#i realize there's longer animes and shows out there but this is the longest one i've ever watched and i'm exhausted lol

[iamheadcanontrash-deactivated]

The New Dusk Court (Az x Reader)

Chapter 1

word count: 1,051

It had been three days. And once again, the IC had met up at the River House, this time in the dining room, as they all sat in their respective chairs, and they all kept their eyes upon a single open book in the middle of the table. 

Nesta had found this book within the depths of the House of Wind with a little help from Gwyn. Next to it, a single, small map with singed pages laid–and replacing “The Prison” was “Dusk Court”. It was barely legible, but there nonetheless. The entire book was half-destroyed, but through the damage, one could slightly read stories of lush land, beautiful sunsets, and a secret that laid in a mountain within the island. A secret that only the High Lord of Dusk Court knew of, really, until what the IC can really only imagine was a war that left Dusk Court in ashes, and Morrigan’s family lineage no longer in control of Night Court, either. A time where there was still conflict over who could take advantage of Dusk Courts native animals, or who would have rights to the land once the High Lord died as he had no children. 

“You’ve read it all, Nesta?” Rhysand asked, his eyes remaining on the main attraction in front of him on the table.

“I’ve read it all. And that is all I could make out from the pages.” She answered. 

“This is still a lot of information, is it not?” Cassian looked to Rhys. He sat right beside Nesta, elbows crossed and propped up on the table as he leaned over it. 

“It is, I suppose. Mor, what can you tell us about the visit with Helion?” 

“Helion is doing well. He was very interested in what I was researching,” Morrigan swiped her blonde hair over a shoulder, “I told him I was looking for something to keep me celibate and he left me be. But I found some things that would definitely answer some questions.” 

Mor told the story of the book she’d read, how legend had it that the High Lord of Dusk was a shadowsinger. When the words left her lips, Azriel’s face paled slightly, as his suspicions were slowly being confirmed by the day. Manipulating shadows and darkness, as dusk would cast the longest shadows. It only made sense. But Azriel was gifted these powers, not born with them, and he constantly found himself asking, why? Azriel knew he was as strong as Rhys. Knew he was as powerful and quick as him, too, and he quickly realized what this all meant. 

“Azriel,” Az’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of his brother’s voice. Hazel eyes met violet-blue ones, and Rhys spoke once again, “You are…” His voice trailed off, and Azriel could feel a familiar tapping on his mind as he slowly lifted his shields. 

How did I never notice before? Rhys sounded almost amused. My own brother… equal to me in power, heir to a court that I hardly knew existed. 

Azriel’s brows furrowed as he stayed in his own head. 

Why do you doubt yourself, Az? You’re smart and powerful enough… 

I don’t know the first step to becoming a High Lord of a dead court, Rhys. I’m not doing it. Azriel thought. Rhys’ low chuckle echoed in Azriel’s mind. 

There’s a first time for everything, brother. The Cauldron works in mysterious ways. The Prison sings to you things that I can’t even hear. Your shadows respond to the calling of the island. I’m not sure you have much of a choice. It’ll be tough losing my best spy. Azriel closed his shields. Rhysand wasn’t wrong, Azriel was feeling more drawn to the land as the weeks went by, and he knew he didn’t have much of a choice. His fear and insecurity was taking the reins more than anything. 

He couldn’t keep his head quiet. His shadows would speak, their becks and calls overlapping every night for a whole week, and Azriel’s face showed it. The Prison, the shadows, the dusk. A world, a woman, a love. A High Lord and Lady of Dusk. He’d attempt his late night walks through the city to quiet his mind. When that didn’t work he’d spend hours in the training ring until he’d noticed the sun was shining over the steppes. He’d lay in bed for hours staring into the dark, watching the stars and the moon. Wherever his eyes wandered, his shadows quickly followed, each one with a different request. 

Azriel stood in Rhysand’s office, staring at the different planets Rhys kept in his solar system model. He wouldn’t dare tell his brother that his eyes burned and he hadn’t slept in days, but Rhys would already know just by looking at him. Rhys sat as his desk, working through the piles of documents that lay there while he waited for Azriel to speak.

“I feel a pull to go there, Rhys.” Azriel finally muttered. 

“It’s supposed to be your court, Az. You’ll feel that.” Rhysand replied coolly. 

“I’m not talking about The Prison.” 

Rhys looked up from the papers he was working on. “A different world?” 

Azriel nodded. 

“I can figure out how to get you there,” Rhys started, but Azriel quickly interrupted. 

“No. I don’t want to raise any suspicion. I can figure it out myself.” 

Rhys sat back in his chair and shrugged. 

“If you can figure out how to get there, go.” 

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

Days… weeks went by of studying and practicing how the Hel Azriel could leave this planet in favor of another one. He’d eventually made it there, with nothing but a single soul tie, diminished by the magic the world he’d stepped into seemed to lack. After lots of trial and error of how to function in this new world… Azriel found himself pulling up to a bookstore. He’d had a feeling that he’d need some kind of entertainment while he’d waited to magically appear upon his mate, so he’d set up the GPS on his phone, and took himself to a bookstore. 

He’d eventually wandered into a fantasy isle when he’d stopped in his tracks, because standing there was you, stood in front of a bookshelf with your phone and a coffee in one hand, and a thick romance book in another. 

#azriel x reader #azriel #acotar #acotar x reader #the new dusk court

[cometcrumbss]

Have an au except I can't write

Okay think about it pjsekai x Infinity Train. Majority of the characters are average passengers or companions maybe except Mafuyu? Idk she COULD be the Amelia but hey, any OTHER character can be her. Also all of them follow VERY similar plotlines to season 2 cause of the whole companion stuff. And Miku is the conductor, I say no other words

Leo/Need

- Ichika and Honami can be passengers. I'm not sure about Ichika but Honami is a passenger because she was bullied a lot and didn't know how to deal with it properly. So it's basically her learning how to be brave ig (I NEED to catch up l/n lore)

- Saki and Shiho are their companions. Shiho could be a kinda human but Saki can a cute little dog (or a corgi? hehe) and Shiho is from the school cart

- Maybe some Honasaki or Ichishiho?? Ichisaki, Shihonami and Polyneed works too

-I think Saki and Shiho might go to the real world with Ichika and Honami.

More More Jump!

- Everyone is companion except Haruka.

- Haruka joined the train after ASRUN disbanded

-the rest of the idols, Minori, Airi and Shizuku, are all part of the IDOL cart. They're all humans with some animal like features (Shizuku with cat ears and tail and minori having bunny ears)

- the moment minori saw haruka, she instantly fell in love with her (like in canon) and goes this whole journey of learning everything about her and learning lessons from Haruka about Idol(ing?)

- I think they do say goodbye but idk about Minori.

Vivid Bad Squad

- An and Kohane are passengers while Akito and Toya are companions

- Vbs kinda follows the premise of season 4, except An and Kohane didn't have the same numbers on their hand.

- Akito and Toya are from the street cart. MEIKO and Len are also there. Like in Canon, they both want to surpass RAD WEEKEND except Ken is different ig?

-Akitoya has their plot where they're actually rivals as they both want to surpass alone but they realize that they work really well together and in the end, they become partners

- An and Kohane actually meet from akitoya and similarly realize that work together well too and then pull a Ryan and Min gi thing where, in the real world, they're singing partners who travel across the world!

Wonderland x Showtime

- rui and nene are passengers while emu and tsukasa are companions

- ruinene were never close and actually had a pretty broken relationship

- rui was too insecure of himself and had low self esteem while nene couldn't hold long term friendships and just pushed people away a lot (rui being a victim unfortunately) and now the train brought them together to fix it

- tsukasa and emu are from the theme park cart along with Saki. They join them to bring some positivity and the four may or may not got way to attached to one another

- the four actually do get out of the train and become a theater troupe!

-I've realized that this sounds polysho, I don't ship it personally (I see queerplatonically tho 👀) you can interpret it as that :)

Nightcord at 25:00

- all of them are passengersbut separate and only meet after the train, their companion is kaito (kanamafu) cause that's funny and rin (mizuena)

- I don't really need to explain how they got into the train but Mafuyu has been in the train longer than anybody else and also has the longest number than anybody in project sekai does

- Kanade, despite being a passenger, does everything she can to save her, and unironically, it helps her.

- Mizuena has their own plot. Their relationship is similar to Canon except that Mizuki actually told Ena everything which got her out the train but Ena was still stuck

- Mizuki still stayed, and the two had to struggle with ups and downs of their numbers the most

- thankfully, they both left the train together and altogether, kanamafu and mizuena met through nightcord, creating the music group we know today

Lmao, sorry for rambling all of this, it's just fun merging your two favorite things together, I know the show is cancelled and all but prayers for the movie or season 5 🙏

#project sekai #prsk #infinity train #leo/need #more more jump #vivid bad squad #wonderland x showtime #nightcord at 25:00 #polyneed #minoharu #anhane #akitoya #polysho #kanamafu #mizuena

[memestockpile]

steel magnolias (1989) feel free to change as needed.

get your fingers out of the icing. 

looks like a stuck pig bled all over my hands. 

don’t put ice down my back!

stop that now! i can’t hear myself think!

turn off that stupid television. 

that’s why god invented the a&p.

oh, you sweet thing. come on in. 

it’s tacky!

it’s like talking to a brick wall. 

you have to be so crude?

your technique is really good. 

we’ll be busier than a one-armed paper hanger. 

i pick up everything but boys and money. 

honey, what do you say we talk some trash?

look at me. it takes some effort to look like this. 

it is essential to that abreast of the latest styles. 

i’m going to talk some sense into you.

he will cut your thing off. 

you look like hammered shit. 

don’t talk to me like that!

i have such a bone to pick with you. 

sounds awful rich. 

i serve it over ice cream to cut the sweetness. 

i like the idea of growing old with somebody. 

my dream is to get old and sit on the back porch covered with grandchildren and say “no” and “stop that”.

i’m so anxious to discuss this topic for the 900th time this week.

you should not be on your feet all day long. 

music is a wonderful thing to have in the background. it takes the pressure off everybody feeling they have to talk so much. 

pink is my signature color. 

an ounce of pretension’s worth a pound of manure. 

they’re simply outdoorsy, that’s all. 

we went skinny-dipping and we did things that frightened the fish. 

it’s been a long time since we’ve had a youngster in this place. 

i love those kind of talks. 

that wasn’t a nice thing to do to your mama. 

the last romantic thing my husband did for me was back in [year]. 

just because i’m bragging on you, don’t get lazy. 

there’s some candy in my purse. 

don’t talk about me like i’m not here!

there’s plenty of kids out there need good homes. 

that’s alright, honey. oh, it’s alright. it’s all over now. it’s over.

we have work to do. daylight’s burning. 

lord, give us strength!

that is one ugly dog. 

this is it. i’ve found it. i am in hell. 

don’t try to get on my good side. 

