sadness to it, underneath the foreshadowing and snarky humor. Like a lot of Forspoken, I think.

#forspoken spoilers

[blackstarchanx3new]

Creations AU, But I obnoxiously over explain it PT 5

Pages 121-150

Cody, why do you keep having to have hyper realistic eyes it's unsightly.

So Cody only messes with Mike's trauma around the bite, presumably because it wouldn't work nearly as well on people who didn't see it:

This thing can warp reality to his whims. Which already is a far cry from the powersets we've seen so far.

For whatever reason: Cody Afton is a powerful presence in the bulding.

Cody is a lot less open to Mike's investigation it seems. Rather snidely remarking "Let's play 20 questions".

His dialogue pops out of his word bubbles quite frequently and he's visibly glitching.

His wording is very specific:

"Cause if he could get his hands on Cody's soul he'd put it in the robot with the LIKNESS of the head crusher"

He's not in the suit that bit him.

Which was something foreshadowed by the two robots having small details wrong:

The teeth and outfits specifically. The suit Cody is in is much more similar to the Freddy we already met back in the first few pages.

Possibly just a straight recolor of that one than the Fredbear animatronic we know took a bite out of Cody.

Rather this suit is one that LOOKS like Fredbear.

Which uh, begs the question: Why was the other one in the poster/the floating head.

Also William wasn't behind this.

Rather some girl was. Wonder who she is...

HEYO IT'S THAT PUPPET PLUSH! :D

The one robot HENRY made...

I didn't bring up Henry before, we don't have much to go off of with him yet, the one robot he made is possessed by a girl, and she has the power to stuff souls into the robots.

This event pisses Cody off as this suit wasn't something he would have chosen for himself.

He's a self described abomination which reflects how he truly feels about himself and his situation. He's also quick to rage.

Cody's soul was fragmented and missing a big chunk...Odd. Wonder what happened to the rest of it...

Cody's body seems to actively warp to a more...realistic bear. He has gums and his teeth grow sharper.

So "Cody' isn't really "Cody Afton" at all. At least not a direct ghost way...

Rather some weird amalgamation of Cody Afton's soul, this suit and rage.

We continue to see his powers are rather disturbing, his ability to warp reality being used once again.

His mimic of Mike has dead eyes which are just, lovely to look at...

Cody that's unsightly stop it.

He drops Mike into the void. Bye Mike.

Falling falling here we go.

Funny how he says "Son of a bastard" instead of "Son of a bitch"

Bet that's not relevant at all.

He's still not convinced what he's seeing is REAL. I wouldn't either. Shit is wild.

Cody continues to distance himself from "Cody Afton" by talking in the third person, but I'm going to keep calling him Cody just for simplicity sake.

Hah.

I mean.

True.

Considering what we've seen.

Mike admits to his mission's details further:

He's trying to stop people from dying here.

Neato.

Mike's cool.

Few things:

Hi Cody Afton.

People did NOT get this shot: Fucking...he fell...so far. Upside-down and now he's right-side up again. IT'S REALITY WARPING AGHHHHH. ISN'T THAT COOL!? LIKE BRO I FEEL LIKE IT'S COOL!!! Also we're back in Fredbear land you can tell cause of the floor.

Cody's human design here was fun to think of: It's clearly him as a young man compared to when he died as a child..

Cody's eyes are still dead, along with his fingers being tinted black. He's designed to look like a corpse.

Cody giving warnings and a reality check.

Someone's trying to scare you straight.

Showing him an end Mike isn't a fan of.

And because I've spoiled this before: Where Mike starts corrupting into Freddy is foreshadowing for smth down the line. Hehehehhehe.

I enjoy the method of "Freddy-fication" is slapping. That's just amusing.

Hah. He's stubborn.

Notice how Cody doesn't refute Mike's assumption it's William behind what's going on...

He would know after all as an all seeing presence in the building...

Makes sense since he IS the guy who's building the robots with people in em.

Cody's sad. Aww.

Mike's one determined mother fucker considering everything.

Haha: He was pissed with that drop kick.

Cody's parting message is just, wonderful. I love Cody. XD

The corruption fades away as Mike falls back down the hole he previously rose/fell from.

Huh.

So SOMEBODY'S afraid of their daddy for some reason...

William must be a scary guy if the reality warping demi god is spooked.

Also oh my goodness there were two of them-

WHO THE HECK IS IN THE FREDBEAR!?

Whoever they are, they find this shit hilarious. They seem to be on good terms with Cody whoever they are considering from Cody's words, the "Floating head" with flat teeth is this entity and they co-op scares together.

For people who know game stuff: You know that they laugh like a girl because of the Golden Freddy laughter clips.

HI BONNIE! :D

Mike wtf is wrong with your hand?

Also more conformation Mike doesn't smoke and in fact finds it repulsive.

Mike's been asleep? I GUESS.

Weiiiird.

It's 5 Am now.

Also not a cheeky reference to the FNAF rap in no way is this a cheeky reference-

Okay fine

"IT'S FIVE AM I'M GOING STEADY, NOW I'M SCREWED IT'S GOLDEN FREDDY!!!"

Yes. There's a lot of FNAF song jokes in this comic. Because I'm a filthy FNAF fan to my core.

Obviously SOMETHING is going on with the hand Cody messed with...

And oh my. Cody's reputation proceeds him...

So he's KNOWN stalker gotcha.

That door on the stage I mentioned earlier? That's where this bitch is camping out.

Imagine just ripping your own head off to get your point across.

It starts to become clear what Cody's personality is outside of just being an ass:

He's an angsty trickster.

They're playing Minecraft. Because if Bonnie's "Older brother" vibe wasn't apparent before it is now. XD

Which hurts cause of how Cody ended at the hands of his actual older brother Josh.

Also Cody only comes out when there's "A gap in the nightguards"

Aka they're dead and or quit.

It's the nightguards he's avoiding being scene vulnerable in front of.

DEAR GOD. DID PEOPLE MISINTURPRET WHAT BONNIE WAS SAYING HERE.

People legit have NO READING COMPREHENSION so let me get into Cody/Golden Freddy as a character:

People misconstrued: Anti social with "NOT TALKATIVE" Because people are dumb.

This is what I mean by people have NO READING COMPREHENSION.

Where did Bonnie say Cody "Doesn't talk" Where? I defy you to find that because it's not fucking here.

Nowhere. He never said that.

And I KNOW people were just reading each other's comments on webtoon and ignoring the source text because people REPEATED THE PHRASE WORD FOR WORD

"I DUNNO HE SEEMS PRETTY TALKATIVE"

HAHAHHAHAHA You'RE SO FUCKING FUNNY, BEING CHEEKY ABOUT THIS COMIC YOU CLEARLY AREN'T READING YOUR SO SMART OUTSMARTING ME BY SAYING I AS THE AUTHOR AM WRONG ABOUT WHAT I WROTE YOU'RE SO CUTE TEEHE

This pissed me off. A lot. Because holy shit how hard is it to read the actual comic to base your ideas off of and NOT other people's comments?????

Let's go over what Bonnie ACTUALLY HAS TO SAY ABOUT CODY SHALL WE?

