#But it drives me ABSOLUTELY INSANE that some of these scenes exist

[amethystina]

I'm waiting so excitedly for your updates, old and new, I can't begin to tell you! You are the fandom treasure! And as I'm waiting and biting my nails I wanted to ask something, what do you think about the final scenes of episode 8 where Gaon has dinner with his professor and tells him he chooses Yohan's side. How come Yohan knew where to find them and the precise moment to come in and pick Gaon up, was he following them or did he and Gaon had a deal?

And what's with leaving his car to stand next to Gain and look at professor? I love this scene so much but I don't know if I understand its message right. Was it posturing, laying a claim on Gaon or what? I tend to feel that Yohan was possessive of Gaon when it came to professor and his police friend and I think I feel some of it in this scene but I'm not sure, I just don't have a clear grasp on it. Would love to know your thoughts!

Aww, thank you so much, sweetheart! This is definitely the first time I've been called not just a fandom treasure, but the fandom treasure. Thank you 💜

Ah yes, the "Ga On runs off with his new sugar daddy" scene. Or, as I sometimes like to call it, the "You just don't understand, dad professor — I love him" scene.

I'm joking, obviously.

(... or am I?)

I would say that Ga On and Yo Han made an agreement beforehand, yes. They probably talked about Ga On's choice to switch sides and while Yo Han would no doubt have loved for Ga On to continue on as a double agent (feeding Professor Min intentionally faulty information) Ga On is way too honest for that. So he probably insisted that, no, he'll call Professor Min, meet up with him, and just flat out tell him that Ga On's spying mission is over. He's now going to elope work with Yo Han instead.

And I find it hilarious to think that, most likely, Yo Han was just sitting in his car, perhaps scrolling through his phone, waiting for his newly acquired sugar baby to finish telling his semi-father figure that he's going dark side. Because Ga On gets up and starts walking before Yo Han drives up, meaning that it's not like Ga On saw the car coming and went "oh, better wrap this up now." It was probably the other way around, where Ga On leaving the table was the signal for Yo Han to come pick him up.

So yes, they definitely had an agreement, especially since Ga On seems to know in exactly which direction to walk, even before the car shows up, and doesn't look the least bit surprised by Yo Han's arrival.

They planned that shit.

Brutal.

As for the fact that Yo Han gets out of the car? Well, buckle up, my darlings, because I think we should take a detour to discuss intent.

Now, intent isn't necessarily important when you want to interpret a scene, but I like the extra nuance it can offer. And by intent, I mean what the scriptwriter/director might have intended with a scene. Why is this scene here? What was the plan behind it? How is it supposed to impact the overall story? How does it tie into the rest of the plot?

Which is never something you can say for sure, of course, unless there are interviews expressly stating it, but, a lot of the time, we can guess.

The intent behind this scene, in its simplest, purest form, is to show that Ga On is switching sides. And, with that in mind, it makes sense that he crosses that road to Yo Han's car (if you know me and my metas, you know how much I love lines, characters crossing said lines, and the symbolism of that) and stops to stand next to Yo Han. It's a very simple yet effective way to show Ga On's choice and where it will take him.

Into Yo Han's arms.

NOW. Intent is very useful because, depending on how skilled the person writing is, you can hide a lot of subtext and leave room for a lot of interpretation with a cleverly formulated intent. That's how censored shows get away with so much, because they can point to the perfectly reasonable, heteronormative intent behind a scene and pretend that there aren't also a lot of subtler nuances to the reading.

And, if they're extra bold, they also add hints in the presentation and execution.

The scene where Yo Han invites Sun Ah to the house is a perfect example of this, where the intent is to make her feel lonely, like an outsider, as she's invited to observe this warm, comfortable family. Not a bad tactic as far as manipulation goes, I have to say. So, in other words, very reasonable intent — makes sense with what they're trying to achieve.

The fact that it ends up looking more like Yo Han is proudly showing off his doting, doe-eyed househusband who's passively-aggressively and not-so-discreetly staking his claim is... well, that's just an accidental side effect, isn't it? Not intent at all.

And that's true. It's not intent that makes it look gay.

It's the presentation of the intent.

(Sidenote: To be a fly on the wall when Yo Han and Ga On came up with this strategy. Because, clearly, they were both in on it and, I mean, how did that conversation go? Inquiring minds need to know.

Like, how did they go from: "We need to throw her off balance. We'll invite her to the house, show what she's missing out on, but also give her hints that she could have it all, if she's willing to surrender" to Ga On going: "I'll cook a fancy dinner. That'll make her jealous."

I mean, he's not wrong but, like, Mr. Sugar Baby. What? x'D

Also, imagine Yo Han's face. Transcendent.)

Anyway. Intent can also ruin a story. I think most of us have read a fanfic and gone: "... that character wouldn't do that. This makes no sense." That could be a sign that the author's intent is clashing with the characters or the story they're trying to tell. Or, put more bluntly, that the author is so focused on forcing an idea that they don't realise that they're going against the logic of the story or characters' personalities. Things happen because they want them to, not because it makes sense, meaning that the intent isn't tied to the story or characters, but what the writer wants. This is badly planned intent.

And, most of the time, readers can tell when the intent is off, even if you might not be able to put your finger on it while you're reading. But if you're feeling a niggling doubt at the back of your mind, wondering why this scene is here, what this scene even means, or why this character suddenly seems to act so strangely, it could be that the writer didn't plan it well enough.

That's not to say that a reader must always know the intent behind a scene. Ideally, the story should be good enough that they don't have to stop and think about things like that. If the intent and internal logic are sound enough, it should just flow naturally.

Because, when it comes down to it, pretty much all scenes in a story have an intent and that intent should be in harmony with the characters' personalities and how they would choose to behave. And I don't mean that there can never be conflict or that characters can't disagree — I mean that all scenes should have a reason for being there. It doesn't have to be a deep or complex reason, but there should be a reason that ties into the overarching plotline. And characters shouldn't be forced into a scene they have no business being in. Intent is very important from a crafting standpoint.

And intent is one of the things that makes The Devil Judge such an absolute joy. Because while there is always a perfectly reasonable — and very heterosexual, we promise — intent behind most scenes, they often choose to present the scenes in a way that leaves room for a much queerer reading. Now, that can happen with almost any story, but what sets The Devil Judge apart is that it seems to be entirely intentional.

The presentation is by no means subtle or accidental.

Like, they didn't have to make Ga On shuffle up in a soft, comfortable sweater and greet Sun Ah like a caring househusband, but they did. That was a conscious choice.

And this scene you mention, with Yo Han getting out of his car when he's picking Ga On up, falls into a similar category in my mind. The surface-level intent is clear — show that Ga On is switching sides — but he could simply have said so. He could have borrowed a car and driven himself. Yo Han didn't have to come pick him up. And he certainly didn't have to get out of the car.

But he did.

And that might be what you're picking up on when you're saying that you're not sure if you're understanding the message correctly. Because in a drama this clever, that puts so much effort into details and, again, intent, it feels almost a bit odd to leave this gaping hole, doesn't it? Yo Han stepping out of that car should mean something, right?

And, once you've gotten this far, you've got a couple of options to choose from to fill in the blanks. Either you can assume that it was just something the creators chose to do because it looked/seemed cool and therefore might not mean much at all. And considering that this drama does that a couple of times, this could honestly be the case. Maybe they just thought it would be more effective to have Yo Han to step out of the car? To really hammer it home to Professor Min what's happening?

Your other option is to bring in the harmonisation between intent and characters. Because, if the writer is good and their characters consistent, you should be able to pick up on secondary layers of intent, running parallel with the main one. Because while each scene has an intent, each character IN that scene also has one (though perhaps it would be more comfortable to call it purpose at this point?).

In other words: If "it looked cool" isn't the answer, could we find it in the character's behaviour instead? What is their intent, based on their personalities and previous actions? Does that give a more satisfying answer?

What reason would Mr. Kang "Abyss" Yo Han have for stepping out of that car?

I, personally, think that the answer is pretty simple.

He is absofuckinglutely staking a claim.

He's stepping out of that car because he's a Possessive, Dramatic Bitch and wants to rub it in Professor Min's face. He wants to show that he's won, that he's turned the spy Professor Min sent, and that he's, quite literally, taking Ga On away.

Yo Han is basically going: "Thanks for the sugar baby — I'll make sure to ravish savour treasure him."

So while the main goal of that scene is to establish that Ga On is switching sides, the intent Yo Han adds with his actions leaves room for a very gay reading. In fact, I'd argue that doing so only makes the scene more believable, since Yo Han's actions are otherwise kind of... unnecessary? He has no reason to step out of the car and make himself known, unless it's for the dramah.

Again, the presentation of the intent is where the magic happens.

So, why this long, godawful rant about intent, you ask? When I could just have answered the question right away?

Because while I know that I'm preaching to the choir in terms of this drama being gay as hell, I just want to highlight the importance of intent and how it can change the reading of a scene. I think intent — or specifically the harmony between characters and intent, and the various layers of intent — is absolutely fascinating, especially in this drama.

Especially if you want to argue that it's gay.

Because there is, in fact, some scenes where I just... I can't. The intent and characterisation don't match at all — unless you add a queer element. Like, this drama is so clever. Not perfect, mind you, but so clever. And so careful with especially Yo Han and Ga On's characterisation. Very little is left to chance.

And so, if you keep everything I've said about intent and characters in mind, and I ask you to explain the intent behind this one, singular shot, can you do so without making it gay?

I'm not joking when I say that this scene, right here, was the one that definitively made me go "oh fuck, this is gay gay."

Because in most others — if not all — I can find that safe surface-level intent which means that the people behind this drama can claim plausible deniability. Of course it's not gay! Look at this perfectly reasonable, heterosexual intent!

Except this one.

There's no explanation for this. Ga On has no reason to look this jealous unless his jealousy is the main intent behind this shot. There just isn't. And it's only made worse by his huff and the way he clenches his jaw a couple of seconds later. Not even the argument that Sun Ah is their enemy so letting her fix Yo Han's tie might be dangerous can justify this, since that's not a look of concern or alarm — that's jealousy.