he is a boil on the butt of humanity. 

i bet he takes the dishes out of the sink before he pees in it. 

now, i know everybody in this town, and i don’t recall having seen you before. 

i don’t have any family to speak of. 

it cost me sixty bucks to rent this sucker. 

i know when you’re young, it seems like everything will always be perfect.

you old fuddy-duddy. 

can we call a truce long enough for me to get a piece of cake?

you know i’d rather walk on my lips than to criticize anybody. 

if you want to practice safe sex, you’re all set.

i’ll have sweet dreams with this under my pillow. 

get your little butt over here. 

how about a glass of iced tea? it’s the house wine of the south. 

the nicest thing i can say about her is all her tattoos are spelled correctly. 

white shows everything. 

i wouldn’t want you to break a sweat or anything. 

your poor body has been through so much. 

you are special. 

you’re jealous because you no longer have a say-so in what i do, and that drives you up the wall. 

you’re ready to spit nails because you can’t call the shots. 

i don’t know why you have to make everything so difficult. 

honey, time marches on. eventually you realize it’s marching across your face. 

he had the longest nose hair in the free world. now he hardly has any hair anywhere. 

the only reason people are nice to me is because i have more money than god.

the only thing that seperates us from the animals is our ability to accessorize. 

i’m surprised at you, talking about your kin that way. 

my god, you look different. have you shrunk?

i’m not sure i can be gracious under pressure. 

smile. it increases your face value. 

i want to get my hair cut. 

i’m only kidding. i’m just gay. 

they’d been smoking everything but their shoes. 

speaking of drawers, hang on to yours. 

please don’t cry, or i will, too. 

she prays at the drop of a hat these days. 

why are you in such a good mood? you run over a small child or something? 

i saw something about it on tv. very dramatic. 

you’d give your dog a kidney if he needed one. 

you’re supposed to soak the red beans overnight. 

i’d rather eat dirt. 

hand me the socket wrench, would you?

we are in the house of the lord. 

i’m old and set in my ways. 

i’d recognize this penmanship anywhere. 

you have the handwriting of a serial killer. 

that’s not easy to come by in this neck of the woods. 

you should broaden your horizons. 

i don’t read books ‘cause the good ones are made into miniseries.

you take your bible and shove it where the sun doesn’t shine. 

what’s the matter, pal?

honey, it’ll do you good to get out for a while. eat a real dinner. 

how you holding up, honey?

the flowers were the most beautiful flowers i have ever seen. 

it may sound real simple and stupid, and maybe i am, but that’s how i get through things like this. 

it’s not supposed to happen this way. i’m supposed to go first. 

i just want to hit something! i want to hit it hard!

this is your chance to do something for your fellow man. 

things were getting entirely too serious for a moment. we needed to laugh.

she worships the quicksand i walk on. 

spoken like a true smart ass. 

let’s play on the swing. 

i’m tickled pink. 

life goes on.

i’ve never been so uncomfortable in all my life. 

keep those eyes closed, or i’m going to staple them shut. 

i’m an adult, i’m not a five year old. 

i hate these stupid neighborhood things.

no one’s twisting your arm to keep you here. 

let’s connect the bald spots. 

eat shit and die. 

get your tail hopping!

#askbox rp #askbox meme #ask meme #askbox #roleplay #roleplay meme #tumblr roleplay #sentence starters #rp sentence meme #sentence starter meme #roleplay sentence meme #sentence meme #inbox meme #rp inbox meme #inbox rp meme #ask #rp meme #meme

[chickenparm]

Trivial Lessons Pt 2 (ScaraLumi)

Scaramouche isn’t as worldly as he thinks he is. Lumine is the only one he’d considering learning from.

another drabble to this little series. he just deserves softness, leave me alone-

AO3 LINK Previous Part | Next Part

Scaramouche/Lumine 468 Words - SFW No heinous tags - just a mountain of fluff and Scaramouche getting the physical affection he deserves.

---

The first lesson is simple enough. 

Lumine climbs to her feet, pulling him along enough that he stumbles on the trip down the hill. Her hand is warm, holding his own as if it were something delicate and breakable. He wants to scoff, but perhaps this is the first thing he should learn. Violet eyes squint at their linked hands, regarding the show of tenderness as one would examine an animal in a cage. 

A little too detached, but appreciative nonetheless.

So, the first lesson is softness. Lumine shows, rather than tells, and he soaks up the knowledge greedily. The steps for this sort of thing aren’t as obvious as it would seem, but with such an amenable guide, well… he has high hopes.

Halfway down the hill, toward the singular building that serves as the shelter in this domain of hers, Lumine looks over her shoulder and slows her pace until they’re side-by-side. Now that she’s no longer pulling him, he expects her to let go, but Lumine only absently swings their linked hands back and forth. 

Scaramouche nearly pins it as something done without purpose, until he realizes her footsteps fall in time with it, alternating back and forth in a rhythmic fashion that nearly causes him to miss what she says.

“What was that?”

Laughter, quiet and airy, “I said, why don’t you sit out back at the table, and I’ll bring us lunch.”

“Oh.” Up until this very moment, when she squeezes back, he doesn’t realize his grip has been increasing. Quickly he loosens, but she doesn’t. The subtle invitation is there, beckoning him to take what she’s been showing him and put it into practice. 

Alright. He can do this.

With only a hint of a blush, he pulls her to a stop. Too easily, Lumine does as he bids, watching with a pleasant smile and rocking on her heels with unhidden anticipation. Embarrassing, but not so much that he doesn’t swallow his pride and lift the hand he’s holding, cradling it just like she’d done the first time she’d touched him at the top of the hill. 

“Let me handle it. You can just relax.”

The sun moves so swiftly that it startles him. Ambient light that had been clear and bright turns into shades of orange and pink, casting her in a glow that nearly hides a blush of her own. If he hadn’t been staring at her so intently just now, he never would’ve caught on to what she attempted to do. 

Fast enough that the ends of her longest strands nearly catch him across the cheek, Lumine’s head whips to the side. A nod is her answer, her lips pulled between teeth to hide whatever expression she was about to make, and pride wells in his chest. 

Lesson learned.

#scaralumi #wanderer #scaramouche #genshin impact #fic #fanfic #fanfiction #scaramouche x lumine #wanderer x lumine

[ladyloveandjustice]

I posted 3,484 times in 2022

That's 707 more posts than 2021!

1,786 posts created (51%)

1,698 posts reblogged (49%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@kurozu501

@ladyloveandjustice

@kilruas

@dingdongyouarewrong

@badnewsmouse

I tagged 3,453 of my posts in 2022

Only 1% of my posts had no tags

#sailor queuepiter - 878 posts

#awesome fanart - 869 posts

#fanart - 866 posts

#nev reads 7 seeds - 199 posts

#nev watches the demon girl next door - 178 posts

#nev watches the aquatope on white sand - 178 posts

#nev reads girl genius - 157 posts

#gifs - 150 posts

#art - 132 posts

#nev watches glitch techs - 128 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#it's especially funny with better call saul in comparison because it takes jimmy a lot longer and he tries to hold himself back so much more

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

one thing I think is underrated about FMA is that while May’s search for the perfect shoujo love interest, is while it is played a bit for laughs, it’s not like “her quest is stupid and she’ll never find a guy like that! girls and their stupid romantic fantasies!.”

 No it’s that she’ll absolutely find a guy like that! and it’s Al. Ed isn’t remotely qualified, but Al is Fully Qualified to the be the Perfect Wholesome Shoujo Love Interest, May zeroed in on that immediately,and she was fuckin’ right and got what she wanted. She found herself a guy who’s gallant (yet troubled! They’re a bit starcrossed!), pets and kidnaps stray cats and believes firmly in being a gentleman. Arakawa was like “yeah one of my main characters is an ideal shoujo love interest. I want to stress that”. May isn’t ultimately punished for having a shoujo romance mindset in a shonen manga, she’s rewarded and Arakawa forces the reader to realize one of their leads would be pretty cute love interest in a manga aimed towards girls. I enjoy that. Delightful.

(It also forces readers, if they care to think about it, to realize Al has a pretty romance oriented mindset too, that the gag comics don’t come out of nothing. Because of all the other stuff that’s going on and the neverending horror of his life, it’s limited to little asides like “man i wanted to find a gf before I died :/” and stuff like that, but he would love to be in a shoujo romance too. He’s there already, he just got fucking sidetracked by all this other nonsense. That’s what I’m thinking is missing from the “Al was supposed to be the mc”. He is! But he’s not a shounen mc who got derailed. No, in Al’s world he’s the lead guy in a shoujo who got derailed, goddammit).

1,493 notes - Posted March 4, 2022

#4

Gundam having a girl react to this line by calmly saying “yeah we all knew it would be tight get over it” rather than getting flustered and angry and in denial over the horror of being flat chested...this show truly is breaking barriers in anime.

2,201 notes - Posted November 20, 2022

#3

See the full post

2,866 notes - Posted August 17, 2022

#2

Rewatching FMA also reminds me like, what a failure it is that My Hero Academia had that episode where Deku realized the huge emotional strain that him hurting himself  and not including her in his decisions has put on his Mom and resolves to do better, but as far as I can tell the narrative completely,,, fuckin’ forgets that?

When the same basic thing happens in FMA, as far as Ed and Winry go, Ed NEVER FORGETS IT. “I will not do things that hurt Winry, and when I don’t value myself or communicate it hurts her” never stops being a thing in Ed’s mind. He still sometimes acts recklessly but then literally thinks “I fucked up better fix this I promised not to make my girlfriend cry” She is genuinely always in his thoughts.

like other shonen action manga try to replicate this but don’t do the followthrough. It’s just a one episode thing and then it’s like BYE CIVILIAN FEMALE CHARACTER BACK TO THE SHELF WE’LL NEVER THINK ABOUT YOUR NEEDS OR THE EMOTIONAL LABOR YOU DO AGAIN but Winry’s needs and the moral of valuing her emotional labor and getting her up to date on what’s happening are present throughout the whole narrative. She’s not an action hero yet she has an arc?? She’s important? this STILL is never present in all the shonen I’ve seen that have come out since, like somehow arakawa still stands out for grasping this simple concept, we haven’t gotten past this yet.

Can other shonen action manga learn about follow through please.

Edit: Did an entire article about this! Here it is!

2,977 notes - Posted January 8, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Love how Loid is like ‘my wife, a supposedly average woman, is demonstrably better and stronger than me, a top spy who trained to take out multiple people at once, in hand to hand combat, and in our briefest encounter where she was drunk, I was sure she was going to kill me, thank god she passed out” and then continued on his merry way without suspecting a thing, like what were his thoughts??? “Guess she really learned a lot in that self defense class she said she took! Impressive as always, Yor”???

