fuck it. avatar as calico critters

zuko, iroh and toph

Ajdaha janı / Dragon Soul

everyone shut up this is ACTUALLY what fans of different composers are like

Mahlerians are PROUD TO BE ABSOLUTELY INSUFFERABLE DRAMA QUEENS, THE LIKES OF WHICH EVEN THE WAGNER CULT COULD NEVER SO MUCH AS ASPIRE TO BE. WE ARE ONE WITH THE UNYIELDING EBB AND FLOW OF THE BOUNDLESS UNIVERSE, DAMN IT ALL!

Shostakovich fans are like Mahler fans except they actually understand what sarcasm is. We also all really like the Muppets for some reason. Most of us own cats and likely have at least one mental illness.

Liszt fans are either tweenagers who love anime or salty old pianists who know a disturbing amount about music theory. These two factions are constantly at war.

Copland fans are either very, very far right or very, very far left. Either way, neither side actually listens to all of Copland's repertoire.

Tchaikovsky fans are either Russian grandmas or LGBT orchestra kids on Tiktok. Either those or the one noob who heard there were cannons once.

Wagner fans. Yes, there are the cringey neo-Nazi Wagnerians, but anti-Nazi Wagnerians are a whole new level of chaotic good. They spend their time dreaming up the most disastrous, chaotic Ring productions possible, with the sole purpose of making Richard Wagner's entire family simultaneously spin in their graves. They take "death of the author" to a whole new level and constantly run on nothing but 100% pure spite. You want a Wagnerian who would beat up Wagner in a Denny's parking lot on your side.

Prokofiev fans will unironically say "ackshually...". That's it.

Dvorak fans are homeschool kids. They're either soul-crushingly innocent or devastatingly horny.

Sousa fans are just high school band directors who try to convince themselves they like Sousa to get through the semester.

Joplin fans constantly argue over whether Joplin's music should be played twice as quickly or twice as slowly than it's actually written. Also sick of hearing about Janis.

Chopin fans are exactly like Liszt fans, except there are 20% more "uwu softboi flowercrown" edits of Chopin than Liszt floating around on Instagram and Tumblr.

Holst fans will drag you into an alleyway and beat you up with their bare hands if you so much as mention The Planets.

Bernstein fans are either horny theatre kids or communists, but it's more likely they're both at once. They are very opinionated about recordings, and express their approval of the ones they like by gyrating excessively to them. If you put a Bernstein fan, a Mahler fan, and a Shostakovich fan in one room, they will either topple a national government or have a threesome.

Ravel fans are inherently Wes Anderson fans. You can be friends with one for years without knowing a single thing about their personality.

Schoenberg fans are like Mahlerians but with worse memes.

Brahms fans are... I have never met a Brahms fan. I'm sure they exist, but I'm pretty sure my own taste in music scares them off.

Paganini fans are almost always TwoSet kids, particularly the ones who try to convince people that "classical music isn't boring because it's basically metal." If you tell them Paganini played viola, they will spontaneously combust.

Rachmaninov fans are ultimately really chill, but are often socially awkward. If you ask a Rachmaninov fan "how are you?", they will most likely respond with "you too."

Schumann fans are Mahlerians on medication.

Stravinsky fans think they're chaotic and unhinged and listen to the most obscure underground shit, but in all actuality they just decided to enter their edgy phase after a lifetime of being sheltered and forced to listen to nothing but Handel by their parents. Possibly homeschooled.

Ysaye fans are like Paganini fans, except they're depressed graduate music students with permanent calluses on their fingers.

Debussy fans go to art school, decide they don't like art school, but have been doing art school too long to turn back, so they can't get out of art school. They may be high on weed at any given moment.

Satie fans are just possessed vessels of Erik Satie. Death cannot hinder Erik Satie. Erik Satie will return to this mortal plane. Search your feelings. You are already Erik Satie.

SO WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT HADES 2, RIGHT

At least we had all better be, while I'm waving this broken bottle around.

Look guys I'm a Classical mythology wonk. And I don't mean like, "hey I read the Percy Jackson books, they were neat", I mean when I close my eyes before I sleep I pray to every god who might conceivably be listening that Linear A gets deciphered in my lifetime. I mean I've got a giant metal print of Circe Invidiosa by John Waterhouse in my bedroom. I mean that if you make the mistake of mentioning Hadestown in my presence you have unwittingly activated the trap card of "Sam talks about his string-and-sandwich board conspiracy theory about how Persephone was a terrifying eldritch queen of the dead and the entire greek world was scared shitless of her, so maybe knock it off with all these tender waifs in flower crowns, artists of the last two thousand years for two solid hours."

(The Percy Jackson books are extremely neat, btw)

So cut to 2020, the year of shit, and here comes a game from one of my favorite studios of all time, about one of my favorite subjects of all time, and it's gorgeous and deep and full of stupid gay drama and the art melts my eyeballs and the voice acting (true to Supergiant tradition) is basically indistinguishable from foreplay. So I played it. I played the absolute balls off of it.