"He's not exactly the social type if you catch my drift"

"but when he's down there, it means he's avoiding everyone and wants to be alone"

"He only really comes out when there's a gap in night guards"

"I don't think he likes getting caught on camera"

"It's a bit weird he came to see you"

"What I'm getting at is he's a bit shy"

Where in there, did Bonnie say Cody/Golden Freddy doesn't speak?

I'll wait.

Oh wait, it's not there: Because this was pulled out of someone's ass to get an "Actually" on me. Because "Actually"ing authors/comic artists is the biggest thing I notice people LOVE TO DO. For NO REASON.

"Tehehe, I'm so smart I saw through your bad writing, all I had to do was be an idiot to do it! :D"

Stop acting stupid to try and one up authors/artists. You just look dumb as hell I promise.

What Bonnie was ACTUALLY getting at: Is that Cody is anti-social. He avoids people and doesn't like interacting with others unless it's on HIS terms. Because despite all his big talk HE IS SHY. He in fact IS EXTREAMLY TALKATIVE. He MASKS when he does feel empathy through rage and taunts. He WARNS Mike to gtfo for really no other reason than from concern as the mask of not caring and rage slipped. He even REPEATED the advice Bonnie gave: LIVE.

He usually masks his care through terrifying the crap out of people but as we've seen HE WILL TALK TO THEM. The only person we know FOR SURE he has a good relationship with as of this moment IS BONNIE. And he TALKED to Bonnie.

Literally WHERE in these sets of pages could you get "He's not talkative" from??? Where would you assume a character SAID that?

Jesus Christ. This kind of brain dead reading of media just grinds my gears.

Even MIKE refutes the idea Cody is "shy". Which Mike, you don't know Cody that well... He could be shy in most circumstances AS WE SEE IN THE FLASHBACK for all he knows.

Bonnie even seems to KNOW Cody scares the crap out of night guards, considering Cody's appearance to Mike concerns him.

Anyways this was the kind of brain dead "I'm not paying attention to what I'm reading" shit that made me disable comments on the Webtoon of Creations. Because it was JUST shit like this in the comments. I like to call this concept: Comment inbreeding. Because you're just taking ideas from other commenters, when someone was already wrong creating abominations of media inturpritation.

COME UP WITH YOUR OWN IDEAS WHILE READING A PEICE OF WORK. DO NOT RUN TO THE COMMENTS.

So far, only ONE of my comics vocal fanbase has actually understood EVERYTHING I lay down onto the table: And that's the FSR audience.

Webtoon audiences did this AGAIN with William's character in the side comics. Calling a character who has built complex machinery and hid his crimes from everyone, an idiot, ONLY because he isn't socially skilled.

How fucking stupid do you have to be to compare social skills with intelligence? Like that's straight ableism shit but I digress.

I hated the comments on this comic and like: Again I hate to be an ass who disses their own fans but Jesus Christ what are you a fan of if you don't even get what you're reading and seemingly only read to try and get a "Gotcha" on me??? Why are you searching for flaws where they don't fucking exist?

There's TONS of errors in this comic: mostly art and spelling related ones. Because here's a secret: I CAN'T FUCKING SPELL HALF THE TIME. :D

I think the Creations comics have the MOST design/art errors out of ANY of my comics because I designed some of these bitches way to complex. (Funtime Freddy's colors are one example)

But the dialogue isn't really one of them????

Anyways apologies for the rant. This kind of brain dead analysis/lack of analysis of art (Not even just mine, in general) just pisses me off.

My brother Billy Because he is WAY more into webcomics than me. showed me a comment section on a comic he was reading the other day: Where people were so stupid they didn't realize there was a time skip, and he SHOWED ME where it said there was a timeskip: AND IT WAS IMPOSIBLE TO MISS.

I shit you not: The top 5+ comments on this tapas comic were all about how people were confused because they didn't realize/didn't care to notice there was a time skip.

I feel so sorry for that comic creator and I'm sure they are also in pain over this shit.

Like the method of "Rush to the comments to get an explanation instead of READING" was/is such an issue. Why?

Why can you just read it?

I swear, I felt like the "Rick and Morty is only for high IQ people" but for reals. And that's silly because this comic is A GOOFY ASS FNAF AU.

Sure there's a LOT to it, but it's like, not even an hour read to read the whole thing in one sitting. You can retain information for an hour lmfao. And if you can't over LONG times of waiting for updates: REREAD UPDATES.

Oh hey Michael's relevant again.

Mike you're sus.

People didn't get this either:

Reality is a lie. That's the point of this scene. Cody's affects lingered. Cody's scene was REAL.

Also Mike, you talk like you have personal experience with that.

Bonnie continues to just be a bro.

HAHA WOAH WHO DAT MIKE????

Heheheheheh.

That's Jeremy isn't it Mike?

HELLO GHOST-

Mike doesn't seem to see him.

Butt touch. Touching that butt-

Also funny reference to what Mike said at the start of the comic.

He cracked guys.

Our boy smiled.

What we know now:

Bonnie is virtually conformed to be this Jeremy person Mike's looking for.

And that means Jeremy is dead.

Mike and Jeremy clearly had a friendly relationship, whoever they were to each other.

So back to why Mike was hanging onto the cigarettes:

Were those for Jeremy? Seems likely. Bonnie's speech pattern seemed to shock Mike the first time they met and Mike's "It's nice to see you again" was clearly directed at Jeremy NOT Bonnie himself.

Jeremy's text here is in green and if you'll remember Bonnie's eyes flashed green when Mike said that.

YALL KNOW I LOVE FORSHADOWING. HAHAHAHAHHAHA

Anyways funny how it ends here for now. Perfect cut off.

#fnaf au #fnaf comic #fnaf fan comic #fnaf fan art #fnaf creations au #fnaf golden freddy #golden freddy #mike schmidt #fnaf michael afton #michael afton #bonnie #fnaf bonnie #fnaf puppet

[penddraig]

all righty,   some of you wanted to know what sorts of black magic howl is capable of casting !!! so i will elaborate on that immediately.   

much like the witch of the waste ( since he has made a contract with a fallen star and thusly tied their magic together ),   howl is capable of producing powerful magic that can change the anatomy of any living creature.   his magic isn't necessarily careless in this,   considering he's been studying it and been taught what magic to use and what magic is too dangerous to use on others,   but he very well can separate external body parts from people without killing them,   like the way the witch took prince justin apart but how he was still very much alive in many different places,   and how she also took apart wizard suliman and put him into percival and the skull and the scarecrow.   essentially,   a very magically sped-up version of surgical amputation procedure + healing + recovery period,   in the span of a few seconds.

in a similar vein,   he can also get into a living creature's system with his magic and trick it into doing whatever he wants it to do.   he can make any of the body's systems respond to his magic willingly and pretty much control what happens inside a person's body ( ie:   getting physically ill,   bruising on the inside, unnatural duplication of cells ),   as long as he calculates it precisely right.   it is very possible for howl to make a body start killing itself from the inside out.   in terms of the mind,   he can also control someone else's.   how well he can entirely depends on how mentally capable the other person is.   someone who has more assertive thought will be far less likely to be controlled than someone who has an uncertain / passive mind.

this is a given,   but since howl's magic spans a few centuries-worth of teachings,   that means his magic is not immune to being sought out by shadow magic,   so he is easily able to call upon creatures of darkness.   he's not able to control this as much as his other dark magic,   which is why they often appear whenever howl loses control of his temper,   whether in anger or in anguish.   they usually appear wailing and menacing and mimic howl's behaviour and current emotional mindset :   aggressive and offensive when he's angry,   repellant when he's in despair.

necromancy is not something with which howl is unfamiliar,   but something even he has never done before.   he is able use magic and spells to mimic the biological processes that keep a living creature alive,   and can force that into a corpse so that he can either speak with it or use it to do his bidding.

these are just a few,   but i'm sure i'll think of more as i continue writing with / plotting.   teehee.   x

#( ;; the first one is really the most important one. ) #( ;; at least in terms of the entire story. ) #( ;; since it's all about how bodies are fluid and ever-changing. ) #.゜–– headcanon . * with a glib tongue & a clever mind .

