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neonscandal · 3 months

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I read this from twitter, can I ask your thoughts, Neon? Somehow I felt like there is something wrong in here (this post) :

"Even if Geto was never able to learn RCT or Domain Expansion, at the end of Shibuya we saw how Kenjaku had a better understanding of Curse Manipulation than Geto ever did even after 20+ years of using his technique which indicates that Geto stopped trying to hone his technique.

We're constantly shown through the actions of current players how in retrospect other characters made the wrong decisions when they chose the easier path instead of facing their hardships head on and trying to become stronger themselves.

Geto chose to be the strongest among the weakest instead of trying to keep up the strongest which is another betrayal to Gojo. Gojo says this to Megumi because from his POV, he doesn't feel like he abandoned Geto but Geto abandoned him by not striving to get stronger as well."

Dusting off the haters ✨

Baby girl keeps catching so many strays.

This read is kind of interesting in calling Geto the strongest among the weakest which.. I actually kind of like but that's another point.

I don't know what OP is specifying as far as what Gojo says to Megumi to say Geto betrayed him, I don't recall anything that would make sense to have extrapolated that but we'll put that on the backburner for a minute.

We'll go point by point. In universe, not everyone has the ability to learn RCT or Domain Expansion so let's start there. Mind you, a Black Flash, which is a lot more attainable, is still not a feat that everyone is able to accomplish offhandedly. Nanami, a Grade 1 sorcerer, knew his 4 in one go was a feat. In fact, when Gojo took Yuji under his tutelage, he basically explained that, jujutsu power graduation system be damned, you're born as strong as you're going to be with the exception of the bit of power that is refined/honed. So, for most sorcerers entering into Jujutsu High, they're already at like 90% of their potential. Shoko's cursed technique is her ability to manipulate RCT just like Nitta's brother. It's not like you see either of them offensively applying any cursed energy. The offensive fighters you see who have mastered RCT as a cute, little add on bonus are those who are special grade and with an infinite or godly amount of cursed energy (Gojo, Yuki, Sukuna, Yuta who can copy techniques, etc.). Geto's CT involves eating curses to subjugate them. Subsequently, I'm not sure how much of that translates into actual cursed energy he can manipulate.

The humor of this understanding is the fact that Gojo says this knowing that he unlocked like... a great deal of his own potential and shattered the glass ceiling of his power. This is echoed in Yuji's power ups throughout the story which is also considered anomalous.

Cursed techniques are passed from generation to generation. Of course Kenjaku had a better understanding of Curse Manipulation than some yokel who was born to non-sorcerers?? Kenjaku has lived for hundreds of years. If you've been in jujutsu society for a bit, you have more of a flair for deciphering other peoples' techniques.

Good Will Event - Kyoto sorcerers try to keep their techniques somewhat of a secret. Even those who don't have an inherited technique have something to lose when someone gets wind of what exactly they're dealing with

Toji vs Gojo - There was so much lore about Six Eyes and Limitless that Toji was able to craft a trap around what he knew to wear Gojo down. Over time, word tends to get out about the limits of famed familial techniques. Gojo says, during his second fight with Toji, that there's somewhat of a manual when you inherit a technique but even Purple Hollow hadn't been something that a lot of people knew about.

Megumi in Shibuya - As a reader, we actually watch as Megumi works to determine what cursed technique or the conditions of a person's CT are as he's fighting them to figure out how to best them.

The advantage of simply knowing is shown repeatedly. But if we couple it with the assumption that you're already as strong as you're going to get... why would Geto question it? He's the genius of hard work but even he knew he and Gojo weren't on the same scale of strength just because they were The Strongest.

Now we get to the strongest of the weakest comment which I love because... isn't it just so? Geto, born of non-sorcerers carries the burden of protecting the defenseless to give meaning to his suffering. Kinda makes him seem a little more egocentric than we'd have previously given him credit for, right? When we consider this idea of being the "strongest of the weakest", it puts me in the mind of a few things:

The level of Geto's strength suited his purposes just fine. Geto simply wished to protect. In being able to do so, why would he strive for more? He had no grand design for the power bestowed upon him. Gojo was actually driven to be the strongest, excited by any opportunity to go all out when it arises. Gojo is strong for his own satisfaction. As such, I see where there would be a divergence in motivation and, subsequently, dedication. Geto was just happy being at Gojo's side as The Strongest duo.

A lot of people assume Gojo has a god complex (tbh this link also supports why Gojo is the way he is in general as to my first point). But this spin makes it seem like Geto is more god complex leaning (not completely, relax). After the humbling against Toji, Geto develops a full blown martyr complex before his brain chemistry and ideals radically change. But it's only possible because he views his power as a burden because of its unpleasantness in its practice but also the responsibility for others it subsequently damns him to (search "herd" to get to the point).

There are countless references to Buddhism in JJK, obviously. I'm not a practicing Christian but this idea very much puts me in the mind of Jesus, born of man, scorned by and sacrificed for man. Just another interesting perspective as to how doomed Geto was by the cage of his own morals.

Following Riko's death, Geto does stagnate. In his grief, his survivor's guilt, his PTSD. We see Gojo soaring to new heights with his cursed technique because he can. I'm not sure Geto ever had the capacity given my first few points. Just because he's a special grade does not actually make him on par with the likes of Gojo or Yuta. Obviously, he mastered Maximum Uzumaki, his finishing technique, he used it against Yuta.

The big difference between Kenjaku's competence and Geto's competence with Geto's technique is that Kenjaku was able to subjugate Mahito and co-opt Mahito's technique which I'm not sure Geto had done previously (re: utilize the cursed technique of a curse he'd imbibed). But that begs the question over whether that ability was something Geto could do with his technique or whether that was actually a benefit of Kenjaku's ability to body hop and take over other sorcerers' techniques. Even the Domain Expansion that we see Kenjaku perform later, avoiding spoilers, is not Geto's just because it was performed in Geto's body. It was Kenjaku's own Domain Expansion.

Gojo was very obviously hurt by Geto's defection. Namely because of what he lost, what he could not understand, and Geto's parting words. But I don't think, at any point, he ever felt betrayed by Geto. Least of all by his inability to keep up with him, per se. Why else would he call him, in present tense, his "best friend, his one and only" ten years after his defection? After considering OP's comment further, I assume they are referencing the deal that was made when Gojo goes to collect Megumi.

.... Is that a look of betrayal or a look of regret? Seems more like the latter, to me. In his heart of hearts, I don't think Gojo could bring himself to blame Geto. As far as Gojo was concerned, Geto was in the right more often than he was in the wrong. He was his moral compass, someone whose opinion he valued, someone he could confidently rely on. I think Gojo was more inclined to believe that he failed Geto, if anything. Geto left him questioning himself, as we see in the exchange with Yaga, but it also led him to the fact that it is not enough to simply be strong.

#neon asks #anon asks #manga with me #manga with me jjk #we are the strongest #jjk #stsg #satosugu #character analysis #jujutsu kaisen #geto suguru #suguru geto #gojo satoru #satoru gojo #jjk character analysis #jjk meta #jjk analysis #satosugu brainrot #jjk brainrot

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synthsays · 25 days

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Red Dead Modern AU: Synth Edition!

Sorry it took me so long to get it out there but it's here now and I love what I've made up so far >:D

They live out in the country first of all. Let's just say the town is Valentine (cuz I like the name). Dutch Hosea and Susan all co-own a big two story house (similar to the shady belle one but smaller and better kept together) and they own a decent plot of land where there's a handful of mobile home style smaller houses that the rest of the gang live in (some have tents and cars and stuff like that too) They also have cows and horses on their land too. There's and old run down church not far from the camp that's near a creek so they had a stock hold of stuff there (Reverend chills there too cuz I said so).

Now to get into the individual peeps.

So the town of Valentine is pretty far out there so they don't have a fully functioning police system, Dutch offers his men to help with standard stuff and to still have crime control without having to call out an actual squad of police (kind of like in Rhodes with the Grays) Colm Odriscoll also has a couple of his men in the basically volunteer police department so there's some rivalry there. The real rivalry started with a bar fight in the 90s between Colm and Dutch that ended with Annabel and Colm's brother both dying (they "took it outside" into the woofs so there were no witnesses besides them and Hosea) Basically they were both like "I won't turn you in if you don't turn me in" so it was a stalemate. Colm ODriscoll owns one of those all boys reform school ranches that turn out to be abusive, that's where Kieran works as a stable hand of course (Colm has his gang of people aside from the school). So basically Ducth has somewhat control over this town plus a rivalry with Colm. He's still a little crazy so he basically how they get Kieran to join there side is threatening him with incriminating evidence agaist him (dutch knows the reform school is bad so he's like "Hey kieran ur gonna get arrested big time cuz u work there even tho you didn't do anything we have this fake evidence agaist you so join us instead) so now he just is a stable hand at a different place. Now as I mentioned Strauss is the most tech savvy of them all (surprising ik) because he basically scams people online. So strauss is usually on the family computer which is just a clunky 2000s pc Hosea bought cuz he wanted to be cool and impress the kids. How they met John is that he was about to get dragged away by some police officer cuz he didn't have a guardian around or something but Dutch ran up to him like "That's where you are! Moms worried sick. Don't you ever run away again r- uuuuh *looks to Hoseas* rrrip...Van Winkle! Let's get you home, thank you officer." And the rest was history ig

Arthur: helps mostly on the farm with the cows and stuff (cowpoke lol), owns a really beat up truck (John crashed it)

Dutch: no license lol, manages money for the farm, selling etc., is a conspiracy theorist he has one of those red string boards, probably stays up all night looking at his phone (facebook), tries to be "hip" but fails miserably, infinite amount of Hawaiian shirts where dies he keep getting these-

Hosea: used to own a motorcycle, crashed it unfortunately, shoplifts because he thinks it's funny, is actually cool unlike Dutch, has a garden.

John: dropped out of highschool rip, ran away 100 times as a kid but always called when he was like somehow 15 miles away like "mom come pick me up I'm scared", duct tapes whatever is broken no matter what it is. Works with cows on the farm but usually let's arthur do the actual work

Tilly: most put together of the main family. Student teacher at the school, likes hunting and has deer antlers in her room, helps mostly with the horses on the farm.

Charles: national park ranger (works at the nearest one even though it's still a 2 hours drive or something like that so he wakes up really early), has a blog about nature and park rangers stuff.

MaryBeth: has a book club (they meet in the cafe every Friday 3 pm), fanfic writer, would have a pretty huge following

Pearson: owns a cafe (saves a table area for Mary beth on fridays), has a huge postcard collection, watches cooking TV shows religiously lol

Susan: facebook gossip (has one of those old lady groups), principal at the school, cigarette mom

Sadie: Works for animal control, owns a cabin with Jake

Kieran: loves bass pro, works as a stable hand, plays those stupid horse care mobile games, has a yt channel (centered around horses)

MaryBeth: has a book club (they meet in the cafe every Friday 3 pm), fanfic writer, would have a pretty huge following

Susan: facebook gossip (has one of those old lady groups), principal at the school, cigarette mom

Sadie: Works for animal control, owns a cabin with Jake

Kieran: loves bass pro, works as a stable hand, plays those stupid horse care mobile kids games, has a yt channel (centered around horses)

Trelawny: van life style travels around the country in a caravan, also has a yt channel the videos usually only have a couple likes, maybe one or two comments (centered very random stuff mostly magic tricks)

That's all I've got but RARARRA THE LORE I WILL GO INSANE PLZ ASK ME ABOUT IT!

#i really like my modern au...#i know exactly where it is because the farm is this house that i always passed whenever we'd go to the creek as a kid and then right next-#to the creek was that boarded up church that still had all the stuff inside it #its so cool #ill make a mapa md art for it one of these days #PLZZZ ASK ME ABOUT THE LORE I HAVE SK MUCH IDEAS #ill finsih the peep descriptions later ;-;#rdr2 modern au #rdr2 #red dead redemption #red dead redemption 2 #arthur morgan #john marston #dutch van der linde #hosea mathews

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backtothefanfiction · 7 months

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You Can't Outrun The Reaper | A Joel Miller x Reader Story

Summary: He thought he was saving her life, turns out he was just delaying the inevitable, the reaper will always take what's his.

Warnings: 18+ Only. Genre typical violence, smut, mentions of blood, guns, attempted sexual assault, infected, angst, nostalgia, running for your life, no use of Y/N, a little smut, small daddy kink, oh and of course death.

Word Count: 5.6k

A/N: @amy172 went absolutely, and I quote, "bananas" over the little Joel blurb I wrote the other day and asked for more. Now, that was only supposed to be one short thing, but somehow while at work my mind went wondering and somehow we ended up here. I am not an expert on the series, I know a little about the game from having very nerdy friends who were into it when it first came out and of course watched the series when it was released but haven't rewatched or read many other fanfics since (well until the last couple days anyway) so if things don't sound right, I apologies, hopefully you'll like it anyway. There is honestly so much f*cking pain coded into this story but hey... enjoy.

Running. So much running. That’s all she’d known for months now, however over the last week, she felt like she’d run more than she had ever run since outbreak day.

