#I love checking theories and analysis everything

[mandalhoerian]

Repost because tumblr's tags were broken yesterday and it ate my post up 😞 Spoilers and translation notes for Rafayel's intertidal zone & analysis because it kinda floored me, I was just as a blank page as he was throughout this. I had to watch it like 5 times to understand what the story was saying and dig into chinese and japanese versions of this to piece together what was really happening. It may be my idiot brain not getting it and maybe it was like the easiest thing to understand for you but. Yeah. I may be just dumb LMFAO AND!!!! There's also a theory of mine into how Rafayel is actually able to read mc's mind/wishes through their lemurian bond, so stay tuned for that I guess

EDIT: correcting some transcriptions of chinese characters and the translations. sorry about that! google couldn't transcribe it correctly. for clarity's sake i will also include original screenshots. please tell me if anything is wrong!

EDIT 2: Check out part 2 to this as well for stuff I missed!

EDIT 3: An Abysswalker connection I found

EDIT 4: Debunking the myths of non-consent & Rafayel hurting MC in the spicy scene

So Rafayel’s whole deal in this memory, I believe, is dependency. Like, too much intensity, too much need, too much fear -- about scaring her off, about what he sees himself possibly becoming in the future, overall just being too reliant on mc and getting scared by it.

Let's begin with this massive fear of being a taker, not just in the “I’m stealing someone’s fries” way, but in this existential, soul-deep kind of way where he’s terrified of turning everything he loves into something he exploits out of demand for his art. And yeah, it’s sad when you first hear him say it, but it’s also really interesting when you look at how this all ties into his relationship with MC and his inspiration source drying up because of her.

Before Rafayel became an artist, he looked at the world in this super pure, wholesome way. Sceneries and nature were just there, things to admire and feel awe over without needing to do anything about it. Like, imagine standing at the edge of a desert, looking at a sea that’s drying up. Sure, it’s tragic, but it’s also kind of beautiful in a raw, heartbreaking way. That’s how Rafayel saw things, he could appreciate them without feeling like he had to do anything.

But then Rafayel started creating, and suddenly, sceneries weren’t just sceneries anymore. They became inspiration. He wasn’t just admiring beauty, he was extracting something from it, its meaning, its pain, its soul, to turn into art for other people. And that made him feel all kinds of icky, because now he wasn’t just looking at the drying sea. He was taking from it. Just as he's using his people's pain in his art as well, that's also a thing.

Now let’s talk about MC. Rafayel loves her like he used to love those sceneries,,, in this pure, untainted way. There's a parallel here. But here’s the kicker, he’s not the same guy who can just admire something and leave it untouched anymore.

And suddenly, this is no longer only about losing inspiration for him.

This happens after he and MC get together, and it’s like all the pain and anguish that used to fuel his creativity just.. ... dries up. He can’t find that spark anymore because now his life is surrounded by love instead of suffering. In fact, his inspiration starts coming from her and it's starting to clash with how he makes art. In the phone call, he seeks her out and says he needs her so bad and she only needs to talk to help him out. This is the first wink wink nod nod of the story.

So what does Rafayel do? He goes on this big, dramatic trip to "find inspiration" (or at least his muse), but it’s not just about his art. He’s not just looking for inspiration, he’s trying to figure out how to be less dependent on her and becoming increasingly more restless over this. The temparature and physical discomfort is making things worse, he's anxiously overthinking, and imagine trying to fight this and the longest art block as of late off when all you want to do is indulge in this special person and be comforted like a lap cat all day every day.

He understands that if he lets himself indulge without restraint, one day his love for mc will turn into pure need. He’ll become more and more greedy, and he doesn’t want that and is afraid of being abandoned because of that growing neediness and dependency.

This is in relation to his art, because as @/dat-silvers-girl put in the comments, he's struggling with "the genuine fear of not being able to enjoy anything in life because all you're thinking about how to use it (as an artist)" . what if he starts doing this to her? to their love and relationship? take from her, and become someone who only takes in every area of life -- like someone who only exploits things by extracting what he feels about them to use it for his art. he's afraid of that, he doesn't like that and possibly doesn't like himself who does it. so why should she? she would leave him for sure, in his head, that's a solid reason to.

The first time around he brings up his anxiety about MC leaving him out of the inner realization of his dependency, the possibility of just what he can become, and fear of abandonment. she effortlessly soothes his worries. It's heavily implied they did it afterwards and after hearing "her life has already been consumed by him" he tweaked out a little bit and his "obsession" seeped through.

After it fades to black, he says ほら……僕もとっくに……君に侵食されてしまっているんだ…… which means "See... I've already been completely consumed by you too" in Japanese instead of the life being made a chaotic mess localization. While I think MC's line was jokey and lighthearted, I don't think this man is joking at all. Rafayel didn't say his life was consumed by her as well, he said HE was consumed. Ouh.

This took the edge off from him for a while but they hadn't gotten to the root of the problem yet, so he was back to square one after the memorial hall, because remember, he's trying to find inspiration as an act of making this dependency of his better. Pain and suffering are all around him here, which his inspiration feeds off of. The dried up ocean he could hear weakening, the skeleton of the whale, the burden of his people and homeland more prominent than before. And what does MC do? Tear through the perspective of pain and introduce a hopeful alternative, "Isn't it a surprise to see an ocean in the middle of the desert?"

This is a place that gave Rafayel the height of helplessness and suffering when he visited by himself before despite momentarily being hopeful after the locals told him such a place existed. But now, she was there to comfort him through his loneliness and pain, hug him, and give him hope yet again. He brings up how he wanted to come here with the most important person to him when he was still hopeful about it before consumed by the pain of it all, and that wish has been granted. That moment has to be so powerful for Rafayel. Literally light at the end of the tunnel.

It had me reeling that he just sat in the car after all that, staring at her for god knows how long until she woke up. He was probably overthinking again, but my interpretation that it was heavily emotional for him (it could have meant so little for MC but the world for him, she doesn't even know) and he wanted to be in that moment with her, just feel and look without restraint. Indulge a little. (I can just imagine him going just a little bit more, I'll go after she wakes up.) And like. His eyes are shining in the darkness is the description here. Perhaps he was feeling so much here. So much love. So much happiness. And he's about to go in for a kiss (heavy breathing and everything) after that, but holds himself back and actively has to pry himself away. He's feeling the neediness again.

That’s why he makes an effort to actively wean himself off and says he'll be okay on his own. What he says to her after MC is like "spoiling him" being all "hey you're sick maybe don't go? or let's go together?" (which is NOT helping Rafayel at all) is even more meaningful in Japanese and I didn't know why they left out this context, but the rearranged line would be "Do you want me to become a sea creature beached on the sand after the sea recedes, unable to breathe on my own ever again?"

Yeah. YEAH. This is about dependency. (He's saying don't coddle me I'll literally become that wolf tearing his shirt meme 😭)

So of course his stubbornness and anxiety force him to do things without MC and distance himself, he can do it. He’s determined to prove to himself that he can endure it on his own.

I also feel like part of the reason he insisted on going to the salon alone is that he’s still worried mc might come to dislike the version of him who's someone he's so sure she will leave, who isn't perfect and he hides behind the persona he's put up just for her. If he truly becomes addicted to her and shows her everything/his true self, and she ends up leaving him, it would completely break him. He's trying to be like "im so normal about her haha" but he's so not normal about her at all. He's literally obsessed I feel like, and perhaps this is him fighting it knowing it's not healthy.

and OOOH about why he ends up coming back from the salon all hot and bothered.

I have strong context that she flicked the bean in there after he left her high and dry in the car ("hot water washes away the stickiness from my body and his stifled breaths still echo in my ears, enveloping me along with the steam in the bathroom. The warmth from his fingertips lingers in the places where he touched me..." is the english. however, in chinese, it goes "熱水洗去身上的黏膩，壓抑的喘息迴盪在我耳畔，和浴室裡氤氳的水氣一起包裹著我." stating "the suppressed breathing" -- which doesn't have any possessive adjectives when I translated it on google and later explicitly asked chatgpt if it had any his/my adjectives involved, just to be sure. it said no but i'd like it if a real chinese speaking person could give their input on this !!! PLEASE DONT LEAVE ME WITH CHATGPT

so um. if the context is in fact the case that he heard her masturbating to him, the intensity with which he attacked her would be normal, I think 😭

I have belief that MC unconsciously shatters his "training himself to be without her" determination through their bond. She just keeps thinking about him the entire time. about him reading her thoughts, though. we still don't know all about the lemurian bond they share. I’d say it grants him some sort of mind/heart reading ability or connects their minds together (when she was thinking about whether she should hug him, he answered “yes”).

At the salon, I imagine Rafayel was already thinking about her like crazy. Then he realized, or perhaps, "heard" she was still worrying about him and thinking of him (as much he thought about her) and decided to go back. Rafayel probably felt that suppressing himself was only making her more anxious and unsettled. She's thinking all about him, unconsciously calling to him to come to her, she didn't want to let him go at all, wanted to go with him, etc...

but even if it was his own decision and no mind reading was involved... uh. If you ask me. He did quite literally hear her after coming back. That's also something that might make him think she wants him as much as he wants her, which made his self-restraint utterly meaningless from the start.

Disregarding this theory of mine proven wrong until a Chinese speaker helps me out here, MC returned to Rafayel's room. A translation omission happened here from what I saw. There are no possessive adjectives in the Chinese text about the room she returns to, and the Japanese one states she returned to the guest room (doesn't specify which one. She was also able to enter Rafayel's room without needing to knock before.)

so uh. she went into rafayel's room y'all. the line "this is my room, you're the one who walked in here" MAKES SO MUCH MORE SENSE. (SO LIKE. NOT ONLY DID SHE GO INTO HIS ROOM, SHE FLICKED THE BEAN THERE AND HE POSSIBLY HEARD IT. SHE'S MORE OF A FREAK THAN HE IS, I UNDERSTAND WHY HE LET GO AFTER THAT LMFAO)

I don't put it past him to get worked up after he finds her in his room post-bath even without my theory lmfao (idk why they put her in a dress when she should be in a bathrobe or something 😭)

His conclusion at the end of this memory that "he finds inspiration in pain and the art of creation is a part of his life. mc made him realize love and art are so alike. even if they don't complete him but burn him instead he wants them (love and art) with every fiber of his being" and MC says she doesn't like that, rightfully so.

So like. There's SO MUCH to unpack in here.

When Rafayel says he finds inspiration in pain and that creation is a part of his life, he’s admitting something raw and essential about himself: pain isn’t just a byproduct of his art, it’s intrinsic to it. For Rafayel, pain and art are intertwined in a way that’s almost inseparable. It’s like his muse isn’t just beauty, but beauty that hurts.

But then he takes this further by connecting art to love. He’s realized that both art and love demand the same from him: vulnerability, passion, and sometimes suffering. They don’t necessarily complete him (he’s not romanticizing them as salvation), but they burn him, wear him down, consume him (coincidentally, this is something he said to MC in the JP dub of this memory, that she consumes him), but also give him life. And for Rafayel, that’s the crux, even if they burn him, he wants them with every fiber of his being.

This is such a Rafayel thing to say. It’s dramatic, it’s tortured, but it’s also deeply SUBTLE. He doesn't spell all of these out, mind you, I got a headache trying to understand him. Or I'm just slow, I don't know. It shows how much he values creation and connection, even if they come at a cost.

MC, on the other hand, challenges this perspective. When she says she doesn’t like that he views love and art as things that burn him, she’s pushing back against the idea that suffering is a necessary part of creation, or love. MC doesn’t want Rafayel to see their relationship as something that requires him to hurt. She’s telling him, “You don’t have to destroy yourself to love me.”

When MC says, “You’ll never have to burn for me,” she’s giving Rafayel an alternative to his destructive mindset. She’s saying that love doesn’t have to hurt, that their relationship can exist without him sacrificing himself on the altar of passion. It’s a refusal to let Rafayel romanticize pain as the price of love.

And I love that Rafayel goes, "Will you help me look for other parts in life outside of pain?" in response. This is NOT about art or inspiration anymore, and the way the dialogue is written is just AUGH. Again I had to rewatch this over and over again for the nuances and subtext.

I love MC's response, she knew exactly what to say. “I’ll always be the one who walks along the shore with you. Of course, diving into the sea bed is fine too. If it can snow in the desert, there will be a day when the ocean returns.”

MC’s response is layered with metaphors, but at its core, it’s about unwavering support and hope::

Walking along the shore: This represents safety and companionship. MC is saying she’ll be with Rafayel in the calm, in the moments where they’re just observing life without diving into its depths. She’ll be his steady presence, his grounding force.

Diving into the sea bed: This is an acknowledgment that life and love sometimes require going deeper and they may go through hardships, into the unknown, the murky, the challenging. MC isn’t afraid of this, she’s willing to go there with him too.

Snow in the desert and the ocean’s return: This is a symbol of hope and transformation beyond being a nod to The Sea of Golden Sand. Snow in the desert seems impossible, just like the idea of Rafayel finding inspiration outside of pain might feel impossible to him. But MC believes in the extraordinary, in change, and in the possibility that beauty and creation can exist outside of suffering.

Her words are a promise: she’s willing to stand by him, to face the unknown together, and to hold onto the belief that a new way of seeing the world is possible.

And Rafayel LOWKEY PROPOSES IN RETURN.

By saying “let’s watch the sea together,” he’s accepting MC’s offer of companionship and hope in the long run. He’s recognizing that life doesn’t have to be about diving into the depths alone, it can be about sharing the experience with someone else, even if it’s just standing on the shore and watching.

“Every sea”: This phrase is key. Rafayel isn’t just committing to one kind of life or one kind of inspiration, he’s opening himself up to all possibilities. Watching every sea means embracing all facets of life, whether they’re calm or turbulent, painful or beautiful. It’s a marriage proposal declaration that he’s ready to explore the world beyond pain, with MC by his side.

So. I love that his inspiration returns after his freak is accepted by MC because he literally feels the acceptance through the bond.

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk. This memory DRAINED me. They were just supposed to bang what the fuck happened. Why did I have to go treasure hunting to find what was going on in this card. anyway...

[o-sunny-day]

@forgettable-au FAN ANIMATION ! LOUD NOISE WARNING!

*What was it all for…?

Song: Vishnu <3 by Peter Cat Recording Co.

…okay.

The main inspiration for this…can be summed up with I LOVE HOW SAD THIS CONCEPT IS. BUT i also adore how WEIRD it is.

This whole thing must be pretty weird and creepy for the characters right??? Like- we dont know for certain what EXACTLY is gonna happen, but we know for a fact that Wingdings finds out hes in a game, then kills himself so he can be closer with god-

THATS PRETTY WEIRD 😭😭 also sad but we can ignore that for now

I also experimented a tad with this in working with silence, so timing things at my own pace! It was really hard! I HAD SO MUCH FUN!!!!!!!

But, time for my FAVORITE PART….ANALYSIS!!!

DISCLAIMER: some things stated as fact haven’t been said in the blog/arent canon to the au itself, just my animation/theories/interpretation, cause i’m silly and headcanoning :3

TITLE:

The proper title ive given this is “To You” which means 2 different and very vague things. What happened to you? and sending a message like “this is To You”.