AND THEY'RE MAKING A SEQUEL, HOLY SHIT

so the Thing about Chthonic deities is the underworld really creeped the Ancient Greeks out, so there's not a lot of writing about them that has survived to the present day, since if they were worshipped it was usually by mystery cults or more in an avoidant "please please please don't notice me I've been a good boy please" kind of way.

Hence why our favorite bisexual softboi dreamboat Zagreus doesn't really feature much in the mythology, except he was probably an offshoot of Dionysus and usually got synchronized with him, Hades himself, or Mycenaen Poseidon. They make a joke about this in Hades, btw (they make a fucking JOKE SONG about in in Hades).

BUT DID YOU KNOW ZAGREUS HAD A SISTER!?

Her name is Melinoë, and she's also cited from very limited sources, but I want to show y'all the brilliant Apostolos Athansssakis' translation of one of the view sources we have, the Hymn to Melinoë:

I call upon Melinoë, saffron-cloaked nymph of the earth, whom revered Persephone bore by the mouth of the Kokytos river upon the sacred bed of Kronian Zeus. In the guise of Plouton Zeus tricked Persephone and through wiley plots bedded her; a two-bodied specter sprang forth from Persephone's fury. This specter drives mortals to madness with her airy apparitions as she appears in weird shapes and strange forms, now plain to the eye, now shadowy, now shining in the darkness— all this in unnerving attacks in the gloom of night. O goddess, O queen of those below, I beseech you to banish the soul's frenzy to the ends of the earth, show to the initiates a kindly and holy face.

My guess would be is that Supergiant will not have her be the child of Zeus under false pretenses (there's sources that indicate Zagreus is also a child of Zeus) but still. Dope. Rad as hell. Zag's baby sister is a twin-bodied goddess of nightmares and I am excited a normal amount.

Also Apollo is gonna be in this one, you guys.

Look at this magnificent pain-in-the-ass. I can already tell you he's going to be 10,000% annoying, and I am completely here for it.

Hello yall!

Firstly, I wanna apologize for this blog being...in a coma for a bit there. I promise, I'm not done with this blog or au, I've actually not stopped thinking about it. I've just been lacking motivation to make art for it, any artist would know lol

Because it's been so long, I've decided to finally settle on making references for the mains, meaning engines 1-7 plus Emily.

So far, this is Thomas, Edward, Henry, and Gordon, I'll make everyone in time but I had these done and wanted to post now. Also, have some fun basic descriptions of their characters in my au.

Thomas is, to most workers, a lil prick. In all seriousness, his basic personality is a lovable yet cheeky young dork, with a big heart. There are few figures of authority he has respect to but he, overall, doesn't find joy in causing distress or harm to others. He causes trouble in a more-or-less fun kind of way, even though it can get under the skin of certain co-workers He does have a bit of a hero complex though, after all he's been through.

Edward is an older mentor-type figure, basically everyone's dad. He's thoughtful and very reliable, always willing to do what's necessary to get the job done. When a scenario would call for it, he does have some bite when it comes to verbally disciplining his younger peers, especially Thomas and James. He takes no nonsense and can be pretty scary when he's ticked off, despite his usual softboi appearance. Also yes, he's very gay, I felt that was important to mention lol

Henry is also a softboi, though he's definitely less of a mentor figure. He's careful and gentle, especially with smaller beings. He can get prideful, especially when he primarily pulls the heaviest trains. He has incredible strength and he knows it, though part of his pride comes from hidden insecurity, considering his past and how fragile he used to be before the Flying Kipper. But that's a long story that'll be explained in the future.

Gordon is the pride of Sodor's railway, and he basks in the spotlight. He's boastful and proud, and that's not entirely unfounded. As the worker who primarily pulls the Express passenger train, he's aware of how important he is. Though, he does have a fondness for his younger co-workers, even the ones who annoy him (*cough cough* Thomas). However, he isn't above pulling the one-off cruel joke.

I hope you enjoy this! One again, I apologize for my absence lol

💜🔎Yuma Kokohead Headcanons🔍💜

His casual aesthetic outside of his detective uniform are softboy and goth (mainly pastel goth)

His favorite colors are indigo and lavender, but he likes any colors that are night palette

He loves to play retro games (since they’re the only ones he can afford with his own budget)

He enjoys detective novels alongside any mysteries and thrillers

He likes to research on the supernaturals and mythology since he learned about Shinigami and the Book of Death

His sexuality is pan arospec Orchidsexual (is fine to be in a queerplatonic relationship)

He has an interest in chalk art and watercolor, and draws as like a coping mechanism from all the anxieties and trauma he went through

His age range is young adult and would be 19-21 (age will change depending on the fics I make)

He is confirmed to be a Gemini

He is the most vulnerable of the group when it comes to the rain, ranging from sluggish to a full-on fever if he does not take the right equipment or slow down once in a while

He has a number of journals he uses for doodling, investigation, poetry writing, and venting (that last part had to be suggested by the NDA)

He has an anxiety disorder

He likes to wear fuzzy socks when asleep or when he’s off-duty

He’s not good at cooking, but he is good at baking (or at least making the food look appealing)

He may be good at making sweets though

Now for Game Spoilers, but only check it out until you played the entire game!!

