#(Added idea I have that could be going on basically at the same time: reverse mind prison situation where lucanis and spite

[vaguely-concerned]

You know what. I’ve had kind of a weird slightly shitty day so I’m bringing this one back to wear my full self-indulgent tomfoolery on my sleeve out in public and without shame as a treat to myself lol

I keep imagining rye's eyes sliding open during this as he wakes from the sleep that meant to be of the eternal kind, and him gazing up at (magical girl transformation-glowing. In case you were wondering) lucanis and weakly reaching up to touch his face and brush away the tears, going 'I'll know and love you in every world. this is my oath to you. I hold this truth to be holy. even if I slip away from this place my heart will call to yours, we'll find each other again. death is nothing; my soul belongs with you and no force could ever sever that which makes it so. and also I realize that you probably won't care right now but ohhh (ow) this is so *interesting* the theoretical implications here are frankly mind-boggling. maker look at me I'm going to (ow) actually have to write a *paper* like emmrich is always hounding me to do, like a proper watcher. do you promise you’ll still love me when I’m inevitably desperately writing the last of it five minutes before it’s due to be submitted in a crazed stressed-out haze because of who I am as a person’ and lucanis in full scary glowy demon mode softly both laughing and crying and brushing his lips to rye's forehead clammy with death sweat like 'yeah i promise. I’ll make sure you consume something more than chocolate and oversteeped tea while you write it too. you can tell me all about the theoretical implications later' as he keeps holding him. just the two of them nestled so close together. resting their foreheads together and. breathing. and not letting go. don't. don't look at me please don't perceive me in this moment I’m going through some stuff, currently

there's this... idea/concept that keeps swirling around in my head of rook going down lethally injured in combat. and spite and lucanis as one voice going 'no. nope. nah. quite simply nuh-uh' but like on a level that reverberates through the real world and the fade because of their soul Situation, so when they wrap rook up in wings and arms and cradle them against them to just -- hold rook's soul in place in their body until emmrich can arrive with the emergency spirit healing of all time to anchor them safely back in the world of the living without the need for spite life support... it actually somehow works, and they're safe and awake and still breathing against lucanis' chest by the end of it all.

it's definitely a one-time trick lucanis has no fucking clue how he even pulled off afterwards, once the 'I can see the weave of the world' flow state has faded, and no one has any good explanation for how it could even be possible, outside of the fact that no spirit and person have ever been so completely and cleanly unified to one purpose before lol. but with rook still walking about safe and sound and already cracking bad jokes, i don't think anyone would particularly care

[pinazee]

Psy vs. Psy

I genuinely think that if they were going to bring back any psych villian, Lindsay Leikin would pose the biggest threat. She knows Shawn isn’t psychic, she has adequate motivation to target him personally, and has the skills to prove he’s a fraud and do it slyly as she is also highly skilled in deductive reasoning (she did manage to get them to the counterfeiter to begin with so she has legitimate talent). She could even orchestrate it from prison. Maybe her parole was denied again so, like, what else is she going to do? Plus, she’s kind of nuts. Faking being a psychic with the FBI is a whole other level of bold compared to a local precinct, then she met a counterfeiter and was like yes please, more crime, then killed him when he tried to run, slept with Shawn that same night, then tried to take him hostage when she got caught. Its just a shame she wasn’t a bit more charismatic or eccentric. They had her play it as a very normal girl swept into a life of crime because of a guy (probably because she was a “love interest” for Shawn) when the receipts show she was an absolute lunatic (look at her face after they found the guy she killed. This bitch is smiling).

Also, she just kinda gave up when she was caught. I wish she’d have been screaming “he’s a fraud!” as she was taken to the car or even had a heart to heart moment with Lou Diamond Phillips because she did betray him after all. Idk, i just wanted more. (But i think maybe the writers recognized this and thats how we get Declan later??)

Gus is basically siri at this point. Between the archeology, safes, online poker, the law, tennis players, space, comic books, of course pharmaceuticals, and now studies tender from all over the world- its a smaller list of what Gus doesn’t know. Gus clearly likes learning. I’m surprised he never thought of becoming a teacher or college professor, to try to pass that love of learning to the next generation. Though i guess we see he’s not that great with people surprisingly, considering he’s a successful salesman. (OH MY GOD WHAT IF THIS WHOLE TIME GUS ACTUALLY HAD LIVED UP TO HIS POTENTIAL AND BECAME AN INTERNATIONAL SPY. He knows all these things because of his job, psychs only been able to stay open because Gus can fund it from his spy job, joining psych was a good front but he was also lonely from never getting to be himself. I kid, i kid, but its a fun idea for me haha)

No fucking way shawn doesn’t know what a drill is. Henry definitely would have beat that kind of man stuff into him. The military time too. I just felt the need to point this out. its like the show itself is dissing my boy and i have to defend him lol

I love when Gus is proud and smarmy over shawns talent. Look at his face here. My boy about to prove you wrong.

And do you think Shawn is actually afraid of competition or do you think he learned at an early age from his father that he didn’t have value unless he was the best? Huh Henry, huh???(Weekend warriors “you don’t want to be a loser” comes to mind)

Henry trying some reverse psychology here. I can’t tell if its because Henry is actually concerned for Shawns safety like he said he wasn’t in the previous episode, or if he’s still taking it personally that Shawns using the gifts he “gave” him to be psychic. Probably both. We know he was really bothered by his motorcycle accident, so i wonder if he’s been kind of spiraling, and adding up all the crazy situations he’s been in. (Which, i don’t think Shawn tells him about. i think Gus calls him like a weekly report haha) I think the fact that shawns cases are becoming more dangerous he suddenly doesn’t like the idea of him being a detective, well a detective this way at least, because i think in his mind he’d be safer if he was an actual cop where he had a partner with a gun, and back up, and rules, and training. I mean we know he wouldn’t be, (look at what happens to Lassie and Juliet)

I just wanted to gif this because it’s one of my fave jokes in the episode!

Mildred to the rescue! Im not entirely sure how this worked but it did and thats what matters haha

*Appropriate reaction is appropriate*

[aceartistactivist]

Okay here we go!

Things I would have changed/am confused about in tua season 4

- first of all, it needed 10 episodes. Not 6. Don't even need to change the storylines- just flesh it out. Add random filler stuff. Not one of the characters got a real character arc because they didn't have enough screen time to show it!!

- speaking of, Jean and Gene got way too much screen time. Like I don't care about them I want to see the actual main characters

- no mention of Sloane????? Nothing???? What about the other sparrows? Do they exist in this timeline?

- how were they still riding in that van after puking so much in it lol 😭

- wtf is up with the only mention of Ray being a throwaway line that he walked out on Allison??? Seriously wtf??

- also, if Lila's parents are alive and living with her & Diego... Uhhh... are they not gonna address the fact that Five killed her parents in the last timeline? Like with all the scenes they had together I felt like that should have come up... I guess maybe that was something they already got past sometime in the 6 years?

- I'm so confused about Abigail. I'm just so confused. What is up with her

- STILL NO EXPLANATION FOR THE WHOLE ALIEN THING??

- also five's weird arc in s3 where he gets the tattoo? I'm still so confused about that. What was the purpose of the tattoo? Why was that whole thing a thing? I'm just lost 😭 and the "restaurant at the end of the world" scene in s4 was not exactly helpful or forthcoming either

- not a fan of how Ben's original death was just Reginald shooting him. Also the whole "reverse element of the marigold" thing seemed like a random idea turned plot device that just could have been planned/set up better. I also didn't understand the whole Jennifer thing. Why did she have the element thing in her anyway? Why was she in that container? I need explanations please

- IS REGINALD EVIL OR NOT HELP HE KEEPS GOING BACK AND FORTH

- Just so many things that could have been fleshed out

- where did the notebook five found that was "in his own handwriting" even come from? What version of himself figured out the subway system and wrote the cipher?? So many questions

- speaking of, what IS the subway system. Where did it come from. Why- just- why. I'm so confused about how it even affects the plot at all (except for the very end with the kids & family members)

- five and lila were supposedly lost in time for 6 years but they didn't change at all?? I get that actors are not going to be able to visibly age 6 years in a week but really, they couldn't have tried to make it look more believable? Changed their hair, added makeup and stuff? And then when they got back and they looked exactly the same as when they'd left and certainly didn't act like they'd spent 6 years lost in time? Like you'd think something like that would be extremely noticeable lol... I was expecting the others to be like oh my god what happened to you? And then it was just on we go business as usual. Like they could have done a lot more to make that feel realistic/believable I think

- oh, the ending... I get it, but I also think they should have gotten the lives they have "in most timelines" in the commission handbook thing, iykyk (basically if they'd all just grown up normally without the umbrella academy or anything)

- but... If Lila's family and Claire were taken to a restored timeline where the 43 children & umbrella academy never existed, wouldn't that create the same paradox that was the EXACT SAME THING that was the whole premise of season 3?? Remember the kugelblitz??? By YOUR OWN universe rules, sending those people to the restored timeline where they never existed created a kugelblitz that destroyed the real timeline and the universe for good. Congratulations.

