#searching the depths

[angelofthepage]

Bella Ewe - The Right Hand Shepherd

I don't think I've ever gone back and changed an art piece months after making it, but there's a first time for everything! Decided to follow my heart and gave her new ears, we're committing to the sheep thing. And with that came the thought, I haven't ever like, given her a formal bio on here, so you're getting two for one today! So let's dive into the Depths and give you a taste of who exactly this is.

Name: Bella Ewe

Ink Creature Type: Shepherd (same classification as Sammy and Jack)

Height: 5 ft 5 inches

Age: Frozen at 22 (Technically 32 as of BATDR's events)

Ink Ability: Dive (Dives beneath the ink to bring lost souls back up from the dark puddles)

AU she's from: Searching the Depths

Where you can follow her story: Searching the Depths: The Heart of the Studio, Richard the Keeper: The Studies of 214

Synopsis:

Like so many that came before her, Bella is the latest victim of Joey Drew. Taken under his wing after an unfortunate accident in 1963, she's the first domino to fall in a new plan to revive the legacy of Joey Drew Studios. After accidentally getting locked in the cycle and sacrificed to the ink demon, Bella finds herself as a lowly searcher, accompanying a newly aware Sammy Lawrence and Jack Fain in a desperate attempt to break out of the ink realm. While working together as the ink demon's Shepherds, the group discovers things may not be as set in stone as they seemed, and there might just be some hope of ending this nightmare. As she works through the hellish landscape of the studio (and the loss of hope that comes with it), her first adventure has her evolving, both physically and mentally, to find herself and determine what kind of person she wants to be.

When Wilson gains control over the cycle, Bella finds herself imprisoned with the rest of her fellow Cyclebreakers, assigned the subject number of 214. Desperate to bust her newfound family out and uncover more of the ink's secrets, she reluctantly teams up with Richard, a crudely nicknamed Keeper hellbent on creating a perfect world. While they're at odds to start, the two learn there's more to the other than meets the eye, and sometimes allies can come from the most unlikely of places.

#bella ewe #bendy au #bendy fan character #bendy oc #bendy fan art #batim #batdr #searching the depths #searching the depths: the heart of the studio #richard the keeper: the studies of 214 #longpost

[inkabelledesigns]

18 and 25 for the writer's ask meme!

25. What is a weird, hyper-specific detail you know about one of your characters that is completely irrelevant to the story?

For Searching the Depths, I had it in my old drafts that there was a secretary that knew Sammy had a sweet tooth and kept candy in her drawers specifically for him. It has absolutely no bearing on the plot whatsoever, but it's a really nice detail and it's still a part of the world lore, regardless of whether or not I choose to call it out again later.

18. Choose a passage from your writing. Tell me about the backstory of this moment. How you came up with it, how it changed from start to end. I'm going to put this under the cut, because it's a little long, but oh boy I have so much to say about this. I'm going to give you a dialogue exchange, also from Searching the Depths, for a chapter that's a long way from being released, something that happens within the ink realm that absolutely tears me to shreds.

Bella cried out. "I didn't know it was REAL! I-I never would've messed with it if I had, I swear-" 

"Kid, why are you apologizing? You did the right thing." Jack asked. 

"We don't know that!" Sammy hissed. "We had a plan, a way out! Now everything is thrown out the window! We have to start from square one and we're running out of time!" 

The more he barked, the more she shrank away from him, unable to meet his gaze. 

"Things weren't any more certain before and you know it." Jack crossed his arms. "Even with the same events repeating over and over again, Joey STILL had all the power. If it's not his story anymore, then he's not in control. And that gives us a fighting chance!" 

"Oh please, like that'll stop him." Sammy huffed. "From where I'm standing, our future is more uncertain than ever!" 

"Well then we'll just have to do our best and make it better, won't we?" Jack held his hands on his hips. "Sam, come on, look at her. She didn't mean for this, ease up will ya?"

"I'm with Jack on this one." Bendy piped up. "If we're really gonna play the blame game, I'm the winner here. None of this would be so dire if I hadn't gone meddling." 

