#I wonder if this time they will break the cycle

[baked-hylian]

As soon as I saw this leak I got real excited I had already suspected we'd be getting flashbacks to 10,000 years ago, to the first calamity, as it would only make sense to flesh that part out more now that whatever kept the calamity sealed away has been broken, or lifted, and this pretty much confirms that suspicion for me.

I have two competing ideas on who this mysterious woman could be

my first thought was that she is the physical representation of the goddess Hylia, which she very well could be by this point, if the lines on her skin are not simply painted on. My second and more likely thought, is that this is an incarnation of Zelda, a version of her from 10,000 years ago—the Zelda who seals the calamity away that we see in the ancient mural.

I highly suspect we will have at least one cut scene depicting the past, but I have a feeling that for each temple/dungeon (or whatever equivalent they receive in game) there will be a cut scene unlocked showing the history of what unfolded 10,000 years ago, and that these visions will be what Link and Zelda need to see in order to figure out how to stop the next coming of the calamity.

We may even get to see her journey alongside botw-Zelda's (i.e. if we get playable Zelda segments, I can see the ancient-Zelda cutscenes being placed during those segments,) as they both ascend to a point strong enough to seal away the calamity at different points in time.

[tacagen]

one of the things that fascinate me about thawne: yes, he CAN be normal with kids! surprisingly normal!

((not at all times, though. his mental illness still spills through and as usual he, in trying to manipulate or hurt others, spits out at them the exact stuff that would hurt him (or have in his childhood/barry's rejection interpretation) the most in the first place lmao))

but at the same time. his like second instinct when doing his bullshit is FUCK THEM (as) KIDS

(and, well. whatever this classifies as)

[hexxter]

What if Luxu and Player encounter each other with each of the player’s reincarnation

Luxu who is stealing bodies vs the kid that keeps coming back to life

[imyandme]

Years of love missed over a couple min of hate …😣

[dylanlila]

it's cool that you think l'amica geniale isn't actually about friendship. you can go fuck yourself

[reliquiaen]

Okay, a few years back I made this graphic to explain the Great Cycle. Now that I've mulled over DD2 for a few days, I'm updating it. Some of the same assumptions as before remain: The Dragonforged fought the dragon, his weapon broke, he tried punching it (lmao), but he did survive without killing the dragon, possibly there was a second Bargain offered in the face of his determination. So you don't have to kill your dragon to survive it. Also still assuming that different classes become different types of drakes because I just like that detail, even though we see nothing to confirm it in DD2 (except maybe for the wyrms in the post-game, I hope that's what those are, just a bit redesigned).

But this time, I'm making some NEW assumptions: A Great Dragon can be manifested directly by the Seneschal's will (I'm guessing this is why our DD2 dragon doesn't have a name, I suspect this dragon was created after Rothais defeated his - he didn't become a dragon OR Seneschal so it had to come from somewhere). The challenge a Seneschal poses to the Arisen can be anything; Savan gave us the opening of the Everfall and unleashed a ton of powerful monsters upon the world; but Pathfinder gave us what the world would look like without a Seneschal to oversee things. My assumption is that the Colossal Dragon that appears out of that final red pillar of light IS the Pathfinder (possibly using his will to force order back upon the world) and when we kill it, our Arisen becomes Seneschal (because Pathfinder says he won't be there to see the new world that's forming). So the challenge can be anything, not just the Everfall. I'm curious what happens to our pawn after that fight, though. And it's a much better Seneschal fight than the one against Savan, sorry Savan.

I'm also assuming that (given we see the Pathfinder rewind time and rewrite the world) the Seneschal can simply will the world into a state of being that suits them. This includes wiping memories of events. Though I like to imagine that our Arisen-turned-Seneschal didn't wipe memories of themselves or of the apocalypse-world. There was an entire plotline going through this game with Rothais and Phaesus where mortals are trying to get rid of the Seneschal and so it makes sense that they need to remember what would happen without the Seneschal's presence.

Anyway, thanks. I'll probably have more thoughts later, but this is the part that gets me most. I like to know how things work so I wanted to sort the Cycle out.

[florbelles]

finished hera & started lady macbeth and we have got to start blaming women for shit again for real

[keycarabiner]

I want to write so bad but currently feeling terribly burnt out so maybe today I’ll work my way through my 100+ open AO3 tabs instead… 🫥

[monty-glasses-roxy]

Ah fuck it whatever

There's something I love about the new Consequences AU and how it compares to the AUs and music it's come from.

Where things like Roxy's old kingdom being destroyed and her being almost drowned as a baby are metaphorical, there's a lot of things that strangely aren't. Roxy specifically denying the gods and the powers that be is something she does in most of my interpretations of her. The gods in most situations, isn't a spooky green rabbit, it's the people in the Fazbear boardroom making the world's worst decisions ever. To the animatronics, they are the gods. There's no higher authority than them, and they can have them destroyed without ever having met them, at just a moment's notice, for seemingly no reason.

Bonnie once believing in the gods and turning against them works like it does for most of the animatronics too. Even just questioning Fazbear isn't something many of them have been able to do, but all of them will eventually learn to. The more they learn through Roxy, despite what they might have known before, the more they realise what kind of company they've been forced to be a part of.