The intent is jealousy. Plain and simple.

And that's why intent is important. Because, if push came to shove, the intent behind this one, singular screenshot could, theoretically, be the only evidence you need if you wanted to defend a queer reading of this drama.

Because there is, quite frankly — in my humble opinion as the fandom treasure — no other way to explain the look on his face in a drama this meticulous and obsessed with details.

In this scene, unlike all the others, the queerness isn't just in the presentation anymore — it's in both the intent and presentation.

So, if you want the scene that says "this shit's gay, fam"?

This is the one.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

[felikatze]

QoL as Kindness: ISAT's diagetic tutorials

This is the hopefully first of a series of posts I'll be doing reinterpreting ISAT's Loop through the lens of START AGAIN: a prologue's context. As such....

Major spoilers for both ISAT (all acts, including optional content) and SASASAP (all endings).

One of the biggest differences between ISAT and SASASAP is it’s QoL – it’s Quality of Life. QoL refers to all the little things that make a game just that little bit more playable; quick to navigate menus, quicksaving… tutorials.

It’s not really a surprise that SASASAP is as RPGmaker as RPGmaker gets. This isn’t a criticism, just an observation, and also a compliment to how much Adrienne’s skills with the engine improved between releases. Still, there’s some things that ISAT has over SASASAP.

ISAT’s QoL is absolutely essential to making it bearable. Anyone ever watch an ISAT playthrough where the player sighed in relief as the tutorial on picking where you loop came up?

SASASAP lacks a lot of ISAT’s QoL because it’s an earlier project without a studio backing it, but what impresses me is how this change ties into narrative.

Because the greatest chunk of ISAT’s greatest QoL is provided by Loop.

Even before you ever meet them, they’re already over your shoulder. Loop is the tutorial, speaking to you inside your brain. It’s genius, in that no player is ever going to question this. Hell, SASASAP’s movement tutorial is the exact same thing with less flavoring

This reframes what the QoL is – it’s not just a convenience to the player, it’s a convenience to Siffrin, too. It’s diegetic. It’s not something the game is giving you, it’s something Loop is giving you. Let’s look at what Loop gives you, and more importantly, why.

Zone Out

The first of the QoL features I want to talk about is the Zone Out function, the absolute bread and butter of not making this game a total slog.

The Zone Out feature as is did not exist in SASASAP (because Adrienne didn’t know how to do it yet) – instead, some doubled scenes let you just skip them entirely outright. There’s only two extremes: listen to all of it again, or none of it.

ISAT’s zone out system is much more dynamic, since it fast forwards dialogue line by line, letting you zone in whenever you’d like, and forcing you to zone in whenever a) something notably new happens, or b) whenever Siffrin speaks.

The way this feature is introced by Loop is kind of genius. Because Loop’s tutorial is about one thing – it’s okay to skip.

“You might miss what your party is saying, but who cares, right? If you make them mad, you can always loop back and they'll have forgotten all about it!”

It’s a cruel joke, or at least it seems that way on the surface. It’s also genuine advice. And a cruel joke at the same time. For Siffrin, freshly starting the loops, this is scandalous, but for Loop, who’s long since desensitized, it’s the same old same old.

What Loop’s doing here, by joking about Siffrin not listening to the party, is alliviate Siffrin’s guilt when they inevitably take Loop up on the offer. Because, even though Loop loves their party members…

From SASASAP, when sitting outside the bathroom:

(Will you get farther this time?) (Will you live this time?) (Or are you stuck listening to the same lines forever?) (…) (Stars, you’re so tired.)

Loop knows intimately well that Siffrin is going to drive themself insane trying to be a people pleaser every single loop, so this joke is telling the outright – don’t bother.

At first, Siffrin (and the player) still might. I really enjoyed reading the same conversations five times minimum because they’re fun and I’m deranged, but at some point I did start skipping them. And it was a relief to know there wouldn’t be anything new.

Siffrin: “Should I check everything again?” Loop: “You mean, should you check the same barrels, the same closets, the same objects on tables every loop?” Loop: “I mean, you can, but… You know things won’t change, right?” Loop: “If you really want to get a certain item again, or listen to your friends repeat something funny, you should!” Loop: “I personally would only check two or three things every loop, and ignore the rest.” Loop: “It will just make you crazy to expect something to change, when nothing will.” Loop: “All that might change is your reaction to it!”

The game is telling you, Loop is telling Siffrin, don’t drive yourself insane playing, please. The characters aren’t going to remember if you skipped something.

In the course of my script wizard activities, I’ve gotten an in-depth view of just how much that actually holds up. Pretty much all major differences are by Act, unrelated of how often you’ve done something. Minor variations apply for other things, but… those variations are minor.

And this also points out what all those variations are. Siffrin’s reactions!

Loop’s pre-empting Siffrin’s guilt, cuz they probably felt it themself. Hell, we do know they felt the pressure to perform and make sure nobody notices anything’s wrong, in SASASAP! Right up until the finale, Loop was driving themself up the wall.

(You have to act, you can't crack, you have to fake it and play it exactly as you did the first time for the whole way through so your friends don't find out anything is wrong) (You don't want to know what would happen if they knew their quest was in vain) (If they knew their quest for justice and change always ends in stillness and death!)

Acting everything out perfectly is one of the ending paths for SASASAP, which results in… complete and utter failure. Obviously.

(You acted perfectly normally, didn't you?) (Nothing out of place, nothing weird, every line the same as it might've been the first time?) (Ah…That was your mistake, wasn't it…?) (Because… Didn't your very first time… end exactly like this?) (The King throws the Housemaiden's body onto the floor again.)

Zoning out for too many conversations actually awards weird points in SASASAP, locking you out of the Perfect Ending. On the other hand, acting “perfectly” in ISAT… has no awards whatsoever. No special scene or or optional event or anything at all. You get nothing for paying attention!!!

So spare yourself the pain already, m’kay?

(On that note: I don’t think Loop not being sarcastic about it would’ve like… worked. At the start of ACT 2, Siffrin isn’t going to believe Loop when they say “Stop forcing yourself to relive the same thing over and over because you’ll start seeing your friends as disposable actors and lose touch with reality.” That all comes later, when Siffrin can look back on Loop’s words and see how right they were.)

Loop Back

The second biggest sigh of relief in any given ISAT playthrough is probably this specific tutorial.

Loop graciously shows you that you don’t need to loop back all the way to the beginning every single time. You can pick and choose where to go, even going forward by paying up with Memories of Skirmish.

This is a feature SASASAP does not possess, for the reason that it is much, much shorter, only covering about as much as one floor of ISAT’s three floor House.

But… since this is a character showing this to you, Loop showing this to you, we can ask… when did Loop learn this? After all, START AGAIN, Loop’s loops, do not have this feature.

“It'll save you time, so it's important, so listen up!”

This feature not existing in SASASAP means this is a thing that Loop did not know exists during their own time as Siffrin.

And that’s just the thing, isn’t it? SASASAP’s Siffrin does not know how to do this. They cannot pick and choose where they end up, as demonstrated wonderfully by SASASAP’s True Ending. There’s an even more wonderful implication, though –

On SASASAP’s Perfect End path, when exiting the final room before the King, Isabeau says this:

Isabeau: “…I'm glad you're feeling better, though!” Siffrin: (…?) “What do you mean…?” Isabeau: “Oh!!! Um, you were…” Isabeau: “Well! You were acting a little weird when we were way closer to the Castle's entrance……” Isabeau: “You weren't really listening to us, you were kinda smiling the way you do when you're actually not happy…” Isabeau: “…and you like, almost acted like you knew exactly where you were going?” Isabeau: “But clearly you're feeling better now! You're acting just like normal!!!”

SASASAP’s Siffrin knew how to do this, somehow managed to lock themself into the House’s last floor… and then forgot how to get back. By making this tutorial, Loop is ensuring that Siffrin never will.

“What can I do next?” – SASASAP’s greatest flaw

So, if you’ve had the pleasure of playing START AGAIN START AGAIN START AGAIN: a prologue yourself (as you should), then you’ve probably faced this scenario, or some variation of it:

I got to the end, I died to the King, but… what do I do next? The game tells me to go for the extremes, but how do I do that?

(edit: apparently some of yall just managed to speedrun sasasap in two loops. You're gonna need to stay with me here, please. Suspend your disbelief a bit, because a lot of people [including me] were dumbasses about it)

Maybe you try another loop, but just get the same ending again (or a differnet one, depending on a coinflip). You’re getting frustrated. Getting the Perfect Ending demands pinpoint precision to avoid everything weird, the True Ending demands good memorization of every single damn key in the game, and the order you do everything in. (Though, to be fair, the requirements on that one are actually more merciful than one might expect.)

Point is, in SASASAP, it’s incredibly easy to get stuck in that endless loop of “What the fuck do I do now?” It’s not uncommon to think you got it right only to get the same result anyways. What does one do in this situation?

They consult a guide, obviously.

START AGAIN’s ending requirements are frustrating. They are. When I tried to go for either the Perfect or the True Ending, I saved inside every single room, just so I could get right back to it when I inevitably fucked up five times minimum. This is both criticism… and praise. Because Loop is the major reason that ISAT does not suffer from this same problem.

Whenever you’re stuck in ISAT, Loop is just a single loop or call away at any times. And besides that, no plot requirement in ISAT demands nearly as many moving pieces all at once as SASASAP does – the “Sus Route” has been relegated to an optional ACT 4 exclusive event, instead of the game’s True Ending.

Instead of consulting an external guide on how to progress, you have one right there in the game, always ready with the next tip. They’re not infallible, mind you – enough time in Isatcord’s #game-help proves that, but Loop solved all of the moments I got stuck and frustrated in ISAT for me.

