#less variation in the backgrounds - good

[ophiuranesque]

spent all last night creating a fictional disease so i might as well post this (insane ramblings in tags)

#my art #ocs #fuck backgrounds this is the best youll get from me #scroll down if you wanna see me ramble ab this #its called BHCD-1 #its the product of a major corporation going unchecked and neglecting the bare minimum safety requirements for hazardous waste #basically this huge company that owns practically everything #controls all the food production in an america that is under a food scarcity crisis #this was brought ab due to temperatures being too high for regular food growth #but theres a limited ammount of space where food can be produced since it has to be in a controlled enviroment #so even this company is having trouble producing enough food to satiate enough people for there to not be regular cases of starvation #the company finds this backrooms esque place #which seemingly stretches endlessly #and figure thats a good place to utilize for food production as its a steady temperature with little variation #however they find this place filled with large quantities of this dark tarry waste product that they cant identify #maybe someone outside of their company would be able to but they keep it under wraps out of fear of getting shut down #they begin to recruit people with various environmental science degrees to dispose of the waste #figuring that they will be able to handle it better and that they can not have much competition or kickback this way #bc more people who've signed ndas means less people to dispute them once they eventually leave the company #also the company promises food security to the families of these prospective employees given they live on site and continue working #so new employees come in like crazy bc everyone is starving #and about a month into the cleaning operation someone gets sick #theyre discovered bc they seemingly had a nervous breakdown #the company realizes this is not the case and takes the person for observation #they die #the company is like oh shit and gives everyone pto #under the guise of training more employees #they dont tell anyone the person has died #they cut the person open and find their lungs are caked in the tarry substance they've been removing from the location #and had begun to leech to nearby tissue

[primsycoldbottles]

whatever tweet was posted on here abt listening to the gone girl soundtrack while doing work needs a million dollars . this is great

#peach patter #ive mostly been listening to variations of the nancy drew game series soundtracks #or bossa nova with much less frequency . and the gone girl soundtrack is really good vague background noise #okok enough posting i need to finish this essay . hope u all have a good time ummm . kissies and hugs <3

[bubblebaath]

hmm... im sure someones made a good guide out there somewhere, but i personally havent used any but thats not a good answer, so another place to start is to use a real game as a ref! this is the sims 2 ds:

most of the detailed textures are only used for the player sims hair/face/clothing you can see by the jagged edges of this sims vest that its still a little lower than the faces texture (this is probably because the body has more clothing variations than the face and they needed to save memory)

static parts of the environment have a higher res, because they can tile/repeat the textures. this game has a million variations on bed/chair textures, so they're notably lower res this is a ripped texture of most(?) of the things used to make an area in the game (image credit) :

the desert background here is just a 2d image, relatively low res because the player will never be able to reach it

i guess this is just a long winded way of saying "things that arent that important or the player will generally be lower poly + less detailed" but i hope it helps a little

#its hard to explain bc its difficult to set rules unless you try to set the entire environment to the same style rules // #i mostly went into textures here bc ds games are much lower textured than psx or similar most of the time // #i need to actually learn more abt ds stuff sdkfhsdjh im mostly just eyeballing this instead of knowing much abt it // #long post #scopophobia #gif #not my art #sims 2 ds #tutorial #...ok not really but how do i tag this// #newbiealliance #image heavy

[slvtforfiction]

Hiii!! Since you made a NSFW of Johnnie guilbert could you do a SFW of him? Btw I love your work sm!!❤️

Sfw Alphabet

☆ I’m assuming you mean a sfw alphabet?

☆ If not please request again :)

☆ Johnnie Guilbert X Reader

☆ Fluff

☆ If you are going to request: please check at the pinned post if requests are open,otherwise I will delete your requests which I have already been doing

☆ Creds to @cafekitsune for dividers :)

Masterlist | Pinned Post

A = Affection

(How do they show affection)

His love language is definitely gift giving,if you mention once that you like a bracelet,he’s got it.

Christmas and birthdays are the best with him considering he notices every minor detail about what you like and don’t like.

B = Best friend

(What would they be like as a friend before the relationship)

Before the relationship Johnnie is a little awkward,he fell first and you fell harder. He’s still the same except he showers you in gifts,is a little more physical with you and more awkward than he is when he gets into the relationship.

Everyone but you can notice that he also has a crush on you,you regularly spoke to Jake about it who always replied with “Ask him out,he likes you.” In different variations.

C = Cuddles

(Do they like to cuddle? How would they cuddle?)

He loves cuddles,in fact he loves for them. He would definitely cuddle you with your legs over his,your chest on his head.

He lives for cuddles with you,after filming or simply just living all he wants to do is cuddle up with you and watch something in the background.

D = Domestic

(Do they want to settle down? How are they at cooking and cleaning?)

He definitely wants to settle down with you eventually,has obsessively thought about proposing to you after a year in the relationship.

He is immediately very domestic in the relationship and enjoys little things with you. He immediately treats you like his wife with princess treatment.

E = Entrance

(How are they like at the beginning of the relationship)

He’s still slightly awkward but he’s a lot less awkward with you than he was,you’d have to be more dominant in the relationship until he gets more comfortable with you.

F = Fiance(e)

(How do they feel about commitment? How quick would they want to get married?)

He’s very comfortable with committed relationships and would honestly think about proposing to you,he wouldn’t propose until you had been together for at least 5+ years.

He does talk to you about it quite a bit though and often comments about it just to test the waters and see how you feel about it.

G = Gentle

(How gentle are they, both physically and emotionally?)

He would never even think about hurting you,physically or emotionally. It hurts a part of himself too,to even think about laying a hand on you or saying cruel words to/about you.

H = Hugs

(Do they like hugs? How often do they do it? What are their hugs like?)

He loves hugs,the same as he does cuddles. He loves hugs and he lives for hugs with you. Usually he hugs you throughout the day as a way of showing his affection whilst also not wanting to create any tension between who he/you’re with at the time.

I = I love you

(How fast do they say the L-word?)

He definitely wants to say it immediately. It always in the back of his mind and the tip of his tongue but he never said it until you were dating for around 2 months. He didn’t want to scare you off and therefore waited longer than he wanted.

J = Jealousy

(How jealous do they get? What do they do when they’re jealous?)

He doesn’t get jealous per se but he does stare daggers into the person who thought it was a good idea to talk to you.

He doesn’t get jealous per se but he does need the random-guy-chatting-you-up-at-the-bar to know that you belong to him.

He doesn’t get jealous per se,but he’s extremely jealous. He rarely shows it but will make it entirely known once it’s just you two alone.

K = Kisses

(What are their kisses like? Where do they like to kiss you? Where do they like to be kissed?)

His kisses,whether short or long,is passion filled as well as love filled. His kisses describe the way he feels about you and he makes it a point to express his feelings through kisses when he can’t express them through words.

He loves kissing you on your forehead/lips because he thinks it’s more affectionate than anywhere else. This also says the same about his preferences,loves forehead kisses and small pecks on the lips.

L = Little ones

(How are they around children?)

Although he says he hates children,children are drawn to him and it may show a bit of his softer side :).

He’s honestly one of the best person with kids,even though he swears by hating them. He knows how to talk to them,he knows what to say and what not to.

M = Morning

(How are mornings spent with them?)

You wake up to find Johnnie splayed out on your chest most mornings,he’s a big cuddler and will find any excuse to have his arms around you.

Sometimes (at least once a week) he’ll get up early to make you breakfast in bed which you pay back by making him breakfast in bed later in the week :).

N = Night

(How are nights spent with them?)

Big cuddler,he loves to have his arms wrapped around you or vis versa. He definitely barely takes up any of the bed,he makes himself small on purpose to give you more room (even though he ends up cuddled up to you).

O = Open

(When would they start revealing things about themselves? Do they say everything all at once or wait a while to reveal things slowly?)

He will casually mention really random things about himself throughout the relationship,I mean you’ll be cuddled up and watching a movie and he’ll just say something like “You know once in middle school-“

P = Patience

(How easily angered are they?)

He has all the patience for you,he never wants to hurt you emotionally or physically by yelling at you and so he would have a lot of patience.

If he begins to lose his patience he would ask for sometime alone so he doesn’t shout etc.

But no matter what he wouldn’t physically harm you intentionally,he wouldn’t hit you etc.

Q = Quizzes

(How much would they remember about you? Do they remember every little detail you mention in passing, or do they kind of forget everything?)

He remembers everything you tell him,even in passing. Your favourite colour is purple? He knows. How? You told him while you were half asleep,cuddled up to his chest on one week after you got together.

He remembers almost anything you tell him,he tries his hardest to remember anything you tell him,even if he has to write it down somewhere just in case.

R = Remember

(What is their favorite moment in your relationship?)

Definitely a cuddler,so his favourite moment between you two would be cuddling up on the couch and watching a movie together. He’s ordered your favourite food and drinks and you two are more than likely to fall asleep together on the sofa.

S = Security

(How protective are they? How would they protect you? How would they like to be protected?)

He would protect you as much as he can but let’s be honest,he’s a skinny boy with little jealousy. He would definitely protect you from random creeps at a bar,random men in the street and if you were alone he’d come and pick you up but I don’t think he’d ever get in a physical fight.

T = Try

(How much effort would they put into dates, anniversaries, gifts, everyday tasks?)

Every single anniversary,date,gift or even everyday tasks is thoughtful and planned. He would never disappoint you and he would make sure all occasions are memorable and special to the both of you.

He tries his hardest in your relationship no matter what the situation were to be and he’s always making sure that your happy :).

U = Ugly

(What would be some bad habits of theirs?)

Definitely picks his fingers,like picks the corners of his cuticles etc. You make sure to stop him when you can and he rarely does it again.

He doesn’t pick up quickly on social cues,you would have to basically spell it out for him for him to understand and even then he wouldn’t really understand.

V = Vanity

(How concerned are they with their looks?)

He doesn’t care what other people think,he rarely cares what you think if he’s honest.

If you don’t like a shirt he has he will still wear it but he will note down that it’s not your favourite thing he owns and will not wear it as often.

W = Whole

(Would they feel incomplete without you?)

He and his friends note how his actions are a lot different without you there,as if he feels lost without you to guide him. He feels incomplete without you,as if he had forgotten something at home.

X = Xtra

(A random headcanon for them.)

He definitely will come home with an animal one day that he’s adopted without your full permission (he didn’t even ask you.) bonus points if it’s a cat.

Y = Yuck

(What are some things they wouldn’t like, either in general or in a partner?)

He wouldn’t want their partner to be unhygienic so if you have mental health problems that stop you from being hygienic he will fully support that and help you.

There’s nothing that he sees as an immediate dealbreaker as long as he can help you through it he will.

Z = Zzz

(What is a sleep habits of theirs?)

He definitely starfishes like his whole body across the mattress type of thing. He’s not particularly experienced in relationships so he wouldn’t have to deal with sharing a bed often and therefore his sleep habits haven’t changed since he’s been a kid.

Therefore he will try his hardest to only take up his half of the bed but don’t count on it.

#spotify #smut #song #romance #cute #fluff #colby brock smut #sam and colby #sam and colby fluff #colby brock #jake and johnnie #johnnie guilbert fluff #johnnie guilbert smut #johnnie guilbert #johnnie guilbert x reader

[riinkun-art-stuff]

Howdy ho! I'm very excited to finally be able to share this illustration I worked on as part of this year's @bumblebybigbang for @tahnex's lovely and super fun fic (with no pain attached whatsoever), "Of Dragons and Panthers," which you can read here! As soon as I read the original notes on it this scene captured me so much I had to do something dramatic for it. It's been such a pleasure watching the whole collab come together, tysm for having me!

First time joining an event like this, and I'd love to again if the opportunity comes around hehe. Still a few postings to go on this one, the pieces before us this year have knocked it out of the park and I'm super excited to see the rest once they come around!

Made a few process cuts just for fun, which I left under the cut!

I did do a few sketches roughly before I started out, especially based on other parts of the chapter, but this particular composition was so fixed in my mind that I ended up just sticking with it. In retrospect, I would've loved to go back and do some more thorough exploration for it. Here are a few of the sketches I managed to fish back up:

I also was thinking of trying a few other doodles/another big piece, but ended up not really having the time between other obligations :')

And the sketch I finally settled on:

Inking was SUCH a fun process on this piece in particular. I'm a huge fan of how dragon!Yang's mane turned out, especially, and all the detailing on the head and around Blake's fur and such. Feel like I'm really satisfied w the particular way the line weight variations came out, and it's where the piece shines the most imo.

Panther!Blake, too. Oh gosh. I feel like it took me a lot of reworking to get her structure to a point where she felt very leopard-like, rather than any other type of big cat- especially around the head.

Colours were such a challenging part. There was a big feeling I had for that glow coming off dragon!Yang in the middle of the heavy rain- I love seeing that sort of effect in real life so that's something I'm really hoping to work to capture better as I practice. Trying to get dragon!Yang's slight iridescence in there and to balance out the lighting on panther!Blake's fur each took a long time, too- I'm only a pinch sad that a good chunk of it is covered by other lighting effects XD

Blake's rosettes were SO fun. Augguhugg.

In terms of backgrounds. HOO boy I was going through a strange patch in life while working on the background and final polish for this piece, which is why (at least I feel like) it looks kinda rushed. I have been practicing natural landscapes and doing some observational studies but still struggling to get those rock shapes quite right, which I think is a big make or break point of something like this. I did really enjoy toying around with inking on the foliage and foreground layers of the ground, though! And in the end, lighting and effects ended up masking a lot of the big weak spots :D

I think natural effects like smoke/steam, and rain, are big things that I got to practice more of in this piece, but also really would like to get better at in future. Esp since I feel like it's been a great opportunity to mess around with different colours and brushes that I use way less, which I'm always grateful for w painting. I think just layering the rain on its own ended up being about 10 odd layers?

