#even if he is recently reformed and maybe not so bad

[candle-scm]

not thinking things through

#atla #avatar the last airbender #zukka #zuko #sokka #digital art #atla fanart #my art #artists on tumblr #i like to think sokka and zuko started sucking face at the western air temple #which is fun because it brings the angst of falling for somebody right before a life-or-death battle #and also sokka lamenting being fwb with the worst guy ever #even if he is recently reformed and maybe not so bad #hes still zuko #and sokkas rationality goes out the window #no matter how hard he tries #also obligatory rip toph #school has been kicking my ass but im still going to draw zukka dammit

[fuckyeahisawthat]

If you see Good Omens s2 as a bridge between the end of s1 and a s3 plot that, it seems, will revolve around [spoilers below]

Aziraphale and the second coming (in a parallel to s1 being about Crowley and the Antichrist) then a lot of things make sense, and actually I think this is one of the only routes they could have taken that would seem remotely plausible.

Because how the fuck do you get Aziraphale back in Heaven after the events of s1? Both you (a writer who wrote s1 as a self-contained adaptation of an existing work, having no idea if there would be future seasons) and you (Heaven within the world of the story).

In the book verse, I could see this playing out as a sort of “you thought you were happily retired and then they pulled you back in for one last job” situation, and I think that could have worked. Because book Heaven and Hell seem to end the story basically agreeing to forget Aziraphale and Crowley’s numbers out of sheer embarrassment, and that works in the world of the book because Heaven, in particular, seems to forget Aziraphale exists at least 80% of the time anyway. Book Heaven is mostly notable for its absence. We recognize their hypocrisy in claiming to be the good guys while mostly doing the exact same shit as Hell with better PR, but in the book Hell seems like the side that’s more dangerous and actively intrusive in Crowley’s life.

But TV Heaven and Hell are terrifyingly, oppressively present in Aziraphale and Crowley’s lives, and both of them very recently (in immortal being terms) tried to execute their respective agents for treason, and still don’t understand why they failed. This raises the stakes and the threat to their relationship enormously, which works great in a television drama where their relationship is much more of a focus than it is in the book. But it also makes it much more difficult to imagine either of them going back to their respective sides after the events of s1. They made that choice already.

So what do you (writer now trying to solve this problem for s2 and potentially s3) and you (Heaven, trying to come up with a way that Aziraphale would walk back into his former prison willingly) do?

You offer Aziraphale the one thing he can’t refuse, the thing he still doesn’t have, even now after Armageddidn’t and surviving the trials and 4 (?) years of living more or less openly with Crowley around. You offer him safety. Safety for himself and Crowley, together.

We know it’s a trap. We know what Heaven is offering is not safety, but control. But Aziraphale hasn’t gotten there yet. We understand why Crowley sees it as a rejection and an insult. But to Aziraphale it’s an offer better than he ever thought was possible to receive.

He thought, all of s1, that he would have to choose between following Heaven’s orders and saving the world and his relationship with Crowley. And he made his choice. Now someone is telling him he can have both? Love and acceptance from Heaven for him and Crowley, and the power to make things better? And when he realizes Crowley won’t come with him…well, maybe at least from Heaven he will still be able to protect him, even if he’s not by his side.

And you know what? I bet, in the short term, this is going to only make him double down on his “it was just a few bad angels” justification for the way Heaven behaved. Because this offer is coming from the literal voice of God. Maybe it even reinforces the idea that God didn’t want Armageddon to happen at all, that Aziraphale and Crowley and Adam and the Them actually were doing her will by stopping it. Because now Aziraphale is being invited back in, with more authority than he ever had before. And they invited Crowley (who he always believed was Good) back in too.

He doesn’t get it yet, that Crowley is right. That you can’t reform Heaven from the inside, because it is not and never was the good side. Because there is no good side.

Aziraphale hasn’t figured that out yet. But he will.

#good omens #good omens s2 #good omens s2 spoilers #aziraphale #heaven

[acutecoral]

I really want to vod Foolish so much and catch up to what he's been up to

Mostly because there's something about the way he roleplays that I became very aware with, especially after OPQ

He is extremely conscious and deliberate when it comes to his roleplay of his characters.

Every choice, every act, everything he says and doesn't say? That's all him playing to his character, and oh boy is his character is so subtle and nuanced beneath the silly goofy side that most people know him by on the server

He's amazing at roleplay! It kind of blew me away when he played in OPQ!

He did things that he as a person would probably likely not do, but his character definitely would! And he stuck to them! That's not easy! I mean I personally had trouble doing that when I was first starting out playing ttrpgs. It's hard to stick to a character choice when you know it's not the smart thing to do as the player. It’s hard to detach yourself from your personal motivations and fully immerse yourself in your character's, but he does it so well! He's absolutely underrated!

Ever since I realised that, I've been keeping a closer eye to Foolish recently and what he's saying, not saying, and subtly hinting...and maybe not so subtly hinting

Like the exchange between him and Cellbit yesterday

Like!!! I don’t know how every Foolish mains feel, but THIS MANS IS TRYING SO HARD TO CLUE CELLBIT IN THAT THEY’RE ON THE SAME TEAM, BUT!!! CELLBIT JUST DOESN'T GET IT!!! I'M SO!!!! RHRHEGRH

Like I get it from Cellbit perspective, because there was always the intention of taking down the Federation completely, there's that rage and anger and vengeance to destroy an establishment that's hurt you and countless others, but from the conversations Bad and Foolish were having before with aquariums and fish, Foolish seeks to reform the Federation from the inside and become the head of it even if he knows it's unlikely, but I find his steady climb to the top absolutely fascinating, and I'm excited!!! Because this ties in so well with what we've been getting about how federation workers ARE PEOPLE. They have feelings and families and friends and hopes and dreams and desires!!! Not that I'm saying that he's doing it for them, but! I just find his approach extremely interesting and just plays to those themes we've been getting really well.

His character motivations are so subtle because unless you let go of your perception of him being a silly goofy chaotic guy, and pull back what says and pick on what he doesn't say, or here where he's absolutely directly telling someone his deal, then you won't catch it what he's trying to tell you. He hides it so well that not even the Feds or Resistance or everyone else besides Bad and Jaiden know what to make of him.

For me, he's definitely playing to the character archetype of Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass and just!!!! Foolish is so good guys, I need to watch him and catch up on his streams, he has been COOKING for a while and I'm so ready for what else will happen to him going forward!!!

#qsmp videos #qsmp foolish gamers #mcyt #qsmp cellbit #qsmp liveblog #qsmp #honestly I would really kill for a foolish and cellbit teamup??? #because!!! #newsflash dude!!! you're his son in law!! you're his family!!! and he always takes care of his family #i would love for cellbit to actually pick up what foolish has been putting down #i think it'll be so much fun also i want a moment where cellbit sort of kicks himself from not listening lmao #he's been trying to get it through to cellbit for a bit now

[xiv-wolfram]

WolfBahn Ship Summary - Part 1

Prequel

I realized the comics are... a lot. So I decided to make a short summary of my Wolfram x Raubahn ship. As I started to write I realized it was also... a lot. So clearly WolfBahn is simply... a lot. Eh, this is still way less to read than the comics, enjoy.

Warnings - imperfect neurodivergent protagonist, voidsent, domestic argument that turned a teeny tiny bit physical

Ul'dah

Wolfram Vought and Raubahn Aldynn met 15 years before A Realm Reborn at ages 25/29 in Thanalan. Wolfram (A recently reformed bandit, Gyr Abanian refugee, and the future Warrior of Light) wanted gladiator training as he was accustomed to a rapier. Raubahn, a gladiator (for the guild, not a prisoner), just thought he was trying to pick him up after a tourney. They ended up talking and hit it off almost instantly, bonding over being from the same country, shared interests, and good ol' fashioned Garlean hatred. After hours of walking around Ul'dah conversing, Rau had given up on his assumption that Wolf was interested in him romantically but was happy to have a new friend. Demisexual Wolfram just needed a bit of time to get to know him and surprised Raubahn with a kiss after they had talked all night. Wolfram decided to stay in Ul'dah, but not as a gladiator. He became a cook at the Quicksand.

They fell in love unnaturally quickly and lived together happily for 2 years. Raubahn appreciated Wolf's sincerity, sense of humor, and being non-judgemental and supportive. He even enjoyed his empathic abilities. Wolfram loved how the gladiator could keep him grounded, admired his heroic nature, that he helped him calm down during panic attacks, and generally made him feel safe (the dude has trauma™). They were great friends as well as partners. Wolfram taught Raubahn how to cook. Raubahn taught Wolfram more fighting techniques. They enjoyed sparring and fighting monsters. Exploring together. They’d a whole future planned out. Wolfram was going to propose they be eternally bonded, but couldn't in good conscience until he told Raubahn about his past. One night, after a horrible nightmare, he confessed. 

6 years prior, the Decurio who led the small group of Garleans occupying his village requested Wolfram’s young sister’s hand in marriage in exchange for going easier on the family’s inn. He overheard his parents considering the offer. Wolf had been secretly studying his grandmother’s tomes on void magic and in his anger summoned a hellhound. Something went wrong and the voidsent that arrived was far more powerful than he could control. It possessed him and forced him to watch as it transformed, using his body to not only kill the Garleans but his whole village, including his family. His Mhachi grandmother did a ritual to bind it before her death, saying it was still within him and he would have to control his emotions to keep it imprisoned. (He didn't mention to Rau that the voidsent often talked to him.) Wolf then fled to The Black Shroud and became a bandit while adjusting to his new reality.

