AWESOME

So, he's nicknamed Angel, for various reasons. He may be a medic, but he's also the type to call you a dumbass to your face for getting yourself injured, so the Angel is more for the irony there.

The other reason is in reference to Angel Dust, he didn't cope well when he first joined the army. Sure, you see some pretty bad shit in normal hospitals too, but seeing what mustard gas does to a body while also actively getting shot at and now having to fix it or just go "this one is lost, time spend on trying would be wasted, to the next one" and then just moving on to the next worst injury... that's a bit of a different thing.

He also never talks about any personal life. No friends, no family, nothing. He'll just ignore any question about it.

Over the years he learned how to cope better, can deal with just about anything without as much as an eyebrow twitch these days. With just one exception. He can't deal with people showing genuine care towards him specifically. He'll just stand up and leave without comment. Lucky for him, because of his prickly personality, that basically never happens anyways.

Undiagnosed autism, but learned to mask to the point that nobody would guess either. Only special interests he can ramble on about are medicine and guns, and everyone tends to think that's just because of his job. Any texture discomfort, he shrugs off with just having a bad day (something he'll say nearly every day), and since his behaviour is just a bit antisocial to begin with, it's hard to guess that he's bad with social cues and doesn't just actively ignore them.

He does care. He really does. But he neither wants to nor is he good at showing emotions.

Except around his cat, a Ragdoll nearly too big to pick up. He called her God once, you know, for Angels are the servants of God. And that name stuck. Showing emotions around her is easy. Animals aren't nearly as judging as humans, after all.

I don't know about his real name and nationality yet, maybe czechian, maybe japanese, throw the dice for me lol

As for looks, average height, bit thin. Slight tan, short black hair, grey eyes. All muted colours, unless he wears a hazard suit at some point, not really standing out. Absolutely covered in tattoos but they are all out of sight, hidden away as so much about him is.

We love a medic that doesn't say shit.

I feel like Angel and Ghost would get along well in a sort of.... We are both sitting here silently eating our safe foods and not making eye contact way. Both of them consider each other a good friend for this exact reason. Very "Oh yeah that's my best mate, don't know shit about him, don't want to."

I'm trying to think which of my OCs would get along well with Angel. Probably Hush. For similar reasons to Ghost. Hush just sits down at the same table and says nothing while he does whatever he does when he isn't bothering Soap. Same with Luck, I think she'd just sit down and read because it seemed quiet with Angel, and she doesn't always want to talk to people.

Anyway I love him, thank you for sharing. Angel officially added to my running list of ocs I know about and want to be friends with.

Harvey telling the farmer it's their time for the annual check up before knowing them for a year is always funny to me. But the fact I keep drawing Asmodeus♡ with a big mouth and fangs made me read the dialogue more like "that's scary, please stop" rather than "okay onto the next part".

Anyway, I have never drawn Harvey before so please enjoy my attempt. (gives him a lil gray. as a treat. to me. the gray is for me.)

fuck you for canceling your mlp au

Well now it's definitely cancelled.

Matt is so correct Colin is just the player character in the Calorum video game. He doesn't know what he's fucking doing and literally just latched onto the first guy who gave him a Quest and has not left him for 2 years. He looks exactly like every Skyrim/Assassin's Creed/other similar game player character. I can just imagine him going around pressing X to interact

When discussing or analyzing Dazai, one thing I hope you will keep in mind when reading anything I write about him is that from my perspective, he is always, always both.

What do I mean by this? Well, I find there tends to be a general split among people who hold the opinion that "he's a manipulator and will always be manipulative" and "he's doing his best to be good and helpful and live up to Oda's last wishes for him", of which, neither is completely right - because he is both. But even among the people who hold to this dual-nature interpretation, I find that his individual actions and motivations still tend to be thought of in a dichotomous manner - is it manipulative, or genuine?

Again, I think it's always both.

