#And I finally figured out how to do it - it just required a little crafting

[theultimateultimateweapon]

I'm taking a little pause from my break so show off a project I just finished, a shadow box for the Galactic Nova pocket watch!

I tried to add plenty of Kirby imagery that'd match the theme, it was a lot of fun! I'd love to make more shadowboxes in the future

[bomberqueen17]

the home stretch

Went over to the house yesterday morning and Jim was there sawing a hole in the exterior wall.

Not alarming at all once I remembered part of this remodel that i'm really excited about is that we're getting an actual exhaust hood for over the stove. Not one of those ones that goes through a microwave either, a real exhaust hood that goes to the outdoors. (The real ones are mounted 30" above the stove top. Microwave ones have to be lower so you can reach the microwave. i can't stand cooking in such a constrained space like that. No thank you. Keep my microwave separate!)

He had sawed out a big chunk of drywall on the interior too, and replaced it with plywood, which is much sturdier to screw mounting hardware into. At my request, he'd extended the plywood down a couple more inches (it'll be covered by the tile backsplash so it won't even show!) so I can screw a couple of heavy-duty mounting hooks in there and have a place I can hang both my cast-iron skillets when they're not in use. I don't like leaving them on the stove (my mother's approach) or stacking them on a shelf (dude's approach) because one is untidy and the other requires me to lift every piece of cast iron i own at once to access any of them. (I also have a square griddle and a Dutch oven and also a tiny skillet which Dude uses all the time when I'm not around and neither of us uses at all when I am around, because it is very much a Cooking For One mini skillet LOL.)

He paused to show me the deer hunting hut he'd meticulously constructed for himself while he was on Christmas break and then artistically had painted camoflage. ("My friends were like omg how long did that take you? I dunno, I wasn't counting, I had a blast. Had a beer in one hand, spray paint can in the other, I just let it take as long as it took. It's like arts and crafts! Who's keeping track of the time?") It did look great. As he was swiping his finger accidentally slid onto the later bits of the camera roll and it showed me the deer he'd gotten on the last day of hunting season. "Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you look at that," he said, and then looked at me and laughed, remembering I had told him I work in a slaughterhouse. "Right, you don't mind that kind of thing, but still." It was a nice big doe, cleanly felled, nothing to object to there.

I went and called the appliance company, who'd said they'd deliver my dishwasher and vent hood on new year's eve probably. They seemed confused that I'd called, and then were confused when they discovered that indeed both my items were in stock and should have been delivered. I said I figured the holiday had confused things (genuinely, probably the vent hood had come in on NYE like the salesman had thought it might, but I bet somebody had the day off and they weren't on the ball about calling people) so I just wanted to call and find out if anything needed sorting. They told me they'll call me today to tell me the two-hour delivery window. So I'm getting my dishwasher today! Pumped. It's gonna go into the living room to start with but like, y'know, that's fine.

The counters are going in on Thursday. Hopefully, Jim said, the counter people could do it in the morning, because then he could start on the tile that afternoon.

Ah they've just called, my delivery window for the appliances is 11-1. OK cool.

The plumber can't come until Monday. But then once he's been there I'll have my stove and sink and dishwasher. And, Jim says, that means the final, last little button-up details will be done on Tuesday.

"And then," he said, amused, "I can go back to the regular schedule, because the people who refused to have their houses torn up over the holidays will be clamoring to get the work done now. It's good you didn't mind." Which is precisely why we thought we'd gotten bumped up by two months, but it's funny to hear him so directly confirm it.

"I'm the luckiest person in the world," I said, "with my mother-in-law's house vacant walking distance away for this whole time, so it's been genuinely no trouble at all." And I am. She's coming back on Tuesday, so I figure we'll move back into our house over the weekend, and I'll deep-clean her house and (sighhh) put all the beautiful sewing equipment back where I found it. I won't really miss her fancy modern sewing machine (which she just got and is third-hand and I don't think she knows how to use either) but her old workhorse straight-stitch machine is a beautiful, unfussy beast I've really enjoyed spending time with.

OK i gotta get off my ass and go get the grocery shopping done so I can go sit in my house for the delivery window. I saved plenty of things to do, don't worry. I'm starting to put stuff into the cupboards, made Dude come sit with me over the weekend and give his opinion-- he's been busy at work and has had no attention span but I refuse to take his "idk just put stuff wherever" at face value, he spends more time in this house than me and i will NOT have him after the fact annoyed with how I chose to organize things. So he did give opinions, finally. And I need a few more lazy susans and storage baskets and half-shelf-rack kinda thingies here and there but I'm getting there.

[bluedalahorse]

Okay, I’ll bite. Posts like this one on the confessions blog kind of make me wonder/worry about how I come across on tumblr. I’m one of those people who’s 200% down for the secondary characters in YR, particularly the controversial ones. I’m also someone who’d been lurking for a while prior to season 2 airing, but joined tumblr a little bit after season 2 to finally start discussing with people.

Given the way the post I linked above resonates with some of the themes I made a post about few days ago, it seems like the anon and I might both be struggling with some of the patterns of conversation in fandom. That said, we’re coming from very different places. And given the way I engage with this fandom, I sometimes wonder if I’m the antagonist in someone’s fandom story.

I do recognize that some of my posts come from a place where I could come across as pretentious, lecturing, or overbearing in some way. When I first de-lurked this fandom, I talked about a lot of the show in terms of craft and literary theory and such, in part because I’m in grad school for just that and in part because I hang out with a friends group IRL who uses that existing vocabulary to discuss things we love. I was also using the academic voice with a dose of sarcasm thrown in as a sort of armor, because I knew my favorite characters in the show (Sara and August) were so widely beloathed by so many people. I was worried that if my first post was “wow they sure are cute even if they’re messy; where do I find the fanfic?” I wouldn’t make friends, or possibly would even get chased off of tumblr. I figured it was much safer to come in and say things like “I find it really interesting to see how their relationship is a narrative foil to Wilmon’s, and them being together really raises the stakes of the drama” and keep my Big Feelings to myself. (Especially since some posters can be pretty nasty about my faves, and make assumptions about what I’m an “apologist” for when I talk about them.) I still lean into academic speak to some extent—like I said, it’s part of who I am even outside of YR, so it’s hard to shake. But rest assured there is fannish passion behind it, and also know I don’t think academic speak should be a requirement for participating in fandom.

I’m also wondering… what role should making the case for the characters and plotlines one loves play in establishing one’s fandom presence? Like, in general? Ultimately my motive when I make my posts, analysis or otherwise, is to invite people to play in my weird little sandbox with me. (If they want to, of course!) I recognize that some of my fandom opinions/hills I will die on are what they are, so I imagine some folks don’t want to change their opinions any more than I do. But I also recognize that in more than two decades of being in fandom, there are times when someone else’s passion for a character or a take on some aspect of a show or book really led me to see something new and interesting, or hook on to particular rarepairs or whatever else. That’s the beauty of fandom as a community—we all get more excited about things together and share our love of things. Since some of my favorite aspects of YR are much much more rarely represented in fanworks, I’m usually talking about how I adore them in hopes that I’ll continue to find the people who like the things I like, and in hopes that maybe I’ll spark something in someone’s brain and they’ll write a cool fic or draw cool art or something. Talking to people here has made me more interested in pairings like Walty and Stedrika, which I didn’t think about as much before on my first watchthroughs of the show. So anyway… I do know there’s some folks out there who are never gonna be interested in what I’m interested in. I also know there are folks, myself included, who’ve learned things from what other people are passionate about. I also know there are some opinions that seem a lot more unpopular than they are until someone voices them.

I recognize that the two factors above—a tendency toward academic speak, and another tendency to make the case for the less popular things I love about the show in hopes that people will join me, combined with maybe me not having the best day or not choosing my words well—all that together and I could I see how I could come across as pretentious or holier-than-thou or looking down on people. (And admittedly there are times where my posts come from a place of frustration about the way certain characters are talked about. I think we’ve all been there at one time or another.) It really isn’t my intention to come across in a negative way, but I can see how it would happen. It’s also possible I’m doing something that completely doesn’t register with me at all, but it’s super hurtful to others. I may not know the full extent to how I’ve bothered someone, because ultimately I am just in my own head.

If I’ve hurt you or made you feel crappy in your time being a fan on tumblr, I am truly sorry. I’m open to talking about it if you want to talk about it, but also, zero pressure if you just kind of want to hang out in your own space and do your own thing.

To sum up… it seems like on one hand there’s a portion of fandom that seems to want to embrace the YR world in its entirety, and another portion of fandom that would like to lean into a focus on Wilmon. And there’s probably people all across a spectrum there, because nothing is a strict binary. All are valid approaches! I don’t think we all need to be best friends, but I do think we need to figure out how to coexist and assume positive intent in each other’s approaches to the work. Does anyone have ideas about that? Are there hashtags we could be using a little more carefully? I don’t have answers yet, but it is something I’m thinking about.

[mdhwrites]

Sometimes it really does feel like The Owl House was explicitly designed for cartoon Twitter, down to its lackluster redemption arcs that make sure to scrub away all flaws of the characters quickly so that Twitter folks don't think they're "problematic."

So there's a lot to be said about TOH being fandom bait. The explicit call out to fanfiction early on, the coven system also being the school divisional system that theoretically should have led to more Hexide OCs but for a LOT of reasons didn't, and the fact that a lot of what the show seems to think is clever is stuff you'd find here on Tumblr or on Twitter. Hot takes about tropes like The Chosen One that doesn't actually think about the narrative role of those tropes and why they're tropes in the first place. Just that the idea of a trope is a bad thing. For the character arcs though... I don't know. I've talked admittedly about how much I hate posts that go "Look how far she's come!" while showing Amity from her first appearance and then like S3 Amity who's smiling like she's improved as a character. Changed? Sure but improved? That's... That's a much tougher cookie.

I think the lackluster arcs more have to do with two main elements of the writing (or more so the lack there of): Patience and complexity. Character arcs are incredibly hard to pull off right after all and much harder than character growth. The transformation of a character should be effectively a subplot if you're going to have them have a major shift in who they are. That way the change feels deserved, is understood by the audience and you got the proper drama out of who they were.

This requires a beginning, middle and end to most arcs. Zuko's for example has each volume cover effectively one of these stages. We get his beginning as an angry boy and we explore properly why he is while showing signs that maybe he could change. Book two pinballs back and forth on whether he will continue be an asshole or finally find peace like his uncle wants for him until the dramatic twist of him choosing to work with Azula. And finally we have a proper conclusion to him with his choice that being in the Fire Nation doesn't make him happy. This isn't the honor he wants, something that was always technically there but REALLY needed all this time explain why the character figured out that himself.

For The Collector, Amity and Hunter... TOH skips straight to the Azula betrayal. To the final mistake of the character before the rest of their arc makes them regret and rethink that decision and what they have done for that which they desire. This is why Amity is different than her first two appearances. Why Hunter and the Golden Guard are effectively two different characters. Why a season hop is all it takes for the Collector to not be a childish god but a god-like child.

This is from TOH's lack of patience. It likes its big moments but doesn't like the wandering. The moseying with an element to properly explore it. It's part of why the longer the series goes on, you have two options with how these character develop: It either nags at you the fact that their beginnings were discarded so quickly or you just forget that they had those beginnings at all.

I do want to shout out Lilith here who actually starts in her middle phase actually. Part of the strength of S1 is the question of if Lilith will or won't turn in Eda and that's part of what makes Agony of a Witch so good. It then sours because what happens afterwards sucks and makes little sense to who we saw in S1 but at least the middle IS there.

What about the beginning though? You'd think that be important and TOH agrees! Which is why its lack of complexity is the next problem for it in this: It needs to craft an excuse for the first appearance that also makes it so that the character can continue just being who they are supposed to be at the end of the arc/who they always were depending on how you want to look at it. This is why we get BACKSTORIES! Bad backstories. Backstories that simply blame it that bad behavior on someone else. It wasn't anything they internalized or the like so stop asking. That way you can say Amity was a good hearted child who had that heart clouded by her parents and then those clouds were shined away by Luz and that sounds like a fine enough arc because she was always a good person and so returning to that good person was easy. Hunter gets this the WORST. Theoretically, he should have some sort of theme of being his own person but... His excuse is that he's Caleb. Caleb was a good guy who was into witches so when Luz makes him question for a second, Hunter becomes the same. It's... Bad. Plain and simply.

This cuts out the middle. In a lot of trilogies, one might claim that cutting out the middle doesn't hurt much because not much needs to be resolved. You can't really do this with a character arc though. The middle is the questioning. It's when the character actually examines who they are and starts figuring out the answers that will lead them to wherever their arc is going. Effectively, the middle is the WHY for the arc. The beginning is the foundation and the end is the payoff but neither mean anything if there's no point to the arc and the middle is usually what actually provides that. For Zuko, it was his troop through the Earth Kingdom that taught him what his belief in honor was and fortified it before Ba Sing Se made him properly question that by bringing up the question of what brings someone honor with the tea house. In coming to accept that Iroh was also honorable for his serving of tea, Zuko was able to even open the door to other possibilities for regaining his honor than the biggest or the most obvious.