Raubahn was shocked but kept his poker face and asked for some details. Wolf admitted to killing several other bandits who he thought were a threat but insisted he only robbed rich travelers. After a few years, he had gotten control over the hellhound and wanted a more stable life, so he moved to Ul’dah. He said he was so glad when he met Raubahn because the gladiator was able to calm him down when the voidsent was causing him to panic and so clearly a good person that maybe he could help Wolf become good too.

Raubahn was horrified at his partner's actions and the fact that he'd lied and put him in danger for the entirety of their relationship, but even more so that Wolfram refused to accept responsibility for his own decisions and insisted on blaming the Garleans. As if all that wasn’t bad enough, he had robbed and murdered people he didn’t need to. Rau questioned if Wolf actually cared for him or if it was a selfish love born from wanting to be taught ‘goodness’. Wolfram seemed to have changed now - but could Raubahn ever be sure? Could he ever trust the man who would do those things and refuse to accept the guilt for them? The conversation got away from them both. Wolfram was defensive, panicked, and pushy. Raubahn was angry at Wolf’s insistence on his innocence, downplaying what he did. The gladiator tried to walk out, Wolf tried to stop him, Rau shoved him away then left, telling him if he ever saw him again he’d have him arrested. Raubahn quickly calmed down and returned to apologize but Wolf had already gone. They wouldn't speak for many years.

The Shroud

Wolfram traveled back to the Black Shroud and quickly acknowledged to himself that Raubahn had been right about everything. He would have immediately apologized and accepted the guilt, but he was terrified of going to jail if Rau made good on his threat. In part, because it didn’t sound like a pleasant experience, but also because he could be made to fight in the Bloodsands and was worried about what would happen if he lost control of the hellhound in a crowded coliseum in the middle of a large city. After a month-long bender (in which he realized alcohol would quiet the voidsent’s voice) Wolfram decided to join the Conjurer's Guild to learn to heal and become a better person on his own. Raubahn was right about that too - it had been selfish to expect the love of someone to fix him. Besides, white magic would become useful for something he had to take care of if he ever made it back to Gyr Abania.

Red Magic

After 6 years Wolfram heard that Raubahn had bought the Coliseum, joined the Syndicate, and reformed the Immortal Flames. The conjurer gathered the courage to head to Thanalan to offer his services to the Flames - hopefully winning Raubahn's forgiveness. On the way, he ran into a fellow Gyr Abanian named X'Rhun Tia. The miqo'te had a unique fighting style that combined magic with a rapier. They got along well and X’Rhun offered to train Wolfram in red magic. Wolf couldn't pass up the opportunity, deciding he'd been a fool to believe he could return to Ul'dah anyway.

Calamity

For the next 3 years, Wolfram trained with X’Rhun, quickly mastering Red Magic and helping his friend find more apprentices to teach. Then came the 7th Umbral Calamity. Wolfram was away in Kugane at the time but once word reached that the Eorzean Alliance would be fighting Garleans at Carteneu he teleported himself to the South Shroud and rushed to make it to the battle in time. He was almost there when the moon cracked open. Wolf couldn’t help but watch as fire rained from the sky. Once it was over, he saw from afar that Raubahn had survived. He couldn’t bring himself to approach the General, but knowing he was safe was enough. Wolfram quickly started aiding the injured soldiers. He healed many before the Echo visions of the dying overwhelmed him.

The next 5 years were spent in well-masked anxiety - assuming that the voidsent had gained the ability to show Wolfram nightmares while he was awake. Something he didn’t tell a soul. Helping victims of the calamity as a member of the Adventurer’s Guild was a nice distraction. He didn’t make much gil but it was enough to buy a small apartment in Limsa Lominsa. In all that time Wolf kept tabs on Raubahn (easily, he was famous after all). Wolfram's love never faded, but he learned to live with the pain and focus on helping others as a way to make amends for his past. He was so resolved to not even date that it often worried his best friend and roommate Rhun. 

Raubahn had been busy in those 13 years, but everyone knows his story. He adopted his son Pipin. He became a wealthy politician and military commander. He did *try* dating, but didn't find anyone he could see a future with. As his political power rose so did the rumors. Simply dancing with his friend Merlwyb at an event had sparked gossip and accusations of collusion. He gave up on public relationships completely after joining the Syndicate for fear of what the Monetarists would do to any partner of his. The General did have a few casual lovers who respected his need for discretion but his focus was on leading the city he’d come to truly call home. Raubahn often found himself wondering if Wolfram was still alive but couldn't track the former bandit down due to his penchant for using an alias.

Part 2 - A Realm Reborn

#oc wolfram #ffxiv #ffxiv wol #ffxiv oc #hyur highlander #hyur #wolbahn #raubahn aldynn #raubahn #WolfBahn #WolframSaga #WolframBlog

[noodlenibblescribble]

Episode/Fanfic Suggestion Before The Episode 'Dad Beat Dad'

I LOVE the story beats of Hazbin Hotel, the episodes are pretty good but for these recent two, it felt like we could have had one more ep before them in order to make things hit deliciously harder. Here's my pitch for one:

An episode that starts with Charlie and Vaggie finding one of Angel's drug stashes. They tell him he needs to quit to actually start 'reforming'.

Angel makes the point that the drugs have been his coping mechanism for a long time ('Oh no, yeah sure, let me just quit cold turkey and not need them anymore after years of this shit. So easy.')

Alastor walks in, laughing, saying something akin of 'rehabilitation isn't going to happen, he cane as an addict, he's been an addict, he's going to keep doing it'. It gets in Angel's head, visibly upsetting him. Charlie gets mad at Alastor and tells him that they're going to make it happen.

Charlie makes a lesson plan for the next day about trying to look for alternatives to drugs. It's clear that Charlie's suggestions are a little superficial and out of touch (between grandma activities and health guru stuff, it's not actually helpful).

Vaggie sees Angel get frustrated and suggests doing something *he* might like- 'No it can't be sex or violence, Angel.'

Angel gets a song about finding out what else he can do after years of cycling through the usual bad habits, cute stuff about trying different things he thinks are interesting with the others and having fun with it. He settles on an activity for today (idk maybe trying to draw/paint) and is bantering with Husk about his lack of skill, but you know it's friendly and encouraging.

Charlie looks on with pride, Alastor follows behind her and tells her 'You know he hid more stuff in another location'.

She tells him that Angel was right that morning, it'd be bad to quit cold turkey but she's happy she can help him find other outlets so that he can slowly occupy his time doing other things too; that it's important to keep him motivated to want to change. There are no instant solutions. This is a process and she's proud of his growth.

At Alastor scoffing, she breathes and apologizes to him for getting mad earlier today, but clarifies that even if this is just entertainment for him, she still genuinely believes in it, and the proof is right here. With how much better Angel is doing. It's working. So, she will always believe that with enough patience and kindness, anyone can change. And you know, maybe... even Alastor can.

Alastor laughs maniacally like it's the funniest thing he's ever heard, 'HAHAHAHA ME? CHANGE? WHY WOULD I WANT THAT? HAHAHAHA HOW PREPOSTEROUS!!' but as he steps away, he looks at Charlie joining Angel/Husk/Pentious/Nifty doing their thing, talking to them like a proud teacher and about the plan for tomorrow's lessons, and idk.

His grin drops to a closed smile. 'Hm. Well, this was unexpected.'

And he steps back into the shadows.

~

Imagine Dad Beat Dad and Welcome to Heaven coming after that. Alastor confirming to the audience that Charlie has somewhat won him over and that he likes her like a daughter with more build up. It'd be so extra satisfying that we'd gotten to see firsthand how he's stuck around and actually has started believing in her as opposed to her dad. Plus, it makes Vaggie using 'Angel has less drug hiding spots' sound like an actual win to the audience, and when we see Angel at the club taking care of everyone *chef's kiss* we'd have gotten two Angel development episodes instead of one, seeing him get to that point.

That's it, I'm just throwing this humble proposal to anyone that is like me and wants an idea to better link the last batch of episodes and now. 👍

#hazbin hotel #hazbin alastor #hazbin angel dust #hazbin charlie #hh alastor #hh angel dust #charlie morningstar #alastor #angel dust #hazbin hotel blurb #blurb #hazbin hotel fanfiction #hh charlie #vaggie

[pupstim]

Prompt: As they grow more liminal, Tucker develops tech based powers. Sam, traumatized by Undergrowth, is afraid her powers will be plant based. 

 =======

"… and when I turned around there she was! Jessica all reformed and looking absolutely stunning. Do you know what she did right after?" The sounds of the Casper High were muted around the duo, Sam unenthusiastically chewing on her alfalfa toast. Tucker's words washed over her as she listened with a half ear.

 "Earth to Sam? Are you even listening to me?"

 Okay, maybe less than half an ear. She gives Tucker an apologetic smile, but from his face it might come off as more of a grimace.  

"Did she confess her undying love to you?" Snarking usually could cover up a blunder like this, and it seemed to work as Tucker gave her a disapproving glare.

 "No, she said *Hello World*, but don't think that will distract me from what's going on with you." Sam couldn't help the grimace as Tucker leaned in. "Are you still avoiding your green house?" He asked, tone softening but Sam still flinched. She wished Danny was here instead of chasing down the Ghost of the day. He would help distract Tucker.