- I was also hoping for an explanation of why their powers were slightly different but I guess it's just a plot device that doesn't really matter

- all in all, honestly, I really liked it! And I'm sad that pretty much the majority of the fandom doesn't. It could have been a lot better just by fleshing it out and giving the characters enough screentime for actual character arcs but. You know what. It's good enough for me. I'm satisfied

[golby-moon]

someone made the mistake of saying that the @destiel-shit-post-mini-bang Christmas edition needed cringe art and that's what I do best (in a sense) and somehow this led to Dean and Cas as gingerbread men going gingerbread house hunting and naturally I dumped this idea on someone in the reverse bang. you know, like you do

I lowkey forgot this was supposed to be a banner (probably since it's not a table as all my other banners seem to be thdnfjdj) and so it's suspiciously art piece-y. some things: 1 this is probably the only time I'll ever use the sprinkles brush on my drawing app, 2 those red things are supposed to be red hots (cinnamon candies) and were originally going to make up the entire fire before they became the coals instead because they didn't look anything like a fire, 3 I couldn't make the licorice stockings all the same size so let's pretend the massive one is Sam's, and 4 I made the mouse way too ghsnduf to be the sorta bad guy of the fic (since it eats Dean and Cas' house lol) idk it's just too baby ,_,. also I imagine the tree as being made of something gummy hence the pulling sorta bite marks in it

behold the original art piece I bestowed upon the claims gallery, featuring Dean and Cas house hunting and idk Becky is the real estate agent for some reason. I don't think there was any actual logic behind that one chat. but it was fun designing gingerbread versions of the characters and giving them a few defining features like hair and basic clothing outlines. the cookie color is based on hair color btw in case that wasn't obvious

I had way too much fun designing the candies (lollipop flowers my beloved) thrown all over the landscape and adding random details like this abominable cinnamon stick for sale sign, featuring one of Becky's...interesting usernames (it says 'contact samlecker81 for details' since I didn't wanna write a phone number). this was more relevant in my head since I had a thought of Becky maybe trying to sell Dean and Cas a house near her so that she could see more of Sam but that idea got scrapped and I like what the author did with the story way better

as a bonus I made a little divider and this is unironically the best thing I've made in months. I have peaked guys it's over for me

the fic this is made for is called "Christmas in Candyland" by @qu33rbait for the destiel shitpost reverse bang (Christmas flavored)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/61973851?view_adult=true

(01/15/25)

[kissentz]

I know you said there are paragraphs of context, but I would love to read those paragraphs of context 🙏 what is going on in your art?! I would love to know 💕 no pressure, and I don't mind at all if you answer in Russian if it would be easier for you

OKAAAAY, let's start by saying that this whole thing is called “dark au” (formerly reverse au) and this whole alternate universe was created by @auntielurry. i added my ideas to this au along with her when we decided to include kuniko kasahara, larry franklin and hoyle. i want to say right off the bat that the point of this au is brutality. if you don't like reading about suicide, drugs, murder, prostitution and moral suffering, then don't read any further.

first we should talk about what @auntielurry came up with regarding the enforcers, because that's where it all started. in a nutshell, finn is an alcoholic, chow is a drug addict, valmont is going crazy because of chow's drug use, and ratso is pretty much the same, but more serious + a nicotine addict. everything eventually came to the point that among finn, chow, valmont and ratso only the last one survived. finn died in ratso's arms during the ambush, chow died of an overdose, and valmont was pushed off the roof. the death of the enforcers and especially finn's death had a huge impact on ratso and he changed completely. it could even be said that he is a different person now.

now let's talk about kuniko, larry, and hoyle. it turned out that hoyle and kasahara went to the same prison, where they became very close and very in love with each other. they even planned that when they got out of prison, they would start living together. but things didn't go according to plan, because hoyle was killed in jail. just like ratso, the death of his lover broke kuniko terribly, because no one had ever loved him as much as hoyle. when kuniko got out of prison, he met lar after a while. lar was a pimp and a drug addict. lar happened to need a hitman to kill debtors or other inconvenient people for him. and kasahara (given his skills) fit in that kind of job perfectly. so he started working for lar. over time, they became so close that they started having sex. everything was basically fine... until this moment happened. what's the dilemma? lar, although he'd interacted with a lot of people, seemed to have no real value to anyone, and he felt it. when kasahara showed up, he finally felt like someone cared about him and fell in love with him. but kuniko... he didn't feel the same way at all. lar just reminded him a lot of a hoyle, both in appearance and behavior, plus he needed the money to survive. kasahara was basically just using him. at this point, kasahara gave in for the first time and tried the drugs that lar had offered him frequently. it was a huge mistake, because almost immediately kasahara showed his true attitude towards him. lar realized everything, and they had a huge fight. lar was so disappointed, because all this time he had hoped that kuniko needed him just because he was him and not someone else. during the fight, kasahara said things to lar that caused him to have a panic attack, and eventually happened... this. the tragedy is that kuniko came to apologize sincerely at that very moment, but as soon as he reached the door and grabbed the handle, a gunshot rang out. kasahara didn't even get a chance to go over and look at him because someone immediately called the police and he had to run so they wouldn't put a blunt on him.

ratso and kasahara met when the second tried to commit suicide. ratso saved him and they became close. they actually had a lot in common, they had both lost friends, lost loved ones and were all alone. eventually they both agreed not to kill anyone else and to lay low completely. they roughly became each other's support and eventually it turned into a romantic relationship. i mean this relationship is probably not healthy, but since it's dark au that's fine)0)00.

that's pretty much it! if there are any more questions, ask @auntielurry or me :3 (better her, because she understands the ins and outs of the au and she's the creator)

[mecachrome]

rewatching gtg as one does when they miss oscar nerding out but i was just thinking about how the format is so bland and they've been doing the same challenges over and over so my question is. if you could come up with a gtg challenge / change the format any way you wanted what would you propose?

HI anon i love this question because i too complain frequently about the redundancy of the gtg format!!! tbf it's fairly easy to film so i can't knock it too much but in a hypothetical fantasy world where we are blessed with unlimited resources and time and the drivers can be put in a room all together then there are several things i'd like to see:

really the problem is that there's no SPECTACLE!!! also part of the problem is simply the editing i think... like if you watch k-variety then you'll see that editing contributes a lot to the watchability regardless of what they're doing lol, but gtg editing is pretty minimal which is understandable but does make it a bit more boring. tbh for giffing purposes i prefer minimal editing but just as an entertainment product it could use more... also the videos need to be like 40+ minutes long i hate how much they cut out from my favs!!!! from a "i want to see oscar" perspective i need them to stop removing half of his answers 🙏

related to point 1, what helps in adding spectacle is raising the STAKES. there are no stakes other than the trophy... this is what happens when you have a simple linear round format. again this is because gtg is filmed in one go and then the points at tallied up and they release the episodes over the course of the season, but in a hypothetical world i wish there were like, a proper tournament!!!! we need gtg PLAYOFF BRACKETS. we need TEAMUPS. like either by team (mclaren vs red bull) or by prowess (for ex if it's a geography game then max and lando team up vs 2 guys who are kind of just in the middle)... tbf with a competition style you remove the ability from some guys to get an answer in which can be disappointing if you're half watching to just Look At Your Guy, but it would imo make it more fun.