“Bobby, what did you do?” she chastised her brother, a look of horror on her face.

They had been raiding an old minimart when he had found the stupid shooting game in the back. She had told him not to. Told him to leave it alone, but no, her stupid man child of a 34 year old brother couldn’t help himself.

Ever since the outbreak it had been just them. Her Mom had called her frantically on the phone, “There’s something wrong with Darren!” she screeched down the phone. Darren, their step dad, not that either of them ever referred to him as that. She had been 26, Bobby 29, when their Mother had remarried. “Darren, honey.” she heard her Mom’s voice say tentatively down the line. There was screaming before the line went dead. Her and Bobby had immediately hopped in the car to travel to her, but they never made it.

It had happened so fast. “Look there’s nothing out there. They’re all hanging around closer to the QZ where there’s life.” Bobby had said. “It’ll be fine.”

He had plugged the game in, it starting up with this awful techno music from the 90s, Bobby grabbed one of the guns holstered to the console as he clicked buttons. Pew! Pew! It was so loud.

“Bobby, turn it off. TURN IT OFF!” she said louder as she wrestled the gun from his hands before reaching to pull the plug. There was sudden silence.

“See I told you it would be fine.”

He had spoken too soon. There was a loud snarl as a body came hurtling down from upstairs.

“RUN!” Bobby had said. “Go! RUN!”

Bobby raced to where he had left his gun next to the cash register, the creature racing after him. She watched over her shoulder as she began to race down one of the small aisles, her heartbeat pounding in her ears, adrenaline coursing through her body. She picked back up her own backpack and knife. She froze at the shadow of another human shaped creature moving past the window. Fuck.

There was one gun shot after another and she turned her head to see her brother, wrestling with the fungus covered 20 year old. “Bobby watch out!” she cried as she began to tip one of the shelves over onto the kid.

“Quick, let's go!” Bobby grunted as they raced to the door but he suddenly jolted still, the feeling of a hand tightly grasped around his ankle holding him in place. He pulled his leg hard, the fingernails of the young 20 something year old now half trapped under the shelf stack, scratching at his skin as he pulled himself free.

She pulled her own gun out of her bag as she exited the main door of the shop, her body turning in the direction of the other body she had noticed through the window. She fired once, twice, the second hitting the infected in the head and it collapsed onto the ground, just as her brother came out of the shop, fast on her heels.

“Quick, back towards the trees.” Her brother said. She didn’t second guess his judgement as she ran. Even after they reached the treeline she didn’t stop. She just kept going.

She didn’t stop until her limbs were screaming, her chest heaving, lungs burning. She braced her hands on her thighs as she doubled over taking deep gasping breaths. “Did we out run them? Are they gone?” she panted. Nothing. She stood up, her hands bracing her side as she turned around, “Bobby?” He wasn’t there, she was alone. “Bobby?” she asked again a little louder as she began to double back.

She caught up with him, hunched over his leg, his back resting against a tree trunk, panting. “Bobby.” she hissed with relief.

When he looked up at her, his face told her everything. When she looked down to his hands wrapped around his leg it only confirmed things more. Two large bite marks were on his leg.

“Dolly, you need to get out of here.” he said as she began to shake her head. “Dolly-”

“No. NOO,” she wailed a little louder, her throat closing up, tears welling in her eyes. “I can’t lose you too! No..”

He watched as her face screwed up, her lip trembling. “You can’t stay here! You’ve gotta go!”

“Where am I supposed to go? What am I supposed to do!”

“Head back to the QZ.” She shook her head. “No, you need to go back. You can’t stay out here on your own.”

“No.”

“Go!”

“No.” she shook her head again but her feet were already stepping backwards.

“GO!” he shouted.

She couldn’t say goodbye. She had to pretend he’d be coming back. That she was going on ahead and he would catch up.

She thought that again now as her feet pounded into the concrete, her lungs burning, thighs and arms aching but she had to push forward, she couldn’t let them get her.

“Where are you going baby?”

“Yeah come back here!” Their voices jeered at her.

She had run out of bullets two days ago. She did still have her knife but to use it she’d have to be up close to them and she knew that would be pointless. They were both much larger than her, they’d over power her the second they got their hands on her. She needed to keep running.

She darted into an open door, making her way through the rooms of the lower half of the building, looking for a back door. Shit! It had long been barricaded, there was no way she’d be able to move the furniture in time to get through it. At the sound of footsteps behind her she knew it was already too late anyway.

“Come here, baby.”

“We just want to have some fun.” They cooed to her as they circled her, backing her into the corner of the room.

“No. NO!” she said as she flashed them her knife, snarling at them like a honey badger, trying to make herself seem more deadly than she was, or at the very least like she’d be too much of a hassle.

They just laughed as they lunged at her. She screamed and cried out as the knife was ripped from her hands, her body wrestled to the floor. She could feel their hands, groping at her body and her clothes and she closed her eyes as she fought the helpless cries and sobs that tore from her throat.

“HEY!” A gruff voice shouted from the doorway.

The two men stilled and she slowly opened her eyes as their hands removed themselves from her body.

“Hey, man.” One of them said as he sidled up to the man standing in the doorway. “Why don’t you go and find your own-” The man didn’t get to finish his sentence before there was a gunshot.

Her hands flew up instinctively to her head, covering her face as the other guy who had been assaulting her lunged forward for the man in the doorway. She held her body tight in a ball against the wall as she listened to the scuffle. Grunting and groaning, the cling of metal, she assumed one of them had picked up her knife.

“Hey get the fuck off me man!” she heard her attacker cry before- BANG! There was another shot and a loud thud as another body hit the floor.

She whimpered as she continued to push herself against the wall, her eyes closed tight as she heard heavy footsteps make their way towards her. The light changed as he crouched down, his body looming over her. She flinched when his hand rested upon her shoulder.

“GET AWAY FROM ME!” she screamed.

“Hey, hey, hey.” the guy's deep voice said softer. She slowly lifted her head.

“Dolly?” He said, as recognition took over.

“JOEL!” she cried out as her own recognition of her saviour took place, her arms quickly wrapping around his neck, her fingers clinging onto his shirt for dear life. She sobbed into his shoulder.

“Hey, it’s okay. It’s okay.” he tried to soothe her as he placed his gun down on the floor and pressed a large reassuring hand to her back.

She suddenly pushed herself back, half desperate for air, half desperate to check it was really him. Yes, it was him.

‘Fuck! Dolly, what are you doing here?” Her chest twinged at the old nickname, a memory of a life that felt so long ago, not just a few months. It was one thing to hear it from her brother, another to hear it from someone she’d barely known before all this happened.

Dolly. Dolly Daydream. It’s what her Dad had called her. She’d always had her head up in the clouds. It was exactly where she had been the moment she first met Joel. Him and Tommy interrupting her in the office to come and get their paychecks. Her Dad had hired them to come and do some work on the housing estate his firm was building, needing the extra pair of hands.

“Dolly, where’s Bobby?” his gruff voice pressed her when she remained silent. The way her face fell he already knew. It was a look everyone had grown accustomed to. The ‘they aren’t here no more’ look, the ‘they’re one of them now’ look. “Where were you headed?” he asked her and she fought to find her voice, her throat hoarse from screaming.

“To the QZ. Bobby told me to go- but then they-” she hastily explained as she looked at the two bodies now on the ground.

“Don’t look at them.” Joel said grounding her, forcing her to look at him and only him. “Is that where you wanna go?” Joel pressed her, his deep brown eyes boring into her.

“I don’t know.” she replied honestly. There was a silence between them. “Joel, I’ve got no one left.”

“That’s not true.” he tried to reassure her. “You’ve got me okay? I’m gonna get you out of here okay. Find you somewhere safe.”

“Okay.” she said quietly, her head instinctively agreeing and nodding before she could even process what that would mean.

She let him escort her back to the QZ, sneaking her in through a secret route in the side before taking her back to his assigned apartment.

“Who’s that?” Tess had asked him when she had got back an hour later.

“Tess, this is Dolly.” Joel had introduced them. “I ummm, I used to work for her Dad sometimes.”

“Okay, but what is she doing here?” Tess pressed him.

“She’s got nowhere else to go. The rest of her family are gone Tess. It was lucky I found her.” Joel tried to explain in a way that told Tess there was no question about it, Dolly would be staying with them and that was that.

“So what Joel you just sneak her in? That’s not how this is done and you know it. What happens when they find out? What if she’s carrying the virus?”

“She’s not.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I checked.”

Dolly felt awkward as she listened to them argue in the kitchen from the small living room.

“I can just go.” She had said to Joel after Tess had stormed out.

“No, don’t be ridiculous.” Joel reassured her, his hand resting on her thigh as he sat next to her on the couch.

The moment reminded her of another. Her birthday, a couple years ago. They had all gone out to a local bar for a drink. Tommy and Joel had been invited by her brother at the last minute. She had been drinking gin. mother’s ruin they called it and they weren’t wrong. Just another long line of things she had picked up from her mother. Mother knows best after all. They had taken a moment out from dancing, her head growing dizzy, Joel, not one for dancing, keeping her company as he helped her back towards an empty leather sofa.

“You doing okay there?” he checked in with her as she flopped onto the leather sofa, a grin on her face.

“Yup.” She smiled like the Cheshire cat under his ministrative gaze. She swayed from side to side slightly before she closed the space between them, her lips locking onto his. He instinctively pulled away from her but his hand still reached to cradle her cheek. She thought he was about to reject her but he didn’t. He was merely checking to make sure she wasn’t so drunk he would feel like he’d be taking advantage of her.

She wanted to get lost in the memory, to wrap herself in it, but so much had happened, she couldn’t. “What happened to Sarah?” she instead asked quietly. He didn’t say anything. His whole body went rigid at her name. He couldn’t even look at her to show her that face. But she knew. “I’m sorry Joel.” she quickly said, trying to brush it away, but it was out there now. It almost killed her when he left the room and went and closed himself in his bedroom.

Two weeks after she had first arrived she felt like she was beginning to go crazy. Always kept shut away in the apartment just in case anyone noticed her.

“You should take her back out the way you first came in and take her round to be properly registered, then she can go out and sign up for jobs so she’s not so cooped up.” Tess had tried to reason with Joel but for some reason he couldn’t. He wouldn’t. “She’s a person Joel, not a pet.”

“I don’t think she’s a pet.” Joel tried to defend himself. “A pet wouldn’t tidy up around here.” Joel observed.

It had been the only thing she could do, keep the tiny apartment clean for all of them.

“Okay, so what about sneaking her out on runs?” Tess enquired. “She seems resourceful enough.”

“No.” Joel said as a matter of fact. He didn’t want her going back out there. Didn’t want her risking her life the way they did. She had already lost too much. Heck she was still grieving the loss of her whole family.

“Fine.” Tess said as she began packing up a bag with things.

“Where are you going?” Joel asked her.

“Well somebody’s gotta put food on the table.” she said. “I’m going to do a job for Marlene.” Joel looked at her like she was crazy. “There’s three of us here now Joel and if you won’t go register her properly so we have enough food rations for all of us, then it means we gotta step up and do some jobs we don’t wanna do.”

He sighed in acknowledgement. She was right. He just didn’t know what it was. There was something about having Dolly back in his life, that familiarity and nostalgia for who he used to be, who he tried to still be around her, it made him feel closer to Sarah. Closer to how things had been.

He didn’t mean to start sleeping with her. It was just familiarity. You couldn’t call it a one night stand if it had happened three, maybe four times. A casual hook up maybe. She had kissed him that night when they had gone out for her birthday. 29. Half a decade or so isn’t really that much of an age gap but he still didn’t want her dad or brother finding out. They’d snuck out together, Joel claiming he was taking her home because she was too drunk.

Her apartment had been cosy. Just a small little one bedroom thing above one of the shops in town. They hadn’t made it to her bed, simply fucking on the couch, her sat in his lap, grinding and moan as he fucked up into her. She had wanted him to stay, maybe go for a second round in the morning, or at the very least have breakfast but he couldn’t, he needed to be back for Sarah.

He’d left his number though asking her to give him a call if ever she was feeling lonely. He hadn’t been ready for a relationship, he didn’t want to complicate Sarah’s life but Dolly was nice to look at and he had to admit, a man has needs.

It was hard for him not to look at her through that lens now. Tess figured it out that very first week of Dolly being there that Joel used to fuck her, that he had a soft spot for her. She tried not to be jealous, after all her and Joel hadn’t been in each other's lives that long, they hadn’t had the relationship conversation. They were just companions and who was she to compete with this woman who was almost 10 years younger than her, not long turned 31. She hadn’t had kids, still had fairly perky tits and when she looked at Joel she seemed to have a twinkle in her eye. A glimmer of hope amongst the ruins of their life. History.

Tess was gone four days in total. The first day was tense, Joel pacing around silently stuck in his thoughts. Dolly tried not to disturb him or get under his feet. She merely observed him from her spot on the couch, a book resting against her bunched up knees to entertain herself. He ultimately went to bed early without a single word.

It made her feel awkward. She’d heard how he and Tess had spoken about her. It made her feel like a burden. “Joel, I want to do more.” she said to him the next morning over a measly breakfast of toast.