This is missing from pretty much all of the TOH characters... because it has to. It literally has to. TOH wants an excuse for the first introduction after all before transitioning them into simply the character they are. In that process, the old is discarded. It's like how Eda's history as a criminal becomes much more patchwork in S2 because she's now been replaced with Mama Eda. TOH has no interest in combining the two so it comes up less and less until S1 is ignored in Edge of the World so Eda doesn't trust Hooty to protect the house, despite OBVIOUSLY being capable of it back in S1, and she's nothing but a complete worrywart about effectively every threat posed against her children. There's a medium ground to be had there... But TOH just doesn't even try to explore it or acknowledge it.

Lilith, because she has the most of a middle, is the biggest victim here. S1 never brought up history. S1 never made her blatantly act like an idiot. You could see her enthusiasm in victory but she was okay with failure. She was by all accounts a very functional person who provided a good base for Eda's hijinks but that didn't make her the joke, it made Eda's pranks or teases the joke.

In S2, she IS the joke. She is desperate for attention... Because Belos is effectively her scapegoat. Or her mom. Or just wanting validation in general. I can sympathize with that as someone with Avoidant Personality Disorder... But the show doesn't earn that. Instead she just makes a hard, 90 degree pivot come S2 and doesn't look back.

These arcs don't function like this. Not unless you literally boil them down to "They were mad but now they're glad." Which hilariously enough, doesn't actually even apply to Zuko. Zuko learns to be calmer, but glad? Motherfucker LOSES IT right at the start of the finale and not only is it justified, it's in character still. Because Zuko has the complexity, and the story had the patience, so that when his arc ended, he was the same character we first met but better and with better morals. The Owl House simply can't say that.

[thecameronchronicles]

Gingerbread

TW: Smut. Semi-public sex. Language. 

SUMMARY: Your secret relationship with John B is put at risk when you can’t keep your hands off of him. 

Maybank Reader x John B pairing!

WORD COUNT:

*ORIGINAL CONCEPT*

Gingerbread

"Dammit!" JJ cursed, the north wall of his mess of a Gingerbread house having become the source of humor for the otherwise tense situation requiring such focus. A recent tradition among the pogues would also lead for you to draw one’s specific attention to you as it risked your brother, JJ's, wrath, if discovered. 

And yet, you just couldn't help yourself. Not when he was this close and your thoughts were that deafening. Every sexually bold one…

As John B came to an orchestrated focus of the gingerbread house, you pulled your icing coated finger being a smirk and sucked off the excess with your back turned to the other pogues. He swallowed hard to what you were initiating as his eyes flashed back to the night before when he knew that same wrap of your lips around him. Those doe eyes strained with tears before you swallowed his release to 'keep from making a mess'. He could still how just how sweet you sounded so breathless for him. So sweet. So innocent, if it was even possible. Such a contrast to now as you were purposely forcing such a scene to torment him for the fun of it. 

"Stop it." He warned silently as you finished off your finger before moving in front of him, purposely bending over in the position you knew he favored having you in, feigning a reach you could have made from where you'd just come from, as everyone nearby remained too distracted in their own craft to notice. 

"What the hell is that supposed to be?" Kiara asked Pope as he pointed at a makeshift sign that had been labeled with letters made of sugar. 

"It's my house slash home office. My gingerbread are medical affiliates to the state." 

"Why are you so weird, Pope?" JJ teased. 

"At least I can make MY wall stay up!" The playful bickering only allowed you to continue your guise as you grinned at John B while making every excuse to trace his finger or brush against him, knowing it took little to make him flustered. For multiple reasons, but mostly for the fact that you had been so brazen. 

"Screw it." JJ groaned, breaking down his house and turning his work-in-progress away from the group as you managed to slip your hand over John B’s seam during the change of location from your brother, now across the room. 

"I mean it-" 

"You wouldn't do anything...Wouldn't risk JJ finding out all the ways you've touched me since this last summer..." Your lips were close enough to his cheek for him to feel your breath as he gripped his hands at the edge of the counter, acting as if he was focusing on anything but how hard your words left him. 

"All the ways you've made me come...how many of these surfaces...If only he knew..." John B clenched his jaw before looking at you. 

"I might not be able to be able to do anything about it now, but you bet your sweet little ass that I’ll more than make up for it..." 

"Until then..." You tormented from across the counter, setting the final touches on you and John B’s masterpiece as Kiara called for time. 

As expected, Pope's had been a home doctor's office adorned with lavish detail that made him question for just a moment whether perhaps he should consider switching his major to architecture. For Kiara, she left green frosting as ivy and made an eco-friendly house, complete with solar panels made from gum and black licorice. But it was JJ's that left everyone to chuckle as he had just made a version of the HMS Pogue, a stick figure made from marshmallows and pretzels holding a fishing pole made up of a goldfish cracker, an unwrapped Twizzler line, and an oblong chocolate candy. 

"It's supposed to be a house..." Kiara teased as he explained how it had been his second home. 

The classic display of your and John B’s masterpiece compete with a stone wall made of jelly beans and a tree made from cotton candy and a Graham cracker with rice krispies arranged to mimic bark would have the most praise. Yet the winner would be a pitiful prize towards JJ. 

It was now time to dismantle them to eat. But as everyone made their way outside to a fire, consuming pieces of their works, you remained inside as John B moved behind you. 

"What happened to that sweet girl who was too shy to even let me trace her leg beneath the blanket?" 

"Well…she got fucked by you John B...and she wants more." 

"Yeah?" He asked as you attempted to slide away from him, his hands pinning you to the counter between him.

"Then stay still and quiet. Apparently you didn't get enough last night." 

"I never do." You confessed as he lowered behind you, his tongue just making contact with your clit as the door came open. His efforts alternating from quick to slow in order to torment you.

"Where's bree?" JJ asked as his nickname for his best friend, and the man whose tongue was currently flicking between your thighs. 

"He didn't go with you?" 

"Would I be asking if he did?" 

"Jesus..." You voided as John B slipped a finger and then two, tormenting you to remain unassuming before your brother. 

"JJ...I'm not his keeper you know..." You rolled your eyes as JJ turned away from you, equally as frustrated before you felt John B now raise behind you. 

"That was a bit too close..." He spoke with a grin. But as he tried to lead you to his bedroom, you pushed him against the counter. 

"My turn." You set a piece of the cookie in his mouth to keep him silent before ultimately moving onto your knees. Brazen, bold, and beautiful as you always were for him and accentuated as you were careless to be cautious. Just as you had taken him the night before you had done so once more. Only now faster and deeper. His fingers wrapped around the edge of the counter as you pulled him to a nearing orgasm before he pulled your hair to guide you away from him. 

“Baby, I’m close…” You only nodded.

"Shit!" He cursed in those final moments before his release, Kiara having entered to see you rise from your knees. But where John B was stunned and caught off guard for an explanation, you were quick to make up for his silence. 

"Good thing you didn't drop it like that when we were working on it, butterfingers..." It was enough to lessen Kiara’s suspicions before she motioned for the white ribbon on your chin. John B clenched his jaw as you led it between your lips. 

"Mmm...my favorite frosting..." You winked at him before joining the others, well aware he would make you pay for it later. But it was well worth it to torment him once again…

Taglist: @hopebaker @iovdrew @penny4yourthoughts @magnificantmermaid @pickingviolets @lovedetlost @trikigirl271 @maybankslover @slut4starkey @slvtherinseeker @obxiskewl @obxxrxfes @bluesongbird @slut-era @ailee-celeste @rafesbae @camilynn @sweetestdesire @onmykneesforrafe @drews1love @phildunphyisadilf @mashdan0916

[pudding-parade]

Heh. I fell down a hole.

Namely, this one:

I downloaded this game a while back when it was on sale and finally decided to check it out a couple days ago when I had an hour to kill, which isn't enough time to fire up Sims and do anything in it. And....man, this thing is addictive. I've seen it called a steady drip of dopamine, and it really, truly is.

I'mma babble a non-spoilery mini-review, so I'll cut for your pleasure... There's also some gameplay pics back there, if y'all wanna see.

The game has a simple premise. You play as a person dropped on a barren, dead planet for Reasons™, and your mission is simply to turn the place into a complete environment livable for humans. Basically, you gather stuff, craft, survive, and build a base in a very Subnautica-y sort of way. As you increase certain (eventually) four different metrics, you unlock tech of all kinds, from backpacks with a bigger inventory to biodomes to rockets that you can launch into space that do various things. There are four different (but integrated) "tech trees," corresponding to the four metrics you work to increase -- atmospheric oxygen, temperature, atmospheric pressure, and later in the game biomass -- and each tree has different items to unlock. The thing is, the "oxygen tree" might unlock things that increase heat, and the "heat tree" unlocks items that increase atmospheric pressure, so it's all integrated such that you are encouraged to work on all the metrics at once. It's all very intricate and well-balanced, so the game is paced and flows really well and you always have a goal (or four) to strive for. And when you accomplish a goal? Dopamine hit!

But what's very cool about the game, IMO, is that as you go about your work, the planet slowly transforms visually, reflecting the work that you're doing, which gives you that steady drip of dopamine as you play. It is all very addictive. Entire days might pass while you're sucked in. LOL Because it's also very chill and relaxing because there's no combat/violence (and never will be, which I love). You just do your thing, accumulating dopamine. The only bit of stress you might feel is if you get lost while exploring and you're starting to run out of oxygen. And there's meteor showers which bring resources (sometimes rare ones) and that, for now, don't do any damage unless you're out in the open and get hit by one, but the roadmap from the devs says that structural damage from meteors will happen eventually.

That "eventually" is because the game is still in alpha, probably three updates away from V.1, and yet there's already tons of gameplay, all the way up to introducing insects and fish into the environment, plus automation. Because it's still alpha, the graphics are a little rough, but I don't care about that at all. Even if they don't change/improve, I'll be perfectly content. There are also large parts of the (open) world that aren't developed yet. But that's exciting because there's lots of space for the devs to add lots of new, cool stuff to do and explore! And speaking of the devs: It's an indie game. Developed by -- count 'em! -- TWO PEOPLE. Two. One married couple. It's a marvelous achievement.

And also? It's not an expensive game. 20USD. There's also a free demo you can try before buying. And it doesn't require a supercomputer to run. I'm pretty sure it'll run on a potato. Apparently, there are already mods for it but, frankly, I'm not feeling a need for any right now because I'm enjoying the game just as it is. Which says a lot about how the game is put together, IMO.

In short: I love this game. If you decide to try it out, I recommend that you go into it cold. Don't watch any YouTube gameplays or whatever. Half the fun, IMO, is not knowing what you're doing and having to explore and figure things out. The game sort of coaches you when you start, giving you a "to do" list. But it doesn't tell you how to do the things on the list. It's not a tutorial. And once you reach the first big goal -- turning the sky blue -- you're entirely on your own.

Anyway, I played this thing almost all day yesterday *cough* instead of catching up here *cough* just accumulating dopamine, so have some non-spoilery pics.

This is what you're looking at when you start. Orange sky, barren rocks, dust everywhere. You can't see very far into the distance because of the dust, which makes it harder to navigate, which makes it easier to lose your way when you venture farther out to explore, which you definitely need to do.

This time (this is my third save and my first "real" one; the other two were used to just figure out WTF I was doing), I spawned near one of the crashed ships. Which is good because before I saw that I had no idea where the hell I was. LOL There are a number of wrecked ships and underground bunkers (from previous failed terraforming efforts) to explore and gather resources from.

Meteor shower! These happen fairly regularly. Seems to be pretty random, though. Sometimes they'll happen one after another in short succession, but sometimes it'll be a while before you have one.

Is that a tinge of blue I'm seeing? I think it is...

Definitely getting bluer! And eventually:

Blue sky, clouds, and...RAIN! And with the rain, as the planet gets warmer...

Surface water! The water slowly rises on the planet as it warms and the surface ice melts...which can be problematic, depending on where you've built your settlement/base.

And now I've got nuclear power. What could possibly go wrong? LOL

Anyway, yeah, I love this game. Highly recommended. It deserves its "Overwhelmingly Positive" review status on Steam, even though it's still in alpha. It doesn't seem like it's going to be abandoned any time soon, and apparently it's already sold half a million copies. The roadmap for the game looks amazing, too, so I'll be looking forward to watching it develop.

[hello-eeveev]

Self Rec Tag Game

tagged by @spottedenchants thank you!!!

Rules: Share five of your own fanworks (fic, art, etc.). Then, tag five more people to share the things they've made.

1.something you absolutely adore

On the Nature of Attraction

T, Essek/Caleb, 7.5k

What more can I say about this fic that I haven't already? It's a very vulnerable fic that came from a very vulnerable place. It means a lot to me, and I love that it seems to mean a lot to other people. Sometimes art is sending out a call and receiving the answer: you're not alone. That, and I truly do just like it. I like the story, I like the pacing, I like how I wrote Essek's inner monologue. Unironically, it's a banger.