[sellensand]

One body, two beings

ELDEN RING SPOILERS AHEAD

I know I'm late to the Elden Ring lore party, but I've been meaning to share my personal theory on the whole "Radagon is Marika" business for a while. There's quite a heated debate around it, and obviously only Miyazaki and GRRM themselves know The Truth, but nonetheless here is my stupid take that nobody asked for.

After reading and watching approximately 37923764 theories about this topic, I’ve come to the conclusion that Radagon and Marika were always one single being capable of transforming from female to male (and vice versa), rather than two separate beings that later merged into one. Why, you ask?

Well. First things first. Since Elden Ring came out there have been multiple theories going around about the true nature of Marika and Radagon's relationship.

There are those who believe that M and R were always two distinct people that "fused" into one single being either during or after the Shattering, when Radagon was already Elden Lord. Their fusion may or may not have been consensual, but that's besides the point. There are several ways of understanding this "two becomes one" perspective:

1. The "lone Radagon" theory, in which Radagon was more or less a "random" champion of the Erdtree, with no previous connection to Marika, who eventually married Rennala (he may or may not have truly loved her, that's not important rn). He was later called into Leyndell once again to become the 2nd Elden Lord (consort to Marika) once Godfrey was out of the picture, leaving Rennala and their children behind. Since Radagon's background in this scenario is completely unknown, some players believe he may even have been related to the Fire Giants (see Giant's Braid description) or the Fire Monks (who are also pale dudes with red hair).

2. The "Marika's rib" theory, in which Radagon was created or "extracted" from Marika herself. How did this happen? Well, some players think Marika was "cursed" by the god of the Fire Giants during the war against them (Godfrey's last war as Elden Lord). Marika tried to "purge" herself from this curse and spiritually partitioned herself. That process resulted in the creation of a different being ("my other self", she calls him) with Fire Red hair, so this theory also ties well with the Giant’s Braid description. In this scenario, once they "become two from one", Radagon and Marika are their own separate people, they each have their own free will, even though he is "technically" her (or a part of her at least). A long time after the war against the Giants, Radagon married Rennala, and the rest is history.

3. The "golden mimic tear" theory, in which Radagon is a Numen/Nox alchemical creation. Marika is a Numen, a scion of another world, the civilization responsible for the construction of the Eternal Cities. She may or may not have been their Queen (giving the "Marika the Eternal" title a whole new meaning), which would kind of explain why she was chosen as an Empyrean and given a Shadow (Maliketh) in the first place. The Numen excelled at alchemy and magic (=science in ER's world): they invented puppets (later perfected by the Carian magic preceptors... more to come on the various Carian-Nox connections), they defied the Greater Will with the creation of the Fingerslayer Blade (a blade made from a corpse... you know... like the Elden Beast's... who knows what exactly they did to create their weird replica), they invented Night Sorceries (the dark blue spells from Sellia, a Nox settlement, which are all about stealth and invisibility), they are the people of the Black Knives (an all-female guild of assassin swordstresses that use Night Sorcery to become invisible)... But most importantly, they created artificial life, notably the dragonkin soldiers and the silver tears that pester the player while traversing the Eternal Cities (and maybe the albinaurics too?). It is stated that they were experimenting with the silver tears in an attempt to create "a Lord", their Lord of Night. What if they actually managed to create a lord? What if silver wasn't powerful enough and Queen Marika, their sister, the new god of the Erdtree, provided them with gold so she could create her lord (the Elden Lord)? I must say I love the idea of Marika creating her consort after her own image with help of the mimic technology in an "I don't need no man" way. Also, even though I don’t like to draw too many conclusions from cut content, I can’t help but think that they may have cut the Asimi questline because it gave too much away in this regard. That Melina encounter when she asks “is that...another person inside of you?... Hello, other you” is just gold, no pun intended lol

Now. I acknowledge that all of these theories are quite sound. I especially love the "golden mimic tear" one, although I don't think any of them are quite as plausible as the "one body, two beings" theory.

Why exactly am I more inclined to support this particular theory?

- The physical resemblance. I know this sounds basic, but hear me out. If Radagon was just some random dude, or a tiny Fire Giant, or a Fire Monk from who knows where... why would he look exactly like Marika (in a time before their fusion)? The paintings, the statues... They all depict him with a delicate, almost feminine face (his body is another story lol). They wear the exact same clothes only with a different "fit" (long dress vs. long skirt), they have a very similar hairstyle and hair length... Sure, he could have been “supplanting” her in the official iconography, that’s not uncommon in our own world’s history. But the similarity also applies to both Marika and Radagon's soreseal and scarseal talismans, which look exactly alike aside from the rune they each have engraved (by the way, whose eyes are those?). The seals also mirror each other: they raise the exact opposite stats. [I'm aware that all of these same points could also be made for the "mimic" theory].

- The Carian preceptors' “masks of confidence”. The seal over the masked preceptors' mouth is Radagon's seal. They were free to speak before his arrival as Rennala's husband. The masks were his idea. What was he so afraid of? What was it that the preceptors might have seen and shouldn't speak about? In my view, he was worried they might witness the transformation and spill the beans all over the Lands Between.

- The connection to alchemy. Given the alchemical themes of the game, it is fairly evident that Marika and Radagon are the alchemical Rebis, the divine hermaphrodite, the White Queen and the Red King, the male and female in a single body.

- The Red Wolf of Radagon. I'm personally inclined to believe that Radagon adopted a red wolf because he wanted his own Shadow beast. Marika had Maliketh, so Radagon felt a need for a furry companion (of his own choosing, this time) to serve and protect him. They also have the same hair color, how cute is that. [There is at least one red wolf around Nokron. That reinforces the Eternal Cities connection and rules out the "lone Radagon" theory imho].

- The golden tayloring tools found in the Church of Vows, where Radagon and Rennala got married. It is sadly true that needlework is a traditionally female labor (I know the only seamster in the game, Boc, is male, but his tayloring tools belonged to a female, his mother). I would say it is also very atypical for a male to contribute tayloring utensils as dowry in his own wedding. I believe he had them because he is literally Marika.

