#Phil said it was wilbur’s influence LMAO

[unknownarmageddon]

[bonesandthebees]

[“It’s better to be the betrayer than the betrayed,” Wilbur mused.] I totally skipped over this line, but that’s forshadowing if I’ve ever seen it. Rip Niki. She deserves better (in general). It also, tells us everything we need to know about Wilbur’s mindset and his level of loyalty. He’d rather be the person who betrays than the betrayed. I wonder if that will influence his choices later on. Tbf, he already kind feels like he’s constantly betraying people’s trust by having to lie.

Also, given the general political games (including the bandits) and everything you’ve said about Tomys innocence and how well have to see if it stays that way (especially think of the darker version of Stars), I think this is going to end up as a corruption story. They are already pawns in Phil’s game after all. But we’ll see.

Speaking of future development, let’s look at the consequences of these actions. (I can’t write that sentence normally anymore, thanks Lovejoy.) Obviously, we’re going to get brotherly bonding. Tomys already looks up to Wilbur, but now Wilbur has not only saved his life with the whole “play dead” thing. He also took direct action to protect him twice, both times by putting himself at a greater risk (and one of them with a broken leg).

I wonder if Tomys figured out if they were there for him, if he was the target. He might have heard the shouting, but he could assume it’s about the son of the Consul, not some random duke’s son. Or he might not have heard it at all. He could figure it out because Wilbur is trying to protect him, or he could think that’s just the kind of person Wilbur is.

Either way, he needs to be told that he’s a possible heir now, if he doesn’t figure it out himself. He deserves to know why people tried to kill him. And he’s probably getting so many extra guards now that they know that someone is trying to kill him. (Actually, did Tomys hear the contract part too? would he connect those dots? Would he realise it’s about him? Or is he too young for that? We know he’s not dumb though.)

I’m also interested to see Jack’s reaction. Because he wasn’t there to protect Tomys. That’s literally his job as personal guard. But if he’d been there, he would have been dead. I wonder how closely he’ll now want to sick or if he feels guilty even though Tomys chose to leave him. (I wonder if Tomys is glad that he did.)

(1/?)

-🌲

oh yeah that line will come back at some point :)

I mean how can tommy stay so inherently good when his world is this? it's betrayals and mind games and lies and death and it's not a place where goodness survives.

oh yeah when wilbur told him to play dead and saved his life there was basically the little "Tommy will remember this" with the butterfly in the corner of wilbur's vision lmao

I mean. the bandit straight up ran her fingers through tommy's hair and said "we were after the blonde one it looks like he's dead we're good let's go" like. he knows full well they were after him at this point. he's not that dumb I promise.

now it's the matter of tommy figuring out why they were after him. he really does deserve to know the truth...

we'll have to wait to find out what jack manifold thinks of all this since he's still sleeping in at castle pandora since it's his day off lol

[poeticfallacies]

OSMP Head Canons 4/4 SBI + Ranboo

Tommy

Instead of being a kid, or a baby bird or smt. I'd like to think that the growth of his wings are more like bird puberty lmao, and Tommy's a late bloomer. He can't really fly yet, since his wings aren't fully grown, but his adoptive dad, Phil taught him how to glide. And for the meantime, that should do! He and Wilbur decided to leave their home and go live by themselves as they grow older, but still visit their dear old dad. (Also, He got influenced by his dad's adoptive tendencies and decides to adopt two baby chicks he helped hatch.)

Phil

Instead of him having black feathered wings like in the dsmp, Phil's wings would be sorta, iridescent? Like more smoothed over and no feathers? And it could either be black with diamond shaped patterns on it? Or greyish blue. (Your choice :D) He brought in a younger Wilbur after he found him kinda standing on a hill, watching the other phantoms at night. For Tommy, Phil found him all alone when he was also younger, and trying to fly, so he just went: "Baby birb". So since Phil can fly, he'd help Wilbur and Tommy with their flying skills too. After they left(they still visit), Phil found a random enderian covered in jewelry just wondering about, and shrieking at water. Decided to take him in for a bit, cause Gosh forbid birdza from becoming an automatic adoption machine.

Wilbur

Wilbur was about more of a lonely outcast, since he kinda grew up in the dark caves. That's until Phil found him, and the rest is history. Since practice takes longer, and Wilbur will get exhausted more easily at day, they opted to instead, practice flying at night, so it'd be easier for Wilbur to practice.

Techno

Tommy and Wilbur just found this random human planting potatoes, and after offering Tommy potatoes (cause he was hungry) they decided they'd adopt him as a brother and "enslave him as their farmer" (Tommy)

He just wants to farm man.

Ranboo

Hahaha temporarily exiled (it's equivalent to getting grounded) prince decides to cause chaos in over world as revenge.

Local chicken boi is his bestie. (I saw a post hc where Tommy stays with him under the tree until the rain was over, and loved it! Hope you don't mind me using this hc?)

HEY! who said you can have that nether roof, I saw it first. You peasant!

[dsmpkincalling]

{could this be anonymous, please? many thanks!}

Hello, well, uh. Never quite done this before, so apologies if I seem awkward. c!philza kin here, but. complicated. I am phil, but I am also somewhat myself, somehow. I don't get it either, lmao.

 sht m8,i feel far too formal.

There we go, much better. Anyways, most of my memories stem from smpearth. I clearly remember fighting some sort of battle, with my technoblade, and soaring above him and landing and. well, it gets longer, but I'd prefer to not get into details as it is a battle and was violent. 

I ended up being a sort-of parental figure to tommy, at least, I hope I was? Not sure how he viewed me. I tried to give good advice, I hope it was enough.

- I'm not exactly a dad. I have no biological children but cared for tommy and wilbur like my own. 

-Techno and I were best friends, maybe in a qpr? unsure. def /p

-i try my hardest, but i'm not the chill, dad figure i see people describe canon me as, sadly.

-I think i may have died, within full honesty. not sure if anyone cared.

but as I said above, I am phil, but i am also, me, maple, the body i was born in. my identity is influenced by my neurodivergence and perception of the world, and well, yes. I am a singlet, one person, but like someone threw two chunks of a person at eachother and said, yeah that'll do! /lh.

{i feel this is an important thing to say, as i want to be fully honest.}

looking for tommy, techno, and or wilbur. I want to say sorry, but would also love to meet new ones, new people who want company or help!

Body's a minor, I am... a minor? Memories say i am far older, but I don't always feel that way. 

Would prefer to talk with someone between the ages of 13-18, no more, no less. Many thanks. {I go by phil, maple, seer, or julien}

!

[unusualasparagus]

/dsmp SBI origins

Hello. I just came up with a little bit of head-canon about SBI origins. It’s a long one so please sit back and enjoy these ideas/theories.

Some points to consider before reading 

Now personally, I like the idea of Phil having 3 biological sons, Tommy Techno and Wilbur. Tubbo isn’t in their family as I like the concept of Puffy being his guardian. 

Wilbur and Technoblade are both twins who are AT LEAST 10 years older than Tommy in the story, (take what you want from it I would  love to hear their age gaps from you guys)

For the biological mother: I will refuse to believe its a fridge but instead, their mother was rather unstable and decided it was best for her to stay with her sister and away from the kids although she regularly visited them. One day Phil opened the door to find his sister-in-law inform him that his wife had passed. In addition, a small 3 month old child was given to him, claiming it was his (but no one knew weather that was true or not). That child was Tommy.