“What are you talking about? You do plenty.” He had tried to say.

“Tess is right, you know. If we registered me properly-”

“No.” He said. “No, I don’t want you-”

“I can’t stay cooped up in here forever Joel. I need sunlight, I need fresh air.”

“It’s the QZ Dolly, the air ain’t that fresh.”

“You know what I mean.” she said.

“I’ll think about it.” he said before he put on his jacket and went out to do chores.

When he got back they didn’t talk about it. Instead he did everything he could to talk about anything else, to use her as an escape. He asked her about her book, which turned into a discussion about her favourite books. He asked questions about stuff he remembered from her apartment. Where she had gotten her Garfield cookie jar? How he wished they had some of her plants to liven up the space. He asked her about what she had done for work before she had gone to work for her father keeping the books. “I never asked, where does Dolly come from?” It was a conversation that lasted from the time he had gotten back until well past midnight when they finally went to bed.

When she woke up the next day he had already gone to do chores. She tidied things up from the night before, before settling down and starting another dusty looking book that had been left forgotten by the original tenants of the apartment all those months ago.

She was taking a shower when Joel got home, dropping his keys on the table, he froze at the sound of her singing in the shower. She had left the door ajar, whether an invitation or just because she didn’t think he’d be back before she was done, he wasn’t sure. He couldn’t help but find himself walking across the floor towards the half open door, the steam filling the air. It was like a siren calling sailors to their deaths, he knew it was a bad idea but he couldn’t help it.

He heard her voice falter a moment as the door creaked open announcing his presence. When her song continued he knew it was okay. He wasn’t sure why he was doing it, but he was suddenly stripping off his clothes, leaving them in a pile on the floor. ‘He was just saving water,’ he thought to himself, ‘it’s not like he hadn’t seen her naked before or she him’ he reasoned.

He shifted the curtain aside and her singing turned to humming as she took a small look over her shoulder as if to double check it was in fact him. It felt so domestic, so familiar. They had in fact showered together once. It had been the middle of summer, they had been in the middle of a heatwave when he snuck out and over to hers for a late night booty call. They were so sweaty, both of them covered in each other's arousal, a cold shower had been needed before he could go back home again.

His fingers brushed her wet hair aside, allowing him access to nuzzle into her neck. “Don’t stop.” he said as her breathing hitched, her little tune coming to an abrupt stop as his hands began to wander down her sides. She closed her eyes, exhaling deeply as her back leaned into his chest behind her.

“Joel.” she sighed as his lips began to drag across her shoulders.

“Please Dolly, I just wanna forget. Can we just pretend for a little bit? Imagine we’re back in that little apartment of yours, sneaking around behind everyones back, everyone still-”

“Don’t say it.” she quickly interjected, not wanting the fantasy ruined.

“Okay, then sing for me then.”

“Stars shining bright above you,” she began, “Night breezes seem to whisper, I love you. Birds singing in the sycamore tree, dream a little dream of me.” she sang as his hands continued to glide over her soap covered body.

He suddenly spun her around, his lips attaching onto hers as he pushed her back into the tiles, his body leaning into the water of the shower head. He ran his hand up her left thigh, pulling it up to wrap around his body, allowing himself to nestle himself between her legs.

“Joel.” she panted as he began to run his lips along her jaw, then down her neck before she grabbed his face and latched her lips back onto his. His tongue reached out to lick into her mouth and she opened up willingly to him.

“I need to feel you.” he said as he removed his mouth from hers again.

“Not here.” she said.

He turned off the water and wrapped her in a towel before he carried her over his shoulder to his bedroom, laying her back down onto the sheets. He quickly leaned over her, his lips latching on to hers again. Her fingers flew into his damp hair, pulling him into her. His fingers reached up to pull at the tuck of her towel, revealing her body to him again.

His fingers traced down the familiar contours of her body, the rough pads of his fingertips dragging across her soft sensitive skin. His large hand, palmed at her breast and he couldn’t help but bite her lower lip as she moaned in reaction to his touch.

His fingers and his lips continued to trail down further and further until his knees were resting on the floor at the end of the bed, his mouth trailing kisses closer and closer to her awaiting cunt. “Fuck baby, you still get so wet for me.” he cooed as he spread her legs wider with his hands. He wrapped his hands around her hips before he pulled her closer to the end of the bed and his awaiting mouth.

She let out a moan, her head relaxing back amongst the messed up covers as he licked a thick stripe through her folds. “Still taste so sweet for me too.” He said as he took a breath before diving back in.

He had figured out early on the first time they started having sex that his words got a reaction from her. Given her affiliation for books and reading he wasn’t too surprised. Sarah’s mom had hated that kind of stuff. Said it always made her cringe and he was fine with that, kept that side of him hidden, but after Sarah had been born a different kind of hunger and need had set in a single word. Daddy.

As if right on queue, “Fuck, daddy.” she panted. God how he had missed the way she had called him that. It had just come out the second time they had fucked. He had been the drunk one this time and the request had just fell from his mouth as he had been fucking into her from behind. She hadn’t questioned it just said, “Fuck! Yes! Daddy!” As she backed her ass back into him.

It hit differently now though, he wasn’t an actual daddy anymore. As if feeling his hesitancy against her cunt she looked up, saw the slight anguish in his face. When she met his eyes, it was a silent agreement, that term was no longer on the cards.

“Joel.” she said tentatively as she reached out for him, guiding his face away from that place between her legs, encouraging him instead to come and kiss her again.

They shuffled up the bed, laying back down amongst the covers. She wished she could kiss his pain away, suck it right out of him. She rolled him onto his back as she straddled his waist. She was still wet enough for him to slide right in. They took a moment for them both to adjust, their lips still intertwined before he started to slowly thrust up into her. It was soft, sweet, sensual; all the things their sex had never been before. It was sad, it was nostalgic, but it warmed them both, provided a connection neither one of them had had in a while.

“Fuck, I need you.” he said against her lips, his fingers holding tightly to her hips, guiding her up and down the length of his cock. “I needed this. Needed you.”

“Joel.”

“No.No.No.” he said, quickly cutting her off, not wanting her to say something that would take him out of this moment. He thrust up into her deeper and her breathing hitched, his lips eager to chase her moan, to swallow it, to let it live inside him and transform him from the inside out.

She could feel her climax rising, but she felt something else too, a pull at her chest, a knowing feeling of ‘this couldn’t last’, because it never did.

“Come on, let’s go.” Tess called out as they made their way out of the QZ. Joel had finally caved. After weeks of begging from both Dolly and Tess, it was finally agreed, Dolly would go out on a run with them. The deciding factor, they couldn’t leave her alone with no food for a week while they went out searching for the shit those stupid fireflies needed.

“You stay close to me, okay?” Joel said, gun in hand, finger near the trigger, always on alert.

“Joel, she’s not a child.” Tess said, handing Dolly a gun of her own. “You know how to use this right?” Tess checked.

“Yeah, my brother taught me.” Dolly said as she felt the weight of the gun in her hands. She’d also packed her knife, tucking it into the side of her backpack, ready to get out if she needed it, but not gonna get in the way or hurt her during their hike. And it was a hike.

She hadn’t had this much exercise in weeks. “Hold up.” Joel said to Tess as she began to fall behind. Tess grumbled but relented.

“We need to get to the outpost by sundown.” she said.

“I know, I know.” He said, waving her off as he stepped closer to Dolly.

“You good?” he checked in with her, a gentle hand to her arm.

“Yup.” she nodded, but her hand rubbed at a stitch in her side. “Told you you shouldn’t have kept me cooped up in that apartment like that.”

“Hey, I thought you enjoyed the exercise you got.” he joked quietly so Tess wouldn’t hear. After that first afternoon they had kept fucking. Usually it was when Tess was out but they couldn’t help it. One or two times he had snuck back out into the living room under the guise of getting a glass of water, only to find himself drinking from between her legs instead. Other times they would stay up talking when Tess went to bed first and she had taken his length into her mouth and Joel would have to fight to contain himself.

“Shut up.” she pushed him and he let out a breathy chuckle.

“Come on you two, stop fucking around, lets go.” Tess shouted back to them, but suddenly there was a gunshot. Then a second one. They ducked for cover as bullets began to embed themselves in the rubble of the buildings around them. “Fucking scavengers.” Tess snarled.

Joel propped his elbows up on the hood of a car as he scoped with his rifle for a target. Dolly braced herself against the car at his side as he took the shot before he ducked back down for his own cover again.

“You okay?” He checked in with her as she got her own gun ready. She didn’t say anything, too scared to find her voice, but she nodded.

“Shit, we need to fall back.” Tess shouted over to them from her cover as the scavengers began to press in on them.

“Head back that way.” Joel motioned with his hand, indicating a series of raided buildings that had mostly remained intact despite the firebombs from months back.

They ran for cover, quickly getting split up as they bobbed and weaved through the different old doorways and upstairs. Dolly had followed Joel as closely as she could. He’d asked her to stay close to him and she did. She was oddly reminded of just a few weeks back as they raced across an abandoned office space.

“Get down under here and don’t move until I say so.” Joel said as he motioned for her to climb under one of the desks.

“Joel.” she hissed.

“Wait there. I’ll draw them away and come back to you.”

“Hey, over here.” A voice called out from the doorway and there was a flurry of footsteps as they continued to chase Joel through a door at the other end of the office.

He had told her to wait there but she couldn’t. There were so many of them. Lord knows where Tess had got to and there was no way he could take them all on his own. She creeped out from her hiding place, briskly walking towards the door Joel and the other men had gone through.

It lead to a stairwell and she took it down, following the echoing sounds of a commotion at the bottom. When she got down there, there were two bodies lying dead at the base of the stairs, another propped a door open. She continued to follow the trail of bodies to where she could hear Joel’s grunts of exertion as he wrestled with the final two men.

He had been able to push one back, just enough space and time for him to disarm the other assailant and use his own gun to shoot him in the head, his body crumbling. There was a cling of metal and a snarl as the other guy Joel had originally pushed back, picked up a knife off the floor and began to charge at Joel.

It happened too quickly, Joel couldn’t stop it. “Nooo!” Dolly cried as she ran forward, placing herself between Joel and the assailant.

“DOLLY NO!” Joel cried.

She stilled as the knife struck her between her ribs. She knew she hadn’t thought this through, knew it was reckless but she couldn’t watch him die, couldn’t let him-.

There was a gunshot behind them as Tess came into view of the doorway. As their attacker collapsed to the floor, he pulled the knife back out, taking it with him.

Joel quickly leaned forward to catch her, she had gone as white as a sheet, her legs giving out from underneath her. “Dolly!” His voice called out to her trying to ground her. “Dolly? Stay with me baby. Come on, stay with me.”

“Joel!” Tess shouted at him.

They could both see it, there was so much blood. Joel pressed his hands to the wound but it wasn’t doing anything. She was bleeding out.

“Come on baby, come on.” Joel kept repeating.

“Joel.” Her voice was raspy, vision spotting. “Thank you.”

“No. Thank you.” He pressed. “Thank you.” His voice was breathy, tears welling in his eyes.

“I guess you can’t outrun the reaper.” She said breathlessly as her hand fought to touch his face one last time but it was so heavy. Joel reached for it, completing its mission, cradling her blood soaked hand to his cheek.

Her vision went hazy and white at the edges and a figure began to step forward. She fully expected Thanatos, his black cloak and scythe but as the figure stepped forward she saw their stature was a lot smaller, a mass of curls billowing out of the top of her head. She reached out her hand for Dolly.

Her body went limp in his hands. He couldn’t speak. He had no words. His head fell into her chest as he sobbed. She had been his last remaining tie he had to his old life. Now he had nothing.

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

@amy172 @morgaussy @fanfictionaddiction99 @ianknights @lillithpanda

#Joel miller #Joel miller x reader #reader insert fanfiction #the last of us #tlou fanfic #joel miller one shot #joel miller imagine #joel miller smut #joel tlou #tess tlou #no y/n

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derseprinceoftbd · 7 months

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In honor of the new Upd8, here's the updated version of my Personal Homestuck Explainer.

An explainer for Homestuck, typed up on a Google doc for Reddit, and now transplanted onto Tumblr, and too long to fit in a single reddit comment. Most explainers I've seen utterly fail to get the tone of the series across, thus not answering the main question I see: "what is Homestuck *and why is it like this*". Why does it evoke the reactions it does? Why are so many things considered a reference? Who is Vriska? (I can't actually explain that one in under 3000 words, it turns out.) But, here's a briefer briefer (heh) on the subject of "What the actual fuck is Homestuck":

Andrew Hussie, a person (now going by any pronouns) then known for various obscure things around the net, made an interactive reader-driven comic-type-thing called Jailbreak where he would draw panels demonstrating the events of the story as dictated by other posters in the thread, putting his favored suggestions in the narration and responding in kind. The happenings and variables were influenced by his own strange brand of humor and set of fascinations, such as rap, horses, clowns, and H!rry P!tter as a cultural presence. He would eventually compile this, along with the unfinished followup, Bard Quest, on its own website.

