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#this feels so vastly different from how i usually draw so i have mixed feelings on it. idk
rhahatl · 6 months
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quit staring at me with them big ol eyes
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corpsedaydream · 3 years
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not such a merry christmas
corpse husband x reader
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hi hi so it’s 4:20am lmao i’m not kidding
so i know i said i wasn’t going to be on over christmas but christmas wrapped up late for me and i wasn’t ready to sleep and i just started writing and this is what came of it. i know that christmas isn’t always exactly a happy time for everyone bc family and holidays can be complicated sometimes. so if ur struggling or experiencing anything negative or just not rly enjoying christmas. this ones for u friend and i’m sending love ur way
word count: 2085
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You had mixed feelings about this time of year.
The holidays.
On one hand, it meant you had some free time to enjoy some quality time with your nearest and dearest. And on another hand, it meant that you would be potentially finding yourself in situations where you would be spending time with family members who you would maybe rather not spend time with.
When you were young, Christmas always felt so magical. Now you were older, Christmas felt more like an anxiety inducing chore.
You’d talked to Corpse about your family a many of times, because for the most part, you really did love your family so much. You felt lucky to have been born into the family you were - again, for the most part. There was one particular sibling who you wouldn’t include in those feelings. Unfortunately, toxic people existed and extra unfortunately, sometimes those people were related to you. After four months of being with Corpse, he thought he had come to learn all of who were apart of your family. But then you were reminiscing on a childhood memory and when sharing it with your boyfriend, he heard a name he hadn’t heard before. When he questioned you on it, he noticed the immediate change in you. The smile left your face and you went timid and very quickly, you shifted the conversation topic. You were acting in a way he had never seen you be like before, usually you were so open and talkative and here was a brother you had never mentioned and definitely didn’t want to talk about.
He didn’t push it any further that day, figuring you would tell him when you were ready. That time came in November, on the 25th.
You remembered it well, Corpse was going through his emails when he asked you, “Baby, what’s the date?”
“November twenty-fi-” You cut yourself off.
“What?”
You were silent for a moment, you didn’t realise that Christmas had snuck up this quickly. It was only a month away.
“Baby?”
“Sorry- um,” you glanced to him, giving him a meek smile before continuing,  “it’s November 25th.”
He noticed that shift in you again. “Are you okay?”
And on that day, you opened up to him. Told him about the terrible memories that haunted days that should have and could have been really happy days had it not been for a bullying, negative family member. How now, you seemed to dread Christmas because of this fact.
“Why don’t you just not go?” Corpse had questioned you, he said it as if it was the most clear outcome, but it wasn’t like for you. It was so much easier for him to say that then it was for you to do.
“I couldn’t do that to the rest of my family.”
“Why? You can see them on any other day?”
“It’s Christmas, I couldn’t not go.”
“It’s just the same as any other day if you think about it.” As much as he had cared and listened to you opening up to him, it was hard for him to understand you on this. You grew up in vastly different family dynamics.
“Not to my family, it’s important.”
The two of you continued to go back and forth for a little bit before you realised the stubbornness you both shared wasn’t going to allow you to take in the other’s perspective.
In fact, the two of you didn’t speak about it again until two days before Christmas Eve. You were spending the day together because you were planning on leaving that night to stay at your parents house until boxing day. And as your leaving time was drawing closer and closer, it was visibly clear to Corpse how anxious you were feeling about it.
-
“(Y/N),” he had called for you attention and you looked to him, “I really don’t want you to go.”
A soft smile was offered to him. “I’m going.”
“But I can fucking see how this is affecting you. You’re dreading it, please don’t go.”
You sighed before answering him. “I have to go.”
“No you don’t.”
“I do.”
“Why?”
“Please, Corpse, I don’t want to go over this again. I’m already feeling nervous about it.”
“Then stay with me for Christmas, you won’t have to feel nervous about anything, we can just be here having our own good time.”
You knew he was just trying to be there for you, but it seemed this was not something the two of you could find a common ground on. “It’s not that simple.”
-
But if only it had been that simple. If only you had listened to Corpse. Because you wouldn’t be where you were right now. Sitting in your car with tears running down your face. It was 5:05pm in the afternoon on Christmas Day and you’d made a dash out the front door while everyone else sat down to eat dinner. You had tried your best to stay strong, to ignore your toxic brother but when someone was constantly saying and doing things to try to bring you down, you’d broken. You wished you could pull it together, so you could go back inside for the people you wanted to be with, but you truly couldn’t take it any longer. You would call and apologise to your Mother tomorrow, you felt bad for leaving her the most.
You shouldn’t have been driving in the state you were in, tears kept blurring your vision and your mind was so distracted you knew you really weren’t paying enough attention. But by some miracle, you had made it to where you wanted to be. And in one piece and it wasn’t your own place. You were parked out the front of Corpse’s place and how you just longed to be in his arms right now.
Heavy feet carried you to his front door and before you could get the chance to knock, Corpse had already swung the door open.
“Thought I saw your car pull up- oh, fuck,” His tone was happy at first, surprised with happiness that you were there until he took notice of the state you were in. Your foundation was streaked by the thick and fast tears that had fallen down your cheeks. Your mascara and eyeliner tracked black lines, too. Your nose had the makeup removed from it and it was displaying red due to the amount of times you’d rubbed at it. And oddly enough, a Santa Hat was still sitting atop your head. Corpse had never seen a more gloomy Christmas Hat appearance. “Baby, c’mere.”
He wouldn’t hesitate to stretch out his arms to pull you in close and you so gladly accepted. When you were resting against him, his arms would be holding you so tight and yours clutching at his hoodie he was wearing, he’d kick his foot out to shut the front door once the two of you were inside. Small sobs were already leaving your body, but feeling the familiar and protective grip of Corpse really just made you break more. You were safe here, you were safe with him, you could get out any emotion you needed to, and so you did.
Sobs wracked your entire frame, it was loud, vocal and physical crying. Corpse had seen you cry before, but never like this. It was hurting him to see you so hurt. He was so concerned for you, he didn’t have to ask if you were okay, your display was making it clear you weren’t. When he could start to feel your feet starting to give out and your weight became heavier against him, and he not only heard but also felt you choking on your own cries and starting to really struggle to breathe, he felt the need to do more.
Gently, he’d bring you down to the floor with him. He’d sit with his back against the wall and grab your thighs to have you sit in his lap, your legs straddling him. He would pull you in tight enough so your chest and torso was completely against his, the two of you couldn’t be brought any closer if you tried.
“I need you to try taking some deep breaths for me.” He’d tell you right in your ear, needing you to hear him over your violent cries. And so you did, but each one was uneven and would catch in your throat and make you cough.
His hand would be rubbing big, deliberate, heavy circles into your back with a force to make its presence known, a tactic he hoped would calm you. He was caught off guard to see you like this, but after opening up to him about your toxic sibling and how anxious you had been to be around him again, he wasn’t exactly shocked. He was so concerned for you but a part of him was also furious that someone had treated you in such a terrible way to put you in this state. He now wished he had worked harder in getting you to stay with him, if you were with him, you were safe, he wouldn’t let harm - especially like this - come to you.
“I’m here.” Corpse would assure you with a longing kiss to the side of your head, rocking you back and forth.
And eventually, while sitting there, being cradled in his arms, your cries would quieten, your sobs wouldn’t make you shake so violently and your breathing would return to a more regular state.
“Feel better?” He’d ask you once you reached that more stable point and you’d nod your head from its place against his neck before doing a much needed yawn. “You’re tired?”
“Exhausted.” You’d confirm.
“Should we go lay down?” He was still holding you so strongly and securely but being so gentle with how he spoke to you.
“Yeah, I want to get some painkillers first, though, my head hurts.”
“Want to take off the Santa hat?”
“No.”
“What, why?” Your answer surprised him.
“I’ve had it on all day, I’ll have really bad hat hair.” You admitted and Corpse laughed and had you been in a better mood, you would have joined in on the laughter. But it did lift your spirits to even just simply hear him laugh.
“I’m sure it won’t be that bad.”
“It will be.”
Corpse laughed softly again and shook his head slightly and when he felt you relax against him again, he brought up his hand to quickly pull the hat from your head.
“Hey!” You lifted your head then and he was relieved to see no more build up of tears in your eyes anymore.
“You’ll feel better without it on.” He argued your protest, smiling a small smile and you couldn’t help but to mirror it, which made Corpse elated to see.
“Okay, but don’t you dare look at my hat hair.” You told him and because he knew your eyes were on his, he intentionally lifted his eyes to your hair. “Corpse!” You called his name with a laugh and he was so happy to hear you laugh instead of cry. “Stop it.” You spoke through more giggles and your hands came up to land on your head over your hair until Corpse grabbed your wrists and moved your hands out of the way. “Hey!” Squirming your arms to get your wrists out of his grasp. Once you freed them, you’d place your hands over his eyes.
“Baby, let me look at your beautiful hat hair.”
“No!” You both would laugh then and this time when your boyfriend took hold of your hands to move them off of his eyes, it would be soft and he’d lift them to bring back his vision and bring your hands down a little to place kisses into the palms on each of your hands.
“You know you don’t have to hide anything from me, right?” On the surface, it could’ve sounded like Corpse was talking about just the hat hair, but on a deeper level, he meant this so wholeheartedly, and you understood.
So you’d nod. “I know. Thank you.”
And Corpse knew that once again, when you were ready you’d tell him about what took place on that Christmas Day, but for right now, he didn’t need to know. All he needed to know is that now you were okay and you were safe and you were with him.
“I love you, (Y/N).”
“I love you, too.”
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alyss01 · 3 years
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|[Painted hands]|
[Corpse Husband x Artist! GN! Reader]
Headcanons + drabble
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Genre: fluff
Word count: 1.5K
Requested: no
To request: Corpse requests are open! Comfy cartel requests are open! Dream SMP requests are open!
Synopsis: Corpse with an artist s/o, just cute headcanons and a drabble at the end! Just cute stuff.
Warnings: none
A/n: I really wanted to try out a different format. I still wanted to keep the one shot idea so I didn't want to just write headcanons, which is why I decided on a combination. Please let me know if y'all like this or if i should return to just a one shot format!
Masterlist
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Headcanons:
Corpse loves the fact that you're an artist.
He cannot understand how you can think of something and just make it. Just like that.
He's so fascinated by it and loves to watch as you work on something with a focused expression on your face.
Has attempted to draw himself but it didn't turn out well so he was kind of disappointed.
It makes him only prouder of you for being able to make it look so effortlessly.
When you offered him to join you after seeing him observe you each time you'd grab a pencil, he joined without a second thought.
You had to patiently explain him what the process was and where to start.
He likes this result a lot more than when he tried it himself.
Will have small art dates, just ordering a few canvasses and paint and the two of you can spent the entire day watching Bob Ross video's and attempting it yourself.
He may love how you look as you carefully handle the brush in your hand with paint on it, but the opposite is the same.
The way he carefully tries not to pick up too much paint and frowns when something isn't going how he wanted is actually very cute.
The first few times a few lighthearted chuckles left your mouth, making him look up with a confused expression.
The art dates slowly start to become more frequent and start to cover a lot different sort of mediums.
Pencil, marker, acrylic, watercolour, oil, he wants to try it all, and eventually also tries other things such as pottery with you.
This makes that you also try a lot more mediums and so it becomes a struggled attempt from the both of you.
These dates are filled with laughter and occasional cheek and forehead kisses as your hands are covered in paint.
Whenever he enters your room when you're working on something will wrap his arms around you from behind and watch you work for a bit over your shoulder before burying his face in your hair.
He loves your hands.
The way they're usually stained with some sort of ink or paint that you missed when washing your hands.
The way they move over the pages of your sketchbook as you work.
Even how you grip your brushes or pencils with varying pressure on whatever you're working on.
Please use these same hands to cup his cheek or bury them in his hair.
Whenever he sees an blanc notebook or any type of sketchbook on the few times he goes outside or when scrolling through the internet he thinks of you.
After the art dates he became quite knowledgeable about paper weights and types of paper so knows what type of paper you like.
When he sees the empty pages from your sketchbook slowly get filled he will make sure there is another one ready to take it's place whenever you need it.
Honestly he's such a sweetheart about it all.
He's fully supportive of what you make and will be your personal fan even of works you don't like how they turned out.
When in an art block where you look at the daunting empty pages before you he will be by your side.
He doesn't pressure you, just brushing his hand through your hair as he plants a kiss on top of your head saying that you shouldn't force yourself.
If you need inspiration he's your man, lately he's become better and better at improvising and will put that skill to use without a second thought.
Drabble:
You sat back as you squinted your eyes at the canvas in front of you, trying to figure out what was off about it. There was something, but somehow you couldn't quite figure out what.
Corpse looked up from the other side of the table, his hands as stained as yours with the paint that now sat on your pallette unused as you looked at the painting.
This was one of the few times where he didn't wear the multiple rings that usually always surround his fingers, afraid the paint would stain them and he wouldn't get it off properly.
He stood up as he walked over to your side of the table, his arms leaning on your shoulders as his painted hands rested in the air, not wanting to get paint all over you.
His head rested stop of yours as you watched the landscape on front of you, the Bob Ross video paused in the background. It was one of the final stages of the painting yet you couldn't help but feel like you missed something.
Corpse didn't need to ask what was wrong for him to know, his brows furrowing as he looked at your painting.
As always, in his eyes it looked magnificent, but your voice broke him out of his thoughts, you pointed to one of the empty field off to the side of your canvas, "it's too empty here." You thought aloud as Corpse looked at the area you pointed at.
Indeed, now that you said it, he could see what you meant, the scent of your hair mixed with the smell of acrylic paint that hung in your apartment flooded his nose.
"you could put a tree there?" He offered and a small smile formed on your face, "a happy little tree?" A chuckle escaped Corpse's throat as he placed a kiss on the crown of your head.
He watched as you twisted your head upwards, looking up at him as he placed another kiss on your nose, "yes, a happy little tree."
He returned to his side of the table, continuing his own painting now that part of it had slightly dried. The two of you talked throughout the painting about all sorts of things, joking as you relaxed.
In the end you presented your drawing to one another, and Corpse could see you had taken him up on his suggestion about adding a tree to the painting.
"the happy little tree needed a happy little friend." You spoke as Corpse looked at the significantly smaller tree beside the other, slightly off to the side.
Indeed it had solved your problem, the vast amount of empty space now filled by two trees as a small smile rested on your face.
You looked at Corpse's painting, and although you could definitely see that the two of you had followed the same video, it looked vastly different.
It had similar lakes and mountains but the colours more muted and dark opposed to your brighter and lighter colours.
Corpse looked proud as you complimented his painting, and after the two of you had cleaned the paint of your hands his arms naturally wrapped around your waist.
One of your hands found themselves in his neck, a small complaint falling of his lips as your hands were cold from the tap water.
Your other hand cupped his cheek, thumb brushing away the small blob of paint that had landed on his face, a small chuckle falling of your lips.
Corpse responded with a small smile as he pulled you closer.
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emsartwork · 4 years
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i forgot to add: how do design ????!?!??????
So I’m not expert but this is how I think of character design! (also sry if you were asking about clothing/outfit design thats a little different)
under the cut because this is long im so sorry
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So in my opinion there are three really important aspects for character design!
AESTHETIC: obviously everybody’s aesthetic is different, but this is more about what vibe the character has, what makes them THEM design wise. 
INTENTION: who is the character supposed to be? this can range from their personality, their back story, their occupation, or their role in the story, but the design need to fit that intention.
COHESION: does the design go well together? or do certain aspects clash too much? obviously you can have disjointed parts of a character design, and if those serve a purpose then thats fine, but if its so disjointed its distracting from the character as a whole you might need to tweak things. 
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AESTHETIC: the contrasting part of the design (white flowers in dark hair, dark trim on dress, and dark shoes) provide interest to the eye. The mixing of round and sharp shapes also keeps the design from feeling “boring” even though its relatively simple. 
INTENTION: so what role would this little doodle character have? according to her design elements, shes cute and friendly with her round shapes (bouncy balls, babies, etc), but could have a sharp/fast/active or even dangerous edge to her with the triangles (arrows, knives etc). of course the design doesn’t limit her possible roles. She could be a bubbly younger sister who teases the older protagonist, or maybe she’s the villain hiding in plain sight. the shape this character design doesn’t really have is squares(think bricks and rocks), which communicates that she might not be really strong, steady, or reliable. 
COHESION: repeating the curves across her whole design builds cohesion, it communicates that “yes, these are all part of the same character”, it also allows the eye to “rest” on a familiar shape or line. 
NOW LETS LOOK AT SOME DESIGNS
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(Boku no Hero Academia) so both of these characters are super heroes, but have vastly different design elements. so lets analyze them.
OCHAKO(the pink one) is all rounds, with a few pointed shapes in hair mostly, but a little on her costume as well. Her personality is cute, bubbly, and friendly which perfectly suits her soft and bouncy design. Howevre she also has a very slight edge to her, which is seen her determination and drive to improve herself over the course of the anime. 