More of a personal one, english isn’t my first language, and I’m not that confident in writing but I just wanted to let my ideas out. I hope you all get the general idea of my HC from this post!

Philza

popular builder (architect), he was well known and respected in Town and a member of the local council. He was humble and always helped others going through hard times (Schlatt). He was a peaceful leader although he found his job rather not desirable. He would often spend hours working, leaving his 3 sons alone. At home, he had to struggle with the two different ideologies of his twin sons. When will left at the age of 22, Phil had just settled into retirement. Two years later, Tommy also left for the city, following Will’s footsteps. With less money, and his old age, he struggled to find work up until Techno started a potato farm and they lived quietly for a couple of years. He exchanged letters with will. After 8-7 so years, he got an urgent message from Will to come to his nation L’manburg, but when he came, it was too late and you all know the rest.

(Side note: Phil had developed a liking for Technoblade, as he was the only son that stayed behind to help him. That doesn’t mean that he didn’t love Tommy and Wilbur, just that he loved Techno the most)

Wilbur

Will had lived a quiet childhood, as he emerged into adulthood, he realised that he was rather weak physically and thus, used his words. He became a popular speaker with radical ideas of starting a new nation for the migrants (aka his own people) living in the great city of DSMP. He often argued with his twin Technoblade, with his beliefs of a strong nation, and his brother’s beliefs of anarchy. Once, the arguments went on for a week straight leading to Wilbur leaving his town for good. With no goodbyes, he just left a letter to Phil explaining that he has gone to make his dreams a reality and form a strong and powerful nation. 

When Wilbur entered the city, he realised he had no money, no job nor no connections. He settled in the slums, from where he talked to other migrants. He became a popular speaker amongst the migrants and the poor, who at the time had very little rights and often treated with injustice. To start up his nation, he needed money, so he started the drug business with his followers, which eventually followed to the nation of L’manburg. 

(Side note: Sally. Wilbur meet Sally in the city as a fisherman (woman? idk). They did have a son in this HC but I will refuse to make Fundy a child for many reasons that I may provide later on if this gets enough attention lmao)

Technoblade

The oldest, Technoblade had ALWAYs been a quiet person. He was not a skilled leader like his father nor emerged from his introverted persona to become a powerful speaker like his twin brother. When he was 16, he enrolled in the military. Ranking his way up, at age 20 he was a well respected solider. He was immensely skilled in combat, with many claiming he will never dies. 

Deep inside, Techno was an anarchist with ideas of free men. As said before, he argued with his brother quite a lot. At age 22, he had to leave his position in order to go help his weak father and younger brother. He started a potato farm near his house to help finance his family. His ideas of anarchy grew stronger and stronger and he wanted to prove his twin wrong by showing him the power and strength in power for all. Around 6-7 years after Wilbur left, Techo decided to act on his plan to destroy the nation of L’manburg only to find out that his own two brothers had been exiled from the nation they created. Even though he still wanted to continue with his plan, he felt pity for Tommy and decided to side with Pogtopia up until the end.

(Side note: I had some ideas about young Techno trying to support his family by participating in gang fights to get money. That’s why he got put into the army at such young age and was such a skilled fighter)

Tommy

Being the youngest, he had a lot of influence from his two older brother while growing up. Looking at the actions of his elders, young tommy inhibited the annoying skill of being loud and obnoxious, believing it’s the only way to get a point across. When he was 11-12 years old, he started receiving training from Technoblade, one of the greatest soldiers during the time. Tommy picked up the skills very quick and became skilled in combat (more than Wilbur but way less than Techno)

When Tommy was 14, he decided to run away from home to his brother. He received letters from Wilbur stating the city was lively, majestic and new and that he should come. The naive young boy decided to leave his town and come to the city. When he came, he found the city life to not be so glorious as it was said in the letters. Nevertheless Tommy kept his spirits up. He lived with his brother in the Slums and worked as a construction worker, helping build the sewers before joining the Drug Empire and soon, the nation L’manburg. During the two years, he made friends with a quiet but chaotic baker and beekeeper, Tubbo. 

(Side note: when L’manburg was formed, Wilbur was 26 and Tommy was 16)

IM SO NERVOUS TO POST THIS AHHH. But yes hello DSMP tumblr, I’ve been here for around 10 months just in the shadows, please accept my humble HC offer <3.

Ps, if this get enough attention, I have some HCs origins for Tubbo, Fundy, Ranboo, Dream, Schlatt, Niki Nihachu, BBH, George, Sapnap and Eret. LMK if you want to hear them. 

I also have a TOSMP them-inspired story about Ranboo’s character. I am going to write that no matter the response from this post so stay tuned. 

[mariaiscrafting]

I think this is what it is? but there’s more that isn’t in the clip https://m.twitch.tv/philza/clip/OilyEvilHyenaChocolateRain-RrlVgUtqWZjJ98iC

For reference to others, this is from 4 days ago, from when I asked what people were talking about when referencing Phil's take on cancel culture.

I have... many thoughts on this lmao... let's see if I choose to get into it

First, I actually do agree that people should not hang onto every single mistake CCs make. Normal people whose lives aren't put under microscopes are allowed to say sketchy things or make errors of judgement, and then move on and grow from it without the people they interact with or future coworkers/colleagues/employers holding it over their heads. Still, I feel there is nuance here that Phil, as a content creator, is likely missing because he's very defensive of that position of "fans need to stop criticizing us so harshly."

Second, very rarely do even people on the Internet linger on past errors when someone has clearly shown that they've changed. There are so many fucking Youtubers, streamers, and influencers that have said or tweeted openly racist, homophobic, transphobic, ableist, or sexist things, but their names haven't been blackened or their fanbases deteriorated as a result? You fucking know why? Because they have demonstrably changed. You know why Danny Gonzalez and Drew Gooden fans didn't cancel them when Twitter threads called out their racist/sexist jokes in the past? Because Danny and Drew have very clearly, through their behaviors, changes in humor/language, tendencies to call out racism in the present, and charitable actions, changed. You know why Wilbur Soot fans didn't cancel him when people looked into his misogynistic jokes/song lyrics? Because Wilbur has very clearly changed, based on his treatment of female colleagues and fans alike and satirical use of misogynistic tropes in his current music. If people show they've changed, fans aren't just gonna start hate campaigns for no fucking reason, Phil. I'm guessing Phil is referring to the people whose entire careers, for months or years now have seemingly been clouded by controversy. This is not coincidental, or simply the work of vengeful antis, for fuck's sake. It's because these people don't change or show remorse. It's not a fucking mistake that people still hate Pewdiepie or Schlatt or any other, quote-unquote, problematic CC, seemingly years after they did/said their supposed "mistakes." It's because they haven't proven to most people that they have changed.

Third, I do actually agree that Twitter tends to go in an annoying as fuck loop about cancelling people. They'll find one thing, try to "educate" the person at fault, the person will try to prove they've learned/changed, and then people will find another thing. This is, in fact, irritating, however, I present you with this question: why is it so easy to find so many incriminating actions/statements from this person, and/or, why do they keep saying/doing incriminating things? It's not like Twitter just makes up random shit to attack people on; there is at least some tiny thread of truth existent in every accusation, so tell me, why the fuck is there so much for this hypothetical person to be called out on, Phil. Maybe that is concerning after all

[mrsrcbinscn]

Franny’s 30 Day Cover Challenge

Playlist

Franny’s 30 Day Cover Song Challenge: (categories are mostly from here, and here, with some from here, and a couple I made) in September 2020 one of her musician friends challenged her to do the thing and she was like “It seems like a fun way to show everyone what kind of music has influenced me as a musician, singer, songwriter, and just like, person. So I’m going to do it.”