- The Mimic’s Veil, also known as “Marika’s Mischief”. From this item description alone, one could easily interpret that Marika was some kind of master of disguise. Did she ever... I don’t know... assume another identity? In order to escape (from) something? That’s what the Mimic’s Veil does for us players, it allows us to transform and go undetected (in theory at least lol).

- The relation to their son Miquella, who I believe is also capable of such metamorphosis: Miquella is also known as St.Trina. Sure, he may just be an androginous little boy with feminine traits who can easily pass for either sex... But what if he is a sort of Rebis himself? St. Trina’s lore is vague enough to allow this interpretation. There’s obviously a lot to speculate about what makes an Empyrean in the first place. If we think about all the Empyreans we know in the game, there is certainly something about “duality” and "femaleness" there... Do they need to somehow be "female" because they "give life" to other beings (I don't think the demigods are literally birthed by the way)? Does the close bond between Radagon and Miquella mean that Radagon knew about his own son's "duality" and supported him in his Empyrean claim? Did Radagon want for Miquella to succeed Marika, but she opposed because she wanted to be a Goddess-Queen forever? We do not know at this point and maybe we never will. And this whole Empyrean thing might as well need its own post lol

-The Law of Regression, the incantation needed to reveal the secret behind Radagon's statue in Leyndell. By its own definition, regression means "reverting to a previous state". When we apply the Law of Regression on Radagon's image, it "goes back" to what he once was: Marika. This particular incantation in the game "heals all negative statuses, dispels special effects, and reveals mimicry in all its forms". I might be overreaching here, but this might as well be another sign that Marika was sort of "disguising" herself as Radagon, but her transformed state could be reverted.

- And last, but not least... We see the transformation. It is explicitly shown to us in the cinematic before the last fight. We see Marika’s hair change color and her stony flesh become Radagon’s. We all may interpret it as we see fit... but it is there.

Finally, some things to consider:

- What about the Giant’s Red Braid item description? Well, it is ambiguous on purpose (just like virtually every single piece of lore in this game lol), so there are several different ways to interpret it. My personal view is that, since almost everything Red in the game is related to primordial gold, the fact that Marika's other self is a redhead is somehow related to the Crucible, the Erdtree's primal vital energies. Radagon might have hated his hair color for many reasons: maybe he hated the Giants because they were enemies of the Erdtree, or maybe it reminded him of the "impurity" of red tainted gold (closely associated with the Crucible).

- What about their mind/consciousness? Was Marika still herself when she transformed? Did she maintain her motivations as Radagon? Can they “choose” when to transform or does it require certain “triggers”? Did they know they were each other?? I honestly don’t have a definitive answer to any of these questions. We can assume that they weren’t always on the same page, since we are told that Marika shattered the Elden Ring but Radagon tried to repair it. But we don't really know why any of them did that anyway.

-How does the "one body, two beings" theory relate to the Golden Order Fundamentalism? Was Radagon a fundamentalist because he was Marika, and she needed to further her own agenda? I honestly don't have solid theory about it. I highly recommend SmoughTown's video on Golden Order Fundamentalism to understand what the Golden Order actually is.

- How do you explain that Radagon doesn’t seem to be around until the Liurnian wars, while Marika has always been there as Queen? Well, we don't know that. While Radagon seems to have earned his own fame as a warrior in the Liurnian wars, he may have been there before that, as part of Godfrey’s army. This is not stated anywhere of course, it's pure speculation. But there are a couple of things that keep me up at night... One is the Red Wolf of the Champion boss in Gelmir Hero’s Grave. A Red Wolf? All the way up there? Belonging to a war hero, a "champion"? (that’s exactly how Miriel calls Radagon) What champion? The other one is the Ancient Hero of Zamor (as enemies of the Fire Giants, the Knights of Zamor probably played a part in their defeat at the hands of the golden army) trapped in the Weeping Evergaol drops Radagon's Scarseal... It is also possible that Marika didn't really start "experimenting" with her male side until she needed to either win a war or pretend to have a consort.

- Did Rennala know? What about The Egg? I haven't given much thought to Rennala's knowledge of her husband's true nature. I do wonder though... if Marika was simply the woman who “stole” her husband, why would she be okay with her children being adoptive demigods (lmao) and made to be close to her instead of their own mother? I get that she was heartbroken and all, but still... Thus said, I’m not sure whether Ranni (or her brothers) ever knew the truth about their father. [Also, there is no way the mighty Hoarah Loux did not have any offspring from a previous relationship (I don’t want to say Nepheli because we don’t know where she fits in Godfrey’s timeline and family), so why didn’t Marika adopt any of his children? I’m going off the rails here but whatever]. And The Egg... I mean, it's made of Erdtree amber and it contains a Great Rune. How did Radagon have access to any of those things before becoming Elden Lord? He gifted The Egg to Rennala when he left for Leyndell. It is one hell of a god-like gift if you ask me... Are we supposed to believe that Rennala never questioned what The Egg was or how he obtained it? Maybe she knew more than we think.

- What about the "You are yet to become me. You are yet to become a god. Let us be shattered both, my other self" quote? I tend to believe that this is a "warning" more than anything. What Marika is saying, in my view, is "Hey man, you are not the god of this age. I am. I was the chosen Empyrean. You are just my consort here, even though you are me, but nobody else knows that. You don't get to decide what happens now. I'm going to shatter the Elden Ring and us both in the process, that is my decision, and I don't care what you think about it". As I said, I still don't have a clear idea of what Marika was trying to do by shattering the Elden Ring (and herself by extension) or why Radagon wanted to stop her. In the early days, many players believed that Marika was a victim of Radagon's own ambitions and wanted to either get rid of him or the Greater Will altogether, but right now I more inclined to believe that she is much more complex and conniving than we give her credit for.

In conclusion: this game is a nightmare and I love every second of it. I know I'm just repeating things that many others have said countless times before, but I really needed to get my thoughts together and vent for a moment.

I hope you enjoyed my ramblings. All of this is just my perspective of course, so feel free to share your own views on the matter in the comments.

(Wow, this was a LONG post. I need to take a 4-hour nap after this lmao)

#elden ring #elden ring lore #elden ring theory #elden ring spoilers #marika #radagon #marika and radagon #miquella #rennala #fromsoftware #fromsoft games #hidetaka miyazaki #george r r martin #grrm #myloreposting

[bicycleboyblog]

I would like to talk about my new favorite Webcomic - Bicycle Boy. A Review.

Submitted by @shakura-kazuki

The story is about a Cyborg named Poet who wakes up in the post apocalyptic desert surrounded by corpses with no memories of who he is. He starts wandering through the desert, finds a bike and just aimlessly travels around to find out what happened to him. He is then violently captured by bandits and from here on out, it just gets worse.

At first, I was drawn in by the character design - Poet is cute, no doubt, and really cool looking. I mean, as cute as a man in his early 30s can be. I love human characters who are out of the ordinary. Stonehenge is big and scary, but she means well. Machk is a kind heart but strong and protective. Darla is crazy, but she has her reasons. I like Skip for no particular reason, or maybe I do. there is a character for everyone.

