You know when a child runs up and proudly presents you with their drawing. And you look at that mass of scribbles and colour, and don't understand one iota of it. But go, 'Wow! That's fantastic!' That right there.. That's Destiny and Dreams early sibling dynamic.
Dream: Brother, look! This is my newest creation!
Destiny: (Looks at said presented Dream/Nightmare) What da fuck is even that?! Why is fantasy, how is fantasy? !... "Comendable work little brother. You grow more adept in your craft every time I see you."
Dream: (Proud strut of big brothers approval activated!)
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its still rough but as far as im gonna get for now, cant decide on the tentacle colors still nkfdnvkdfn
possible name for lad is Pan or Paktolos (just bc .. reference to midas legend even if this midas got nothing to do with it; oh yeah, a bonus midas sketch .. he needs a proper redesign too)
tentacle lad may look mean here (i genuinely dont know why i drew him like that) but hes a big sappy softie, even carries a picture of midas in a locket around- next to the demon teeth hes collected
he doesnt leave the island much anymore and mostly manages everything on it, his people call him by royal titles sometimes bc hes been a very competent leadership figure but he doesnt put value in any titles-
he rescued midas from the demon hunters that kidnapped him years ago to bring one of the biggest and most influencial empires to collapse after his older sister, who was the empress, was unexpectedly dying- midas being the next in line
the empire doesnt really exist anymore at this point, midas now leading missions around the island instead, or going around keeping up to date with politics and tensions since his husband (tentacle lad) and his people are of a kind that is largely being kept a secret and would be a target for demon hunters as well, despite them not being demons
(they look monstrous but are more based on animals, are native to earth, cannot change form, age only somewhat slower than humans and have no control over any elemental magic more than a very skilled human can have- which is basically not even noticable and usually gets passed off as 'talent' in the way a skilled sailor can feel the approaching weather in the wind)
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Part 2: local empath tries and fails to parse his own feelings apart from the feelings of the dead little freak living inside his brain
Next part is either gonna be either a really big one or split into several little parts idk yet but i would like to finish this at least through the next Scene™️
Prev || Next
ID below cut
Panel 1: Crow is sitting on a branch high up in a dead tree, on a hill above the Harbinger’s Seclude temple in the Dreaming City. Crow is relaxing along the branch, with one leg stretched out and one propped up so he can rest his hand on his knee. He is leaning back against the trunk of the tree as he looks to his right, down at the temple and away from the viewer. He is holding a flaming hunter throwing knife in his hand, flicking it back and forth. Glint is floating next to him.
Glint: “Do you want to see him again?”
Crow: “I don’t think he wants to see me.”
Glint: “That’s not what I asked!”
Panel 2: Crow twirls the knife in his hand, scowling as he looks down at it. The knife is made of solar flame, and leaves trails of fire behind it as he twirls it. Crow looks like he is reluctantly considering Glint’s question.
Panel 3: Crow turns back towards the temple, grabbing the knife and pulling his knees into his chest.
Crow: “I just want him to be alright.”
Panel 4: Crow hugs his knees into his chest. His face is not visible.
Crow: “And… it seems like knowing me doesn’t help with that.”
Panel 5: Crow has his arms crossed over his knees, and is resting his face on his forearm. With his other hand, he continues to fidget with the solar knife, twirling it between his fingers. He is looking at the knife, but his expression is distant.
Crow: “I shouldn’t be surprised.”
Panel 6: In a memory, Uldren and Jolyon are in bed, late at night. Jolyon seems to be sleeping peacefully, and is embracing Uldren from behind with his face pressed against the back of Uldren’s head. One arm is draped over Uldren’s waist, while the other is resting under Uldren’s cheek, with his hand palm-up on the mattress in front of Uldren’s face.Uldren is awake. He is clutching the blanket around his waist with one hand. His other hand is clutching desperately at Jolyon’s hand on the mattress in front of him, with his fingers threaded between Jolyon’s at an awkward, stiff angle. He is staring at their clasped hands, looking distraught and almost angry. He is crying.