I think the only other thing I would have loved to improve is to just help the piece feel more Bumbleby™ in the final look. I think I like the cool colours of the lighting for this particular outcome, but I also would have probably tried to have made things much clearer (ahem at the very least switch to yellow/purple) in the long run in terms of representation and resemblance. Ik that at least for me it is fairly easy to associate the two characters with dragons and panthers since I'm more familiar w the fandom lingo around these two, but esp for outsiders I feel like it's probably not great at conveying who they are, and why they are potentially in this situation.

I'd also love to try and find a shading style that still has a painterly quality but compliments the inking a bit better, rather than overpowering it.

I think that, on the whole, I am pretty satisfied with the piece and had a great time working with Tahnex on the whole collab! And I've also has a fun time reading his work and notes in return, and thank you so much for being so so patient with me even as my updates were slow n rocky at points :'D

That's about all I got, have a great day y'all! Still a few big bang postings to go, so very excited for those once they come around!

#riinkun art stuff #my art #digital art #bumbleby big bang #bbb2023 #rwby #YIPPEEEE #very very happy to finally be able to show this off aaaaahugghh!!!! #it's been v cool working on this collab- tysm for having me again! :'D

[tealfloyd]

Hello and howdy do~! Thanks so much for the Halloween Costume fic! I loved it, even though I was hoping that MC's costumes would closely resemble that of each dorm's costume theme. Nevertheless, great job!👍 For my next request, I'd like the seven dorms' reactions when MC presents each of the boys a special Christmas gift. Since Christmas doesn't exist in Twisted Wonderland, MC explains its meaning to the boys before she presents them their gifts. Thanks a bunch!

AN EARLY MERRY CHRISTMAS

"What do you mean Night Raven College doesn't celebrate Christmas? It seems that MC has a bit more work to do~"

SUMMARY: MC decides to host a Christmas party for all her friends, giving all of them special gifts! (Everyone x Fem!Reader).

WARNINGS: Maybe some light spoilers from most of the character's background, but they're very light. Also MC's empty wallet.

CONTENT: Ortho's part is platonic. My ghost fellows having names. Me trying my best at guessing their gift history. Most of the presents have hand-made decorations on them because I love them. Maybe some characters are ooc, but I really hope not. This format has some variations, and also some of the characters have fewer lines because it's kind of hard to write for all of them equally :( WORDS: 7K+

A/N: Hello dear! I'm sorry this took so long~ I wanted to finish this earlier but got caught up with some important things and so I couldn't write for some days, so maybe this isn't as good as I expected it to be. Either way, I still hope you like it, and if not, please let me know your comments on it!

(Fact that no one asked: I spent three hours looking for gift ideas, and even after that I'm still not sure if I choose the right ones).

Now onto the fic~

What a lovely Christmas eve; just you and your adoptive cat son, patiently waiting for your guests as you friendly interacted with each other.

“Grim! What did I told you about eating the cookies?!” You scolded, taking the tray and placing it away from him, looking at the crumbs that indicated several were now on his stomach.

As I said, a lovely Christmas eve with friendly interactions.

“Nyah~! Why would you bake cookies if I can’t eat them?!” He whined, pouting as he crossed his arms, very much resembling a child.

You sighed at his antics, crouching next to him so you could pat his head. “You know that these are for the guests; but we can enjoy cat shaped pancakes tomorrow if you want."

“You know I’m not a cat…” He muttered, and you couldn’t help but giggle at his adorableness, correcting yourself.

“I’m sorry. Do ‘Grim shaped pancakes’ sound better then?” You started to softly caress his fur, hearing him purr after a few more petting, relieved that his petty moment was over.

“What a cute bonding time," Conrad said, cooing at the wholesome scene.

“Do you mind if we join?” Asked Brawley, already approaching you two.

“You better not!” Grim said, holding your hand to keep it in its place, trying to prevent you from saying yes, which didn’t work at the end.

“Don’t listen to him, of course you can join!” You said, extending your arm.

“Wah~ MC's so nice~ I don’t understand how those boys haven’t—“ Before Arthur could finish his sentence, Conrad elbowed him, knowing what he was about to say.

“You know we promised to not talk about their crushes on her," he murmured, making you a little suspicious.

“What are you muttering about?”

“Oh, nothing! Just that I think we forgot to buy some groceries, so we have to go!” Was the last thing they said before disappearing.

You raised an eyebrow at the excuse. “But you don’t cook... Or eat…”

A knock on the door made you stood up abruptly, checking the wall clock, gasping since it was already time and you still had to finish some things.

You dusted your apron, trying to look more or less presentable while rushing to the door, instructing Grim to put on the accessories you made for him. He wanted to complain, but couldn’t when he saw you giving him the look, and so he went upstairs, muttering about how you shouldn’t treat him so unfairly.

You opened the door, greeting the Heartslabyul students. “Hello guys!” You cheerfully exclaimed, stepping aside so they could enter. “Please make yourselves at home, I will join you in a moment."

While your figure disappeared after crossing the kitchen arc, the boys were left wondering why you had neatly organised gifts and colourful decorations.

 “What’s all this?” Asked Ace, looking at the pile, curious about the contents.

“Ace, manners," corrected Riddle, afraid he will ruin it.

“That’s so cute! I need to post it right now~” Cater said, pulling out his phone to take pictures of it, trying to think of a cool caption as he scrolled down the best photos.

Deuce was also staring at the presents, thinking about why you had so many. “Can these be… MC’s secret fan’s gifts…?” He muttered, oblivious to the fact that there was one that had his name on the label.

“Do you need help?” Questioned Trey, entering the kitchen to see you checking something in the oven.

“I guess I could use some of that," you chuckled, pointing at the deserts on the countertop. “Can you help me bring those to the table in the living room?”

He complied, taking the tray while carefully moving it so he could place on top the table, making sure everything was the way you organised it.

“Finally, everything’s ready," you exhaled in relief, removing your apron and cooking gloves, leaving them in a cabinet. “You can eat if you want, we still have to wait for the others to arrive."

Just after you finished talking, you heard a knock again, listening to some of them argue behind it.

You encountered the boys, who didn’t notice you already opened the door as the discussion continued. “Am I interrupting something?” You said, softly smiling at them as they stopped dead in their tracks as they turned their heads to you.

“Of course not, Prefect”, Jade was the first one who talked. “We were just having a friendly talk."

You knew he was lying, but didn’t think much of it, smiling softly as you stepped aside. “Sure, whatever you say."

“Thank you for inviting us, Prefect”. Azul and Jamil talked at the same time, looking at each other in surprise, and you chuckled at their expressions, inviting them to enter and feel at home.

It didn’t take much for Floyd to take that too literal, yelling: "yay~!" as he plopped himself on the couch, accidentally (or maybe not) hitting Riddle in the process.

“Hey! Don’t just take all the space!” He complained, anger building up inside him as he pushed his long legs out of the couch.

“My, your dorm seems very colourful. May I ask why?” Jade asked, inspecting the green, red and white decorations that were placed around the room.

“I will explain everything once everyone’s here," you responded, organising a few details that were off, proudly nodding at the results. “In the meantime, you can eat anything you want and—"

You were interrupted by the sound of munching, looking at the first years and some of the second years who were happily eating, sensing your stare.

“Sorry, you said eat anything you want," Ace said, mouth full and with cookie crumbs all over his lips.

“It’s okay, I’m happy you liked it."

“All of this looks amazing!” Kalim exclaimed, looking at his friend with puppy eyes. “Can I eat this, Jamil? MC made it so there shouldn’t be a problem, right?”

Jamil sighs, nodding his head, trusting you fully since he knew you would never try to poison someone, or at least someone so pure like Kalim. “Sure," was all he said, also trying some food himself.

“Who else are we waiting for?" Asked Jack, curious about who else you invited.

“Just Vil, Rook, Epel, Idia, Ortho, Malleus, Lilia, Silver and Sebek."

"Just?" Ace remarked, still munching on the treats you recently prepared.

“That lizard is coming?” Complained Leona, relaxing on the couch after he figured out it wouldn’t bother you.

“Of course he’s coming," you answered, stating it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, which it clearly was. “They should be here any minute—"

Again, the knocking on the door made you realise they were already here. “Or maybe now."

You opened it, standing in front of a very elegant looking Vil and Ortho by his side, the height comparison making you giggle.

“Hello MC. Thank you for inviting us to this lively reunion," Vil commented.

“Indeed; me and my brother were very happy when we got the invitation!” Ortho cheerfully affirmed as he pointed at Idia, who didn’t know if he wanted to go home or be there. Maybe both.

“This is certainly going to be a magnifique soirée!” Rook exclaimed, excited about what you had ready for the evening.

“I sure hope to meet your expectations” You said, inviting them inside.

“Thanks for inviting us, MC," said Epel, trying to mask his accent so Vil wouldn’t scold him in front of you, who took notice of this and decided to step in.

“Don’t worry Epel. You don’t have to hide your accent here; I will make sure Vil doesn’t reprimand you for it," you calmly reassured, making him (and every person who heard it, even Vil because he was standing right next to you) swoon over your attentiveness.

“S-sure," he stuttered, trying to hide his flushed face from you.

You also noticed Idia and Ortho were still standing outside, probably because the taller one was having an internal debate about whether he should enter or not.

“You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to."

Idia jumped at the comment, not realising that you were in front of him due to his nervousness. “I-It’s okay…" Was all he could answer, cheeks red and hair slightly pink.

“Perfect! Then we must go inside before you catch a cold, brother!" Idia didn’t had room to protest as his little brother was already dragging him inside, hoping he wouldn’t get noticed by the rest of the students there.

Fortunately, and unfortunately for him, the attention was on you, curiosity washing over them as you still didn’t explain the reasoning behind the reunion.

“I told you already, I rather do the explaining once Diasomnia is here; I really want everyone to be here once I start the activity."

“You mean giving us those presents over there?” Asked Jade, perking up everyone’s interest even more.

“PRESENTS?! FOR US?!” The majority yelled, and you covered your ears as a reflective action.

“Yeah, exactly," you said, hoping they would let you talk. “But you have to wait for me to give them to you."

“Eh~? But I want to open it now!” Floyd whined, about to hold his present, stopping when you gently grabbed his arm. “Oh? Is Shrimpy going to give it to me now~?”

You smiled again, but this time in a menacing way, warning him of your wrath if he even touched the present before you gave it to him. “Floyd, please don’t open that box; if you do, I will be mad, and we don’t want that, right?”

It was shocking for them to see this side of you, but at the same time, they would be even more surprised if you didn’t have that side in the first place. After all, you’re still a student at Night Raven College, accidental or not.

The moment was broken when the last knock was heard, and you released Floyd’s arm from your very light grasp, rushing to the door to open it. “Ah, you’re here!”

Lilia laughed, lifting his hand slightly. “We apologize for the delay. Malleus took quite some time since he was still processing your invitation."

Said man only stared at him in disbelief, coughing to dismiss his light embarrassment. “Thank you for inviting me— Us, Child of Man," he thanked, visibly calm on the outside but giggling out of joy inside.

“We truly appreciate your invitation to this reunion, human!” Sebek yelled, making you (and everyone who wasn’t ready for it) wince at the sudden noise, quickly replacing your frown with a kind smile to not hurt his feelings.

“You don’t need to yell, you know?” Commented Silver. “But indeed, we are very grateful," he added, politely bowing.

“It’s nothing, I’m glad that you arrived so please, make yourselves at home," and with that note, you finally closed the door, about to start the explanation when you noticed that someone was missing. “Wait a moment, please."

You walked upstairs, looking for your cat companion. “Grim! Why are you taking so long?”

“This thing is so stupid! I’m not going to use it!” He responded, making you sigh in discontent.

You didn’t expect him to throw a tantrum over an accessory, but it was okay; living with him has taught you quite a few ways of dealing with his childish personality.

“You can have cake for tomorrow’s breakfast."

The door creaked open, revealing him using a red and green bowtie with little snowflakes and a little handcrafted Santa hat on, also wearing a big pout

“Fine then, but you better keep your promise!” He grumpily walked down the stairs, knowing that everyone was going to stare at him.

“I would, but I don’t remember promising it." Checkmate MC, checkmate.

“Nyah!” He exclaims, trying to wriggle out from your grasp as you keep him in place, cradling him until he calms down. “Let me down! I didn’t sign for this!”

Well, neither did you and you’re not complaining for the most part.

“Grim," the cold tone you spoke with made everyone froze again, most of them remembering the earlier scene as you tried to control your child cat companion. “Are you going to behave or not?” He didn’t answer, and you repeated the question.

“I’m going to behave…” He muttered, deflating when you placed him down on the floor, not believing he fell for your tricks again.

“I’m sorry about that," you apologized, letting out a nervous giggle. “I may now explain why I invited you here today."

“I know that most of you’re going to be out due to winter’s break, so I wanted to celebrate Christmas with you before that happens!” You happily exclaimed, your warm smile making their heart melt, only to retrace your words in their heads, highlighting an unknown word for them.

“Christmas?” Asked Azul, intrigued by this.

“What’s that?” Leona questioned, ears perking up in curiosity.

“Ah, that’s right, I forgot that you don’t have it here," you started to think of forms to explain this holiday, deciding that Occam’s razor principle will be the best approach. “In my world, Christmas is a holiday that mainly focuses on love, laughter and happiness. It’s a time where we enjoy our friends and family’s presence and just bask in their warmth and comfort, relieved that they’re in our lives for another year."