i think another problem with gtg is the type of questions they ask sometimes? which i understand because there's only so much you can think of, but part of i think is that they ask kind of basic things that fans have a similar baseline knowledge of (which is still interesting but there's room for more i think!!). like the "drivers being able to identify the track by sound" party trick is something very few fans can do, so that would be fun incorporated into gtg. stuff that's like very much f1-driver-specific trivia that they're more adept at... and then on the reverse side, maybe some stuff that drivers WOULDN'T be expected to be good at that fans would know so there's a balance. or idk maybe they need to do a jeopardy trivia game with varying levels of difficulty

anyway f1 should also do more proper variety to make up for mclaren giving up on 8+ minute challenge videos... so not gtg but i desperately want them to set up like a proper gaming tournament / padel tournament etc. that they film officially and turn into a gtg-style multi-episode Thing !!!!!!!

do you have any other ideas... i'd love to hear

[darkpoisonouslove]

I already mentioned that the final iteration of my latest video is actually version 3.8. Here's the (unfinished, raw and not-colored) ending of the original version inspired by this post, followed by trivia on the final version:

The idea was that Griffin knew the Trix were descendants of the Ancestral Witches and for some reason they were the only ones who could free Valtor. Once they stopped listening to her, she did everything she could to steer events in such a way that they would end up in Omega and free Valtor. However, the Trix, sensing that there's something Valtor is hiding from them, spy on his conversation with Griffin and attempt to gain control of him the same way that their ancestors were pulling his strings. Griffin ends up imprisoning them before they can despite Valtor's refusal to believe that they could pull it off since they're clearly unaware of who he is and what that entails for the power balance between them.

The reasons why I ultimately gave up on this were because a) it was overly convoluted and hard to convey, b) it actually doesn't make sense when you start examining the events and character motivations and c) it moves the focus away from the emotional mess between Griffin and Valtor. I am instead filing this idea away for potential future projects.

Version 2.0 was just an oversight on my end. I somehow forgot that in this AU Griffin only "betrayed" Valtor because the Ancestral Witches threatened her with harm coming to him. I had built this emotional arc about him refusing to trust her after her betrayal which just... doesn't make sense considering the reason why she left.

Thankfully, I did write notes on the story arc I had in mind and reading through them once I'd taken a step away from the project and my brain wasn't running in circles helped me notice my mistake. Which is how the latest direction for the storyline emerged from the clusterfuck of thoughts I had on this. After that I had to tweak certain moments here and there to make the story more coherent.

Now I'll share some thoughts and insights about the final video, this time using gifs instead of stills.

I decided that Griffin can see in Omega, yeah. She can take a page out of Faragonda's book and place a tracking spell on the Trix right before they were taken to Omega so she can see what they're up to in there. I originally hadn't thought of adding the effect to make it look as if the viewers are also looking through her seeing orb but then the revelation hit and here we are.

Idk, I just like how this works considering that it's just the same footage only played in reverse to make it look like she disappears and then reappears in a very quick succession. I used that trick towards the end of the video again when Valtor loses control of himself and starts slipping into his demon form.

I really have no idea what she expected. He has remained with the impression that she betrayed him and, furthermore, she wasn't the one to free him. She just chilled for 17 years while he was literally chilled in Omega. The fact is that she couldn't really free him because the Ancestral Witches took precautions when they forced her to leave by making sure that he will be as trapped as them if she tries something but the Trix being their descendants was enough to free him. However, she's not using her words (for concerns that end up being substantial and completely founded later on) so this was only ever going to go one way.

Sneak Faragonda attack! He did not expect her and Griffin didn't call her either. This part I feel doesn't come through clearly in the video (mainly because I still had no idea what I was doing here and then I had already blocked everything and I couldn't really change it). Valtor basically caught Griffin off guard but Faragonda showed up, having her back as always. Griffin's friendship with the Company was real but she was also very much using their resources to look for a way to free Valtor from the Ancestral Witches. Frankly, she hasn't figured out how she's supposed to balance her relationship with Valtor and her friendship with Faragonda and Saladin yet but she can do it! She will do it! Even Valtor won't manage to fuck this up for her, you'll see!

I am proud of managing this effect, simply. It's been a while since then (this really took forever to make) but I'm sure I tried at least 5 different things here and, believe it or not, this was actually kind of an accident. A lucky one, for certain! Also, Griffin finally figured out she might need to actually clue him in on the truth behind her actions.

Possibly my most favorite moment of the video? Top 3 at least! I would have loved to see some kind of interaction between Griffin and the Ancestral Witches (which is highly unrealistic but they also had the perfect chance for it in Magical Adventure since light magic was extinct and she's a witch, who used to be part of the Company? She should have been there along with Saladin and Hagen at least). Also, I colored the part where Belladonna threatens Valtor separately once before then coloring it along with the rest of the video in order to convey that it's a vision that they showed Griffin. Love the way he reacts to it as well!

He instantly decided that he now has to go and imprison her because she knows his weakness and is too dangerous to be left to her own devices. He's equally repulsed and tempted by the idea that she knows about his demon form. If she can accept him like that and still love him, well... Then he'd have no reason to doubt her ever again. But it's also humiliating that someone else would know about his... situation.

This time she takes a page out of Valtor's book and does his walking-through-walls trick. He really didn't expect that but he has to update his idea of her abilities. It has been 17 years, after all (not to mention that he's on her terf). I just love how he traps her and she escapes right under his nose only to proceed to attack him. She's sick of his bullshit.

My initial vision for this was different as I was considering showing Griffin falling (using the footage from 1x19 where she jumps off a ledge (completely needlessly, might I add) to save her students) but that wasn't going to work so eventually I settled on this. It works super well as a Valtor PoV sequence since he wouldn't see exactly what she's doing and I am quite proud of it!

Griffin is well and truly done with his shit here. She didn't go through all the trouble that dealing with his outbursts is only for him to not believe her feelings just because of his own hang-ups (about his demon form) rather than for any rational reason (she admits she's given him justification to doubt her). And she holds her ground when she catches a glimpse of his demon form, which she hadn't seen until now, but she is done trying to convince him if he will undermine them both on every step of the way.

This doesn't need much elaboration per se. Admittedly, he seems to be having mood swings in this part of the video but the truth is that he's decided to take her at her word that she wants to be with him again. If she steers off path once more, he has all the tools in his disposal to course-correct her. It'd be a waste to ignore how powerful she's grown, not to mention that she truly didn't bat an eye at the sight of his demon form. He's eager to explore the opportunities this situation has to offer so he admits he's willing to believe her if she's willing to prove her words by quitting her (completely deserved) attacks on him. (Who started this, Valtor???)

[fluentmoviequoter]

Beg You to Stay, Push Me Away (Part 2)

Summary: Years after your falling out in high school, you find yourself thinking about Dalton. Then the roles are reversed, and Dalton finds himself begging you to stay.

Part 1 Here!

Warnings: angst to fluff, hurt/comfort, spoilers for The Red Door (2023), I changed the frat party scene to fit this. 1.7k+ words.

“Who is that?” your roommate asks, pointing to a picture on your desk. “He’s kind of cute. In a high school, nerdy way.”

You follow her finger, spotting the picture of you and Dalton from the last summer you were friends. Nodding to yourself, you wonder who packed it and put it there, considering you put it in storage after the last time you spoke.

“That was high school. He was my best friend,” you answer.

“Was? Sounds like a dramatic ending. Tell me all about it.” She pulls her legs onto her bed and gets comfortable, prepared for the story.

“I mean, it was dramatic, but,” you shrug as you finish, “what high school falling out isn’t?”

She rolls her eyes and gestures for you to keep going.

“Basically, we had been saying for years that we wanted to go to the same college. Then one day in senior year, we had to do one of those ‘where do you want to go to college’ writing prompts and he seemed to have forgotten all of that. I probably made it a bigger deal than I should have, but the day ended in a yelling match by our lockers, and we never talked again. Over a decade of friendship ended because he wanted to go his own way, with no regard where that left me.”

“That’s rough. So, why keep the picture?”

“See, that’s the thing, I didn’t. I put it away; I didn’t pack it.”

“Seems like your family knows something you don’t.”