3,043 notes - Posted May 7, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#my 2022 tumblr year in review #i was like why did i reblog myself the most??? but it's because of the start of liveblog posts #gifs #long post #year in review

[cdmagic1408]

"I speak for the underrated" - CDmagic1408

I am Caroline, and I speak for the underrated. I speak for the underrated for the underrated needs all the love it can get! 💖

"I speak for the underrated"—and by extension, the “under-appreciated” and the “underrepresented”—is a phrase I've always believed in my whole life 

growing up I was never in the popular crowd, nor was I always into the popular thing...instead I was more interested in things my peers looked down upon…like animation, cartoons, or younger kids shows, etc.

but because of that, I was always shy to share my interests with people, and shy around people in general. the last thing I ever wanted was to be made fun of or ostracized for liking something they thought was weird or different...but luckily I was also never one to cave into peer pressure. i never thought what i loved was weird or different in my own world so I never sacrificed what I truly loved for what i was never really into 😌

so I loved what I loved in secret. i did that for the longest time up until I graduated high school

by the time I entered my dream college, I realized I was finally in a place where I felt more free to express who i was without being outed for it 🥳

then Onward came out, and then the pandemic hit. it was then that I had an epiphany💡 I was tired of hiding. I didn’t want to keep my mouth shut or have a brain chock-full of thoughts to myself any longer. I wanted to speak out for what I believed in. and being a creative person, I best do that through writing and art ✍️

so everyday when I open my goal to speak up for media (like Onward) that I firmly believe deserves more appreciation and attention, I usually tell myself with a smile as I put together a post, write down an idea, draw, or simply think about how much I love Onward—“I speak for the underrated” 

I loosely based this phrase off of “I speak for the trees" from The Lorax because the trees were important to him. and in my case Onward and the underrated are important to me

now if you all know or remember the story of The Lorax, it was about respecting the environment because without it, the world can be an unsafe and depressing place. the same goes for Onward. without it there’s less representation for just three families like the Lightfoot family, there’s less representation of a creative diversity, and there’s one less representation of a healthy and strong sibling bond...

without all those things, someone like me—who loves fantasy, who also lives in a just three family with a mom and an older sister, who knows what it's like to have social anxiety—doesn’t feel seen 👈

I’m reminded of another favorite quote from The Lorax that I also believe rings true to small fandoms like Onward: "unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. it's not."

I know my love for GE&H and this make it seem like I’m a major Seuss fan...you’re not wrong! I loved his stories growing up too! but this quote in particular has stuck with me for a long time. I remember I would find enjoyment in reading it over and over because it felt so meaningful and special to me for some reason. but outside the story, I never really had any reason, no cause of my own to back it up in my own life. but since joining the Onward fandom, I feel like I have found my purpose for it! 📖

as someone who was lost in the crowd and never really seen at school herself, I can literally feel the underrated-ness of things like Onward. I can see the beauty and details of things the majority of people would rather not pay attention to because what the majority of people are interested in have enough love to back it up with no signs of ever fading away. but the things they don’t pay attention to that I do ✨shine✨ like a geode. it may look rocky and rough on the outside, but on the inside it’s a shining crystal. you just have to look deep inside it to find the greatness it contains 💎

to this day, I still love animation, I still love the PBS shows I watched every morning before I went to school, and I love Onward. no one will ever take that away from me 😎

I will continue my endeavor to make sure that things like Onward are loved, represented, and appreciated no matter what it takes because I believe in it 💗

so give the underrated, the underappreciated, and the underrepresented a chance! who knows? something that might not seem significant in the eyes of the majority might just become your new favorite thing 😉

...and that concludes this TED Talk 👏

#quotes #true story #cd's rambles #onward #pixar onward #onward pixar #disney onward #onward disney #pixar #disney pixar #pixar movies #underrated film #underrepresented #unless #the lorax #dr seuss #cdmagic1408

[inkforhumanhands]

AO3 Wrapped 2022

Taken from this post

How many words have you written this year? 45243

How many works did you publish this year? 10 but some of that number was edits and Epistaxis Anime wasn't initial publishing it was only adding chapters.

What work are you most proud of (regardless of kudos/hits)? hmm I do really like Out of the Limelight, Into the Darkness

What work of yours has the most hits? Epistaxis Anime with 2133

What work of yours got more feedback than you expected? Kiss It Better which is just a silly little ficlet I wrote in a day for MattFoggy Week.

Favorite title you used A Gentleman Caller. I feel like it fits the vampire vibes and sums up the premise pretty well.

If you use song lyrics, which artist’s songs did you pull from the most? well the only thing I pulled from song lyrics this year was the aforementioned title "A Gentleman Caller" from a song by Cursive.

Pairing you wrote the most for this year? MattFoggy which is uhh literally the only pairing I wrote for this year.

Favorite pairing you wrote for this year? MattFoggy for the above reason asd;fsdf

What work was the quickest to write? Kiss It Better since it was short and simple.

What work took you the longest to write? I worked on Epistaxis Anime over the longest number of months but as for oneshots, A Murder of Crows was one I was writing for ~3 months.

How many WIP’s do you have in your docs for next year? 15 actual docs but my WIP list is longer than that.

What’s your longest work of the year? Epistaxis Anime at 25k even though a lot of that was written last year. A Murder of Crows comes in 2nd with almost 11k.

What’s your shortest work of the year? Kiss It Better with 586 words.

What WIP are you taking into next year with you? Epistaxis Anime, Limelight, A Gentleman Caller, Guesswork, and Super Sleuth for the 4th year running lmao

What’s your most common “Additional Tags” tag? this is for all time not just the year, but "Ficlet" followed by "Humor"

Your favorite character to write this year? Murderdock probably, his voice was a lot of fun

The character that gave you the most trouble writing this year? Hmm it took me a little bit to get an OC for EA down, Ms. Peretti.

What’s one pairing you want to explore next year? I want to finally publish a fic with Matthias/Maxime...

Which work of yours have you reread the most? Oh man I have no idea. Maybe A Murder of Crows??

How many kudos in total did you get this year? 669

Which work has the most comments? Epistaxis Anime by virtue of being a multichap

Did you do any collaborative works this year? #MattFoggy with my boy best friend happybeans

Did you write any gifts this year? The aforementioned #MattFoggy was for Pom (94BottlesOfSnapple) and A Murder of Crows was for thelonebamf!

Did you receive any gifts this year? Meet your lover (Meet your loser) by coollizzylou, You Would Be Great, If You Actually Showed Up by feeny_has_a_pen, From Your Lips to the Devil's Ears by thelonebamf, happybeans, and MissMoochy, and Emotional Flooding by gelishan. I really raked it in this year! :D

What’s your most common category? M/M

What do you listen to while writing? lots of music... I have very eclectic tastes

Favorite work you wrote this year? Limelight maybe??

Favorite line/passage you wrote this year? mannn don't make me choose!! I guess I'll take two passages from Limelight: the first because I think it's funny and the second because it's a little sad and I'm evil. At the time, he and Marci had only known each other through the several classes they’d shared. He’d been attracted to her sharp wit, self-assuredness, and good looks and had invited her to coffee. Once there, she’d taken his hand, looked him straight in the eyes, and informed him she was a lesbian, to which Foggy said—reflexively, stupidly—“Me too.” One consolatory, “Sure, honey,” later and they’d been friends ever since. As Foggy thought fondly back on the incident, he realized two years too late that this was probably the justification for his inclusion at brunch. -- Foggy had resisted examining the reasons Matt could have had for skipping out on the truth, but something about that night wouldn’t let him go, had kind of hurt. It wasn’t a real hurt, of course—the kiss had meant nothing. It was more like a papercut or a splinter: the fault didn’t lie with what Matt had said or not said so much as the manner in which Foggy was coming up against it. But it was getting difficult to not take it personally when he was facing a reenactment that could inspire something worse.

Biggest surprise while writing this year? probably gotta be that i actually wrote some smut successfully (I think, anyway) in Worth It

#ask games

[ordinarytalk]

I posted 2,363 times in 2022

88 posts created (4%)

2,275 posts reblogged (96%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@noirandchocolate

@crankyteapot

@anonymousalchemist

@myrskytuuli

@sabertoothwalrus

I tagged 2,304 of my posts in 2022

Only 2% of my posts had no tags

#posts from the queue - 613 posts

#laugh rule - 382 posts

#danny phantom - 215 posts

#dracula daily - 143 posts

#dracula - 102 posts

#personal stuff - 85 posts

#laugh rule! - 68 posts

#undertale - 51 posts

#music - 49 posts

#stories - 36 posts

Longest Tag: 137 characters

#“the monsters that live in these woods‚ the woods you live in‚ are evil. we will protect you from the monsters that live in these woods.”

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

OP I think you accidentally singlehandedly summoned most of the DP fans with your two posts, which is both amazing yet also understandably overwhelming. How are you taking this? What's your favorite fic that you've read so far?

Thank you for asking! I've been kind of overwhelmed, but in a good way? I have never had a post take off like that before. This is like the most crazy supportive fandom I've ever seen.

And I have read so many dang fics it's hard to choose one. My very favorites tend to be small semi-demi-hemi AUs where someone just puts a little one-page wild idea out there, like "What if a ghost thought Tucker was Phantom?" or "What if there was a ghost alien?" People get crazy creative with those.

My favorite longer fic I've read so far is the "Something's Wrong With Danny Fenton" series, because I'm in love with horror stories and I think it's adorable when the kids all have cute teen crushes on each other.

(Before anyone asks, I have A Snapping Sound, Phantom of Truth, and Mortified on my to-read list but I haven't read them yet. I, uh...I'm slightly terrified by the size of some of these.)

My favorite fic/comic series is @artistfingers's Undercover Phantom AU! That's actually kind of what started my Phandom deep dive. Well, that and @the-stove-is-on-fire's Danny Phantom/Spiderman/Deadpool comics. They just kept on popping up on my dash over and over until I was like "okay, interest reawakened, my next thing is Danny Phantom now I guess"

228 notes - Posted January 13, 2022

#4

TAG COMMA

‚ <- that's it, officer

You can also type it with alt code 0130

914 notes - Posted May 1, 2022

#3

1,241 notes - Posted March 28, 2022

#2

Just watched Jordan Peele's Nope.

Nope is about exploitation.

Nope is about how Hollywood chews up everyone involved in it.

Nope is about racism.

Nope is about UFOs.

Nope is not about UFOs.

Nope is about why you don't work with chimpanzee co-stars.

Nope is about being eaten alive figuratively, by your passions, by your history, by trying to reclaim lost glory, by an audience that only ever wants more and is never satisfied.

Nope is about being eaten alive literally, really slowly, and you're awake and screaming the whole time.

Nope is about how you can never really tame a wild animal.

Nope is about how you can absolutely tame a wild animal.

(No you can't) (But you sort of can)

Nope is about the world's most stupidly dramatic recitation of "Flying Purple People Eater," but you suddenly realize that it's scaring you.

Nope is about why you don't let your heavily autistic-coded brother do the public speaking.