"My lord-"

"No, Sam…it's true. I wouldn't even be your lord if I hadn't poked around where I shouldn't have." He sighed. "But I was a young idea back then, I had to grow up, make mistakes." He looked at Bella. "Same goes for you."

She sniffled as she looked back at him. "This is more than a mistake. This is a critical error. I can't- I helped do something even worse than what you were already going through, that's- it's unforgivable."

"...He tricked you, just like he did all of us." Jack looked at her sadly, connecting the dots. "Found someone desperate to exploit. You…at least you tried to make something good out of it. It's more than I can say."

This entire sequence is so near and dear to my heart. I have been trying to find the right way to introduce the concept of Bella finding out she's trapped in a story for the longest time, but one of the things that's changed within my drafts is that it's her draft of the story that she's in. I realized along the way that I'm not interested in writing the story of BATIM beat for beat, I wanna put my own spin on it and have some events that aren't in that original. So having a naive artist mess with the cycle without realizing she's affected real people on the inside until it's too late? Now you're talkin'! And now that the ink has claimed its newest victims, there's so much in store for everyone in its grasp.

This conversation was originally very exposition-y, some parts of it still are, with Bendy as the one to explain what's going on, but it's grown so much to be so much more. For one, Jack got an upgrade to main character trio status. He wasn't even in this scene originally. Two, Bendy and Sammy got a major characterization glow-up that I am so grateful for. I love how angry Sammy gets here, his frustration in this and the text that surrounds it is really fun to write. He's an interesting mix of his human self and his prophet self, and having Jack know how to navigate this angrier side of him is great. They bounce off of each other REALLY WELL. Also Bendy, gosh, Bendy has so much more to lose and so much he's already lost when it comes to this. He mirrors Henry's feelings of thinking this is all his fault (something something like father like son), but instead of trying to take on everything by himself, he's being open and honest about his feelings and relying on his allies for things he can't do alone. He's shown a remarkable amount of growth as I've gotten to know him more.

I can say the same about Bella. She's another character who sees herself as a responsible party and grows paralyzed when she's not sure how to fix it. She has a significant lack of belief in herself, which was important to show early on, but with these three by her side, she'll learn that she can be so much more. This is a character that life just kind of happens to, she feels no control over her situation, and it's true, there's a lot she doesn't have the power to do. But there's a lot she can do with what she has, and I can't wait for her to figure that out and forge her own path with these guys. She may be helpless and crying now, but that's not gonna be the case forever.

Thank you so much for the ask! This was the first one in my box, but I had to really think about it before I was ready to answer. I'm still accepting submissions for the writer's ask game if any of you wish to join me for some fun!

#ask game #writer's ask game #searching the depths #sammy lawrence #jack fain #bella ewe #bendy

[magical-girl-coral]

Canonical evidence of every Fear and Hunger S ending in the Termina

Happy Ending

Cahara's sword in "Happy Ending" is the Sabbath sword you can find at the church. While it was said it was developed by Vatican city in the 1700s, this is also the same city that secretly did human experiences on innocent people to get closer to the old gods so chances are they were lying about this too.

If I had to guess, Cahara used his massive wealth to create weapons against creatures of the night and some of them somehow ended up in the hands of Vatican knights. Maybe one of his family members decided to start their own knighthood against monster and it massively backfired.

The true God of Fear and Hunger

While originally I was on the fence on this one thanks to ending C II, the Kaiser's flesh form was what sold me. That, and the fact that he mentions in his monologue before you fight him how he roamed the earth while out of his mind fits perfectly with Le'grade's derangement after D'arce resurrects him.

The only thing I'm bothered with is how D'arce doesn't have any hints of her existence in Termina. You'd think she'd get at least one name drop if she was the one who brought the Kaiser back from the dead.

The Enlightenment

The ending I'm the happiest is the most canon has got be Enki's just because of the lore drops we get from his skin bibles. It's interesting to note that Enki knew the God of Fear and Hunger was originally a nameless girl and that she was already a demi god thanks to her mother.