The third installment of the so-called MS Paint Adventures, Problem Sleuth, was a massive step up in production value, featuring impressive art and output speed as well as evolutions such as some pages being flashing gifs. This sort of thing was considered to be one of the best demonstrations of the potential of the internet. It ran for 1674 pages over the course of about a year.

Homestuck was the followup to that, running 8123 pages from April 13th 2009-2016 with numerous hiatuses in the latter half of that time. It featured such advancements as videos with sound, small WASD-controlled computer games on various pages, and most significantly, actual conversations between characters, semi-hidden behind clickable boxes at the bottom of some pages, allowing them to become three-dimensional and truly sympathetic. Hussie, it would soon be revealed, was heavily skilled at writing compelling and unique character voices and dialogue writing in general.

Homestuck was definitely the most complex MPSA, with a grand overarching plot being integrated into the results of the actions of the readers. The plot revolved around an in-universe game called SBURB with the power to influence reality, sort of a Jumanji with time-travel mechanics that would soon be revealed to be the centerpiece of reality itself, destroying the home planets of its players to motivate them to enter the world of the game and fulfill an unknown grand purpose, complete with millions of fully sentient NPCs. (Homestuck is, technically, an isekai.)

Homestuck has been described as "a story that's also a puzzle", and this lens has gained authorial approval; events are often told anachronistically, as a kitchen sink of high-concept ideas are explored by a man who sometimes wants to show off his semi-deconstructive version of a classic sci-fi/fantasy trope, sometimes wants to infuriate readers through anticlimaxes and misdirections, and sometimes wants to just go off on a tangent about a random movie from his childhood that somehow soon becomes integral to the plot in an absurdly esoteric fashion.

Eventually the suggestions from readers became so numerous and difficult that the suggestion boxes were closed near the end of the first year, leading to less meandering from Act 4 onwards, but the influence of the audience remained; one easy example is a character only seen from the top half initially being theorized on the official forums as using a wheelchair, a fact which would not only become Canon, but highly relevant.

The early MSPAs curated an audience through programming humor and 80s-90s film references as filtered through the styles of Terry Pratchett, Mark Twain, and the Something Awful forums, but the audience for Homestuck, due to the nature of the characters, was markedly different, especially after the Trolls showed up.

You've probably seen them.

The Trolls, initially presented as some extremely odd and bothersome fellows on the internet, were soon shown to be a race of grey-skinned, orange-horned aliens. Trolls possessed multicolored blood in both organized castes and clear deviations, psychic abilities, unique typing styles, insectoid traits as opposed to hominid, near-universal bisexuality with the sole known exception being Sapphic, and a complex romantic system with its own symbols, comically vague-yet-comprehensive reproductive system, and of course, relationship dynamics.

I cannot express how perfect the Trolls were in terms of catching on. Tumblr loved these fuckers and it's not at all hard to see why.

It's also worth noting that this wasn't the only market-perfect part of Homestuck; Classpecting, the equivalent of Hogwarts Houses, featured a 144/168/288/336/384(depending on who you ask and what they count)-strong grid system of human personality traits that not only seemed eerily accurate as a personality mapper, but corresponded to what elemental powers one received in the game of SBURB.

So... yeah. Homestuck was an incredibly complex and engaging work, driven by a single incredibly talented and flawed creative voice, which was perfectly made to attract a massive, unabashedly bizarre/proudly cringe, and notably largely queer fanbase across a younger internet; you may well be aware of incidents such as cosplay failures and inappropriate recreations of Troll culture. The style of presentation, art, and character writing was instantly recognizable and relatively easy to imitate, leading to fanfiction and even fanmade adventures galore, most of the latter hosted on MSPFA.com.

The main site for Homestuck is broken now-it's recommended that new readers download the [Unofficial Homestuck Collection](https://bambosh.dev/unofficial-homestuck-collection/), and starting with Problem Sleuth to ease into the format and writing is a pretty popular choice. The ending is also considered generally quite poor in a number of ways, particularly regarding unfollowed foreshadowing and blatant abandonment of character arcs, with some fans even [making](https://friendlybatteringram.tumblr.com/tagged/altstuck) their own [works](https://mspfa.com/?s=44153&p=1) as [substitutions](http://mspfa.com/?s=12003&p=1). You can find The Homestuck Epilogues (a sequel novel) on the official site, and Homestuck^2 Beyond Canon (a sequel webcomic after the Epilogues) on its own website, but neither of these are very well liked by fans (at all). YouTube also has several dubs of the comic; by far the largest and most popular is [Voxus](https://youtube.com/@Voxus), which has unfortunately slowed to a crawl at around the 65% mark.

Content warnings for Homestuck include: blood, violence including decapitation, clowns, brainwashing/mental possession, dicks-out furry bara art in the background of like ten pages, brief black-and-white nudity, swearing, the R-slur, a joke about an acronym organically forming the F-slur, child abuse, discussed child abuse and homophobia, mocking of the disabled (as an unsympathetic action), cartoonish levels of sexism (as an unsympathetic action), statements that an antagonist is analogous to Hitler, mocking of otherkin, a minor character being a racial stereotype of Japanese people (Damara), a somewhat major character being a stereotype of Black people (Meenah), minor characters being stereotypes of disabled people (Meulin and Mituna), a controversial and prominent depiction of blindness, eye trauma, underage alcoholism, written depections of noncon facilitated by mind control (as an unsympathetic action), sexual assult (an unwanted kiss, as an unsympathetic action), jokes about pedophilia, and child grooming (textually 100% non-sexual, but sexually-coded).

Also: when I said the Trolls type weird, I wasn't kidding. Every character gets at least one color for their speech text, plus a pattern for how they type, generally worse for the Trolls, ranging from "no caps" to "British" to "drunk" to "ebonics" to "aLtErNaTiNg" to WH4T3V3R TH3 FUCK K1ND OF L33TSP34K BS T3R3Z1 1S DO1NG. So that's worth a warning.

And that's as abridged as you can get when summing up Homestuck.

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skelleste · 4 months

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2023 Art Summary

Some of the many things I worked on over the past 365 days. More details below.

Happy New Year!

Just like last year, 2023 was full of even more character art, including a brand spanking new OC. You haven't seen much of the comic yet, because it's not done, but there's been progress on that in the background as well. I also started commissions last March. None are featured in this post so I could focus more on original art, but I wanted to give a special thank-you to all my past commissioners. Not a single one of you were a customer service nightmare, in fact it was quite the opposite. I appreciate everyone who's been kind enough to give me work and treat me well.

The rest of this post is going to be some of my favorite pieces by month, and a little about them. I usually spare my followers from most details in my posts, because there's often not much of interest to the public to say, so this is mostly self indulgent.

January

I decided to revisit Tom and Maudlin, as I hadn't drawn them much since creating them. Whenever I make a new character of importance, I try to go out of my way to put them in varied poses and expressions so that I am able to understand how their bodies work by the time I need them for a real project. It's also a great way to explore their personalities, although I feel that I'll have to push Tom's emotional side more in the future.

February

Props for the comic! It sucks to have to design things on the fly, so it helps to have notable objects designed beforehand. Especially if it's important to the plot. Some of these appear in more panels than others, but it smooths out the comic process nevertheless to have ample references on hand.

March

More character designs to spare me from designing mid-comic production. If they don't have lines in the comic, then I ask random people to assign names to them to make it fun, and because it's easier to keep straight who's who when they're not named Man 1 and Man 2. Left to right, they are Johnifer (you can already see why I name the ones with dialogue myself), Wanda, Jean Vincent, Booker, Charles, Maribelle, and Gertrude.

April

It'd be silly of me to pretend as if 90% of my output isn't shitposts. When you dedicate most of your art time to a project, then you're not going to end up making any other art unless you satisfy primitive monkey brain somehow. In my case, that's usually addressed by drawing funny shit. Early this year is when I discovered how easy it is to crack jokes with Scatterbrain. This goofiness is now embedded into her personality permanently. Expect more of this.

May

April-June is when I do my Art Fight preppin', which usually consists of me making a list of my most neglected OCs and giving them some attention. I also try to get around to eventually making all of them a reference sheet in this style, just so they have something standardized between them. This year, Walla Walla had her turn. She's a shitpost character, so I won't be drawing her much again, but she's a good excuse to draw some J-fashion doodles. My interests outside of cartoon stupidity don't really make it into my art often, so she's a minor outlet for some of it.

June

I've made even more character designs this year than last year, but they were all background characters, making Raoul the only new important one. He's been officially-unofficially written into the story since 2022, but it's very hard for me to make OCs that are written before they are designed. Everyone else was designed first and assigned a role in the plot later, so he got put off for a good while. I finally got around to it though, after I killed some darlings. He is now an all-new species, and I modified the chain design to something less clunky compared to what would be historically accurate.

July

July is, of course, Art Fight month. All other art is put on pause. This year, my favorite attack was a drawing of Enchanted Bones for my friend Bugles. I drew the character independently from the background, which is why the lighting situation is as unfortunate as it is, but we don't talk about that. Thank you to everyone who attacked me and made awesome art, I'll revenge you maybe in a few years. Sorry for the wait, but the backlog is mighty long.

August

Stanson got a slight redesign in the last year, so he can fit with the style of the comic better. He's actually the oldest character out of the bunch. I had no purpose for Scott when I made him and threw them together in the same folder. I had a few one-off designs that I figured I'd keep around in case I ever did an OCT, but these two got yoinked out of it when I started getting story ideas for the them. Stanson is a cowboy (not really), so it became a western setting to make sense of it. I plan on giving him the same sketchpage treatment the other characters have gotten, but I've been putting it off purposely for a while. You'll just have to wait.

September

And there it is, the inevitable page of Raoul getting into various mischief (and subsequently getting his ass beat half of the time). He has a very abrasive personality that gets him into trouble. I don't want the comic to be heavily action-based, but he naturally lands himself in these positions and it lets me draw characters in new situations. His introduction to the story is still a long way off at this point, but I can't wait to pit him against Scott in some slapstick shenanigans.

October

Spooky month is incredibly busy for me in real life, so there isn't as much time for art as I'd like there to be. That's why I dedicated all my time that month to trying to get Halloween art done in time. I've been a fan of Homestar Runner since childhood, and as soon as I thought that Raoul would pull off a Jigen Daisuke look, I knew I wanted to do a full Homestar-esque set of costumes. The other ideas quickly fell into place. My version came out way more detailed than theirs usually are though. The spirit of Halloween possessed me.

November

I started going full gear on the comic around this time (I think 28 hours in one week when I stayed home), so there's an absence of polished personal art here. Scatterbrain eating some spaghetti is my placeholder art for "I worked on a website a bunch instead". It's far from done, but I've made major strides since then.

December

A secret santa gift for my friend, Toby! I continued doing mostly comic work, but I also made room for a secret santa and scheduled a bunch of art trades to complete between December and March. The rest still have to be completed, so you'll see that throughout 2024. Anyway, Toby's OC, Thomas, is based on the state of Michigan. I plastered him on a postcard in front of a highway sign with some Robins because they're the state bird.

There were many more drawings of course, and you can find them scrolling through my Tumblr, or on my DeviantART (I switched to Tumblr as my main site in late August). I hope the new year brings many improvements and happiness for everyone. Last year my goal was simply to start on the comic, which I did, but it was also to get it uploadable, which I didn't. I'm gonna have to aim for the same goal again. Life things were largely fine but still tumultuous enough to throw me off-course, but now my most dangerous family member has moved out and it should be somewhat safer to live here. Not 100% safe though. It never will be. I generally avoid talking about the comic extensively as I won't have a solid release date for some time, so this is the last you'll hear of it for now outside of the rare WIP screenshot. Wish me luck and have a wonderful new year!

#art #artists on Tumblr #Happy New Year #long post #art summary #2023 summary #summary of art #summary of art 2023

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television-overload · 3 months

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NCIS / X-Files crossover fic I'll never write because the audience is probably just me: #1

Circa 2012. Bill and Tara Scully have been living in the D.C. area for a few years now after Bill was transferred to the Naval station in Norfolk. Their 15 year old son, Matthew, goes missing.

The NCIS Major Case Response Team takes the case, but something about his disappearance is strange. They hit a dead end pretty quickly.

Shortly after, a doctor and her husband show up on NCIS' doorstep demanding to speak to the agents in charge of the case. They meet with the NCIS team and explain that the woman, Scully, is the missing boy's aunt, and that she and her husband are former FBI agents that specialized in the unexplained. They demand to see the evidence.

Blah blah blah, they help them solve the case. But the real fun stuff is the character interactions you get along the way.

DiNozzo and Mulder bonding over a shared appreciation of movies (though DiNozzo will admit that Mulder's taste in movies tends to be a little more... obscure). DiNozzo totally brags that he played basketball for Ohio State.

Scully assisting Dr. Mallard with an autopsy in the course of the investigation, while Mulder observes and bounces criminal profile theories off him and chats about his education in the U.K.

F.B.I. agent Fornell stopping by and commenting something about "those weirdos who worked in the basement."