The characters are realistic, you can empathize with them and their actions make sense, they are diverse and every one of them has their own problems to deal with. You don’t know who is a villain and who is not until more things have happened. An enemy becomes a friend, an ally becomes an enemy.

The art is phenomenal - it starts out good and only becomes better, every page just as detailed as the previous one. Most of the pages are drawn traditionally, scanned in and colored digitally which is quite noticeable at the start of the story, but less so on the recent pages, It’s almost unbelievable that it’s traditionally inked. And the colors are great, setting the mood throughout the story and showing how gnarly red some wounds are. The setting is sci-fi and stays true to it, not delving too much into fantasy - the apocalypse was 10 years ago, many people died, many people lost someone or something and they suffer from cancer, leukemia and radiation poisoning. The characters get wounds and scratches which only heal slowly, they leave scars and aren’t just magically gone. Poet still has most of his torso to feed his organic brain and skin with oxygen, blood and nutrients. It is unlikely, but technically possible for him to exist in real life right now or in a realistic future.

The art style is semi realistic, but not too gritty, the characters still look like comic book characters while having body hair, skin folds, fat and muscles, scars and wounds. Nothings beautiful, nothings clean, but nothings ugly either. Poets mechanical parts mimic real human muscles groups, radius and ulna arm bones and he’s got bone-anchored hearing aids while also having stupidly oversized kneecaps and silly cartoon robot antennas which whip and wobble when he moves. Solles neck folds, Darlas tattoos, Machks scars, Stonehenges peg leg. They all tell stories. You want to know them. You can tell who each character is by their hands, each of them is unique.

Poet is very much the “special snowflake” kind of protagonist and even though that might not be for everyone, I personally quite enjoy it. He’s unique and mysterious and doesn’t want to talk about himself. He locks his feelings away to not bother others, but here and there he reveals his hurt and his frustrations during moments of peace.

What really gets me is that Poet is not “just a cyborg” - it becomes very clear that he doesn’t feel complete, he knows he has no limbs, he can not feel his hands or feet. He’s a stump and he’s aware of it. There is ugly scarring all around his robot parts which makes it look disconnected and less in unison. It makes you feel awful thinking about it, it fills you with dread. You can empathize with him as a human so much. And there is so little of him left. He’s hurt and confused, a disabled man looking for answers. And everyone just calls him a robot and slaps him in the face.

And you, as a reader, do not know a lot more about Poets past OR the world he woke up in than Poet does himself. He is, kind of, the readers avatar so to speak of. Poet himself does not get flashbacks or suddenly remembers, unless in dreams and even then, they are mixed with recent memories and unclear. And that’s what I really like about this: the amnesia trope is there and is here to stay. No matter how disturbing or violent or how much his body remembers, his mind simply does not. He’s met with people of his past which make him trembling with fear, but he does not know why, the memories do not come back.

I told a friend of mine to read it and they told me “Poet isn’t talking a lot that’s boring” and while yes, Poet doesn’t speak a lot in the first 4 chapters, it gets better later. But also, he doesn’t need to talk. He speaks with his face, his emotions. There are many times where you can read his thoughts straight from his face. And that is also what makes him a good “readers avatar” because, you as a reader do not have much influence over the story either. That doesn’t mean Poet does not have any influence - his actions certainly cause him a lot of troubles. But he is not the one to tell the story, he narrates through it.

The story starts slow, but picks up in pace and gets more and more interesting the further it goes. The mystery of who Poet was and what happened to him to end up as a cyborg is, even after 450 pages, still a big question mark. We learn things about Machks and other characters past lives along the way. Things are implied, things are going forward and you want to know more, want to find out. There are no info-dumps and even if, they feel natural. But- and here’s the thing - you are not frustrated about it. The story goes it’s own pace and that’s good. It keeps you hooked BECAUSE it reveals only so little - and throws new questions at you with each reveal, like a hydra.

Your interest in the story isn’t driven by the question “what comes next?” but more about “what had happened before?” and the more you go towards the future the more you learn about the past.

And since I liked the comic so much, I read it again. And again. Until I slowly started to realize, that you can solve parts of the mystery yourself - almost every page has a little hint in it. These are scattered everywhere - from backgrounds, to dialogues, to gestures and visuals. If you know what you are looking for you will find them. Which is, simply said, AMAZING. The level of detail that this comic holds over the span of so many years is incredible. Every single page has a lot of thought put into it. Jackarais uses the visual and textual medium of a webcomic to full extent. Even in the alt text sometimes. 

So…

…next time you re-read Bicycle Boy… make sure to pay attention to the details. And question all of them.

There is a lot to unpack. Disturbing things. The more you try to figure things out, the more fucked up it gets. 

I’m burning to know and excited to see how the story continues.

I love this comic 11/10. Would read again.

0 Links

#submission #thank you for the thoughtful review! I'm very grateful ^_^ #review #shakura-kazuki

[nvrcmplt]

[ cú & zack dungeon adventures! ] "You know, now that I pay close attention to them, a mimic's legs are really similar to a crab's," the wolf said while examining the corpse of the mimic that tried to attack them. The party had reached the middle levels of the dungeon but (the lack of) food always made it nearly impossible to go any further. That's how the adventurer wolf started pondering... what if... what if they tried adapting and getting creative? "If we boil them with a good amount of salt, it might taste just like boiled crab."

He wasn't against eating things that came from dungeons. It was a way of survival in such places, specially after months of treading through them. Zack wasn't a master of dungeon monster cooking, but even he knew that a mimic was not a good choice. "No, as close as they seem to be to that of cave crabs, a mimic is nothing less than a sinew soup." His nose wrinkled. "If anything it'll at best taste of gamy string, rather than anything filling. If it can take the form of whatever it is in a chest, I doubt it holds any muscle or true flavour with blood circulation, no?" He stood nearby, watching this Wolf does his own thing. Drooling though at the possibility of crab meat, boiled and salted… Ah - he felt hungry himself.

"I do hear water in this dungeon, maybe we'll come across cave crabs - those I'd be more willing to eat than this thing."

#caemthe #« ( Zackery ) » Answers.

[elder-dragon-93]

Headcanon Theatre: Brawler Angeal

Hello, and welcome to a thing I’ve decided to give a name to; Headcanon Theatre. Why is it called that? Because I’m extra as fuck. Today will introduce the first of my many, many FFVII headcanons, which is also one of the tamer/less involved ones. (Trust me, they will get more intricate as we go along.)

So, Brawler Angeal. This is one I’ve gotten quite attached to recently, though I’ve had thought about it for a few years now. Basically, I think Angeal is more of a hand-to-hand combatant that only really uses swords when fists would be impractical, such as when fighting a guy with a ridiculously long nodachi. Why do I think this? Two (admittedly small) pieces of evidence.