You cannot tell me Yuma doesn’t have “gifted kid syndrome!” The fact he became the leader of the WDO, a highly privileged detective organization, so young with so much regulations on him must have really did a number on him even if he handled it well

His first name really is Yuma, but he had to forgo it when he became “Number One.” Now he goes by Yuma Kagutsuchi after Makoto Kagutsuchi

Because yes, I like to believe Yuma sees Makoto as his ‘brother,’ or at least family since they come from the same DNA, so he takes after his surname so people (and especially Makoto) would know they are family

After the Restricted Area traverse, Yuma now hates any zombie media out there (especially zombie films), it just triggers him too much

He likes to affectionately call Makoto “Mako,” which means sincerity in Japanese, so their first name is of the same length

Before Yuma got his memories back, he actually has acted unconsciously similar to his former self, like being poetically jaded or having a bit of “gifted kid syndrome”

He has managed to have his anxiety under control as Number One, but in his amnesiac state and when he gets his memories back, it begins to surface more

He likes to do poetic inner monologue during cases in order to calm his anxiety; it even remained when he had amnesia

He has a key charm necklace that matches Shinigami’s aesthetic to hold onto some form of remembrance of her, even if he doesn’t remember her

He is canonically a cat lover

Yuma actually believed he was aromantic for the longest time, but once he starts developing relationships with others he decides to consider himself arospec

He has various scars from his time as a survivor of a war, a WDO detective, and being Number One (some on the back and the front torso) and a gun wound from one of his shoulders

He (and Makoto to an extent) are bad at cooking because they were never taught how and never bothered to learn for themselves since they are always on the move and working

Looking for a CG? Great! I’m looking for a little! Keep Reading!

What I’m Looking For:

Body age MUST be 17+ & MUST already have a high school diploma or GED.

MUST be in North America & MUST live in one of these states -> CA, NV, UT, WA, OR, AZ, ID, MT, WY.

MUST be an SFW ONLY little! Meaning ZERO NSFW/K!NK interactions. However, I am poly, and would be open to a consensual partnership as adults if that were a connection between us.

Since I am autistic I have color sensitivities; meaning I enjoy a more neutral/dark aesthetic! Colors/Aesthetics that don’t fit with me are: a bunch of baby/bright pink (some is okay), bold rainbow (pastel rainbow is fine), Bold primarys

Since I am more familiar with the baby/toddler/tot/kiddo ages I’d prefer a little whose regression ranges anywhere from 1-6!

Since I am not familiar with pet regression/dreaming I’m looking for strictly an age regressor/dreamer. I’d like to be able to give my full attention & best care to the one I’m caring for no matter what state of mind they’re in. *THIS ONE* gets pushed a lot - so please ZERO pet regressors/dreamers no matter how often or non often it may be

I absolutely LOVE being outdoors, and am always going on an adventure. I need a little who is physically able (we will be out for a few hours at a time) to keep up on all of our activities! Such as hiking, swimming, bowling, arcades, park outings, children’s museums, & water or amusement parks!

I work 50+ hours a week, and because of this I desperately need a schedule/structure in my life! I’m looking for a little who would also benefit from having a schedule/structure/rules (mutually agreed upon ofc)

Side blog is @asmalldino so you’ll see comments/some replies from there! I am a cg/regressor flip (little age is 2-6) & I’d love to find someone who is also a cg/regressor flip! Taking turns caring for one another would be :D However this one is absolutely NOT a requirement; it’d just be a super plus

About Me:

Name/s (polyonymous): Logan | Zee | Cain | Percy | Drogan | Zym

Location: North America | West Coast

Pronouns: They/Them | Xi(e)/Xi(e)m | He/Him | Any of my Names

Gender: GenderQueer | Agender | FtM | GenderFluid

Age: 27 (Virgo)

Physique: 5’7” | 160lbs | DadBod

Side Info: Vegetarian | Autistic | GAD

CG Aesthetic: SoftBoy | Cottagecore | Hygge | Light Academia | BoHo | Nature Lover

CG NickName: I’m not fond of the typical “daddy/mommy” so I haven’t found a nickname for me yet. I’m hoping my little can help me pick one though!