Dazai has a very pragmatic view on a lot of things - he is always looking for the usefulness of things and people so that the situation turns out in his favour. He's incredibly adept at this, and his prediction and placement and careful reveals are all manipulation tactics to get his allies and enemies doing exactly what he needs them to. I don't think anyone can contest this since we see it over and over in the series.

But that's not all there is to it. He's not solely manipulative and he does, to some extent, sympathize with others - I think there are several instances of this in the series, but I want to stress that this has been apparent since Chapter 1!

For context, Dazai is recalling what Atsushi said to him a few minutes earlier, but it's very interesting that it should be this specific part of the conversation. He could've flashed back to the part where Atsushi said he had nowhere to go; no money, no food - he is about to trick him into joining, after all, and this is the key piece he uses to basically force Atsushi into the Agency. But instead it's Atsushi's self-deprecation that catches his attention, and it really does, because even during the conversation, he turns to look at him after he says this with an odd expression.

You could say that this makes Atsushi easier to manipulate, if that's your angle, but that can't be solely it, because in the later conversation with Hirotsu, we know Dazai was planning to bring Atsushi into the Agency and set him up as one half of the new Double Black the moment he met him. The panel shown there is the riverbank, set much earlier in the day than this scene. He was already planning to pair him with Akutagawa since he figured out he was the tiger, so what's with this reaction?

Well. Sometimes the simplest explanation is the best.

He manipulated Atsushi into joining with the intention of utilizing him in his future plans. He also helped him and gave him a place to belong, and importantly, he likes this kid! It's both.

I think much of it might be that his brain just kinda works way too fast - he's such a natural at crafting these elaborate plots and seeing how things connect and gathering useful people like resources that it's practically automatic - though this is not a great means when you're trying to be a kinder person. There's an omake, I believe, that has him saying "I like using my head for justice", i.e. using these underhanded means to act for the better. Not great, but those are the kind of gifts he has. He's way more suited to exploitation, but is choosing to use these tactics to save people now, which is quite reminiscent of what he tells Kyouka. Kyouka's talents lie in killing people - when what you're good at isn't who you want to be, what do you do? Well, I expect you use what you have, even if it's not ideal.

Now, about the current situation with Sigma - I think he definitely likes him, and is intrigued by him and his situation. We did get a little thought bubble where the guy amusedly compares him to Atsushi, and you can't tell me he doesn't care about Atsushi (listen to the onsen drama cd, or read 55 Minutes if you somehow don't believe me). But also, it's undeniable that Sigma is in a very vulnerable position of being homeless and having had no one be genuinely kind to him before. His trust is very easy to earn, and with the latest chapter, Dazai has now saved his life multiple times. There is, as always, a practical purpose he needs him for. And I have to be somewhat amused because Dazai is quite literally telling Sigma everything he ever wanted and needed to hear. It's a brilliant means of quickly endearing himself to Sigma - but I don't think that's all it is.

Look. The most honest moments we get in this series from Dazai are, interestingly for an expert manipulator, when people are at their most vulnerable. In spite of every pointlessly cruel act he inflicted on Akutagawa, his first meeting with him was open and transparent; much like the orphanage director, it seems he thought this treatment would make him strong and adaptable (he's wrong but that's not the point of this). He cuts Kyouka off in irritation and says "don't give me that" when she implies that she would fail the entrance exam. He tells Atsushi it's normal to cry after losing a father figure and to feel however you feel, even if that person caused you nothing but incredible pain and cannot be forgiven. He refuses to entertain Sigma's assumptions that Dazai sees himself as a superior being to him.

Selective honesty can also be utilized to great effect; Mori does this, and undoubtedly it serves this purpose for Dazai too. But I want to stress that I do sincerely believe this is all still honesty from him. Manipulation, or genuine?