And Roxy's attitude towards these gods is always the same. She won't pretend to be nice to people she knows don't care about her. She won't put any extra effort into maintaining social etiquette if there's no point, if there's nothing for her to gain from it. Fazbear CEOs and board members have hurt her so much already, she doesn't give a flying shit about them, she's not wasting her time on them unless she absolutely has to. In this universe, the same can be said about the gods. She doesn't care for them and they don't care about her, so why bother? They've told like six people to assassinate her already, why would she choose to listen to them?

Roxy's relationship with the Minis and DJ? That's the same as it is across the board with most of the AUs I have. The attempt on Roxy's life when she's barely been born is shown differently in the new AU, but is still the same concept. Some things have been shifted around, such as the specific motivations, but not by a lot. I suppose Bonnie's dad in this fills the roll of Vanessa if Vanessa was also actually Mimic? He doesn't have an exact match here in terms of scale, but the comparisons are there.

The whole kingdom being destroyed, Roxy finding out that that's where she originally came from, that she was the newborn prince with a wholeass family she's never known, all lines up so well with everything else too. The pizzeria, scrapped storage, the old attractions there before her racetrack, it's all gone and she knew nothing about it. She's once again found out the truth in possibly the worst way imagineable, and she doesn't know what to do with this information, but honestly, who would?

The biggest difference there is that in this new AU, Roxy has the choice of what to do. In what's basically canon to the game, Roxy doesn't have that choice and likely never will. Where she's had to sacrifice her Raceway and Salon, sacrifice the vast majority of her life and her purpose for the safety of everyone around her, in this universe, she can choose not to. She sacrifices certainty this time, something she can regain as time goes on but in any other universe, there is never any certainty to get back. There will always be a Mimic threat and she can't get any of her old life back until it's dead and gone. She has to pay a price to keep Mimic contained, and while the Afton/Glitchtrap gods scramble to convince her otherwise, the Roxy in this new AU does have the choice whether she pays it or not.

But she will always still have to deal with the consequences of those with power. Every single time. And every single time so far, her entire existence is the consequence for them. Her life overall has not been the result of her own choices, but rather, the choices of people that never cared about her to begin with...

At least in this new universe she has a good childhood to fall back on and a cool ass horsie. And can actually do something about this shit. She can't normally do that :(

[m0e-ru]

DONT TELL ME WE'RE GOING THROUGH THIS AGAIN !!!!!

[angelstrawbabie420]

u ever seriously wonder if ur gonna make it thru the year

[solcarow]

wanan people DIED ……

[fragmentedblade]

Dan Heng, Blade and Jingliu the three went to see Bailu, and it kinda makes me want to jump off a cliff

[nerice]

good morning i am thinking abt!!!!! ok it's technically spoilers but also really not bc u know black cat/nerice story is the first in a huge saga lol but i do think abt framing a lot. abt it being reina's world story and her struggles for acceptance and navigating the complex political peace/war factions all vying for her power (ultimately a tool) due to her immortality but the thing is!!!!! she's a god. conventional narrative arcs tell us that things get worse and then there will come a point where she figures things out where all sides can be pleased and she avoids her world being torn apart by its warring factions

but no,

the war lords are the least of her problems bc in her desperation she breaks the entire moon engine responsible for metaphysical equilibrium. and that's what ends up destroying her world, tearing it from its foundations, a fiery death for the wicked and the virtuous alike all is equal in death when faced with the inevitable apocalypse. except reina is still immortal and endures watching everything she loved (and/or hated, deep down) meet a gruesome end with only herself to blame. yeah the failsafe mechanism would have destroyed her, in the end, as well; alas

she just decides to not do that. largely desperation driven ofc (an invulnerable fist driven against the observer's sanctum for hours but he will not open, will not speak to her no longer) utterly, desolately alone. her world gone her only friend gone only she herself a forlorn, crestfallen all-powerful, powerless ruler with nothing to even pretend to call her own anymore. but she refuses to accept that & i think abt this moment soooo much!!!!! if all has to bow to her will, her wishes, then. so do the moons. and she fkicn forces the eternal cities into a touching orbit, not once but three times. successfully overriding the pull of the invisible moon that keeps them apart THREE TIMES. granted it's only the first one that is a genuine touch (which is why linnea is as powerful as she is, though still a pale imitation of what reina once was by comparison) and for the two subsequent world/rulers her own melody substitutes the needed spark, but man. the sheer power of that & it's literally. reina going outside of her narrative (after breaking it. however inadvertently) true rulers are intrinsically tied to their worlds, for one to exist without the other? unheard of. if peace cannot be found where it was promised her, she will make her own. however many worlds it takes, no matter what she has to break in the process. the black cat has left the box etc.

[honeybard]

okay. piecing it together... not only does the fact that that fight was set up in favour of a tpk from the beginning, but also the introduction of the neverafter mechanic where if you get crit on you have to make a saving throw or die instantly, all of this leads me to believe this campaign is designed to potentially have pcs die A Lot, I think in order to introduce another 'death' related mechanic that will be revealed next week

[sl33pyperson]

i simply want darcel to burn from their own lack of taking things as far as they possibly can and everything in their failed ambition biting them back