Nope is about why you don't let your sister have the aux.

Nope is about being forcibly adopted by a young adult conspiracy theorist who just got out of a four-year relationship and really needs you guys right now, okay? He hacked your cameras, please don't be mad. Wanna play video games?

Most importantly, Nope is about scaring me so fucking bad that I didn't even realize until the movie was over that I had turned my popcorn bucket into this:

1,699 notes - Posted August 5, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Okay so it turns out that Danny Phantom was the worst possible old show to get a sudden and inexplicable hyperfixation on, because apparently the fandom's been going full tilt since 2004.

Usually when I get a hyperfixation outta nowhere for a completed series, I spend a week, maybe two going through old fanfiction and fanart, and then I burn through what's left, and then I'm done.

Danny Phantom has a pile of fanfiction and fanart that's been growing steadily since, and I cannot emphasize this enough, 2004, and there are still people putting out multiple things every single day. I'm already like 20 AUs in and I've been up till 2:00am every single night this week because I've found a new enormous fascinating fanfic that was so good I could not physically make myself sleep until I finished it.

Help?

15,319 notes - Posted January 9, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#year in review #I am still getting dozens of notifications for the Danny Phantom post every single day #That might be normal for actually popular blogs but I'm still pretty wowed by it #personal stuff

[cosplayprincess21]

I posted 471 times in 2022

140 posts created (30%)

331 posts reblogged (70%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@acilykos-art

@disasterpersonified

@im-surviving-off-of-tea11

@the-ancient-ocean

@headphonemouse

I tagged 226 of my posts in 2022

#dr stone - 176 posts

#dcst - 168 posts

#dr. stone - 151 posts

#drst - 127 posts

#gen asagiri - 72 posts

#asagiri gen - 72 posts

#ryusui nanami - 59 posts

#senku ishigami - 54 posts

#kohaku - 51 posts

#nanami ryusui - 42 posts

Longest Tag: 114 characters

#seriously ive rewatched dr.stone. how i met your mother. the originals and moriarty the patriot multiple times now

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Senku hcs

Oh this shall be fun

Realizes he's aromantic asexual in middle school. Everyone else was going on about romance and dating and all that other stuff, and all he cared about was science.

Was the one lecturing people in elementary school about why certain super powers can't be real and crushed the hopes and dreams of those wanting lazer vision

Would secretly leave Taiju money or other things he needed but pretended he had no idea where they came from

Since hes the definition of aroace, his gaydar is never wrong

Tried to figure out if he could turn himself into a robot as a kid, it did not work

Speaking of robots, he had robot pj's up until he was 11 in which he traded them for science ones

His experiments would make stay up late into the night, so naturally, he developed a taste for energy drinks.

At night he will sometimes think of Byakuya and remember all the memories he has with his dad, he might try to act like the man was embarrassing and all, but deep down hes a kid who never got to say goodbye to his dad

The only two people he can fully confide in are Taiju and Yuzuirha

While its common for kids who are adopted to want to know about their biological parents, he doesnt. He had Byakuya after all, and Byakuya is his dad, nothing else matters.

Hope you like them. Senku is a very fun character to make headcanons for.

45 notes - Posted March 28, 2022

#4

no one in Dr.STONE is an autistic retard so why do you plan to make a post about it? just cause you're retarded doesnt mean they are

congrats you got me to use Tumblr Desktop instead of my phone because im going to have a lot to say.

First of all, fuck off with the R word here, its an outdated and harmful term thats rooted in Ableism. Secondly i was going to ignore this and delete it when i saw the first line but then you also decided to insult me so you know enjoy getting your ass handed to you.

But whats wrong with noticing that certain characters in Dr.STONE are ASD coded? Like everyone accepts that Ryusui has ADHD but being autistic is something bad right? News Flash it isnt. Also show me where in the manga that Sai and Yuzuriha dont show traits of autism? i feel explaining to you would be a waste of energy but just know this is only going to make my post on it even longer cause holy fuck the beginning will now have a rant about people like you. Do me a favor and never send an ask here again and kindly fuck off.

Also this comment really pissed me off and i was going to focus on just Sai and Yuzuriha but now im gonna add Magma,Senku and Ruri to this as well cause ive also been seeing them as ASD coded but have been keeping that to myself.

47 notes - Posted August 13, 2022

#3

so i finished fmab

sobbing crying wailing etc it was SO GOOD and completely destroyed me at the same time fhjfjkfjhfkjhsahjsdjhfkjdjghdkjsk definitely the anime of all time

welcome to the world of FMAB. The obsession will never leave, and the pain gets worse with every rewatch. But with that also comes seeing little things you never noticed before which makes the series even better. 

47 notes - Posted January 23, 2022

#2

Ok so ill be posting about the final chapter soon but. IM SO HAPPY SENKU DIDNT GET ANY LOVE INTERESTS. HES AROACE AND STAYS AROACE HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

54 notes - Posted March 6, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Ok but i really need to know what people have against aroace characters? Like theres nothing wrong with any character being aroace but for some reason it just causes others to be so upset and for what? Ive seen it with mostly One Piece and The Disastrous Life of Saiki K. Luckily havent seen it as much with Dr.STONE or at least on tumblr. The number of people ive blocked on tiktok for getting upset about Senku being CANONICALLY aroace is ridiculous. But yeah can someone just explain this to me? Cause aroace exist and we do deserve to have our representation in media and not in the "oh im rude because im aroace and thats my only personality" way. But in a way where we ardnt dehumanized for not feeling romantic or sexual attraction.

331 notes - Posted July 1, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

[shinystars-stuff]

Hello everyone. It has been 9 months.

I apologize for no longer posting but my mood for Tumblr came to a downhill and so I just stopped posting. I moved on to Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, Pinterest, and Discord.

Well… let’s just say… I’m doing a shit ton better on those platforms.

I came back today and only today to update you guys on how much my life has changed.

So nine months ago… that was before I graduated, which would mean that would be February. Jesus, this is about to be long.

So February 28th of this year, I ended a one-year relationship with a boy only to get with someone else. Now, keep in mind that both of these relationships were online. When I got with the new boy, my behavior and actions started to change. We tended to fight a lot and I made him upset quite a lot just as he made me upset. Well, July 18th, he had enough of my lying and my behavior that he broke up with me. Oh yeah, I skipped something important. I graduated on May 28th! 👩‍🎓👩‍🎓

I was pretty upset over the breakup and I stayed single for a while until drama happened and I got with somebody else. I realized how stupid I was and I called off the relationship. My family situation has worsened. A few months ago, my brother officially came back to live with us after his girlfriend cheated on him. He’s been a total pain in the ass, btw.

Me and my brother hardly get along, but the good news is that we are semi-bonding now these days. My mom’s leg situation has worsened for she can hardly stand up now these days. My uncle… he got a rare disease and might not be making it for much longer, plus I’ve lost a lot of family members as of late. I luckily have my Switch to keep me distracted and well organized.

Well- after I graduated high school, I found out that I have social anxiety. I was placed on an anti-depressant pill and bumped up more on my ADHD medication. My parents have been nagging at me to get a job, but with the shit I see happening in life today, plus the things I hear from my family, why would I even want to work in a society like this?! Also, my whole family thinks they have the right to say that I should get a job when I take the fucking trash out, I get shit like drinks and stuff for them, I bring in all the god damn groceries, I check on them everyday. I do the shit willingly and never get asked to be fucking paid!

Let’s uh- change the topic for now. So- well- I’m still making videos and stuff. However, my original TikTok got banned over a dispute with a best friend and uh- I lost three friends by them ghosting me. My videos have actually really improved. In fact, I have them right here.

Well, I only have this one, but this is my biggest and longest working one. This one took me three hours. I mostly make edits on TikTok but on Discord, I have a little roleplay server :3

My Twitter and YouTube, plus Twitter stays quiet most of the time because usually I’ll just scroll and save videos and stuff on the platforms.

My proudest moment and my best moment of this year is this photo right above this. If you don’t know who that is, that is me and a VO actor known as Bob Carter. Bob Carter is in many animes, but when I looked at the top of his poster, my world changed. As you know, I am a huge Fullmetal Alchemist fan and the character he played was Izumi’s husband, Sig Curtis.

I was legit amazed and he was absolutely friendly. I asked him for a hug and he gladly accepted it because I told him I had watched the anime a million times. I really wanted to show him an FMA edit I made, but I was too excited to show him. I even got to meet the singer for Sailor Moon, only to look later and find out that Bob photobombed it XD

So yeah, even though I’ve gone through a lot of shit this year, I’ve had a pretty good year. Anyways, I think I’m going to go ahead and finish off the post here.

Thank you guys for supporting me on Tumblr. If you wish to add me on Discord or anything, my Tumblr ask-box and messages are still open, so feel free to. I love you guys. Thank you for giving me a home.

#arcane #fullmetal alchemist brotherhood #fma #sailor moon #edit #arcane edit #life #update

[obedientlife]

I had a dream last night and was talking to one of my friends this morning about it, and I really looked into it and all the possibilities of what it could mean spiritually but nothing was quite fitting. So I decided to really think about what it could mean to me, see in this dream there was a dog and it came running towards me and attacking me. I rushed onto the kitchen table and I got scared and threw a bowl at his/hers head and it cracked their skull but then the weirdest thing happened it put its teeth away and came towards me gently and I pet and loved on it sweetly. (Disclaimer: I would never hurt an animal in my life) I woke up feeling awful and confused, and I sat and thought for the longest time and had a realization. I have came to my own interpretation, I have so much love and care for others to the point it hurts me deeply and I enable them. I will let people hurt me over and over and even let them become aggressive and violent or almost violent because I love them and I can identify why they are feeling the way they are or what they lacked as a child, trauma, why they are acting out, etc and I justify it. I will comfort and soothe others after they have continuously done shitty things and hurt me, I will make excuses and say it’s okay when it’s not and let them continue to hurt me weather it’s physically or mentally. I tend to blame myself for everything but maybe I need to let these people go that are no longer serving me. I have a big heart and feel things to a degree that’s very intense and that makes it hard to let go of people and prioritize myself but, I’m starting to slowly realize I deserve so much better in my life. While working on loving myself I also need to set boundaries, I deserve to be loved and chosen over and over again the way I do those in my life, wholeheartedly and genuinely. From now on I’m only going to show up the way others do, and some people I’m letting go. I will still have love for them and I’ll even cheer them on but from a distance and I always will because that’s who I am, but I will no longer allow them access to my heart. So while I don’t love myself yet and I’m still growing I’m starting to realize I deserve so much more. I have issues to overcome and I’m far from perfect but starting to realize my worth and what I deserve is a good start.

#self love #growth #letting go #putting myself first #healing #i am worthy

[2-lines-and-a-circle]

Kaoru Hitachiin a member of the refreshingly mature team matcha

Disclaimer: Most of the post has spoilers and is mainly based on the anime. 