Crow (from present day): “I always knew I was bad for him. Even before the garden, when things were… Mostly good. I knew I’d never be what he wanted. What he deserved…”
Panel 7: In present day, Crow continues to twirl the knife, but has turned his face further into the crook of his elbow, staring vacantly into the distance.
Crow: “I was just too selfish to let him go.”
Panel 8: Close up of Glint staring down at Crow passively.
Glint: “It sounds like that’s how Uldren felt. What about you?”
Panel 8: Close up of Crow’s hand holding the knife. He has stopped it mid-spin, catching it between his fingers.
Crow: “...”
Panel 9: Close up of Crow’s hand. He dissolves the knife into a fizzling burst of flame as he closes his hand into a fist.
Crow: “Right.”
Panel 10: Wide shot from behind Crow. Crow turns his body fully towards the temple, still resting his left hand on his knee. Glint is floating in front of him, looking at his face.
Crow: “I don’t want to make the same mistake. So… if he asks, I’ll be there. But after everything Uldren did, the way things ended…”
Panel 11: Crow turns his head away from Glint, leaning on his right hand stiffly.
Crow: “I don’t think I’ll hear from him again.”
Panel 12: Glint floats in front of Crow again. Crow is looking down and away from the camera.
Glint: “... And you’re okay with that?”
Panel 13: Crow starts to turn back towards Glint, looking torn.
Crow: “... I-”
He is interrupted by a dinging sound coming from his pocket.
Panel 14: Crow pulls his phone from his pocket, looking at the screen curiously. The phone dings again, and the screen shows that there are two new notifications.
Panel 15: Crow pulls the phone very close to his face, clutching it tightly with both hands. He is staring at the phone with comically wide eyes, looking alarmed and is blushing lightly. The phone shows two messages from an external sender [EXT].
Crow: “A-”
Phone: “Are you still in the reef?”
Phone: “It’s Jolyon”
Panel 16: Wide shot of Crow squatting like a gremlin on the branch, holding the phone with both hands directly in front of his face as he types on it quickly. He is blushing, and looks extremely focused. Glint is spinning excitedly above him. Crow’s response is visible coming from the phone.
Phone (Crow’s response): “yes leaving tomorrow”
Glint: “He’s messaging you!! Do you think he wants to see you??”
Crow: “I don’t know shush”
Crow: “He’s typing…”
Panel 17: Close up of the phone screen, where 3 messages from Jolyon are visible:
[EXT]: Can we talk?
[EXT]: Meet me here?
[EXT]: (a UI element reads NAV DATA SHARED, showing a nav point over cartographical lines)
Panel 18: Close up of Crow’s face, looking down at the phone. He look surprised.
Panel 19: Text shows Crow’s response: “on my way.”
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I kind of love how Zutara has two distinct ship dynamics
dynamic 1: “I will save you from the pirates,” enemies-to-lovers, Zuko is dangerous but sexy, bad boy x good girl, morally grey antihero, Dramione vibes etc
dynamic 2: Zuko is an awkward turtleduck, idiots-to-lovers, pining for your best friend, having each other’s backs, thinking she’s the coolest thing since sliced bread, Percabeth vibes etc
We can argue about which is the correct interpretation until the cows come home, but I love that the possibilities exist in the first place. From s1 to post-series headcanons there are such distinct stages in their relationship, and you can basically pick whichever point that appeals to you and run with it. There’s something for everyone. Yet another reason why they’re the best ship y’all
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New article with more details (from Jason Schreier who first broke the story). If you can't see it, I'll copy the whole text under read more.
About 100 employees were laid off in total (8%) and one of the main reasons listed is "underperformance," "sharp drop in popularity" and "poor reception of Lightfall."