In reality, she recorded most of them in 1-2 days to distract her from how sad she is because Wilbur hates her and he’s sad lmao

It helped a little.

(If you want me to drop the playlist she mentions in #24 let me know, I have it started I can finish it)

TW: mentions of Franny’s political beliefs so tw: politics, an allusion to suicide though the word isn’t directly used, mention of 9/11 and the subsequent invasions...nothing graphic with any of these triggers but worth a forewarning

Day 01 - A song that makes you happy

Honey Spiders by The Parlotones

“The Parlotones are this fantastic indie rock band out of South Africa. And I actually thought about doing their song, uh, Stars Fall Down for day sixteen, but I’m going with Honey Spiders for day 1. There were lots of Parlotones songs, I mean. Push Me to The Floor, We Call This Dancing, Should We Fight Back...but ah, Honey Spiders always puts me in a good mood.”

Day 02 - A song that helps you clear your head

Light of a Clear Blue Morning by Dolly Parton

“I grew up on Dolly, and it’s funny because for the longest time this song wasn’t really on my radar as much as it is now. But when I was twenty-two I was going through something really difficult, and my then-fiance now husband was abroad for work, so I was alone in our apartment and just. Really, profoundly sad and lonely. So I put on a Dolly Parton record and just laid on the bed and Light Of A Clear Blue Morning played and I had a good long cry and felt so much better after that. When I need to think about how to solve a difficult problem, or I feel overwhelmed, I just listen to that song.”

Day 03 - Song you love from a band/artist you hate

Should’ve Been A Cowboy by Toby Keith

“Honestly, he’s called me a nasty lady to my face and I’ve called him a facist enabling pig to his, so I have no qualms openly saying I hate Toby Keith. That being said, Should’ve Been A Cowboy is one of the best country songs of the 90s, undeniably. I loved that song when it came out when I was thirteen, and I still love it.”

Day 04 - A song about drugs or alcohol

Whiskey Lullaby by Brad Paisley and Alison Krauss

“This is probably cheating, because my lovely best friend Daniel and I cover this a lot at Dara & Danny shows. But today look who I have! My friend Max from Seoul Hanoi’d! Max the Korean Scot who can’t hide his accent to save his life, so let’s see how it sounds in a Scottish accent.”

Day 05 - A protest song

Talking Vietnam Blues by Phil Ochs /// and Here’s to The State of Mississippi by Phil Ochs

“This one was hard because I. Fucking. Love. Protest music. I could have done a whole 30 days of protest music - wow, let me know if I should do that and give my husband a heart attack with all the twitter threats I’ll invite. Huh. Right, so I was going to do Your Flag Decal Won’t Get You Into Heaven by John Prine. But I decided to do two Phil Ochs songs because I don’t think Phil Ochs is talked about enough. It’s a shame we lost him so young. Ochs’ sardonic humor and honesty in his writing has influenced me as a songwriter deeply. When I write political songs, I don’t hold back, and it’s because of Phil Ochs’ writing that I have that courage. I’ve been singing Love Me, I’m A Liberal since I was in college with constantly updating lyrics. It was so hard to even choose which songs of his to do because for his fairly short career his songbook is lengthy and full of gems. I’m Going to Say It Now, Draft Dodger Rag, Spanish Civil War Song, I Ain’t Marching Anymore...I couldn’t pick one so I’m cheating and recording two.”

Day 06 - A song you wish you wrote

When I Think About Cheatin’ by Gretchen Wilson

“I will forever be pissed off that I didn’t write this song. I’m absolute trash for my husband, so it’s never -- I’ve never had to be in a situation to ever consider -- but this song gets me every time. It feels like I could have written it. Because we do spend a lot of time apart travelling for our work. And the sentiment expressed in the song is a little too real.”

Day 07 - A song in a language you don’t speak

Khattar by Khine Htoo

“This will either be a charming attempt to sing in Burmese or I’m about to offend a lot of people. Which, being a politically outspoken woman on the internet, I’m used to anyway. So. 1, 2, 3, okay here goes.”

Day 08 - A song by an artist no longer living

Phop Samnang by Sinn Sisamouth (inspiration)

“Haha, you thought I’d see the name of this category and not do a Sinn Sisamouth song? You were wrong.”

Day 09 - A song you want to dance to at your wedding

Devoted To You by The Everly Brothers

“I’m already married, so this was actually our first dance song at our wedding. Day three of our wedding, like the more Westernized wedding ceremony day. We had a three day long traditional Cambodian wedding and I felt like a princess. An-y-way!”

Day 10 - A song that makes you cry

Borrowed Rooms and Old Wood Floor by Emily Scott Robinson

“Unfortunately, Emily Scott Robinson and I aren’t related. Sad, I know, because she’s so talented. Almost her entire album Traveling Mercies is...sad as hell. The record reminded me of early Dolly Parton, and my second solo album. You know, all those sad-ass songs. The Dress is honestly the song that makes me the saddest but I can’t even listen to it without crying so.”

Day 11 - A song that you love hearing live

Prove My Love  by Violent Femmes

“There is nobody I have seen in concert more than Dolly Parton, but Violent Femmes and George Strait come incredibly close. The Cranberries, the amount of times I saw them in the 90s and early 2000s...close fourth. Probably. The very first concert I dragged my husband to was a Violent Femmes concert, he was not prepared for how hard college me went.”

Day 12 - A song from before 1960 

There Ain’t No Sweet Man That’s Worth The Salt of My Tears by Libby Holman

“This song is from 1928. I came across it when I was in grad school and it’s, as the kids say, a bop.”

Day 13 - A song you think everybody should listen to

White Man’s World by Jason Isbell

“I think perspectives of people of color should of course take precedence in these conversations. But I find this song to be a good faith attempt of a white man coming to terms with the institutional racism and sexism in the world around him. And I think this song can be a useful tool to explain certain concepts of racial justice to ignorant but well-meaning folks. As a woman of color I think Jason Isbell did a great job not centering himself even though it was from his perspective. This song is great musically and necessary socially.”

Day 14 - A song from the 1970s

You’re No Good by Linda Ronstadt

“Linda Ronstadt is grossly underrated, that’s all I have to say here.”

 Day 15 - A song people wouldn’t expect you to like

Racists by Anti-flag

“I mean, I’ve talked about how much I like punk in the past, and I remember a video of Seoul Hanoi’d doing Spanish Bombs at a San Antonio show made the rounds, but I don’t think I’ve talked about how much I like Anti-flag. People don’t expect me to like punk for some reason. But I agree with...everything punk music is all about.”

Day 16 - A song that holds a lot of meaning to you

Blue by LeAnn Rimes

“It’s silly, but I won a county fair singing competition with this song in high school and it really fueled my passion for music, that win. It’s also the first song Cornelius heard me go full Georgia on, with the yodels and all, at the little bar in my hometown on his first trip meeting my parents. The song doesn’t cut to my very soul ot anythin’, but it’s special to me.”

