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purplekiwis · 1 year

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You've got a new professor, and an obsession with his hands...

Genre: Sculptor!Harry | Professor!Harry x Student!Y/N

Warnings: +18 (smut... but not yet)

Wordcount: 3.7k

A/N: i'm not the best at photomontages so please don't roast me, I tried 😅

THIS IS A MULTI-PART SERIES. YOU CAN CHECK THE SERIES MASTERPOST : HERE AND PART 2 HERE

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Hands.

His were artful,

Perhaps even an art form in and of themselves: smooth, veiny, with steady joints and capable and patient fingertips.

The hands of a craftsman - suitable for creating planets, galaxies, and even entire universes if they so desired. Both harsh and gentle, they tore, kneaded, and poked… only to stroke softly in the end.

The hands of a lover,

Those were my ceramics professor’s hands.

I bit the hidden part of my lip as I watched them move with conviction. Across the slickness, bare and sticky as they pried deeper and deeper, widening as they went and doing as they pleased.

I felt the urge to push my thighs together as I seemingly always did whenever my professor came closer, but I couldn’t because of the potter's wheel blocking my way - the one where he was fixing the crooked clay pot I had tried to make. “Next time, try using a little less water, okay? Your clay has gotten too soft… that’s why you're having trouble getting it even.”

“So less water than this time, but more than last time?” My struggle to get it right made me feel a little embarrassed, but I wanted him to know that I was listening and trying my best. He nodded in response to my question. “Okay, um- I'll try to do it correctly next time. Thanks for resurrecting my project and making it right again.”

My professor smiled warmly at me, noticing I was becoming discouraged by making so many mistakes. “No worries, I’m happy to help.” I watched him as he stood up, washed his hands in my water bowl and dried them on the rag he kept in his pottery apron. “Don't be afraid to muck around with what I've made. You're supposed to take it apart and rebuild it.”

“If I touch it, I'll ruin it and you'll need to come back for assistance again.”

A soft chuckle escaped his lips as he shook his head. “I don't want you worrying about that. That’s why I’m here, to fix up your messes.” He sat on the stool next to me again for a moment, and when he spoke, he kept his voice low. “I want you to take it less seriously. Have fun with it — work it ‘til your wreck it. Don’t beat yourself up about it. That’s common blunder for someone who’s starting. We’ve all been there.”

“Thanks,” I smiled a little more assuredly. “I'll try to keep that in mind.”

He smiled back as he stood up from the stool. “No problem, just ask if you need anything.”

While I wasn’t sure how I got into the habit of fantasizing about my professor's hands, I did know how I ended up in his class.

I was a Product Design student.

Frankly, only because I didn’t have the grades to enroll in Interior Design like I’d always aspired to. Product Design was the second-best option that would still give me a chance of breaking into the field if I chose my classes wisely.

In order to achieve that goal, I had been planning to take a class on inclusive design this year. However, as I was about to submit my application, my computer crashed, forcing me to reenter all of my information again. Because of this, by the time I made it back to the page, most of the students had already chosen, leaving only statistical literacy and ceramics as open options.

None of those options had even the slightest appeal to me, which naturally made me incredibly frustrated at the time but, at least the choice was clear between them. Anything with the word statistics in it sounded absolutely dreadful and combining it with the word literacy somehow made it sound even worse… so I chose ceramics, despite the fact that I had never tried my hand at it.

That was why I was now behind all of my classmates, which didn't make me feel great, even though no one had made me feel inferior about my lack of skill yet… not even our professor. He was very sweet and attentive, without always being on top of me, which I appreciated. He gave me the freedom to try things on my own, but as soon as he noticed my eyes searching for him, he'd come over to check things out and lend a helping hand.

This wasn't always a positive thing because sometimes the only reason I was looking was because I couldn’t take my eyes off him. It wasn't just his hands that I kept staring at; I found him captivating in all aspects.

His hair was cool. I liked how he kept it in a messy bun and tucked flyaways behind his ears when they landed on his face. He dressed really cute too, I thought — creative yet casual, and the stubble he occasionally sported when he neglected to shave was sexy as hell.

I wasn’t fully aware of his age, but he couldn't have been much older than me when he had finished his Ph.D. in Fine Arts the previous year. In the rumor mill, he had been invited to teach shortly after earning his degree due to his extraordinary talent for clay sculpting, that had made him stand out at our university ever since he started studying there.

He hadn't shown much of his personal work outside of what he did during his school years, but I had heard through the grapevine that erotic themes were his specialty. Another thing I had heard was that because he made art under a pseudonym that he kept as a secret from most people, his work was very difficult to find online.

That bothered me a little because I was interested and wanted to see it, especially after learning that pleasure was the subject he enjoyed exploring the most. Among my classmates, I knew some made jokes about him being a pervert who had only wanted to come teach to score with the female students. My gut told me that wasn't the case, and I was miffed by those people who couldn’t comprehend that someone could find sex fascinating enough to want to depict it in most of their art without being sleazy. Fortunately, I wasn't one of them. I found sex to be an intriguing topic as well… I enjoyed having it, looking at it, and having thoughtful conversations about it.

“Professor,” I called as we finished class. I was still sat by my wheel, while everyone was cleaning and washing up. Being completely honest, I wanted to leave as well… but I made myself stay so I could make my pot look more presentable. “If you're leaving, could you please leave the room key with me? I was planning to stay a little longer.”

He seemed surprised that I wanted to stay.

I noticed his gaze fall on the collapsing walls of my pot as he handed me the key, but he was merciful enough not to comment. “Feel free to stay as long as you like. I'm taking a coffee break, but I'll be back as well.”

Finding that my professor was coming back made the prospect of staying more enticing. I wasn't expecting a lot of interaction with him, though… I didn't want to be a bother, so I would avoid requesting his assistance. It was already embarrassing enough to ask for it in class, even if he kept assuring me it was perfectly okay to do so…

Professor Harry returned to the classroom after about 10 minutes, seeming happy to find me still there. As he walked inside, he cracked a lighthearted joke about how surprised he was that I hadn't destroyed anything yet. I snorted a laugh and said that I was surprised too.

I observed him carefully as he re-tied his apron around his waist. It seemed like everything the man did attracted me. The way his triceps flexed with movement, the contours of his back, the ease with which his fingers tied the knot. None of these things escaped my attention.

“Would it be okay if I turned on some music?” Due to my dry mouth, it took me longer than it should have to answer his question. “I'm not a big fan of working in silence, but it’s okay if you are…”

“Oh, please, go ahead.” I was finally able to react, but my voice came out weird. “I don't particularly enjoy working in silence either...”

My professor smiled, then walked over to his desk and sat down at his laptop. “Have you got any special requests?”

I pretended to contemplate for a moment, but I didn't want to be the one picking the music. I wanted him to choose because I was nervous about accidentally having him listen to something he didn't like… and I was also curious about his musical tastes. “Not really, no. I'm not picky. I like most music.” That part was true, but he seemed skeptical. “Just pretend I'm not here and play whatever music you normally listen to.”

The look on his face was still skeptical, but he agreed. “Okay, I will. Just let me know if you don't like it so I can switch to something you like best.”

He put on Woodkid's Warm Core album and looked at me to see if I was keen on the choice. “This is cool. I like it.” It was the kind of alternative music I anticipated he would listen to, being an artist and all, and it made me happy because I also liked it.

“Alright, good. If at any point you decide that you no longer like it, feel free to request a change.” I was getting a little hot over how much he was focusing on making sure I liked his music. I’d always had this conviction that one of the ways to tell if a guy is good in bed is to look for signs that he is considerate and eager to please – and already, my professor was scoring points in that department. I glanced at him, and I believe he noticed because he asked, “Is there anything you need help with, or should I just let you do your thing and keep to myself?”

“Um…” I stammered, returning my attention to the horrible looking pot I was working on. I had been right the first time. I shouldn't have touched it after he fixed it for me. “I'm holding up for now. Thanks, professor.”

He smiled at me. “You can leave out the “professor” when we're outside of class. That term is still settling in for me… it's a bit off-putting to be addressed that way when I was also a student here just a year ago - especially when I can't be that much older than you, right?”

I joined him in his smile. “Yeah, I get what you mean. I suppose it's not weird for me because I don't remember seeing you at school last year. How old are you, though, just out of curiosity?”

“I’m 27, you?”

“Wow, you’re really old...” He wasn’t, really… especially since I had assumed he would be in his thirties, given that he was a professor and all. I snorted when he side-eyed me from across the room, where he’d been tidying up and organizing the equipment the students had left behind. “I was just kidding. I'm 22, so...”

His brows furrowed slightly in response to my reveal. “So you're a little older than the rest of the class. Makes sense, you seem a bit more grown-up in comparison to them.” I took that as a compliment because, while my classmates weren't much younger than me – they had to be around 19 – some still acted like teenagers in many ways. “Also, since you mentioned not seeing me at school last year… that’s because I went abroad for a few months to study, and then I had to wrap up my thesis, so I didn't come very often.”

“Oh, that's cool. Where did you go?”

“Norway, to Oslo more specifically. It's a city I think everyone should visit if they ever get the chance to. I had a wonderful time there.” He turned his head away from what he was doing to look at me. “Have you ever thought about going abroad for school?”

“I've thought about it, but I don’t know. It doesn't really call to me right now, to be honest... maybe next year.” I was really interested in hearing more about Harry's experience in Norway, so I shifted the focus of the conversation back to that. “What was the best part of it for you?”

I could tell he was excited to talk about it, as evidenced by the sparkle in his eye. “A difficult question, that. I loved the landscapes and food there, as well as the people. Oslo’s a beautiful city, and it has an amazing art scene that's definitely worth exploring.” He paused for a moment, laughed, and then spoke again, “But I guess I should say that meeting Astrid, my girlfriend, was probably the best part.”

“Wow, that's... something.” Something I'd rather he didn't have, I thought to myself despite my amenable expression. “Has she traveled all the way here with you?”