Your roommate smiles and begins to say something else, but her phone beeps and distracts her. She taps the screen and then quickly types something. When she looks back to you, she has a much different grin.

“What?” you nearly groan, already familiar with her myriad of facial expressions. This one means she has a “great idea,” which you probably won’t like.

“We’re going to a frat party,” she answers, standing and walking to your closet.

“Where?”

“JPU.”

“Okay. Why?”

“My friend Chris invited us. She’s taking her roommate, and I think you could handle a night out.”

She tosses an outfit onto your bed, gives you a serious look, then moves to her closet.

“You’re lucky I like you,” you tease as you stand to change.

“You love me, don’t kid yourself.”

As you get ready, your roommate distracts you by helping you with your outfit and hair, but your eyes keep straying to the picture of you and Dalton. Cheek-to-cheek, huge smiles on your face; it feels like yesterday and an eternity ago at the same time. If you were honest with yourself, you’d say you miss him, but it hurts too much, so you convince yourself that you’re still mad at him.

When your roommate deems both of you “hot and ready,” and laughs at your comment about sounding like fried chicken, she leads you to her car. As the campus fades in the rearview, you wonder what school you would be at if you’d followed Dalton or if he’d come with you. You found a college with a program that matched your interests and, as an added perk, is a several-day drive from your hometown. Dalton should be the furthest thing on your mind; he surely wasn’t thinking of you. Rolling your shoulders, you give yourself a silent pep talk, deciding to stay just as far away as Dalton had pushed you.

“Chris told me to park in their dorm lot and walk, is that okay?” your roommate asks as she turns into the back entrance of the campus.

“Sure,” you answer. “How do you know Chris?”

“Next door neighbors since we were born. I love her like a sister.”

She finds an empty spot, and you both begin walking toward frat row, following the directions in Chris’s text. The music is audible before the house is visible, and you feel Dalton slip a little further from your mind. As you walk through the door, someone squeals and then nearly tackles your roommate in a hug.

“Hi, I’m Chris. So glad you guys could come,” Chris says, pulling you into a hug.

You return the hug and introduce yourself before following them into the kitchen. Chris begins talking about something that happened when they were kids, so you excuse yourself to look around. You end up by the stairs and decide to go up and get away from the crowd for a minute.

“Whoa! You’re too pretty to go to school here,” a guy says as he staggers past you on the stairs.

When you reach the landing, you turn right and run into someone, grabbing their biceps to right both of you.

“I’m sorry,” you say at the same time.

As you look up, your eyes widen, and your breath catches.

“Dalton?” you whisper.

“Excuse me, I need to get out of here,” he says, the second part more to himself.

He takes a step to go around you and stumbles. You catch his arms again, ignoring the feeling of his hand wrapping around your wrist.

“Let me help, Dalton. Where are you going?”

He mumbles his dorm building and number, allowing you to slip an arm around his waist and support him. When you reach the bottom of the stairs, you ask him to stop and text your roommate that you’re helping someone and will meet at the car later. She sends a thumbs up in response, so you push Dalton’s chest up and encourage him to keep moving. He mumbles to himself during the walk, but you only catch words here and there. You had finally been able to get him off your mind, and then he literally stumbled back into your life.

“Dalton, which floor?” you ask at the bottom of the stairs.

His head lulls over onto your shoulder, and he whispers an answer before saying, “Close the door.”

You look behind you and ensure the door is closed before going up the stairs. It’s slow going, but you finally reach Dalton’s dorm room, and would be surprised that it’s unlocked if you didn’t know him so well. You lead him to his bed, helping him sit down. Dalton stops mumbling, and his coordination is returning. While he stares at the floor, his eyes visibly clearing as if he’s waking up, you take the time to look at the drawings on his wall.

“I see you got into art school,” you say to yourself.

One picture catches your eye. There’s a picture of you, only it looks older than the others. Your leg brushes Dalton as you lean in to get a closer look. Dalton shifts beside you, but your attention is glued to the detail he includes in his works.

Dalton whispers your name, and when you look at him, he asks, “Are you really here?”

You nod and step back, suddenly aware that you’re touching him. His arm raises, and he grasps your wrist, eyes wide as you move.

“Please don’t leave me. If you’re really here, please don’t leave me,” Dalton begs.

You freeze, unsure what to do. Realizing that the roles have been reversed, you decide not to push Dalton away like he did to you. Dalton was your friend for a long time, and you know that this distress he is showing is genuine, and you hope you remember how to help him. Stepping closer, you twist your hand to hold his as you push his hair out of his face. You’re standing between his legs, and he looks up at you, eyes glassy and brows furrowed.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, I never should have treated you like that. You were right, I should have remembered,” Dalton apologizes repeatedly.

“Dalton,” you say, drawing his attention. “You broke my heart. And it wasn’t just that day; after your coma, it seemed impossible to get through to you. Every time I tried to talk to you it felt like I was walking through a minefield, and I didn’t want to ruin what we had by stepping on the wrong one.”

“Then I ruined it,” he says.

You nod, but your hands remain on him.

“I’m sorry.” You shake your head, but his fingers gently squeeze your hand as he adds, “Don’t tell me not to apologize, please, I don’t deserve that. I can’t tell you how sorry I am. If you’re willing to listen, I can explain everything – almost everything – that happened. And I know a second chance is the last thing I-“

You gently shush him before asking, “What happened?”

“It wasn’t a coma,” Dalton begins before telling you everything he knows about his ability to astral project, the Further, and the door that must be closed.

Processing his words, everything he just told you, you remain silent. You step back, and Dalton’s face falls until you sit beside him.

 “That makes sense,” you state.

“Really?”

“Don’t forget how well I know you - or knew you.”

“You still do.”

“Congratulations on getting into art school; these are amazing.”

Dalton looks past you and then meets your eyes. “The one at the end? I drew that the day of our fight.”

“Dalton.”

“You were right. You didn’t deserve to be pushed away, and I will never forgive myself for breaking your heart. But since the moment you begged me to stay, my heart has been yours,” Dalton says, leaning closer to you.

Taking a deep breath, you blink and feel a tear run down your cheek. Dalton raises his hand and wipes the tear. His hand rests on your cheek as you look into his eyes.

“Maybe you didn’t break my heart. Maybe you had mine like I had yours,” you suggest quietly.

Dalton smiles, and you lean against his hand.

“But I need you to do something before we start this again.”

Dalton nods quickly, willing to do anything and everything for another chance with you. He’ll beg you to stay for the rest of his life if that’s what it takes.

“Forgive yourself,” you say. “Because I already did. And I can’t let the man I love carry around that kind of guilt.”

Smiling at each other, Dalton decides to beg one more time tonight for a kiss from the one that nearly got away.

[television-overload]

Final thoughts on X-Files: Perihelion: [potential spoilers below, I'll try to keep it minimal]

(analysis below the cut)

The first half. I wasn't the biggest fan. I liked a few Mulder/Scully moments, of course, it was interesting to see what they were up to. But it all felt a little watered down. Like corporate fanfiction, a little colder and sanitized, emotionally. I think it comes down to having not enough time or space to properly flesh out the characters, and ultimately relies on the reader's preexisting understanding of specific details from seasons 1-11, as well as who these characters are, both individually and together. Having them basically planning to coparent and be roommates? That was a bit of a stretch. Suspension of disbelief getting tested pretty hard.

The side characters. I get it, they had to be introduced and given their time, but I found it difficult to get through. I don't know if it was too much time spent on them, too much detail, or what, but I found myself skimming through their bits at a certain point. Something just felt off there. There was a whole storyline that ultimately ended up being a red herring, and I sort of see it's purpose, but also I think it could have been cut back. It continued Chris Carter's weird pregnancy/violence pattern though, so make of that what you will. I just think it was a bit excessive. The first 2 incidents would have been enough.

Skinner. This is one area I think we didn't explore enough. More on that later.

Also, in my head, Scully moves back into the Unremarkable House, I'm rejecting this reality, even if it does make logistical sense to live in D.C. since... you know... that's where they work. But I have grown immensely attached to that house, so I will keep being unrealistic in my own personal headcanon.