Somehow, the Lone Gunmen come up in conversation, and McGee nerds out because he totally was subscribed to them in the 90s. Abby blows his mind by saying something like "Oh yeah, I dated Ringo back in 94, haven't I told you that?"

Ziva and Scully both definitely bond over their ridiculous goofball partners, and how irritating and reckless they can be.

...and Mulder and Scully IMMEDIATELY clock the tension between Tony and Ziva. And make it their mission to prevent them from making the same mistakes they did. Oh yeah, this is totally a Tiva getting their act together hypothetical fic.

Tony shares how he rescued Ziva from imprisonment in a terrorist camp in Somalia. He'd thought she was dead. Mulder mentions going to Antarctica to save Scully, and Tony definitely thinks the whole alien story is a little odd but goes along with it anyway lol.

And because Mulder and Scully might have started to have some differences and difficulties, this case (and seeing themselves in this younger partner duo) reminds them what it's all about, and their relationship gets strengthened.

Anyway, I've thought about this a lot cause they're my two favorite shows, but I don't think the overlap of the Tiva fandom with Mulder and Scully is all that large, so this will never happen 😂

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floof-writes · 1 year

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i love when tragedies are like “the love was there. it didnt change anything. it didnt save anyone. there were just too many forces against it. but it still matters that the love was there”

-Starpeace, tumblr

This isn't my normal type of post, but I just closed my high school's production of 'Puffs, Or: Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic and Magic', and I can't stop thinking about it. This show broke me and put me back together and I don't know what to fucking do about it.

I played the role of Megan Jones, and she taught me how to be a person again. Skip straight to the next heading if you just want to know what the hell I'm talking about, otherwise, here's my Love Letter to Puffs: you deserve the world and the world doesn't deserve you, but every person reading this deserves to see this show at least once in their life.

First of all, this show is hilarious. Like, 'laugh until your stomach hurts and you can't breath and you start coughing up your sanity' hilarious. Your abs will hurt after seeing this show and your tear ducts will struggle to keep up with demand. But, despite that, or maybe because of that, it is also heartbreaking. Maybe the best kind, I think. The kind that rips your heart into pieces but then sews it back together, tells you that you have to carry on, but somehow that's worse, because hope hurts more than anything else.

And to see Puffs is one thing, but to be in it?

I don't know what to do or how to feel. For the rest of my life I will have carry this grief nestled next to my soul. The characters have the faces of people I know, and goddamn that makes it so hard to think about but just as hard not to.

I am changed, for this show. I am a different person at the other end of this nine week love-stained, obsessive hell. It found me when I was in a very vulnerable place, only halfway to healing, and picked me up and straight up told me to my Megan's face that I "shouldn't have to be alone"! Told me safety is love and loneliness is a lie we tell ourselves when we hate ourselves too much to see reason. That justice is the only pursuit that brings both self-love and heartache.

Live theatre is a powerful, powerful thing and yes, a professional recording of Puffs is available on Amazon Video and some pretty good bootlegs are up on YouTube, but if this show is open anywhere near you at a local high school, college, or community theatre, then I'm begging you to go see it in person. High school-age actors are uniquely suited to this show so don't let that make you wary!

If anyone, ever, wants to talk about Puffs, I'm more than available. PM me, ask me, tag me in your post. I don't care if you're seeing this post 2 months or 2 years or 10 years from now, if I am still on this hellsite, I will respond.

Go see Puffs. If everyone on this planet did, I think the world would be just a slightly better place.

Okay, hold on, what's Puffs?

Puffs tells us the story of a certain badger-aligned house during the seven years a certain orphan boy wizard attends a certain school of magic, plus ✨it was the 90's✨. If you can't tell, Puffs is technically a Harry Potter parody, and it very intentionally gives JKR no money and is not licensed with Warner Bros. Maybe that's a small part of why it spoke to me so much, because in the simplest terms: Puffs won custody of me in the great JKR/Fandom divorce. I really felt betrayed by JKR's transphobia and treatment of representation issues and this show was a bandaid and a kiss better for my aching, eleven year-old heart.

The story follows the Puff Wayne Hopkins, a young British orphan who was raised by his uncle in New Mexico. Wayne is the nerdiest, 90's-est kid you've ever met and well, as a fan of Star Wars and Dungeons & Dragons and Lord of the Rings, when he gets his school letter he gets this idea in his head that his life is about to become as awesome as that of the average fantasy protagonist. That he's gonna be a hero! Of course, he isn't. That's Harry. It's Harry at every single turn and Wayne and his friends are constantly being screwed over as unmentioned side characters in Harry's world-shattering and school-wrecking life, not to mention that the Puffs are the laughingstock of the school anyway, constantly failing classes and being bullied by the Snakes.

The Puffs work hard to become better but it rarely turns out. I mean, just look at Cedric, who plays a huge role in mentoring Wayne and his classmates the first act. Yikes. As the Puffs grow into their teen-hood it even gets a little spicy (in the hilariously awkward, teenage way), and eventually, they each come to understand that Puffs matter, Puffs are the best, in fact, Puffs are the "Mighty Ducks of wizards. No. The Mighty Ducks 2 of Wizards!"

#I attempted the ADHD easy reading formatting btw #that's why the colors and italics are so overboard #puffs or: seven increasingly eventful years at a certain school of magic and magic #live theatre #theatre #acting #high school theatre #character work #puffs the play #puffs #megan jones #wayne hopkins #cedric diggory #harry potter

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xoxoemynn · 6 months

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Also, The Melody Lingers On!

WHOOOO OKAY. This is one I am EXTREMELY excited about because old Hollywood musicals of the 1930s - 1940s was my very first hyperfixation and I've been itching for a way to somehow incorporate that into an OFMD fic and I think I finally landed on it!

Context: one thing I always found fascinating about musicals of that time period is that they were deliberately crafted to be an escape, because the movies were some of the few luxuries people could afford. The Great Depression was devastating families, but when you watch the musicals, you just saw glittering nightclubs and tuxedos and evening gowns. For 35 cents you could step away from all your struggles and watch simple problems get solved in 90 minutes all while singing and dancing and laughing.

SO this story would feature Ed as a Broadway legend known primarily for dancing, who injures his knee when a piece of stage equipment malfunctions and is really depressed over his career as he knows it likely being over. He's just camping out in his apartment and decides to visit a video rental shop that's going out of business and finds a bunch of old musicals featuring Stede Bonnet. He ends up getting really sucked into them, and then eventually Stede...somehow ends up able to talk to him through the TV? Eventually Ed realizes he's literally able to step into the TV and into Stede's black and white glamorous world, and it's everything he could want. His knee doesn't hurt there, he's falling in love with Stede, he doesn't have to think about what he's going to do next with his career.

Except of course you can't escape your life forever, and Stede doesn't want Ed to just live in this artificial world with him. So the fic explores Ed trying to figure out the real Stede Bonnet's story, and how they can exist in the real world together as a couple, and Ed coming to grips with his injury. And all the while it gives me opportunity to write some star-crossed lovers and play in a black and white world and deliver some bittersweet angst with a happy ending. 💕

Send me asks about my WIPs!

#ask #chocolatepot #thank you!!!#this is prob going to be my next long-ish fic I begin working on #once I get through some shorter stories/stories with deadlines #and I'm just very excited to be able to combine hyperfixations of yesterday and today #ofmd

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sapphire-weapon · 4 months

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Hi! I love your blog so much, it's super insightful! I'm a newer re fan that's only played re2make and re4make, and i really enjoy reading your meta analysis on the characters. I do have a question regarding Adas character that kind of confused me though, I was wondering if you would have an answer since I couldn't really find any people that shared my thoughts. imo she feels like a different character in 2 compared to 4. when I first played 2, i really liked her. But after playing 4, it feels like she's a different person almost? and I didn't enjoy her character like I did in re2. Is there an explanation for why she just feels like a completely different character? I'm wondering if it's just my imagination or I just don't get her character, but playing through re2 again, she feels like a whole different person than re4 ada. Like, I know it's been 6 years from re2 to re4, but it still feels very jarring somehow and I'm not sure why

there are three big reasons. two of them are easy to understand, and one of them requires a long-winded nerd answer.

her voice is throwing you off. jolene andersen puts a lot of energy behind her voice and there's a real bite to her delivery. lily gao is much more subdued and low-key. but compare how ada sounds in the tram scene specifically to RE4make ada, since she talks with a much softer, calmer tone in that scene, and you'll find they start to sound more similar.

for 90% of RE2make, ada is playing a character. so, in that sense, she is a different person. the "real" ada only comes out in scenes where she's vulnerable, like the waste disposal scene where leon patches up her leg, and also at the very end when he confronts her and she just drops her mask. in RE4make, she is her authentic self with all pretenses stripped away the whole way through.

and number 3...

RE4make is a remake of RE4, which is a game that was developed under extreme duress and went through several different iterations (one became devil may cry, one became haunting ground, and two others were scrapped) over the course of its development. the plan for ada's character post-RE3 was very different from how shinji mikami and his team used her for RE4, because the story for the final version of RE4 was written in three weeks after most of the game had already been built.

basically, they needed some justification for calling the game resident evil, so they thought to tie in wesker, and ada was the perfect conduit between leon and wesker. so they just threw her in there as a femme fatale, ignoring her character development in RE2, because she was there to serve a function and not be a well-thought-out character. for more on RE4 OG's troubled development, click here.

capcom did their best to make RE4make feel like a direct sequel to RE2make, but they also had to stay beholden to the original game. and that, unfortunately, involved femme fatale ada. so basically, like

they did their best, man. they tried.

if you REALLY want to be jarred, check out the difference between OG RE2 ada and OG RE4 ada. holy goddamn hell. and leon wasn't much better.

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owletwriter · 2 years

Text

Welcome to Hawkins

CHAPTER 7

Summary: Stranger Things and The Upside Down, they're both fictional, right? But what if it wasn't? What if somehow, someone comes across a gate and ends up in not only the 80s...but in Hawkins?

Slow-burn Eddie x Reader / Eddie x OC, Robin x Friendship!Reader

Disclaimer: Don't own the rights to any characters except the ones I created for this story.

Hope you enjoy!

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

Yesterday, I didn't expect anything special for my twenty-first birthday and I thought it would just be a moment alone, eating a cupcake. However, thanks to Eddie, Robin and Steve, they changed that. It made me realize that I didn't need anything outlandish and just being among people, my new friends, was enough. After the initial mini celebration with the metalhead, Robin's schedule went off without a hitch. Of course, we had to inform her mother first and thankfully she didn't mind. The only thing we all hadn't accounted for was staying up way later than we had planned, on a school night. This resulted in Steve leaving Robin's home really late and being too exhausted to drive us to school today, which left Robin and I to walk for our means of transportation. We don't mind though since we made him stay last night, but our consequence is now us rushing to head out.

"Come on, Kate! We need to leave or we're going to have to run the whole way there!" Robin yelled up the stairs to me while I gather the last of my items in her room.

"Be there in a second!" I shout down picking up my backpack. I'm about to dash out until I remember my phone that's been charging by Robin's nightstand. Initially, even though I was thankful that I had my charger, I was worried that it might not have been compatible with the outlets of the 80s. Prior to testing it, I asked the science camper, Dustin, if it would be alright. Of course he was gawking at my cell before actually inspecting it, but afterwards he said that the outlets should be able to handle the adapter. However, just to be on the safe side I keep the charging time to a minimal with intervals. It's been working out and checking it now, it's at 80% battery power, which is more than enough for today. So, I snatch it from the table and run down the stairs to Robin.

When I reach the bottom, she holds a piece of toast in front of my face saying, "Breakfast on the go." Just like some stereotypical anime girl, I put the bread in mouth while getting my shoes on and rush out the door with Robin. We keep a steady pace since we left early enough and so after munching on our toast, I take this time to show a few photos on my phone to her. I make sure that it's pictures that don't show any type of spoiler of the future, so mainly just my family and friends.

"Honestly, I had a different idea of what people would look like. I mean, the clothes aren't anything futuristic." Robin comments while clumsily swiping, but she's getting the hang of it.

I laugh informing her, "Actually, the fashion is kind of having a throwback moment. A lot of people are styling themselves like they did in the 90s with a sprinkle of the 80s."

"Run out of ideas?" She asks me now curious.

"No…it's more about nostalgia." I tell her with a simple answer and she nods in understanding while continuing to swipe. A picture of me with Sarah shows up and I comment with a twinge of sadness, "That's my friend Sarah, she's the one who was with me the day I arrived here."

"You guys are cute in this photo." She observes taking another glance at it and then points leaning the screen towards me to ask, "Who's that?"

There's another girl next to Sarah with her arm around her waist in the photo and I casually note, "Oh, that's Theresa…" I pause for a moment to carefully say, "…that's Sarah's girlfriend." Glancing over at Robin, I can tell that it took her slightly off-guard.

"O-Oh." She stutters out slowing her stride almost to a stop and then tries to nonchalantly add, "I guess that's a…thing in the future." I hesitate with what I should say since I don't want Robin to feel uncomfortable like I'm implying anything about her.

