#This is wild lol look how far we've come

[tabithatwo]

are we ready to talk about shauna's barely hidden but somehow very ignored psychosis and how it, like a ton of her other qualities, is brushed aside by both those around her and the audience? like, i think its clear that a central focus of the show is the way lottie is the only one who got stuck in a facility (and natalie in and out of rehab being the next closest to reckoning with her shit) when the rest of them are very clearly not okay. as a certified Crazy Girl, i've been weary of how they'll handle lottie's story line (blurring psychosis and the supernatural is a very delicate and tricky thing and thus far i've been sort of just waiting to see where it goes). our data on and understanding of mental health is incredibly limited for a lot of reasons (but that's a rant for another time) but there is a large mainstream misconception of when hallucinations and delusions can happen. psychosis isn't just something that happens in schizophrenia and its very complex, so if you want to learn more there's plenty of info out there i'm not going to get into it here, but it happens in a lot of other cases. psychosis is, most simply put, a loss of contact with external reality. ptsd can cause psychosis, especially auditory and visual hallucinations.

so shauna is shown to have these experiences and i didn't realize that they were being so heavily overlooked by a large amount of people until the reaction to the scene where she beats lottie nearly to death. shauna is introduced in s1 as having hallucinations of jackie 25 years later. she is shown to disassociate. in 207, she both holds the baby's body and believes the delusion that they ate the baby. the episode shows her fighting the delusion until she can't anymore. meanwhile, adult shauna tells lottie she keeps callie at arms length out of "fear that she would die...i guess? or maybe that she was never even...real to begin with." then she adds "i think something is broken, lottie." implied: she's broken. something is wrong with her. this is the is the most honest about her mental state we've ever seen shauna be.

why? because lottie has always been and likely will always be perceived as crazier. lottie is the one they pin it on, lottie is the cult leader both then and now, lottie is the scapegoat, lottie is the one who got sent to switzerland. i think there's something to be said for the effect lottie has on people (again, a whole other post) but honestly, that alone is enough. shauna is feeling vulnerable for a lot of reasons and she can tell lottie that she thinks she's crazy, that she's never quite sure her daughter exists, that she's constantly afraid she'll die to the degree that she doesn't let herself interact with her in a real, tangible way, because it's always safer to tell the crazy girl you're crazy, too.

and lottie knows. shauna knows that. lottie clocked her psychosis almost immediately, when she was in the meat shed for all hours. the other girls were shocked by the makeup, and their shock was so fucking strange to me when i watched it, but now on reflecting i'm realizing maybe its the lottie effect. like, have i done the shit shauna has? abso-fucking-lutely not lol. but does my mind work in a way where i immediately would assume shauna was doing something along the lines of the shit she was doing out there, because to me its like...what else would it be? yeah. like sees like, in a way. lottie knows what this looks like at baseline, even if its coming out way different in shauna. even if in shauna it looks like aggression and violence a lot of the time. lottie gets it.

jeff doesn't get it, he thinks strawberry lube is too wild. taissa gets it to a degree, and we see shauna be the second most open with her, but tai suppresses and hides it a degree that she wouldn't dare step foot in a therapist's office (this is yet another thing that makes me crazy but is a whole other post lol). shauna's main goal in this life she's created is pretending to be normal. and she's like, impressively bad at it. but people let her, because what else are they going to do? addressing the clear issues is taboo, because we categorize people so heavily. she masks better than lottie, but it's fucking wafer thin. you see this when she interacts with people who aren't her family or the other yjs. the way she speaks to the taylors? to adam? shauna is only sometimes masking passably when she's in her set world, where she has a routine, and is surrounded by people she only has to half-convince of her sanity.

if shauna is honest about the level of psychosis she experiences, she knows she'll end up like lottie. and i think there's an argument to be made that the people around her (which at this point in her life is pretty much just jeff because she's done another common thing and insulated herself from other people, re: the way she behaves being clockably off to others who won't overlook certain things or can't relate) understand that too. it can't be addressed, because then in their minds there must be action of some kind if it is. (taissa yelling you're acting crazy, shauna is one of the most purely terrified moments we see of her in relation to shauna, because she knows she's admitting something. jeff yelling something to the same effect after the carjacking, same thing.)