(Primarily that one time you need to figure out that a photo is similar to being stuck in time. That moment in particular is actually commendable, as you need to ask Loop about it twice before they tell you, leaving you a last shot to try and figure it out on your own.) Loop is a feature that nullifies SASASAP’s greatest flaw in its successor, and they choose to do so.

Memory of Keys

In my humble opinion, Loop does this because… they do not want Siffrin to suffer as they did. They want Siffrin to escape. And there is no greater example of their kindness than how Loop treats keys.

First of all, all keys in the game have a sparkling effect on them if you’ve picked them up at least once before, making it immediately clear where in the room they are. This means you don’t need to search every single room top to bottom for them, as you had to do for any keys and Star Crests in SASASAP. It’s some nice QoL that just means you don’t have to re-search the same area if you happened to forget which specific cupboard the key was in.

Key point being: SASASAP did not have this feature. In SASASAP, you did have to memorize where all the keys are, and doing so is expected if you want the True Ending.

Loop does not want Siffrin to have to do this. Because…

From SASASAP’s True End:

(The torch in the infirmary? That’s important!) (The key in the book? Soooo important.) (The names of your friends, that have been by your side throughout this entire adventure?) (Not worth remembering.)

Compared to ISAT’s ACT 2:

Siffrin: “How come I can see where the keys are?” Loop: “Whaaaaat? You caaaaaan? How can that beeeeeee?” Siffrin: “Is it thanks to you?” Loop: “Maybe.” Loop: “I figured you'd have other things to worry about than where a stupid key is.” Loop: “No need to thank me.”

To Loop, that they memorized the House’s layout over their friends’ names is a defining moment to their own failures. After all, in all likelihood, the True End of SASASAP is the last loop before they called it quits. It’s a traumatic experience from them, one that came from having to remember all the dumb fucking keys.

They do not want Siffrin to experience this. They do not want Siffrin to have to memorize the House, to push away what actually matters in favor of efficiency. So Loop is directly, personally, giving them a boon, so that Siffrin does not have to.

Conclusion

There’s probably more tutorial things I could talk about, but I feel like you’re seeing the pattern now, even if I don’t bring up saving level ups or keeping equipment or the “You’re stuck” signifier, least of all cuz they don’t have direct points of comparison with SASASAP like my other examples do (SASASAP has no changeable equipment, and saving levels doesn’t matter if you only have one floor, and you can’t softlock either.). So.

Loop’s tutorials all belie a fundamental kindness to their character. Everything that made their own experience trapped in the timeloop just that bit worse, they’re choosing to do away with it for Siffrin. They are choosing to make Siffrin’s time here easier.

Zoning out too much lead to them never paying attention to their friends, forgetting their names, so they make sure that Siffrin can still zone back in whenever something new happens.

Loop trapped themself for years on the final floor, locking themself out of progress that might lie further back, so they’re ensuring Siffrin knows exactly how to loop forwards and backwards so it doesn’t happen again.

Loop lets Siffrin keep equipment across loops to cut down on time spent doing the exact same thing over and over.

They are saving Siffrin time, and they are giving Siffrin comfort. At every single turn, Loop is saving Siffrin from the same pitfalls they fell into without anyone to guide them out.

It's honestly incredible to transform an increase in skill into an actual narrative element. Yes, SASASAP sucks more to play. But ISAT sucks less, because Loop wants it to. It's the perfect marriage of real world circumstance and storytelling. I could... probably pull another comparison here, saying it's like a game and its remake - overhauled graphics, expanded story, and loads and loads of QoL, because the makers of the remake realized something. They love the original, but parts of it do suck, and there's so much that can be done to make a new player's experience smoother. Metanarrative commentary,,,, woah,,,,,

Every single one of these QoL elements I’ve mentioned function as a crutch for a player’s failing memory, but also Siffrin’s (similar to what I talked about in my previous essay on ISAT’s ludonarrative - the player and Siffrin are always in sync, even in how tutorials benefit them). Loop doesn’t know the player exists though (only the Change God does), so they do everything for Siffrin.

To keep Siffrin from forgetting. To help Siffrin focus on what’s important. To make Siffrin’s journey just a little bit less miserable. Loop directly improves ISAT’s QoL. For you. For Siffrin.

From Loop’s introduction:

Loop: “See, I’m useful! I’m very useful! That’s why I’m here, helpful Loop.” Siffrin: “Why are you helping me?” Loop: “…” Loop: “Because I think you should be helped.” Loop: “I won’t always have the answers, but… I think having someone on your side to talk to is better than dealing with this alone.” Loop: “Right?”

From Loop’s hangout:

“But it’s fine.” “Whether you believe me or not, I’m here to help you.” “So you can escape this loop.”

And finally, from the start of ACT 3:

Siffrin: “Are you really here to help me?” Loop: “Stardust…” Loop: “…” Loop: “Yes.” Loop: “If you can believe anything, believe that.” Loop: “I asked to be here, so I could help you.”

And I do believe them. Loop’s feelings on Siffrin are… complex, to say the least. They love Siffrin, and they hate him in equal measure. They’re jealous, and spiteful, but underneath everything…

In SASASAP, if you die to a Sadness thrice, you get this monologue:

(Sometimes, when you loop back here…) (In the corner of your eye, you can sometimes see someone that looks just like you.) (Is it a you from another loop? Remnants of your past failures?) (Are you going crazy?) (May they succeed where you cannot.)

[toskarin]

going on the twine rant again, lads. fair warning.

-

the twine editor is theoretically great software

which is to say, twine editor is far and away the best execution of "a text game maker for people who mostly make text and not games" that presently exists. it's notable for making wholly self-contained (read: does not require interpreter software) text games with functioning mechanics at about the level of code literacy you could feasibly ask from people who brushed off of other more complicated software

this is in large part because the text adventure and IF ecosystem has the same problem as the (similarly insular and incestuous) scorewriting ecosystem: all of the software is made to be used by a group of like 50 people who don't use anything else, so they just settle for whatever exists

twine solves a lot of these problems by simply existing as an html game maker that can automate all of the functions of a gamebook out of the box. the editor has features which (to me) seem to be inspired by scrivener, which is my favourite WYSIWYG writing software for longform fiction on the market (I prefer writing in LaTeX but I can acknowledge that's a habit I picked up and not an endorsement of LaTeX)

that being said, even though there's an obvious utility to being able to prototype out rpgs and such in twine incredibly quickly, I can't really recommend people... use twine for that. because of the problems.

the twine editor is also kind of beautiful for all the ways in which it issoftware designed to torture the user

twine exists with one foot in "games" and one foot in "writing" and this overlap is the totality of its intended use. this space of compromise is still the best that's been made for this specific scene, but it means that edge cases are (at absolute best) operating twine in much the way that someone being hanging onto the edge of a shattered cockpit is operating an airliner

I could go on and on about the specific elements of twine's design that drive me insane, and in how it punishes you both for making too much of a book and for making too much of a game, but there's one problem that kind of sticks out as a simulacrum of this whole issue

by design, twine organises its projects as a story map. this is kind of like the middle point between scrivener's storyboard and a whiteboard, but specialised for use in making text games. this means that each node on it is one screen, called a card, that you can open and edit

doing this opens a window for text input, and the exact contents of this window kind of depend on which format you're writing your story in, but as a rule, you write everything into these sub-windows and that's the game

because twine runs in one window, these cards open more like menus than true windows. you can have one open at a time, and when you need to test something, you close the window and press the button to test the game. simple as

now, for making software, it's helpful to have a versioning function of some sort in case, among other reasons, you fuck something up in a way you don't immediately notice

for writing, you usually want some sort of undo function, in case you accidentally delete something or edit over it

at the intersection of these two, twine does have an undo function. which works differently depending on which version of the editor you're using. in the web version, you get multiple layers of undo. that makes sense.

in the downloaded version, which is the version you have to use if you don't want to use your browser's local storage (?? you shouldn't be doing this) you get

one layer of undo.

in a modern text editor.

that you are expected to write in.

this is on top of the browser-hosted version of twine editor being significantly more stable than the desktop version, so that's obviously the version you're meant to use, which runs in stark contrast to like... how that should work. this should already be raising your blood pressure a little bit if you remember that the browser version of twine saves your project files to your browser's local storage

now, common to both versions is another important feature which seemingly exists to prevent data loss: twine automatically saves your changes when you exit out of a card

this means that, the moment you close a card to go test the changes you just made to your game, they are saved over the previous version of the game with no way to undo them

but there IS a way to get around this without having to write in an entirely separate word processor! several ways even. you can even use the downloaded version if you do this

duplicate the full project every single time you make changes that could necessitate an undo function

make a copy of every card you edit in case you need to revert to it after testing, then remember to delete it afterwards

if you're editing the cards themselves, see option 1, because there is no way to undo deletion of cards in the story map

and like... that's not good. it's kind of the hell machine for killing all human beings, actually

it's also not a problem remotely unique to twine, because this is the kind of thing you see in most niche-specialised software where there isn't really a distinction made between "this is an expected frustration of working on any artistic project" and "this is something completely insane that absolutely should not be the case and isn't tolerated in immediately adjacent comparable creative fields"

twine can be used to make longer projects, but at the point where you're recommending two layers of supporting software that overlap so hard with the editor that they should be redundancies, it becomes clear that the only thing it's really fit-for-purpose to do is non-linear fiction consisting of two or three paragraphs per card

and that's generally not what it's used for! because that sort of thing is almost universally understood as a stepping stone towards using twine for making either longform non-linear fiction or full-featured rpgs

twine could be really useful software, and in fairness it's generally better than the alternatives it supplanted in its niche (people making little interactive poems probably shouldn't be trying to use Inform or TADS), but it really seems like it was designed with as a cursed amulet meant to cause as much grief as possible while being difficult to justify throwing away

[to-eat-laugh-love-in-peace]

You know what drives me absolutely insane about Tristamp, something that is specifically emphasized in ep 8, it’s the existence of different accounts about someone or something surviving even in the wake of the most devastating of disasters, this being the Big Fall, as seen with Brad having brought back to Ship 3 the black box, and Rem’s belongings, which include a few photos of her, Vash, and Nai, and A JOURNAL, something I desperately wish that we get to see the contents of in S2, maybe in a flashback by Luida and/or Brad, or maybe in present day by Meryl, like I wonder if she wrote in code or in a different language to make it a little harder to decipher if anyone else got their hands on it, if the accounts in her journal start before she joined the SEEDS Projects and boarded Ship 5, like when her boyfriend Alex was still alive, or if they start after she boarded Ship 5 to chronicle her journey alongside what remains of humanity across the stars in search of a new planet to inhabit, or maybe if they even started when she discovered Tesla and Conrad and the rest of his group of Plant specialists began to tear her body apart in the name of science not long after that, since she was one of, or maybe the only one in Tristamp, the few who protested against the group’s treatment of Tesla only for her to be ignored, so it could have been a way for her to express and process her thoughts, feelings, and experiences throughout the whole ordeal.