“Oh no, she stayed in Oslo. We've been doing long-distance and stuff… it isn't always easy, but we make it work.” I could tell by the look on his face that he had somewhat regretted sharing that with me. “Anyway, you should give the studying abroad thing some more thought... you seem like someone who would enjoy that kind of thing. You give off a good vibe.”

“Ha, thanks... so do you. I really like your style.”

I saw his cheeks flush at my compliment. “I don’t put a lot of thought into my clothes, to be honest. Most of the time, I just throw on whatever.”

“Well, it works, so...” Seeing me shrug, he smiled, but said nothing further. I figured the conversation was over and got back to my work. Harry did the same thing; except he was no longer cleaning up and was instead using his laptop. Even though I stayed another hour, he didn't leave until I did, which made me feel bad because it made me wonder if he had stayed on purpose to be there in case I needed anything. “Do you usually stay here until this late?” I inquired as he closed the classroom door.

“Um… it depends, sometimes I do, but if you weren't here I would’ve probably left earlier.”

His confession caused a small contraction in my heart. I now regretted staying for so long, especially since I had spent some of that time merely acting as though I was working. “Oh, I'm so sorry. You didn’t have to do that. I would have been fine by myself. I just wanted to practice.”

“Oh no, don't get me wrong. I stayed longer because I wanted to. I live alone, so… I am by myself a lot. It was nice to have company for a change.”

“Ah, I see...” That was something I hadn’t considered before, but it made sense. Most of Harry’s university friends were probably no longer around, or if they were, perhaps he'd lost touch with them after going away for so many months. That had happened to me with my high school friends, so I knew how it felt. “I was actually planning on doing this more frequently to see if I could improve my pottery skills, so… you're welcome to keep me company if that's something you'd like to do.”

He acknowledged my invitation with a courteous smile. “Ah, thanks. I appreciate that.” When he didn't respond right away, I assumed he wasn't interested, which made me feel stupid for having suggested it. Why would he want to spend time with a student five years his junior? He was probably cringing at the thought. That was what I was assuming, until he started speaking again after a pause. “I reckon as long as you really don't mind me being around, that could be something that works for me.”

•·················•·················•

Over the course of a couple of weeks, it became a habit for me and Harry to spend time together after class. Most times, more than once a week. The days when I didn’t have class until late, I would wander to the atelier after his class and spend the next few hours there. It was really easy to get along despite our slight age difference.

I didn't know Harry well enough to say that we had a lot in common, but we just clicked really well. Having a conversation with him was easy, and his presence was warm and reassuring.

We would sometimes work separately, but Harry had taken it upon himself to teach me the things I had been falling behind on. He taught me how to use a kiln to fire and glaze pottery, as well as a bunch of different building and decorating techniques. I liked the last one most because he got to sit next to me and help me paint and texturize. I was really proud of a mug we had made together. Harry had commented that the wavy handle I had made for it looked like the tail of a fish when we put it in, so we went on to decorate the rest of the mug to fit that concept.

“You’re a good painter…” He complimented me as I painted the fish’s fins. I wrinkled my nose at him. Painting had always been a fun activity for me, but I had never considered myself good at it. Harry, on the other hand, was a true artist, thanks to his Fine Arts training and skillful hands…

I looked at the fin I'd drawn and noticed that it was unmistakably more unsightly than the one on the picture I was taking inspiration from. Harry couldn't possibly believe I was talented as a painter. He was just trying to say something nice.

“What? I'm serious…” He assured me, appearing a little surprised by my doubtful demeanor. “And you have a great eye for color too.”

“Hmm, I find that last one is a little more believable; I'll take it.” I said before returning to straightening out my wonkiest brush strokes. I'd spent enough time designing pretty rooms in Intericad Lite to feel reasonably confident on my ability to mix and match colors so, accepting that compliment wasn't too difficult. Besides that isn’t really a talent, is it? It's something a lot of people have.

“Hey,” Harry’s voice drew my attention back to him. “I meant both of the things I said. I wouldn’t have said anything if I didn’t.”

The seriousness I was met with when I looked into Harry's eyes made me feel emotional and flustered at the same time. “Thanks,” I smiled a little before looking down at my mug. “I think I haven't gotten a compliment on my painting skills since I was a little kid…”

“You used to get compliments on it when you were little?”

“Sometimes, yeah… mainly from teachers because I always colored inside the lines.”

“I think it's really unfortunate that we stop getting compliments as we get older… I can't really complain because I've been lucky to grow up in a supportive environment, but I know that after a certain point in most people’s lives criticism becomes the norm, while praise for rightdoing is never given.”

“Yeah, that’s true.” I grabbed another brush and continued to color my mug because the topic we were discussing was now making me feel like I might actually start crying if I didn't keep my emotions under control, and I didn’t want Harry to see that. “My parents were never particularly supportive of me or my interests, so I haven’t felt much of a difference as I grew older… I think that’s why I find it a bit difficult to accept people’s compliments nowadays, though. I tend to doubt myself and others a lot.”

“I’m not gonna lie, I had a hunch that was the case with you.” Harry’s statement surprised me a bit. I knew professors could usually read their students well, but I wasn't aware of how see-through I was. “When we first started class, I was a little nervous because I could tell that you were lost at times and could use some help, but I wasn't sure of how to approach you. I was afraid that if I made it known that I could tell you were struggling, you would withdraw even further. I didn’t want that. I wanted you to feel comfortable and know that I wouldn't judge you.”

“You never made me feel uncomfortable… I just felt embarrassed to ask for help because everyone in your class comes from an arts background and knows more than me. I didn't want you to think I was dumb or that I was wasting your time with questions that I should have known the answers to.”

“You could never waste my time. I like teaching you a lot… you always listen and all the questions you ask are perfectly normal.” He gave me a reassuring smile and I felt my insecurities melt away with the rest of my body. “And on top of that, it's easier for me to teach you since you are a blank slate, as opposed to some of the art students who come with stubborn vices they won't get rid of. Experience isn’t always an advantage.”

“You're a really good professor, Harry.” I said truthfully. “I'm really glad I ended up in your class, even if it wasn’t my first choice.”

“It wasn't your first choice?” His face pretended to be shocked, but I knew he wasn't. Given that I had told him about my goal to pursue a career in Interior Design, I knew he had to have known by that point that there was no reason for me to be in his class other than by chance. “Okay, now I'm offended, and no amount of ego-puffing will help you remedy that…”

I shook my head and smiled at his antics as I dipped my brush back into the paint palette. “Not even if I admit you're really cool to talk to and have great musical taste?”

Following my brush dip, Harry dipped his as well. “Give me a little more detail on that and I might re-consider.”

•·················•·················•

I hope you guys liked this first part 💜

PART 2

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am-i-the-asshole-official · 2 months

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AITA for not having a job despite having time for it?

🍏🥝🍏🥝 <- to keep track of this when it posts,

My family really loves talking about me(20) when they think I'm not listening. I've heard them on multiple occasions say that I need a job and that I should just start working part-time while I'm going to college. The issue with that is that while other people can do both pretty decently, I dont feel like I'm capable of doing both part time and college without one of them suffering a lot because of the other.

My family is pretty financially stable, and the fees I owe never go over 900 dollars and sometimes I even make my own money off of commissions to help pay for things. I actually did have an actual job during my classes for a while filing things and remote video editing work (for the same job) but one of my family members worked with me there as my boss and I decided to quit after they decided to ask if my mom would've rather died than had me after I told him she called trans people abominations (I am trans, I'm only out to that family member and my brother). I haven't found a consistent thing to do to earn money since but I've been trying really hard to advertise my commissions since then.

The part where I feel really guilty though is the fact that I've been going to a community college for almost 3 years now (with my family supporting me money wise) and know I'm only going to come out with a one year certificate because of how fucked my schedule got in my first year. I didn't meet some prerequisites , and despite the course I wanted being a 2 year degree it was worth almost 80 credits, which felt insane as I went into it. 5 classes a term, some 5 minutes after the other, all based on pouring hours and hours into artsy projects (video, audio, 3d modelling, painting, 2d animation, ect...). I broke down within my third term after I started failing some of my classes. I was still trying for my 2 year degree up until 2023 where I decided that getting a certificate that was similar and getting a job after would probably be better for me at this point rather than spending ANOTHER 2 years struggling OR straight up giving up and dropping out with nothing.

I'm also home a lot when I'm not in class (I'm only taking 2-3 classes a term now). I do little things sometimes like take out the trash and pull dishes from out the washer and so on but it's all only when no one is home because the place where things generally need to be cleaned up is all in our very small kitchen AND the fact that I'm scared of them poking fun at me for "finally doing something for once" because it makes me feel terrible when they do. I end up chilling out in my room completing work and desperately finding work arounds for projects to only ever really need done in my room or on campus- generally anywhere that's not going to worry my grandma too much.

I've told my family that their teasing doesn't make me feel good but it just gets responded with "that's just how we show love!" when I know it doesn't have to be that way! My boyfriend teases me pretty often but the difference is that he actually listens to me when I tell him something he said didn't feel very good to me and we talk it through, and then he doesn't make that joke again or i feel better after knowing the context of it!!! A lot of my family members will bicker until another one ends up crying and it's horrible to watch how petty and bitter everyone can be.

Don't really know what else to write, AITA guys? I know I could be doing a lot more around the house instead of working but I'm scared of being touched (my aunt randomly spanked me as hard as she could one time last year) and scared of more mean comments being thrown my way. I already have a plan to leave this home and have been open about it to them, but I don't want to rush it if I don't have to and want to spend a few years saving money up so that I'm not in a horrible situation if things go awry.

What are these acronyms?

#aita #am i the asshole

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taldigi · 7 months

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What is the FC: Faerie Festival Arc?