Everyone stayed quiet for a while, leaving you to wonder if you had said something wrong until you heard multiple screams (of joy) and cheering.

“That sounds so amazing! I want to celebrate Christmas back home too!” Kalim yelled, already planning on doing something similar with his family.

“That was one of the most beautiful descriptions I’ve ever heard," commented Lilia, wiping a crocodile tear, while the crocodile was, in fact, tearing up.

“As expected of notre chér Prefect! She always ends up looking and sounding more beautiful than before!” Exclaimed Rook, dramatically posing.

“There’s no need for you to compliment me, I’m just explaining what’s Christmas so you can understand." It was useless, they can’t be reasoned with after you said such a heart-moving speech.

“There’s no reason to be so humble about it," Jade added, chuckling at your attempts to calm their cheers.

“I assume the gifts have a meaning in your world too?” Asked Riddle, gazing at them with a hand on his chin, thinking of the reasoning behind it.

You nodded, happy to explain. “Indeed. Gifts are given to show gratitude and affection towards the receiver; it doesn’t differ much from my world to this one."

Your sensed told you they were going to go crazy again, so you spoke again before they could even start talking. “I think that now it’s the perfect time for gift receiving. I just wanted to let you know how I celebrated Christmas back home."

Your strategy worked as they immediately shut up, impatiently waiting until you gave them their respective present.

HEARTSLABYUL'S TIME

RIDDLE ROSEHEARTS

A tea set with hand-drawn red roses on it.

For Riddle: Thank you for all the times you’ve helped me with my studies, you were my lifesaver for my grades, haha! And also, for letting me stay at your unbirthday parties even if I'm not a part of your dorm, I really appreciate that!

Riddle can’t remember the last time he got a present. His mother didn't actually give him some kind of reward for his achievements, instead giving him things meant for his studies. Trey and Che'nya were the only ones who didn't expect something out of the things they gifted him. He felt like crying but didn’t dare to because he was worried about what everyone would think of him, not wanting to be seen as weak over such a small detail. A detail that he would treasure forever. Lightly clutching the box next to his chest, he lets a small smile form on his lips while his cheeks turn pink.

“Thank you, MC. I certainly expect you at the following unbirthday party so we can use this intricate set you've customized."

TREY CLOVER

A wooden recipe box, along with pine cooking gloves.

For Trey: Thank you for all the times you’ve helped me, which now that I think about, they were probably a lot. I hope you like this! It has some of my mother’s recipes, and although they probably exist here that doesn’t make them less delicious!

Trey has received a fair number of gifts during his life, most of them coming from his siblings and parents, meaning that he usually got hand-made gift cards and things that could be used over and over again. Because of this, he prefers gifts that he can use and/or that are hand-crafted. He inspects the small, brown box, tracing over your neat calligraphy on the front. When he opens it he finds a small number of cards, sight reading them while finding the reference drawing on the side cute. He softly closes it, silently fawning over your attentiveness.

“Thanks, MC. If you like, you can make these with me, so I know how it’s properly done."

CATER DIAMOND

A mini microphone and a small phone tripod.

For Cater: I got to say that I'm impressed that you were walking on fire when you hosted our mini parties, because Riddle's wrath is no joke, haha! I hope this will make you grow on your journey to be a wonderful influencer, and when that happens, take for granted that I’m going to appear in your 1M follower's video!

The majority of Cater’s gifts came from both of his sisters, and let’s just say that he wasn’t very pleased by what was given to him. He wishes that his sisters tried to understand him and see what he liked instead of what they liked, and the fact that his family was constantly moving didn’t help. He stared at the presents, unsure about what to say after receiving a gift that he liked- Actually, no, a present that he loved, and not just because it was something he could use in his social media; it was also because you thought of him. He smiles widely, letting soft giggles as he tries to contain the joy that he’s feeling.

“This is totes cute, MC! I will definitely take a video later, and of course you will be the one starring it~!”

ACE TRAPPOLA

A spinning poker weight and a hand-drawn poker deck.

For Ace: I sure hope you like this because if not, wow. Just wow. But now talking seriously, I wanted to thank you for all the times you sided with me even though I was wrong in most of those cases; it meant a lot coming from you.

Ace has had his fair number of gifts too, half from his brother and half from his parents and relatives. He doesn’t really know how to react since the only presents that he got that were hand-made were some gift cards from when he was little, so receiving something that had your utmost care and dedication was a bit… Foreign, but certainly not unwelcomed. He realises that the first one is just you messing with him, because who in their right mind would randomly play Poker? And then he remembers who: you, and it’s odd because you created such a beautiful cool deck of cards, yet you don’t know how to play? He can’t help but chuckle at this, carefully saving the box in his pocket.

“For real? Like, thanks for the gift but I thought it will be way cooler— No, you can’t take it back, it’s mine now."

DEUCE SPADE

A pair of blastcycling gloves.

For Deuce: Thank you for all your help here in Ramshackle. I think that one of the reasons this dorm hasn’t collapsed is because of your skills. I know you want to have a blastcycle, and although I can’t give it to you I want to cooperate by giving you these gloves. It’s not much, but I hope you like them!

The only gifts Deuce has received came from his mother and grandmother, so he doesn’t have too much experience about receiving presents from other persons, and to top it off, that person is you. He just stares at the gloves, cheeks growing redder as his mind races with possible ways to thank you, not really coming up with something coherent. In order to calm himself down, he tried them on, surprised that they were his exact size, blushing again at the thought of you thinking about him while picking the accessory.

“I, uh— Thanks for this, Prefect! I really appreciate you— I mean, the gloves! But it’s not like I don’t appreciate you for picking them—"

Help him.

SAVANACLAW'S TIME

LEONA KINGSCHOLAR

A pair of earplugs and a travel pillow.

For Leona: Thanks for the times you've help me even when you’re too sleepy to even move, and so I thought of this gift for you! You usually sleep everywhere and anywhere, so please carry this pillow so you wouldn’t end up with a strained neck and sore muscles!

Leona has received a lot of gifts since he was a child; not that much now that he's older because he’s barely home but when he does, he still has a lot of presents with his name written on it. When it comes to gifts that he keeps or uses, that’s another story. He keeps looking at the label, suddenly remembering all of Cheka’s drawings and cards that he keeps in a secret box in his room, smiling at how cute and dumb it is, but a good type of dumb.

“Worried for me, herbivore? Why would I need this pillow if I already have you?"

RUGGIE BUCCHI

A Sam’s gift card for two months’ worth of food.

For Ruggie: I don't consider that paying you with donuts it's fair after all the times you've helped, and so I managed to get this gift card from Sam's (yes, you still can get donuts)! Both you and Leona are going to be thanking me for this, haha!

Ruggie had little to no gifts during his childhood; he has always prioritized every income, so presents were given around once a year. Ruggie has grown to appreciate everything that can help him, so seeing this came as a shock to him. In all honesty, he wanted to cry, because how are you be so kind and considerate? This just doesn't seem like reality! He knows you can barely feed Grim and yourself with what's given to you yet you still thought of his wellbeing. He laughs to cover his nervousness, as a small, unnoticeable tear sliding down his cheek.

“Shi shi shi~ I guess if you managed to get this card then I wouldn’t mind sharing some of its perks with you~”

JACK HOWL

A personalized exercise dice and a bottle of water.

For Jack: I cannot count all the times I relied on you, and I'm deeply grateful for that, really grateful! You mentioned that you needed to change your water bottle, so I got this one for you! I hope you like it!

Jack has also received his fair number of gifts during his childhood, mostly useful things and cards from his siblings, so, like Trey, he likes presents that are meaningful and/or useful. He’s amazed that you remembered such a small comment, cheeks slightly blushing because of this, inspecting the little wolf drawing you did on the cover. He looks at the dice and realises that all the faces have his favourite exercises, even more amazed because he didn’t even need to tell you about his preferences for you to know them, carefully saving them in the box again.

“Thanks for the gift, MC. If you’d like, you can train with me— So we can use this dice you’ve made, clearly."

OCTAVINELLE'S TIME

AZUL ASHENGROTTO

A refillable notepad with a little octopus drawing on the cover.

For Azul: I noticed you had few notebooks the last time I visited, and since you use a lot of them, I thought this refillable one would save you space and money! I also drew in some of the pages, but you can erase them if you want!

Azul stared at the notebook, realising that you drew little doodles in almost every page, and he imagined the amount of time you spent in this, blushing slightly because that time was for a gift dedicated for him. Azul's gift history wasn't the best; he only got presents from his family and sometimes from Jade and Floyd (although they were mostly trinkets), so receiving such a heartfelt present from you (friend, loyal customer and crush) made him blush even deeper, and he tried to calm the butterflies that were fluttering inside his stomach in order to thank you.

"I'm surprised you managed to find such a suitable present. I'm very grateful for this valuable gift, Prefect."

JADE LEECH

A terrarium notebook with some mushroom's stickers on it, along with a terrarium earring.

For Jade: It's no surprise you love terrariums and mushrooms, so I thought this notebook that I found at Sam's would be of your liking. I also made this earring, and although is a bit messy I still hope you like it!

Jade didn't expect to receive such a sincere gift during his stance in Night Raven College, or at least one that didn't come from his brother and maybe Azul. Instead of his practiced smile, he does a much softer one, hiding the earring from Floyd as he asked what he got. He usually doesn't mind when his brother touches his stuff (as long as he leaves it in the same place); since they're twins, they've grown accustomed to sharing, but this is not something he thinks he can share with him, rather choosing to use it after finding a safe place for it.

"I am ever grateful for this, Prefect. I will make sure to take the utmost care of this special present."

FLOYD LEECH

A pair of roller skate shoes.

For Floyd: I'm walking on a thin line by giving you these shoes, Floyd. They may be a bit hard to use at first, but i know that you can be able to master the act of roller walking in a few days! (Just be aware of your surroundings... And the people around you too).

Oh, MC- I mean, Shrimpy. Since Floyd is not going to be at home during winter break, you can be completely sure that both you and Grim (mostly you) are doomed to stay by his side now that he can go as twice as fast than before. His face lights up when he sees the inside of the box, thinking that you got him a new pair of cool shoes, until he reads the label. Shrimpy? You got him skate roller shoes? Are you saying that you want him to chase you faster when he spots you in the hallways? (See what I told you by saying you're doomed?).

"Woah~! These shoes are soooo cool~! I'm sure that I can be able to catch Shrimpy way faster with these on!"

SCARABIA'S TIME

KALIM AL-ASIM

A color changing mug with a little doodle of him, Jamil, Grim and you.

For Kalim: I found this mug when I was searching for stuff at Sam's, and I first thought of you! I know it's not the most expensive or fancy gift from all, but I really hope you like it and the little drawings I made!

Coming from a wealthy family, gifts in the Asim household were something very usual for all of the family members. Even if they were expensive, they all appreciated the meaning behind it, always thanking their parents and siblings. Kalim is very fond of these types of gifts; you can give this boy a rock and he would give you a pair of gold earrings in exchange. You have to cover your eyes because the light he's emanating from reading the label and seeing the present is insane. No jokes here.

"Thanks, Prefect! I never saw something like this! I will make sure to bring you lots of things to make up for this!"

JAMIL VIPER

A massage roller and essential oils.

For Jamil: I really appreciate all your help, even though you still have to help Kalim and manage Scarabia's reputation. I don't want you to be worn out, so I got you these! Vil recommended me these brands, so I assure you they're completely effective!

Jamil hasn't had many gifts during his childhood, much less during his teenage years. When it came to gift receiving, the main things he would get were special meals and clothes, and if the Asim's wanted to gift him something else, his family would politely reject it until they finally accepted due to all the convincing. He's puzzled at your consideration, standing still as he gazes at the present, snapping out when you call his name for the third time.

"Ah, sorry, it's just that— It's nothing, I'm fine. Thank you for the gift, Prefect. I will be looking forward to use these."

POMEFIORE'S TIME

VIL SCHOENHEIT

A phone case with a small compartment to carry makeup.

For Vil: I wanted to thank you for all the skincare and makeup advice you've given me, even though you're the one actually applying it, haha! I don't know if you already have something like this, but if not, I really hope it will come in handy for you!

Vil has received an insane number of gifts during his life, all from his parents, sponsors, agencies and his fans, keyword fans. He knows it's because they love him, but it can't get a little too much if he's being honest, and now that he's telling the truth, he doesn't end up using most of those things. This, however, is something he's definitely going to use. It's practical, it's beautiful and it was given to him by you, so even if he had one before, he would have used yours instead. He didn't even have to use a mirror to know he was blushing, thankful that he could use the weather as an excuse.

"I'm really grateful about this, MC. Although I'm a bit surprised you've chosen such a unique gift. Ah, don't worry, that is a compliment."

ROOK HUNT

A forest scented candle, along with a paper which had a handwritten poem on it.

For Rook: I know how much you love poetry, and I was told that scent can inspire different feelings, and I thought that the forest concept was pretty aligned with your personality! There is also my attempt at writing a poem and a note from Neige, though I would you should hide that from Vil.

When it comes to gifts, Rook would appreciate everything that is given to him, but, if it's someone that he specially has a keen interest for, then take for granted he would praise the hell out of that person. And would you see that? His precious chérie was the one that gifted him such a heartfelt present! Is this the perfect moment for him to confess his undying love for you?

"Quelle beauté! Once again, I've been blessed by your lovely kindness, ma chérie! How I wish for you to keep showing me this side of yourself!"

Did that count as a confession?

EPEL FELMIER

An apple-themed shaker bottle.

