#I just have a lot of Feelings about the sea ok? she's very important to me

[i-regret-a-lot]

the tides are so ingrained into my knowledge of the world that I didn't realise they weren't universal until I went to turkey.

I grew up visiting my grandparents in cornwall and checking the little tide table books my grandma got every year so we could decide the best time to go to the beach.

for swimming or body boarding you want to arrive at low tide so that by the time you're exhausted and ready to go home the tide has brought you back up the beach and you don't have to walk so far. but make sure you remember to check that your things aren't getting soaked or swept away. alternatively have your wonderful parents on hand to move everything up the beach every ten minutes for you!

beach walks are best started at high tide so you have plenty of time to explore every nook and cranny of the cliffs before you risk getting cut off. and unless you are an incredibly good cliff climber you do not want to get cut off by the tide. that was one of the most important rules my parents drilled into me and my brother when we went to the beach.

and my mum used to tell me stories of visiting her grandma in devon where they could sometimes go to the beach at low tide and not even see the water in the distance.

you can imagine my surprise then when I was assured that i didn't need to worry about when I could go to the beach in turkey because the tides were practically nonexistent. I didn't understand how something so central to british sea and beach going culture could simply not exist. that this beautiful joint effort by the sea and the moon to create an ever changing coastal landscape was not universal.

I treasure the tides more than ever now I think

The tides of Europe

by mydriase

[onskepa]

hello again! Could you make the sully family including Mo"at and tonowari family react to how to train your dragon and both of them to be in the same universe.

hello sweetie! Okie, so its been so loooooooooooooooong since I watched the movies, so I took my sweet ass time to re-watch the first movie [idk if ya wanna ask for more in the future]. So I only placed the important events. So sit back, relax and enjoy~!!

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Myth or Ancient?

“Here, and be careful not to touch the shiny part with your fingers, it can ruin the colors. So it's super delicate” Norm carefully instructs tsireya and rotxo who nod enthusiastically. “You can trust us Norman sir” rotxo promises with a wide happy grin. Saying their bye’s, tisreya and rotxo run to the village as they start to talk about what sort of ‘snacks’ to eat for when they watch the disk called ‘movie’. 

“Demon technology is very interesting when it is not scary. How can this round thing show colors or people?” tsireya wonders as she stares down at the flat box that is protecting the disk. Rotxo shrugs, “even if lo’ak or kiri explains to us, I get the feeling we will still be confused” he says. They make their way slowly as they look at the cover of the thin box. 

Tsireya squints her eyes and reads the letters but if anything, the bold red kinda annoys her eye site. “That is a lot of red…” she muttered. She usually sees human language in green or white. Rotxo leans in, “do you think the colors have different meanings?” he wonders. This time tsireya shrugged. 

Lo’ak and neteyam were showing ao’nung how a camera works while their parents chat in a not so far distance. Everyone had their noon meal, stomachs full and in a mood for tea as the other villagers enjoy their relaxing day. 

“Wait so I just stare at this circle thing and-” 

*SNAP!* 

“Ow! My eyes! Did it just blind me!?” Ao'nung screeches dramatically as he rubs his eyes, adjusting from the sudden flash of light. Lo’ak was cackling like a madman as neteyam chuckles at the reef prince’s antics. “Oh I have to see the result!” lo’ak says as he snatches the camera from ao’nung. 

As the boys looked at the result, mo’at, jake and neytiri were talking with tonowari and ronal. “There are many ways the people have enjoyed themselves, even with demon technology that causes no harm. We do keep it very limited to usage and the purpose of it” neytiri explains to tonowari and ronal. And as if on que, running towards them was tsireya and rotxo. 

“Mother, father, look what sir Norman granted us to see” tsireya says happily as she shows the thin box to the adults. Tonowari leaned in to see. “There are tiny letters that I cannot read so well,” he says. Tsireya hands it over to Jake to see if he can read which, Jake grins happily. “Babe, it's your favorite movie,” he grins. Neytiri's ears perk up and tail swaying happily, “how to train your dragon?”. Jake nods in confirmation. 

“What is it?” Tonowari asks, “something I believe you might all like. Come, let's prepare for what we call a movie night” Neytiri smiles wide as she answers his question.

Food was cooked and shared, many mats, cushions, and other forms of sitting was set as Jake and norm prepared the projector. Tonowari and his family got the best seats, right at the center where they can see the view perfectly. 

“How will we see this…movie?” Ronal asks as she cradles her young baby. Spider brought little treats for her baby kindly answers. “In simple terms, the movie will be seen like physical people telling their story, like 3D”. Ronal just stared at him, lost at the explanation. He chuckles nervously, “you know what? Best to see the magic yourself”. 

After 30 minutes of everyone huddling together, sharing their portions and for the Eclipse to take full effect of the night, norm began to press play. 

And for the metkayina family, they gasped in awe. Massive colors of mountains, the sea, the clouds! They looked so solid and floating in mid air! 

“Majic of holograms-” 

“Ok shut up lo’ak”

 “This is Berk…” 

The main character began to speak, narrating about his home and life. Show how it is at night, from the animals to the form of the berk village. The whole style captured the reef na’vi attention very well. 

“Incredible….” Tisreya mutters as she leans against lo’aks shoulder. 

“The only problems are the pest” 

The scene zooms in on the poker face sheeps, enjoying their nightly dinner with all of a sudden claws grabbing it. Ao’nung and rotxo gasped, just what was it? 

“Most people have mice, or mosquitos, but we have….” 

A door opens to see the sheep running away, and a monster flying dangerously close looked at the open door and breathed out fire. 

“Dragons!” 

“Dragons? What are those?” Tonowari asks, neytiri not far from his family simply smiles, “proud and fearless creatures, like the ikrans' '. Neytiri pops a popcorn in her mouth as she snuggles with Jake, enjoying her all time favorite movie. 

“Dragons…” Ronal repeats but with wonder. Oh they definitely have the family’s attention now. 

“What is he doing out here ag-what are you doing out here?! Get inside!” 

“That is stoick the Vast, chief of the tribe. They say when he was a baby, he popped a dragon's head clean off from its shoulders. Do I believe it? Yes I do” 

Hiccup narrates of the large man who was able to easily pick him like nothing. 

Tonowari looks at the leader being show, “why is his face mostly hair?” he asks. “Thats how the vikings were back then. Said to attract and scare off anything” Jake replies easily. Tonowari hums at that, slowly liking this stoick guy. 

The movie continues to show the insanity of the dragons attacks. Their fiery breaths destroy so many homes, taking animals left and right. And the people fend them off in many ways. Utter chaos all around, but shows how it is their normal everyday life. 

For lo’ak and spider, hiccup has become their favorite character. Despite the awkwardness and having to be kept inside from dangers, they can understand him on a deep level. Which is why they understand hiccup’s need to kill a dragon, his way of “making his mark”. 

“One day bro…one day” lo’ak whispers to spider. But the human boy nudges him away, “dude you became brothers with a tulkun. I think you already made your mark on that” spider says in a deadpan way.

Spider can understand hiccup from how their own bodies are. Yes spider isn't shaped to stand the planet's environments but he makes it through. Just like how hiccups is small and lanky, he makes his way through his crazy viking life.

“So many different types of dragons….and many are so ugly” Ronal says as hiccup lists different dragon species. Tonowari can't help but chuckle, his guess, dragons are not meant to be a pretty sight if they are considered dangerous creatures of the skies. 

“There are prettier dragons you know” Neytiri comments. 

Ronal turns to her, “how so?” 

“Later you shall see. I rather not spoil the fun”

As the scene goes on, the one, the only, night fury dragon has entered the battlefield. Everyone cheers for that dragon, a common favorite in the clan. “Amazing! I want to see the full view of the nightly beast-what is hiccup doing?” it was rotxo who said that. He enjoyed the building hype until the next part focuses on hiccup setting up what looks like a trapping weapon. 

“He is going to get himself killed!” ao’nung whispers/shouts. 

“Yeah, that is going to happen a lot in this” neteyam calmly answers as he offers popcorn to ao’nung to whom happily accepts. 

“Yes! Did anybody see that?!” hiccup shouts excitedly. 

“He did” tsireya points happily as the monstrous nightmare dragons crawls up from the cliff. 

“Well he is toast” 

Neytiri cringed a bit at Jake's joke, but held in her laugh.

But as the next scenes go, things didn't go as smooth as stoick would have liked. Having more things being burned at the dragon chases hiccup, only for later to be given a lecture in front of the massive crowd. 

“I feel you hiccup” lo’aks voice cracks as a single tea falls from his face.

“The forest looks so pretty” tsireya comments as she admires the pretty view of the berk forest. Similar to the omatikaya forest, yet it is still different. Human environment truly never bores her. But as she admires the scenery, they reach the part as hiccup searches high and low for the night fury dragon he has shot down while ranting and venting his anger. 

“He found it!” rotxo points out the obvious thing but doesn't care. The suspense grows, hiccup takes out his blade which makes the sully’s give out a chuckle. “Tuk’s blade is bigger and sharper than that” neteyam says as he calms himself. Tisreya looks over at him. “Now that you mentioned is, where are your sisters? I figured they would enjoy this too” she wonders. Neteyam shakes his head, “no, they have something better”. 

Not sure what he meant by that, but tsireya accepts his answer. 

“Oh he is a beauty…” ronal admires the slow scene of the night fury. Capturing every detail and its mesmerizing green eyes. The look of a dangerous, unpredictable hunter. Something about it gives chills down her spine. 

“Indeed, he is my second favorite dragon,” Neytiri adds. Ronal wonders if another like the night fury will appear later on in the movie. 

Hiccup takes deep breaths, hesitating, heart racing. 

“He isn't….he isnt going to kill the dragon is he???” ao’nung asks, already feeling sad for the poor beast. Nobody answers. The tension is rising. The music is rising to its peak. Will he do it? Will he cut out the heart? 