It also said that "[The God of Fear and Hunger] was the pure representation of fear and hunger, not spoiled by even a glimmer of hope", which is odd cause the player can and should bring the girl her doll and knife to make her more useful in battle and to make her feel lighter with the situation at hand.

It makes me wonder who brought the girl down to the depths if they made it obvious she was never getting out.

God of Ultra Violence

It's pretty much an open secret now that August is a descendant of Ragnvaldr thanks the cannibalism trait in his soul tree, his friendship with moonless and how the only contestant he truly open ups to is Abella, the only other person from Oldegård. I didn't even notice until I wrote this post that they both even have the exact same hair in their profiles.

It's also nice to know Le'grade is still getting his ass handed to him by a guy who not only got to get the title of a god before him, but also by the clan he build after he escaped the dungeons. Truly a massive L. We love to see it ❤.

#this is just me getting pissed at all the 'cahara was the one who brought the girl down to the depths since he never gets a mention' #HE DOES GET MENTIONED #JUST SEARCH HARDER #also technically D'ARCE could be the one who brought the girl down to the depths since Le'garde could also be defeated in ending c ii #Anyway rant over #Fear and Hunger #Cahara #D'arce #Ragnvaldr #Enki

[tarisilmarwen]

"Thrawn only joined the Empire to help the Chiss!"

Okay sure but have any of you bothered to self-examine why Thrawn chose to join the Empire instead of, say, the Republic, when that was still around? Or why he didn't chose to throw in with the Rebellion, put his tactical mind to use helping them overthrow the Empire quicker?

Could it be... perhaps... that maybe he values the Empire's military strength... more than he cares about the authoritarian tyranny with which it oppresses its own people?

Is it possible that he thinks the Empire's main problem is that it isn't effective enough, too much politicking getting in the way of sound strategy, but if he's around (and in charge) he can guide things so that those annoying little wrinkles (AKA the pockets of discontent and rebellion and fully justified anger at their rights and freedoms being trampled on) are all smoothed out and the overall Imperial machine is better, more in control of its assets, a stronger more unified bulwark against the outergalactic threat of the Grysk or the Vong or whatever.

Is it perhaps just a bit self-centered of him to only care about the Empire's ability to service his own goals and desires and be apathetic (at best) to the way it makes people suffer daily under its inherent systems? The Twi'leks and Wookies being constantly kidnapped and sold into slavery? The careless industrialization of arboreal worlds? The socialization and absorption of all private industry, forcing everyone to work through and with the Empire if they want to work at all? The systematic persecution of anyone remotely Force Sensitive? Is it not the mark of some kind of soul rot to be aware of all of that and go, "Yeah, but I don't care, they have the bigger guns, which is what I need."?

Maybe... just maybe... Thrawn has some Machiavellian tendencies and opinions and maybe this just might... make him not entirely a good person?

And maybe y'all should think about that before you come back and whine about his portrayal as a villain, as if all he has to do is explain to people that he did everything for a good reason and he gets an automatic narrative pardon for all of the shit he did while Grand Admiral that still needs to be addressed and answered for.

#yeah another thrawn rant has been brewing for a while #listen it's not that i don't want thrawn to have depths and pathos and dimensions to his character #what i'm saying is that NONE OF THAT MATTERS ONCE HE JOINED THE EMPIRE #because he sure as hell didn't work to subvert the empire at all even knowing the kinds of things they do #so no i'm sorry there is no clean 'i had good intentions' moment #where everyone just arbitrarily accepts his Sad Backstory and declares everything okay #him doing everything he did 'for his people' does not mean the people he DID hurt don't get to demand and expect justice #what annoys me is not that thrawn has complex motivations #it's that fandom seems to think the motivations cancel out the MEANS and METHODS #which is why in all their stories thrawn gets to just go home and have a happily ever after with eli vanto or whoever #that is not what is going to or what should happen in canon guys #not fandom tagging this if you see it it's your own dang fault for being out in the wilds of the untamed tumblr search #dunking on the blue bastard

[lewisinho]

dive to survive coming february 23rd

#this is the content netflix is missing #the behind the scenes shenanigans #mercedes searching the depths of the bay for a wedding ring #and mercedes and red bull engineers watching it all unfold #the content!! #abu dhabi gp 2023 #mercedes amg f1 #lewis hamilton

[xanderscollection]

#searched the depths of my gallery to find the image #ao no exorcist #blue exorcist #aoex #alex makes memes #blue exorcist 148 #blue exorcist manga #manga cap #lewin light

[artbysupercres]

...what happened to the previous fisherman?