The second half, once the mess of different perspectives and plot lines starts to converge, it got easier for me to read. As much as I hate CSM, his brief appearance drew me in, and I think they did that in a creative way. But that also wasn't explored nearly enough. Same with Mulder's dreams, and everything Vane (smoke guy) told Scully. Again, more on that later.

Another thing I expected to see come back: That slimy company Mulder got offered a job at. I guess it was just to demonstrate his unwillingness to compromise his character in the name of providing for his family, which I guess is fair.

Another warning for [spoilers] here, because I need to talk about this too:

I just didn't vibe with the overarching story of people developing superpowers and mutations from alien DNA and viruses. Much less it happening to Scully. Wait yeah, hold on. I'm adding that to the pile of things to talk about at the end. I just found it weird, which yeah, this is the show where vampires are pizza delivery men and a dude can squeeze through pipes in your building, but this for some reason was pushing too far, to me. It was hard to tell what we were supposed to make of these mutated people. I think what it comes down to is the sheer volume of loose ends, which is what I'm working toward here. Maybe it would be better if it were a less visible mutation. I get what they were going for, with the mutations getting out of hand, especially in a world that barely blinks when UFO's are confirmed to be real. But part of the allure of X-Files was them being the sole witnesses to a lot of this stuff. They were the only ones in the know with the willingness to fight back. I liked the idea of using gene editing to develop a virus that could reverse the damage, but again, I'd have liked it better if the mutations weren't so X-Men/Marvel Inhumans. It for some reason made me cringe 😂

Before we get to the loose ends and my thoughts on the final few chapters, I just wanna have a chuckle at the other cringe moments for me. Maybe it's just me being unused to reading things set in the modern day, but there were SO. many. pop culture references haha. It was maybe excessive, but correct me if I'm wrong. Mulder's new informant, especially, felt to me like a self-insert character in a teenager's first ever fanfiction 😅. I hate to say it, but that's how it came across. So much detail that read as "She's not like other girls/informants 😎." And then noting that Mulder actually kind of liked her 😂 it's giving 2014 One Direction Y/N fanfiction. Then there's all the nicknames for shadowy Syndicate stuff. I think the only way the original show got away with goofball stuff like "Cancer Man" and "Cigarette Smoking Man" was because it was established in a way that made you really fear the character, and that's a testament to William B. Davis' performance, too. Trying to repeat something like that that shouldn't have worked in the first place is tough. Feels like a bit of a reach. "The Inheritors," "The Executive," and also Scully and her friend coming up with code names for suspects or projects. Ehhhhh, just didn't come across naturally to me. It's hard to describe, but I've been thinking about this kind of thing in regard to fanfiction lately. How sometimes a determination to emulate the source material through callbacks or overly specific references can take me out of it, remind me I'm reading a derivative work instead of something that builds on it. These thoughts are only half baked in my own head, so I won't try to elaborate on them here.

Okay, now loose ends. There are. A lot... So much so, that they HAVE to be planning a second book. Or something, right? (🤡🤡🤡 season 12 where they get some basic, less interesting exposition out of the way via book release and then pick up there???)

In no particular order:

Scully's electrical super powers

Telling Mulder William might still be alive

Telling Mulder that William is possibly actually his son

Telling Mulder that this new baby is probably also his child and wasn't a science baby

TELLING MULDER SHE MIGHT MAYBE BE SORTA IMMORTAL KINDA?? TELOMERES???

Whatever the heck is going on with Skinner. Ya can't just leave him in a coma forever.

Alien DNA virus spreading throughout the earth / coming up with a reversal to get things back to normal (Skinner and Scully included, they haven't even really mentioned that)

Dr. Jones (Scully's friend) agreeing to help them save the world, at great personal risk to herself

That one lady can channel the dead. Yeah, I feel like we should dwell on that a little longer. Neither of them really fully accepted that was what had happened

Robin Vane and aforementioned lady relocating their little retreat full of mutants, under increased supervision by the Inheritors

Yeah. The Inheritors. No way they just leave that how it is. And Vane killed that guy and said "The Syndicate sends its regards" when here he's been taking out lingering members of the syndicate for years. What's up with that?

WILLIAM. I will say it again. WILLIAM.

So yeah, as you can see, this is clearly half of a whole story. I'll be intrigued to see if they continue this. I did like the second half a lot better than the first. Mulder and Scully looking forward to parenthood was cute, especially when they finally started talking things over. Talking about William. Acknowledging the loss they had suffered. Finding out the sex of their baby 🥹

I've read fanfictions that had Mulder and Scully feeling more in character than they did here, but it wasn't by any means *bad*. Again, might be a limitation of the medium, here. This isn't an MSR fanfic, it's a real book. There has to be a story and other elements than the two people we all came here for. It was still a worthwhile read, I think. If only to see what future Chris Carter has approved for his characters, and written by a genuine OG fan and member of this community of fans. How crazy is it to write a book and get emails from the creator of this series after having spent so much time in the 90s writing fanfiction for it?? I'm sure it was a dream come true for the author. I'd say it's what every fanfic author dreams of, but I think for some of us, it would be mortifying 😂 (though I've often thought it would be fun to be a writer on NCIS, because that show's writer room needs some help these days. I CAN FIX IT, CBS, CALL ME) ((I have no television writing experience))

I've gone on long enough. There's probably more I forgot to mention, but these are my thoughts, while it's fresh in my mind.

Now back to my regularly scheduled fanfic programming 🏃‍♀️‍➡️

[hareofhrair]

I really like your classpect system, do you think you could explain it a bit more? Like, how does the abstraction system work, and what’re the opposites of the other aspects like kettle? (Also, I’m curious as to how a Kettle of the Devil works)

Thank you so much!! I Would LOVE to talk about the No Dignity Classpect basically anytime lmao.

So the thing about No Dignity is it is %500 percent about personal interpretation. It's essentially a big running joke about the nature of classpecting in general? My personal view on canon classpect is very much influenced by the sort of universal symbolic nature of the archetypes involved? Like what's a "knight" in the canon of western storytelling? What does the concept of "time" symbolize?

No Dignity takes that idea to extremes- what your No Dignity classpect does and how it works comes down almost entirely to how you expect it to work, what things you personally associate with those symbols. Meaning, two people could have exactly the same classpect and it might work completely differently for both of them.

This brings us to the concepts of Aphortheosis and Abstraction.

"Aphortheosis" (aphorism + apotheosis) is the measure of how closely a title adheres to a known aphorism, something which has a broad, well known interpretation. "Can of worms" for example is a well understood aphorism, so a lot of people are going to interpret it a similar way, and it's going to apply broadly to a lot of things. Therefore it conveys broad, versatile power.

"Abstraction" is a measure of how far a title moves away from a known aphorism. There are twelve "recognized" aphorisms (but more are being discovered all the time, I've already added a bunch to some of those graphics I made lmao) so abstraction is calculated based on the "official" recording of those recognized aphorisms. So a Cup of Tea is not abstracted, abstraction score of 0. Cup of Roses is one time abstracted, Cup of Laughs is three times abstracted, ect. The more abstracted a title becomes, the more opaque the interpretation of the aphorism becomes, the more influenced by the player's personalized interpretation. The result is a reduction in broad, versatile power, but a concentration of power in whatever the specific Domain of the title is- Domain being whatever the title has power over. Therefore, a Cup of Tea would have influence over a wide domain of anything related to comfort, gossip, preferences, interests ect. They wouldn't be wildly powerful at anything in particular, but they could do a wide variety of things. A Cup of Ass on the other hand, would be able to do like, one thing, but they would be hugely powerful at that one thing (as a, uh, conveyor of fertility I'll leave it up to the imagination what that one thing would be...)

Additionally, the traditional "classes" can be used as "aspects" and vice versa, at the cost of an exponential abstraction multiplier. So an Ass of Dumb is 2x abstracted. An Ass of Kettle is 4x, Ass of Dog is 8x, ect ect. Meaning an Ass of Cup is 4,906x abstracted. Not sure where I got 112 in the original graphic... What this means in practice is that these highly abstracted titles would be almost powerless except in an incredibly specific circumstance, in which case their power would be practically unlimited. For an Ass of Cup that circumstance might be.... destroying someone else's victory? Going on a quest to seduce someone?