Will the night devil accept his fate? 

No because hiccup decided to cut the ropes and only faint a minute later after releasing the dragon. 

“That was crazy of him, but also with the night fury” tsireya looks at the scene. Feeling worried about hiccup. There was a lot of stress happening in those few short minutes. “Makes you think if he still wants to follow the ‘viking’ style like his people” ao’nung comments, making air quotes like how the sully kids do.

“Can you stop that?!” gobber shouts at fishlegs who for some odd reason is doing quick math as gobber lists the dragons that are behind the tight metal gates. 

“Interesting kids…” Tonowari obersves how each teenager is like. From the annoying twins to the tough girl act, Astrid. While at the same time, Jake was able to enjoy how Astrid was like. Reminded him so much of a certain tough girl. 

“Today is about survival. If you get blasted, you’re dead!” Gobber informs. Tisreya claps her hands as ao’nung listens to what gobber is saying. 

“It is just like an iknimaya. Learning at first hand, "Tonowari says in awe. He enjoys the scene as the kids in screen run for their lives and make a fool of themselves. The reef kids all smile as they remember their early stages and future stages of their iknimaya. 

“Is it similar to what you had to go through?” Ao’nung asks neteyam, the young boy nods “similar yes. Remind me of how we tamed out ikrans”. 

“And remember, dragons always go for the kill” Gobber stares at hiccup after his massive mistake. Ao’nung and rotxo tilt their heads on that one. 

“If that is true, why didn't the night fury attack him then?”

Hiccup began to slowly gain the trust of the nightfury, keeping his distance while feeding it fish. 

“I guess for humans its harder since neither the dragon or hiccup have a way to connect” it fascinates tisreya. Using a queue makes a bond easier. However for humans, it takes a lot of work and a lot of patience. And it shows the results. 

The nightfury, who was given the name toothless, has come to enjoy hiccups presence. 

“Their bond grows stronger” Tonowari looks in awe. Reminds him of how the animals bond and grow alongside the na’vi. As the movie continues, seeing how dragons live, and learning through hiccup, it was literally learning a whole new world, or in this case, the old world. 

Ronal however, seems to wonder about future possibilities. Balancing a secret and becoming ‘popular’ is multitasking. “It is only a matter before the truth comes to light…”

Ronal was correct. 

Hiccup’s secret was found out, without meaning to. He has a final test, to defeat a dragon in the trial dome. Everyone was cheering him on, but his life was in danger. Hearing his shouts, toothless heard and ran for his aid. Exposing to the whole village that the infamous nightfury was there all along. 

And to make matters worse, stoick used toothless as a naivator to find the queen of the dragons nest. 

“He is going to get everyone killed!!” tsireya shouts/whispers. Hugging her knees tight, feeling sad for hiccup and toothless. 

Clearly a war with the dragons seems very dangerous, even with the prepared weapons to take all of the dragons down, the queen is not a dragon that can be taken down so easily. And when she came to full view, was she terrifying. 

“So horrid…” 

“Yet to captivating” 

Neytiri and Jake enjoy seeing the metkayina’s reactions. The reveal of the queen never fails. “The queen will surely give me nightmares tonight” Ao’nung says, not liking how many sharp teeths the giant dragon has. Neteyam chuckles at that, “don't worry my friend, a true dragon queen is never ugly. Beautiful in reality”. 

Ao’nung looks over at neteyam with some doubt, “you make it sound as if you met a real dragon” 

Neteyam didnt say anything further and just enjoy the movie.

“NO!” 

Rotxo hid his face with the empty popcorn bucket, not wanting to see the impact of hiccup’s ultimate demise. Tsireya hides her eyes also, ready to cry if the poor boy is dead. “Please tell me he is not dead…I can't look '', lo’ak chuckles at that. “Come on, look, you will miss it” he encourages. Gently lifting tsireya’s chin to face the film, worry clearly seen in her eyes. 

In sigh of happiness and relief, they all see toothless covering passed out hiccup. Stoick goes to see his son, safe and in one piece. Well, almost in one piece. 

“Oh no…” Ronal covers her mouth as it is revealed hiccup lost his leg. Tonowari leans in, whispering to himself, encouraging hiccup he can do it, he can walk with his new leg. “It's not going to stop him, for sure” ao’nung says, his eyes so glued in to the final parts of the movie. 

“If the queen couldn't, nothing will” lo’ak says. 

“It was hardly a queen” netyiri gently scoffing at the dead horrid dragon. 

The door opens to show the village waiting for hiccup, welcoming back. And with a newfound perspective, thanks to him. Now the village embraces the dragons as their new companions. And of course, a new saddle to ride on, hiccup takes his flight in the new era of humans and dragons. 

“This is berk, its snows 9 months of the year and hails the other three. Any food that grows here tough and tasteless, the people that grow here even more sore. The only upsides are the pets. While in some places have ponies, or parrots, we have dragons” 

The credits began to role, thus the movie ended. 

Tsireya and rotxo clapped enthusiastically, as ao’nung nodded in appreciation. Ronal and Tonowari nodded to neytiri and jake, their way of saying thanks for the delightful entertainment. 

“That movie was incredible! But, were dragons indeed real? Have they gone extinct?” Tsireya could help but ask. She learned that the vikings were indeed real, but what else was real? As she asks aways, Ronal couldn't help but just notice something. 

“Neytiri, where are your daughters? I haven't seen them since we got here” she asks. Neytiri chuckles a bit as she prepares some late night meals for everyone, “they will all be here soon” 

“No sooner enough” was the voice of mo’at as she entered their home. The sully family welcomes her in, the metkayina greeting the tsahik. Mo’at sits beside her grandsons and accepts the meal from jake. “Where is kiri and tuk if I may ask? They missed such an amazing film!” Tsireya asks mo’at. 

“That movie of the dragons? I have seen it endless amounts of times I can recite the whole thing. My granddaughters would agree on that” mo’at answers. 

“But where are they?” 

“Enjoying the real dragon experience” 

This confused the reef na’vi a bit. But before anyone else can say anything, there was a loud shreek. It was an unfamiliar sound, at least to tonowari and his family. But this sound brought smiles to the sully family. “Right on time” jake said, everyone running out to see what it was. 

Opening the flaps wide, ronal peeked out and gasped loudly. 

“Is that…” 

“Oh my Eywa they are real!!” 

A dragon! A mighty one at that! It gently flapped its wings, landing down safely on a very thick branch. Climbing down was kiri and tuk, whose hairs were literally everywhere. “We are home!” tuk announces happily, running towards jake who catched her in mid jump. “Mom, you should have joined us, it was simply wonderful,” kiri says as she smiles. 

Tonowari and his family were left stunned and speechless, a dragon, in front of them! 

“Come on, dont just stand there, you want to meet her?” Lo’ak says as he and neteyam go to the dragon. 

“Her…?” tonowari repeats. Neytiri happily goes over to the dragon and gives her many kisses, the dragon releases what sound like pleasing purrs. 

“Yes, this is…..” 

The ending is up to you to interpret. But I hope you guys enjoyed it! Until next time! See ya!

[befuddledcinnamonroll]

Love Sea - final thoughts

This one took me a while to write. I kept falling into defensiveness around some of the complaints I've seen about the show, and I just don't think that's healthy. I think it's more indicative of the real-life stress I have going on at the moment than anything else. But in the end I am here because of what I love, not what I hate, and I want to keep that part of myself nourished.

So here's what I loved:

Fort and Peat. They were flipping perfect for these roles, and I feel like their acting skills have noticeably leveled up. Especially Fort, who had this intensity-under-the-surface thing going on that really packed a punch. There were a lot of layers to many of their scenes, and I connected with the underlying emotions really well. Also hella good chemistry.

Loved Mut, so, so much. Part of what I love about romance is the fantasy, and he was an incredible fantasy. And I know I'm not alone, because my Mut thighs post is one of my most popular in months, you thirsty people you.

The themes around love and fear were very compelling to me. The way abuse dynamics can alter the pathways of your brain is horrifying, and this show didn't shy away from that. It also didn't pretend that things can be fixed overnight, or that someone can "save" you. Love can help, love can support, but in the end you have to make the choice for yourself.

Even though Mut was a fantasy love, he still got to have needs, and the show acknowledged it couldn't be a real relationship in the end without Rak doing the work to give more.

I liked the side characters. Meena was just precious, and her bonding with Uncle Mut was delightful. I struggled a bit with Vi from time to time, but in the end her authentic friendship and support for Rak made all the difference in his life, and I love seeing platonic love get such importance. And Mook was such a little sweetie. She's out there representing those of us who give too much of ourselves and have trouble asking for what we need.

Honestly, my only real complaint is that we didn't get any resolution to the ViMook situation. I assume they're saving it for the special episode, which I don't really like - at least have Vi apologize or something to wrap up the main story. Vi showed herself to be a very emotionally intelligent character, so I am still hoping we get her having a realization about how badly she's been fucking up with Mook thus far.

Ok, I am going to say one thing about some of the complaints - regarding some of the vitriol around Mook and calling her various forms of "annoying". I just want to caution that it's good to be aware of how and when we use words like that. I've seen a lot of that kind of language aimed towards women of East Asian culture of late (in multiple shows, not just this one). Also - reminder that there are real life people watching you say these things who have qualities in common with those characters. And they notice.

[thisnameisnotspokenfor]

SUPER ROUGH FINAL CHAPTER SNIPPET I SWEAR

disclaimer: this is not 50% done and there's still a lot of important details/actions missing but I was too hyped to not share- and there's a good chance the final product will look completely different

@firstdove15 and @aquamiun I HAVE TO tag you for this I'm sorry- but I need to see your reactions- this chapter is lore HEAVY.

