#i took these from the wiki page and i Am going to use that first one as the shape after some messing

[alangdorf]

Welp, the ref lineup still isn’t done cause I haven’t drawn Shion yet, and the belated valentines I’ve been working on are gonna be like at least a month late cause I just planned three more, but what I did do these past couple weeks is start writing a fanfic and then immediately abandon it to go draw a bunch of only tangentially-related suzutsubas (except for that first pic; that’s a scene from it, albeit one I haven’t written yet), only half of which are fit for public posting (one of ‘em I could make a few edits and feel ok about posting sometime; it’s not that out there, it’s just, y’know. Hamal Cine Bad End Hyperbolic Torture Chamber. I’m usually very “whatever happens happens” about my art but if I don’t show some restraint I know I’ll end up stuck in there forever), but hey, since I’ve been teasing them for ages and finally have some finished stuff with them, take a couple Suzumii! Also gonna ramble abt headcanons under the cut (and it will be LONG)

To begin, a note abt my Len’en gender/pronoun headcanons: as a they/them preferrer myself, I’m thrilled that most people just stick with those for everyone, but I’ve developed some more detailed headcanons as I go through working on designs and I’ll generally be using those. Don’t worry though, most of them are still nonbinary and basically all of them are trans/gq. Relevant ones for this post are Tsubakura: they/them nonbinary (transmasc to some degree) and Suzumi: cis female, question mark?? (to be elaborated on); for clarity’s sake I usually use she/her for Arde and Hamal Cine individually and plural they for the system collectively (also I don’t usually use their nicknames, dunno why), but singular they for Benet (the wiki says Benny is probably short for Benetnasch so I’m assuming that’s their actual name) for reasons which will also be elaborated on (sort of).

Aaalso this clearly isn’t autobiographical or anything but I think I’m subconsciously putting a lot of myself into Suzumi because 1) we do look pretty similar (brown wavy bob + blue eyes) and 2) given their current status as both the main antagonist and the most well-known plural Len’en character (I get the impression that Hooaka also being plural isn’t super common knowledge; I mean it took me several read-throughs of their wiki page and their dialogue with BPoHC Secret Team to get what they were getting at lol) I am probably way too anxious about doing a bad stereotype. Just an observation and also probably partially why I’ve even ended up with so much headcanon for them in the first place

And before I get into the thick of it, notes on derivations from canon: I’m running with the assumption that Suzumi being a system is a relatively recent development tied to whatever incident it was that caused the falling-out, since Tsubakura is like the only person who seems at all familiar with Hamal (including Mitori/Chouki/Fumikado, but they’re more easily explained away as just having met with one of the other alters the few times they’ve interacted) even though she’s supposedly usually the one fronting. They don’t seem to know the mechanics of it though, judging by their confusion when Arde implied that she and Hamal are different people. So basically, I’ll be referring to pre-incident Suzumi as a different character from any of the other three. (Ngl I am very influenced by Dissociation Constant on that and just in general [when will my wife The One and Only Suzutsuba Fic return from the war…..]) I was also debating whether to have Suzumi have any history with the gang before starting to work at the lab/whether stuff would happen around high school or college age, cause they keep referring to everything happening “a long time ago” and I know I, a 24-year-old, feel like stuff that happened five years ago was like yesterday, but I do have the pandemic and not really doing much of anything for most of that time to reckon with so like, eh. College age makes more sense in my head and so does the dynamic of like, Suzumi was only introduced into the friend group (she was acquainted w Hoojiro and Yabu already though bc lab) because she was dating Tsubakura and since that ended, and badly (understatement of the century), they have extremely little reason to be civil with each other and also interacting at all is really awkward.

Ok now on with it! Either end of high school or beginning of college, Suzumi ends up interning at Tsubakura’s lab for college credit (Tsuba’s already practically a department head despite being like 17 or something because. Idk. Who even knows what’s up with them) and she’s like. Only wears t-shirts and jeans (bought a bunch of khakis for this job though), [reading] glasses from the men’s section, hates leaving her hair down (it’s lab safety anyways). Repressed queer in denial, you know the type. Starts interacting a lot with Mx. Tsubakura “wears short shorts that everybody thinks are actually a skirt and also uses ore and omae almost exclusively” Enraku who seems to have everything all figured out and is immediately starstruck (GIRL WHY?? they are such a mess). Lots of “do I want to date them or do I want to be them” confusion (this will be relevant later); eventually evolves into the “am I trans or just a lesbian” question (not that they would need to be attracted to women to be into Tsubakura but you get the picture), which never quite gets answered.

In any case, they do eventually start dating (Tsubakura thinks she’s cute and smart so they reciprocate), and they’re not like super great together cause Tsubakura is emotionally constipated at the best of times (Suzumi’s into that though) and neither of them are the most mentally/emotionally healthy people even back then and also Tsubakura is more or less Suzumi’s boss which is weird, but they’re kind of ok??? Tsubakura’s mom dies at some point, also they move in together (college housing is expensive), the rest of the crew at the very least tolerate Suzumi, etcetera.

And then…! [insert catastrophic event here]!! I don’t have a shot to call on this yet cause I have no idea what it could’ve been (and I’m sure it’ll get revealed at some point anyways); I’m just banking on it being something extremely not mundane and something where you could reasonably set the blame on either (or neither) party cause they sure both seem convinced the other is way worse, huh! In Tsubakura’s case at least, blaming Suzumi is partially a defense mechanism so their self-loathing doesn’t get the better of them over it (guess what the fic was supposed to be about, lol).

The worst part of all this business though is that they DON’T break up over it immediately and it just makes everything orders of magnitude worse for everyone involved. Tsubakura and Arde have hate sex MORE THAN ONCE………… they would both really rather forget about it. Hamal thinks it’s hilarious, ofc, but the less said about her, the better. And Benet… exists??? The only idea that I’m running off of for them atm is the observation that I think they’re the only character with flat black eyes other than Tsubakura/Tsurubami and the subsequent idle thought, “hey if someone malded so hard about a breakup that they ended up with an introject of their ex would that be messed up or what?” So make of that what you will. (Oh and it may have been obvious that this is what I was going for but Hamal is femme and Arde is butch and they’re constantly squabbling abt aesthetic presentation. Having Arde be straight-up male would’ve been too straightforward of an interpretation and I think it’s funnier this way)

The canonically mentioned murder attempts start taking place and I’m leaning towards Tsubakura eventually being convinced to move out even though it was originally their apartment, albeit mostly just because the wikipedia page for house sparrows mentions that they’re known to take over swallows’ nests, usually after they’ve been abandoned, but they will sometimes drive away or kill the current occupants, and that was a very fun fact to come across when specifically doing research for Len’en but idk how else to incorporate it lol. And so on and so forth up until the present time.

Uhhh is that all I have atm? I think so! Anyway, I think I finally shook out all my suzutsuba doodles (and rambling, though I do still have that fic to work on. idk whether I’ll be able to finish it though; I started strong with an extended metaphor in the middle but Iiiii’m not sure if I can successfully write my way up to it while making it make sense. Also I may draw pretty slow but I write even slower!! Eh I’m sure I’ll post some of it sometime) for the time being so I should theoretically be able to finish up my bigger projects now. Maybe I’ll have the valentines ready in time for white day? We’ll see!

#art #len’en #tsubakura enraku #suzumi kuzu #suzutsuba #btw sorry if that’s like not the right ship name lol I saw like one person use it but there’s not much in the tag but that might just be #bcuz ppl don’t seem to make much for it anyways #digital #I should probably ask for len’en discord recommendations sometime soon just given the Circumstances #namely if tumblr actually goes down the drain but also so my little sister doesn’t have to keep watching me have a mental breakdown live #(hi Val!!) #briefly looked into the wiki’s server but that has A THOUSAND MEMBERS?? scary….. #ough FINALLY this post took me like a full day to write #also of note: these are essentially silly little doodles and I got kind of lazy with them #and I still don’t know how to draw Tsubakura’s hat or hair….. #idk why I’ve been having so much trouble differentiating how I draw Suzumi and Tsubakura’s hair but I have and it’s weird

[fandomsandflyingstingrays]

Full Thoughts on TDP Season 5

Under the cut, because there are many of them!

Starting off with things I liked:

Rayllum! It was so good to see them on the same page again, and they have a perfect balance between deep, romantic devotion and the shared laughter and gestures of best friends. Their dynamic this season was my favorite iteration of them so far

Janai and Amaya were wonderful as well. I was really bracing for Amaya to leave for Lux Area without telling Janai and a whole bunch of drama to ensue, but no! They communicate! They trust each other! It's so refreshing!

Side note: Lux Area was gorgeous the detail in every shot of the city and Bookery was so good. I want to live there. I will take on the night creatures if need be

I hoped we'd get an apology from Amaya for Rayla, and I'm really glad they took the time to put it in the show instead of a short story or anything like that. It was also cool to see Amaya recognizing the similarities she and Rayla share and acting as more of a mentor to her, I hope we see more of them together later on

The reoccurring message that oftentimes the best way to be strong is by going to other people for help- first Amaya's story, then Rayla trusting Callum, then Zubeia's talk with Avizandum. It's a very good moral

That whole thing with Soren and Elmer! Breaking the cycle of cruelty! I love Soren so much

Callum using dark magic again. I thought I would hate it if that happened, since we've seen a corruption plotline with him and with Claudia already, but the way it was done sort of added a good sense of realism. I like that Callum isn't a Perfectly Moral Mage just because he can do primal magic; it feels deeper and more complicated if he has to recognize that the easier, darker choice is always there, and sometimes he won't be able to resist it, but he has to try each time anyway

So many little moments that I'll probably be going into in separate posts because the dynamic between the characters was on fire. It was so good to see the team really working together, their chemistry was so good

Things I wasn't as much of a fan of:

The problem with the show really relying on people to read all the supplementary material is still present. I was pretty confused about who Kpp'Ar was until I looked him up on the wiki, and again, people who didn't know about Soren getting sick as a kid from the Book 2 novelization really wouldn't have gotten his part of the dream sequence. It doesn't ruin the show or anything but it does make it a little confusing at times

The plotline with the coins is starting to feel a little drawn-out. Runaan's presence would bring up enough complications between Rayla and the rest of the group that he needs enough time out of the coin to give that the weight it deserves, and I'm really hoping he gets out next season so we can have at least season 7 to go into that. Also, Ethari needs his husband back

As good as it was to see rayllum back together, I do still think we needed a scene of them actually talking things through. I'm sure it'll appear in a Reflections story at some point, but again, you don't want your show to lean that heavily on the bonus material

This is more of a nitpick than anything else, but the characters' faces in the early episodes felt really stiff. They'd be having a monologue where you could really hear the emotion in their voices, but their faces just... didn't really move

And finally: too many crabs. This is not a flaw with the season this is just because I personally am freaked out by crabs and I've never been so horrified in all my life as when the true nature of Finnegrin's ship was revealed. It'll haunt me forever

Overall I liked it a lot, and I'm really excited to see where it goes next! Claudia feels like she's on the very edge of the point of no return, if she hasn't already crossed it, and it'll be very interesting to see how she reacts to the loss of her leg and (most likely) the loss of her father next season. I'm also very excited for the nova blade, that sounds like a gorgeous piece of weaponry and seeing whoever wields it (my money's on Rayla) fighting Aaravos is going to be epic. This season has definitely ratcheted up my investment in the show, which I'm very excited about

#the dragon prince #tdp #tdp callum #tdp rayla #rayllum #tdp amaya #tdp janai #janaya #tdp zubeia #tdp avizandium #tdp soren #tdp elmer #tdp finnegrin #tdp runaan #tdp ethari #ruthari #tdp kpp'ar #tdp spoilers #the dragon prince spoilers #ray rambles

[the-solar-system52]

TPOH NEGATIVE THEORY ‼️

As an overthinker, media with complicated lore and mysteries are my lifeline so I've decided to contribute my thoughts to the wild west that is tpoh theories!