2. something that was challenging to create

All Things End, All Things Change

T, Essek/Caleb, 2.8k

Fun fact: this is an entirely different fic from what I had intended it to be at the outset. I had been planning an Essek POV romp through Aeor where the main tension was pining that would culminate in hand-holding that's not explicitly romantic but they both kinda know what's going on. Instead I got Caleb POV emotionally devastating choice in Aeor where the main tension is pining for power that you know isn't worth the risk and for a past you can never return to. Does result in hand-holding though, so good for them :) One thing I learned in this fic (and re-learning in the current fic I'm working on) is that Caleb's darker moods are more difficult for me to write than, say, Essek's. And once I get that internal feeling down, it's hard to figure out how much of that should be revealed through dialogue, what exactly should be revealed, and how should it be revealed. It requires some real intentional thought, a lot of brain power and brain space, makes my dopamine-starved adhd brain go noooooo lol That said, I am particularly proud of how I explored why Caleb chose Essek and Essek alone to accompany him to the T-Dock. I think I hit on some tasty stuff there.

3. something that makes you laugh (or smile, if that fits more comfortably)

oh, by the way (also on tumblr with a small coda here)

G, Beau & Caleb, 932

This fic gives me a chuckle every time. It's got all the hits: empire siblings, Caleb playing a silly little prank, Beau's over-the-top reaction to said prank, the "Yasha doesn't get how Sending works" gag. Beau is a fun POV to write. I don't swear much in my day-to-day life and I am not prone to irritation or anger much at all, but those are pretty key to Beau's voice, especially in this little scenario I've crafted for her, so it was fun to play around in her headspace during this low-stakes, overdramatic moment she finds herself in.

4. something that surprised you (in how it turned out, how much other people liked it, etc.)

The Shadowhand Becomes A Baker

G, Essek/Caleb, 2.1k

My first critrole fic! This one surprised me in a couple of ways. Before this fic, I had thought that a beauyasha wedding one-shot I planned shortly after the c2 finale would be the first critrole fic I published, then I thought that I would re-spec a ramble about the relationship between Essek and the Bright Queen and publish that as my first critrole fic, then Ephred the Shadow Baker showed up and my twitter moots convinced me it was Essek in disguise (still holding on to that belief btw) and then I wrote this fic in 2-3 days before anyone else had the same idea. And I was so pleasantly surprised by how kind and eager shadowgast fic readers were! I had seen it ofc, but it's different to be on the receiving end. Before writing critrole fic, I had written some Fire Emblem fics that existed in corners that were far less active than shadowgast in general, much less shadowgast in 2021, so I had not been expecting such an enthusiastic response. It also surprised me that several people complimented my descriptions of the baked goods because at least two of them involved citrus in pastries, which is something I actually hate. I just pretended that someone might like them for the exact reason I hate them and really leaned in to everything I hate about cinnamon rolls that have orange in them. Turns out when you do that, you get some really vivid descriptions. So... writing tip, I guess?

5. something you want other people to see

How to Rest Chapter 1

G, Essek/Caleb, 3.2K

Shadowgast first date! This chapter makes me so soft! Back in my rom-com era! They have a picnic! They stargaze! Caleb flirts! Essek bluescreens! It is one of the joys of my life to make the wizards be awkwardly in love with each other (or, in this case, not quite in love yet, but on their way there), and this date is chock full of it. The hello and goodbye are two of my favorite moments. I really enjoy the imagery and how I conveyed the very blush-y, awkward first-date dynamic. I also love their conversation and Essek's subsequent introspection while they're stargazing. It's sweet and tender and layered, and I got to make a subtle nod to one of my favorite Fire Emblem games and the role that made me fall in love with Matt Mercer in the first place because sometimes two of your favorite ships are about people finding each other against all odds and who knows why their lives are intertwines, but man, are we glad they are.

tagging: @awesomefrogofawesome, @astrasia, @esseekthelyss, @quinn-of-aebradore, @cogsandsprings

[makeela]

[slaps miquella on the back] this little guy can hold so many alter egos

ok. here it is. my gigantic tinhat thesis about Miquella and my belief that he is, in fact, like, just so many different guys. at the same time. or, well, mostly women, actually. diversity win!

Disclaimer: this post assumes in large part that you already know a fair bit of the “established lore”. Some things may only be mentioned in passing or glossed over for this reason.

lets fucking go

Miquella and St Trina

Relevant item descriptions:

“Candlestand torch that burns with a light-purple flame. The carvings depict St. Trina, but in adult form, somewhat unnervingly. The light-purple flame induces sleep.” (St. Trina’s Torch, found in the Consecrated Snowfield)

“Silver sword carried by clerics of St. Trina. Inflicts sleep ailment upon foes. St. Trina is an enigmatic figure. Some say she is a comely young girl, others are sure he is a boy. The only certainty is that their appearance was as sudden as their disappearance.” (Sword of St. Trina, found at the Forsaken Ruins south of the Divine Tower of Caelid) “Tree branch blessed with an incantation of unalloyed gold. Craftable item. Pierce a foe, using FP to turn them into a temporary ally. The Empyrean Miquella is loved by many people. Indeed, he has learned very well how to compel such affection.” (Bewitching Branch)

“A record of crafting techniques left by a man who was utterly captivated by St. Trina. He continued the search for her in his slumber. Acquire the knowledge to craft the following: - Bewitching Branch” (Fervor’s Cookbook[3], obtained from Gideon in Roundtable Hold after entering Mohgwyn Palace and resting at a Site of Grace)

This one was kind of a given, but is important to mention for subsequent tie-ins. Given these item descriptions, plus cut quest content from a character named Rhico, which was meant to end in the Consecrated Snowfield after helping him travel in dreams in his search for St. Trina (written below) it’s fairly easy to assume that Miquella and St. Trina were, at least at one point, the same person.

“You know, a holy personage was once abducted from these lands. Thus I am here in search of clues that might unravel the mystery. The abductor's bloody footprints are said to have disappeared in the Forest of Ancient Bowers. Finally, I have found it! St. Trina's, no, Lord Miquella's cadaver.” 

Empyreans, as We Know Them

According to Ranni upon doing her quest, there are currently three (technically two, if you don’t count Ranni herself, which she does not) distinct Empyreans. Herself, Malenia, and Miquella.

“I was once an Empyrean. Of the demigods, only I, Miquella, and Malenia could claim that title. Each of us was chosen by our own Two Fingers, as a candidate to succeed Queen Marika, to become the new god of the coming age."

However, if you look deeper into item descriptions, you’ll find out there was a fourth Empyrean: The Gloam-Eyed Queen. 

“Superior Black Flame incantation of the Godskin Apostles. Summons a circle of Black Flame pillars around the caster. Charging increases the size of the circle. The Gloam-Eyed Queen led the apostles. It is said that she was an Empyrean chosen by the Fingers.” (Black Flame Ritual)

Now, at this point it’s worth noting that there are only two required qualifications to be an Empyrean. You must be chosen by your own Two Fingers, and you have to be a direct descendant of exclusively a god. Ignoring the specifics of Ranni’s parentage (something to get into later, but not on this post), unless Marika and Radagon had additional children or there’s another god floating around, our options are very slim for who it might be.

“Remembrance of Malenia, Goddess of Rot, hewn into the Erdtree. The power of its namesake can be unlocked by the Finger Reader. Alternatively, it can be used to gain a great bounty of runes. Miquella and Malenia are both the children of a single god. As such they are both Empyreans, but suffered afflictions from birth. One was cursed with eternal childhood, and the other harbored rot within.” (Remembrance of the Rot Goddess)

The Gloam-Eyed Queen and Why She’s Important

The Gloam-Eyed Queen was an Empyrean who went toe-to-toe with Marika, which eventually led to Marika removing the Rune of Death from the Elden Ring and sealing it in Farum Azula, a realm separate from the Lands Between where time works differently. The Gloam-Eyed Queen presided over the Godskins, and more importantly, raised(/potentially birthed) them. She was eventually defeated by Maliketh, and Destined Death — alongside her and her disciples’ ability to kill Gods — was sealed away.

“Sacred cloth of the Godskin Apostles, made from supple skin sewn together. Successive attacks restore HP. The Gloam-Eyed Queen cradles newborn apostles swaddled in this cloth. Soon they will grow to become the death of the gods.” (Godskin Swaddling Cloth, found after defeating the Spirit-Caller Snail in the Spiritcaller cave, located in the Mountaintops of the Giants)

“Sacred sword of the Gloam-Eyed Queen who controlled the Godskin Apostles before her defeat at the hands of Maliketh. The Black Flames wielded by the apostles are channeled from this sword.” (Godslayer Greatsword)

“Robe made by sewing together patches of smooth skin. Worn by the Godskin Apostles. The apostles, once said to serve Destined Death, are wielders of the god-slaying Black Flame.  But after their defeat by Maliketh, the Black Blade, the source of their power was sealed away.” (Godskin Apostle Robe)

So now that we know all of that, what’s so important about her? Firstly, she rose in direct defiance of the Golden Order: while we don’t know what her motivations were exactly, we know that she could wield Destined Death and could kill not only Marika, but would have been in a position to kill an Outer God, as well. As far as we know, Malenia had no intention to inherit the Elden Ring, and was fully in service to her brother. This leaves only two obvious possibilities (not including a third, which will be mentioned later): Ranni and Miquella, who both are clearly resentful of the Golden Order, though for different reasons. While it’s conceivable that Ranni could’ve been the Gloam-Eyed Queen, especially given her close proximity to Destined Death with the Night of Black Knives, something like that wouldn’t have been necessary for her to shed her body if she had control over Destined Death in the first place — she would’ve been able to shed her Empyrean flesh long before Maliketh sealed away Destined Death. This leaves Miquella.

Miquella’s Haligtree and His Purpose "... Only... a little further now... Show me the path, O gentle lights... the path to Elphael." (Lost Spirit NPC, Consecrated Snowfield)

Miquella’s Haligtree, hidden behind a waygate in the Albinauric town of Ordina, is presented to the player as a place those shunned by the Golden Order could turn to. You’re first made aware of it in Liurnia upon meeting Albus, who gives you the right half of the Haligtree Medallion and urges you to seek out Latenna, so that you might help her journey to the Consecrated Snowfield.

“A chosen land awaits us Albinaurics. The medallion is the key that leads to the city. It's only a quaint treasure, for we who cannot make the journey. But for dear Latenna, it is needed. To fulfill her purpose.” (Albus dialogue)

“Flanged iron cap adorned with a crown of unalloyed gold. Increases faith. Worn by foot soldiers sworn to the Haligtree. Who is that Miquella shall bless, if not the low and the meek?” (Sacred Crown Helm)

“Silver helm of Loretta, a Knight who served Miquella's Haligtree. Loretta, once a royal Carian Knight, went on a journey in search of a haven for Albinaurics, and determined that the Haligtree was their best chance for eventual salvation.” (Royal Knight Helm)

Upon arrival, you find Haligtree town full to the brim with Misbegotten, who are well-known to be oppressed under the Golden Order. (You’ll also find several Spirit-Caller Snails — this is important for later.) 

This was not, however, Miquella’s original intent in creating the Haligtree. His initial goal was to cure Malenia of the affliction she’s suffered since birth: the Scarlet Rot, and later, free Godwyn from his half-life as the Prince of Death. Since this was something that wasn’t viable under the Golden Order, he split off to create his own Erdtree that could hopefully help in curing his siblings. This research led him to Unalloyed Gold, which, short of removing the Outer Gods entirely, is a way to stall their affliction. This is shown both in the case of Scarlet Rot (Malenia’s armor and prosthetics, Cleanrot Knight armor, Haligtree/Elphael Knight armor) as well as the Frenzied Flame (Unalloyed Gold Needle). 

“One of the incantations of the Golden Order fundamentalists. A gift of gratitude to the young Miquella from his father, Radagon. Produces a golden ring of light and fires it across a wide area. Charging enhances range. And yet, the young Miquella abandoned fundamentalism, for it could do nothing to treat Malenia's accursed rot. This was the beginning of unalloyed gold.” (Radagon’s Rings of Light)

Before looking at how this all comes together, it’s also important to note that in Kale’s cut questline, we see that St. Trina would sing to the merchants to try and stave off the Frenzied Flame. This is the same song that some merchants can be found playing. Link to a youtube video containing the entire cut questline can be found here: https://youtu.be/LK_8F_XwLaE

Where Miquella and the Gloam-Eyed Queen Come Together

Let’s start with the obvious. All Godskins are weak to sleep — in fact, Godskin Duo is the only main story boss receptive to sleep past a brief stagger. Continuing on the sleep thread, all spirit-type enemies (Fia’s Champions, Niall/O’Neil adds, Spirit Soldiers in Castle Sol, etc.) are immune to sleep with the exception of the spirit versions of the Godskin Duo that you fight in the Spiritcaller cave and Spirit-Caller Snails. Despite the name, Spirit-Caller Snails are classified as Those Who Live In Death. Regardless, they are also the only enemy of this type not immune to sleep. As we know already, St. Trina is associated with sleep, and we have established for our purposes here that St. Trina and Miquella are one in the same, and given the fact that these are both outliers specifically because they can be slept, it’s hard not to draw a conclusion between the two. 