KIRISHIMA(the red one) at first glance, seems to be super pointy!! shapes that are usually seen on villains or really dangerous characters, but while he IS sharp(literally sometimes) and sometimes aggressive, he is also made of squares, which perfectly suits his loyal “i gotchu bro” attitude towards most of the other characters in the anime.  
ISSUE AREAS: so the only problems i have with Ochako and Kirishima’s designs is that their costumes each have one area that clashes a little too much for my taste. With Ochako, the belt over the color blocking stripes down her crotch are......questionable taste wise. I think the design would be better if the pink chest ended above the belt in a shallow v. not only would this mirror the triangle aspects of her hair, it would fit the belt outline, and continue the trend her costume has of being “grounded” or “heavy”. Kirishima has those.... gears??? around his shoulders??? and while the gear teeth are technically squares, the gear shape itself is a circle, which is a shape that isn’t present anywhere else in his design. I think changing the gears to something similar to his boots or his mask/headgear would create a more cohesive design(also the gears just look hard to move in)
These two characters are presented as individuals so their costumes don’t have to match at all even though they are still seen as “connected” because of the art style for the face, hair, and body. 
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In a group giving the outfits cohesive motifs is an easy way to present a strong team image! In Yuki Yuna is a Hero, the girls all have colored lines(usually princess seam placement), armor or fabric hip accents, covered arms, and similar flower shapes in their hair. The Aesthetic of each girl is strong in a monochrome signature color, but not over whelming as the black+white connects them even in color so they aren’t out of place. 
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Speaking of color! if your characters are all similar looking (like same body for all of them) you can communicate their personality and aesthetic just with color! (only gonna talk about a few of the ponies) Pinkie Pie (the really pink one) is energetic and playful, so her color scheme is a variation of the primary colors(happy, child like), and have one of the more saturated colors(high energy, intense) of these characters in a large quantity. Apple Jack (the orange one) is a down to earth farm girl, and her color palette is accordingly, mostly earth tones, its also warm analogous colors, which makes her appear un-complicated and warm personality wise. the pop of red is a nice touch to add interest, but notice that its uses sparingly in her cutie mark and tail accessory. Rarity on the other hand is elegant and fussy, her high contrast scheme of white and dark blue/purples gives her more visual interest and is something that makes her appear more “complex” in addition to the gradient thats included in her hair. the colors are also all cool colors, bringing to mind cool glass or water which both have connotations of grace and beauty.
however all the characters here are unified by their colors being on the pastel side, which is also important for a cohesive cast.
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another, short, note on color; making the color/line/shading of your figure different from the background can help them stand out, this is used ESPECIALLY in children’s media, but can be applied to any illustration or animation as needed.
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Color can also help your characters “read” quickly on screen, the powerpuff girls are a prime example, of having a distinct color blocking and silhouette. even the color blobs at the top and my crappy hand silhouettes STILL read as the characters despite being broken down into abstract elements. I also really enjoy the thick outline in the powerpuff girls, it really makes the characters pop to the foreground even though they have pretty simple designs and are often in a colorful setting.
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Also, for a lot of animation, silhouette is INCREDIBLY important for your characters, some designers sketch silhouettes and then design the particulars its so important to nail the shape. These examples from Coraline are some of my favorites (though Laika wins in my heart every time no matter what lmao) because the simple shapes are SO CLEAR and indicative of the character, you literally don’t need to have watched the movie to know these are each different characters with different personalities and roles. 
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silhouette can also help tell the story. In Kubo and the two strings (another Laika film) the above three characters are sisters. One has chosen to leave her home in the heavens to live on earth, and the other two stay in their roles as “heavenly” warriors. This is even shown through their designs, the two sisters are weighted on top and their cloaks don’t even touch the ground, while the first woman has trailing, heavy sleeves, hair, and robes all grounding her and emphasizing her connection with the earth.
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another example of shape/silhouette reflecting the story, In The Croods, the family of cavemen are for the most part very top heavy, with large torsos and arms, usually in a more hunched over position, while the newcomer, Guy, is bottom heavy with thin arms and stands more upright. In the plot, the family represents the old ways, the strength and rules that have helped them survive, they look like very stereotypical “cavemen”, while Guy resembles the modern man, and appropriately is associated with new ideas and forward thinking.
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MORE SHAPES, in DC super hero girls each girl has a distinct personality emulated by her shape language. Zatana is dramatic curves and edges, Super girl is hard, straight edges against curves, giving her a solid muscular shape. Wonder Woman, though also strong, is taller and leaner, lending to a confident leader type. Green Lantern is slim, her lines all flow into each other giving her a go with the flow look. Bumble Bee is, of course, tiny, but her boots and gauntlets add weight and strength to her otherwise small frame. Batgirl is lanky and has a lot of pointed style lines, reminding the viewer of a skinny cat (ironic what with cat woman i know) or weasel which mirrors her preferred “sneaky” crime fighting style.  (also yes this was just an excuse for me to gush abt how much i love the dcshg designs shut up)
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so in my opinion, Cartoon Saloon’s The Secret of Kells is PERFECT in aesthetic, intention, and cohesion. Kells focuses very strongly on creating silhouette WITHIN the larger figure shape via color and line, most of the characters pictured here have no neck, the one who does, Brendan, is the main character and the use of negative space that cuts into his shape is used to draw attention to him. Kells is also very strongly inspired by Medieval Illuminated manuscripts (namely, the book of kells lmao). The characters still manage to stand out against outrageously detailed backgrounds via their simple shapes and strong color blocking. 
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Aisling, a secondary but very important character, is not human, and has a totally different shape language from the rest of the characters. She is thin and pointy, while most of the others are round or square. Aisling also has the most negative space making up her silhouette, compare the triangles made by her arms and legs in the above picture to the figures in the first image where everybody’s body is self contained with no negative space. She is also very different color wise, very pale and cool colored, as opposed to the warm saturated colors of the human characters. (yes this was another excuse to gush abt one of my fave pieces of media deal with it)
hopefully that wasn’t too rambley and actually helps? if yall have more specific design questions lemma know lol
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kannibal-kink · 4 years
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What is your favorite Hazbin Hotel ship?
Radiodust, hands down! Everything about them is 👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻 perfect.
Is it mostly because I project onto them both A Lot??? Yes. Is it also because me and my partner have a similar dynamic sometimes? Also yes. They’re also my two favorite characters to draw because they’ve got just the right mix of not to complicated and challenging, which makes them fun.
I’m a sucker for opposites attract and unlikely pairs, of which they are both. I like it better than charlastor because it’s more.., hmm, charlastor usually has one person shift to the other’s “side”. A lot of what I see focuses either on Charlie fully embracing her demonic powers and being more like Alastor, or Alastor starts believing in redemption and changes his ways to become more like Charlie. Which feels.... not completely like something that either of them would do? (Plus chaggie is an adorable ship and I love them so like, I can’t break that up!)
But with Angel Dust and Alastor we’ve still got the tension, but also tons of similarities, and most of what I see and imagine is them meeting the other halfway, learning and growing. It feels more natural to me I guess? I mean, they really have a lot in common. They’re both performers (though in vastly different fields), chaotic, with personas they feel the need to keep up in front of others, stereotypes they’re meant to fall into, and of course a similar love of violence. I feel they would both challenge each other in a good way, subvert each other’s expectations. I mean, right off the bat Angel doesn’t particularly care how powerful Alastor is when Vaggie warns him, he still goes right for the punch upon the first approach. Alastor, as seen in the comic, intimidates others easily, whether he wants to or not. He’s been in Hell long enough that it’s probably a reaction he’s gotten used to getting, even if he still tries to make conversation. And Angel Dust just breezes right past it! He’s the only one that made Alastor falter, Alastor who was running the show from the moment he stepped in the door. With every other character shown, Alastor knows exactly what he’s doing and is pretty much in control: manipulating Charlie well enough that he doesn’t hesitate to antagonize her girlfriend, knowing just how he could rope Husk in with really quite little effort. The only other event that got a surprised reaction out of Alastor was the literal door blowing up behind his back during his music number. This is not an easily flappable guy, but Angel Dust managed to genuinely surprise him.
I just think that says a lot.
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lady-charinette · 4 years
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Adrien Agreste =/= Sociopath - About Adrien Salt
I've seen a lot of posts going around about Adrien being a sociopath or the other (harasser, abuser...etc.)
What I find most of those posts lacking is looking at the big picture, or just zeroing in on certain moments of the show and even disregarding the context of those selected moments to unfairly rule judgement on a child (in canon) no less.
Definition of sociopath: A sociopath is a term used to describe someone who has antisocial personality disorder (ASPD). People with ASPD can’t understand others’ feelings. They’ll often break rules or make impulsive decisions without feeling guilty for the harm they cause.
People with ASPD may also use “mind games” to control friends, family members, co-workers, and even strangers. They may also be perceived as charismatic or charming.
We have to analyze the context and the surroundings Adrien is in.
Family, social life, relationships (platonic and romantic), personality, age, environment...etc.
Family:
We know Adrien has a father who is controlling, preferring to micro-manage every aspect of his son's life to continue to have a semblance of control at all times. We assume (heavily implied in the show), that his mother was kind, warm and emotional (whether that emotional is the "out-there" kind her twin sister has, it remains to be seen.)
According to a snippet from "Simon Says", Adrien also has "Quite a temper, you remind me of someone" according to Gabriel's own words, we can assume the "someone" is Emilie, Gabriel says this when Chat Noir refused to follow his orders and told him to basically "get off his high horse". In this context, anyone who defies Gabriel in such a way would either be branded as "disobedient" or to "have quite a temper".
According to Adrien himself in "Adrien's Double Life" (from Miraculous Secrets) he describes being Chat Noir as "...I can finally do whatever I want to do, say whatever comes to mind." He doesnt feel as restricted and controlled since that's the one aspect of his life his father has no knowledge of.
Social life:
Adrien has had no or very little interaction with peers.
Evidence: Chloe being his childhood friend. Felix commenting on Chloe's appearance in the video she sent for Adrien's birthday, saying "Chloe. Just as annoying as usual." suggests he knows her from before, maybe even as early on as their childhood days.
This makes Felix and Chloe the only kids, of spoiled and rich background, with whom Adrien interacted.
Felix is shown to be good at manipulating people and keeping up appearances (potentially connected to insecurities within the family? Not confirmed), Chloe is openly mean and bullies others (with underlying insecurities also connected to her parents).
The only positive adult (if Gorilla isn't as involved and Nathalie had been solely Gabriel's secretary and not Adrien's caretaker since there was Emilie) in Adrien's life would be his mother, who also fell into a coma during Adrien's formative years (and still during a time where he's figuring himself and his emotions out: puberty), leaving him with his father.
Moving on, even if the writer's sometimes may not always successfully show Adrien being awkward in social interactions, it doesnt mean they dont exist.
This interaction between him and Marinette, asking for her autograph, very formal in his question, awkward in posture:
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He's picked up on some speech patterns from his frequent interactions with Nino ("dude", "Hey man." "Totally dude.") showing he's, like many people, mimicking his friend's behavior and speech to grow more favorably in their eyes.
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The same pattern can be observed with Gabriel and Adrien: Adrien adopts his father's formal speech whenever talking to him, since that appeases him.
Adrien has had very limited friendly interactions with his peers, romantic interactions are basically non-existent. The scenes where Adrien is being chased by his fans, who obsessively adore him, cant be linked to Adrien experiencing healthy romantic contact (Lila doesn't count since she only uses Adrien to further her goals). Marinette doesn't count since Adrien's isn't even aware of her romantic feelings for him. (Again, difficulties picking up social cues due to only ever being homeschooled > limited social contact with peers)
So no, in my humble opinion, Adrien sometimes doesn't understand other people's feelings not because he's a sociopath, but because he's an awkward kid with very little experience about making friends and having healthy relationships with them.
Relationships:
Let's be direct here: Gabriel is an abusive as*hole.
If the writer's wanted to show Gabriel struggling or having remorse for his actions being Hawkmoth and putting his son through danger, well... They blew it. "Gorizilla" was a 5 second reaction of Hawkmoth showing concern after letting Adrien fall from a skyscraper. Applause. After that? Not much.
Nathalie: Adrien likes, she takes care of him, his schedule, was the one to convince Gabriel to let him attend public school. There are moments in the show where she softens up towards Adrien, but always carries that air of professionalism on her to (possibly, assumption) not grow too close. Gorilla is...Gorilla, but at least the man tries with his nonverbal support and affectionate grunts. Lol.
Gabriel: He loves his father. It's his parent, after all. However, Adrien's reactions to him are vastly different than to how he reacts when thinking of his mother. He shows signs of fear (tensing up, growing obedient...etc.), he excuses his father's excessive controlling tendencies to just be "he's just worried about me", "that's the way he always was", "father cares and protects me". Adrien shows to be frequently disappointed with Gabriel, one of the first scenes being that Gabriel couldn't attend parent's day at school, Adrien was talking on the phone alone in the school hallway. He was genuinely surprised by the blue scarf his father gifted him (not knowing it was Marinette), since all he used to get were pens (again, not even from Gabriel, but Nathalie). This is my assumption but: Adrien has previously begged his father to go outside more or attend public school, but this time it worked only because Nathalie managed to convince him.
Friends from school: Nino is his best friend, Adrien seems to be good friends with Alya too, basically everyone in class, with varying degrees of closeness. Chloe is a childhood friend whom Adrien is fond of but also grows exasperated with and corrects her behavior if she's too harsh.
Marinette: likes and respects her, but can't read her well or at least when he thinks he's got her figured out, she claims the opposite. Marinette has been sending mixed signals, on one hand even making Adrien believe (and fear) they weren't friends. "Chat Blanc" contrary to popular belief, showed that Adrien is delighted at the prospect of Marinette being Ladybug (he'd severe doubts when Chloe or anyone else was brought up as a possible option).
Kagami: likes her, respects her, admires her fencing skills, learned to have fun hanging out with her and playing as kids usually do since she also has a controlling parent and they both know some ways/tricks around their boundaries to sneak off and meet their friends. Adrien and Kagami have similarities in that respect, Gabriel pushing Adrien to be a model, Mrs. Tsurugi pushing Kagami to be a master fencer.
Lila: At first defended her, was friendly towards her since she was a new student from overseas he sympathized because surely it would be lonely? The new girl would need a friend who supported her through all this things that were new for him too. However, as soon as he caught wind of Lila's schemes, he changes his tune. He feels uncomfortable around her overstepping his boundaries, expresses anger when Lila accused Marinette of crimes she didn't commit and even makes a deal with her to not bother Marinette again (but use him instead, doing photoshoots together...etc.) to keep her safe.
Age:
A 14-15 year old, having lost his mother, the only positive, healthy relationship in his life. Surrounded by a controlling father, not much free time, many extracurricular activities and being a superhero alongside Ladybug.
Some of the signs of being a sociopath include: Breaking rules and being impulsive.... Didn't Ladybug do those too?
Breaking the rules: (since LB and Marinette are the same) stealing phones, sneaking into places where she shouldn't, using the miraculous for personal gain (latest example: getting Kagami away from Adrien), giving Adrien the snake miraculous due to personal preference instead of drawing logical conclusions. Sneaked into the Agreste mansion.
Impulsiveness: Marinette's daily fantasies (sharing a future life with Adrien and their hamster-who-must-not-be-named), when Lila's "precious family heirloom necklace" was "stolen", Marinette was quick to include her classmates in the list of potential perpetrators for it (without ill intent, but still..)
You know who the real potential sociopath in the show is?
Gabriel
Some of you might include Lila too (since she fits all the criteria for being a sociopath), but the key difference is: Lila is still just a kid.
We don't know much about her family life. Just that her mother is busy with work, we don't know where her father is, who her friends were/if she even had them. She might be lying and manipulating people to follow her own agenda, but she thrives in attention, when people notice and praise her. In some aspects, that could've been Adrien. With one neglectful parent, a missing parent, no friends (prior to going to school)...etc. There is also a lot we don't know about her.
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hollenka99 · 3 years
Text
Whenever and Wherever
This is ridiculously late because I didn’t have much time to work on it thanks to irl stuff so sorry about that but happy (belated) birthday @bupine. Have some bench trio.
1.
2.
The first time their paths cross, it's in the tailor shop run by Tommy's family. Tommy seems to be manning the counter while his brothers and father are supposedly in the back. The customer is clearly an enderman hybrid if his facial features are anything to go off of. He's just here to order a suit for a new job as a stenographer for the mayor apparently. Ranboo lingers longer than he likely expected to when he walked in as the three of them make conversation together. Before their latest acquaintance heads off, they decide to meet up again outside of work hours.