My working theory I will be going through today is.. (drum roll please 🥁🥁)

TIME WAS THE ONE THAT CREATED NEGATIVE! *jazz hands*

.......okay just hear me out-

#1

Why would Time create Negative?

So, we know that RGB and Time are friends and Time helped him after he lost his first hero and also helped Hero, so Time does support RGB's mission and wishes him to succeed. (there also a modmad post you can find on RGB's wiki that implies he might have once been dating Time sooooo)

We also know that Time and Hate used to be friends but had some sort of falling out that resulted in them becoming enemies. Time actively worked against Hate by helping Hero and RGB.

Another thing we find out in Casting is that Hate never intended to give RGB any chance at succeeding in his mission. The game was rigged from the start, as RGB said. The Land of Make Believe is a very hostile place and its implied that Hate has quite a bit of control over the world so it makes sense that she intended to just kill RGB with a Fear or any other enemy.

All this considered, how I imagine it went is that Time knew Hate wouldn't let RGB live and created Negative to help RGB, protect the heros and go against Hate, which lines up with Time's previously mentioned character relationships.

This also explains Negative's behaviour. We don't know much about him but I am a believer of the theory that Negative is a good guy and doesn't mean any harm. All we've seen him do is protect himself when RGB died, defeat Fears and sandstorms and protect Hero. He is basically a characterised defensive mechanism for RGB. Which lines up with what Time would want him to be. He didn't want RGB to die so he created Negative to get RGB out of danger if he ever got badly injured so that Hate couldn't hurt him!

#2

How would Time create Negative?

With the memories RGB gave him in the trade for more time!!

Think about it! It always bugged me that Time took RGB's memories for seemingly no reason. When Hero needed Time's help, Time did some time-travel shenanigans free of charge! Hero didn't need to give up any of her memories, so why did RGB have to?

Maybe Time needed them to create Negative. This might be a bit of a stretch, but I believe that Negative is supposed to represent RGB's repressed memories.

RGB is a coward and runs away, but Negative is brave and fights creatures head-on. RGB tries to deny that he cares for Hero, but Negative openly protects her even if he accidentally ends up spooking her with his creepy appearance. RGB talks a lot, but Negative hasn't had a single line of dialogue and is theorised by most of the fandom to be mute.

Maybe the reason Negative is so creepy looking and has possible relations to RGB's weird dreams is because he represents the bad memories that Time took from him! Which may explain why RGB can't remember how he died or parts of his human life!

This also is why RGB doesn't know Negative exists and can't remember anything Negative does. And why he changed the subject when Hero tried to tell him about Negative on the train and why water is his biggest fear. Because he doesn't WANT to know.

#3

Additional evidence!

THIS CONVERSATION WITH DIAL AND HATE! I NEVER SEE ANYONE TALKING ABOUT IT!

First all, blackouts are when the page goes dark and Hate can't see what the protagonists are doing. And if there was a blackout at the Plains of Hesitation (the place we first meet Negative) that means Hate can't see Negative and probably doesnt know he exists! This was probably some magic Time did when creating Negative so Hate couldn't hurt Negative.

But, we see Dial saying "Nah, he seemed the same as ever." implying that Hate asked him something along the lines of "was RGB acting differently?"

This makes me think that Hate knows something is up with RGB and knows that he isn't always himself, but doesn't know what exactly. This would make sense since RGB has been trying to defeat Hate for a very long time and is somehow always coming back when he should have died, so of course Hate would guess something was wrong.

My last peice of evidence is this:

From Time's dialogue here, he can infer that Time is aware of Negative's existence. This could just be down to the fact that he is... well TIME, so he basically knows everything since he watches over everything.

But what I find really interesting is how he says "She doesn't learn that yet." when talking about Hero. Because Hero DOES know about Negative, she's seen him twice and even figured out that water getting into his circuits can trigger out Negative, so WHAT hasn't she learnt yet? I believe that the thing she has yet to learn in Negative's backstory and creation, so it makes sense for Time to say this.

(Also Time has one eye and so does Negative. That might be a coincidence since a few tpoh character only have one eye but its worth mentioning 🤷‍♂️)

IN CONCLUSION! I like this theory I think it has a good amount of evidence, but not enough that im completely happy with it. I'm currently rereading TPOH and looking for clues relating to the lore so if I find anything that disproves or proves this theory then I'll reblog with more info! And please feel free to do the same because I love theorising with other people!

Either way, i really really REALLY hope we get some more Negative screentime soon because I MISS HIM :(

Okie dokie bye now 👋

#tpoh #the property of hate #tpoh negative #tpoh rgb #negative rgb #rgb #tpoh negative rgb #TPOH #TPoH #tpoh theory #TPoH time #tpoh time #tpoh speculation

[sushisocks]

hi i just finished rdr2, really love your stuff (FINALLY a blog that properly info dumps!! keep them coming please!!). i don't know if this is your thing, but the song I Gave You All by Mumford & Sons makes me think of arthur so much because each lyric corresponds so perfectly to his ending. obviously it's in the song title (arthur's "i gave you all i had"), but the lines "how can you say that your truth is better than ours?" and "you rip out all i had just to say that you've have won" makes me wonder what arthur's last thoughts really were?? the song has a very bitter tone, which is opposite of the game, but i can't actually tell what arthur's last words are supposed to mean, especially with him repeating "i tried...i did." were the "i dids" meant to be a plead for mercy (to remind dutch of his lifelong loyalty in hopes that he's spared from a violent death) or was it meant to be sympathetic (to indicate that they were both doomed men who were only trying their best)? or was it an apology, like "i did all i could, but it wasn't enough"? knowing his level of self esteem/guilt i think arthur would feel a very heavy obligation and responsibility, so it makes sense for him to say "i did all i could, but it still wasn't enough because i was not good enough," but he seemed to be very accepting of his death. sorry if this was rambly/late to the party, i would love to hear your thoughts about it!!!

Oh, Anon, this is the sort of thing I LOVE seeing in my askbox, I am kissing you on the lips rn for giving me the permission to talk about this so lets TALK about it!! (Sorry it took me a minute to get to it, I had to rotate ur questions in my mind for a bit so I could best formulate my thoughts, you know how it is)

First off, I Gave You All by Mumford & Sons is SUCH a good RDR2/Arthur song, I agree hugely on this, and it makes a LOT of sense for the ending notes, especially on a High Honor/Save John run. I've been listening to it on repeat since I saw ur ask, all while typing this up, and I got a lil emotional at times man. I love music recs and while I know some Mumford & Sons songs this was a recontextualization I very much needed in my life thank u <3

The rest of this is LONG so putting in a read more to save my mutuals lol

Okay, so, I now have a LOT of thoughts about what's going through Arthur's mind and what he might've meant at the end of his last mission, so lets get into it. To begin with I want to list out the lines that are said in this scene, so we're all on the same page. (Helpfully and lovingly pulled from the gamescripts wiki blog, which my life has revolved around for the past year and a half)

Dutch van der Linde: It is over now… Arthur. It’s over. Arthur Morgan: Oh, Dutch… he’s a rat. You know it and I know it. Micah Bell: He’s sick… he’s dying… he’s talking crazy. Pinkerton: There! Up there on the ridge! Arthur Morgan: (to Dutch) I gave you all I had… I did. Dutch van der Linde: I… Micah Bell: Come on. Dutch… let’s go, buddy. We made it. We won. Come on. Arthur Morgan: John made it. He’s the only one. Rest of us… no. But… I tried. In the end… I did. Micah Bell: (to Dutch) Come on… let's go. We can make it. Come on, Dutch… come on!

So WHAT is going on here? Surface level, this is the last appeal to Dutch. The last battle of wills between Micah and Arthur, where Arthur is STILL trying to make Dutch see sense. I think it's an important part of Arthur's character to understand that he believes, until the very bitter end, that there's a chance for him to reach through to Dutch. It's the main reason he heads back to camp, after saving Abigail. Milton has told him Micah is the rat, and Arthur believes that if he can just get back to camp and tell Dutch the truth, that will be it. He, erroneously, believes his word alone will be enough.

But the thing is, in my opinion, in a way Arthur is RIGHT! He DOES reach through to Dutch, but he has to die for it. That is what the "I gave you all I had" line is for.

It is Dutch, unsure who to believe. It is Micah, screaming for Dutch to listen to him. And it is Arthur, gently reminding Dutch: I devoted my entire life to you, all that I know has been with you, all that I am has come from you.

Arthur would have gone to the ends of the Earth for Dutch -- he would be grumbling and complaining the entire time, but he'd still do it if Dutch asked. He is, in this moment, telling Dutch, I gave you all I had and you took it, there is nothing left but my death, what reason do I have to lie?

It is the crack in the wall, a small moment of clarity for Dutch, which has him leave them both on that cliff, which has him turn up again 8 years later and kill Micah. Not enough to turn on Micah right away, but enough to truly have Dutch stop and reconsider. Because with those words Arthur is not only speaking on his own behalf, whether or not he knows it. He is reminding Dutch of everyone else who has died for him; Grimshaw, Molly, and Hosea, as the most notable ones, I think. Arthur slots neatly in with those three as people who truly devoted their everything to Dutch, gave him all they had, of life and time and energy, and were served nothing but death, destruction, and heartache in return.

It stuns Dutch; for once he is truly speechless, having to reckon with Arthur's words and what they mean, what they imply. Micah knows Arthur's words are more impactful, and keeps trying to sway him to his side, for ends we can only really guess at. But we already know there's no chance Dutch will go with Micah at this point. But he also wont stay with Arthur.

Then: "John made it. He’s the only one. Rest of us… no. But… I tried. In the end… I did."

One of Arthur's main objectives in Chapter 6 is saving as many people of the gang as possible. The Pinkertons are closing in and, while Arthur believes that it's just bad luck until Milton tells him otherwise, he still hopes for the best outcome possible, for the women and children, as he says.

Which is why he says John made it. Because to Arthur, John's making it, means the women and children making it. It means Abigail, Tilly, Sadie, and Jack, all waiting at Copperhead Landing, are not waiting in vain. It is the reassurance that they will be fine, and the idea that John might finally actually step up and be the father Arthur has so desperately wanted him to be for Jack. To Arthur, John making it is the best outcome.

But he still wanted to save as many people as possible. Dutch, Javier, and Bill included. They were still Arthur's friends and family. They still mattered to him. But I think Arthur realizes, dying upon that cliff, that there's no way out for them anymore. They'll get off this mountain and continue their way of living, and the government will keep hunting them. He is essentially saying the rest of them are just as doomed as Arthur is, even if Arthur is the one currently dying. And he tried.

I want to say that Arthur saying he tried, is both about saving the gang, and about being better. There are SO many interactions you can have in chapter 6 alone that's about being better than you were. Edith Downes, Sister Calderòn, Charles, Rains Fall, and Mary-Beth are just SOME that I can think of, at the top of my head. I think in this moment, Arthur is reaffirming to himself that at the very least he tried. He did everything he could, in the time that he had. He doesn't know if that's enough, or if it means more than what it is, but he tried, and that, to him, HAS to mean something.