the person we see try to get shauna to open up about it is callie. her teenage daughter, who bares the brunt of her difficulty maintaining reality, (who knows that shauna has never accepted her fully as her child, and seems to actually sense that there is a deeper reason for that), asks her to open up. she tells her after the club scene that she knows something is wrong. she even mentions jackie directly. she spends all of s2 trying to relate to shauna, to get her to be open with her about everything. there's no way shauna's trauma and psychosis and general issues have gone unnoticed by callie. daughters always know. they see it in their mothers before they even have a concept of the world. so we're watching a 16 year old try to get her mom to open up, because she doesn't understand fully why that's so dangerous to shauna. to callie, it may even be a secret she thinks other people are in on that she's being left out of. i think maybe she's realizing that it isn't personal and that shauna is guarded like this in general, and we're watching that happen.

callie is learning to care for and relate to her mother and she doesn't see why shauna won't let her in, because to her it's an innate truth that she'll be by her side no matter what (if only she'd let her be). she has unconditional love for her mother and that is the scariest thing in the world to shauna, because the last person who had unconditional love for shauna died because shauna didn't know what to do with it. a baby she never got a chance to meet in reality could've replaced the love that jackie gave her, and shauna was maybe starting to look forward to that, but that ended before it began. so twice shauna has killed that figure in her life. the one who loves her wholly and for who she is, which is terrifying to shauna in it's own right (she tried to take that away from jackie in their last moments, maybe you never really knew me, because that would be easier. shauna can't handle someone really knowing her because she can't handle really knowing herself because, again, that means addressing things that go unaddressed). and she doesn't plan on killing that figure again.

(if callie's even real, because the baby wasn't real when she met him and jackie wasn't real every time she's talked to her in the last twenty-five years, so who the fuck is to say callie is real?)

[ashblooddragons]

My Heart, My Ruin (Chapter 3/?)

(Sorry! I know it's a day late but yesterday was my family's Thanksgiving so I didn't have time to write sadly. but I got this chapter out today so hopefully it is alright lol)

32 ac Dragonstone 

Rhaella's pov

Me and Rhaena stand side by side as we watch two dragons feast upon horses, pigs, and what seems to be a squid but I can't be sure. We've both been desperate for a dragon, we both have been feeling a pull at our souls for far too long to ignore.

“How do we do this? Especially while wearing such unfit clothes?” Rhaena asks, turning to look at me and our outfits. 

I'm wearing a light blue dress with silver embroidered flowers and dragons along the sleeves, neckline, and hem of my dress. And of course, the necklace Uncle Maegor gave me for my nameday all those years ago.

And she is wearing a lovely dark navy dress with silver embroidery of dragons and stars along the sleeves, neckline and hem of her dress. 

Mama gave them to us only a week prior as a set stating. “You two are so close, you may as well match every once and a while.” 

And to be fair she's not wrong, we both have many ‘friends’, mostly ladies whose fathers wish to get a in with the royal family. But no matter how much gossip, walks in the gardens, or some other mundane activity they bring me or Rhaena's way, we would both pick to play and explore with each other. She truly is my best friend in this whole world. 

“I mean we don't have to fly on them, we just have to claim them, the flying part is more of a special thing to add on. Plus yours isn't nearly large enough to be saddled and ridden yet.” I say pointing to the blue dragon Rhaena had had her eyes on, it is no larger than a horse it would take at least two more years before she could fly upon the beast. 

“Yeah I know that, but you want Meraxes, she is the size of mountains. She could swallow you, me, and my little dragon to be in one fell swoop! So we need a plan, at least for your future dragon.” She says pointing towards Meraxes.

I think for a moment trying to figure out how we can achieve our goal and not be jerky for the dragons this afternoon. I then notice the distance between the dragons, because of Meraxes size compared to the wild blue dragon, it made me believe they were closer than they actually are. 

“There is no need, you go to your dragon, and I'll go to mine.” I say confidently starting to wake down the hill we were watching the two dragons from. That is until Rhaena pulls me back looking scared 

“What if I forget the words? What if you forget the words? What if we both do and we're both fried? What if even though we do everything right they still don't choose us?” She rambles off in such quick succession it is near impossible to understand what she is saying.

“Calm down, Rhaena,” I say gripping her shoulders, making her look me in the eyes trying to calm her down. “Where is my fearless little sister? Surely my little sister will face a dragon. I mean you are the one who pranks grandsire and great aunt Visenya, if you can prank them I think…no, I know you can claim a dragon.” I say which seems to calm her. 

I know I got through to her when I see that fire and mischievous look come back to her eyes replacing the cold and fearfulness that used to be there.

“Alright, let's do this.” Rhaena says before practically running down the halls towards her gorgeous blue dragon. 

Looking at the dragon from this viewing point and not the far distance I usually do, I can see why it has caught Rhaena's attention. It is a beautiful baby blue with silver accents and white spikes and membrane. When its scales are caught in the light of the sun it makes a breathtaking shimmer that appears as if the stars are made by this dragon, and this dragon alone.