Day 17 - A song attached to a memory

Supernova by Liz Phair

“I remember buying Liz Phair’s Whip-smart album when I was eleven. And in college, when I was getting ready for dates with Cornelius in my dorm room, I would dance around to a CD I burned and wrote on it with a sharpie, ‘Pre-date Movie Scene Music.’ God, what was even on there? I’m about to expose myself as the most basic 1999-2001 bitch. I remember Head Over Feet, I mean, Alanis Morisette? I was a young woman in 2000, obviously I loved her. Mm, Dreams by The Cranberries...oh, Kiss Me, Sixpence None The Richer...yeah, anyway, Supernova was on there.”

Day 18 - A song from the year you were born

Call Me by Blondie

“...I can’t believe Call Me is as old as I am.”

Day 19 - A song that reminds you of someone you miss

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing (yes, of course she does a cover with banjo)

“This was my late best friend Molly’s favorite hymn. And I sang it at her funeral at her husband’s request. Molly and I grew up together in the small town of Payne Lake, Georgia and Molly was the most devout Christian...but she was also the first person I came out to as bisexual when I was a teenager, and she said that Jesus taught her that love was the greatest commandment and that meant I was automatically twice as good at it as her. Her faith guided her every action but she never talked down on her two best friends - Dan(iel Maitland) and I for not sharing it. Molly was doing the whole emulate Jesus thing beautifully. I miss her every day and it’s been seven years. If you ever think that people won’t miss you...you’re wrong. All right, let’s see if I can get through this without crying.”

Day 20 - A song by an artist you discovered this year

Hello, Anxiety by Phum Viphurit

“I just discovered this quirky Thai-Kiwi singer and not to be dramatic, but he’s my favorite thing in the world right now.”

Day 21 - A song with a city or country in the title

Oh! Phnom Penh (track 20)

“This song was written after the fall of the Khmer Rouge, and after people began to make their way to what was left of their homes, alone, or with what was left of their families. If you want to learn more about what that was like to actually live it, my cousin Reena Boran has a video interviewing her parents and paternal grandfather and uncle about it. Reena is a journalism student currently studying in London but she lives in Cambodia. Her mother is my aunt Malisruot, my mother’s youngest sister. The video is English subtitled on her channel, I’ll link it in the description box below.”

Day 22 - A song from the 1960s

To Sir, With Love by Lulu

“I didn’t actually discover this song until I heard it covered at a 10,000 Maniacs concert in the 90s. My friend Allison was standing next to me and I just started crying and she’s like ‘are you okay?’ and all I just blubbered out ‘My dad!’ For the uninitiated, my dad married my mom, who’d raised me alone until then, when I was six and he adopted me when I was eight. My dad didn’t have to adopt me, he didn’t have to call me his daughter, he could have just been like half of my friends’ stepdads and give me a place to live and nothing else. But my dad was my biggest supporter from day one. He convinced my mom to let me join the dance team and show choir instead of science club, he was the one that talked my mom down from probably killing me when they found out I was only studying music and not music and political science at NYU. I am who I am today because he is my dad. And this song just says everything I’ve always thought about him.”

Day 23 - A song from your childhood

Una Lacrima Sul Viso by Bobby Solo

“But Franny, aren’t you a Cambodian raised in the US? Yes, but you were fooled. My very white father is also an immigrant. He is from Switzerland and while he didn’t teach me to speak Italian and German growing up, he played German, Italian, and French records all the time. My parents often spoke to each other in French and I picked up some French but properly studied it starting in high school, and I didn’t study Italian until college -- and my German is still …. [points to a spot on the screen where she later inserted a card linking to a video on her cousin Köbi Framagucci’s YouTube channel titled ‘Can My American Cousin Speak German?’ where he tests her Standard and Swiss German speaking and comprehension]. But hell if I couldn’t sing every one of the songs from my father’s French, German, and Italian record before I knew what the words even meant.”

Day 24 - A song that gives you chill vibes

Glorify by Ivan & Alyosha

“Dan(iel Maitland) and I actually have an entire playlist on my Spotify accounts of songs to listen to to get us out of writers’ block. And one that I often will put on repeat and just absorb through my headphones with my eyes closed is a song called Glorify by Ivan & Alyosha. I think it touches on a lot of the themes I include in my songwriting. Christian mythology, the darker side of humanity, it often reminds me of what I love about songwriting. If you say please I might drop a link to that playlist.”

Day 25 - A song that’s your signature song

Long Gone Lonesome Blues by Hank Williams“Right, so I chose this instead of a Kitty Wells song or I Get A Kick Out of You (her being

featured on a 2005

recording propelled her career majorly) because if you’re familiar with me you might have seen a video that went around in like….2017? 2016? of Dan(iel Maitland) and I doin’ the song at our hometown bar in 2014. I posted it in response to some tweets because hoes mad when a WOC calls out racism and sexism in the Nashville music industry. ‘Bet she don’t even know Hank’, really? You think I wouldn’t know the history of one of the two music industries I work in? Please. Anyway, she knows Hank and nails the incredibly technical yodel -- the

most difficult

one in Hank’s songbook - in Long Gone Lonesome Blues. Mm...Lovesick Blues though, that also strikes fear into my heart. Anyway stay mad I guess?”

Day 26 - A song by your favorite band

Gun Shy by 10,000 Maniacs

“10,000 Maniacs was one of my favorite bands when I was in like 5th grade through 10th. I listened to them for a little while after Natalie Merchant left for a solo career, but the Natalie Merchant era was really what resonated with me the most. Gun Shy was a bit too advanced for my little 5th, 7th grade ears to really appreciate when I first discovered the album In My Tribe. Merchant’s voice -- because like, I don’t have a very conventional voice either, so her and Dolores O’Riordan really changed my entire perspective on what a woman’s voice can sound like in rock music. Um, yeah, so her voice more than the lyrics just wowed me. And as I got closer to graduating high school and especially in college I actually understood what What’s The Matter Here, Hey Jack Kerouac, and Gun Shy were talking about. Gun Shy...really became a significant song to me because...being born in 1980 I grew up in a relatively peaceful time. The Cold War was all but thawed by my tenth birthday. But I was getting ready to leave my then-boyfriend-now-husband’s apartment for class at NYU on the morning of 9/11. We stood in line for hours to donate blood. And then my government invaded two completely unrelated countries and jingoism and terrifying, fervent nationalism, and xenophobia just smacked me in the face. And friends of mine from high school were convicted to drop out of college and join the Army, and died, for an unjust, imperialist war, and suddenly Phil Ochs, John Prine, and Bob Dylan lyrics hit a lot different, and I understood what Gun Shy was really about.”

Day 27 - A song you hate by an artist you love

Mrs.Robinson by Simon & Garfunkel 

“Paul Simon is one of my favorite songwriters ever, um, and I actually used to like Mrs. Robinson….until I got married and everyone sang it at me. It’s kind of my fault, I did choose to take my husband’s last name. And I leaned into it by making my social media handles all Mrs. Robinson...but still. Only play the song around me if you want to die.”

Day 28 - A song that a younger you would have loved

Mean by Taylor Swift

“I’m so genuinely glad that I am older than Taylor Swift. Middle school Franny did not need Taylor Swift to enable me and fuel my ego. Some of her singles, while not really 35 and 40 year old Franny’s cup of tea, young me would have played until my mother hid the record or cassette from me. Although - fuck if Tim McGraw didn’t immediately give my happily married ass flashbacks to my first love and make me bawl like a baby? Right, so when Speak Now came out and I listened to it, Mean, while not a song that adult me has listened to maybe more like ten times, I immediately thought ‘wow, I needed this song when I was in middle and high school.’ I could literally picture 7th grade me with my little guitar and my little cowboy boots my dad bought for me singing this at the talent show making eye contact with the kids who bullied me as if it was some kind of own when it’s not. I could still, almost thirty years later, name them if I really wanted. So, for 7th grade me, Mean by Taylor Swift.”