I end up replying with, "Well, yeah. Of course, there will always be some people who're close-minded and don't want to understand, but it's something that's much more accepted in the future. I don't see why not. Like, Sarah is and will always be the same friend I grew up with and having a different preference of who she finds attractive doesn't change how I see her as a person. Love is…love."

Suddenly I stop walking because I'm brought into an embrace by Robin. We stay like that for a moment until she pulls away and clears her throat with her slightly glazed eyes darting around while apologizing, "Sorry, I didn't mean to spook you or anything. I just uh…thought what you said was…very sweet…about your friend. It's nice to know that…people can be who they want to be in the future…and around you, you know?"

"Yeah…I know what you mean." I softly reply. We look at each other and smile with a nod, then go in for another quick hug.

It gets interrupted when Robin practically shouts in my ear, "Shit! We're going to be late!" With that, we both start jogging towards the school hoping we arrive before the bell. Out of breath, we sadly enter right after classes begin and so we say a quick goodbye parting.

Thankfully, I already have my Pre-Calculous books so I can head straight to the class. When entering, I scan around the classroom to see Ms. O'Donnell hasn't arrived yet and breathe a sigh of relief. Glancing to my desk, I spot Eddie at his and I stride over there focusing on my own. Do I say hi? Should I acknowledge yesterday? Why didn't we let Steve go home when he wanted to? I think with multiple questions popping into my head. All of that is suddenly answered because as soon as I approach my seat, it moves back on its own. On the bottom of the chair, there's a foot hooked on it pulling it backwards.

"Morning." I hear Eddie greet me and I look up to his face to see his gaze on mine with a small smile.

Trying to push down the nervous energy, I reply, "Morning."

With his hand he gestures me to sit and when I do, he asks, "Having a late start to the day, are we?"

Turning halfway in my chair to peek over at him, I say, "Um, yeah…kind of." Without Eddie prompting the question, I gather some courage and tell him, "I-I had a movie marathon with two friends last night."

Smirking, he comments, "You changed it from a party of one I see." I nod to him and leaning forward a little he says in a gentler tone smiling, "Glad to hear that." My face grows warmer, but I try to ignore it while smiling back at him. Our short conversation ends when Ms. O'Donnell arrives and I turn back fully facing forward.

She starts by announcing, "I finished grading your tests and quite a lot of you did very well." Patricia then goes around with the tests handing them out one-by-one. Most students sigh in relief when getting theirs back while a few groan as they see their mark. She's in the last row and when presenting my test to me, she quietly compliments, "Great work, Kate." The letter grade I receive is an "A" and even though I was confident taking the test, I'm still surprised. The cheerful feeling is quickly deflated as I overhear Ms. O'Donnell whisper to the metalhead, "I know you can do better, Eddie."

As she walks away back to the front of the classroom I hear Eddie curse under his breath from behind, "Shit." I feel bad for him and it doesn't really go away for the whole lesson. The bell rings and I leave the classroom quickly so I can dash to my locker since I didn't get to when I arrived at school.

As I start to grab and put away particular books, I get startled by a voice, "Hey." I drop a notebook and twirl around to witness Eddie bending down to pick it up while saying, "Sorry, I didn't mean to creep up from behind you."

"N-No! It's fine!" I respond at the same time he's giving me back my notebook.

There's a moment of awkward silence until he speaks up scratching the back of his head with his gaze down to the floor, "So, I know this is kind of out of nowhere for me to ask…" As there's a lull in his speech, my heart starts pounding hard and my stomach flips with my mind already making assumptions of what he's trying to say.

However, he gets interrupted all of a sudden when a group of basketball jocks pass and one of them shoves Eddie shouting, "Freak!" This causes him to crash into me with my back banging against the locker next to mine. As a result of Eddie's reflexes of putting one hand up to brace the wall of lockers and the other arm holding me to him, the impact is minimal.

He loosens his grip around me, but still has a hand loosely on my waist and looks down asking, "You okay?" Lifting my head to gaze up at him, I feel a few strands of his hairs tickling my face which automatically makes heat rush to my cheeks. Vanilla. The word pops in my head before I can stop myself.

Concern is written all over his face and I stutter out, "Y-Yeah."

His voice is dripping with sarcasm while shifting his eyes down the hall saying, "You got a firsthand experience of the joys of being Hawkins' freak." Eddie chuckles, but he's holding a tight smile on his face while glaring at a particular person. My sight travels to match his so I can see who the culprit was and with no surprise at all, I recognize the blonde-headed teen named Jason.

Anger slowly rises in me, but I push it down to focus on Eddie and ask, "Are you okay?"

It's like he snaps out of a trance bringing his attention back to me and swiftly stands straight stepping away replying, "Me? Oh yeah, I'm good." He jokes around pretending to inspect his hands and pat his legs, "No scrapes here…no bruises…yep, indestructible." I smile, but I know deep down he's not okay. However, I let it go and after the little theatrics, he shifts his concentration to me saying, "So, before we were interrupted…" I wait for him to continue, "I wanted to know if you could help me out in Pre-Calc. I noticed you aced the test and seem pretty good at it."

Taking a moment to process his question, I then ask, "You…want me to…tutor you?"

Eddie tries to pull back his request, "I mean maybe you could just take a look at my test and point out how shitty I did with it."

"Uh well…I-I have to work after school today, but-" The bell interrupts what I was telling him.

He holds his hands up while giving me a half smile saying, "Hey, no problem, I don't mind. I won't make you late for your next class." Eddie starts to walk backwards waving a small goodbye and then he's on his way down the hall leaving me with the feeling of guilt that I couldn't respond properly.

For the rest of the day I replay the moment in the hallway with Eddie and chastise myself for it. I should've just said yes, especially after what happened with Jason. At the same time, I don't know if me tutoring him is the best idea because… My train of thought breaks when there's suddenly a loud sound next to me. I direct my attention to it and realize it was just Robin who slammed her hand down on the cafeteria table from laughing at a joke a bandmate, sitting with us today, made. When she looks over at me, I give her a quick smile to make her assume I've been part of the conversation. Once Robin turns back, my shoulders slump and I continue to eat my food which consists of me picking at the suspicious meatloaf with my fork.

Curious, I peek over at the Hellfire Club and as usual, they look like they're in a passionate discussion. My eyes drift to the head of the table and I see Eddie every once in a while chime in, but for the most part, watching his members with a smile. I must have let myself linger on him for too long because after what seems to be him finishing a sentence, suddenly Eddie's eyes happen to land on mine. On a reflex, I panic tearing my gaze away from him and back down at my food. Giving it a few seconds, I take the risk of prying my head up and peeping over to the metalhead again. Foolishly thinking I'm in the clear, he's still watching and when we make eye contact once more, Eddie takes the opportunity to smirk giving a little nod to me. Instead of being spooked this time, I respond with the tiniest smile I can muster and when I do, his attention is back on the Hellfire members.

The rest of the school day is the same and I'm thankful it's Friday, but my day doesn't end there since I have a shift at "Family Video." Steve first drops off Robin at her house and then drives the two of us to the video store because it'll be just us working today. Fridays are a bit busier than the rest of the week, but it's still pretty slow with it's lull moments. I man the counter while Steve swaps out tapes for the new releases that came out. Right now, it's one of the mundane periods where nothing happens, so I decide to take my phone out. I place it on the glass counter, plug in my earbuds putting one in my ear and lean forward to play a game of Solitaire.

As Steve passes me with a box in hand he asks a rhetorical question, "That thing really does everything, doesn't it?" He then pauses to try and get a peek when I change the song, now really asking, "What are you listening to?"

I gently cover the screen with the palm of my hand and simply state, "Future music."

"Come on, you can't give me anything?" He huffs out disappointed with the answer.

"Sorry, Steve. I can't take a risk with revealing stuff about the future." I apologetically tell him and then in a dramatic voice, "People might evolve and grow two heads or wings!"

Rolling his eyes while he scoffs out. "Mhm yeah, sure." He then adds walking away, "The only risk I see here is not sharing some goldmine opportunities and letting it pass you by."

He disappears into the storage closet near the back while I yell, "Keep dreaming, Harrington!" I hear a muffled response and chuckle at my teasing of him. I put in my other earbud and as I hunch forward to scroll through my playlist selecting the next song while humming to myself, I don't hear the chime signaling someone entered the store. Abruptly, a ring-cladded hand comes into my field of vision picking up my phone.

Ripping out my headphones, I shout, "Hey!" My confidence drains and the butterflies in my stomach show up to see that the culprit is Eddie.

Inspecting the device he comments, "So, this is where you work." I worry seeing that the display is open on my music and he starts to read a few names off from it, "Adele? My Chemical Romance? Ed Sheeran? Fall Out Boy? The Weekend?" He looks up at me with his eyebrow raised and states, "This isn't a calculator."

"What?" I ask confused while also making an effort to reach for it across the counter, but he holds it away from me.

"I saw you using this in class and I thought it was some type of fancy calculator…" He says while touching the screen which startled him a little with the response and then continues, "…but this is definitely…something else."

There's a pause and I take this as an opportunity to speak timidly, "Can I have that back, please?"

I try to grab it again, but he pulls away making me collapse onto the counter and replies, "Ah, ah, ah. First tell me what it is, then I'll hand it over." I sigh while he smirks over at me. I don't want to lie, but I don't think I should tell him the truth. Ugh, why did I risk using it in class? I mull over my options and come up with a conclusion.

"It is a calculator…but it plays music too." I explain in a way that doesn't even sound convincing to me.

He studies me and the device suspiciously, then holds it out to me requesting, "Show me." I hesitantly take it from him, select the calculator app while noticing him trying to peek at what I'm doing and then face the screen towards the metalhead to show it to him. Eddie holds it in his hands and gently touches the screen, probably testing with a simple equation. "And the music?" He asks without saying anything else while giving it back to me. This time I scroll through my playlist making sure to select an artist that's known during the 80s and when I do, I hit play while unplugging my earbuds. A song by The Beatles blares out from my phone and Eddie's expression shifts to one of surprise. He leans his ear towards it to confirm that it's actually the source of the sound. After a moment staring at it, he responds with a single word, "Impressive." Before I stop the music he lifts the earbuds and asks, "Now what are these for?" I decide to just show him by plugging the jack into the phone again and that results in the music stopping. At least, that's what he thought until I grab the earbuds and hand them to him.

He raises his eyebrow at me and I inform him, "These...go in your ears."

He holds the tiny devices between his fingers and laughs, "You're telling me…these tiny things…are headphones!?" Instead of trying to explain it, I just snatch one of them out of his hands and shove it in my right ear showing him. After his little fit, Eddie takes a closer look and then tries to do the same thing, but he winces with it immediately falling out. Trying it another two times, the metalhead leans his elbows on the counter holding the bud out to me and almost pleads, "Can you do it for me?"

I gulp nodding and stutter out, "S-Sure. T-Turn your head." He does as he's told and even brushes his hair away to reveal his left ear. With a shaky hand I carefully place it gently into his ear and make sure it doesn't fall out before I pull my hand away. I let out a breath I didn't even know I was holding and try to calm my heart. Eddie is now in his own world flabbergasted by how a tiny device can produce so much sound.

Grinning ear to ear he says, "Shit…this thing packs a punch." The song ends and I pause it to make sure that nothing else plays. He pulls the bud out of his ear and now standing back up straight comments, "Still prefer the normal ones, but these are cool." Then he asks me, "Where did you get these?"

Telling half the truth, I answer while bending down to put my phone with the headphones back in my bag, "Um…I got it in New York."

"And those names I read before…" He asks me absentmindedly tapping the glass counter.

"Artists…l-local ones in New York." I quickly answer thinking on my feet.

Before he could question me about anything else, Steve exits the storage and when he spots Eddie, he says, "What do you want, Munson?"

Eddie's attention is now fully on Steve responding, "Harrington, is that anyway to speak to a customer?"

"Usually a customer means buying something." He snips back at him with his arms crossed. "Don't look now, but you might be getting a ticket, Munson." Steve states with a hint of amusement gesturing to the glass doors. Eddie and I turn our gaze towards the video store entrance to see someone near his van.

"Crap!" Eddie says under his breath while rushing out to his van.

Once he left, Steve immediately asks me, "Did Eddie "The Freak" Munson bother you?"

"He's not a freak." I state with a bite to my tone.

He leans his back on the side counter facing me and replies with a simple, "What?"

"Do you think I'm a freak?" I question Steve turning my body fully towards him standing straight.

His face turns to one of confusion answering, "Of course not."

"Well if someone like me, who's from the future with knowledge about it and has advanced technology, isn't a freak, then Eddie who just likes to play D&D and listen to metal music shouldn't be considered one at all." I argue and continue, "I'll tell you a little something about the future. There are much stranger interests than D&D and metal, trust me. They're actually pretty much a normal thing." I end asking him, "Can you at least try to stop calling him a freak?"

Steve has his head down and sighs, "Fine." He then quickly adds, "But him hanging with Dustin and other freshman is a little weird."

"It's a club…and you hang out with Dustin!" I shout looking at him incredulously.

Holding up his hands he responds, "Okay, okay, I got it. Eddie's not that bad." He starts to put tapes into a box from the counter and states chuckling, "Man, you must like him if you're defending him this much."