In that case, “you” is whichever version of Papyrus/Wingdings/Gaster you want- Its not exactly clear which version of him means “you” which is kinda the point. The lines blur together sometimes…

But yeah, Gaster/crazy WD sends messages TOO himself so they’re “To You”

CONTEXT

Wingdings has JUST turned himself into Gaster. Ignore how impossible Sans interacting with him in this moment is, and just hear me out on the angst possibilities-

SCENE 1

As Sans approaches the mess- Gaster is encased in shadow, and looks at him. Expression not telling much- just looking blankly. Doesn’t even look like he’s alive… just… moving. Also the eye thats open, is just a slit. because- perspective. BUT I also had fun putting that there and going hehehehe it looks like WD/Papyrus’ eye

Sans approaches, and getting engulfed in the shadow, leaving the light.

His expression here was REALLY fun and REALLY hard to draw. Angry? maybe. stunned and terrified? DEFINITELY.

In this context (that doesn’t have a lot to go off of with the comics, YET) Sans knows that this was all very much intentional. He absolutely does not want to be angry, and is certainly only feeling it subconsciously.

But… he wanted so badly to understand, and enter his brother world. But now, Sans is just… Baffled. Hes like “what the fuck did you do???”

SCENE 2

Gaster continues to look blank. Looking up at Sans as he approaches, encasing him in even more shadow.

Sans’ hand reaches to Gasters face. From Sans’ perspective, his intentions are like checking for a pulse. Not literally ofc cause pulses arent on our face- but like, feeling for him. For a sign that something is there. (It’s also meant to be something motherly/comforting)

But then, Gaster leans into the touch, somewhat reciprocating this wordless “ive got you” gesture. That’s what makes Sans go from Terrified to just purely grief stricken. His brother is still alive. And he loves him.

But this form wont last for long…For universe fixing screw ups reasons :D 👍

SCENE 3

Gaster then opens his eyes, revealing hes even still got eye lights available for him. Thats what just SHATTERS the dam, and Sans embraces him suddenly.

SCENE(S) 4

Then, the “reset” happens, Gaster is gone, and Papyrus appears in place of Wingdings in his bed.

Nothing is boiling to add to a “frozen in terror” feeling!

Now- drawing all of the differences between the past and present rooms. DESTROYED ME. i HAD SO MUCH FUN BUT I ALSO CRIED 😭 There are no thank-you letters to santa, no racecar bed, no silly bone painting, no action figures, just BORING

I also wanted to keep everything monochromatic, so ofc we’ve got black and white for the void/Gaster, blue for Sans, red for Papyrus, and purple for Sans and Papyrus together.

The tape recorder and lab coat are still greyscale though cause Wingdings still has SOME of his stuff lying around. But the tapes are indecipherable, and Papyrus threw out that lab coat the first chance he got. It gave him the absolute worst feeling, worse than anything he’s ever experienced.

Something I also really enjoy is the fact that the dress shirts were still technically Wingdings’ but they’re red for Papyrus. The lab coat is the only real WINGDINGS thing that Papyrus wants absolutely no part in. Some things that were Wingdings’ are now Papyrus’ cause :D👍

in place of the bone painting are just family photos that I also have extra to say about. Someday I wanna make a comic of what happened to those/what I think would happen to em.

One day Papyrus is like “HEY UH- SANS! THESE PHOTOS! I DON’T LIKE LOOKING AT THEM! CAN WE NOT!?” Aka, he doesn’t remember these things happening/these photos being taken… BUT THEYRE PHOTOS OF HIM.

So he just feels really uncomfortable looking at memories he should reasonably remember, but doesn’t at all- and Sans gets that. But he keeps em in his drawer. Then! they hung up the bone thing in place of it cause SILLY!

But the family photos, I still had fun with. From left to right theyre a photo of Semi with the twins, the twins as baby bones, then as slightly older kids, then WDs graduation photo.

CONCLUSION!

This entire thing was so much fun, and I feel i’ve really grown as an artist over the process of experimenting and not being knocked down by annoying setbacks,

Also, as usual, Works In Progress’ plus extra behind the scenes stuff will be posted shortly after this!! YIPPEEE!!! HAPPY NIGHTMARES!!!!!

OHHHH ALSO EXTRA ART!!!

“AREN’T THEY BEAUTIFUL?”

That silly moment when your clone is really weirdly obsessed with stars and enthusiastically holds your eye sockets open to show you them

[topazadine]

Writing Post Masterlist

All my posts about writing - plus some I absolutely loved by other writers.

Masterlists by Other People (all good)

"Writing Tips Masterpost" by @deception-united - Deception-United has an incredibly wealth of resources available, far more comprehensive and detailed than mine. Go check it out!

"WQA Post Master Lists" by @writingquestionsanswered - Another fantastic and wonderfully comprehensive resource that covers damn near everything you need to know about writing. Genuinely one of the best free resources on writing that you could find on the internet.

General Advice for a Happy Writing Life

"The Myth of the Martyr Artist" - An incredibly important post, perhaps my most important one ever, that discusses why mental illness is a burden, not a benefit. I have no idea why this even needs to be said, but it does, apparently.

"Building Self-Esteem as a Writer" - Why you gotta be nice to yourself. You gotta.

"Identifying bad writing advice" - Warning signs that the post you are reading kinda sucks and you should click off.

"Advice to Beginner Writers: The Good, the Bad, and the Unpleasant" - How long it takes to become a good writer, what to focus on when learning, and why fanfic is such a useful tool.

"Mindset Shifts: Fanfiction -> Original Fiction" - What fanfic writers should know about deciding to take on original characters and stories.

"Defeating Protracted Writer's Block" - What to do when you find it impossible to write for days, weeks, or months at a time.

"Five Common Anxieties of Newbie Writers, Demystified" - Explorations of five mindsets that can set younger writers back as they learn their craft, including overcompetitiveness, overdescribing, and fearing they're "too old."

"Good Motivations for Continuing to Write" - Why it is crucial to have a passion for writing beyond fame and fortune.

"Extremely controversial writing opinions that will make you mad (but I'm going to say them anyway)" - Things you really don't want to hear, but need to be said. A bit of tough love, including the insignificance of ideas, the cold hard truth about how non-writers react to your writing, and the essentiality of having a well-rounded life.

"Why Mindfulness Is a Key Practice for Writers" - On the need to slow down and let our brain rest - plus some options that are categorically not sitting there in dead silence (boring).

"Writing When Happy" - Wherein I hijack someone's question to discuss the Myth of the Martyr Artist, why we might self-limit because of it, and how to do the impossible: write when we're happy.

"The Neurodivergent Writer’s Guide to Fun and Productivity" by @bookishdiplodocus - Excellent advice on how enjoying the process and reminding yourself that writing is supposed to be fun can help you stay motivated and productive, even when your brain is not cooperating.

"The Glorification of Self-Deprecation in Art/Writing Spaces" by @nicolkoutoulakiauthor - I've discussed before how crucial it is to have a healthy self-esteem when writing, but Nicol does it even better here. Nicol also includes some excellent reframing tactics so you can stay motivated.

Generalish Writing Advice (multifactorial)

"Signs That You Will Probably Finish Your Writing Project" - An analysis of the mindset that leads to results, and encouragement on how to develop them.

"'How Do I Start Writing?'" (Or; A Psychoanalysis of Newbie Writer Fears) - Inspired by the dozens of Reddit posts that ask this exact same thing, often with useless responses. So why do people ask this? I offer my theory.

"I Can Think of Ideas But Can't Write Them!" - A consideration of the many reasons you might find it difficult to get started on your precious idea-baby.

"How to elevate your writing style with 6 simple hacks" - Information about how to develop a prettier prose style, catch errors, develop good dialogue, and focus on brevity.

"How to improve your writing style : a 5-steps guide" by @writer-logbook - Especially great information on why reading widely is so helpful for your craft!

"Some Writing Advice" by @whispers-whump - Especially great discussion of why you shouldn't write what you mean.

"Practical Writing Advice Part 2" by @so-many-ocs - Does what it says on the tin. Simple, easy-to-follow advice that can break you out of writer's block.

"25 Prose Tips for Writers" by @thewriteadviceforwriters - I absolutely love the emphasis on sound and harmony here. As someone whose entire book series revolves around the magic of poetry, of course I think this is incredibly important advice!

"Pacing and Show Don't Tell" by @mylordshesacactus - Two for one deal! First, learn more about why pacing is important; then, look at some examples of the classic advice "show, don't tell." The post does a great job on breaking down what show don't tell actually means and what is not a violation of this guideline so that newer writers aren't confused.

Writing tools

"How to Build a Sustainable Writing Habit Through SCIENCE (Fuck Off, NaNoWriMo)" - Why NaNoWriMo doesn't actually motivate young writers and how to do better through a spreadsheet (yes, really, a spreadsheet). It also explains the importance of intrinsic motivation!

"'I've Outlined Too Much and Now I Can't Write!' (Or: the Double Outline Method for Overanxious Plotters)" - Some of us tend to go absolutely ham on our outlines, to the point where they're practically their own books. But then we also tend to not actually do the writing attached to said outline. Does this mean outlining is useless? Of course not. My method lets you have your outline and eat it too. (.... Wait.)

"'How Do I Make Myself Start Writing?' (Tips to Get the Damn Thing Done) - In this post, I provide a step-by-step guide to start writing, including a few tools to help improve motivation and concentration.

"How to Write Faster (And, Hopefully, Better Too)" - Eliminating distractions and forcing your brain to write is key to getting more done. Here, I explain how you might be limiting yourself by too much thinking and not enough doing.

Worldbuilding

"Stop Making Everything So Damn Complicated!" - Why fantasy (and scifi) does not need to be dizzyingly intricate to be enjoyable.

"How to Kick Ass at Worldbuilding" - I offer some suggestions on how to create a grounded and interesting world that will not bore your readers, based on real life examples.

"Grounded vs. Airy Fantasy" by @aethersea - Excellent breakdown of different levels of groundedness in fantasy and why it's important to understand your own approach.

"Fantasy Guide to Building a Culture" by @inky-duchess - Thorough and methodical analysis of what can create a compelling fantasy culture, including those things that many fail to think about when writing.

"Writing tip - Research" by @pygmi-cygni - Fantastic assessment of the importance of research, including for fantasy stories. As Pygmi-Cygni said, a lot of people claim that they don't need to do any research for fantasy novels, which isn't true! Any parallels to IRL need to be realistic, or you will lose credibility.

Plotting

"How to Use Chomolungma for Writing Adventure Stories; Or, the Plot Mountain Method" - If you're sick of saving felines who should really figure their own shit out, it's time to head to Plot Mountain. In this post, I offer you an alternative to the formulaic "Save the Cat" and "Hero's Journey" which also incorporates tension, characterization, and forward momentum.

"Avoiding Melodrama In Your Writing" - The most annoying all things: melodrama. My least favorite thing. Do not do it. I will show you how.

"How to Find a Plot When All You Have is Characters and Setting" by @rheas-chaos-motivation - This is a common problem for many writers, when you have cool characters or an intriguing setting. This short post can help you kickstart your ideas for how to create an intriguing plot that has built-in tension.

Description

"Remembering Perspective When Writing Descriptions" - Key factors to think about when describing other characters or settings from your POV.

"Description, Momentum, and Tension; Or, How Not to Bore a Reader" - Why, when, and where to put description so that people don't skip over it. Hopefully.

"Writing Notes: Seasons" - Each season has both benefits and downsides. In this post, we look at the negatives and positive aspects of each so you can decide how a particular season may strengthen your themes - plus some descriptions to help inspire you.

"Writing Advice: Spicy Mundanity" - Wherein I explain how to stop having boring descriptions by packing in characterization.

"How to Write Smut?" by @unfriendlywriter - Wonderful examples of how to write heartstopping smut.

"How to pull off descriptions" by @fictionstudent - Fictionstudent has a ton of great posts, both about film analysis and about the art of writing. I especially liked this one because it discusses how important perspective is for descriptions and the importance of filling in the details as a character would rather than just throwing it all at the reader at one time.

"How to avoid White Room Syndrome" by @writerthreads - Fantastic and focused advice on how to ensure you're offering readers just enough setting to help them envision the world.

Characterization

"Writing Relatable Characters; Or, Using Human Failures to Your Advantage" - Explaining how you can use character flaws and human needs to create a relatable character. Also explains the basic development of a plot, which is about equilibrium.

"How NOT to Write a Character" - Wherein I give you some examples of annoying characters we want to punt off a cliff so you can watch yourself.

"Writing Strong Female Characters" - Why you should give your female characters a secret goal, as well as how to avoid common 'strong female' stereotypes.

"Writing Compelling Trauma in Fiction: Dos and Don'ts" - How to avoid melodrama and create intriguing emotional wounds for characters.

"Quality Assurance Checks for Character Development" - Thought exercises that can help you differentiate characters, prune down unnecessary characters, develop true chemistry between LI and MC, and avoid having too many POVs.

"Developing Character Agency (Or; Cutting the Plot Strings)" - A discussion of character agency and how to ensure your characters are not bound by the narrative.

"Writing Notes: Thought Distortions" by @literaryvein-reblogs - Some psychological concepts you can use in your writing to add depth to characters.

"Questions about your character’s perspective on love and relationships" by @luna-azzurra - Excellent questions that can help you delve into your character's attachment style, what baggage they may bring to a current relationship, and how to create conflict through mentality.

"How to Write a Confession of Love," also by luna-azzurra - Perfect discussion of how to create tension, the utility of setting, not making it perfect, and including the other character's response.

Revisions

"Common Writing Issues that Reduce Readability" - Examples of fixes for four common issues: double describing, long sentences, overexplaining, and head hopping.

"How to Avoid Purple Prose" - A critical part of the revision process is making sure your writing is clear and balanced. In this post, I show a blatant example of purple prose and provide suggestions on how to make a more elegant passage.

"Differential Diagnosis When Your Writing Is Getting Worse" by @ariaste - Fantastic explanation by a professional writer about why you might feel like your writing is getting worse and what to do about it.

"How to Make Your Writing Less Stiff Part 3" by @physalian - Physalian's whole blog has some excellent advice, so definitely give it a look!

"How to Improve Your Writing" - Also by literaryvein-reblogs, this offers some excellent exercises to help with sentence-level issues, such as modifiers, parallelism, and details.

Publishing

"How to promote your book online : a discussion about social media (and few tips)" by writer-logbook - Great tips about how to get more interest in your book. I especially enjoyed the emphasis on patience and consistency. Writer-logbook has some excellent info overall about the nitty-gritty of writing, so I definitely recommend poring through their blog in general. (That's why they're included here twice!)

"A masterclass in how not to market your books, in one singular tweet" - Wherein I help you derive lessons from an abysmal tweet by an author.

"Mistakes I Made When Self-Pubbing My First Book (Part 1: Mindset Edition)" - I talk about how being delulu is not the solulu, that yes marketing is important (even if it is horrible), and how a bit of self-confidence can go a long way.

"Mistakes I Made When Self-Pubbing My First Book (Part 2: Presentation Edition)" - Graphics and covers and blurbs! Learn about them. Do not do what I did.

"Mistakes I Made When Self-Pubbing My First Book (Part 3: Ads and Reviews Edition)" - Why you have to get reviews. You gotta. And you gotta demand them. Shake those reviews out of your readers. You'll thank me later.

Specific Research Advice

"Assassination Methods Through the Decades: A Writer’s Handbook" by @hayatheauthor - A thorough review of different assassination methods, including a section discussing common assassination methods by region!

"How to Write Someone in a Wheelchair" - A group effort! This is a reblog chain discussing body language in manual wheelchairs, the mechanics of power wheelchairs, wheelchair propulsion methods, and a reminder that just because someone is in a wheelchair doesn't mean they can't walk short distances.