Talking to Ranboo comes easy. Before too long, you could tell Ranboo's work schedule based on where he was found lingering. At the tailor's shop? Well, it was likely one of his days off and he wanted to keep Tommy company for a while as the owner's son worked. At the bakery? That usually meant Ranboo was on his lunch break and hoped to sneak something sweet into his midday meal. He occasionally buys a few flowers for Tommy with the excuse of 'livening up his workspace' and offers Tubbo his attempts at baking. Whenever possible, the three of them either made time during lunch or in the evening to hang out together.
Then Ranboo seems to realise he gets off work around about the same time the bakery owned by Tubbo's family closes for the night. That mixed with the fact he really isn't the best with anything kitchen related... Listen, Tubbo was simply being a good friend by helping him out. Plus, who wouldn't want to take advantage of an excuse to spend more time with one of their best friends? It becomes a... thing, their evening practice sessions. Tommy once comments on it during a lunchtime meet-up, only to tease them but it kind of hits Tubbo how often Ranboo swings by so they can bake together.
It becomes blatantly clear everyone knows what's going on between the two of them when they hang around at the back of the tailor's one afternoon.
"If one of you doesn't ask the other out, I will break into your homes, steal your clothes and alter them so they're unwearable. Then I will make you pay to have them fixed."
"We... We uh, aren't-" Ranboo begins defending.
Tommy glances up from his sewing machine as he switches it off. "Fucking hell, just kiss or something, I don't know. But please stop forcing me to watch the two of you make eyes at each other whenever we hang out. We haven't been 16 for years. Sort yourselves out or whatever."
So they clumsily arrange a 'date' and let things go from there. It goes... well. A second attempt to make sure the first wasn't a fluke wouldn't hurt, nor would a third. It soon gets to the point where this new dynamic feels entirely natural. Tubbo's only worry is that Tommy might feel like a third wheel. Their mutual friend assures them he doesn't care about that. Besides, they know him, if he was actually bothered by it, he would have complained a ton by now.
Getting engaged isn't a big affair. In fact, it is a complete mess that occurs on Ranboo's sofa following a lull in conversation. He trips over his words, segues into various rambley detours and eventually manages to get to the point where he asks the all important question. Tubbo knew his answer the moment he realised where his boyfriend was headed with the conversation.
"So Tommy," Tubbo leans over the counter. The way he very blatantly holds Ranboo's hand only causes his attempt at acting nonchalant to come close to failing. "How much for a couple of wedding suits?"
"You're not getting a friend discount. In fact, I think I'll double the typical asking price purely because you are my friends."
"I hate you, you know that, right?"
"Hmm, might even make it triple."
"I will personally uninvite you."
Tommy and Tubbo maintain straight-faced eye contact for all of five seconds before the taller of the two breaks into a grin. Before the new fiancees can react, Tommy has his arms around both of them, drawing them in closer.
"How could neither of you tell me you were looking at rings? Absolute crime, that, if you ask me. Especially since I'm obviously the bestest man around. Disgraceful, the both of you. How can you sleep at night knowing you left me out of the loop? Gonna have to quadruple the price as punishment."
An elbow to the ribs leads to a slightly pained inhale before the three of them descend into snickers.
3.
Is it bad that he forgot land-dwellers need air?
Tubbo had been watched the two of them from afar. The one with sand-coloured hair makes himself round as he falls a significant distance towards the water. After a few repeats of this odd practice, he decides he will greet the human when he next appears in his domain. Tubbo grabs him by the arms with a friendly smile but it doesn't seem the human is so keen to befriend any merfolk. In the struggle, he gets a weird appendage to the face. Not one to be easily put off, Tubbo swims to the surface in time to see the boy communicating angrily with one whose hair colour resembled those of a beast he's been warned about. He thinks he'll dub them Sand and Orca for simplicity.
Orca spots him watching their conversation and walks over, positioning himself close enough to include Tubbo in any discussions they may want to have with him but far enough that Tubbo couldn't physically reach either of the boys with his arms. Sand greatly disapproves of this supposed fraternising with the enemy. Orca keeps attempting to communicate but their languages are vastly different so all it amounts to are gestures. When they leave, Tubbo finds it funny how the one named after a deadly predator is the most willing to be friendly while the one whose namesake he loves lounging upon occasionally had a tendency to come off as hostile.
The pair of humans don't visit him everyday and even on the days they do, the position of the sun isn't always the same when they arrive. Nevertheless, they continue to come as often as they are able and Tubbo appreciates that. He can't replicate any of their human vocalisations and though they try, neither of the human boys are particularly great at whistling and chirping properly. The constant gesturing seems to be the only way for them to communicate but they somehow manage to become firm friends despite it all.
One thing Tubbo definitely understands is fish. He is perfectly capable of getting his own food and honestly prefers catching it live anyway but if they want to offer him a snack as a sign of friendship, he's hardly going to say no. There's always the option to share the food with his family later. He brings Sand his namesake as a way of thanking them. Even if he knew a good place to observe orcas so he could extend a similar gesture to his other friend, Orca apparently can't swim. At least, that's how Tubbo interpreted it when his friend once pointed to himself, motioned as if he was pulling himself forward in water and shook his head afterwards. So Sand is the only one who sometimes joins him in the shallower water. And Tubbo has learned from his mistakes now, he makes no attempts to keep Sand below the surface longer than the human boy can manage.
One day not long after they meet, Sand tries to tell him something he can sense is important. He gestures between himself and Orca, points to the sun and makes a wide circular motion with his finger, extends his arm so it rises above their heads then ends the message by pointing to the shore. It takes another round of reiterating before Tubbo begins to potentially understand. They will get big with the sun and be here? It sounds odd but he supposes he can't physically stop them from leaving.
The sea grows warmer and cooler then back again over and over. He visits their spot each time the temperature rises. They never come. Or maybe he just keeps missing them when they do show up. He's not sure. Either way, he gets older and grows into young adulthood as the years continue to pass. He hopes the same is happening to them. They did promise to return once they got bigger too, after all. Although, the thought he might have wildly misunderstood Sand's parting message isn't always easy to not dwell on.
His waiting finally pays off and he couldn't be more ecstatic. They've both grown weird shells on their backs that he feels would be ineffective at defending them, their feet are disproportionately longer and their faces are practically unrecognisable with protective shells around their eyes and mouths. They are much larger than the last time they all saw each other too. But it's them, it's really them! Not to mention them seem to have developed the ability to breathe underwater somehow. Unsure how to greet them properly after all this time, he rushes off to the seabed with a grin and presents them with a fish as well as a fistful of sand. They look between themselves before accepting the gifts gratefully.
As the sunlight wanes on the surface, the humans sit on their familiar secluded spot of a caved area while Tubbo lets the water lap around him. The human duo have suddenly lost their strange shells now, both on their backs and faces, as well as returned to having better proportioned feet. Orca offers his own reunion gift. If Tubbo were human, he might have made use of non-existent tear ducts to inadvertently express how moved he was by the object. Because oh wow, he was never able to communicate Orca's
4.
Tubbo knows what it is like to be displaced by war. He'd been born in a time of technical peacetime, though everyone knew this would change sooner rather than later with all the tension.
He's 9 when the war seems to decide it's time to directly come for him as the son of the president, more than the resource shortages or street violence ever could. An attempt to assassinate his father that he'd been too close to lands him in hospital. It's officially too dangerous for him to remain a symbol of how safe their country was. All those not old enough to potentially enlist get evacuated, Tubbo especially.
Snowchester is... alright. It's isolated and out of the way, which is probably for the best in the general scheme of things. But at his age, all he really cares about is making the most of the snow before the novelty wears off and questioning how long it will be before he can go home to his family again. The answer was less than a month and 'we don't know so you'll just have to sit tight. Okay?'. So he reluctantly settles into his new life. He makes an effort to get to know the handful of other kids from the village in the hopes of gaining at least one friend to help him through this, he wanders around the marketplace on Tuesdays to find the sweet highlight of his week and for the hell of it, he challenges himself to become a master snow sculptor. Tubbo also writes to home to let his family know how he's doing but it feels like it has to go through 50 hands just to reach them for the sake of maintaining his secrecy which really sucks. By the time he celebrates his first birthday without them there, he had given up on arguing about the risk of just ringing them.
Then when he's 11, men posing as sea merchants arrive on their frozen shores during the night. Before he's even fully woken up, he's on a horse in his goddamn pyjamas and clutching a pitiful bag filled with whatever he and foster father had managed to stuff into it in 2 seconds. He doesn't get to bid Snowchester a proper goodbye. They're already on a rowboat they'd kind of stolen after racing through the trees when reality finally begins dawning on him. The man who'd looked after him explains they were headed to a new place that would hopefully prove to be safer than his old home.
He's used to the cold of a tundra by now. This place is more landlocked than Snowchester but not everything can be on the coast. He guesses the isolation and lack of enemy reinforcements arriving directly at a village is a good way to decrease the risk of attack. He hates it here. Snowchester might have been a fair distance from other places but at least there had been a bunch of people around. This was literally one guy looking after two kids, now three, in the middle of actual nowhere.
Phil does his best to be accommodating, he will give him that. And the other boys he's living with aren't too bad half the time. But it's too much. He decides he'd rather keep to himself. Ranboo, like Phil, is a bit more patient with him than Tommy is. Ranboo is willing to play a chess game he has no chance of winning or solve the same jigsaw for the 5th time that week. Tommy, on the other hand, will talk at him or encourage him to go outside.
"If nothing dangerous happens, you have to... make me a hot chocolate. Yeah, that seems like a decent payment."
"Payment for what?"
"For getting you to stop sulking and enjoy the snow obviously."
He humours him but he makes sure his reluctance is unmistakeably evident. It turns out Tommy has excellent aim when it comes to throwing snowballs. When Tubbo complains about this, Tommy simply shrugs and reveals his brother is the commander of the army so what did he expect? It doesn't matter whether you're hunting for food or stopping the enemy from getting you first, precision and accuracy are important for survival. That's part of the wisdom Wilbur had bestowed upon him before going off to lead their side to victory anyway. Tommy then ends his speech by standing next to Tubbo in order to cram a previously concealed handful of snow down his back in a surprise attack. Tubbo swears he is going to work out how to dislodge half the roof's worth of snow on Tommy's head tomorrow for that. When they finally head back inside, Tommy lets him know he'd like his drink to include whipped cream and those tiny marshmallows if they still have some lying around.
In time, he learns Tommy had been sent far from home the same as he had. Logsted had been 'a tiny shithole with nothing on offer to do' that eventually fell prey to the same exploitable feature that Snowchester had. Phil had been an old contact of General Soot's so when the initial relocation efforts fell through, Tommy was sent to Phil. No big deal. Well... listen, Tommy can act like a prat at the best of times but he supposes it is nice knowing he's not the only one paranoid this will abruptly end terribly one night.
The days, weeks, months roll by swiftly. The three of them have snowball fights at least onc
5.
Technically, it's Tommy's fault they nearly die. He'd been so insistent on fighting the dragon like his father once had that Tubbo had lost the will to try dissuade him. To be fair, he was all for it. It was only that Tommy was eager to jump right into the challenge while Tubbo… would prefer to actually survive.
They agree it will be an 'in and out' affair. They'll sneak down to the nearby portal at night, kill the dragon and hop back to the Overworld before their absences are noticed. If their families are unaware, they will never get in trouble for this. It can be an epic tale to impress future acquaintances but one to keep to themselves within earshot of those who'd scold them for it.
So that's what they do. With diamond armour and arrows they 'borrowed', the pair of 15 year olds face the dragon. They've already assigned themselves roles with Tubbo being in charge of destroying the crystals and Tommy tackling the dragon as a distraction. The plan is to take on the beast together once Tubbo's initial objective is complete.
It goes to shit when Tubbo barely makes a water clutch after being pushed off a tower by the force of an exploding ender crystal. Tommy had tried to get closer to him to provide support but ended up getting caught in the dragon's toxic breath. And then one of them must have accidentally triggered hostile attention from the surrounding endermen. A perfect example of sod's law, everything that could go wrong seemingly does. They tire themselves out too much by trying to return to more neutral odds. It doesn't happen. The cherry on top was the dragon knocking Tubbo into a pillar with her wing.
He's definitely had enough of this bullshit by the time he lets the developing concussion steal his consciousness. Let them just respawn in the bed they'd set up right outside the stronghold's portal room so they can be done with this. He really doesn't want to lose a life, especially not to a stupid stunt like this. But by this point? Fuck it.
When he wakes, it is not on the ground. It seems to be in a building on some sort. Has someone taken him home to work through his injuries? Tommy couldn't have since the next time Tubbo sees him, he has a haphazardly constructed splint on his leg. They bicker about their disastrous exploits until Tommy grouchily alerts them to the presence of their host, a young looking enderman.
It passes them a written message and Tommy, being the son of someone who is pretty much a jack of all trades when it comes to learning about other cultures, has a go at reading it. It's nothing too elaborate, just a summary of what happened while Tubbo was unconscious. The End native had spotted their plight as Tommy continued to get bombarded by aggressive endermen and toxic fumes courtesy of the dragon. All it had done was bring them home and attempt to give them medical assistance. Now here they were. At the bottom is a word Tommy's never seen before.
"Dunno what the fuck a Ranboo is."
"Maybe it's his name, idiot. Look at where it is, it's a signature."
"Oh, yeah maybe. What kind of stupid name is Ranboo though?"
They can't go back without the dragon dying and neither of them are in a position to make a second attempt, especially at the start when they are still both recovering. With no way home, they resign themselves to their new reality of living permanently in the End. The least they can do, in Tubbo's opinion, is try their best to communicate with their host by learning enderspeak. That goes... very slowly. Even with Ranboo helping out and Tommy's head start, it's not the easiest thing for them to learn. The humans share some of their language with the enderman in return.
Either way, they start living in their new home as Ranboo's guests. Their diet becomes saturated with chorus fruit and the first time either of them accidentally teleports during a meal, it's a shock. Their new friend waits until Tommy's broken leg heals before occasionally showing them around the islands that make up this dimension. They visit an end city that happens to have a ship nearby at some point and Tubbo resists the urge to lightly smack Tommy at the back of the head for acting like he's not impressed. They may possibly never be able to go home but come on. there is a literal massive ship floating in the sky.
Phil comes for them as soon as it feels like they might finally be getting used to their new way of life. They get the scolding of a lifetime mixed in with Phil making his relief and worry painfully obvious. They introduce Phil to Ranboo and of course the guy is conversational in enderspeak. At one point, Tubbo catches Tommy making a jabbing motion towards his father with his thumb incredibly subtly before rolling his eyes. As deeply in trouble as they are, as much as they were settling into what they believed to be a more permanent life change, the promise of home fills Tubbo with anticipation. He can't wait for the four of them to return to the Overworld.
Because you're coming too,
+1.
He's never been so eager to go to an airport in his life. His mum half listens while concentrating on the road as he rambles about all the plans the three of them had started making for the upcoming two weeks. There were so many games on their list for them to try. And yes, he knows they won't be able to get around to them all but they'll be damned if don't make an effort to dent it. Oh and then also all the stuff that got picked on the spinning wheel from Ranboo's stream a while ago.
Tubbo is beside himself as they wait in the arrival meeting area. There's no word of delays so come on, get here already. Then there he is, wearing his signature sunglasses and mask in the midst of the emerging crowd. Once the pair are close enough to do so, Tubbo throws his arms around his friend. And god, he knew Ranboo was much taller but he doesn't feel he'll hear the end of this, especially not once Tommy shows up.
They've already established this in preparatory voice calls but as they head towards the car, Tubbo explains that Tommy isn't due until tomorrow. So maybe they could watch one of those Starkid shows tonight since Ranboo's internal sense of time will be screwed by the long journey and Tubbo's hardly the best at maintaining a circadian rhythm as it is. His parents and sisters will go to bed and that's when the party can really start. Ranboo suggests The Trail to Oregon purely because the scene where Slippery When Wet threatens to murder god lives rent free in his head. But it would ultimately be up to Tubbo when the time came tonight.
Just outside the car with Ranboo's luggage in the boot, he asks his mum to take a picture of the two of them. He dms it to the missing member of their trio with a smirk.
Tubbo: Bet you're so jealous right now
Tommy: No because he's going to hang out with me more after I get there
Tubbo: As if
Tubbo: Can't wait for this week
Tommy: Same
Tubbo: Ranboo says hi btw
Tommy: Wow cringe
Tommy: Can't go on call rn but I say hi too
Tubbo: Whos cringe now?
Tommy: Shut up
He and Ranboo spend the entire journey home chatting about everything and nothing. Oh, these next two weeks were going to be amazing. Tubbo can't wait.
Tubbo wakes slowly. He doesn't tend to be startled by Ranboo's lack of eyelids as often nowadays. They may not share a bed that frequently, separate homes and all that, but he's seen his husband crash on his sofa after an exhausting day enough times to gradually get used to it. Michael had managed to snuggle up between them at some point in the night too. The little zombie piglin boy is fast asleep as well. Tubbo readjusts his arm so it encompasses their adoptive son, drawing him closer slightly.