My attention is quickly turned though by the colossal that is known as Meraxes by her growl that seems to either shake the ground, terrifies me to the point my knees are knocking together, or both…most likely both. 

I feel as if my very soul is vibrating when looking at the white and gold beast, her scales appear to shift between white and deep silver depending where the light catches them, but her spikes, horns and membrane are gold just like the molten gold of her eyes. She is a gorgeous dragon, one I know will be mine.

I walk closer to her taking slow and calm steps trying not to startle her. The thought rises a giggle from me, for why would this beast large enough to be mistaken as a mountain be frightened by me a little girl of only ten? 

I'm now right in front of Meraxes feeling the warmth of her breath against me, I'm so close with each breath she takes my hair is either pushed into my face or blown past my shoulders. I thought I would feel panic when I came this close to her, but instead I feel a wonderful calmness, a warm and kind feeling, the feeling of being whole. 

I feel her nuzzle against my chest, she is obviously trying to be gentle but when you’re the size she is well it’s quite hard to be gentle. I finally decide to reach out when she starts to purr against my chest. I feel the warmth of her scales, they are smooth with only a bump here or there from her war days. 

I can’t fight the smile that comes to my face at the very thought that I have a dragon. 

I'm startled out of my musing when I hear a cheerful squeal. I quickly turn and see Rhaena doing a happy dance which consists of her jumping and fist-bumping the air. 

“I GOT A DRAGON!” She screams excitedly as her blue beast watches, and I swear is dancing in joy with her if the sway and tail swishes are any indicator.

I start walking towards Rhaena when she starts running over to me and Meraxes. Though I think the dragon wouldn't hurt my little sister, as she probably feels the bond I have with Rhaena, I would rather be safe than sorry. 

Rhaena stops and gives me that mischievous grin of hers before saying cheekily. “So is it fair to assume you tamed that mountain you call a dragon, or am I to wait a bit longer for the flames to leave her maw?” 

I can't help but roll my eyes and giggle, for Rhaena truly is just a cheeky thing always ready with a joke. 

“Yes, I succeeded as well, though I don't know if I want to take her for a fly yet.” I say looking behind me to watch as Meraxes eyes Rhaena curiously.

When I turn back I find Rhaena pouting with her infamous puppy dog eyes. I already know what she's going to ask me before she even asks it.

“Please! Oh please can we fly back to the castle?” 

I sigh looking back at Meraxes trying to decide if I'll give in or not. When I turn back I find I can't give one, for Rhaena knows I know the commands for she and I both take the same classes with the Dragonkeepers. 

Finally, with a groan I nod and start walking towards Meraxes. I know I made the right choice when I hear Rhaena's happy chatter as she talks to her dragon about how she will need to follow us.

I stop and look at the ropes wondering how intact they are after all these years without use and being worn down by the weather upon Dragonstone. But with one touch I can feel their intact and could hold both me and Rhaena easily.

“You go first, I'll be right behind you in case you slip.” I say moving to the side so she can climb up.

She only nods before starting her climb with me quickly following behind her. I feel the burn of the ropes as I pull myself up, it feels as if no time passed from the time my feet were on the ground and I was sitting upon the saddle. 

I try and catch my breath before turning to Rhaena to ask if she is secure. When she nods excitedly wrapping her arms around me I quickly turn around commanding Meraxes to take to the skies.

“Sōvegon!” 

Me and Rhaena scream in delight as Meraxes runs towards the cliff edge before leaping off and extending her wings. When we're in the sky I feel this immediate calmness that comes through me. 

“Look, mine is following us! She listened!” Rhaena says excitedly as she points to her dragon trying its best to keep up with us. 

I smile, nodding, and look forward again, noticing we’re almost to the castle. I search for a spot large enough for Meraxes to land, it takes a bit of time but I find one close enough to the castle that we won’t have to walk far. I barely make out the shapes of Father, Mother, Grandsire and Uncle Maegor as we land. 

They all start running towards us as we slid down Meraxes extended wing. Mother is the first to reach us grabbing both of us by the shoulders and checking for injuries.

“Are you alright? Neither of you are hurt?” She asks before kissing our brows and hugging us close. 

“We’re alright Mother, we both claimed dragons.” I say hugging her back and taking in her scent of oranges and cinnamon. 

“Yes, we can see that, Darlings.” Father says from behind Mother marveling at the sheer size and beauty of Meraxes before turning to Rhaena’s dragon. “Though I do believe that one is wild.” 