For Epel: I'm aware I thanked you before about this, but thank you for sticking with me; I know you had to face Vil's wrath after some occasions. I don't know if this is enough, but I got this shaker bottle for you! Coach Vargas says it's a great way to start building muscle and so I picked this one! You can always remove the drawing if you don't like it, what matters it's the bottle, haha!

The majority of Epel's gifts came from his family and neighbors, which consisted of handmade presents such as clothing and wood carved objects, so receiving something like this was a bit odd for him; mostly because he didn't read the label and was super confused when he looked at the bottle. When he did read the label... He was hurt, because he thought that you perceived him as someone weak. However, that thought vanished as you asked him if you could exercise with him, understanding that you just wanted to make him happy, and you certainly succeeded.

"This is—! Huh? Oh! O-of course ya' can exercise with me, and, uh— Thanks for the gift! If I use this then I can become strong enough to protect you..."

IGNIHYDE'S TIME

IDIA SHROUD

A Pain and Panic phone and controller holder.

For Idia: You're not going to believe this, but I found this set at the back of Sam's shop and I immediately thought that they would be perfect for when we play! I know it's not enough as a thanks since you've upgraded my phone, but at least we would have something cute to look for, haha!

Idia has to sit down after this, because he thought that this day would never come. You, of all people, gifting him something? He needs a moment to process what just happened, all while blanky staring at the note and wrapped accessories, realising something that he thought was accidental, because it had to be; 'we would have something cute to look for', as in... A family...? *Idia soul has left the chat*.

"H-huh? What happened? Huh?! I did?! W-well, it's because this caught me off guard... Why are you looking at me like that? Seriously, I can't get why you're laughing... Thanks for this though, I guess that we can level this up together when I come back... If you want to, that is!".

ORTHO SHROUD

A deck of Cards Against Humanity, Family Edition.

For Ortho: I may not be in the board game club, but I'm pretty sure this is something they don't have there, so we both can play an exclusive version of life choices! I know you like board games so I thought this will be fun to play with, but it all depends on what you think!

Ortho remembers receiving gifts, so he knows how it feels to receive something that he enjoys. His face brightens up, realising that this can not only make you and Idia even closer, but that he can be a part of it too! He likes when you spend time with his brother, but he also likes to spend time with you, as he's grown fond of your kindness and thoughtfulness, the huge number of presents you've given so far being proof of that.

"This seems like a lot of fun to play with! Thank you, Prefect! I will be looking forward to play with you once the break is over!"

DIASOMNIA'S TIME

MALLEUS DRACONIA

Winged gargoyle tabletop lamp.

For Malleus: I'm very aware of your likings towards gargoyles, Tsunotarou, and also that you're not the best with technology. Hence, this is why I thought this was perfect for you! The gargoyle is named Bartholomew, and it can work with both magic and technology! I hope you take great care of my son!

Malleus coughed when he finished reading the note, surprised by what you just wrote, contemplating the fact that you named his gift and that was your platonic son. Does this mean the start of a beautiful gargoyle family? Most probably and be you can be completely sure he's not leaving that thought anytime soon. He tries the lamp, smiling at the dim light that emanates from it, looking up to meet your expectant gaze, softly giggling after seeing that he liked the present.

"I truly appreciate your present, Child of Man. But why would I need a source of light when I already have you?"

LILIA VANROUGE

A leather mini journal with some quotes from you and the Diasomnia members.

For Lilia: There was one time you've told me that you liked to travel, and although I know you have an impeccable memory, it never hurts to write down some interesting things, like the infinite amount of quotes that we've all said.

Lilia is amused; he chuckles when going through the pages, realising that you were the one that had great memory since you were able to write all of this. He really thinks you're one of a kind; gazing at all the students that were happy with their own presents as they chatted amongst themselves, he comes to realise that no matter the situation, you still manage to bring a smile to everyone's face, him included.

"Khee hee! This is very thoughtful of you, Prefect! If you have such a great memory, then I should probably invite you to serve as my personal diary~"

SILVER

A deer pocket alarm clock.

For Silver: You may be wondering why I chose this as a gift for you, or at least thinking about it. I thought that it would help you with your drowsiness, since it's portable and doesn't need to use batteries or recharge. I really hope you like this, and if not, I can still be your walking alarm clock, haha!

Silver's gift history it's not exactly the best. He has received presents from his father, Malleus and Sebek, and let's just say... Some of them weren't that great. After years of receiving Lilia's cooking, Malleus's gargoyle speeches and Sebek's drawings of Malleus, this came as quite a shock to him. There's only one thing that can connect your gift to the other ones: the intention behind it, and that's what has him smiling.

"Thanks, MC. I will try to use this... But if your offer still stands, I will be more than happy to accept it."

SEBEK ZIGVOLT

A bookmark that has a photo of Malleus, Lilia, Silver, Sebek and you, along with a crocodile notepad.

For Sebek: I've noticed that you have a keen interest towards reading, and while I cannot offer you a Malleus's history book, I want to give you this! Even though the result is a bit unpolished, I think that what matters the most is the photo itself, don't you think?

Due to him having a very attentive and caring father, Sebek was always surrounded with gifts, finding them and his father's actions off-putting. Despite of that, he's very appreciative of the things that both Malleus and Lilia gifted him, keeping every single one of them in peak condition so he can remember how he felt when he first got them. It's no different with you, no matter how much he denies it; he can mask his flushness (for the most part), but an action that gives him away is how careful he handles both things, unconsciously smiling as he traces the bookmark.

"Human! How can you place a young master's photo into such an ordinary object?! Huh? W-well, if it means that much to you then I suppose I can keep this... Thank you... "

After making sure everyone received their gift you exhaled in relief, grateful that all of them seemed happy with what they got.

You sat down, chatting with them for a bit until Grim threw an unexpected comment, making all of them stop the chattering almost immediately.

"I can't believe that you didn't get something for me! You spent all that money in these humans and nothing for your master?!"

Oh.

"Potato," Vil started, face completely serious. "Care to tell us how many madols you spent for these presents?"

"Indeed. Even if they're handmade or bought with cheap prices, twenty-two is a big number for presents," commented Azul, calculating the total price in his head.

You started to sweat, laughing to cover your nervousness. "It's no big deal, really, I—"

Jamil took a step forward, visibly upset. "Prefect, you need to tell us how much you spent for all of this. No approximations."

You realised that there wasn't a way to revert this situation, knowing that even if you didn't say it, Azul would've guessed the total price with a few madols of difference.

"Maybe I spent four... hundred madols..." You silently added, clear enough for them to drop their jaws in horror.

"Four hundred madols?!" Cater exclaimed, too shocked to even note that he dropped his phone.

"That much?!" Asked Ruggie, eyes wide as plates.

"Why would you do that?!" Ace and Deuce screamed.

"It's no big deal, really," you started to explain. "Grim and I already have guaranteed food for these holidays, and it's not like I'm fully broke."

"Yeah, but still! Four hundred madols it's a lot of money!" Epel scolded, irritated by the sole fact that you would spend your precious money that way.

They started to complain, the majority trying to find ways to help you while the others tried to calm them down.

It was then when you decided to intervene. "Guys," you exclaimed, making all of them turn their heads to you, taking notice of your sad face. "Christmas is about happiness and joy! If anything, I only spent that much so you would be happy! You don't need to worry about us when we will be fine, so can you please stop arguing and enjoy this party?"

That's right; you only wanted them to be happy, and yet here they were, ruining the party and making you upset.

"I'm not mad," you spoke again, reading the room. "There's no reason to not continue celebrating; after all, you all leave tomorrow, don't you? Let's just enjoy our time together while we still can, please?"

They softly nodded, calming themselves down as they realised that you would be okay, embarrassed by their earlier outburst.

"Don't make those faces," you chuckled, a little amused by their golden expressions. "There's still plenty snacks and—" You were interrupted by a 'ding' that came from the kitchen. "Turkey, apparently"

While you were busy cutting the portions for them to eat, they were wondering how they got lucky enough to get a friend like you, quietly enjoying the fact that they got to call themselves your friend to begin with.

They will make sure to pay you off, both from your gifts and your kindness.

BONUS SCENE

"You really couldn't have wait until everyone was gone?" You scolded, retrieving a big box from beneath the counter.

"What are you talking about—" Grim asked, still annoyed that you didn't have a gift for him, at least, not until now. "Is that—?"

"Happy Christmas, Grim," you handed him the present, chuckling at the way his eyes lighted up in enthusiasm.

He hurriedly opened it, and the remains of the package flew in the air, result of his anticipation.

When he finally got to see what was inside, he widely smiled. "And? What do you think about it?"

"I love it!" He raised the premium tuna cans, delighted that they had his face on the cover. "Of course, you had a present for me; I'm the mighty Grim, after all! Nyah ha ha ha!"

You frowned. "Was that your way of saying thanks?"

"... Thanks, henchman..." He shyly said, making you giggle.

"You're welcome, Grim."

You five (adding my dear ghost fellow) ended up having a movie night, cozily snuggling to each other as you all watched the old screen, cheerfully laughing as the rain was pouring outside.

THE END~

DON'T REPOST.

EVERY CHARACTER BELONGS TO DISNEY AND YANA TOBOSO AND I DON'T TAKE CREDIT FOR THEM.

#twisted wonderland #twst #disney twisted wonderland #disney twst #riddle rosehearts x reader #trey clover x reader #cater diamond x reader #ace trappola x reader #deuce spade x reader #leona kingscholar x reader #ruggie bucchi x reader #jack howl x reader #azul ashengrotto x reader #jade leech x reader #floyd leech x reader #kalim al asim x reader #jamil viper x reader #vil schoenheit x reader #rook hunt x reader #epel felmier x reader #idia shroud x reader #ortho shroud #malleus draconia x reader #lilia vanrouge x reader #silver twisted wonderland x reader #sebek zigvolt x reader #mc twisted wonderland #mc/yuu

[kozachenko]

Zanmu 100% has a very large bone collection. She seems like the type. I can perfectly imagine an interaction with someone, probably Eiki, (idk why but it fits) and she says (for some reason), "You must have a lot of skeletons in your closet" and Zanmu responds with, "Oh, how did you know about my bone collection?" and Eiki just stares for a few seconds and then says, "your what now?" and Zanmu responds by opening up a closet and low and behold, she has a bunch of them. Some human, some not. As Eiki stares in shock, horror, and confusion, Zanmu just starts rambling on about all the facts about bones she knows, where and how she finds them, and even starts sorting them into different piles as she speaks, "Of course, I organize them by species, age, condition, cause of death, and more specific categories," and when Eiki asks how many she has, Zanmu just says, "I kind of lost track after I reached 100" and poor Eiki faints.

{Artists Note}:

So I had a really neat pose idea for Zanmu and I had to draw it. I'm glad that I finally drew her again, because last time I did she looked waaaaaay too tense so this drawing serves to rectify that. Man was the actual process for the first bit of this rough, like, especially the eyes. So last time I drew Zanmu, I gave her some really nice eyeshadow, and I forgot about how big of a difference eyeshadow makes to how the eyes look, so I went through several different variations of them. Also, I'm glad that the expression turned out nicely, it's a nice break from the deadface I've been stuck with for a while now lol. Her one arm that isn't holding the skull kinda gave me some hardship because I had no idea how to show that it was resting on the rock, as the idea for the rest of the piece came to me waaaay after I did the sketch, so hey, just a thing to improve for next time. I played around with some collage elements for the trees, their foliage literally has a paper texture on it. I went for a more simplistic approach to the lighting, letting the colours more or less speak for themselves. The background also gave me a hard time, as I was getting stuck with how to make her pop out from it, and I think I found a good solution using overlay layers.

Clothes and fabrics are now my favourite things to render, it's just so satisfying to do. I also love adding that textured layer overtop of everything, it just makes everything come together y'know?

Also, another headcanon I have for her is that she's taller than Hisami, and Hisami is really tall so that means that Zanmu would be able to tower over literally everyone lol.

#touhou project #art #fanart #touhou fanart #touhou 19 #zanmu nippaku #unfinished dream of all living ghost #touhou #touhou udoalg #東方project

[shoshiwrites]

Band of Brothers Ages: IRL vs. Actors

Did you know that according to a 1947 study, almost half the men who served in WWII were still under age 26 by the end of the war?

What this is : A (very long) post comparing the ages of the actors in Band of Brothers vs. the IRL figures they are portraying.

Background: Did I need to do this? No. Did anyone ask for this? Also no. Did I do it anyway? Yes.

Disclaimers: This is SUPER approximate for the most part. I based IRL ages off of D-Day unless otherwise noted, and actor ages off of January 1, 2000, the year filming took place (the latter is where the most variation will be because I didn't try to figure out what month filming started). I also didn't fact-check birthdays beyond googling. Most are sourced from the Band of Brothers and Military Wikis on fandom.com, Wikipedia, and IMDb.

I broke them up into rough categories, which are, again, approximate. I know I often forget how young the real life people were here, and this was a good reminder of that. I also found it interesting to see which actors were actually younger than their roles!

