#I'm probably missing a few but at least all the story-related ones should be here

[jeeaark]

GREYGOLD'S BALDUR'S GATE 3 ADVENTURES Pt.2

ACT 3 (not including final showdown)

As chronologically ordered as spoilery as possible

Act3 Party Crashers Monks vs Rangers Dat Plot Twist Plot Twist Bonus Plot Twist Aftermath Tadpole Upgrade Fret Vacation with Lae'zel Shopping for Clothes Plotting Pina Coladas Not PJs Share? Revisiting Rolan and Voss Romantic Sunset Dryad Boon Elfsong Tavern Basement Orin Shirtless Disaster Pt1 Shirtless Disaster Pt2 Shirtless Disaster Pt3 Shirtless Disaster Pt4 Shirtless Disaster Pt5 (holy crap so many) Babe Knows This is just silly To Tadpole or Not to Tadpole Consummate GloomGold Iron Throne Broken Lamp Mizora Flirt Mizora Pt2 Balduran Statue Ansur pt1 Ansur pt2 Astarion and Puns Off to Kill Cazador Cazador fight Minsc Patch 6 kisses Haarlep Raphael Showdown Shotdown Curtains for Raphael Insurance Personal Quest Problems Gather Your Allies

Bonus Ask Comics

Greygold's Personal Quest

Durge Help

Durge Flirt Alert

Durge Go Evil

Dame Aylin

Out of Spells

Thoughts on Raphael

Die For

Vlaakith Bargains

Lae'zels 2nd choice

MASTERPOST ACT 1&2

MASTERPOST ACT 3 Final Showdown

MASTERPOST EPILOGUE

[summertimemusician]

Linktober (Shadow) 2023, Day 11

Monsters (Dead Hand)

Summer Stop Giving Reader/PoV Character and the Chain a Hard Time and Trauma Challenge (impossible) /j. But really I'll probably write something lighter for Linktober or Linktober Shadow later to compensate for this one lol. Probably a sequel to this one that has Reader actually having a nice time with the Links for once.

Technically since unfortunately studying for future exam season in like a couple of days has been kicking me in the ribs and thus my time was highly cut and unfortunately I don't have an Ocarina to give me more, this is actually a mix of prompts! The ones in the title, Keese, Wolfos, Wizzrobe, Lizalfos, Redead, and Boss, although they are not the focus here, mostly just mentioned but technically checking out the boxes, maybe next time I'll go more in deep on that (Like the original idea that basically was Reader taming a pet Wolfos as a guard hound that I will not elaborate on at least not this year), instead y'all get this with the boss that gave a lot of people childhood trauma and was never seeing again since because we really don't talk about just why Dead Hands are terrifying much, just that they are, really missed opportunity to use them more in an LU context lol.

As always any relationship between Reader and any of the Chain can be interpreted as romantic or platonic, and Reader is Gender Neutral on Purpose. And First is here because again, this would have been longer if exam season wasn't kicking me in the ribs and I have some really evil ideas involving First, Reader and Time bonding over having trauma of enclosed spaces, but thankfully y'all don't get that today lol, or not, it would be a really fluffy scene so up to y'all if it's a win or a loss.

TW:

Don't think there's anything too heavy-ish? But I'm a horror fan so I'm not someone who can accurately judge that. I'd say graphic descriptions of violence and gore, and being restrained/pinned in place and the entire deal that is the Dead Hand's existing, so please don't read if you're squeamish or uncomfortable. Health is important and specially mental health and I always leave these warnings on Linktober Shadow related prompts or heavier stories, so just a heads up so no one is caught by surprise.

Anyway, enjoy reading!

It was an almost unanimous agreement that no hero liked to pass through a cemetery in Hyrule.

From the restless Gibdo, to the mischievous yet usually cruel Poes and the lost Ghini, to the ever wandering Stalfos and the ghastly agonized Redead and ever determined ghoulish Garo, nothing good ever came from entering in areas where dead things roam. You can't be sure if it's because of the magic in Hyrule, the living force of light and shadow and the divinity coursing through the land, or simply the will of the undead or the consequences of Demise attempting to claim the Triforce, graveyards and desolated fields meant silence, they should be where those who are gone should finally acquire their final catharsis, not to roam endlessly without release, solemn as these places are they are still places for a peaceful end and to be denied such due to the whims of the Shadow... You can think of very few awful fates that can compare.

('Terrible fates, you could say.' The grimly bemused part of your mind whispers, as you walk alongside Time further down into the crypt that you and the Chain had followed the shadow into, silver, prisitne armor briefly blends with old, rusted, bloody gold and you think you hear the rattling of bones in the distance, the draw of a rusted, but still serviceable sword. You shut it away with a snarl as you cut down the Stalfos attempting to ambush Wild from the rear, and it goes down and back into the darkness with a screech alongside the chilling knowleged and the sick cracking of broken bones, not on your watch, never on your watch, you refuse.)

"Of all places why did it have to be a bloody crypt?" Grimaced Warriors, casting a weary glance towards the skulls decorating the walls, their empty sockets empty but silently cutting, as if sneering at the fact you lot had dared disturb the dead, as if it wasn't the Shadow's mere presence making what would otherwise be a place for rest into a possible death trap.

Legend smirked, though you could tell he wasn't anymore pleased from the way he marched through the cold, cracked stone floor, steps flighty and eyes darting around corners, "What, a bit too much for you, soldier boy?"

"No," came the prim answer, although the twitch of the hand near his scabbard as you stepped into an open chamber gave him away, as well as Wind being kept at his side rather than near the wall, "Just don't generally like fighting the undead in closed spaces. It's a recipe for disaster."

"On that I believe we all can agree on." Came Time's voice, cutting through the banter, tense as a drawn bowstring, you knew being back in a crypt wasn't easy for him, with the way his jaw tensed, you both had the same awful memories of a similarly buried, abandoned place where dead things roamed without cease, frantic, hungry for the warmth of the living, "Keep your guard up, and stay close together."

Almost as if on cue came the monsters from the open corridors, you didn't hesitate in drawing your blade to cut through the enemy, keese were easily dispatched by Four and Legend's swords, you spun to slit the throat of a growling Wolfos from Twilight's era going for Sky's back just as he mercilessly chased down the Black Lizalfos, the beast clearly avoiding the glow from the Sword of Evil's Bane. Time's back to yours as you cleared the path for him and blocked the Shadow's exit through the left corridor, it had already proven that it would not matter if you did or not, but you refused to not let it work for survival.

The jolt of magic being used crawling up your spine was your first warning. Like the build up of lightning in a storm, the taste of rust and a feeling like tar  slithers up your throat.

The second was Wild's warning shout as the chamber shook with the grating, chilling, blood curdling howl of the Redeads, Time lunging away from your side to slash the beasts away from Wind and Warriors with all of the fury of a wolf defending it's pack, before you had to throw yourself back, slamming your back against the arch on the right as it caved in, lest you be crushed alongside the Wolfos coming for your neck the second the older hero moved.

You were separated.

You were alone.

A really, really bad spot to be when in Hyrule's catacombs.

"Are you alright?!", Came muffled from the other side of the stones, the hint of an actual wolf's growl and the distinctive Ordonian cadence, Twilight.

"I'm fine! Keep fighting, I'll find my way to you guys!", You yell back, heart racing, trying not to think about what you could find on your way back, you didn't have any bombs on you, it wasn't feasible to use them in a place as old as this, not without risk bringing down the ceiling on you and the Chain. But most catacombs have interconnected hallways, if you moved quickly, you might just avoid finding anything that you won't be able to handle on your own.

You think Twilight replies, but it's muffled by another Redead's yowl, you wince, your muscles lock up and you feel something warm drip from your ears, but thankfully you are not rendered immobile due to the involuntary wall, you swallow your trepidation and get moving.

The further you get away from the fallen stones, the more silent the catacombs extending from the crypt you were dropped in became, shadows twist oddly by the torches upon the wall with only your breathing and the cold, unfeeling remains of the dead to keep you company, the lowly burning flames bringing you no warmth. The corridors blended together in the darkness cast by the faint light, the shades contorting themselves in the crevices of your paranoia the longer you went on with only your own hurried footsteps to make any true sound.

Not one monster had found it's way to you thus far, though, and according to the copy of the map Legend had made the second you had acquired the original from a very unfortunate Wizzrobe from Wild's era. You just needed to pass one more open chamber to find the corridor leading to your boys, You couldn't keep them waiting, who knew how long it would take for the fight to finish if Redead's were involved? And staying still when the Shadow could turn itself intangible was practically begging it to switch it's attention, it usually didn't pay you as much mind as it did the heroes, Time specially (it seemed to hold a grudge against him more than any of your boys, you noted bitterly), but it would occasionally target you if it meant getting a rise from any of the Link's or if it felt you were too  secure in your safety, it was better if you found your way back first to the hunt before you became hunted.

You grit your teeth, by Hylia's dripping gash, you were so. darn. tired. of. being. hunted.

Of watching your friends being led into a wild hunt with no end in sight, dragged by the noose by a remnant that refused to stay dead, you never thought you could burn with so much anger, with the desire to see if fire would scare it sober into ceasing in it's infection of all of Hyrule's Eras. But unfortunately you knew it didn't work like that, so you had to survive, you would survive, because someone had to protect the heroes when the heroes protected everyone else and if no one was going to step up to the job, you'd just have to do it yourself.

Shaking yourself from your thoughts, lest you end up drowning in them, you breath in relief as soon as you come upon the metal door with the symbol of the royal family, faded and rusted with age, there. You just needed to pass through this chamber and the corridor next to it, and you'd be back with Link, all of them, and hopefully out of here. You push it open, grip tightening on your long dagger, almost a sword, good enough to cut and hide. The thick and pungent combination of old, congealed blood, sick and decaying flesh, something like rotten eggs dipped in alcohol and withered flowers hits your nose, making you nauseous but you press on, the chamber is circular and dimly lit, with a long cracked, soft stone from a leak in the walls. You studiously do not look at the far corner of the dungeon or the pillory's and shackles scattered around near the cells,  there's a second door to the other side, as soon as you pass through it you'll be in another corridor.

... It's silent, too quiet. Unease slithers and twists around you like vines, but you can't delay, you won't, so you keep walking-

Until you can't.

Something has grabbed a hold of your leg. You look down, and your blood freezes, spotting a long, sickly, pale arm and a bright crimson, elongated nails, claw-like, digging into your ankle, having dug itself up from the fragile ground.

You don't hesitate, slashing down violently at the offending limb, frantic terror spreads through your blood, you knew what was here. It featured in your nightmares for a long, long time, you knew it still haunted Time's, the limb goes slack as it is severed, and you barely note the way it starts bleeding black and green at the stump, thankful for Four's expert craftsmanship and maintenance hints as you dive to the exit. You don't make it far, it's companion limbs  bursting in front of your path like a snake emerging from the ground, it makes a solid grab for your  arms, one of them grabs you by the scalp, firmly digging as you dodge and weave between, a stabbing pain upon your skull from the indomitable grip of something fueled by fury, twisted magic and rigor mortis and makes you cry out, your slight moment of hesitation allowing two more hands to latch onto your legs and arms, nails slicing through your flesh like easily and digging, tearing like a rabid hunting dog's teeth upon an unfortunate deer, leaving deep gashes upon your arms and ankles, it's not unlike being pinned and held to a torture rack, in hindsight, ironic given just where in the crypt you ended up.

Your hear the ground below shifting below you, a groan carrying through the air, awfully monstrous, coldly human. You struggle harder like a desperate butterfly upon a dissection board, from your peripheral, you see the form of the thing unhurriedly dragging itself over, it uses the sharp and bloody ends of where bone was broken to slice it's hands off to shuffle out of the grave, using it's stubs as support. Long long neck barely supporting it's elongated head, the scent of rot intensifies and you feel like gagging as it settles it's empty, frigid, hungry eye sockets on your bound form; it's broken jaw contorting itself in a mockery of a human smile over rotten gums and exposed teeth, stretching unnaturally and bringing emphasis to it's rotting, bloodied sunken features. From behind it's bloated, putrid shape, barely obscured by the bloodied white cloth and the grotesque vision of the undead you swear the crimson eyes of the shadow, watching you coldly, the hint of a knife sharp, serpentine smile as the sound of wet meat slamming across the ground rings in the chamber.