“See and now if I kill you, people are gonna think I’m the wicked one!”

“If it makes you feel any better, you’re wicked for a lot of reasons, Asha. But if we had to make a list, I don’t think trying to kill me would be in the top ten.”

“Yeah right. So let me get this straight. I’m that wicked, yet here we have you, doing a hundred and one herculean tasks just to spend a day with me in order to be my friend. Right?”

“Yep. Pretty much.”

“So what does that say about you, Cepheus?”

“That I’m oddly persistent and determined?”

“Or that you’re a complete lunatic with a terrible taste in friends, but to each their own, I guess.”

“Lunactic? Ouch, Asha,” he feigned hurt as he drawled. “Why don’t you tell me how you really feel?”

She felt her grip tighten around the helm.“Star boy, I’m in this situation because I lost a wager that I was super confident that I’d win. I’m doing the best I can, ok?”

“Actually, I believe the correct terminology for me would be star man.”

“Excuse me?”

“I believe the correct terminology for me is star man. I’ve been through  way too many rites of passages to be called a boy.”

She shook her head, trying to ignore him. “Rites of passages?”

“Yeah you know, certain coming of the age things you have to do per custom.”

“Really? And what does a star’s rites of passage look like?”

“Well, of course it varies per court, but there’s a few shared customs that they all have. They usually vary in difficulty.”

“How many have you done?”

“Honestly? More than I can remember. Any star you see that’s my age has at least completed a handful.”

“Did you have…any personal favorites?”

“The sea of monsters.”

“Sea of monsters?”

He nodded, “yep. It’s one of the hardest rites of passage, and one of the most dangerous ones as well but it’s very rewarding if you succeed.” He paused taking note of her and Valentino’s expression. “I suppose I should explain, shouldn’t I?”

“Yes please,” she muttered watching as some of the water from the river rose to form a droplet within his hands. 

“Like the name implies, it takes place at what we’d call a sea. But this ocean isn’t like yours,” he started as the water droplet darkened, turning pitch black.”Instead of being filled with water, it’s filled with what they call consternas, or constellation monsters that were imprisoned beneath the ocean’s torrents that eagerly try to rip apart any star that enters their territories.”

She shivered, watching as the darkened water began to move irregularly.

“So…how do you complete this rite of passage?”

“Oh it’s simple really. You see when a star undergoes this rite of passage, they enter the sea carrying a weapon with them. But this weapon isn’t for self-defense. Nope, it’s to bind the chosen consterna monster to your life force. But you have to be careful because once you enter that ocean, it’s going to do everything to make sure that you don’t make it out alive. Every drop eats away at your very being, as with every passing second the ocean tries to drag you down deeper and deeper.”

“So what happens if you fail? Do you drown?”

“Ha, drowning would be merciful. No. If you stay in there for too long, you end up turning into a Consterna yourself. A mindless monster, cursed to roam the sea until another star stronger than you comes along and binds you to it’s life force for all eternity.”

“That’s…awful…what’s the point of that?!”

“Well, it’s to lessen the number of raging Consternas for one, and two, if you do succeed not only do you get fantastic accolades, you also gain a cool weapon!”

A cool weapon, she mentally scoffed. What good was a cool weapon to a star who could barely defend himself?!

“You should see some of the children of the higher ups take it,” his laughter interrupted her thoughts. They tie a rope around them, to pull them back in case they go to deep.”

“And this is your favorite rites of passage?! Cepheus!!”

“What?” he frowned innocently. “You asked!”

[eri-pl]

Silm reread 12: Geography :(

Aaaand now it's the time for a geography lesson, says the narrative.

Nevrast (Turgon's pre-Gondolin kingdom) is a Noldorin-Sindarin mixed culture. Nice. I assume Gondolin will be like this, too? And still, Eol took an issue with it being too Noldorin.

Finrod is above his brothers, and has the most land and is allied with Cirdan. He deserves it all, he is awesome. <3 Except the part where he doesn't tell Thingol about the shady stuff.

Morgoth's servants all hate water and do not go near the sea unless they really need to. I wasn't sure that was canon.

Ungoliant is mentioned again. She poisons water and it makes people insane. Wait, is this the place where Nienor will later get lost?

Nargothrond's location and surroundings described in detail.

Maglor's gap has horses, oh, so that is why "Maglor the horse girl" is a thing?

Finrod travels a lot, visits Ambarussar and Green elves and what not. Who rules Nargothrond when he's away?

No Noldor go through Ered Lindon in the First Age. I'm not sure if I need this information for something, but maybe.

Chapter XV: more Noldorin drama

Tumladen the Hidden Valley. Mhm. I feel like I've seen this morpheme somewhere more popular. :)

Turgon's Ulmo-induced anxiety is also a thing that sleeps and wakes, because Tolkien's poetic language. (I like Eldritch Oath, but it is a hc with no stronger textual support than the alternative, I think)

Turgon works in secret. And it is not very bad. (He still ends up loving it too much and dies, but he's a very mild case of this problem anyway). also, it takes 52 years (4*13, like deck of cards; or 2*26 and 26 is on of the numbers of perfection in the Bible, iirc. Maybe it's just random logistics.)

Ulmo appears to Turgon (in physical form not in a dream, as he later "returned to the sea") and infodumps him. Gives him a manual on what to do + a prophecy + you will mess up anyway + but it's ok I will send you a reminder + so leave here an armor in this exact size and style. (Really, Ulmo does give Turgon the exact size for the armor, helmet and sword.)

I have a feeling that (at least in Ulmo's opinion) Turgon isn't the brightest fish in the sea.

Meanwhile, Melian asks Galadriel what the problem is and Galadriel doesn't want to speak about it. Also, if seems like the Hiding of Valinor hid it also from Melian's mental information-gathering abilities? She sounds like normally she should be able to see what happenned but now she's not. Huh.

Important points Melian says:

the Noldorin princes never mention the Valar

the sons of Feanor are arrogant and cruel (this is pre-Kinslaying!)

[later] fate of Arda is bound to the Silmarils

[later] the Eldar cannot recover them on their own

Galadriel tells her about the unrest and what Morgoth did, but not the murders, oath or ship-burning. And refuses to say more.

Melian goes to thingol, Thingol also knew something was off and had been thinking about it. Melian warns him against the sons of Feanor, Thingol says that Feanor was a great Elf (according to what he heard) and his sons are sus, but useful as allies.

So, we have a (sort of) answer why Thingol didn't want to talk with the sons of Feanor: they were behaving so badly that (based on gossip, but it migcht have been well-founded gossip) he did not want to deal with them. Huh. for 400-ish years? Not even talk to them to see on his own? Weird but ok.

Now Morgoth starts spreading gossip among the Sindar. how? I would assume Sauron and thralls. I wonder why didn't he earlier tell the Sindar about Alqualonde. Did he not know? So how does he know now? I can't figure out his strategy here.

So Thingol accuses Finrod of being a kinslayer. Finrod is very nice to his cousins and diplomatic. He prefers to be blamed for something he didn't do than to tell on his cousins. But Angrod is still angry at Caranthir (after a couple hundered years, I think. huh.) and tells on them.

Is this why his name is Angrod? Because he gets angry so easily? (+after-the-fact Elvish etymology)

Anyway, Angrod explains he before didn't mention it because of loyalty. Huh. the earlier chapter said something slightly different, but ok. And he talls on them… except the Oath? Kinslaying and ship-burning is mentioned, but no clear indication that anyone told Thingol about the Oath. Which is interesting. Gives a lot of space to my favorite type of conflict (where each side has some good points, but they do not fully know other side's situation).

Thingol kicks them out for a time, and does the Quenya ban, which is directed at the Sindar only. Nothing in the book suggests that Thingol tried to ban the Noldor from speaking their language. Just the Sindar. And they listened. And avoided those who spoke it (which confirms that the Noldor did speak it with no ill consewuences greater than social ostracism). Everyone started speaking Sindarin, only the Noldorin princes spoke to each other in Quenya and the loremasters used it.

And we end on Finrod's sad foresight.

[ofliterarynature]

SEPTEMBER 2024 WRAP UP

[loved liked ok nope dnf reread* (book club)]

Bryony & Roses • The Paragon Hotel • The Invisible Library • (The Magic Fish) • The Gathering • Paladin of Souls • Mislaid in Parts Half-Known • Red White & Royal Blue* • North Woods • The Empty Grave* • Barda • Lost in the Moment & Found • The Creeping Shadow* • The Spellshop • Lalani of the Distant Sea

* * * * *

Lockwood & Co - not much to say, but it was fun revisiting an old favorite! It's becoming clearer with age and rereads that there are things about this series that I don't like, but the things I like definitely outweigh them - the way it does ghosts and uses a casebook structure among them! Would highly recommend if you're looking for something a bit spooky and mysterious.

Lost in the Moment and Found - this book was very hard to get into, because as it warns you, the opening involves a child experiencing grooming and gaslighting from an adult, and it is tense. Oof. But that said, between this and Mislaid in Parts Half-Known, I think Antsy's story and the Shop Where the Lost Things Go might be my favorite place and narrative arc we've seen yet.

Barda - I was obsessed with Ngozi's Check Please! for a number of years, and I think she's a very funny person in general! I read this on the strength of that alone despite no previous knowledge of the DC characters involved. I do honestly think this needed to be twice as long to get the depth of story necessary for an outsider, but dang did she pack the emotions in! I can fully see why she's obsessed with these characters, even if I don't feel like I have enough info to get into it myself.

North Woods - honest to god I'm so glad I picked up a copy of this at the library book sale, because I don't know if OR when I might have gotten to it otherwise. I don't really have the words, but it's one of those slow, literary, speculative, books that you have to work to put together that I love to listen to on audiobook and just marinate in for a few days. I would highly recommend to fans of Emily St John Mandel.