 She debated briefly on lying to him, on deflecting like they've done so many times before. Instead what she found herself saying was, "Later.. After school okay?" He didn't look happy but eventually Tucker nodded.

 "After school," he says like a threat, pointing his chili dog to her, meat slipping from it much to her disgust. Falling into the same familiar patterns of banter and this time Sam committed to listening. Tucker's developing powers were exciting and she could see the joy it sparked in him. She only wished she could feel the same.

  Sam tried not to feel bad as she dodged around the other students of Casper High. The last bell had just rang, signaling the end of a school day and Sam's last class wasn't with Tucker. Danny appeared to be dealing with whatever ghostly mischief for the day. It wasn't either that she didn't want to talk to either of them, more that she was worried. Worried they would mock her or scoff at her and brush it off, but perhaps the biggest worry of all was that they might believe her.

 It'd been months since her and Tucker had began to develop powers, from what Danny could pry out of his mentors was due to the continuous exposure to the ghost zone, both by the portal and their trips into the zone with the GAV.

 It was exciting at first, both her and Tucker swept up in the fact they were essentially getting leveled up. Their strength growing and eyes glowing, occasionally Sam almost felt like she could fly. She should have known other powers were going to sprout as well.

 She was thrown from her thoughts by a sudden arm thrown over her shoulder, feeling a chill in the air as Danny hugged her. Tucker was such a tattletale. As if summoned by her thoughts Tucker appeared on her other side, pinning her in between them. "You ass, you called Danny in for this?" She growled to the techie.

 "Hey you were the one running, I'm just making sure you keep up your part of the bargain." He defended as the three made their way down the street.

 The trio walked in silence for a long while, bypassing their usual turn off and instead heading to a scrap of land not far out from city limits. It was uneven ground, dipping low with trees struggling to compete with recent housing developments and resources. A small beaten path led them deeper into a proper forest, trees gaining height the further they got from town. At this point Sam knew exactly where they were going.

 Further into the forest, when the last sounds of the city had finally dropped to an almost whispering hum, they arrived at the Ditch. It had probably been a riverbed before Amity Park had been made, but now it was just a gentle dip in the ground, adventurous saplings taking root in the bottom. The three of them hung out at the Ditch a lot before Danny's accident, either helping clear the area or picking up any garbage that found it's way here. Now it looked quite overgrown, bits of litter strewn through the Ditch. Sam felt indignant on nature's behalf, turning to Tucker to find him already taking out a trash bag and handing it to her.

 "You just have trash bags in your pocket?" She asked him slightly amused as she watched Danny take one as well.

 "Not pockets, in my pack, never know when they'll come in handy." Tucker grins, sliding down the small slope to get to the bottom of the Ditch. Following after him Sam felt herself get lost in the familiar motions of just taking care of nature.

 "Sooo… Wanna tell us a bit of what's going on?" Danny asks, breaking the fragile peace Sam felt. She bites back a scathing retort instead shrugging as she shoves more soda cans into her own bag, how can someone chug this much soda was anyone's guess.

 "Nothing much to talk about," She mumbles, only for Tucker to snort, turning from his corner.

 "She's avoiding her green house," he shamelessly tattles on her.

 "Tucker!" Sam hisses, swatting at him as he chuckles and dodges out of the way. "I'm not avoiding it… I'm just… focusing on other things right now."

 "You're not going to become Undergrowth." Sam whips her head to Danny who had his back on her, leaning down to continue to pick up the litter in the Ditch. She could see the tips of his ears, which were a bright red as he continues to face away from her.

 Sam scowled, turning back to her own trash. "I know that," She snaps, shoving everything she could reach into her own bag. But her hands shook as she did, remembering how smothered under the power Undergrowth had given her felt, how intoxicating to be in control of plants, twining her deeper into the flora. She had felt something… similar budding the last few weeks when she made her rounds in her green house. Sam wasn't sure she wanted to know what it would bud into, feeling like she already went down this path before.

 She could still hear Danny shuffle behind her and out of the corner of her eye she could see Tucker fumbling with his own garbage bag, all amusement sucked from his face.

 "I know you know it, but do you believe it?" Sam swore she almost snapped her neck looking back to Danny, but he still hadn't turned towards her. "Jazz would say the same thing to me about Dan, and logically I knew she was right… but I couldn't bring myself to believe her." The woods were completely silent as Danny spoke, "I worried that if I relaxed, if I didn't keep myself in check, then my worst fears would come true and Dan would be back."

 "Danny…" Sam started before Tucker jumped in.

 "I still avoid the Egyptian section of the museum," he blurts out, flushing darkly as Danny and Sam look his way. "I still can't believe that… that the Pharaoh looked just like me, that I'm probably some sort of descendent or maybe even a fucked up reincarnation of some evil king thousands of years ago. Sometimes it feels like that's all I'll ever be or if I slip up then I'll become King Tuck all over again."  

 Sam knew she should say something reassuring, but what comes out of her mouth instead is, "We're all a little fucked up and evil aren't we?" As soon as the words are out Sam stiffens, feeling heat quickly flush over her face and down her neck, knowing she was probably as red as a cherry. Yet her mouth keeps on running, "I think I have a lot of catching up to do as I was just coerced to the evil side instead of seeing it was my past or future."

 Thank fuck it worked as Danny cracks a smile and Tucker shakes his head with a soft huffing laugh. They had did some good work on cleaning the Ditch, the three of them unceremoniously flopping down on a nearby log to rest, their trash bags carefully set next to them. It was an easy silence, Sam feeling tension bleed from her shoulders as she sits between her two boys, letting their presence ground her.

 It was quiet for a bit more, the soothing sounds of nature filling their silence before Danny's impatience got the better of him and he leaned gently against Sam, nudging her. "So with us here to keep you in check maybe you can show us your powers?" He asked looking to her with hopeful eyes, wanting to know what Sam kept wrapped up so tightly.

 Glaring half heartedly before rolling her eyes, Sam just nodded, ignoring the tight coil of dread in her heart. She had her boys here, they wouldn't let her go to far.

 "Awesome, now come on show us what you've got." Sam could only smile at Danny's enthusiasm, but his confidence was infectious and she found herself closing her eyes. Reaching for the tight bundle she had shoved down as soon as it had tried to sprout. Fear still pulsed within her, dozens of what if's and horror scenarios running through her mind but she felt… quite okay. With Tucker's warm hand in hers and Danny's leaning on her side, Sam felt even if she did somehow turned into a jerk like Undergrowth, her two boys would beat some sense back into her.

 With that reassuring thought Sam let her power bloom. She was instantly overcome with it. The forest around her seemed to come alive with music, or rather like she had turned a dial on the radio, finding herself swept up in the song of Nature. It was beautiful and Sam found herself swaying with the music of the forest, a soft humming slipping from her as she felt immersed in her gift. She could feel her boys gasp beside her, Tucker's hand tightening on hers as Danny shoved himself closer but she was too far gone to care.

 Her and the forest were in complete harmony, the forest felt delighted by her presence, brushings of *friend/protector/new friend* like leaves against her consciousness. It was nothing like the power of Undergrowth, she felt the plants but there was so much more to it, as if the entire forest fauna and flora both were combined and sentient. She was about to explore this even deeper when she was drawn from her musings by a shaking on her shoulder. Feeling slightly irritated with the interruption, Sam sent a scowl to Tucker's way, "What--," before cutting herself off, seeing or rather feeling what has both Tucker and Danny so stiff next to her.

 Animals had completely surrounded the three of them, looking as if the whole fauna of the forest had come out to sit around Sam. She could even see a few black bears hanging back, sitting placidly by some white tailed deer. Coyotes by rabbits and mice and even a glimpse of a cougar in the trees. Birds of all shapes and sizes were in the branches as well, from eagles to hawks and owls. Smaller hummingbirds Sam could feel begin to land on her arms and head as mice begin to climb onto her lap. They were all here for her, she could feel it now, the forest reaching out to greet her as she opened her heart up to it. She had cared for this forest, for all of nature and she could feel it's solid presence and acceptance, like a steady rough tree bark against her skin.

 Her boys relaxed beside her, seeming to sense this was Sam's power, as more animals clustered closer. Tucker gave an sudden exaggerated gasp. "You're a fucking Disney Princess!" He shouts, causing some of the more timid animals to scamper away from him. Danny let out a choking laugh as Sam gave Tucker her best withering glare, but he only smiled wider.

 Sam growled, "I am not--," then stops feeling a few more birds land on her head, mice curled up in her pockets and even a frog that landed on Tucker's head making him fall back and scream. She really was a Disney Princess now, she thought with horror. The forest tittered in her ears, amusement curling around her and Sam found she didn't mind being a Disney Princess. Those ladies were still kickass, she could be the first goth princess, plus if she was a Disney Princess then she could do this.

 Turning an evil grin onto Tucker who froze on the ground seeming to realize how much he fucked up, "Sit on him," She told her new animal friends and there was a flurry of fur as Tucker shrieks before he's buried under the bulk of the large bear, only his poor arm flailing around as he tried to shift the bulk of probably 200 pounds of black bear off of him. Sam and Danny sniggered before Sam gestured for the bear to get up, revealing a Tucker who gave Sam a glare. It only served to make the two of them laugh even harder falling off the log by him.

 "You're already mad with power," Tucker intoned ominously, before dissolving into giggles as well.