Fury mixes with your panic as you snarl, trying to twist the dagger in your grip as best as you can to drive it into the arms, pain and blood drips from the open wound but you don't care; you need to get away from the Dead Hand. A monster like that feels no pain when struck for it is not human, not any longer, and you couldn't hope to face an infected one alone, it shuffles over the floor, unhurriedly shuffling like a predator that knows it's prey can't run away, it moans and groans with hunger as it approaches and you have no intention of giving it a meal, you grit your teeth as the nails sink deeply into your shoulders and arms, using your blade to saw through rotting flesh and hopefully break bone with every single inch of strenght you have, the blade is slick in your hand with your own blood and the poison-tar of the Shadow's infection burning through you but you do not mind, can't. You need to get away-

The undead's teeth sink into the hollow of your collarbone, blunt, human teeth that shouldn't have half the strenght it does to rip through flesh, blood and crack bone, and you caterwaul with pain, skin crawling and numbing and set aflame with curses sent from the dark reflection of the hero, darkening, veins blackening, your eardrums vibrate with the force of your own agony and you are sure you could rival a Redead on pitch alone of your tortured howl. Struggling even more ferociously, attempting to disloged it, kick it off, your blade sucessfully slashes through the arm from your reverse grip, pushing away from it with the savegery off a cornered predator you sink your long dagger into the undead's eye sockets, tearing through it's cheek with animal ferocity, it keens high and chilling, you're losing blood quickly and it (for it's not a human, not anymore, you can't feel sympathy for it, won't. You can't hesitate.) knows, for it tries to chomp down onto your vulnerable neck, your arm being the only thing keeping it from biting it out as you growl with pain, although you can't be sure it just won't bite through, it's teeth are bared, the pitch of it's blank eyes locked onto yours in stalemate, you have the advantage of not being weakened by hunger and decay, not sluggish like it but that will not help for long, the clammy being determined to bleed you dry and feast on your corpse and you are drowning drowning drowningDROWNINGWITHWRETCHEDTORMENT MAKE.THE.PAIN.STOP-

A scream of your name, sword calloused hands yank you away from claws and fangs (because nothing with blunt teeth and nails should be able to wound someone so throughly), you waver on your feet, swaying, supported by a warm, strong body and pulled away. A sword slashes the foul being away from you and you go lax, numb with pain.

First, First was supporting you. Keeping you steady, stopping you from falling, snarling at the corpse with a lion's fury, holding you protectively. Time tears by him like a man possessed, frenzied with the look of a man looking at his worst nightmare and growling in denial. The Links, wounded but alive, the Chain had met you halfway.

The last thing you remember before losing conciousness as adrenaline leaves your body and everything goes dark, is wishing that they'll burn it to be sure it's gone for good. It's the kindest thing that can be done for a such a wretched existence.

You'd be okay.

[batsplat]

thoughts on challengers ? 👀

haha okay sure. I was overthinking this when I first saw this ask but since then I've sent half an hour worth of voice notes to my number one person I send half hour's worth of voice notes to (listen she keeps encouraging me to) and I've ironed some of my thoughts out. also I should probably watch it again. some of this might be me misremembering shit. also it's not that serious. quick warning, this ended up being just. too long. it's basically just a long rant. under the cut it goes

so first of all, I really enjoyed watching this film. I liked the central premise a lot, I liked the chemistry between the characters, tashi was very hot, the score was fantastic, the cinematography was at least interesting, and a lot of the non-tennis bits are interesting

having gotten that out of the way. there's an interview where guadagnino says he doesn't watch tennis matches because he finds them boring, which to be clear is completely fair enough - but I do think it does slightly come across in how the tennis is filmed. there's definitely fun, neat stuff in there: the shot where it follows around the ball, the shot from underneath the court, all of that stuff. and I think there's obviously a lot of challenges with filming tennis when you have to make sure you can't, like, see the actors actually play tennis, and I don't know anything about film-making so I don't want to judge it too harshly. but there are a few established angles from which tennis looks good, and this film doesn't really use them all that much. it was interesting to what extent they went for side shots (basically from the tashi pov in the final match) rather than... well, picking a side, and at different points of that match actually giving the viewer a clearer sense of the visceral nature of what they're doing here. like, if you're going court level from behind the player, that's how you capture the weight of the shot on screen. which felt was a little bit... missing

okay... ffs this next section ended up kind of being tennis tactics 101, and then the other bit ended up being about how matches work. my basic point here is that I think this film did some interesting stuff with the tennis but, and this is part of my more longstanding frustrations about the untapped narrative potential of sports, I think you could've done a lot more and communicated a lot more through the actual tennis. not just for annoying people who want to go 'oh look that's an extreme western grip and explains why her forehand has so much spin but can also be fragile when absorbing pressure!!' but for the general viewing audience. I want to be very clear here: I do not really care about realism except when I'm being annoying in voice notes, I care about storytelling. if you understandably do not give a shit about all this tactics and match construction stuff, skip to the bit marked 3 for more of my thoughts related to the actual film

1

now you might go 'okay but this film isn't about capturing tennis and doing it justice - it's not even about tennis'. yeah, but tennis is the central metaphor! tennis is a relationship, right, but it's also a conversation. it's a way of communicating something to the audience, yes, in a way non-tennis fans can also pick up on. and a lot of the tennis looked pretty same-y. the points were very similar - the intensity was ramped up mainly by the characters just... whacking the ball harder, running side by side, and then sometimes they both move forwards. this isn't a realism issue, it's a storytelling issue. you can tell a story with a tennis point, you can construct these points in different ways to tell you different things

just to give you an example (I promise this is relevant): okay, the most common rally pattern in tennis is hitting cross court. so either you hit on the deuce court (from your pov, this is from the right side of your court to the left side of the other player's court, aka the forehand side for right handed players) or the ad court (the opposite, and thus the backhand side for right handed players). this is for a bunch of tactical reasons. the net is at its lowest in the middle so, y'know, you're less likely to hit it. perhaps most importantly, it's a question of angles and... okay look I don't want to bore the two people reading this with the details but just to very quickly explain, here:

say player a is hitting the ball along the red line to player b, the orange zone depicts the theoretical area in which the ball trajectory of player b's answering shot can go. like, if you want to get the other player to move 'out of the court', you can only do so by going back cross court... which is obviously where, in a cross court exchange, the other player is already standing. this is why a lot of the times, players don't 'recover' after their shots to the exact centre of the court, but instead make a judgement of where the centre is of the theoretical zone the opponent can hit. to put it in plain english: I hit a forehand cross, I don't move back to the exact middle of the court because I know where you can hit the ball back and I need to be in the middle of that - which skews to the right of centre. also, I just know it's more likely you're going to go cross again, because that's just how this works

you want to move the other player around, right, first of all to get the ball past them - but also to make it harder for them to attack you. you're trying to construct a point so that eventually they are the one who can't reach the ball/makes an error, not you. a lot of the times, continuing to go cross court is the smart option. it's less risky than going down the line, and also if your down the line shot isn't perfect, where it isn't a winner or at least a shot they'll struggle to attack, then you're setting up a situation where they have all the angle in the world to work with, where the centre of their theoretical hitting zone is nowhere near where you're actually standing and they can easily whack the ball past you

now, why the fuck does this matter when we're talking about the tennis threesome film? obviously, I don't expect the director to interrupt the film to explain angles to the audience. in tennis terms, 'go cross court' is tactics for babies, but it's still not something most viewers will be instinctively familiar with. but think about what it actually does if players keep exchanging shots cross court because they can't risk going down the line: they're engaging in a direct contest! they are measuring one shot against the other, my forehand against your forehand, my backhand against your backhand, and they are trying to assert dominance. sometimes, you have no choice to escape that exchange even when it's risky because their raw cross court shot is better than yours. sometimes, you're trapped in that exchange. how you can extract metaphors from that should be fairly obvious, and I don't think this should be visually too tough to get across - it's a power struggle between two people contained within a simple shot pattern. it adds variation to what the viewer is being shown (and, yes, it does make the points feel more realistic), but it's also a way of gradually ramping up intensity. my shot against your shot - who wins? who is willing to risk deviating from the norm? who sets themselves up for a trap - does patrick sucker art into attacking him down the line? can he then manage to counterpunch (to use attack as defence) by making it to art's shot in time and placing his response into the open court? who blinks first etc etc

look, this is only one way you can visually use tennis to add to the story. another common tactic is (if you're a right handed player) hitting forehands from the ad court, to 'run around the backhand'. that's an expression of dominance, it's a power play - you're trying to bully your opponent with your most powerful shot (which is the forehand for 99% of players, some might have better backhands but they won't have stronger ones), and you're deliberately recovering less to the centre. you're camping out on the ad side, and going 'yeah I don't actually think your down the line shot is good enough to hurt me, I actually feel very comfortable standing right here so I can more easily move far enough to the left to continue hitting forehands'. it's a tactic that is implicitly passing judgement on the opponent, and again, I refuse to believe you can't show this in a way that the audience understands roughly what's going on. have patrick bully art with his forehand into the weaker backhand or vice versa - they can use their faces to show how comfortable they are with their respective positions. y'know, make the actors act. have one of them find the backhand down the line, fire it into the bit of the court the opponent has completely left open. your characters are using tennis to assert dominance over each other, to manipulate, to deceive each other - you can do that with the actual tennis they're playing

you can also express character through tennis. I'm not saying different play styles function as a personality quiz, but inherently the way you play is going to reflect what you feel comfortable with doing on the tennis court. is your preferred point three shots long or twenty shots long? are you looking to dominate your opponent with your big weapons, or are you looking to trick them with your variety of shots and smarts in using them? or are you looking to just grind them into submission with sheer relentless consistency?

take the drop shot: a shot that 'drops' right after it clears the net as a result of how the player has put a different kind of spin onto it. ideally, it's so close to the net the opponent can't sprint forward quickly enough to reach the ball. how effective your drop shot is depends on several things. obviously, it's how good the shot and the placement and the spin you've put on it is. it also depends on where you're standing and where your opponent is standing, which means that particularly effective dropshots usually come after big, heavy attacking shots that have forced the opponent to move back and have allowed you to move into the court. and it also depends how good your disguise is: for as long as possible, it should look like the shot you're playing is going to be a bog standard forehand or backhand - until you readjust your grip at the last moment and slash the racquet downwards (vs the upwards motion you'd make with the bog standard forehand or backhand). this is a shot that depends on the element of surprise. it's about trying to fuck with your opponent, it's about choosing your moment. it's about playing with them! and you can get pretty memorable reactions from your opponent. if you wrong foot them well enough, they'll literally stumble when they realise what's happening and never even start running. maybe they'll comically flail their arms

I feel like when the men's world number seven throws his arms up in shock every time somebody hits a short ball, you can probably convey this kind of dynamic in a film

and think about what it says if somebody's using a shot like that. again, you're trying to fuck with the other player, and you are relying on your knowledge of the opponent to figure out when they might be susceptible to it. now, obviously, this is tough to do when you're playing someone for the first time and (unlike top level professional players) don't have a vast amount of data to work with and how often xyz shot works against them in xyz situation. this is generally why early in a match, it's a good idea to just like, test some stuff out to give yourself a sense of how they'd react, if it's a good idea to use it in a pressure situation (you also do a version of this in the warm up if you're smart, just check how they react to that high ball to the backhand! all about being curious y'know). but if you know someone, if this is an established rivalry, if this is someone you've played with since you're kids... well. then it's a different ball game entirely

patrick has the psychological edge in that match-up, right, and the whole point of that final match is that it shouldn't be that close but it's that close due to the mental dynamics between the pair of them. patrick constantly wrong-footing art and frustrating him is the easiest way in the world to visually demonstrate that dynamic. you're constantly trying to guess what your opponent is going to do, you're constantly trying to anticipate, yeah? you know what I said above about how you're 'recovering' to the centre of the theoretical zone and all that? well, sometimes you don't do that - you guess where the opponent is going to go. most often, you've got to do that when you know the opponent has a relatively easy shot and they can hurt you with it, so you have to play the probabilities and hope you get it right... it's basically like a penalty kick in football. it's a quick judgement you're making on the basis of past data, of what you think your opponent is thinking, of how big a risk you want to make - of when to time it, because if you move too early they can still change the trajectory of their shot and go the other way. maybe you even feint one way before darting the other. and your opponent might shoot one way or the other... but, sometimes they'll drop shot you while you're moving in one direction as you frantically try to change course. or, which is even more humiliating, they'll go straight down the middle - since you're no longer standing there