Both. It's both.

hiiii.. 🙃🙃

Lineart by me! (extra info for colorists in og tags) I couldn't resist a dappled light variant on this. @green-with-envy-phandom-event

fun fact: this lineart originally had the actual lunch/picnic table ridges and then i realized that was too much, especially without access to the layers of lineart (personally, I would color the lineart for the table and then the support bars would be colored and the layer moved underneath the table top. I decided not to put colorists in a position to try to color it with one layer of lineart, but I did get quite far before making that decision)

"it's so nice to see what's going on without being stuck in Lucy's head" sounded pretty fun but now I'm like what did we even mean by that other than locklyle and finding people aren't as ugly as she described. like. the girl wasn't insane she's not TOO far off from reality guys

i can't decide which i like more:

the idea - very much canonical and in the author's original concept and view of magic - of the dark arts taking a toll on one's exterior and looks. tom riddle sacrificing his beauty willingly in the name of eternal life, black magic as something that innately corrupts. bellatrix escaping from azkaban with the barest vestiges of her ancient beauty. going from one of the most beautiful women in england to a shell of her former self and no amount of dark magic being able to fix it. and she just. doesn't care. goes from pretty, proud and vain in her youth, to the feverish, fanatical glow harry sees in the department if mysteries. finally she sheds the petal of the rose - look like the innocent flower, her master had once said - and only the thorns remain. the parallel with voldemort himself. the idea that they like each other better now, the only ones to like their respective new appearances better. bellatrix because she can taste the power radiating off him, because she knows how resentful he was of his old face. (oh, he's never said anything explicitly, he would rather be flayed alive than speak of his filthy muggle father to her, but she knew he didn't like himself, took no pride in his aesthetics, it was most unusual, really.) the dark lord because he's reminded of her sacrifice - she was the only one who didn't denounce him, who tried to find him - every time he looks at her. she gave up everything for him: her reputation, her family, her freedom, her health, her beauty, her youth.

or.

the horcruxes are an isolated case. not all prices to pay for power are physical. some dark magic sucks at your humanity, your emotional regulation, your empathy and gives back superficial little gifts. its roots are far from the deep anger, desperation to cling to life of an horcrux. these are ancient witches' remedies to be the most envied in the village. the idea that rotten cores hide behind the prettiest faces. and bellatrix was always vain, always took immense pride in her beauty, her black, pure features. when she escapes from azkaban she tries everything in her power to be herself once again. she still drips with obsession but gradually regains all of her beauty too. cruel people can still be beautiful. gorgeous people can still be inhuman. and yet there is something so human about a woman making her way through the ranks of a very militarised group and still caring so much about what she looks like, still having insecurities, being preoccupied with mundane things like age and decay - and hating it because he would hate it, he hates weakness, and still not being able to help herself. the dark lord was always a collector of shiny things, was he not?

smth I think really works with Discworld is how it avoids making its high fantasy worldbuilding too glamorous or mystical and just makes it seem a realistic product of a whole lot of people doing people things over a long period of time, UNLESS it's specifically using the glamour or mysticism to contrast it against that more "grounded" backdrop as either something manipulative and threatening like with the elves/Lilith or just some kinda pretentious aesthetic someone is trying very, very hard to pull off

alternatively‚

Also if you’ve only read the main comic so far I recommend also checking out the extras tag! There’s a lot more fun stuff in there (like. A lot)

you know i will say it's kind of funny how the second you're loudly and annoyingly enthusiastic about something that's old people start calling you pretentious. like no sometimes the play is just good

also people always think I’m exaggerating when I talk (brag) about Hugo never barking or growling at people. Literally a worthless guard dog or watch dog, he’s either friendly and quiet or shy and quiet.  the exceptions: my boy does like to use his voice for FUN, while playing or while running through his tricks, or on command. If he doesn’t feel like he’s gotten enough attention, he does think it’s funny to walk up behind my desk and fire one off, to surprise me. 

an idea i invite anyone else to write about / run with lol....

the premise that The Change gets all messed up for alberto, say it's something that can happen from stress, &/or happens rarely and you just have to wait for it to resolve itself....used as some parallel to struggling through some emotional turbulence / upheaval / questioning / Realizing Things, etc etc