Day  29- A song that reminds you of your partner/spouse

ផាត់ជាយបណ្តូលចិត្ / Phat Cheay Bon'dol Chet by Sinn Sisamuth (translation) (female singer covering it) (modern, studio recording of a male and female singer dueting it) (a cool violin cover) (another female singer) (cool guitar cover)

Feat. some members of Seoul Hanoi’d. Andy Chaiyaporn (violin), Max Cho (piano), Jodie Batbayar (cello), Aisulu Niyazova-Li (percussion) and Franny has her guitar

“The song, lyrically, only reminds me of my husband a little bit. But Phat Cheay Bondol Chet has several memories with my husband attached to it. The first time he heard me sing in Khmer was at my mother’s house in Atlanta when I had him visit the first time to meet my parents. My mom had a little dinner party at our house to show him off, like Asian moms do when they think their daughter snags a good one, and I was hand washing the dishes while my mom and the other Cambodian parents were listening to Sinn Sisamuth records. I’ve always loved the song I’ll be showing y’all today, like I’ve always just stopped what I was doing and -- so it came on and I just started singing along without really being aware of it. And then at a different diaspora get together that summer, that song came on and I just kinda. Pulled him aside to the side yard of that person’s house to look at the stars with him and translated the song. It’s one of the Khmer songs he instantly recognizes now, so it’s special.”

Franny did NOT say in the video that college her 100% had him sit in the grass with her outside that person’s house, where nobody could see, so she could makeout with him 

 Day 30- A song by one of your favorite songwriters

Reincarnation by Roger Miller

Feat. Seoul Hanoi’d, done more in the style of the Cake cover 

Also instead of singing the lyric “you’re a girl, I’m a boy” she goes “you’re a girl, so am I” because she doesn’t ever change pronouns, she just makes it gay because she is a bi-con

“Roger Miller, to me, is as important as Dolly Parton, Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, in the American songbook. He’s not as talked about which is a shame because his discography is iconic. Getting to be a part of King of The Road was one of the highlights of my career.”

[antimony-medusa]

DVD Commentary for Totem Of Undying Job, Chapter Nine

“Ah,” Wilbur held up a finger. “The department that will bend or occlude the truth if necessary for your own good, because it sincerely cares about you and wants you to invest in this medical device that can save your life.” He paused for a beat, then smiled. “The phrasing is important.”

Drew raised his eyebrows. “Oh, you are a natural-born manipulator, aren’t you.”

“I beg to differ, I learned how to do all of this.” He paused, looked Drew up and down, let a grin spread across his face. “I’m sure your ability to have a conversation where you talk a lot and say absolutely nothing of value is innate though.”

I just think it is more interesting if people learned how to do things they’re very good at, and Wilbur is based off of a writer friend of mine who deliberately took a job as in door-to-door sales to learn how to read and influence people, cause they felt their skills there were lacking. Special interest How To People. So he has studied all of this, painfully, he is running calculation and analysis on social interactions at all times. 

N: I’m on a rotating schedule of teaching, supervising, etc. Lots of different places, I’m aiming for the kitchens. How about you Phil?

P: Flying a desk.

P: They saw the cane and stopped looking, mostly.

T: lmao

Yeah, if you are reading the DVD commentary you’ve probably read the fic and actually gotten to the parts where Phil fights. Tubbo has seen Phil fight. Tubbo also knows generally not to underestimate people who use canes. Be like Tubbo. 

The funny part is that my roommate uses a cane and it’s just kinda seeped into my consciousness as a thing that the people around me use, same as glasses or headphones. So Phil being a cane-user came half from all the fan art of Phil with one, and half cause when my brain pictures a generic person a good portion of the time they have a cane. 

R: Um

R: Isn’t that a long time to leave Techno alone?

R: I have a note here about how everyone was really convinced that it was dangerous to be the inside man and I shouldn’t do it, I’m concerned about him.

P: Did I ever tell you how I met Techno?

T: no????!?

P: He’ll be fine, m8.

I spent two days plotting out the story of how Phil and Techno met, and then I realized that Phil would not share it. He is a cryptic old man. So just let me tell you it was really cool and badass. Phil killed a man. (Phil killed a lot of men.)

“Good morning, Tubbo,” Fundy said, dropping a cash box into the register.

Tubbo glanced at him, prepared to give him a death glare, but fortunately Fundy also looked like he would much prefer to be unconscious, rather than upright and participating in capitalism. “‘Morning,” he grumbled.

Fundy laughed hollowly, hipping the register closed. “That’s right, nothing good about it.”

Tubbo paused. Fundy was wearing the same clothes as he had been wearing yesterday, and when he’d left yesterday his boss had said something about going to the Casino. “Did you sleep, big man?”

“I’m fine,” Fundy said shortly. “I don’t want to talk about it. I’m perfectly fine and in control of myself and this shift is gonna go well.”

This fic has the tag “i have worked coffee shops and the dialogue comes from that”. Lifted this conversation note-for-note from one of my previous jobs. And then we did espresso shots. 

He was disassociating. He was disassociating hard . He was disassociating with everything he had. The pain was dragging him back into his body, and he pushed it back with long-practiced mental muscles. There was pain, but there was always pain. Technoblade let his body react to being systematically destroyed, and went elsewhere in his head for a while. Time stopped having any meaning.

The pain had stopped. Or the new pain had stopped, the pain was very much still there. “Think we’re at about a 10 today Phil,” Technoblade muttered, or tried to mutter. Oh, his jaw was either broken or dislocated. Fun.

Yeah so it does not come up a lot, because Techno as a character is allergic to introspection, but in the same way that my touchstone for Tubbo’s power was synaesthesia, my touchstone for Techno’s was chronic pain. I think I literally only got three lines into the fic about it, cause is this character going to reference pain? Only if he can make it funny! But I figured healing power was going to come with some costs, and the fact that everything always hurts seemed to fit his “I refuse to acknowledge that trauma has any power over me whatsoever” sorta deal. So, a pain scale and daily check in reference, that only he will get, cause he hurts too much to not make a joke about it. And then he disassociates the fuck out of there.

“Sure thing, mate.” Philza closed himself in one of the bathroom stalls and sat down. Outside, he could hear Charlie, still at the sinks, humming? Water started to run.

Philza pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket, bit down on it, and shoved his face into his knees, shaking. Quiet, he had to stay quiet. Just breathe. He wound his hands up into his hair and pulled, trying to get his breathing under control. Let out the shakes before you get sick, just don’t make any noise.

Please, please, he pleaded with whatever uncaring god or fate might be listening, the universe itself, please. Please let him not have been a liar, a liar sentenced to sit and watch as his friend suffered. Please let Techno be fine. Please.

And here my being mean to Phil arc really starts. Being unable to help your friend who is hurting is probably the worst thing I could do to you! (Just kidding I do worse later.) Anyways, sorry, Phil. I love you. 