in narrative terms, what does it tell you if a character guesses rightly or wrongly? what would it say if art or patrick had that kind of intimate knowledge of each other - I know you usually do this, but I know you know that so I'm going to go the other way - round and round in circles, a mental contest between people who are so familiar with each other that it can become actively confusing to try and preempt their moves. tennis is a relationship and it's a conversation and the way we construct a point tells us a story about the history between you and me. it tells us a story if art, the six time slam winner and more accomplished player by far, is being read so perfectly by patrick that he's tripping over himself and getting in his own way and flailing. one of the most common commentating cliches is about the ball, or indeed the player, being attached to the end of a string. the extension of that metaphor is that one player is the puppet master and the other player is a puppet. easy visual metaphor bingo

you can literally express how the characters feel about each other by... where they're standing. if you're scared of your opponent's shot, then you're going to try and give yourself more time to react. if you are on the attack, then you need to move in, to take the ball earlier, to take time away from the opponent. to me, if you're showing fictional tennis, you really should be playing with time and how you can use cinematic techniques to play with that sense of time. now, you can do this on the broader level of the match, because your subjective sense of time is dependent on how well you're doing in a match. time never moves faster than when you're losing a six love set. but it's also obviously integral to actual points, because you are usually trying to maximise your own time and minimise your opponent's, trying to make sure you will always have enough time to get to the ball and making sure they won't (obviously often u kinda have to pick one of those because of how time works)

where you stand on the court is an integral part of that, for obvious reasons related to 'basic physics'. and, again, it's also psychological. take the return position, right, aka where you're standing when the opponent is serving. most people have a built-in preference for both the first and second serve, and a kind of basic 'return strategy' of what kind of shot they'd like to use and where to move. generally, you'll stand further back for the first serve because it's more powerful... but hey, maybe you have a slightly unorthodox return strategy where you're just trying to 'block' the first serve and use the weight of the opponent's shot against them, and then you step back for the second serve and have a massive whack at them. just as an example

and, again, this is another way in which you try to fuck with your opponent. there is nothing more annoying than seeing the twat on the other side of the net move in to the court by an insulting amount because they don't respect your shitty second serve and think they can take a swing at it from in front of the baseline. some players just do this in general - prime offenders on the women's side are garcia and ostapenko (and with all love to them, they do this more than is perhaps tactically prudent)

(for the other end of the spectrum, see another place from which you can theoretically return a serve from if you're out of your fucking mind) (this particular player's return strategy has been like a top five discourse point over the last few years but we do not have time to get into all that)

but you can also vary it up in a match, and you probably should if you're being smart. so for instance (and there's a specific match in 2022 I'm thinking of here), if you know your opponent has an awful second serve and a lovely little habit of double faulting when under pressure, maybe as the returner you just... well, look, the ball from the first serve has rolled right to your feet, so obviously you need to politely pass it to the ballperson, and maybe it just takes a little bit longer so that you know the server is looking right at you when you meander in front of the baseline to wait for their second serve. and then they double fault and that's the break of serve right there. you're not always standing that close to return second serves, but you're standing there when you know it'll make them most nervous. again, I am not saying the tennis threesome film needs to explain the difference between jelena ostapenko's and daniil medvedev's return strategies, but these ARE the kinds of things you CAN organically integrate, and give you very blunt and easy to understand messages about the characters and their dynamic

and like... different people have different play styles, yeah? let them express a little character! tashi is relentless, maybe she's constantly attempting to take everything with her forehand to attack and attack, or maybe she trusts herself to attack from any place with any shot. maybe she's so lively and confident and uncompromising that she uses down the line shots more than anyone else, or maybe there's surprising subtlety there in how the intensity and rage fades away for a moment as she flutters a slice across the net. what is it about her game that so captivates the two boys, its aggression or its complexity? is her game already more complete and well-defined and self-aware than it has any right to be from a high school student? or is it raw and untamed and a little wild and so full of potential?

art has a one-handed backhand and uniqlo gear in a very obvious federer allusion, but does he share any more with federer than that? is he particularly prone to rushing the net, especially after the serve? does he want to end points quickly? does he have good hands, is he trying to wrong-foot his opponent - or is he the one constantly getting wrong-footed as the others dance around him? is he constantly trying to assert his dominance, to end points quickly, and initially you think it's a sign of his power and confidence... but then you realise that it's insecurity - he's worried what will happen if they go on too long, if he gives too many chances to other players to outsmart him, if he's uncomfortable playing defence because it makes him feel reactive and weak. maybe in the second set he has to knuckle down and accept the rallies will be long and gruelling - which is a central aspect of tennis, it's about patience and managing risk. maybe he's so tense and nervous that he's just an error machine in the first set, but then he decides to just slow the pace and live with patrick in those forehand to forehand exchanges, let his natural weight of shot do the talking for him and force patrick to change things up

and patrick, with the unorthodox technique and the sleeveless shirts and the money and how he never really grew up - what does that tell us about his tennis? is it rough and energetic, big swings at the ball, layering on more and more spin to propel it high over the net? does he throw a massive forehand at art's backhand, making him hit it at a high point that is naturally uncomfortable for the one handed backhand? wouldn't it be interesting if you had patrick have a strong point to his game that naturally matches up to art's weak point, the chink in the six time grand slam champion's armour? what about the physicality, does he lunge further and harder and throw himself into balls just that little bit more? is he stronger than art, or is he faster, or is he neither? is he driven by instinct and gets in his own way less than art does, or is he tactically more astute and gets the better of art that way?

obviously you can't do all of those things in a film and you shouldn't because it's distracting. but what I'm trying to demonstrate here is that there is a whole range of potential storytelling you can tap into here. now, nobody's actually doing this, and my thing with challengers is that in many ways it came closer to the kind of narratives I would like to see. but then it still falls short just a touch, which is where the frustration comes in

a rivalry has got a history that is woken up again every time you step on court to face your old foe - you remember how they play, you already know what you want to do to beat them this time. you are trying to unsettle them. you know how they want to play and you want to deny them that opportunity. inevitably, any defined play style tells us something about the player and their personality and their approach to the game. the film is quite scarce on details about its lead characters and using the tennis more deftly would've been a great way to give us a stronger sense of who they are in a very economical, concise way. what does it mean for tashi's game that she can no longer run? yes, obviously it means she can't compete any longer, but the injury does different things symbolically depending on how big a part movement was of her game. often, tennis injuries directly affect your strengths. take a player who puts a lot of heavy spin on the ball by snapping their wrist - they are putting more strain on said wrist and may end up injuring it (a particularly terrible part of the body to injure for a tennis player). there's something extra cruel about that because it also affects how they'll recover, if they'll ever be able to trust that body part again. these are career-threatening injuries not just for physical but for psychological reasons. same thing if you're a great server with a shoulder injury... or if you're a great mover with a leg injury

also, and okay this probably did come across as nitpicking and it's not really an issue if it worked for people who aren't familiar with tennis... but omg the last point was so confusing. did check and this wasn't just a me problem, though I'd be curious if it worked for people less familiar with the game. when they came closer and closer to the net and hit back and forth, I thought what was happening was that they'd like, given up competing and were just hitting back and forth as a symbol of defiance or something. that they'd basically decided to stop playing the match and just play with each other. because like, you just can't do that in a match, the point would immediately be over especially if they're just standing there - they're too close! you'd immediately get the ball past! so I only realised when the film was over that it was supposed to be a really intense point... but I think that's the kind of thing where most people watching will probably be fine with it, so again. y'know. whatever. I do think you could have staged that point a little more cleverly to get to the same conclusion in a more natural way, but also. whatever. it's fine

(obviously there are also some other broader suspension of disbelief issues that I'm far less bothered about. the technique was like, not great, but also probably about as good as you'll get from actors, though again I would've liked a little more thought put into what they're doing beyond 'art's got a one handed backhand and patrick's got a quirky serve!' I thought the patrick serve thing was really neat and fun and theoretically you could hit a serve like that, though quite frankly in the men's game you'd probably be fucked because you need more racquet acceleration than that - but that does fit in with his character and the stubbornness and all that so it's fine. the art serve quirk... well, most players deliberately construct serving rituals like bouncing the ball several times or ball placement or whatever because it's the one shot in tennis that's completely 'on your own racquet' but is also really tough, so you're trying to trick your brain into always doing the same thing. I find it a little tough to believe art wouldn't have been aware of what he was doing, but again, not a massive issue. beyond my concerns about the lack of variation in the points they were showing, it did also trip me up whenever they were obviously stranded in no-man's land - you need to be either on/behind the baseline or right at the net and there's certain areas of the court where if you spend too long in them you are very much fucked. the whole concept of 'recovering' after a shot is like, as important part of tennis movement as getting there in the first place, and there's whole footwork patterns you use while you're hitting the shot and immediately afterwards to get yourself in position again. at times they'd just be standing in place in the fuck end of where on earth are you standing until the next shot comes and. listen. it really Does Not Matter beyond how it's fun to be annoying about this stuff but it did make me a bit twitchy)

2

so. match constructions and narrative arcs. I think if a literal match of tennis is the framing device of your film, you should think about the natural narrative tension that exists within a literal match of tennis. again, a match is a conversation, it has its ebbs and flows and peaks and troughs and all that other stuff. you are more tense at *4-5 30:30 than you are at 1-1* 15:0. you are feeling better about your life choices at 6-4 *5-3 than you are at 7-6(8) 0-6 *1-3. you change over the course of a match, as you test yourself physically and mentally and acquire a situationally specific data bank about yourself and the other player, as you notice and learn certain things about what's going on in your own game and your opponent's game. maybe you have a moment where you go 'yup the backhand's a catastrophe today, time to slice everything and hope for the best' or you go 'lol that's the third consecutive djokosmash they've hit, maybe I'll throw the ball high up again next time they get to the net'

also obviously all these things vary over the course of a match - and they do so more than they have any right to! there's no logical reason why 6-1 1-6 6-1 scorelines should happen, but they do! because game breaks and changeovers and set breaks and all of it can represent massive shifts in momentum. you play a *5-0 game differently than a *0-1 game, and suddenly those beautiful forehands you were ripping for half an hour are all flying out of the stadium and, shit, time to change tactics to defend more except now you're really screwed because you're playing your opponent's game. the most important thing to remember about tennis is that it fucking sucks. matches are psychological torture. I want to feel that part when watching the tennis threesome film

the basic mechanism of narrative tension in a match is the serve vs return dynamic. if you serve, you need to protect your serve, because those are the games you are supposed to be winning. if you return, you need to attack the opponent's serve, because those games represent opportunity. you want your service games to be short and fast and you want your return games to be long and tough and miserable for your opponent. and after every game, it ticks back again - you are literally passing the ball to the other side of the court. your turn, have fun!

there are a million different ways you can construct tension on a micro level within a match. you have breakpoints/matchpoints, obviously, which to some extent the film did feature. you have games that just get stuck on deuce, with neither player able to win the requisite two points in a row to release them, so it's like... basically groundhog day in sports as you keep trotting from one side of the court to the other, both players frustrated, one unable to escape the danger and the other unable to seize the opportunity. battle of the wills. games can completely realistically last more than twenty points. obviously you've got tiebreaks, which again the film did feature (though icl I had no clue what the score was supposed to be, again it doesn't matter but). you have the old cliche of 'it's not a break of serve unless you've backed it up' (aka by holding your own serve) and how common it is to be broken straight back for various nasty psychological reasons

I wish they'd played with this a little more, just showed a little more of why the players were reacting emotionally in the way that they were at certain stages of the match - rather than just basically reacting to the flashback we've just seen. like, there's plenty of reasons why a player might get particularly angry at a certain point of a match in a way that just feels a bit more organic. if tennis is the medium through which to explore this three-way relationship, then showcase that push and pull factor, those changes in momentum. the film suggests patrick has always had the upper hand - I'd make more clear this is the classic 'pigeon' dynamic where basically the head to head between two players is more skewed than it has any right to be given how 'good' those two respective players actually are. usually that means there's something funky going on with the play styles or it's something mental or it's an interaction between the two. patrick really cares about art, right, and then he's always able to beat him because he gets him and knows how to mess with him. art has the more raw ability(?) but it takes a bit longer for him to actually realise how good he is, in part because he always lost to patrick

the way they should've done this imo have a place where art does actually choke a sizeable lead, a kind of unexpected switch of momentum. like have this be the first set where art comes in hot and is y'know the obviously better player and all that, but then patrick just increasingly manages to unsettle him. make it a proper bad one, say *5-2 to 5-7. throw in a long deuce game. and then art is confronted with all his old demons again, his inadequacy, all that stuff. and then you've got the momentum switch after the set break when art manages to pull himself together. the thing is, they do actually show a fair bit of the match, but it's not always that interesting because it lacks a little bit of specificity, a little bit of detail... just make a few adjustments that accentuate the central dynamic. you don't have to go with this exactly but go with SOMETHING, 6-2 2-6 is such a nothingburger score lol like what does that tell us... 7-5 1-6 is what it's all about