CG Interests: Dinosaurs | Dragons | Trains | ACNH | Sanrio | Studio Ghibli | Marvel | Disney | Harry Potter | Stranger Things

Favorites:

CG Activities: Swimming | Hiking | Arts & Crafts | Coloring | Sensory Play | Chalk Art | Outdoor Bubbles | Tea Parties

CG Outings: Park or Playground | Children’s Museum | Bowling | Arcade | Amusement or Water Park | Library or Book Store | Pottery Painting | Treat(s) Shopping

CG Down/Pastime: Reading | Watch TV or Movies | Video or Board Games | Soft Music | Naps | Snuggles

CG Movies: Disney/Pixar (all) | Studio Ghibli (all) | Harry Potter (all) | DC/Marvel (all) | Pretty Much ALL Kiddo Movies

CG Shows: The Dragon Prince | Avatar | Blues Clues | Dragon Tales | Arthur | Scooby Doo | Caillou | Blippi | Sesame Street | Bluey | Stranger Things

How To Apply:

Simply send me a DM on here letting me know: Why you would like to have a CG, The benefits you’d gain from having a CG, Why you’d think we would be a good fit, What you’re seeking out of our pairing, and When you’d like to start being cared for

Must Include: Name(s) | Little/Nick Name(s) | Pronouns | Gender | Big & Little Age | General Location | Special Interests | Aesthetic

My interests vary far and wide so please remember this while you’re filling out your application - There are zero wrong answers please be 10000% honest, and let me know all there is to know about you little cutie! :D

Last Updated - Feb. 18th, 2024.

Oh! Now here's someone we haven't seen in a long time...

To those of you who remember what this blog was posting 3 years ago (my god, it's been that long already?), you may remember when we shared a silly little idea for a Dirk/Softboy fusion character named Spruce.

Well, it's actually been so long that his name has since changed to Birch. In any case, I've been sketching out a silly little thing involving him that, if all goes well, I might want to share soon. But just what sort of art piece would necessitate involving a character like Birch? Who is that figure far off in the cornfield? Why is Birch wearing a special flannel shirt? Where did he get that cowboy hat?

All of these questions and more could be answered! Maybe. One day.

... I'm so sleepy.

Your "good boy" art unlocked this memory of an old tumblr post, where OP said they'd tie their hair back before giving their bf a BJ, so one time OP's putting their hair up in a ponytail (just like in general) and immediately their bf gets a boner. I'm now imagining that for Matt and Gil. Matt just Pavlov's dogs the poor man.

SCREAMED LMFAO

this is absolutely real. like, ponytail matt means either getting comfortable and lazy, or it means he’s about to throw mad hands. and both are sexy to gil tbh. softboy bf to cuddle with, vs bf that can throw him? both is good. and god does matt mean business when he’s going down on someone. rogue french tongue and all that. he’s such a giver

i’ll need to tell you guys about my other pavlov headcanons about prucan sometime, they’re so dumb and horny for each other

i don't usually have a lot of feelings about trans hcs (im happy for people who feel seen/validated/empowered/etc. by them, you do you!) and especially about trans man martin because, uh, he's such a softboi that it seemed a little stereotypical? 😅

but recently i saw some art of shirtless trans martin and uh. yeah people on here talk about loving fat hairy tits all the time but i guess it's still an experience seeing some fat hairy tits that look like yours! and someone drew them on purpose! cause they found them aesthetically appealing!

when yall people headcanon adult/teen dipper as like this softboy youre all literally so wrong. adult/teen dipper would not be cute or sweet he would be a nightmare and a menace. he would be a regular on r/askreddit. he would eat 1 (one) edible when he's 16 and then put "stoner" in his social media bios until he's 30 and actually smokes weed and hates it. the only thing stopping him from using 4chan in this day and age is the alt-right pipeline and he regularly converses with incels on reddit "just to understand their viewpoint." he listens exclusively to abba until he's thirteen and discovers radiohead and suddenly he goes down a pipeline and listens to my bloody valentine and the smashing pumpkins and the mountain goats and maybe a little bit of nine inch nails but only year zero and the popular songs because he pretends to be pretentious but in reality he plays the five nights at freddy's song on repeat. adult/teen dipper wears flannel but not in a cute way because he's the kind of person who believes jackets only need to be washed biannually and also horrible graphic tees. you know the ones. mabel got him into homestuck and he only reads it to post horrible theories on reddit like ARE MOM AND BRO THE SAME PERSON???? HERE'S PROOF!!! he watches matpat and thinks it equates to leftist theory. He is not a funko pop collecter i will give him that but he does own like three. he completely unironically plays magic the gathering and yugioh. he shows up to conventions with mabel and she's dressed in incredibly elaborate cosplay. but he is wearing literally nothing but jeans, a hoodie that smells like gender dysphoria incarnate, and a shirt he stole from ford that says "MATHLETES CHAMP '77" because there was literally nothing even remotely clean in his own collection of horrible graphic tees. and they're all posters for horrible sci-fi movies he likes unironically, shirts that say things like "SARCASM IS MY THIRD LANGUAGE (KLINGON IS MY SECOND)" and he legitimately thinks they make him cool and even mabel has no appriciation for them. you people also have the wrong headcanon of adult/teen MABEL. she has seventeen piercings, and horrible tacky tattoos. every time she gets a new boyfriend she gets it tattooed on her arm and never stops doing this so by the time she's 40 her arm looks like RYAN JORDAN MICHAEL JEROME KYLE KARKAT (she dated a homestuck fan she met at a convention and regrets it) and she thinks to herself maybe that was a bad idea. while dipper is pretentious despite having NOTHING to be pretentious about, mabel listens to artists with 3 followers on soundcloud that are just cartoon sound fx remixes and she is in no way pretentious about it because she's also a diehard kesha fan. she probably dresses like a mix between a fairy-kei girl and nicki minaj, but will settle for less when the need for practicality arises. she is an unironic juggalo. she got dipper into homestuck and was an og rosemary shipper despite being straight. she is the camp hetero. she probably pokes holes in literally everything to attach earring backs to them. she does art commisions online of chibi boys because she's desperate for money. she wouldn't make fun of anyone for being into stuff she thinks is mildly lame. but only because she's saving all that rudeness for dipper because they both know he deserves it. but she would punch a neonazi. no hesitation. give the girl some credit. anyway those are my horrible horrible headcanons. and post.