(As a note, I don’t think Spirit-Caller Snails on their own are SUPER hard evidence or anything, but laying out that they are all either related by Mohg, Miquella, or Godskins even coincidentally is kind of important)

It’s also definitely worth mentioning that there are only three instances of Spirit-Caller Snails outside of the Haligtree. The first is the faux Godskin Duo who drop the Godskin Swaddling Cloth on defeat, as well as lesser Spirit-Caller Snails in the same cave who summon wolves and (more importantly) disciples of Okina. For those who may not remember, Bloody Finger Okina is the NPC invasion in Mountaintops who drops Rivers of Blood. The second instance is in the Leyndell Catacombs — you know, the ones at the bottom of the sewers, where you can find Mohg’s shackle. This Spirit-Caller snail is protecting the Haligdrake Talisman +1. Lastly, and least importantly (or maybe not, depending on how you feel about “the arbitrary number is the same so therefore it MUST mean something”), in Road’s End Catacombs there is a Spirit-Caller snail that summons Crucible Knights Siluria and Ordovis. On its own this doesn’t mean much, but overall there are seven illusory walls in the dungeon, which strangely enough matches up with the Godskin Noble Robe item description: 

“Robe made by sewing together patches of smooth skin. Subcutaneous fat makes it plump and soft. Worn by Godskin Nobles, known for their seven-face aprons. Strengthens the Noble Presence incantation. Nobles are the most ancient apostles who are said to have assimilated inhuman physiology. Not unlike the crucible, the Erdtree in its primordial form.”

Now, let’s talk about the Black Flame Protection incantation. It’s given to you by Gideon after you arrive at the Haligtree and return to Roundtable Hold. This is the item description:

“A Black Flame incantation of the Godskin Apostles. Summons black fire within, increasing physical damage negation. However, sacred flasks and other such forms of HP restoration are impaired. The Apostles were all embraced by the Gloam-Eyed Queen, and the Black Flame was their armor within.”

Within the context of what and whom Miquella welcomed at the Haligtree — and the fact that this is given to you upon entering the Haligtree — it seems far from unlikely that he would turn away Godskins on his doorstep. 

Other things that are interesting but inconclusive/not worth a full paragraph:

The location where you get the Sword of St. Trina is pretty close to the Divine Tower of Caelid, where you fight a Godskin Apostle for their armor set and the Godslayer Greatsword

Miquella likely has some type of connection to the crucible, or something similar spawned from the Haligtree, considering it was basically a “proto-Erdtree” and Miquella was trying to grow his own; this could have led to physical deformities in the Godskin Nobles if they were present

Black Flame Monks are just Flame Monks that abandoned the Giantsflame in lieu of Black Flame. Doesn’t really have much to do with anything other than proximity, since Giantsflame originates in the Mountaintops

Expanding upon this point, the Black Flame Monk Amon ashes are found on the Hidden Path to the Haligtree after defeating the hidden stray Mimic Tear. Item description states that he was the first of the Flame Monks to convert.

Millicent’s optional quest location that lets you summon her at Dominula (Windmill Village) to fight the Godskin Apostle. This is available only after giving her the Valkyrie’s Prosthesis at the Erdtree-Gazing Hill, which means her route from that Site of Grace to the DTS outside Leyndell (her next summon location) is much longer than necessary, and there’s no plot reason for her to have gone there.

What About Melina?

Disclaimer: very little of this is supported by actual in-game item descriptions or text. This is based almost entirely off of my own inferences and a few lore tidbits.

Earlier I mentioned that there was another possibility for who the Gloam-Eyed Queen could be. This is, of course, Melina. She’s an extremely popular choice for people’s depictions of the Gloam-Eyed Queen, especially since in the Frenzied Flame ending she’s shown to have one purple (“gloam”) colored eye, and she promises to deliver the Tarnished Destined Death. 

“Lord of Frenzied Flame... I will seek you, as far as you may travel... To deliver you what is yours. Destined Death.”

She also has multiple burn scars that would be consistent with either Black Flame or Destined Death, and upon sacrificing herself to burn the Erdtree and grant the Tarnished entry into Farum Azula, she says,

“The one who walks alongside flame, Shall one day meet the road of Destined Death. Good-bye.”

She also brings up being “burned and bodiless” upon resting at a Grace in Altus Plateau for the first time, and later explains that she only has a physical body at the foot of the Erdtree, in Leyndell.

“The Erdtree...is close. Only a little further till the foot of the Erdtree, and the accord is fulfilled. It takes me back. I was born at the foot of the Erdtree. Where mother gave me my purpose. Though now, everything is lost to me. I...have to ascertain for myself. The reason for which I live, burned and bodiless.”

“My utmost thanks. For bringing me to the base of the Erdtree. Here, I can govern my own movement. And thus, the accord is fullfiled. I shall depart to ascertain the purpose I was given.”

Now, it’s not that I think Melina wasn’t the Gloam-Eyed Queen! Quite the opposite, in fact. It’s important to note here that we do not, for sure, know Melina’s parentage, but from context clues (born at the foot of the Erdtree, purpose given to her by her mother which she shirks upon getting to the Mountaintops, semi-corporeal form consistent with curses put on Malenia and Miquella) we can assume that her parents were Radagon and Marika. The problem is that she would’ve had to have been a hidden child, something that seems impossible to do, especially within the more omniscient scope of item descriptions that don’t even remotely mention a secret child but do mention other “secret” things, like Radagon/Marika being the same person, or the existence of Mohg and Morgott.

Truthfully, I’m not certain Melina exists at all. Or, at least, I don’t believe she exists in the traditional sense — her existence and consciousness are very real, but are probably more in line with, say, Radagon. Let me explain.

Miquella is the strongest Empyrean of all. This is stated outright by Malenia, and given what we know of him, there’s no reason not to believe her. He’s the spitting image of Marika, because he’s essentially a clone of her. 

“Winged helm made of unalloyed gold. Worn by Malenia, Blade of Miquella. Malenia awaited Miquella at the foot of the husk. "My brother will keep his promise. He possesses the wisdom, the allure, of a god—he is the most fearsome Empyrean of all." (Malenia’s Winged Helm)

Of course, he’s not as strong as Marika, due to the birth defect that keeps him in a child’s body, which is why he chose to go into slumber in a cocoon — so that he might overcome his curse and ascend to godhood. Despite this, I do think he would be capable of splitting himself off similarly to Marika, though perhaps not in quite as solid a form, perhaps due to the fact that he’s in a “dream” state, so interactions with the  “real” world may be fuzzier and less clear. This could also potentially explain why Melina was in possession of the Spectral Steed Whistle, which clearly belonged to Miquella prior to the events of the game. This is evidenced not only in the fact that the whistle is very similar in appearance to other unalloyed items, but also in the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC art, he appears to be riding Torrent.

This would also provide an explanation on how Melina has so many clear memories of Marika without technically being her daughter, and why she’s able to stave off the Frenzied Flame in the Lord of Frenzy ending — she’s resistant by the same logic that St. Trina was when she attempted to keep the Merchants from joining the Frenzy Hivemind. 

Of course, there’s not loads of evidence here either way. Melina is a mysterious character with very little actual lore to speak of, despite being a “main” character, but I do think her being split off from Miquella, especially as an instrument for him to work in the waking world, goes a long way to fill in inconsistencies left when you take her at face value. 

If you’ve managed to make it this far, thank you so much! I’ve been brewing all of this in my head for months. I’m aware that a lot of it is VERY tinhat theory, but I do think there are solid leads that could amount to something. There are too many coincidences for them all to be… coincidences, you know?

Once again, thanks so much for reading!

[justalittleobsessed]

How Mike and Mikey Came Up with the Perfect Prank

Mike (@justalittleobsessed) has ideas for pranks, okay? Ones that he needs help with. Good thing that Mikey (@spacemimz) seems like a willing participant in the chaos that Mike wants to cause.

AKA

How Mike and Mikey come up with the most sophisticated and mature prank you've ever seen

Part 3 in "The Adventures of Mike and Mikey"

<- Part 2

@tmnt-fandom-family-reunion

“Ok Mikey, I’ll admit that I was wrong.” Mike tells his younger friend, shaking his head in disappointment. “You see, while being a fashion designer gave me much joy, it was in the end a big fat lie. I didn’t think there could be anything better than that at the time. Then. Then.”

Mike grins, stopping his pacing. This. This right here was his calling and he made a bluff by saying anything else was. How could he make such a mistake with what is happening now? How could he be so foolish as to not tell the future and see what was going to happen? Why did he have to get immortality and not something like premonition? It would’ve totally changed his outlook on previous events.

Whatever. My true calling is here now.

He rubs his hands like an evil villain would in a cheesy spy movie, following it with a matching laugh. “There have been rumors, Mikey. Rumors that are proving to be true. Want to know what it is?” Mikey chirps, urging Mike to continue. “Everyone is going to prank the counselors. That’s right. The greatest pranking event of our time is underway and we all know that I am a master pranker.”

Pulling out a notebook from his belt, he fans through the pages, waving it around this way and that. “This is our key to the best pranks ever, my orange friend. And I want your help to do it.” He opens up to a specific page. A great page. A perfect page one might say.

A perfect prank for me and Mikey. Absolutely beautiful. Well-crafted. Amazing.

Shoving the open notebook into Mikey’s hands, Mike points to an idea in the middle of the page. “What a masterful prank, amiright?”

Mikey’s eyes furrow, looking at the three words Mike pointed too. They’re underlined, bolded, and circled. His friend stares some more. Then he snorts, something that Mike hasn’t ever heard him do before, rolling his eyes. He looks at the page one more time, then back at Mike, nodding.

“Right? Perfect.” He grabs the book back, shoving it into his belt once again. “So it’s maybe a little childish – but then again when aren’t we – but it’s a classic. And it always works. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gotten my bros with that stupid prank. You think they would figure that one out, right? But nope. The key is to invent lies that are just believable enough for them to look. ‘Made ya look’! I say, then I steal their candy.” He pauses. “Ok well the candy one is mostly at Halloween and Christmas, but the point still stands.”

He plops down in front of his friend who’s already lounging on the ground, putting his hand on his chin in a poor imitation of “The Thinker”. It needs to be good, he knows. But not too over the top, right?

Mike knows these counselors are getting beat on, and he already has some more elaborate pranks set up (him and his twin are moving that along quite nicely) and so this will not only be something small, but something that requires a lot less thought.

“The beauty is in the simplicity,” He continues, and Mikey nods along seriously, “Which is why we need to make it funny, but not crazy.”

Mikey chirps, grabbing his attention as he tries to think of the perfect thing to make the counselors see. He reaches for Mike’s notepad and pen, so he hands them over, getting excited at the look on Mikey’s face. “You got something cooking there, dude?”

He flips to the final page not filled with prank ideas (or just the final page of the notebook), and scribbles something out quickly. Then he hands it back over to the older turtle.

“…a crab?” His friends nod enthusiastically, pointing at the crab and then back at himself with excited chirps. “Oooooo you wanna dress up as a crab and prank them?”

That’s an awesome idea. I knew there was a reason why this little dude was so cool. Well. Other than all the other reasons of course.

“You are a genius. We can swing that, totally. I’ll lead them to you, right? Then,” He snickers, and Mikey follows with a chirp that sounds oddly the same, “Then you’re just there, dancing around in a stupid crab costume. That’s perfect. Love it. Now,” He eyes the box of leftover fashion material from his designer days, “Let’s see about making you that crab costume, huh?”

Pranks with all my friends. This is literally a dream come true.

[stardewspellshed]

Jk I have an actual ask now: how do you go about actually making your spells in stardew? With it not being entirely up to the player where you can place things and what you can pick up and what not, how do you come up with ideas as to what you can do? (My uncertainty is probably to do with the fact that I haven’t the slightest clue what the mechanics actually are save from what I hear from my friends feral rants about the supermarket and eels)

So this ended up being a suuuper long post and I am so sorry lmao. Tried to break it up into sections to make it a little easier to read!

GET TO KNOW THE GAME

The first step to coming up with spells was to learn my medium, to put it in art terms. I played the game purely for the sake of playing the game for a while, and more or less completed several files before I decided to figure out spellcasting. By then I'd had the mechanics memorized enough that everything is second nature now, which means I actually don't really know how to explain it very well in a way that makes sense to other people!

In a nutshell, I'd sorted out how decorating the farm works, what crops I like/don't like growing (which helps for associations!), etc., but also the negative mechanics like "leaving Jack o Lanterns outside on the last night of fall means they'll turn into rotten glurge on the first day of winter" and "villagers walking through your stuff can break or uproot it so be careful where you put stuff if you're sticking things in town".