(dumb nitpick corner: unlikely a time violation would get called between first and second serves, and if you do so then you'd better hand out a time violation if the receiver starts faffing about between points right after, rather than quietly talking to them off-mic. but hey, the establishment is corrupt, they obviously wanted art to win. also, there's a mistake on the scoreboard at the *5-6 game where they accidentally make it look like art is serving for the match at that stage, which would completely change the dynamic of that game and the previous game and the implications if art had let it go to a tiebreak - aka he would have choked. just slightly confused me when the umpire called out 'thirty love' after patrick won the point lol)

3

so maybe this all does come across like I hate the film, which I really did not. I enjoyed it a lot, and honestly it's not like there's much to choose from in terms of 'sports media that seriously engages with the narrative potential of the actual sport'. there were plenty of storytelling details I really vibed with, especially the dynamic between the central three characters and the push and pull between them and how they work as a trio. all three sides of the triangle were good fun. the way the two blokes were so in sync at times, that kind of easy intimacy and familiarity - again, I think you could have expressed that more through actual tennis but that did absolutely work for me

the actual 'playing a challenger before uso' thing was also fun, though I was wondering what his ranking was like because it must have still been kinda in the pits. like, you can't show up to a challenger as a top ten player. not that it actually matters matters but just. whatever. I do think the premise is neat

(though, that challenger audience was not keyed in enough! like omg if you're showing up to some random challenger to watch a top player on the injury comeback try to rack up some wins and the final is against the guy he played doubles with to win a junior slam, everyone watching would be SO aware of it. those spectators aren't just randomly being drawn into the drama, they know what's up!! you just know the challengers tv stream is racking up crazy figures. idk this is obviously more of a subtle thing, but I feel like it was supposed to give off the vibe of the non-tashi viewers being surprised by why they were being such weirdos all of a sudden but nah they would be ON IT with their patrick zweig backstory. including the fact he used to date tashi lol, like yeah they'd Get It)

I loved a lot of tashi's characterisation, how fucking obsessed she was with tennis and how everything was About Tennis for her... like yeah very real!! of course it eats her up!! I had a bit of a debate about this but I personally really liked the college tennis thing because it felt like a complete curve ball given her characterisation. it's good though, this idea that she wants to fool herself into believing she's more than hitting a ball but she's actually not... because of course she isn't.... none of these people are.... I like that element of self-delusion, even though it still... hm, I'm not entirely sure the film COMPLETELY sold me on that level of self-delusion because it was so obvious she didn't care about anything except for tennis... like it never quite felt entirely clear what she thought she was getting from that experience. but yeah, the central premise of it all... like the fact she just can't say goodbye to that world, that she can't really escape it, that she has to pursue something related to it to feel alive, even by proxy, the suspicion that all she needs art for is to have that kind of second hand thrill... really good!!

I was talking about this with the unfortunate recipient of my voice notes, and she's more familiar than I am with american college tennis than I am for the fairly obvious reason that only one of us has attended an american college. she said she'd discussed this with some of her friends and that that kind of injury did feel a touch unrealistic in the context of college tennis, partly because you're less likely to be playing with the kind of schedule that professional tennis requires of you. now, this doesn't really bother me, but I almost wish they'd leaned into the tragedy of it more - that it was unlikely and she didn't even get it while playing professional tennis! she was engaging in this grand act of self-delusion that there was more to her than tennis, which, let's face it, just really isn't a thing when you're a very good junior player, and she got injured before she ever even got close to 'making it'. it's tragic because it should never have happened. whatever injury art picked up (can't remember if they mentioned) would be statistically more likely to actually fuck you over, given their respective ages and time on tour and all that. you don't typically randomly get career ending injuries when you're running for a ball, not if you've trained properly - both in the sense that you're moving 'correctly' on the court and you've developed the muscles to protect yourself (which admittedly she was looking a touch light on). perfectly fine as a narrative choice, lean into it more

the churro college conversation between patrick and art was good, but that's another thing I would've integrated more into the tennis. like, the thing about him actually going for what he wanted and all that? you can do that through tennis! I also kinda wanted more of a sense of what tashi brought to the coaching dynamic, just something very simple and straightforward even the non-tennis viewing audience can understand. again, you've got this fairly obvious federer expy set up going on with art, and the glimpses we got of his game ... I mean mainly the one handed backhand, it does lean towards him being a player that's naturally oriented towards aggression. I would've maybe gone for the whole.... y'know. him not really being able to embrace that, him always holding himself back a little bit, not willing to fully give himself over and throw himself into the game. that tashi kinda has to get him to go for it, to go after the ball, to step into the court and use that technically excellent flat forehand stroke and trust himself to find those angles and rush the net and play the game, rather than letting the game play him. linking that into his loss of motivation post injury, where he feels like he's achieved what he wants to, where maybe he kinda retreats into himself. which is partly a motivation issue but also about trusting yourself post injury... not really being able to go after it in the same way any more, struggling to commit to that kind of aggressive mindset when your heart just isn't it any more. or something! just a thought!!

that's the thing right - sure, tennis might be a relationship, but the tennis will always be a character in its own right in whatever twisted threesome thing they've got going on. at the end of the day, the real toxic relationship is with the tennis! it's sad tashi can't leave it behind, it's tragic she's organising her whole life around something that'll always be lost to her. but it won't ever let her go, even though it hurt her, even though it caused her physical pain as well as emotional. it's the truest love in the whole film, tashi and the game itself, and all other love is subservient to that. it's also the most interesting relationship that needed to be... well, a little more foregrounded. she's always chasing that high, that moment of perfect communication and understanding and all that - and it's an entire lifetime of work, chasing the briefest of moments and now even that is gone. something she won't ever be able to recapture. she can't live her dream and she can't move on, so she is forever trapped, in stasis, frustrated and tormented by desires she can't act upon, the worst kind of repression imaginable. and it's not just about playing tennis in general - it's about playing matches. the height of competition, the moment in the point and in the match in which losing or winning feels like an equal possibility, where anything could happen but only one player will eventually emerge victorious... she's chasing the high of uncertainty, of suspense - the equivalent to showing up to the bedroom of two blokes and knowing anything could happen, not knowing yet what choice she will make, who will win, who will lose. if you really want to get abstract about this, she's essentially functioning as, y'know, the tennis gods with these two boys, where she is the one to make the choice of who wins and who loses. she is the one creating the uncertainty, the suspense. and she's doing it all for the love of the game, because that's all she ever truly loved

or that's what I think they should've gone for idk. I also have a few kinda dumb thoughts like 'ugh I needed more of a sense of what patrick's career looked like, are we talking never made it to the main draw of a 250 or slam quarterfinalist because both are plausible'. but anyway I think narratives in sports are neat and I wish more people did stuff like challengers did, even if I think I was just looking for something a little different from what that film was doing. you do kinda need somebody who's really into sports to do some of this stuff I feel, but. well. sports rivalries really is a bit of a tragically under-explored storytelling set up. they're good narratives. somebody write them

[icycoldninja]

Hi there! I was wondering if you could write a story about Nero and the Reader where the Reader has a terminal illness. Whatever the story is, the Reader spends their last time with Nero.

Thank u and have a nice day!

I will! You have a good one too!

Time (Nero x Reader angst)

Tw: terminal illness; death.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Life had been nothing but a blur lately, which was odd, considering how little of it you had left. It started when the doctors entered your room, their gaunt faces cast even more in shadow. They spoke to you in soft, comforting tones, probably to try and ease the shock of it all when they told you that you had very little time left in this world.

You cried your heart out almost as soon as they left, and when Nero rocketed into your room with a huge bouquet of flowers and a "get well soon" card, you couldn't help but wail out the jarring news of your fate. The flowers hit the floor; the card drifted down to meet them, and the next thing you knew, you were being strangled with a hug.

From that moment onward, Nero hardly left your side. When he did, it was only because the nurses either forced him to leave by threatening him with security, or when a devil-related emergency arose. Otherwise, he'd be chained to your bedside, refusing to waste even a second.

Your morbid attitude was understandable for someone so close to death's door. Still, you felt that thinking this way--feeling this way--was wasting both your time and Nero's. You should be trying to enjoy what little time together you had left, instead of wallowing in self pity. But you har so many regrets, so many things you still wanted to do, so much life you wanted to live! Why did it all have to end now?! Why?! You wanted to stay a little longer!

"Babe," Nero began for the hundredth time that afternoon. "You alright? You spaced out again."

"I'm...fine," You lied, gripping the blankets tightly, desperately needing something to ground yourself with.

"I don't think that's true," Nero sighed, noticing your clenched fists. "Come on, get it off your chest, what's wrong?"

It took a great deal of effort to choke back the tears, but you managed, feeling the sorrow and anguish temporarily settle in your stomach, sure to bubble back up in a few moments.

"I...I don't want to die." You finally managed to squeak out. "I'm too young to die. I...want to keep living."

"I know," Nero replied, his voice brittle. "I don't want you to leave either. I'm...gonna...miss you. So fuckin' much."

At this point, all speech had left you, that clump of agony you swallowed earlier coming back to bite you sooner than you expected. You simply rested your head on Nero's warm shoulder and cried, taking solace in his comforting embrace, feeling just a little better now that you'd shared your anguish with someone.

"Shh," Nero consoled, pressing soft kisses to the top of your head, adjusting your pillow and helping you lie back down soon after. "I gotcha. I love you. I love you so much, more than you'll ever know."

"Love you too," You mumbled, as Nero pulled the covers up over your shoulders and planted another kiss on your lips.

"You should get some rest now," He suggested, brushing some of your hair away from your face. "I'll be right here when you wake up, don't worry," He added, when you opened your mouth to protest.

"Ok." You responded, obediently closing your eyes.

Nero chuckled to himself softly as he watched you drift off to sleep, admiring how content and relaxed you looked, the sorrow and anxiety of impending death now erased from your face. He hoped someday, preferably someday soon, you would wear that expression as you walked around Devil May Cry once again.

When the doctors told him the next morning that you'd passed away in your sleep, Nero was both devastated and thankful--thankful that at the very least, you died peacefully, free of any mental trouble, soothed in slumber.

[nalyra-dreaming]

Hello, I have a question if you don't mind.

What do you think was Claudia's legal surname? Because she called Louis "daddy" so her surname should be de Pointe du Lac, but I remember promo with their family photo with sinister vibes and it had de Lioncourts written on it, that's why I'm not 100% sure about Claudia's surname. Logically, "de Lioncourts" was probably there to show power and influence Lestat had over Claudia and Louis, not something real.

What do you think?

Mhhhhhhhhhh sooooooo…. we never get to know Claudia’s original legal name, right, though she must have had one, of course.

And I do not think they adopted her legally in New Orleans - they would have had to go and make statements to their (and especially her) status, and I would think that they mostly tried to do this via lawyers, if at all.

And I think the news of that would have reached Grace eventually (half a mile away and gossip-wise around the corner), but she was shown to be surprised and taken aback by the news (a few years later(!)).

That said, I do think Lestat had adopted her(- and before anyone gets upset about the racial implications and her calling Louis Daddy Lou hear me out please):

Roget‘s in Paris is Lestat’s law firm, and the one he keeps, and has kept, as also referenced in the show. They would not have needed to know her racial status prior to general photograph identification (after 1941 for US citizens traveling abroad, so after she and Louis left NOLA). Lestat is extremely protective of his family (and fledglings). It is canon he makes sure that those he cares for are well off, whether it be Antoine or his abusive family, or Armand or Gretchen or whoever, and money never was a big point for them, however and whatever their errrrrr family status was.

So I think Claudia bore the surname De Lioncourt for blood, practical and legal money access reasons. And she called Louis Daddy Lou for emotional and relatable as well as practical night-to-night reasons (this sounds very dry, but I think that’s just something that happened between them, because it made sense, and of course she related to him more (at least at first) and for a few years they were a happy family).

Granted, Louis could have theoretically adopted her as well, but to do so legally he would have needed to go through the authorities and as a (halfway) openly gay man and previous pimp (after the Storyville … showdown)…

So that is the reasoning that makes sense to me here in regards to her surname. Lestat wouldn’t have needed to use his name to assert dominance..? And if it was written on the photo it was probably a reference by the photographer as to who was on it.