 The animals slowly began to disperse as the three continued their break, finally relaxed and a new understanding of themselves and each other.

 "You know, with my control over tech, Danny's control of blob ghosts and Sam's control over nature, we totally could be a world dominating club." Tucker mused, making Sam and Danny groan as they begin to sit up, their introspective mood broken. "What I'm just saying, we've got  all the makings of it! We could just start small and overthrow Vlad!" At that Danny paused, looking thoughtful while Sam sighed again.

 "Let's table it for later, for now want to come over to my place to drop this garbage off and make my mom lose her head as we play Doomed?" Fighting off a  smile at the two whoops of joy, she picks up the trash bags, a hand gliding gently over the bark of the nearest tree and feeling the whole forest brush once more against her, like a warm and dewy cat. With her boys at her back and the nature around her, she finally believed.

=====

Aaand Scene, thanks so much for reading this far! Prompt was by @everystarstorm and I had an absolute blast playing around with it! I know it’s a little bit scuffed, I’m still feeling out the characters and honestly it’s been a long time since I’ve actually seen Danny Phantom. I literally thought Undergrowth’s name was actually overgrowth haha. But I’m pretty proud of how it turned out. :) thanks for the prompt again Kibby and I hope you enjoyed it.

#Danny Phantom #phic phight #phic phight 2023 #the reason this took so long is kittens #fostering kittens found under our deck for a month now #it ate up all my time literally #yall have no idea how happy I am to have finished it though

[doomandgloomfromthetomb]

The Modern Lovers - Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, February 23, 1974

The end of the Original Modern Lovers? This might've been the band's final official gig — thanks to Jesse J for passing along a recently surfaced tape. Jesse calls the recording's quality "atrocious," and he's not wrong (though it's as much the fault of the venue's cavernous acoustics as it is the tape's). Whatever, atrocious quality audience recordings are what Doom & Gloom is all about, am I right? So adjust your ears and take a trip back to a bitter New England winter just about 50 years ago.

Historic/interesting stuff! The set sees the Modern Lovers attempting to bring together their older, more VU-inspired material with the quieter, more innocent songs that Jonathan Richman was writing. There are tunes that will certainly be familiar — "Roadrunner," "Government Center," "Pablo Picasso," etc. And then there are several strong songs that — as far as I know — don't appear anywhere else in the Modern Lovers' discography (officially or unofficially). And hey, it all works pretty well; in some alternate universe, the band might've been able to reconcile their two sides and finally record a proper debut LP. It was not to be, alas — soon, Jerry Harrison would head back to Harvard to get his master's degree in architecture. And today, he is renowned as one of the world's greatest architects ... right???

Of course, we have to note the truly bonkers lineup — a heretofore unknown alignment with the Velevet (sic) Underground and George Thorogood galaxies. Though if the description below is correct (though the source says the date was Valentine's Day), Moe Tucker didn't even get to play because of George. That's truly b-b-b-b-bad. But, as Jesse pointed out, Jonathan and Moe did make it into the studio a few days later to record their charming rendition of the VU's "I'm Sticking With You." Was Moe's band really called the Bloody Virgins?! Hmmm, further investigation is warranted.

An eyewitness account? Although the Modern Lovers broke up in 1973, they reformed in '74 (maybe late '73) with a different drummer but that didn't last long because the drummer hated Jonathan. They did at least one concert: Valentine's Day 1974. I was there early with Jonathan so I got to see all the sound checks for all three bands. Unfortunately, the idiot promoters let the mediocre opening band, George Thoroughlynogood and the Delaware Destroyers, play for one hour and 45 minutes. They should have had 25 minutes max. Thus, the Modern Lovers could only play one hour. And the second band couldn't play at all, which is very unfortunate, as it was Mo Tucker's excellent (and totally unknown) all-girl band the Bloody Virgins (but me and Jonathan got to watch their excellent 25-minute sound check). Seven or either years ago, an internet music forum was discussing Mo, and I talked about seeing that band. A noted music critic (and friend of Mo) was pissed off and said that Mo never had any such band and that I was a liar. Luckily, I still had the concert ad and uploaded a photo of it to the forum.

Ernie Brooks: At one of the last gigs we did, when we played “Roadrunner,” we still didn’t have a record out, but that was always a catchy song, and we actually got some applause—and then Jonathan said, “People like that song too much; I don’t think we should do it anymore….” I think it was just part of Jonathan’s natural inclination that when things seemed to be going well—to go against it. He was very contrary. He was very difficult. I mean, anybody who is on to something new has some element of being a contrarian, because they’re rejecting the status quo. They’re doing something in the way they’ve figured out how to do it—and they don’t want to hear something different, even if it could make things better. When Jonathan said, “I won’t play 'Roadrunner' anymore,” it was pretty much the classic case—you can’t really get any more contrarian than that.

#jonathan richman #the modern lovers #moe tucker

[raptorfae53]

Monster High Reimagined

Toralei stripe character bio/redesign

Toralei Stripe (they/he/she)

Harimau Jaidan daughter of the Stripe family (Chinese Malaysian-British)

(Lesbian)

A bad tempered,mistrustful weretiger adopted by a wealthy family of cat Yokai living in Britain, Toraleis had it rough. Abandoned as a young child they've been cycled through the foster system more than they can think and feel detached from their foster mother Caterina Stripe and her standoffish family as a result,being inducted into monster high on caterina’s father's warning of it being a last chance for the girl before being shipped off to a reform school. Toralei personally express their own feelings regarding all of their baggage through playing loud punk music with his band,the Hissfits (consisting of toralei themself on vocals and guitar and their cousins purrsephone and meowlody on bass and drums) much to the dismay of the half of the campus able to hear it.

Likes: punk subculture and music, playing guitar in her band,drama ,taking catnaps (often in class) and dairy products.

Dislikes: crates and enclosed spaces,people trying to tell him how to live his life,being short (5’3),digital only media and his adoptive grandfather and family (bar purrsephone and meowlody, misfits gotta stick together after all)

Killer style: Toralei's mother always insisted on her dressing "properly" to fit in with her family's smart image,since joining monster high however toralei has been rejigging these old clothes into something more "her style", that being punky Sukeban-inspired looks bound to irk her mum's sensibilities.

Familiar: Sweetfangs, a huge orange tomcat that toralei befriended during her childhood as a street kitten,who bears a passing resemblance to a sabretooth tiger and hates everybody but toralei,who in return spoils him.

Pet Peeve: Their adoptive mother, Ms Stripe's insistence on their education being top-priority. Toralei just doesn't know why she even bothers. They've never done well in school,and no students or teachers either human or monster ever put much stock in them either. In a few years both will be out of each others lives anyway,reform school or not,so why even care?

Freaky Flaw: Their self loathing. To say toralei has issues is an understatement,and said issues have manifested into a frustratingly self defeating look on life. To toralei though it's just how it is,she's had to be on their own for most of their life and fight to get what she wants without anyone helping,planting the idea early that it was simply because he wasn't worth helping,and regardless of the changes in her life recently she expects it all to be the same at monster high. After all,if the people who insisted they were there to help never did anything for toralei,why shouldn't this be true for this new lot?

Spooky Secret: Toralei has a very pronounced West Country accent (having grown up in devon) that he masks for fear it makes him sound too “farmer-y” with a pseudo-cockney one, regardless it tends to slip in times of high emotion,including during when they sing,but the fact that they're attending an American school means few are the wiser.

Dream job: Rocking out on the underground punk circuit and touring around the British isles when they're done with school,despite her Foster mothers disapproval and insistence on studying. Although another,more personal reason for this dream lifestyle being that through it toralei hopes to meet other Harimau Jaidan in the UK as well as maybe track down her birth parents on the road in-between shows.

Five Fearsome facts

Harimau Jaidan and by extent other types of werecat are a rare type of monster,even more so outside of their native Malaya and toralei has spent much of her life regardless of setting with this gnawing feeling of isolation. Even if she now has purrsephone and meowlody she's still the only one of her species at monster high,so the feeling of being alone in a crowd remains...

Toralei has a marked dislike for a lot of modern pop music,considering it too corporate and without any genuine message for her liking compared to punk and rock. (Although when their cousins aren't around he does listen to a few of his cousins Jpop CDs,don't tell anybody though…)

Aside from punk subculture,Toralei's other great love is dairy products, and beguiling their hard-edged image,ice cream,boba tea and other sweet treats rank among their all-time favourites. Toralei is also ragingly lactose intolerant but this doesn't stop him.

On top of singing and playing guitar for the Hissfits, toralei makes all of their bands merchandise ranging from badges and stickers to screen printed shirts and posters,and often incorporates some of it into her day-to-day outfits, arguing that actually the printing is intended to be wonky (it's not) and it wouldn't be properly punk if it weren't a little asymmetrical.

As a result of distrusting the model of digital only music distribution, toralei uses a lot of physical media to enjoy their music, using a physical CD player and distributing the hissfits music via burned CDs sold with the bands other merchandise. Toralei also uses said skills in making mixtapes for the people he cares most for in their life and casual Internet piracy.