I was catching up on Komi-san AND playing the new poke DLC and was kinda lamenting how like, where I live- we don't really have culture celebrations like some other places do. We have farmers markets and harvest festivals but nothing as culturally poignant as some of what they have (not just japan, other countries too)

Sooo I thought it might be fun to have a little festival specific to this story! Very geared to the faeries established presence- so i did some light research- stuff like festival foods and traditional clothing--!!

"Wouldn't it be wise for Ladybug and Chat Noir to keep an eye on a faerie festival?" Marinette asked, arms folded and leaning back in her chair, prompting a sour look from Felix. "It would be wise for them to stay away from the event entirely." He remarked, "TsuTec hardly has a clean reputation. It could be a trap." "Actually." Alina grinned, strained, as she grabbed both their arms and forced them into a huddle, "It would be wise for Marinette and Felix to accept their very good friend Kagami's very generous offer." The trio looked over their shoulders, as Kagami stood akwardly, a wet look peeking out from behind her bangs. Marinette and Felix wilted with guilt, as they cast a glance at each other.

So some preface if you aren't aware: TsuTec's main role in the story is developing something known as Faeglass, which is refined, pressed Faerie Dust harvested from Faeries. The thing about Faeglass is that it's gorgeous. Anything made with Faeglass is mildly addictive and very alluring. The QuaMii toys (in-universe Tamagatchi) were a trial run of using the glass to make things, and have been wildly successful- almost everyone has one. Fury/Richard Sphinx invested in the project, and now has a partnership with TsuTec to develop new Slot Machines for his casino using this Faeglass- rendering an already addictive activity doubley so. A side effect/double edged sword element of the Faeglass is that Faeries can "infest" the glass, taking it over and hiding within it.

Anyway, the gist of the festival is that it's a new thing developed by TsuTec to further market and strengthen their brand, disguised as a "Faerie Festival". Here, they sell masks infused with the glass/dust that line up with their QuaMii characters, and paired up with food, music, games, and culminating an odd event known as the Faemoon.

The Faemoon It's a new thing that started happening since the Faewild was cracked open (by Tsutec, to harvest Faerie Dust) and faeries started inhibiting the real world. The moon turns pink at roughly 11-Midnight, and at this time, and a bit before and after, the faeries- overloaded with magic -start getting rambunctious and a little silly. The more you fight against it (scolding, trying to silence them, ect) the more chaotic it is. But if you play along and have fun, the event goes smoothly. It happens once every few months, but the festival happens only once a year, when the Faemoon is at it's strongest.

So the masks themselves, like I said, are themed after popular cartoon/Tsutec characters. You get to purchase one based on what QuaMii you have (if you have & show one, you get a mild discount, which in conjunction with the faeglass/dusting means everyone has one at the festival) however, the Faemoon/Faeglass combo means that the power boost+infestation event means that during the Faemoon, the faeries can temporarily override the personality of the mask wearer (if worn on the face, not on their head. For story/visual clarity reasons.) In fact, St. Claude is possessed by Mimic for the majority of this "arc" because he doesn't really have a strong willpower + Mimic is very very intense.

The mains are influenced or can be posessed, but unlike Mimic; Tikki, Plagg, and the other main Faeries do genuinely love their chosen and don't abuse that trust by doing anything heinous. Tikki and Plagg (in Mar and Felix' bodies) dance together, and the masks mimic a smooch at the end by bopping noses. (i am not immune to Plikki)

Null is drained by the faemoon/would rather not challenge faeries when they are at their fullest, wildest power- and chooses to stay away from the event. Which is why the event is ultimately safe for the protags, even if they themselves don't know it. Also, the masks are worn by multiple people- lots of people have black cats and red puppies/ladybugs and bees and such, the protags do not have unique masks... except Kagami. She has a wholly unique mask and QuaMii toy. (Felix too, technically, but his is a prototype of a popularly retailed one, and Marinettes is modified/customized after she broke hers.) Which means that the even is just fun for them (because the characters deserve to have fun.)

Not to say that the festival doesn't have ulterior motives. The event drew a lot of wishmakers, and so it drew a lot of faeries- who shed a lot of Faerie Dust due to the moon, ultimately causing the event to be a successful harvest method for TsuTec, who also gathered a census via the mask distro. The mains, fortunately, accidentally avoided this census, because Kagami invited them and gave them their masks personally.

Ultimately, there isn't a "set story" for what happens during the festival, it's sort of freeform for whatever stories I might want to tell with it/worldbuilding event- like the Plikki dance or the Mimic!Claude thing. (and also having fun designing outfits and masks!)

#Anonymous #digit's art tag #digit's miraculous tag #Fashion Club AU #FC: Faerie Festival Arc #felix sphinx #marinette cheng #kagami tsurugi #flora melody #Alina LeRoux #Claude St.Claude #gorgeous nathan from the gym club #Amber Denelorac #Felixette

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jq37 · 1 year

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Twice Upon a Time - Neverafter Ep 1

The Times of Shadow

What is up y’all? A new season of D20 has started and I’ve been lured back to recapping by the siren song of fractured fairy tales. Fairy tales are one of my first loves (my thesis project for school right now is a fairy tale retelling in fact) and it’s very exciting to see that the D20 crew is digging into the darker side of these foundational stories.

I hesitated in starting recapping this season because as much as I love doing these, it’s a big time commitment and I am A Busy Person BUT the premiere ep was just so fun that I couldn’t resist. So, here’s the deal. I will do my best to keep up but no promises, OK? And I’ll be messing around with the formatting a bit to see if there’s a way to make the process a bit easier for me so bear with me.

And with that we start our story in the only way we really can…

Once Upon a Time.

Rosamund Du Prix (Siobhan’s PC)

We start with Brennan mesmerizingly telling the traditional tale of Sleeping Beauty–it goes down exactly like the Disney version. Three fairies. A fourth who isn’t invited and crashes the party after the first two have given their gifts and curses the baby princess to prick her finger on a spindle on her 18th birthday, killing her. The third fairy uses her gift to soften the curse so death turns into a 100 year sleep. Parents try to protect her by getting rid of all the spinning wheels but magic’s gotta magic and on her 18th birthday she finds a spinning wheel in an old tower and pricks herself anyway. She falls into a deep sleep as does the rest of the kingdom and the kingdom–the kingdom of Reverie–is covered in briars.

Rosamund (who I will be calling Roz) wakes up, 100 years later, unable to close her eyes or mouth because of the briars that are growing out of her body and all around her, completely encasing her. Everyone at the tables is visibly and audibly gagging at the description which I will spare you. Roz is horribly claustrophobic but also feels a weird sense that she’s holding something that feels like a troubling sort of sixth sense (not fully explained but I’m wondering if it’s some kind of Ranger ability because she is a level 1 Ranger).

She manages to get a hand free with minimal damage to herself (one fairy did give her the gift of grace after all) and painfully pulls the briars out of her mouth and nose. As she does, she hears whispers in her own head that she can’t understand and which stop when the root of the briars are out of her stomach.

Roz shakes the Briars that surround her, looking for the prince who was supposed to rescue her from this fate and, as she does this, pricks her finger. A tendril of the massive plant pokes out and drinks her blood, giving her a vision of the hundreds of corpses of the princes who have tried and failed to rescue her. The briars seem to think they are keeping her safe from the world outside and are fearful to let her go.

Now, well past the point of uneasiness, she tries to tell the plants thank you for the hospitality but it’s time for her to go. The plants do not agree and after she fails at trying to lull them to sleep with a lullaby, the plants try to stick her with the spindle and put her back to sleep. There is a bit of a tussle which ends with her diving out of her tower window and barely making it to the bottom in one piece. When she calls out to see if anyone is around, she gets no answer and decides to make her way out of Reverie–a process that takes months of traversing the thorny landscape. The kingdom seems fully destroyed.

By the time she escapes, she is in *rough* shape and she’s fashioned herself a bow of thorns.

[Note: Sleeping Beauty as a ranger is an interesting take. I wonder if she’s going to go Beastmaster for the traditional Princess With Animal Companion? Maybe Drakewarden if she wants to play with the Maleficent angle from the Disney version. Would be pretty cool to take on some of the traits of your captor–and she does already have the thorny bow. Fey Wanderer is an option because she was fey-touched upon being born.]

Now, in the present, Roz is a part of a traveling caravan in a wagon that’s going to the town of Shoeberg. In her wagon, she finds something damp and unpleasant being covered by a threadbare blanket and when she removes the blanket, she finds herself a surprise.

Gerard of Greenleigh (Murph’s PC)

Ger is prince turned frog turned prince turning back into a frog. He’s at the halfway stage so he’s still human height and build but with huge bulbous human eyes and damp, mottled, green skin.

He still has the bearing of a prince though and quickly identifies who he is and insists that his situation is temporary. Roz realizes that she’s related to him via marriage (“I think we’re cousins 3 times”) and is happy to join the self-gaslighting about how everything is fine and good and will be back to normal soon enough. They’re royals after all.

Ger says that though his kingdom is taken and his wife is missing, everything is fine and the fact that he’s turning back into a frog has NOTHING to do with his relationship with his wife which is FINE–something that Boffit (the trollson manager of the caravan who tells them they’re stopping for the night) doesn’t really buy.

From there we’re thrust into Ger’s flashback.

It is post-curse break and he’s doing pretty well. Except, he’s starting to realize that his frog traits are coming back. First his throat swelling. Then his eyes start migrating to frog positions. Then his tongue gets all stretchy. (“We fixed this though,” he says with a pathetic but kind of charming dismayed petulance). He tries to ignore the changes, even as he has a tense dinner with his wife–Princess Elody. Elody is discussing war-time matters with three of her generals–the kingdom is at war with Snowhold, the kingdom of the ice queen–but Ger just wants to talk about the upcoming ball and leave the unpleasantness to the soldiers.