It is him accepting that this is the end, and that he doesn't know!! He genuinely doesn't!! If he has done enough to actually change the course of events!! But God do I love the message of Arthur finding peace in having tried. In having done what he could, and seeing what changes he could, and knowing in that last breath, watching that rising sun, that he did make a difference.

Do I think Arthur is angry or bitter when he passes? Not in a High Honor/Save John run, no. I think he is disappointed and sad with Dutch. But I also think he has found a place within himself where he can accept that this is it, for him. And he is hopeful for those whom he has saved, who got out of there and live to see another day.

He gave his all, and he really really tried, and he finds peace in the end. How simultaneously heartbreaking and heartening isn't that?

#mannn now im emotional #i hope this all made sense HAHAH jesus #rdr2 #red dead redemption 2 #arthur morgan #dutch van der linde #micah bell #rdr2 meta #rdr thoughts #teki talks #bitches be ranting (im bitches) #i LOVED this though my askbox is ALWAYS open for stuff like this #and ALSO music recs if u have songs or playlists for rdr2 or ships or characters pleaseeeeee i love music give me that shit NOW #asks #rdr asks #meta asks

[xx---locketdragon---xx]

Black Love-SCP Comic

Hello everyone, I am back with a small comic, this time based on SCP lore. It's a short and sweet comic based on Dr. Clef's meeting the girl who would eventually become "The Goddess", and according to some canons, the mother of their daughter, SCP-166, the "Teenage Succubus". I took inspiration from the bits of lore that was posted around the SCP wiki, For example, the name of the girl, Dairine, was taken from one of the wiki pages that was just Dr. Clef's final note. As for Clef's name, since Alto Clef is most likely not his real name and he is canonically a liar never to be trusted, I decided to use Adam as his real name for this story, like the first man according to the Bible as a contrast to claims that Alto Clef is the Devil Also, some lore from the guy who plays Dr. Clef (specifically in the comments of "The Leak") mentions that "A long time ago, a young boy was lost in the woods, when he met a girl with antlers in her hair and hooves for feet", which inspired the basis for this plot.

Anyways, disclaimer, I don't own any of the SCP characters. I did make up my own design for Clef based on fanarts I had seen of him, and I made up Dairine's design based on a vague description, but still I do not own those characters. Also, please don't read if you dislike: -SCP and all characters associated within. -Possible OOCness.

If that's not a problem, then cool, have fun reading. If it is, just don't read it. With that out of the way, here we go!

Yeah that's literally all of it. I tried my best to be short and sweet about it, so that it makes knowing their fates all the more soul-crushing if you know the story.

Thank you for reading this, and please leave a like, reblog or a comment if you wish. See ya on the next one!

#scp #scp foundation #scp fanart #alto clef #agent ukulele #traditional art #comic #artists on tumblr

[the-gayest-sky-kid]

so this here is auggie: semi finalized!!! halliwell's... probably? not going to be his last name but i had no clue what surname to give him so its acting as a stand in aaa

so this is the blorbo. the new bsd oc i have been working on. from the fanfic i am Struggling with. same guy from the Art a while ago. august (i like the month okay) whatever last name i decide on at a later date.

notes!

his ability is called lucy locket! i actually came up with the ability's function first, and then i found that it fit pretty well. basically its a pocket dimension accessed via the users pockets. so far it has infinite storage, but whatever is added or removed at the present moment has to have been able to fit in the pocket originally. so you cant add/remove a large waterbottle from tiny jean pockets, for example. i like to think it only works when august himself pulls something out or puts something in. so. yknow. "not a penny was there in it, only ribbon round it". hehe

hes 25 because as much as a harp on bsd i also suck with ages so i rng-ed a number between 21 and 27 chcbdj

his birthday is june 21st! stole that from james orchard halliwell (see where that came from now) phillipps, bc he was the first to record the nursery rhyme. i also think him being born on the summer solstice in june but being named august is soo funny.

forgot to add it in correctly but his height is 5'8! that's about 173 cm? i think? i rounded it up technically its only like. 172.72?

168??? pounds??? which is apparently like 76kg? look i have no clue how weights work either i just took my own weight looked up the average for an adult and made something up. dont expect it to make sense.

bloodtype is a! i thought it was weird that the blood types were mentioned at all in the character bios but then i remembered the whole stereotype thing so i just picked whatever i thought fit.

he likes goldfish (hence the socks and earrings), rice (its rice), and hats (because they are so neat)! i was thinking about funny sock patterns and then i was looking at the wiki page for catherine maria fischer (the supposed kitty fisher in the nursery rhyme) and one of her paintings had a fishbowl in it. and then i thought about yoimiya because i had been drawing her before and. yknow. he definitely does has a small hat collection, but he'd rather them not be damaged at work. theyre saved for parties and formal gatherings!

dislikes are long explanations, pollen (allergy 😔), and unpleasant textures (like bedsheets that give you the Feeling when you scratch them). he likes it when people get to the point, and im projecting my own sensory issues onto him hxjsj

moving on we have design notes!

so here's our boy.

starting with the shirt, its actually based on one of the shirts i own. it's got the solid torso and the loose sheer sleeves, and i thought that was neat! though for him i think the sleeves would be a bit more opaque, and he's wearing a vest!

as for the tie you can see i noted that it's a bit of a cross between a criss cross tie and like... a sailor tie? i know it says bolo but thats because the word i was looking for was Tie Brooch for the pendant in the middle.

the cargo shorts!!! so obviously to best use his ability august needs something with rather large pockets, but i didn't know how to add those in. initially i wanted to go with some tights or normal slacks and have him wear a hoodie, but it was kind of... eh? so i tried cargo pants but those didn't work either. so then i tried on shorts and i Realized what needed to be done fhdjjws

knee high socks! i asked what how silly we should get with them and eni said knee highs and nobody said ankle with silly patterns so i combined the two! i think the combination is really funny.

the shoes! theyre just sneakers. comfy!

moving on

i dont actually like this doodle but we're gonna have to bear with it augu

the earrings! theyre little fishies! initially i had different earrings planned but i wanted the fish socks to match with something hdhdhdh

hair tie! august has got the rest of his hair tied up with a little bow. i think its cute bfbdbd

and so you can see what i meant, here's the page of concepts i did!

you can see the cargo pants, the hoodie, as well as the old earring design. i was playing around with the sleeves for a while xhdhhs

plus i got silly with one so maybe ill do smth with that at some point idk idk

#shout out to everyone who bullied me heres the boy #longer post #august lucy locket #new tag for him yay #my silly. my boy. with his detective boyfriends. everybody be nice to him or i will literally Cry /j #my art :d

[magicalbats]

oooiug THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR HARD WORK flesh devouring was so very good! and to have started and finished it all so fast, too! I love the movement from confrontation to compromise (on the whole and in this part), I love the window into their more domestic future… I love that reader is often reluctant; it’s very real and charming that she hesitates or shies away from pain or unknown sensations even when she knows she enjoys them. And I love that a large part of this is wriothesley helping her articulating— understanding even— her needs better!

… but also I SEE YOU with that wink at what’s going on with Furina and neuvillette. banging my fists against the glass. WHAT ARE THEY. I know We Know but… auughg!!!

— dinner guest

✋😭💕

Dinner guest anoooon

It took everything in me not to completely sidetrack and turn all the focus on Neuvi and Furina!! I was so tempted! But I ultimately decided to leave it up for reader interpretation, first and foremost because I’d already drawn the comparison between them with Wrio and us so it almost felt like there wasn’t anything else to say about it. lmao I think letting everyone decide for themselves exactly how far that comparison actually runs was the right choice for this fic

Buuuut in my mind, from my perspective, I think they’re actually the more advanced future iteration of Wrio and his reader cmdkxmdmd it’s how they’re going to look after the wedding hahaaa

But oh my gosh when I tell you I am kicking my feet and giggling! I’m so happy you enjoyed this short series!! I admit I’m also a little shocked at how quickly I wrote it, but I quite literally could not stop thinking about them! What a fun dynamic they ended up having … I think when it was just the Kinktober prompt it was easy to look at Wriothesley’s actions as selfish or mean, so I was actually pleasantly surprised at how he ended up sort of evolving into someone deeply intuitive who was picking up on things the reader character wasn’t even aware of about herself. Like. Knowing how fast these four parts came out I’m sure you guys know I didn’t have anything plotted. lol It just sort of naturally developed as I went, so I guess what I’m trying to say is that it was a journey for me too! I didn’t know how or where we were going to end up, but when the inspiration for that final scene with Furina and the puppy, and the ring came to me I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that that was where we needed to be!

I am somewhat? Playing with the idea of doing a companion piece with Wriothesley and the female inmate he mentioned in part 4, partially because I am always down for switch shenanigans xmdkxkdnd but also to sort of explore the sexual atmosphere inside the prison. I’m admittedly a bit fascinated with what the hell is even going on in there?? 🤣 I’m currently doing the Unfinished Comedy world quest, or whatever it’s called (yes, I waited until the last possible moment to do these xmdkdkxm) and I am both perplexed and shocked by the presence of this child inside the fortress? I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around the idea that Wriothesley knows she’s there and he’s fine with it … sooooo lol? lmao even?

Oh, and on a final note I just wanted to share the title inspiration with everyone! Ofc the main point of reference was Wrio symbolically consuming her flesh through their physical encounters, both the good and the bad, but I actually got the inspiration from the Wiki page entry for Cerberus, since that’s his constellation!

#I also have an idea for Wrio with a male reader too that’s been kicking around for a few weeks now but I know those aren’t always #the most in demand so if I follow through it’ll almost certainly be a one shot only #I just have some thoughts about credit coupon abuse okay cmdkdnckkd

[aikofanfan]

Feral MC and Mephistopheles

A/n: I am by no means close to the lessons where this guy shows up but I read the wiki page and just took a crack at it.

A human? Really?

“You’re telling me that exchange student-that MC- did this to you?” Mephistopheles makes a face at the three students before him, tapping his pen against his notepad. He heard of a fight breaking out but this was the last thing he expected.

“Yes they did!” One student nods, wincing when a throb of pain shoots through his very blackened eye.

“They’re scary!” Another adds, a bandage wrapped around his head.

“Hmph.” The journalist hums. Not buying it one bit. He’s seen MC a few times, they don’t look like they could hurt a fly let along three demons. Sure they may have formed pacts with the seven brothers but really? Being scary? He could laugh!

He puts away his pen and notepad, walking away to let the nurse continue to care for them. MC? Scary?

“Pfft. As if.” He snorts to himself. First it was never ending praise from Diavolo and now they’re being called scary? What has the Devildom come to?

He’s snapped out of his thoughts when he hears commotion coming from down the hall.

Another fight? Hm maybe he can see the truth behind these fights now!

“Gah be careful!!” Mammon snaps and covers his eyes and peaks between his fingers. He looks to his side and sees Mephistopheles out of the corner of his eye walk over. “Eh? What are you doing here?”

“What? Is it so wrong for me wanting to see who keeps causing these fights?” The purplenette huffs.

“You mean all the demons you interviewed didn’t tell you?” Satan asks with a raised brow, joining the two.

“They all kept saying MC, which is ridiculous.” Mephistopheles rolled his eyes. The two brothers glance at each other and snicker. “What? Did I say something funny?”

“Uh buddy. Check that out.” Mammon points at the fight and for the first time Mephistopheles looked closely and his jaw drops.

You had a demon in a choke hold, eyes flaming in wrath green, teeth bared as you hissed out a command to the demon.

“Say uncle!” You snapped.

“Uncle! Uncle!” The demon cried out.

“LOUDER”

“UNCLE!!!!”