blue eye samurai has taken over my brain. but the good thing is that it has made me want to create! and figure out how to draw mizu bc i love her and im obsessed i've already posted why

where's that tumblr post about the person who is both a twink and a butch lesbian. that's mizu.

they way u can see me get better at drawing her from top to bottom 😭😭

Harry Styles on a date in an art gallery: -  “ Yeah babe, like, I see this painting and I think  you know, my favorite thing about the painting is, like, it feels like a painting, feels like a real, like, you know, go-to-the-art gallery picture painting”

Lol, I wonder if he told Taylor her play “felt like a real, like, go-to-theatre type play”. Although I doubt he’d recognise decent acting if it hit him in the toupee.

lmao exactly

guarantee this man has copied and repeated some random thing he's heard other people say about an artist or exhibit and passed it off as his own insight. all fluffed out with insights he finds really smart like talking about how hard and long it would be to like paint such a big painting, it probably takes long, doesn't it. that probably took him a long time. you can hear that in his voice.

he knows most men don't go to art galleries with girls and girls like it, so at that point he could say anything to them and they're so into him they just think he's a softboy genius.

'dragon's breath' was the fourth fic posted for 'dark star - an izch anthology.' As of writing this post, it is in-progress.

Discussion of dark themes, threatened and feared rape/non-con, mating cycles/in-heat elements and loss of control during sex for magical reasons, human/non-human sexual relationships, and other triggering content below this cut. There will also be spoilers for the fic, if you want to read it for yourself first.

Fic stats:

~49,000 words at time of writing

7 chapters at time of writing

E rated (explicit sexual content, human/non-human sexual relationships, mating cycles/in-heat/sex pollen elements, threats of and attempted rape/non-con, past torture and rape/non-con)

Archive Warnings (AO3): Graphic Depictions of Violence, Rape/Non-Con

Fantasy AU (nominally a rendition of the 'official' fantasy AU for BNHA shown in the popularity polls/anime ending theme)

'dragon's breath' is a long-form fantasy AU multichapter fic, based loosely on the 'official' BNHA fantasy AU which has appeared in popularity polls and one of the ending animations of the show. It concerns Princess Ochako Uraraka, a roughly nineteen-twenty year old woman with minor magical abilities, who is grappling with impending arranged marriage and the period-typical sexism of a vaguely medieval society. She meets Deku, a young, wounded dragon, and it changes the course of her fate. It also has... a bit of an odd history to its writing.

As of me writing this post, it's the only fic in 'dark star' that is ongoing, rather than completed. I began writing it in June of 2022, and I wrote the first five chapters before posting it. However, it actually began life in June of 2021, as an experiment in writing 'darker' and 'grittier' fic. It was originally inspired by a piece of Deku/Shigaraki art, where adventurer!Deku ran into dragon!Shigaraki in a cave, and the latter was quite menacing. I actually attempted to write that fic with that pairing, only to give up on it about four thousand words into things.

Deku/Shigaraki is an interesting ship, incidentally one of my real life partner's favorite BNHA ships. It's not so much that I dislike Deku/Shigaraki, personally. It's a pairing that fandom gets antsy about, as they have an age gap of roughly four-five years. I actually think that's totally fine, given that Deku is going on seventeen in the manga, while Shigaraki is just about to turn twenty-two, I believe. That's the least problematic thing about them, considering their canon context. Most of my issue with Deku/Shigaraki is that while they have a lot of cool subtext and themes surrounding them, their actual personal dynamic in canon is insufferable to me romantically. It's a more appealing idea in AUs, but that in turn shaves off most of their complexity, naturally.

Shigaraki in canon is, unfortunately, an annoying gamer dudebro shut in who yells slurs at teens over voice chat while playing ranked League of Legends matches. No amount of uwu softboi twinkification in fanon will change this reality, and I think it if anything makes him less interesting. But it also makes me very disinterested in shipping him with Deku, a character you have to bend over backwards to give him a personal relationship with. They have a good dynamic as a hero and a villain, but that's about it, really (to me).