GET TO KNOW YOUR SPELL ITEMS

So the first solid step I took when I decided to start branching out into using the game for tech magic was to start sorting out my associations/correspondences for villagers and items. This is a massive work in progress because of how much stuff there is in the game and I'm nowhere close to done with actually transcribing it all, but for items I generally use a combination of traditional correspondences and what feels Correct to me.

(This is probably where I'd suggest anyone looking to get into Stardew as a method of casting start—like, at least sort out a few things you think you're going to use a lot— because your process for forming associations is inherently going to be different than mine!)

HOW THE SPELLCRAFTING PROCESS GENERALLY GOES DOWN FOR ME

(Heads up that my practice frequently relies on sympathetic magic and energy work and has since the early days of starting to work with magic. That was five years ago now, so at this point I'm by no means an expert but I have enough practice that I have a comparatively easy time using things that aren't physically there in spellcraft— this may be something that requires a fair bit of practice for other peeps. Adding this warning because I don't want to assume everybody shares my background!)

So when I craft a spell I work backwards. I figure out my goal, what timing (real world and/or in game), villagers, or items would assist in my goal if necessary, draw up a rough plan for what I want to happen in the spell itself then I just... fuck around with each step independently before casting.

I do test runs for each step I want in a spell without actually casting it to make sure it's something I can pull off, sort of like a series of miniature dress rehearsals. If I don't like how it feels or if the mechanics won't let me pull it off, I rework that step on the spot. I will do this as many times as I need to with as many steps as I need to until I have a spell that I feel flows smoothly. This is why I recommend a rough guide, because sometimes things just won't work the way you want them to and you have to rework.

On a final note I do most of my spellwork on my farm because you're pretty free of restrictions and don't run into nonsense like the villager pathing issue I mentioned earlier as often lmao.

I feel like this was incredibly rambly and didn't answer your question but it's the best explanation I've got, I'm so sorry if this wasn't helpful!

[beybladefanboy]

A brief(ish) review of every Beyblade Metal Fury episode

Well, this was a long time coming. Let me be absolutely clear: I did not put this off or abandon this rewatch because I dislike Fury. Not at all. Fury is actually my favourite of the three seasons. The reason I stopped this rewatch was two main factors: 1: it was around this time that I got really sucked into Yugioh VRAINS and with how chaotic my life had been during that time, I decided I would rather spend my free time watching new content than rewatch a show I’d rewatched many times at that point. And 2: I didn’t want to rewatch Ryuga’s death. Yeah… I mean I’m not gonna lie about it.

So after a certain episode, which I will say, the reviews are mostly from memory/rewatching specified scenes/skimming the YouTube uploads and episode descriptions. (Most of these however were written at the time I finished rewatching each episode.) Trust me that I’ve seen this show enough for me to be able to do that and I just didn’t have the time to rewatch all these episodes. However, it bothered me leaving this incomplete so today, I had some time and was thinking of Beyblade so I figured I could finally do it. Now, without further ado, my at first brief, but later not so brief at all because I have so many thoughts on and defenses of Fury, reviews of every Fury episode.

Episode 1: Star Fragment 8.5/10

The best first episode of a season. I love Kyoya and Gingka’s battles in general and seeing them go all out against each other, using the environment itself as weapons against each other is really damn fun. It also sets up the star fragment thing beautifully, instantly showing off their power and hinting at the greater story very early.

Episode 2: Legendary Bladers 7/10

A lot of this episode is exposition but it’s at least interesting. I can’t get over the fact that Beyblade took a real life end of the world prediction and made it part of their plot. The battle portion of this episode is also fine. I can’t tell if I like or hate Johannes based on this episode.

Episode 3: Lynx, The Monster Cat 8/10

Okay, I like Johannes now. He’s funny. And he miraculously gave Gingka a good fight, establishing him early on as a competent blader. Still a little silly that Gingka followed Johannes to a place where he should’ve known his bey would’ve been weaker though.

Episode 4: L-Drago Destructor 8.5/10

I don’t really have much to say on this episode outside of “I like it.” I like the scenes of them play-battling with the little kid, it’s the most light-hearted the show has been in a while, and I love Ryuga so obviously I love his presence in this episode.

Episode 5: Awaken, Anubius! 9.5/10

Ryuga slays three fools in a row and roasts people non-stop in this episode. Well, Yuki’s not a fool, he’s kind of a boss actually: shedding his anxious demeanour in a fit of rage to stand up for his friends. These characters are both amazing, they really shine in this episode.

Episode 6: Requirements of a Warrior 9/10

Having Gingka, Kyoya, and Yuki acknowledge that they need to actually master their beys and working to do so is really good and needed to be brought up. Also, that fire escape scene is really intense. The idea of being trapped in a fire really freaks me out so this could just be a me thing but it’s legitimately a well crafted scene. And Yuki, Kyoya, and Gingka fighting a volcano is the silly yet epic fun I expect from this show.

Episode 7: Kenta’s Determination 7/10

Oh boy, this episode. I both love and hate this episode. Well, not hate. I hate one scene of it that lasts a minute and really doesn’t affect the episode. The stalking though… I don’t know, it could just be me but it bugs me. Not as much as it used to, I’m willing to give this episode a fair score because it is really cute. Ryuga is a boss like usual and he shows a hint of his softer side for the first time in his scenes with Kenta. It’s pretty subtle, and easy to miss if you don’t know Ryuga all that well, which I like. This episode trusts that the audience knows Ryuga well enough at this point to know that him waiting on Kenta in the desert and later giving him food and letting him stick with him isn’t something he would do for just anyone. They’re small hints, which is all they needed to be, and they make the second half of this episode for me. It’s honestly one of my favourites to talk about and analyse, even if I feel that there are some… unwanted implications.

Episode 8: The Crimson Flash 7.5/10

The first half of the episode is pretty typical but still fun. Then we get to the second half and the moment they said that someone challenged the entire school to a battle, I was already dying of laughter and the rest of this episode straight up killed me. Johannes is so funny, I can’t take it.

Episode 9: The Greatest Tag-Team Tournament 9/10

The first half of this episode had me cry-laughing, between Johannes’s utter ridiculousness and the absurdity of some of these other opponents. Then the second half of this episode is Yuki depicting an accurate representation of one of my anxiety episodes which makes me instinctively want to shield him from all harm. Great episode overall.

Episode 10: A New Roar! 8/10

I love Kyoya, and this is a Kyoya episode. A Kyoya episode where he slays a fool and creates a new special move. His opponent is Johannes, who I've grown to love on this rewatch and find to be really entertaining. So why didn’t I give this episode a higher rating? Easy: the Motti stuff makes me uncomfortable. Johannes snapping at her and knocking both her and Benkei out (in the most cat-like way he could) was a good pay-off but that entire stretch of them kinda sexualizing (or at least romanticising) this underaged girl was really uncomfortable. It wasn’t as bad as I remembered (for some reason I remembered Johannes acting creepy during this and was exceedingly relieved and glad that he actually didn’t), but it does detract from an otherwise great episode.

Episode 11: Cosmic Tornado 8/10

This episode is ten times worse than the Gingka vs Ryuga Fusion battle for people with a fear of heights (me). At least in that one you could see the bottom. This is a bottomless pit full of mist that two teenagers are constantly dangling over. Like jeez, do you wanna give me a heart attack?!

Other than that, it’s fine, I like most of the characters and the ending is chilling but man does this episode give me anxiety.

Episode 12: The God of Saturn, Kronos 8.5/10

The title of this episode is so dumb, but the episode itself is good. The Beylin Fist are an interesting group and this battle is so back and forth I genuinely wasn’t sure who would win. Cool ass episode.

Episode 13: Showdown at the Tower of Babel 10/10

Ryuga, Kenta, and Tsubasa all in one episode battling in and eventually destroying a historical building? This should be my favourite episode ever! :D And I do love it, definitely the most out of the Fury episodes so far. It’s got a hint of Johannes toward the beginning, a nice treat, shows that Kenta has already grown a ton since he started following Ryuga (despite his loss he still gave Tsubasa a hard fight), has Tsubasa as basically the main character we follow throughout the tower, and has Ryuga make a new ultimate move, kick Tsubasa’s ass, and knock over the Tower of Babel (the symbol of humanity’s arrogance and pride from what I understand) like the total badass he is. I love everything about this episode.

Episode 14: New Team Dungeon! 7.5/10

The opening of this episode is a bit spooky. I forgot how much of a cult the followers of Nemesis really are. I actually 100% see how these characters fell for this stuff. “The world is a constant cycle of destruction and rebirth, only through great darkness will a new dawn occur.” Does actually sound legit. Villains are far scarier to me when you can see their reasoning and how people can fall prey to it…

The rest of this episode is mainly set up and exposition but it’s interesting stuff that brings Masamune, Toby, Zeo, and Tsubasa into the main plot, giving Toby and Zeo new beys, and even giving Team Excalibur a bit of screen time. Good stuff.

Episode 15: Destroyer Dome 8/10

This is my favourite stadium in all of Beyblade. That seems like a weird thing to draw attention to, but the Destroyer Dome itself is so damn cool. The way the beys circle around the whole thing like comets, sticking to the ceiling and walls and looping around in every possible direction. It’s a stadium Captain Capri would’ve loved- OH MY GOD THEY BROUGHT HIM BACK JUST TO BATTLE IN THIS COOL ASS STADIUM?! HELL YEAH! I love this episode.

I do have one major gripe with this episode though: the Garcias faking a fight was… well, kind of a waste of both time and potential. It would’ve been so much more interesting both as a story and for them as characters if the fighting was genuine.

Episode 16: The New Striker is Complete! 8.5/10

JACK MY BELOVED MAKES A CAMEO! AND KING THE FUNNY ADORABLE LITTLE SHIT IS INTRODUCED. OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD!

Oh yeah and the Russian team and Masamune and some other people are there I guess. It’s a fun battle royale. I really like the part where Lera reveals she has a special move and it makes Jigsaw visible again. Good stuff, even if it ends too quickly.

Episode 17: I Am the Champion! 9.5/10

DESTROYER DOME AT NIGHT, DESTROYER DOME AT NIGHT, DESTROYER DOME AT NIGHT, OH MY GOD IT’S SO PRETTY. THE BEYS LOOK LIKE FIREWORKS AS THEY CLASH OH MY GOD-

Also, the destroyer dome becomes a giant hamster ball and King and Masamune run with it like they’re on a treadmill. I dunno how the others got out when it was made clear by Blader DJ last episode that there’s no way to get out of the stadium once you get in but it’s cool so I’ll let it pass. But yeah anyways, King’s backstory gives him an honestly really uplifting reason that he’s so arrogant and reckless, which does lower the annoyingness of his previous and future actions a lot. He’s excited to be battling and not thinking of anything else in that excitement. He acknowledges that Masamune is someone he can use his full strength against and he respects him as an opponent. It’s nice and very sweet and all that mushy stuff. I love it.

Episode 18: The Maze of Mist Mountain 7/10

Half of this episode is just the main characters, and returning side characters Nile and Demure (nice to see them again) wandering around some mist. … okay then. The other half is a decent battle between Gingka and Ryuto. It’s a decent introduction to this story arc. I like the new character, Ryuto, even if he doesn’t really add much.

Episode 19: The Lion’s Pride 9/10

The travelling segments of this one are a lot more interesting than last time, being more than the characters just wandering around in some mist. And the battle portion is just really damn good. Team Wild Fang is back! Heck yeah! And Kyoya vs Aguma is a constant explosion match (both literally and figuratively) and Nile, Demure, and Benkei taking on Johannes, Bao, and the Beylin Fist bladers is also a fun side battle.

Also, while I was disappointed with how this character arc was resolved and the way it starts is a little weird (I’ll get to that later), it was still a really interesting idea to have Kyoya basing his self-worth on his independence, and seeing it as a weakness to rely on others. It’s a very toxic mindset that fits his character and would’ve been great had it been properly addressed. But I’ll get to that when I get to that.

Episode 20: Guardian of the Temple, Dynamis 8/10

Dynamis has probably the best introduction out of all the legendary bladers. All the others just kinda walk in like “hey I’m so and so and this is my goal.” Dynamis though? He speaks to the group when they’re lost in the mist as if he’s speaking from the sky like a god or something, then when they finally get into his temple he challenges them to a battle, smirking like a sassy little shit as he wins. Also, he literally can hear the stars talk, I forgot this detail. My point is Dynamis is hecking cool.

Episode 21: The Legend of Nemesis’ Revival 8/10

Gingka vs Dynamis is a good battle but then it gets cut off without an outcome and then the rest of this episode is exposition. Out of all the exposition dump episodes in this show, I do think this one is the best as it’s the most interesting and action-packed but there is too much information in this spiel. If there’s any part of Fury that I can agree is rushed, it’s this. I wish the exposition in this episode had been shortened and maybe some of it spread out to other episodes so it’s not all dumped on the audience at once. The main things we really needed going forward from this episode was the origin of Nemesis, the way they were defeated long ago, and the fact one of the remaining legendary bladers is the Venus blader with a Quetzalcoatl.