Check it all out under the cut ⬇️

~10+ years older

Dale Dye (55) as Col. Robert F. Sink (39) (~16 years)

Michael Cudlitz (35) as Denver "Bull" Randleman (23) (~12)

Marc Warren (32) as Albert Blithe (20) (~12)

Rocky Marshall (33) as Earl J. McClung (21) (~12)

Frank John Hughes (32) as William J. Guarnere (21) (~11)

Neal McDonough (33) as Lynn D. (Buck) Compton (22) (~11)

Dexter Fletcher (33) as John W. Martin (22) (~11)

~5+ years older

Simon Schatzberger (32) as Joseph A. Lesniewski (23) (~9)

Richard Speight Jr. (30) Warren H. (Skip) Muck (22) (~8)

Jason O'Mara (30) as Thomas Meehan (22) (~8)

Ron Livingston (32) as Lewis Nixon (25) (~7)

Donnie Wahlberg (30) as C. Carwood Lipton (24) (~6)

Matthew Settle (30) as Ronald C. Speirs (24) (~6)

Nolan Hemmings (28) as Charles E. "Chuck" Grant (22) (~6)

Douglas Spain (25) as Antonio C. Garcia (19) (~6)

George Calil (26) as James H. "Mo" Alley Jr. (21) (~5)

Rick Gomez (27) as George Luz (22) (~5 year)

Scott Grimes (28) as Donald G. Malarkey (23) (~5)

Stephen Graham (26) as Myron "Mike" Ranney (21) (~5)

~less than 5 years older

Shane Taylor (25) as Eugene G. Roe (21) (~4)

Tim Matthews (23) as Alex M. Penkala Jr. (19) (~4)

Matthew Leitch (24) as Floyd M. "Tab" Talbert (20) (~4)

Peter O'Meara (30) as Norman S. Dike Jr. (26) (~4)

Tom Hardy (22) as John A. Janovec (18) (~4)

Rick Warden (28) as Harry F. Welsh (25) (~3)

Kirk Acevedo (28) as Joseph D. Toye (25) (~3)

Eion Bailey (25) as David Kenyon Webster (22) (~3)

Craig Heaney (26) as Roy W. Cobb (29) (~3)

Damian Lewis (28) as Richard D. Winters (26) (~2)

Robin Laing as Edward J. "Babe" Heffron (~2, 21/23)

Ben Caplan (26) as Walter S. "Smokey" Gordon Jr. (24) (~2)

David Schwimmer (32) as Herbert M. Sobel (33) (~1 year)

Michael Fassbender (22) as Burton P. "Pat" Christenson (21) (~1)

Colin Hanks (22) as Lt. Henry Jones (21) (~1) (age around Bastogne)

Bart Ruspoli (23) as Edward J. Tipper (22) (~1)

~Same age

Peter Youngblood Hills as Darrell C. "Shifty" Powers (21)

Mark Huberman as Lester "Les" Hashey (19)

Younger

Lucie Jeanne (23) as Renée Lemaire (30) (age around Bastogne) (~7)

Ross McCall (23) as Joseph D. Liebgott (29) (~6)

Simon Pegg (29) as William S. Evans (~33) (~4)

Philip Barantini (19) as Wayne A. "Skinny" Sisk (22) (~3)

James Madio (24) as Frank J. Perconte (27) (~3)

Stephen McCole (25) as Frederick "Moose" Heyliger (27) (~2)

Matt Hickey (~16) as Patrick S. O'Keefe (18) (~2)

Incomplete/not found

Phil McKee as Maj. Robert L. Strayer (34)

Rene L. Moreno as Joseph Ramirez (30)

Doug Allen as Alton M. More (24)

David Nicolle as Lt. Thomas A. Peacock (24)

Rebecca Okot as Anna (Augusta Chiwy) (24) (age around Bastogne)

Alex Sabga-Brady as Francis J. Mellet (23)

Mark Lawrence as William H. Dukeman Jr. (22)

Nicholas Aaron as Robert E. (Popeye) Wynn (22)

Peter McCabe as Donald B. Hoobler (21)

Marcos D'Cruze as Joseph P. Domingus (not found)

#ty mercurygray for that sweet sweet jstor access #band of brothers #uhh one more disclaimer it's entirely possible that i mistyped stuff here and that i switched ages/etc. #i did try to proofread though! #anyway. i apologize if anyone has already done this. #shoshi.txt #sort of #it's also very possible that i spent too much time online today

[mouse-fantoms]

Absolutely one asked for this but I wanna say what all my favorite outfits are per character is bc I can!

First up, Miss Julie herself, the other day I said I can’t get over how pretty she is in this look so this isn’t that much of a surprise but I mean,

The shade of blue is so pretty on her and the illustration on her shirt is so cute. What also makes this look get double points too from me is bc of the whole how at the start Julie is in baggy clothes bc it’s a reflection of like her grief and where she is with it but then as the episodes continue her clothes get more personalized and like less baggy idk it’s just such a nice little detail and this is such a cute outfit to have be in the last episode for Julie that reflects where she is now with her grief since the boys are in her life now.

My absolute favorite Luke outfit is his llama jacket look,

You’re just used to seeing him in the black background color graphic tees with him and so to see him in this like lighter version of his wardrobe is nice. This one is also my favorite of his lil llama jacket 🥺 observe,

He’s got a llama on his pocket therefore it’s his llama jacket. Also too the jacket just looks so cozy, I mean all his jackets look incredibly comfortable (LOOKIN AT YOU SAD FLANNEL) but it’s easier to see the like individual like threads of it bc it’s white it just looks extra cozy.

My favorite Reggie outfit has to be this variation of his wardrobe,

Don’t get me started on the little detail that it’s implied through his outfits that he’s only got a couple things he can wear bc he always like reusing different things from his other outfits like he only has a rotation of a few things (that is a detail that implies so much about his character and like background of him and ugh I just love it but again don’t get me started). The white t-shirt with his red flannel just is like yes a basic look but idk he just suits it really well. (I love too how his belt matches his bass strap we love the coordination)

Call me basic but I love Alex’s debut outfit that we see,

Again he also just looks cozy with the hoodie and then also the denim material like jacket over it, I like the layering of it and like the distressed part of the jacket adds to it like it’s a good look, it makes it interesting to look at bc of the distress-ness in it. I like that he wears his Fanny pack across his body it’s a good look for him.

Naturally after Alex we have to discuss Willie, I love his lil sweater paws outfit,

This look of his is the closest to my personal choice of wardrobe so that’s probably why I like it as much as I do 😂 that hoodie just looks so comfy and oversized on him. To me too, him having this hoodie just implies that like Alex and him can share their hoodies WHICH IS JUST ADORABLE

My favorite Carrie fit is her like lounging at home look,

THE COLORS OF HER JACKET ARE SO GOOD TOGETHER AND THE DESIGN IS LIKE A SCRIBBLE LOOKING PATTERN ITS SO CUTE AND THEN HER SHIRT SAYS ROYALTY LIKE WHAT A QUEEN MOVE

…ahem

The colors of this one just compliment really well together and I like her shirt, it’s very Carrie of her. This also does indeed give the feeling of an outfit you’d wear to just like relax in.

Lastly, hear me out on this one for Nick,

I like the coordination of hat that matches his hoodie. Like he put thought into at least what hat he’d wear with this which I respect. And like again the hoodie with his jean jacket he just looks warm and comfy in it (Also he doesn’t have that many outfit options compared to how many the others had but this is my top out of them all for his)

#I just Ike looking coziness and feelin cozy is what we’ve gathered here today I think 🥰 #I mean my own personal style is just like graphic tees and hoodies to express my interests so maybe that adds up to why certain looks are #my favorite when it comes to them #jatp #julie and the phantoms #jatp netflix #julie molina #luke patterson #reggie molina #reggie peters #alex mercer #carrie wilson #jatp Nick #jatp Carrie

[yggdraseed]

Women in Jujutsu Kaisen

Let’s get this out of the way first: if you’re reading this because you enjoy reading posts by people who hate Jujutsu Kaisen, you’re going to be disappointed. I actually like Jujutsu Kaisen a lot, I have a lot of positive things to say about it, and I’m going to be explaining my reasoning here. You should probably move on if you want trash talk. But if you have a negative view point that you’re nevertheless willing to reevaluate or recontextualize by looking at things from a new perspective, please read on.

A lot has been said about how women are written in Jujutsu Kaisen. A lot of good, and a lot of bad. I think a lot of the bad comes from how Jujutsu Kaisen was praised so early on for how it’s women were written, only for people to either not see it or have their expectations not be met due to events in Shibuya and the Culling Games. However, while I try to respect diversity of opinion, I feel like a lot of people aren’t really grasping why the way GeGe Akutami writes women was lauded. I think a people have lots of different ideas of what makes for a well-written female character, and don’t find what they’re looking for in Jujutsu Kaisen, thus they get angry and they post online about how GeGe Akutamisogyny isn’t going to beat “the allegations.”

I’ve never liked the justifications put forth for that argument. There’s a lot of subtext to how the female cast of Jujutsu Kaisen are written that can’t fit neatly into the simple world of page and panel counts or win-loss ratios. And, fortunately, there are tools for feminist literary analysis that I am going to employ in what will hopefully be a short trilogy of posts, starting here.

When I see people criticizing how women are written in Jujutsu Kaisen, I usually only see them using one point of interest: the outcome of a fight. If a female character doesn’t win a fight, then some people in the audience take that to mean that GeGe Akutami hates that character, hates women, and doesn’t want them to succeed — or some variation of that, perhaps less extreme.

This is a product of Jujutsu Kaisen being a Shonen, and thus being on the radar of Shonen fans who — let’s be honest — are not known widely for consuming anime or manga outside of the Shonen demographic. Shonen is heavily focused on conflict and competition as storytelling, it’s why the term “battle shonen” is used so prevalently. And Jujutsu Kaisen doesn’t try to deny its own Shonen heritage: it uses fights for storytelling all the time, sometimes even more than other Shonen seem to do.

I think this might also be a cultural thing. Anime and manga are written very differently from Western movies or comic books, with very different cultural background and different artistic sensibilities. However, that’s a topic that I’ll unpack another time, maybe not even in Part 2 or 3 of this post.

Point is, we need to step back and get some perspective. People who use the losses or deaths among the female cast as evidence that GeGe hates women, or sees women as inferior, or has some sort of passive, culturally-inherited sexism in their worldview are suffering from tunnel vision. You need to look at the story as a whole sometimes, not just the one subject in question.

Go back to the Goodwill Event, and the fight between Nobara and Momo. Their whole conversation is a huge part of why Jujutsu Kaisen was praised early on for how Akutami writes women, and I think the subtext of it really went over some people’s heads. It did mine, the first time around: to me, it just felt like a competent, if tired “girl power” moment for Nobara. But as I invested more time and thought into reading the series, and as I learned more since first viewing that scene, I started to realize what I wasn’t seeing in that scene.

Momo shares something in common with all of the Kyoto Students, Todo and Miwa being the exception. In addition to seemingly coming from a more-or-less established sorcerer pedigree, Momo shares the general pessimism that hangs over the Kyoto Students like a dark cloud. There’s this very morosely Japanese sense of “woe is me, but there’s nothing to be done” about Momo, Mai, Noritoshi, and Mechamaru, in one sense or another. These four are people who will complain about a problem, then just sit while it washes over them and batters them like a wave. They just accept the unfair hand they’re dealt in life, and while they don’t like it, they treat it as something no one can overcome. Furthermore, on some level, I think these four don’t necessarily want to overcome the misfortunes and injustices they face.

See, Momo pours her heart out at length about how hard it is being a woman and being a sorcerer. And the way she talks about it is a very different critique of society than you’d see in a lot of Shonen. She talks about how women are expected to be perfect: beautiful, graceful, exquisite, the model of femininity, while also keeping up with the macho “might makes right” sensibilities that dominate sorcery. In her words, “men have to be strong, women have to be perfect.”

This isn’t something that’s just being plucked out of thin air, this is a criticism of the girlboss culture that arose through the 2000s and 2010s up to now. Women are expected to battle sexism alone, in their own lives, by being exceptional: rather than reforming cultural structures that put women at a disadvantage to men, girlboss culture says women just need to always wear perfect makeup, always be fashionable, always work 2.5 times harder than men, and find time to raise children and have a side-hustle at the same time. Instead of fixing the problem, it’s telling women, “Just work harder. Just be better.” As if women haven’t been having to work harder for nothing in return for the past 50 years, holding down jobs that they have to go above and beyond to prove themselves in as compared to male coworkers for whom the job might as well be a guarantee by comparison, having a ceiling put on their promotion while men who didn’t put in as much work get to move up the company ladder, and frequently having to juggle having a child and taking care of housework in addition to the expectations of jobs that often don’t afford maternity leave. And then, on top of all of that, the expectation is then foisted on to have the time and energy to perfectly craft your hair, makeup, and outfit for the day, and if you miss a single step of the whole stupid dance, you’re seen as an underachiever. That’s girlboss culture, and that’s what Momo is indirectly criticizing when she laments the contradictory and unfair expectations women in the sorcery world have to uphold. They need to fight just as hard as the men, while wearing skirts and not getting a single scar on that pretty face.

(Just as an aside, I love the way this conversation comes about. Momo and Mai are pretty close to each other, to the point that it sometimes feels like nobody else in the Kyoto school likes or respects Mai like Momo does. And Momo targets Nobara with this whole speech because of the friction between Mai and Nobara, and because she wants to stand up for Mai. I like that element of both solidarity and conflict between women, about being a woman, and I’ve always gotten sapphic vibes from Momo and Mai, so I’m glad that she’s the one giving this whole speech and why she’s doing it. But I digress.)

And the thing is, she’s not wrong. Neither Nobara nor the story as an overall entity refutes anything she says. However, Nobara points out something else about Momo that she shares in common with the other Kyoto Students who were raised to be sorcerers: the way she treats her whole life like a job. Momo has internalized the culture she despises, and instead of trying to rebel, she just accepts all of it as “the way the world works.” She soldiers on, just as Noritoshi soldiers on with his family’s expectations, Mai soldiers on with her pain and feeling of being abanoned, and Mechamaru soldiers on with the isolation, unfairness, and general misery that comes with his Heavenly Pact. Soldiering on, as if soldiering on has inherent value when it leads nowhere and accomplishes nothing. Never addressing the problem, or trying to find a way around it; simply rolling that boulder up the hill, grumbling all the way. She and the other Kyoto Students have this sense of treating their own misfortune as a badge of honor. To them, they’re justified and validated because they have experienced more than their fair share of suffering. They’re always eager to flaunt the crosses they have to bear.