[sophaeros]

skjghfdkj glad i was making sense. another thing related to this is how you can describe all characterisations in any given piece of dsmp fan content as a combination of two things in different ratios:

1. canon character

2. irl cc

this is particularly noticeable in villainous characters, where their roles as rather dark/immoral villains wouldn’t really fit in lighthearted aus. so to accommodate the fans’ desire for content where Everything Is Fine And Nothing Hurts, they reach across the line between creator and character to make a blend between character skills/backstories/designs and creator personalities. a really obvious example of this is dream. a lot of fanfic where dream is not a manipulative abuser and is instead still friends with the rest of the server characterises him very similarly to his irl self, but with embellishments to suit his in-game skills and how that particular fan views him

eg. in the series young god by chrysalizzm (which is VERY good), dream’s driving character trait is that he cares very deeply for his friends, to the point of frequent self-sacrifice. we can see that in canon this is. not very true. but irl dream certainly displays clear affection for his friends. so, this characterisation of dream is closer to the irl cc than the canon character, but it’s still not directly the irl cc

i think the reason why this happens is that people are filling in the gaps. we don’t entirely know how these more villainous characters would behave if they were like. actually well adjusted lmao, or at least our pool of information can be somewhat limited. so we draw from where we know the most: their irl selves (or well. the personas they use for streaming, which is basically the most we’re permitted to know about their irl selves). this is also why you see this influence on fanon in cases like the original post. niki doesn’t stream lore as often and as consistently as like, tommy for example, so in order to talk about her character in between lore streams, we extrapolate using what she does irl. i doubt niki intended for her hairstyle changes to be particularly reflective of her character’s development, but we can still find meaning in it regardless.

ascended fanon is always gratifying, and dsmp’s nature as a form of live theatre in a medium that hasn’t existed before, at least not to the extent of such close fan-creator interaction, really facilitates this. it has great potential to enrich canon, like how phil eventually canonised his wings being permanently damaged from shielding wilbur from the explosion. phil having wings in itself is iirc something carried over from his reputation and fan depictions outside of dsmp.

oh and ALSO the medium is absolutely crucial to all this. plenty of others have already said this before, but dsmp being carried out in minecraft is genuinely such a boon. it allows for such creativity and wiggle room in interpreting the inherently-vague skins. the phil’s wings example wouldn’t be possible if this was, say, a tv show with live acting and clear costumes. same with niki’s hair colours. the canon skins tend to end up being more of a starting point for interpretation and depictions, and i love that. dsmp thrives on live fan response in many ways, and many things about its medium facilitates that

this is all over the place and so long im so sorry im just banging out the accumulated results of months of this topic bouncing around my head

edit: WAIT ALSO IM SUPPOSED TO SLEEP BUT this blurring of character and creator is actually perpetuated by the ccs themselves. they often make references to events that happen irl and declare them canon. while this is often a joke with no real lasting consequences, it certainly sets a precedent that this Is something that can happen and is a possibility that fans can then take advantage of

i think the headcanon of c!niki's hair changing color on it's own is really cool, playing into the non-human aspect of the dsmp, but on the flip side it's such a powerful thing of autonomy for niki to dye it herself. she begins with hair the color of wheat. she collects squid ink on the docks of l'manberg, creating a version of niki who sews a flag and bakes for her citizens, two pale, unchanged strands of her unwavering kindness framing her face. she crushes up sweet berries and stains her hands, desperate to be seen, to kill her past self. the pink fades quickly, so once when she can't find any berries she stares into a frozen pond in the arctic, features icy and distorted, and hacks off her hair with her sword, five inches' worth floating down to the snow at her feet. she's with the syndicate, and the pink is getting old, and she's not the same niki who lured a broken boy to a bomb. she has people who listen to her. niki concocts a mixture the color of gunpowder and paints some strands, alternating with ink, and now her hair is gray and black. a little blonde still peeks through. she does it because she wants to, because she thinks it will look nice. maybe she'll let it fade to blonde again. regardless, no one can change it for her. it is something she does herself.

[bonesandthebees]

!!!!!!! i haven't commented in a while but i've been reading hanging rose and. squealing shaking gasping HANGING ROSE.

i love Love LOVE reading your wilburs because he feels so tragic. stars and glass and now rose. like he's made to be this sharp and all-clever figure, with all these expectations on his shoulders as bastard prince or prophet figure or the future royal consil; and deep down he's flawed and anxious and v v lonely, and these expectations are heavy on him, and everything about his circumstances are tailor-made to needle at his worst anxieties and problems!!

like my god. wilbur can never catch a break and this narrative is a fucking nightmare /pos

rose!wilbur especially he's interesting because he's definitely got the ambitions and poise for a future consil, but he feels. idk how to word it. too kind? i think. like he takes keeping secrets like a burden (Keeping quiet around Niki had been more difficult than he expected it to be). i don't think he really could be a wily all-knowing plotter type like rose!phil seems to expect him to be.

oh and let it be known i'm glaring so hard at rose!phil. sir i don't think your son can relax with you in the room. you fucked up a perfectly good kid is what you did! look at him!!

and ALSO this bit:

“That means that as of this moment, Tomys is a blank slate.” “[Valbroek] wouldn’t have had time to start preparing him for a role like that before he had to be sent here. Which means that as of right now, Tomys’ perspective is entirely his own.”

entirely his own, uninfluenced by the valbroek court,,,,meaning tomys would be easier to influence?? a blank slate, unprepared, meaning he's more malleable?? naive??? manipulatable????

oh that's. that is just plain dastardly. but then again that's bread in butter in these fuckign court politics isn't it -

- 🖤

gahhh this means so much thank you!! c!wilbur himself is such a tragic figure in so many ways, and while his tragedies were largely in part due to his own actions, it doesn't take away from the tragedy that befell him. so I love incorporating that in different ways into my fics. he needs to be what people expect of him because he has people who are relying on him but deep down he's got so many problems and he's just lonely, like you said.

rose!wilbur has an issue with lying to people he cares about, but specifically if it's because of an outside force. he doesn't care about lying to most people, but being forced to keep things from people like niki and phil really bothers him. notice how I specify if it's from an outside source. ie: phil telling wilbur to keep things from niki. if it's wilbur's own idea... well, his morals are malleable, to say the least

I do want to emphasize rose!phil truly does love his son. like, he loves wilbur a LOT. he just doesn't really know how to express that outside of doing everything in his power to make sure his son turns out even better than him. it's unfortunate because of the stress it puts on wilbur and doesn't make it alright, but that is phil's way of showing his love. he's not good at emotions lmao

tomys is a blank slate... more malleable... easier to influence... less resistant to guidance... there are many ways you can put it :) that's how these court politics work

(tysm for the kind words!!)

[bonesandthebees]

Then there’s the vip lounge. And I’m going to start with how they get to that point. Wilbur almost triggers himself another panic attack by snapping himself out of his haze with religious guilt. Because the healing process can never be linear so after […did he want Her to care about him?] and the realisation that Clara hasn’t really done anything to help him, we get a hard reset into his original mindset.

Also, I’m a huge fan of Phil’s words continuously echoing through Wilbur’s mind. Tommy snaps him out of that panic (again not how you are supposed to do it to be healthy, but in a way that still works) and Wilbur doesn’t want to get into what upset him with Tommy so he deflects with wanting to go to Quadkity. There are a few reasons for deflecting ranging from just not wanting to get into it to not wanting to risk Tommy convincing him because Wilbur’s starting to notice that what the Deathlings say is influencing his mind.