Elody is baffled by her husband’s lack of interest in actively protecting the kingdom and his desire to hole up in the castle while others fight and die for them. It’s the Time of Shadow, she says. Never After is being overrun with giants and witches and sea creatures! Why is he so content to coast on their supposed happily ever after? Though Ger clearly isn’t the fiercely protective active ruler she is, he says he’ll try to take a look at his fencing books. And she says that she’ll try to give him what she can. But that night, she doesn’t come to bed because she falls asleep at her war table with her generals. And the next morning, Ger’s nose is gone. Bad!

[Note: Ger is a fighter. I don’t really have a good guess on his subclass. I am fascinated by his relationship drama with his wife, though. I really hope she shows up again soon because the dynamic of these two people being in love but having such opposed life philosophies is very interesting–especially when it’s having the mechanical consequence of forcing Ger to turn back into a frog. To be in denial about how things are going as you’re literally turning into a frog is so indicative of character.]

Back in the present, we shift to another carriage in the caravan–a very nice shoe being pulled by 4 white horses. Inside is the pompous Lord Bandlebridge of Shoeberg who is toasting two figures–a cat wearing a cape and boots and a puppet of a little wooden boy (with a splintered nose–I’m guessing it was removed to allow for lying without an obvious tell).

Through a back and forth, we learn that Puss in Boots (also known as Pib to his friends–I’ll be going with Pib or Puss interchangeably) and Pinocchio are scamming this man. They’ve told him that Pinocchio is actually a prince who stole 40 pennies from a witch and was cursed to be a puppet. They just need to borrow 40 gold pieces to break the curse and then they’ll pay him back in platinum. Lord B is so desperate to believe the story that he doesn’t look too deeply into it and goes with everything they say.

Puss finds that he is very hungry and slips into a flashback.

Puss in Boots (Zac’s PC)

Pib is living the good life in the Kingdom of Marienne. He’s straight up chilling on a pillow in a shaft of sunlight and his breakfast is brought to him–100 live mice!

The king comes in to talk to him privately and, as soon as they’re alone, starts freaking out. This is the miller’s son–Tomas–who in the traditional Puss in Boots story–is thrust into king-ship by Puss’s trickery. That’s all well and good but now it’s wartime and Tomas doesn’t have any idea how to run a country! Giants are attacking. He doesn’t know statecraft! He can barely read! And he loves his wife but he’s been tacitly lying to her for years and it’s all getting to be far too much.

Pib just brushes it off and is like, hey buddy. Don’t worry. It’ll all be fine.

Spoiler alert: It is not fine.

The kingdom falls to giants and Puss flees. And he has no idea what happened to Tomas and his wife.

[Note: Puss is a tabaxi re-skin and a rogue. Also don’t have a guess/hope in mind for subclass but I do love the bringing of the Puss In Boots story to its logical conclusion of–yeah, this guy doesn't know how to run a country. Of COURSE it’s gonna end badly the second times are bad and you can’t let the kingdom run on autopilot.]

Back in the present, Pinocchio is being a little brat and rubbing Lord B the wrong way. To calm him down, Pib calls Lord B his best friend and hugs him–checking his pockets as he does and finding a scroll which he notes but doesn’t steal.

Now, we check in on the third carriage in the caravan. Inside are two figures–”Mother” Timothy Goose and Ylfa Snorgelsson (better known as Little Red Riding Hood). Red knows Tim because he’s an older guy who used to read stories in her village. When things “got bad” (we’ll get to that) she met up with him.

They both get the announcement that the caravan is stopping for the night from Boffit (and that payment will be due in Shoeberg which is a problem because they don’t really have money). They have to stop in the Blackwoods (a primeval forest) which isn’t safe and they both offer to help with keeping watch (Red clearly being the more physically capable of the two).

As they stop, they also see two notable carriages that haven’t been mentioned before (a teapot drawn by a giant rabbit–clear Wonderland ref–and an uncovered chariot drawn by a ram with an older gentleman in it). They also see the shoe carriage which sparks their interest because Tim has this magic book that he writes words in that disappear. But the word “Shoe” stuck. So it has to be somehow relevant to his quest.

They go talk to Lord B who is going off about how much of a thriving metropolis Shoeberg is even in these hard times. While he does this, the guy in the ram chariot calls him a fucking idiot under his breath. Tim tries to respond to Lord B but is haunted by a vision of something behind Lord B and flips out, calling it a fucker and a piece of shit–freaking out Lord B so much that he runs off.

“I saw him again,” he confesses to Red and we jump into his flashback.

“Mother” Timothy Goose (Ally’s PC)

The Lullaby Lands are a really sweet place that’s mainly farmers and animals and doesn’t need a king or a queen to rule it.

Tim walks home with his son's bones in his arms.

His husband–Henry Hubbard–is horrified as Tim explains that their son, Jack, didn’t actually find whatever egg he said he found and was clearly mixed up with something shady. Tim said he saw Jack talking to some giant, black, demonic looking gander (a male goose) and say “I need my third wish” and then watched him age rapidly into the pile of bones he’s holding.

Then the gander said, “Do you wish to know what just happened?” and when Tim said yes, he was trapped in his own set of three wishes. He then wished for something to get his son back and was given the leather-bound book we saw him with before.

As a veteran bard and witch, Tim isn’t a stranger to magic. He opens the book, looking for an answer and finds the pages blank. Undeterred, he starts writing in the book and finds that everything he writes in the book disappears except for the word Jack that sticks.

He writes all day long and in the back of his head he hears the demonic whisper, “There’s no way you’ll find them all in time, Goose.”

Eventually, he notices a stain on the floor of the house where his son made a mess as a younger child, jumping over a candle and tries to just describe the person he wants. His son. He writes in his book the nursery rhyme (which it seems like he wrote in the world about his son) Jack be Nimble, Jack be quick, etc.

As he does, light fills the room and he sees a window open in the pages through which he sees his son, healthy and well and in a version of Pottingham that doesn’t seem afflicted by the floods tormenting it IRL.

“Dad I’m still here,” the Jack on the page says. “[The book] can save more than me. You’ll save them, I know you will.” Before he can say more, he is cut off and starts running. The book in the story sticks and Jack’s bones disappear in motes of golden light.

Tim realizes he has a LOT of work to do.

[Note: Tim is a bard. I could see College of Lore. Maybe Eloquence or Spirits? Also, I HATED how he got roped into his wishes. That’s some fey/lawyer B.S. “Do you wish to know?” Get out of here with that B.S. I hate the gander. All my homies hate the gander.]

Back in the present, the three groups of PCs are starting to get acquainted. Pinocchio introduces himself as a prince and, as a princess, Roz wants to know where he’s the prince of. Maybe they’re related! He lies and says he’s the prince of Shoeberg which Lord B overhears and knows to be false because he’s from Shoeberg.

Lord B starts accosting Pinocchio who is defended by Tim and then the Ram dude who comes to back Tim up. Ram dude is muscular and has armor and a sword. Though he backs up Tim in telling Lord B to step off, he also whispers to Tim that Shoeberg sucks and he shouldn’t talk about it so much.

Lord B retreats to his shoe carriage and on a Nat 1 insight, Pinocchio thinks that, despite his lie, he’s fine to still go in there. Everyone tries to stop his “chaotic entitled” ass and Red ends up stopping the sword of one of Lord B’s guards with a hairy paw and she goes into a rage. Flashback time for Red.

Ylfa Snorgelsson (Emily’s PC)

Red is outside of her home she is returning to. Apparently, she strayed from the path when she shouldn’t have and shit went down. She knocks on the door, and calls for her mom. No one answers. Red pleads for them to open the door, saying that her grandma is dead and she doesn't have a place to go but her mom says that her daughter is dead.

Read assures her that she’s alive and says somewhat fearfully that she doesn’t know what she might try to do to get in.

Inside, there’s some whispering about wolf-trickery and waiting for a woodsman but Red is eventually let in.

She manages to quell her churning thoughts and tells herself that everything will be fine once she’s in. Her mother will help her fix everything…but as soon as she steps in, a silver dagger falls on her while her mom calls for her siblings to run out the back door. It was a trap.

Her rage boils over and she flips the dinner table. A voice tells her to remember to breathe. She does and then, just like in the story, she huffs and puffs and blows her entire family away. Yikes!

[Note: God, talk about trauma. Love the weaving in of the Three Little Pigs story here. And man, Red is so young. Just a pre-teen. Emily plays her so unsure and awkward. I can feel Emily readying some emotional killshots with this character. Her pleading to be let in (which I realize as I write this is very “Little pigs, little pigs, let me come in) was so sad. Also, she’s a Barbarian in case that wasn’t clear. Path of the Beast would be the obvious subclass but we’ll see if she throws us a curveball as she is wont to do. Also,what’s the over-under on her multiclassing into bard? She already has a bard mentor in Tim and we call know mama needs her spell slots.]

In the present, the guard flees at Red’s display of strength and Tim hugs Red.

Pinocchio admits he’s not a prince but he and Pib tell a very sanitized story about how times are hard and they’re just been taking care of each other.

The stranger who helped them reveals himself as Old Cole (ie: Old King Cole was a merry old soul–but he doesn’t seem very merry anymore). He explains that Shoeberg was founded by an unkind woman who gave lordships to all of her shitty sons (ie: There was an old woman who lived in a shoe). It’s a rough city that chews people up and spits them out and it sucks that it got to survive while many other better cities crumbled in the Time of Shadow.

He’s–as far as he knows–the last survivor of his kingdom–Jubilee. Ger asks if he knows anything about his wife and Cole says she was a brilliant warrior on the battlefield (she’s a mace-wielder btw, and ad props for her to being a queen who actually gets her hands dirty) but he doesn’t know if she’s alive right now. Pib asks about Marienne as well but Cole only knows it was overrun by giants.

[Note: This probably isn’t important, but Cole is essentially making Stone Soup by his carriage which is another famous childhood story I wanted to point out because it’s glossed over.]