Momo treats being a woman as a curse. Funny how that ties into the rest of the narrative, huh?

For Nobara, being a woman is not some great burden she has to live with. Being a woman in general and being Nobara Kugisaki in particular is something she revels in, and it’s just the fault of everyone else if they think otherwise.

Let’s talk about Nobara, and let’s not reduce her to her death scene. When we meet Nobara, she’s immersing herself in the Tokyo way of life after moving from the countryside to the big city. She encounters a sleazy talent agency recruiter who’s pestering women on the street with his hand-rubbing, obviously nefarious ways… only for Nobara to stop him, turn him around, and say, “What about me?” He gets intimidated, tries to run, and she drags him back. From her perspective, he should be happy to have her, and the fact he isn’t means he’s ignorant of her beauty and wit and needs to be corrected. If he won’t convert to Kugisakism, then her charms are wasted on him, and he’s doomed to the dim world that is Nobaralessness. When she meets Yuji and Megumi, she introduces herself with a line that’s translated into English as, “I’m the only woman in your group.” But from what I’ve been able to gather, her line in Japanese is, “I’m the red mark.” The phrase “red mark” can mean “the one who’s different from the others” — like the one girl in a group of boys — or it can mean “the one who stands out.” So you can also read it as her saying, “I’m the stand-out of the group.” Nobara Kugisaki, everybody.

If you want to talk about how literary circles analyze how women are writing, let’s leave the topics of fight outcomes and feats to one side. One thing you immediately look for is motivation. What’s motivating a character? This is important for how female characters are written, and especially in Shonen, which revolves so much around characters with some goal or belief that the story pursues through fights and other forms of adversity.

Now poorly-written women will tend to be motivated by men. They’ll be attracted to a man, or trying to support or protect a man, or trying to find a man. This by itself isn’t a death sentence for a woman’s characterization, but it is a red flag. It’s also not as if women have to never interact with or think about men to be well-written. It’s not an on-off switch, a bad writing-good writing switch. It’s a meter, like Mahoraga steadily adapting to a technique. Just a little bit is fine, and can be even turned into good writing in capable hands. But if it becomes too prevalent and is never examined, then you get a situation where a story’s women are not permitted lives outside of being in a male character’s orbit.

How do we gauge this? Well, there are lots of ways, but one of the more well-known and simple techniques is the Bechdel test. The name is derived from Alison Bechdel, feminist author who penned such classics as Dykes to Watch Out For. Bechdel proposed a simple litmus test for how to tell an author’s seriousness about writing women, and it goes like this: 1.) Look for scenes where women talk to each other. 2.) In those scenes, check for how often they’re talking about things besides male characters.

This isn’t the only way to tell if women are written well or not, and some will say it isn’t even the best way, but it’s a good foot in the door to get us thinking about what divides well-written female characters from poorly-written female characters. I’m not going to go back and scan through the whole manga just yet, but let’s look at some examples.

— The aforementioned conversation between Nobara and Momo, where the two pit their different view of what it means to be a woman and a sorcerer against one another. — Maki and Nobara talking to each other after the encounter with Mai and Todo. Curious by meeting Maki’s sister, Nobara talks to Maki a bit about their upbringing. Having gained more insights into Maki’s past and personality, Nobara leans on her and tells her how much she respects her. — Miwa and Mai discussing the upcoming Goodwill Event in a flashback. Mai tells Miwa that Maki is weak, which leaves Miwa unprepared for their fight. — Maki and Mai arguing and coming to terms with what drove them apart. Mai just wanted a peaceful life with Maki, but Maki couldn’t be happy and authentic with herself if she just left things the way they were. She was forced to choose between herself and Mai, and Maki chose herself, knowing that Mai would suffer and that she’d shoulder some of the guilt for that.

This indicates that GeGe found it important to divorce the identities of the female characters from male characters. And this holds true in what drives and motivates the female cast.

Nobara is motivated by her own goals. She hates the countryside, and she loves the city; becoming a sorcerer is a way she can make a lot of money, live in the city, and pursue the kind of lifestyle she values. She wants to be a true blue Tokyoite, wearing trendy clothes and eating crepes and taking selfies by the statue of Hachiko outside Shibuya Station. She’s not doing this to avenge her dead brother, she’s not doing this to find her father, she’s not searching for a strong man to sire strong children — yuck. Nobara has aesthetic values and strongly held beliefs, and becoming a sorcerer lets her pursue those values and beliefs.

And if you really want to analyze the action side of Jujutsu Kaisen as an indicator for how GeGe feels about female characters, consider how Nobara takes to sorcery like a fish to water. Both Megumi and Yuji have their own internal dilemmas with being a sorcerer, but not Nobara. In a series where mindset is so important, Nobara has the mindset. Uro describes the model sorcerer as having “no concern for others and an overwhelming sense of self.” There is no one with a more overwhelming sense of self than Nobara. She’s loud, opinionated, loves to argue, flaunts herself, and demands other people give her more than what they think she’s due. She’s narcissistic, but that faith in herself makes her mentally strong.

She lacks experience, but even then, she learns and grows rapidly through the series. Due to running out of nails to fend off cursed spirits during the first stretch of Fearsome Womb chapters, she invents Hairpin as a way to reuse nails she’s already launched and embedded in a surface. She manages to land a Black Flash during the tag team fight with Yuji, and it’s her oppressive use of Resonance on Eso and Kechizu that turns the tides — a tactic which required her to hammer nails into her own arm. She takes it on the chin and gets her brain rattled around in her skull during the fight with Haruta, but even while borderline unconscious and suffering from a concussion, she forces herself to keep him talking in hopes Nitta can escape and manages to get to her feet and keep fighting despite the total disorientation and inability to summon her strength. While she didn’t win the fight, she showed more fighting spirit than half of the male cast tends to, and I find it kind of gross that people will ignore all of that and mock someone who kept fighting against the odds. That’s like laughing at Mumen Rider when he’s hopelessly trying to fight Sea King even as his body is breaking. I don’t exactly see what about either case is so funny or worthy of ridicule.

Even in the showdown with Mahito, people always fixate on how she dies, but never consider what led to it. She crosses paths with Mahito, and even knowing from Yuji what he’s capable of, she goes in — partially because he hurt Yuji, her friend, and she wants to make him suffer for it. And her technique turns out to be a worst case scenario for Mahito. She’s hammering his clone with Resonance and sending the blowback to the original while he’s fighting Yuji, dividing his attention and weakening him. Her only mistake was chasing him down, and even then, this isn’t the story punishing her. It’s the story being consistent with who Nobara is. She’s got a dangerous enemy on the ropes, her pride is bruised after the fight with Haruta, and she has a chance to get vengeance on someone who’s hurt her friend while helping said friend in the process. If she hadn’t followed Mahito into the subway, then she wouldn’t be Nobara Kugisaki.

And in her final moments, Nobara achieves something that’s considered to be out of reach of most sorcerers. She dies content, with a smile on her face. Nobara may not have realized her potential to be a great sorcerer, but she got what she, personally, wanted. Sorcery was a means to an end, and she got to live the Tokyo life and meet interesting people that she considers her friends. She got to fill out that finite number of seats in her life, and even meet a few people who pulled up a chair when she didn’t expect it. In her words, “It wasn’t so bad.” Nobody else but Toji and Gojo have gotten to die this satisfied — Toji because Megumi had grown up free of the Zen’in curse, Gojo because he was authentic to himself right to the end and left it all on the field. Nobara was authentic to herself right to the end, and that’s worthy of high praise. If she is definitely dead and not coming back, then she managed to accomplish what it was she wanted before dying. Not many get that luxury in Jujutsu Kaisen. It hurts because I liked her and admired her and appreciate the way she was written, and her dying doesn’t make the value of her character disappear from the story entirely. It’s the character’s death, it’s everything that led to that death and what that death means to them and to those who are left behind. And if it’s manga that explore death, nobody does it better than GeGe Akutami.

Lots of people will point to an interview where GeGe said that Nobara was not originally considered part of the cast, and they’ll use that as evidence that secretly, GeGe’s a big stupid misogynist who hates women and likes killing them in stories and blah blah blah blah blah. You know, first of all, I doubt that the editor held a gun to GeGe’s head and said “Put in a female main character or die.” Secondly, if GeGe really didn’t care, Nobara would just be a two-dimensional copy of Sakura who dies in the first arc or two. GeGe would not have put in the effort to set her apart from other female leads, or given her so many stand-out moments, or given her such an interesting motivation and world view. In short, if GeGe didn’t want to write a female character, they’d do what Kishimoto did: write Sakura. But that comparison is a can of worms I’ll need to pry open another time.

To sum up for the time being, no, GeGe Akutami does not hate women. Losing a fight does not make a female character worthless, and does not indicate a disdain for them on the part of the author. I don’t know about you, but I don’t read Shonen just to see who punches harder. I want to see characters be challenged, sometimes fail, learn, grow, and overcome adversity — and it wouldn’t be adversity if all the characters I like win and survive easily. I love Kashimo and will continue to love Kashimo, and Kashimo being super ultra dead doesn’t change that.

Look out for Part 2, in which I’m going to unpack some really contentious stuff when it comes to challenges and female characters in Jujutsu Kaisen. We’re gonna talk about the concept of screen time, we’re gonna talk about subtext, we’re gonna talk about great expectations and the great unexpected in Jujutsu Kaisen, and we’re gonna talk more in-depth about the narrative outside the narrative of Jujutsu Kaisen in a vacuum. If your sense for danger is giving you a bad feeling about this, then it should be: we’re talking about that. Switch on your Anti-Gravity System, it’s going to get messy.

#jujutsu kaisen #literary analysis #analysis #jjk analysis #feminism #feminist literature #feminist literary analysis #nobara kugisaki #maki zenin #akutami gege

[drowsy-siren]

what is your worst dnd take

I have none cuz all my DnD takes are amazing and flawless

BUT, my most controversial DnD takes:

- if you can, find a ttrpg system that's better suited to your desired genre and vibes than trying to make 5e fit that. There are so so so many better games than 5e

- 5e is a horrible system for new TTRPG players (the ONLY benefit I see is that it's easiest to find 5e games imo)

- A lot of RAW 5e lore/background info is hot stinking garbage. Especially: how alignment is defined and specifically "this race is pre-disposed toward {alignment}" type shit. It's boring, flat, unrealistic. Gimme wild variations in gender performance and social identities. It's fully nonsense for nearly every race to have binary sex/gender systems that all more or less parallel each other.

- 5e combat is fucking boring in RAW / pre-written modules. Specifically RAW doesn't really encourage interacting with environment during combat and I think that's fuckin stupid. Good, engaging combat takes a fair bit of creative homebrewing on DMs part (again going back to, not a beginner-friendly system) to make meaningful battlemaps with "alternate goals" during combat outside of maximimize DPS. These alternate goals are really good for bringing roleplay and character differences into combat encounters

- 5e currency is fucking stupid. It works as a barrier to powerful gear at early levels and then past a certain point it's useless. I know this is largely controlled by how the DM sets quest rewards and such, but I feel like I have never felt accomplished or proud to receive gp

- I let players cast multiple leveled spells in a turn, as long as the action-bonus action-reaction is still followed

- Ranger is a fun class

- if DMs are speaking more than ~30% of the time, it's functionally more storytelling than a ttrpg, so maybe rethink how the story is being told. My personal approach is to ask players to describe how things go. So rather than "[character] fails thieves tools and is unable to pick the lock", I'll say "player, please tell us why and how your character fails to pick this particular lock"

#ask Siren #gay mergirl gaymergirl #transgender #t4t #nerdposting #ttrpg

[mamamittens]

Oh, Sweet Child of Mine (Pt. 6)

Platonic Yandere Whitebeard Crew & Reader-Insert

Main|First|Previous

Warnings: References to past drugging and implied violence/offscreen death. Platonic Yandere behavior is still present, but more in the background for this chapter.

If yandere content in any way disturbs you, please do block the tag "oh sweet child of mine" as well as the appropriate variations of "yandere one piece". Do not tolerate this behavior in real life.

Stay safe and have fun.

Hopefully the next update will be a bit longer before we get to the actual plot of this whole storyline. If you have any desired character interactions among the Whitebeard Crew before the fruit incident, please let me know cause I've only got about one more update in me before that otherwise.

Word Count: 1,520

On the third day Marco apparently forgave Twin-Blade for his ‘tea transgression’—not that you did—and decided it was alright for him to meet you properly.

Twin-Blade, despite his reputation as a commander and chef on the Moby Dick, was probably the biggest goofball you’ve ever met. Undeniably charming in a practiced way that felt almost natural until he slipped up and revealed he was actually a bit of a dweeb. And very concerned about your food intake. Something about not being a healthy weight for his liking. Truthfully, you just… weren’t comfortable eating too much food after drinking what you thought was innocent tea. So anytime you did eat and he happened to be keeping an eye on you, you ate less as a precaution.

Marco noticed and had taken to smacking Twin-Blade’s head when he spent too long looking in your direction. Though certainly too old for it, he whined and cried to his nearest brother for Marco’s cruelty. Once he even tried to console himself by hugging you but your expression of distaste just made him cry for real. You’d feel bad but…

He did drug your tea once. Once is more than enough in your book.