Anyway, so Wilbur suggests going to Quackity as a deflection and then realise that he could actually really use a drink. And Tommy is still in do anything to cheer Wilbur up mode, so of course he jumps on the idea, running all the practicalities through his mind. Though he only fully jumps on it once Wilbur wilts at the idea of not being able to go. Now we don’t know what Tommy told Quackity or how often Quadkity clears the VIP lounge for Tommy, but I’m pretty sure that the chance to talk to Wilbur again is enough for Quackity to clear the lounge. Cuz again, the guy is a big mystery. (and Quackity enjoys a good gossip and maybe some flirting.)

(1/?)

-🌲

lol yeah he drifted a little too close to the sun with thinking about that. the minute he pushes the religious questioning a bit too much in his head he's going to freak himself out and snap back to his original mindset. but the more he tests the boundaries the better he's going to be at questioning it... :)

what phil said really stuck with him and I wanted to emphasize that with the continuous callbacks to their conversation. also wilbur's deflect was definitely more about him just not wanting to talk about what was on his mind because if he says that stuff out loud, it becomes very real. if he tells tommy he's questioning if he even wants clara to care about him, suddenly he's said it out loud and he's actually questioning his beliefs and he's not ready for that yet. also, he just wants to be done thinking about that in general right now so he needs a distraction and, well, alcohol is a distraction!

if there had been a big event going on quackity probably wouldn't have been able to clear the vip lounge, but since there wasn't he cleared that thing asap. I mean, how often do you get to talk to the most mysterious and important religious figure in the country? quackity might not be religious but he's extremely curious about the pythia and wants to know more about him (and also, he thought he was a pretty attractive guy the last time he saw him lmao)

[bonesandthebees]

Rose time! I realised I didn’t look at the tag… WHAT DO YOU MEAN EXECUTION?!?! Like attempted murder was a given, but execution?! That invokes fear. Execution could be anyone (except Wilbur cuz he’s the pov character). You know what invokes more fear? Friends to enemies. Bee, what have you done to rainduo? Bee, please. Unless all three of those relationships are the same (probably crimeboys) relaxation, which would be a rollercoaster, I am very scared for Niki and Wilbur’s friendship (which fair but I’ll get to that complexity). Also, Enemies to family, but like in an unhealthy way -> of course it is, it wouldn’t be a Bee story without some unhealthy relationships. Also this one definitely is Crimeboys.

Anyway, don’t mind me getting distracted by the tags, I just always forget to read them but there’s a lot you can get out of them. (Don’t mind me looking at that dysfunctional family tag and glancing and Sandduo.) like this story is going to be spicy and I’m here for it.

For the rest of this ask I’m just going to yell about things and then I’ll get to the analysis next ask. The origins tag? Amazing! 1. Because o!Phil is such a cool character I wish we got to see more of and that’ll be very fun mixed in with dsmp!Phil. 2. Sneeg!!! 3. Phil and Sneeg origins dynamic, which is obviously going to be in the background, but still!

Also, Ranboo being on Wilbur side compared to the other side is very interesting given how you wrote him in Stars, like he was a flawed character, but he did fool both Wilbur and Tommy on multiple occasions. Which rip Rose!Tommy already, I’m sorry that kid is going to have a TIME. And probably not a good one.

And the Wilbur dynamics are off the charts, childhood best friends rainduo is *chef’s kiss* especially with the shared habits and Wilbur’s clear loyalty, but how loyal is he really? Tntduo strike the perfect, we are technically on opposite teams, but we are still friends and Quackity saying Wilbur would still have a place says a lot about their dynamic and how Quackity views Wilbur (I’ll get to that). And the Sandduo. Bee, I have WORDS about the Sandduo. There’s so many layers, I’m going to have a blast peeling them all back. Wilbur has daddy issues and it SHOWS. And Phil loves his son. He really does want the best for that boy. He may just also be slightly fucking him up in the process because this man has the emotional intelligence of a grain of salt.

Also, Techno! I hope we get to see more of him! We should with the meetings and all, but I can’t say to much about him because we’ve barely seen him. Btw, what does Keeper mean / do? I’ll look it up too, but I wanted to ask.

(I’m going to have to look up so much of the vocabulary in this, which is great because I’m learning new works, but imagining some of the clothes is hard because those tend to be the words I don’t know and I didn’t have time to look it up while reading yesterday.)

-🌲

LMAO I knew the execution tag would get people. it's been very funny to see everyones reactions to it so far. can't wait for it to actually come into play :) also it's really funny to see everyone try to guess which pairings fit up with which tags. also I don't want to give too much away but, like, I'll give you the obvious one that yeah enemies to family but in an unhealthy way is crimeboys. we all knew that one was coming lmao

YEAHHH o!phil my beloved! I mean we actually did see a bit of o!phil in stars. stars!phil was a mix of dsmp, origins, and smp earth phil for sure, but the o!phil influence is definitely going to be a lot more obvious in rose. also I think I said this in one of the other asks I just answered, but besides o!phil the main reason I wanted to throw the osmp tag on there was because I just really want to have sneeg in a fic lol. I love o!phil and o!sneeg's dynamic so much so I'm so excited I get to include it in this.

lol yeah ranboo's definitely not going to have as big of a role in rose as they did in stars, but it'll be interesting to have him on wilbur's side this time around. or rather, I guess it's more fitting to say they're on phil's side. wilbur just reaps the benefits of finding out everything ranboo knows because they tell sneeg and sneeg tells phil and phil tells wilbur. little game of telephone going on here.

so glad you're enjoying the wilbur dynamics so far because I'm having so much fun with them :D childhood best friends rainduo means so much to me. they share so much of themselves with each other. so many shared habits, secrets, promises, memories—I'm so excited to dig into that friendship and let the stress of their situation press down on the seams :)

tntduo too there's so much going on there. they're friends but also they've always technically been on opposing sides. they have a lot of mutual respect for each other. they're also childhood friends but it was always niki and wilbur vs quackity. it's a lot going on

YEAHHH the sandduo was the bit i was most excited for you to see. there are so many layers to them. oh my GOD wilbur's daddy issues are off the charts in this, and it's not even like phil's a bad dad. i mean, the lessons he's already instilled into his son's head are definitely questionable, but he loves his kid a lot! he wants him to succeed. he wants him to continue his legacy. he wants to make sure wilbur learns all the lessons phil himself had to learn the hard way. but also, he has no emotional intelligence whatsoever. surely this will have no long lasting impacts on wilbur's psyche.

we'll get more of techno I promise! he's not going to be a main character but he'll be very present! the 'keeper' is meant to be a 'keeper of knowledge' (I haven't officially decided on the full job title but it's something like that). essentially, he's the palace librarian/archivist. he manages important documents and records and also oversees the library, and was also charged with being wilbur and niki's tutor as they were growing up.

yeah I'm so sorry about the clothes I'm trying my best to describe them but a lot of them you're just gonna have to google because I can't describe them all very well and sometimes I just gotta use the lesser known official term for them. if there's ever any outfit/item of clothing I mention in the text that you don't know, feel free to shoot me an ask about it and I'll find a reference pic for you!!