Distantly, he recalls he's planned to meet up with Tommy later and it makes him think. A husband who cares about him enough to make Tubbo one of people whose side he'd stand by if necessary, a son whom they both love and would defend with their lives and a best friend who still stuck by him despite how much they've changed in the several months since they first met. He'd like to think that regardless of the timeline or universe, he'd always have them or close enough copies.
Content with his situation, he lets his eyes slip close once more and drifts back to sleep.
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mrs-geuse · 4 years
Text
Toys (Hank Anderson x Reader)
Anonymous requested: “Hank x reader where Hank is working on paperwork from home or on a work call at home or something and he catches reader playing with herself? I need something smutty with being stuck indoors. Only if it peaks your interest though!”
Pairing: Hank x fem!reader
Warnings: Language, Smut…this is smut.
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           Hank hates bringing work home with him, you know this, but nights like tonight he has to. There is something shady going on at Central Station and he doesn’t know exactly who he can trust. God forbid he walks away from his desk for a minute, leaves paperwork out, asks questions to the wrong coworker…
           Something is going on and someone is covering it up and it maybe involves an android which seems to make Connor feel invested.
           It’s late, really, way later than he wants to be working on this. His eyes burn from reading, and re-reading files he’d printed off before he left work.
           A beer sits on the kitchen table, untouched. You’d popped the top for him before kissing his cheek and leaving him alone.
           “Just a little bit, babe, I just…I gotta figure it out.”
           It is rare seeing him this invested in his work, but you know when not to push so you sit in the living room, quietly petting Sumo and barely watching a movie.
           Hank is way more interesting to you than this movie. He doesn’t even know you’ve been staring but you can’t help it; the focused look on his face, the knitted brow, the way he gnaws on his lower lip in concentration every so often…it’s unlike him and you are invested.
           When Sumo lays down, you flop over on your belly, pulling the couch cushion under your chin as you snake your hand between your hips and the couch. Your fingers maneuver down until you press against your clit and bite your lip at the sensation.
           Is this wrong? Weird? Maybe. But you were very aware that you’re ovulating and your sex drive increased significantly. You just hadn’t had the chance to tell your boyfriend – but a part of you wants to. You debate if you should share this information with the class just yet. On one hand, he’s been working for almost two hours and probably needs to knuckle down, on the other hand you really need him.
           You figure you can last a little longer and you’re sure he is going to make it worth your time, he always does.
           So, you settle for playing with yourself just a little.
           The pressure in this position, with your palm cupped against your pubic bone, your fingers dancing across your clit – is the perfect sensation and always makes you come.
           “Hey, y/n?” Hank’s deep voice startles you and you slip your hand away, pulling it back up to fold calmly under the pillow you’re lying face-down on. Hank glances over at you. “C’mere,” he says it gruff and you’re feeling even more aroused. Slowly, you rise and make your way to him, tentative steps. Had he seen? Is he going to make demands? Punish you?
           “Yes?” you manage.
           He doesn’t even glance at you. “These symbols were at the scene. I snagged a note off their desk and…does the writing look similar to you?”
           The two items are vastly different mediums, and if you squint maybe you can see a similarity.
           “Honestly, Hank, no…”
           “Fuck,” he grumbles, balling the paper in his palm before tossing it toward the kitchen trash.
           “Hey, honey, come to bed…you can look at this in the morning,” you’re kissing at his neck.
           “Mmmm…” Hank’s moan shoots arousal to your core, like he’s aware of what he’s doing to you, like he enjoys it. “You know I’d like that very much,” he hums against your ear. “But m’so close, I can feel it.”
           You try not to let his words bug you; you knew it was going to be longer of a wait and he would take care of you. Why are you rushing?
           Only you can feel the heat pooling between your legs as you stood there and Hank rubs his beard, making that delicious scratching sound. You want his face between your legs but you know the second you said anything he’d be abandoning his work and maybe losing his hot streak of finding clues.
           So, you tell him you’re going to take a shower. You need the space. The water is hot and you’re satisfied enough with his clean, fluffy towels you’d bought him. Not to mention your little friend…
           Your vibrator had been shoved in a drawer in Hank’s room, but you manage to find the one you left at his place. Not your favorite, but it’ll get the job done.
           You assume that this would satiate you for now and the water running would cut down on the hum…maybe Hank won’t hear.
           It was like a little game: he always loved watching you pleasure yourself. You feel the same in regards to him. He’d shared, one drunken night together, that none of his other flames had ever been ‘interested enough’ to watch him wank it (his words, not yours)
           There was something alluring about the whole thing. You love watching him pleasure himself, it gave fuel to your fire, let you see just how he likes to be touched, what speed he wants it, how hard…
           Fighting the moan that threatens to leave your throat, you lean your head back against the wall of the shower. The vibrator is on the lowest setting and the speed is tantalizing. You want it faster, you want Hank.
           “Fuck,” you huff, pressure building as you think of Hank’s fist closed around his cock – stroking – the muscles in his forearms…
           With your free hand, you grasp at your hardened nipples, pinching them between your thumb and forefinger the way that Hank usually did.
           And then…it stops.
           Your eyes shoot open, blinded by the running shower water for a moment as you gaze down at the toy in your hand. The light no longer illuminated, you practically growl  at the realization that you hadn’t charged it last use.
           “God damn it…” you slam it on the shelf by the soap then let your hand fall back between your thighs. The frustration made you lose that edge and you sigh heavily. “Fuck me…”
           You begin to wash your hair, mind drifting to thoughts of Hank taking you in the shower last week. Your arousal was overwhelming and one swift touch to your clit makes you hiss at the sensation.
           By the time you start washing your body, you wonder how long the charge would take…could you use it while it charged?
           And suddenly it hit you: the cock ring. You’d bought it for Hank as sort of a gag gift last Christmas. The two of you had a running joke that he was too girthy for a cock ring. You could remember the boisterous laugh he let out when he opened your gift.
           Of course you tried it, it would have been a waste of money otherwise. But…it was a flop. Hank was, indeed, girthy and it made the thing…uncomfortable he said. Not painful, just not great.
           You, however, enjoyed the vibrating feature on it.
           It isn’t your first choice, but desperate times…it will have to do.
           Quickly, you finish washing yourself. Water shut off, fluffy towel wrapped around yourself, you rush to dry off and make your way into Hank’s room.
           In the kitchen, Hank sighs at the paperwork. His eyes are getting dry, beer warm by now.
           When Hank’s phone rings, he reaches to answer it. Connor. Again. Third time in an hour.
           “Damn it, you’re gonna need to cool it with these calls, Connor.”
           He stands to put the beer in the fridge, phone pressed to his ear. Leaning back against the closed fridge, he listens to Connor ramble on and then pauses, pulling the phone from his ear for a second.
           While he’d been reading, he must not have realized: the sound of the shower shut off. How long ago? Weren’t you going to come by and lay on the couch until he was done?
           His mind trails to you slipping and hurting yourself and he pushes off the fridge to check on you.
           And then he freezes.
           Is that…
           No.
           Can’t be.
           Quietly, Hank steps toward the hallway, listening in.
           His bedroom door is open only a crack, which was odd. Taking a few quiet steps forward, he draws closer to the room and listens.
           Fuck…
           Tentative fingers press against the wood of the door, pushing gently so as not to make himself known.
           Connor’s voice still drones on the phone but Hank is long past the point of paying attention.
           Hungry eyes take in the scene before him: y/n lying on your back, head on his pillow, legs arched, fingers pressing his vibrating cock ring against your clit, a pleasured expression on your face in the dim light.
           The hum of the vibration had alerted him in the kitchen and, fuck, are you in trouble…
           Feeling bold, Hank forces the door open further, a resounding squeak making you jump.
           You look like a sight; mouth an ‘o’ shape, rising to your elbows.
           “Hank!” you gasp.
           The man puts the phone back to his ear. “Connor, gotta go.” And he hangs up, slamming the thing on the wardrobe. “What do you think you’re doin’ in here, sweetheart?” his voice seems kind, even, but you can tell he’s a mix of irritation and arousal right now and you’re hoping to play on that latter half.
           “Hank, I swear…I didn’t want to disturb you. I just…” he draws closer to the bed, looking contemplative, slightly menacing. “The-the shower. I was…in the shower and…an the vibrator it…lost its juice so I thought…” your sentence trailed off.
           “You thought what, exactly?” his deep voice is right beside your ear as he snatches the cock ring from you, feeling your wetness having coated it. “Thought you’d take care of it yourself?”
           “I didn’t want to disturb you,” you admit. “M’sorry, baby, I know how much you like to watch and I just…I couldn’t help myself. You looked so good sitting there, hard at work.”
           He raises a brow at that and you realize for the first time tonight that Hank is extremely aroused, cock pressing harshly against the zip of his pants.
           You watch him insert a digit into his mouth, tasting you from your wetness on the cock ring which still vibes in his hand. A deep moan leaves him, distracting you for a second. You’d been so damn close once again when he caught you and all you wanna do is come.
           Abruptly, Hank presses the vibrating thing to your clit, rubbing deep circles and you fall back on the bed, hand reaching for his arm and clawing at the skin as his pressure is unrelenting.
           “F-fuck, Hank…” you cry out.
           “Now you’re going to continue and I’m going to watch,” he waits a little longer, lets the vibration do its thing, enjoys watching you writhe beneath him. He’s absentmindedly palming himself through his pants and his precum is leaving a wet mark in the jeans.
           Thumb pressed to the toy, he slips a digit inside of you, arching it just the way he knows you like it. You’re practically crying at this point, so grateful to be so close to climax once again.
           And then he’s gone as quickly as he comes and you let out an audible growl.
           He’s across the room, sitting in a chair, fidgeting with his belt without taking his eyes off you. You can see how aroused he is and as his cock springs out of his boxers, he starts stroking himself.
           He’s been kind enough to leave you the vibrating ring and you’re thankful but slightly disappointed. There’s something about Hank’s fingers, the way he can reach that spot inside of you, no problem. Even your fingers don’t do it justice – they’re too tiny whereas Hank’s fingers applying just the right amount of pressure sends you over the edge.
           You’re disappointed too because you know how late it is and you know that after Hank comes all over his stomach or down his hand or – God-willing – on you, he’s going to want to go to sleep. It’s going to take a serious amount of begging to get him to fuck you, you’ve broken one of the few requests he has for you. You’d call it a rule, so would he, but you know he wouldn’t be bold enough to punish too harshly – it’s just not in him with you.
           “What were you thinking about?” the pace his fist is at remains slow, tantalizing for the both of you.
           “This. You, jerking it,” you bite your lip as you speak, aware of how stimulated these sexual, breathy conversations leave Hank. Maybe you’ll be able to get this to work out in your favor. “And…and you fucking me in the shower. And that position with my legs up, thighs against my chest, feet behind your head as you pound into me.”
           That does it, Hank’s fist quickens its pace around his cock and you can see the precum oozing.
           Fuck.
           “Mmm…good. Good, sweetheart…” he grunts. “Why so needy tonight?”
           You were close until he asks this question. “I’m ovulating, Hank.”
           His pace falters just a moment but then he’s quickening his fist around his cock.
           “Oh.”
           Hank loves when you’re ovulating, loves how wet you are, how easily aroused, how desperate you are for him to slip his cock inside of you. He also loves that sometimes you’re too damn wet which makes it hard for him to feel too stimulated and so your romps sometimes last longer than usual.
           And here you go, pleading with him to let you ride him.
           “M’close, I won’t take long, I promise. Hank, please…” the thought of getting to come on his cock turns you on even more, makes you desperate.
           You’re about to shift off the bed and make your way over to him, try to seduce him, but he’s onto your game faster than you expect.
           “Ah, stay there, duchess. No. You come. Now.”
           Nodding, you melt at the controlling tone. “Yes, sir.”
           Fuck, Hank’s faltering at this; at seeing how desperate and eager you are. He can’t keep this façade up much longer. He wants to be in you more than anything right now. But he wants you to think he’s this cruel, wants to play with that edge a little bit more.
           His cock twitches when he sees the normal tells that you’re close to an orgasm finally – he can imagine how frustrated you are. And, being the asshole he is, he wants to add to it.
           Your toes are curling and he’s so fucking aroused right now…but he manages to pull it together before you come undone and rises to his feet, takes two steps toward the bed, startling you.
           You look up at him with your big doe eyes and he almost comes right there on the bed.
           “Lay back,” he instructs softly. You visibly shiver, doing so without hesitation. “Fuck, what a good girl,” he coos as he slowly undresses.
           He doesn’t even mind that you’re still touching yourself as he does this. Awkwardly, he crawls onto the bed, insisting that you scoot over. You gaze at him, needy and desperate and begging for instructions.
           “Ride me.”
           You do as you’re told, easily straddling thick thighs to lower your dripping pussy down onto his hard shaft.
           You both moan together and the feel of him filling you is almost too much, you almost come.
           Shifting forward, you gaze up at him for permission, knowing that your clit just needs a little stimulation from his pubic bone as his cock penetrates you.
           Normally, he’d let you, but this time he’s irked that you played with yourself without even the slightest inkling that you were worked up. And so he chooses to press his hand forward, placing his thumb on your clit. You gasp, grasping his hair and rocking your body onto him. He knows what you want, but you’re not getting it. You’re lucky you’re getting this, he figures.
           Not to mention he needs you to come. Soon. Now.
           He’s close, too close considering you just got started. But the way you’re rocking yourself on him at the current moment, he gave himself a pass. That added with your wetness during ovulation just tips him over the edge.
           “M’close,” you say and it’s almost like a prayer, sounds a lot like ‘Hallelujah’ falling from your lips.
           Hank watches you, wants to see it, that moment where you completely lose yourself and the pleasure overtakes you. That’s why he loves watching you masturbate. He doesn’t want you hiding your face or covering your mouth to quiet the noises. He wants you – all of you – and sometimes he loses that edge when he’s buried inside you.
           “Come on, baby,” he eggs you on, knowing how much you enjoy that. And then, “Fuck, you’re milking my cock right now, honey…”
           At that, you completely lose it, feeling the delicious pulse deep in you. Hank’s thighs are wet, your thighs are wet…
           The feeling of your climax pushes Hank toward release too. He fucking loves the way you can’t seem to stay upright after an orgasm, loves how you snuggle against his chest and pepper kisses and bite and claw at him, loves the gasps and cries of his name…
           Seconds after you’re spent, he’s spilling inside of you, gripping at your hips and moaning softly, head thrown back against the pillow. You love to see the pleasure on his face, to feel his warm release inside of you.
           You’ll try not to get too excited about a baby in the next few weeks, just as you’ve done every month for the past six. Hank is convinced he’s ruined his sperm with his slip into alcoholism before you two started dating, but you assured him you weren’t worried.
           It isn’t a priority right now and clearly you aren’t taking precautions, but…hey, the thought is always exciting. You know he’ll have a drink or several in the next few days, thinking about Cole but you will pick him up as you’ve done every month for the past six.
           “Ah, God, fuck, I love you,” he mumbles as you collapsed next to him, still kissing at his neck and running a hand down his chest.
           “I love you.”
           “You know,” he sighs, watching as you drape your body over him, intertwining with him. He never gets used to the feel of you in bed with him. He’s still convinced it’s a dream. “I would’a stopped working the minute you said you were ovulating.”
           You laugh. “Noted. Next time.”
           “Next time,” he agrees.
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ganymedesclock · 4 years
Text
Ghirahim and gendered expectations of sensuality
So, as people who’ve seen my previous Zelda posts might gather, I have a mixed relationship with Skyward Sword. On the one hand, I think many of its characters have tremendous potential. On the other, I feel like the game largely did not live up to that potential, and in some areas, it feels rather deliberate. But suffice to say, elements of Skyward Sword have meant that certain characters- Batreaux, Groose, Fi, and Ghirahim are not far from my mind.
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A brief primer, for those who might be unfamiliar: Ghirahim is the main antagonist of Skyward Sword, and a bit of an aberration in the common Zelda formula, which tends to introduce a ‘decoy’ or “lieutenant” antagonist who dominates for most of the game and then bows out towards the end as the prelude to the true final boss- usually Ganondorf, in Skyward Sword’s case, it’s the demon god and a figure we are clearly supposed to scan as Ganondorf’s divine progenitor, Demise.
Ghirahim is quite openly a harbinger of, and servant to, Demise- where he breaks script is by being extremely proactive. We run into Ghirahim in most dungeons in the game, where he is not waiting idly for us, but doing actions that veteran Zelda players might recognize as comparable to Link’s: he breaks into dungeons either chasing Zelda, or chasing information that will allow him to proceed. We also have not one but three different fights with him, personally, and several other times he concedes that he doesn’t have time to play with Link and instead sics a boss monster on him.
The other thing about Ghirahim is, I will outright say it: He is written as a caricature of a predatory queer man.