"Writing Research Notes: Caves" - Oh caves how I love them. Caves. Let me tell you about them if you want to write about caves. Blessed.

"Writing Research Notes: Horses" - A beginner's guide to horse mindsets, whether horses like working, approaching horses, how to ride, and tips on training.

"Writing Research Notes: Bipolar Disorder" - Written by me, a writer with bipolar disorder! This shares basic facts about bipolar, offers a list of symptoms you can use, and cautions you against spreading misinformation through poor characterization or myths.

"Writing Research Notes: Politics" - I provide a quick overview about governments and international relations, based off my suffering while getting an MA in International Relations.

"Stop Doing This in Injury Fics!" by @pygmi-says-hi - Discusses some common errors when writing whump/angst. The fever part was especially helpful for me!

"Writing US Military Characters" by @lookbluesoup - An explanation of the habits and mentality of US military characters. Many of these were quite helpful for my fantasy military characters, so you can get a lot of mileage out of these for soldiers in other militaries too!

Little Funsies

"What Painting Style Is Your Writing?" - A short exploration of different writing styles to help you better understand your own approach.

I'll be adding onto this as I continue to scroll through my old likes and, of course, as I find more resources.

[voidspiraling]

AGGHH I deleted the original post I’m so saddd.

Anyways I wanted to talk abt this pic idk if it’s canon or just a non canon drawing but lets assume that it is significant for this analysis.

In this pic Till is wearing his R2 outfit, his mic headset and his mouth his open like he’s singing. This makes me think that he’s onstage in Round 2 singing his Unknown (Till the End) song. HOWEVER. While he’s singing this song the background is red with shooting star, meteors, debris whatever it is.

Doesn’t it remind you of something? My thoughts are that while Till was outwardly singing about his love for Mizi he was actually thinking about Ivan.

The thing abt Alien Stage is that everyone’s an unreliable narrator. In Round 1 everything seems like a sci-fi idol show until the ending where Sua dies. Then in Round 3 we are led to believe that Till never glanced at Ivan when that is in fact a lie and Till DID look at Ivan. Methinks Round 2 is also told by an unreliable narrator, only the thing that’s unreliable is Till himself. In Round 1 we are fed false info abt the type of world they live in. In Round 3 we are fed false info abt Till’s attitude towards Ivan. So in Round 2 I think we are being fed false info abt Till’s feelings.

Here’s something that always struck me as off. Here Till has just finished his “confession” but he doesn’t even acknowledge Mizi off stage. Usually after you confess to someone, you check for their reaction right? Onstage Till looked at Mizi after he smashed the guitar. But here when he is physically closer to her he doesn’t even attempt to look at her. Compared to Ivan who kept looking at Till even when he was being shot, and kept his eyes on him even as he died, turning to look at Mizi shouldn’t be too difficult.

Some of the lyrics of the song were also weird too (I’ll be using the Eng translations so some things maybe lost in translation)

First the line “I wanna know all about you” this line was weird bc how do you not know everything abt Mizi already? Mizi lived a very sheltered life, so she never had to build any walls to protect herself. If you wanted to know all abt Mizi you just had to look at her. She doesn’t hide anything at all, everything abt her can be found on the surface. It would’ve made more sense to say “I want you to know all about me” considering that Mizi isn’t aware of Till’s feelings.

Second is the line “How dare you think this time’s enough” this line is so… aggressive. Like I can’t imagine Till actually saying this to Mizi at all. Till is usually super shy and freezes up around Mizi. Could he actually say something so confrontational to her. I can’t imagine that all.

But I can imagine him saying that to Ivan.

“I want to know all about you” bc I spent so much time with you and I still don’t understand you and “How dare you think the time’s enough” when you don’t understand my feelings. You just assumed what I felt you don’t actually know how I feel about you.

(Till is actually the character I understand the least. This is just my imagination lol)

Another thing that makes me think Till was crying is this scene. (How does he look so pretty when in distress. Till I can’t you’re too endearing wth)

Here it looks like he’s sweating a lot but it also looks like there’s a tear slipping from his left eye. He even does a little sniffle which makes me think he was sobbing.

My theory is that Till was trying to tell himself a narrative in order to cope with his traumatic life. And the narrative he tells himself is that the only person he loves is Mizi and that the only person who can save him is Mizi. So while he’s onstage he sings abt his feelings for Mizi, but while he’s singing he accidentally also sings abt his feelings for Ivan.

Don’t you think it’s weird that Ivan doesn’t show up in the R2 flashbacks. Considering how often they were together growing up you’d think he’d at least me off to the side somewhere. I mean Sua was in the flashback but Ivan wasn’t? I think Till was intentionally suppressing his thoughts abt Ivan in order to make a point that he only loves Mizi. However bc the song can also apply to Ivan he inadvertently sings abt his love for Ivan and starts crying. That’s bc his love for Mizi is just a performance for the world and for himself.

In his personal narrative it is better to be the guy that loves the kind and gentle Mizi than the boy who is hopelessly entangled with the enigmatic Ivan. It hurts less that way. Till can look at Mizi at a distance bc she is like a bright light in his bleak world. But Till can’t look at Ivan because he is too bright, he fills up an entire sky with light and it haunts Till to this day. I remember reading somewhere that Till can’t escape from the red sky. The red sky could represent Till’s feelings for Ivan.

It’s where we see Till at his happiest.

It’s where we see Till the closest with another person.

As well as where he’s the most conflicted/scared.

Basically the picture of Till crying shows how he actually feels abt the meteor shower scene and how bc of his feelings for Ivan it haunts him even when he’s trying to sing abt someone else. He loves Ivan but he also can’t bare to be with Ivan. Maybe he realizes the self-destructive nature of their love. Maybe he knew it was dangerous for them to be in love in this world. Or maybe he was just to afraid of the pain and wanted to protect his heart in any way he could.

I don’t think we’ll ever get an answer. But I think that Till idolizing Mizi is just a fantasy he uses to cope with his awful life. And that bc his relationship with Ivan was uncanny and different from the love he received from his mom Io, he tries to reject even the thought of Ivan. Bc if he thinks abt Ivan too much he’ll unravel bc love is obsessive and all consuming. And Till def would have been consumed by his love for Ivan. It would have just been consumed by the aliens for entertainment. Their love is doomed no matter what he does. Might as well pretend it never existed maybe then it would hurt less.

It didn’t ;-;

[generalsdiary]

Dr. Ratio w/ Kavetham parents (x Aventurine)

word count: 5.7k

description: let's talk about Ratio's parents. I have been going on and leaving comments/hiding in hashtags here and there about how much I like the theory/fanon of Alhaitham and Kaveh being his parents (fluff, nostalgia)

a/n: after the intro (one or two paragraphs) it switches to Ratio’s pov dw (beginning with the first line of dialogue), also if you don’t like the Aventio ship- it is only mentioned after half of the writing. and in case you’re only here for Aventio- it begins halfway. tho I do recommend reading the full work for the best experience ^^

now let us take into consideration that Teyvat does exist in the canon of Star Rail- and (if you've read/watched a few analysis) you might know that the planet on the loading screen is literally Teyvat- and now if you're questioning how is it separated from everything (read; not getting checked by the IPC) and similar- well.. it is locked off of any access. I'm truly not the right person to dwell into this, so do explore more about that if it has piqued your interest, and without further ado, these are my thoughts on our favorite canon couple in Genshin being Ratio's parents.

I can see Veritas coming back home (by some means) and his dads being just over the moon delighted to see him.

Kaveh would most likely ask him to sculpt something with him. Veritas, as it is portrayed, he sculpts mostly himself, and (in Kaveh’s voice lines he says sculpting is his hobby) Kaveh enjoys that as well. so, it makes perfect sense that Kaveh taught him that, just a little Veritas wobbling around and putting his hands into the grayish looking water, little hands shaping the sculpture- Kaveh giggling at the sight, gods Kaveh would look so beautiful in that setting, Alhaitham smiling fondly- he won’t touch the water or the statue- the texture ain’t right. so, when adult Veritas comes back home for a longer visit, of course Kaveh insists on his son sculpting something with him.

“how have you been, Veritas? it has been quiet without you rambling with yourself in the middle of the night about the problems of the world” Kaveh snickers and pours fresh ground coffee.

“I do hope you have been taking care of yourself, you shouldn’t let your job rule over your private life.” Alhaitham adds.

“I- I have been fine, and no my job isn’t suffocating me, dad.” He answers in that annoyed voice reminding his fathers of a teenager. “I never said suffocating.” Alhaitham quietly adds, his son revealing himself in his word choice. He doesn’t comment any further. The obvious is clear to all three men.

he goes to his room, fresh, clean as if he never left. his walls covered in sheets of paper with math equations, sketches of various buildings (even an attempt to sketch his father’s beautiful work of the palace of Alcazarzaray), quotes from those close to him in case memory ever betrayed him. the warm sunlight dripping into his room, the scent of spices, fresh coffee, herbal tea and warm cotton letting him know that he is home. nostalgia isn’t something he allows to rule over him, but in this moment, he is weak to it and indulges in the safety of his room. the rough texture of the sheets soothes him and all the puzzle pieces seem to fall in their place. he needed this. his dads, this vacation. he falls asleep with a small smile on his face that night, there’s perhaps no better place to be than home.

little kid Veritas was truly born into the right family with his intellect. perfect parents to take care of all of his “quirks”, and hunger for knowledge. and, Alhaitham and Kaveh are so proud of the man he grew up to be, “you know that love for math and numbers, is all you.” Alhaitham comments, not raising his gaze from the book in his hand, the early morning sun just barely grazing the room. Kaveh smiles and walks over to his partner, his lips leaving a soft kiss on the top of the younger man’s head, “he is equally you and me, Alhaitham.” both men smile for the next minute, Alhaitham’s free arm moving around Kaveh’s waist since he stood right next to where he sat. “except the hair, that he takes after his uncle.” Kaveh laughs melodically at that remark, “well, he crafted the hair genome-altering potion himself because we allowed him to ask Tighnari too many questions which he was all too happy to answer.” Alhaitham nods, “it fits him. the indigo. can’t even remember what it was before if I’m being honest.” Kaveh all but shrieks, turning his voice to a whisper to not wake their son, “that’s because he did it when he was 4.”

speaking of his ‘uncle’, Wanderer is someone Veritas was very fond of. or rather, is still very fond of. such a genius mind, a clever being with a puppet body, snarky, sarcastic- Veritas felt confused why he didn’t hang out even more often with his dads; they seemed like the perfect match of personalities and intellect. nonetheless, he did come over occasionally, and was always met with, something he now knows to cherish; the soft smile, the gentle voice and the cozy embrace of his uncle who likes tolerates children. and especially since he didn’t come over often, teenage Veritas would run away take a walk to go see him, he always looked young so that made him seem even more approachable to the young boy. he’d seek knowledge, and intelligent conversations- not that his fathers or his other uncles didn’t provide that. he simply needed someone outside of that roster. an outsider. well… half of an outsider, who can keep secrets. not that he’d have many secrets to share, Wanderer would gladly amuse the kid, happy with the respect the child gave him and intrigued by the questions he'd hear.

“alright kid, it is late, off you go.”

“it’s dark yes, you won’t see me off?”

“you can walk, can’t you? now go.” Wanderer zooms off into the shadows. Veritas developed confidence in his late night walks home and bravery, not knowing- until maybe in his adult life, that Wanderer always flew above him on his way home. making sure that he was safe. and every time, maybe out of respect, maybe out of a sense of duty, or perhaps… even… companionship? friendship? he’d slip a note under the door ‘the kid was with me, W’

“is uncle Wanderer still in Sumeru?” Veritas indulged between bites of pita pockets. he just did a workout session with Alhaitham, his dad is where he picked up the healthy habit of working out and staying active.

“he should be. I mean he didn’t move out to a different region if that’s what you mean” Kaveh answered with a nod in Alhaitham’s direction, to confirm or debunk what he said in case he had different information. Alhaitham shook his head, he didn’t know anything else, “he should be in Sumeru city.”

Veritas makes his way on the incline of the Divine Tree, last step, and, “ah well if it isn’t my favorite nephew?” the voice said sarcastically. a whoosh of wind and the short man with a large hat- obscuring anyone’s view, flew down.

Veritas smiled, “uncle. it has been very long. and the years have… treated you well” he chuckled, attempting to tease the older man.

Wanderer scoffed, “is that some poor attempt at a joke? perhaps, you should spend more time with the general on this vacation. brush up your…” vague gesture, “comedy.” he hovered and sat down on the stone wall.

“I doubt comedy is something I’m fit to pursue.”

they talked for hours that day. catching up and Veritas dumping, if at all possible, even more questions onto his uncle about life and existentialism. the sun started setting and Wanderer got up, ending their conversation as always before it got too late in the night. he gestured to Veritas to come closer, to which he bent lower- the height difference was painfully obvious, “you really grew so big.” Wanderer softly commented, Veritas could see the same kindness and endearment in his eyes that he saw as a child. Veritas always meant much more to Wanderer than he ever let on. to be called uncle, considered a family member, and not be asked to change himself. Wanderer appreciated Alhaitham and Kaveh, and his nephew is someone he’d die for. he pinched his cheek, “you take care of yourself, young man.” Wanderer smiled for a second and flew up out of sight. and, just like all those years ago, he flew above him out of sight, making sure he got safely home… after all, Veritas isn’t a vision carrier.

“puppets- puppets can’t cry, stop this” he’d mumble to himself as a few more teardrops fell on the parchment paper he pushed under the door.

‘the kid was with me’

second night he dreamed. Nahida smiled in this dream and waved “welcome home, Veritas”, once awake he sat up immediately out of breath.

stepping into the kitchen and there she sat.

“oh Veritas, it is so good to see you” she chirps, jumping off of her chair and walking over, he bends over to pick her up so she may properly hug him.

“auntie Nahida- I- I seem to have forgotten you knew the exact moment I laid my head on the pillow two nights ago that I got back home” Veritas would mumble, he didn’t realize that he would be this happy to see her.

“oh- Lesser lord Kusanali, you didn’t use the door- um- would you like some tea?”

“Lesser lord Kusanali, good morning, I’ll fetch the tea.” Alhaitham would add, making Kaveh sit down so he doesn’t stumble over something, his husband is always jittery when the archon comes to visit.

being close to Wanderer meant Nahida heard of him, and of course, she knew about Alhaitham’s and Kaveh’s son, hence upon visiting the kid often she became the auntie Nahida. Veritas grew up knowing the full truth, his dads aren’t the type to sugarcoat it or lie.

so in this embrace, Veritas realized how many questions he had for the tiny god in his arms. the god of wisdom. although, that might be impolite… he was silent for a bit.

Nahida giggled, “ask,” her legs swaying on the chair, “I know you must have so many more things you wish to know. especially with your age, doctor~” she giggled even more. and therefore it became a discussion, Veritas carefully forming his words, his dads listening to the conversation until they had to leave to lunch with friends. “come if you have time, your uncles Tighnari and Cyno will be there. they would be happy to see you.” Alhaitham adds as they leave the house.

on his way to the tavern he hears a woman yell his name, frozen in his step he turns and sees her running towards him. “Collei!” Veritas smiles, opening his arms and she jumps at him. he gives her a spin and tightly embraces her, “how have you been- you’re still amusingly short-“ he laughs, and she playfully punches him,

“is that how you greet your favorite cousin?”

“you mean my only cousin?”