Finished playing through Dredge and I absolutely loved it from start to finish. I cannot recommend it more highly.

#Dredge #Lovecraft #Cosmic Horror #art #digital painting #digital art #caught all them abberations and everything #oh to be a fisherman blindly searching for my lost lover in the endless depths #dredge spoilers #dredge game

[celluloidbroomcloset]

The look on Stede's face, though, when Ed says that he thinks last night was a mistake. He was in less pain when he got gut-stabbed.

And he lets out a very quick breath, like he just got the wind knocked out of him.

#ofmd season 2 #ofmd #stede bonnet #rhys darby #our flag means death #again props to rhys darby for giving this character so much expressiveness and emotional depth #wish i could get brighter images but that's what i got for right now #wish tumblr's gif search didn't suck so hard because this is such a quick moment and it's easy to miss so i want a good gif of it

[laniemae]

What’s this? I wasted my life pouring my soul into making a 10 minute milgram as vines compilation. This is the best life I could be living.

#milgram #Vines #i have searched the deepest depths of the internet for the perfect vines #Youtube

[angelofthepage]

Happy Birthday Sammy Lawrence! I can't believe it's been seven years since BATIM Chapter 2 came out, that feels unreal. Decided to celebrate by drawing some are of Jack, Sammy, and Bella from Searching the Depths: The Heart of the Studio. Nothing says 'good birthday in the cycle' quite like a cucpcake and your found family being safely with you. This piece also comes with a video essay, where I talk about why BATIM Chapter 2 is so meaningful to me.

#batim #bendy and the ink machine #sammy lawrence #jack fain #bella ewe #bendy #searching the depths #searching the depths: the heart of the studio

[inkabelledesigns]

Thank you kindly for the tag @star-going-supernova !

Rules: Make a new post and post your latest line from your WIP & tag as many people as there are words.

“At any rate,” Joey continued, “I don’t expect us to be running the same kind of operation as we did back in the day. But I will give you the best I can for gaining experience. By the end of our time together, I guarantee you’re gonna be the best artist in all of New York. That’s a Joey Drew promise.”

She blushed, covering her mouth daintily. “You’re very kind Mr. Drew, thank you.” She looked up at him meekly. “It’s, an honor, that you have such faith in me. I won’t disappoint you. We’re gonna make something truly special together, I just know it.”

“Oh you’d better believe it kiddo. The road ahead is gonna be such an adventure. You won’t know what hit ya!”

Well, I don't think I have that many people to tag (and admittedly I have gone a bit overboard, you caught me in the middle of a writing bug and I really wanna share this part!), but let's see who we've got! @bertrumstrousers @rosiegardenlove @xraytheredx

#bendy and the ink machine #searching the depths #fanfic tag #wip

[ghostlyarchaeologist]

I seek knowledge, I must know, what show is your white whale?

Fame L.A. It ran for 22 episodes back in 1997/98, was never released for home viewing and now is practically lost media bar a few clips online. I have spent many an hour searching the depths of the internet for it, nada. There are traces of where it once was hosted, but all those links are now completely defunct.

My only hope now is that someone recorded it on vhs back when it was broadcast and will eventually rip it and put it in the VHS vault on the internet archive or something (or, I work out how to get a hold of stuff from the Broadcast Archive in the National Library of Sweden in Stockholm because they have the full run of it, but it's not publicly available, you have to have a research reason as to why you want to view it, and then you can only view it on their equipment in the library to boot!)