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He’s shown to be literally bloodthirsty, and presented by the narrative ostensibly as someone who has a sinister, perverse interest in both Link and Zelda, a contrast to their saintly, chaste union (which is supposed to read as a union; pursue a romantic sideplot with Peatrice, another girl in the game, and Fi will pretty much openly admonish you for cheating on Zelda, saying that Zelda wouldn’t be happy to know Link’s seeing someone and that Link should know that)
This is, really, a bit jarring, when Ghirahim’s actual dialogue suggests that he has very little interest in Link and views him much like a butler tending the master’s house while the latter is away might view a feral golden retriever that’s running loose in the place and getting mud on everything. His emotional range runs from warmly patronizing to exasperated to a truly dangerous degree (since, in this metaphor, the butler has also been tending the master’s house in near-total isolation for something like several centuries not having real conversations with the other servants and nobody’s at their psychological best in those situations even if they weren’t implicitly born and raised to murder).
Basically: that Ghirahim has no real interest in Link- not his body or appearance or anything. In his own dialogue, he seems confused by the idea that he’s at all interested, is apologetic that he’s wasting his time or dawdling and in his final scene, offers a genuinely flummoxed “you... who are you?” He offers colorful, violent threats, but when Link obstinately faces him again, he’s shown to be almost embarrassed and disgusted by them, and tries something else that almost no Zelda antagonist does: on multiple occasions, he tells Link to just walk away from the situation with what appears to be every intent of letting him go.
Ghirahim does not want Link for himself. He seems to, begrudgingly, against his own intentions, value Link as someone to fight against, but this connection does not actualize within the story- they are not really rivals. He isn’t even that deeply fond of the idea of Link’s blood, though he’s a proponent of blood as a vague concept.
Now, I like Ghirahim. I don’t think that even the read of Ghirahim as a queer man is a terrible one. But it definitely is interesting the lens in which Ghirahim’s implicit sensuality is cast. Basically, he is depicted as creeping on Link, without any real sense that he wants Link. Because it isn’t about what he wants- it’s about that implicitly he has a sexuality, and the idea of a man who might be attracted to other men is threatening, evil, and scary. Ghirahim wasn’t made queer-coded for representation’s sake. He was queer-coded to suggest he was depraved and motivated by a sinister lust. And the cruelty of this depiction is I think made immediately clear by- Ghirahim’s actual interests, passion, or preferences do not factor in here. That Scene Where Ghirahim Does The Tongue Thing is about how it is expected to make the player feel, and how implicitly Link feels.
What is Ghirahim’s type? Does he consider Demise beautiful? He makes it pretty clear he considers Link a brat. These are questions that aren’t asked, because it’s wrong that Ghirahim seems to have any sexuality at all- and, since Link is our lens and our guidepost for how we’re supposed to feel about characters, if Ghirahim behaves in a sensual manner it happens to Link, and to Zelda, invasively. Even though it is shown he feels no desire for any of these people, so that sensuality basically comes across like the game is firmly expecting us to find the idea of even an e-rated sensual male antagonist repulsive.
This led me down a very odd sort of rabbit trail.
Because Ghirahim- a bit indirectly- is inspired off a figure skater.
Specifically, Fi’s design was stated to evoke a figure skater, and we even see her ‘skating’ in several of the cutscenes. Ghirahim’s design matches Fi’s quite strongly; they were designed to be two of a kind.
I am not, myself, a figure skating buff, but a while ago, I happened across youtube videos of a skater named Johnny Weir. 
Quickly, you can see the sword spirits’ inspirations; the close-fitting leotards, the lithe, acrobatic capabilities.
But here’s the thing about Johnny Weir: this is a guy putting on a sensual performance that is not a gross-out, a joke, or a threat. It’s basically impossible to find nothing suggestive in his choice of backup movement or the movements he makes running his hands along his body- his costume even asserts these more with the mirrored details on his gloves. This is a dude, acting in a way you could say is objectively sensual even if it may or may not stir every viewer given the individual nature of preference.
But there’s a world of difference to Weir’s performance. Not just that this is a voluntary choice made by a real person, while Ghirahim’s choices, even if they have in-game logic, are largely about Link and about the player- but Johnny Weir is having fun. He has a charming energy to him and is performing to a song he loves.
Watching Johnny Weir, it occurred to me, that regardless of Weir’s own orientation- that I do not know and will not speculate on- there’s a preconception around “being sexy”. Women are seen as supposed to be sexy (but, in many circles, not too sexy. Can’t insinuate they know what they’re doing, or have opinions and tastes...), or, more, “sexy is seen as a job that women do for men specifically.”
So, to homophobic audiences... a man deliberately enacting a sensual performance- a sense of what sensual looks like from a dude- is seen as weird, wild, and out there. If you’re not shocked by the implications that Ghirahim may be attracted to men, may be into Link, may be into the idea of torturing Link- then a certain amount of his writing kind of falls apart. 
And comparing the way Ghirahim is animated and shot to Johnny Weir’s performance, it’s kind of... weak? Like, at one point in Weir’s routine, he lifts one leg and slides his fingertips down it in a smooth stroke from knee to thigh. It’s a steamy looking move, and this coming from someone who is so prodigiously ace I thought sexual attraction was made up for the first seventeen years of my life.
Ghirahim does not do that. He’s got thigh cutouts in his very close-fitting outfit, and has lines in his second fight about his body and how beautiful it is, but he does not make these movements that deliberately catch and draw the eye along the planes of him.
To me, I feel like besides this being a general affront against real queer people- the Zelda games have a concerning habit of depicting “eccentric, effeminate” men as either neutral characters or open villains and virtually always with this air of being the brunt of a joke (it’s very hard to imagine ALBW’s Yuga was designed by someone who earnestly loved this character)- it is also a bit rude to the character of Ghirahim himself.
Because Ghirahim, at the end of the day, is someone who ends the story heartbroken literally and figuratively. The entire game, he is driven by loyalty to Demise. He does not care who he hurts or threatens- and this comes back to the seeming implication that he is somewhat bloodthirsty, but vastly plays up his appetite for torture. When he thinks his goal is out of reach, he continues slogging away at it anyway, but listlessly. Everything he does, is for Demise. He is devoted enough to, late in the game, throw himself on Link’s sword for the third boss fight purely to stall for time until Demise revives.
Demise does not speak to Ghirahim, or acknowledge him, or even seemingly notice or care that by the time he comes back, Ghirahim’s metal heart has been torn open by being repeatedly stabbed by Link. (third boss fight is not kind.) Instead, he rips Ghirahim’s sword form out of his chest.
Ghirahim is a danger to Link, Impa, and Zelda, because he attacks them, and his own subordinates, because he threatens them. But to his master, he’s just a disposable pawn. This is a character driven by passion such that many of his poses and scenes show him nearly breaking into an actor’s soliloquy as he explains something to Link- and this is one way he does seem to like having Link around: he craves an audience.
And his passion is, in two ways, depicted as completely futile. First, in the dubious amount of oo scary gay man, watch out Link, he’s doing something weird with his tongue- and second and far more seriously, that everything he works for leaves him with nothing because his life never mattered for a second in the eyes of the person he lives and dies for.
Ghirahim is made a sensual character, but in a manner that feels bad faith- that feels like it has not thought about male sensuality in any direction besides “that’s wrong and icky, so we’ll attach it to our villain, who we want to be wrong and icky, and absolutely not suggest there’s anything particularly sad about what happens to him. His fault for being wrong and icky.”
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bumblybeebounce · 4 years
Text
Sweet Music
So I was the guitar anon in @rzrcrst 's asks a while ago, and thought hey, why don't I try to practice a bit more on writing Ezra? Ssso I made this. Hopefully it's at least tolerable? :'D I just wanted to write something sweet, maybe it will cheer someone up a bit! I am actually trying to learn how to play guitar, but please consider: I am a dumbass. It's a slow going thing. VERY SLOW. So apologies if I got something wrong! Anywho, the song in this one is "I Belong To You" by Brandi Carlile.
Rating: E Pairing: Ezra x Reader Warnings: None
Taglist: @rzrcrst @tarrevizslas @equalstrashflavoredtrash
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Sometimes, for all the advancement made in space travel, the waiting was a purgatory of boredom you just HAD to get through one way or another. Like right now. With you and Ezra in your ship, docked to another carrier on the course for another possible payday. And as much as you could appreciate it when your companion decided to leave you alone for a bit and have some quiet time with a book, this was one of the times where you actually kind of wanted him to talk. Of course if he did he wouldn't shut up for a few hours but listening to him would've been vastly preferable to the sheer amount of mind-numbing boredom you were going through right now.
"If you don't mind me saying so, birdie, going by the frequency and continuous nature of your fidgeting, it truly sounds as though you're preparing to climb the walls." And then he simply turns the page. Like he's not even bothered by the fact that all the daily tasks are finished and there's no reason to go out anywhere because the carrier has sweet fuck all in it and gah!
"Astute of you." It comes out grumpier than you really intended, but going by the lopsided smirk Ezra flashes at you while looking at you knowingly from behind the book is kinda worth it. He seemed to take a lot of pleasure when at any time you either used a fancy word, or spoke in a similar long-winded way he did. Which, let's be fair, was kind of growing on you after spending enough time in his presence. Stupidly charming... Smart-ass. With a nice ass.
"Well. If you are feeling amenable today-" He started after a while and laid his book against his knee, finger between the pages. "I can't help but recall you to be musically inclined, and that you have an instrument hidden in that there locker." Ezra nodded at the locker underneath the bench you were on, causing you to automatically look down at it too.
"Ah. So you noticed." "With this little space to work with, birdie, it's very difficult not to notice such things. Now, that is not a reproach in any way, shape or form, calm yourself-" He leaned forward a little and straightened his leg as you opened and closed your mouth, swallowing the apology you were about to give. "I merely mention it because I do believe you haven't played your guitar in my presence before and I am nothing if not a man who appreciates the arts, as difficult as those may be to find here among the constantly moving stars. So if you would indulge me this once, I believe I would appreciate immensely to hear whatever you deem fit to share with me."
Ezra did have a point, you had been making sure to practice mostly when he was out of earshot for one reason or another, a little convinced that he didn't much care to hear the music. Granted, that could've just been a mix of modesty and self-consciousness, but it honestly hadn't come up before now. You scratched your head a bit and shrugged.
"I mean. If... If you don't mind..." Actually, playing the guitar sounded kind of nice right now. "Oh, I insist."
And with that, you got the bag out and pulled out the acoustic guitar. It had been a bit since you last did so a while went by with just checking that it was still in tune and and just testing that everything sounded right. Your partner kept looking at you with a small smile from his side of the ship as you did, and begun strumming the chords in no particular tune, just to feel it out.
"I must confess, I am mildly disappointed I haven't suggested this earlier. It is a privilege to witness living art produced by a living work of art." Ah, and there was the blush back on your cheeks. You gave a nervous titter and raised a brow at Ezra. "Really, Ez? You're going with that?" He inclined his head in good humour, while keeping his voice serious. "Birdie, have you ever known me to be untruthful about your considerable skills or your considerable charms?" For once, he was very bad at keeping that smirk off his face and you shook your head, telling him to enjoy and keep reading his book.
And so the time passed, with Ezra reading his book and occasionally glancing your way warmly, and you strumming the instrument, playing old songs you half remembered or just nothing in particular. It was surprisingly easy to just get lost in the act of playing, the notes in the air, filling the little pod with something other than mechanic beeping.
Still, now that you had the approval of your partner to practice more freely, it didn't feel like that big of a step when you decided you wanted to sing a bit. Reaching into one of the pockets of the bag, you pulled out a capo and clipped it to the fretboard, tested out the strings, and began. The notes flowed wonderfully and familiarly, like an old friend returning as you took a breath and sang.
“Last night I had the exact same dream as you I killed a bird to save your life and you gave me your shoes You said clip my wings and walk my miles And I said I would too Then I woke up But I wasn’t gonna tell you.”
“Today I sang the same damn tune as you It was ‘Lady in Red’, I hate that song and I know you do too You didn’t catch me singing along But I always sing with you Nice and quietly 'Cuz I don’t wanna stop you”
Alright, so your voice wasn't at it's best but it was fine. It felt nice to be singing again, you thought, even if it was a bit shaky.
“I know I could be spending a little too much time with you But 'time’ and 'too much’ don’t belong together like we do If I had all my yesterdays I’d give 'em to you too I belong to you now I belong to you”
“I see the wo-”
The sound of something dropping startled you and made you look at the source of the sound. It had been Ezra’s book, that much you could see but it was more the look he had on his face that gave you pause.
“Songbird.” Ezra breathed the word out like it was the sweetest word in existence, like it was the culmination of all the wonders of the worlds delivered to him at once, and combined with the look of stunned awe on his face, he sounded like he had just witnessed something indescribably glorious.
The blush creeping up your neck wasn’t that strange in Ezra’s company, the man seemingly lived to fluster you, but in this instant it felt different somehow. The changed term of endearment didn’t escape your notice either.
“… What?” You shifted on your seat, suddenly overwhelmed by the weirdly irrational feeling of doubt and embarrassment. “Sorry, I’ll stop-”
“No, no no no, songbird, please don’t mistake this interruption as a request for cessation, Kevva forbid-” Ezra got up, his book forgotten as he hurried his way to sit in front of you, still looking like he was witnessing the birth of a galaxy while he was given all his birthdays at once.
“I apologize for my clumsiness that distracted you from your practice, and forgive my presumptuous request, but I implore you to finish your song if there is still some of it left.” His voice had grown unusually hushed as he peered at your now very warm face, practically on the edge of his already precarious seat.
The silence stretched for a bit as you tried to respond. This was quite possibly the most captivated and enthusiastic audience you had had in a very long time and it was poking at your nervousness more than you would have guessed.
“Um. Well, okay, uh, just…” Fingers back on the strings and the fret, you counted from where you were and started again.
“I see the world the exact same way that you do We lend our hands, and take our stance In tandem when we do But I lied and said I knew the way And I hid my eyes from you I still don’t know why I probably didn’t wanna scare you”
You could feel Ezra's gaze on you, though you were trying your best not to let your brain psyche you out and just kept going.
“I know I could be spending a little too much time with you But 'time’ and 'too much’ don’t belong together like we do If I had all my yesterdays I’d give 'em to you too I belong to you now I belong to you"
“I’m gonna die the exact same day as you On the golden gate bridge I’ll hold your hand and howl at the moon Scrape the sky with tired eyes, and I will come find you And I ain’t scared 'Cuz I’m never gonna miss you.”
“I belong to you now I belong to you.”
“I belong to you now I belong to you.”
You looked up at Ezra, and had barely enough time to draw a breath before he was kissing you sweetly. You let out a surprised squeak and he lifted his hand bringing it to the back of your neck, caressing your skin as the kiss went on, somehow passionate while remaining warm and almost chaste, considering how his kisses usually were.
He pulled back, pressing his forehead against yours as he smiled with his eyes closed. He huffed a laugh as his hand slid over to cup your cheek, almost reverently.
"All the words in the language at my disposal and I cannot find a single one to describe what I am feeling at this very moment, songbird."
It was a little strange how easily he could summon a flock of butterflies into your gut while making your heart squeeze in delight. And all you could offer him back was a delicate "Oh.".
And then he kissed you again, brushed your cheek like you were a miracle and suddenly words felt incredibly superfluous. You wove your hand into his hair and carded your fingers through it, enjoying the affection he was giving you. When you broke the kiss, you bit your lip shyly.
"So I take it that I should play more?" "Songbird, the day I refuse the pleasure of hearing you serenade again is the day I am long dead and turned to dust." "Do... You want me to play something else?" "There is nothing that would please me more."
And who were you to deny such an earnest request?
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lake-arrius-caverns · 3 years
Text
Prologue - pt 2
content warnings strong language
part 2! a shorter part than usual, mostly dialogue
next coming hopefully Wednesday?
read under the cut or on AO3, cheers 👍
:: First :: || << Previous << || >> Next >> || :: Masterpost ::
— — — — — — — — — —
Ribyna’s brows were furrowed in concentration as she stared at the page in front of her, while Merrick remained silent and patient as per usual. 
“Any idea?” he asked, watching Ribyna curiously. 
Ribyna didn’t respond for a few seconds. Eventually, she spoke in a rather less than confident tone, “Kitty.”
A mild chuckle fell from Merrick’s lips. “It’s ‘city’,” he informed her, prompting a frustrated groan from the Ribyna. 
“Ugh, I give up! This is too fucking complicated,” Ribyna complained, pushing the book aside. Merrick took it and placed it back in his rucksack, sympathetic to Ribyna’s struggle. 
“I know, it can be difficult to get to grips with. But you’re doing really well,” he reassured her. “I mean, you’re only seventeen. I was-...” He paused, biting his lip and having to fight back a grin. “Okay, I was seven when I learned to read, but we have totally different circumstances. I bet it’s even harder to learn when you’re older.” 