“don’t get snarky with me- I got better at communication and will use sarcasm to my advantage!” Collei laughed happily as she answered. in his mind, she has always communicated well with him. he never saw any issues, only fondness for his older cousin.

they catch up on the street, his cousin is someone he cared about a lot in his youth. a peer who he didn’t shoo off, who didn’t dislike him, and who was and still is an amazing, accepting, intelligent person. one stayed and the other one moved away, yet their communication never failed, never changed, and the love always there for one another.

Cyno and Tighnari basically tackle him with love and affection. Cyno wraps him up in a blanket of dad jokes (not literal), while Veritas shares stories of foxians on the Xianzhou Luofu. it is a pleasant lunch filled with stories, and the tallest man at the table getting babied and treated as if he is fifteen years old again. somewhat bittersweet. Cyno insists they play a round of TCG, Veritas winning easily, “it is pure strategy, uncle Cyno” he tries to hide his smirk as he answers to a frowning general; Alhaitham adds quietly, “that’s my boy. well done.”

His uncle Cyno was the one to teach him Genius invocation TCG, during their trips to the desert they spent their evenings playing cards. “this is hardly fair, uncle. I keep losing” the small boy frowned.

“Veritas, when you are old enough, and more experienced you will, maybe, come close to winning.” Cyno answers, not showing mercy to the kid- he must learn the rules of the game properly, as he is teaching him survival in the desert. which, over the years of many trips, resulted in Veritas growing well acclimated to the weather conditions and scorching sun there, a good life skill to have.

on the other hand, he also grew accustomed to the moisture-heavy air and high heat of the rainforest. going on many camping trips with his uncle Tighnari. learning of different plants and creatures, gaining proficiency in biology before he even got to go to school. nights in the Gandharva Ville were also something he remembers fondly, his cousin, someone he holds in high regard, was always nice to him, pleasant, no matter his attitude and ‘adapting’ behavior. Collei never judged, they were, in a way, both patient with each other and led intellectually stimulating conversations for both parties. Veritas wouldn’t be the same man he is today if it weren’t for his peer.

Madam Faruzan is someone he didn’t expect to see in the house of Daena. he found her… interesting in his youth, but he moved past the interest when the well of knowledge for him dried up. on the other hand, Faruzan adored the little boy who was respectful and smart. they chatted for a few minutes and he quickly excused himself, otherwise, he’d have to put the bust on and the people of Sumeru have spent years not seeing such strange behavior and he knew it would attract even more attention. his younger dad’s voice would echo in his head, “it never matters if it makes others around you uncomfortable- you take care of yourself. if it helps you, if you feel better, then wear it.” and the scene of his dad placing the kid sized plaster head on his head played in Veritas’ mind. he feels incredibly lucky to have such amazing parents.

“how’s the traveler?”

“oh them? they found their sibling and I’m afraid I haven’t seen them in a bit. but they always come around, you know how they are. unpredictable~” Kaveh chuckles, and fondly recalls his friend with gold hair.

“or perhaps they changed bodies and personalities and embody someone you know outside of Teyvat.”

“daaad.” Veritas exhaled, “your attempts at humor get more annoying with years” he rolled his eyes at Alhaitham.

in a suggestive voice he joked a bit more, “maybe now they are less polite, maybe they even have- gray hair like I do.”

for a second the image of the Trailblazer flashed before his eyes but he dismissed it, “daad please can you contain yourself. I would appreciate it. those books on comedy did you no good,” his head turned to Kaveh, “dad why did you buy him that?”

“for pure shits and giggles, my dear boy.” Kaveh answered with a grin.

one can be as put together as they want and as old as they can be, but once one is home… we all turn back into children.

there was a knock on the door, Kaveh got up to open it, “good morning, yes?”

“ah hello, is doctor Ratio here- his device seems to not be working on Teyvat it seems so err…”

“Veritas it’s for you!” he said louder and turned back to face the man in front of him, “and you are?”

“dad-“ he gently pushed Kaveh aside, “you’re too flashy- get inside Aventurine!” he hissed in a hushed tone.

Veritas stands with his hand on his forehead, shaking his head gently. Kaveh seems amused with a smile on his face and sits down on the couch, next to the sofa armchair where Alhaitham made himself sit in no time. Kaveh can tell by the look in his husband’s eyes that he is entertained.

the young man, which their son addressed as a translucent quartz… Aventurine took a step towards Veritas. “hey- doc- I didn’t mean to- maybe I should’ve read some stuff about the planet before jumping-“

“maybe?” the tone of voice was obviously a displeased one, even raising in tone with a sharp glare. Veritas inhaled and exhaled. like a child doing a play he turned to face his parents, “dads, this is Kakavasha,” Aventurine did a small wave, “he is an occasional work partner of mine and I suppose that is why he came here.” he turned to him and raised an eyebrow.

“well, yes, your phone- I mean device wasn’t working- actually nothing came up- I grew worried,” his voice turned into a whisper, “you know with this planet being so gatekept and outside of the IPC’s or the Aeons’ control so…”

“worried?” Veritas asked. Kaveh and Alhaitham were only missing popcorn, this has been the most entertaining thing they have watched in years. going all the way back to when they visited Fontaine and saw a wonderful drama performance.

“yes,” the blond man answered.

“let’s-“ Kaveh cleared his throat, “I’m Kaveh, Veritas’ father, this is my husband Alhaitham. why don’t you stay a bit- no need to rush off to… wherever you zapped from, hm?” he smiled.

“this, being the isolated area you claim, surely two travels in one day are not good, hm? stay the night. we will make room.” Alhaitham nodded.

and oh, Aventurine could read them in a second, street smarts this guy. he saw every single detail of the two men and how it translated into Veritas. “I’d hate to be a bother- but I’m clever enough to know you two would insist.” Aventurine smiles. Alhaitham and Kaveh hold back any laughs bubbling up their throats from giddiness. for them two, a pinning couple such as themselves, something as this short interaction between Aventurine and Veritas was as obvious as Cyno being the general Mahamatra. visible from the top of the Divine Tree. the only question was, where do they stand together?

“I. you’re right, but I don’t think it is necessary-“ Veritas begins only to be cut off by Kaveh.

“you’re forgetting yourself- didn’t you say he was flashy? you practically dragged him inside.”

Veritas cursed himself mentally, this was truly not what he had in plan. “fine. follow along, dear gambler.” he walked down the hallway and Aventurine followed quickly along.

Kaveh looked at Alhaitham with wide eyes and held back the urge to bite down on a pillow. “I will fucking scream, our son, OUR SON, got bitches?”  “was that real? that just happened, yes?”

Alhaitham was speechless in any verbal form, but his facial expression was priceless. “dear. Archons. thank you lesser lord Kusanali for blessing our boy.” Alhaitham hoped their son would never be lonely… and over the years it truly did turn him to even hope for the archons to show mercy upon him. “he also isn’t an idiot” Alhaitham continued.

“mhm, quite a beautifully well-mannered young man along with that,” Kaveh added.

inside his room, “why- this was truly unnecessary- my dads will now-“

“doc, calm down your parents are great- is this where I’ll stay?”

“this is my room!” he narrowed his eyes, Aventurine nodded and stayed quiet, “yes… this is where you’ll stay. don’t get… cocky about it”

“oh please doc, it isn’t the first time we share a bed.”

“change into something Sumeru appropriate if you wish to leave this house at any time during your stay.” Veritas ponders for a moment, “my clothes are too big and so are any of my dads- uncle Cyno is shorter than you so that’s a no, uncle Tighnari has a tail so that’s also a no, uncle Wanderer wears Inazuma-Sumeru styled clothes and also too small- I will have to buy.” he sighs after his short analysis.

“money is never the problem- credits are something I have a lot of and you know that- why?”

“they use mora here, not credits.”

Aventurine falls quiet, a world with no credits… a land of opportunity! he shall gain mora!

“no. don’t you gamble- the rules here are different-“ knock, knock.

“Veritas, will you go buy Kakavasha clothes or shall I sew something of some old pieces?” Kaveh asked against the closed door.

“I- dad can you go buy- we need to talk- I can’t at this moment.”

“yeah, I’ll go.” silence, he didn’t move away yet. “I’ll take your father with me.”

a distant muffled voice answered, “I don’t like shopping for clothes, Kaveh.” “Shush Alhaitham we are going.”

“I doubt your worry was justified- you knew you couldn’t contact me here”

“your parents seem nice. and now I’m here, so let us not dwell on would’ve, could’ve, should’ve hm?”

Veritas sighs. they exchange a few more words and he leaves for dinner with Collei previously arranged.

the sun is setting when he gets back, Aventurine got nicely acquainted with his parents and… well, Veritas is standing frozen at the entrance door. Aventurine is wearing white Sumeru style clothes, with pretty gold accents and splashes of purple and cyan. there has never been a lovelier man than him, your beauty leaves me speechless. He clears his throat, “now that you look appropriate, allow me to take you on a walk, yes?” to which the blond man obliges and they leave the house.

absentmindedly he talks of the architecture and how people live in Sumeru city. they arrive at a point that oversees the vast area towards Port Ormos and they stand there in silence for a few moments.

“the clothes are very comfortable, I hope I’m wearing them well,” Aventurine says with a big smile.

“you look…” beautiful, ravishing, heavenly, out of this world, take my hand in marriage, “…you wear them well, yes” Veritas cuts his thoughts off.

“c’mon doc, we are on your home planet, in your city. no one knows us here- at least not as the cornerstone of the Aeon of preservation and the member of the Intelligentsia guild. we can relax.”

Veritas rolls his shoulders and takes a deep breath. “you’re right. … you look… beautiful. I… I bought you something- it was meant to be a gift when I got back but… here” he hands him a small blue velvet box. Veritas doubts Aventurine ever enjoys wearing jewelry, not with the way he quickly strips himself off of his rings, the watch, and necklace the moment he gets home. Aventurine opens the box and tilts his head in thought, “this is…?”

“a hairpiece. sort of like mine. a pin. I’m sure you understand.” Veritas nods to himself. Aventurine hands him the pin, a dark blue-golden piece displaying a certain mushroom. “put it on me.” Veritas’ eyes shift to the shorter man, if he wasn’t such a calm person his hands would shake in this moment. his fingers gently grip the pin and place it on the soft blond hair.

“good?”

“perfect. I chose well.” Veritas cannot hide how flustered he is at that moment despite his cold demeanor when his cheeks show a shade of pink.

“Doctor… Veritas. I would like to enjoy this vacation- with you. us, together, no one to say anything, may we… relax?” Aventurine says softly, his hand shyly coming to hold Veritas’ making him look at the man. “the view is beautiful from here, the sunset, colors, everything in warm colors, look.” he says, Aventurine shifts his gaze and Veritas keeps looking at him. he raises their joined hands and kisses his knuckles, “you mean everything to me” he whispers.

Aventurine smiles, returning his gaze to him. Veritas continues in a soft voice, “you wear the clothes well. it is… such a vision to see you in the clothing of my world. to see you standing next to me on the streets I grew up on, to see you meet my parents… also I have planned to stay for quite a while so expect to be here for at least a month or travel back to the ship.”

“I think I might stay for a few days. I like the sight of you here, you seem much more relaxed than you usually are, Doc. it’s like you feel safer here. and given how many dangerous specimens are on this planet I am surprised by that fact.” Aventurine gives his hand a small squeeze. “I’d like to get to know your family.” there’s an underlying sadness he sees in the shorter man’s eyes, perhaps the yearning for a safe family of his own.

“I have a big family, uncles, and aunts, a cousin… I’d be happy to introduce you.”

“friends? you didn’t say friends.”

“ah… those. family is what I have here. and you.” Veritas pushes the thoughts of his childhood away, friends… not something he had a big privilege of experiencing. He always preferred his uncles, aunts, truly the only real friend he ever had was Collei. perhaps the other kids weren’t even worth it.

the walk ends with them gazing at the sunset, holding hands.

at night they share his bed, his childhood bed. in the privacy of his home he feels safe enough to lean his face closer and gently kiss him. his lips pressing onto Aventurine’s with a mumble of good night. It feels surreal… his partner with him, in his arms, in his home. Aventurine that night dreams of a small white-haired person who welcomes him to Sumeru and says she is happy to meet him. in the morning when he shares the dream, between kisses Veritas lays along his jawline, the doctor stops to inform him that that was the Dendro archon, which results in a gasping Aventurine and a longer time in bed explaining the function of gods and deities in this world.

Veritas walks into the kitchen, following the scent of Sabz meat stew. his parents are in the study so he freely wraps his arms around Aventurine and lowers his head into the crook of his neck. “smells good.”

“mhm, your dad gave me the recipe- I thought I’d try it out. taste it!” Aventurine turns a bit in his arms, lips pursed blowing on the wooden spoon. it tastes good, melts on the tongue, his eyes widen and it is all the confirmation Aventurine needs. Veritas kisses his temple, “I’m so happy you’re here, Kakavasha.”

steps on the wooden floor knock him out of his bubble, his cheeks blush- being physical with his partner isn’t something he wants his parents to see. he puts the plaster head on and sits down. luckily in this household, it is perfectly normal to self-regulate in such a way. he can count on both hands just how many times he saw his dad without the noise-canceling pieces he uses. half of those were when he was sleeping, he remembers as a kid when he’d run to their bedroom, in tears from a nightmare- in mere seconds he’d have the devices on his head- be it Kaveh putting them on or he himself getting them on. after which they would both turn to comfort the small boy. any other time, was his dads quietly chatting on the sofa, and upon his arrival his younger dad would waste no time to put them on. two voices being too much. Alhaitham reassured him plenty of times so he doesn’t feel hurt by it, especially now, that he is old enough to understand; the only person he can tolerate, he enjoys listening fully to (not all the time tho) is Kaveh. to prove the case further, as a teenager he found out that his dad’s device has a mode which makes sure that his older dad’s voice always pushes through noise cancellation. true love at its finest. and what a hopeless romantic his dad is to do so and feel like that. the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. he does wear his bust much less when he is around Kakavasha.

and now not even the plaster head can hide it when he tilts his head on his hand and stares at the blond man. Alhaitham smirks, he sees through it oh so easily, “do you need any help, Kakavasha? if not, Kaveh and I are leaving to go to the Akademiya, update our retirement plans and so on. although, I’m sure my son can help out if the need arises.”

“I am doing fine so far, thank you sir”

“no need for sir, Alhaitham is fine.”

“I’d feel impolite to address my partner’s parents like that,” he speaks out loud before thinking. he stops stirring the food, when did he- how- when did he start feeling so safe that he stopped overthinking as much? Alhaitham nods with a barely noticeable smile and turns to leave the kitchen. “don’t burn the house down, you two.”

Veritas plants his face into his palms, covering the plaster head even more. Kakavasha turns around to face him when the doors close. “hah, um… sorry?”

Veritas gently takes his plaster head off with a small sigh, his cheeks are colored a light shade of pink, and eyes looking elsewhere, “it happens. I’d love to think my dad took your ‘partner’ in a business terminology, but… nobody in this household is that idiotic. and… I doubt we were any less than obvious, especially to a special case such as my parents.”

“special case?” Kakavasha hangs onto his words.

“some other time I’ll tell you about their situation- or perhaps you may ask them yourself. watch the food, dear.” Veritas gestures with his chin to the cooking pot.

Kakavasha does that indeed, chatting along with Alhaitham and Kaveh, the men more than happy to share their story- and get to know their son’s partner.

“I was told I might find you here,” he says in a soft voice, sitting next to the tall man.