You let the demon go and he crawls away on all fours, running away once he gets up and rushed past Mammon and the other two. You crack your neck, give your shoulders a roll and crack your knuckles.

“MC you’re so cool!”

“Way to go MC!”

Mammon and Satan clap, the avatar of wrath using his pointer finger to push Mephistopheles’ mouth shut.

“Oh hey guys!” You walk over to the three. “Hm? Mephistopheles?”

“How in the three realms?!” The purple haired demon gawks at you.

You narrow your eyes. Ah so he’s still in that kinda mind set is he? You lean into his personal space, your faces inches away from each other.

“MC, don’t.” Mammon warned.

“I’m not gonna do anything. Cause we don’t have a problem, right Mephy?” You ask, eyes lightly glowing green.

Mephistopheles eyes widen. He’s not scared! So why does he feel this ghost like hold around him?

“No. No we don’t.” He answered.

“Good!” You smiled, like a switch went off. “Come on, Mammon! Satan!”

You take the two brothers hands and drag them away, leaving Mephistopheles by himself.

What the hell was that?

#nerd speaks #nerd of the blog #obey me #obey me shall we date #obey me mammon #obey me satan #obey me mephistopheles #obey me mc #obey me drabble #obey me hcs

[regallibellbright]

Tag Meme: 9 Favorite Characters

tagged by @talysalankil

Gonna copy your "one per series/franchise" because otherwise there is a genuine risk Precures and TWEWYs would eat it whole. In no particular order, and with definite "What's on my mind right now" bias:

Xion (Kingdom Hearts)

No surprise there, and yes, I did intentionally get a screenshot from the post-Riku fight for this.

2. Cure Grace/Nodoka Hanadera and Rabirin (Healin' Good Precure)

(Look, they transform as a pair, their transformation phrase is "Two flowers as one," I'm counting them both. "Then shouldn't you use a screenshot of Cure Grace?" Shut up.)

3. Anthy Himemiya (Revolutionary Girl Utena)

Yes, I saved this image as "Anthy Himemiya Is A Weird Girl Who Keeps Snails In Her Pencil Case."

4. Yoshiya "Joshua" Kiryu (The World Ends With You)

... Yes, choosing his most insufferably smug dialogue sprite was necessary, why do you ask?

5. The Luidaeg (October Daye)

"I am the sea witch. I am the tide you fear and the turning you can't deny. I am the sound of the waves running over your bones on the beach, little man, and I am not amused at finding you on my doorstep." She took a step forward. He took a step back. "I won't punish you for obeying orders the way she would. But I can't let an insult go unanswered. You know how it goes." A smile twisted her lips. "I'm actually grateful. You see, there are... rules... that govern what I can and can't do. But you broke them first. Now I get to do something I don't get to do very often. Now I get to play." ... "What did you do?" "Nothing they hadn't allowed by coming onto my territory. Every soul who came here on the Queen's business will go home, go to bed, and sleep soundly, dreaming the sweetest of dreams." Something about that statement had teeth. I paused, and then ventured, "For how long?" The Luidaeg smiled brilliantly. "Until something wakes them up. True love, childbirth, and bees are all on the table."

(Chimes at Midnight, Chapter Seven, pages 91-92) The wiki also uses the "I am the sea witch" bit as her epigraph but as a known lover of "true love, childbirth, and bees are all on the table" I felt it best to include the full exchange.

6. Lio Fotia (Promare)

(This BARELY beat out something from the Kakusei sequence but I love how fluffy his hair is as he tosses it.)

7. Ventuswill/Venti (Rune Factory 4)

Tragic immortal dragon god BFF <3

8. Moist von Lipwig (Discworld)

Never promise to do the possible. Anyone could do the possible. You should promise to do the impossible, because sometimes the impossible was possible, if you could find the right way, and at least you could often extend the limits of the possible. And if you failed, well, it had been impossible.

(Going Postal) Okay, it's him and Vimes, but I figured I'd go for Moist for the variety since everyone loves Vimes.

9. Okay there were a LOT of characters I considered for this, like, seriously, I went from "hm I can't think of anyone" to "ugh I have TOO MANY options" in very little time, but ultimately, while this might be recency bias at the moment, it is also true:

Missile (Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective)

The goodest boy in gaming.

(Runners-up from things that aren't otherwise represented here include Surge the Tenrec from Sonic IDW, Miles Naismith Vorkosigan from the Vorkosigan Saga, Rose Aleon from Birdie Wing, Grovyle from Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers, and huge enough swathes of the casts of Dumbing of Age and Girl Genius that I just didn't even bother trying to narrow those down.)

Tagging: In general assume I do this as an open invite to anyone seeing it, but just to name a couple people, @thesternest, @denizenhardwick, @mehanios, @purplelea, @yurisorcerer, @yoshiyakiryu

#gifs #long post #tag game #for runners up of things that DID get a character here: In general every character who's part of a set had their partner close behind #(Roxas and Axel for Xion; Utena for Anthy; Neku; Galo; Sissel) #(but also Nanami Kiryuu and the rest of the TWEWY O5 and Toby and *MASSIVE GHOST TRICK ENDGAME SPOILERS*) #(along with Hikaru and Lala and Manatsu and Laura) #Frey/Lest from Rune Factory is excluded because even though they have SOME personality they're still ultimately Player Inserts #and more Player Insert than unique character at the end of the day compared to the protagonist runner-ups #but otherwise THEY are the counterpart to Venti for obvious reasons. And I do love them! They're just. Only sort of a character.

[coffee-without-anesthetics]

okay so it took a bit but @eshtaresht here be the post about ULTRAKILL

general info sources: - the miraheze wiki (click) - the main dev's twitter (click), the official twitter (click) - the youtube channel (click) - soundtrack on spotify (click) + a few tracks in the game are also from other people so here's one (click), two (click), three (click) of them - the speedrun.com page (click)

for a rather chill blind playthrough there's mythymoo, with minimal editing - playlist link (click)

the lore is. uh. it's more of a "you got out of your way to learn it" than "it's brought before your eyes to observe", and the way i ended up learning most of it is through watching people play, reading tumblr posts, watching some more gameplay and speedruns etc. you learn as you go basically

there's marcomeatball who i am in the habit of watching who does live music reactions, he's great - here's the playlist (click) of his ultrakill related videos here's (click) one of the voice actors playing the game while having a live2d model of the character he voices

i'd recommend max0r's stuff because he contributed a lot to popularizing the game (and i find him funny), but watch those when you're a bit more familiar with what goes on since he "explains" everything mostly using memes (or you could watch them first thing for An Experience) also, warning for flashing lights, hell of a lot of flashing stuff. it's an epilepsy rave. it's very heavy on both the visuals and the audio - part one (click) - part two (click)

a few video essays: - Ultrakill Act I: Infinite Hyperdeath Review - The Future of Violence (click) - Ultrakill Has the Best Soundtrack I've Ever Heard (click) - Ultrakill and Doing FPS Games Right (click)

for the latest Violence layer (the one with the minotaur i told you about), i've watched this guy : - full stream (click) - edited version (click)

and for last, a few tumblr posts about: - gabriel's character arc (click) - why the transgender community loves it (click) - character parallels (click) - the terminals (click)

and as always, feel free to ask for clarifications, additional info or whatever fancies you.

#ultrakill #<- maintagging this because i fear no tumblr user #post anesthetics posts

[baeddel]

i logged back in to shill my gf’s thing (listen to it!). love and miss you all, but god life is better without tumblr. how are you doing? how about i tell you what i’ve been doing?

first of all, i’ve been reading a lot more. with no timeline to scroll, i had to find something lazy to do in bed. i never really read a lot for pleasure before. i generally read in a very goal oriented way, to find support for an argument or to reference something. lazy, idle reading is a bit new to me. i’ve been reading Slayers, the light novels, which are really good. really funny, especially when it gets going, which made me think about comic writing. i read a bit of a ‘sex farce’ play from 1897—a ‘sex farce’ combines pornography and comedy in a live performance—La Ronde by Arthur Schnitzler.

according to wiki the most celebrated author of sex farces was a French playwright known as Georges Feydeau. who, after his first play was unsuccessful, took a year to himself to study the comic masters “Eugène Labiche, Alfred Hennequin and Meilhac.” who? maybe my French mutuals know them, i certainly had never heard of them. but of course, now i must study them. although i guess i’m studying my own comic maîtres, starting with Hajime Kanzaka.

why study them? well, i’ve been writing a lot more too. well, not writing more—writing much less than if i was ranting to you every day on here. but writing more fiction. you see, i’ve changed priorities a little bit. a lot of writers ‘reward’ themselves with other activites if they’ve done their writing, for example by saying, if i write 2k words today then i can use social media, so they can motivate themselves and get rid of distractions. whereas i generally did the opposite, treating fiction as a reward for completing my studies. as a result, progress on my fiction was slow, but i didn’t really mind because it was a side thing anyway. but now i’m not getting into arguments everyday i realized i’d like to finish more of my writing, and take on bigger fiction projects. so i’ve been doing the opposite, taking my fiction writing goals seriously and reading non-fiction in my spare time. as a result, i’ve started struggling a lot to hit my fiction writing goals, but i’ve read and even finished a bunch of academic books, at a pace i could never muster previously. oh Fortuna . . . i am reminded of Baudrillard’s quip that “[f]or a healthy distribution of energies, the best thing is to commit one’s cowardice in the service of a good cause and one’s courage to the service of the bad ones.” anyway, progress has still not been terrible. i’ve been tracking it in a spreadsheet. this month i wrote 11k words, at a pace of about 900 words per hour, and mustering about 1-2.5 hours of writing on days i do write. the problem is that there are many days i don’t. so i’m working on writing more consistently. if i can manage one writing session per day, then i’d be writing 27k-67k words per month. imagine that? gosh . . . it would be hard to do that, but after all when i started studying i could only suffer 2 pages per day, and now i average about sixty, perhaps more now, every day. so who knows?

i’ve taken a break from learning Old English. i just needed a break. and i’m going to reformulate my approach, focusing less on anki and more on translating. but i am itching to get back to it by now. especially because my fiction writing is tied quite intimately to my Old English studies. Old English and its corpus is a deep well, and without it writing my stories is like sucking on a dry spout.

i’ve been spending a lot of time with my girlfriends, which makes me happy. and, finally, i’ve been cooking a lot! i get spurts every so often, so i don’t expect it to last forever. but i’ve been enjoying it immensely. mostly pumpkin soup, i especially lovingly prepare the stock. it’s pumpkin season right now, so you should make a batch before they all go away.

and the best part? i don’t give a fuck what anyone on tumblr is arguing about today. you can have it. take care, fuckers!

[lefemmerougewriter]

A Red Moonstone Burns Brightly

Cass thought about her past as she walked across the rolling hills on the edge of the last kingdom in the Ever Realm she hadn’t visited yet, Enchancia. Suddenly, a wormhole opened in front of her. She walked through without realizing it...

In a new world, Cass finds an unlikely companion, a former (and well-known) international thief. Both bond with one another even though they come from vastly different circumstances.

Characters: Cassandra, Carmen Sandiego, Player

Friendships: Player & Carmen, Cassandra & Varian (implied)

Romantic pairings: Cassandra / Carmen Sandiego, Cassandra / Rapunzel (previous)

Words: 4400+

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/52789294

Wattpad: https://www.wattpad.com/1411151258-a-red-moonstone-shines-brightly

Quotev: https://www.quotev.com/story/16277474/A-Red-Moonstone-Shines-Brightly

Authors note: The interest in the Red Moonstone ship, of Carmen and Cass, on Reddit, fanart, and a mention of this on the Shipping Wiki fandom page for Cass got me interested in this ship, and made me want to write this story. The same ship is also mentioned on Carmen’s page. I believe this is the first ever Red Moonstone fic on AO3. For a similar fic, see my “Cassandra and the Catgirl from the Sky” fic which came out late last year. Comments and suggestions are welcome!