“You’re such a smartarse, Merry,” Ribyna huffed. “Maybe I’m better off sticking to what I’m actually good at. Sneaking around and stealing shit!”
“And there’s nothing wrong with that,” Merrick shrugged. “But being able to read is a good skill to have.” 
“Maybe. But I’m stupid,” Ribyna pointed out, completely unabashed. “I’m not clever like you are.”
Merrick snorted. “Oh yeah, cause Vykstrus can read, and he’s just so smart-“ Unfortunately, he was sharply cut off by the approach of a tall, lanky figure, who came striding into the Waterfront camp and swiftly passed the two. The look on his face as he glared at them indicated that he knew exactly what had been said, and Merrick and Ribyna slumped against each other as they dissolved into hysterical sniggers.
“Good timing,” Ribyna muttered, a mischievous grin spreading across her face as she watched Vykstrus approaching Cassius. Merrick tried desperately to restore a straight face, but his attempts were in vain. 
“It’s always the way!” he giggled, before he began to pay attention to Vykstrus. The disgruntled look on his face hadn’t budged, even as he spoke to Cassius; then Merrick noticed that Cassius looked equally as annoyed. He nudged Ribyna and subtly gestured over to the pair deep in discussion, and she stopped laughing to try to eavesdrop as well. What news had Vykstrus brought? 
Fortunately, they didn’t have to wait long to find out.
“Oi, everyone, listen,” Cassius called, getting to his feet. “Vyk’s been doing what Vyk does best, and he’s seen those bastard Sanguine worshippers skulking around again.” 
Cassius paused briefly as there was a minor outpouring of anger and indignation from the listeners. The Sanguine worshippers were vastly unpopular; the general consensus was that they were nothing but a rowdy bunch of revellers, who were out causing trouble just for the sake of it. Drinking and causing a commotion in the streets, they were a far cry from the group who made their homes along the City Waterfront, where life was often a struggle to survive and every effort was put into not drawing attention to themselves. If the Daedric cult were encroaching onto the city, then the guard patrols would be increased tenfold, making the gang’s meticulously organised pillages for food and supplies that much more difficult. 
“We need to send them another warning to stay the fuck away from us, and if they don’t, then...” Cassius’ face was hard and stony as he continued. “Then we’ll just have to teach them the hard way.”
There was a mixed response from the gathered crowd, and Ribyna turned to Merrick grimly. “Does he mean what I think he means?”
“I think so,” Merrick sighed, feeling a mild sense of foreboding beginning to settle uncomfortably in his gut. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. I’m sure Cassius will find a way to sort it.”
“Yeah,” Ribyna agreed. “Those bastard Daedra fuckers... they give the rest of us scumbags a bad fucking name!” 
“I don’t think you need any help to give yourself a bad name,” Merrick teased, and Ribyna shoved his shoulder with a cackle. 
“Oi, watch it you!” 
Merrick chuckled, but once again his attention was drawn by another Dunmer approaching Cassius. As soon as Ribyna realised, she too fell quiet in an effort to overhear what Fahjoth had to say. When they had little success she tapped Merrick’s shoulder, gesturing for him to follow her over. He nodded, and very nonchalantly, the pair got up and wandered slightly closer. Once near enough, they hid behind a corner of one of the small houses dotted along the lakefront and stayed silent to listen in. 
“And what if they don’t agree to leave?” Fahjoth was saying, the concern evident in his voice. It was odd to hear him sounding so serious, as he was usually so carefree and relaxed. It was even stranger to see him looking so displeased with his boyfriend, who could normally do no wrong in Fahjoth’s eyes. 
“They will,” Cassius grumbled. “They have to. I’m not having them hanging around and putting us all in danger. Who knows how much damage they’re capable of-?”
“Exactly, Cassius!” Fahjoth sounded frustrated now. “They’re a Daedric cult, in case you’d forgotten! They could have all sorts of.. I dunno, dark magic fuckery that we’d just be throwing ourselves into! Is it really worth the risk?”
“Don’t be so stupid,” came Cassius’ heated response. “You know what I meant. They’re a bunch of glorified drunks who just like to cause chaos. We show up, flash some blades and they’ll piss off with their tails between their legs, I’d bet you any amount of gold.” He waved a hand dismissively. “Anyway, it probably won’t even come to that.”
“Well, I just hope you’re right,” Fahjoth muttered, before turning and walking off with his hands sullenly in his pockets. Cassius looked for a moment as though he wanted to call after Fahjoth, then huffed and turned to speak to another person instead. 
Ribyna then turned to look at Merrick, chewing her lip with apprehension. “D’you reckon he’s right?” she asked, while Merrick felt equally troubled. Fahjoth’s words of warning had certainly given them a lot to think about, and only solidified Merrick’s own misgivings about the situation.
“I dunno,” he admitted. “To be honest, though... I think Fahjoth’s got a point. Things could get nasty. But... hopefully not.” 
Ribyna was quiet as she watched Shadra, the Redguard woman who Cassius had been speaking to, briskly walk off; she headed in the direction of the Imperial City, presumably to find the cultists and pass on Cassius’ threatening message. 
“Yeah... hopefully.”
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Text
Let’s Talk About Pokemon - Gen 8 Retrospective
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This Generational recap itself might be a bit on the shorter side, since I already said my peace on the games themselves and their less than stellar impact on the fandom before I even started them. (Not that there isn’t a lot I’m talking about here today though, hoo boy.) Though just know between a repeat playthrough and my opinion on the Pokemon dropping as I've analyzed them more, I'd say my final verdict is that they're a decent enough swan song to the way Pokemon games used to be that made Gym battles feel special again but lacked in a lot of other areas. 6/10 overall.
Though obviously Gen 8 isn't done yet. Since DLC is on the way, as I've said several times already. My general thoughts on the concept of Pokemon DLC replacing the traditional “Third Version” is good. For one thing I'd much rather pay $30 for access to new content immediately over paying another $60 for a “Pokemon Armor” version that had most of its new content back-loaded in the postgame. $30 is still steep... but it's better. And of course, the prospect of releasing more new Pokemon via DLC is a good one too. Hopefully releasing DLC rather than a full game every year will relinquish some of the workload off Gamefreak... so perhaps we can get smaller batches of new Pokemon released mid-generation to help mitigate just how many Pokemon felt like they didn't get finished in time. But also hopefully it'll mean Gen 9 will be all the better when we get there... Gamefreak has stated they're really challenging themselves with the next major Pokemon games so hopefully they're taking the more level-headed criticism to heart and it's not all talk but we'll have to see.
Yeah, that's about all I have to say about the state of Pokemon as of right now, neverminding my multiple rants and tangents since I've already gone to great lengths to state that Gen 8 isn't as good as I might've initially thought. I still like it overall, and it's probably still not my least favorite Gen... but it's very much like Gen 4 with an EXTREMELY mixed bag. Certainly felt like for every excellently designed Pokemon they had below-average flunky that feels like it should've gone back to the drawing board once or twice. But even all that aside, one of my more annoying sticking points with Gen 8 is the severe lack of new animals.
So in place of my usual ramblings on my thoughts on a generation as a whole, let's do a little Compare and Contrast. Let's look at the past few Generations and see just how noticeable this flood of species redo's is. Green checks are significantly new enough animals, Red crosses are for animal origins that have been done before, Yellow slashes for Pokemon with vague or heavily mixed taxonomic origins, and Grey circles for Pokemon that are disqualified for being Objectmon, since we've yet to get repeats of those. (Also disqualifying Gen 8's regional evos other than Obstagoon since it's not necessarily their fault that they're repeats.)
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Are there arbitration in places? Probably. But I feel like the point still stands that Gen 8 was waaaaay too reliant on touching up on animals already covered in Pokemon before. Especially when there's still so many animals that have yet to get a Pokemon to their name. The one plus Gen 8 does have in this regard is that it has a few more “taxonomically vague” Pokemon than usual. But repeating animals in and of itself isn't all that bad, if you make the repeat different enough to be interesting in its own right. The one thing you could do wrong in that regard is to just make your monster notably more “normal” compared to the Pokemon it's repeating. So how does that hold up?
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As much as I've established that one's a crow and the other's a raven, the two animals are still very much similar creatures. But I do feel like Murkrow and Corviknight are differentiated enough while both still being a “fantasy” creature in their own way. Murkrow is very much a gangly, cartoony crow while Corviknight covers the more majestic side of corvids.
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Another one that's pretty blatant is that we now have two regions with a Ladybird as the common bug. Orbeetle does however get to be more accurate to the Ladybird life cycle, starting out with a larvae and ending with the beetle. Again, Ledian and Orbeetle are very different flavors of the same creature, Orbeetle not skimping out on any outlandish elements. In fact, it's more visibly outlandish than Ledian was.
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This is where things start to get hazy. I've stated that Nickit and Thievul are sadly my least favorite fox Pokemon to date, simply because it has the least to offer imaginatively than all the other foxes that accompany it. Ninetales has the kitsune thing going on, while its Alolan variant covers Arctic Foxes. Zorua is a fantastical take on the tricky nature of foxes by combining aspects of shapeshifting kitsunes or tanookies while throwing in a bit of Kabuki. And Fennekin grows up to be more of a wizard. Thievul is very much a stereotypical red fox while having the trickster nature of foxes that's not only been done by Zorua before, but also in a much more stereotypical thieving way like a Swiper the Fox sort of thing.
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Wooloo always struck me as odd ever since it turned out it wasn't the region's common Normal-type. I can excuse plainness in the common woodland animal since they're rather uniformly not terribly interesting (and arguably are like that by design). So it turns out it's more of a common early-game fodder just like Mareep is, but Mareep is just a smidge more interesting by being elemental, and also it turns into Ampharos, a weird little bipedal lamb with little flippers for some reason. Which is reasonably more imaginative than a Pokemon that's mostly just a sheep.
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Sandaconda is another one that feels significantly fantastical and unique compared to its previous serpentine cousins. The only snake Pokemon beforehand that was hugely different from the template of what a snake usually is was Snivy. Sandaconda is even unique as far as cobra monsters go, with its “hood” being a big ol' sac that it keeps its projectile Anakin-repelent in.
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Centiskorch is a little iffy. It's cool that they turned a real centipede's grappling maneuver and turned it into an even more effective weapon via its heat spots. But in terms of body shape it's significantly more normal looking for a centipede than Scolipede's almost horse-like proportions, isn't it?
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Another iffy comparison since they're both fairly “regular” looking Octopus monsters. But even so, I'd count it as a point against Gen 8 since there's been more than plenty of time to come up with a cool and unique body type for an octopus.
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That's better! Eiscue, while normal-looking if you only count the penguin body, is still a funny and imaginative take on a penguin monster that is a completely different flavor from Empoleon's stern look to boot.
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Another dodgy one to justify. There's neat theming in there, but there's hardly any denying that an elephant that rolls up into a wheel and rolls around is notably a much weirder take on an elephant that Copperajah going by an elephant's body shape to a T.
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Had they gone for a look more purposefully weirdly geometric like they SEEM to be going for, I probably would've given it a hand-wave, but even with that in mind, Copperajah is pretty vanilla in terms of Elephant monsters. Especially compared to Donphan.
...So even then, it's pretty mixed in that regard. Some Pokemon feel like worthwhile additions to the biodiversity, but others I can't help but wonder what the point was. Did Wooloo really need to exist in a series that already had Mareep? Couldn't they push Copperajah's concept further to better contrast with Donphan? Having repeats isn’t BAD, pretty sure every Gen past the 2nd has done them. But it’s hard to find sticking points on Gen 6 and 7′s repeats. Aurorus is totally different from Meganium. Vikavolt, while being much more close to realism in body structure compared to Pinsir, is still a vastly different fantasy creature just on account of having a gun for a face. And the whole Goomy line is almost nothing like Magcargo. And all that is WHILE still bringing in plenty of new animals to play with.
So yeah, I hope all that can help with understanding why I was a little harsh on Gen 8. It's still not my least favorite, cause we still got a ton of good out of it, and I would much rather have a mixed Gen of “Some Really Good, Some Not So Great” over Gen 2 and 4's “Some are good but the rest are really plain and boring.” But of course, as per usual, we gotta do the lists...
Top 10 Favorites of Gen 8:
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Like I said, the new Pokemon that are good are REALLY good. Still struggled to make a Top 10, for good reason!
Top 10 Favorites Overall:
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That said, there wasn’t a ton of impact on my Top 10. Top 50 maybe, but not here.
Bottom 10 Least Favorites of Gen 8:
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Sadly there was plenty I was just plain not a fan of. Has there ever been a Gen where I just straight up dislike the whole Bottom 10? Hmm...
Bottom 10 Least Favorites Overall:
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And tragically, this Gen did make a pretty deep cut into my least favorites, oof. It is an unholy image to not see Gallade be all the way to the left up there.
The Cutest:
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The Coolest:
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The Prettiest:
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Corviknight and Eternatus aren’t just there because I ran out of traditionally pretty ones, just so you know. There’s something about a sleek, nearly all-black design that is genuinely gorgeous-looking to me.
The Spookiest:
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Most Creative:
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Weirdest/Most Unique:
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Most Forgettable:
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Most Personality:
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At least there were still plenty of personality-driven designs! Look at all these adorable little charmers and smug little shits.
Most Under-Appreciated:
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Best Regional Variants:
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I’ve probably said it already but I am legitimately ecstatic with Regional Variation being a mainstay feature now. There is INFINITE potential with the concept and totally didn’t deserve to get ditched after a single use just in Alola. In fact I think it’d be rad if they do any more remakes they retroactively made “Sinnohan” or “Hoenn” forms of Pokemon. I thought they might’ve made some “Kantonian” forms for Pokemon in Let’s Go and redesigned a few modern Pokemon to look a bit like they were designed back in the 90s... but sadly that didn’t happen. Despite how cool it would’ve been. But Kanto is sacred ground that cannot ever be changed, I guess...
Best Ultra Beasts: (????????????????)
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h
Best G-Maxes:
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I still love the concept of G-Maxes, and we’ll probably get a few more before Gen 8 is done entirely. But it does stink that the concept in the end felt a little half-baked. Speaking of which...
Pokemon That SHOULD'VE Gotten G-Maxes:
Because G-Maxes wound up being locked to only be for Gen 1 or 8 Pokemon, with only a handful of exceptions. MAYBE they’ll stretch into other Gens in the DLC, but until then lemme just make a personal wishlist of SQUANDERED potential. Though I’ll limit myself to Pokemon that are only in the current Galardex as to not be here all day.
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I’m sure if you pay attention to the Fakemon scene at all, you’ve already seen a few G-Max Dhelmises where the seaweed has grown so massive that it’s now able to possess an entire haunted ship. And they are CORRECT to make such a thing because GOD what were they thinking NOT doing that?!? It’s right there under your noses!!!
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Still bummed there was never a Mega Vanilluxe... but this could easily make up for it! A towering snowing mountain of ice cream is a super cool idea for a kaiju-size ice cream monster, maybe even ditching the icicle shaped cone in favor of having it rest in a “bowl” of ice!
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Like??? Hello????? Are you telling me you’re making Kaijumon over here and you’re NOT gonna make a giant mecha?????????????????
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Because a giant living beehive deploying swarms upon swarms of Combee is a badass concept just by itself.
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Like c’mon this one was REALLY staring you in the face. A region set in Poke-England and you’re not gonna make a funny giant Zeppelin?
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Just trying to imagine a colossal haunted chandelier is giving me chills by itself. Especially if you were to make it look elaborately regal and all that.
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I’ve not got a specific idea, you’d just think they’d compensate for the lack of a Mega form.
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G-Max Rillaboom has me feeling like this one’s likely to not happen, since I imagined a cool idea for a G-Max Trevenant was to make it a giant Deku-Tree looking haunted tree with a colossal trunk and even bigger canopy.
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I guess Butterfree already had the spot taken for “Mothra stand-in”, but I feel like Frosmoth has just as much cool potential for a G-Max form as Butterfree did. Especially with the powdery snow scales it has.
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Perfect opportunity to give Goodra a giant, more monstrous slug-like form. But no dice there either. Maybe next form gimmick...
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Okay, C’MON. We KNOW they weren’t that bothered about giving G-Max forms out to Pokemon that already had Megas. This is the most obvious one of all! ESPECIALLY since its defacto-Mecha Godzilla got a G-Max but it didn’t.
Most “Unfinished” Feeling:
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Since “least favorite” doesn't necessarily meant “unfinished.” (As much as I dislike Toxel, it doesn't really strike me as “not done.”) Not that I have clairvoyance on Gamefreak's internal workings, but some of these Pokemon definitely feel like they're not up to scratch with the series's usual quality standard.