#can you tell how deep into the depths of the internet my searches have gone? 😆 #it surprises me how unknown and unavailable this spinoff is considering the popularity of the original film and series #you can easily obtain the 1980 movie the 1982 series AND the 2009 reboot movie #but the 1997 series? NOPE! it has been squirrelled away swept under the rug and it's very existence all but denied! #(and yes i only want it because its christian kane's first acting role. i don't care how awful it is!) #(my kane filmography collection has a hole in it!) #(i would also like to find rescue 77 in better quality than an awful camcorder recording of a tv screen but at least i have that!) #anyway excuse the ramble!

[caterpillarinacave]

Please say it’s just my AO3 that’s not down

#If it’s down I’m crying #On the spot #I was halfway through an in depth search of a tag and my bookmarks thank you #Ao3 #Archive of our own

[nellasbookplanet]

Getting into andromeda after spending the last few weeks replaying the original ME trilogy is so funny, I feel like I've stepped from a hardcore military sci-fi straight into a young adult adventure coming of age story

#they all (except drack) feel so young and lost! #it works pretty well in combination with a new galaxy where loterally everyone feels lost and is searching for growth #but it’s such a change of pace from the assuredness of playing shepard on the normandy #tho I'm sure part of it is bc of ryder's design (even if i did customize a bit) #she doesn't look like she has a military career she looks like she’s fresh out of school and got kicked right into the deep end #mass effect #I have more thoughts (positive and negative) but i'll hold off going into any more depth until I've finished my playthrough #will probably write some more posts on the og trilogy in the meanwhile tho bc I still have thoughts to air out #mass effect andromeda #nella talks

[monkeydlitty]

Yall 2 days until live action op is out. I have been reflecting heavily this week on how important this series is to me, this panel, out of all panels is my absolute favorite. It really does encompass what the series is really all about. To think that after 15 years of being a fan, this panel will almost always bring me to tears.

#opla #one piece live action #one piece #one piece netflix #monkey d. luffy #marshall d. teach #blackbeard #also posting this so i no longer have to search the depths of tumblr #to find a post with this panel #praise 🙌 #sun god nika #and oda for blessing us with this story #the idiot posts

[snickerdoodlles]

there's a lot of things people blame for why fandoms feel like ghost towns these days, but no one's really talked about the way discord's contributing to it

#its like #people are trying to force fit discord's chatrooms into forum boards #except discord is just. really really *really* poorly setup for that #and theres no way to archive or share it so everything said in it is easily lost despite personal export or community pins or search option #and like #vaguely hearing about the way some people are unsatisfied with them/feeling unfufilled in the response to them #a lot of people would be better off posting those things to places like tumblr #where there isnt a time limit on when people see or respond to them #part of what's scary/frustrating on tumblr rn is some fandoms arent good about reblogging to posts or tag rambling #like with bad buddy a large part of the fun was the enthusiastic and in depth tag rambles and the way responses built on each other #vs something like kinnporsche which feels much more like-oriented #like? its not like theres any one way to fandom #and there's nothing actually wrong with likes or quiet reblogs #but vaguely hearing about the way some people were/are really upset with some servers im just kinda like #idk #feels a bit like people trying to force a square thru a circle or that they're looking in the wrong spaces for what they want #.......this is not a complaint for my space ajkds i think i've carved out a pretty happy space for myself! #im just checking the reblog graphs of some old vs new stuff and thinking about a convo other cookie and i were having over the weekend #i have a lot of friends around and i love everyone who's happy to ramble with me #but i do feel a slight case of DM burnout rn where mostly people reach out to me via DMs instead of reblogs #which is a very different dynamic #its like. hmmm words #i love DMs but the pressure of responding to a lot of individual messages #vs something like reblogs which is more open forum for everyone and feels more communal #if that makes sense? #the difference between visiting one person at home vs casually hanging out with a group at a cafe #and the lovely thing about tumblr specifically is that i can set down a reblog chain for several days if i need #before returning to it later when i have more time/energy #its got Longevity that discord lacks u know #........okay enough tag musings from me ajkfhjdgfhj BYE