Text:

One year has passed, but... I am riddled with guilt every day. It sometimes feels like I do not age and that time has not passed.

Yet my suffering continues. While I still feel I was in the right, I know what I did to Rapunzel and that I hurt her. I had to get away from it all. I couldn’t let her toxic positivity get to me... I had to get away... away from her, away from Corona, away from it all!

I need to find my own way in the world, my own way in the universe.

Cass thought about her past as she walked across the rolling hills on the edge of the last kingdom in the Ever Realm she hadn’t visited yet, named Enchancia. Suddenly, a wormhole opened in front of her. She walked through without realizing it. She hummed to herself and closed her eyes, happily skipping as she went. Everything seemed like it was going her way.

When she opened her eyes, she was astonished. She stood on top of a black gooey substance, embedded with pebbles, which covered the ground. It had white and yellow markings. It was nothing like anything that she had ever seen before in her entire life. A metal monstrosity came hurtling toward her. She drew her sword and took a defensive stance.

“Stop, heathen! You shall not pass!” Her movement did nothing to stop the horseless chariot from speeding toward her. A window opened by some miracle, perhaps even by magic, she gathered. She heard a deafening shout. “Get out of the road, lady!” The tone was angry. Cass was confused and unsure what she had done wrong. She decided to ignore the yelling person.

She stood her ground. She started to sing that she had nothing left to lose. Out of nowhere, a lady in a bright red trenchcoat and fedora grabbed her off the street. Before she knew it, she was in the air, flying through the skies thanks to a glider backpack on the woman's back. She had no idea why this lady had grabbed her from the ground. Something seemed different. There were tall buildings with windows which stretched into the sky, almost like they were scraping clouds. She put her sword back in its sheath. This woman did not seem to be a threat.

The glider soon came to a stop. It gently reached the ground. In the past, the lady had crashed it when carrying her former crime school buddy. That scenario did not replay itself this time.

Cass looked up and saw a ramshackle building. The name “Carmen Outerwear” was emblazoned on the front. Collapsing her hangar backpack, the lady turned toward her. Her fierce blue gray eyes stared at Cass. She came closer. Her auburn hair was blowing in the wind. In some ways, this woman reminded her of someone she used to know, someone she had grown very fond of over the years, someone she felt she had hurt, someone she wanted to reconnect with, in a healthier way that involved re-building trust, not treating another person as second-best, and without hierarchy.

She was not aware that in this world, thousands of miles away, in a densely populated strip, thousands were being murdered by a militarily superior force. These brutal attacks resulted in massive displacement and a shattered society, and were paired with spread of disease, electricity blackout, food insecurity, and three land border crossings to come and go. This now-hellish place, known as Gaza, was many times worse than anything she had caused in Corona. It would baffle her mind if she knew about this genocidal butchery happening thousands of miles from where she currently stood. Since she didn’t know about those horrors, at the present, only one thing concerned her now: who was this person before her? Why do they seem so...familiar?

“Who are you?” the lady insisted. Cass did not know how to answer. She stepped back warily, unsure of what to make of this woman. The woman was the epitome of fashion and beauty. Cass couldn’t help but be drawn toward her, although she wasn’t sure why. Conflicted with what she should say, she fumbled. “I...uh...am Cassandra...I have a sword and...I’m not afraid to use it!”

The lady laughed heartily. It had been one of the funniest things she had heard. A person she had saved from the street was threatening her? How absurd! She attempted to calm down the situation. “Ah, yes, swords, the weapon of choice for a lady with black hair. It suits you well. But I do not want to fight with you, not today.” Cass nodded. She continued to be uncertain of the intentions of this woman. Without a doubt, she could have drawn her sword right then and there. Considering her options, she decided to stand down.

“Fine...I’ll follow you...but if you do anything sneaky, I’ll have to strike back...with force!” Whether she would act on this threat was questionable. More likely than anything else, it was a bluster to put this woman on edge. However, It didn’t work, not in the slightest, if that had been her intention, in the first place.

The woman laughed once again. “Oh, Ms. Cassandra,” she began, “come inside into my former hideout...but don’t you tell anyone about it.” Continuing to be wary, she followed behind, but kept her eyes open. This could be a trap. Maybe, this was all a nightmare. Nothing made sense. The woman stopped and turned around. She outstretched her hand. “Sorry for not introducing myself earlier. I’m Carmen Sandiego. You can just call me Carmen.” As she smiled, Cass shook her hand, although she remained skeptical of this mysterious woman.

Taking out a metal key from her pocket, Carmen unlocked the door and walked in. The ground floor had a workshop for Ivy, a laundry room, and a gym. She led Cass through the building and to the living room. In the back of her mind, Cass believed that someone had planned this whole thing to trap and deceive her. Every day, she suffered from the residual effects of Zhan Tiri’s mental manipulation, leading to a level of paranoia.

What happened next was something she didn’t expect. Carmen felt relieved. She put her keys on a table and pointed to a puffy, cushioned piece of furniture. “Make yourself at home, Cassandra...I have to change out of these clothes as it's hot as the blazes today. But I’ll be back in a second. Don’t go anywhere.”

Stunned at the hospitality, Cass smiled weakly in response. She wasn’t sure what to think about this woman or her posh hideout. She had no idea where she was. But she knew one thing for certain: she wasn’t in Enchancia anymore.

As Carmen went into the bedroom, she changed into more comfortable, and casual, clothes. Discreetly, she slipped into the study/storage area. She talked to her hacker friend in hushed tones. “Player, I need an assist here.” Not sure what she meant, the Canadian kid asked, “What is it, Red?” Now fully dressed, in almost record time, perhaps as a side effect of having to get dressed quickly when she went to crime school, she took out her earbuds. She then turned on the video call feature, surprising Player. He hadn’t expected to see her face.

“I uh...rescued this woman from being hit by a car this morning. She had drawn a sword and was about to fight it? I found it bizarre.” Player didn’t know what to tell her. Why had Carmen even rescued this woman? How did she know this woman could be trusted? Player shook his head. “Red, I’m dumbfounded. Couldn’t you have just dropped her off at a police station or something?” Carmen rolled her eyes. Didn’t Player know that the police couldn’t be trusted? She grumbled. “Come on, Player, don’t ya remember when it was revealed that cops in this city were sending racist, sexist, and homophobic texts to each other, and a bunch of cases were compromised?” Exasperated, she added, “I’d trust a pig rolling in mud more than these damn cops. They are corrupt to the core.” Player backed off. The last thing he wanted was for Carmen to be angry at him. He tried to move the conversation back to the original subject.

“So...Red, did you call me because you want me to look up more about...this woman?” Carmen nodded. She surreptitiously snapped a quick photograph of Cass, who was lying on the couch in the living room. Player teased Red. “She totally seems like your type, Red...” Carmen looked at him with a scowl. Her face was red as a tomato. How could he even say that! It was so embarrassing! “Yeah sure, Player.” She then said, as an aside, “oh, and her name is Cassandra. Let me know if you find anything. I’ll keep you posted if I learn anything else.”

After getting off the video call, Player realized something odd. Carmen was back at the hideout again? He found it weird because he thought that she had taken a break from all of that. Hadn’t she gone out on her own, wanting to forge her own path? He shrugged. He expected her to call him back. He kicked himself for not bringing this up. One day, he wanted to go to the hideout as well. But he knew that wouldn’t happen unless he made an excuse for it.

Meanwhile, back on the couch, Cass saw a black object with a bunch of colored buttons on it. In all her time in Corona, and traveling across Ever Realm, she had never seen such a device. Curious, she pressed the red button. She heard a sizzling sound. A picture appeared in front of her eyes on a rectangular black box with a screen of some type. Sound blared out of it, screaming into her ears. She turned away and gathered enough courage to face the noise. She pulled out her sword and raised it. “I will not let this infernal box dictate my life! Stop at this instant!” Her words had no effect.

As she was about to strike the final blow and cut the device in half, Carmen bolted out of the door. She pulled Cass down. “Unhand me, woman!” she yelled. Shaking her head, Carmen could do nothing but laugh. Cass continued to struggle, attempting to escape, like a house cat that didn’t want to be held. Annoyed, she asked, “why are you laughing! This isn’t funny. This...device...whatever it is, is hurting my ears! I want to make it stop.” Carmen carefully pulled the sword from Cass’s hand, put it on the ground, and breathed deeply. This woman was more trouble than she had anticipated. Where had she come from, anyway?

“Ok, I’m gonna need you to calm down a bit, Cassandra.” She then pressed the red button on the controller. The screen went dark. Cass felt a little better now. Even so, she remained perplexed. What was the strange black rectangle on the wall? How was it connected to the device? She had no idea. Before she could say anything, Carmen pointed to the rectangle. “That’s a television.” She then picked up the controller, adding “and this is a remote. It turns on the TV. You can watch movies, shows, and whatever you want on there...it's the ultimate entertainment device.”

Although Carmen’s explanation helped, Cass still had no clue how any of it worked. She sighed. She lay down on the couch. It was as comfortable as anything in Corona. For everything that Raps put her through, treating her as someone who was second-best, someone whose identity was subsumed within her own, and everything else, she couldn’t forget the luxurious accommodations within the Corona castle. Although there was no doubt that Raps had devalued her in many ways, she knew that Raps, on some level, still cared about her, even when they were apart. What would Raps think of her now?

“I’m sorry,” Cass began. “Everything about this world is new and different from what I’m used to. I’ve never seen this device you call...a television...or the remote that controls it.” This made Carmen concerned. Where was this woman from anyway? Could she be someone brainwashed by VILE to take her out for the last time? Had she made a mistake in letting her into the hideout? She had to know more. “So, Cass...can I call you that?” Cass nodded. “...What is the place you are used to? Where’s your...home base?”

Processing the questions slowly, Cass responded carefully. Just as Carmen was unsure about her, she was not completely convinced she could trust Carmen, at least not yet. She decided to be honest, in hopes she could get home. “I’m from the kingdom of Corona...it’s ruled...or should I say will be ruled...by a girl with auburn hair, Rapunzel...and her husband Eugene.” Carmen started to say something. Cass interrupted her, and continued. “After some...things happened, I don’t live there anymore...I’ve been traveling on my own for about a year to get my head straight...and forge my own path.”

This made Carmen even more interested. She almost seemed to be doing the same thing as her! Maybe they would have more in common. She decided to ask her more questions. Instead of telling Player secretly about Cass, perhaps she could introduce her to him, virtually. “So, where is this Corona, located?” Without much thought, Cass responded “why, in the Ever Realm, of course. Don’t you know about it?” Carmen shrugged. She had never heard of either one before. Had this woman been living under a rock?

“I’m...not familiar with...that place...can you point it out to me?” she asked, remaining inquisitive. She picked up a wooden stand near the window, which had a brass metal footer. It was designed for a globe to sit on top of it, and mobile enough to carry around a living space. While the electronic maps that Player could come up with were helpful, she liked this globe better sometimes, especially since elevation was built into it. You could, with your hands, feel how low, or high, an area was. Also, it could be used to play the globe-spinning “where your finger lands game” or what her friends called, in jest, “where in the world is Carmen Sandiego” game.