So to make a long story short, I wrote about thirty thousand words of dragon Deku and witch Ochako with the same basic premise, instead. The original version actually played out mostly the same as what's now posted, Ochako just wasn't a princess. Instead, she was sort of a local hedge witch/healer/alchemist-type, and she ran into Deku in the cave while searching for ingredients. In this version, Deku was more straightforwardly 'sinister'/off-putting, and after they had their brief tryst in the cave, he flew off. The second chapter, of what was planned as a two-shot, involved him finding her several years later, coming back to apologize to her for treating her disrespectfully when she helped him.

This version in 2021 I clearly wasn't actually ready to write yet. The characterization wasn't consistent, I didn't know how to handle AUs so severely divorced from canon, and I wasn't ready to push dark concepts to the edge. I ended up hard scrapping it, then regretting it later when the Google doc was already gone. Such is life.

In 2022, after I began 'dark star,' I was writing 'fantasies,' and I started daydreaming about the formal fantasy AU that BNHA has. This was originally (to my knowledge) drawn by Hori for a popularity poll, then it was animated for the show for its second season. It's super cute, but of course, this is 'dark star,' so I started imagining this sort of broad feminist dark fantasy centered on Princess Uraraka of the Kingdom of Uravity overcoming her given station in life as the unlucky daughter of minor nobles.

When I was writing 'fantasies,' I had already written the first few chapters of 'dragon's breath.' I was writing a lot at that stage, often doing several WIPs at once, so this was pretty easy to do. That's how the implied framing device of 'dark star' happened, where novelist!Ochako was writing 'dragon's breath' as her in-universe novel. This will appear again down the line, with the broad implication that fantasies!Deku eventually wrote 'BNHA' in-universe as a comic book series, and that Ochako began to incorporate that into her novels as a sort of recursive element.

Now, regarding 'dragon's breath.' Other than that how I got here is very long and meandering, it's just an odd duck of a fic. What inspired me to revisit my abandoned dragon Deku concept was art by Twitter artist 'AroaKeyna' for her 'Dragon!izch' AU. She's a furry artist, and I really like her art. Wanting to do a homage/adaptation of her work, I incorporated the 'Ochako is a princess' angle, and I used her design for dragon!Deku, who in the original had more of an angular appearance to him. Popular izch author 'SevenRenny' (@sevenrenny) is a dear friend of mine, and their furry anthro AUs for izch have been very influential on me as well, so this served as a good gift for them.

Personally, I'm not very interested in furry content in the pure abstract sense. Not so much that I 'dislike' it, it just doesn't make me feel anything special. That is to say, I wouldn't characterize myself as a furry, per se. But furry AUs of izch are something I really like, which I find fascinating. I don't think this is any great, deep revelation about my sexuality or anything - and I have had those through my time in fandom, plenty much so - but it does interest me as a point of introspection.

So while 'dragon's breath' has some furry/anthro elements, I think it's pretty clear that I don't really 'go here,' so to speak. Still! I did my best. It will come up more as the fic goes on. Deku as a dragon is written with ideas about 'domination' and 'inequality' in mind, threading the needle on the feminist fantasy and the themes in canon of 'not all men are created equal.' It's significant that Ochako in this fic is surrounded by awful people who want to use her, and the one person she meets who categorically is meant to dominate her instead bends over backwards to please her. Of course, that's a very obvious notion, but I was very committed to making this idea work, and it will be explored more.

In practice, this means that Deku's magic involves aphrodisiac/sex pollen elements not entirely within his control. This makes having sex with him an inherently dicey prospect for Ochako, as it's sort of by definition consensual non-consent. This evolves over the course of the fic, and their dynamic will mature over time. I also just gave Deku a lot of bizarre, alien biology, like having a self-lubricating, nubbed cock, or the fact that he doesn't have nipples or a belly button, since he was born from an egg. Dragon's in this setting aren't 'evolved' creatures, more like traditional vampires where they are 'designed' a certain way by a higher power, and this element will come back, as well.

That brings me to the other elephant in the room: as of writing this post, 'dragon's breath' is unfinished. Indeed, where the story is at right now, there's no end in immediate sight. I actually wrote out the entire next chapter, and it's been sitting in my Google drive since last July. But it ends on a fairly substantial cliffhanger, and to be blunt... I didn't know what happened next after that.

I actually do know what happens next now. There's some important revelations to discuss regarding the 'true nature' of both Prince Shouto and Barbarian Prince Katsuki. Both of them have very unflattering portrayals in this fic. Bakugou in particular was modeled after a number of 'rape fetish' Ochako/Bakugou fics I was exposed to, where I was riffing off of that idea, but without making it something meant to be seen as 'appealing.' Of course, I think it's fine to write non-consent as a fetish thing, I just think the consistently awful characterization of Bakugou by fandom as this hypermasculine, dominant sex god is aggravating, to be honest.