Red White & Royal Blue - I'll be honest, I somehow found myself on a FirstPrince fanfic binge and eventually hit a point where I thought to myself, you know, I've only read the book once, maybe I should go check that out again. It was fun! Remarkably similar in tone to the fanfic, so keep up the good work yall ;D

Paladin of Souls - Y'all. I'm so mad it took me this long to get to this after Curse of Chalion. I've seen this recommended so many times independent of the first book and they were so right, I loved it. Character-driven fantasy, great world building, a middle-aged female character who's on a journey of self-discovery and also so done with everyone's shit (including the gods, lol).

The Gathering - a murder investigation in Alaska with vampires *sounds* cool, but... the vampires are people, they're sentient, they have a culture, but they're also deeply hated and treated like predatory animals and are designated a protected species? It's trying to say something, but I'm not sure it works. Definitely taught me that I don't like crime novels or thrillers, but some bonus points for being unexpectedly queer.

The Magic Fish - I've see this around, but tumblr finally convinced me that I needed to read it and I got it onto the book club list. It was completely not what I was expecting, it was so much better! The description really led me to think it would be a lot more YA-ish and be about the son, but his mom is just as important to the story! It's got fairy tales, it's got complexity, the art was incredibly beautiful, ah!!! I'll be needing to get my own copy so I can read it again and think about it some more.

The Invisible Library - tumblr apparently finds this book very divisive, and both times I've asked about it there's been a 50/50 split on whether people liked or hated it lol. SO I went in with very low expectations, and I thought it was fun! It's not a great work of fantasy, I will give you that, but I do enjoy a tropey alt/historical fantasy adventure on occasion, and this filled that niche pretty well. It also didn't lean into a romance plot like I was afraid it would, and as long as it continues to do so (or at least handles it well), I think I could have fun with the rest of this series.

The Paragon Hotel - this is somehow my third Lydsay Faye, and while I don't think I've particularly loved any of them, she can really write a very solid book! A good read, with queer identities playing an unexpectedly major part in the plot!

Bryony & Roses - I have so far epically failed in my goal this year to read more of T Kingfisher's fantasy backlist, but I saw this on hoopla and thought I could fit it in. A very good time as always!

DNF

The Spellshop (16%) - I've read the author's YA in the past and (mostly) liked it at the time, and have been meaning to read her previous adult book for ages. Unfortunately, I've been having terrible luck with anything recent being marketed as cozy fantasy. I put 2 hours into this on audiobook and my initial impression of the story was earnestly quirky, charming, and anxious. Perhaps better than L&L, but I wasn't feeling much more than a vague interest and decided to cut my losses before my feelings entirely soured.

Lalani of the Distant Sea (10%) - this book sounds really cool (yes I did love Moana), the mythology and worldbuilding in the bit I read was interesting, but it is very much written for a younger reader. If I had any in my life currently I would be happy to give this to them! Just not the right pick for me right now.

[blu-orb]

Honestly very intrigued by pantheon smp but I haven't played minecraft in a hot minute (kh hyperfix hit HARD). would you mind talking a little bit more about it? Like what sort of gods are there and who are they, how do they interact with people, how important they are to playing? Do individual players have individual gods or are there more groups? Is it an server that's easy to take a break from?

Thanks so much <3

OK OK SO. hitting a read more on this one because we're DELIGHTED to get so many questions this might get a bit rambly

SO ok the pantheon has. a main pantheon of gods, with no side gods

There is: Sea, the God of the ocean and technology! they/them pronouns, loud and LOYAL to those they consider a friend. the kind to stare you down because you made a REALLY COOL redstone machine.

Conflict, the God of harvest, conflict, and blood sacrifice, but she's also got pretty strong ties to protection and loyalty. she/they pronouns. she isn't actually a god that encourages war, despite what her name may make you think. she herself leans more on the side of protection, and doesn't really instigate any fights.

Forage, the God of forage and the hunt! she/they pronouns as well! a god that likes to watch mortals, and is rather friendly when you encounter her. unless you upset them. and well you don't want to upset them. she's got a fun two sides of one coin /pos thing going with conflict that we ADORE in regards to domains and vibes

Monstera! God of monsters and fear, she/her pronouns. a very quiet god who holes up in her own little area, but if you upset her somehow despite that you'll Know

Creation! God of life, birth, healing, AND (natural) death! he/him pronouns. a god that holes up and hides a lot but when he's being social he's being *social*. many contrasts contained in this one.

Color, the god of. well. color! He/him. a very... chaotic god, this one. constant, constant antics. never a dull moment with color, and that isn't necessarily a good thing.

Travel, the God of travel and trade! they use they/them pronouns. a wanderer, who never stays in one place too long. ALWAYS an interesting encounter, even by godly standards (at least, in our opinion)

The Unknown, one of many names. God of mysteries and secrets. a god that's hard to find, and perhaps you do not *want* to find it, if you are not a follower. following the unknown is a path that may lead to dangerous knowledge, and once you learn you can never unlearn

Chance!! (HIII THIS IS OUR SPECIAL LITTLE GOD!!) The God of music and chance! Any pronouns, keep shuffling them, keep that fresh. a god who constantly watches, and is rarely seen. if you listen, though, you may hear vem. if you surround yourself in song, you will likely catch the eye of this god, and if you're in its favor you WILL know. chance has a funky two sides of the same coin/neg relationship with the unknown, and they are BEEFING. the only two with genuine, eternal rivalry. the unknown has closed chest imagery, while chance has opening chest imagery. we could go on about this but we will not, here

bonus round!

Tangerine Boy/Tangy is NOT yet an ascended God, and is not followable, but WILL be so once he ascends. he/him pronouns. god-to-be of civilization, and love of the world. just a silly little guy under the impression he's totally mortal right now.

Gods WILL often interact with mortal characters, whether that be because that god has picked up a new little favorite, or because they feel SLIGHTED by an offense. Or because you just randomly ran into a god. that happens with some sometimes. it's fine.

They're pretty important to playing, but mostly in a "what gods you follow will flavor how your character interacts with the world in a way, or vice versa" way! for example, we have a character who's planned to constantly engage with the archaeology aspect of minecraft, and they follow Sea, Travel, and Chance! Sea because... "Please don't make the oceans maul me while i'm at underwater sites", Travel for safety in traveling the many blocks they go, and Chance for luck! There's also an offering area when the server is up, and messing with that usually adds both fun lore AND gameplay aspects.

people usually end up with individual worship, or using the collective shrines! tho if you asked us as a god we'd looove to see more people doing more group worship things and engaging with the godly aspect of the server like that. but individual worship is fun! a mortal can follow multiple gods, but watch out! if you follow the wrong set you might get beefing gods around you.

It's relatively easy to take a break from, yeah! the server gameplay wise isn't going to rush towards major game milestones, and in fact the end is LOCKED until a major, in lore event regarding the gods called Dragon Day! at the same time, if you want to wither fight a ton PRIVATELY for beacons that's also allowed, when the server's open. it's very much focused on being a slow, player interaction roleplay focused server.

We're all working on upgrading the modpack, and finding a set of mods that is both fun for everyone AND is able to be played on low end computers, so right now is the great preparation time! plenty of time to sit and ask questions about the setting, and make a character with no rush.

in fact, if you have further questions, and the interest, there are multiple questions channels in the discord, or if you're not ready for that, we know we've got a couple of the other mods of the server who got SO excited upon learning you asked so many questions, and they'd be glad to answer any you may have in comments/reblogs of this post!

[dakaneeee]

Alr you know what Im gonna ask for. You mentioned her in the srpska post so, Herze hcs?

Herze Head cannons time

Again 2 points:

1. Yes i do know when Tix made her she was probably referring to Herceg Bosna, and not Hercegovina as a whole. I am breaking that rule cause I am biased

2. Once again, I am from Hercegovina myself, and since Hercegovina has no important figure i can’t make the same Milorad Dodik joke in the last post

ANYWAY

1. Design wise nothing too interesting, I do imagine she has a lot of Sunspots tho

2. Also thick ass arms. Idk every woman from Herzegovina is always jacked

3. 166 cm for Herzegovina with Tijana Bošković existing is a spit to the face, she should be 180 cm at least

4. Thick brown hair, possibly wavy, though we barely see her hair down

5. Her “pre-conversion” name was Danica

6. She never converted actually, she remained Christian the entire Ottoman period

7. She read the bible to Ilija every night

8. Probably cut most of her hair off and pretended to be a male poturica (a serbian convert), where she went by the name Idriz

9. She wore mostly Turk-like clothing, probably stolen from a few Poturica-s she’s killed

10. Though she still wore the Herzegovinian hat, so it sent subliminal messaging of who she really was so Ilija and Montenegro didn’t have a hard time recognizing her in disguise

11. Once the Ottomans figured out her gimmick they degradingly called her Idriza, which is where her current name originates from

12. Was forcefully married to Enis afterwards

13. She refused to take his last name, the only reason people think she took it is from superficial assumption

14. I don’t imagine her being related to Croatia, she was nicknamed “Serbian Sparta” after all

15. However I di imagine Herzegovina going to Croatia for help, only for him to take off the Herzegovinian hat off of her. Symbolically representing Croats trying to strip away Herzegovinians of their culture as they came to Dalmatia for help.