((Keep in mind we have only heard half the story and that there’s pages missing and we know things will be revisited ^^ - as a s1 promo that was very much on point but I think there’s also a reason why we didn’t see it in the show itself.))

[light-wynd]

Rambling About Menthe and Elphane

(Alternatively: My Exams Got Postponed But I'm Still In Too Much Pain to Draw, So Here I Am, Going On About My Favorite Melusines For Entirely Too Long)

Yeah. I think about these two in particular a lot, and just wanted to talk about... basically everything I could think of that I felt was worth mentioning regarding them (and a bit about Aeval too) to take my mind off of feeling like shit, along with a few general thoughts and speculations based on what we know about them.

Putting this under the cut, not because it's got story spoilers or anything (I don't think it does anyway), but because it's longer than anything I've posted before.

Does this qualify as a character analysis? Idk man I'm not a writer, I'm not confident enough to call it that.

Think I'll just begin with Menthe since I have the biggest soft spot for her - I honestly relate to her a lot more than I like to admit, and just... really want to give her a hug, she could probably use one. All we ever really see her do is stand there sighing to herself at Arouet's café, drinking tea and coffee just to keep herself awake. It's a stark contrast from how we see the other Melusines act, to say the least - not to mention how much trouble she seems to be having with adjusting to human society in comparison to them too. She's really bothered by how large everything in the city is (and that everything that is actually her size was made for young children). She's struggling with her job in the Gardiennage and thinking about finding a different one, even if there aren't a lot of options she's suited for when it comes to "human work". She even wishes her body was more humanoid like Sigewinne's if it could make these things any easier, and there's just something heartbreaking about that - not to mention her constant exhaustion. Yeah, poor thing's not doing great. The fact that she says she was initially very enthusiastic to integrate into human society makes it all even sadder - all these difficulties must have hit her particularly hard.

For this next point, I feel like I should include this screenshot from the café's message board (there's a couple more entries about her, but this is the most relevant one):

The thing about that is, all the other Melusines working for the Gardiennage must've encountered pretty similarly disturbing things just by the nature of the job, investigating crime scenes and all that - and yet only Menthe seems to be affected by it this deeply, judging by how cheerful the others act and how casually they talk about their work. This makes me think that she's either had some sort of traumatic experience that's unique to her (especially from the wording of "unfathomable darkness"), or that it all just gets to her more than the others for some reason. Either way, it would certainly explain why she'd like to change jobs - and I genuinely hope she manages to one day, for the sake of her well-being. Maybe she really will end up working in the infirmary together with Sigewinne despite her worries about the inmates not taking kindly to her, who knows. (Also I gotta say, when I first saw her "maybe I should just go underwater" line, I thought she meant she was thinking about giving up on human society and going back to Merusea Village - but of course she's talking about the infirmary in the Fortress of Meropide. Still, it does kind of sound like that is the last option she can think of when it comes to work she could do, which is a bit worrying in its own way.)

As for the adorably grumpy Elphane... can't really talk about her without bringing up Aeval too, they're a package deal after all. Most folks seem to assume that Aeval is the newer tour guide of the two, considering how enthusiastic she is, but funnily enough it's actually the opposite! (Probably just by a few days at most, but still.) It's easy to miss this since their aquabus dialogues seem pretty randomized and there's a lot of them, but these two both used to work for the Gardiennage as well - and apparently, Elphane was "the ace up the Marechaussee Phantom's sleeve", while Aeval on the other hand presumably didn't do so great (according to Talochard's quest, being assigned as a tour guide is what happens to a Melusine who's bad at being an investigator - and yeah, honestly I can see how that would be the case here). So first, Aeval got "promoted" to the aquabus (in her own words... guess nobody had the heart to tell her otherwise), which upset Elphane so much that she just quit her job - while on track to a high-paying promotion to the Opera Epiclese, mind you -, put on a new uniform and got on the aquabus with Aeval. Of course, they ultimately ended up assigned to separate lines, but at least they're colleagues again. It's pretty clear that Elphane isn't enjoying this job whatsoever, but she keeps doing it anyway for Aeval, and is still fairly skilled at it in her own way.

So yeah, Elphane is actually incredibly sweet and caring... when it comes to Aeval anyway. Hell, she even recommends that you visit Aeval's line at any chance she gets - whether it's for better commentary, a friendlier guide or just a more photo-ready aquabus, she directs you there. She genuinely seems to look up to her, and maybe even wishes she could do a better job as a guide like her deep down. Something that could point to this is that she gets very flustered by compliments, which might indicate that - unlike Aeval - she doesn't get a lot of positive feedback, so she's not quite sure how to handle it. Aeval looks up to her quite a lot too, and they seem to do pretty much everything together when they're off work (including shopping for cute clothes, which Elphane vehemently denies her interest in, ahahah) - I'm not sure what their relationship is, they just refer to each other as colleagues and Elphane being Aeval's senior, but they're clearly very close and it's absolutely precious. This is even reflected in their designs: they both have a very similar pink-blue color scheme too, just with Elphane being predominantly pink with blue accents and Aeval being the other way around - their uniforms included - and even their eyes are complementary colors to each other. Really cute way to show both their connection while also highlighting their personalities being pretty much opposites.

One last thing I want to point out is that both Menthe and Elphane struggle with their jobs in their own way, and seem to be among the few Melusines to really do so to this extent in the current time - but probably the biggest difference is that while Elphane doesn't show all that much enthusiasm or effort towards her work, it's kind of implied that Menthe on the other hand is overworking herself, judging by Arouet's comments on her constant mental and physical exhaustion. Of course, it could also be that she just has no energy because of how depressed she is - but in any case, she's doing her best to keep it together and power through it despite everything.

Aaand that would be all for... whatever this was. If even a single soul has actually read this whole thing, thank you so much, that alone makes having posted this feel worth it! And if anyone wants to talk Melusines, I'd be more than happy to ^^

[autisticlaezel]

18 and 19 for the dragon age thing? ^^

Thanks Alexander!! :D

18) Which aspect of the fandom are you most looking forward to? (e.g. reading/writing fic, the bounty of gorgeous art, getting to know new people, etc.)

The main fandom-related thing I'm looking forward to is talking to @aylaaescar about the game and them and I sending each other a million screenshots and random facts about our ocs, probably

I'm also really excited about reading meta about the various new companions and seeing the theories that people come up with once the game is out. I'm also looking forward to seeing what @fiendpact has to say! 😁

19) Are you planning to replay previous games, watch Dragon Age: Absolution, or read any of the books/comics/short stories, or are there other games you want to play in the meantime?

I'm currently replaying Origins and I think I'm gonna at least try to play through my main worldstates first, just as a refresher on what's been going on (here's what you missed on Dragon Age) and I think I'm gonna read at least some of the stories in Tevinter Nights first. I might watch Absolution once I'm done with Edgerunners (which I should really get back to because I've only watched one episode). I'd kind of already shifted back into DA mode by replaying DA2 before the announcement, but I do that a few times a year anyway simply because I love all of the non-cop companions in that game

[weekend-whip]

-20 asks for Fic Writers-

hey-lo!! I was tagged by @rainofthetwilight for a fun ask game!! Thank you!! ^-^)/

for tags, any fic writer that comes across this and feels compelled! You have my blessing! Go forth and rant about thy fics!!! Share your words with the world!! Give people new stuff to read!! Flaunt your beautiful achievements!!

. . .

1.How many works do you have on AO3?

19! And counting!

2. What's your total AO3 wordcount?

...791,937 and counting *lies down* (at least most of it is just one fic? Ahaha? ha?)

3. What fandom(s) do you write for?

right now, just ninjago! I wrote for some other fandoms back in the day (with...equally ambitious endeavors) and I initially made my Ao3 account for Definitely Not Ninjago...but, here we are :d

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Born to Be a 21st Century Ninja: 1116

Thank You, For Giving Me Wings: 560

Way of the 21st Century Ninja: 546

Assorted Thoughts and Feelings: 201

Married to the Sea: 161 (which I'm sure will get beat-out by GNL here soon haha)

5. Do you respond to comments?

I TRY, REALLY, MOSTLY, AND USUALLY but sometimes I get too excited and things shift through the cracks (hence why I generally make it a habit to respond to stuff I missed before/around/after a big update! That way it's on my mind!)

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

i haven't written it yet I MEAN WHAT it's Married to the Sea. I'm not big on writing overly bad/sad/tragic endings yet

7. What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Paper Plate Moon, the only fic without an existential crisis of some kind (just a slightly lovesick Kai with a smaller scope crisis) Orrr, A Little More Than Sixteen Candles, which is also about Kai! Except he cries. But it's a happy cry!

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not yet

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

No

(...wait, there's 'kinds' of smut?!?! do i dare even ask)

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

Braaaaah I looooooooved crossovers when I was younger. My biggest story from my youth was a crossover. ...I won't be telling you what it is, though. It's part of my dark, mysterious past.

(I also don't count Legacyverse as a crossover, either. It's more of a...fusion! But. Y'know. The roots are there.....)

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Only once, and it was the aforementioned crazy crossover fic from above. They were dealt with very swiftly tho :3

12. What's the longest time you've spent working on a fic? And what's the shortest?

Longest that I've finished would be Born to Be; that took me technically almost two full years to write x-x

Shortest would be all the Aftershock oneshots I manage to speedrun in a few scant hours on holidays lmao

13. Have you ever co-written a fic?

I've triiiiiiiied a couple times in the past; only one attempt was successful though.

14. What's your all time favourite ship? From all the fandoms?

Destiny's Bounty! Man, I adore that ship so much.

15. What's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

THE MERMAID AU or the Jesse Fanseason or all the little prompt things from June '22 that still haunt me to this day or some of legacy!sidestories I should've done ages ago or-

16. What are your writing strengths?

*grabs some stuff from comments* I have strength in character development and providing emotional depth for scenes! *I* also think I write some kickass fight scenes, thank you.

17. What are your writing weaknessess?

BASIC GRAMMAR LMAO and probably using too many commas and ellipses but I am trying to ween myself off of it and incorporate shorter sentences. I always forget to vary up sentence length until the end waaaah

(I also miss typos a lot but I am of the camp that believes it keeps one humble~ *should probably just get a beta reader but hnnng*)

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

Intimidating

19. First fandom you wrote for?

...something video game related

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

Probably Born to Be just because of how darn big of an achievement it is! and I reread it a lot <3 <3 <3 <3

[runcriedthecrawlingif]

I just read the entirety of the current build, and wow, this is one of the strangest WIPs I've ever read (positive).

The setting is absolutely fascinating, and I love Faren and Kal so much I don't even know how to express it! They are both so awesome! I also like the MC's personality a lot. A MC with a somewhat set personality can be very hit or miss obviously, but it's a big hit in this case, since clearly their personality allows for interesting growth. The way we can still fine-tune their mindset and what they value is also a nice thing. Like mine is bold and sarcastic, but cares a lot about people and always thinks before acting and tries to negociate before fighting.

I did encounter two situations I think were bugs though. Like I said, my MC is very charismatic and has a silver tongue - that's what I've been focusing on every time it was possible. But in two instances, it seems the game considered my MC isn't charismatic? - The first one, I'm not sure if it's a mistake or not, but if it isn't, it seems a bit out of character: when playing the truth or fiction game with Reva in chapter 2, I've picked the option to tell the truth hoping to fool her into thinking it's fiction, but she figured it out - I think it's an instance where a charismatic MC should be able to fool her, right? And also, slightly unrelated, but when she figures it out she says "That's fact. The blush on your face says it all.". But would she notice that with the very unique lighting coming from the bioluminescence? And even then, on darker skintones it would be invisible anyway, most likely. - Second instance is a bug for sure: during the hilenite fight in chapter 5, but this one is evidently some sort of coding error. If I try to taunt the leader, no matter if it's on the attack or the evade path, I have this:

Considering this is my MC's specialty, it should have worked? I mean, the fact the game says "it's never worked for you before" doesn't make sense. This is a screenshot from the Evade path, but on the Attack one it's the same issue.

Oh and also, there's a typo (or well, some stray code, rather) here:

That aside, a few theories I have, because why not:

The whole rot theme makes sense since, judging by the name of the "gods" they are related to fungi and thus, rot is part of it.

MC's nightmare with their mother is a memory, not a mere nightmare, and whatever she did to the MC in that memory, it "protects" them against the "gods". A lot of fungi are parasitic and I think the bond people make with gods is basically the gods being parasites that control their hosts to a degree. The MC must have some sort of protection against that now.