[bonesandthebees]

So glass divine. I knew Wilbur had trauma. I was well aware that was a thing. We’ve even had snippets of dialogue from his past, but I was Not ready for a flashback. I’m going to cry. They really just kidnapped him and did not tell him what his purpose was. He had no self-worth even before they got to him. He didn’t have a connection to Clara before She chose him! He felt like she didn’t even know he existed because that’s how shitty his cards were. It also makes it extra fucked up because he got dragged of the streets and told he was chosen to serve a goddess who had never done anything for him for the rest of his life. Sure, it came with lifting in the lap of luxury, but also incredible dehumanisation of a child.

Also, this chapter is just the ‘everyone finds out the Pythia and trauma’ chapter, and that includes us readers. And Phil, Techno and Tommy all see a different piece of the puzzle. Together it does not from a pretty picture. Phil learns that the Pythia still expects them to hurt him because they have no reason not to. I feel like this has to do with the trauma of living on the streets. There’s already implied verbal abuse in the flashback. And the group homes do not sound save. Combine that with stealing food from anger vendors and I’m sure that belief formed at some point. Maybe he grew out of it as the Pythia and being around the Deathlings made it resurface.

Then Techno gets a very clear look at the dehumanisation and how deep it runs in the Pythia himself even without him outright saying that he’s not a human being. He was going to though and the idea that he he was going to do so without a blink until he realised that he didn’t want to get into a religious debate with Techno makes me want to cry. There’s this very fun opposition in what’s normalised to the Deathlings vs what’s been normalised to Wilbur as the Pythia and both of them are horrified at the other side.

I feel like Techno’s conversation builds on Phil’s realisation that of course the Pythia was going to try and escape. They would try the same in his position. So that’s the “it’s mostly our fault” realisation. There’s still blame towards Wilbur. He still chose to hurt Tommy, but the Deathlings taking part of the blame is not helping Wikbjr realise that he has agency too. He later tells Tommy [I didn’t have a choice.”]. He still truly believes that. Tommy even checks by asking if he’d do anything Clara asked of him. (the answer is yes).

(1/?)

-🌲

yupppp wilbur has a very sad backstory. even though they told him he'd been chosen by clara for something, no one gave him specifics, so he was just super confused trying to figure out why he'd been dragged into the palace so suddenly. he was just a kid who was scared and alone and had no idea what was going on. and he didn't even have a connection to clara. he got to live in the lap of luxury and never had to worry about food or shelter again, but he had no say in the matter

LMAO YEAH this chapter is literally just all of sbi getting different glimpses of wilbur's trauma. I'd definitely say his reaction to phil is largely influenced by his time on the streets. he dealt with a lot of shit as a street kid. the group home wasn't a safe place for him, and he wasn't treated kindly by vendors a lot of the time either. he hasn't had to deal with his physical safety being threatened in a very long time, so now being in a situation where he isn't sure if he's physically safe or not has definitely made some of that surface again

techno got a glimpse at the dehumanization, but just barely scratched the surface. I want to emphasize what you said: that wilbur didn't say exactly what he was thinking because he didn't want to get into a religious debate with techno. wilbur KNOWS how it sounds from an outsiders viewpoint. he knows how horrifying a lot of what he says is. but it's become so normalized to him that he just convinces himself "well it sounds bad I know but it's actually not you just have to understand-" meanwhile everyone is giving him horrified looks

yeah techno's convo builds on phil's, with the two realizing aw shit we fucked up. but the real focus like you said is wilbur's lack of agency. he genuinely feels like he didn't have a choice because clara told him to do it. he's completely devoted to her in a very unhealthy way and tommy is the one who got a glimpse of that

[bonesandthebees]

read stars epiloque and loved it to pieces, it was perfect, everything tied up so well and theyre all happy, doing amazing, im so happy for them

stars might be my favourite fanfic of all time actually

the fact that stars is finished and there wont be more chapters, but also its out there and you can go reread it anytime is so weird, but nice

i think i said everything in a comment, but i do have a question: do phil and techno know that jack helped crimeboys escape willingly for the most part? bc they saw him under the power of wilburs Voice in the hangar and he clearly wasnt fired, promoted even, but did they ever learn the truth? i can imagine that wil and tommy couldve told them later on without it getting jack in trouble, when sbi are family now and so jack helped the family same with quackity actually, tho he didnt get put under the Voice power

thank you so much i'm so glad you enjoyed!!! the ending made me so happy to write because it was such a nice way to tie things up. man i love all of them sm <3

god i wish luck to anyone who wants to reread stars it is so LONG. fun fact i very rarely read any fics over 100k words. and yet i have multiple fics i've written that are over 100k, or in stars case over 250k words. why is what i read and what i write the opposite.

uh, yeah, no. phil and techno don't know that jack willingly helped them escape, because there was just no reason to clarify that bit?? and truthfully even after everything's been settled for a while, it still almost got the brothers killed and gave them quite a bit more trauma. while phil and techno probably wouldn't do anything to jack several years down the line, it's just not a secret that needs to be unearthed yknow? it doesn't change anything either way.

also jack covered for quackity and claimed that quackity was also under the influence of wilbur's Voice when he helped them with the escape, and quackity rolled with it. so it's the same thing with him. no one ever bothered to correct that because there was no need to and it'd just cause more shit than it was worth lmao

[bonesandthebees]

So then we get the epic standoff. And honestly, this is all I’ve ever wanted since chapter 3 or 4, so thank you for that. Techno has Tommy. Phil has his wings tucked into his back and a straight face to hide his emotions, but his wings are ruffled, so he’s definitely distressed or upset.

Oh and Puffy restraining Jack not realising he’s under control of the Voice. By the time that wears off they will know about the Voice and realize Wilbur used it on Jack. So at least that plan worked. Probably. Still fucked up.

[“Why though?” Techno asked, brows furrowing. “Why do you wanna leave all of a sudden?”] -Techno. If Jack had sold them out, which I kinda fear with the stalling and not wanting to drive, but like you said he’s loyal to a fault, then they would have known about Ranboo. They didn’t. Doesn’t mean Quackity isn’t still an option, but I feel like he would have sabotaged the shuttle if it was him. Unless he was banking on Phil and Techno stopping them so Wilbur wouldn’t block his Blaziphane off.

Also, parallel to the start of this mess. Phil and Techno look to Wilbur for an explanation instead of Tommy. Which is not only because Wilbur is older. It’s also because Tommy is acting rather feral and Wilbur might be able to explain if better (if he wants to). Maybe they think a of this was Wilbur’s plan. He did do most of the heavy lifting. But it was Tommy’s plan and the kid played his part too. Wilbur even tried to back out, Jack can confirm that.

(2/?)

-🎄

you say this is all you've wanted since chapter 3 or 4, I raise you that I've had this planned since november of 2021. I've wanted to write this for SO long (thank you though I'm so glad you liked it)

puffy can tell something's up with jack because he's not saying anything when she restrains him. he's not trying to fight her, but he's dead silent because he's still under the Voice's influence. when someone is commanded to do an action with a siren's Voice, they kind of become like a robot until the action is complete or the command wears off. they won't speak, they won't even really register their surroundings. the person is aware of what they're doing but they kind of become a passenger in their own body and can't do anything about it. so jack is just silent with this glazed over look in his eyes, which puffy notices, so she can tell something's off. when the boys reveal their Voices, she puts the pieces together pretty quickly

no one sold them out. ranboo just managed to get a message out during his argument with tommy and that's the only reason phil and techno were able to confront them. so yeah, they don't have the slightest clue why the brothers are trying to leave

lmao yeah they definitely assumed this was wilbur's plan