Everyone is told that they don’t get to eat if they don’t help with the food so Roz tries to do the princess thing of calling birds to help her. Of course, they’re in a gnarly, ultra-cursed forest so on a Nat 1 a fucked up ostrich comes to help her and she politely declines.

Pib and Pinocchio figure they can just steal some food and bring it to “help” but, when they go to do that, Pinocchio notices a coach with a key in it. When he opens it, he sees someone familiar is in there and sends Pib away while he talks to them privately (though Pib tries to eavesdrop).

Inside is a shadowy silhouette that Pinocchio nervously addresses as “Mom” Brennan says he’s only ever seen her shadow.

His mom says that Roz is very important and is being hunted so he needs to help keep her safe and hidden. She’s too busy caring for his father. Pinocchio asks for an assurance that his dad is OK and she says that she promised to keep him safe when she married him. She says something about some candle “burning low” and reminds Pinocchio of the night they met.

[Note: I can’t believe I’ve gone this far without mentioning that Lou had committed to this Mickey Mouse sounding squeaky voice for Pinnocchio which is Certainly A Choice. Also, not sure what the candle refers to yet. The most famous candle story is the Jack Be Nimble one and that doesn’t fit. Will think about this more.]

Pinocchio (Lou’s PC)

Pinocchio is in his town (Amarti in the kingdom of Marienne) up later than he should be. And he’s a real boy. A pointy woman in all black carrying a staff shows up and Pinocchio recognizes her as the second fey he’s met in his life.

The woman has a ball of magical energy which looks so so fun and says each child will get a chance to play with it if they answer a question honestly. Behind her, going into the village, something shadowy flickers. Maybe rats?

She asks a child what their father’s name is. He answers. There’s a scream in the village. She moves on to the next child. Same thing happens. The kids start crying, realizing something awful is happening.

She gets to Pinocchio. She asks for his name. Then she asks for his father’s name. He lies.

Instantly, he drops dead and wakes up on his strings in his father’s house as his dad breathes in and turns.

Back to the present, Pinocchio’s mother says that he’s been telling a lot of lies and she hopes he can keep them straight. And that’s where we end for the week!

[Note: OK, this is my big Pepe Silvia moment of the week. I have this fraught relationship with the show Once Upon a Time but I feel like it’s prepared me for the analysis I’m about to do.

When the character card shows up for Pinocchio’s mom it identifies her as “The Stepmother” (who is his patron btw–he’s a warforged warlock) and it identifies her as being from Cinderella. BUT it doesn’t say she’s THE stepmother from Cinderella.

Let’s think about this for a second.

She’s presented in silhouette. Why? It could just be patron dramatic-ness. But it also could be to set up for a reveal later.

We never get a name–just a title: Stepmother. And it’s totally normal that Pinocchio would just call her mom. But that also could be a setup for a reveal.

This is a weird pull but there’s an apt quote from Disenchanted (the other thing I’m currently obsessed with). “Stepmothers are wicked but they’re not usually very powerful.” Cinderella’s stepmother as a patron wouldn’t be my first guess, you know? Like, of course in this world she COULD be magic, like Tim is, but I think there are better candidates here.

Let’s think about the flashback now. Pinocchio’s mom leads into it by telling him to remember when they met.

He describes the fairy that he meets and her features. But Brennan also says he’s only ever seen his mom in silhouette. So the fairy and the mom don’t seem to be the same people even if that is the night that they met. Brennan also says it’s the second fairy he ever met which means the first is likely the Blue Fairy. So this isn’t likely a twisted version of the fairy from his story.

So the fairy this is likely to be is the one from Cinderella. The Fairy Godmother. And it seems like she’s controlling rats which tracks with the Cinderella story–rodents to horses, right?

(Though, sidenote, because I’m going full Pepe Silvia, I will also point out two other possible links. The first being something Pied Piper related. And the second being a Pinocchio pull as the Pleasure Island owner in the Disney version has these shadowy minions. Oh and while we’re talking shadows–Peter Pan. None of this is part of the analysis proper, just throwing out possibilities.)

ANYWAY, if this fairy is Cindy’s fairy and I’m skeptical the stepmom is The Stepmother then what if Pinocchio’s stepmother is Cinderella herself? The OG Stepmom in the story never had enough proximity to magic to be a patron but Cindy did. I could see her getting magic much more easily. And it would be a killer reveal story-wise.

I don’t know what the motivation would be yet and I don’t even know if she’s evil or just shady. But there was clearly a lot of intentional vagueness during this section, and this is my best attempt to parse it. I look forward to getting more puzzle pieces as the season goes on!]

#dimension 20 #dimension 20 spoilers #d20 #neverafter #neverafter spoilers #twice upon a time #aww shit here we go again

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whitherwanderer · 5 months

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I have so many fun and ultimately pointless projects right now and I’m excited about all of them but my concentration is Bad! It’s nice to be exciting about things! But it’s also bringing up a lot of anxieties!

I’ve got this custom xaela tribe that me and S&S have been writing since 2019 and I’m slowly throwing more and more information into it as a little worldbuilding exercise. But I’m terrified that people will try to claim it as their own or point out the obvious not-totally-real-world-accurate elements just for the cheap critic shots and I don’t really feel like I can entertain someone trying to give me advice I didn’t ask for.

There’s a Shroud-based horror anthology that’s been living in my head since early this year that I’ve considered fleshing out more and more but I lack the finesse for horror and frankly Shroud RPers can be defensive and I don’t really want to respond to unsolicited criticism about a project that doesn’t really involve anyone else.

There’s the Ala Mhigan V&C dungeon thing I’ve been working on recently too and I’m continuing to poke at it, but frankly I have no idea what to DO with it beyond making it a quick and silly carrd-based choose-your-own-adventure game that also tells a bit of Sif’s story but ??? Would anyone even play that knowing it featured my dumbass OC as the non-combat escort character? Will people be disappointed or mad if I can’t include every Ala Mhigan thing/person/place they want to see or choices they want to make? I mean it’s a CYOA, not a TTRPG campaign, but people sometimes have that “i want to seduce the door” mentality about stuff and you just want to shake them and be like. You’re missing the point.

Also there’s the fact that a carrd based CYOA based on an XIV game mode does not play to strengths of either medium and I would have to accept that either it’s going to be far different from the V&C dungeon structure and therefore more writing-heavy (and therefore more work) since there can’t really be combat, OR some of the choices will be lacking in depth because there’s no combat for choices to have an impact.

AHHHH I am so excited about all of these projects and I would love to DO something with any of them but I always get caught in the same “what will other people think/do and why are my assumptions always that I am going to be tarred, feathered, and dragged through town for the smallest sin” and it is so FRUSTRATING.

Edit: There’s also a five-year show I want to put on with nearly every song I’ve written for Sif since I started writing songs in 2018 but… jfc, do people even want to see that? Is that pretentious? Are people only encouraging me because they want to but they don’t actually care if I do it or not?? I mean, it’s not really a show if there’s no audience…

#[ ooc ]#late night rambling #may or may not be a result of having to take caffeinated meds to get rid of a migraine #i am so excited to work on THINGS #why do they have to come with SCENARIOS #i am a worst-case-planner bitch and this is just how i live tbh #i am overthinking all of this because that is one of my worst traits but #i want to make things GOOD you know??

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tunglo · 9 months

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repost of an old blog post for my new Ken era...

Today [March 13th] is Ken Day! Kenneth Sean "Ken" Carson first hit store shelves in 1961 and, in a move that preceded reality TV by a decade or three, we all got to watch as Barbie met the man of her dreams.

Since then Ken has gone through almost as many incarnations as Barbie herself and had over 40 different careers. In celebration of all that fantastic plastic, here are just ten of the top Ken dolls produced over the years...

The 'fun' of shaving Ken has been a staple of his repertoire over the years; there are versions from 1996, 1999, 2010, and 2019.

But, as ever, it's the original that's best. Here is 1979's Sport & Shave Ken. Not only did he come with this spiffing tennis outfit, he also had a shaving mug, two 'razors', and a marker pen of your very own to draw on Ken's facial hair...

According to the brochure: "It's Ken with a whole new look for the 1980s. He's athletic. He's all man."

Indeed.

Cool Times Ken.

Never has a name been quite so misleading.

There's a reason Pixar went with this Ken era for the Toy Story movies, and it certainly wasn't because of Ken's close relationship with the concept of cool.

Sometimes your problem is not that Ken has too much facial hair. It's that he just doesn't have enough. Luckily 1972's Mod Hair Ken had you covered. The same idea was utilised again in 1975 for The Now Look Ken, except this time around his hair was longer to capture the true essence of mid 70s cool.

Ken has been a doctor many times - 1963, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2011, 2018 - but 1987's offering beats the rest hands down. Not only is Ken a doctor, but you can fold the lapels of his shiny nylon medical coat down and he's ready for a night of wining and dining!

What a doll.

What more can I say?

According to Keeping Ken, this shot with Wedding Day Alan was an official Mattel postcard

In 1993 Mattel redesigned Ken to fulfil little girls' requests that Barbie's beau be cooler. Ken was now so cool he was attracting interest from all quarters, including the US gay community who were sure Ken's cock ring necklace came straight - heh - from the club scene. As a result Earring Magic Ken sold out for Christmas '93, and remains the best selling Ken doll of all time in spite of Mattel discontinuing and recalling the doll once they realised Ken's secret was out of the closet...

In 2010 Mattel released Sugar Daddy Ken, so named - they say - because he owns a little dog called Sugar.

Hmmm.

Back in 2004, just in time for Valentine's Day, Barbie ditched Ken in favour of Australian surfer dude, Blaine. Blaine O'Hare - or at least his face sculpt - began life in 1998 when Totally Yo-Yo Skipper was initially set to gain a new friend called Zach. Though he never actually made it into production, his features were used for 1999's Generation Girl Dance Party Blaine.