So while this episode wasn’t the best way to convey most of its information, it’s still interesting and important information for the story, which I do think is a good story. So I’m giving this episode a somewhat higher score than what it probably deserves. I just enjoy Fury’s lore and Dynamis and the commentary on humanity and its history that much. I can see how this episode could bore and there were times the over-explaining bogged me down while watching but overall it was still a delight.

Episode 22: The Four Season Bladers 8.5/10

Okay, this exposition is a lot simpler and easier to follow. It takes up far less of the episode and cuts to the chase much quicker. Then the rest of this episode is the craziest battle royale of the entire show so far, ending when Kyoya reaches his breaking point which has been building over the past few episodes. He allowed what may have been just a small feeling at first to fester on the inside since he refused to tell anyone what he was going through until he eventually just snapped, which is pretty relatable to me personally. Kyoya’s arc in these episodes is well done. I understand the criticism that it’s strange he took Aguma’s words to heart so much when Kyoya doesn’t really know him and normally wouldn’t care about taunts like that. I want to argue it wasn’t specifically Aguma, or even what he said, it was Kyoya’s own internal realisation that he wasn’t living up to his own standards of strength. He internalised the idea that relying on others was showing weakness, an idea he carried yet simultaneously seemed to have been contradicting even before the start of the show. That kind of life shattering realisation is going to cause a huge reaction, no matter what prompted it. If Kyoya’s character arc this season had been resolved better (which again I’ll get to), it would be one of my favourite arcs of the show. I cannot stress enough how good of a setup this really was and how much potential this had.

Episode 23: The Battle of Beyster Island 8.5/10

“tHaT gUy lOoKs iNtErEsTiNg.”

I love King, oh my god. He is so freaking excited and happy to be battling that even when Aguma reveals a move that could defeat him, King just goes “that is so awesome!” I love his energy so much, he’s basically an excited fanboy and I love it. This episode was fun overall but King is the one who shines the brightest in my opinion.

Episode 24: Two Big, Fierce Battles! 9.5/10

I can totally understand how the back and forth switching between two unrelated battles might be off-putting… but I don’t have that issue. I love all these characters. I love seeing Kenta’s growth and Gingka acknowledging him. I love getting more of those subtle hints that Ryuga has grown to care about Kenta, and of course, the banter between Ryuga and King. There’s a reason I created a ship between these two. Even though they only met once in this battle, King not knowing who he is and just being excited to battle a strong opponent and Ryuga being confused/annoyed with him is really fun. Kenta and Gingka’s battle is definitely the more plot relevant one (and oh my gosh I love that scene on the beach) while Ryuga vs King could definitely be called fan service, but it’s great fan service that fits right in perfectly dammit! It’s something kid-me wanted to see ever since King’s reverse rotation was introduced and it’s great!

Episode 25: The Unseen Opponent 7.5/10

Chris’s introduction episode. It still annoys me how insistent the characters are that Masamune has to be the Legendary Blader and ignore Chris entirely and Chris’s bey’s physics are impossible but the battle in this episode is still good. And my god do I love Chris. He’s already a huge mood with the way he talks about his job. “I’ve dealt with much worse than this!” “If I lose, I will not be able to survive in this world!”

Episode 26: Orion’s Whereabouts 8.5/10

This episode is so chaotic, I love it. Everyone is just in a mosh pit of madness, with King defending his friend, Gingka trying to get him to chill, Chris instantly sucking up to his new boss, Ryuga showing up to wreak havoc, it’s all so damn fun. Stand out moments from this episode definitely include Kenta hugging the evil out of Ryuga, King cheering Masamune up, and that chilling ending. It’s great fun, and could be the last really fun episode of Fury as soon we get into the emotionally intense stuff…

Episode 27: The Lion in the Wilderness 7/10

Yu is such a brat but in a charming way. I can’t stay mad at the little guy, especially when he’s the one to call out Kyoya for not knowing shit about lions. Haha if only that weren’t the closest thing to resolving this character arc. Overall, fine episode. I like Tithi just fine and Kyoya and Yu are at least funny. Next episode though…

Episode 28: The God of Venus: Quetzalcoatl! 5/10

Yu and Tithi’s battle is pretty fun, it’s a good official introduction to Tithi. The first half of this episode is fine, fairly enjoyable if a bit standard. The second half though… ugh. I wrote a whole fanfiction rewriting this which… should explain how I feel about it. What Kyoya does here feels so out of character at this point and even if it’s not, it’s just irritating and the destiny moral is really fumbled here. Every other episode says the choices of the legendary bladers will decide the fate of the world and the narrative of this very episode even supports that: Kyoya chose to leave the heroes and then chose to return. Destiny didn’t actually force him to do anything. Kyoya just claims it’s his destiny out of nowhere. It fumbles the “destiny is a choice” idea and feels like an excuse to get him to return quickly without acknowledging the reason he left in the first place. Yu saying lions hunt in groups isn’t good enough because Kyoya doesn’t even acknowledge that or think about it… at all. So yeah it’s lazy writing and really disappointing considering how much potential Kyoya’s arc had. The final scene is pretty cool though, good setup for the next episode.

Episode 29: The God of Destruction’s Revival! 10/10

(This is the point where I start reviewing the episodes based on memory/episode descriptions.)

I’ll be honest, most of the episodes that were originally two 11 minute episodes flow pretty seamlessly as one put together episode. This is the only one where I can tell this was originally two episodes, as the two halves follow two completely different sets of characters. The first half is the revival of Nemesis, a chilling, tense spectacle, while the first half almost exclusively, and a little out of nowhere, is a battle between Kenta and Ryuga. That being said, while I definitely prefer the second half, both halves are fantastic. A little odd when put together, but tonally they mesh well enough and I love how much Kenta has grown in this episode and his plan to beat Ryuga is so good that even though I knew it wouldn’t work, I see how it could have worked. Plus, y’all know I love their friendship, it’s just so damn wholesome, I can’t-

Episode 30: The Child of Nemesis 7/10

Hello, obviously Doji in a top hat and trench coat. Why are you here exactly? Yeah I know his first appearance was in the last episode but I have less to say about this episode than I did that one so I’m gonna talk about the Doji thing here. Bringing Doji back was almost completely unnecessary and weird but honestly, after seeing how much more poor and ill-fitting his presence in Shogun Steel was, his appearance in Fury feels pretty inoffensive and just… whatever. He’s pointless but not unbearable.

Otherwise, cool ass raid episode, I like evil Dynamis and Kyoya showing up at the end. Nothing else really sticks out about this episode but it’s not bad. It’s just… not one that I can instantly point to and go “ah yes, the episode where this happened!” The main battle is Gingka vs Evil Dynamis. We’ve already seen Gingka vs Dynamis and they don’t even get to finish their battle. The episode is still fun but… feels like it could’ve been trimmed back to tighten the pacing.

Episode 31: Four Hearts 8/10

Okay, this episode is much more memorable. Kyoya vs Dynamis and Aguma vs Tithi are both fun battles (even if I don’t get why the Planet bladers were descendants rather than reincarnations when the latter makes way more sense with what’s presented in this episode, is that just a dub thing?) and the bulk of Gingka vs Chris actually happens in this episode. I could’ve sworn that happened in its own episode but… yeah this episode and the previous and following one kind of blend together in my mind because all of them take place in this temple and flow directly into each other. That’s not a knock against the episodes, it’s just how my memory works. This one moves the plot along more than the last one and I love Chris so most of the episode being focused on his battle with Gingka is good in my books.

Episode 32: Come Together, Legendary Bladers! 9/10

Also known as the episode where Ryuga fucks everything up. And every battle from the last episode also ends. A lot of Ls were taken in this episode. By the characters, the episode itself is damn fun. This episode also has two halves that feel a bit pasted together, with the first half focusing on the fallout of the three battles and the second half being the part everyone remembers where all the Legendary Bladers attempt to join together only for the aforementioned Ryuga hecking up everything but these halves mesh much better as it focuses on all the same characters as the first half so there’s no random sudden shift in focus, it’s just the next logical event in the plot.

This episode also features the scene where King and Masamune pose like magical girls. I’m just bringing that up because it’s cute not because it’s relevant.

Episode 33: Diablo Nemesis 8.5/10

The temple getting wrecked took up more time than I remembered but oh well, the first half of this episode is a good display of Rago’s power and while the second half is tonally different, it’s the most logical direction for the plot to go. Plus it’s a nice chance to see the Legendary Bladers interact, in some cases meet, in a way that’s more low-key. As much as I love Fury, I do wish it had more scenes like that, more chances for the characters to just breathe or establish bonds.

Episode 34: To The Final Battle Ground 7.5/10

So for some reason, the official source for Beyblade on YouTube incorrectly titled this and the next episode and also put them out of order. Episode 136 is titled “To The Final Battle Ground” and has that episode’s description but the episode is actually “Episode 137 The Lost Kingdom” and vice versa for the next episode. While I’m not fully rewatching these last eleven episodes due to time constraints, I did check my DVD for Metal Fury (which is an official release) and it didn’t make that mistake, the episodes are titled correctly and in the correct order so this was a mistake the YouTube channel made and I don’t know why it happened or why they haven’t fixed it even 7 years later. For anyone watching Fury, be sure to get the correct order! The show didn’t skip over Aguma’s redemption, the channel just put the episodes in the wrong order!

Anyways, the episode itself. Yeah, it has Aguma’s big redemption moment and… I actually do think it works pretty well. It’s nothing super deep, but he comes to the logical conclusion that saving the world comes before the Beylin Fist’s feud with Beylin and shows his commitment to the group by helping them fight off Johannes and his goons and save their helicopter. The rest of this episode before the battle is just the characters training to prepare for the final confrontation as they don’t know the whereabouts of Nemesis before they get a clue to said whereabouts and decide to go there. Not the most eventful episode but it works well enough. Besides… the next episode is… more eventful to say the least.

Episode 35: The Lost Kingdom 8.5/10

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to have pure pain directly injected into your heart? I don’t have to, I watched this episode.

Try as I might, I cannot get through this episode, or the following one, without crying. Some movies or shows that try to depict a character fighting to their very last breath with every ounce of their strength before ultimately fighting to their last breath, cannot convince me that the character gave it their all. This is not one of those moments. This battle is as long as it needs to be and every moment is there to further the struggle, the slow fall of the once invincible-seeming Dragon Emperor, and I feel every bit of it. It’s the reason I… couldn’t bring myself to rewatch these episodes again at the point in my life I was at when this rewatch occurred. I was already getting my heart violently ripped out by a new show (and general life events that I won’t go into) and didn’t want my comfort show also causing me pain. So while this episode is great, phenomenal even, it’s… the second hardest episode for me to revisit. Entrusted Emotions only barely edges it out because that episode literally traumatised me to the point of developing a phobia. This one… is just a really sad episode that I always grab tissues before.

Doji’s also in this episode and while I don’t feel like his presence in this season was necessary (and in retrospect, it may have just been there to set up Shogun Steel, which I overall didn’t care for), I will say having him specifically there to mock and enrage Ryuga makes it more painful, at least to me.

Episode 36: The Missing Star of the Four Seasons 10/10

Most of the episode, after the gang reacts to the death of Ryuga which is… also… really damn painful… is them struggling against Nemesis, unable to form the barrier to seal him away due to the passing of Ryuga and… yeah it captures that struggle well. The weight of the world is on the group’s shoulders and it is a hopeless impossible battle and you can feel that in the way they get knocked around despite their teamwork and despite them fighting at their hardest. Maybe it goes on a little too long but this is essentially the final battle and the feels are all there throughout and… the scene everyone remembers from this episode…

I did rewatch that scene (and a couple other scenes in the next episode), and my god is it still just as impactful all this time later. The build up, the atmosphere, the feels, the ANIMATION, holy fuck the animation. And the sound design, Ryuga’s harsh breathing, those final words. I don’t even know what to say, this moment is just phenomenal, my favourite in the entire series without question. Really, when I put Flash Sagittario in my top five Fury episodes all that time ago, it included this episode. Both are such a tense fantastic emotional spectacle that flow into each other beautifully.

Episode 37: Flash Sagittario 10/10

Everything I said about last episode applies to this episode, only now the tides have turned in the heroes’ favour with Kenta’s evolution into a legendary blader, with his new Flash Sagittario, which the episode shows off very well. That moment where he defeats Pluto with Diving Arrow gives me all the feels. If I have one gripe in this episode, it’s that there are more flashback sequences than they probably needed but it’s a final battle and the flashbacks don’t take away from or affect the pacing in any major way for me.

Episode 38: Hades’ Persistence 7/10

Oh, right, the last two episodes weren't the final battle. Honestly, could’ve fooled me, with a proper epilogue afterwards, that battle would’ve worked perfectly as the final battle, it shows the Legendary Bladers all working together and while it excludes a few older characters, the setup is cool and unique and fits the teamwork themes even better than Masters’ ending did and the battle itself is entertaining enough for me to forgive its shortcomings.