Veritas raises his head from his notes. he is sitting at a large table in the house of Daena, surrounded by books, papers and a few pens. “who told you? I wasn’t avoiding you- my dad told me they added a few books and borrowed some from the Temple of silence, I couldn’t resist reading through it all.”

“your dads. am I bothering you, doc? I’m sure there are some books I can entertain myself with” Kakavasha gazes around.

“with no offense, doubtful. it is usually highly dry material, unworthy of your time and energy. I am willing to take a break, may I tempt you with a walk, dear?”

“yes, you may.” Kakavasha smiles at the flirty question.

saying goodbye is never easy. when being home is nice, pleasant- it makes it much harder. Aventurine left a week or so ago, and went back in the outer orbit of the planet. Veritas spent more time with his close family, having more shared meals and spending his early mornings in the Akademiya’s library, even going so far to visit the actual Temple of silence.

Kaveh’s arms are holding him tightly in an embrace, his voice slightly shaky, but he is trying not to let it show, “I will miss you so much, my dear boy. please stay safe, don’t get into unnecessary trouble, eat a lot, take care of yourself and you can always come home if it gets tiring. or just- one day come home to retire, maybe? and bring that boy with you, your father and I like him, he is welcome any time.”

Alhaitham’s strong arms hug him with a few pats on the back, in a monotone voice, which Veritas recognizes as warmth, he softly speaks, “I stand behind everything your dad already said. do take care of yourself, we will miss you a lot.”

“I don’t want to cry.” Veritas whispers, standing in front of his parents, Kaveh inhales sharply holding back his own tears, Alhaitham tightly holds his hand, his jaw clenched as he also tries not to grow too upset. “we shouldn’t cry,” the retired scribe says, “it isn’t good to say goodbye in tears, we will see each other again. we are immensely happy you came to see us, Veritas. I love you- we both love you, and safe travels.” he ends it with a nod, Kaveh nods as well.

“I love you too” Veritas whispers back, he jumps into both of them, hugging them one more time. he steps back, waves and, with the usage of technology unnatural to Teyvat, he is gone. Zapped away into the orbit.

“I miss him already.” Kaveh doesn’t cry as much as he thought he would when their son leaves.

“Veritas is out there doing the best he can for himself, and he isn’t alone. we both know how much it matters that he isn’t alone.” Alhaitham’s eyes appear sad despite his words. the men sit on the couch cuddled in each other’s arms. “you’re right… he isn’t alone.”

Ratio, back on the ship, eyes filled with tears threatening to drop meet the watercolor ones of his partner. “I- I… I miss them already, Kakavasha.” Aventurine walks over to hug him, his hand moving in circles on his back. “I’ve got you. I’ve got you.”

after a few minutes, Aventurine quietly says, “we will visit them again. we can come over for my birthday? I… really enjoyed being surrounded by family. maybe you’d let me meet more of them this time, yes?”

Veritas smiles, tears dried up, he really has a way of bringing his mood up. “of course, we will visit for your birthday then.”

“I look forward to calling them my family like you do,” Aventurine adds with an all-too-familiar smile.

“is that-“ Ratio tilts his head, “is that some backward way of proposing?”

Aventurine chuckles, shaking his hands, “nope. not yet. there’s time for us to do… that”

Ratio smirks, with an exhale he leans his head on the shorter man’s shoulder, “thank you… for coming along. I’m glad you met them.”

Aventurine silently smiles and kisses his cheek. perhaps the next time they come around they will make certain vows.

[gyaru-tau]

godddd i love whenever Phil would get in character in QSMP and the music would always be a paid actor to any given scenario. Like in this VOD here.

The use of C418's "The End", be it intentional or not (it's likely that it is considering what this plotline is about in the first place) perfectly matches with the sort of tension escalation that happens in this "scene" beat for beat, ragardless of whether that was a choice or not. I know nothing about music theory so don't expect anything beyond a surface level analysis here, but I feel like i have to point out how unintentionally well timed a lot of this song is to the whole shebang.

The opening of the song gives a very immediate sense of "something ain't right" before Phil reads rose's book. Lots of low, droning synth that pans out in a single key.

Then, the moment he goes down to the center of the sanctuary to read the book that Rose left behind, the song immediately starts to tease us with similar kinds of ethereal sounds that we hear in other songs that have been used for Rose-centric lore (Echo in the Wind by Aaron Cherof comes to mind)

Once he makes it over to the Ender King's infiltration of the book, those ethereal sounds start to become a little bit discordant and distorted.

by the time he's closed the book and burnt it the synths continue to drone, and we hear short motifs from some other C418 songs made for minecraft. There are a fair amount of them so I won't name them all, though their inclusions here are slow and eerie when compared to their more comforting counterparts. It definitely helps to push the idea of something safe and familiar, such as Rose's sanctuary becoming "wrong".

These motifs only persist as Phil begins to check all of the places that he frequents , so my last point about familiarity becoming tainted is still very much applicable here as well.

Halfway through that, Phil is getting more and more frantic, and the synth starts to pick up a little more, getting slightly more intense as the motifs continue to ride out.

The moment Phil begins to read the Ender King's book left for him by Uppies 2, the motifs have disappeared entirely, the synths swell to the most aggressive peak thus far...

...And then it fades to near white noise as Phil reads the book.

Once he closes it, the synths start to slowly swell once again-- at this point I believe there's another motif, or rather just a sort of eerie, plinky piano sounding backtrack that circles through the same few notes. This starts up right as he looks down to the nest and realizes that there's crying obsidian all over it as well.

As soon as he glides onto the nest to take a closer look, there are more distortions-- namely, there are some sounds sprinkled through that are played in reverse.

A buzzing sound kicks in as soon as Phil tries to convince himself that everything is fine-- that everything will be fine. C418's "Minecraft" is sampled here, pausing and dragging the first few notes like an audio error or a computer crash might. It is one final hopeless cling to familiarity.

The song starts to fade out to a similar, albeit more aggressive "white noise" kind of state as Phil mulls over his options.

Then it returns to one final, warbly swelling synth as Phil finally writes back to Rose to tell her that he's been found, and that she needs to contact Blaze for more help.

By the time he writes Blaze's name and places the book in the chest, the song skips back to "Minecraft", only managing to play a few notes of the song and skipping on repeat a few times before cutting to silence and static as Phil contacts Fit to meet him.

This entire sequence, regardless of whether not it was like. BUILT around "The End" as a song is still such an excellent climb in tension, and that is no doubt in part due to the song's presence. It makes me sad that less people bring it up!

[aristaspark]

JWCT: How I think the love triangle will go down: Kenlynn endgame, Dinostar friendship restored.

So, as I teased in a post I don’t remember how long ago, I’m going to explain my theory on what I think the writers are planning to do with Kenji, Brooklynn and Darius, and what led me to think that. I don’t claim to know what’s going through their heads, I’m only a girl who loves to write and who has taken classes on the process of film-making, narratology and cinematic analysis…and also the biggest Kenlynn shipper, so even though I try to be the least biased possible, it will probably still shine through, I’m human. Oh, and that’s only a theory of course, chances are I’m wrong. It goes without saying, but I had a blast writing this, I love to dissect the stories I love to find meaning in it.

I split my thought process in different parts, so pick and choose what you're interested in reading, I know that's freaking long, but I can't help it, I LOVE TO ANALYZE EVERYTHING OK (especially fiction).

(also don't mind the typos there are a lot of atrocious ones but it was too long to check correctly)

Dinostar is (too much of) a mess:

2: They could have killed Kenlynn, but chose not to:

3: They're putting a suscpisiously large amount of effort into Kenlynn

4: Darius’s arc with Brooklynn is not about romance:

5: Brooklynn was in the wrong: she had everything

6: Kenji has suffered enough:

7: The way she looked at Darius (plane scene):

8: An example of what could happen (purely going off of vibes):

[sunshades]

hello bell, I hope you're having a wonderful day. I'm very bad at articulating my thoughts but I 100% agree with you that the end scene with cathy and heathcliff standing next to the graves are indeed cathy and heathcliff, not their children! but this theory is very prevalent in the fandom and it doesn't make sense to me, which I brought up to my friends but I can't explain myself further than 'why would it be their graves considering the message of the canto and development of their relationship' and then elaborating on both to the best of my ability.... I think I chose the wrong line of thinking and now I'm stuck and it's driving me insane! how would you explain the scene being cathycliff? thank you in advance!

hi anon!! i'm really sorry this ended up super offtopic and more character analysis beam but. I LIKE TO BE THOROUGH

SO long story short i mean Yeah you're right it just doesn't make sense for these to be Other Guys after the whole thing about how they can in fact reach to each other and even if it's "too late" the love was there and it always remains.

i'll put a tldr at the end to mention some other smaller things that make the child reading incorrect, but to get way too detailed with it, the canto removes the narrative need for a second generation, because heathcliff and catherine are already taking on those roles as far as the ending goes. so let's talk about a glimpse of tranquility!

small tangent re: general reception cuz i just think it's always relevant. it's not that prevalent here, but correcting common misconceptions is kind of impossible over on twitter, and there are a lot of people who read the books years ago and don't remember some details. i still see people wondering stuff like "why did they call him linton when that's his last name?" while someone familiar with the story will pick up on how that's because he's based on linton heathcliff even more than edgar. a lot of limbus source books discussion goes by word of mouth rather than solid sources (ohh the divine comedy misinfo that goes around...) so i mean. just because more people say it it doesn't mean they're understanding it better than you. always double check 🔥

OKAY with that out of the way: much like linton is linton h. and edgar, the same goes for heathcliff and catherine, including personality (heathcliff's passion but hareton's loyalty and kindness, and on the other hand cathy e.'s impulsivity but also cathy l.'s crafty side and more reserved personality) and most importantly narrative role.

the thing with the second volume of the story is heathcliff isn't "redeemed", but the tale itself is, through hareton and cathy l. in some essays i've seen this described as a kind of fairy tale situation, with hareton being almost this "lost prince" trope, but even that "good" ending to the book is terribly bitter with the context that it was only an option for him, as a white man who could reclaim his family's wealth, while heathcliff is never able to be peaceful and free in a world that upholds the racism that victimized him to that point- this is stressed by the fact that even in death, he and catherine reunite outside of heaven, outside the bounds of society.

when it comes to limbus: i wanna link to this v good post by @/melonisopod about how heathcliff is hareton, and i have mentioned before how hindley is also heathcliff, but yeah to restate it: heathcliff eventually breaks the cycle, in the face of hindley who first subjects him to the abuse, spurring his desire to take revenge and enact that same violence on others, and in the face of the erlking who represents everything horrible people think of him and he worries he might turn into. this reflects the way hareton is framed narratively, with book!heathcliff explicitly seeing himself in him, the love and the shame and the inadequacy...

catherine is handled differently, because she does give in to the despair and follows the path laid for her by the narrative (that the only ending for their story involves her death), but the canto still hints at the dual roles through the line about the ghost of her mother, or the whole situation of the spring equinox.

so heathcliff and catherine both suffer through the events of the first generation, and obtain the narrative role of the second generation, but then the thing is: while heathcliff is obviously connected to hareton (to you, the reader), the erlking is also just. literally what would've been him. he's looking at the reflection of his future and nelly tells him: that is you, you are the devil. of course it's important that the symbol of the resolution of the story is also him, not a third hypothetical (white) child. he's the one who decides to change things:

and he's the first to acknowledge that they lost that chance of speaking and working things out together, and that now they did uh kill a bunch of people and drove their mother figure insane (nell im sorry nell may you have a lovely retirement), so THAT'S when the graveyard scene shows up-

this is meaningful enough for both him and the erlking to realize the strength of his and catherine's love- and unlike the book where we're looking at an entire saga featuring two generations of characters, and the resolution and narrative satisfation can come from either of them, here it can't be about anyone else but heathcliff. it's not a generic "oh i guess love will keep happening in the city", this is about the possibilities of their lives. it is about knowing that even if she won't wake up, it's worth moving forward and living and remembering her, and that eventually they'll meet again in some form, and that their love was not wasted, or outmatched by the hatred they had for each other and themselves.

not to go on another tangent, but a sentiment i see at times in fandom is that multiple universes/mirror selves/clones plots tend to get a reaction where people assume that the story being told is always "you're shaped by your experiences = none of those people are like you" which! absolutely makes for a great narrative like hell yes everybody let's go rewatch infinity train together! BUT it's not the only story you can tell with it! because at times instead it can be used to give you a different perspective on a character, or to give it to the characters themselves! something like umineko hinges on this line of thought, that those alternate truths are still part of you.

canto vi touches on both of these points, on one hand by having catherine (who was so caught up in her mind that she overlooked the people around her) understand that the person she loves and must protect is the one she spent her life with, but on the other hand they have heathcliff (who was so blinded by his self-hatred that he couldn't conceptualize anything beside that) see the truth of a world where they can be together, and know what even if things were to turn out badly, they will meet again.

FINAL NOTES to support all this: the river of consciousness is ofc a plot element to the city in general, but it also references the underworld rivers of greek myth- this was the haunted house canto, where the main npc turned into the house and had her body puppetted by a ghost characterized as a banshee, while the main character met his own self who was characterized as a dullahan and lead an army of the dead... we're also in a larger story based on the divine comedy- wuthering and canto vi share a lot of imagery with canto 5 of dante's inferno, and while i can't be sure of the former, the latter was definitely intentional.

with all of these together, the implication of the scene is that at the end, we're finally getting to see the shadows of the underworld at peace, emerging from the current together. and heathcliff himself clearly sees that image as the two of them!

NOW other assorted stuff:

i keep mentioning it but yeah like just to clarify in the novel heathcliff and catherine do reunite as ghosts, walking the moors together, same as the certain world cg,

dante sees "two youths who each resemble Heathcliff and Catherine"-- hareton does not look like heathcliff, he looks like catherine (first book screenshot, i didn't crop it so i wouldn't have to add another picture and have tumblr be mad at me) in that scene heathcliff goes on to talk about how actually Everything reminds him of her, but that's irrelevant in this context. first of all hareton is white, but he's also described very similarly to her, he has her same eyes and hair, and has a completely different bearing from heathcliff. (on the other hand, since we're here, game catherine being blonde makes her visually closer to catherine l.)

kind of? sidenote maybe but the canto not only describes catherine and linton as not loving each other, but it's also pretty much said that they didn't even sleep in the same bed. nelly's whole arc implies to me that only she is the costant that's always dragged in between their drama, while marrying linton isn't necessarily like... recurring? the world where cathy works at k corp and the one where she's a sailor confirm this further. so there's that

best for last: the canto's profile banners! to start with, this is the same image that was used pre-release in the roadmap to promote the heartbreaking. baseline, why even promote heathcliff's canto by using a picture that isn't supposed to be him or even a character that physically shows up in the story. but more importantly, only one grave, only one person, the golden bough in the distance. of course it's him! even more specifically, this one isn't "heathcliff from the wuthering heights of a certain world", but it's our own: left alone, but looking for the hope in the distance.