The Generation Girl line followed Barbie's time at high school in NYC, introducing a variety of new friend dolls and spawning another Blaine in 2000. When he returned in 2004 Blaine had wisely dropped the 'curtains' hairstyle and traded in New York for California. In this continuity the pair met through Blaine's younger sister, Summer, who was good friends with Barbie.

In fact, voting was held through the Barbie.com website to determine who Cali Girl Barbie ought to go for - Ken, Blaine, long time pal Steven, another newcomer named Diego, or stay single. We all know how that went. Ken went away to lick his wounds for a couple of years, but in 2006 he was back with a new look. It wasn't enough for Barbie to take him back though and the pair remained 'just good friends' until another PR campaign saw them get back together in 2011.

The Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse webseries is awesome.

Launched in May 2012, it pokes fun at the entire Barbie mythos and did more to give Ken a personality than any other Mattel project. We learn that Ken loves inventing, is addicted to sherbet, and suffers from Hyper Cuteness Sensitivity Disorder...

This year Ken is finally taking control of his own destiny. Well. His own laundry, at any rate...

#ken #barbie

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horsewizardart · 2 years

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Dare To Be Stupid

I hit 1500 followers on Twitter today and decided to do a little writeup on how drawing ponies has made me feel. The long and short of it is that making inherently silly just-for-fun art like the stuff I’ve been posting has been really freeing for me in a time in my life when I don’t know what my relationship to art is anymore. Thanks to everyone for sharing and enjoying my stuff; seeing it spread around has been really unexpected for me, and I appreciate how nice you’ve all been.

Longer post after the break; I can be very self-reflective a lot of the time so this has been on my mind for awhile.

So here’s the main point: Drawing ponies has restored a lot of the joy that I get from working on projects, after a couple years of having a pretty rough relationship to art. For the majority of my life I have thought that I wanted to have a creative career. However, pursuing that idea has, historically, made me less willing and able to actually be creative. When I focused on this idea, I became self-conscious, scared of what I was or wasn’t making, unwilling to follow threads that I thought would be interesting because of fear of making a bad impression on a future boss I didn’t even really want to have. At some point in 2020, after I graduated college and started working a grueling production art job, I stopped posting new work online and only drew when I felt like I absolutely had to. I was thinking of myself less of a person and more as a potential employee at Future Better Job. I’m still untangling that web in my personal art; I draw nearly every day now, but it still takes a very long time for me to come up with an idea I want to pursue from start to finish outside of fanart.

Contrast that to pony stuff - earlier this year when I decided I was gonna start posting my pony drawings, it wasn’t in pursuit of anything beyond sharing what I had been making. I've always been hated doing commissions, so there wasn't a financial incentive, and the fact that I'm using a big company's intellectual property means there'd be some Challenges in trying to make anything more out of it than this. The fact that people are interested in my stuff has been an incredible surprise, and has also compelled me to poke my head out a bit and try to make some friends (note that outside of ponies I’ve never been a fandom person, and there’s about a five or six year gap between when I was first interested in ponies and when I got back into it a couple years ago, so I’m still a little new to that part).

It’s also helped me see an alternate path forward, where I can maybe truly separate work from passion. In hindsight this should have been a little more of an obvious thing; I am a certified Jobs Hater who, even at a job I was generally pretty fond of, has spent every minute on the clock wishing the clock would catch fire. Probably makes sense that crossing those two streams would be a tough thing to make work.

This may seem like a lot of fuss over drawings of the famous little ponies holding up video game consoles and drinking Monster but drawing incredibly stupid things (in a good way) has been way more rewarding than I’d have ever expected. It’s helped me find the joy in experimenting and playing around with what I’m making instead of evaluating its potential outcome. It probably didn’t have to be ponies that opened this up for me, but I’m glad that it is. Thanks for being here.

#not art #going sincere-o mode

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etherealsign282 · 1 year

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I wish the world wasn't so obsessed with demonizing breaking up with someone just so people can have a "villain" in stories that they shouldn't even know about (bc if they can't make a sound decision about someone else's relationship without that one single thing for 'proof', they shouldn't be projecting their opinion onto it in the first place 🤷)

Like do people genuinely not know/understand how much abusers bank off of the idea of villainizing whoever breaks up with and leaves them

Making a whole gaggle of friends, who have never dated their abusive friend to know what they're like to DATE, come to their defense because and only because they got dumped which is obviously bad and means they 'can't' be abusive because it's been normalized for victims to just stay until they're killed for the abuse to be 'legit'.

Therefore they think it must be because they found someone else (which abuse survivors can and are allowed to do regardless, fuck you), or because they're noncommittal or don't know what they want or because they got "bored".

Like ah yes the person who tried for years to deal with an abuser and be patient with them while they were "learning" (aka weaponizing incompetence), and wasted so much time and energy crying and begging and being broken, being hit or yelled at or demonized or having someone lose their control on them because they had unrealistic expectations of being treated like royalty from a "peasant" for a partner, OBVIOUSLY did it because they WANTED to end up finding someone else and leave for funsies and preplanned maliciousness

Literally mind your business because the projection of you being left for someone with hot dog water energy, isn't everyone else's reality. Your friends don't need coddling if you know they have issues but would rather highlight the fact that they were dumped "right before they fully healed". If they're demonizing someone due to the boundaries that other people deserve, they haven't even started healing

Abusers can writhe like a worm or kiss themselves in the mirror, it doesn't matter. If they hate someone only because they couldn't take the shit anymore, and you have any knowledge of this, MIND YOUR BUSINESS. If you don't know what they were like as a partner MIND YOUR BUSINESS. If the only thing you have to go by is their word or out of context screenshots that dont show the whole conversation MIND YA BUSINESS.

Or I hope they get so desperate they try to date you and you can see how fun it is to be with someone who says you can't sleep until they do 3 days later (on purpose, as punishment for you wanting to go to bed in the first place), or else they'll *insert mh phrase they dont understand well enough to use* and start making threats and sob stories and start victimizing themselves over yelling at you or saying nasty things or punishing you psychologically; never know how to properly apologize afterward when you tell them that's manipulative but rather point out all your flaws, brood on it because they still think they're in the right, and then bring it up months later to defend themself/reattempt to argue into you being the bad guy; rinse and repeat for years until they get bored and start poking and prodding at a completely different abuse tactic that they feel insecure with and want to try defending.

Meanwhile the whole time crying to everyone behind your back about how you're terrible because *insert slander about petty, grotesquely biased shit* to turn everyone against you. And also simultaneously using any reaction you have ever had as a gold mine to keep bringing up to "point out" that your moment of reactive apathy is enough excuse for them to KEEP being apathetic years later (when their abuse is what brought on the apathy to begin with).

Good luck since you think your best bitch is such a good person, just a "little broken" but "willing to fix themself", and now "just so happens to continue the subtle cycle of demonizing the survivor while playing victim because they happen to be a victim this time... because they said so". Mhm

#abuse cw #mental abuse #emotional abuse #Abuse #abuse awareness #abuse survivor #weaponized incompetence #demonization #villain #guilt tripping #manipulation #gaslighting #trauma

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teamdilf · 5 months

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4, 8, 12 for the writing wrapped asks? :3

4. what is your favourite line you wrote this year?

One of my favourites is this nugget from A Bandicoot Wearing Pants which, in addition to poking playful fun at the Crash Bandicoot series, was also my way of coping with the fact that I suffered through the most recent addition to the series, only to be unable to finish the final level. Like, dying hundreds of times on the later levels sort of suffering. I hate platformers and childhood nostalgia was not worth the suffering but writing this nonsense healed the wound. 😂

“So why is he travelling through such dangerous terrain? Have we been provided an explanation within the lore?” Castis asks the group, and he figures the man expects a little too much from a game about a mutated bandicoot who wears pants.

8. what are three things you're looking forward to next year?

1. I’ve got ideas for the third longfic in my BG3 series revolving around Petra and Astarion.

2. I’d like to participate in an exchange or two. I went a bit overboard on the fandom events this year and burned myself out, and I’ve sworn off big bangs for good, but I do enjoy exchanges.

3. Maybe - just maybe, getting back to the Mass Effect playthrough I abandoned when BG3 sucked up my leisure time, and see if inspiration for my siblings AU strikes. I’ve held off committing to it because it’s such a big project but if I feel passionate enough about the idea, I may give it a go.

12. if your character(s) had their own new years resolutions, what would those be?

The guys in my Team DILFverse would resolve to engage in varying levels of chaos (from “perhaps I’ll eat an extra pot brownie as a treat” for Castis to “maybe I’ll blow some shit up and drown in the blood of those who’d try to assassinate me” from Wrex).

Petra, as of right now, would resolve to sort her feelings for Astarion out because she thinks he doesn’t love her because she is a fool.

Astarion would resolve to have a bit of fun and maybe get a little bloody murdering the cutpurses in his neighbourhood. Man needs to eat and he’s protecting the neighbourhood, so win/win, right?

#ask games #Thank you!

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kimnjss · 1 year

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Teenage hyunki is a whole mess 😂😂 do yn and sana ever have days where they hang out? could you do a drabble of maybe yn, sana and hyuna having girls day and the boys being jealous/broody together ?

“you don’t want to go dress shopping with us and you know it,” sana is saying with a roll of her eyes, annoyed with the grumpy pout on her boyfriend’s lips. “you don’t know what i want,” hyunki sulks, arms crossed over his chest. he’s just being a brat to put it simply.

and you’re spotting that as soon as you’re entering the kitchen, hyuna steps behind you. “ready to go, hun?” sana is nodding back at you, leaning up to press a kiss to hyunki’s cheek. “i’m going, see you in a bit?” he nods, but doesn’t say much else. to be fair, he wasn’t actually upset that she was going without him - more so annoyed that because of that, they couldn’t spend the day together like he wanted. but, today was the only day you were free to take her shopping for prom and she was fine with shifting their plans. your son was spoiled, though, so his attitude isn’t a surprise.