(I STILL like to think that this recording pad she used to film Vash and Nai's first birthday somehow survived the Big Fall even if it wasn't shown along with the rest of her belongings that Brad recovered from Ship 5, if only because there's quite a bit of emphasis put into it with the framing of the scene and all, though who knows maybe it was just a way for Studio Orange to make a smooth and believable transition between a flashback and present day but I still have hope.) And then there’s Vash who’s also shown writing on a journal of his own, another thing that I also desperately wish to see the contents of in S2, in his room prior to Luida coming in to give him his red coat. With Luida going off to bring Vash back to Ship 3, leaving Brad to do some much needed self-reflection on the choices he’s made and the actions he’s taken, I wonder if, since he was looking through his things in hopes of finding some sort of clue he left behind about the other Independent, he actually took a look at it, and on the off chance that Vash hadn’t written his accounts in code or in another language, maybe he would have been able to read Vash’s own thoughts, feelings, and experiences throughout his time on Ship 3, the Big Fall, his time with Rem and Nai on Ship 5, maybe even his discovery of Tesla, and everything that had gone down with Rem right after that.

Back on the topic Ship 5’s black box Brad had recovered from the ruins, and repaired 5 years after the Big Fall, I noticed that when he and Luida were listening to the audio recording, HE MUTES THE RECORDING RIGHT AFTER NAI SAYS THAT VASH WAS HIS ACCOMPLICE SINCE HE WAS THE ONE WHO GAVE HIM THE ACCESS CODES. With how people have pointed out how Studio Orange likes to play with unreliable narrators like Vash omitting the fact that he was the one who gave Nai the access code which made Nai’s claim that he was his accomplice in the Big Fall in episode 1 more plausible for example, this has to imply that there was more to be said in that audio recording and if Brad hadn’t muted it to fixate on the fact that Vash lied to them about the other Independent being alive and come to the conclusion that he had been lying to them this entire time, that he was never on the side of humanity to begin with, then things might have gone as badly as they did, maybe Vash wouldn’t have ran away from Ship 3 to find Nai on his own, maybe he wouldn’t have had to lose his arm to keep him and the everyone else in the scene from being swallowed by his gate. @tristampparty

[nalyra-dreaming]

First off absolutely adore your opinions about the show and the books and I’m not sure if you have talked about this or not but I feel like you’re one of the best people to go to about this lol.

I recently did a rewatch of season 1 to find some more background connections regarding Daniel and Armand and I noticed some details that could possibly be connected?

Daniel talks about Alice with Louis during their dinner and recounts how she would dye her left eyebrow from blonde to brown and when you watch the season finale of part 1 when Armand reveals himself he’s seen only removing one contact from his left eye. And there’s no cut aways to suggest that we just didn’t see him remove two. He removes his gloves, removes the left contact, and levitates.

So, for me, not only does this add to the some of his Alice’s memories are of Armand it could also explain how Daniel is able to oscillate his eye color. I don’t know but it’s driving me insane lol

Glad you like!!! 💕

Mhhhh - I mean - possibly?

The eye color changing thing is... weird.

It is either a show only thing or a hint. Could be both, but I'm leaning towards the second option for now. However, wrt Armand the Alice seen definitely "masks" Armand in that scene, imho. It matches also later with Armand's remark about "saying no" and "not trusting their love". "Holding hands in Paris", too.

As said before I think that Armand likely took existing memories to alter them when he removed those memories, because I simply think it is much easier to alter than to create anew(*), and so some of those memories... are definitely him and Armand. Imho :))

If the vampires also can change eye color, then they have been very careful only to use that reveal there, so it means something. The contact lens could be a hint, yes, but I feel we might only not have seen him remove the other. Nonetheless, the eyebrow remark definitely stands I believe^^.

I am very much looking forward to see what they make of it :))) (and what WE make of it afterwards^^)

[caustinen]

listened to sabrina carpenter’s album and suddenly can’t stop thinking about please please please being perfect for hollywood au gale’s pov when they’re just started dating 🥲 <— you CANNOT convince me that bucky wouldn’t LOVE short n sweet i was listening to slim pickins (her album is TOP TIER GOOD) and i had a thought… imagine gale having like a slight cowboy drawl that kinda comes out every once in a while and drives bucky up the wall INSANE also i can totally picture them having karaoke nights with the other boys and bucky just full on serenading gale with every romantic/horny song to ever exist on earth and gale just sitting there kinda blushing, half smiling and looking pretty (basically the whole scene with john singing blue skies but in a modern context)

THIS WAS SO INSPIRING THANK YOU

oh YES to buck having a slight accent, he learned to speak out of it the moment he left his parent’s house but sometimes when he’s tired or on edge bucky will hear his accent start coming up and he’s OBSESSED, he finds it adorable and also sexy af, like a mixture of imagining little gale loving his time at the stalls and them being a safe space for him but also imaging his city-boy’ed gale in his natural cowboy habitat is doing things to him whenever he hears it 🥰

I LOVE SABRINA’S ALBUM like imagine… bucky’s hand on buck’s hair or thigh and singing along to espresso from the top of his lungs as they drive a convertable with the roof down in riviera…. i imagine gale with the same kind of sunglasses and scarf as sabrina in the mv too, it was to block his face from the paparazzi but now it’s covering a big smile as he looks at his husband being silly and affectionate and perfect… ALSO ALSO bucky taking gale’s face to his palm like in ep 2 as they wait for the key in the hotel and gale just looks at him with that small fond smile‼️

bucky will take each and every chance to serenade gale, you’re so right, gale has learned to expect that no matter how much or little time they spend together at an event at some point he will hear his husband’s voice singing some pop queen’s discography and pointing at him, this is one of the things bucky needed to go public for because esp when tipsy he just wants to announce to the world how much he loves his partner and no matter how much their friends tease them gale secretly loves it too, even if he’s not always one to initiate public displays of affection or desire he’ll often take john to the side after his peformance and whisper some pretend innocent things about probably wanting to go home soon 🥰

also idk why but this inspired me and i’ll just go for it: bucky absolutely does not want a stripper for his bachelor party so he gets real upset when he’s shoved into a room with dim lights during the night but right when he’s about to leave it turns out it’s gale… just a lapdance to some sultry pop (they def do more than that but they’ll deny it to their grave despite endless teasing) and he’s also gonna do it again on the honeymoon after bucky begs and begs him to 🥰

[nikethestatue]

I read ACOSF back in 2021. I wasn't part of the SJM fandom; I didn't even know it existed because I was a casual reader. But from the first moment Gwyn was introduced on page, I was suspicious of her.

Her introduction felt so jarring, and then she "betrayed" Nesta to Merrill which immediately heightened my skepticism of her. I thought SJM was setting up another Celaena/Ansel storyline. I was so convinced of this that I thought Gwyn had played a role in Nesta and Emerie's kidnappings for the Blood Rite. I was surprised when the book ended with Nesta still being friends with Gwyn. But I still don't trust her.

And I find it even stranger that Nesta considers Gwyn a friend. I've always seen some of myself in Nesta, so maybe I'm projecting, but Nesta doesn't seem like the type of person who is eager to be friends with someone who 1) will talk about her behind her back (it's still odd to me that Nesta trusted Gwyn after Gwyn "betrayed" her to Merrill), but 2) acts immature (maybe I'm being too harsh but Gwyn squealing like a middle schooler at day camp was so cringey to me).

It's just strange to me how so many people latched onto Gwyn's character and are convinced she's a main character. I couldn't even remember who she was months after reading. And after being told about the Azriel BC, I'm even more convinced of my suspicions about her. But even then, she's so one-dimensional that I don't understand the hype? Maybe I'm being anti-feminist or something but I don't trust her and I've always found her character too annoying.

So I am never going to be the person who will say 'oh, I like Gwyn! I just don't like her with Azriel'

For the record, I don't like Gwyn at all.

I had a visceral reaction to her when she appeared and was an asshole to Nesta in the first few scenes. She was rude, impatient, haughty and just kind of deeply unlikable. Nothing about her appealed to me and I thought that she was going to be a false friend, like Ianthe to Nesta.

Furthermore, as a Nesta-identifying person, I can absolutely assure everyone that a person like Gwyn would drive me insane. Their 'friendship' is the most unbelievable part of ACOSF. Maybe Nesta is under a spell, who knows.

But regardless, that nausea-inducing self-righteousness of Gwyn's, her obsessive need to win at all costs regardless of what others might think or how they might be affected, is just a massive turn off for me personally.

I honestly have no problem with people liking her and feeling kinship with her. I get it. She appeals to a certain type of reader. I am not that reader.

But do I see her maybe having an unexpected role going forward--yep, very likely.

[romancemedia]

NCIS: Los Angeles 1 Year Anniversary

I know I'm a few days late, but I still can't believe it's really been an entire year since NCIS: Los Angeles ended. That will forever remain one of my favourite shows and I miss it so much. It was always one of the things that kept me driving and motivated. My excitement to the see a new episode was insane. I never felt such excitement and anticipation before in my life and that is really saying something.