First: this scene

Second: Zack’s DMW/Limit Break, Rush Assault, which is the Limit Break associated with Angeal. Now, from a gameplay standpoint it’s supposed to mimic one of Tifa’s Limit Breaks, Beat Rush, but in universe we know that Zack is somehow copying Limit Breaks from the people he’s connected to (a source of it’s own headcanon). We know this because we see his Limit Breaks Octoslash and Apocalypse being used by Sephiroth and Genesis respectively in their boss fights, and Healing Wave and Meteor Shots are basically Aerith’s Healing Wind and Cloud’s Meteorain. So, it stands to reason that Rush Assault (or something very similar) is Angeal’s Limit Break, and from what I’ve seen of FFVII Limit Breaks they generally follow a theme involving the person’s fighting style and personality. Ergo, Angeal fights with his fists most of the time.

Now, why is Angeal so often using a sword in the game if he prefers hand-to-hand? Two possible reasons. 

First reason; like I said above, there would be some combat situations where hand-to-hand would be impractical, like when fighting an opponent with a long reach. “But Dragon, Tifa fight’s opponents like that all the time.” Yeah, well 1.) Tifa usually isn’t fighting alone (at least in OG), and 2.) Tifa is much smaller than Angeal and can more easily dodge and get past people’s guards. Now

Second reason: Shinra want’s all it’s SOLDIERs to fit into a specific mold. Namely, swordsmen with very big swords. Oh, SOLDIERs will get some training in hand-to-hand, but they all need to have those nice swords for all the group shots. Plus swords leave a “less messy” corpse behind.

So, yeah. Angeal is a secret Brawler. And this could give a kinda backwards reason why Angeal carries Buster around with him at all times despite never using it. He felt so bad about his Dad spending all that money on a heavy duty sword when Angeal prefers hand-to-hand that he carries it around out of guilt, even though it would make way more sense to keep it in a display case if he really wanted to prevent wear, tear, and rust.

Oh... and it could also tie into that really obscure theory that the Remnants are supposed to represent Sephiroth, Genesis, and Angeal... I guess... (I’m sorry. It’s a cool theory, and it could make for some interesting fan fics, but I really do not think that was the developers intention when making any of these characters. Especially when it’s stated that Seph jettisoned most of his memories in order to keep himself from being absorbed into the Lifestream.)

Anyway, thank you for coming to my ted talk.

#final fantasy vii #ffvii #angeal hewley #headcanon theatre

[furbtasticworksofart]

A Discussion Regarding Modern Storytelling In FNaF

(This is a critique of FNaF. I am not going to mince my words. You have been warned.)

So, FNaF Ruin, huh?

I think it is fair to say, people are a bit mixed in regards to what the DLC implies and how it tells it’s story. After all, for a DLC marketed as answering lingering questions, it seems to just create more.

I am torn when it comes to Security Breach. I like the characters alright, I adore the setting and atmosphere, and I do think the game is pretty fun to play. But when it comes to storytelling, the game is very flawed. The story, as the average player will understand it, is right what it says on the tin: a kid gets trapped in the Pizzaplex overnight, shenanigans ensue.

And I must be clear, that is *fine*. Not every game needs a super in-depth plot. We have established the stakes and our protagonist, things are pretty clear in that arena.

The problem is that Security Breach keeps implying there is more going on, to the point where they literally say so, and dropping little fragments of information that don’t quite slot together. Again, having a mystery is fine, but when entire chunks of context are just missing, it begins to feel less like a mystery, and more like blatant omission.

Who is Gregory? Why is he here? Why is Vanny after us? Why don’t we trust Vanessa? What is the deal with the corpse in the basement? What is Freddy’s deal? Seriously, what is up with Gregory?

If you just played Security Breach and Help Wanted, you will not know. I must reiterate, that if you play the games, *you will not know.*

Now, there are two ways to come to a conclusion regarding these questions. 1, wildly speculate based on information you do have to get a satisfying answer. This is what the average fan will probably do. Or 2, give Scott Cawthon your money to purchase… the books.

If you have chosen avenue two, I am very sorry to inform you that you won’t actually get closure.

When questions are raised regarding the games, anyone active in the fandom will probably be used to this refrain: “If you read the books, it’s explained _” Now. I have several problems with this type of storytelling, one of which being the actual cost of books and the implications of paying for the opportunity to understand FNaF, but we are going to use Ruin as an example of why this doesn’t work.

On one hand, I do like the implication with Ruin that the old characters are officially put to rest. That is a good choice I respect. VANNI as a concept is neat, and so is the Mimic.

On the other hand, the way this information was given to us was extremely convoluted and aggravating. How did it take. Four years for us to get full confirmation of "yeah, that's not Afton, that's just an AI mimicking him", the entire *crux* of the new storyline? There were hints of this in Help Wanted, sure, but it was never made clear to us. But instead of doubling down, we were given little to no information about this in Security Breach, and in fact it seemed to imply the opposite!

Then, a year and a half later, the *crucial information we need* is found not in the actual game, but in the epilogues of a spin-off book series.

Why.

If you are a causal fan of FNaF you will *never* understand what the story is supposed to be, unless someone tells you and by some miracle, they’re also right.

I don't even hate the story of Security Breach when you map it all out!

The idea of this corrupt AI slowly gaining control in a corporation, gaining not one but two unwitting minions, only for the child to break free and end up releasing the other too, and them trying to undo the damage they've done, is actually pretty rad! But most of that isn't in the actual game.

When I play a video game, I expect to have a fun experience where sure, some things might not make sense out of context, but I can look back at the information it and other games gave me and go, "ah, I see!" And even then, those mysteries are minor ones, little background details that have implications, but give the story more depth. Having your *main story* be utterly incomprehensible and at times feel like it's actively contradictory because it's reliant upon information you *do not have* is just frustrating.

If you were playing Security Breach on the day it released, and expected a full story, sorry bud, but you’ve got to wait six months for a book to come out and hopefully have relevant information. TFTP is *sometimes* a Goosebumps-style series about spooky robots based on a weird dream Scott had, but also sometimes contains extremely important information you need to understand what is happening. How do you know when it’s relevant?

You guess. You guess and you argue and you wait, hoping that maybe the next installment will explain itself.

This is not how you tell a story. This is how you make money.

I know that is deeply cynical of me, but at this point, I don’t know *what* the creators intentions are, and I don’t know if it even matters! If Scott and Steel Wool aren’t going to respect my time, why should I care what story they’re going to tell. Because from what they’ve shown me, they don’t seem to care much about it either.

So. Are you having fun yet?

#fnaf #fnaf ruin #juni writes things #spoilers

[mapleleavesart]

Oh You’re Warm Blooded? Great, Welcome to Being My Personal Heat Pack

Mikey x Yokai OC (Mei)

Word Count: 2258

Content warnings: fluff, a freezing cold-blooded turtle, kissing, fluff, cuddling, Mikey's hands get placed over/around Mei's stomach/waist cause he feels like a corpse, concerns about mental health/ implied depression, do any of these really need to be warned about? Probably not but imma state it anyways

Was going outside in the dead of winter a bad idea? Yeah, probably. The four turtle brothers only ever went out for snow days in the first few weeks of cold, snowy weather, just enough to get a taste before holing up inside and brumating for the worst of NYC’s winter. Even when they did leave, all of them had several jackets on. And they were only out for a few hours at a time, lest they start slowing down and go into brumation early. Did they have to huddle together under the heat lamp for hours afterwards to recover? Yep. Did Mikey tell anyone he was leaving?