16. He also tried to convert her, didn’t work at first but it took a toll on her

17. Best Bonding time with Ilija was the Herzegovinian uprising

18. She will feel the same way later in 1993 when the serbs and croats collaborated against the Muslims one more time

19. Sadly, they probably drifted apart as he grew up and became his own thing

20. Also a tarp carrier, once again easy weapon holding but it’s her holding onto her past

21. Had a meaningful connection with Zeta (Montenegro) at the time of the serbian empire, which is where their strong historical bond started

22. “Hladno krvna” as in cold blooded in serbian. Could actually be about her being very cold, but also about her getting physically cold easily

23. Ambiguously calls herself “Christian” and doesn’t specify if she’s Catholic or Orthodox

24. Celebrates Orthodox Christmas with Srpska, Monte and Serbia every time lmfao

25. Serbian new years with Srpska only though

26. I imagine the house of BiH (as in Bosnia, Herzegovina and Srpska) is somewhere outside of Sarajevo, though she probably has a smaller house in Gacko or Trebinje where she goes to so she can feel reconnected to her rural identity

27. Very specifically she has a house with a chimney, weird preference but ok

28. She kept a relationship with Montenegro for the most time during the Ottoman period, the two kind of depending on each other most of the time.

29. Turkish coffee 4 times a day, she isn’t addicted to caffeine she’s just a mom from the area

30. Goran Bregović fan, probably cause she’s also half Croatian and half Serbian

31. Despite not liking the cold, she’d rather be in a freezing river than a warm sea

32. Probably won the cross on Bogojavljenje at least once

33. Also has a very obnoxious Herzegovinian accent, except she throws in Croatian words and it sounds even worse than whatever alien language Ilija is speaking

34. Knows the whole Gorski Vijenac book by memory

35. She told Enis their marriage reminds her of the Hasanaginica story and he crossed his arms and looked at her disapprovingly for the rest of the evening

36. She has a Red Brojanica, the silver cross on the red rope is kind of a nudge to Zahumlje / Duchy of st. Sava in the past

Anyways Herze doodle to get the idea

[my-rose-tinted-glasses]

Love Sea - Episode 1

Like I said before I'm feeling chatty today so I'm just gonna write while I watch and then decide if I'm gonna post. I'll probably post. If you're reading this I obviously did. Anyway I've had dinner and now I have my coffee. How are we feeling about another Mame show? I haven't read anything about this one. I went into Wedding Plan sceptic, to say the least, and it was a wonderful surprise. Although Love in the air part 2 was not a pleasant experience, I will do my best to have an open mind. OK. Let's do this.

-The sea is always a plus. I miss it so much. -LOL the slow-mo. We get it, we're suppose to be drooling. -This is an important pen. ok maybe not. is it just for the title shot? -This place is gorgeous. Heaven indeed. -No one will get this, but I just rewatched Barakamon and this is exactly what happens when Handa gets to the island as well. Heaven for some. Hell for others. -Are they gonna write 'southern dialect' on top of the subs every time he speaks??? -See I don't know thai, so how different is the southern dialect really? If anyone knows please tell me. I'm really curious now. -I don't think it's because he has a pretty face though. I'm sure he suffered some trauma and that's why he's an asshole. -Oh her. I missed her. Is she gonna be a couple too? Does this have a gl side couple? -oh hello Ja. you're here too? I'm pretty sure I watched the trailer for this but apparently I don't remember anything. -This hostility feels so forced. Like they are creating the enemies in 'the enemies to lovers' as we speak. -I'd like a Martini. But I don't have vermouth. Life is so unfair. -I like that he keeps speaking in dialect. It's so petty I love it. - That backfired now but I'm sure this is all atitude and Mut will actually be thinking about this moment later. -Declarations like this in a bl are guaranteed to mean exactly the opposite. -It's because of people like this guy that hotels have so much food waste. That's probably the most depressing think about working in a hotel. Also costumers like him. -'Money can't buy me.' That's just something people say. How much? 5000 bhts? let me just quickly google how much that is. 125,65 euros as of right now. Just to not speak the dialect? I think you can get more. 7000... 10 000… 15000… so that's around 376 euros. Not bad for basically doing nothing. -This whole convo is reminding of Auto in DR. 'Yeah, throw money at me. Screw dignity' -I'm really enjoying Fort. The sarcasm is delicious. -I really miss the beach. -This proposal sounds..indecent. -The last man on earth thing again. You're just asking for it now. -Yiwa is back. I know that's not her name here but it's too soon. Rehearsing in front of the mirror. I should do this. I'm sure it would save me some headaches. -Second person in a ql that can't change a lightbulb. Oh wait she's lying. Is this like Dee? She pretends she can't change the lightbulb just so the girl does it for her? Very mysterious. What is she planning... - I also don't get it. What does having sex have to do with anything? -That was fast. Already thinking of him? I guess if rude is your thing who am I to judge? or have they met before? have they met as kids??? The plot thickens. just in my head tho. -Never trust auto-save. Just when you need it, it will let you down. -That was so dramatic. Like I get that this is probably a trauma response but that was a lot. He's been an asshole this whole time, how am I suppose to empathise? Mut is a better person than me. -I choose clams. I love clams. But on land. I'm getting seasick just from watching. The End oh wait. there's more. wait what did he say? There were no subs for that bit. Oh well he's already smitten.

That's a nice background for the credits. I wonder if it will change with the episodes. Like Gaya Sa Pelikula. Probably, right?

Well that was...okay. Too early to say much but I'm enjoying Mut. And Yiwa is back on my screen! And I'm really happy to have a show set on the beach. I shall continue watching this for now.

I won't do this every time though. Today is an aberration. It was a weird day but I have too much energy.

I should check on the elections, I'm sure that will bring my mood right back down. Oh but tomorrow is a holiday so I can do nothing all day. I'm happy again. Ok. bye.

[spurious]

Compulsory Heterosexuality & McShep: Parallels

Thinking about the parallels between John & Nancy and Rodney & his relationships, because one of the really just absolutely nuts-making things that I've realized about McShep is how much they're mirrors of each other in so many ways (insert "everybody straight until the narrative foil walk in" textpost here)

So like, with Rodney and Katie/Jennifer there’s this sense of “ok this is what is supposed to happen/what I’m supposed to do” (not even just in the narrative but even in the show itself where it's like...do the writers not feel they need to build out a relationship for them? That they can just tell us that it's happening and we'll be like "OK yeah sure seems right" even though what they actually show us is Rodney spending all of his time with John and his team?) but anyway you can see both women are these very smart, successful, self-possessed women who would look at Rodney as someone "safe," like yes he's volatile and an asshole in certain ways but those ways are almost "harmless" compared to a lot of men, and in addition--and this is what I feel is pretty important--is the fact that he doesn't really require a ton of...care and feeding? Attention? He's pretty clearly not going to pull them away from their own (accomplished and serious) trajectories. Rodney being self-centered and distracted is a feature not a bug.

So they work as essentially these little "placeholder" relationships on both sides. For the women it's "ok, boyfriend, got that sorted, rarely see him but that's fine he doesn't need much from me" and for Rodney it's like this badge of Masculine Success (tm) that he has this beautiful woman who likes him or tolerates him or whatever (see: Brain Storm and how he pretty clearly sees Jennifer as a trophy to display to his former peers).

And so, ok, I titled this note (while I was working on it) "John and Nancy" and then spent two paragraphs on Rodney but HEAR ME OUT, we're getting there.

I think we can draw a pretty direct parallel in the sense of "this is what's supposed to happen" with Rodney's relationships and John's (only big relationship we know about since the man does not have a single viable love interest in five seasons.../seal shouting "gay".png).

There's a sense (from the info we have) that John was just...never really present with Nancy. That this was something that seemed like a correct step, and it'd make his family happy or whatever, and hey, it's not like he was gonna really go off and Live His Truth if he wanted to fly fighter jets, so why not settle down with a nice woman? And I think Nancy in the beginning saw it the same way Katie and Jennifer would see Rodney, like OK this guy doesn't want much from me and I have my own aspirations, this can work as something that checks off that box.

And then eventually, for one reason or another, it ends, I imagine because Nancy looked at what they had and realized she deserved a lot more than that, and John wasn't going to argue because he knew it was true, and he cared for her and didn't want her to be shackled to him if it wasn't doing something for her.

NOW. The thing that has made me want to set things on fire and throw myself into the sea. Is realizing that John is watching Rodney go through exactly what he has already lived and he can't fucking stop it.

And maybe he thinks "well it's different for Rodney," thinks that because he's fucked up in a way that makes him patently unloveable and unworthy while Rodney isn't, thinks that because he's gay and Rodney isn't, that maybe it'll work for him in a way it never did for John.

So now I just go absolutely fucking feral about John Sheppard and how he doesn't think he's worthy of love and happiness and tenderness, and how he thinks that his purpose, the best thing he can possibly do, is die for people he loves; so of course he lets Nancy walk away because he knows it's better for her, and of course he lets Rodney bumble his way through these relationships because the alternative is, what, being with John? and as much as he loves Rodney and wants him, he believes deep down that Rodney deserves "better."

I don’t know exactly where to go with this other than screaming and wanting others to scream along with me but like. The two of them fit together so perfectly but it’s just out of reach because it’s not what’s expected of them, and John’s self-sacrificing streak means he’ll never try it, while Rodney just…I think doesn’t really put that much thought into relationships to understand that he could have something different than the boxes he’s attempting to shove himself into? Ofc our job here in fandom is to give them catalysts that bridge that gap but without some outward impetus I can see them running along these sad little parallel tracks forever and oh my god, why has a military science fiction tv show from the early 2000s given the world this amazingly complex relationship WITHOUT EVEN MEANING TO?

[lichenstone]

ok it took me a min to get around to this because of moving and getting sick and whatever. Anyway I might be doing more of these because one (1) person asked me to (@icedcancer thanks for enabling me) Anyway

I'm gonna talk about Usopp now because I love him and his character growth is 🤌, and I'm probably going to talk about Nami next because they have some similarities I want to touch on. (Once again spoilers for a series 2+ decades old)

Usopp as a character is very interesting to me. He's a bit (a lot) of a coward despite his lofty ambitions, and he lies and makes up stories about his grand exploits to compensate. Very easy comedic relief material right there. This is established in his introductory arc, while at the same time kind of subverted in a way that adds more depth to his character. Instead of just being pure comedic relief with no other abilities or qualites that contribute to the story, action, or character relationships, Usopp is actually a pretty damn talented guy.