I was always excited for the end of every week to see a new episode, especially just so I could get any new scenes between Deeks and Kensi. Aw I miss Densi. I fell for them hard and they became one of my absolute OTP favourites ranked so high that no couple could ever measure up to the love I feel for them.

I miss the characters like you wouldn't believe and no offense to Fatima, Roundtree and Kilbride, but I just really miss it when the team still had Hetty, Nell, Eric and Granger. I wish they stayed till the end cause it wasn't the same without them, but some things just couldn't be helped. I miss the characters, friendships, relationships and bonds that were formed over those 14 seasons.

I'm still sorry the cancellation was so unexpected cause there were still so many unresolved storylines that were left hanging and never got their chance to be fully told. The writing during it's final seasons weren't always at it's best. Honestly they were just plain bad with only handful of decent episodes, but that doesn't stop me from missing the show.

It's been a year since it ended, but NCIS: Los Angeles will always remain a gem in my heart. It had it's fair share of ups and downs, but it will forever remain one of my favourite shows to ever exist and I still miss it everyday. Thank you NCIS LA for giving us incredible adventures and amazing characters.

[desertfangs]

The parallels between the first time Armand kisses Daniel as a mortal and the first time it happens right after Daniel is turned are driving me insane!!!

As a mortal:

"He'd come silently out of the shadows into the moonlight, a young boy in dirty jeans and a worn denim jacket, and he had slipped his arm around Daniel and gently kissed Daniel's face. Such warm skin, full of the fresh blood of the kill. Daniel fancied he could smell it, the perfume of the living clinging to Armand still. (...) Daniel had been trembling, on the edge of tears. And why was that? So glad to see him, touch him, ah, damn him!"

As an immortal:

"He steadied himself, but the sight of Armand made him want to cry. Even in deep shadow, Armand's dark brown eyes were filled with a vibrant light. And the expression on his face, so loving. He reached out very carefully and touched Armand's eyelashes. He wanted to touch the fine lines in Armand's lips. Armand kissed him. He began to tremble. The way it felt, the cool silky mouth, like a kiss of the brain, the electric purity of a thought!"

Armand: *puts his mouth on Daniel's*

Daniel: *instantly starts shaking all over*

So much had changed, so many years had passed, but Daniel's reaction stayed the same. Armand's kisses made him lose his mind! He began trembling and wanted to cry, scream, touch, kiss, and never let go. My boy is absolutely head over heels 🥲 Imagine their first kiss post-reunion, Daniel was probably like one of those toys with shaking heads that start wobbling like crazy when you touch them 🥲

Anon, I want to thank you so much for this ask!! Because oh my gosh, yes, he's totally head over heals, totally desperate to be close to Armand and touch him, you're so right! Both kisses are so intense and powerful! Daniel trembling and shaking with desire and the sheer overwhelming emotion of it is just chef's kiss. You can absolutely feel the love he has for Armand in both scenes.

I think a lot about how in that first passage, Daniel was probably scared Armand had vanished and he'd never see him again. He's trying to write, trying to find some semblance of normalcy in the world when he knows the monsters it contains, trying to cope with the fact that vampires exist and he may never find them again. And then suddenly there Armand is, kissing his face, arm around him, burning from the blood of someone he'd killed (Of course our boy is into that! Daniel being so into Armand as a monster is my jam) and he's literally on the verge of tears with relief.

The second time, he's just so enamored with how he sees Armand with his vampire vision, the way he notices every little detail of his face, the light in Armand's eyes, and the way the kiss now feels like such an electric connection fusing them together. Anon, I'm going to cry!

So their reunion kiss has to be equally incredible! Daniel nervous and trembling, because it's been so long, because time and distance have created a gulf of uncertainty between them. But then there Armand is in front of him again, his personal devil, his immortal lover, his beautiful maker, and I'm sure in some ways it suddenly feels like nothing has changed.

I don't know when it happens. Is it a stolen kiss in some empty room of Trinity Gate, a brief encounter because they've snuck away for a moment to be alone? Is it on the street in New York after they go hunting together, the streets slick and glittering with rain? Is it back in Armand's bedroom, Daniel standing there unsure if Armand is going to kick him out before sunrise?

Wherever it happens, I have no doubt it's an incredible moment, Daniel's hands trembling as he grabs fistfuls of Armand's shirt fabric because he's clinging so tight, Armand trying not to tremble himself as he reaches for Daniel and their lips finally meet after so many years apart. How soft and jolting the kiss is at the same time, how it quickly turns passionate and desperate as they hold each other and don't want to let go. 😭💖

Thanks so much for the ask, anon, this has been such a great thing to spend my day thinking about. I'd love to know what you (any of you) think their reunion kiss was like, any and all versions of it, because no matter how or where it occurred, it was definitely memorable.

[voxofthevoid]

Hello! Hope you're doing well. I just found your tumblr after reading your fics for a while and I just wanted to let you know I absolutely adore your writing. Frankly I'm obsessed. I started with your JJK stuff, but then I saw you also wrote for YOI ( when I tell you I died). The way you write Viktor is fantastic to me.

Okay back to JJK and this is gonna be long. Honestly I'm just gushing. The way that you write Yuji and Gojo individually as characters drives me insane. Yuji is such this terrible mix of innocent boyishness and eagerness. It's as if you took what's underlying in canon and then ramped it up. Obviously he's not fucking Gojo and other characters in canon lol, but you captured this sense of horror to an extent. I have no idea if that was your intent, but to me, it's this perfect precipice of a kid balancing between selfishness and selflessness. He feels innocent in a way that makes you distinctly aware of how screwed the world he exists in is. Plus, I love the way he's a biter. honestly, if there's blood I'm sold 100% of the time.

Ahh and Gojo. Gojo, man. A masochist, of course, but there's so much depth to it in your writing (even in just short smut scenes). Sure the painful sex is attractive etc, but it feels like there is so much more there. Like an inherit need to self-punish or to feel something or idk idk. Just absolutely fantastic.

You just balance, intimacy, eroticism, and horror in a way that scratches an itch and drives me insane.

Notable mentions that I loved. The choso/yuji fic is so good so far, and Im super excited to see where it goes! The Yuji/Higuruma fic was one of my favourites. I loved Higuruma's slight disgust at both himself and also at Yuji and Gojo's relationship. Both extremely sexy but also mildly unsettling. And Yuji's thought process and characterization was top tier.

Anyways, love your writing, man. Please continue forever and forever. Some of the best stuff I've ever read. I was wondering if you have any recommendations for stuff that you enjoy or get inspiration from? Either fics or literature recs?

Excuse me while I just…melt.

So, zero exaggeration: I saw/read this message while in bed, and I got to the end, put my phone down, and quite literally rolled around like a dog. Noises Were Made.

Seriously, I can’t tell you how happy I am 💖

I’m very glad that my stories are bringing you joy. My YoI days in particular were a while back—and between the pandemic and some drastic life changes on my end, it feels even longer than it is—so it’s always a treat to hear that those stories are still being enjoyed. I had a lot of fun with Viktor and Yuuri back in the day.

It’s even more delightful to read your thoughts on my JJK writing, especially because yes, that’s exactly what I’m going for with Yuuji and Gojou both! The “perfect precipice of a kid balancing between selfishness and selflessness” and the "need to self-punish or to feel something” are significant parts of the core of my characterization for them, for the sex and also outside of it.

Yuuji’s duality—his equal capacity for compassion and violence; the selfishness and selflessness inherent in his self-sacrificial tendencies; his naivete and innocence as well as startling insights about himself and others’ hearts—is my favorite trait of his, and trying to synthesize all that into coherent characterization has been a challenge and a joy from the start. And the biting! And blood. Can’t go wrong with biting and blood 🤝

Gojou honestly had me going “masochist masochist masochiiiiiiiiiiist” from his first proper scene, and the more I read, the more solid that impression became. A character with perfect control over what will touch him, what he’ll feel, is inherently ripe for explorations of touch—whether it’s touch deprivation or extremities of sensation—and Gojou further kicks that up a notch with how damnably lonely he is.

It’s incredibly gratifying to hear that’s what you like about how I write both of them.

And I’ll just be hugging this to my chest for the rest of eternity: You just balance, intimacy, eroticism, and horror in a way that scratches an itch and drives me insane.

Cool? Cool.

I’m also glad you like those fics in particular; I have soft spot for the hiita tbh, and I hope you’ll enjoy the rest of the chosoita as well!

As for recs, this is going to be a mix of stuff. I don’t often clock specific stories or authors, within or outside fandom, as an influence; it’s more that some things leave an impression, in a variety of ways. I also forget a lot! So a very incomplete list—

Hannibal, directed by Bryan Fuller (it was a formative influence)

The Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir (everything here is gold)

Crush and War of the Foxes by Richard Siken (fucks me up, in a good way)

Anita Blake series by Laurel K. Hamilton (not a rec because these books go downhill fast, but the sex in this series unlocked...many a thing in my teen self)

I've also got a fic rec tag that's got specific fics as well as general recs for JJK, femlash, and a couple of themed recs. Toward the end, it's mainly MCU/stucky. For copy-pasting to a browser because the app will break that link:

https://voxofthevoid.tumblr.com/tagged/fic+rec

[happyk44]

Ya know, I was reading your Siren-Powers!Children of Poseidon post earlier and while I really absolutely love your thoughts on the Children of Hades & Zeus versions of the siren powers, I'd love to offer up some possible alternatives to the Siren!Powers that I think would better match up with those vibes <3

1) What if Children of Poseidon can appeal to the darker parts of the mind? In Ancient Mythology, Poseidon was often known as the "Dark Twin of Zeus" (as opposed to Hades, which we see in modern versions) and so what if, while Children of Zeus appeal to people's sense of justice and morality, Children of Poseidon appeal to their impulsivity and intrusive thoughts? They can't exactly give direct instructions nor can they invoke any immediate reactions through this power, but they can make their "suggestions" swirl around in their victim's heads until it is all they can think about. Like if Percy said to a monster: "What if you fall on your sword right now? What would happen?", throughout the course of the fight, the urge swirls in their mind until it gets stronger and stronger until eventually the monster does that (if they haven't already died yet). It's not an as effective power as it's cousins are but it does drive the victim slowly insane and can offer for some insane scenes if you phrase the questions just right. Basically, they're targeting the mind's intrusive thoughts and turning them 1000%