SO this got super long. but to sum it up, the child reading goes into a lot of hypotheticals that kind of ignore the narrative roles of heathcliff and catherine in the canto. it kind of just boils down to a "what if (thing that didn't happen) happened just like the book though" feeling which like, nobody really expects or even wants for other cantos? well sinclair is going off to war next

on the other hand, additional material points to the tranquility cg being heathcliff and catherine, heathcliff speaks of it by recognizing himself in it, the erlking is so personally moved by it in a way that doesn't make sense for someone seeing the daughter of the woman he loved and the son of his abuser, and just in general the ghost reading of it is a reference to the final chapter of the book in a way that acknowledges the events of the game and heathcliff's characterization.

as more of an opinion, i would say the scene even places dante's narration as a parallel to lockwood's and the story's closing lines "(i) wondered how any one could imagine unquiet slumbers for the sleepers in that quiet earth", which i find really cute, especially when thinking about inferno 5 🙏

again!! sorry this got so long, but i hope it helped! every now and then i realize there's bits of the story i wanted to write on properly but then ended up only discussing with friends, so i'm always happy to share... have a lovely week anon thank u for stopping by to talk!! very flattered you though of me 😊💖!!!

[littlefoxwithbighat]

10(ish) Deltarune theories and lore to catch up on before Chapter 3 & 4

As someone who has been deep (AND I MEAN DEEP) in the trenches of Deltarune theories and analysis, I thought I'd share a few ones that you might want to catch up on before Chapters 3 & 4 drop for real, so we can be on the lookout for more secrets! There is so much thought and love and secrets inbuilt into the series, so its really fun to learn about this stuff!

Bolded videos are the ones I would highly recommend watching before Ch3 and 4 drop.

"Everything to look out for in Chapters 3 and 4 of Deltarune" by KazooCat covers most of the lore we are expecting to see in these chapters from the previous newsletters and special events. If you just want a quick recap of what's coming and where we're at, this is a great resource.

2. "The Burgerpants Conspiracy" by cammyboiG is a bit of a crack theory and a very silly video, and it isn't something I necessarily subscribe to, but it does cover some big theories and important ideas, such as chess theory, several candidates for the knight and some general lore, and it's all around a good time with a genuine love for the source material. Go check it out!

3. "The Importance of The Dreamurr divorce in Chapter 3" by StuffedAlpaca discusses the Dreamurr family throughout Undertale and Deltarune with some really insightful and empathetic analysis, very good video for any Kris fans and will almost certainly be relevant in Chapter 3. All around lovely video and a great channel.

I would also recommend Stuffed Alpaca's video on:

A) "Susie and Ralsei's relationship will be more important than you think" discussing how their opposing relationships with both Kris and the player might affect the storyline

4. "Why is Kris so weird?" by HalfBreadChaos. This is a must-watch in my opinion, although I am a bit biased because I absolutely love this channel, it's incredibly smart. Covers some really important elements of Kris's characters and their relevance to magic and ocean and death imagery, and absolutely opened my eyes to some deeper lore within the game. Also, HBC uses a TTS due to their disabilities, so if thats a no for you, thats fair, but please don't hassle them or their community for it, they aren't a bot!

B) "Why is Berdly in Deltarune? An (Over)Analysis" A beautiful character analysis of Berdly for his fans to celebrate and his haters to learn a little bit more about him.

I would also really recommend HalfBreadChaos's video on:

A) "Who is December Holiday in Deltarune" A MUST WATCH if you are behind on Dess lore, or you still don't know who she is. This is your best resource to learn about her.

B) "Don't forget, who is with us in the dark?" discussing potential candidates for the singer of the main song of the series, including taking apart the japanese characters and their significance to each character.

C) "What the Four Shadows Foreshadow" discussing the foreshadowing of the shadow puzzle in Queens mansion in Ch.2.

D) "Puppets and Cats: Elements Revealed in The Spamton Sweepstakes" discussing the element system in the pvp, which will probably become increasingly significant in later chapters.

E) "Who is the Man With The Egg in Deltarune?" discussing the secret egg room and its significance to Gaster and the knight as well as other easter eggs.

F)The smile motifs in Deltarune, which as you might guess, covers the way smiling is used in UTDR universe and why.

Honestly, just go watch all HalfBreadChaos's videos if you want to learn Deltarune lore in full, they use code and translations and previous lore expertly to flesh out theories. But these are my favourites/ the most important ones to know.

5. "Noelle's mother worries me" by Dorked. Covers a bit about what we know about Noelle's family relationships and how it relates to Noelle's personality. Will also probably be relevant in future chapters.

I would also recommend from Dorked:

A) "Ralsei and The Player's concerning relationship." What it says on the tin, but incredibly important for any Ralsei analysis.

B) "The Sans & Ice-E Conspiracy, and Deltarune Papyrus Mysteries" maybe a bit out there, but it does provide a lot of insight into ICE-E and its relevance.

C) "Toriel and Asgore's parenting problems." Like Stuffed Alpaca's video, this covers how Toriel and Asgore's parenting issues affect their children. A lovely character analysis.

Again, a really lovely and insightful channel. These are just a few picks and I would highly recommend you check out more of their videos.

6. "The Universal Mother Theory" by Kooki914. Explores how Queen's relationship to each of the characters resembles their relationship to their mothers. Chapter 2 specific, but I do think it's interesting to consider for other chapters, especially when we begin to learn more about the characters families.

From Kooki914, I would also recommend:

A) "Snowgrave: An exploration of relationships" which explores how Kris and Susie's relationship in the snowgrave route is likened to an abuse marriage.

7. "I think I know what Ralsei is" by SonsaKay." I don't know if I fully subscribe to this theory but O.M.G. I had SO MANY revelations and jaw drop moments watching this video. If you are at all interested in Ralsei's character you MUST MUST watch this.

8. "A Thematic Analysis of Darkness in Deltarune" by Virat Veritas. Just a nice old fashioned thematic analysis; what is says on the tin.

9. "Names, Endings, Prophecy, Power" by Snarlinger. Explores the significance of character names in the UT/DR universe, and links them to religious themes within the text.

Related to this video:

10. "I know what the angel's heaven is & how Deltarune will end" by Black Chesnut and "The Religious Symbolism of Deltarune" by Detective Mar. Grouping these together because they're both good insights into the religious symbolism in Deltarune, which is shaping up to be a really prominent theme, and worth knowing a little bit about.

A. In this video, Snarlinger mentions, "Deltarune's story is strongly tied to the Book of Revelation" by Doom64hunter. This is a brilliant in-depth read about how the story of deltarune mirrors the end of the New Testament and so smartly put together.

and a bonus

11. "Who Dr. Gaster Is and Why That Matters to Deltarune" by Mystic Sparkles. Come on guys, we had to have ONE big gaster theory in here and I DID save it to the end. In all seriousness, if you are behind on Gaster lore, or you don't understand why people are using him in Deltarune Analysis, this is a really great resource, and Mystic Sparkles is a delightful commentator.

NOW LISTEN GUYS. I AM TRUSTING YOU TO BE NICE AND RESPECTFUL TO THESE CREATORS, EVEN IF YOU STRONGLY DISAGREE WITH THESE THEORIES, OK? DON'T MAKE ME REGRET SHARING THESE, I'M TRUSTING YOU ALL TO BE GOOD. Now have fun theorising and analysing mwah <33.

[weirdlyfitting]

A little silly thought, I interpret brooklynn's green side of hair dye as how much she has been corrupted (by diving too deep into the whole broker situation).

As the chaos theory started out, we're given little hints about her appearance through the campers' flashbacks, and it was known that she had been investigating for a while and ended her relationship with kenji before she was found dead. The green dye during the flashback scenes and s2 ep 3 (as we're finally getting a full explanation of how she survived) took almost half of her pinkish-purple hair, which is in a pretty worrying state tbh, almost half the full story, almost getting half of the chaos *ba dum tchhh

Right so, after she lost her arm and everything, she made a final decision to continue the investigation and took a deep dive into the bottom of it. And with that stuff in mind, her hair is now fully dyed green, symbolizing how there's no turning back as she's fully corrupted. Another thing to add is that her pinkish-purple color made up a perfect (or almost, depends on what color wheel that showed the color line-up, but I found this one a lot and damn bro, it fits) complementary color with green/light green.

I'd love to mention that there's a little canon hint of meaning explanation for her pinkish-purple hair, and it's actually an accident lmao, and this probably means that it was her intention from the start to dye it fully green. BUT I still saw it as a cool subtle visual hint so that the audience can have their own interpretation, like this :3 because y'know what's more interesting about that scene itself? The follow-up right after that "purple dye accident" joke from yaz. The literal gut-wrenching IRONY when sammy said "Let me guess? You're LEAVING US AGAIN?" and darius followed with "ABANDON US WOULD'CHA??". Maybe in a way, this purple dye DOES symbolize Brooklynn's change. The usual bright pink color started to dim out as purple and slowly inverted to green the deeper she went into this rabbit hole.

This one is just me bragging things up lol, as it seems that yaz was the only one who knew about her purple hairdye accident. It subtly adds another depth to brooklynn's reckless behavior of making a morally good change and yet sacrificing herself fully on the matter, because when she's with her camp fam they'd be ready to back her up and she would end up being safe (ex in s3 of cc where she got captured by dr wu). In a way, that purple dye could represent that she's still got her friends to slow her down and think more about her safety, when the green dye represents her fully alone and making decisions her friends can not interfere.

Something else I associated with death and the color green, is how it could be represented as a living dead or zombie (yes, I'm referencing plants vs zombies and yes, hear me out lmfaoooo). To the n5's perspective, the last time they remembered brooklynn was when she was still having that side of purple dye, as if she's still alive (though slowly infected), and then suddenly they met again with her when her hair was fully green, at first the n5 thought that she's still alive but then throughout the ending, she made sure (though that was only an act) that who they're seeing is truly dead, it was only the corpse that wonders around and became their enemy instead

anddd that's all, don't take this one seriously i just wanna yap about brooklynn's hair after i saw this analysis lmaoaoaooao (check it out pls it's cool!!)

[hollowed-theory-hall]

I am not the biggest fan of HP but wow, your essays and researches are so very cool.

Especially the Horcrux one - to literally produce a viable process step-by-step

(Anon is referencing this post, for those curious)

Thank you so much! 💕

It means a lot to me that you can enjoy my writing without liking HP. I do like HP, but more than just the books, it's a vehicle for me to have fun analyzing and researching various things. I really like doing research, like, it's actually a hobby of mine to pick a subject and then research it to death. I usually even write myself summaries of what I learned and everything (I have a collection of these, and it's really funny to people who know me IRL). It's an actual hobby I take seriously.

It's part of what got me into writing. I love storytelling, worldbuilding, and the research involved in it. Like, I wrote a whole book set in the Victorian era because Victorian history and fashion were among the subjects I picked to research extensively out of curiosity. And since I enjoyed reading about them, I read more. When I started writing, I had a lot of the information I needed for the setting already there in documents I wrote to myself, summarizing various aspects of the era with links to their sources.

My reading about Alchemy, which resulted in the aforementioned Horcrux post, was born because I was mildly curious, so I started reading, and when I found what I read interesting, I found books to read more.

It's how I like to approach most subjects. I mean, we live in the age of information, and I made it my mission to use it. If I find anything mildly curious, I'm gonna search for it to see what it's about and get a basic understanding. If my curiosity is sated, great; if not, I keep reading. That's really the secret to a lot of it — active curiosity.

Sure, I sometimes get things wrong, sometimes it's a struggle to find the information you want with how vast the internet is and how much misinformation is out there, and the type of thinking used for analysis is something you need to train over time, so just knowledge isn't everything, but it helps. The fact that I know so much random trivia from history, science, and Alchemy is what allows me to create the connections needed for some of my HP theories. My goal for years has been to be openly and actively curious and get excited over learning something new.

The first time I remember I was shocked that other people irl don't do that was when I was talking to a classmate back in high school, and we saw a star flickering around the horizon line. She called it out as weird, and I was like: "yeah, that is weird, let me check what it is" and I pulled out my phone to do just that, and she was surprised by the fact I did. It's insane to me that she didn't even consider doing a quick search to see what the phenomenon was.

(The answer, btw, was that the star in question was Sirius (my beloved), which is the brightest star and at certain hours when it's near the horizon (depending on location, in the northern hemsphier Sirius is usually low in the sky), the atmosphere at that angle interferes with its light, making it appear like it's flashing in multiple colors or in and out of existence. Other stars flicker like this too, when low in the sky, Sirius is just the brightest, and therefore its flickering is more visible)

(As you can maybe tell, I'm a little insufferable to walk with at night if there is any star visibility because I actually know and recognize some stars and constellations, and I will stop to point them out. My favorite app on my phone is Google Sky Map, which I open if I don't recognize something in the night sky or if I want to check if I was right)

[solar-halos]

ways i think thg characters would get (social media) famous (a very mixed batch of modern au/canon compliant hcs)

• i’ve mentioned this before but finnick would get very popular singing popular songs in his caesar flickerman impression. “hellomy nameiscaesarflickerman. and this is MY COVER of espresso by my late greatgreatgreatgreat grandmother sabrina carpenter” (inspo: this fucking guy. this is exactly my type of humor bc i laughed so fucking hard at this when i first saw it i couldn’t breathe. anyway onto the rest of the post)

• because alt/goth annie owns my heart, she is making get ready with mes that are completely silent save for the pitter patter of her feet (inspo: malloryheartsyou). however one day she drops a five hour analysis on her fav piece of media and everyone freaks out over the sound of her voice

• brutus and gloss are the token guy best friends that everyone is weird about who sit in their rooms and watch stupid movies and give even stupider commentary

• cashmere is doing a little bit of everything! baking, makeup, sewing you name it. i feel like when she’s not in the capitol she just tries to stay busy (inspo: mia maples! love her our diy queen)

• glimmer THRIVES on doing shorts on how she thrift flips her clothes into something y2k inspired. she also makes questionable items into the cutest items ever (inspo for last part: this fashionista original diva. love her southern twang)

• clove is doing her makeup while telling crazy fucking stories “yeah he cheated on me—“ *checks her lipgloss, dabs at the excess “—so i drove his car off a cliff. while he was in it. i am excellent with a snorkel”

• cato is saying something stupid as fuck for views + comments. “isn’t it crazy how there isn’t a single color that starts with an O and ends with a E?” “women have it one day out of the year, but men have it all the time. what is it?” “there are no words that rhyme with pillow”

• johanna would have a podcast talking about various conspiracy theories like she believes them. sometimes finnick joins her and he continues the bit

• beetee is just straight up matpat. i dont think i have to link him but specifically his fnaf era. idk something about him making passionate youtube videos defending arguments he didn’t even believe with his life is just very young adult beetee to me that guy would be contrarian just for the sake of it

[myargalargan]

A musical Polinalysis part 2

So I spent hours yesterday writing an analysis on the music we hear when Colin and Penelope first kiss, only to realize a couple hours later that...the kiss isn't the first time we hear that theme!! So of course I had to keep writing about it, because I just think this is so cool...

Alright, check this out... The very first time we hear the theme is the very first time Penelope sees Colin at the beginning of the season. We've just seen Colin flirting with that gaggle of ladies; he approaches his family, and as soon as Pen catches sight of him, we hear this:

But wait. I'm going to back up a sec, because in my last post, I said this was Polin's theme:

Pretty different, huh? So what's going on here?

Well, in the first transcription above, I have us in G Major, starting our theme with the familiar intervals of the fifth note of the key going up to the tonic, or first, note of the key, and then up to the second note (in this case, from D to G to A) and so on for the next few notes. Everything sounds normal here except that we're in a different key (G Major for the first sound clip, D-flat Major for the second one).

But then what happens halfway through with all those # marks? These accidentals are called sharps, and they indicate chromaticisms in the key, or notes that don't naturally occur in the key that we're in. Another way to write this so that the notes do naturally occur in the key (it sounds the same as the first transcription above, it's just expressed with a different key signature) is this...