Just from the first saga of the series (East Blue), Usopp is shown through various means to be not only a storyteller but also an excellent sniper, gardener, artist, and inventor. In later arcs he's shown to be a steadfast friend, even when it'd be easier for him to just cut his losses and run. This happens most notably pre-timeskip in Little Garden, Alabasta, Skypeia, and Water 7/Enies Lobby. He's a relatively level-headed dude when faced with obstacles and is a fairly logical person, at least until things get dangerous. He's also a very proud and simultaneously deeply insecure person, which can end up causing problems for himself and sometimes his crew, often digging himself into holes he can't easily escape from with his posturing. This is most notably seen in Water 7, when he challenges (and very nearly beats, I will die on this hill) Luffy to a fight for the Merry and temporarily leaves the crew because of it.

All of these traits are also relevant to Usopp's dream: to become a brave warrior of the sea. Unlike most of the other Strawhats' goals, this one is fairly nebulous and speaks to more of a personal journey than a specific endpoint. This is kind of acknowledged from the get-go with Usopp aware of his own cowardice and need for growth before his dream can become a reality. He's not very confident in himself, despite his skill, and this comes to a head during Water 7 when he begins to outwardly think of himself as a burden to his friends. He feels stifled by his own need for help and lack of physical strength; which coupled with the stress of having to let go of the Merry leads to his leaving the crew. It's obvious during Water 7 that Usopp sees the end of their time with the Merry because she can no longer safely operate as analogous to a potential future for his own place in the crew. He is worried that the gap between his ability and the rest of the crew will widen to a point that Usopp will be seen as an active hindrance and need to be left behind. He works through a lot of this with Franky and a bit with Robin at the end of Water 7 moving in to Ennies Lobby, but it was still important to see because it sets the tone for his later characterization and growth.

There's a consistent theme to Usopp's character that contributes to a lot of his motivations that I actually see in common with the Green Lanterns from the DC universe. That is: the opposite of fear is bravery yes, but bravery is not the absence of fear. Bravery comes from the willpower to be afraid and keep going anyway. Usopp is a coward, but he's also one of the bravest characters in the show because he keeps doing things scared. Fighting Arlong's crew, helping Vivi save Alabasta, standing up to Enel on his own damn turf, infiltrating a marine base, leaving his crew for the sake of his pride and dedication, declaring war on the World Government, he does it all terrified but he still does it. After Water 7 and his discussion with Franky, Usopp resolves to not only trust more in his friends and their loyalty to him, but also to become more of a person that they can rely on. He isn't as worried about being left behind but he still wants to be able to support his friends, and I think that's beautiful.

I'm really excited to see more of Usopp's journey and his character bc I love it so much. :,)

[kerubimcrepin]

Liveblog 7: episode 4

Sorry for the long wait. First I had finals in uni, then I spent a week drinking and replaying disco elysium after celebrating new years eve, sooo yeah. But, for now, until the exams, I am back.

Let's begin! :)

Joris is so quick to find him and look at what he's doing. I love how dedicated he is to it. Kerubim is just... immediately tired.

Glad to know my fic's characterization of him being tired of Joris's questions the second they're asked is still holding true.

Very well said for the guy whose house even, after cleaning, is a major death hazard. But ok.

I LOVE YOU JORIS. I won't read too much into this, because there really isn't much here, but really, Joris knows how to manipulate Keke.

Manipulating adults is kinda THE thing kids have to learn. He's very good at this.

To come back to the past post's Lou Divorce Theorising, it's important to note that both of them were equally unhinged and prone to breaking up with one another. A very deep and meaningful relationship.

We will see later what he means by "It's not my fault I have fans," in the depictions of his relationship with her that aren't censored by him being the storyteller.

AKA the fact that mostly, it means him cheating on her. Lol. I'll talk about it during one of the most important episodes of this entire show.

Anyway,

The thing is that, despite how awful they are together, he really does love her.

He can't really stop playing the role of the macho playboy who gets all the chicks, even for love, because that's his entire self-esteem, but it doesn't mean the love isn't there.

(Something-something, I will elaborate on the role of masculinity in Kerubim's story, and how it worsens his already bad, uh... mental everything. But that's a talk for not-the-literal-fourth-episode-of-the-show.)

When he thinks about her, he thinks about her silliness first and foremost, instead of her looks. Even after they part ways, he blames himself for decades. And that's love.

To be fair to him, Lou can't stop manipulating & stringing him along herself. Neither of them is a very good person.

As I've said, thats a very, uh, deep and meaningful relationship they have here.

God, I really, really love the art style of this show.

"My very own puppy-girl was catomized" that's a whole ass new sentence that's never been said before.

ANOTHER character analysis moment: What really bothers Kerubim the most isn't saving his lover, but being The Hero, especially to her. And I really think it says a lot about him, even if he does love her.

He just immediately starts congratulating himself on being a good boy, and asking her if she also thinks he's a good boy. His self-esteem is so, so bad.

Another theme of the show that is introduced early on is luck, and Kerubim's relationship with it.

I think Ecaflip just got tired of watching Keke suffer, honestly.

She only likes him on her own terms. When she gets to make him feel indebted, or lucky, but not as if she were a damsel and he were her savior.

It makes their relationship sort of one-sided, but it's far from the thing that is most toxic about it.

Let me be pretentious about this for a second, since this shot composition WAS chosen by someone, and put into the show on purpose.

The whole shot, including the two of them, is blue: the color of being non-confrontational, stagnant, and predictable. It can mean honesty and deceit, being unforgiving or free, and most of all, it is a color that often represents sadness and loss.

They are walking on water here, which is the first thing that one might notice. I will not reference the bible, in a cartoon analysis, but it does conjure up connotations of being at one's prime, and having the strength to do anything.

In comparison to the clouds which surround them, they seem like giants, walking through the sea, which conveys well how his youth must have felt — the whole world is on a platter, and his strength was larger than life.

But the storm clouds surrounding them above and below, in turn, just seem even more giant and looming.

It also brings to mind the connotations of the saying "to have one's head in the clouds." Absentminded, unknowing of the facts of the whole situation.

Overall, this shot puts their relationship well: They were young, beautiful and capable together, travelling the whole world, — but in the end, their bond is marked by sadness, because they were never willing to address their faults in time, and it drove them apart.

And most importantly, the colors disappear when she slaps him, so in a way, it is a very romanticized view on things.

Pretentious tangent over.

This is our first clue in the show that Kerubim might lie and change the stories he tells, but it is also our clue to take what we are shown seriously regardless.

True, everything shown might be in-universe fiction, but despite Kerubim's narration, we get to see exactly what happened here. So it's best to just take things as they are presented, but with a small grain of salt.

There's something to be said about the way they are both walking towards more of these storm clouds, or the way she is walking to the left (in cultures with languages that go from left to right, characters walking to the left often symbolizes moving towards the past and stagnating), with him running after her, but eh. I think I may just be reading a lot into it.

It is still fun though, no?

This whole show, in a way, he is chasing the past, telling stories of their lost love. And in a way, he'll always be chasing after her, no matter how doomed their relationship was.

Though it's a very bleak depiction, compared to one that will follow later in the show.

...Perhaps, judging from some concept art, he'll keep chasing her that way, even centuries after she stops living. But that remains to be seen, if Waven takes us there.

If that's the case, it just adds a layer of tragedy to their relationship.

Even if she never left him, they wouldn't be able to live together forever. She was mortal. He is not.

And that's all there is to say on the matter, I suppose.

(This is a small edit from future me: Kerubim can't stop talking about Indie and Lou in Dofus MMO, even though it happens 200 years after the show. Which is depressing. But I'm still waiting for him to talk about them in Waven, to decide just how depressing this all is.)

[smalltownfae]

Top 10 Favourite Middle Grade Books

I say middle grade, but I am including young YA too and at least one that is categorized as for children. Either way, this is my current top favourite books for younger audiences (I would say before the age of 15). I have read some of these many years ago and I haven’t reread them since so this is according to my memory of the feelings I had at the time. It is bound to change as I read more books. I don’t read many books for younger audiences nowadays, but I think they are charming and I have a soft spot for those published before the 00s because it feels nostalgic to me somehow.

1 - Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

This is one of my favourite books in general. It would be in my top 10 favourite books of all time because I love the Howl, Sophie and the humour so much. I’ve watched the studio ghibli adaptation first and even though I thought it was beautiful visually I ended up thinking the story just ok and I found it weird that the second half was so much different from the first half of the movie. A few years later, a friend that loves Realm of the Elderlings made me attempt the book and since we have many media tastes in common I did. It was the best decision ever because I completely loved it. The characters have so much more personality and the story makes much more sense.

The book is about Sophie’s character growth, but Howl feels as equally important. It is very funny and I love the banter between the two main characters, but it’s also very creative and a little bit mysterious. It’s such an incredibly well plotted story about making your own destiny and finding your own power and it’s also about family and caring for others. It’s just a very charming book that I read 3 times already even though I read it for the first time only 3 years ago or so. It’s also really short so that helps.

“If I give you a hint and tell you it's a hint, it will be information.”  

2 - The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander

I read this series of 5 books last year and this year I finished the short story collection. This series feels very nostalgic to me because it has many classic fantasy tropes. It’s a coming of age story about a boy named Taran that wants to go on adventures, but when he finds himself in the middle of that he just longs to go home and it’s also a story about magic leaving the world and the pain of those who left and those who stay. A very classic tale with some similarities to Lord of the Rings, beautifully told and it feels very cosy. It’s also inspired by Welsh mythology and it has morals woven into it for children, but done in a clever way.