Still, no point in standing on a soap box about it. The fic speaks for itself on the matter, I think. I broadly know what I want to do now. The next few sequences concern the introduction of some important characters: Chisaki, Dabi, Shigaraki, and Toga, primarily. They also concern some backstory mysteries being solved for the audience, such as what drove All Might's motivations, or the nature of Nana, the Lady of the Lake. I think this fic has at least 8-10 chapters to go, probably around 120k words when it's finished, but we shall see.

This fic is very Ochako-centric, which I think is fine. It's easy to write Ochako-centric izch fics for me, as Deku is my absolute favorite character, possibly of all time, but the series is already about him. Of course, I love Ochako, too, but it just works easily for fic, as she has a lot of space to work with as a character. One common criticism I hear of izch as a ship, which I actually empathize with, is that they aren't interesting in canon because Hori doesn't write enough about Deku's feelings for/about Ochako. I think people are selective with this criticism, as Deku has a lot of problems with his writing in general, yet they conveniently will forgive this with Bakugou or Todoroki, but the point stands, regardless. Consequently, I often receive feedback to the effect of 'I don't really care for izch, but I really enjoyed your fic about them.'

I take this as proof that people don't really dislike Ochako or izch on principle, they dislike Hori's poor planning in canon, and they probably dislike the insufferable cishet male fandom for BNHA that lurks on Twitter and Reddit. Can't really blame them there, even if they sound stupid insisting that their favorite generic anime boy that Hori wrote just as foolishly is somehow exempt from his poor planning. I digress.

I'm proud of how this fic has come out so far, insofar as I consider it a valuable learning experience. I really didn't know much about how to write fantasy before 'dragon's breath,' and I think I learned a lot. There are two more fantasy AUs planned for 'dark star' at the time of writing this post: one is an adaptation/homage to an existing izch fic by another author, and one is a direct AU of another mainstream media property, a sort of setting fusion. They will both riff off of 'dragon's breath' thematically, as 'dark star' has a lot of deliberate intertextuality, but neither will be expressly related as such, and neither will be based on the 'canon fantasy AU' for BNHA.

I think given the chance to do 'dragon's breath' over, I wouldn't have posted it until it was done. I learned valuable lessons about how to write and post ongoing, long-form fics from this experience, too. I hope the rest of 'dark star' won't have this problem, as I no longer plan to post fics for the series that are not already completed. I also plan to do a proper weekly release cadence from now on, rather than every other day or every five days, which I experimented with via other fics.

Still, 'dragon's breath' is a neat little fic. It's implicitly a take on 'Ochako has One for All,' or more accurately that izch share One for All, which is a common idea in izch fandom, but one which I feel the ship fandom often executes poorly. There's so much thematically necessary to touch on with that idea, and so much of izch fandom is consumed by juvenile power fantasies, instead. The curse, such as it were, of being into a ship popular with cishet men. If only that was not the case, we might be free of so much trash harem and 'overpowered Deku' fic that clutters the tag.

I plan to finish writing this fic sometime in 2024, as I meander through my ever-growing list of ideas for 'dark star.' It's the kind of series I can write forever and ever, as it's an anthology, not something that requires heavy linear reader investment. You'll probably enjoy it more if you read it in the order it was written, if only because that's the logical way to read nearly anything, but you don't have to.

I do find it curious that this was the most popular of the original few 'dark star' fics. It makes me wonder what about it is so appealing. Is it that people are craving 'izch fantasy AU?' In the time between when I first wrote it and now there have been several notable, popular izch fantasy AUs, mostly by the always wonderful Rainglows (@leahfrog), which I think you also ought to read. Perhaps people just have a mighty, unfulfilled need for izch fantasy, or perhaps 'dragon's breath' resonated with them specifically. It's hard to say, really; no one talks to me much about the things I write. I wonder sometimes if I am scary!

And don't worry. We'll come back to Rainglows' fantasy AUs for 'dark star,' soon enough.

But if you like BNHA fantasy AUs, I'd love to hear about it! So if you enjoyed 'dragon's breath,' please let me know! Or if you didn't, I don't mind hearing why. I hope you have something intelligent to say, rather than boring pro-/anti- discourse stuff or 'your ship is bad,' though. These fics are for adults, and I expect you to engage with them like adults.

Have a nice day.

I know there's not actually such a thing as "tumblr art style", but by god, does every blog I come across draw in that inoffensively blobby style that immediately makes me think, "They're from Portland."

It's not even a bad style, I've used it before, but it's inappropriate for the character they're trying to portray 99% of the time, and it gives me such fucking whiplash.

uwu softboy Judge Claude Frollo is a punch to the gut.

To be fair, though, I drew an OC who definitely committed war crimes in a flower crown one time, so who am I to judge? Those in glass houses.