This… is just the fate of the world coming down to Gingka again. And everyone giving him their power. Again. Fusion did this first and did this better. Because that coming down to Gingka made sense, he was the one with the greatest connection to the villain, Fusion was very much his story and while he’s still the protagonist, he isn’t more important than anyone else in Masters’ final battle of the previous battle of Fury. This… ruins that, it feels really generic and phoned in. It’s not bad though, I do love Kyoya’s speech to Gingka before he and the others give Gingka their power. That does bring everything together really well and makes this otherwise pointless battle more forgivable for me. It’s a slip up for sure but it’s still entertaining.

Episode 39: A Ray of Hope 8/10

“Every bey has a Star Fragment in it so we can all contribute”… okay…? Well, that’s not incorrect or anything, it does fit the lore of the series and brings everyone together for the final climax in a way that episodes 36 and 37 didn’t but… eh, this never did much for me.

Now the epilogue post battle though? That’s some nice stuff. The gang have been through hell but now that it’s over, they pick themselves back up and start to heal. Enough so that Gingka and Kyoya are even willing to have a battle, a no stakes fun battle to see who the true victor between them is, just like old times. A great final note to a great show.

[slayerlevampire]

Technically Untitled - Almost got burned at the stake for this one lads

Idk a very short written thing I made a while ago about Robotnik becoming a vampire

Or something like one anyway

Since everyone is posting about their monster AU's around here aidnakxnskxj

It was a dark and stormy night, perfect for dramatics, dark magic, and mad science... Even if the "storm" was actually heavy snowfall in the form of a blizzard. Ivo Robotnik delved deep into his own writings, his notes scattered across a table as he took his own advice from each paper. As delicate as this process was, he was frantically scrambling to get it right this time, as it would be his last chance. The power to unlimited life came with human sacrifice, he knew that early on in his work, so with his failed attempts so far? The nearby village had finally figured out what was going on despite how much of a recluse he was in the woods. He knew they would be here by morning, so this was his last chance to get this right before he was most certainly taken and executed.

His human sacrifice was currently tied up, wrapped round-and-round in rope to keep them as still as possible. Alive of course, but unconscious by virtue of getting hit really hard on the head.

From tales of magic to science he's tested to be rooted in fact; he finally found that he compiled the key to eternal life. At least, a form of it anyhow. There was no way of truly knowing if this method was the most effective, but he figured that if it worked, it didn't really matter as long as he wasn't making any demonic deals. As easy as making a deal with some otherworldly being might be, there was no way he'd let himself be overshadowed by or even as much as connected to someone more powerful than him, nor would he allow himself to be put in a debt so deep.

This reasoning of his meant that it required him to do a little extra work, crafting his own demonic sigils rather than using ancient ones, so that he could make his own life rather than summoning an existing demon. Not to mention his dabbling into the science of lightning and its electric properties was something that most people this day and age thought was just things to do with deities of sorts, but he knew better. Variations of demons and maybe even angels might exist - along with other "supernatural" entities such as spirits, fairies, or werewolves - but gods, at least of the "all-powerful" kind, were nonexistent. No, this electricity from the sky was the work of natural forces that could be tapped into by less natural means. It just took skill and know-how, both of which Robotnik had acquired.

He took his various items outside into the blizzard, setting up a large circle in the snow of a cleared out area from the forest, his sacrifice in the middle. It pained him inside a bit to be letting his notes get wet from melting ice, but if this worked, he'd have plenty of time to rewrite them anyway. He followed his own instructions, drawing his symbols in the snow, cutting deep enough down to trace them into the icy mud below. Lightning struck a tree not too far off in the forest as he was doing this, almost as if it was a warning, but he ignored it and kept his concentration, mumbling an incantation that was honestly just him repeating a general idea of what he wants to happen. A form of manifestation, if you will.

Once he's got his magic items carved and laid out, he brings his human sacrifice out and in the circle. Then, he looks up to the sky, and counts between lightning strikes. This is the part he's yet to ever get to… And may or may not be the end of him here. So, admittedly, even through his intelligence and certainty that this was going to work, he was still just a tad nervous.

1… 2… 3… 4…

1… 2… 3… 4…

1… 2… 3… 4…

1… 2… 3… 4…

With each set of numbers, he drank from a new vial, each tasting more bitter or rancid than the last. It was like a waltz, counting the time between crashes of thunder and flashes of light until the electrical storm was dancing around his very circle, making it impossible to hear his own chanting even as he raised his voice louder and louder for nature itself to shy away from. The air was full of static, hot like fire despite the torrents of frozen rain that continued to pound down harder on the two forces of life on the ground. Robotnik raised his dagger high as sweat poured from his brow, melting into the clean snow on his face and running down into the earth, and he soon plunged the blade down dramatically into the chest in front of him. The sacrifice's waking scream from the burst of pain wasn't heard by anyone, not even Robotnik himself as the desire for immortality burned in his eyes while he watched the life drain from the only other pair around.

He pulled the dagger back out, and before he could hesitate or second guess himself, ran the side of the blade along his tongue before the air could freeze the blood or make his mouth stick to the metal. Then he plunged the dagger into the ground and raised his arms to the sky, calling out one last incantation to the clouds above.

That's when the first lightning strike hit the inside of the circle, hitting him directly. The pain was indescribable, like he should have been ripped apart from the very impact, but entirely energizing at the same time. The burn was searing just afterward, as if he had been in a fire for hours in the span of a second.

A second strike, hotter than the last, and Robotnik felt his body convulse as he fell backwards into the snow. He couldn't think, couldn't see, couldn't hear, could hardly feel.

A third strike, and he knew no longer. Nothing but electricity and heat as he slipped into unconsciousness.