“jase is out there with dad, you can go be lame with them.” hyuna is tossing over her shoulder with a smirk, never missing a chance to poke at her brother’s unserious fits. though, hyunki doesn’t grant her any type of response - he is making his way outside where his father sits with jase. a beer in the older man’s hand while the younger boy scrolls through his phone. “what are you doing here?” hyunki asks as he plops down across from his friend, gesturing to the drink in his fathers hand. “can i have one?”

yoongi’s letting out an unamused laugh, but he’s still handing the bottle over to his son. one sip won’t kill him, especially because he’d be off to college in a year - might as well get some practice in now. “i was going to take hyuna to the movies, but she’d rather go shopping.” jase says with a huff, slumping back into the chair. a look identical to the one hyunki had been wearing a moment ago on his face. “can i have one too?” jase is asking with a hopeful look in his eyes.

“absolutely not.” yoongi doesn’t hesitate, no way would he be responsible for getting a fifteen year old drunk - he didn’t need that lawsuit. “did mom fuck up your plans too?” hyunki is asking, it was a bit unusual to see his father home in the middle of the day and the fact that he was sat outside drinking a beer instead of actually doing something was proof enough his plans had fell through. “yeah, but i’m used to it.” he says with a shrug.

the two of you had plans to empty out your bedroom, a spontaneous decision on your part, but you were tired of the carpet and wanted pretty hardwood floor instead. so of course, yoongi was making it happen. but once sana was calling asking for you to take her shopping, all that was going down the drain. which was fine with yoongi, the only thing is now he’d have to get the job done without you. luckily, you left two sulking teenagers that he could recruit. he’s standing from his spot, reaching for the empty bottle on the table. “why don’t you get us two more and i’ll order a pizza, i have a project for us,” he says and hyunki knows this ‘project’ wasn’t going to be the least bit fun.

either way, he’s standing from the table and heading into the kitchen as jase moves to follow yoongi into the room. any type of physical labor was very low on hyunki’s to do list, but he is forever jumping at the chance to spend time with his father and having one of his friends here too wasn’t so bad. so he has no complaints while he’s ordering the pizza and is rushing to pull two beers from the fridge, jogging into his parents room with a smile.

#yoongi #min yoongi #yoongi sm au #yoongi drabble #yoongi drabbles #asks; kez 🍯#asks; be my baby 🦋

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drarrypotterrenaissance · 1 year

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Day 2: Sweet Treats

This is a continuation of this fic (on ao3 here), although each installment in the series can be read on its own. I'll be posting new chapters semi-regularly until the entire fic is out of my Finished WIPs folder - please poke me if you feel like I'm taking too long updating! 💜

As a note, this chapter might be my favorite thing I've ever written. Thanks @hdcandyheartsfest for such a cute prompt!

“What on earth are you doing?”

Dating Draco Malfoy was often viewed by others as a strange choice for Harry. Even disregarding the entirety of the War and all seven years of fractious history between the two of them, Harry could admit that it did seem to be a strange choice. In fact, he often felt like it wasn’t a choice at all - the only choice had been to stop resisting what was beginning to seem - against all odds - inevitable. But now, in this moment, not only did dating Draco Malfoy feel like a choice, it felt like one he actively had to question as he looked around the student kitchens.

“Draco, seriously, what in Merlin’s name are you doing?”

Draco looked up, a streak of powdered sugar across his nose, and various splotches of icing decorating his robes. He had charmed a video projection into the air in front of him, and was watching an unmistakably muggle production. An upbeat song was playing, and Harry was sure he caught the words “Pennsylvania Polka” somewhere in the lyrics.

“Harry!” Draco’s eyes lit up, his hair feathering around his face like a halo. “Happy Groundhog Day!”

“Err, right, sure. Happy Groundhog Day,” Harry said, coming around the bench to give his strange boyfriend a kiss. “What is that, exactly?”

“It’s a muggle holiday! We all picked one in Muggle Studies for extra points, and I chose Groundhog Day! It’s very popular in Germanic areas, especially in the American East, and was historically celebrated in conjunction with Candlemas. On the second day of February, thousands of muggles gather before sunrise on a hill in a tiny town to watch and see if a groundhog sees its shadow. If the groundhog - his name is Phil, by the way - if he sees his shadow, the muggles believe they will have six more weeks of winter. But! If Phil doesn’t see his shadow, they believe they will have an early spring! The entire ceremony is sent out on teley-vision for everyone to watch, and they talk about it all day long! There are movies and clothing based around it too, and people can visit the groundhog, Phil, all year round, because he lives in the city’s library!”

“Your Muggle Studies class has a lot to answer for,” Harry muttered.

“But there’s something else,” Draco continued, lowering his voice, as if the rest of the school wasn’t all down at breakfast where Draco should also be, alongside Harry. “I think part of it is real.”

Harry wanted to take him seriously - Draco was earnest and lovely with wide eyes and pink cheeks - but this was too much for Harry. He laughed.

“You think a groundhog is controlling the weather?”

“No!” Draco said, as if Harry was the crazy one in this conversation. “He’s predicting the weather, not controlling it. But no, that’s not what I was talking about. The muggles also believe that the members of the Groundhog Club's Inner Circle give Phil a draught each year that increases his life by seven years each time he drinks it. I think they’re actually doing it.”

“What?”

“I think at least one member of the Inner Circle is a wizard, and I think that they’ve been using the Fountain of Youth.”

Draco was beaming. Harry had no idea what to say.

“And, er, this is all for your class?”

“What?” Draco had gone back to icing the biscuits cooling on the bench. “No, I’ve just been researching that for fun. These are my project,” he said, gesturing to the biscuits in front of him, which Harry now noticed had a very peculiar shape.

“Are those... groundhog biscuits?”

“Yes!” Draco was clearly pleased with himself. “We used the in-ter-net at the start of the year in that muggle cafe we went to, and we were supposed to research our chosen holiday and find a way to celebrate it with the class. I found this “cookie cutter” from the town where Phil the groundhog lives, Punxsutawney, and Professor Rowle helped me order it.”

“So, you’re getting extra points for making groundhog biscuits for your class and completely ignoring the fact that someone has been using the Fountain of Youth on a groundhog? Shouldn’t you tell MACUSA or something?” Or profit from it yourself, Harry decided not to add, despite the fact that that also seemed like something Draco would have historically wanted to do.

Draco looked almost hurt at Harry’s question, and Harry was glad he hadn’t voiced the second half of it.

“No, of course not. They’re not doing any harm, and it’s a sweet tradition. The groundhog is also kind of cute, in a grumpy sort of way.” Draco looked up from his icing with pursed lips to regard Harry critically. “Much like you, in fact.”

“I’m not grumpy,” Harry said grumpily, taking a freshly iced biscuit off the tray as recompense for Draco’s slight and biting off the head. “These are good, by the way.”

Draco practically glowed. “Thanks,” he said, and then, focusing back on his biscuits, “I’ve never made anything like this before, the house elves always did the baking for us. It’s not too different from potions though, really. There’s a bit of art required at the end, but otherwise it’s just mixing ingredients.”

Harry chewed the rest of his stolen biscuit, considering.

“So, will we have six more weeks of winter or not?” he finally asked.

Draco looked up at him with an exasperatedly fond expression. “Well, I don’t know yet, it’s still the middle of the night in Pennsylvania where Phil lives, we won’t know until lunch time!”

“Oh, of course, how silly of me,” Harry said, rolling his eyes, before leaning in to kiss the icing off the end of Draco’s nose.

Read on Tumblr: Part 1

Read on ao3

#hdcandyheartsfest2023 #my fic #drarry #drarry fic #sweet treats #fluff

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ahiddenpath · 1 year

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Life Chat

I am wracking my brains for a cute lil hook, but I got nothin! Chatter about my life beneath the cut, if you're interested xD

SO.

Work is hard, man. I had, like, a meltdown because my proteins didn't express- I'm completely new to protein purification and testing, and I only have a little bit of cell culture knowledge, so I've been learning a lot at work. Like... Okay so the other places I've worked? They split DNA work, cell work, and protein work into three departments, and I have about 10 years' experience with DNA. So now I'm learning two other departments, lol! Additionally, I'm learning a host of assays to test our proteins.

It's great for me as a scientist, and as someone who... You know... Wants to be, like, employable. But as an Anxiety Haver (tm), it's... Not... The best.

So my proteins didn't work, I had a meltdown at home- not sleeping, intrusive thoughts, a million percent out of proportion. Come to find out...

The problem was OUR REAGENTS WERE EXPIRED. Other people had the same problem! It wasn't even anything I did! In fact, I asked around about it and found that others had the same issue, took it to the head of our group, and was tasked with getting fresh reagents- basically, I helped! My brain was literally calling me a useless failure over something out of my control (well- actually, I knew the stuff was expired and asked if it was a problem, but it was all we had, so I had to use it). Thanks, anxiety brain.

Anyway, my boss was not annoyed, there was 0 problem. Part of me is so mad at myself for blowing things soooo out of proportion, but... Idk, I need to not... Kick myself... For my anxiety disorder, as long as I'm not making it other people's problem. But at the same time, I need to take care of myself and know when my reaction is augmented by my mood disorder. BUT ALSO-

It's complicated xD

Creatively, I've been poking at my editing. I'm a bit worried because, even after all the work I did on the first four chapters of the PdA relaunch, um... I'm still spending my time on editing the same four chapters. But there's no point fretting over a thing I do for fun, so I'm just... Vibing with it.

I'm taking the poll results into consideration, so thank you so much for voting!

I have so many things I want to work on, but I am having more trouble than usual fitting things in with my new job. The pacing of making stuff is going to be slower, with is sad, because I still have all the ideas. But ideas keep, as long as you write them.

Speaking of, here's a list of stuff I want to work on, for my own reference:

-Galemon playlist

-Koushiro and Eimi Growing Up with You playlist

-My three open fics, in general, lol x_x

-The secret project I was working on in October, when the job interview and Koushiro week overrode everything

-book binding projects

We'll see, it will get done when it gets done, I guess!