The "flowers" the MC has to interact with and is supposed to "feed" with their blood are all part of a huge interconected organism linked to the gods, and this is what the "path" is. Normally, I guess the nutrients from the person's who undertakes the Path blood probably create some sort of reaction of revitalization that makes more "flowers" (or whatever) bloom alongside the "veins" that link the organism, until they reach the core of it where the actual "gods" are. But since the MC is poisonous to them, the blood produces a decay instead. But since these veins are present anyway, the "Path" - as in, the visual representation - is still visible, but doesn't appear as it should since what should be revitalized dies instead.

The sheen over the grass and various other elements of the story make me think these "gods" are vulnerable to metal in general, and that whatever the MC does now is somehow related to that.

The character other than the MC that we can name seems to appear as "Vein" on the character screen before you set a name for them... It's uncannily the same word that the one I was thinking about when I was trying to understand the Path, and that sort of lead me to think they may be one of the "gods", or at the very least a "byproduct" of sorts. Also, the way they are described as so beautiful and what not is similar not only to the description of the entity in MC's dreams (and rejecting the entity lowers their relationship score, besides), but also to the way the entity in Kal's "dream" was described.

That leads me to wonder if Kal didn't already "bond" with a "god" in the past. I somehow feel like they came in contact with something they shouldn't have, and they fell victim to the parasite. That could explain why they were in favor to the stranger joining - if said stranger is indeed a "god" or part of that organism, Kal may not be able to refuse them, physically.

Aaand I think that'll be it! I'm not expecting you to answer to my theories of course, but I hope you at least find them entertaining. I rarely think so deeply about all implications and possible reasons behind what's happening in a story (more often than not, I'm just in for the ride and enjoy), but this is really too fascinating not to think more deeply about.

This is honestly super helpful, I won't say anything about the theories for reasons but I love hearing them anyways.

For the charisma bugs (including lying to Reva because there was already a variation in there), I am a fool who types too fast and has a peppering of $charimsa variables in my code. They should be fixed by today.

As for the MC with semi-set personality... As much as I want players to be able to have agency over who their heir is, I think for the purpose of character growth and developing relationships, there are some things that do need to be set. Like the fact that the heir has grown up having to prove themselves. Or the way their relationships with their mentors/parents shaped them.

[dragonmuse]

I loved the latest installment of Leda verse!!

If you're still taking prompts, could we see some izzy-centric hurt/comfort? Or something related to ed realising about the skylights?

Also I love Alma and Erika Rover so much aaaah <33

(I'm so glad you're enjoying it! I am still taking prompts though I'm answering fewer of them, which is probably obvious. I do plan on doing a good run of them after Alma's story concludes. I had @queenbookwench listed as having asked about Jonah's funeral, but I can't find the comment now so if I'm wrong I apologize. I don't think I ever wrote it out, though I had a dim memory of answering some ask about Izzy sending a car for candy. So this is all about Jonah's funeral, the aftermath and the way Izzy mourns people with some bonus Lucius).

Izzy stood towards the back of the crowd, out of his parents’ eyeline.  Aaron and his new wife were standing right next to the grave, both with solemn looks. Izzy was reasonably sure Fiona had never even met Jonah, but sure, get your fucking pity points in. Delly was standing next to their mother, arms crossed over her chest, face set into neutral disinterest which at least felt more honest. 

Candy stood beside him, her tears falling fast and furious, though she made little noise. Her long fingernails had been painted a glossy black that caught the light every time she reached up to dab at her face with a wad of tissue. 

“Thank you,” she’d whispered, voice raw from tears just before the preacher started ranting about fire and brimstone. 

“You should be here,” was all he’d said in return. It hadn’t been much to send a car for her. 

He almost hadn’t done it. 

It had been decided in the moment he’d walked into Eddy’s office and said, 

“I need a few days.” 

“What for?”

She was behind the desk he still sometimes thought of as Hornigold’s. Her hair was hanging in her face, beard was already growing thick. Sometimes he missed being able to read her expression in the quirk of his lips, but it was a small price to pay for the intimidating figure that wowed clients and scared all the right people.

“My brother died.” 

Her pen paused,  “The one you liked?” 

Had he liked Jonah? The man had been volatile and difficult, but he’d also laughed more than the rest of them put together. He’d loved Izzy in his own rough way, and protected him for a while. More than a lot of other people had done. 

“Yeah,” he said and the word almost stuck in his throat. He coughed to dislodge it. 

“Fine,” their attention dropped back to their notes. “When will you be back?” 

“Friday.” 

They nodded and he backed out of the room. He put his wallet in his pocket and locked the door to his office. It was bizarre to leave in the middle of the day with no intention of coming back tomorrow. It made him a little queasy. 

The last funeral he’d gone to was his father’s mother’s. They’d only met her a few times and Da had insisted on dragging them all across the state for it even though he had, by all reports, loathed her. Izzy had been thirteen and mostly what he remembered was the boredom and then being in his aunt’s stuffy house. Jonah had found a weird room stuffed full of boxes and dragged Izzy in there. He’d taught him how to play poker in the shadow of QVC purchases. 

The next time someone close to Izzy died, Jonah hadn’t been home in years. He hadn’t been told about the funeral. 

The thought lodged in him like a thorn. He called the car and set it up for Candy, left a stilted message on her voicemail. There was no way Da or Ma would’ve called her and they’d only gotten the body by default. 

Izzy stood at the back of the crowd now with his dead brother’s crying girlfriend. What would he have done if he’d been allowed to go to Faith’s funeral anyway? Just stood there like this. Useless and silent. 

When the coffin went into the ground, Candy cried harder, but her sobs were drowned out by Ma’s, who had begun to wail. It was a wounded animal sound, inhumane in its sorrow. Delly reached out, touching her elbow, but was roundly shaken off. Da said something sharp to her, but for once Ma didn’t just subside. She cried as if thirty years of tears had been saved for this moment. Everyone shifted away from her, leaving a fall out circle of grief. 

People dispersed after that, as Aaron came by he took in Izzy and Candy, 

“You and your girlfriend should come by the apartment, show your respect.” 

The apartment meant the place they’d grown up. Those sterile walls, repainted an even brighter white now that none of them lived at home to leave behind fingerprints and pain. 

Izzy said nothing. Aaron’s lip curled and he marched away. 

“You didn’t correct him,” Candy’s voice was broken by tears. 

“He doesn’t matter enough,” Izzy shrugged. 

“Do you like ham?” She asked, blotting fruitlessly at her running mascara. 

“Yeah,” he frowned. “Why?” 

Her apartment smelled better than his parents' place at least, some kind of scented candle burning away, and instead of terrible memories, it was just a crowded one bedroom. There was a workman’s jacket tossed over the back of the couch. Like Jonah had just come home and was in the bathroom or something. 

They ate the ham that she’d made for some dinner that would never happen. There was steamed vegetables on the side and brown rice. All safe enough, so he ate it, even as she picked through her own plate. 

“Do you want anything?” she asked when they’d both done the best they could to pretend to have an appetite. 

“Hm?” he finished off the beer she poured for him. He wasn’t really in the mood for a drink, but it had been the last glass bottle in the fridge. A single soldier left on the field. 

“Of his. I’m not ready to go through it. I don’t-” she started then stopped. “Will your family want his things?” 

“Don’t know. Don’t care. They don’t deserve any of it. You keep it.” 

“What about you?” 

He wanted to say that he didn’t give a shit. Having something of Jonah’s wouldn’t do him any good. But he had a ring pressed to his ribs that said it mattered a little, so he got to his feet and let her show him the clothes, the few photos, the bits and pieces of things left behind. In the end, he took some unopened razors (of course the same brand he used, not like Da had bothered to teach him to shave. It had been Jonah, who barely knew what he was doing himself and Izzy with only three chin hairs to his name), a knit black sweater that reeked of menthols, and the smaller of the two toolboxes shoved under the bed. 

“See you around,” Candy said as he went to the door. 

“Bye,” he mumbled. He wouldn’t see her around. He’d never see her again and he was fine with that.  

The sweater he gave to Ma when he finally arrived at the apartment. She held onto it for hours as people continued to parade through the place to mouth their apologies at them all. 

The razors he used  without sentiment, scraping away at his cheeks to maintain his goatee’s immaculate edges.  Da and Aaron always stayed clean shaven. Jonah had always liked some stubble, grew a beard in during the cold months, scrapped it away in spring. 

The tools came in handy more than once. He stored them under his bed too. 

“The knob just came off in my hands,” Luicus came out of the bathroom sheepishly one morning, a year and a half into things. 

“Which one?” Izzy sighed and pushed himself up and off the couch.  

“The towel closet thing. I swear I didn’t rip it off.” 

“Like to see you try,” Izzy snorted and held out his hand. Lucius dropped the little knob into it. 

“Mean,” Lucius judged, but he was smiling, so not offended. 

“The screw gets loose,” Izzy shrugged. “I can fix it. There’s a toolbox under my bed, can you get Phillip's head out of it?” 

“Why do you have a head in your toolbox?” Lucius asked with a frown. 

“The screwdriver, pup. I know you know this.” 

“I absolutely and categorically do not.” 

“Guess you get to learn this morning.” 

“...yeah fine.” 

Izzy pulled out the toolbox and showed Lucius the difference between the screwdrivers. Judging by his expression, it was going to get stored the same place the rules to poker did: firmly in the garbage bin of his mind.   

“What’s with this?” Lucius tapped the metal plate mounted on the side of the box. “J.H.? Was this your brother’s?” 

“Probably made it in shop class. He was good with that shit. Worked with HVAC systems.” 

“You know, the way you talked about him, I assumed he did something like what you did,” Lucius admitted. They were both sitting on the bedroom floor, Sweeney sniffing around them, clearly bemused by this decision. 

“He had a legit job,” Izzy held his fingers out for Sweeney to butt his head against. “But he always had a side hustle. Mostly just shaking people down that owed this loan shark he knew. Small time shit.” 

“Do you miss him?” 

Izzy scratched Sweeney’s cheek. “Yeah. Guess so.” 

“Wish I could’ve met him.” 

“You would’ve hated him,” Izzy snorted. “He was a fucking asshole.” 

“I like you,” Lucius pointed out with a half-smile. 

“It was different,” Izzy frowned, but as Sweeney butted him one more time, then flounced off to check his food dish, he let himself actually think about it. What would Jonah have made of Lucius, who had never consensually touched a screwdriver, but treated Izzy like he was precious? 

He thought about Candy’s long black nails, the ham she had cooked for a man who was never coming home and fed to his brother. 

“Deep thought?” Luicus poked him in the knee. 

“If he could get past the whole gay thing....I dunno,” he conceded. “Maybe he would’ve liked you a little. Maybe you wouldn’t have hated him. Might’ve been awkward though.” 

“I like Delly,” Lucius reminded him. 

“Huh, you know he was more like Delly than anyone else,” Izzy realized. “I wonder how much she remembers about him.” 

“Now that you guys are talking, maybe you could add a photo to your display,” Lucius suggested. “There’s got to be one with all of you.” 

It wasn’t something Izzy asked for right away, but eventually, he and Delly had mended a bridge enough to pour over the photos that she'd gotten when Ma died. There was a shot of all of them, some holiday long gone. Most of the pictures had all four of them posed uncomfortably, but there was one of just Izzy and Jonah, stiff in their Sunday clothes. Izzy looked about eleven in it, Jonah already significantly taller and broader. They were both looking at the camera with dark glares, no smiles to be found. But Jonah’s arm was around his shoulders, holding him close. Almost hiding him from the camera. 

“It’s very you,” Lucius had deemed. 

Izzy set it on the shelf next to the drawing of Faith. The shelves were getting full, laden down with memory.

[theinfernalcalypso]

In response to this ask, list 5 songs you enjoy listening to, post them publicly ! And send this ask to the last 10 people in your notifs (if you want).

You would make me choose like this. You would make me choose in such a broad category-

I'm jk lemme give u a list in SMALLER categories based on hyperspecific emotions I've experienced lately!

Entropy - Arrows in Action

This is for the fact I have... felt very stuck. I have several things I want to do, but they're all dependent on other factors that have to come to fruition first that I have no control over. Whether I should give up and do something more instantly gratifying specifically. It also evokes my feeling I've experienced lately regarding DC if anyone remembers that post.