Okayyyy here I go😭 THE UNBEARABLE WEIGHT OF MASSIVE TALENT

I have to talk about this movie. Because it is a masterpiece and I am going to rewatch it many times to study the nuances, so *some spoilers*

>>>

Everyone’s been fixated on Pedro Pascal and for good reason. Javi is one of the best written and acted characters I’ve ever seen, and there’s a constant tension because you just want to like him but you’re not sure if you should.

But this is a Bromance. And he’s only half the equation.

Nicholas Cage held nothing back for this movie, and what’s absolutely insane is that this isn’t really him at all.

*glances nervously at the industry before continuing

Nicholas Cage, from everything I can find, is a quirky, average person. He likes action movies. He likes acting. He prioritizes his family, and he likes to read books and sit in chairs with a cat. And that is the basis of his reality. Explosions, popcorn flicks, get paid, relax with the family.

But Nick Cage. Ohhhoho no. Nick Cage is a tormented artist, struggling with the weight of what it means to create fine art in a world that only wants car chases and guns. He cares about meaning and purpose and finding meaning in life. What it is to feel alive, why art even matters…he wants things to move him. And he finds his match in Javi.

AND THIS IS THE UNBELIEVABLE PART OKAY?!? I DO NOT KNOW IF HE EVEN KNEW HE WAS CREATING A SELF AWARE AND BITTERSWEET BROM-COM. I DON’T THINK HE UNDERSTANDS THE SCRIPT AND THE MOVIE BECAUSE THATS NOT ACTUALLY HOW HE THINKS.

So what this means. Is that Nicholas Cage, a basic oblivious white actor with some films on his IMDb, who won’t even watch the movie, has just created a poignant queer lighthearted hopeful tragedy without knowing it.

These people not only got permission to make it, but coached him somehow to deliver very believable performances, and managed to create GAY LA LA LAND, complete with the tragically “happy ending.”

And only some of the people watching will even know what they’re watching. It could be a buddy comedy to them. It could have a happy ending. Good for them, they have girls in their lives. But they’re missing the complete point of the movie.

And what kills me the most is the real villain is the audience. The movie is a baklava of layered subtext, with the “movie” they’re writing often referring to the story they’re in. And both of them want a “beautiful character piece,” but they both realize that the people, the industry…those people wouldn’t watch it. Wouldn’t get it. Wouldn’t support it. They decide with heavy hearts that it should then turn into a “Hollywood blockbuster.”

They want a nuanced gay love story, a drama, a poignant art piece. But the only way it’ll get made is if they cleverly disguise it as a guns and explosions movie. Because that will get people in the theaters. And there’s a devastation, a heartbreaking turn as the story shifts. They know it has to. But they don’t want to point guns at each other. They don’t want cheap explosions and kidnappings. But that is the way it must be.

ALL WHILE NICHOLAS CAGE HAD NO IDEA ABOUT THIS. I really think he mostly did it because of the explosions😭

But I just know that Pedro Pascal understood the assignment. That Javi’s forbidden love wasn’t just about some random girl, it was about his icon. About the person he understood the most. The one who asked to trade shoes with him.

PEDRO PASCAL IS AMAZING IN THIS MOVIE BECAUSE HE KNEW ALL THE ANGLES. JAVI IS A CHARMING BUT THREATENING GUY WHO TURNS OUT TO JUST BE THE GAY SOFTBOY WE ALL THOUGHT HE WAS.

NICHOLAS CAGE IS AMAZING IN THIS MOVIE BECAUSE THE ENTIRE CREW MANAGED TO PULL A HEARTSTOPPINGLY GAY PERFORMANCE OUT OF A STRAIGHT MAN WITHOUT HIM EVEN KNOWING. TURNING HIS MEMED AND CHAOTIC FILMOGRAPHY INTO THE BACKDROP FOR AN ACHING LONELY ARTIST PERSONA WHO WANTED ART AND LOVE AND TO FEEL SOMETHING AGAIN.

Sure, write your Javi x reader fanfics but don’t forget the Nick x Javi ones. Because this is a ship we need to protect. One that who knows how many people secretly fought for. A closeted masterpiece explaining why it can’t fully come out.

It was too short on purpose. It was fleeting and beautiful, and all our beautiful moments were exchanged for dark basements and kidnappings and guns, because that’s what the people crave. Mindless violence. Fast food stories.

SIDE NOTE IT’S ALSO HILARIOUS AND YOU’LL LAUGH SO MUCH LIKE HOWWWW

>>>

There are so many things that I know I’ve missed, and things I want to find once I own it😅

But here are bonus notes:

- the movie The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari is about an evil controlling man who makes an innocent pawn kidnap a girl.

- the movie Paddington 2 is about Paddington Bear being wrongly imprisoned and bringing the best out of his seemingly intimidating cell mates.

Already loads of theories just with that. Go dig up more. Study story and art and write the gayest shit you can. Fight for all the art. Because otherwise it’ll be taped over and replaced with what some grumpy old men with family money want just because they think they own everything. Ehehehe oh crud I’m gonna get cancelled. While I’m at it, yes. The title is a dick joke.