Link to where it all started: 2 Lines & A Circle : Flavors of love: chocolate edition So I was... (tumblr.com)

In comparison to Hikaru, Karou is in search of connection not answers. Between the two brothers Kaoru understands there is going to be an end to this close bond the two have. However, he’s reluctant to have it crumble all at once, as would anyone feel in his position. Throughout the show he comes to struggle between letting go of Hikaru as he watches his brother fall for Haruhi. Throughout the series it’s his constant struggle of letting go of this close-knit world that is getting bigger.

More on Team matcha: 2 Lines & A Circle : Flavor of Love: Team Matcha in-depth description (tumblr.com)

That connection Karou searches for is what makes him a member of team matcha. Everyone who falls into this team is looking for some form of connection, but what kind of connection varies per member. As stated, earlier Karou is looking for that lasting connection between his twin as they start to open their world. We see Karou panic when his brother isn’t beside him and is concerned if Hikaru will pick him over Haruhi. Notably this is done during the halloween episode when Kaoru only is without Hikaru. There’s even a part at the end of the episode where Karou’s relieved Hikaru left Haruhi for him.

In terms of other aspects of this team we would have to talk about maturity levels. Although Karou definitely isn’t the most mature of the club he definitely is more than his twin. To point out he specifically is aware that they will come to an end at one point, the end being how close the two brothers are. Having that awareness despite keeping such a small world for the longest time is a rather mature outlook. I say this as most people who have reacted to the world for so long typically take longer to overlook this. Such an example would be Hikaru as he has yet to realize the inevitable ending. In addition, Karou has a larger grasp on his own feelings, giving him a point in that regard.

As mentioned previously team matcha stands with members who are looking for connection and it’s never a romantic one. See, if anyone could get someone to fall for them, it’s team matcha, but it’s not needed. This connection is something more personal and it’s only for their eyes. During the chances a lover is involved they do play an important part, yet it’s not the final piece. The lover plays the role of someone to reassure them or to guide them in their thinking process. Taking all that into consideration we see how Karou fits the mold as his inner conflict is built on a brotherly connection instead of a romantic one.

The last point is the act of being refreshing as team matcha members must pass this aspect. Although it’s not like team mint where it’s unexpectedly refreshing, team matcha is like a breath of fresh air. Karou’s refreshing moments happen when it’s him saying his inner thoughts about their twin situation. You could also say it’s how he behaves during the twin’s little games of mischief. Overall Karou is refreshing, but it’s not unexpected like someone from team mint would play it out to be.

#flavor of love #team matcha #fluff #event #matchups #ohshc anime #ohshc manga #ohshc kaoru #character analysis #romance #shoujo manga #shoujo anime #anime #love this guy

[princessjaqulinechess1031]

I posted 182 times in 2022

41 posts created (23%)

141 posts reblogged (77%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@shenanigans-and-imagines

@miicachii

@borkthemork

@zarinaa113

@oifaaa

I tagged 93 of my posts in 2022

Only 49% of my posts had no tags

#amazing - 15 posts

#young justice - 10 posts

#batfam - 7 posts

#m*a*s*h - 7 posts

#this is beautiful - 6 posts

#amazing art - 6 posts

#miraculous ladybug - 5 posts

#oc - 4 posts

#awesome art - 4 posts

#zutara - 4 posts

Longest Tag: 93 characters

#taylor is such a lyrical person and jason seems to enjoy reading so i think he would enjoy it

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Icicle Jr. was at the wedding. Amazing. Beautiful. Undeniably the best part of the episode.

34 notes - Posted June 9, 2022

#4

Raquel deserves better. I never really had any thoughts about her before this arc, just because she showed up in the last episodes of season 1 before immediately being delegated to basically a background character. But from what the brief moments we’ve seen of her in this arc, she seems like a genuinely interesting character.

Zatanna got the same treatment in a way, but not this bad. But at least with Zatanna, we had half a season from season 1 to get to know her. With Raquel, with have none of that. So when she’s put in the background again, it’s worse because this was our chance to finally to see who she was.

I’m happy for Green Lantern: The Animated Series fans, that they got to see Razer again. I consider myself a huge fan of Conner, I think he’s the most dynamic from the original cast and seeing him in the Phantom Zone is interesting. I think Gar’s storyline is compelling and I liked seeing him finally get help. But it was done at the expense of Raquel, a character who still has not been given her due and a chance to shine.

I’m not sure that makes sense, just how I feel.

37 notes - Posted April 28, 2022

#3

*ahem*

Katniss Everdeen is “Anti-Hero”.

Peeta Mellark is “You’re On Your Own, Kid”.

Thank you.

39 notes - Posted November 11, 2022

#2

Okay, real question, why did they send Artemis undercover in season 2? They had to jump hoop after hoop to pull it off, when they had a Team member with the ability to naturally change her appearance and could pull off playing a character for months on end? Yes, Artemis is most likely a better combatant, but they still could have had M’gann have access to telekinesis and/or telepathy by passing her off as meta human assassin?

Conner and M’gann could have had a really compelling storyline if they had them break up, and Conner believed he never got the chance to make things right before M’gann ‘died’ if they kept Conner out of the loop, at least for a couple episodes. Wally and Artemis could have spent the season realizing that they no longer were willing to pay the price of the vigilante life and plan to leave the Team post-invasion, which would have made Wally’s death hit much harder. As opposed to him being already retired, and doing literally nothing it seemed for six months.

I’m sorry, I just feel like the two storylines for the main couples should have been switched.

74 notes - Posted April 25, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Tom and Sabine should know Marinette is Ladybug.

I don’t mean that in the ‘Marinette is a bad liar and they should know by this point’ but in that Marinette should have told them from day one kind of thing.

I feel like it would have emphasized the distant relationship between Gabriel and Adrien. Gabriel and Adrien are cold and distant, keeping secrets from each other, locked in an unknown battle of wills for the soul of Paris. Adrien can not tell his father because he knows his father would find a way to take it from him, Hawkmoth or not being involved.

But in contrast, Marinette has no secrets from her parents. They unequivocally support her and are open and loving. They support her being a superhero and do anything they can to help her. Her parents are concerned, but know Marinette is smart and capable of being a hero. Until Marinette steps away on her own, they would never dream of taking it from her.

298 notes - Posted September 24, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

[ghostlymallow]

A little animation I did for school

PROCESS NOTES

I did everything on paper, fountain pen for the foreground, and I used my shitty uneven ink brayer to coat the backgrounds with linoprint ink for that ~texture~

then I scanned it and composited everything digitally. for the beginning I copied and cut out all the foreground elements and used a plastic sheet to layer over the bg in the scanner (which is why it's Like That). I used OpenToonz to sequence everything and reframe some timing issues as well as to do some basic comping. (the part where he pulls out the diamond is on 3 animation layers, not including the bg) then in After Effects (i don't like Adobe, but that's what's available at school), I resized everything and added the zoom out at the end. I realized that I made the opening square too big, so I had to resize everything again, but that meant that the margins of my animation (with all the notes and frame numbers and messiness) would show, so I layered up some texture files to create the vignette effect.

Afterward, I used DaVinci Resolve to add sound

Notes for next time:

x-sheets and timing charts are a godsend! -- while animating, I had no way of viewing playback, so I just had to trust that the "math" would check out, and it pretty much did! I still had to adjust some timing, but less than I feared. considering that this is the first thing I've done on paper in like 3 or 4 years, i'm glad

double check the math on sizing -- yeah, I made a few errors that bit me in the butt

scanning takes way longer than you think it will -- it took like 5 hours to scan less than 120 frames of animation. also, apply that to inking, especially if you're relegated to only working after you get home.

having individual assets will save your ass -- I am SO glad that I had the warewithal to do this

resize everything at the same time if you want them to match up -- I resized all the animation in opentoonz and then the bgs in AE, don't do what I did, kids. even if you have registers, it's still a pain, it won't be exact

reserve some time to learn your software with small things first -- i think the only reason I was able to pull this off without staying up into the wee hours of the morning was because I was at least partially familiar with all the software already, also old forums are still my best friend. I think I want to learn Fusion next

FINAL THOUGHTS

in all, I'm proud of what I've done, this is the longest animation i've ever done, the first thing I've done traditionally in YEARS, and I did quite a bit of troubleshooting

i am so so tired, so I think it might be a bit of time before the next one, but as much as i might bitch and whine, I LOVE this process, it's so much fun, and the frustration was just part of the challenge.

just, I think next time I'll try not to leave myself with a 1 week turnaround lmao

#my art #animation #traditional animation #fountain pen #pen and ink #hand drawn #hand drawn animation #acme paper #ink #art process #process post #heist film #Youtube #gallery

[phantapm-senior-project]

Week 10

Starry Sky and the Adventures of Water Simulation

I was getting really close to finished the water part of the last scene. The tutorial I followed was extremely helpful (and gave wonderful warnings about how to not make Blender crash 🙏)

The first finished water simulation, I noticed that for a calm scene, the water jumped around a little too much

some splashes are literally going so high up and back down

To help make the waves a little calmer, I turned down the power of the particles (to quickly explain, there’s a particle layer that pushes force onto the water simulation to give it that ripply wavy effect)

much better!

Also if you haven’t noticed, the HDRI did work! Although it’s not perfect with reflections, it fits with the scene really well. The above two videos are viewport render though

Here is the actual render with Eevee! With some variations

Also testing whether I should do rain

I wanted to try to make rain particle effects to add to the atmosphere but I ran into some issues...

It’s difficult to loop unless you time it perfectly

The “transparent” rain just look like dark blobs--not very good looking

The star rain idea looks strange when not falling from the stars on scene

Basically, if I would like to add some rain, I’d have to animate it myself through 2D. And I’m learning towards star rain, which would happen when the character enters the scene! Otherwise it’d be more calm.

Finally all the 3D scenes have been made! Now it’ll be time to focus on all things 2D.

Continuing Character design

The first character design acts like the base for the rest of the outfits this character is going to have, so I tried to modify it to reflect the specific scenes she’s in.

I wanted to go in order, but I was having trouble making her second outfit because I didn’t know where I wanted the outfit to end up. So, I started on the very last outfit in the starry sky scene:

idea sketches

I wanted something elegant, an outfit that shows her “final” fairy form while the outfit also staying true to her first one. I really liked the idea of long tails in the back of her dress, and I added some cute star decals as well. I also wanted her skin to be more blue pigmented around her hands and feet, but I thought about it and realized it’d be difficult to animate a gradient consistently.

The wings I wanted to also make star themed to complete the outfit and help reflect the scene. As the final wings, I wanted something ornate yet easy to draw multiple times, so why not have a connected pattern of stars. I hope will make it easier, while also being really pretty!