The opposite of Kettle might be Silence? Oh unless you meant the reversed associations, I do have a thing for that. Un-inverted associations included for clarity.

Keep in mind these associations are extremely malleable! These are basically just *my* associations with these words.

The biggest thing to remember is that you can't really define the class and aspect separately! You can't really say "well the aspect of Worms is associated with decay so they can all rot things, and Can class is associated with preserving things so they can all make, like, forcefields around stuff..." You have to treat the title as a whole thing. A Dog of War is not a Dog Class imposed on a War Aspect, it is a Dog of War, it's own whole thing. The way a class or aspect manifests and what domain and powers it conveys is strongly dependent on its relationship with the other half of the title. For example, a Dog of War has domain over soldiers, military action, state sanctioned violence, looting, the abandonment of polite society. They might have powers relating to removing the inhibitions of other towards violence, or steering the movement of armies and mobs. A Dog of God on the other hand, implies worship and intense loyalty. They might have powers related to self sacrifice or doing great violence in the name of whatever they're devoted to.

A Kettle of the Devil is a very interesting title! If I imagine the metaphorical meaning of the Devil's Kettle, I'm put in mind not of a tea kettle, or the large pots for cooking fish referred to by the original aphorism, but of the practice of "kettling," the police tactic of forming up around large crowds and then advance, forcing them into a smaller area where they can be contained and arrested, bottled up like steam in a kettle. The Devil's Kettle conjures an image of surrounding and trapping a large group of people in a particularly hellish situation, like preventing them from fleeing a burning building. So a Kettle of the Devil might have powers related to trapping and driving people into something horrible. You could interpret that literally (makes a slowly shrinking forcefield that pushes enemies into a fire) or metaphorically (knows exactly what buttons to press to make someone feel trapped and as though they have no choice but to do something they know will end horribly).

Alternatively! My girlfriend interpreted the Devil's Kettle as something a baptist grandma would say about some kind of drink she disapproves of (ala The Devil's Lettuce). Something nourishing but inherently sinister and addictive? So their powers might be related to healing, but have dangerous side effects.

But both of those are less meaningful than what Kettle of the Devil implies symbolically to you, personally. Maybe you have some personal associations with Kettles or Devils that most people don't! Maybe you drank a lot of tea growing up and associate Kettles with a kitchens, domesticity, your mom. Maybe you burned yourself really badly on a Kettle when you were young and you associate them with heat and danger! Maybe the first thing you think about when you imagine a kettle is the whistling, so your association is about piercing sound! It's all fluid, as fluid as language and symbolism and association always is. The lists of associations are merely a place to start if nothing jumps to mind.

[jynxeddraca]

Tiefling head canons

Because I'm in a mood and thinking about tieflings makes me happy. Some of these I've thought up independently, some I've seen elsewhere online and can't recall where but I've just folded into my head canons.

Totally got this idea from another person's post but I fully embrace that some tieflings can purr. In those that can it ranges from a noise that's high in the throat or very deep in the chest. I like the idea some can do it at almost a subsonic frequency so there's not any noise but their whole chest/body still vibrates.

Tieflings have dark-vision - therefore they have that cat eye glow in low light/the dark. No I will not accept feedback at this time.

I am always a fan of them having other senses sharper than humans. Not like 'I can smell your blood through your skin from across the room and hear a cricket fart' kind of thing - but definitely pick up on things a human is nearly sure to miss.

Not a fan of tieflings going into a true heat/rut where they go totally 'must fuck now' but them getting a random heightened burst of pheromones now and then after they've been with a partner for a while - especially if there's been a lot of biting involved. Basically it's the tiefling equivalent of women who get really super frisky right around the time they ovulate.

A very common home remedy among tieflings is a mixture of broth, oil, and sulfur - and every family has it's own ratios. In that same vein a common hangover cure is broth, charcoal, and oil.

Diets are the epitome of 'opportunistic'. They prefer meat heavy diets, especially rare/raw red meats, while also enjoy the gristle, bone marrow, and blood. They can eat anything a human could, and quite a bit humans can't. This includes rocks, bones, some things that are mildly toxic/poisonous, and foods that have have gone off with minimal to no ill effects.

Because of previous point - food poisoning is extremely rare for them to get.

Tail body language is just as much apart of conversations as hand gestures and while much of it is similar to cats - meanings can get complicated.

I see horn grabbing/pulling a lot in posts but I don't feel a lot of tieflings as being super comfortable with it if the other person isn't also a tiefling.

Honestly, I see a lot of tieflings being wary about non-tieflings trying to get with them because it seems to me a lot of people in world would either demonize or fetishize their "infernal traits".

That being said, they're also not opposed to relationships outside of other tieflings and some tieflings will happily use people's curiosity/fetishization to their advantage and work at brothels.

If a tiefling has one or both parents who aren't tieflings, then they can take on traits from the non-tiefling parent (ex. one parent is an elf, tiefling kid has a lifespan more akin to a half-elf). They, and their kids, are also more likely to have a kid that does not look like tiefling if they have a baby with another non-teifling.

I fully think that a solid 1/3 of all "surprise" tiefling babies are not because a parent made an infernal pact, but because both parents somewhere in their lineage have a tiefling ancestor and they just don't know.

You've heard of tieflings being raised by humans? Well I think, because of the last two points, the reverse happens as well and you can get what appears to be a fully human/elf child birthed and raised by a tiefling.

Tieflings totally have a higher normal body temp. Probably around the 100F-105F range.

Regardless of how big or small their horns are, their skulls are still thicker for weight distribution. Many tieflings can, and will, headbutt someone in a fight. Even if a horn doesn't hit you - the blow is likely to break a bone in your face and they will not even be fazed.

Headaches and neck/shoulder tension is really, really common both because of the added weight of the horns when they're adults and when the horn itself is first growing in as a kid.

I imagine most tieflings have horns that are primarily made up of a keratin sheath around a much smaller horn bone (like how cow or goat horn are). Because of this they don't have lots of feeling in their horns and some tieflings might pierce their horns in places for decoration.

Some tieflings that have antlers also shed their antlers just like deer do. I will not be taking feedback at this time.

The pattern and shape of ridges on their skin is unique to every tiefling - but most of them tend to appear and follow bones closer to the surface (ribs, hips, knees, elbows, etc)

[fantasyinvader]

So, I'm looking over the new endings added to SMT V. The Law ending is effectively that scene from Bruce Almighty where he just autogrants anything people pray for, while the Chaos ending is basically the end of the Elric Saga except you aren't betrayed by your partner. These are also supposed to be more radical than the endings in the first game, upsetting the Mandala system. I know these endings are currently controversial within the fandom… but I fucking love them. Because they are radical if you think about the implications of each one.

In Law, no wish will be denied. We saw how messed up this could be in Bruce Almighty, but what happens when one's wish contradicts someone else's wish or freedom? What if some teenager wishes to date a hot classmate, does that mean the MC is using their godly powers to push them together forcing the classmate into a relationship against their will? Or if the classmate wishes to break up and the teenager doesn't, whose wish gets granted? If the MC has to make judgement calls on what wishes get granted, as they are supposed to guide mankind, it goes against the idea that all wishes are granted. So the implication is that they really do grant all wishes and effectively become mankind's bitch. It's a situation ripe for chaos and it makes the all powerful a servant to the people.

The Chaos ending, on the other hand, follows the Elric Saga's ending except no Stormbringer turning on the MC. The world and the laws that govern it are wiped out, with the possibility of making a new, better world. In the Elric Saga, it wasn't Chaos who wished to destroy the world. It. Was. Law. And it also helps that Yoko was meant to work with the previous God of Law to create the world, guiding them until she was the one betrayed, and now wants to destroy his world. In a way, she has guided her new partner to his role as as the new god of law, but it's not just that she wiped out the previous world she wiped out the entire system.

The Law Ending is supposed to be a world where there are many possibilities, whereas the Chaos only has one. In Moorcock's works, Law is presented as an upright arrow, indicating there is only one path, while Chaos is eight arrows all emerging from the same point, representing the freedom and the various possibilities. In Shin Megami Tensei Vengeance, Law moves towards becoming Moorcockian Chaos and Chaos ends up becoming Moorcockian Law. But at the same time, Moorcock's works make it clear there must be some sort of balance between the two for a world to properly function.