So you know when for the last year and a half content creators have been shitting and pissing on the game as a full-time job and the amount of negativity and ragebait content became the only thing to make content about for them? Well they certainly won't take the blame, but I will let it be known. These people either don't understand the influence they have or they do and they're doing it on purpose, and I don't know which of these two options is worse, but I am 100% confident that their campaign of rage and hate contributed to this.
You don't base your entire community around constantly hating everything about the only game you play (despite clearly not enjoying it anymore) and somehow avoid galvanising thousands and thousands of people into perceiving the game negatively. Imagine being employees who have barely worked there for 2 years and the only community reception they've seen is 24/7 hate train for their work and then they get fired because of "poor reception" and "drop in popularity." How can they not take that personally? I am absolutely devastated for these people who delievered a banger product and who were met with an unrelenting barrage of toxic gamer children which ended up having more sway over their boss than them.
Which brings me to the next bit and that's FUCK THE CEO. He is now my mortal enemy #1. I am projecting psychic blasts directly into his brain. What an absolute spineless coward who is more willing to bow down to fucking gamers than to protect his own employees. This is absolutely rage inducing because this has happened before. From the article from 2021 about the toxic culture at Bungie:
Reading this shit from the new article absolutely fucking sent me into blind rage because I immediately remembered this. Another instance of employees suffering because of comments on reddit. And because of toxic players. And proof that leadership is not protecting employees and is instead siding with players.
Match made in heaven. Asshole gamer content creators and asshole CEOs, all of whom sit at home on piles of money made from someone else's labour. I hope they all explode. None of the people that worked on this game deserve this.
Another article with an infuriating comment from the CEO:
In an internal town hall meeting addressing a Monday round of layoffs that impacted multiple departments, Bungie CEO Pete Parsons allegedly told remaining employees that the company had kept “the right people” to continue work on Destiny 2.
"Kept the right people." Really. Veteran composers weren't the right people? Die!
Bloomberg article in full:
Bungie’s decision to cut an estimated 100 jobs from its staff of about 1,200 followed dire management warnings earlier this month of a sharp drop in the popularity of its flagship video game Destiny 2.
Just two weeks ago, executives at the Sony-owned game developer told employees that revenue was running 45% below projections for the year, according to people who attended the meeting.
Chief Executive Officer Pete Parsons pinned the big miss on weak player retention for Destiny 2, which has faced a poor reception since the release of its latest expansion, Lightfall.
The next expansion, The Final Shape, was getting good — not great feedback — and management told those present that they planned to push back the release to June 2024 from February, according the people, who asked not to be identified because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly. The additional time would give developers a chance to improve the product.
In the meantime, Parsons told staff Bungie would be cutting costs, such as for travel, as well as implementing salary and hiring freezes, the people said. Everyone would have to work together to weather the storm, he said, leaving employees feeling determined to do whatever was needed to get revenue back up.
But on Monday morning the news got worse: Dozens of staffers woke up to mysterious 15-minute meetings that had been placed on their calendars, which they soon learned were part of a mass layoff. Bungie laid off around 8% of its employees, according to documentation reviewed by Bloomberg. Bungie didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Employees who were let go will receive at least three months of severance and three months of Bungie-paid COBRA health insurance, although other benefits, such as expense reimbursements, ended Monday, sending some staff racing to submit their receipts.
Laid-off staffers will also receive prorated bonuses, although those who were on a vesting schedule following Sony Group Corp.’s acquisition of Bungie in January 2022 will lose any shares that weren’t vested as of next month.
The layoffs are part of a larger money-saving initiative at Sony’s PlayStation unit, which has also cut employees at studios such as Naughty Dog, Media Molecule and its San Mateo office.
TD Cowen analyst Doug Creutz wrote in a report Monday that “events over the last few days lead us to believe that PlayStation is undergoing a restructuring.”
PlayStation president Jim Ryan announced last month that he plans to resign.
Many of the layoffs at Bungie affected the company’s support departments, such as community management and publishing. Remaining Bungie staff were informed that some of those areas will be outsourced moving forward.
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