… Well, he told Pops and Draxum he was going out (they were sharing a pot of tea; nobody else was to be seen). They told him to put on an extra jacket, stay safe, don’t be too long or go too far, etc. Parental fretting. You know how it is.

 Did Mikey leave the lair anyways, simply because he wanted to see his most favorite person ever?

Also yeah.

The Hidden City didn’t get snow. Natural snow, that is. Sometimes the witches from Witch Town cast weather spells to mimic the surface’s weather, or for certain festivities. Not today, thankfully. That didn’t make the underground cavern any less cold though. 

Mikey shivered. His right hand was tucked into his coat pocket while the other held steaming-hot cocoa, he had a beanie on his head, and nearly every piece of winter clothing he had in his closet on. His breath lingered in the air like he was a fog machine

But Mei was enjoying herself, so he wouldn’t say anything.

“Ooh~ sparkly.” Speak of.

Mikey stopped to look at the store window the Qilin was looking through. Many pieces of jewelry were on display, all beautiful in their own ways. Kinda like people. “Something catch your eye?” He asked.

“Well, obviously, otherwise I wouldn't have stopped and gone ‘ooh, sparkly!’” Mei retorted with an eyeroll and small snort . Her lavender scales glinted in the cold light. It was mesmerizing. He forced his gaze away and back to the display. 

“Anything worth taking a closer look at?” He asked. Sure, girls typically loved jewelry and sometimes impulse-bought pretty things, but Mei was pretty good at thinking things through.

Mei gave a small hum. “No. They’re pretty to look at, but I don’t need any more,” she decided. She turned from the shop window and continued walking. Mikey followed. Mei took a sip of her drink- hot cider of some kind. Her muted orange turtleneck sweater hung off her frame, loose and thick and soft-looking and probably very huggable. Thick, beige pants that most certainly were fleece-lined were plaid-striped with various shades of coffee with various amounts of creamer. The pastel colors made her teal eyes really pop.  “So, conversations,” Mei started, knocking him out of his thoughts of ‘i’m cold but she’s beautiful i don't want to leave but i’m freezing down here, holy shell-’

“Mhmm?”

“How are you doing? Mentally, I mean,” she added as an afterthought.

“Oh, I’m fine,” Mikey answered, giving her a small smile.

“You sure?” She tilted her head at him, voice and eyes softening. “You’ve been awfully quiet today. You know you can talk to me about anything, right? I’m not majoring in psychology without good reason,”

Oh. Had she really noticed his quietness? Was it that obvious?

“Oh, I’m not- no, I mean-” Mikey took a deep breath to calm his flustered heart. He focused on the soft clip-clop of Mei’s hooves. “Yes. I know you’re here for me if I need to talk. No, it’s not that. I’m good, really, it’s just…” Mikey shrugged, “...cold.”

“Cold,” Mei repeated. She looked around the street. Most Yokai were still inside, but a few were out and about, hurrying from one destination to another. “Not… sad, bored, upset, or exhausted?”

Mikey hummed his agreement, taking another sip of his sweet hot chocolate. “And it has nothing to do with you, I swear,” he added oh-so-helpfully.

Her head tilted the other way. He spared a glance at her. How was she not cold? The tips of her ears looked paler than normal. Her eyes flicked up and down his body. Her scaled eyebrows furrowed. “But you’re dressed up in, like, ten more layers than I am. How are that cold? How’s that work?”

The question wasn’t demeaning or rude, just genuine and curious and worried  and without harm.

Mikey turned his face up towards where the sky was supposed to be. “Cold blood," he shrugged. "You know how it is."

Mei stopped again. This time to stare at him like he grew a second head. "No, I don't," she blinked. Then held a hand up, palm forward, "wait, backtrack, you're cold blooded?" 

Mikey also stopped and also stared. The realization smacked him in the face. "You're not!?"

"You are?!"

"I'm a reptile, of course I'm cold blooded! How are you not?"

"Most Yokai are warm blooded! I never would have asked you to come out in the cold if I had known!" She made her cup float and reached for him. "Show me your hands,"

Mikey obliged, taking his hand out of his pocket and resting it on one of hers. She lifted it closer to her snout and turned it supination- palm up.

“Spirits, your fingers are almost blue! Why didn’t you say anything?” Mei demanded in an oddly motherly tone, wrapping her own hands around his. Her hands were so warm… no wonder she wasn’t as cold as he was.

“You were enjoying yourself… I didn’t want to ruin it!”

“You could’ve said something!” She shot back, tone now creeping toward concern. “This is very worrying! We can go shopping some other time, we could’ve stayed inside! I don’t want you to just- I don’t know, drop to the floor in brumation like you’re dead or something,” she rubbed his hand as if trying to get his blood flowing again. Because that would help.

“Sorry,” Mikey apologized. “But I didn’t want you to feel bad for accommodating me. I want to spend time with you. I wanted to make you happy, ‘cause when you’re happy, I’m happy.”

Mei let out a little whimper-like noise, or perhaps it was a coo? “Mikey…” her expression couldn’t land on an emotion. She opened her mouth to say something but stopped when Mikey shivered again, and she stopped herself. “Here, let’s get out of the middle of the walkway.” Mei didn’t let go of his hand and dragged him over to a nearby bench. Her cider followed her in the air. She sat down, her long tail curled to outline the spot next to her, and tugged him down next to her.

Mikey of course obeyed, because who was he to deny her?

Mei wrapped her arm around his shoulders and pulled him close. Her tail plopped itself into his lap, a comforting, heavy weight. Mikey could feel a tug on his mug- his previously only source of heat- as Mei’s magic pulled it out of his hand. It watched it go up to hover alongside hers. “You’d better not mix those up, hot cocoa is sacred,”

“Don’t worry, I won’t. Should I ask Shangti to come pick us up? I’m sure he won’t mind taking us - well, you - back to the manor. Or I could carry you back. Or levitate us back-”

“Shangti have a car or s’mthing?”

“... a what?”