2. Somewhere Only We Know - Keane

This is... somewhat related to the above. I don't know if it's the feeling of foreshortened future brought on by the trauma, or the perspective I have regarding how humans don't live very long at all really, or that it feels like the world is headed for an end soon. But, I do know I just wanna curl up somewhere with the people I love and just enjoy it. I feel far older than my body would tell you (even my joints who insist I'm 60), and I certainly feel like things are far more limited as far as time. I just wanna spend it with the people and the things I do that make me happy. I don't wanna live in capitalistic need like we've been forced to (at least within the states).

3. Seventeen - The Heathers The Musical Soundtrack

Oh, god, where do I start here? There's a few factors this one was brought back to me lately, getting back together with my highschool sweetheart (Bunny) being one of them. (I guess if anyone wants that story? Ask??) It's for mourning a youth lost, where I was parentified and made my mother's therapist. It's for being so anxious about ever being in trouble and mourning every missed opportunity to sneak out and live for a change. It's for the fact I was 19 when I met my abusive ex and went from the frying pan (my mother) into the fire when I moved in with him (13 hours away from any family in either VA or SC) and didn't realize what I'd gotten myself into. I want it all back but I know it's far too late for that.

4. Goddess - Cephied ft. Nonon

Since I moved back home (well, one of two places I could consider as such on a people basis), I've... kinda been lacking in my craft because of everything I've had to get settled even months later (like I voted!! I've never had the opportunity to do that before and I had to get my ID sorted for that shit!!). A lot of the time, meditating (one of my most frequent forms of not just decompressing but also for "tuning in" really) for me looks like bedrotting. I put my headphones on, I curl up in bed (usually in the dark), and I maladaptive daydream. Yes, sounds unconventional. But it's how I've adapted my practice to my capabilities. But also I mean, my daydreams in this fashion sometimes go off the rails from what I want them to be and I feel like I've managed to adapt it into a form of oneiromancy (for those who may be confused by the term: divination through dreams!). This is probably my most often used form of it for digging up memories of past lives I have, others being tarot, the conventional form of oneiromancy, and more broadly (to give me a starting point) using a pendulum for those I feel like would be a good source to ask. I have yet to actually put my bones for osteomancy (aka bone throws) to use. (... I degreased exactly seven bones that I saved from a plate of ribs from the outback.) ... this ended up being very much a ramble about my magic practice oopsie.

5. Over It - Arrows In Action

Alright. Alright. I know. I already put Arrows In Action on this list. But also the entire album Built to Last on top of their new song Cheekbones have been obsessions lately. I blame the fact I've been hyperfocused on Vampire the Masquerade lately and my character in the solo chronicle Bunny's running for me is literally just me if I was a vampire and that the album + Cheekbones is just applicable to in and out of game stuff lately. (Seriously, go listen to at least the stuff listed individually listed here if nothing else. Their music FUCKS-) But also, specifically, this brings me to where I recently mentioned to Bunny and Puppy that there's a few different mindsets I vacillate between. I'll just paste the text for the two relevant ones. "I am a teenager/young adult who feels utterly shattered by the burdens life has placed on me. I contemplate whether it's worth it to try and keep going. My clothes smell like nicotine and I crave the release of alcohol to make things feel a little lighter." "I am an ageless being that predates man. I have seen them rise, fall, and get back up again to repeat the process for millennia. I have such disdain for some aspects, even individuals, but then I also have an overwhelming love for them."

[walpu]

Hi! I was reading your discussion about Sunday and Robin and!!!! First of all I love to see these thoughts and analyses on them because there's really so much to unpack, I'm honestly still a bit in a daze after all that 😭

And second of all, I also reaaaallly hope they'll expand Robin's arc some more and not just call it a day after this quest, because honestly the best part about this new update was how both Sunday and Robin aren't completely wrong but also not completely right either. I liked the fact that Robin's idealism was questioned a few times (through Sunday, Acheron and Black Swan if I remember correctly) and yeah, I hope we'll get more on that.

Cause like, I understand where she's coming from and she's really admirable and all that (and she's also quite literally a bird in a cage), but I'm pretty sure that irl one of the first things that people would tell her regarding her pov would be something along the lines of "it's really easy for someone like YOU (adopted by the future dreammaster, the Family's jewel, a renowned pop star) to talk (preach?) about these things when all things considered you've been living a very privileged life that most of the common folk could never even dream of ever having". In short, it's probably very easy to talk about making the 'right' choice when you live most people's ideal life and thus have the leisure to make these choices.

And on the other hand, I also hope they'll address the elephant in the room: her self-destructive tendencies, as you've said before.

Idk, I just really love when stories touch upon these complicated themes where there's really no right or wrong answer and where you have to navigate a fog of grey areas 🤔

I feel like Robin's also shaping up to be a really interesting character to dissect (as the bird in a cage, the superstar, the one who probably best represents the pure ideal of the 'strong' trying to protect the 'weak' and all the difficult and confusing things such a position brings about, etc.) Sunday's arc was delightful because it brought about so many conflicting feelings (characters whose kindness can lead them to very messy situations >>>>>), so now i'm begging for them to keep this good work with Robin!

Also, are y'all okay?? I see a lot of people saying they relate to Sunday (tbh I do too, to an extent), is it because of religious trauma or because of his attitude in general? Or a combination of both? I'm genuinely curious to know if religion has anything to do with that (because religion isn't very prevalent in my country, so I might be missing some elements here) but also, you don't have to answer that part if it's an uncomfortable subject 🩷

Anyway, sorry for this wall of text, and have a good day! (or night)

Hi!!

Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts, I actually didn't take into the consideration that Robin does, in fact, have a lot of privileges that make her one of the "strong" ones, as Sunday puts it.

But I feel like she herself actually understands it, at least to a degree. In the quest she said that she wants to use her power to protect people, since she has an opportunity to do so, and it's implied that Sunday's desire to make everyone "equal" is partly rooted in his fear for Robin's safety (his second question to us, when he wonders if he should support Robin or convince her to put her ideals aside).

Freedom vs safety is such an old dilemma, there're a lot of questions that come with making such a choice. I won't blame hoyo if they decede not to address all of the grey areas though, because, at the end of the day, the mc is not our self-insert, they have their own views on the topic and, being honest, if we unpack every single nuance, we won't leave Penacony until 3.0 💀

Also don't worry, I'm okay!! Religious trauma is a part of why I, and a lot of other people, I assume, find him relatable. My county is quite religious and religion is often politicized, so I have a lot of very complicated feelings about the topic. But the core aspect of Sunday's character that makes him so relatable (at least for me) is his view on the said dilemma. I really want to be someone who chooses freedom over safety but honestly? His version of safety is not even that restricting. You get to be with your loved ones, safe and happy. And everyone is equal! No need for food, for sleep, for money even. You just get to enjoy a happy life, explore new things, etc. It's his desire to make everyone (especially his closest person) happy combined with his escapistic views that make him relatable. So yeah his story did hit a nerve but not in a bad way, just made me reflect

I feel like Penacony's storyline is genius in a way. In the 2.1 quest we were rooting for Aventurine when he decided to overcome nihilty. But in the 2.2 quest the story challenges us, asking if we ourselves are willing to keep exploring and overcoming pain in order to keep finding new meanings, or we want to stay in our bubble of comfort in order to hide from the pain. Like. Ouch.

But a good story is supposed to challenge you and make you reflect on yourself so I'm really happy with hoyo's writing 😌

Have a good day/nigh as well! 🌻

[apricusnights]

Olympus Tournament Story: Fuel to the fire.

Sunil: "Has anyone seen Puck?"

Cerise: "Not recently. Last I heard he was going off to grab some food and probably flirt with everyone along the way."

Night: "Yeah sounds about right. Still, with those two weirdos from Fae causing him to panic a few times I do sort of wonder if something more is going on."

Hugo: "Weirdos making another weirdo panic isn't that strange. I can't give a shit right now, I gotta focus on the semis and the finals."

Night: "Assuming you get to the finals."

Hugo: "Least I bothered to fight, you're the only one here who wussed out."

Cerise: "Alright alright shut up the both of you. Sunil, Night, and I can go look for Puck."

Sunil: "No, Hugo is right about preparing for the semis and finals. You're in them as well. I'll go with Night, you two can keep training. Come on."

Night: "Where do we even start? This ship is huge.."

Night and Sunil split up to try and track down where Puck may have gone. Unfortunately as Night thought, the size of the ship made trying to find one person just about as easy as finding a needle in a haystack. To make matters worse, Puck wasn't answering his aShine.

The two decide to shift focus and attempt to locate the competitors from Fae. Something that does seem slightly easier but upon reaching where they should be, Sunil and Night discover the door open and no one inside. There are however small signs of a struggle which further intensifies the need to find their missing friend.

Night: "You think they kidnapped him?"

Sunil: "Pretty sure they've been trying to do that this whole time. He's from Fae, no idea why those two would go out of their way for him though."

Night: "Didn't you say he made some kind of deal with Hades? Maybe it has something to do with that."

Sunil: "He did but I can't remember what he told me about it. It's like the more time goes by the easier it is to forget any details regarding that."

Night: "Well that just means Hades is probably still alive somewhere, not really a comforting thought."

Sunil: "No but I don't think he's part of whatever this is. Check it out.."

Night: "No bags anywhere, closets are empty. You think they called for transportation?"

Sunil: "Probably. The Fae leaders were never here so the fighters couldn't have left like that. They'd have to have called someone.."

Night: "There are a billion helipads on this ship and a billion escape crafts. How do we find em before they leave?"

Evander: "Excuse my interruption but I overheard your predicament. I do believe I can be of assistance. Allow me to introduce myself, Evander Lykaios. Pleasure.

Night: "I know you, you're one of the fighters and you're on the Crepusculum Hecaball team. Why would you want to help?"

Sunil: "Doesn't matter. We probably don't have much time before those two losers from Fae leave with Puck."

Evander: "Precisely. Lucky for you I'm something of a problem solver." Bringing up his equipment which looked like a far more advanced aShine. "There is a small emergency ping hidden from most channels. It's currently located near one of the helipads in section fourteen. Air traffic indicates a helicopter on it's way. I assume this is where your missing friend is."

Sunil, Night, and Evander rush through the ship using Evander's convenient but somewhat strange knowledge of paths to take and elevators to use so they may avoid most people.

Evander: "Well would you look at that, competitors from Fae attempting to abduct an Apricus Citizen. This won't look particularly good for relations now will it?"

Sunil: "Let him go you freaks.."

Night: "Uh you realize we don't have weapons.."

Sunil: "Neither do they.."

Tarseed and Mariposa however seemed content enough to fight without weapons. Mariposa still had plenty of tricks up their sleeve and all they had to do was wait for transport and they create a diversion so they could escape with the currently unconscious Puck.

No one seemed to notice Evander pressing a button on his equipment which seemed to be recording the entire situation and even broadcasting it to certain people.

Evander himself was enough to deal with Tarseed as his combat experience and augmentations made him the superior fighter. Mariposa however was handing both Night and Sunil using several gadgets so as explosives and smoke grenades.

As the fights went on a helicopter had landed and the door slid open. Tarseed managed to use one of Mariposa's smoke bombs to slip away from Evander and attempt to load Puck into the helicopter.

Mariposa activated something resembling a an electric field which temporarily incapacitated Night, and Sunil. Mariposa and Tarseed made their way to the helicopter but were shocked when Evander's partner Kara appeared on the helipad.

Kara made her way over and smashed the electric device before punching through the helicopter and pulling the pilot out. In a panic Tarseed jumped to the controls and began to take off. All of the action must have shaken Puck awake as he struggled against his bounds.

Puck managed to kick Mariposa out of the helicopter though Mariposa hung on as the craft began to gain altitude. Puck stood looking out of the door but suddenly noticed several chains wrap around the helicopter's tail, preventing it from rising. Evander and Kara held on to the chains as Puck took a breath and jumped out.

Sunil managed to catch Puck though it wasn't a particularly graceful landing. Mariposa decided to cut their losses and managed to break the chains holding the helicopter down, allowing the two Fae competitors to escape.

Tournament personnel rushed to the helipad to check on everyone though by the time they arrived Kara and Evander had left. Puck, Sunil, and Night were all brought down for medical evaluations and to explain what had just happened.

Sunil: "Well, never expected Crepusculum to show up and help us out."

Puck hadn't said anything but he seemed to have a strange feeling about all of this.

Night: "Evander was right though. This isn't exactly going to look good when it comes to international relations.."

Sunil: "Why were they after you anyway?"

Puck: "Long story.."

Somewhere on another deck

Evander: "We got him back, don't worry about it."