Another alternative to that is:

2) What if Children of Poseidon can confuse the mind? The Oceans are bottomless, unknown abysses who can easily sink ships and make creatures no longer know what is up or down and what is right or wrong. They invoke frantic survival instincts, even to the greatest swimmers and divers, and a lot of the time it's to the point where humans bring about their own downfall. There's a reason Thalassophobia is so common and exists. So what if Children of Poseidon can manipulate the frequency of their voices to invoke that kind of confusion/disorientation? What if they can make their victims either act out or break down within themselves in an existential panic attack? They could say things like "you don't know what's going on, do you?" while approaching them slowly with a sadistic smile like someone who's trying to talk down a dangerous person would. They could talk circles around someone while further bringing them down into their trap like a siren typically would but Poseidon was originally born to the land so wouldn't his and his children's power be more land-oriented? Food for thought but the whole hc still stands :)

All in all, as usual, this is just a suggestion/proposition coming from a brain who always thought Siren!Powers for Children of Poseidon was always weird and absolutely random--okay, the Oceans I get, but literally nothing else connects Poseidon to the sirens?? If anything, that would be more of Demeter/Persephone's domain because that is where the actual mythological origins lay (in some accounts)? Or with Children of the actual Seas/those who were actually born of the Seas like Children of Amphitrite or Porchys? Or just Nereids in general? Idk man, it just personally seems weird to me /gen--and so they decided to come up with cool and interesting alternatives! Pls tell me if you like them!!! (I absolutely adore your blog-- /shy)

I do like the idea of Poseidon's kids being able to appeal to the inner chaos of people - partly because it makes Dionysus and Percy occasionally beefing with each other even funnier since Dionysus is sometimes thought of as the god of chaos, and is capability of inflicting madness on characters, which, lol, Zeus being his dad is even funnier now that I think about it.

Dionysus: *makes wine*

Zeus: I like this.

Dionysus: *causes people to go insane and riot*

Zeus: I do not like this.

But back to the ocean bugs, them being able to cause disorder as a versus to their cousins being able to cause order fits Poseidon's status as a god of storms! And the fact that when he loses a competition, he immediately jumps to "flood this city, kill everyone". Percy and his siblings being able to inflict this mentality onto other people is a really neat way to look at it. Rather than getting people into line, they get people to scatter even more, maybe even causing them to go against their internal morals.

Water is also associated with chaos in some mythologies (which, yeah I get why), so that's another aspect that helps the idea. As well as the fact that water can distort your perception of things within it because of the refraction of the light, so distorting someone else's thoughts and being able to talk them into something they wouldn't normally do is 👀👀

There's also nitrogen narcosis!

[ID: Screenshot from the wikipedia page on Nitrogen Narcosis. It is a table displaying the Signs and Symptoms of narcosis, breathing air. The columns of the table are Pressure (bar), Depth (m), Depth (ft), and Comments. The Comments column lists the signs and symptoms of narcosis at different pressures and depths.

Row 1

Pressure (bar): 1-2 Depth (m): 0-10 Depth (ft): 0-33 Comments: Unnoticeable minor symptoms, or no symptoms at all

Row 2

Pressure (bar): 2-4 Depth (m): 10-30 Depth (ft): 33-100 Comments: Mild impairment of performance of unpracticed tasks; mildly impaired reasoning; mild euphoria possible

Row 3

Pressure (bar): 4-6 Depth (m): 30-50 Depth (ft): 100-165 Comments: Delayed response to visual and auditory stimuli; reasoning and immediate memory affected more than motor coordination; calculation errors and wrong choices; idea fixation; over-confidence and sense of well-being; laughter and loquacity (in chambers) which may be overcome by self-control; anxiety (common in cold murky water)

Row 4

Pressure (bar): 6-8 Depth (m): 50-70 Depth (ft): 165-230 Comments: Sleepiness, impaired judgment, confusion; hallucinations; severe delay in response to signals, instructions and other stimuli, occasional dizziness, uncontrolled laughter, hysteria (in chamber); terror in some

Row 5

Pressure (bar): 8-10 Depth (m): 70-90 Depth (ft): 230-300 Comments: Poor concentration and mental confusion; stupefaction with some decrease in dexterity and judgment; loss of memory, increased excitability

Row 6

Pressure (bar): 10+ Depth (m): 90+ Depth (ft): 300+ Comments: Intense hallucinations; increased intensity of vision and hearing; sense of impending blackout or of levitation; dizziness, euphoria, manic or depressive states; disorganization of the sense of time, changes in facial appearance; unconsciousness, (approximate inspired partial pressure of nitrogen for anaesthesia is 33 atm); death

/end ID]

So yeah - siren-like powers focused on causing disorder, distortion, confusion, and so on, make a lot of sense to what the ocean can illicit in people. These are a lot of good ideas 😊

As for the siren thing - yeah, I get it. I haven't really seen people talk about it before, but it doesn't really bother me because it's fun to think of different things.

As for greater fandom, yeah, it's likely because sirens are associated with the ocean. If you're focusing only on "Poseidon is the ocean, has no relation to the sirens outside of that", then some of the other parts of Percy's powers don't make sense - like being able to hold up the Lethe, or keep himself dry from it, being able to drown Ahkyls in her own fluids, and so on, because none of that is technically the ocean. The only link is that people associate the ocean with water/liquid and those other things involve water/liquid.

Or you can look at it the same way I look at Hades - where the link to Underworld is why Nico, Hazel, and Bianca are able to use the powers not related to the dead or underground wealth. Nico hopping through dreams is not an afterlife power, but Hypnos lives in the Underworld, he's connected to Hades by that, and so Nico gets that little boost. So Poseidon is the god of the ocean, and anything and anyone associated with the ocean is linked by that.

Sirens are also associated with merfolk in modern times, so there's that too. I mean, have you ever heard of a mermaid not singing? It might not be a "siren song" but it's still some kind of song. But, lol, don't stress yourself too much about it. If it doesn't make sense to you, that's perfectly understandable and the ideas you've presented are super great!

[strangerhands]

10 fandoms/10 characters/10 tags

waaaaaa omg thank you for the tag em 🫶 @runa-falls!! its been 800 years since i got to do a tag game (and make my own post for once..) so thanks! this actually made me happy but also a little "oh shit. people know i exist..?" i also made this post unnecessarily long but its me so whats new

ummm its all. only. oscar. not sorry (a little sorry)

1. marc spector + steven grant + jake lockley, moon knight-my absolute beloveds. moon knight is so special to me. the boys are so special to me. theres really nowhere near enough i could say here about them but if you get it, you get it. its also what got me into oscar (even though i discovered immediately that he was in annihilation and x-men: apocalypse WHICH I WATCHED YEARS AGO GODDAMMIT)

2. robbie paulson, law and order: criminal intent-listen. hes my girlfriend. my babygirl. my love. my sweet boy. the one plaguing damn near every Thot. most niche character here. wish he was real. wish there was more content of him out there but good god if fran (@/midgardian-witch, who also made that gif) hasnt been holding it downnnnnnn. bless.

3. poe dameron, star wars sequel trilogy-beautiful brave sweet husband who would maybe drive me a bit insane irl but in a good way (mostly) i wanna protect him. (also the only star wars films ive seen sorryyyyy sorry. yes it was for him. and adam driver.)

4. miguel o'hara, spider-man: into the spider-verse + spider-man: across the spider-verse-ohhh you beeg grumpy beautiful man. he would not like me. bite me pls (also still my two favourite movies oat.) craving some milk and cake suddenly... (his hair wings..<3)

5. cecil dennis, revenge for jolly!-pathetic little dirty alley cat man my beloved. my little princess. also my babygirl girlfriend little guy loser boy. (AND THE CURLSSSSSSS. AND SAD COW EYES.)

6. nathan bateman, ex machina-asshole who i unfortunately love. we would not get along irl but thats what fics are for!!!! he would make me cry. (but what if i could fix him..) i have a soft spot for him...

7. llewyn davis, inside llewyn davis-sad beautiful talented man. you can crash at my place any day. i would let him leech off of me idec lemme help you baby. i could show you what love is. (the curls and outfits...... i Crave.)

8. santiago garcia, triple frontier-woof. this guy. damn. yeah. sorry santi but i wanna bite your knees

9. blue jones, sucker punch-literally. asshole piece of shit but good god. whore. so slutty and beautiful and PATHETIC. i would let him be mean to me and then cry in private. but also put him in his place. its complicated. (whoever did his eyeliner and club wardrobe in that movie... i owe you my life. thank you. thank you. you deserve everything. thank you.)

10. mikael boghosian, the promise-oh. sweet beautiful intimate lover man. THAT scene... absolutely killed me. THAT SHOULDVE BEEN MEEEEE. i need him. (i am taking this moment to remind yall of the titty bite. yea. not sorry. youre welcome.)

honestly i couldve put nearly all of oscars characters but alas.

no pressure tags, hope none of you mind! i know this is very sudden and unexpected from me. only tagged some mutuals so its not 10 :p sorryy (sorry if youve been tagged already)

@my-secret-shame @saturn-rings-writes @spacecowboyhotch @villainsoftheweek @f4nrir @kouichijo @mugensword

again, no pressure to do this. hope everyone tagged is doing well! i havent interacted with some of yall in a long time<3

all gif credits go to their respective creators! i have no idea if tumblr automatically shows who made them or not, so sorry if it doesnt.