The part I've circled in red indicates a key change. At the beginning, we're in G Major. Halfway through, we move into g minor. These keys are related in that their scales start on the same note—the tonic of both keys is the note G. However, the scales themselves do not sound the same—these keys do not contain the same notes. Here is a G Major scale:

And here is a g minor scale:

Notice that the g minor scale sounds a little darker, spookier, maybe more intense. This is the typical quality of minor scales in general—they tend to have a sadder sound.

So, okay, that was a lot of music theory, but what does this all mean for our Polin theme? I think it's so compelling that the first time we hear this theme, we have a key change halfway through from major to minor—from a relatively bright, happy sound to a more intense, morose sound. This is the first time we see Colin and Penelope occupying the same space this season, the first time Penelope sees Colin after his return (and it's honestly unclear to me whether Colin sees Penelope, as well...he looks in her direction but doesn't seem to recognize that she's there?). And the first statement we get of the music that is going to represent them throughout the next few episodes has a dramatic twist halfway through! Much like their relationship? Much like season 3 itself?? I think this speaks of conflict and intrigue to come—for these first four episodes and the season overall.

But that's not all! At the end of this episode, we have Colin and Penelope making their arrangement for Colin to help Penelope find a husband. And as they shake hands and share meaningful looks, just before Lady Whistledown's narration starts the close-out of the episode, this is what plays in the background:

Unlike the very first statement of the theme, this one does not start in a major key and then modulate to a minor key—it is fully minor from the beginning (the key of f-sharp minor is my guess).

Knowing what we know about minor keys having a sadder, more intense sound, this statement of the theme is clearly meant to convey conflict. There are two big conflicts being set up in this moment between Colin and Penelope: 1) the arc for the first half of the season, of Colin trying to help Penelope find a husband and oops falling in love with her instead, and 2) the arc that we'll be seeing in the second half of the season, of Penelope's secret identity and what that means for her and Colin's relationship. The music is telling us, as Colin and Penelope grasp hands, that we need to be wary.

There is one more iteration of this theme that I want to talk about, and it occurs during the scene when Penelope meets Colin at Bridgerton house for one of their lessons (the scene that is infamous for Colin putting his hand on Pen's back Colin what are you doiiiiiing we are so scandalized!! *gasp*).

The moment Colin greets Penelope in the entryway, we hear this very softly in the background:

This abbreviated theme repeats several time throughout the above scene, and it builds as it's repeated. First there's a couple measures of the theme, then a couple measures without, then the theme is stated again, followed by another couple measures without, and then we get three statements of the theme one right after another in different instruments, until Colin and Penelope make it to the drawing room.

In sharp contrast to the intense, doomsday-foretelling version of the theme we got at the end of ep1, this version is light and playful. We're back in a major key—and in fact, we seem to be in A Major, which is the relative major of f-sharp minor (the key we were in at the end of ep1). That is to say, f-sharp minor and A Major share a key signature—they contain the same notes—but since the A Major scale starts on an A rather than an F-sharp, it has a brighter, cheerier sound.

So here's what I think is happening with all this musical storytelling. In the beginning of the first episode, we get our first statement of Polin's theme, starting in a pleasant major key sound and turning sharply into a darker minor key sound halfway through. This foreshadows Polin's narrative arc, and the idea of more drama to come in the second half of the season, just as Colin and Penelope think they've found their happiness.

Then at the end of the first episode, we get a statement of Polin's theme entirely in a minor key—a callback to the second half of the first instance of their theme at the beginning of the episode, and another moment of foreshadowing which sets us up for the main conflicts we will see this season and in Polin's relationship. Episode one is all about setting the stage for the rest of what's to come.

Then at the beginning of ep2, when we hear the theme again, it's like we're being oriented back towards the first half of the iteration that we heard at the beginning of ep1. It's saying, "Okay, the music in ep1 told you to expect both joy and danger, and now here we are at the joy part." We're having fun right now. The romantic tension is still fairly breezy at this point. We haven't yet gotten into the gut-wrenching angst of watching the best friend we accidentally fell in love with about to get engaged to another man.

At the same time, the build-up of the theme the way we hear it in the scene at Bridgerton house—the way we get multiple statements of only the first couple measures—also creates some tension. The theme keeps getting cut off partway through, so naturally we want to hear more; we want to hear it keep going all the way to resolution. Keep in mind, up to this point, we have not yet (I don't think, anyway...) heard the theme all the way to resolution in a major key. So far, we've heard the theme: 1) start in a major key and end in a minor key, 2) start and end in a minor key, and 3) start in a major key but not end at all. And when do we finally, finally get to hear the theme all the way through in a major key, without all the twists and interruptions that we've experienced previously?

Polin's first kiss.

And it's beautiful, and soaring, and feels something like catharsis...

But of course, even hearing their theme all the way through leaves us wanting more, because at that moment, their arc is still just beginning.

analysis part 1 | analysis part 3

[paper-starz]

WELCOME HOME THEORIES AND ANALYSIS! FRIDAY THE 13th EDITION!

HUH?? A surprise Welcome Home Update???

WITH LORE AND SECRETS?!?!?!

Ohohohoho! You know yours truly loves lore! And oh boy... Theres a lot to unpack here.... So buckle your seatbelts folks! I might've discovered something BIG

WARNING! THIS WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR THE HALLOWEEN UPDATE! OH AND THIS IS GONNA BE VERY VERY LONG!

Ok, first things first, THE THEORY

I might've figured out who the main antagonist could be, and it's not Wally or Home. In fact, it has been staring at us the entire time, we've just never realized it.

I think the main villain of Welcome Home could be the spooky swirly void living inside of Home.

"WHAT?!?! This early on in story??" I hear you say! "This couldn't be possible!"

ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE DEAR VIEWER! And truth be told, there could be multiple antagonists in Welcome Home, but all evidence points to this swirly guy being the source of everything wrong thats happening. Also, from now on, I'll be calling it the Entity. (Spooky swirly man sounds so silly!)

EVIDENCE 1: It makes people sick.

It seems like the Entity emits some kind of black "ink" that makes people sick once you touch it. It also seems like the WHRT knows about this too! Going into great lengths to order everyone to wear gloves.

Writing on sticky note atop vinyl glove box reads: Put on gloves before handling ANY art. Call me if we run out!

Not to mention that think ink also seems to effect anyone psychologically, making them want to discover more about Welcome Home, even if it harms their own health.

In the ABOUT US page:

When I unwrapped the first letter, I felt it. I heard it. Open. Open. Open. I want it out. I’m going to get it out.

In the STAFF ONLY page:

Everything is so disgusting to touch. Sometimes the mail doesn't come for weeks. I want to rip into everything I have. My head feels so muddled too. Ever since I opened the envelope.

I keep getting phone calls, now. Or at least, I assume that's what's happening. I keep hearing it ringing. All day, sometimes. I check my phone and there's no new messages. I thought maybe some of the site staff were pranking me, but I tore up the workspace and couldn't find another phone that might be ringing. All that was there were the toys for the exhibit, and obviously those couldn't be ringing. But I kept hearing it anyway. The phone ringing and ringing... ...I keep digging and digging. I've poured over every recovery the WHRP has given me access to, every inch of their website, and the things I find make less and less sense. If I didn't know better I'd say everyone was coming together to pull an elaborate prank on me. I can still hear the phone ringing now. I don't know how to answer the phone. I need to answer the phone.

The NEWS PAGE also mentions ringing! (This could be the same person who has been affected by the ringing)

So many guest signatures… So many of them are trying to communicate. What are you telling me for? Do you think I can answer? What are you trying to do to me? I’m closing that guest book, I’m not playing this game anymore. The ringing is enough.

And even affecting them physically as well!

NEWS PAGE

What is it, I hear you pleading! Clawing at your screens just as we have! Coughing, headaches, nausea- I know. I know. It will take a lot of cleaning, preparation, and polishing on our part, but it is a worthwhile labor of love.

Coughing, headaches, nausea.... The Restoration Team is growing sick, yet they are completely obsessed with restoring more evidence for Welcome Home.

They even know that they are growing sick, they wear gloves, they clean, they prepare, they polish the artwork over and over and warn anyone NOT to touch the ink, but it's not enough. They need to restore Welcome Home, even at the cost of their own health.

Heck, the entire page (and studio) is literally dowsed with black ink!

And it seems to be growing too...

Theres more stuff on the walls I keep hearing phones ring.

"More stuff" as if he's surprised, as if there were less ink on the walls than before. And he keeps hearing phones ringing... Its growing...

And it made its way into the real world....

EVIDENCE 2: SALLY'S HORROR STORY!

Ah yes! Some evidence from the Halloween Update! This time, from Sally Starlet’s Macabre Menagerie of Monstrous Mischief Making! Specifically, I want to analyze the "noticeable gap" in the audio, the only part where the WHRT did NOT transcript. (This was written by yours truly btw!)

SALLY: What?! No, no, and no! …It is because this town is rumored to have visitors at night… Something from deep within the forest, far beyond the hills and mountains… No one knows what it wants or where it’s going, just that it is persistent… Just that it arrives here. So many stories have risen about their origins… But I know what it is searching for. It is looking for neighbors who have stayed past the daytime, to gobble them up whole. That is why so few live here. It moved through the streets at night, but it doesn't break into homes. However, on rare instances, it will find itself with an appetite left…. unsatisfied by its aimless wandering. Even the occasional unfortunate insect that has crossed its path is not enough… Those who have lived through the night say it isn't quiet about it either. They always say you can hear when it gets closer to you. Do you know what sound it makes? I hear it. Every. Night. You can hear it too, if you listen. Especially if you wait next to your window. First, theres rustling in the bushes. Then, A scratching on the pavement and the walls as it crawls up. Finally, if you're quiet, you can hear its guttural sound…

Now, I know what you're asking. Why even bring up this little story at all? What does this story have to do with the Entity?

Context, my dear viewer. If you listen closely, the audio is too clear. No static, no nothing. This segment is also the only part where it didn't get transcripted because it was "inaudible". Which is strange, because you and me and you and that guy and me can hear it just fine! And THAT is why it got me theory senses tingling.

Plus, the story is about a monster too! Coincidence? I THINK NOT!

So let's analyze!

"…It is because this town is rumored to have visitors at night… Something from deep within the forest, far beyond the hills and mountains… No one knows what it wants or where it’s going, just that it is persistent… Just that it arrives here."

This could be talking about the Entity. We don't know what exactly the Entity wants, just that it looks like it's determined to reach a goal that we don't know much about.

"It is looking for neighbors who have stayed past the daytime, to gobble them up whole. That is why so few live here."

It feels like this is talking about the portal-like properties the Entity has. "Gobbling" up neighbors whole and sending them to another dimension, ours.

Sally also states "That is why so few live here", which makes me question how many neighbors used to live here before. Perhaps Julie's siblings, Howdy's family, Barnaby's mom? Were they sent to another dimension? Where are they now????

Not only that, but Sally makes it clear that it goes after neighbors at nighttime. And what time does Welcome Home usually update? 7 PM (*Now, this time could be different because of timezones, but the updates usually happen during the night)

"It moved through the streets at night, but it doesn't break into homes. However, on rare instances, it will find itself with an appetite left…. unsatisfied by its aimless wandering..."

"First, theres rustling in the bushes. Then, A scratching on the pavement and the walls as it crawls up. Finally, if you're quiet, you can hear its guttural sound…"

I think Sally is giving us an EXACT description on how the Entity managed to break into Home.

1st, theres rustling in the bushes. Home does have bushes surrounding him.

Then, a scratching on the pavement and walls as it crawls up. The Entity could've broken into Home by either climbing through the window or through the roof.

Finally, a guttural sound. Now... where did I hear a guttural sound in Welcome Home before.... Oh yeah! Wally. <- Click this handy-dandy clip and you can hear something quite monstrous right below Wally's voice!

"Wait a minute.... Did you say Wally has a guttural voice???"

I did, dear reader. I did.... Which brings me to my next point:

EVIDENCE 3: POSSESSION AND PUPPETEERING!

Throughout our inspection of the Welcome Home website, we've seen countless times of Wally becoming more and more distressed as each update comes out.

But we've also seen a lot of inconsistencies regarding our lil' Darling! In fact, I even compiled these into a theory in which there could be 2 people hacking into the website!

And while that I still do believe there are more than 2 people hacking into the website... I don't think the Question Answerer is the one doodling. He's still hacking onto the website, but unlike Wally, he writes it out.

The last piece of evidence just proves its the same guy writing this! The Question Answerer!

I want to rip into everything I have. My head feels so muddled too. Ever since I opened the envelope. (see above)

Ok but if the Question Answerer isn't the other guy doodling... then who is making all of the inconsistent doodles??

Why, the ENTITY!

Not only are the doodles inconsistent, but even the sound of Wally's voice sound... quite off if you compare enough audios.

For example! Compare the interview audio with the newest Happy Haunting audio, do you notice anything peculiar about Wally's voice? Especially in the Happy Haunting audio? (If you have trouble finding it, compare these few timestamps below)

4:08

4:51

8:45

13:39-15:29

It sounds... off. Robotic even! It's slow, and the articulation is way different from the interview audio. In the interview audio, you can hear how happy Wally sounds! Even in this audio (and this one too), you can hear Wally growing increasingly frustrated. Yes, its still monotone, but you could hear emotion!

But the Happy Haunting audio, it's neutral. Yes, it IS monotone, but it feels like someone doing an impersonation of Wally rather than Wally actually speaking himself. In fact, the audio reminds me of the phone audio right here. It has the same pauses and neutral tone, save for the very audible growl right underneath Wally's voice.

But speaking of the phone audio.... Did you catch that?

...Do you know who I am? [The heart beat and ambience resume.] [Gasp.] Oh no. Well that’s not neighborly at all. We’ve never met before. But don’t worry. Even though you and I haven’t spoken before, I’ve seen you... Every time you have looked into my eyes. I want to know… What did you see? [Silence.] I hope you saw a friend, but I’m not sure you saw a name... Stand still. Let’s start over. Ring ring ring. Click. Hi, I’m Wally. I’m so happy to finally meet you, I think you’re the absolute most.

...That's strange, isn't it? We definitely HAVE met Wally, not formally, but we do know about him (this fandom is proof of that!) So how come Wally is saying that we haven't?

Especially when in another audio, he says that we DO 'know him'.

…Why won’t you answer me, neighbor. Why can’t I hear you. You know me. You do. Please open. Let me in.

Contradictory, isn't it? We can't both know Wally and NOT know Wally at the same time. That's impossible....

Unless the phone audio Wally isn't our Wally... its the Entity.

Technically, we DON'T know about the Entity. It's not a character in Welcome Home and the things that we do know about it are just mere theories and speculations. It is our 'first' formal meeting with it.

Then why did it introduce itself as Wally? WELL BECAUSE ITS POSSESSING HIM! It's trying to convince us that it is Wally, using his signature catchphrase and even saying 'I hope you saw a friend'. Besides, if you were a weird portal monster, I doubt you would introduce yourself as one if you wanted to trick someone.

And if this possession theory does turn out to be true, it does explain the major inconsistencies happening in the website! Such as the doodles!

The Hearts!

THE HANDWRITING

THATS NOT WALLY'S HANDWRITING! He writes in CAPITAL LETTERS and in RED (not all lowercase and in blue!).

WALLY CAN'T DRAW HEARTS SO WHO'S DRAWING EM???