Hello again everyone, I'm back with another one of these finally (and of one of my favourite monster high characters of all no less) + I'm also very close to finishing another profile so I doubt it'll be long before the next one of these is up,but anyways as usual, an explanation for my design choices:

Having previously drawn my version of toralei,whose design you can see here (hope to do more art of them and the rest of my monster high designs in the future btw) you probably already know that I've changed her monster type from a plain old werecat to a Harimau Jaidan, a were-tiger from Malayan folklore (Inspired by @jdoodlin amazing toralei design,who first introduced me to the Harimau Jaidan concept)

To keep it short, I never liked the "werecat" label, it felt a bit too artificial and I knew that there were multiple sorts of cat monsters from mythologies across the world that would make for much more interesting designs than just plain old cat people,hence why toralei is the only one of the 5 werecats to actually remain a werecat (well,weretiger). As for the others well, you'll just have to watch this space,as I have a whole smorgasbord of ideas for the twins,Catty and Catrine I can't wait to share with you all eventually in art and writing.

Anyways,hope you like this character bio,see you for the next one.

#monster high #monster high reimagined #toralei stripe #my writing

[cottagecore-raccoon]

Basically I was thinking about how Aziraphale was likely taught that mistakes are unforgivable and apologies do nothing (because of Heaven’s no genuine forgiveness policy) and then this happened… (WIP)

Aziraphale was so sorry - of course he was. All he wanted to do was protect the world, just like he had promised to do those many thousands of years ago. And just for a brief moment he thought this might give him the chance to protect Crowley to. Finally. And then that all came crashing down. In hindsight, Aziraphale realized that inviting Crowley back to a place he hated was, as the humans say, “a dick move.” Okay maybe more than that. In the small moments when Aziraphale could sneak to a look at Crowley on earth, Crowley appeared miserable. Aziraphale knew he had hurt him before, this felt… irreparable somehow. Especially more recently, when he noticed Crowley being embraced by their old acquaintances. Between wine nights with Nina, showing Muriel how to run the bookshop, and even getting back in touch with Anathema and Adam, it seemed Crowley had finally moved on. Aziraphale had known for centuries it was only a matter of time before Crowley realized this stuffy old angel who struggled even to commit to the Arrangement wasn’t enough for him. But oh it hurt to know that they ended on such a bad note, and it was all Aziraphale’s fault. Aziraphale wanted desperately to apologize, to tell Crowley how wrong he was to have left him and finally fully express how much he truly means to him. Aziraphale had drafted quite a few apologies, just in the hopes of finally finding a way to fully express how sorry he really was. But seeing Crowley happy again, with friends and loved ones, confirmed what Aziraphale had always thought: he was holding Crowley back. Why should he waste Crowley’s time with a mess of an apology? He’d had his chance to choose Crowley, for them to be together, and he’d hurt him. What kind of horrible person would he be if he just reinstated himself back in Crowley’s life and possible hurt him again? No apology could ever make up for his betrayal of trust, and Aziraphale would just have to learn to live with that. He’s always been a rather lonely angel, minus the past few centuries. He could always go back to that. Oh it would hurt, but he was just out of practice.

But now as Aziraphale sat in St James’s park, cut off once again from Heaven, he realized he had no idea what was left for him. He’d done all he could to reform Heaven, including majorly increasing who could now be admitted (truly Heaven often felt like it hadn’t moved forward since the Flood). But beyond that… Armageddon could never truly be prevented. Heaven and Hell wanted their war, and when they realized the principality created to guard humanity wasn’t going to let that happen… let’s just say leadership decided to move in a different direction. So yes, Aziraphale had achieved some of what he had hoped. But now what? Even just the bench he was sitting on felt far too large just for him. Everything just felt both too much and coated in fuzzy haze that he was far too numb to feel. But then, as Aziraphale stood to leave, he saw him. Crowley, standing just up the path. They made eye contact briefly, before Crowley turned around and returned the way he had come. Aziraphale sat back down on the bench, feeling far too numb to cry.

#I’ve never posted any creative writing before #so hopefully it’s not terrible #I haven’t written creatively in about a decade and I thought it might be worth a try #anyway this isn’t where this ends #I’m still mulling over their actual conversation where things are made okay #good omens #aziraphale #good omens s2 #good omens season 2 #ineffeble husbands #good omens fanfiction #angst

[scruffyplayssonic]

Are the ArchieSonic comics actually an 80's/90's syndicated cartoon? Episode 53: Henchman joins heroes for one time only

Welcome back to my look at the ArchieSonic comic series, and how it shared a lot of the same story tropes as a typical ‘80s or ‘90s syndicated cartoon! In most cartoons the contrast between the heroes and the main villain is pretty black and white. Good is good, bad is bad, and never shall they be able to find common ground. But what about the lesser villains? The henchmen, the mooks, the hired help? Sometimes those guys are portrayed in shades of grey instead…

Episode 53: Henchman joins heroes for one time only 

There could be any number of reasons a henchman might temporarily team up with the good guys. They could be a victim of memory loss or brainwashing, they might have had a disagreement with their boss that drove them into the arms of the heroes before they decide to go back to being a bad guy, they might need the heroes’ help to defeat an even bigger bad that’s usurped their boss, or they might join up with the heroes while claiming to have been reformed but secretly planning to stab them in the back. 

So what about in ArchieSonic? The best example we have here is a scheming little weasel of a man (not literally) named Colin Kintobor Jr, but who is better known as Snively Robotnik.

Hoo boy, now here’s a guy whose loyalties seemed to change at the drop of a hat in ArchieSonic. Let’s take a look at this guy’s history, shall we? 

During the Great War Snively came to Mobotropolis to join his Uncle Julian, supposedly in service of King Acorn. But they were actually plotting a coup and successfully took over the Kingdom, exiling the King to the Zone of Silence and transforming most of the populace into robotic slaves.

Snively remained in the service of the newly rechristened Dr. Robotnik afterwards as his right hand man, although that role was often seen being fulfilled by the badnik Crabmeat in the early issues before Snively was introduced (and sometimes even afterwards). As the years went by Snively started to become more disillusioned and less trusting of his uncle, as Robotnik suffered defeat after defeat at the hands of the Freedom Fighters and started growing more abusive towards Snively. Snively longed to take control of Robotnik’s empire and prove that he could do better, and took full opportunity to try and do so in Sonic #30 when Robotnik was accidentally trapped in another dimension called the Void.

Robotnik soon returned though and the status quo returned to normal (aside from Uncle Chuck having regained his free will and joined forces with the Freedom Fighters). Snively started scheming about how to once again remove his uncle from power and was finally given the chance in Sonic #50 when Robotnik tried to use his superweapon, the Ultimate Annihilator.

The device was programmed to erase Knothole Village from existence, but Snively sabotaged it so that it instead fired on Robotnik himself. Snively didn’t have long to enjoy his self-promotion to CEO of All Things Evil though, as he was captured just a few days later when the Freedom Fighters came a-knocking at the front door.

Snively was imprisoned in the Devil’s Gulag, which led to the stuff I mentioned in one of the recent previous episodes. First there was the mysteriously engineered prison breakout, after which the other escapees put Snively in charge as they believed he was one who had freed them. Following that came the kidnapping of Nate Morgan, and Snively’s supposed death from a giant squid explosion when Nate’s rescue team barged in to save the day. However what actually happened was that at the last possible second he was teleported away and ended up in the clutches of none other than his supposed murder victim.

Maybe he would have been better off with the squid.

So, here’s the bit where I get to the topic of the day. In Sonic #73 the Freedom Fighters finally figured out someone was using a series of satellites to wreak havoc on the planet - causing meteor showers, earthquakes, prison breaks, the re-enslavement of all the formerly freed Robians, fun stuff like that - and went into orbit to investigate. This led to them discovering that the satellites had now combined to form a large space station, run by none other than the very much not-dead Dr. Robotnik. Except surprise, it was a trick!

After taking an accidental acid bath and melting off his fake skin, the big bad revealed himself to actually be Robo-Robotnik, the alternate dimensional counterpart of Robotnik who had tried to rule over all of reality with the Giant Borg. The Freedom Fighters were captured in an electric prison forcefield, but to their surprise Snively released them.

He explained that he needed their help to escape, as Robo-Robotnik intended to roboticise him too. The Freedom Fighters weren’t exactly keen on teaming up with Snively, but they let him escape with them before blowing Robotnik’s space station up and heading back to the surface. Once back on the ground, Snively pointed out that their plan to evacuate back to Knothole Village was doomed to failure, as Robo-Robotnik would have escaped the explosion by downloading his memory into a new body back in Robotropolis (giving birth to his modern Eggman design) and would have a file telling him Knothole’s exact location.

In exchange for keeping him safe from Robotnik’s shadowbots, Snively reluctantly agreed to join Sally and Sonic to sabotage Robotnik’s database and infect him with a virus (literally). 

After that Snively disappeared for awhile, going out on his own and not reappearing until after the Sonic Adventure arc. Robotnik’s army recaptured Snively in Sonic #94, and he agreed to go back to working for Robotnik when he was offered the chance to deal with his previously unmentioned daddy issues.

Having gotten that out of his system - and again, I mean that literally, as Snively willingly let himself be robotocised until the Bem intervened and deroboticised him - Snively stayed in his uncle’s employ until the Xorda invasion of the planet in Sonic #124, during which he mysteriously vanished. For awhile it was believed that Snively had been roboticised again, but this turned out to just be a duplicate that Eggman built for… some reason?

He got bored of it pretty quickly though and had the “Silver Snively” project scrapped. The real Snively resurfaced in Sonic #152 though, when Sonic and his “Angels” (ew) were investigating a city made of nanites that had popped up overnight and was rapidly spreading across the land.