Into death.

~~~

Everything was too much. Way too much.

Robotnik was already trying to pull himself off the ground, but the snow piled on top of him was oddly sticky. The wind was too loud. Smells too strong. Everything was heavy. He couldn't have possibly been out for long, it was still dark out. However, he may have woken up just in time: The torches and lanterns were already sputtering in the distance. He had to try his best to block out as much as possible. No matter how weak he felt, how overwhelming it all was. He had woken up from a short visit from Death themself, and he was already on the run. He could hardly lift them, but his pure determination got him to pick up what was left of his notes after being in the pounding blizzard so that he could stumble his way back to his house. He needed to hurry, but he needed to change, as he wasn't getting anywhere far like this.

He slammed and barred the door behind himself, and had to continue pushing forward to refrain from just sliding down the wall.

He didn't even realize he wasn't breathing. Wasn't blinking. Wasn't shivering despite the cold, but his hands trembled as he shoved as much of his life's work as he could into a bag. That's all he cared about. No other possessions mattered other than that of his notes. He could hear the mob approaching as he shed his outer layers of heavy clothing, only having enough time to throw on a dry coat before banging sounded at his front door.

A lantern crashed through his window as he lifted his bag over his shoulder, and when the oil spilled it didn't take long for the old, wooden floors to catch fire, along with all the other flammable objects that were nearby. He went to escape out the back door, but it was blocked. They had trapped him inside.

At least, they thought they did, but Robotnik wasn't about to let that stand. He sidestepped what he could around the fire to make sure it didn't catch onto him as he made his way to a ladder, climbing up it and to the roof above in order to escape. It was hard to open with all the snow, but he managed to climb out and look around. His little house here is mildly surrounded, in a sense that if he hits the right spot, he could probably book it. So, that's what he aims for - knowing they'll gather too close if he waits too long - and hopes the snow is deep enough to break his fall somewhat as he jumps from the quickly burning building.

He hits the ground harder than anticipated, pain shooting up his legs, and thus he collapses then and there with all the rest of the pain he has going on. He shakily tries to stand, but before he knows it he's being lifted off the ground and slammed into the wall, the heat from the fire inside burning at his back. He grits his teeth as the man who lifted him up shines a lantern near his face, illuminating both of their angry faces. Though the anger on the man's face changes swiftly to one of disbelief, even mild fear.

"Глаза демона!"

The eyes of a demon.

While the man was distracted, Robotnik took the opportunity to reel back and send a punch as hard as he could muster, which - surprising even himself, with how weak with pain he's been feeling - manages to knock him reeling, dropping Robotnik in the process.

That's when he could smell it.

Another look up from both parties, and that's all it took. The sight of fresh blood pouring from the man's nose, less than a meter away.

Everything else seemed to go hazy, time felt slower. All he could think about was the warm, red flow of life.

Something he no longer had for himself.

Everything went out of focus. Everything, including what was right in front of him.

When he came to, the mob was gone. The snow was red. He was covered in red.

Robotnik felt temporarily satisfied.

[gardengobbo]

April 30th 2024

Not much of a garden update here, but I assure you there has actually been some progress. So here's a photo of one of my dove frens I took one the 28th.

Keep readin' if you wanna hear me blab on about the video posts and ADHD. You've been warned, it's long 😂

So I've been enjoying doing the video-style posts instead of typing 90 paragraphs of nonsense, but I don't want to keep recording with my phone since the videos take up a bunch of space. (As well as me having to take off my dirt-coated gardening gloves every time I want to record.) I could just delete the clips after editing into one video, or just all of them after uploading, but I prefer having things backed up instead of just uploaded online.

I know I could back them up to my computer too, but part of the reason I enjoy the quick clips of nonsense slapped together with minimal editing is because it's simple and I can do it all on my phone. Either plugging it into my computer or even uploading them to Google Drive on my phone then downloading them onto the computer adds extra steps.

Extra steps that seem inconsequential, but something I know about myself is I'm very all or nothing. It's very hard for me to only do half of a thing. In this example that'd be editing the videos together and then hitting the block that I've finished that part and uploaded, but now I need to plug in my phone to the computer to transfer the video files. Or if I back them up to drive, it only has so much space before it yells at me to upgrade lol

Drive seems like the most logical option though as it would give me the freedom to at least have more time before I have to download the backups, however I know for a fact that when that point comes I won't record any more videos even if I want to because I need the space to back them up, but I dont want to sit down on the computer to download the Drive backups because I'm doing other things and will get distracted if I do.

This is a struggle for me in a lot of aspects, can't do Z because I need to do X but I can't do X until I do Y, and I need to finish ABC before I can do Y, but all I really want to finish is Z. And worse is that most times to do Z, there isn't any need for the other stuff. It's just me wanting Z done in a certain way that to do it that certain way, it requires all those other steps. This happens in the garden a lot too, so this rant is kinda still relevant 😅

Thankfully all of that hasn't caused an issue with me just not doing garden things because I want to record it, because trust me when I say that's happened a lot in the past too. (That being me wanting to make a little video of something but not being able to figure out how I want to set up the cameras so I don't do the craft or whatever because I want to record it so it just never happens but sticks in my brain as the thing I want to do but can't till I figure the recording process out.) Depression is the reason why I haven't been gardening 🤣

All this to say I have like, 2 days worth of clips I want to edit into a post to show the progress so far. One day is clips on my phone, the other I recorded with a little action camera and I'm not sure how that's turned out yet since that requires me to upload to the computer to see better. (See computer related snag above as to why thats not done!) Today I might go even further and just bring out my small digital camera I got years ago to do vlogs with, that I never vlogged with.

Which leads me to my last point, and Ima make a poll for thoughts on the idea after this post cause I know this is a lot to read and most folks won't care, and that's fine! I think maybe I will use that camera for vlogging finally. I'd have to learn how to use an actual video editing software, and it'd have to be lightweight cause my once-top-of-the-line-parts-now-10-years-outofdate computer struggles hard to play Helldivers 2 right now, I can't imagine trying to run something like Premier Pro. But to be honest all I want to do is add auto-captions like Ive already done previously so I'm sure I can fine some free or cheap program to do so. I'm just not sure if like, amateur gardening vlog style videos where I mutter to myself as I pour dirt is really a genre of content lmfao. And if it is, it's probs better off on here or tiktok but I'm going insane trying to not film landscape everytime I go to record something.

So like, I dunno, I guess youtube? I can probs figure out how to sorta make it acceptable for portrait orientation viewing after the fact? I have no idea but if there's a gap in video updates for today, that's why 🤣

Alright that's all for now. I gotta get up, get sunscreen'd, and get out there! As long as it's not raining still... it was last night 😅

[varlaisvea]

Happy 10th birthday to my main, Quest Completer! The Vestige, the Hero of Coldharbour, Savior of Tamriel and Nirn, The Soulless, Moon-Hallowed, High King's Arrow, Eye of the Queen, Ahkatuz, Champion of dozens of dignitaries, deities, and political factions, and of course, Grand Master Crafter! Here she is with the senche-tiger she got for being old.

All of my characters have silly names like this, but unlike Quest Completer, the rest of them all have lore-appropriate 'real' names in my mind. The rest of them are people with fleshed-out backstories and reasons why they became Heroes. But QC is just The Vestige, the one without a soul (or a personality to speak of) and no memory of the past. The Vestige asks a ton of dumbass questions, such as "what does a queen do, exactly?", and in my mind this is because, while saving all of existence is a mundane occurrence to them, they are forever figuring out how to exist in a totally unfamiliar world while also being among the most powerful people in its history.

Because of that, and because the Vestige's dialogue contains very little emotion or humor, in my mind QC is basically No Fun and allows herself little ostentation. Even her whimsy, she takes deadly seriously, like she always has a great costume for themed dungeon runs, but she's lowkey competitive about having the best fit. She's a dual-wielding stamina-based Aedric Spear Templar DPS—about as basic as it gets, but she doesn't care about that; it's a very effective way to do a lot of violence, you have to admit. Despite her litany of accomplishments, she enjoys simple pleasures, like moving furniture around 1 centimeter at a time, learning crafting recipes, and running around fields looking for things to harvest. This woman and Bastian Hallix are bffs for a reason.

I overhauled her look for the occasion. Here she is new armor goofin:

And after 10 years I finally convinced her to get all dolled up for something other than a dungeon.

ESO was my first MMO; I liked Skyrim (my first open-world RPG) so much that I bought a computer just to play ESO when it came out. QC was the first character I made, when I had no idea what a 'build' was. She is maxed out in every crafting skill and weapon skill line, and every morph of all of her Class skills. QC made it to Veteran Rank 16 before the Champion system was introduced. She is only just now doing the Craglorn quests because she reached the end of Cadwell's Silver and Cadwell's Gold (both required to advance) over a year before One Tamriel, and I didn't know anyone else playing ESO, so I couldn't access group content. QC is old enough to remember when it was a bizarre occurrence to see another player outside of a city (or at all at night, in the Pacific timezone). She's also old enough to remember picking up literally every single quest she came upon because there just weren't that many quests to do. She truly is the Quest Completer.

QC and I learned how the fuck video games work together. Here's to another 10 years!

[lavender-sunhaven]

So how do we feel about that update

because I'm obsessed

Sheds are changing my life. This is exactly what I wanted. I'm so happy.

(this got really long so I'll put my thoughts under a read more! spoilers for, the update I guess!)

I am speedrunning sheds immediately. I have already found some places to set them up and figured out how I can fit my entire crafting operations into 2 sheds. Now I just need to move over all the stuff in the chests in my one barn so that I can replace it with the shed and put the barn elsewhere.

Then I can use shed 3 for storage as I've wanted so badly so I don't need nearly so many hecking chests everywhere. Shed 4.... I actually don't know what I'll use it for yet. I actually have options! Maybe I will dress it up like a cute little room, or keep some of my pet collection in it, or fill it with stuffed animals, or see if I can make a cute little flower shop like Lavender would want.... I'm excited. I have options again. And assuming I can find somewhere else to put my other barn, that opens up a lot for me.

Also the barn upgrades are great. They don't take up any more space than before, they look cool, sure they give me more junk that I have to remove to fit more animals in but that's always the truth so it's neat. Now I have... ladders I guess. But I can store them in my shed!

But also. Nel'Vari barns. I am. SO excited

the moment I saw. that they had added in a frog barn animal. I knew. I would need Nel'Vari barns immediately. I love him I need 10 of these things right now immediately

All the new animals are so cute! I'm excited to get stuff set up so that I can put them places and gain their resources.

To that end, though, I realized that Nel'Vari barns were going to require me to actually do Progression that I hadn't done yet (because so far I hadn't really found anything I wanted that required Nel'Vari mines stuff. I knew I wanted to get there sooner or later, but just... didn't need to yet). I have a fire under my butt again and I'm actually making progress which feels amazing. Trying to seriously manage multiple farms is going to be a problem but what I really need to find a spot to do a massive amount of wheat production which will help with all the barns. It'll be complicated, but I'll figure it out.

uhhhhh oh yeah more RNPCs happened. They're cool! I like Kai, I've met him and I like his stuff so far as I've seen it. I haven't met Vivi yet but I can't WAIT to forcefully befriend her. Wesley is... Wesley. I'm happy for him. I'll befriend him eventually, probably while I'm in the middle of running around Nel'Vari doing mine stuff.

The house customization I haven't been able to play a lot with yet but I will more when I have my sheds figured out and money to waste. Playing Mix and Match should be fun, and I'm glad they're planning to put out more in the future! Even more stuff to look forward to~

Also now sometimes ghosts come and water my crops and I love them. Me and the ghosts are buds.

But also... this list... ohhhh man this list. I love this list. I'm p excited for most things on it but ESPECIALLY Farm Structures and WG and NV fruit trees. I LOVE fruit trees. I have a whole orchard section on my farm. Passive income is my JAM. Black market? Birthday? MORE RNPCs? I'm looking forward to all of these so much. Race-based dialog I know is something a lot of players have been looking for for a long time so I am interested to see how that gets put in! More dialog is generally good and they seem to have the personalities of the characters pretty well in hand so hopefully they'll just be fun fluff things and Lavender will finally be able to relate to Kitty and Catherine and they'll be best Amari buds forever (And then with Vivi too!)

Anyways I just wanted to spew my thoughts everywhere for a bit because I've been having so much fun again. Tell me your thoughts! Anything you don't like? What do you want to see in the future?

Bonus: Claude continues to have a hard time fighting the vampire allegations.

[seyaryminamoto]

An ask about how you plotted Gladiator raised a good question. How do you keep track of it all? If you write notes, how do you organize them? How many Word files do you have? Or do you use another software?

Well... I can certainly say I've never needed as much backup material to keep up with a story as I have with this one, for obvious reasons X'D

Okay, I had a simple bullet-points list at first, probably started it around the time I was writing either arc 2 or finishing arc 1? At that point, keeping track of what I wanted to happen next wasn't so hard. But I turned this into what you could call a wishlist, haha, of ideas that I wanted to implement in the future, so I dumped those ideas there. Little by little I started articulating, organizing them, and that's kind of how Part 1's structure came to be. Whatever new idea I'd get, I'd add it to the bullet points list. Once I crafted the bulk of the story's outline for the first time, it was initially written there. As of this day... that particular document, which I don't rely on as much anymore, amounts to 3K words, 8 pages worth of very rough, very basic plotting.

But then more complicated arcs started happening. Stuff I REALLY needed to work out in proper detail because I wasn't sure I would be able to just remember whatever I wanted to do. Sometimes inspiration strikes like lighting: hits once and then it's gone and you're just left ambling about, half-blind, unsure of what the hell is going on :'D so I started writing similar bullet points lists that were more detailed structure for the more difficult arcs to plot. Pairs Tournament arc, I think, was the first one to receive this treatment. Fire Lord for a Week arc in Part 2 also had to be handled this way, same as the final arc of Part 2, and the Race, particularly since that one required extra choreographing on my part to get it right. In Part 3, I did this with the Taking Omashu arc as well. There are a few more bullet-point lists about some really important things that will matter in the future... but I can't talk about those yet :'D

Now then, past this: I have the a huge Excel document where I tried to keep track of the disaster ranking of the Superior Gladiator League. As much as Part 3 has been so difficult... not having to update the ranking is so goddamn nice about it :') This document had the ranking itself, the names + locations of all Superior League Arenas, the brackets for every Pairs Tournament we saw, it's also where I kept track of the Race's points... and there's also a very poorly crafted timeline in this document where I tried (and kind of failed) to figure out how many years had passed in the story and how old each character would be :'D as you might be able to tell, this particular document is... a mess. Big mess. I do not recommend looking at it. The timeline in particular is just completely irrelevant tbh...

Because I made a NEW timeline doc that keeps track of... everything. Kind of. Mostly? :'D

The new timeline doc was necessary and I honestly should have had it around from the start, but I spent AGES putting that one off because I have no sense :'D I think I started it in Part 2, REALLY late, as in, when Wan Shi Tong was writing down what Azula would say about her family. Then, Part 3 made this doc a much bigger necessity because I REALLY needed to keep track of... the obvious :') as in, Azula's pregnancy. Real pregnancies are tracked on a weekly basis. Hence... I had to start planning, plotting and strategizing my story by keeping in mind where, exactly, we would be in terms of Azula's pregnancy, CONSTANTLY. That sure switched up things for me :'D forced me to be a lot more organized than I usually want to be because wild freedom is kinda nice sometimes... but I couldn't keep doing that anymore. So! This timeline doc starts with the birth of Fire Lord Hizuo in the year -49, and it goes all the way to the events of year... 121! :'D I broke down the story events of each year in this doc, so if you want a bit of a rundown of what we've seen so far...

Year 104: Chapters 1 and 2

Year 106: Chapter 3 to approximately chapter 46

Year 107: Chapter 47 to chapter 114 (yeeeeah a lot of things happened that year :'D

Year 108: Chapter 115 to chapter 164

Year 109: Chapter 165 to chapter 200 (note that there was a preeetty big time skip of around 6 months between Hahn's Gambit arc and The Mad Alchemist arc).

Year 110: Chapter 201 to chapter 328 (okay now THIS was an eventful year, holy shit :'D and naturally it's the one I'm posting right now...)

Year 111: Chapter 329 to... ??? Still not done with the events of that year :'D so I dunno how many chapters it's going to be!

Things really changed since I started keeping track of events by month, even by weeks. I've tried to keep doing that since, even beyond writing Azula's pregnancy. It's a little annoying to be so thorough and to panic over miscalculating dates and such, but at the same time I think I feel more secure in my own crazy story this way.

Ah, and there we go. That's Gladiator's plotting documents, every single one of...

...

...

...

Yeah okay, that's not true.

Look. Sometimes you REALLY need to be thorough. Some things require WAY too much finesse. Sometimes you're telling two stories simultaneously. Sometimes you're telling THREE. Sometimes it's even MORE than that because you have flashbacks and multiple POVs of events in a battlefield. Sometimes you have to write huge battles between armies and you need to keep track of wtf you're doing. Sometimes you have to articulate events to make sure they match each other timeline-wise!

... At those times, you make a big document with a huge table, split in three columns.

Column 1 is the arc's name. Column 2 is Sokka's side of the story. Column 3 is Azula's side of the story.

... And sometimes that document ends up becoming as long as 122 pages.

Yeah, uh, the document carrying the highly sensitive plans, detailing every single arc of Part 3 and how they work, how they connect, how long they'll be, what will happen in each of them (as well as which elements happened in which chapter, some of which ends up getting switched up, back and forth, depending on whether my writing lined up with the reality of my plotting or not...) is genuinely, uh... 122 pages long. 45K words. By my standards, that's about the length of 3 Gladiator chapters :'D

I had to be really thorough in that document. I was lost in regards of how I'd handle Part 3 for some time. Even if I had some ideas for it already, Sokka's side of the story used to be muuuuch clearer than Azula's. Once Rei showed up, plotting for Azula's side became soooo much easier to do... but the point is, Part 3 has been the most challenging aspect of plotting this story by far. I'm flexible enough with my plans, some things don't work or would work better at other times, and I simply adapt to it. But this document was 100% necessary to make sure I wouldn't get lost in the chaos of Part 3... so there it is :'D

Additional to this: I keep a version of Bill Mudron's ATLA map on direct access for easy reference whenever I want to make sure I'm not committing geographical crimes by making characters travel too fast, or to places that aren't even close to each other :'D it has been a huge element in my plotting and ensured I don't ATLA finale ANYTHING in the story since its earliest days. I also had to acquire a strange little resource, an educational app about space that features a projection/simulation of timezones! And that's how I've been keeping track of whether it's daytime or nighttime in Sokka or Azula's story, particularly useful whenever they connect to each other spiritually since it's very often nighttime for one and daytime for the other and these events should be happening simultaneously :'D

Oof, well. That's all I can think of atm to answer this question. There are always a lot of references you need as a writer, lots of places to keep track of your research, of your worldbuilding... it's chaotic but once you find a method to your madness, it can be fun, even! :D it still blows me away a little that my big full plotting document is 122 pages long, but it's been an undeniably useful asset all across these years.

So, in total, counting only my documents... I have about 10 different Word documents, 1 Excel spreadsheet with multiple sheets, probably around 8 different ones, 1 map, 1 cosmos education app. Making it around 13 resources to keep track of what I'm doing in this huge chaotic story :'D

... 11, come to think of it. I have one hilarious document that's basically me arguing with myself over some big plot changes I did to Part 3 as a whole when I started writing the first spiritual connection and it became EXTREMELY obvious that Azula wasn't letting Sokka go without telling him she was pregnant :'D yep, that wasn't part of the OG plan because I, as usual, underestimated my girl. By the time I got there she was like "I'm going to do it and you can't stop me with your PLOT" and I had to go back to the drawing board for a LOT of rearranging the plot, to figure out how it would work, what to do with it... document is literally called "BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE.doc" simply because I was terrified that change would alter the plotted story way more than I could handle. After my bickering with myself in that doc, it all started making a little more sense :'D

Alright, I think that's that XD