AND BOTH OF THOSE BARNABY DRAWINGS SURE DO LOOK INCREDIBLY DIFFERENT FROM EACH OTHER. ALMOST AS IF SOMEONE WITH LITTLE DRAWING EXPERIENCE DID IT.

But if you still need a bit more proof to convince ya, here's some more!

W a L L y: You won't write back Wally: You're looking for me. Silly. Silly.

I think W a L L y is our Wally! He's getting desperate, but he knows that we won't be able to write back. Wally on the other hand is the Entity, it knows that we are looking for the main big bad antagonist, and it knows. It even mocks us.

And I think we've seen evidence of these possessions before. Look at none other than the bug audios!

In every single one of these bug audios, we are in the perspective of Wally himself. But in these bug audios, Wally doesn't say anything at all. Rather, he sits unmoving, listening into the conversation whether he has been invited there or not!

In this bug audio, Wally has been listening in on Sally and Howdy's conversation the entire time!

But thats not all! All of these bug audios are connected according to the conversation between Barnaby and Home! Which means that all of these bug audios are happening on the same day at a very short period of time, which is concerning on just how frequent Wally appears to be disassociating. Or if that's even Wally at all!

If that is the Entity controlling Wally, it feels like he's observing them, studying them. Perhaps that's why the audios always cut out whenever a neighbor says Wally's name, it snaps him out of that trance and reminds him that he is in fact the real Wally!

Which brings us to our latest bug audio (and by far the most worrying one), the Candy Spider! The Halloween Bug?? Idk it's this one <-

We've just gotten proof of Wally munching on an apple. This would've been fine and dandy in any other situation, but remember viewer! Context matters! Especially if we put into consideration that that is not Wally.

BARNABY: ‘Ey, how’s my little devil doin’ over ‘ere? You guardin’ my apple for me, pal? [There is a brief pause. What is he doing.] BARNABY: Oh— heh, I guess ya didn’t do a very good job at it. [Barnaby calls out to the room] Hey! Who took a bite outta my apple? I think I see some fang marks, Frank!

Yeah that SURE is definitely not worrying. Nope, none whatsoever!

Oh boy... I think that's everything. Well, not everything everything. I still don't think the Entity is the only bad guy, just the main one! The Playfellow Workshop is very suspicious, and while I do believe Wally and Home are most likely victims of everything that is going on, I don't think I should say that they are quite innocent yet.

In the banner, they are the only two NOT separated by hearts! It seems to me that they are working together to give out more evidence to the WHRT.

And Marlo... another company that is VERY suspicious. What did their logo look like again?

A house logo with an eye in the middle.... Why does that look so familiar?

AH.

Well that's clearly not suspicious!

[wildflowerdoeeyed]

𝑀𝑜𝓁𝓁𝓎 𝒪’𝓈𝒽𝑒𝒶

(the character overlook)

♡₊˚ 🦢・₊✧⋆⭒˚｡⋆

these are all my opinions, totally open to the conversation about molly’s character also totally fine with people fact checking me, anyways i’m starting to fw o’shones

in the words of @krayzie-jelli the autism is autisming (don’t cancel me i have referrals to get tested 😔😔)

♡₊˚ 🦢・₊✧⋆⭒˚｡⋆

small credit;

the red dead fan wiki

@/reaperqween on tik tok (for the almost ten minute tik tok about mollys outfits which i ate up)

^ her tumblr is @river-of-wine send some love yall want 💕

colour analysis & general observations

🪞💋🍓🌹🍰

colour theory is heavily used based on honor, the best example of this is dutch, he consistently wearing red, mostly on his back until guarma when the red is on the front, when dutch’s true intentions become more apparent, anyways onto molly.

🩰𓈒⋆⑅˚₊୨୧

COLTER

(i went quite quick through colter so im actually unsure how she is with dutch, but from what i remember she doted on him a whole ton, constantly staying at his side and at one point saying “dutch is all the company i need”)

💋though a lot of people relate the red in different characters with low honor i think the fabric, the pattern itself points back to her privileged past

💋the necks scarf being green, i feel like it doesn’t imply much at this point but as the game continues it implies way more

💋the rest of the outfit being blue means a lot to me, there’s never anytime molly oversteps or is aggressive to anyone (obviously except from the obvious with karen, i’ll go back to this later)

💋i’d like to note that she’s still doing her makeup freezing and starving in the mountains

🩰𓈒⋆⑅˚₊୨୧

HORSESHOE OUTLOOK & CLEMENTS POINT

(i honestly will end up mixing these up so i grouped them together)

(tbh my honest opinion is horseshoe is one of the best chapters based on the relationships in camp (tho sadie’s still going through it, you can’t have everything))

💋her first outfit has a good amount of blue in this outfit, her necklace has its first appearance with the red (i always got the vibe that dutch had gifted it to her as it’s more shiny than a lot of the metal in her outfits and it’s like a part of him)

💋she wears a thick belt with this outfit and the brass (?) seems worn, even coming from a wealthy background she holds onto clothes that look old and worn

💋she always wears white boots, she’s doesn’t have to do any work, and she’s not expected to do anything

💋the majority of the mornings in game, molly is constantly checking herself in a mirror

💋i’m going to be honest i hate this shirt

💋but i’d like to think this shawl has always been with her and that she holds it close to her

💋her outfit is quite shapeless, and i think that’s how she liked to dress personally

💋i would love to talk about this outfit

💋does this eat? yes, but i don’t think this was a honest choice for her

💋this outfit mirror mary-beth’s a lot, who seems to be dutch’s new interest

sorry for the bad quality i used my own screenshot for this

💋this outfit particularly ^

💋there’s now a lot of cleavage in her outfit and she’s dressing more akin to other girls in the camp

💋and the gold in her outfits bright, and with mirroring marybeth, I also think this mirrors dutch’s style, with more red and gold incorporated

🩰𓈒⋆⑅˚₊୨୧

💋her relationship with dutch is starting to crumble, i heard a voice line where she says that she loves him and he thanks her (?!) you wouldn’t see me again personally

💋but to contrast that there’s some scenes were dutch kisses her hands and they’re all giddy and cuddly, and they eventually dance when sean’s rescued from blackwater

💋she’s also not well received by a lot of the gang, we get the first glimpse of that when you take mary-beth, tilly and karen to valentiene and karen says that molly’s “too high and mighty” to come with them

💋she attempts a to interact with numerous members

💋she also attempts to talk to tilly, tilly quickly brushes her off as she’s working and molly isn’t attempting to help her

💋i also saw an encounter with dutch and molly where, he approaches, and honestly he could be covered in shit and molly would still look up to him like he’s a messiah. dutch says “should i compare thee to…” he quickly cuts himself off asking her what he should compare her with, even asking arthur if you pass by (he actually says that dutch could compare her to an idiot if she actually believes dutch cares about her)

💋 throughout clements point, dutch talks down to molly as if she’s a child and then will quickly back himself up by calling her dear (to which if arthur intervenes when she goes off at him, dutch says she’s just leaving and she’s stomps away)

💋when she approaches abigail about the subject of dutch, abigail tells her “dutch don’t love you, not in the way you want to be loved”, molly gets defensive saying that she doesn’t get what she’s talking about, to which abigail says she does (implying drunk john?) and molly stomps away

💋i think this is the first time molly actually goes a bit crazy about dutch, she calls him a degenerate liar and stomps off when dutch wont argue back and (i think) goes to sleep, he at least turns away from her

💋i think people who discredit mollys character (men) don’t realise that her and dutch’s relationship show early signs about how manipulative dutch can be, he dumbs down what she says then calls her dear, eventually he only calls her miss o’shea, which she obviously goes off at him for

💋adding onto this i’d love to talk about her character item request of a pocket mirror and her asking arthur if bad lucks a thing, i feel like this is meant to reflect how young she actually is, like how kieran still referred to his parents as ma and pa, and that she genuinely seems nervous asking arthur for a mirror and the superstition of a broken mirror giving bad luck (which i guess you could say she had

💋and i feel like her vanity that the gang and from an outsiders perspective that she’s self absorbed but i think she’s more conscious about how she looks, she doesn’t have to lift a finger and not having much to do around camp because everyone distances themselves from her (i’ll obviously elaborate more when i get to writing about shady bell) i think she’s left alone with a mirror, which i feel is more implied that she’s had for a long time, i’d say since childhood, you become more conscious the more you look at yourself and if your man seemed to be going for someone younger than you, you’d loose it too

(tl:dr - molly doesn’t deserve any hate, the girls that get it, get it, men don’t, im so ready to talk about chapter 4&6)

The poem

-

Uaibhreach

(the irish gaelic word which means “being proud and arrogant to the extent that it alienates & isolates you from those around you, leading to loneliness)

I was a girl - until your call

(i’m not going to annotate this everytime but the religion of this actually makes me feel like my hearts being ripped out)

Commanded me to cross the sea.

(she was driven out of ireland looking for freedom and adventure and she was enthralled by dutch’s charm, to be honest i always saw her “privileged upbringing” being her family owning a big farm, or in a big industry, a lot of irish people immigrated to canada after the potato famine, then crossed to america)

I've nothing left. I gave you all.

(i think she means this in, like, every sense)

My darling Liffey was so small.

Your land and love are vast and free.

(‘MERICA)

I was a girl until your call.

You stood so strong, and dark and tall.

You stole the heartbeat out of me.

I've nothing left. I gave you all.

Your lips enchant, your eyes enthrall,

Your empire is of ecstasy.

I was a girl until your call.

Your parasites and lackeys crawl,

(now do i think this is the gang or her fault that they don’t like her, i think its a mutual thing, they see her as a spoiled woman and she doesn’t help that opinion but i think she’s a young woman manipulated by an older guy, and that she thinks they’re all just jealous (which im sure she even says a few times)

Mocking a love they dare not see.

(going back to when she try’s to seek abigail’s help, or when she confronts karen later on and that she can’t see that he’s really not interested in her)

I've nothing left. I gave you all.

I sit in solitude and scrawl

These wretched words, and wait for thee.

I was a girl until your call.

I've nothing left. I gave you all.

[sunnymothmoss]

Discussing OCD through the prisoners of Milgram

What if all the milgram characters had ocd? Besides jackalope. (and Es, but I might come back to them). These aren't serious headcanons this is just to explore the diversity of the disorder and potential scenarios.

Just to get some things straight for people who don't know much about ocd - ocd themes and the intrusive thoughts around them are EGODYSTONIC, meaning they go against everything the person actually wants and who they are as a person. This will be at the forefront of what I will be discussing here. Furthermore my experience of ocd has been primarily "Pure O" (internal compulsions) so I know less about more externally compulsive ocd presentations.

Haruka - trauma-based/real event/harm ocd. Going off the theory that the 'second child' was himself, this doesn't work otherwise. I truly believe that Haruka really didn't want to hurt anything anymore after his horror at his murder. I believe that event deeply traumatised him and he became terrified of himself. Now, theoretically, this could result in constant intrusive thoughts about hurting others, despite it now being the absolute opposite of what he wants, particularly animals and children. In this scenario, his avoidance of those things is a compulsion, his eventual ability to overcome his fear of Amane is the start of his recovery from this. However, he died so that didn't get very far.

I will clarify, I'm not an ocd expert but I do have personal experience with the disorder. And the trauma-based/real event/harm combo, in particular, was one of my two main themes, though for myself it was sh.

Yuno - I doubt Yuno has ocd but for the sake of this I could theoretically see an existential theme. Existential topics are definitely something that weigh on her mind a lot and doubt over existential questions (e.g am I really alive?) seem consistent with her character. However I don't think we really see her having anxiety or anything around these so likely not.

Fuuta - moral scrupulosity ocd. Someone has already discussed this an I agree with what they said. Shout out to @azuremist, that's where this idea came from (me impulsively saying give all the milgram characters ocd like I wanted to make milgram worse for them or something 😭)

Muu - I don't think Muu has ocd tbh and I'm struggling to think of an idea for a scenario that fits with canon where she could have? Though this may be more on the basis of her having low empathy and my experience of ocd being empathy-based? People with low-empathy can have ocd but it looks different so I know less about it. This is not at all a judgement against people with low empathy btw! I am part of the autistic community and likely have a personality disorder so I know and understand a lot of people with low empathy (cognitive/emotional or both).

Shidou - ah 100%, someone else has also already discussed this. I think moral/harm ocd as well though. @vividstardustrevolution has written a theory post about it which was very thorough in analysis and I don't really have anything to add though idk if its on tumblr. Shidou is actually a character I really relate to

Mahiru - okay let's use our brain sunny. Relationship ocd - cheaters are who she hates the most, hence intrusive thoughts about cheating. I could definitely see that. Alongside her likely having bpd it would add to the intensity of her anxiety her relationship. The constant checking and calling could have doubled as compulsions to reassure herself that she still loves him and everything's okay between them.

Kazui - this is a hard one because he has a lot of irrational guilt but that's likely over internalised homophobia, it's seen that he does actually have a desire and genuine attraction towards men, he enjoys it, just feels that he shouldn't - so he can't have sexual orientation ocd. I also think due to the fact that he genuinely didn't love Hinako romantically, he didn't have relationship ocd. Unrelated to his main struggles, he definitely has excessive feelings of responsibility but I feel that that's more due to the situation he's in. Conclusion: I can't think of a way Kazui can have ocd, hell maybe he has somatic ocd or something who knows.

Amane - trauma-based/religious ocd. Almost self-explanatory. I think it's perfectly plausible that Amane experiences obsessive religious intrusive thoughts about 'sinning' and has to perform compulsions, maybe even continuing the abusive punishments her parents subjected her to or just simply praying, to in her mind, neutralise these thoughts.

Mikoto - again I don't know, don't really think Mikoto or John have ocd. Mikoto maybe? But I don't know what theme. EDIT - thank you @bravadoting for helping me come up with this idea: Mikoto somatic ocd headcanons fr. Because Mikoto is so hyperaware of how others percieve him he is constantly worrying about people noticing the tiniest noises and movements he makes. He worries about whether not being able to stop noticing his blinking or mouth noises will get in the way of his productivity or whether he is unprofessional for having to go to the loo often to make sure his bladders empty. He gets anxious when talking to his boss that he's blinking too much/too little, getting muscle twitches/tics in the 'wrong' body parts or making too loud mouth noises and that those things will be seen as unprofessional or creepy. He worries he'll get fired because he's not moving right. This extends to his interactions with everyone but his symptoms were most severe when he was at work/trying to do work due to the stress. John starts fronting whenever this becomes too overwhelming for Mikoto and has to mask as him to cover the rest of the situation.

Kotoko - yeah possibly? Stick with me here guys. Kotoko has very strong, if pretty skewed due to black and white thinking, moral convictions. She believes with all her heart that the bad guys should die but evidently has some deep seated self hatred towards herself as well (she views everyone as victim or monster and constantly reminds us she is apparently not a victim). Anyway I think Kotoko could totally have a taboo ocd theme or any moral related theme (tho not anything related to physical violence as we see she has no problem with that and probably not pocd as she doesn't seem scared of kids at all/doesn't avoid them). I just feel it'd make sense given she probably spends a lot of time thinking about how evil and unforgivable some people are then her brain responds to that with intrusive thoughts, worrying she could be like them (istg this happens to me whenever my annoying ocd brain comments about something being unthinkable, honestly at this point I've had intrusive thoughts about every 'unthinkable' thing) which further motivates her vigilantism because she feels she needs to prove to herself that she's not evil.