[chiskz]

RED LIGHTS MV

tw: mentions of murd3r, being ch0ked, manipulation, leaving marks

□ 𝐦𝐯 𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲

Both Bang Chan and Hyunjin are in love with Chichi and compete for her love. She submits to them, reassuring each of them that he's the one she loves. The obsession of these two reaches such a level that only slightly encouraged by Chichi, they commit crime without hesitation - they kill each other by strangulation. Chichi, for whom the relationship with men was just fun, quickly forgets about them... or so she thought.

Bang Chan and Hyunjin haunt her nightmares where they commit to her the same crime she manipulated them to commit. Repeated dreams of death and growing guilt drive Chichi insane. Soon, she is no longer able to distinguish reality from the images of her mind, as showed by the final scene - after waking up one morning, Chichi goes to the mirror, where she is horrified to notice a man's hand imprinted on her throat. Is this real?

□ 𝐦𝐯 𝐚𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐜

□ 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐟𝐢𝐭𝐬

□ 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

bang chan | hyunjin | chichi | all

I cannot breathe without you being right by my side, I'll die

So can you please come over closer?

Hold me tight, right now

No matter how hard I try to escape, there's no answer

Until I fall asleep in the sun, even deeper

I really wanna know, yeah

I've already lost control, oh

I'm going crazy now, out of control, I

I'm staying up all night again

The moment when I close my eyes

All I see is red lights

Shh, you know I can't leave you alone

You know I can't leave you alone

I just can't leave you alone

Make you feel my love, oh-oh (oh)

On a dark night

Make you feel my love, oh-oh (oh)

You know I can't leavе you alone

Now, tell me you hate me

"I can't handle you anymore"

But I know, you and me

There's no other way

No matter how hard I try to run away, set the mic up

Until the moon falls asleep, even deeper

I really wanna know, yeah

I've already lost control, oh

I'm going crazy now, out of control, I

I'm staying up all night again

The moment when I close my eyes

All I see is red lights (red lights, red lights)

You know I can't leave you alone

You know I can't leave you alone

I just can't leave you alone

I'm going crazy now, out of control, I

I’m staying up all night again (I absolutely can't let you go)

The moment when I close my eyes

All I see is red lights, red lights, red lights

I just can't leave you alone

Make you feel my love, oh-oh (oh)

On a dark night

Make you feel my love, oh-oh (oh)

You know I can't leave you alone

□ 𝐟𝐮𝐧 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭(𝐬)

* vlive reaction to mv - coming soon!

_________________

♡ special thanks to @g4m3girl, without whom this post would not exist. she was my inspiration, creator of some ideas and beta-reader. i love you and thank you!

[natlacentral]

Elizabeth Yu is bringing the heat in Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender. 

In Netflix’s new live-action series Avatar: The Last Airbender, the actress dons the role of Azula, princess to the Fire Nation and foil to her brother Zuko (Dallas Liu) and our protagonists of the story, namely Aang (Gordon Cormier), Katara (Kiawentiio) and Sokka (Ian Ousley). Yu brings Azula to life with depth and thoughtfulness that has never been previously explored. Fans of the original cartoon will be pleased to see that their favourite cold, conniving (and downright psychotic) princess will be given so much more to do. In Book One of the animated series, we see nothing of Azula, but with this fresh retelling, we’re able to see the seeds of ambition, what drives her, the fraying away of her psyche, and everything that leads up to that inevitable breaking point. Yu plays it beautifully, through subtle facial expressions, to her graceful line delivery, we’re able to get a glimpse of what life is like for Azula back home in the Fire Nation while she plots and schemes her way into her father’s good books.

Yu knows what this story means to people being a fan of the animation herself. And while the fandom has been hurt by live-action in the past (we’re looking at you, 2010 adaptation), this series is being told by the fans for the fans. There isn’t a facet of this show that hasn’t been given the attention and love that it deserves; like most retellings, The Last Airbenderwill not be beat for beat of the animated original but will breathe new life into a story we know and love. With that in mind, Yu cannot be prouder of the series and hopes that new and old fans alike will love it just as much as she loved making it.     

In conversation with 1883 Magazine’s Dana Reboe, Yu discusses how she’s feeling about her whirlwind success, working on two massive hits like May December and The Last Airbender, what element she would bend, how she handles imposter syndrome, and so much more. 

Life has been crazy for you lately between May December and now Avatar: The Last Airbender. How are you feeling? 

How to put it into words? It’s insane. I feel so blessed. I get impostor syndrome all the time; all the craziness that’s been happening doesn’t feel like it’s happening to me. You know, I have to separate myself from it all. It’s incredible.

I’m sure seeing all the billboards with the shows you’re in must be an out-of-body experience.

It’s crazy. I’m waiting for when I go back home to New York, and hopefully, I’ll be able to see some Avatar ones while I’m there. I’ll probably tear up. [laughs]

Take me back to the audition process for The Last Airbender. Did you know right off the bat, what you were auditioning for? Or did they keep it a secret?

They gave me a completely different project name, storyline, and character background. I had no idea when I first read, but for some reason, something within me was like, ‘That’s a codename. I feel it.’ Once I got farther in the audition process, I thought, ‘I know what this is!’ And then they sent my second to last audition, word for word from the original show, just to see if I could do the original material. And so, at that point I was like, ‘You don’t have to put on a show anymore, I figured it out!’ 

And when you officially booked it?

Albert (Kim) called me and said, ‘I think you know what this is for.’ And I was like, ‘I do!’ [laughter]

Avatar: The Last Airbender is so beloved. What are you most excited to see as a fan? And what are you excited for the audience to see?

Excited to see what we’ve done or what we might do in the future?

What you might do in the future.

Hopefully, if we get to Season Two–

We’re speaking it into existence.

Absolutely! Seasons two and three would be great. The Ember Island episode where they’re all at the beach; that campfire scene has so much character development, it’s insane, I cannot wait to get my hands on it. Favourite scene I’m excited for everybody to see… [Elizabeth thinks for a second] I’m excited for people to see our take on this world and making it more plot-driven. I’m excited to hear what people think about what we’ve chosen to keep in and get rid of and how they think it works. I’m so proud of the way that it’s turned out. But yeah, I’m excited to hear the feedback.

Well, I can tell you my feedback: I thought it was incredible.

Thank you!

Not sure if this is a spoiler since this will be out when the show premieres, but what hooked me was seeing the Air Nomads being wiped out in the first episode. We didn’t see much in the animated series, but this was very graphic, and while I was watching, I was like, ‘Oh, so they’re not afraid to go there.’

That was so important to show because it kind of grounds the audience to be like, ‘Okay, now we know what we’re dealing with, and what the stakes are’, it sets everything up perfectly. 

I agree. And I know the internet is worried about some of the changes that’ll be made, but I thought they served the story well. It’s important to remember this is not a direct retelling. One change I really loved was that Azula was given more to do. You gave her so much depth. Other than the original series, what did you do to bring her to life? And did you touch base with Grey DeLisle at all?

Oh, my gosh, thank you for saying that. First, that means a lot to me. I sent Grey a DM but I think it must have been filtered out. I’m absolutely obsessed with her work. She’s so iconic, hopefully, somewhere down the line with the release of this show, I’ll be able to meet her. That’ll be like an absolute dream come true. I’m so excited. I’ve watched all the videos of people meeting her at cons and stuff like that, getting her to read those iconic lines, I’m getting butterflies! 

I think with the success of the show, that’s definitely on the cards! Two Azulas in one room, I don’t know if we could take the heat [laughter]. Circling back, how did you prepare for the role? How did you put your spin on her?

Albert Kim, our showrunner, kept saying, ‘The original show is the sacred text. We’re going to abide by that as much as we can’ I think that just rewatching the show helped and then there are a lot of these YouTube videos where that are over an hour long that go into the psychology of Zuko and Azula. I watched those religiously, I used those as my toolkit. We also had an awesome onset acting coach, Lee Hutton, who helped a lot. The only way to make these cartoon characters really human is to delve into the way that their mind works.

I caught myself a couple of times, throughout the first few episodes feeling (a little) sorry for Azula. She’s trying so hard to do well in her father’s eyes, and seek his approval, but keeps falling flat. You play it so well.

It’s important to note that she and Zuko, at the end of the day, want the same things. You see Azula in this first season mirrors the second season of the animated series, you see her kind of go crazy. You see that slow build-up; she starts out not that crazy and then gets pushed to that breaking point.

Switching it up a little bit; if you could choose an element to bend that’s not fire, what would you choose and why?

I vibe with water. I also think the whole blood-bending thing is sick and swamp-bending [laughter] here are so many different things, healing, too! That’s a big one! That would be iconic. If I could be a healer? It’s so useful in battle because you can continuously heal yourself if you’re hurt. Water is so OP (overpowered). 

What about Azula captivated you?

Oh, good question. I remember getting that dummy audition and the character description was Azula. It just fit her. I’ve never auditioned for a character like that. I probably sent out like 400 Auditions before booking Avatar. I’ve never had a character who was a young Asian woman who was smarter and better than everybody else. She is confident and conniving and is just desperate for power. Who wouldn’t want to play a badass?

You said in an interview with IndieWire that your imposter syndrome was massive. In those moments, how do you talk yourself out of it? Or do you just let it pass?

There’s something very grounding and humbling about imposter syndrome. You know, there’s a balance of being able to reward yourself and congratulate yourself for the work that you’ve done, but also understand that the amount of attention that these projects are getting has very little to do with you and has to do with a lot of other people who have worked on them. It’s a mixture and I think impostor syndrome comes through not knowing where that line is between the two, so I think that’s what I struggle with. I don’t have any ego; I say my pleases and thank yous, I’m not going to be that person, and then on the other side of the coin, I did a good job, and I should be proud of myself. I think that especially spending time with my friends from home and being home with the cats and stuff like that, those are moments where I can look at the big picture and be like, I did a good job I should be proud of myself and let’s move on to the next thing.

What have you learned about yourself working on projects like May December and The Last Airbender?