With the final outfit planned, I went back to the second scene’s outfit, a kind of transition period between the first and last scene. I wanted there to be a mix of elements from both that helps anticipate the changes the character is going through.

took a little longer with this one--idea sketches

Here her outfit alludes to the eventual tails, and the darkening of the clothes. Her wings are also simple and fit with the scene--since this is a transition period, she hasn’t fully formed her identity but just grew wings.

Side note: for the longest time, I didn’t know what hair accessories she could have on her head, as you can see in the sketches, I tried a variety of things: from flowers at the very beginning to pine needles and then finally landing on the idea of clouds on her head. It’s something I feel is iconic to the scene and to the time of dusk. I decided to make them asymmetrical too because having them be the same felt a bit funny. It could also represent the uneasiness in transition I suppose.

Turnarounds

Here are rest of the turnarounds!

rooftops dusk

starry night sky (with glowing accents to help her stand out of the scene more)

alternate colors to make it stand out more (not sure which is better)

Next Steps

Now that all the elements are now done, it’d time to put everything together into a final animation! By next week I’d hope to have the following:

An animatic of what’s going to happen

Or even a rough animation at this point of certain scenes done

Design some portals if possible (so that they look cool)

My idea has shifted a little bit since I’ve last done storyboards, so I hop nailing down the animatic will bring the same old ideas, while also help me finalize the newer details (like this last scene entirely)

In terms of what software I’m going to use, I’ve been debating between ToonBoom, a professional software used by animators, or use Blender grease pencil, a software that has been gaining a lot of traction and could help me just stay in one software.

Both are cool and I’ve heard some opinions from online, to people close to me, but I’m still wondering what’s better. Potentially I just may stick to Blender, but we’ll see

P.S: here’s the tuorial I used to make the water: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XJHc5xUFoM&t=1281s

[phoenixyfriend]

Anakin Introduces his Jedi Babies (and Himself)

Context:  Anakin and the Jedi Babies, chrono

Warnings for: canon-typical dismemberment, unfortunately-aimed puppy crushes

Word count: 5,839

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

The first time a Jedi meets a Skywalker, it’s on Bandomeer.

The planet is close to Mandalorian space. Finding someone associated with Mandalore is, technically, not that surprising. There are even Mandalorian operations on the planet.

What is surprising is the fact that the person from Mandalorian space is an unfamiliar Jedi Knight who is utterly unstoppable.

(Obi-Wan Kenobi has no way of knowing how similar his experiences are to what might have been, on this planet. Mandalore has been interfering in operations here ever since Ylliben Skywalker started reporting visions about the coming catastrophe. Where that interference has helped or hurt... well. There’s no way to know.)

(Is there?)

When Xanatos shows up and starts taunting Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon, there’s a giggle from the doorway.

All three have to turn to look at the individual in question.

Mid-twenties, leaning against the doorframe, slim but strong, covered in dark fabric and half a set of armor. A scar by one eye, well-kept hair, and a smirk that could burn the longest fuse. A lightsaber, unlit, in one gloved hand.

This man is... very attractive, Obi-Wan thinks. This is not an appropriate thought for the situation. Obi-Wan thinks he can maybe blame it on the exhaustion.

“No, no, keep going,” the stranger says, sounding like there’s a laugh stuck in his throat. He waves dismissively. “Let’s, ah, let’s hear the master plan. Good ranting voice, maybe a six out of ten on the ‘I’m better than you’ and a four on the actual intimidation. You can do better.”

“Excuse me?” Xanatos hisses, sounding incredibly malicious to Obi-Wan’s ears. “Just who do you think you are?”

“And now you’re overselling it,” the stranger sighs. “Are you new at this? You seem new at this.”

“I would... also like to know who you are,” Master Jinn admits, shifting uncertainly as he tries to keep both du Crion and the stranger in his sights.

“I’m just your friendly neighborhood Jedi Knight, here to fight darksiders because... that’s my life, apparently,” the man says, looking down at his arm for some reason. He shakes his head and looks up at them with a bright grin. “Do you need some help, Master Jinn?”

“You still haven’t told us your name.”

“This is true,” the knight says. “That said, I’ve been told by my boss to explicitly avoid naming myself while on this mission for a variety of reasons.”

“Your... boss,” du Crion drawls. “Not the Council, then.”

“Current supervisor,” the stranger offers as correction, completely unconcerned. “It’s a complicated situation, don’t worry about it.”

“I don’t worry about nonentities.”

The man purses his lips like he’s trying very, very hard not to laugh again. It’s very mocking. “Sure, kid.”

Xanatos has had his lightsaber out ever since Obi-Wan and Master Jinn entered the room, but he does one of those fancy, meant-to-be-intimidating one-handed saber twirls as he turns to face the Knight.

The man’s smirk widens. “You do realize you’re going to lose, right? C’mon, kid--”

“I’m older than you!”

“I did like zero research on you as a person, just your many and varied crimes; how old are you?”

Du Crion’s face goes pinched. “I’m twenty-five.”

“Ah, yeah, no, I’m older,” the knight says. “Only a few years, but I’m also a delightfully obnoxious little bastard who ages real slow for, uh, reasons--”

Obi-Wan is fascinated. This man is very strange. And very pretty.

Obi-Wan may be light-headed. Is he bleeding? Blood loss would explain this.

Obi-Wan isn’t bleeding. Damn.

“--anyway, I’m sure I’ve got a more interesting life with more mature experiences than you,” the knight says. “So even if I wasn’t older in body, I’d be older in spirit.”

The knight’s entire sense of being carries such an air of banthashit that Obi-Wan can barely believe it. It’s almost impressive. Obi-Wan wonders how often this man just opens his mouth and immediately gets punched in the face.

“You talk a lot for a man in someone else’s domain.”

“Hey, look on the bright side,” the knight says. “At least I’m not flirting with you. That’s what my master did with almost every darksider we met except his grandmaster.”

Du Crion pauses.

Obi-Wan has the distinct feeling that he and Master Jinn have lost any control they might have, at any point, had over this situation. They hadn’t had much control in the first place, but anything they did have is squarely in the stranger’s court right now. The silver lining to that is that du Crion is thoroughly distracted and has also lost some control of the situation.

“Besides,” the man continues, completely ignoring the very red lightsaber that is being very obviously readied for his death. “This is not that big of an advantage for you. I mean, hey, the fancy central console that can only be reached by skinny walkways with no railings are a nice touch, all chromed metal and minimal lighting, very dramatic, but there’s no lava. I’m not, like, chained to a rock in the middle of an arena for a public execution at the hands of starving animals the size of a fighter ship. You’re threatening to kill me personally instead of standing in the most expensive box of the theater, sipping your wine and congratulating yourself on step one of a plan that has another fifty-thousand steps and no end in sight. You--”

“Is there a point to this?”

“I’m just saying, I’ve been in worse situations by better darksiders than you. This is sad. You’re sad. Try harder.”

Obi-Wan makes a little noise in the back of his throat. Nobody seems to notice, but Master Jinn does put a hand on his shoulder. That’s nice.

“I don’t have any interest in setting up a public execution.”

“What kind of a Sith wannabe are you?” the knight asks, tilting his head. Obi-Wan distantly notes that his hair is longer than initially assumed; it’s just held back and curled. “Public executions are a whole thing. It’s like you’re not even trying. Tell me you’ve at least got vague plans to hand me off to a pirates instead of killing me so you can make some comment about me not even being worth the effort.”

“Are you trying to get yourself killed?” du Crion asks, his voice the kind of forced casual level nonsense that shows he’s actually very, very frustrated. Obi-Wan could almost believe that du Crion is as uninterested as he’s pretending to be.

“If I was trying to get myself killed, I’d... pick a fight with the Trade Federation, maybe? I mean, I survived that when I was nine but they’d probably take me more seriously this time.” The knight taps at his chin. “I don’t even know where the actual Sith is, but--”

“There are no more Sith,” du Crion scoffs.

Oh, the knight looks pitying now. Obi-Wan likes that much more than he should. It just really suits the man’s face.

Quin’s going to make so much fun of him later.

“I have fought multiple Sith,” the man says, slowly and clearly, as though explaining something to a child. “My master fought more than that. I lost my arm to a Sith when I was nineteen. You can say they’re gone, but I don’t trust like that.”

“It’s not a matter of trust,” du Crion says, rolling his eyes. “It has been a thousand years since the Sith were wiped out. Much as I’d like them to still be around, I’m not going to--”

“Oh!” the knight exclaims. “You’re lying! You do think they’re back, this whole mess is you auditioning.”

Du Crion stares at the man as though he’s lost what few marbles he had. “Excuse me?”

“You want to be the next Sith Apprentice,” the man says, cheerfully unconcerned by the mounting tension in the air. “That’s adorable. Well, no, actually, it’s very bad, both for you and for everyone else, and now it means I can’t just kill you in battle like I was planning because the Jedi are going to need you for information. Blast.”

Du Crion’s eyes widen. It is not in fear, but in incredulity. Obi-Wan thinks that it’s all in the eyebrows and the tight, befuddled smile. “You were planning to kill me, Jedi?”

“I mean... yeah, kinda,” the knight says, shrugging. “Quick and clean option, that.”

This time, Master Jinn is the one that makes a disbelieving noise that both of the bitchy twenty-somethings ignore.

“You’re a Jedi,” du Crion points out, entirely pleasant.

“...yes,” the man says, not meeting anyone’s eyes. “Technically.”

Du Crion is very much distracted by this. “Technically?”

The man wiggles a hand. “Arguments can be made. I certainly was trained as a Jedi and consider myself to be one. My knighting was according to protocol, and at the Temple. Technically.”

“...but?” Master Jinn prompts.

The knight smiles like he’s got something very spicy in his mouth and is unwilling to admit it’s too much for him. “But nothing! Don’t worry about it. There’s a fight to be had with a Sith wannabe who doesn’t realize he’s not going to measure up.”

“Arrogant,” du Crion accuses.

“No,” the knight immediately says. “You just don’t fight a galactic war without learning which opponents are actually going to kill you.”

Obi-Wan leans into Master Jinn’s side, his legs feeling a little too much like jelly. He whispers, “I have so many questions.”

“As do I, Padawan,” Master Jinn mutters back, and something in Obi-Wan’s heart twists. He’s a padawan! Master Jinn’s actually going to go through with it!

The fight does actually happen, at that point. The knight lights his saber and leaps forward, flashing through Djem So movements without a moment’s hesitation. For all the trash talk and boasting, the fight isn’t actually over very quickly. Du Crion is good, even without having had a chance to spar against a real person since he left the Order. Power flows around him, dark and heavy and sharp in ways that the Force usually isn’t, and the red saber snaps through the air with a speed Obi-Wan can barely track. Xanatos du Crion is, without question, danger incarnate in this moment.

The unknown knight is better.

There are attempts at banter, mostly by the stranger. Du Crion is too focused on the fight to bother responding. Obi-Wan just clings to Master Jinn, trying to stay awake and aware. It’s difficult, given the past few days, and even with help from the Force, he’s flagging.