Cass stared at the globe, spun it around, searching intently. What were all these lines, borders, and symbols? Why were they there? Where was Corona? She started to panic. “Corona isn’t on here...are you absolutely sure this globe is the right one?” This puzzled Carmen. How could she not point to her homeland? Who was Cass anyway? This woman worried her, more than anything. “Yeah, it's right. It's a globe of Earth I bought at an antique shop last year.”

This scared Cass. What did Carmen mean by “Earth”? What was this world she spoke about? To make sure her ears weren’t deceiving her, she asked a follow-up question. “Are you sure it's Earth?” Carmen looked at her strangely. Why would Cass ask this? Didn’t she live on the same planet as her? “Yes, it is,” she said matter-of-factly.

Not wanting to bother Carmen with any further questions, she accepted what Carmen said as the reality. She had no idea how she had come to Earth. While she would have asked Varian about it, he wasn’t there. She felt lost, untethered from reality. What if she never saw her dad again, or...even Raps? How in the world could she even get back to Corona...or even the Ever Realm?

There was a long, uncomfortable silence between Cass and Carmen. Each of them waited for the other to say something. An idea came into Carmen’s head. Maybe they could relax in the sunroom on the roof of her former headquarters. It was only two floors up.

She quickly grabbed Cass’s right hand, and ran toward the elevator. It was old and had a metal screen which you had to close manually. “I’m gonna show you one of my favorite rooms of this warehouse.” Hopping inside the moving metal box scared Cass, but...it also amazed her. What were the systems that caused it to move? Why were the dials lighting up like there were candles hidden behind them? It fascinated her. Although she might not act like this normally, her keen interest in technology came from spending time with her good friend, Varian. Although some people may have thought she had romantic feelings for him, she never once had feelings for men, including him.

Carmen stepped out of the elevator, still holding the right hand of Cass, and sped up the stairs. Not surprisingly, although the building was somewhat accessible, thanks to twin elevators from the ground floor and third floor, no elevator reached the roof. That could only be accessed by climbing the stairs. They soon reached the lush sunroom, an enclosed space filled with daylight. It had many views of San Francisco.

Alternatively called solariums, conservatories, sun parlors, or sun porches, these rooms had the advantage of bringing in outside light while serving as a shelter from adverse weather. They often featured passive solar heating, with the sun’s rays easily illuminating the room. In some cultures, these rooms were secluded and partially enclosed within a garden. In the case of this hideout, the sunroom had the dual purpose of collecting sunlight for warmth and offering scenic views. Most of the walls were composed of framed glass. There were also internal climate controls to make sure it was the right temperature inside the room.

Cass was amazed. The views, the design, and the layout were one thing. But when entering the room, she felt calmness rush over her. She bowed her head and kissed Carmen’s hand. “Thank you for bringing me to such a wonderful place...This is the first time I’ve ever stepped foot in a room...like this.” Carmen’s face, often a rakuda brown color, became warm and flushed, even a little reddish. She was totally unprepared for something like this. Starting to stutter, Cass interrupted her. “I’m...sorry...it's a royal habit. I was a lady-in-waiting for a princess, you know.”

Hearing that made Carmen perk up a bit. Who was Cass, really? She knew that Cass came from the Ever Realm, and, more specifically, a kingdom named Corona within it. She surmised that Cass had some feelings for this princess she served in the kingdom. Otherwise, her life was a mystery. She wanted to learn more.

At the same time, she wanted to put her new friend at ease. Who was she to ask Cass about her life in this other world, as she termed it? She saw in Cass someone trying to find their place in the universe. That really resonated with her. “I can relate...I grew up on an island of thieves...and I later realized they were only out for themselves.” Unsure of how her new lady friend would react, she glanced over at her. The hazel eyes of Cass were intently staring at her.

Clearing her throat, she continued. “I became a thief who steals from other thieves.” Cass chuckled. What she had experienced was much worse. She almost acted like it was a bad memory. “Oh, that’s small potatoes. My mother kidnapped this princess, Rapunzel. I was raised by the royal guard.” She breathed deeply. She felt a weight lifted from her chest after confiding in Carmen. She felt comfortable around her. “And, well, she had the gall to say we were sisters or some shit. I fucking hated that...and she devalued me.” She then shook her head and sighed. “So, I tried to make my own destiny, but the rage, anger, and hate I felt for her was manipulated by a fucking evil sorceress, Zhan Tri. Luckily, she was defeated, but I couldn’t stay in Corona anymore...not after what I did.”

Carmen didn’t know exactly what she was talking about, or who “Rapunzel” or “Zhan Tri” were. But she could sympathize. Surely, she hadn’t been involved in anything like what Cass went through. She hadn’t tortured, kidnapped, extorted, vandalized, blackmailed, or been otherwise cruel to people. However, when she had been mind controlled by VILE for many months, she stole for them repeatedly. Since then, she had worked hard to make amends for what she did. She imagined that Cass did the same thing, in her own world, in her own way.

Just then, a thought came to her. She snatched her phone from the nearby table. Turning her head to Cass, she asked, “can I take a photo?” Cass shrugged. She had no idea what was happening and shrugged. Carmen took that as an agreement, and quickly snapped a photo. Rubbing her eyes, Cass was baffled by this tiny lighted box. She picked it up, studying it intently. What was this infernal device? And what is a “photo”?

“Uh, Carmen, what is that…thing?” she asked, pointing at the phone. Carmen chuckled. She really worried about Cass. Where had this girl been living? “It can take photographs…call people…send messages…and other stuff.” Cass continued scratching her head. The only word that she recognized was the word “message.” She had heard it before. She said innocently, “so I could write a letter to someone with that…device?” Carmen nodded. There wasn’t time to teach her digital literacy or anything like that. Instead, she wanted Player to see her.

“Can I introduce you…virtually…to my friend, Player?...he’s a hacker.” Cass didn’t know what words like “virtual” meant. She thought that Carmen’s friend must be either a chump who does things without any skill or a person who cleared brush in a wilderness. Quickly, the screen flashed. A young teen with deep brown hair, wearing a gray-red jacket, navy blue shorts, and gray sneakers stared back. This is not what she thought a hacker would look like.

“Hey, Red,” the teen answered. Cass had no idea who this person was, or how in the world he could be talking with them. She looked at him with an expression of utter confusion. Player could tell. “So...you are the Cassandra that Red told me about,” he said. She quickly became defensive. How could this...damn kid...know her name? Who the heck did he think he was? “How do you know that? Who told YOU?” Carmen held Cass’s hand, then whispered in her ear. She told her that Player was her friend. She added that she had told him about her, in hopes of learning more about her. This put Cass at ease, although she remained a bit wary.

“Sorry for that…,” she said. “I’m adjusting to this strange place, with all these devices you call phones, televisions, these glass fixtures with weird metal pieces inside, photographs, and mechanical horseless chariots.” She added, “I didn’t think a so-called ‘hacker’ would be a person sitting in a chair and looking at a bunch of glowing black boxes.” Player didn’t know what to say. He had never met, virtually or in-person, anyone like Cass. She almost seemed to be, in his estimation, from another time or place. His supposition was completely correct.

He started asking questions. “So, Cassandra, I searched across a bunch of databases and found nothing about you…it's almost like you are a ghost.” Cass took extreme offense to that. First of all, he knew her name. Now, he was saying that she didn’t exist! Suddenly, Carmen interjected, surprising not only Cass, but Player. “She’s from some kingdom named Corona, in the Ever Realm and was a...uh...servant...I think...for this princess named Rapunzel.” He nodded. With them both staring at him intently, he quickly typed on his keyboard. He sighed and put up his arms in defeat. He was missing something, but did not know what.

“I can’t find anything...no country or world named Ever Realm...no princess named Rapunzel...there’s a bunch of coronas out there, either outer atmosphere of the Sun, a type of beer, a software company, a carbonated drink, a card game, some songs, a type of virus, and the name of a car...but no kingdom.”

Cass grumbled. What Player said confirmed her suspicions: that she had come to this strange planet named Earth, as Carmen called it. She shook her head. “I guess I’m stuck here then. I was near this kingdom called Enchancia and suddenly ended up in front of some horseless carriage riding on some weird black gooey surface. A person yelled at me, I pulled out my sword, Carmen brought me here...and well, that’s it.”

Player tried to reassure her. He didn’t want her to lose hope. Maybe they could get her back to Corona, somehow. “I’ll do what I can to help. I’ll ask around.” Cass smiled. That’s exactly what she wanted to hear. “Thank you, Player.” The video call ended. Carmen shut off the screen and stashed the phone in her pants pocket. Cass leaned in close. She had to thank her new friend somehow. Without much thought, she gave her a loud smooch on the cheek. She whispered, “I’m glad you talked to your friend. I hope he can help.”

Carmen’s body became warm, and her face became as red as a raspberry. Her heart began beating faster. Her pupils began to dilate. Her palms became sweaty. She felt weird, feeling differently than ever felt before. This seemed different. As her left eye turned to Cass, she knew what this all meant. She put her arm around Cass and softly replied, again without thinking about it too much, “I’d do anything for you...I’m so relieved you are here...with me.”

Cass would have, in the past, shirked away, but she did not. She had, even when she was controlled by the Blue Moonstone powers and manipulated by Zhan Tri, one goal: to gain more respect and self-worth, something which had been denied to her. She had unloaded her frustrations into actions that seemed irrational but were justified. In a moment of deep longing, she hugged Carmen back and said, “you are my Red Moonstone, grounding me with your love and protection...and for that, I am forever grateful.”

They continued to embrace one another and enjoyed one another’s company. While they had only met, their personal connection became deeper with each passing minute and hour, even though they came from different worlds. The challenges ahead for them they would approach together, and their lives would be intertwined more than either could have imagined.

End note: The opening of this fic is a very loose adaptation of the season 5 opening of Samurai Jack, which is spoken by Jack himself. Used this guide by Moooooshier to help with tags for this story. Also summarized information from the Sunroom Wikipedia article. And yes, people with darker skin can blush, but it isn’t, from the various web pages I read, not always as noticeable as it is in lighter-skinned people. The pages for Cassandra and Zhan Tri on the Tangled wiki were helpful, along with the Villains Wiki page for Cass. I also used different definitions of hacker here, to add to the confusion Cass is feeling, and the page for Player on the Carmen Sandiego Wiki for other information. I’m also assuming, with this fic, that Elena of Avalor, Sofia the First, and Tangled are all in the same realm same realm. I mean, why not? I also used the International Gem Society’s “Moonstone Symbolism” page for the ending part and will probably try and add more symbolism about it in later, possible parts of this story, if I choose to write them and this fic really catches on. I was thinking, originally, of making this fic a slow burn, and perhaps it sort of has some characteristics of that, but I also could see them connecting to each other early on. I didn’t think I could write over 4,000 words for this story, but here we are. Inspiration for locations and such is the eighth chapter of great fic entitled "Sandiego's Seven" Funny enough, I wrote much of this fic before I moved into my new place which... has a sunroom!