Snively had developed some EMP detonators to halt the nanites, and after he explained himself to Sonic he worked with them to try and end the threat. Surprisingly, after this incident he actually joined the Knothole “Brain Trust” and continued his work on nanite experiments with them for a time.

But he soon wondered what he was doing there and felt that it really didn’t suit him that well. So it was no surprise that when Eggman came sniffing around Knothole and offered Snively his old job back that he accepted the offer.

But what was surprising was that this opportunistic, back-stabbing, power-hungry little man actually did have a moment of hesitation, because he was concerned for the well-being of his “step”sister Hope, who had been living in Knothole as a refugee ever since Eggman had roboticised her father and grandmother.

Snively actually caring about anyone other than himself was something that hadn’t really been seen in the series before, but here he was trying to convince her to leave Knothole so that she didn’t get wiped out with everyone else when Eggman attacked, although of course he didn’t tell her that was the reason. After ensuring Hope’s survival Snively returned to the Eggman Empire, and this time he got a spiffy new uniform to go along with his new position.

Snively stayed on the side of evil all the way through the rest of the pre-reboot era of the series, and ended up paying the price for that when he tried to break from the Eggman Empire and begin his own evil regime.

Following the reboot Snively eventually showed up again, now sporting a beard (possibly to prove he could at least grow hair on his face? LOL) and working as a scientist for GUN.

Commander Tower was rightfully suspicious of his motives, as Snively and Eggman had both previously worked for GUN as a step to creating the Eggman Empire and overthrowing King Acorn while trying to prevoke a war between the Kingdom of Acorn and the United Federation. In this timeline Snively left Dr. Eggman’s service much earlier than in pre-reboot. In fact, he returned to GUN right after the events of Sonic and Knuckles, claiming he’d been forced into working for Eggman and that he had in fact been spying on him the entire time and looking for an opportunity to escape.

Commander Tower let him come back to work for them, expecting that he was planning something shifty and that he would try to stab them in the back, but hoping to catch him in the act. Sure enough, Snively did have some sort of evil plan in the works.

Unfortunately the series was cancelled before we got to see exactly what he had cooking.

I would also like to give a brief shoutout to Bean and Bark for this segment. It’s true that they weren’t part of the Eggman Empire, but they did take on jobs for Eggy as mercenaries for hire - in fact, they were working for him for almost the entirety of the post-reboot series. But there were a couple of times where they briefly joined forces with the heroes too. In Sonic #187 Mammoth Mogul put out a bounty on Sonic, and pretty much every scruffy ne'er do well Sonic had ever fought joined forces to try and take him out.

During this battle Sally offered Bean and Bark double whatever they were being paid to take out Sonic if they helped her fight back against the other mercenaries instead. They quickly agreed and started attacking their former allies, but when the mercs managed to capture Sonic Bean and Bark decided to cut their losses and quickly switched sides again, figuring they might as well get paid by someone. Bean and Bark later also briefly joined forces with Blaze, Marine, Amy and Cream in the Sol dimension to take on the dreaded Captain Metal. Having been sent to the Sol dimension during the second Genesis wave that came with the comics’ reboot, Bean and Bark had initially joined forces with Captain Metal.

But after they stole Captain Metal’s Sol Emerald they came into conflict with both his pirate crew and that of Captain Whisker, and so they ended up working with Blaze’s team against their common enemies.

Are there any other instances of henchmen briefly joining forces with the good guys in ArchieSonic that I missed? Let me know in the comments! Next time I’ll be looking at - what is it again? Let me see here… “Random child rescues hero. The episode’s all about him now.” Hmmm, that’s another tricky one. I’ll have to think hard on that one and see what I can come up with.

#archiesonic syndicated

[forevercloudnine]

Hello! You mentioned in a tag that you think Pamela is Bruce's favorite, and it made me wonder. I'd definitely be interested to hear more on that, if you feel like talking about it! Love hearing your thoughts.

💗💗 So a few years ago I was reading the "Gothtopia" arc and was incredibly amused by Bruce casually letting Ivy escape from Arkham to return a favor she'd done him.

Notably, Ivy was the only inmate imprisoned in Arkham at the time, because Scarecrow locked her up for interfering. So Bruce literally helped her escape and then lied to Jim's face about it. I know you recently read Run, Riddler, Run, so here's an amusing comparison: in this story, Ivy is pointedly not reformed, she punches Bruce in the face before helping him, and Bruce still sets her free. Meanwhile, Bruce rewards the assistance of a reformed Edward by punching him in the face and making sure Edward is re-imprisoned.

And then ever since reading Gothtopia, I’ve just been noting how much more tolerant Bruce seems of Ivy than his other villains. Obviously a large element of that is the metatextual factor of Ivy being a female character-- it would clearly Look Really Bad for artists to depict Batman brutalizing a woman with the same sadistic detail with which they depict him assaulting his male villains. (Though ironically the metahuman plant goddess could probably brush off a punch much easier than his variety of entirely human gimmick villains).

There’s also the factor of writers continuously flip-flopping back and forth on whether or not they’re attracted to each other. I kind of thought Pamela’s current commitment to Harley meant this was over, but then Tynion’s run depicted Ivy as holding the same spot in Bruce’s subconscious as Selina and Talia, so I guess it isn’t (though maybe that just means the attraction is one-sided on Bruce’s part now, which would be an amusing twist on Ivy having an unreciprocated crush on him in the 90′s).

But over time I think Bruce’s faith in Ivy has become less about her being a woman (who he may or may not be attracted to), and more sympathy for her motivations. Especially now that she’s transformed from a femme fatale who wants to be the queen of crime to a zealous ecoterrorist who wants to save the planet.

For as much as their interests are entirely alien to each other (Ivy wants to protect nature, often at the cost of human life; Bruce wants to protect human life, often at the cost of... well, human life, actually), their obsessive dedication to doing what they think of as “good” is very similar. Which means Ivy is easier to negotiate with than other villains, since she has goals beyond greed or sadism that Bruce is able to compromise on. Which means it’s easier for Bruce to believe in her capacity for good, in a way that he normally doesn’t bother to believe in his villains, because it’s inevitable that they’ll disappoint him. Which also means that he GIVES Ivy opportunities to disappoint him...

Detective Comics #823 is a huge point of frustration to me because the concept is so fascinating and the execution is just ENDLESS objectification to the point that it almost erases the plot (story of my life trying to read Paul Dini’s writing). But I love the bones of it as a comic where Bruce sympathizes with Pamela, to the point of letting her stay in the Batcave to protect her from an attacker (I can’t even think of another example of Bruce doing this for a villain, outside of Joker in the BTAS comics, and doesn’t that say a lot on its own). But then he discovers evidence of Ivy having recently gruesomely murdered several people, and he is so illogically hurt and betrayed by this-- a woman he knows is a murderer having murdered people-- that he threatens to kill her.

It’s not uncommon for Bruce to threaten his villains with death (I have a whole subfolder on my computer dedicated just to times where he does so with Mr. Freeze), but it’s fascinating to me that Bruce frames the threat here as a question. He wants her to give him a reason to believe in her, even though he has just been faced with undeniable evidence that her view of human life is fundamentally incompatible with his. But Ivy doesn’t give him a reason-- she just calls him on his bluff, which I love.

In the current continuity, Ivy is honestly less Bruce’s supporting character so much as she is Harley’s, but Bruce IS still the main character of DC Detective Comics, so they still interact on occasion. Although ironically, I think the most recent example of my point is actually Ivy’s ex-girlfriend Bella comparing the two of them in Batman Secret Files: The Gardener.

Bella believes that Bruce will ignore her and simply try to imprison Ivy more effectively, which is probably what he would have done normally: Bruce is extremely set in his ways, and his way is to drag any villains he defeats back to Arkham even though he knows Arkham helps no one. The 2021 Detective Comics Annual was all about how Bruce still has to be dragged kicking and screaming into investing in the idea of any criminal being reformed, and resolutely does not consider it his responsibility to help them do so.

Ironically, however, we know that Bruce DID listen to Bella. The issue with their conversation is set in the timeline right before Everybody Loves Ivy, which ends with Bruce deciding to bring Pamela to “Sanctuary,” the therapy center he helped build for superheroes, rather than bringing her back to Arkham. His dialogue with Ivy even uses a lot of Bella’s points here, which is very fun retrospective writing from Tynion. But then Heroes in Crisis happened and... well, Bruce’s attempt to help her instead of hurt her ultimately made everything worse, and has now domino effect led to her current solo series where she is trying to kill off a significant portion of the planet’s human population. (In his defense, Bella’s attempts to fix Ivy also failed and backfired just as spectacularly.) But the fact that Bruce was willing to try is notable and so fascinating to me, since as a character he’s so resistant to setting himself up for disappointment.

#pamela isley #poison ivy #bruce wayne #all of this being said: for about 15 years from the 80's to the 90's their relationship was so terrifying and toxic #that even though ivy was still clearly developing her modern moral compass #bruce's opinion of her was entirely shaped by whether or not he was under her influence at the moment #and so there are a lot of panels i could pull where his narration is pro-ivy or believing ivy can be redeemed #but they're a) not genuine. and b) usually balanced out by him being extremely cold to her out of anger #also i don't think stories where ivy exhibiting a moral compass is a symptom of her crush on batman should count anyway #anyway thank you for the question!!! i had a lot of fun panel hunting for this one

[extremelyputridfishbreath]

How about Scrabble and Chauncey?

ah yes...scrabbear my belabbear

So! More recent pairing than my older ones but it quickly became near and dear to my heart. And to think, if not for this jokey sketch these two would still be bachelors... (Well, I did consider the idea of Skip reforming and dating Chauncey early on after making him...but that's obviously not how things shook out here. Sorry Skip!)