On the fifth day you’d been tentatively allowed to eat in the mess hall with the rest of the crew as opposed to in the kitchens under Marco’s unnervingly attentive eye. He still visibly preened when you addressed him and had yet to correct you about anyone else’s title—you suspect as a bragging point but thinking too hard on the matter weirded you out.

Regardless, you found yourself grateful that you didn’t eat near Fire Fist. The way the young man shoveled food into his mouth and aggressively went to stab anyone reaching too close to his plate was horrifying. The meat and potatoes stood no chance under his ravenous appetite despite having a plate three times as stacked as anyone else. There was pie for dessert as well, and usually you’d be all for it, but Twin-Blade seemed keen to know your reaction to the treat. Almost as glutenous as Fire Fist, the man seated next to you was trying to cajole his opposing seat mate for his dessert.

Large and with many braids in his pitch-black beard and hair, he laughed every time he was denied in good nature. His dark eyes met yours and he grinned cheerfully.

“Zehahahaha~! You going to eat that?” He pointed to the still untouched plate of cherry pie. You grimaced, glancing at Twin-Blade from several tables over.

“I think Twin-Blade would cry if I didn’t…” You paused for only a moment before sliding the dessert to the pirate. “Have at it.”

He cackled loudly but didn’t think twice about eating the slice.

“Zehahahaha! Now that’s cold to our poor commander! What did he do to you, marine?” He winked, polishing off the plate with clear satisfaction.

You looked at Twin-Blade, his expression crestfallen as he laid his head onto Flintlock Pistol’s shoulder. The immaculately dressed man seemed to roll his eyes and give you a dry look. Clearly blaming you for his current predicament. You smiled back.

“He knows what he did.”

You didn’t want to be here. The least they could do was let you have small victories to yourself. Fire Fist suddenly shoved himself in beside you, arm resting over your shoulder as he scooped up what little you hadn’t eaten yet.

“He really is sorry, you know.” Fire Fist murmured between bites, catching you as your nose wrinkled in distaste.

“It’s the principle of the matter, Fire Fist.” You huffed, finding yourself awkward crammed between Fire Fist’s too hot body and the man that liked cherry pie a lot.

A heavy hand thumped you back as he laughed.

“Zehahahaha! Let them give Commander Thatch a hard time for a bit. I think he’s enjoying having an excuse to be dramatic for once.” He laughed. “I’m Teach, by the way! Zehahaha!”

He was an awful jolly sort of pirate, wasn’t he?

“And call me Ace already! Marco’s been so mean lately about you only using his name. What’d he do to earn that, anyhow?”

You huffed, cheeks hot as you grumbled.

“… he’s a very pretty bird.”

That sent the entire table into a fit of laughter. Fire Fist choked on his own laughter.

“W-Would you forgive him if he wore cat ears?” Fire Fist cackled.

You couldn’t help but glance at the man in question. Cat ears, huh?

You stopped breathing, your lips pressed together in a firm line as you fought against the sheer ridiculousness of the image that appeared in your head.

They’re pirates!

They kidnapped you!

You are a marine on a Yonko ship!

Wearing cat ears to make up for drugging your tea means nothing!

…

…

…Would he wear it on his head or the top of his pompadour?

Your body shook, sounds of concern growing around you as you covered your face. Desperate to hide the wide grin at the mental image. The worst part is that you’re not convinced that he wouldn’t do it by now either.

“H-Hey, it’s alright! I-I’m sorry?!” Ace whispered desperately, rubbing your back.

You snorted, giggling breathlessly as your glasses fogged up. Tears in your eyes as you laughed uncontrollably. Distantly, you wondered if this is what a mental breakdown felt like. The stress from your situation finally cracking you like an egg. Not quite round the bend for crazy town, you shook your head.

“I-It wouldn’t h-help! Ahah~snck!” You whispered breathlessly, smacking Ace’s hands away as you tried to bury your face in your arms. Anytime you managed to regain control it was ruined by looking at Ace’s beaming grin. “S-Stop looking at me like tha-aat~! Snck-gh~!”

“I don’t know… you seem to think it’s pretty funny~” Ace cooed as you shook your head.

“Ssshuut up! Shut up!” You cried out, wiping your eyes and gasping for air. After several more moments you finally manged to calm down. Only to look at Ace with a wobbly smile. “Do you think he’d wear it on his pompadour?”

Ace froze. His face growing red as he glanced at Twin-Blade and back at you several times.

Finally, he cracked, sending you both into hysterics again.

“See! Look, Izooouu! They are laughing at me!” You heard Twin-Blade cry out from across the room as you collapsed against Ace’s side. The logia user wheezing with tears in his eyes.

Not even Whitebeard joining in with his own laughter could ruin the moment.

You hadn’t laughed this hard in ages. All your marine comrades either too distant, busy, or dicks to joke around with.

You snagged a newspaper to hide your face better. Foggy glasses obscuring the headline about a ‘crackdown of justice’ in Paradise with brutal and swift executions.

Distantly, you wondered if your superiors had some sort of plan to rescue you or if they’d given up. It wasn’t just any crew that had you, after all.

--*--

“I’m afraid that right now we can’t afford to directly confront Whitebeard, I’m sorry—” Sengoku was cut off by a fist driving into the wall of his office. He glared at the younger man, knuckles white before he relaxed. Taking a deep breath before continuing. “I understand your frustration. But they can’t drift at sea forever. Eventually they’ll have to dock. We can stage a rescue once we have better intelligence on their movements. You are dismissed.”

The chair was violently thrown back as the man stormed out, teeth clenched as he hissed out a bitter acknowledgement.

The temperature of his office took quite some time to right itself despite the open door and windows.

Sengoku looked over at the Ensign’s file again and sighed before closing it shut and putting it away.

He hoped that the young marine was alright. While Whitebeard had a much more… benevolent reputation, he was still a pirate. And the marine had quite the impressive devil fruit to exploit. He almost asked Garp to retrieve them but didn’t want to risk a powered-up Yonko crew retaliating against his old friend—even if Garp would find it a fun sport. Who knew what kind of things Whitebeard would be capable of with his devil fruit even more powerful? He shuddered to think about it. Let alone the many other devil fruits on the Yonko crew.

He'd just have to have faith that a more subtle approach would work. They couldn’t risk putting out a ‘alive only’ bounty to rescue the marine. Too many questions. And if the other Yonko get word before they are safely secured with their originally planned partner, it could throw the entire Grand Line into chaos. Sengoku shuddered to think of what things Charlotte Linlin or Kaido could be capable of with more power. At least Whitebeard hasn’t seen fit to take over an entire country.

Sengoku would just take what he could get at this point… and look for faster, quiet solutions to his problem before a loose canon burns through the Grand Line to solve it himself.

#yandere whitebeard crew #platonic yandere #reader insert #oh sweet child of mine #I love Thatch #and I bully him relentlessly in all my works 🥰 #sorry not sorry #he's just getting a little razzed before things really go downhill #yandere one piece

[velvet-cupcake-games]

Made Marion Development Update, Feb 2024

Hello everyone, and happy belated Valentine's Day! Will took a moment of his time to make everyone a very special Valentine.

Darn it, Will.

The Writing Desk

I am moving into Will Chapter 2!  These first couple months of Will route development have been challenged by some unavoidable IRL issues, but those are all cleared up now and I am devoting the rest of February and March fully to writing Will's route.

Chapter 1, as predicted, will be around 20,000 words. I still have one more Chapter 1 scene to finish, but it's a big action scene, and those tend to take me forever as I figure out all the logistics. I decided that rather than delaying the rest of the adventure, I'll slowly add to that action scene while writing Chapter 2.

Will Preview Video:

In case you missed it, we created a preview stream featuring the beginning of Will's route for the Steam Storyteller's Festival in early February.  Here it is!

Art Roundup

Some backers have been curious as to the completion status of our art, so here's the roundup:

Sprites and CGs (Arrapso)

All main character sprites are complete, save for a ??? variant sprite that will only be seen in the DLC.

We have 3.5 major NPC sprites yet to be completed: Hugh, leader of the Grey Wolves (backer sprite); Issa, Lord Geoffrey's cousin in from Nibiru (backer sprite); Kafeel, leader of Nottingham's Sunjati Merchant association and Will's friend; and the final version of Thomas, a character who is only seen in Alanna's route. I will need Kafeel for Will's EA release and am hoping to have Hugh and Issa for it as well, although they are more important on the Nottingham side.

After those are complete, Arrapso's main job will be CGs. I have ordered 4/5 Will CGs and am still deciding on the design for the final one. We also still need to design the backer wallpapers (which will be available in PC and phone formats).

Backgrounds & Creature Sprites (Sandra)

Backgrounds are almost entirely finished. I have one more major background to commission and then it'll just be the occasional variation as needed or maaaaybe one or two more major backgrounds later on to add more variation to the Nottingham Town exteriors.

All major creature sprites are complete.  I may commission one of Geoff's beloved hunting hounds during his route, but haven't decided yet. Meissa's bird friend will likely be a cut-in like our messenger doves.

Lore Intro and Cut-Ins (Lawrichai)

Lawri has been having some IRL challenges but should be back with us soon. Her main jobs right now are sexy silhouettes and the lore intro animation. We may be transforming the lore intro graphics into a full .webm animation instead of using Ren'py's built in Animation and Transition Language, as this might actually be easier for Lawri, as well as looking a lot smoother and making me pound my head against my desk less. It's a win/win/win! We'll have more on this next time.

Otherwise, Lawri's work is ongoing depending on budget and how much she is able to complete from route to route (I can always add in more cut-ins, but for now we're focusing on more critical ones as we have time after the sexy sils are complete per route).

So that's where we are with art right now!  We're in pretty good shape overall, there just might need to be some more intense art production while I complete the second half of Will's script.

See you next month!

#made marion #made marion dev update #english otome #amare game #Youtube

[ouroborosorder]

Arknights VFX question: Any highlights or personal favourites as far as the "Stick a whole background/huge jpeg in there behind the character" category of skills goes?

Oh I like this question. This made me consider things I've never looked at before, so thank you for that. I had to do research.

So, there's not a lot of ops like this, and shockingly, I don't have many positive things to say about them. BUT I did find a few interesting highlights I think are worth discussing.

First off, I will leave Eine Variation out of this, as I have made my thoughts on that Thing very clear.

But, my favorite skin in the game actually does indeed have the Background.Jpeg - Specter's As One!

Aaaand it's easily the worst part of my favorite skin. Don't get me wrong, i think it's probably one of the better executions of the idea, since it's like, a skybox, it matches the pallette, matches the artstyle of the skin, it's almost perfect. I wish it was a LITTLE less static, maybe have some distortion ripples across it like waves to keep the stars moving, or maybe have them twinkle a bit or something. But it's fine. But a good effect isn't everything.

Effects relies heavily on the principles of animation, too. Appeal, weight, color, and most importantly of all - timing. Having a proper lead in can make a bad effect good, and having a bad lead-in can make a good effect fucking terrible. And having no lead-in at all will absolutely fuck your effect and make it super clear that you took a jpeg from the skin art and superimposed it behind your operator.

Here. Look at the picture above. Now, I am going to tab back literally just one single frame in the animation and...

oh ...there's no fade in at all. It just literally appears in a single frame. It draws way more attention to itself than it needs to just by virtue of literally popping in. It's SUPER obvious that it's just Skybox.jpeg. If it faded in with some sort of noise mask (which takes literally less than 2 minutes to make,) it would be so so so much better. Again, this is my favorite skin in the game, and I already think S3 is quite beautiful, so this is nitpicking, but this skybox always bugged me a lot.

Now to say a sentence no one has ever said - going up a step in quality from Specter to Hoederer!

I can't fully get this one in a still image and I'm too tired to record a video / gif so just go with this, alright?

This one is ALMOST GOOD. ALMOST. IT'S SO FUCKING CLOSE. The texture is being distorted by a wavelike noise that is giving it the rippling effect of fire, which is the standard thing to do for making a stylized fire. The problem is that... The texture itself doesn't fucking move? It's just being UV distorted, just a bit of offset to the material and I just AUGH.

It's so so so obvious that it's just a static jpeg of fire that's being waved around like a flag to get it to contort into being fire. This wouldn't bother me if the actual fire texture didn't have implications of movement in the little waves and fades and stuff. I hate it it's so irritating it's so CLOSE. But also, animating an entire fire flipbook would have taken a lot more time, and I can 100% guarantee you the VFX artist is also unhappy with this one. Their A team was probably on Arturia or something. Speak of the devil -

I've had a few people ask how I feel about Arturia's S3 after I expressed my hatred for Eine Variation, and I am here to say - this unambiguously fucking rules, for a few reasons.

First and least importantly, THE MONSTER MOVES. The monster itself has slight movement, you can notice its arms wiggle a little and mouth open and close. This is a small thing that goes a LONG way to make it feel way more dynamic and alive. It's also being distorted by a noise like Hoederer is, which is quite nice as a touch, really helps to make that limited movement feel way more significant than it is.

Second, is that the texture is monochromatic, but in a different way than Arturia is. The grays are colder, harsh blue-grays to contrast Arturia herself, who is a very warm gray. This makes it so that it adds a really nice background that looks like part of her, while also standing out and allowing her to stand out against it. It's a really smart use of monochrome to create visual interest using just different subtle shades of gray.

But that bluish hue also serves to compliment the only color in the effect - the blue light from the cello. Your eyes are naturally drawn to brighter glowing things, which is also the only colored spot on the effect - the cello from which her Arts emerge. As a result, the Beastie.jpg fades out of your attention, becoming monochromatic noise, which, due to being just kinda chaotic and aesthetically dissonant, you interpret more as abstract Shape than anything else. That abstract shape then makes a cone which leads you down into Arturia's center, which is her cello, which is where her Arts are coming from.