Rhaena giggles running over to Father with a smile that could outshine the very sun. “I’m gonna call her Dreamfyre because her scales look like stars when the sun catches them.” 

I’m soon distracted when Mother walks over to the now curious Aegon stopping him from rushing towards the dragons. I turn to search for the one face I was hoping to see after claiming a dragon and it doesn’t take me long to find him as he is already moving towards me. 

“You claimed Meraxes, you have a dragon.” He says with a smile, but for some reason, it seems pinched, forced like he isn’t truly happy. 

Instead of trying to find out why he is upset I decide to answer. “Yes, isn’t she lovely, Kepus?” 

He only hums looking anywhere but me. This confuses me, he has always said I’d claim a dragon one day, that he would be so proud of me when I do, but he doesn’t seem proud he seems angry. 

I get no time to inquire about this strange behavior as his wife comes walking out asking questions about dragons and such. I feel the same ugly feeling I always do when she is with Kepus, the one I never get rid of no matter how hard I try. So instead I turn to pet Meraxes along her jaw missing the way my uncle turns to me with a proud smile that finally showed once he pushed through his jealousy.

Series Masterlist

Special thanks to @sugutoad For making the header for this fic! I swear I'd be lost without you girly!

TAGLIST: @sugutoad @ilikefelines @sachaa-ff @classicsimpforaaronwarner @mmogurl

[hollowtones]

ayy monhun fan! what are you thinkin of what we've seen of wilds so far?

The initial trailer they dropped months ago was pretty cool. "World" is my least favourite game that I've played (even thought I liked it a lot!!), and 90% of why I felt that way was "this is the first time they're making a game of this scale / scope / direction", so it's exciting to see them make a successor to it now that they're not also learning how to make a game like it from the bottom-up & not also building the tech side of it from scratch.

Big desert environments have me excited!!!! I love the way these games do deserts. I'm always dreaming of Val Habar. I love the colour palette they're using for this area. Big fan of Yoshi being a new mechanic. In general I'm noticing a lot of things in "Wilds" that feel like a really cool mix of ideas from "World" and "Rise" in a way that feels a little more grounded. It's cool that they're bringing back a buddy you can ride around on & control. I wonder if they'll let Yoshi fight with you. I don't remember if they showed that off already. Getting to hotswap between 2 weapons without having to run back to base camp feels like a big deal that I haven't really wrapped my head around yet.

The focus mode thing seems fine. More granular control over aiming sometimes seems neat, & the footage we've seen makes it feel like positioning & animation commitment are still a part of it, which I like. Expanding part-breaking into "opening wounds that take more damage & enable special attacks" seems cool! (There was a similar-ish tenderizing mechanic with the Clutch Claw in "Iceborne", and I fuckin hated using it. Loved the idea of it at first. Having to do this whole separate action that interrupted the flow of the fight in a weird way to enable more damage felt awful after a while!! And they designed all the fights around the fact that you have it & use it! So I'm glad they're seemingly taking what I liked about it & chucking out the rest, haha.) I remember there was some hubbub about focus existing at all when news was first dropping. Some people were mad about it? I feel like this happens every time they announce a new Monster Hunter. They reveal a new feature, and a couple guys crawl out of the woodwork to go "THEY HAVE MADE THE VIDEO GAME PITIFUL AND EASIER - THIS IS THE DEATH OF THE FRANCHISE!" The franchise has died every game since the first one, by my count. (They end up buying the game anyway, of course.) I hope they put out a demo soon, though. I wanna get my hands on it & see how it works in the middle of a fight to see how I actually feel about it.

Weapon & armour design so far has been great. Happy about that. The bits of NPC designs we've seen have been cool. I don't really like the smith's look very much. Which makes me sad because I'm pretty sure she's supposed to be Little Miss Forge. LOL

When they first showed the game off I remember thinking "yeah, that's cool, I'm looking forward to this, but it's coming out Next Year & we're not even halfway done with 2024." Well now we're almost two thirds of the way through the year. And they keep dropping gameplay trailers. And they look hype as fuck!! And now I'm feeling more impatient!!! I wanna try this shit out soon!!! I wonder if they'll drop a public demo after Gamescom or something. I wonder if my computer could even run it...

I liked the way Hunting Horn played in "Rise" but it's cool to see the more traditional recitals back. (But faster!! And with new combo paths!!) I think I've spent a cumulative hour or two watching that horn trailer over and over again for little details. The funny bubble reminds me of bead of resonance but it seems like it might also be some kind of AoE team buff? It could also just be extra damage like bead was. But I loved bead. So I'll take it. Being a Hunting Horn fan is accepting that you'll be playing an entirely different weapon in every subsequent game, so I suppose I fuss less about whether or not it plays like any one specific game. But mannnnnn it looks cool as hell this time around.