"Did Robin tell you!?" I exclaim embarrassed by his statement.

"Nope." He smirks and continues, "It's kind of obvious from the little I've seen and with that response I confirmed it." Seeing me flustered he reassures me, "Look, I won't say anything and I'll try not to butt heads with him." The entrance door chimes indicating a customer and we both see it's Eddie again.

He's grinning and teasingly addresses Steve, "Lucky for me and you, Harrington, I got there in time. So now I can continue being the highlight of your day."

Steve lifts up another box and glances over to me before telling him, "Whatever. Just end up getting something if you want to loiter around here." With that, he heads back into the storage closet to put away the box of tapes.

"Well, if that's the case…what do you recommend?" My attention is drawn back over to Eddie when he asks me a question.

I take a moment to think about what he might be into and suggest, "Um…well…Poltergeist and Scarface are classics."

Playfully pondering with his arms crossed and tapping his chin with his finger, he says, "True…but which one should I go for?" He smirks and then goes off into the store to find something while I'm left alone at the front. I think about what I said to Steve earlier when I defended Eddie and the moment at the locker again. He seems to never catch a break, but he always appears cheerful like it doesn't bother him. Everyone just sees Eddie as this unapproachable person, but he's actually so kind. I'm not really helping with how I act around him. Eddie probably assumes I'm one of those people who thinks he's scary with the amount of times I stutter…but that's not why! When two VHS tapes plop down in front of me, it snaps me out of my daze. "I couldn’t decide between the two, so I thought I'd do a double feature night." He informs me while I ring him up. I'm still a bit slow with the older technology, but I'm a lot better than my first day here.

As he puts the tapes in the backpack he's been carrying, I take this opportunity to request something from him, "Can I um…see your Pre-Calculous test…from today?" Eddie pauses his movements to glance up at me and then starts to dig into his bag searching for the test. He pulls out the crumpled paper then hands it to me and the first thing I read is his grade, a "D." I quietly focus scanning each problem on it and when I'm done, I view a slightly embarrassed Eddie who's covering his mouth with his fist. "It's honestly not that bad." I reassure him and he seems to relax a little.

"Even with all those red markings?" He asks me still unsure about it.

"Well…it looks like you understand the equations, but missed a step or two when solving them." I explain it to him as best as I can and then after summoning up some courage, offer, "I uh…I can go over it with you."

His eyes look up from the paper at me and he replies, "Really? You sure?" With a small smile I nod my head and he himself smiles saying, "Awesome! Uh…I'm kind of busy this weekend, but how's Monday after school for you?"

"That's fine for me." I respond softly and feel my stomach flip when the metalhead grins widely at me.

He takes his test back, shoves it into his bag and says before walking out of the store, "See you then, Kate."

Left alone with only the slight hum of the computer, I reply under my breath, "See you, Eddie."

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Likes, Comments, & Reblogs are very much appreciated!

Also I have an Etsy Store with my artwork!

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Taglist!

@edenstarkk @fentyreligion @maicclg @bellegirl16 @sadbitchfangirl @preciousbabypeter @secretsicanthideanymore @bookworm0492 @girl-with-an-orange-cat @thatsamegirl @pinknerdpersona

#eddie x reader #eddie x fem!reader #eddie x oc #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x oc #eddie munson x female reader #eddie munson #steve harrington #robin buckley #stranger things 4 #stranger things #eddie fanfic #st fic #st4 fic #stranger things fic #stranger things fanfiction

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estelscinema · 10 months

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INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY MOVIE REVIEW

Daredevil archaeologist Indiana Jones races against time to retrieve a legendary dial that can change the course of history. Accompanied by his goddaughter, he soon finds himself squaring off against the Nazis.

Why does Kathline Kennedy continue to think that taking legendary characters and turning them into bitter, depressed, old men and only for them to be outdone and replaced by a young, British woman is a good idea. It failed spectacularly with The Last Jedi and you think she would have learned to stop self-inserting her Mary Sue characters into these stories. But nope she fails again with is massive box office bomb.

The more I have thought about the Dial of Destiny the less I enjoy it because to simply state it, it's a mess that is a piss poor excuse for spending over $300 million on. I believe it would be easier to state the positives before I delve into the negatives. This is easily Harrison Ford's best performance as Indiana Jones. He still has that charisma and charm of the iconic character decades later. But his ability to weave the grief and depression his character is facing into his performance is outstanding. Furthermore, Mads Mikkelsen delivers a great performance as the movies main antagonistic. His ability to take paper-thin characters and elevate them to the next level is worthy of much praise. Lastly, John Williams score is out of the park. Despite being in his 90s, he still delivers memorable and powerful scores. Alright that is about it for positives lets get into the negatives.

To state that this story is a mess is a massive understatement. The story is filled with numerous plot contrivances, inconsistent characters, and plot armor. For example, Jones becomes wanted for murder thus forcing him to flee the States. This conflict adds nothing to the story as it is just a device to get Indy out of his shell and for them to call the Nazi cop "trigger-happy Cracker". Not only is it a poor plot device but a very lazy political commentary on police brutality. But what is even more ridiculous is that the movie totally forgets about it by the end as Indy returns home. You think he would still be wanted, but nope they drop the conflict. Another example is during the opening train chase, Mads Mikkelsen character gets smacked in the face by a train light going over 40 MPH. In reality this would have been instant death, but Mikkelsen somehow survives without a single scratch. He should be at least somewhat deformed with a massive scar but nope he looks as handsome as ever. This is worse than surviving a nuclear blast in a fridge.

However, one of the biggest problems this movie faces is Kathline Kennedy's self inserted character of Helena Shaw, played by Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Now Waller-Bridge does okay job playing the character, but the issue is how she is written and how the story treat her. To state it simply, she is a sociopath that the film plays for female empowerment. She uses Indy at without hesitation to get what she wants. She disregards his feeling and belittles his character, while mocking the death of his colleges and friends. To state that Helena is a horrible person is an understatement. What is even worse is that the movie is totally oblivious to how horrible she is. As a woman I am tired of how Hollywood is writing female characters. The fact that writers believe the only way to write a strong female character is to turn them into the definition of toxic masculinity, is incredibly sexist. You think after so much backlash against these type of characters, Hollywood would finally learn, but again their egos are too big for them to learn from constructive criticism.

As it is becoming more a common practice is Hollywood writing, nostalgia is heavily used here to cover up the questionable storytelling. Whether is bring in Miriam last minute to cover the rushed and obviously re-shot ending, or bringing in Sallah for only a few seconds to cover the fact Sallah knew exactly where Indy was right when someone was about to report him to the police, the use of nostalgia is heavy. When this quality of writing is present, it really makes be question the WGA Strike.

One aspect that was somewhat good were the action pieces. I really enjoyed the opening train chase in Nazi Germany. Though the de-aged Harrison Ford with old Ford's voice was really awkward. Then the following chase during the Astronaut Parade was also really fun. However, the tuk-tuk chase was ridiculous as it was drawn out much longer than what is should have been. Furthermore, seeing an 80 year old Harrison Ford beating guys who are less than half his age, was funny to watch.

Overall, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is a massive disappointment. It's an unneeded film, that is simply a cash grab that is reliant on nostalgia to cover up it's questionable story. If you are like me, then the real ending for this franchise was Indy and company riding off into the sunset at the end of The Last Crusade. Also where were the gruesome and horrifying villain deaths. That was a greatly missed opportunity.

My Rating: C-

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rosieblogstuff · 3 months

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🍄Decriscribe your wip/one of your wips in the format of “_ + =__”

🤔What’s a story you’d love to write but haven’t even started yet?

(asks from the Asks for Writers to Procrastinate list)

🍄 Decriscribe your wip/one of your wips in the format of “_ + =__”

The irony of a question that describes the title for 90% of my WIPs & at least 75% of the fics for this fandom in general. 😂

How about

rare disease + lying about your job = near-death medical mystery

(That's the WIP I've been working on for over a year and someday SOMEDAY will actually finish.

I had this idea that if I made myself not post it until it was done, I'd write faster. 🤣 Turns out this was not the case. But I have 7.5 chatpers/20k words and someday I'm going to post like a whole story in a week. I swear. BUT NOT UNTIL IT'S ALL DONE this time.)

🤔 What’s a story you’d love to write but haven’t even started yet?

Ooooh well. That depends on your definition of "havent even started yet". If I have an idea for a thing I have almost certainly written at least half a scene about it and, if I'm lucky enough to have more ideas about the thing, written down some notes. If I don't write it down at all the details will fall out of my brain like water from a sieve and then I'll be annoyed with myself later.

But ok so an idea I've written very little of. I actually have a couple "big" ideas that I haven't gotten far with. They'd require a lot more outlining to make them come together. But ok.

So someday I'm want to write this fic idea where Matty decides she's just DONE with James MacGyver and she's going to take care of the problem herself. And not by just by sending Mac on a wild goose chase until he decides to give up. She's going to eliminate all possibility of James ever showing up at all by having him assassinated.

And who could do this job for them? Maybe even for free, because it's basically taking out the trash? Murdoc of course! Bonus that he really has a personal thing against abusive father figures.

Of course she can't do this alone. She's going to have to drag some into this mess with her. I honestly have had a tough time deciding if she's going to enlist Riley or Bozer to help her out. I've been leaning toward Riley, although I could see Bozer doing it out of loyalty and sour memories of James. (Jack gets left in the dark again, for various reasons including that she thinks it's best if he has plausible deniability in all of this.)

There will be problems later because Murdoc is still the #1 baddie on Phoenix's list, and analysts get wind that he's up to something locally. Mac and Jack decide this is a great time to hunt him down. It's not like Matty can say no to that, especially when James is probably barking at her to get rid of the hitman who's after Angus.

This is sort of the part where I haven't untangled the rest of the plot because there are so many possibilities. At some point somebody (James? Jack?) is going to get suspicious of Matty's behavior. At some point Murdoc is going to get caught, or almost caught, and there's no way he can stop himself taunting Mac. At some point Riley is going to have to decide if she's going to take the fall for Matty because either way, she's going to end up in trouble somehow.

Yeah so that's as far as I've gotten.

Come to think of it my other big unwritten fic idea also has to do with the problem of James' existance... but that's a fic for another ask sometime. :)

#asks answered #fanfic writer asks

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webginz · 4 months

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omg i swear ill shut up about re soon but im going to complain now

extremely long and possibly innacurate at times rant:

i hate re 7 and 8 with a PASSION. if i could make them not canon anymore (or erase them from existence entirely) i would. to me they arent resident evil games.

re7 is just a shitty outlast game that they named resident evil by mistake.

if you arent a re fan, lemme explain what 8 did that makes me furious.. resident evil set itself up over 6 main games and like 5 spinoffs that its a sci-fi zombie series OKAY? evil scientists made a zombie virus in like... post ww2? (america) and it got unleased in 1998. (game is from 90s so, modern times.)

now imagine they make the worlds stupidest fucking game where evil corp is actually from medieval times. in europe. WHAT?? im sorry but thats the dumbest shit EVER. this is fucking sci fiiiiiii why would you fucking ruin it by having a modern company show up in old castle ruins?!?!? its like.. imagine "look at this castle... engraved here is the ancient symbol of... the amazon logo" like oh my goddddd. WHAT?

oh yeah btw all the characters from the original games are gone. new characters. fuck you if you liked the established cast. except one (1!) of them will show up at the end of the game and save the day. thats what fans want, right.

and some fucking lady also had made the virus somehow? like oh yes this one lady can do what multiple entire labs full of people worked for years on. but she did it better actually. (???) shes european.. the virus was made by americans with resources from africa. HOW DID SHE DO IT? it makes zero sense. so of course they have to change the existing story, retcon stuff, la de da... for this new story to work. THIS SERIES HAD BEEN GOING FOR TWENTY YEARS. you dont change major storylines that far in! what a "fuck you" to anyone who cared about the plot at all!

and this game.. it takes itself SO SERIOUSLY. despite the most stupid shit happening. the ~hand thing~ are you serious. it doesnt matter if its explained later because the character didnt KNOW THATTTT. he knew as much as the playerr.. (the mc is actually insufferable)

...

i dont like those games. i hate how popular re8 was to the point where people told me they were re fans and they didnt know who wesker was. the main villian of the entire franchise. bc they only played 8.

sorry im really passionate about this for some reason. if you like re8 thats cool i think it wouldve been awesome as a stand alone game. i just dont see why they had to ruin one of my fav game franchises for it

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1863-project · 2 years

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I Watched The Steam Locomotive Episode of Digimon

I’m going to preface this by admitting that normally I don’t watch or play Digimon, and I just went in for the sake of seeing this one episode because, like Kichii, I was The Train Kid when I was younger and I get where he’s coming from. I went into this watching it from the perspective of someone who loves trains and especially loves steam locomotives, and from viewing it from that lens and not just a Digimon lens, it hits in a different way for me.