The number of Asian pros I’ve gotten to work with on these projects is a huge, huge part of my proud-to-be Asian journey. I grew up in a white town and I’m half Korean half white. Before I filmed May December or started work on ATLA, I’d never been in a room with more than 15 Asian people. Also, we filmed in Vancouver and the Asian community out there is huge as well. It was amazing getting to talk to people like me and having these conversations I’ve never had before. And in May December, I worked with other half-Korean actors as well. And having this feeling of family with these people, there are many layers to it; not only being Asian, and presenting predominantly Asian, but also being a mixed kid and having that white side of you and then the Asian side of you. These two projects have been so, so integral to me being so proud and loving that part of myself that I, for the majority of my early life, hated. It’s been amazing. It’s like that’s the greatest gift I could have asked for.

It’s so incredible to see these stories come to life with the proper representation they deserve. With films like May December and shows like Avatar: The Last Airbender hopefully, we’re on the road to seeing more. If you had the chance to work with any actor living or dead, who would it be and why? And what would the dream project be?

I’m really getting stumped by this one [laughter].

Do you want to come back to it?

Okay, can I choose two?

You can choose two.

Beyonce, please. Renaissance. Act Two. I’m waiting for it. And number two would be Andrew Scott. He’s absolutely killing it. In another life, I wish I could go back in time, and watch his Vanya that he did. He did a one man show of Vanya. Oh, and his Hamlet, too! 

It’s good to see him getting his flowers recently. Did you see him in Sherlock at all?

Yes! 13-year-old Lizzy was a SuperWhoLock girl. Do you know what that is?

Of course, I was on Tumblr in those days. I love Doctor Who.

Oh, don’t even get me started on Doctor Who. 

Well, now I have to ask who’s your favourite Doctor? 

Good God, you’re going to get me in trouble. I have to say Matt Smith, but David Tennant is fantastic, too. Like, let’s put some respect on his name. But yeah, I’d definitely have to say the Matt Smith run is my favourite.

Have you caught up? 

I’m not caught up. 

Okay. I won’t say anything. Not a word. Nothing.

I appreciate it [laughter].

Pivoting back – your career is flourishing. What is one hope you have for the future?

Something great about working on Avatar and May December was this sense of family with cast and crew members and the directors and Albert (Kim) showrunner. Both are some of the first projects I’ve ever gotten the chance to work on. You’re able to have this connection with these people. That’s why I love acting; we’re in this together. Let’s make something cool. That’s what makes me want to keep doing it. That’s a goal of mine – to keep making cool things. And I always learn so many new things, all different aspects of my life on every project, I’ve been blessed to be able to work with some amazing people. I just want to accumulate as many of those special moments onset as possible.

And my last question is, what is something you’d like to manifest for yourself this year?

I would like to manifest being booked and blessed, not being too hard on myself, and living my life to the fullest.

[hypernova-blitz-arts]

Okay so i have an idea- TMC but with a storyline based off of FAITH. basically a crossover. ik it's been done before but i'd like to present my own take on it. Long ass character info list under the cut

Btw if you wanna rb this, please do! It let's me know people are interested

To start, I think the AU would/should be called When Faith Prevails.

The cult still exists, Preacher is the leader of the lower ranking members. The cat is the cult mascot because yes. I'll elaborate later.

All of the humans are traumatized!! Yaaaaay!!!

Mark (Father Heathcliff)

- 36

- absolute wet cat of a man

- takes on a role similar to John

- decided he wanted to be a priest so he could help people. Only wanted to become a priest after an incident in his childhood in which he attempted to finish an exorcism. One which the priest that had been called to the scene died during.

- Continuing the above, the faithful boy did what he could, as he was instructed to by O'Brien. He wasn't fast enough.

- Insomnia, night terrors, PTSD, anxiety, depression

Dave (Father Lee)

- late 50's

- Takes on a role similar to Father Garcia because it's fucking hilarious to me to imagine Dave blasting a demon with a shotgun

- he's too cool that's why he dies later

- cares for Mark a lot, considers him family

- became a priest due to his Visions (TM) as a child. He's been revered as a holy prophet since.

- somehow the most stable guy in this entire AU, had a good family life, decent childhood, stayed out of trouble, a very good child. He's mostly chillin, save for the fact that he Witnesses The Horrors every night in his sleep.

Father O'Brien

- died during an exorcism.

- he done goofed.

Cesar Torres

- Died at 16, somehow aged as a ghost? maybe because he's still attached to his body.

- a spirit bound to what's left of his mortal form. Cannot be at peace until his body is killed.

- an alt possessed him and took his body during a botched attempt to exorcise it out of his house. Turns out there was more than one.

- "talks" to Mark sometimes (leaves things out that mean different things, writes notes)

- "bleeding" constantly

- hates seeing Mark spiral like this

"Cesar Torres"/Alt Cesar

- Killed Cesar and took over his body.

- watch it gain humanity later (i'm sorry but giving Alts humanity and then making them spiral is my favorite thing to do. It's so much fun to watch an unfeeling entity, one made to kill, drive itself insane over being a failure)

- they/it at first, he/it later on.

Sarah Heathcliff

- before i go on, this is only an AU loosely based on FAITH. That being said, Lisa (or any replacement thereof) x John (or any replacement thereof) does not exist.

- 32

- Mark's distant sister, lives in the Cult's apartment building.

- stays away from religion because of her childhood

- some flavor of emotional management issues, that's what makes her so easy for an Alternate to manipulate/begin to possess.

Thatcher Davis

- look, i refuse to make him as young as he is canonically. not as old as Dave, but close. bro is at least in his 40's here. maybe very early 40's but 40s nonetheless.

- cop that hangs around the church for security.

- hangs out with Dave, calls him old man a lot

- trauma. so much trauma.

- Dave taught him how to exorcise an alt out of a given place, but Thatcher has something stronger (a gun)

- "I'm a brave boy" *Sees an alt* "NOT A BRAVE ENOUGH BOY FOR THIS"

Ruth Weaver

- used to live in the cult apartment building.

- She was sacrificed.

- Thatcher is still looking for her.

- He won't like what he finds.

Adam Murray

- He's just Michael Davies here what else can i say

-17

- humanity? gone. none left.

- he's in so much pain all the fucking time help him

Jonah Marshall

- Adam's best friend

-18

- alive. for now.

- anxiety, so much anxiety, hallucinates a lot.

- he knows how to use a GUN in this one folks

Lucifer/The Morningstar/ UNSPEAKABLE

- you see how he looks in canon? make it worse. make it a million times more uncomfortable to look at.

- eyes. All of the eyes. So many eyes.

- limbs? Many. Wings? Yeah, he has those too. They're leathery and bat-like with a layer of blackened feathers along the top.

- merciless

- created the alternates to twist the world to his design.

- likes to watch humans go mental, it's so funny to him <3

Important side characters (mostly Alts)

Six/The Anglerfish

- lures children in to either make them join the cult or sacrifice them, often replaces them with an alt to "spread the vision of it's creator"

- Warned Mark of what was to happen, was there to observe Mark failing his best friend

- bastard. Kill him. Right now.

- him and stanley are one in the same. Six is the anglerfish hiding in the darkness behind its lure. A monster behind a friendly face.

Preacher

- Kind of equivalent to Malphas but usually takes a form like that of Miriam's

- right hand to the UNSPEAKABLE

- bastard boy bastard boy bastard boy

- manipulative little prick

The Sacrifices

- various sacrificed animals possessed by lower ranking alts

Goat

- THE fucked up sacrifice

- little fucking bitchass daddy's boy. Asskisser of the antichrist. Desperate for the UNSPEAKABLE'S attention

- Alu's replacement

[willowbilly]

for the ships ask!! hickeysir & goodstan 👀👀

Any ship with Goodsir or Silna is automatically a Very Serious Favorite of mine, what with Goodsir and Silna being my very favorite characters, and I happen to love both of these ships so incredibly much! Hickeysir in particular is my secondmost absolute favorite Terror ship after GoodSilna, with GoodStanley close on their heels (and excluding polyships). It goes: 

GoodSilna. 

Any Goodsir or Silna ship (within my specifications), such as:  a.) Hickeysir. b.) GoodStanley, GoodSilzier, GoodSilCollins, etc. 

Other ships I like! 

Hickeysir and GoodStanley are among my preferred ships to go to for sources of angst and whump; I tend to extrapolate their antagonistic canon relationships into abusive or unhealthy ship dynamics in which Goodsir fights victimization. I’m keenly interested in the granular details of their incompatibility and the stark contrast existing between their characters. Goodsir’s personality is so different from either his captor’s or his direct superior’s, and I love how he does not meekly surrender to them in maintaining his rigid unto brittle code of manners and morality. They struggle to bend Goodsir to their will and they bring out another (worse) side of him, with these power struggles shining to me as some of the show’s most compelling scenes. Like, Stanley’s “I will do. You will not.” and Hickey’s “Don’t you also want to live?” drive me insane. “Has anyone ever invited you to a wedding, Dr. Stanley?” “Does that really work with anyone, Mr. Hickey?” There’s such an intense, prepossessing chemistry between them!!! 

I also adore pairing Goodsir with either Stanley or Hickey because they are excellent narrative foils with curious similarities, with Stanley’s murder-suicide paralleling Goodsir’s, and Hickey being in many ways Goodsir’s direct ideological inverse; they’re antitheses!!! With whom Goodsir is trapped!! Goodsir typically views others through a compassionate lens, so it’s especially alluring to turn that lens upon people like Stanley and Hickey whom he dislikes and even loathes. How might he wrestle with his own intermingled love of or attraction to them, or what resigns him to them, or how might he defy or escape them? What precisely might either do so as to keep him? To punish him? Why haven’t I written Hickeysir and GoodStanley atticwife AUs yet and why aren’t such AUs for them wildly popular? So many intriguing questions. Goodsir is basically Stanley’s wife anyway!! Not to mention that Hickey holds Goodsir captive and forces him to butcher his dear ex-partner’s body first out of all; it is in return that Goodsir uses the poison!!! Goodsir turns murderer because of Hickey!!! 

They have something special I tell you!!!