These endings are radical because they reverse law and chaos. The "Law" ending will lead to Chaos while inverting the idea of law, that the strong dictate the world and the weak accept it. The Chaos route will establish a new Law after destroying everything. Both of these are said to break their worlds, or potential world in the case of Chaos, out of the Mandala system and will be left alone by the Great Will. But there's no "neutral" ending to this path because… how can neutrality be radical? And yet, despite this, it's also said that the True Neutral ending of the regular game was the only one where the world was freed from the Mandala system, just that it didn't do much to harm it.

And, again going by Moorcock's works, the Cosmic Balance that governs the conflict between Law and Chaos is simply the rules. There are creatures powerful enough to not be affected by it, even shatter it, but people can also assume control of Law and Chaos and play it as a game called The Game of Time. The Cosmic Balance may have actually been created by mortals, in line with how gods assume the forms based on the beliefs surrounding them in SMT, and in the destiny of the Balance is to shatter the balance and remove all gods or demons from that world before one side tilts the scales too heavily in it's favor. It's the true neutral ending making a world for mankind only, where God's can't interfere with it.

The old True Neutral Ending is still probably the best ending to SMT V out of it's now six endings.

That said, I don't have a PS5 or current Xbox, there's no option to update my Switch version, and the only physical PS4 copies seem to be in Asia. My only option for a Physical copy is to buy a new one for the Switch, because my Switch's memory is alreay at the limit with games and digital means I would just be deleting other stuff off of it. Same with a PS4. So I'm probably not going to get this game at least until there's a good price drop.

[sadsongsandstories]

"Diving into the jaws of fate" moments

Also known as a "Duel of the fates" or "Neither shall live while the other survives"

Basically the moments in musicals (or any story really) where the protagonist has realised that they must face the demon, and that the story can end only one of two ways, with their death or the death of the enemy

It's him or me, the world will never be the same

And truly, it makes for the best kind of ending to any story. Because what could be a stronger climax, than the realisation that it all comes down to this. And the only way to save everyone and redeem yourself is by facing the pure wrath of evil, face first

Whatever the cost

The hero knows that they are a dead girl walking, but they care not

Such is their growth over the course of the story

It makes for a powerful ending, because it requires such setup. For this to work, the hero and villain must be inextricably linked, such that the fate of one determines automatically the fate of the other. There is no world in which both forces can survive.

Think po and Shang li from Kung Fu panda

Or Seymour and Audry 2 in little shop of horrors

Although notably there, there is the added beauty of the beast being of his own creation

Like in Heather's

And, to a certain extent, in spies are forever

And notably the hero can choose to forgive the villain, such as in lion king, but it doesn't matter, their death is inevitable

Also important to note, it doesn't have to be a death. The defeat has to be absolute, but what that actually looks like depends entirely on the rules and circumstances of the established universe.

For instance, in legally blonde, el and Cunningham are one such duo, where each represent a while idea system and there is no world in which they will both survive. And so, while el finishes her degree with the highest of honours, Cunningham is defeated in his running for office, and, far more importantly, while el finds her ultimate love in proposing to emit, Cunningham is divorced, with his wife leaving him, as assisted by emit himself.

Neither can live while the other survives, or in this case, neither can be successful and happy and loved.

One more interesting case, is in musicals such as hairspray, where the hero and the villain represent idea systems as well as being people. In much the same way as legally blonde, the end has tris met with fame and popularity and love, as well as her friend being made the new face of the show, while the villain woman loses her platform, fame and the like. It's a reversal of fortune, and with it we see the shift towards progressivism and equality.

One last actual last case, because it feels wrong not to mention such a classic and strong example, is le mis, where Val Jean and Javert clash over and over, until it reaches a pivotal tipping point (literally). Notably here, it is only javert that sees their lives as diametrically opposed. Val jean has learnt to forgive and love, and is perfectly happy to let javert walk free, despite all the hardship and suffering he has caused. But javert cannot accept such a fate, after all, it would shatter his entire world view, which truly is unacceptable, and so to him, they cannot coexist in a world. So he escaped from that world, with nowhere to turn and no way to go on.

Anywho, thanks for endulging the rant

All that to say, I rather like this dynamic for an ending, as it creates a powerful climax to the story, where the final battle isn't just necessary, it's inevitable. And the hero knows that this time, there will be no escape. It requires work and effort to set up, but when it is done well, goddam is it amazing!!!

Oh and when it's alluded to in the beginning, and uses a reprise of a previous song!!! Ahh it is brilliant! Like this ending was truly set from the very beginning. And endless march towards an inevitable clashing of fates.

Any other examples or cases anyone can think of? Any ideas or other types? Do you disagree? Very curious to hear anyone's thoughts.

[aceofsheeps]

Sonic Forces should have been Sonic Frontiers

Alright here's my little mess of an opinion and idea:

As someone who’s only played the video games, I think the two most recent games are lacking compared to past games but could have easily been more interesting had they combined both ideas.

Sonic Forces and Sonic Frontiers had a similar vibe and similar mission layouts. However, Sonic Forces is by far the worst Sonic game I have ever played. Forces was basically an angry overconfident jackal gets mad he got smacked once by Shadow and decides to destroy the world. While Infinites character design is interesting and the voice acting was amazing, I think his motive is lacking greatly. His battle with Shadow could’ve had a little more of something. A second fight maybe. Or perhaps show how devastating of a loss it was for him to lose his team. We have an idea of his background but we see nothing and feel nothing about him other than he looks and sounds cool. What made him the ultimate mercenary? And yes I know there’s a comic, I haven’t read it, but I’m going solely off the games.

Then we have the custom character — Avatar — who serves no real purpose to the story. Alternate sonic also served no purpose to the story and felt completely random. This game could’ve been made better had they replaced these characters with Sonic’s team. Whiles Sonic escapes early on, Tails or Knuckles could have gone to save Sonic and eventually split off for their missions.

The missions themselves were extremely short and easy. Especially the boss fights. I’ve struggled in other Sonic games with at least one or two boss fights but I ran through Forces without a problem. It felt almost like a Mario boss fight to me. Overall the game was fast, easy and short. It could’ve easily been fleshed out more.

Now Sonic Frontiers, while decent, was what Sonic Forces should’ve been without the taking over the world bit. It had a similar vibe, alternate reality with the phantom ruby vs cyberspace. It’s missions were clustered with past Sonic game references much like Forces. However, the storyline brought back the Ancients from Sonic Adventure and a bit of their story before going extinct. I wish it was explored deeper though. A majority of the game was collecting the chaos emeralds 4 times, talking to Sage and Sonic’s friends without getting a whole lot of information, and helping little stone dudes (Koco’s) move on to the afterlife. The game was a little on the tedious side with the collection of hearts, wrenches and medals to talk to your friends. The missions were a little longer than forces but with added sub goals a little like Sonic and the Secret Rings but on easy mode. The boss fights were a step up, but still rather easy once you know what to do. For example, the fight with the second titan, Wyvern, required you to parry and then beat the shit out of it. Same with Knight. The only real way to struggle here is to not level up your attack and defense.

Now here’s what I think should’ve been done…more or less.

Sonic Frontiers could have done away with cyberspace and instead combined the ideas of Forces to it’s plot. Perhaps the Ancients created the Phantom Ruby, or an original one that eggman later replicates. Infinite becomes a deuteragonist with the main antagonist being The End. The End would be a being who can warp time and/or space, would still have been trapped by the Ancients but this time in the Phantom Ruby which grants Infinite the ability to manipulate reality. Infinite could have been sent to find this ancient relic, remove his ego pre-Infinite and show us the despair he felt losing his team so that his search and lust of power can make a little more sense, maybe he hopes to achieve reversing whatever had happened in the past and save his team.