My Disappointment is Immeasurable and My Day is Ruined:
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To pick on Gen 8 one last time... and since it was a running gag anyway, here's the Pokemon that just crush my dreams the most. Except Appletun, mostly. It's good enough to be let off the hook. The rest? They were things that were on my wishlist of things and animals I would've LOVED to see get turned into Pokemon, only for my hopes and dreams to sink faster than the Titanic. Considering a majority of concepts within Pokemon don't come back, if not for a very long time, these Pokemon mean that I have to reluctantly strike a cake monster, a snowman, a coal monster, a train monster, a sea urchin, a pie monster, and some fresh Lapras attention off my wishlist. Sigh.
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With two rounds of DLC coming, the main Pokemon review series probably won't be back until the tail end of this year shortly after Crowned Tundra is released. I am excited to get to talk about some of what they've shown so far, but I'd rather wait until the content is released and we know everything about the new Pokemon and Regionals. There will however be at least one more little bonus article about Gen 8 and the future of the series, but I wouldn't expect it to be out for a while. Before the DLC is out probably, but still a long ways off.
[Archive]
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johannesviii · 4 years
Text
Top 12 Personal Favorite Hit Songs from 2013
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The best year in a trio of awesome years for hits. So awesome, in fact, I had to leave several excellent songs out of the list, even with two additional slots, and limit the list to songs I actually put on my mp3 player at one point or another.
What’s that? People usually call it a bad year? Well screw them.
Disclaimers:
Keep in mind I’m using both the year-end top 100 lists from the US and from France while making these top 10 things. There’s songs in English that charted in my country way higher than they did in their home countries, or even earlier or later, so that might get surprising at times.
Of course there will be stuff in French. We suck. I know. It’s my list. Deal with it.
My musical tastes have always been terrible and I’m not a critic, just a listener and an idiot.
I have sound to color synesthesia which justifies nothing but might explain why I have trouble describing some songs in other terms than visual ones.
The year I stopped working in Paris, found a job closer to home that finally made me feel helpful in the grand scheme of things, and I finally had more free time. Goodbye daily trains. I also went to some concerts! This never happened before.
2013: also the year when just about every band and artist I liked decided to make a good album. Except Depeche Mode. Depeche Mode made Delta Machine. It wasn’t great. But, uh, let’s see, Placebo made Loud Like Love (with the fantastic A Million Little Pieces), VNV Nation made Transnational, Daft Punk made Random Access Memories... Nine Inch Nails came back with Hesitation Marks, which is pretty great with a couple of fantastic songs. Lady Gaga made the vastly underrated ArtPop! Even Eminem made a pretty decent album! Eminem! In the year of our lord 2013! And The 1975 made their debut album. They would eventually become one of my favorite bands of the 2010s, but not yet, though. And Indochine redeemed themselves by releasing Black City Parade, their absolute best album of the decade.
However, despite Indochine’s excellent effort and the return of Nine Inch Nails, the album of the year, at least to me, was Kveikur by Sigur Rós. At that point, I had been following their stuff for ten years, and this album still blew my goddamn mind. It’s so heavy and dark and so different from what they had been doing since Agaetis Byrjun. It’s loud and textured and industrial and yet, there’s so much light above the dark. They out-NIN’ed Nine Inch Nails. There isn’t a single track I don’t love on this album. It’s their best one in my humble opinion.
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As far as unelligible songs go, boy, where do I start. Uh. Copy of A and Came Back Haunted (Nine Inch Nails), certainly, A Million Little Pieces (Placebo) as I already mentioned, Memoria and College Boy (Indochine - I’m actually shocked they aren’t on the French top 100), Chocolate by The 1975, and most infuriating of all, Castle of Glass by Linkin Park, which is imho their best song of the 2010s. Oh well.
But there’s still a shit ton of stuff which was elligible but didn’t make the list. Here’s a lot of honorable mentions. There were like ten more of them initially, mind you.
Sirens Call (Cats On Trees) - You know how in just about every top ten post I’ve made so far, there’s a song where I’m like “if I had better taste this would be higher”? This is this song for 2013.
Don’t You Worry Child (Swedish House Mafia) - Catchy but borderline annoying. Still very good.
Counting Stars (One Republic) - This is so happy and catchy. More songs like this nowadays, please.
I Cry (Flo Rida) - Still elligible. Still great. Still not on the list.
Ho Hey (The Lumineers) - Same thing here, sadly.
Animals (Martin Garrix) - I called Bangarang from the previous list a perfect stim song, and this is in the same ballpark. Not as good, but great shapes and colors all around.
Berserk (Eminem) - That song has a lot of really bad lines, but also a lot of much needed energy, it’s a ton of fun, and I love the “say f█ck it before you kick the bucket” part of the chorus. I was so glad to hear Eminem having fun again. Would certainly have made the list in a more mediocre year. Not the most infuriating thing I had to leave out of the list, though.
Radioactive (Imagine Dragons) - THIS IS IT THE APOCALYPSE OH WOHO no I don’t have anything intelligent to say, it’s just great.
Best Song Ever (One Direction) - This is my favorite song from that band. It might be because it sounds suspiciously like Baba O’Riley. If you think I’m gonna complain about people ripping off good songs, please check my entry about I Gotta Feeling by The Black Eyed Peas a few top 10s before this one.
Wait. Waiiit. What if the “best song ever” they can’t remember in the lyrics WAS Baba O’Riley?? Wouldn’t that be the best meta song ever? What do you think? I mean, that one could indeed claim the title of best song ever.
Get Lucky (Daft Punk) - I know. I know. But I couldn’t put it on the list. It’s not my favorite song from the album, it was overplayed, and even if it’s extremely good it stays roughly at the same level for the entirety of the song. I love it, but I had to draw the line somewhere and cut the list. I didn’t want to make another top 15.
Carry On (fun.) - This was the last cut from the list. It was a really painful one. Not my favorite song from them, but still very, very good.
There’s been lists where I had to put filler. If I had to put actual grades to them, some songs I put on some lists would get a 6/10 or even a 5/10 for really bad years (looking at you 1990). Sometimes, I had to put stuff I’d grade 7/10 as high as #3.
If I had to grade this 2013 list according to my personal taste in music, #12 would get an 8/10, #11 would get a 9/10, and everything in the top ten would either be a 9,5 or a 10. No joke. That’s how good that year was for hits.
Let’s go.
12 - My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light’Em Up) (Fall Out Boy)
US: #40 / FR: Not on the list
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There you have it. Three songs from a band I consider pretentious asshats ended on my lists. Including this one, in a year where I decided to severely limit my options for songs. And at the time? I thought it was just an okay song, way too slow but okay. Not great. At all.
It took it about three whole years to grow on me, and it also took me a while to actually know what it was about, and as I said previously, framing is everything ; knowing this song basically said “we’re back, and we’ve changed, and you’re not gonna like it so you’re gonna feel betrayed and you’re gonna burn your old posters, and in the end you’re also gonna betray us” makes it a lot, lot better. I especially love the “Burn everything you love then burn the. ashes” line with the weird pause for emphasis.
It just goes stomp, stomp, stomp. It’s heavy. You can’t dance to it. You can’t even have fun while listening to it. But you can certainly stomp along, and feel angry, and, yes, betrayed, and three years after 2013, I certainly needed that kind of song. A lot. You know exactly why.
11 - Burn (Ellie Goulding)
US: Not on the list / FR: #54
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I discovered Doctor Who at the very, very end of 2013, and for some reason I associate this song with Martha’s journey during the year that never was at the end of S3, trying to convince the entire Earth to fight back against the Master. That’s all I have to say about this song. It’s great.
10 - Instant Crush (Daft Punk ft Julian Casablancas)
US: Not on the list / FR: #26
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So yep, Get Lucky isn’t my favorite song on Random Access Memories, and thank you French charts for allowing me to put this one on the list instead.
Like a ton of people, I couldn’t figure out what the chorus was, apart from a couple of isolated words, and that felt exactly like being 10 and trying to decipher songs with my limited English. And then I checked the lyrics, and they were mostly variations on “I don’t want to be alone” and they rhyme “go” with “go”, so, uh, nothing of value was lost that day. And it still sounds fantastic.
9 - Applause (Lady Gaga)
US: #37 / FR: #66
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Yes, there’s some really stupid shit in the lyrics and the theme of the song itself isn’t particularly inspiring, but that chorus is a happy burst of fuzzy bright angular shapes, and it’s so energetic it feels like you could phase through walls by sheer force of will while listening to it. It would be even higher if the lyrics were better, I swear.
8 - Papaoutai (Stromae)
US: Not on the list / FR: #4
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And the boss of cleverly written hit songs strikes again. Pretty sure that one, like Alors On Danse, is well known even if you don’t speak French. As I understand it, apparently French teachers like to use it in class. But yeah, just in case: it’s a song about his absent father. My favorite part:
Un jour ou l'autre on sera tous papas (One day or another we’ll be dads) Et d'un jour à l'autre, on aura disparu (And one day or the next, we’ll be gone) Serons-nous détestables? (Will we be despicable?) Serons-nous admirables? (Will we be admirable?) Des géniteurs ou des génies (Parents or geniuses) Dites-nous qui donne naissance aux irresponsables? (Tell us who birthes irresponsible people?) Ah, dites-nous qui, tiens (Ah, tell us who ; weird) Tout le monde sait comment on fait des bébés (Everybody knows how to make babies) Mais personne ne sait comment on fait des papas (But nobody knows how to make dads)
And it’s also horribly catchy. And it was kind of a meme here. It was everywhere. I’m surprised it wasn’t even higher than that on the French year end top 100.
7 - Underwater (Mika)
US: Not on the list / FR: #70
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Why do I love this song so much even though I usually hate songs like that. This is the kind of romantic bullshit Robbie Williams does, and for the record I absolutely hate Angels, and Underwater even sounds a bit like Angels, and it also has the same kind of corny central metaphor. So. Why do I love Underwater again? How can I justify this? I’ve got no clue.
We don’t deserve Mika.
6 - I Need Your Love (Calvin Harris ft Ellie Goulding)
US: #56 / FR: #51
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By now you must all be extremely tired of reading me describing songs in visual ways but this song is the sound equivalent of some sort of light show mixed with Dance Dance Revolution patterns. It’s incredibly kinetic and full of joyful, glittering energy, and I love it so goddamn much.
As a 90s kid who loved eurodance, I’m incredibly grateful this kind of music still exists and is still charting.
5 - Treasure (Bruno Mars)
US: #30 / FR: #23
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Speaking of nostalgia. Well, not really, since I wasn’t born in the era this is trying to mimic, but still. I don’t have anything to say about this, apart maybe from the fact this is the song that finally made me like Bruno Mars.
4 - Hey Brother (Avicii)
US: Not on the list / FR: #18
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I already mentioned how much I loved Avicii’s music when I briefly talked about Levels, and Hey Brother is even better. As you might know I have a little brother and as it is often the case with siblings we fought a bit but we also shared a lot of things, and games, and weird private jokes, and yeah that song can occasionally make me cry a fair bit if I’m being honest.
Also, it’s kind of my main theme song for Charley and C’rizz, so, yeah, it’s just another layer of Feelings(tm).
3 - I Will Wait (Mumford & Sons)
US: #52 / FR: Not on the list
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As you might have noticed, there’s one genre that is conspicuously absent from my lists as far as the US hit songs are concerned, and that’s country. I’ve got nothing against country music, I just rarely find it visually interesting. Now I do like folk rock on the other hand, but its big era is long gone, and it’s quite rare to hear anything from it in the charts nowadays. I liked Ho Hey by the Lumineers, but I always thought it was a little bit too slow.
And then I found Babel by Mumford & Sons at the library, gave it a try, loved it, felt like discovering a modern band version of Bob Dylan with simpler lyrics, and this isn’t my favorite song on the album and it’s still at #3 on this list. Quality, man, just quality.
My favorite song from the album is Lover of the Light, by the way.
2 - Can’t Hold Us (Macklemore & Ryan Lewis)
US: #5 / FR: #8
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Sometimes you need angry fight songs, sometimes you need energetic fight songs, and sometimes you need happy fight songs. And when something combines the last two, it’s like you caught a star in a Mario game and you’re f█cking unstoppable.
If Macklemore doesn’t get more hit songs at some point in the near future I’m gonna punch a wall.
1 - Roadgame (Kavinsky)
US: Not on the list / FR: #44
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This song has no music video. It was still an enormous hit.
As you may recall, I already said once or twice that I liked to hang out at the disc store after class while I was in highschool and uni, and it still happened regularly after I started to work. Even nowadays, if I had a really, really bad day, there’s a good chance I’ll go there and spend at least an hour there just listening to stuff.
So here I was, one fine (actually bad) day, and this song was playing, and I was mesmerised, and for the first time ever, I felt the need to find a vendor and ask what was playing. I found one and the guy instantly beamed and went “oooooh I picked that album to play it in the store today! :D That’s Kavinsky, he’s great, here, have a listen” but it was already getting late so... I trusted him and basically bought the album blind.
Best decision ever. On top of being one of the best albums of the 2010s, OutRun is a concept album presented as if it was the soundtrack of a movie that never existed, about a young guy getting killed in a car crash in 1986 and somehow fusing with his car mentally and reappearing as some sort of technological zombie in 2006. And Roadgame is one of the best songs on the album if not the best. Well, my favorite song on it is actually Testarossa Autodrive, but you get my point.
I was like “there’s no way this is going to be big”, and I was dead wrong, thankfully. As a big fan of electronic music full of lights and flashes and colors but with dark overtones, I couldn’t be happier about this being one of the sounds of the year. Just fantastic stuff.
It’s 2020, man. Please drop that second album. We’re ready to have our minds blown all over again. Just do it.
Also, thank you random vendor from the disc store.
Next up: I have no idea why some people call 2014 a really bad year for hit songs tbh
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saltycharacters · 5 years
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How do you come up with such original designs (for humans and creatures? I can easily come up with diverse personalities for my characters but when it comes to designing their looks I melt into a puddle of disappointment
God, this ask is about 2 years old, no joke. I’m so, SO ashamed that I never got around to replying to this- I had a super detailed explanation planned, but I kept forgetting about it and putting it off aaand yep. i am so sorry man. I’m not even sure if you’ll ever see this lmao. But I feel bad about leaving it as is, so better later than never.
I’ve mentioned this here and there, but my main strategy for character design is juxtaposition- finding shapes in an animal or an object or etc and replacing it for something similarly shaped. Here’s a basic example of what I mean: 
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I use this method more than any other for character creation, as you can see
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And this doesn’t only work for animal characters! It can be done with humans/humanoids too!
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And you know how practice makes you better at things? Well fun fact, you can actually train yourself to become more creative and get the ideas that you like! It just takes time. Over the years, I’ve actually taught myself to to notice shapes more frequently in things, and that’s why I keep getting so many ideas. And with enough practice, you can actually get pretty abstract with your juxtaposition- Take my character Bail for example, whom I gave eyeball fingers.
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Believe it or not, I didn’t just put them there randomly. I actually had a thought process behind it and it went something like this:
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Of course, this isn’t the only way to make characters, and it’s definitely not everyone’s aesthetic. So here are a few other tips I can give you, in regards to character design!
For animals
-Change/create an animal character into a really weird, obscure or exotic animal. Have a lot of cats and dogs? Want to change it up? Think out of the box! I turned my cat character into an Australian quoll, and it rocked! I actually have a lot of pictures of weird animals saved into my phone for this reason. It really helps keep things interesting- plus, it’s super fun and a great drawing prompt!
-Combine animals. This is advice I’ve given to a few of my friends before and they seem to really like the idea, so I definitely recommend taking a few animals and mashing them together. Not even just two animals- try three, or four, or more. I actually find mixing at least 3 or more animals produces more satisfactory results.
-Have a lot of animal characters and not enough people? Turn some critters into humans! I’m currently having a blast redesigning old ocs like this, because I tend to make more funky creatures than funky humans and it really helps. You can also do the reverse- go from human to animal.
For humans
-Do you find yourself thinking that your human characters look too similar/boring? What can you do to change that? Ironically, a lot of times this answer is very simple. Visibly diversify them. Give them different skin colors, for one. Hair is a given, but specifically try to vary between straight hair and wavy hair and curly hair. And give them vastly different hairstyles. Don’t be afraid to look them up. Skin features such as freckles, moles, vitiligo, scars, acne, facial hair, etc can really help make your character(s) stand out as well. Additionally, give them visibly different noses. Chins. Head shapes. Body shapes. Give some wheelchairs. Give some prosthetics. Etc etc- Like i said, this all seems super obvious, but I get people telling me they think their ocs are too mundane and I glance at them, and they look identical- save for the varying hairstyles and clothes. We’re use to seeing such diversity in real life to begin with- even as you pass by people on the street, most don’t look anything alike. So of course you’re gonna find something lacking when the only distinguishing factor you use is hair and clothes. Really, don’t be afraid to make them as different from each other as possible!
-Also, remember that juxtaposition thing I talked about? Use it for clothes. Design some really funky clothes. I actually based my ocs around some really cool outfits I made with this method, and it’s very useful for creating humans.