???: "Good, make sure he gets back to Apricus in one piece. He's too important to lose."

Evander: "We'll handle it. Kara is in the semi-finals, and likely the finals. Everything is going the way you said it would."

???: "Not entirely. There was a mishap with Mr. R so that piece is off the board. Nevertheless, continue on as instructed."

Evander: "Of course."

Conversation ended.

[from-ultra-space]

Akala... Island... I've been here before... I've seen this place...

in the void, lost and alone, i saw a dimension like this, parallel and reflected, until... it vanished... and so did i... I'm sorry. I'm still trying to get over what I saw in Ultra Space. It's... quite unnatural indeed. I have arrived on this island safely, for the most part.

and yet... i cannot shake the feeling... what am i missing? i should know, but i cannot know, and that's terrifying, because i need to know, but what if i don't want to? empty. cold, so... so cold. white. sterile. buzzing lights. and... and... Thank you for your willingness to cooperate, Nori. I won't stay with you for too long, my memory is on a steady recovery- slow, but steady. Already I remember my son, Miles, but the fact that that's the most I have right now is... at least it's something. light... so much light... and... and a mask. A mask... and numbers... and a chart... and a containment tube... a red portal... to where? and... and...

I'm sorry if I seem... off. My technology is still adjusting to... this place, as it were. Thank you again for your hospitality. // from Matthew, associate of Jade: This is Andrew. He is a slightly paranoid scientist with a history in animal science and Pokémon research. He is kind, caring, and gentle with Pokémon. He has fallen, as you know, and his memories may not come back for quite some time. What he describes about his experiences... some of it may be things he experienced before the fall. If anything sounds like a description for a laboratory, it probably is. The assumption that this is related to PRT is not entirely incorrect, but this is strictly distinct for the time being. (Jade told me to tell you that) [Additional note, from Benjamin: Also note that there is a certain detail about the lab he will not remember until near the end. Also hi, we're a writing team! This is kind of our thing.]

Nori is fully geared up in his cleanest uniform as he walks Andrew to the Lab. “You don’t have to thank me. Really, I am happy to help. It has been a while since my own situation with my memory but, Ironically, I remember it well. The fact that you are recovering at all is a huge step! I am- no, was, not so lucky.”

The two round the corner and enter the dimensional research lab. Nori leads them past a few people who wave to them as they pass and the recon member politely nods in response. Eventually he leads Andrew to a small back room that barely fits the two beds squished in the corners. The small window on one wall has been completely covered with blackout curtains and a dim light is the only thing making the room visible.

“It’s not much,” Nori says, “but it should be enough for you to relax. I apologize for the lack of light but it’s the only way I can stay here. Feel free to leave your stuff on one of the beds, I will be just down the corner.” As Nori shuts the door behind him he writes something down. (Ultra Ruin. The faller who calls himself Andrew has seen Ultra Ruin.)

//Writing teams are always really neat! One of my favorite parts about role play is that each character is written like their own protagonist because someone else is writing each one and writing teams are pretty similar to that. Also the whole story you guys got is really cool //

[actionfigurebullshit]

An Unexpected Return to AFB

But it's not "Chaos Corridor", it's the blackberry bushes. Although this year's attempt at BTM 3 is different from the others, that there would be a kids show in the style of the early 90s "Fox Kids Club" has been there at least as far back as 10 years, probably more. Well, what's one of these shows without some cheap animation, heavy on stock, to fill a time slot?

There is now something of a new AFB story brewing inside BTM 3, though it uses live action, also. Footage from Jane's "ASStronauts" and "Starburners" is (re)used to create the appearance of a small invading force with a powerful doomsday weapon, capable of wiping out all the star systems within a large galactic nebula. Despite the destruction, it would seem these bad guys missed one of their targets, but who was clever enough to escape?

MOXIE!

And now I'm using stock from an animation project from 2011. I didn't get very far into that one, but one of the animation sequences was a shuttle flying over the surface of a strange world. I was able to tweak it a bit, and make this "world" appear to have a base on it. The base is the "space base", which was from something from 2017, I think? I had a few ideas for that one- another, different AFB idea, and later offering it to Jane, but also using it for a variety of things on my end. It's possible it will depict the Space DMV should "Chaos Corridor" continue development. Until, it's simply the place Moxie and Greta are working for unknown reasons.

The story doesn't have to make too much sense, as it's a movie within a movie, perhaps with another "within a movie" thrown in, depending on how you look at it.

After the establishment shot of the mountain base, we cut to the scene from CC where Newton takes the TV, but the video doesn't progress past the shot of the movers taking the damn thing away; instead, it rewinds to right before they take down the TV, and then, inspired by a disturbing scene from Faces of Death 7, as seen on YouTube, I have us advance frame by frame until we're looking at the frame where you can see THG, which in this case may stand for an older checkered character, though I've wondered for many years if the checkered character from AFB was related to one or both of two from BTM 2 and 3.

I've been up all night editing this scene. There's not a great deal to do on AFB's end- simply pull the right footage, and then do some audio work to make it something new. I want the free YouTube music removed when Newton speaks, put something different in, which then transitions to that spooky audio from FOD 7, stretched out for the scene.

Jane has already popped up in this attempt at BTM 3- a second and a half of a tutorial video she was giving me because I asked for direction on a scene. Elsewhere, I wanted to include her "happy birthday" message her and a couple actors filmed while they were making "Secret Origins"- or, I think that's what they were working on, it was about seven years ago.

And Moxie makes an appearance, too.

Now I'm at the point where Jane-as-Moxie is appearing, but it's not all stock, per se. I mean... of course, it is now, but some of the stuff recorded has not been paired with animation because it's not Chaos Corridor, and it's being mixed with other things to create a new narrative.

As my friendship with Jane was through video and film making, and the only time we ever saw each other was through video, doing all this almost feels like reviving her, even if it feels like I've created a Frankenstein's Monster version, or a digital ghost. It's her, but it's not. Think of all those actors who died years ago, yet we keep seeing them, sometimes we get to see them in new things, which can be incredibly dystopian when done by corporate giants. Me, I just want my friend to be here in one of the most important projects I've ever made.

The plan is, should I actually finish this video, AFB is next. I might even work on it over the next couple weeks. I kept getting sick over the past few weeks, including getting COVID a second time. I don't know if I would have worked on AFB had all that not happened, but it definitely wasn't going to happen because it did.

But I feel a strong urge- a clock ticking, where I want all this stuff that has languished for years to come to a close and be done. I don't want this to continue to languish in Development Hell as I go into my 40s and 50s and beyond (if I'm so lucky). Whether I have 40 years left or just 40 days, there just doesn't seem to be enough time left in this life to continue to let these things languish in Limbo. I must either finish them or let them go... and we know the latter just isn't going to happen. I could say "I QUIT!", and burn all my footage and props, but there would be no closure, only a sickness that I have created such a high obstacle to finishing. It would never leave my mind, so, I think the thing to do to give myself closure is to simply do the thing and be done with it.

I know there's no such thing with "done" and these projects, though. All those ideas I wanted to do but didn't will be like cancer cells that didn't get cut out and were allowed to proliferate once again. I can live with that, but boy am I covering a lot of bases with this attempt at BTM 3 (there's about one attempt a year, with varying degrees of success and accomplishments). That which does not get in... well... I'm hoping I'll be okay with it, that I can put my creative forces to things more urgent and important, and maybe if there's room and time left... revisit.

But one thing at a time. Right now, it's this weird mash up being passed off as cheap entertainment for a cheap show on a cheap channel that might only exist in the mind of a troubled person's nightmares.

I almost went with shooting extra footage- stop motion, Moxie and Greta, the works. But this is how I hamstring myself. Can it be done without it? Yeah? Okay, then. Leave it out. I can't get too lost in this project within a project within a project. I need to keep my eyes on the prize and tread carefully where tangents thrive.

[fictionadventurer]

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart, At the Back of the North Wind by George MacDonald, Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis, The Everlasting Man by G.K. Chesterton: They sat at my bedside all month and I didn't touch any of them. Which is unfortunate, because they are all ones I hope to read. Maybe I'll get to at least one next month. (The Mysterious Benedict Society may be better for August anyways, since I have Olympics associations with it).

Parnassus on Wheels by Christopher Morley: Finished, but I was disappointed. I expected a rollicking tale of a middle-aged woman having bookselling adventures in her peddler wagon in early-1900s America. The woman did almost no book-selling, and most of the story was about her relationship with the man she bought the wagon from. A three-star story, but I'd been hoping for a new favorite.

Farmer Giles of Ham by J.R.R. Tolkien: Fun little tongue-in-cheek fairy tale. Ending was more morally gray than I expected from a Tolkien-written fairy tale--I didn't expect the dragon to remain unslain.

Bella at Midnight by Diane Stanley (may sub in different Cinderella retelling): I reread the first half of Bella at Midnight, and I still love it--all those first-person perspectives are amazing--but an overdue library hold demanded priority, so I couldn't finish before the end of the month. I should be able to finish it soon.

Old Front Line by John Masefield: I thought this would be easy, since it's only 99 pages of large-ish print. But there's a lot of detailed description of the landscape, and I do not have a good visual imagination, so I'd only read a page or two at a time. I read a third of it this morning--still a lot of dry description, but then there are flashes of poetry that really make me feel what the battlefield was like (and it feels authentic coming from someone who was there writing during the war), so I'm going to push through and finish.

A Golden Age mystery: To Love and Be Wise by Josephine Tey was so hard to read. Something about the writing style made it feel like chipping through concrete. And then something clicked and I was swept along by the characters and setting until I hit one of the most absurd endings I've ever seen. For as much as I loved The Daughter of Time, I'm finding that most of Tey's other books are misses or heavily-mixed for me in terms of quality.

A Shakespeare play (a movie counts): After my Robin Hood exploration, it seemed fitting to finally read As You Like It. It's definitely the lightest Shakespeare I've read--almost like a Wodehouse story. It was fun, but I probably missed a lot. (I watched the first few minutes of the Olivier movie, too.)

Something Robin Hood related (movies can count)

I listened to a few minutes of The Outlaws of Sherwood by Robin McKinley, but then lost the audiobook mood.

I read the first few chapters of Robin Hood by J. Walker McSpadden. I liked the style much better than Pyle, though it's still a bit of a slog, and it was good to see some stories where Robin has a non-noble origin (so I could then see the influence in some of the movies).

I listened to a poem where Maid Marian sneaks into Sherwood dressed as a page and fights Robin for some reason. One of the movies involved Marian dressing as a page, so it was cool to see where they got it from.

The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938): Just as much fun as I remembered. Has the best Robin Hood, the best cast and acting, the best sense of joy, and the best swordfighting, and does the best job of casting Robin in a heroic light.

The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men (1952): The live-action Disney version. This Robin has negative amounts of charisma, and the acting is nowhere near the level of the Flynn version, but I might actually like some of the story choices and side characters better? The scene with Friar Tuck works better for me here, and maybe the Little John one too. Queen Eleanor is amazing, and the Bishop is awesome (positive Church representation, and he gets to hit a bad guy with a mace). Will Stutely gets to be a character. Allan-a-Dale gets to wander around in a silly little outfit singing silly little songs. This Marian (and her relationship with Robin) is too 1950s spunky teenager for me, but I love that she gets to dress up as a page and try to beat up Robin for the whole outlaw thing. Interesting that they go with the story in the McSpadden book where Robin's outlawed for avenging his father, but not fond of the fact that Robin's not the one who gets to split the arrow. The Sheriff of Nottingham's fate haunts me. It's not the most polished version, but there's a lot to love about it, and I recommend a watch.

Robin Hood (1973): Since I spent most of my month distracted by a dive into Disney animation history, I had to rewatch their animated version. This Robin's having the most fun with his outlaw life--there's a sense he's not so concerned about the morality and on some level enjoys the trickster life for its own sake. I want to be this Maid Marian when I grow up--she's pure elegance and grace. The side characters are good, and I love the Western influences. Love Robin's connection with the townspeople--they kind of take the place of the Merry Men. The plot's weak, and the deleted ending was much better.

Potential July Reading

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart

At the Back of the North Wind by George MacDonald

Parnassus on Wheels by Christopher Morley

Farmer Giles of Ham by J.R.R. Tolkien

Bella at Midnight by Diane Stanley (may sub in different Cinderella retelling)

Old Front Line by John Masefield

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis or The Everlasting Man by G.K. Chesterton

A Golden Age mystery

A Shakespeare play (a movie counts)

Something Robin Hood related (movies can count)