I hope you're all doing well, take care and big kiss!

#hidden's life

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d0ll-partz · 1 year

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Final Reflection

I had a really hard time deciding which song I wanted to sing for this assignment, but I ultimately settled on Celebrity Skin by Hole because I think it plays to quite a few of my strengths. It allowed me the freedom to experiment with the performance aspect and add some of my own flair to the track. It also sits in quite a comfortable place in my vocal range, it’s on the lower end with Courtney Love also being an alto. It also has some moments that have a real grit and raspiness to them that I really love. I was responsible for planning the rehearsals and booking the rehearsal spaces, which I think I was pretty successful at as there were only one or two mix-ups with times. I sang the vocals and mixed/edited the studio recording with some guidance from the lovely Stu Brewer in one of the mac suite sessions and from my fellow waterbear student/boyfriend because I really struggled with the production aspect of the project. I also helped out my fellow waterbear student/boyfriend with his project that I sang lead vocals and wrote the lyrics for. We originally wrote it in college a few years ago and haven’t really touched it since. We changed it around a little after having a very productive writing session with Kieron Pepper. He helped me figure out why the existing chorus didn’t sound right in my head and it was due to the phrasing of the lyrics. We also decided to add a new section to act as a chorus as the existing one sounded too much like a pre-chorus.

I think my live performance went really well and I always really enjoy the performance aspect of projects, it's where my passion for music really lies. I think I conveyed the exact amount of instability and anger that I wanted to in my facial expressions and the way I moved my body, as it was written as a very angry song, poking fun at the Hollywood sphere that Courtney Love had been thrust into. Ideally I would’ve had a little more space to move/thrash around but that’s just me being picky. I incorporated some hand movements that I’ve watched Courtney Love do in the live versions of the song that I found, like the way she places her hands under her chin when she sings the line “oh look at my face,” as I thought it was very camp and cute. I didn’t take much else from her aside from fashion/makeup inspiration as her range of movement is limited by her guitar, a problem I do not have, so I mostly just followed my own interpretation of how I think it should be performed.

One thing I need to improve is my planning throughout. It definitely could’ve been better as my organizational skills are severely lacking and I need to be more consistent with how when I get things done, instead of doing nothing and then lots and lots of work in one big burst, I need to start actually sticking to the times I set aside to get things done, i made a weekly planner but I never ended up following the schedule that I made for myself. I am aware of this fact about myself so I always start out with the best intentions and make a game plan but usually around the second week I start to forget things and fall behind, so I need to start setting actual alarms/reminders for when it’s time to get on with a task and hold myself accountable when I fail to do so. I also think my knowledge about production has come a long way, I now understand how to use corrective EQ, how different microphones can be used for different things, and how to add reverb, but it isn’t even nearly as extensive as what it should be by now because I become increasingly nervous around things that I don’t understand and instead of asking for help I like to make myself suffer in silence! I think this is because of some unresolved stuff left over from going to a grammar school. I genuinely need to sit down over the break and rewatch all the content and write down the parts I didn’t really understand and take it to one of the production tutors to help me fill in the gaps in my knowledge. I also ran out of time to record the bass line so the mix sounds quite empty, Stu helped me and explained how to use a spreader to make the sound wider but the lack of bass really sticks out and annoys me, if I could do it again I’d make sure I had allocated enough time to get Rei or Toby in to record the bass line for me. I showed a few of my peers my final mix and the video of my live performance and they all gave me pretty positive feedback, only one person noticed the lack of bass in the studio recording and I got quite a few compliments on my stylistic choices. Overall I think this project went pretty well, I would definitely improve my organisation in every aspect and spend some more time understanding production but I’m pretty happy with the end results.

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ykoriana-imperatrix · 1 year

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SDC Month - December 2022 - Monday #2

Will I manage to maybe mildly offend anyone with the latest installment in this project? Time to find out!

As before, the usual disclaimer: as much as I made light of it above, if you feel you might genuinely be even a little offended/upset/incensed/what have you by anything that could fall under the umbrella of "unpopular opinion", this post probably isn't the best choice of reading material for you. Thank you, and have a nice day.

(Cut for content as always, and also for spoilers from The Chosen through The Third God.)

Possibly-controversial statement of today: Molochite and Osidian being fraternal twins is not by itself enough to prevent Carnelian from putting two and two together regarding the latter's identity.

And yes, before I go into anything else, while those two's zygosity is never actually explicitly stated in the books proper or in the website, the author has indeed confirmed they are fraternal twins. Now, I'm not here to bash our friendly but often-clueless protagonist — by now, you all likely know that I like to poke fun at plenty of concepts and/or characters, but I try to keep any actual criticisms as fair and as balanced as possible given the circumstances, and ensure I make reasonable arguments (again, as much as I can given the subjectivity of some topics).

Facts: yes, the Jade Lord brothers are not identical twins, so it's not like Osidian's face is going to be unmistakenly a near-perfect copy of that of Molochite, only with a birthmark. However, there are passages supporting the fact that even so, they do have a very strong family resemblance (not exactly wildly surprising, given they are still full brothers and their absurd level of inbreeding). For instance, in the chapter "The Election", there is this:

For a moment, Carnelian saw the face he expected—a face twinned to Molochite's. A dark mark on the forehead began his frown.

And yes, one could still argue Osidian is still far enough away at this point for Carnelian not to be able to take full, clear notice of his features, and so would be seeing him as resembling Molochite more than he actually does, but I'd argue the very fact he still thinks this counts for something. Then, much later in the series, when Molochite's dead body is brought before Carnelian and Osidian in the chapter "Murderous Grief":

Molochite's beautiful, cruel face was distorted by a grimace that combined horror and surprise. Osidian gazed upon his brother, eyes bleak. Carnelian looked from Osidian's face to Molochite's, and he marvelled at how alike they were.

This one is harder to argue against, wouldn't you say? One couldn't even say that Molochite's corpse is too disfigured to cause Carnelian to overstate the resemblance or something of the sort, since he is clearly able to describe his expression. No, I feel like evidence points in favour of it being indeed a canonical fact that regardless of zygosity, Molochite and Osidian do strongly resemble one another.

Having gone through these passages, let's travel back in time to the events of The Chosen again. If you think about it, Carnelian meets very few Chosen from the House of the Masks, so how much does he really have to go on in terms of resemblances? He meets Molochite, a little later on the same day the Hanuses and not too long after Kumatuya (whose face, of course, he cannot and never does see), nine days after that Osidian, and fifteen days after that Ykoriana (whose face he does not actually see until several years and five books later, and I'm only considering content relevant to this book here). (I'm basing these temporal references on the Kumatuya reign chronology from the old website, by the way.) Carnelian himself has been told he looks very much like his late mother Azurea, but as he never knew her, and also never, say, sees as much as a portrait of her or anything of the sort, only has others' words to go on. So, combining this with the above, we know his only experience considering resemblances between people with Masks blood would come from his meetings of Molochite, the Hanuses and Osidian. And even if, according to him (from the "Beadcord" chapter), there is some resemblance between the Hanuses and Osidian...

Carnelian realized whence came the resemblance that had been nagging him: his likeness to the Lords Hanus was unmistakable.

...wouldn't one expect the resemblance between Molochite and Osidian to be even more pronounced, or at the very least on the same level? Sure, as the half-uncles of all three boys, the Hanuses are still close relatives (in a highly inbred family, which one cannot reiterate enough), but considering the passages from above and the fact the Hanuses would be more distant relatives genetically, if only slightly (plus, we know they — well, Right-Hanus — have differently-coloured eyes from those of the twins, and eye colour tends to be one of the most striking traits in a person, all the moreso in a society where everyone is bald). On that note, it is odd that one resemblance eclipses the other, or that thinking of the Hanuses does not get Carnelian thinking of the one other person from the House of the Masks whose face he has actually seen. (Though it is possible this happens because since the Hanuses are the first — and only — Chosen syblings Carnelian meets, the impact of that uniqueness is so great it does in fact eclipse the meeting with Molochite (especially considering said meeting preceded the one with the Hanuses), even given how absolutely mesmerising his beauty was to Carnelian? Or perhaps Carnelian just has a short attention span. Or both are true.)

Plus, while he is ultimately mistaken about Osidian's identity, Carnelian does correctly identify him as a son of Kumatuya from the start, he just thinks he's a (divided) sybling and the son of some random Lesser Chosen lady rather than a Jade Lord and the son of Ykoriana. So, by this point, Carnelian has met a total of four Masks individuals whose faces he's actually seen... and he never even vaguely finds himself comparing Osidian to the only other one who is a fellow child of Kumatuya? Not once? Even assuming the divided sybling theory were true (a phrase I never thought I'd find myself writing, but here we are), Osidian and Molochite would still be half-brothers, so I think you might agree it not being brought up, ever, seems at best a curious omission (even being charitable and accounting for everything else Carnelian is dealing with at the time). And if the Chosen syblings Carnelian had met had actually been half-brothers of the twins instead of half-uncles, sure, I would have found it more understandable that the resemblance to Molochite wouldn't have raised any red flags or been given any thought to; Carnelian would have just noted there happened to be a definite resemblance between all these sons of the God Emperor, hardly a surprising thing. But as it is, Carnelian never once meets a single other Chosen child of Kumatuya, sybling or otherwise, so I am sorry to say, I do genuinely think that he had pieces he could have put together to figure out Osidian's identity, and Molochite "merely" being a fraternal twin of Osidian and not an identical one was not the main (or, I'll go further, even a) reason he failed to do so before the election.

My final verdict: it does seem that there is even more truth to the classic meme (an old running joke between me and @suth-sardian) of Carnelian not caring all that much about his family than one might think at first.

#stone dance of the chameleon #the stone dance of the chameleon #sdc month 2 2022 #sdc unpopular opinions #sdc december 2022 mondays

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