I think Scrabble was the one to fall in love first. I like to think the 'spark' for his feelings towards Chauncey started when Chauncey tried explaining to him and Gin about the value of complimenting people (since while the two of them are friendly to each other in their own ways, they're very inconsiderate of other's feelings pre-reformation) and complimented Scrabble's eyes. Example or not, nobody had ever said something so nice about his eyes before and it caught Scrabble's interest.

Chauncey on the other hand, took longer to realize he liked Scrabble. (Though it was obvious to Mukluk first). Look guys, I'm not gonna sugarcoat it. Chauncey likes bad boys. Even if they're pathetically evil and think running around as his colleagues while saying dumb things is peak villainy, or helping Gin steal trophies because she got angry about getting a participation award again. Beyond that, when Scrabble isn't causing problems for everyone and everything...Chauncey actually finds him to be pretty funny.

Despite still being a villain when he first caught feelings for Chauncey, Scrabble didn't want Chauncey to become evil...he liked his friendly personality just fine! But like, if Chauncey wanted to y'know, join him and Gin to mess with penguins...that'd be awesome.

Despite her general distaste for EPF agents, and Chauncey at the time...at the end of the day, Gin is pretty ride or die. So despite wishing Scrabble fell in love with literally anyone else, I imagine she ended up trying to support him.

Richter and Mukluk however...well. Richter was deeply concerned about the idea of Chauncey returning Scrabble's feelings, not to mention the idea of them both dating. As for Mukluk...well, they thought it was hilarious. A drawing fell in love with their brother? AND he obviously likes it back? Funny stuff... Though Richter reluctantly became more accepting of their relationship when they became official (she still worries about Chauncey's well-being), Mukluk still sees it as a source of comedy. Which ah, does not bode well since they get along with Scrabble as well as water and hot oil.

Honestly? ...I can see these two meeting up out in the woods to hang out. Even if they weren't dating at the time...it was still exciting to hang out and be secret...friends? Sure, yeah. Friends. I'm sure this was another factor in Scrabble's redemption arc.

Anyway I like imagining Scrabble goes completely limp like that when he's relaxed. So for Chauncey to be holding him without him getting squirmy is the ultimate form of trust!

I also like to imagine that Doodle Dimensioners profess their love by presenting...ship art of themself and their potential partner, and if they accept then they become a couple. But since Scrabble is terrified of drawing people (and especially himself) he presented a drawing of a cozy beach-side to Chauncey because it reminded him of Chauncey. He loved it! (But ah, he didn't know what it meant and Scrabble thought it was a universal custom. Oops! I'm sure they worked things out, though.)

Anyway Scrabble's love language is gift giving and physical affection (despite being paper, he's actually a great hugger!) and Chauncey's is physical affection and words of affirmation.

Honestly I like to think they're one of those couples who are so sweet to each other they make your teeth hurt. In the good way.

They didn't get together right away when Scrabble became an agent...buuuut I'd say it took a year, maybe a year and a half at max before they became a pair.

Thanks to Chauncey's voiceclaim being RDP Rainbow Dash, I always think of this song when I think about this pairing.

I don't think they'd have a wedding, to be honest. I think they'd just eat a cake without the bells and whistles and call it a day. Even as a reformed guy, Scrabble doesn't like fitting in and prefers to stand out. Chauncey likes the simplicity of just being partners and doesn't feel the need to "make it official". Just being with Scrabble is good enough for him.

Aaaand that's all I can think of to ramble about (for now) about these two! As with the last two ship posts, if you want to hear about a couple (or throuple) send in an ask about one of these pairings.

As of this post, the pairings off the table due to being covered already are...

Chauncey x Scrabble

Muffin x Lorna

Meredith x Aunt Arctic

#club penguin ocs #club penguin oc #club penguin #scrabble #chauncey c. bear #god coming up with a fun pose was hard but im happy with it #beary sketchy #<- alternate tag because i like puns

[kerryweaverlesbian]

Lofty of BBC's Holby City was maybe one of the worst characters on the show. Is this a hot take? Do people outside of me and my family somehow adore Lofty? I can't imagine how. Here is my hateful mean and nasty reasoning. Read at your own risk I'm not accepting criticism at this time lmao:

A) he was effective comic relief on Casualty because it's the Emergency Department and moments of Lofty tripping over or doing a social faux pas are necessary tension breakers in episodes where people are constantly at deaths door.

Casualty is (when it's GOOD) required to have at least a third of the episode dedicated to a narsty horrible accident (hell yeah) and tensions are always running high so you can see how having someone a be awkward is not going to be the worst thing that happened to them that day.

Holby City is a more hospital staff focused show (although again. If there's less than a third of an episode focused on patients it is probably a bad episode. PLEASE HAVE PATIENTS IN YOUR HOSPITAL SHOW.) but there's a lot of waiting around for people in Holby because it's the longer term care zone. If Lofty is dropping stuff in the background of scenes with this lower energy it suggests he has some sort of untreated disability rather than 'argh I'm frantic OOPS'. He is painted more as incompetent on Holby compared to their more grounded staff. Which makes everyone ELSE look incompetent for putting up with it. (To be clear!!!! I'm not saying people with disabilities are incompetent lol if he had one it would have been a storyline!! And if he had one and none of the doctors who see him every day flagged it it also makes them look incompetent. He doesn't CARE enough to be CAREful. And in a show ABOUT caring for vulnerable people as far as you absolutely can. That's a big problem.)

Like the thing is. Characters on Casualty can be one note architypes forever because they're doing medical CSI. Holby spends so much more time with the cast, they NEED to become more complicated and Lofty never does, he's the same guy no matter what happens. The only other guy like that in Holby is the incomparable Guy Self and he's a villain! He is a villain for never changing or trying for anyone! And even he TRIES to reform occasionally. Lofty (and the SHOW) doesn't see a problem with him perpetually disengaging from making emotional choices, putting most of the work of maintaining relationships on other people, and generally coasting through a profession that everyone else is giving 110% to. The building could be on fire and he'd wander outside and not think to rescue any of the patients unless someone else told him to.

B) the B is for Bisexual. Bisexual representation on Holby City where he cheats on his husband with a woman. It's a yikes from me.

C) speaking of Dom. God their relationship was horrible. POOR FUCKING DOM. tw abuse. Lofty talks to and believes Dom's abusive ex over him? He hugs the guy that RECENTLY pushed Dom down a flight of stairs? And they're still supposed to be a cutesy couple by the end of this? He shuts down Dom's excitement constantly? Hello??

D) the D is again for Dom because. It's their one year anniversary. By the way it was on their honeymoon that Dom couldn't go on to support his sick mother that Lofty cheated on Dom. Just by the way. BY THE WAY if your husband says he's going to stay home for your honeymoon and insists you go by yourself so he can stay home to support his sick mother. Maybe. Hm. Stay and support him instead. Just a fucking thought.

Lofty decides it's not working and they amicably split up (Dom is an angel sent from gay heaven by the way. I perhaps have my biases.) Dom kindly gives him the quirky and personal gift he'd bought him for their one year wedding anniversary as Lofty unicycles away (it may have been a bicycle but I picture it as a unicycle). Lofty gives him. Nothing. Which means that this man sat there as they planned a big anniversary party and not ONCE. not ONCE did he consider buying Dom an anniversary present. Because he's an arse!!!!

E) he only does this :| or this :/ for any emotion. I love characters with flat affects, for example my close personal friends Hannah Supernatural, Abed Community, and also as well my actual real human friends who do this 💖💖💖. HOWEVER. Lofty doesn't show emotion any OTHER way either. There IS nothing going on in his heart. He has passion for nothing. He goes where other people point. He avoids giving his opinion because he doesn't have any. This makes him a bad tv character for a drama. Opinion IS story on Holby. There is an issue, they all take sides and fight over it, and he doesn't get involved.

Anyway. Show's been over for over a year I will never have to see Lofty's face ever again as long as I live unless I for some reason decide to do a bizarre Holby City Rewatch and keep going to season 19.

By the way as I was looking up when he came to the Holby side of Holby City Hospital, I found this quote from his wiki page:

"Lofty is portrayed as a nice person who is likeable and popular."

Hm. He IS PORTRAYED as a nice person. The show thinks he's a nice person who is likable. However.

This concludes my ministry of hate.