This is basically to say - These are very emblematic of what I think makes good effects textures in general. They work best when they're not alone. When these backgrounds are part of a larger whole that's all coming together to make an effect, rather than being the centerpiece of the whole thing. When I notice the background, it's a problem, in my eyes. Maybe people disagree. They keep putting them in skins, and a lot of people thought the Eine Variation goat was cool as hell, so clearly I'm in the wrong here, but hey. Who gives a shit.

I'm sure there's way more examples of this, (actually I know there are,) but I'm extremely tired and need to go the fuck to sleep. If there's any particular backgrounds ya'll want me to take a look at, lemme know and I'll get back to you when I've woken from my dread slumber.

#arknights #arknights vfx breakdown

[aspd-culture]

Hi I'm new here so sorry if this has already been answered, people with aspd are often referred to as callous and cold but the rate of anxiety and depression with them is quite high thanks to it being a trauma disorder, so how do the two things coexist? Shouldn't they be mutually exclusive?

Firstly welcome!/pos

So unfortunately, the public's perception of ASPD has gotten very mixed with the understanding of the actual symptoms of ASPD. Callous and cold are certainly personality traits that are more likely to appear in pwASPD, but that is not all of us. In personality disorders, due to the nature of them being baked into our personality, which is part biological and part environmental, you will see heavy variations in symptoms.

Additionally, a part of the actual evaluations for ASPD (at least both of the ones I took to get diagnosed - I am from the US for reference) is questions relating to being charismatic/charming and "masters of manipulation". Even the public perception hits on this - saying we are "always playing a social chess game". Those things aren't really compatible with being callous and cold all the time.

To get more into this in the context of your question, though, as you mentioned, ASPD is almost always caused by some amount of trauma. To my understanding as someone with a background in child development, especially in early childhood, our brains basically got here one of two ways if it's trauma based.

The first is our brains developing under the belief that the symptoms of ASPD are just how everyone is, due to being exposed to poor examples or a lack of exmaples of things like remorse, empathy, warmth, etc. This generally comes from abusive/neglectful/emotionally unavailable adults in the child's life and a lack of presence of adults that would guide the child's brain into the natural development of these things because children are literally always learning in the first few years of life especially, and the brain is forming itself around the understanding that the adults give the child of how a human being thinks/acts/behaves/responds.

The other is having specific trauma break down the prior, proper development under the belief that it was either entirely mistaken and people are supposed to behave another way, or as a protective reaction when the brain believes it cannot survive any other way. Research has pointed to trauma directly impacting the neurology of people with PTSD at any age, and that is especially prominent in the ages that ASPD first starts showing up at (15 and younger).

Regardless of which it is, there is more than *just* ASPD being made most of the time in either of these circumstances. When things are unstable in a child's life, they become very likely to develop any number of anxiety disorders. When led to the belief that nothing will ever be good, anyone of any age tends to end up depressed, and pwASPD generally have experiences that have made us see things that way for a *very* long time.

Depression especially is very compatible with ASPD even in public perception - lack of motivation, disinterest in socializing, maladaptive understanding of the world (believing nothing will get better), etc. are symptoms of both ASPD and Major Depressive Disorder.

As for anxiety, it isn't incompatible, but it is probably fairly far removed from the anxiety that prosocials have, specifically in what the anxiety centers on. It is less likely (but definitely not impossible) that a pwASPD would have anxiety about wanting others to like them or worrying about social interactions, but it is very likely to see pwASPD having anxiety about the risk of harm coming to them, people being "out to get us", or that anything good in our life may be unstable and can be lost or taken from us. Insecurity in relationships is common in ASPD because of that type of anxiety - we tend to struggle with the belief that the other shoe will drop, so to speak, any time things seem good or calm in our life. That alone causes a serious amount of anxiety.

These kinds of misconceptions generally come from a specific misrepresentation of ASPD - the idea that we have no emotions or cannot feel certain particular emotions. While sometimes our emotions can be blunted, and some pwASPD are incapable of feeling particular emotions, which ones in particular vary greatly. Boredom and anger/irritation are pretty much always able to be felt by pwASPD to some degree, but outside of that there's a lot of different presentations of the muted emotions trait (not a diagnostic criteria required for diagnosis btw, it's just a common trait seen in many pwASPD). Some people find themselves incapable of feeling things like fear/anxiety and/or depression, sure, but others like me actually feel those at full force but experience heavily mutes positive emotions like happiness. And again, not all of us even have blunted emotions at all, removing any reason we wouldn't be able to have depression or anxiety.

By the way, nothing bad against you for this question!! It absolutely makes sense that this would be confusing to understand what with the common ways that ASPD is talked about and shown in pop culture, documentaries, and often even academic materials. I hold no ill will towards anyone with any genuine misunderstanding of ASPD. It is extremely difficult to grasp the truth of life with this disorder because even the sources that should be reliable often aren't - with small sample sizes, poor sample randomness (so many studies about ASPD are taken exclusively on prisoners), self-reporting (why the hell would we trust a random researcher), and even people who were diagnosed on the stand without advisement from any mental health professional (so people who may not even *have* ASPD, but they have what someone in the legal system *thought* was ASPD). It is so heavily stigmatized and misrepresented that I also had many of these perceptions well into my teen years, even as I recognized symptoms of ASPD in myself. This whole post is /info, I just have terrible issues with tone due to my autism.

Plain text below the cut:

Firstly welcome!/pos

So unfortunately, the public's perception of ASPD has gotten very mixed with the understanding of the actual symptoms of ASPD. Callous and cold are certainly personality traits that are more likely to appear in pwASPD, but that is not all of us. In personality disorders, due to the nature of them being baked into our personality, which is part biological and part environmental, you will see heavy variations in symptoms.

Additionally, a part of the actual evaluations for ASPD (at least both of the ones I took to get diagnosed - I am from the US for reference) is questions relating to being charismatic/charming and "masters of manipulation". Even the public perception hits on this - saying we are "always playing a social chess game". Those things aren't really compatible with being callous and cold all the time.

To get more into this in the context of your question, though, as you mentioned, ASPD is almost always caused by some amount of trauma. To my understanding as someone with a background in child development, especially in early childhood, our brains basically got here one of two ways if it's trauma based.

The first is our brains developing under the belief that the symptoms of ASPD are just how everyone is, due to being exposed to poor examples or a lack of exmaples of things like remorse, empathy, warmth, etc. This generally comes from abusive/neglectful/emotionally unavailable adults in the child's life and a lack of presence of adults that would guide the child's brain into the natural development of these things because children are literally always learning in the first few years of life especially, and the brain is forming itself around the understanding that the adults give the child of how a human being thinks/acts/behaves/responds.

The other is having specific trauma break down the prior, proper development under the belief that it was either entirely mistaken and people are supposed to behave another way, or as a protective reaction when the brain believes it cannot survive any other way. Research has pointed to trauma directly impacting the neurology of people with PTSD at any age, and that is especially prominent in the ages that ASPD first starts showing up at (15 and younger).

Regardless of which it is, there is more than *just* ASPD being made most of the time in either of these circumstances. When things are unstable in a child's life, they become very likely to develop any number of anxiety disorders. When led to the belief that nothing will ever be good, anyone of any age tends to end up depressed, and pwASPD generally have experiences that have made us see things that way for a *very* long time.

Depression especially is very compatible with ASPD even in public perception - lack of motivation, disinterest in socializing, maladaptive understanding of the world (believing nothing will get better), etc. are symptoms of both ASPD and Major Depressive Disorder.

As for anxiety, it isn't incompatible, but it is probably fairly far removed from the anxiety that prosocials have, specifically in what the anxiety centers on. It is less likely (but definitely not impossible) that a pwASPD would have anxiety about wanting others to like them or worrying about social interactions, but it is very likely to see pwASPD having anxiety about the risk of harm coming to them, people being "out to get us", or that anything good in our life may be unstable and can be lost or taken from us. Insecurity in relationships is common in ASPD because of that type of anxiety - we tend to struggle with the belief that the other shoe will drop, so to speak, any time things seem good or calm in our life. That alone causes a serious amount of anxiety.

These kinds of misconceptions generally come from a specific misrepresentation of ASPD - the idea that we have no emotions or cannot feel certain particular emotions. While sometimes our emotions can be blunted, and some pwASPD are incapable of feeling particular emotions, which ones in particular vary greatly. Boredom and anger/irritation are pretty much always able to be felt by pwASPD to some degree, but outside of that there's a lot of different presentations of the muted emotions trait (not a diagnostic criteria required for diagnosis btw, it's just a common trait seen in many pwASPD). Some people find themselves incapable of feeling things like fear/anxiety and/or depression, sure, but others like me actually feel those at full force but experience heavily mutes positive emotions like happiness. And again, not all of us even have blunted emotions at all, removing any reason we wouldn't be able to have depression or anxiety.

By the way, nothing bad against you for this question!! It absolutely makes sense that this would be confusing to understand what with the common ways that ASPD is talked about and shown in pop culture, documentaries, and often even academic materials. I hold no ill will towards anyone with any genuine misunderstanding of ASPD. It is extremely difficult to grasp the truth of life with this disorder because even the sources that should be reliable often aren't - with small sample sizes, poor sample randomness (so many studies about ASPD are taken exclusively on prisoners), self-reporting (why the hell would we trust a random researcher), and even people who were diagnosed on the stand without advisement from any mental health professional (so people who may not even *have* ASPD, but they have what someone in the legal system *thought* was ASPD). It is so heavily stigmatized and misrepresented that I also had many of these perceptions well into my teen years, even as I recognized symptoms of ASPD in myself. This whole post is /info, I just have terrible issues with tone due to my autism.

#aspd-culture-is #aspd culture is #aspd culture #actually aspd #aspd #aspd awareness #actually antisocial #antisocial personality disorder #aspd traits #anons welcome

[thethirdromana]

What could Jonathan sound like?

I've seen a few posts going around that Jonathan could or should have a Devon accent, so I wanted to look into that in more detail. This is not to be negative about anyone's headcanons, but just to provide a bit more context.

Accents in the UK are complicated; the UK has a higher level of accent diversity than nearly anywhere else in the English-speaking world. Someone's accent is determined by their region, where accents can vary between towns that are less than fifty miles apart, and by their class - not just working/middle/upper but variations within those as well.

It was much the same in the 1890s. "Standard" accents have been promoted since the 17th century, and by the end of the 19th century, "received pronunciation" (RP) was "widespread among students at fee-paying public schools and universities by the end of the 19th century." (source)

So to figure out what Jonathan might sound like, we first need to figure out where he grew up and what his social class is. For where he grew up, I'm going to assume Exeter. Plausibly he could have grown up somewhere else, then moved to Exeter, say in his teens, to have "grown into manhood" working for Peter Hawkins. But to narrow down the options, let's go with Exeter.

Then there's his social class. That's trickier. As a solicitor's clerk, he was on the lower fringes of the middle class; as a solicitor, he is more solidly established in the middle class. But in the English class system, your job is usually much less important than your background; even in the modern day, someone with long-established family wealth who went to private school who falls on hard times and ends up working in a supermarket stays upper-middle class even if they're doing a working-class job. And we don't know Jonathan's background; he's an orphan.

OK. So let's listen to some options. These are all much later than the 1890s, but I've done my best, especially working with the limitation that the British Library Sounds Archive doesn't have a straightforward search by year option that I could find.

Here's a working-class man in from Plympton, Devon (38 miles from Exeter), born 1882, speaking in 1964:

And another working-class man from Blackawton, Devon (36 miles from Exeter), born 1888, speaking in 1964:

And I can't get the preview for this to display properly, but here's a final working-class man from Swimbridge, which is also about 35 miles from Exeter but in a different direction. He was born in 1885 and the recording is from 1963.

That gives some sense of what a working-class Jonathan might sound like.

But regardless of Jonathan's actual background, I don't think he would sound like that. Frankly, I'm not sure you would find many solicitors with a strong working-class Devon accent even in the modern day, let alone the 1890s.

(Which is a damning verdict on social mobility in the UK, but never mind that right now.)

Let's compare the accents above with that of an upper-class man from Exeter, Devon, born 1881, speaking in 1942. This is William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury:

He's a perfect example of the RP accent I mentioned above - the one that was widely used by students at fee-paying schools in the UK by the late 19th century. I'd expect Jack, Arthur and Lucy to have this kind of accent. You can't easily identify which part of the country Temple comes from, but you can instantly identify his class.

Jonathan might not have naturally had this kind of accent, nor might he have grown up speaking this way. But for an ambitious young man attempting to solidify his position in the middle class, attempting to sound like this as much as possible would be a good career move. Personally, my best guess at his accent would be that he would sound like this most of the time - maybe with a little more Devon sneaking in when he feels emotional or forgets himself. The more privileged you imagine Jonathan's background to be, the more likely he would be to use RP.

RP has evolved a lot over the past century, so I think it's interesting to compare what this kind of accent sounds like in the modern day, since historic RP can sound quite strange to modern ears.

The current Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, comes from a relatively similar background to William Temple (there's that social mobility again), and he sounds like this:

(he's arguing here that the Church of England should do better on LGBT rights, in case the preview doesn't make that clear)

And that's pretty much the same accent as the fantastic Ben Galpin has in @re-dracula too.

#dracula daily #mild dracula spoilers #historical context #unfortunately i wasn't able to find any middle-class accent recordings from people born in the 19th century in exeter #so if anyone does have an example of those i'd love to hear it #Youtube #long post