#red moonstone #carmen sandiego #cassandra tangled #cass tangled #tangled #tangled fic #carmen sandiego fic #fanfiction #fanfics #ao3fic #wattpad #quotev #samurai jack #quotes #gaza war #i stand with gaza #gaza genocide

[brw]

hi bri honeeeey how are you? i have a question if you'd like to answer. i struggle DEEPLY to find suitable, appropriate quotes, texts to add on my edits. like on the graphic itself. it's even harder when the character i'm making edits of doesn't have any quotes that i can use (bc they are underdeveloped, don't get many appearances, don't have many artworks made my pro artists, they are never the main character in a book, event etc) and i am just so frustrated about this. and i'm trying to look up on nice quotes online but idk maybe i can't find the right words i don't know what i'm supposed to look for. i have a hate/hate relationship with literature, i straight up admit that i don't read books so like asfghjhgfdsa is it bc of that i can't find anything??? and i don't wanna leave it just textless bc then the edits look like headers and << i >> don't like that. i know this is a first world problem and i am sorry to bother you but i am just so in love with your edits it would mean so much to me if you'd just give me some advice. thank you thank you. :')

Hello! Alright, so often the Marvel Wiki has a quotes page for characters, and I use those a lot of the time for quotes of characters I'm less familiar with. Here's a link to Lorna Dane's page, for example! This is useful for those larger characters who you don't know well, but these pages often have less options for the more obscure characters. So another option is to scroll through the character tag on @why-i-love-comics, which often focusing on posting "the best of" moments from comics so you can often find a quote or two there.

But to be honest, a lot of the time I just skim a comic for quotes! Like, for the Red Sonja / Vampirella one I did ages ago (I should make an updated ver........), I read that actual comic to get a good feel for both the dynamic and the quotes used. It helped a lot, and you can find the cool, lesser known moments that way.

Finally, sometimes I go through other people's edits of the character if they exist and look at the quotes they used there! I took the "I don't kill, I don't lose either" Cass Cain quote from its prevalence on Cass Cain edits on tumblr! Again, this might not work with the more obscure characters, but searching comic characters on blogs that do a lot of comic edits can be helpful to find just general panels and such :) Hope these help in some way!

#asks #anonymous

[needsmorewlw]

okay this is a weird ask but I am curious, the quarry counselors if they had super powers.. what do you think they would be?

Wait oh my god this is a GREAT ask.

I'm sorry this took so long for me to reply because I rly had to think about it. Also to anyone who sees this pls interact with your ideas?? I wanna read them so bad.

Max is some offshoot of a shapeshifter, C'mon it's right there. SweetBoi™ turns into GiantMonster™ with all the angst and accidentally hurting his loved ones that comes with it. Or maybe instead of a monster he has some kind of volatile elemental or a radioactive form that he can't control (at first) but eventually he figures it out and can swap between that and his regular form at will. Then maybe gradually he can kinda alter the form shapeshifter style.

Dylan is simultaneously giving me "No superpowers but just incredibly smart" ironman/batman moment. And ALSO the "scientist who accidentally gives themselves superpowers" genre. Especially since there's a massive list of energy manipulation brand of powers that is literally all about quantum physics (link to wiki page). I think his whole schtick would be utility. Using energy to make force fields or spatial displacement, like teleporting or making portals. Or maybe even messing with gravity, altering a thing or persons mass to make them heavier or lighter and throwing them around and make them explode. He just uses it to help with his experiments.

Either that or he experiments on someone else *cough* Kaitlyn*cough* and gives HER energy bending powers.

Speaking of Kaitlyn, she also gives me "No superpowers just incredibly competent" the BatFam master tactician energy. Nightwing, Batgirl "yeah we're just hot, smart and good at fighting". But if she did have powers, using a specific type of energy bending to enhance her fighting just seems like the sickest shit. Like she channels the energy around her and blasts it out of her fists when she punches. Plus she can channel energy to heal herself and all that.

Meanwhile Jacob! The first thing I thought about with Jacob is the whole "you hit him, he can hit back twice as hard" power. WHICH FUNNILY ENOUGH is also an energy manipulation sub genre. Kinetic energy absorption and all that. He can like, store energy from hits and then use it to buff his strength or to just do one massive game-ending attack. He can also like, save himself from a massive fall but absorbing the fall damage (though that took some practice). I think Dyl in this universe is just going buck wild handing out powers and tbh I'm living for it.

In a similar vein as Dylan, Laura gives me "scientist who purposefully fucked with themself for whatever reason. (Maybe bc her beloved bf got accidentally mixed up in some shit and got turned into a monster 👀) so she made moves to make herself into something that could help him. And she got the whole heightened senses, faster, stronger, she can jump really fkn high, regenerative powers, all that dope shit. Maybe she used animal genes or something.

Nick has the aura of every speedster in every comic book and movie. BUT ALSO could fall into the "person who found some otherworldly shit that attached itself to them now they're kinda possessed/share a consciousness with said otherworldly thing and have all its powers/abilities." Like Blue Beetle alien suit kinda vibe. And at first it tries to control him but eventually he gets his consciousness back and he can use the powers himself.

Emma gives me alien princess. She's a star, she's an otherworldly goddess. Like Starfire with a Superman background, she was adopted on earth and lived a normal life, not knowing she was an alien/had powers until she was put into some dangerous situation then she learns about her true origins. She can fly, she can shoot beams and balls of light out of her hands, her eyes glow, her hair sets on fire, all the hot girl shit.

For Ryan, he's definitely that hero that people are a little freaked out by because his power is kinda spooky. Like he can cloak/camoflauge himself and walk through walls by bending and altering his own matter which is rad, but he could also control your mind and reach into your chest and squeeze your heart, which he would never do but he could. He can also alter the matter of other things. Like he can make a ladder by sticking pipes through a wall, making them solid again and climbing up. Maybe he also has telepathic abilities where he speaks in your head and all that.

Meanwhile Ryan's powers also fall into the energy/matter manipulation subgenre and Dylan is entranced by Ryan's seemingly natural abilities and wants to know more about him 😌👉👈 you KNOW I had to add some Radioheads in here.

And Abi! She has all the making for "unbelievably powerful character who's too afraid to use it to its full potential." Like she can control the weather type of mayhem but she'll never do anything more than freezing the air around people's feet to stop them from running away or zapping people with electricity to stun them. But her powers are linked to her emotions and inevitably something happens to make her angry and it's a whole potential apocalypse scenario until her friends can calm her down.

#the quarry #superhero au #the quarry au #max brinly #dylan lenivy #kaitlyn ka #jacob custos #laura kearny #emma mountebank #ryan erzahler #abigail blyg #nick fucillo #this was way too fun #anon #ask #the quarry headcanons #tq

[smol-tired-binch-blog]

Smol, Ask Game - Yakuza I'm curious

So. Full disclosure. I've only played Kiwami and 0, and am like...most of the way through Kiwami 2? So any knowledge I have of the rest of the franchise is via Tumblr and reading Majima's Wiki page (that's how I got here) So do bear with me lol.

3 male characters I love: To the shock of no one, Goro Majima. RGG really just made The Best Fictional Character Ever and just use him less and less huh I KNOW a lot of the characterisation came LONG after the first 6 games but IT STILL STANDS. Also also, Akira Nishikiyama. I know I've been more stuck on him recently but he's shoved his way to the front of my brain, but I still love Majima. They are both my boyfriends <3. Now hmmm, who gets the third spot....I know he was around for MUCH less time than I thought he would be, but I'm gonna say Homare Nishitani. He's a fucked up horny freak, he's just ACTUALLY a mad bastard and he loves it and I love him for it. I genuinely wish we got to fight him more it also makes fic more difficult cause I'm like 'wait when can he show up how does Sunshine fit in WHAT IS THE TIMELI-'. He's great, even though that first fight was very fucking bitchy.

3 female characters I love: Bold of you to assume there's more than 3 characters for me to pick from. Nah but uhhhh, can we count Yuko Nishikiyama when all my love for her is basically based on my own personal headcanons and interpretations? Let's call her a bonus option. Obviously Makoto Makimura, like I don't think I need to explain that do I? I think I also have to go withhhh.... Hibiki-chan and Yuki-chan. The fucking LORE IMPLICATIONS of Goromi's dress being a custom-made pink-snakeskin version of Hibiki's outfit?? And she was probably one of the most in love with him, idk she's just very sweet I love her. And Yuki is so cringefail but she thinks she's girlboss, I love that. Honestly I love all the Sunshine girls, more importantly I love the 'spares', yknow, the Golds and Silvers and Bronzes but I've mentioned that before, I should give them their own post.

3 romantic ships I love: Good morning Majimako nation :) It's a ship that brings me nothing but pain in canon and I love them so much, so thank God for fic writers vbhjnbhjn. I say canon brings me pain but they're just so cute and they understand each other's pain in a way others can't and it's like...all Majima had to do was give her closure, yknow? There's such a tragedy to it but I love them all the same. Also shoutout to the 7 other Majinishiki shippers out there. Yes I just put my two favourite beautiful men together. But the more I think about it the more I'm like "oh but this could be SO GOOD" cause they're both assholes and would both dislike each other and reckon they're polar opposites, which they appear to be on the surface, but they're more similar than they think and the idea of them learning that and being like "oh wait a minute....oh hang on...". They could be fun and funny and beautiful and hot so yeah, I've gotten real into it lol. Now....you know, I could pick the obvious, but it's time to push another agenda: Majima x Dolly. Yep. As in Doll Girl's mum. Look her kid has already decided he's her new dad, why not make it official? I just think Dolly is super cute, she's one of my favourite girls, and idk man it's really cute even though 0 content exists gvbhnjbhjn

3 platonic dynamics I love: Yuki and Majima's sibling bond means the world to me. Two cringefail weirdgirls who take turns being weird. Like one does something weird/stupid and the other is like "bro what the fuck is wrong with you" but then they switch and it's a constant bickering back and forth but you can tell it comes from a place of affection, and at the end of the day they do have each other's backs. Speaking of siblings, Nishiki and Kiryu. Yeah took my time bringing up the fuckin' protagonist didn't I? For all my Complicated Feelings towards Kiryu, his brotherly connection to Nishiki is clearer in 0 than it is in Kiwami, but when it's there it's there, man. These boys have each other's backs, they're the closest family they have, and seeing it fractured so tragically is heartbreaking. I wish they had more Heat Actions but the one they do have is delightful. OH, sorry, I had to take a minute irl to think of another platonic dynamic and I remembered: Kiryu and Rina. Yeah, the lesbian hostess from Kiwami who got the job to look at cute girls! The one who told Kiryu he can be wooed by men if he wants and he told her to not judge girls on such a binary femme/butch scale (well, 'cute/not cute'). I loved going to chat with her, they're really sweet and fun. Genuinely quite heartfelt conversations and I'm surprised how like...idk, progressive their chats are? It's sweet.

3 favorite moments in canon: This is actually very tricky to me, I've never really thought about ranking moments. Like, the games are a matter of 'vibing vibing vibing do some substories that give us some fun Kiryu characterisation do some plot I don't understand or particularly care for HOLY SHIT SUDDENLY IT'S REALLY GOOD AND THERE'S SOME GOOD CHARACTER/REALLY FUCKING COOL ACTION SCENES vibing vibing vibing' In no particular order:

The bit where Nishiki fuckin shanks Matsushige. I KNOW his psyche is shattering before our very eyes, I KNOW it's him well and truly crossing the line but like....Goddamn. I cannot have stated multiple times I find it to be his pinnacle of beauty and NOT include it, surely.

The entire Goromi interaction. What starts as a joke quickly just becomes a very heartfelt, honest chat between the two characters, and gives us a very welcome insight into Majima and what she's like when she's not wearing the Mad Dog mask. The cowards should give us a Goromi dating game.

Oh it's GOTTA be Majima's introduction, right? I feel like I can't be a Majima or Yakuza fan and not mention his intro in 0. Just the shot of those iconic shoes, seeing how he handles the whole customer conflict and faces it with such humility and grace and showmanship ALL WHILST HATING IT???? BUT MAINTAINING THAT COMPOSURE AND HAVING FUN FUCKING WITH HIM WHERE HE CAN???? Holy hell. Does the bit where he learns Essence of Blade Biting count tho because that's a favourite for a DIFFERENT reas-. (But also his intro in Kiwami was my actual introduction to him and I fell in love with him then so *shrugs*)

3 favorite headcanons: How to narrow it down to just 3? Hmmm. Actually now I think about it suddenly Every Headcanon I've Heard Has Vanished gvbhnjmbhjn. I'm not very good at making my own or ranking them so uhhhhh. Okay okay:

Trans man Kiryu is canon in my head. Idk man it just feels right.