The way the knight moves is... captivating, though.

(Quinlan’s going to laugh at the top of his lungs, later. Obi-Wan’s going to blush and stutter and bury his face in a pillow, and Bant’s going to pat his back like the amazing friend she is, and Quin’s just going to laugh, like an asshole.)

The fight doesn’t end cleanly. The knight cuts du Crion’s saber in half and, in the same movement, cuts the man’s hand off.

Obi-Wan’s seen too much blood in the last few days for it to shock him, but the smell is... unpleasant.

“I don’t suppose either of you carries Force-nullifying cuffs?” the knight asks, holding his saber to du Crion’s neck with an expression that is amused and satisfied in equal measure.

“No,” Master Jinn says. He seems... very bothered. Well, du Crion was his student once. Obi-Wan can’t imagine he’d be very calm if he had a student that went dark and started killing children. “Was cutting off his hand really necessary?”

“I feel like half my fights end with either someone dying or someone losing a limb,” the knight muses. “Sometimes that limb is my own, even!”

Obi-Wan isn’t sure if the man is manic or just trying to throw them off their rhythm. It probably doesn’t matter.

“Okay, I have Force-nullifying cuffs of my own,” the man says. “But these things are expensive as hell, and they weren’t paid for by the Order, so just giving them to you isn’t really on the table. That said... my ship kind of got shot down on the way here. If you could give me a ride off-planet--”

“Our ship was also shot down.”

The knight blinks at him, and then kicks du Crion in the hamstring. It’s not a very hard kick, but du Crion shoots him a look of offense that’s probably justified. Getting kicked when one is already down is never a great feeling.

“Stop shooting people,” the knight scolds.

Obi-Wan feels vaguely like he’s having a fever dream.

“Okay, new plan,” the man says. “What kind of ship did you come in?”

“KYL-3400 small transport,” Master Jinn says, with not a little hesitation. “Why?”

The knight grins. “I’m going to cannibalize it for parts.”

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

Jango has known Anakin Skywalker for six years. Many of those years have been spent being yanked into babysitting for the man. For reasons Jango doesn’t feel like examining, this will likely continue.

“You’re late,” he says, as the man in question stumbles out of a battered ship that looks only barely like the one that left three months ago. “I thought you said Bandomeer was a quick fix.”

“Ship got shot down, had to help some Jedi, ran into fucking Onaka on the way back,” Skywalker grouses. “I feel like shit. Where are my kids?”

“Buir says you have to go to medical.”

“Yeah, sure, whatever. My kids, Jango.”

“They can visit you in medical.”

“And, what, Mereel’s gonna go there for a debrief?”

“Your debrief is going through me,” Jango says, and doesn’t let himself flinch when Skywalker makes a face. “He’ll check in later.”

“Yeah, no,” Skywalker says, taking a step forward and then swaying with a curse. “Listen, this actually does need to go to Mand’alor direct, not just the Alor-in-training--”

“Please don’t do that with my language,” Jango immediately says. “That’s not--no. ‘Alor-in-training’ isn’t a thing. Don’t do that.”

Skywalker turns on his heel with a frustrated snarl, and Jango’s eyes widen as the stupid tunics the man wears flare out.

“Is that a blaster wound?”

“No.”

“Yes it--for fuck’s sake, Skywalker!” Jango growls and just goes over to grab the taller man by the shoulders and march him to medical. “I’m calling your sister.”

“Don’t tell Shmi, she’s got enough to--”

“I’m calling your sister,” Jango snaps. “And you’re going to deal with it. Ka’ra, do you even think? Is there a brain in that head of yours?”

“I’ve been told my braincell is lonely.”

“I’m going to shove you in a trash compactor, dikut’la jetii,” Jango mutters. “Are you hurt anywhere else?”

“If I say yes, will you let me go deal with it on my own?”

Jango strangles his own scream and shoves Skywalker into the nearest examination room. “Fix him!”

The medic looks up, raises a brow, and turns to Skywalker. “What did you do?”

“What didn’t I do?” Skywalker shoots back, grinning like they’re sharing battle stories over a drink in a cantina.

The medic--Mirka’lu, he thinks--crosses her arms. “General.”

Oh man, the medics must be angry with him already if they’re already jumping titles like that.

“I’m just a knight--”

“General Skywalker.”

The man in question grimaces. “I maybe got shot during an altercation with some pirates.”

“Uh-huh.”

“And... I maybe--maybe--picked a fight with some Hutt enforcers.”

Jango’s going to wring his neck.

Right after he calls Shmi.

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

Komari does her level best to not shift nervously under the judgmental eyes of the man they’re pretty sure is the Mand’alor. Her master’s got the situation under control. She’s just there to observe. They’ve got an entire team--

“Is that your way of telling me that your Order did minimal research on the situation before coming to intervene, and the only reason you bothered to reach out is because one of my men, weeks ago, let you know that Death Watch is setting traps for both my people and yours?”

Komari feels the flare of annoyance from Master Dooku. She doesn’t react, but she can hear the tension when her Master speaks.

“I assure we would not have attacked on Galidraan unless attacked first, or if we’d found solid evidence of the actions we were informed of,” Master Dooku says, quiet and even. “All your messenger did was save us all a little time.”

Mereel smiles thinly. “Saved us all some lives, more like it.”

“Perhaps.”

“Ah, jetiise aren’t the only ones with Force-Sensitives,” the Mand’alor says. “I’ve more than a few under my command. Visions aren’t foolproof, I’m aware, but I’ll be damned if such a warning goes completely ignored.”

Master Dooku makes a low humming noise. “Be that as it may, I’m unsure of what it is that you’re expecting out of our... presence. We are not here to help you claim your presumed throne. We are only here to stop the killings we were told about.”

“I don’t need your help to reunite my people.” Mereel waves a hand, batting the mere suggestion away. “But I’d appreciate the help with taking out the terrorist group that’s actually going out and murdering the helpless, this planet’s farmers and doctors and children. Kyr’tsad isn’t just a thorn in my side, Master Jedi.”

“And what proof do I have that you aren’t just the same kind of monster as you claim they are?” Master Dooku challenges.

It’s a little brazen, considering how dicey these negotiations are. For all that Komari herself doesn’t wince, someone behind her outright hisses in dismay. She agrees with the sentiment.

Mereel just laughs at them. He catches the eye of one of the armored individuals along the wall, human or close to it, and nods to himself.

“Right,” the man says. “Well, we have our own Jedi. Would you like to meet him?”

Master Dooku is immobile, as if carved from stone. The rest of the group is... not.

“I suppose that would be acceptable,” Master Dooku says, and Komari feels the tension in him wind further through the training bond. There are a million questions to be had here. None of them can be answered without the supposed Jedi.

“Great,” the Mand’alor says. He leans back in his seat and turns to the door. With the press of a button, the door slides open. “Ben!”

A child darts into the room, stops, and bounces on their feet. Probably male, Komari thinks, and very anxious. The child’s eyes dart about the room, taking in every single Jedi in sight. When that gaze lands on Master Dooku, there’s a flash of recognition and... not hate, but distaste. Confused and distant dismay, maybe. The child turns back to Mereel.

“Mand’alor,” the child greets, still bouncing. “Am I needed?”

“Thought I told you this meeting was for grown-ups,” the Mand’alor says.

Ben shrugs. “I wanted to listen in.”

“That door is soundproofed and you know it.”

“So?”

The Mand’alor grins. “Do me a favor and go fetch your dad.”

“Buir’s still sleeping,” Ben says, grave as dirt. It’s a strange expression for such a small child. He can’t be older than eight, and Komari’s pretty sure even that’s a stretch. “Shmi’s gonna be mad if he has to wake up before the bacta’s done.”

“I just need him for negotiations,” Mereel assures the child.

“Aggressive negotiations with a lightsaber?” Ben asks, and Komari nearly chokes.

“No, just regular ones.”

Ben nods sharply, and then turns and runs out.

“That boy...” Mereel mutters, but it’s fond. “Anywa--”

“BUIR!” Ben’s voice echoes from the hall, faint but audible, along with some very loud banging on what is presumably a door. “DAD! WAKE UP, THE COUNT IS HERE!”

The Count? Komari wonders. Even Master Dooku seems surprised.

The question is clearly on more minds than just her own. Mereel raises a brow at Master Dooku and gestures vaguely. “Didn’t know any of you were nobility. You a Count, Master Jedi?”

“No,” Master Dooku says, and before the Mand’alor can press further, he adds, “but if I were to retire from the Order, the title would be mine to inherit. As I have no intentions of retiring, I am not and will not be a Count, but I assume that is what the child is referring to.”

“Ben,” the Mand’alor corrects. He seems pleased with the reasonable answer. “Ylliben Skywalker. I suggest you refer to him by name.”

“You have a fondness for him,” Master Dooku notes.

Mereel shrugs. “No more than any other child, objectively, but his father is one of my more effective allies, and he gets antsy about things. Saying ‘your child’ won’t be a problem, but ‘the child’ is... well.”

The smirk is a challenge that Komari doesn’t feel ready to meet. She’s glad it’s not hers to handle.

“Why do you ‘have’ a Jedi?” Master Dooku asks, pushing the conversation back to the point Komari’s sure he was initially aiming for.

“Found him in a snowstorm, brought him inside,” Mereel says, grinning. “And then he refused to leave, the shabuir. Troublesome man, like you wouldn’t believe, but useful.”

“Like a feral tooka,” someone behind Komari mutters. She feels a part of her soul die.

You can’t just say that in front of the Mand’alor! she screeches in the depths of her mind, despairing.

“Exactly,” Mereel agrees with a laugh. “Skywalker’s a feral tooka.”

Komari dies a little more.

“Talkin’ shit about me, Mereel?”

...oh no.

This one’s pretty.

The man is tall, dressed almost entirely in black, and looks like shit.

“You look like you got run over by a herd of bantha,” the Mand’alor notes.

“I got back less than a day ago,” Skywalker growls out. He leans against the wall behind the Mand’alor’s desk. He folds his arms. He glowers around the room. “The kriff is Count Dooku doing here?”

“Master Dooku,” the man in question says, a little pained. “As I informed Mand’alor Mereel, I may technically have claim to that title, but I am a Jedi. So long as I remain a Jedi, the title isn’t actually mine.”

Skywalker makes a face, and then shakes his head. “Fine. Whatever. Jaster, what the hell do you need from me?”

“Well, some manners would be nice.”

“I got shot and am putting myself in a position to get yelled at by baar’ur Mirka’lu for coming here when I’m supposed to be on bed rest,” Skywalker growls out. He kicks Mereel’s chair, glaring at the back of the man’s head. “You’re lucky I put on pants.”

Mereel seems unbothered by this statement or treatment.

Komari thinks her eyes may currently be the size of dinner plates.

“You’re the one from Bandomeer.”

Skywalker’s head snaps up to focus his gaze on Master Dooku. “Say what?”