I know I watched the Disney adaptation titled the Black Cauldron once as a kid, but I don’t remember anything about it because I didn’t care for the movie. From what I’ve heard they made a mess of trying to combine the first two books and it lost the charm of the source material.

“There is much to be known… and above all much to be loved, be in the turn of the seasons or the shape of a river pebble. Indeed, the more we find to love, the more we add to the measure of our hearts.”

3 - The Changeling Sea by Patricia A. McKillip

This is the only McKillip book I read that I think is suited  for younger audiences. The other ones feel like older YA to me. A friend made me see the similarities this book has with Howl’s Moving Castle in terms of plot, but this book is not as funny. It is sad and sometimes melodramatic. It follows a young girl that lost her father to the sea as she gets involved in the mystery surrounding a prince. The girl works at an inn near the sea and I found the setting very cosy. The story is magical and tackles the subjects of greed, identity and family.

A lot of McKillip’s books feel like original fairy tales and are told in a lyrical prose. This is one of the most straight forward and easy to follow out of all her books.

“I don’t know what to do. What must I do? I belong to the sea and it will not let me in, and I cannot bear this land and it will not let me go.”

4 - The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle

I enjoy the movie (which I once again watched many years before I read this), but I like the book more. The writing style is beautiful and the story, much like McKillip’s books, feels like an original fairy tale. It follows a unicorn that overhears that she is the last of her kind so she goes on an adventure to see if that’s true. She finds some companions along the way and there is an evil guy. On the surface, it’s a traditional fantasy story, but it has some little changes that make it more interesting. Once again, it’s a story about identity (I really like those) and can be a bit melodramatic.

“Take me with you. For laughs, for luck, for the unknown. Take me with you.”  

5 - The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

This book could be higher if it wasn’t for Mr. Toad. I really didn’t like him or the plot around him, but I love everything else so much that it is still currently in 5th place. The writing in this is really pretty and charming and the animal characters are adorable for the most part. I don’t even tend to like books about anthropormorphic animals, but since this one worked so well for me that I want to try more of those.

This is a story about the lives of four wood creatures. That’s it. It doesn’t seem like much, but I always enjoyed slice of life and scenes where the characters just talk and reveal bits of themselves so this was great. There is a lot of thinking about having a home and if it would be more fullfilling to stay in one place or to go on an adventure.

This book is put in all the cottagecore recommendation lists and for a good reason. It’s really nice and comfortable like a warm blanket (if you forget Mr. Toad exists, that is).

“Spring was moving in the air above and in the earth below and around him, penetrating even his dark and lowly little house with its spirit of divine discontent and longing.”  

6 - His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman

So, this could be higher if the two books that followed the first one were as good. The first one is still my favourite, but I still enjoyed the other two (especially one particular scene in the last book). The first one was the only book in this trilogy to make me tear up though and books that make me cry usually get on the top of my lists. It’s just the way it is. I don’t think this one needs an introduction. The themes about religion are cool and I love Lyra and her mother.

Once again, I watched the movie first and I didn’t hate it (which seems to be an unpopular opinion). A few years after I decided to try the books because someone reminded me of their existence and they were pretty good. This placement in the top is mostly due to that first one though.

“The idea hovered and shimmered delicately, like a soap bubble, and she dared not even look at it directly in case it burst. But she was familiar with the way of ideas, and she let it shimmer, looking away, thinking about something else.”  

7 - The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams Bianco

This is probably the book I read the longest time ago on this list, except from the one in 10th place. All I remember about it is that the Velveteen Rabbit wanted so much to be a real rabbit and that it made me cry. I definitely need to reread it, but I remember really really liking it at the time.

“You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand.”  

8 - Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

I only read the first one and I am unsure if I will ever continue. If I do I will have to reread it. I remember really liking it, but it had heavy religious messages here and there.  The tv show improved upon it. Still, it had a pretty writing style and the characters were really charming. I loved Anne and her adoptive “parents”, Diana and Gilbert. This is also another book that would fit in cottagecore lists. It has a similar atmosphere to The Wind in the Willows.

“People laugh at me because I use big words. But if you have big ideas, you have to use big words to express them, haven't you?”  

9 - Coraline by Neil Gaiman

I remember the movie more than I remember the book, to be honest. I know that there were differences between the original and the adaptation but I only remember a few things. This was an interesting creepy tale and I liked it a bit more than The Graveyard Book so here it is. I need to reread this one soon.

“Now you people have names. That's because you don't know who you are. We know who we are, so we don't need names.”

10 - The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

I haven’t read this one since primary school. I remember really liking it though and there was a fox in it, which was enough for child me. It had some really cute messages about connecting with others and I remember vaguely that every planet the little prince talked about had his own moral message, but I only remember the greed one. This is another book I want to reread soon.

“In those days, I didn't understand anything. I should have judged her according to her actions, not her words. She perfumed my planet and lit up my life. I should never have run away! I ought to have realized the tenderness underlying her silly pretensions. Flowers are so contradictory! But I was too young to know how to love her.”  

[idontknowreallywhy]

Best Jupidad Moments #6 Nevermoor Ch 9 - What’s Really Important?

Right, I’m not going to lie, I’m struggling to differentiate between “the best Jupidad moments” and “ALL the Jupidad moments” as each one has its particular charm but… I’ll try to rein myself in!

First: trying exciting new things…

The bone-shaking terror she’d felt watching the platform speed towards her was washed away by a wave of adrenaline, and she let out a triumphant shout as they hooked on to the rail. Jupiter grinned, throwing his head back to enjoy the ride.

I especially love this moment right now because I recently took my daughter on her first proper rollercoaster ride. She wanted to do it, to start with, but got herself very worked up and tearful in the queue. Part of me wanted to just say “ok fine, we don’t have to do this today” but I feel like I know her fairly well(!) and I was sure she’d enjoy it and also be really proud of herself for facing her fear and going through with it. So instead I said “we’re going to do it, I think you’ll love it but if not it’ll be less than a minute, you’ll be safe and I’m with you and we never have to do it again”. Thankfully she did love it, but I did question myself and my parenting a lot in that queue!

Our Jupidad is making a similar call, albeit without the assurance of physical safety cos… Nevermoor… and sure enough this becomes one of Morrigan’s favourite things about living in the city. Did he know for sure she wouldn’t hate it? No. But he pushes her to try anyway.

I also suspect he’s running distraction here - she’s nervous about the garden party, so he gives her something else to focus on, where she gets a big old shot of adrenaline and arrives at the party thinking “wow, I did that!” which should take the edge off the nerves at least a little. Clever Jove.

He also lets her choose her own outfit, rather than forcing her into something that would make her either blend in with everyone else’s pastel vibe, or match his own flamboyant style…

… filled with people in light linen suits and pastel dresses. Jupiter had allowed Morrigan to choose her own outfit – a black dress with silver buttons, which Dame Chanda declared ‘smart, but utterly lacking in spectacle’. Morrigan thought Jupiter’s lemon-yellow suit and lavender shoes provided enough spectacle for both of them.

I think this is a pretty big deal actually and perhaps not something Morrigan would have foreseen after the “black isn’t a colour” conversation. Would it have been kinder to have said “I think everyone else will wear something more spring-ish”? It might have saved her from a couple of insults from Noelle… but the two of them were likely to clash anyway and isn’t it better to start making new friendships by being yourself? It’s easy to want to protect a child from getting splashed by social waves, but if you coddle them too much they won’t learn to swim in the sea.

There are some waves, however, that nobody should take to the face. Like raw sewage, radioactive waste, or Baz Charlton…

He was cut off by a sharp look from Jupiter, his mouth left hanging open. ‘Consider your next words carefully, Mr Charlton,’ Jupiter said in the low, cold voice that Morrigan had heard from him only once before, on Eventide at Crow Manor. She shivered.

Baz Charlton closed his mouth. Jupiter stepped aside, releasing the long-haired man from his gaze and allowing him to stumble away. He sighed as he smoothed down his yellow suit and gave Morrigan’s shoulder a quick squeeze. ‘Told you. Odious man. Pay no attention.’

I really want to know what the deal is with Jupiter’s low, cold voice because it really freaks everyone out! I wonder how often he uses it other than in Mog-defence-mode? It’s a very effective way of protecting Morrigan here and although I think we’d all like to see Baz dropped from a great height into a skip, I really appreciate how there’s no physical threat used.

Enjoying yourselves?’ Jupiter wandered over with a placid smile, ignoring the stream of servants rushing past with nets and brooms. Morrigan chewed the side of her mouth guiltily. ‘A bit.’

Ha, I love the image of that smile where he knows exactly what’s gone on here. I also adore the fact that Morrigan has somehow befriended the one child out of 500 who is probably the most like Jupiter was at school 😅

Plus the moment of mirroring later when she asks Jove a question she knows the answer to:

‘I’m here illegally, aren’t I?’

Jupiter chewed the side of his mouth. ‘A bit.’

How do they debrief later? Not with a “so, what did you think of Wunsoc?” but…

‘You made a friend.’ ‘I think so.’

‘Anything else of interest?’

Morrigan thought for a moment. ‘I think I made an enemy too.’

‘I didn’t make my first proper enemy until I was twelve.’ He sounded impressed.

Oh poor Morrigan, you’re going to rack up a few of those pretty soon. Thanks to Jupidad for making that sound like an achievement rather than a character flaw 😬

‘Promise you’ll think about it?’

‘Only if you promise you’ll stop thinking about not getting into the Society.’

‘But if I don’t get in—’

‘We’ll blow up that bridge when we come to it.’ Morrigan sighed. Just give me a straight answer, she thought. But she said no more.

Jupiter ushered Morrigan down the hall ahead of him. ‘Now. Tell me more about your resourceful new friend. Where in the Seven Pockets did he find a barrel full of toads?’