It could play out with Sonic’s friends being imprisoned in a warped reality/time-space much like how they’re trapped between cyberspace and the real world in Frontiers. The titans still seal The End within the Ruby, Sonic can have his very existence warp between realities and non existence as he’ll be jumping through realities to save his friends, instead of cyber corruption which frankly makes little sense. Infinite could use the titans against Sonic, unknowingly breaking the seal upon the phantom ruby. This could either be purely accidental or through quiet manipulations from The End. Sonic Ultimately prevents Infinite from saving his team from their fate so that their current reality doesn’t crumble. However, with the destruction of the Titans The End Breaks free. Throw in Sonic popping into the ancient past to witness the fall of the Ancients every once in a while throughout the game. Lastly, while I liked Sage, I think she played a rather small role in Frontiers as she mostly gave us the run-around for about 80% of the game. I think she could’ve been saved for a future game. But if she would play a part in a Forces x Frontiers fusion, maybe she’s an AI with a physical body — or not — who somehow discovers an anomaly and goes to Sonic for help. She can still be mysterious with her intentions but she’ll play like a support character much like Merlina (Sonic and the Black Knight) and Shahra (Sonic and the Secret Rings).

And bring my boy Shadow in!

[practically-an-x-man]

Asks for honestly any OCs you want, though it would be cool if you included Prometheus

1, 2, 7, 10, 25

Ooh sweet! I think I might do three characters: Jasper (since you know them), Prometheus (since you asked for them), and Indigo (my Star Wars OC, hardly ever get to use her in these things)

Thank you bestie! You're amazing!! Answers are under the cut:

What memory would your OC rather just forget?

Jasper: The night Kyle died is definitely at the top of the list. Even if things turned out alright in the end, they're never going to forget the sheer silence they felt when they learned that he had died, or the way they couldn't tell anyone else about it because Kyle (at that point at least) was the only one to know about their empathic link.

Prometheus: I feel like Prometheus wouldn't want to forget anything, even the bad parts. It's what keeps them motivated, after all, and reminds them where they came from. As bad as the memories are, Prometheus would want to hold onto them.

Indigo: She'd forget Corellia if she could. She spent her childhood there, and every memory is just of hardship and loss and abandonment. She'd rather just put that in the past, really.

2. What's something about your OC that people wouldn't expect just from looking at them?

Jasper: The fact that they do roller derby. They definitely look intense enough to enjoy it, but they're also pretty small and don't really look like they could knock someone over. Spoiler alert: they absolutely can, it's about momentum more than size, and they're small enough to slip through the gaps as a jammer.

Prometheus: Given how drastic of a change it was, people probably wouldn't suspect they were a nightmare before they were a dream - and they certainly wouldn't suspect which nightmare they had been unless they knew already.

Indigo: Her parentage, definitely. Given she herself didn't even know for like 95% of her life, there's no way people would guess it from looking at her.

7. What's one way your OC has changed since you first came up with them?

Jasper: Jeez... pretty much everything honestly. I think my first bare-bones idea was for them to be female rather than genderfluid, there was no mention of roller derby whatsoever (though they were still a nurse, that hasn't changed), and they were a true witch rather than an empath. But that felt way too basic and uninspired, and I couldn't see a whole lot of chemistry with Kyle. So I did a bit of reworking, and I'm infinitely happier about the way they turned out. They're one of my favorite OCs to write now :)

Prometheus: This OC was much more spur-of-the-moment than my other ones, given I wrote the entire fic in less than a week (and less than a week after I watched the Sandman too). There wasn't as much time to marinate this one. That being said, my first glimpse of this OC was as a pure dream, the transformation element came at the same time I had the idea for the two endings.

Indigo: Her name used to be Blue, and I changed it to Indigo to give it a little more substance and variation since she doesn't really use a last name. And in the initial version of her, I don't think she was a mechanic, just a spy. Though I think adding her job definitely fleshed her out a little more, gave her a passion that wasn't related to the Force or her love interest.

10. What's an AU that would be interesting to explore with your OC?

I don't really do AU work, so this one's particularly interesting to me.

Jasper: Hmm... maybe a role-reversal AU. It would be interesting to see how Kyle would react to having empathic or supernatural abilities (like if he were a warlock), and how Jasper's view of the world would change if they didn't have their empathic sense.

Prometheus: Given the amount of Greek mythology references there already are in the fic, I think it would be cool to just go all-out and do some kind of Greek myth AU, like a Homer-esque hero's journey. It would be a pretty lofty thing to write, but could be pretty interesting.

Indigo: Hmm... I'm thinking something more down-to-earth. Take away the sci-fi and make her a regular car mechanic, maybe, and make Zero a cat instead of the weird little space-ferret creature I came up with. Would be interesting.

25. What is your favorite thing about your OC?

Jasper: I LOVE writing the way they translate the emotions. It's a great stretch of creativity for me, and I always try to make it a little different than people have seen before, and it's just so fun to try and think about how emotions would manifest as physical sensations rather than traditional, well, emotions.

Prometheus: Again, this one's a little hard to answer since they're a much more isolated OC than the others. Usually I have full plotlines for each of them, but Prometheus exists only in a singular one-shot, at least for now. That being said, I really like their backstory, and it was fun to write the differences between Prometheus and Nyx when I did the Corruption ending - to try and examine what really made Prometheus a dream, and what made Nyx a nightmare.

Indigo: Hmm... I like her attitude honestly. She's been through a lot but still sees the world in a generally positive way, and tries to be kind to the people around her. It's really interesting to write a character that's both been through so much grief and still keeps trying to be a gentle, positive person.

[jonathankatwhatever]

Still 20 Feb 2023 for a few minutes. Have been hearing repeatedly words to the effect that the count of 4 could be anywhere, that the Winding is a tracking counter which operates over 1-0Segments, which invokes R3 spaces, and so on, meaning it marks Ends of whatever specification, because it’s a real number so it can specify to any depth, and those Ends represent the processes which connect to them, which generate them.

It is this underlying Triangular counting of 1-0Segments which expresses why time can’t reverse: the Winding is always separated by a 1-0Segment, so even a reversal is a Winding which connects back as an overlay, not as the same place, so the meaning always writes forward, that there is an ordering. We saw this several times recently, but can’t get it into words. I see it sometimes in the context of the Informational Limit: a lot of gradation, a lot of near-simultaneous, because information without mass has a very large directional potential. Remember all the work about this? About how c^2 is a layer of simultaneity, a plane of potential? I haven’t thought about that for years.

Now we have tObjects and Things. It’s interesting to see the conversion of mass into energy as the spreading of the processes which generate mass over or across the IL, meaning mass transforms into non-mass information.

Now think about Triangular counting a huge 3, so you go around many, many times counting 3, until you nearly reach 300,000,000. In Winding, this constructs naturally, meaning it’s going to reach 3, so there’s an encoding for the 207,542, and that encoding is the process. That’s a nice piece of logic to point at why there is this process in the IL. That was hard for me to grasp. Now I see it. Counting Triangular as a Winding, meaning a map or encoding which maps to gs processes.

And I finally accept the use of ‘gs processes’ though we speak often of higher dimensions: we exist in D3-4//D4-3Space. Grid squares. Accepting that felt like it took forever. I hated that momentary hesitation: is this the right phrase, I must be wrong because I can’t figure out what to say here, and all the rest of the frustrations manifesting.

So, let’s say the count of 4, that basic once around, can be anywhere, from as close as a single loop can be to as far as a single loop can be, meaning they are very similar, that identity is close, or not. Adding a third End, that 7, means from original over a loop to 4, then over a loop to 7. I’m having a very difficult time reducing this issue to words. I’m trying to understand this 1-0-1 loop, like where 4 is the 0. I can see, for example, that treating 4 as the 0 genuinely states: this is the inversion of this to that over these loops to and from 4.

We described this before: this form of the counting 1-0Segment attaching to chains that don’t End with counting 1-0Segments. The Ends then attach as we describe.

And I think we may need to get back to the idea behind 1-0-1, which is that 1-0-1 is the minimal statement of continuing existence because the 0 is notation which represents the process, the function in the dash if we wrote 1-1, which in turn stands for the fact that if we start with 1 and then shift to another 1, then we are now outside that original 1. This means we can cross the boundary out of 1 and look at the external perspective ‘coming back’ as the internal perspective projects onto its edge of the boundary of the Dimensional Enclosure.

So, we’ve taken this essential idea of perspective, and I see: that is mandated by the existence of Dimensional Enclosures in D3-4Space. That directly connects to the description of Triangular counting around the dimensions of physical space, in whatever order, to whatever depth, touching whatever processes.