“Carrying it is then.”

~~~

Ten minutes later and they were drifting down from the air. The Tian Manor stood below them, seated on a cliff overlooking the rest of the Hidden City. He’d never been inside before- at least, outside of the times where he snuck onto Mei’s bedroom balcony just to see her, back when they were still a secret.

The building itself was almost 100 feet tall with three floors and ionic columns made of white marble marching up the sides. The walls were made of dark green stone- malachite, if he remembered from Mei’s history ramble- with a marble-like swirl pattern within it. They went through the front doors, through a mud room, and entered a huge foyer. They went under the landing of the two giant staircases circling the foyer.

“You have such a pretty house…” Mikey murmured, his voice muffled from his nose being tucked into his jacket and pressed against Mei’s front from the way he was being princess-carried.

“Glad you think so. Hopefully you’ll be ‘round here more often from now on. You know, when you decide against freezing to death.”

“Oh, please, it’s not that cold. At worst my heart stops beating for a while and I go comatose for a few days.”

He was promptly dropped onto a couch. “Sorry. What?”

“Box turtle thing,” Mikey exclaimed, making himself comfortable against the armrest. Mei disappeared from his sight, presumably to find some blankets or something. Their cups still floated in the air.

The mutant took the chance to examine whatever room he was in. The couch faced something that looked like it might be the Yokai version of a TV. Closer to him was a coffee table a shade lighter than the dark red-brown leather of the couch. Underneath the screen was a fireplace. Over to his left was something akin to a pool table.

“Game room?” He guessed.

“Hm? Oh, I suppose you could call it that. We call it the den,” Mei replied, popping back into sight with a bundle of rich, emerald green throw blankets. She helped him wrap himself up comfortably until it felt like he couldn’t move. Then she helped him free his arms so he could drink his now-room-temperature chocolate.

Mei, the solution to all of his problems today, crouched down by the fireplace and cast a small fireball spell. The hearth bursted into dancing yellow flames. His cocoa was once again torn from his grip and went to hover by the fire to reheat it. 

Mei sat down next to his blanket burrito and took his hands. “You feel like a corpse,” she noted.

“Happens to the best of us,” he replied with a small smile. She gave him a look before scooting closer. She took his hands and pressed them against her sides, under her sweater and against her scaly skin. Her elbows tucked against his hands to keep them in place.

Mikey’s eyes widened. Holy shell she was so warm. Is this what warm blooded creatures felt like all the time?!

He felt Mei’s muscles stiffen. He glanced up at her face to see it scrunched up, probably in effort not to recoil from his undoubtedly cold hands. He was pretty sure he was making a weird face too.

“What, never touched a corpse before?” Mikey tried to joke. It was Mei’s turn to shiver. Mikey was pretty sure he was blushing, if that was even possible.

“Miguel,” the yokai scolded. “Enough with the death jokes. They’re not funny.”

To you, he thought. Out loud, he apologized. “Sorry. Leo must be rubbing off on me.”

Mei huffed. Mikey shifted how his hands were positioned. It could've been ten seconds or a minute or an hour before he managed to compose himself enough to mumble, "your scales are soft,"

"... Thanks."

Mei didn't meet his gaze, but her cheeks were darker than they were supposed to be.

"What, I can't compliment my gorgeous girlfriend?"

Mei's face darkened further. It was adorable. "You warm yet?" She asked to avoid the question.

"Hm… mostly. My lips are still a little cold," he started, blinking up at her innocently, "care to help me with that?"

Oh, if only he could record the look she gave him. It made him want to giggle like they were fifteen all over again. So he did. And in the process of that, he pulled Mei by her waist so the Yokai flopped into him with a strangled yelp of surprise.

"ACK- Mikey!" She complained, wiggling against his hold. But alas, he was a building-thrower and the most Mei worked out was when she practiced her archery. Within a second Mikey had one arm wrapped firmly around her torso, pressing her against him now. Mei quickly gave up and lay limp against his plastron. Her tail flopped around clumsily behind her.

Mikey pulled out his most charming grin. "Can I get my daily dose of kisses now, my love?"

All of Mei's muscles melted with her annoyance. Her face and gaze softened into something adoring. Her hands moved to rest against Mikey's chest. Mikey moved his hand to rest against her warm cheek in turn. 

She sighed dramatically. "Oh, if I must." 

Then she leaned forward and pressed a gentle, warm, long kiss on his lips. It left his green skin tingling. "You're such a dork." All of the love in the world was stored in her voice. Mikey could feel his tail beginning to wag from its confines.

"Yeah. But I'm your dork, aren't I?"

"Yeah," she pecked his lips again.

And so they stayed like that, cuddling and trading sweet kisses, until the two fell asleep, until the sun reached its peak, and until a dark teal Qilin adjusted their blankets and answered the texts blowing up Michaelangelo's phone. They stayed like that as Shangti reassured the little box turtle's worried family that he was okay, that the Titans would take care of him, and that the two would return as soon as they awoke.

And so, they stayed.

#rottmnt #rottmnt mikey #rottmnt mikey x oc #rottmnt x oc #rise of the tmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #drabble #fanfic #oneshot #fluff #rottmnt michaelangelo

[booksandchainmail]

thoughts on the final? arc of Katalepsis

(this includes spoilers for the patreon advance chapters, specifically up to 24.2)

One: the setting change is an excellent idea. A big problem with any kind of long form horror is that eventually the fear wears off, and I think this is amplified in cosmic horror. There's only so long you can keep describing things as unknowable and indescribable and Wrong before it gets banal. But this final arc is neatly avoiding that by, after a few chapters to get across the weird, switching to a mostly metaphorical? pocket dimension? setting, where the horror can come from the twisted mundane.

And of course it has particular satisfying kind of full circle feeling: just as at the beginning of the story Heather is trapped, alone and restricted, surrounded by people sweetly, earnestly telling her to just behave and do what they say and not trust herself, and it's all in her best interest. Effective horror! And very satisfying to see how, even as she has to play along, she can do so without losing herself or compromising what she knows.

Two: I really like the character work going on for the rest of the cast. It's fucked up and disturbing to read, but very crunchy to think about. The way that in this world, everyone shows up as a mockery of themself.

The Caterpillars and Knights are easy, since they're pretty simple beings. It's spelled out in the text that the Caterpillars are explorers, but here trapped in a terrarium. And the Knights, built to be protectors, have been placed as prison guards

Twil has been... tamed is the word coming to mind. Cut down, placed in this pretty, preppy, meek upperclass respectability, robbed of all her roughness, and emotion, and aggressiveness, and confidence. This is a Twil who does not have a wolf inside her, who didn't grow up knowing she was faster and stronger than everyone around and utterly unharmable.

Evee is, I want to say, made a victim and only that. She's stuck back where she was as a teenager, her wounds still raw and bleeding, mobility aids removed, denied the safety and time that let herself heal, but also stripped from the drive (and Raine's help) that let her survive, just trapped with no escape from the woman who was killing her piece by piece.

And thinking ahead to the ones we haven't seen yet:

My first thought for Raine was to made conforming, but that's pretty much what's going on with Twil, so it would be redundant. Apart from that, I have two angles: one is Raine as she was before meeting Evee, aimless and drifting, no sense of purpose or meaning in her own life, on the outskirts of society. The other would be to pull from Raine's lack of an internal moral compass, her talent for and enjoyment of violence. Raine without having found people to structure herself around could be very, very dangerous, and either way (or both combined) I think this might lean into that. The caveat here is that if this asylum is trying less to shape them all in a way that is realistic but twisted, and more just to make them harmless, this would have to go differently.

Zheng, I think the obvious approach is to return her to being a zombie, just a corpse puppeted by a mage's will.

Lozzie, I think it will just mimic what her brother and uncle wanted to do to her. Treated like a child who can't make her own decisions, shoved into conformity... they've definitely taken her poncho.

Praem, I don't know entirely. Maybe she'll be one of the nurses, twisting her care into control?

Sevens is tricky, because I don't know if even this world can trap her. But if it can, I think it might have forced her into a single mask, which would be an utter unmaking of who she is. Alternately, if it's willing to give her more power, I could see her being made the puppetmaster of this place, with all her power and craft turned to a new type of story...

#katalepsis #katalepsis spoilers #getting this typed up before the next chapter tomorrow disproves all of it