And just like that he brings it back round to what should be important to an 11 year old - friends, having fun, new experiences - and sharing the excitement of these things with a parental figure is such a precious and vital part of the relationship. Jupiter proves he is as interested in these details of her life as much if not as more than the big picture “what does the future hold, what is my purpose?” kind of stuff that threatens to take over.

This is maybe my favourite thing about Jupidad - how he constantly values her as a person (and as part of that her everyday life experience) above everything else, even though he is confronted with the BIG thing that makes her particularly important to the world every single time he looks at her.

[vermwerm]

very normal queenkaard headcanons 2/2

Subservient: prepared to obey others unquestioningly Less important; subordinate He has suspicious knowledge of chemicals He likes cats, and cats like him He strictly calls those off brand spiders (aka daddy long legs) “harvestmen” and refuses to use their more commonly known nameHe likes the number 34 for no particular reason He writes 7s like i do, weirdly He gives very “stick to the question” answers, a lot of people have constantly given him the “i dont care” when he adds extra information about a topic after answering someones question. He would smell vanilla extract and chug it The first few times Queen complimented him, Rou took it as a joke and awkwardly laughed it off bcuz he genuinely believed (technically believes) he didnt deserve such a thing from someone so superior to him If he had sugar tolerance he would love apple pie with vanilla ice cream He constantly has nightmares about when he almost entirely turned to stone He likes to ice skate, and he wears very specific figure skate shoes or whatever Rou, to try and desperately find purpose, makes it so that he can just be used and discarded at Darkners/Lightners leisure, Que tries to get him out of this habit, but occasionally(read: a lot of the time) he slips back into this habit of just being this useless object thats only there for a minimal amount of things He loves candles, his favorite scents are pumpkin and linen Hes very bad at typing, bcuz he has long nails Oh right i forgot to add on this list, that he has long nails, theyre naturally black :) He can wink but in the unsettling way He hates the words failure and mistake, theyve been used so often to refer to him he hates the way it comes out of peoples mouth He ironically likes the word error, not when referring to him but he likes the way its said and spelled Ok but what if he purred?? Is that too cringe? Well too bad i already have too many headcanons He uses mint flavored toothpaste cuz hes boring Im gonna slap a “you tried” star sticker on his big ass fucking forehead Rou would either have a very flowy silk gown or steal queens clothes to go to bed, no inbetweens Why do i imagine this senario where swatch gets all up in rous face but bcuz king is a fucking dickhead he has a flight or fight response and punches swatch He is very starved for positive affection… so when Que complimented him for the first time he put it off and saw it as a joke yes, but he started wanting to hang out with her more because of said compliments (also he had the biggest crush on her, like he still has the feelings too, but theyre just dating now yippee!!) Yeah he has mommy issues He immediately got tired of the “trans-parent” joke, in general he just doesnt like puns (skill issue) He always gets really happy when Queen compliments him He had this short period of time dating Queen where he would kind of just exist as a yesman to everything Him and lancer both would like the rainbow slug (if you know you know) He can draw, if you peaked in his sketchbook itd be entirely bugs and a lot of Queens He loves iridescent fabric and when he finally decides to sew he likes using the fabric he has to make outfits that fit the iridescent clothing he already has (i hate this wording what the fuck) He kind of likes, sea salt and vinegar, chips He hates the fat on meat and has to spit it out or else he will lose his appetite He sometimes just soaks in a bathtub for too long, i also imagine his weird slime skin is sponge like. Ok maybe ill remove the sponge aspect that was a joke brought on by the question of if he could mold Child rou gives “mom i frew up” vibes His voice claim is the vocaloid voicebank Kevin, a good song is UNCANNY by GHOST/Ghost and Pals :) He probably calls spoiled milk “vintage milk” Rou probably did that bobbin lacing thing, but he dropped that hobby in his 20s

Que

Queen is very warm at all times,very huggable She can cook and is very good at it She loves mistranslated shirts, and has set out to get as many as she can I do maybe fully believe that she would half ironically half unironically call Rouxls “babygirl” Queen has. Good posture Yeah she does his makeup She gives Rou, forehead kisses, or just in general a lot of positive affection She makes the best food, ever She paints Rous nails sometimes She very much constantly compliments Rou My biggest flex is unintentionally predicting AI art /hj; i think that Que cant properly create art and can only really copy or take parts of other peoples art and mash it into one, she can also perfectly replicate art. She draws like a printer too She very easily gets tricked by optical illusions I feel like she would say “holy fuck, holy fucking fuck, that body of yours is absurd” to Rou at least twice

[signs-of-the-moon]

Since some people seemed interested, here are some music vids I'd love to make if I ever get the chance to start animating again (under a read more cause there's a lot of them):

Lithium//Evenescence- edgy Snowfrost PMV about her crimes. The vid would follow her actions from the beginning of Snowfrost's Fate all the way to her death at the end of Moon Rise. I would probably give cats edgy 2008-esque designs to go with it, because I'm crazy about that kinda thing. (This is the one I want to do the most tbh. I've already got a script made. If I could pass it on to someone so they could make this PMV real I would. I'd literally make all the designs for it too, probably even storyboard it)

We Are One//song from The Lion King 2- AMV featuring Wolfheart singing to Moonpaw. It'd probably be very colorful and have a lot of movement and would be a killer to animate. Their relationship is important and I like things that can show it

One Lonely Visitor//Chevelle- PMV about Jaybird and her relationship with her sister Snowfrost, taking place from Snowfrost's Fate up to Jaybird's death near the end of Moon Rise (another one I really really want made. This one also has a script created for it)

Pardon Me// He is We- This one would be a AMV/PMV mix; it would be about Snowfrost and Wolfheart's feelings for each other, which slowly fade over time. The vid would start out lighthearted, maybe colored in pastels, then become metaphorically and literally darker as the song progresses. Eventually it would depict Snowfrost having delusional thoughts about Wolfheart, about getting him back, or possibly making him another of her victims

Look What You Made Me Do// Taylor Swift- ok listen. I am not a fan of Taylor Swift, especially not this song. But after listening to it multiple times a day on the radio at work years back, back when SOTM was being plotted, I started imaging Situations to cope with it. And this song ended up perfectly fitting Nightshade's story in my head. So this would be a PMV about that. (Can't elaborate what that story is cause its major spoilers, you'll just have to wait and see.) This would be a vid I'd make by the time half of, if not all of, Moon Fall becomes published

Ghost// Saint Asonia- probaby a PMV/AMV mix including all the point of view characters in Signs of the Moon, and how they handle being a prophecy kid/having an omen hanging over their heads. It would probably be heavily focused on how these cats look to or turn away from Starclan for it as well. There would be a lot of action/movement/colors during moments when the music swells and especially during the bridge of the song (did I ever mention this is one of my favorite songs ever?)

Poor Unfortunate Souls//song from The Little Mermaid (animated version)- AMV/PMV of Hazepaw being visited by the ghost he's led to believe is Sea Breeze who's trying to help him

Pet//A Perfect Circle- AMV about the future POV Possumpaw and how he deals with his manipulative mother and asshole brother. The whole thing might be in black and white with the only color coming from cats' eyes and blood/tears. I have to think about Possumpaw's story more before I come up with specific details about what goes on in the video. I have a couple of ideas tho

Blue Lips//Regina Spektor- Swiftcloud AMV/PMV mix highlighting all of Moon Rise cause I think it'd be neat. The whole thing would be in grayscale with some details colored in blue

Brutus//The Buttress- Another PMV starring Nightshade. This one specifically is about her relationship with her mentor, Wolfheart. How much she looked up to him at first, then slowly came to hate him and seek his downfall

Lemon Boy//Cave Town- PMV about Urchinpaw and Hazepaw's budding friendship. The story would probably be told through Urchin's POV

Criminal//Britney Spears- PMV featuring Cloudypaw (a major character in Moon Fall) and her fatal attraction towards Nightshade's son, Weaslepaw

Behind Blue Eyes// Limp Bizkit- another PMV about Snowfrost and her story, told from more "sympathetic" pov because we support womens wrongs <3 this vid would show a lot more of the isolation and loneliness Snowfrost feels especially as she goes down her murderous path

How to Save a Life//The Fray- AMV with Tigerpaw/lily and Moonpaw/face regarding Moonpaw's cross clan friendship with Hazepaw/storm. The vid would be in Tiger's POV, showing her concern for her friend. Throughout you can see Tigerpaw's dislike and mistrust of Hazepaw while Moonpaw remains blind to his flaws. The disagreement puts a strain on the friendship which will also be shown thru the vid

Hellfire//song from The Hunchback of Notredom- AMV featuring Darkpelt who sings about his emotions pertaining to Nightshade (can't elaborate much because spoilers, but the tl;dr is he has a massive crush on her and does Night's bidding because of it, but he hates it as it goes against Starclan)

Vitamin R (Leading Us Along)// Chevelle- an AMV/PMV mix focused on Whisperpaw and her relationship with her family + dealing with her secret "ability"

Genius Next Door//Regina Spektor- another PMV about Swiftcloud. This time its her during Moon Fall, watching her kits grow and make choices, while her clan falls into chaos once more due to plot events I can't reveal atm

Warbringer: Jaina (Daughter of the Sea)//song from World of Warcraft- I have 2 different PMV ideas for this one. One is of Snowfrost's time at the beginning of her Super Edition, where she's dealing with her punishment of a Warriorpaw Ceremony and her growing feelings of anger during it. The other idea is a depiction of Sea Breeze's story

Werewolf// Motionless In White- Werewolf! Hazepaw AU. Idk how else to explain this one. I'd have to show the script for others to understand what it's about (its a WIP). This would be a Halloween video

Sally's Song// cover by Amy Lee- a PMV of Moonpaw singing about Hazepaw, with frames showing their relationship