“You’re the one my former Padawan encountered on Bandomeer,” Master Dooku says, something satisfied in his tone. “He said you refused to give a name, but the physical description does match.”

“Oh, lovely, Jinn’s been gossiping,” Skywalker mutters. “That’s just--”

“General Skywalker,” Mereel says, voice finally slipping to something more stern than amused. “If you could please focus.”

Skywalker rolls his eyes and mutters something about painkillers.

“Buir?”

Skywalker’s head tilts to the side, and he holds one arm out to the side. The kid from before--Ben--darts in to cling to the man’s side. A slightly taller Togruta follows in and ducks in under his other arm. Both children keep a wary gaze fixed on the same person, and their adult...

Every look from this man is a new challenge to Master Dooku.

“They’re yours?”

That is the exact question Komari was hoping her master wouldn’t ask.

“We’re in Mandalorian territory,” Skywalker says. “They’re Force-Sensitive orphans with an incredible amount of potential. If I didn’t claim them, someone else would have.”

It’s not an airtight justification--the man could have just sent them to the Temple--but the air around him is roiling with aggression. This man does not like Master Dooku, and is more than a shade protective of these--his--children. Komari shifts her weight and worries as the pregnant silence grows heavier.

“As you say,” Master Dooku allows, and some of the bowstring-tight tension in the room loosens, drains away like foul bathwater. “If I may... I was unaware you were a General, nor that Mandalore had a standing army large enough for such a position.”

“He’s not,” Mereel says. “Used to be, won’t tell me where. It’s not my business, or yours. Title’s a holdover from whatever war he was fighting before we got him.”

Komari is not the only person whose heart drops as Master Dooku says, “Qui-Gon claimed that the rogue knight he’d met on Bandomeer mentioned a galactic war against the Sith.”

Mereel blinks, and then turns his seat around to look at Skywalker. The other Mandalorians look at Skywalker. Every single Jedi also looks at Skywalker.

The Togruta child sticks her tongue out at Master Dooku.

“I did say that,” Skywalker says. “What of it?”

“You know, when I said I didn’t care what fight you were running that turned you into a soldier, I kind of assumed it was something on the level of, say, a system-wide civil war,” Mereel drawls. “Not galactic Force nonsense.”

Skywalker shrugs. “Don’t ask questions you don’t want answers to.”

“Because you’ll lie?”

“No, I’m just going to be really annoying about it,” Skywalker tells him. The Togruta giggles and shoves her face into his side. “Or, hell, I’ll let Ben do it. We both know he can talk circles around basically everyone in this room.”

“Skywalker.”

“Mereel.”

The two hold gazes for a moment that lasts just a little too long, and then Mereel breaks it off. “We’re talking about this later.”

“Of course, Mand’alor,” Skywalker says, with a grim sort of smile. “Wouldn’t dream of doing otherwise.”

Mereel doesn’t seem particularly impressed by that.

Komari wonders if anyone else remembers that Skywalker was supposed to be here to make negotiations easier.

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

Yan Dooku is having a Day.

He’s not entirely sure whom to blame for this mess. Perhaps Yoda, for suggesting he handle this mission. Perhaps the governor of Galidraan, who decided collaborating with terrorists for his own gain was a good idea. Perhaps Jaster Mereel, whose influence and power is enough that Yan needs to tread carefully. Perhaps Qui-Gon, for giving him just enough information about Skywalker to cause some drama.

Perhaps Skywalker for being a recalcitrant, ornery bastard who delights in Yan’s suffering.

(One of the Mandalorians calls him that to his face, and Skywalker informs the man that “my mother always told me I didn’t have a father,” and stares until the Mando stammers out an apology and turns on his heel.)

(The smirk on Skywalker’s face is certainly informative.)

“Hi.”

Yan looks up from the datapad he’s been using to try and punch out a report, for all that he can’t find the words he needs, and sees the Togruta youngling from Skywalker’s side hanging upside-down from a ventilation grate.

He blinks evenly at her. “Good afternoon. Is that your normal manner of traversing the building?”

“Yeah, when Jan-Jan isn’t yelling at me about it,” she says, and drops from the ceiling. Seemingly without paying attention, she directs the grate itself back into place with the Force, screws reattaching themselves with only the slightest whisper. She’s done this many, many times.

“I’m afraid I don’t know who that is.”

“Jango Fett,” she clarifies. “Ad be Mand’alor.”

Child of the king.

He does remember that much from the briefing.

“I see,” Yan says, rather than try to tackle whatever the usage of such a nickname implies. “I’m afraid nobody’s seen fit to introduce you, youngling.”

“I’m Sokanth Skywalker, but most people call me Soka,” she says, with a bouncing, shallow bow. Full of energy, this one. “I’m eight.”

“The General is your father, then?”

“Mm-hm! He adopted me when I was almost two,” she says, and climbs up onto the bench. She wraps her arms around her knees and beams up. “Ben was still a baby, and we didn’t go get Shmi until a few months later when Skyguy could afford it.”

“Skyguy?” Yan prompts.

“My dad,” she explains, head tilting a little as she studies his reaction. “I... I’ve always called him Skyguy. He took care of me before he adopted me, for at least a year. He says I called him Skyguy when I first started talking, back then, and then he didn’t make me stop when he adopted me.”

“I see,” Yan says. “Does your father know you’re speaking with me?”

“Probably.”

“And would he approve?” Yan hints as heavily as he can. “He doesn’t seem to like me very much.”

“That’s because we’ve all seen what you could be,” she says. “But you’re not the Count yet, so it’s okay.”

Information. “Ah. Visions, then. That would explain some things.”

“Ben gets them the most,” she keeps talking. “But it’s not just that. It’s like... patterns. The Sith are going to target you, because they’re going to think you’re worth corrupting.”

“And you’ve seen enough Sith to know that?”

“Yeah.”

“Visions are not foolproof,” he says, trying to keep his tone gentle. He’s not used to interacting with children of this age, and this one comes with a father in the Mand’alor’s confidence, someone he can’t afford to irritate by making a daughter cry. “I have a friend who is very prone to visions, and some come true, some don’t, and others--”

“Are self-fulfilling,” Sokanth finishes for him. “I know that. But my dad’s actually fought Sith, y’know. The guy who cut off my dad’s arm used to be a Jedi Master, like you, and he was all fancy-schmancy and a history nerd for Sith stuff, and didn’t like the Council or their decisions very much. Like you.”

That’s... very personal.

“A surface-level similarity is not enough to make the claim that I am to become a Sith,” he says.

She blinks at him, eyes too large for a face that’s so near to human in bone-structure. It’s unnerving. “Whether or not you Fall is your choice, Count. All I can tell you is that you are the kind of person they look to groom... if only as a pawn.”

The words are too old for a girl her size.

“You speak as if you’ve faced the Sith yourself,” Yan says, well aware now that he needs to tread carefully, but... “You’re too young to go out into the field. I can’t imagine your father would allow a child like yourself to go up against someone that dangerous.”

She blinks those too large eyes, and tilts her head in the other direction, and then smiles. “You care. That’s good. Keep that compassion, Count.”

He raises an eyebrow. “I feel like you’re evading the question.”

Sokanth giggles. “Maybe. Buir doesn’t like us talking about it much. It makes him sad, ‘cuz he can’t help us not hurt, and a lot of it is really scary. It’s like... my memories are too big for my head. I don’t get a lot of visions, but I get a lot of dreams of things that happened that I’m not alive for. And buir does remember those things happening, so it’s true, and it happened, but I only... sort of remember it, and when I think about it too hard, it hurts my head. Or I get nightmares about it, and I don’t like those. Ben’s got it worse, though. He has more to fight.”

It’s a lot of information.

It’s confusing information.

It’s... possibly information that the General has asked her to feed him for reasons he can’t even begin to guess at.

“In this war your father fought,” Yan asks, “were you a soldier as well?”

“Commander,” she corrects, voice soft. “That’s what the dreams call me, before they start screaming.”

“How old are you really?” He asks, before he can quite stop himself.

She laughs, suddenly bright again. “I’m as old as I look. I’m eight. Just because the Force gives me memories I shouldn’t have doesn’t mean that my brain isn’t a kid. Sometimes Ben tries to act older than he is ‘cuz of the memories, y’know. Buir gets sad whenever he does that, ‘cuz he thinks we deserve to be kids before the galaxy goes to hell again.”

“He’s sure of such a thing?”

“It always does,” she says, with the air of someone who isn’t sure how their conversation partner could be quite that dense. Her voice takes on a sing-song cadence, like she’s telling a fable instead of a philosophy. “War always comes eventually. Not every sentient is selfish, but enough are, and they tend to be the ones that claw their way to the top. The rich and powerful will take and take and take, and then, when there’s nothing left, they will use their living stepping stones to tear each other apart. All we can do is be ready to end it as quickly as possible once it comes.”

Yan lets the claim sit for a long, quiet minute. “Did your father tell you that?”

“No,” she says. “Ben did.”

The six-year-old.

“He has a way with words,” Yan manages.

“Sometimes he uses his stuffed animals to host courtroom dramas,” she says. “He makes me look up the right laws so it can be procedurally accurate, ‘cuz he’s a nerd but so am I, and it makes Skyguy happy when he sees us playing like that instead of just doing saber forms and stuff.”

Yan has... no idea what to do with that. “I wouldn’t normally call courtroom dramas a normal children’s activity.”

“Yeah, but Ben’s a nerd,” she says, as if that’s all that needs to be said. Maybe, for her, it is. “And there’s only so much time I’m allowed to spend hunting.”

Right. Togruta.

“And what was your father doing at that age?”

“I’m not allowed to talk about that,” she says immediately. “Because it’s very private and he and Shmi get upset if we bring it up, ‘cuz of trauma and stuff.”

Shmi. The... sister, he thinks. People seem to be unclear on that. He’s heard a few refer to the teenager as just “one of Skywalker’s,” so that’s something to consider. She’s near-perfectly halfway between the children and the General, in terms of age, so it’s a little ambiguous where she fits.

That said, he’s been in a lot of places in his time as a Jedi Master. It’s taken him a little longer than it should have to realize, but he thinks he’s got at least part of the puzzle.

Skywalker’s a slave name. Tatooine, specifically.

It’s not confirmation, really, but...

Well. He thinks it’s better he doesn’t dig, on that subject.

“Hey,” Sokanth says, tugging at his sleeve. “Can I ask ya something?”

“I cannot promise an answer, but you may ask.”

“Can you spar with Skyguy? I wanna see who wins.”

#Disaster Lineage #Anakin Skywalker #Ahsoka Tano #Obi Wan Kenobi #Qui Gon Jinn #Count Dooku #Yan Dooku #Ben Kenobi #Jaster Mereel #Xanatos du Crion #Jango Fett #Komari Vosa #time travel #de aging #age shifting #family #phoenix files #Anakin and the Jedi Babies #500 notes