#perhaps i am giving more credit to holby's character arcs than they truly deserve lmao #it's possible I just like the characters more so invent more depth for them than those on Casualty #but I don't think that's true. charlie fairhead growth (nonexistent) vs jac naylor growth in the same timeframe #btw I hate charlie too is THAT a hot take dhahfjs he's annoyingggg #anti lofty #is that a tag snfbsnf #if YOU like lofty I don't hate YOU and I hope this doesn't come up in the Lofty tag #i just started thinking about this man and it pissed me off all over again. he SUCKS. #if you're reading this not knowing anything about these shows. hello 👋 👋 hi!!! #Casualty is the BBCs answer to ER and Holby City is a spinoff that focuses on long term patients #they are both set in the same hospital. they will go in a lift and arrive in the other show's location #frequently one will blow up or be otherwise destroyed (for example Casualty's hilarious helicopter crash for a 300th episode that killed. #zero members of the main cast. no permanent changes occuered from this helicopter crash) #also they have different pubs outside that the staff frequent. and different porters. #and different outside buildings which do not show the other side #and riots outside one while the other is unaffected #this is fine and good!!! but it is funny

[binxdoesgaming]

Man oh man do I have a Fortnitemares concept idea well into fucking February. :') Also heads up, some spoilers for STW's main story and seasonal questlines down below

Y'all remember Dark Ray? From the Long Way Home Questline? And how she was from an alternate reality where she became """evil""" because she failed to save Homebase? What if there were also bad timeline versions of the other 3 Homebots (Kevin, Pop, and Lok) and ended up reforming into a bad end version of the group.

Pop I'd feel would be based off his little evil arc from early-mid Plankerton. Never quite got off it and maybe went off the deep end and eventually somehow got the commander killed through his "pranks" and just kinda throw Homebase off kilter. After all is said and done, he'd probably have the realization that "shit, I really don't have anyone from home left". Not quite to the extent of Dark Ray's, but he'd have the Epiphany. Whilst he wouldn't exactly be helpful, he'd also maybe not try to get anyone killed— instead just taking it out on wild husks and in turn become a well versed fighter.

Lok would most definitely be based off the Tales of Beyond Questline where he encounters the cube. Instead of the cube just up and leaving after it ends, he'd probably have some form of cube corruption seen in characters from BR (Dark Bomber, Dark Red Knight, etc.)— but would have gained some powers in return. Mostly 1. Being able to see into the future like Dark Jonesy in Ch2S8; 2. The ability to control a little cube magic (think Glyph Master Raz boss from ch2s6); and 3. Lightning. Little man is a toaster and a robot so that would probably just come natural to him.

Kevin... Kevin is a weird case because he barely shows up in the game at all. Only things we know about him is that he's the local technologist/engineer, a bit of a neat freak, may or may not have anger issues, almost nobody at homebase likes him aside from Kyle, Ned, and most likely Lok because he doesn't have a single hateful bone in his body, and can possibly even run Homebase in the case Ray isn't there. Legitimately the most this gay lil robot has spoken was in the Clip's Nightmare Questline which hasn't returned, in which it seems he actually has a little friendship going on with Carter since she doesn't instantly hate him. So yeah, not much to work with on him. I was thinking maybe a version of him where he somehow gets involved with ghosts and the Door to Darkness? Another where he gets involved with the cube (because know, Kevin and Kevin). It was hard, but recent events just gave me an idea for him. In the recent update, we got a leak of ch4s2's STW pack which contains Ned. More specifically the time traveling one from The Long Road Home. And with him he has Kevin. Like actual Kevin. Not only is he cute as fuck, but it gave me an idea. Maybe sometime after the events of Canny, this version of Kevin wanted to continue Desiree's work on rifts to see how it would help stop the storm. And whist doing this research ends up getting stuck in a rift that went through multiple realities, some of them from the same world he was from— but something was different. He couldn't find the one that was his own and kept traveling from rift to rift. In turn, it would affect him by having different parts of him from different realities merge and himself constan stabilizing and destabilizing. It would be like he simultaneously would exist in multiple realities and none. Think of what happened with Eternal Voyager in Batman: Zero Point— but he was able to keep himself together somehow.

As for how'd they'd find each other, I would say it would be in part thanks to Rift Kevin and he'd find the different versions of his siblings and take them along with him so they wouldn't have to be in these realities that had ended this way.

#fortnite #fortnite stw #fortnite save the world #im getting tired so I'm gonna stop for now #but i want to draw these concepts someday #thank yall for reading my ramblings

[covertblizzard]

unrelated things i apparently wrote in the note which is supposed to be for me to take down my fic ideas when they pop up to me while i am away from my laptop

GRAVITY IS NOT PLAYED AROUND ENOUGH IN GL LORE, DOES THE LANTERN FIX THIS? (context: i want them to be bouncy on the moon and weighed down in some big big planets, etc., but mostly bouncy on the moon)

Bruce, halfheartedly trying to dissuade dick from dating wally: isn't it weird to date your father's coworker? Dick, pulling a face: ew why would you phrase it like that ^^Me everytime i think of justice league animated flash being wally

Do you think humans reminder of things come from societal and genetic memory and fears too? Like why we think things were giant before and they WERE giant before like mice do this right? (context: i could explain this but it would take me like paragraphs so eh)

Something something batfam lovers will be like "jason is wrong for killing" and also  "jason should kill XX family member's abuser for them and take on some kind of protector figure role". So you agree then? You agree that it is cathartic for victims to get closure and it's sometimes maybe okay to kill morally reprehensible people in a fictional setting? And look! I think it's super important that Batman sends out the no-kill rule for irl context! I think as popular as Batman is, with a he can kill agenda, it's potentially VERY dangerous and can inspire others to take up arms against what they think is right and killing for it. That's no good, very bad! I don't even agree with death sentences / capital punishments and I think it should be abolished! But at the same time, it IS also fiction. I don't want to get into rights and wrongs because that's a whole other point. (And DAMN do I hate the "judge, jury, executioner" argument, like the point of having these separate is for impartiality but when the court system is literally so screwy, you can put in 10 roles and it could be less just than 1 person, court =/= justice especially when court is unfair and the court IS unfair both in the real world and in universe. Just think about the number of people turned away from seeking justice because "you're right, but there's no way to win this case because XXX reason, but it would just cost you a bomb" and that this is relatively considered a NORM. I could say "just think of the recent scandalous semi-well-known ruling you've heard" and it doesn't matter WHEN you’re reading the post, something popped up in your mind. I'm not saying what anyone is doing within the court system ISN'T important or isn't worthwhile, and I'm sure there are many passionate amazing people working hard to bring justice to people, but I also think it needs a reformation that I rarely ever see discussed.)

#mypost #this is just like... brain spam or something #the jason one is meant to be an actual post actually which is why it is so much more typed out #i am still undecided if it should be it's own post or what so it's just here now #the mice thing... i am still thinking about it #do you think we have genetic memories of our far far far far far relatives of weird fishes? #if i were a green lantern i would bounce on the moon

[embraceyourdestiny]

Unfinished half baked theory from my drafts?

OH MY GOD MOM AND THE DARKNESSES MAKING COPIES OF EVERYONE????

In kh3 there are So many versions of every character. The Sortas. The Xehanorts. Aqua and Dark Aqua. All the replicas. The returned Organization and their reformed selves. The multiple timelines of characters because of time traveling.

And now I’m reading this thread that’s saying “dark Riku, young xehanort and vanitas (maybe even sora) have versions of themselves possessed by the darknesses.”

There’s literally five billion versions of Sora in some way shape or form in kingdom hearts. The copies are all of very influential people to the series. Riku. Xehanort. Ven in KhUX. It only makes sense for them to use people familiar and important to (this groups’) history. The Master seemed to be very fascinated by Ventus. Why did he conjure that whole plan of betrayal and make one of the biggest pieces Ven becoming a dandelion? Ven is the character we know the least about of and yet he was very important to the story of KhUX and a lot of it surrounding MoM.

And MoM knows history. He’s read the book of prophesies and Sora is clearly important. That’s why Sora’s fate ends as it does in kh3. MoM knew it would and or/made happen. Sora gets the X-blade and we see MoM looking very calm and maybe even accomplished in the secret ending of remind. He frames the moon into kingdom hearts, his plan reaching its peak.

But at the same time, the darknesses has been working against MoM’s plans the entire time. They’re long time enemies, said by MoM himself in KhUX, and they will always fight with each other.

If there is an opposing force to darkness, wouldn’t that be Light?

We’re literally watching a version of a chess match between the forces of Darkness and Light.

MoM has always framed himself as a good guy and

And you know what’s interesting? How fitting that is. The Master of Masters is a very haughty character. He cares little of human affairs and acts as though they’re beneath him.

He calls himself the Master of Masters. He acts above everyone else, as if they are beings beneath him, and distances himself from their feelings and thoughts as he unfolds a plan while using them as his pawns. It’s all a game to him. Like it doesn’t matter. And he detests the darkness, thinking himself just and then inferior. Either MoM is the idea of (human) rhimself or he He’s even managed to get a shortened name, MoM

WHY, AS KINGDOM HEARTS GONE ON, ARE THERE SO MANY COPIES OF EVERY GODDAMN CHARACTER?

ITS LITERALLY AN ONGOING JOKE IN THE FANDOM THAT IN KINGDOM HEARTS YOURE EITHER A SORA COPY OR A XEHANORT COPY

And why the hell is that???? I’m not saying in the beginning it was intentional but after some point in kingdom hearts nomura clearly said fuck it and decided that Multiple Versions Of The Same Character Is Awesome. So it’s entirely possible nomura saw an idea he liked and decided to do more with it.

So why wouldn’t MoM, the height of antagonist and this point, and Darkness, the omnipotence force we know nothing about but has been extremely entertaining and central to this story and recently has had its reputation cleaned up as something that isn’t only bad and can be good, have that idea?

It’s know that khux was sort of a passion project to nomura based on how much feeling and effort there is behind it, especially through storytelling.

#og #idk where I was going with this lmao