OH I REMEMBER!! So I don't give a FUCK what canon says, too many people tower over Kiryu for him to be 6 foot. So my actual height headcanons are that Nishiki is 5' 8" (good height) and Kiryu is 5' 10", whereas Majima gets to remain his full 6' 1" glory, however, he slouches a fair amount so people sometimes people forget how fucking tall he is, so when he straightens to his full height people are like oh FUCK. These heights also mean that Nishiki, Who Is Not Short, looks quite small compared to the two men lmao

Sure he's willing to hide in empty trashcans, giant traffic cones and potholes to get the jump on his Kiryu-chan, but Majima actually can't stand being dirty. (1 year of constant torture probably does that to you) He has about 10 different products in his bathroom, a very thorough and regular hair-and-skincare routine. Probably has a floral or citrussy undertone hiding under the smell of smoke, sweat and blood he usually has.

3 least favorite things about it: *sighs*. Okay: 1. Its treatment of female characters. See Exhibit A) Yuko. As we introduce more female characters I fear it'll only get worse. And the thing is, I quite like the women we get!! They just Keep Being The Same!!! Like can I have something beyond Hostess/Bar Employee Who Is Nice To Kiryu and preferably DOESN'T die with little fanfare or just get written out? Makoto probably got out of this the best but even then, not really imo?? She still had her agency taken from her in that last choice. Idk man that's the crux of it ain't it, these women having little agency beyond how to serve the men in the story.

2. I Do Not Care For These Main Plots. By that I mean I am FAR less interested in these bits of political intrigue/conspiracy and plot twists about who works for who because I simply forget who half of these cunts are and I don't actually care. I care about the relationships between the characters, which granted is a more personal taste, but it always feels like....they have something there, and they kinda know it? But not enough to give it the rich and in-depth exploration it deserves because it'd rather throw a twist my way that someone's actually Korean or something about Jingu. (NO SERIOUSLY WHO THE FUCK IS JINGU WHAT WAS HAPPENING IN KIWAMI?!?!?) It leads to Substory Kiryu and Main Story Kiryu being two different men in my head, and I much prefer one over the other

3. Kinda related to the treatment of female characters but like. The softcores. The telephone club minigame. The catfight club. MesuKing. Please stop. They're not sexy, they're not fun, they're just really uncomfortable. It doesn't help that the girl in the background for telephone club game is the fucking same but with a different bikini colour like would it KILL yall to get some body diversity?? Actually if you did that the joke would be she's fat and ugly hahahahaha so funny I loooove this I'm Having Fun Playing the game alongside bae and/or bestie honestly makes it more uncomfy, but watching softcores on my own for the sake of a substory somehow feels sadder. We started fuckin' reviewing them lmaooooo like "Okay THAT'S a pretty tasteful and sexy pose, I'll use that for ref. And now I don't know what she's doing. Please stop looking at me like that" etc etc. Basically anytime the game tries to offer me a 'sexy surprise' or a minigame with tits in it I'm just very uncomfortable. I visited that catfight club ONCE for the uh. Wait which Billionaire was it? GAMBLING KING!! Yeah him and then I never went back because why the hell would I, this is MesuKing But Even Worse. So yeah. Please stop. (I feel like they won't)

That was very long and rambly and probably more in-depth than ya wanted/expected, I'm sure others just write their faves and leave it at that lol. Despite my little experience with the franchise overall and my many issues and criticisms, I do actually quite like this franchise so far. By that I mean my brain has decided to adore Two Characters so I have a feeling I know what games will be my faves overall lol.

HOWEVER I'm actually really looking forward to playing 3 because it's got Mine in it and I've heard it's good, 4 gives us my boy Saejima who I'm excited to learn more about (and Akiyama?? I think?? Idk I'm pretty sure he sings Baka Mitai in 5 aka The Best Version of The Song). 5 introduces us to a Ms Mirei Park and BEFORE YOU ALL START: I'm reeeeally looking forward to making my own judgement because she's SO divisive as a character I cannot help but be fascinated. Ooh same with Yasuko in 4. I think I'm gonna like her, but I might not. Who knows?

And of course from the Entire Hour we played of 7 I already love Ichiban and I think he's gonna be my best friend ever, what a cutie. I'll even sit through turn-based combat for his sake (I KNOW SOME OF YALL LIKE IT AND I'M HAPPY FOR YOU I'VE JUST NEVER BEEN INTO JRPGS THE CLOSEST I'VE GOTTEN WAS POKEMON MOON WHICH I NEVER FINSIHED BUT THAT'S A STORY FOR ANOTHER TIME)

Anyway uh. Hope yall enjoyed my ramblings lol

#smol responds #yakuza game #long post #akira nishikiyama #goro majima #'why are you just tagging them and not the rest' im lazy and want to find the post again for my own benefit. maybe i'll come back and tag #AH FUCK I NEVER COPYPASTED THAT ONE POST I MADE IN A DISCORD SERVER BEFORE I LEFT. I wrote down what i knew from each game #it was kinda funny cause i was like 'im p sure we meet Akiyama in 4 right? is Shinada from 4 or 5? he's the baseball one right?' #i should do that again #OOH I SHOULD LIKE RANK THE KARAOKE SONGS AT SOME POINT (itd be an excuse to say Which Versions Are Best)

[agallimaufryofoddments]

For those of you who are also slow on the uptake, Chapter(?) 3 of the Baccano! ~from the 1700s~ manga released on January 25. The best time for us to buy it was release day, but buying it is better late than never. As always, (the prospect of) new Baccano! media depends on consumer support.

Buy it despite DMM's "DMN" DRM, for we have no choice.

On the one hand, I hate DRM. On the other, if selling this manga via a DRM-strict retailer/platform succeeds in making people purchase it when they would have otherwise tried reading it for free, then. Fine. FiNe.

Remember to rate each installment. I think it's possible to do it without leaving a review: read the chapter in your browser, click the star on the end page, then click five stars on the review input form that pops up. It seems to save my five star rating even when I navigate away from the form. Leaving reviews themselves wouldn't hurt, unless...they're in English...probably. Do you think we could get away with leaving machine-translated ones? How many strangely-written reviews would it take to sound the 'overseas purchaser' alarm?

Edit: Or maybe not. The ratings I ‘gave’ aren’t reflecting on the listings for 2 and 3. Maybe a review is necessary after all.

Chapter 3 reactions under the cut.

Looks like this depicts parts of LN11 Interlude II and Chapter 4. I did have to manually transcribe some of the dialogue. This took way more time than I can afford.

The opening scene depicts the killing of the 28th victim/witness, an aristocrat named Lord/Sir Alonso. This must be the murder that Larolf reports to Esperanza in the latter half of LN11 Interlude III? Larolf describes the victim as a "boy" who witnessed the Mask Maker right before Niki did in the novel, but this Sir / Lord Alonso is certainly not a child. Hm...

I believe the bit of Niki we see in this chapter is her telling Esperanza the food is delicious from the beginning of Interlude III. However, the manga seems to be omitting the part where Larolf reports [Alonso's] murder? It shows Niki walking away with a maid, whereas Niki runs away when Larolf makes his report...and there's no moment where Esperanza is angered by the bruise on Niki's face per the LN.

Moreover, am I right that the manga also omits Monica and Elmer's encounter with the bald man and Maiza in Chapter 4? There's no marketplace with children singing the MM song, no bald man, no Maiza...

...but the previous chapters also omitted Elmer's first encounter with Maiza, didn't they? So the mangaka's been deliberately holding off on Maiza's introduction from the start. I guess the manga's going to move the bruise reaction, Larolf's report and the bald man/Maiza-Elmer-Monica encounter to another day? How will that account for Elmer's wound, though, since Elmer doesn't show up to class after being stabbed?

I probably need to reread manga chs. 1–2 and actually take note of what was and wasn't adapted. I should do that anyway, since that would be useful for the wiki.

Okay, some positives...

Larolf depicted! (I only know because he was depicted in Chapters 1–2, so this is a belated celebration of a Larolf Hancletia design. Ch.2 gave us Huey's mother, too.)

Warehouse depicted!

Patisserie lady depicted!

Hey, it's Elmer's room at Esperanza's place!

Elmer wounded! Bandages on Mask Maker's arm are neat.

Monica has a lot of fun expressions. Manga is leaning hard into the classic twitterpated teen girl archetype and her 'tells' (big eyes, blushing), and these do serve the purpose.

Denkurou and Zank (albeit seen, not heard)!

Elmer's back scars...

Some mild complaints:

Zank's body should be as dark-skinned as Zank's head. Did the mangaka forget to color the torso? If this is a lighting thing where Zank's head isn't in range of a light source, then Denkurou's body should reflect that too. It's such a weirdly stark difference in hue that it really looks like a coloring error.

Am I allowed to feel lukewarm about Elmer's design? Maybe the fact that I've never seen Elmer with flat (slicked?) hair is throwing me off (aka it's throwing me off a lot), but there's something about his head's shape as well. The big forehead?　The eyebrows floating halfway up the forehead? The flat hair is contibuting to the forehead's largeness.

To be totally fair, this is gawky teen!Elmer, not adult!Elmer, and Elmer on the LN11 cover does have a rounder face (than adult!Elmer) that I guess the manga is honoring.

And...

Elmer's back scars.

I am whelmed. I guess I've built up my mental image of the scars for so long that probably any illustration is doomed not to meet expectations. It might be unfair of me, but I can't help think that a mangaka could go all out on the scars, since they only have to be drawn for 1—3 panels—honestly, why not just devote a full page illustration to it or one panel that fills most of the page?

Ex: Contain Monica's horrified expression + Huey going ??? to one panel. Overlay that (opt. and the next panel) with a small panel of Huey's face to emphasize Huey actively following Monica's gaze. Thus, rather than showing a Huey!POV of Monica looking at Elmer, you could dedicate one big panel exclusively to Elmer's full back and arms. Go all out.

There, one and done.

Here's the LN description of Elmer's scars for comparison.

Elmer was stripped to the waist, squeezing his clothes out, and his back…

…was covered in scars.

And it wasn’t only his back; uncountable scars covered the parts of his arms that had been hidden by his sleeves.

Currently, not a single wound was bleeding, but if all those scars became wounds again, he couldn’t even imagine how much they would have bled—

That was how mutilated Elmer was.

He might have had even more scars than Huey’s mother had in his memories of her.

They weren’t just cuts. There were marks as if something had been used to gouge out divots of flesh, and an enormous burn that covered the top half of his back. Not only that, but the burns appeared to be covering countless more scars.

Where's the enormous burn? Those scars are pretty countable. I see plenty of unmamrred skin. Yep, I'm nitpicking now. Please give my apologies to the mangaka; my expectations were simply too high. Ultimately, I am grateful that Elmer's scars have finally been depicted in an official publication.

(Quick! Enami! Draw Elmer shirtless as a 20th anniversary treat!)

Defying Description

Esperanza

#Baccano! #Baccano #Baccano! ~From the 1700s~ #inexqueuesable #February 11th 2023 #Author: Rev #queueing and hoping it doesn't publish until I'm back because I might have more to add #Post: Text #11th #February #2023