This episode comes from Digimon Xros Wars, a series that ran in 2011-2012 or so, and can be watched on Crunchyroll. In it, the main character finds out his classmate Kichii Funabashi is somehow traveling all over the world at night, and he’s getting very sleep deprived as a result. Kichii loves trains, and he offers to take the main character along on a trip to prove the photos are real. The protagonist agrees and meets him on what appears to be the roof of the school, where he’s picked up by Kichii, who shows up in the cab of a flying 2-8-4 Berkshire named Locomon (a Digimon, of course).

Kichii relates the story of how he and Locomon met, and in the flashback he manages to be one of the best depictions of being the Train Kid that I’ve ever seen:

He literally moves his arms as if they’re the drive rods of a steam locomotive. Honestly, he’s a mood.

But what really sold me was that Kichii clearly understands steam locomotives.

Kichii gets it - trains are a form of accessible travel and should be for everyone, not kept to oneself. He also understands that operating a steam locomotive isn’t ownership - it’s partnership.

I have driven a steam locomotive, Strasburg #90. I’d admired her for most of my life, and 30 years after I first saw her I got to step inside the cab and take my place at the throttle. I’ve driven many different vehicles before in my life, but never a steam locomotive, and it felt different from anything I’d ever operated before. I was attached to my first car, which I had for over a decade, to the point that I gave it a name, but I couldn’t feel a soul emanating from that car. When I climbed into 90′s cab, there was an internal sense of warmth I can’t quite describe. Sure, the firebox was giving off heat, but this came from within.

When I was a little kid, I rode horses for a couple of years (before realizing I was more of an Iron Horse Girl than a regular Horse Girl). Sitting down in the cab and getting settled in, I felt more like I did when I rode horses than I ever did driving a car. This machine felt almost alive, and she had a soul, and she was going to lend me her power for the next 30 minutes. I wasn’t in control, we were a team, and we had to work together. I opened the throttle and we took off, and I felt like I was supposed to be there. It was her job to keep me safe in the cab, and my job to keep her safe on the rails by making sure we were at the right speed and didn’t have anyone crossing the tracks in front of us. I helped her use her voice by blowing the whistle before crossings and when we were about to move forward or in reverse. By the end, I felt so comfortable in the cab that I didn’t want to leave, and I felt like if I needed to I could have kept going forever. For 30 minutes, my soul was entwined with 90′s soul, and we were a team.

When Kichii has to rescue Locomon at the climax of his episode, he invokes that same feeling. Locomon is a 2-8-4 Berkshire - locomotives that weren’t as fast as, say, Atlantics, Pacifics, or Hudsons, but were immensely strong and well-suited for freight work. Lima Locomotive Works made likely the most famous Berkshires, both Pere Marquette 1225 (the Polar Express locomotive) and the Nickel Plate Road Berkshires, a representative of which, 765, runs excursions to this day. NKP 765 maxes out at around 80 miles per hour - not slow by any means, but not as fast as some steam locomotives (Mallard, a Pacific, holds the official record at 126 mph) and certainly not as fast as modern high-speed rail in Japan. Locomon dreams of going faster, and this is exploited by an antagonist group for a time until Kichii manages to bring Locomon to his senses - by reminding him that they’re a team.

Kichii demonstrates he both understands Berkshires - known for their strength, not their speed - and steam locomotive operation in general. These machines feel like they have souls, and engineers speak of them as if they’re alive, with their own quirks - much like horses, or any other animal humans have partnered with to get things done. Kichii, in his little conductor uniform, single-handedly snaps Locomon out of it and brings him back to his senses by reminding him that they have a bond. Locomon runs on the smiles of his passengers, and he ultimately realizes making them happy and enjoying his friendship with Kichii is the most important thing. The protagonist and his partner Digimon are able to help rescue Locomon, the antagonists are beaten off for the time being, and Kichii and Locomon are officially reunited as a team.

At the end of the episode, the two of them are seen operating together, with Kichii offering the traditional Japanese railway employee salute to the protagonist as they pass by:

Whoever wrote this episode clearly also must love trains, because they nailed the way it feels to work with steam locomotives specifically so accurately through Kichii’s dialogue. It reminded me of my experience with 90, and how for that brief half hour we were a team, working together to do things neither of us could do alone. Steam locomotives are one of the closest things we’ve come to creating something truly alive - they have to be fed and given water, and they can “breathe.” We have to work with them, not against them. Kichii and Locomon are an excellent representation of how that actually feels to do, and it hit me squarely in the heart.

#Digimon #Kichii Funabashi #Locomon #I like trains

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devilbombers · 1 year

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Claymore review

7.8/10

An extremely overlooked cult classic. It's probably the butch lesbian fantasy of all time.

For a good time for the most part I still think everyone should read it!

The Anime

this is probably the first time ive preffered watching the anime than the manga. Personally i found the beginning of the manga drawn too plain and thought the story telling was illustrated in a rather boring way and honestly i dont think the Norihiro Yagi was at the level he needed to be with choreographing fight scenes in a comprehensive way at the time and i just had to go ahead and watch the anime instead mostly because i could finally understand what was happening in scenes.

I really liked the anime however in the i am always inevitably a manga over the anime fan til the bitter end. It actually made me really angry to find out they had to drastically change a bunch of major plot elements and even make up a bunch of shit just so they could wrap up the anime in a nice way. Like i kind of understand why but it was actually such a corny and confusing ending it actually made me really angry lmao (ESPECIALLY HOW THEY REPLACED THE SCENE WITH JEAN SAVING CLARE WITH RAKI INSTEAD)

The Characters

For the most part I really liked everyone but of course I absolutely despised Raki. I do not blame anyone who couldnt bring themselves to continue or even start the series because of him because it took so much out of me to continue regardless of his almost pointless presence.

Like I kind of understand its because hes sort of supposed to expose and ground Claire's humanity but i really think it was still possible to do that without him even existing. hes kind of really a walking character device isnt he? Like im pretty sure Jean's existence was enough.

So anyways i think everyone else was really cool.

setting/genre/lore

I really dont know how to start with how much i admired everything. I really liked the legion of really cool/scary/pretty butch lesbian warriors, the concept of youma/awakened beings is so interesting and i love how horrifyingly beautiful they all are, I was super into how little i fucking knew about the organization.

In general everything is so unique and fresh I like everything about it. It pains me to no avail acknowledging that this is the only series asides from berserk thats a dark fantasy and even worse understanding both of them are technically over and its extremely maddening knowing nobody wants to draw dark fantasy manga anymore

creature design

i fucking love monsters so of course I have to discuss the unique appeal of the creature design in this series. One of the greatest things i absolutely adore from Yagis designs for the awakened beings is the stark contrast of a creature that is frightfully elegant.

I have to praise Yagi for also being the only other artist asides from Kentaro Miura whos considerate about exploring different shapes and forms for the overall silhouette of his creature designs.

Another specific aspect I greatly admire from his designs is that hes probably the first artist ive come across whos capable of mixing mostly scaled/armorlike textures on a monster while still retaining an air of tension and an organic looking design.

from my own personal art and observation from other creature designs from all sorts of artists I find it almost impossible to have these textures while retaining said elements of design because i think it gives it more of a "cool" vibe than a scary one.

Up until this point I was quite convinced its only feasible to have scales/armor-like textures on a monster if you balance it with a fleshy texture (approximately 70-80% fleshy and hard textured for the 20-30%) but Yagi truly is a genius or something because hes the only artist i know whos capable of making designs that are like 90% armor but its still somehow gives you chills.

So anyways heres a list breaking down my deepest feelings about my favorite awakened being designs:

1. The destroyer

I actually havent ever seen a monster design so grand it took my breath away. Theres too much to love about it. Out of all the awakened beings nothing radiates such a thick aura of radiance and absolute terror than this design alone.

The whole idea of two sisters lovingly trapped together to become a greater and unstoppable creature is so overwhelming it really makes me shiver with delight and terror. Ive never felt so strongly about a design before so I really think nothing else will outdo this unique sensation.

Its just so fucking cool!!!!!!! I'm obsessed with religious iconography so i really adored how it was shaped like an angel and devil at the same time. i thought it was super fascinating how it would relentlessly and indiscriminately shoot everything and everyone in its radius with pieces of itself warped into more awful abyssal creatures that could even manipulate and transform anyone it stabs itself into. its all just so coollllllllllllllllll!!!!!!!!

2: Isley

i thought isley was a really weird guy and i probably hated him but i cannot deny how I think his awakened form was soooo cool. Isley is the prime example of what i was talking about with balancing textures on a monster. Super cool design i like it a lot

3: the awakened girl that showed up during ophelias first appearance

god i really wish i could properly admire her with knowing her fucking name. Quite an ephemeral appearance but she had such a unique look to her despite everything I've seen throughout the series i could never forget her. She's probably the defines the general features and theme of what awakened beings should look like. A trend setter dare i say.

4: Cassandra

VERY interesting silhouette. its not often you get to see a humanoid like body be treated like somewhat of a quadruped. Its interesting how its something vaguely erotic and terrifying at the same time. The multiple heada that snaps its jaws on anything that gets near it is a fantastic touch.

5: Riful

overall a relatively simple design but its the simple things that are always the most fascinating isnt it? I really like tangled looking monsters. Not much to say except slay honestly lmao

6: Jean

She was only in this form for such a brief moment but it was such a striking design I couldn't forget it. If find the most unforgettable things are usually the most fascinating things in turn. Such a gorgeous yet terrifying thing. I hope i dont sound like a psychopath saying this but the visible helplessness being trapped in an awful and radiant body is very beautiful to me.

7: Miata

quite a short appearance but i really liked the silhouette of her awakened form. I wish there were more panels showing more closer details of it. not much to say about this other than i think its really neat!

8: europa

literally just a ball with several spines attached to it and i could say its a bit lazy in comparison to everyone else but theres sm attention to the finer details of the spines i cant get mad at it. I know you're supposed to focus on the arms with this design but i actually like this design the most for just the face. The upside down doubled face is really interesting to me and i admire it a lot for some reason.

9: the abyssal eaters

probably one of the most terrifying creatures in the whole series and maybe somewhere up there in my hierarchy of the most scariest monsters in a manga. i LOVE LOVE LOVE the whole idea of them so much bc theyre so fucking scary!!!!!! Very simple design but i never get to see stitches ENOUGH in media (which is a huge shame because its one of my favorite features to draw with body horror) so it makes me happy that all of their faces is just stitches.

THE STORY and the series as a whole

i really wish i could say i loved everything about it but everything I loved about it in the beginning basically disipated in the end. I think the main issue lies in the fact it all started in a very simple but effective manner but yagi ended up over complicating everything by adding too much. I don't scorn Yagi at all for the almost sudden and utter collapse in quality writing because its sort of an inevitability with titles that go on for a very long time. But I still think it's important and valid to explain my fascination with it in the first place.

I really liked the overall simplicity it had with everything. The plot at the start was very simple and straightforward: a woman who gives up her humanity to avenge the death of her only family. Not a unique plot of course but it obviously was the main character herself and companions (excluding raki ofc lmao) who really makes up the story.

I really liked how Claire was never the strongest. She really appeared to be but comparatively speaking to her fellow warriors she pales immensely. And I think its that remaining humanity I really liked the most about Claire. I REALLY liked how cohesive her group was and I was so impressed with the storytelling and character building in the beginning because at the time I thought this was the only other series I like I could think of other than Dorohedoro where theres a lot of characters that show up but you actually manage to sincerely remember them because they all have meaning. Too many times i run into series who introduce too many characters solely just to keep the story fresh; but none of them have any real purpose to them.

I also was obsessed with how well Yagi was with building tension throughout the story. To me I think its really hard to find series who are able to capture their readers with a good sense of tension.

The characters in this series are quite overpowered, but In the beginning I found it extremely admirable how Yagi was still able to make the reader feel anxious about whether or not the protagonist or their companions would persevere againt their adversaries. Yagi had a very good sense at balancing everyones strengths and flaws in a very balanced way.

But again with the sands of time it couldn't stay this good forever. To be completely honest it took a lot out of me to read the rest of it. It came to the point where i was so lost and frusturated about how confusing everything got i was just trying to read it just so i could be done with it?

I think my main problem with the series as it ended was how unfocussed it got with the plot. I feel like everything immediately got so muddled after the fight with Rigardo. Maybe it's just me but I honestly was ok with never understanding the organization I was mostly just interested in what was going to happen with the main cast with the abyssal ones and such. It actually made me really angry how the battle scenes got so stupid overtime with how it became one of those series where they overexplain the characters' tactics for a very long time. I initially really liked the battle scenes because they dont talk too much and they just simply fight, i really really hate it when anime/manga does the latter actually.

I don't really know how i feel about the ending honestly. I don't know if im satisfied with how claire somehow turned into teresa and she killed priscilla instead but i guess it was nice? I don't know how i thought it was all going to end but i would have never expected it to be like this and i dont say that in a good way but more of a confused way if anything. I wouldn't say it was a bad ending? but I guess thats okay???

anyways, despite all my criticisms i still think its worth the read and the credit it deserves in the end. It's really weird how it went on for so long but no one ever seemed to care? that makes me quite upset actually.

#long post #LITERALLY WROTE WAR AND PEACE HERE BC I JUST HAD TOO MUCH TO SAY #manga reviews

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