And lastly, the second most used method (by me) for character creation is to just doodle- I doodle a lot and often I accidentally create something I really like. Start with a headshape, I usually go with circles. Keep adding random things to it, and eventually, you may end up with something super cool.
Even though I doubt the original asker will read this, I do hope others find some of this advice useful!
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onthesandsofdreams · 4 years
Text
Immortals After Dark
Fandom: BBC Sherlock & Doctor Who Pairing: Sherlock x Amy Rating: T Summary: They say that supernatural creatures don’t mingle. That their very nature makes them stand against each other, that they have little patience for each other’s kind. That they annoy each other, that if they lived in closed proximity they would end up killing each other.
Well, they’re right. Mostly.
And this is the story about Amelia Jessica Pond, a vampire and Sherlock Holmes an immortal. Of how they went from roommates who argued like it was their solemn duty to  a love worthy of a legend Words: 1320 Notes: For my pal, @mousedetective, who writes amazing Pondlock and gifted me with the prompt. Thanks! Chapter 1 out of ?
Read @ AO3
They say that supernatural creatures don’t mingle. That their very nature makes them stand against each other, that they have little patience for each other’s kind. That they annoy each other, that if they lived in closed proximity they would end up killing each other.
Well, they’re right. Mostly.
And this is the story about Amelia Jessica Pond, a vampire and Sherlock Holmes an immortal. Of how they went from roommates who argued like it was their solemn duty to  a love worthy of a legend.
*****
Amelia Jessica Pond was considering walking into the rising sun and let herself become ashes. Why in all of the bloody hells did Sherlock not respect house rules? He had done it again. She had arrived home with a couple of packages of blood, but when she went to place them in her part of the fridge, she found a severed head and other things.
Admittedly, Sherlock was a halfway decent roommate. For the most part, he minded his own business and on occasion, he would ask her to join in some detective work. But there were days (and nights) that she wondered why did she not move out.
And then she would remember why she didn’t: her last two roommates had been mortal. And mortal that they had been, their lives had been vastly different, one had fallen in love with another mortal and moved out. The other died of old age and she was left alone. Which is something she hated. Ever since her turning, she hated being alone. And she refused to move with another vampire, that would only end in disaster.
Which had brought her to her current living situation, she had found about Sherlock by chance. It had been posted in the special section of the newspaper, that one that only supernatural creatures bought. It said: Immortal looking for another immortal/supernatural roommate, that doesn’t mind a bit of mess and the violin, reduced rent, there are house rules, but everything’s fair. Contact Sherlock Holmes 221-B Baker Street. And a phone number.
And she jumped at the chance.
When she met Sherlock, she had been wary. She knew that immortals had the annoying ability to drive everyone up the walls. She’d been warned by a fellow vampire, “They feel above us Amy.” Rory had said.
And Sherlock had not disappointed. Because the moment that she had sat down in front of him, Sherlock had gone and used his deduction to correctly guess why she wanted an immortal roommate. It had shocked her, to say the least and – if she was honest with herself – she found it both amazing and annoying. Amazing that someone could be so perceptive, that he was able to pinpoint some things she’d rather keep hidden. Annoying because, well, he was an arrogant bastard. So sure of himself and she disliked how he seemed to treat everyone as if they were inferiors. She didn’t like that and she told him so. “You’re so arrogant, why bother with a roommate?”
Instead of answering her question, Sherlock, simply grinned and offered the extra key to the flat. “I think I could live with you Amelia Jessica Pond.” After that, he stood up and left.
She had snarled after him and promised herself that no matter what, she would never moved in with him. Because she would rather be alone, than with someone as arrogant and annoying as he was. Sherlock didn’t seemed fazed, only arched an eyebrow. She kept her face in a snarl.
But spoiler alert: She moved in with him.
*****
The flat was nice, Sherlock had a bit of mess as he had forewarned her, but she didn’t mind. She could see herself living in the flat, she could see herself befriending the landlady, a charming old woman who reprimanded Sherlock for the mess. She had loved her instantly.
Mrs. Hudson had made it clear that she wasn’t a cleaning or cooking lady. “Don’t worry, Mrs. Hudson, I don’t eat. And I have hand, I can pick up my mess.” She was quick to reassure her.
Sherlock… now that was a man whom she would have to come to at least tolerate. He could be a right arse, he was a wise-up know-it-all, smarter than just about everyone and unfortunately, he knew it. She usually didn’t like arrogance, but there was something about Sherlock that made it tolerable.
Sherlock had told her what he did for a living, in fact, he had shown off by guessing many things about her. “People are Scotland Yard… they’re useless.”
She had arched an eyebrow and gave him a dubious look. “Surely, not everyone?” She would know, she had on occasion helped at Scotland Yard’s supernatural division. “I work there on the supernatural side of things.”
The look that Sherlock gave her had her scowling. He clearly thought she wasn’t good enough. “Lestrade is not half bad,” he said.
Greg? Greg Lestrade? Huh, she didn’t think he knew of Greg. She liked Greg and he was a good man. Maybe is Sherlock could at least recognize that, he wasn’t that bad.
“But his team brings him down a notch or two.”
Or maybe not.
*****
Their first argument (real one) had happened a week in.
It had been one of those nights. One of those were everything that could go wrong, went wrong. She arrived at the flat bone tired, nearly falling asleep and rushing forward hoping that she would make it at least half an hour before the sun went up.
When she arrived home, she found Sherlock at the small kitchen table, mixing something and immediately, she was on high alert. “What are you doing?”
“Trying to see if I can make a new formula for a small explosive,” Sherlock answered.
“Are you out of your mind?!” She rushed forward, trying to see what she could find to extinguish any flames that might come up. Because as much as Sherlock liked experimenting (something she realized pretty quickly), he could be wrong. “Do you not have someplace else to do this?”
Sherlock looked at her like she was out of her mind, “At ease Amelia, I’m 75% this won’t explode on us.” No sooner than he spoke, a small boom happened, sending Sherlock backwards.
Fortunately for her, her vampire reflexes were quite quick, she moved away, but she could not avoid getting splattered with a viscous liquid. “Gross,” she said as she tried to wipe it away from her face. “Sherlock, please, go to bed.” She hissed, vampire nature coming up.
“And leave this? I’ve only just noticed that I can thicken the liquid and it could work as a proper explosive, an opening device... now if I could only made sure it wasn’t as loud.”
She stared at him. He had to be messing with her, had to. “Are you serious?!” She hissed, vampire instincts still on the surface. “You nearly blew the kitchen and got us killed and you want to make more?”
Sherlock shrugged. “The night is young.”
She resisted the urge to smack him around, to test how far his immortality would go. She closed her eyes, “I am going to sleep, the sun’s coming up already I can sense it. But I’m telling you Sherlock, if you wake me up with another explosion, I...”
“Will make my life a living hell, I’m sure,” Sherlock dissmissed her with a smile and simply went back to his calculations.
“I mean it Sherlock,” A snarl this time. “I will end you.” She didn’t give him a chance to reply, instead, she stomped upstairs to her room, grabbed a towel and her pajamas and took a quick bath, letting the water wash away all the grime of the day.
Then, she all but fell onto her bed, she could feel sleep drawing her further, the sun was rising fast, then.
That night, as she slept, she dreamt of Sherlock’s smile.
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let's see those Prime Numbers for the ask meme
2) favorite albums?
well i was Ready for kesha’s album Warrior to come out in iiii think it was the end of 2012 or early 2013?? i snuck out to that tour in dc that summer also. totally solid album and it was fun to have something so fun during a totally Not Fun period lol. i was also pretty into owl city at the exact same time lmao, that’s Blatantly for when you’re depressed lol...and i also eventually saw that guy on tour when a new album came out in 2015, and that was fun too, and was Enjoying Myself a factor in the tipping point of “ah jeez i gots 2 get outta here” that i had in the next month? maybe! and uhhh i listened a lot to the phoenix te amo album. that one wasnt tied to anything at all but i have heard it So much. super short and also rock solid and relistenable. and then here we are and the bmc obcr is a gift to the world b/c a) it exists and b) Cuz It All Slaps and c) it’s so fun to either sing or dance along, or cry along if it’s the agtikbi reprise and d) lgw... and e) all the eternal, well-mixed wroland vocals
3) favorite memes?
oh god lmao idk......real earlier 10s stuff was the I Say Hey he-man meme, and the “that really rustles my jimmies” meme which was real underrated......there’s been plenty of Memes where i’ve been like “this one is funny to me Every Time” but of course now looking back on it it’s like. what’s a meme??? Vine
(skipping 5 & 11 cuz that’s the Entirety of someone else’s ask and i don’t wanna just have to scrap theirs completely and i’ll get to it next!!)
11) favorite fanarts?
you know what, there’s continuously been a ton of amazing fanart where i’m like, i’m so glad i’m seeing this, & this is Artistic Fuel, and marge simpson anime has really been just this Standout Experience lmao like......idk for as Inspiring as it is, there’s only a couple things i’ve drawn that are Directly inspired, but i just flip for it all the time and like, it’s supremely expressive and like, comics that aren’t chronological but more like a Collage Of a Moment / Concept which i think is super cool and also i love when stuff reminds me that it doesn’t have to look ~super cleaned up~ to look great.
13) favorite people you know?
oh god this one really got out of control lol i started like, talking about everyone ever from this past decade. so for Convenience i’m interpreting this as “people *i* know, but they don’t know me” so that i can cheat and say will roland, voted person of the year 2019. by extension, essential supporting crew who helped us reach this point, like john simpkins or joe iconis. leave it at that!! it’s 5am and you know i’m not lying. who knew where going “wow, This guy” in late 2018 would have so much Value.
17) a fandom you wish more people were in/you had more people to talk to about?
oof hmm.......amnesia tdd didn’t really have a “fandom” even though it obviously got a lot of attention, it’dve been fun if it had though lol. it’s tricky to answer this one cuz i always prefer like, smaller fandoms and/or finding the Niche or some other way of just like, interacting with a small corner of things, so i’m never like wow god damn wish i’d been absolutely in the thick of it with this thing. i’ve been in Corners n Niches and it’s been fine by me, really
19) a fandom that you had the best time in?
HMM lol.........marble hornets sure was fun but like, a lot of that was just the content itself and not necessarily The Fan Experience, tho i sure got a lot out of it in a ton of ways. i mean tbh that’s true of each thing i’ve really Gotten Into majorly, i go hard af and then walk out the other side with these #connections or #experiences like whoa where’d these come from lol!! but really like, overall, i’m probably having the best time right now. the “fandom” is basically just our agenda lmao but like i said i’m always having the best time when it’s a pretty niche deal, And the sheer variety of Contents n Characters to draw from here is super nice, and the fact that it’s like, oh yeah and i’m finally recognizing this should’ve-been-obvious entire Passionne i’ve had since always, and that’s great too, and like, also just having the Variety Of Live / Current Unfoldings that go down.....like, everyone havin fun with the Joe Iconis Xmas Xtrav was entirely great. and just the Engagement level is basically the best, cuz like there’s the times where maybe i’ll get a zillion notes and that’s definitely fun in its own way but i always enjoy just the way smaller amount of ppl who are Particularly Enthusiastic, and like, there’s times where like, maybe i’m *technically* in this larger circle of ppl but like, totally more of like a Tangent or peripheral to that circle or whatever lol........this feels like a really solid balance of like, being sorta in this orbit of people in a chill way, but also definitely the direct interactions Existing, which is always important lol but hasn’t always been a constant throughout my Fandom Experiences at all
23) who were you at the beginning of this decade?
2009-2010 was a real distinct year lol i was in my second year of college in the middle of my teens, when i’d hardly really been getting to Explore My Interests Freely up to that point and still wasn’t, but all of a sudden it’s like goddamn i have to figure out my major???? and i’m like, obviously in the middle of only just now Really getting to figure out my identity in this deeper and more genuine way, thanks to being lucky enough to Live On Campus and be away from home like, 2/3 of the year, but i was just like, oh god i’m in Stress Hell now all the time cuz like. i’m trying to figure out my whole thing and what my ~Career~ should be and i just have no idea but am like, trying super hard all the time lol it was not successful and i was just really stressed about it all the time. i was def quieter back then.....pretty lonely at the time, i did not get into mh and gain the presence of any Online Friends until late 2010, and i hadn’t yet been sort of accepted by a small faction of theatre people via my roommate’s connections.....i wasn’t at all Out yet, and was def In Progress of figuring it all out.....i didn’t have nearly the Self-Esteem i have now lmao, it was Not a great time and in a lot of ways ‘09-’10 was the start of a downturn into Worse Than Usual Times, though in Other ways it was definitely an upturn lol like. the latter related to stuff that was important to me / who i am, the former tied to the situations i was in and the godawful morale that resulted
29) a time when the worst case scenario happened but you pulled through?
well by the end of 2012 i had my Wrath Parent deluxe mad at me big time, AND i was stuck at home all of thee time with that (not at all hours but. every day.) it was terrible!!! tf was going on in 2013, cuz that shit was definitely like, a gross blur of a lot of indistinct misery. and then, relatedly, when it was so shitty in 2015 that i was like fantastic, i am so officially sick of this i’m outta here. i revisited some Misery Posts from that period lately for someone stranger on twitter’s project or something, and boy i was having a bad time Summer Of ‘15 lol, things not getting better at home And a job that was so shitty that it was like..................bye. lol. and then i spent a year living out of a minivan. which was real lucky in ways b/c like. infinitely better than if i had not had that minivan. and when that broke down i was also then lucky enough to have this friend who was relatively nearby who’d also been willing to just like, set me up to Not have to ask the lgbt center where that trans-friendly forest zone a couple cities over was. nothing as dramatic as it could’ve been, fortunately
31) a time you were scared?
hmmm when leaving The Parents Home overnight, that was intimidating. bit of completely jumping into the unknown there, and also like, when you spend your lifetime assuming that Someone’s Arbitrary Wrath will be uponst you always, it’s hard to shake that sense of dread and doom, like ah jeez i am really potentially bringing hell on myself here........and like i mentioned with Start Of The Decade, there was just a ton of fear there all the time lol, trying to figure out virtually overnight The Whole Of Who I Am And What I Want when i’d only just even gotten to start......also i wanna say i maybe came out in 2011?? and i sort of also felt obligated to come out to my parents also (plus i think i was giving them like, one last chance to surprise me and be decent and kind of Grow Up themselves even tho i was the like, 16 y.o.) which yknow, kids you do not have to come out to anyone at all. someone was talking the other day abt how they didn’t think lgbtq “discourse” had evolved as much as you’d hope over the past decade, but idk about that, it's only a little bit of a wildly complex topic, and for starters Online Trans “Discourse” of a decade back was wayyyyyy in a vastly different place than it is now, leaps and strides really. so the way to ~really~ do it was presented kind of more rigidly i think. anyways i did it via email and was incredibly stressed to even open the reply a couple days later lol......which ended up being really weird and vague, and then there was a phone call where no one brought it up, and the only result was increased ire and resentment :( ........and then there was still like, cops encounters! near or not-as-bad-as-they-could’ve-been vehicular collisions! but tbh generally my reaction to the latter was underwhelming, except for one particular time when i was a passenger and also tense af for the rest of the ride. that’s it for Immediate fear really lol......oh wait one time i was at this decent sized Convention Panel Event and when i’m nervous i can Only talk more (it’s possible!!) and i snuck into line for the q&a and Right when i got to the mic (intimidating) they were like oop we’re low on time, lightning round!! :’] that was obviously more just a crapton of l’anxiete
37) a fashion that fell out of style that you wish would make a resurgence?
were Gladiator sandals this decade? the strappy deals that like, went up the ankles / calves? that was in fashion for a year or two and i’m into it. i like sandals and that kind of drama
41) something you learned a lot that not a lot of other people might know about?
i don’t know that i learned way a lot of anything that’s real in-depth knowledge and niche lore.........i have learned Nothing
43) an important relationship (of any kind) you had?
i had???? lmao well either way let’s say current relationships count and like, pretty much everyone in my Sphere i value a lot! i never like, have or have had a ~close~ ring of ppl around me lol like i thought it was lucky if i talked to someone Every Day (and not at all the Usual thing) and now it’s more likely that i talk to two people every day and maybe that sounds sarcastic but it’s not at all lol. i know my social stats aren’t impressive but i so appreciate what i get to enjoy and have. and other Connections might be way more like, we are friendly acquaintances, we talk on rare occasions, we haven’t talked at all in ages, we talk but only to trade cute pics of cats, Etc etc, but i seriously do appreciate all of everyone who’s cool who i get to interact with in any way and like, be in each other’s spheres and Not just like, absolutely on nobody’s radar. also obviously soph you are here in that list in case i wasn’t implying it good enough lol it is 5am and god knows deciphering what i say at any time can be its own challenge.....ur Epic Highs and Lows of bmc 3.0 is so good lmao
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