[cinamun]

*Tink tink* Happy late 9 year anniversary get together party for Cinamun the writer of Things Fall Apart - The Indya Drake version. Thank you for wearing your RR t-shirts! Hope everyone enjoyed their ghettosa's, mocktails, icebox pie, wings, veggie burgers, and the comfy leisure sectional furniture while listening to the Author's cut commentary on one of the simverse's best fan stories. *Begins to collect the red cups, passes out foil and plates for to go plates, takes down the large RRR picture of Raven Symone, pays the DJ and the Kenji impersonator -- um, the "entertainment" and sends everyone home with a swag bag and a hardcopy of TFA- The Indya Drake edition - 9 years of pivotal moments lookbook.

Thank you Miss Cinamun for continuing to write the fun, engaging, roller coaster ride of the Drake Family et al.

Waiting on the play or Netflix series...

FRIEND!!!!

LOOK HOW FAR WE'VE COME!!! I can't believe its been so long and y'all haven't gotten sick of me yet! LOL slips Kenji impersonator $5 to stay an extra hour

This all started with a hot-headed, materialistic heffa with a bad addiction to big dicks and bloated balances. She took us from her humble roots in the Springs to her dream of getting to the top of San My in a luxurious penthouse. We pulled out our hair, we threw tomatoes at the author's face for good damn reason and we braced ourselves for whatever was next!

I am so super thankful for you and everyone who has become apart of R³ and my wild imagination. I've been a writer forever but never have I had the chance to really explore themes and dive head-first into controversy like I have with Things Fall Apart.

I HOPE YOU NEVER LEAVE AND WE JUST SKIP AROUND THE DASH FOREVER AND EVER AND EVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

[p5x-theories]

I know its not the most important part of the trailer, but what you think its the deal with the Loki Whale?

Im aware that Loki's design is based on a aready existing military pattern, expecially one used on ships, so its not too far fetch that they used it on a 'water' themed palace. But also feels like they are just teasing us at this point 🥲

Ik it could just be a funny easter egg, but my 2 cents its that its related to how unstable the metaverse is right now.

You know, like when you dream and you see things that are an mix of things you saw in real life, but they make no sense. Thus Whale Loki is born lol

Huh, I actually didn't even consider it might be Loki-related when I first saw the trailer! My first thought was that star pattern you see in some of P5's UI:

But you might be onto something about it looking a bit more like Loki's pattern than the stars... not to mention the- wait, does it have horns, too, even??

I reopened the trailer to double-check that the red stuff coming off the whale actually is part of it, since it's reminiscent of Loki's red braids as well, but as it was turning I noticed it appears to have horns coming off the top of its head (it's upside-down in this screenshot), too!

I think you were right the first time, this feels much more like it's intentionally Loki, and less like coincidental dazzle camouflage. What the heck is going on with this whale??

Metaverse instability is possible, though I'd argue we don't even know if the Metaverse is unstable, so it's sort of a shot in the dark. Let's look back at where we've seen this whale before... I'm pretty sure it's only been in Chapter 3?

We first saw the whale swimming through the waters of the third Palace, towards the start of Chapter 3, the night after Katayama was posted as a phantom and forbidden from interacting with students outside of class, and just before we see it confirmed that Katayama is the Rush Rider. The transition during the cutscene seems to connect the whale to all the copies of that Mementos boss that we then see spawn in Mementos.

We then saw what looks like the whale's silhouette again in the 3.2 trailer, but this time it appeared to be swimming over what might be Mementos instead? It's then immediately followed by another shot of those boss guys spawning in Mementos. Granted, we haven't seen this in the game yet, so these two shots might not actually be shown back-to-back in the proper cutscene.

Since the Palaces are accessed from within Mementos in this game, it's not super weird that the whale might be able to leave the Palace... or maybe getting rid of the Palace by changing Katayama and Akashi's hearts will set the whale free? Either way, I can at least imagine how the whale gets out there. I'm not sure what the watery-looking filter over Mementos means, though, but it's interesting because right now I kind of associate the ocean the most with Wonder, given his Persona awakening and his Velvet Room.

But I really think it means something that the Loki whale was in the third Palace first and foremost. And as I was grabbing those screenshots and writing out the context for its other appearances, thinking about the whale while doing so... I think it might be inflicting something like a weaker Call of Chaos on Katayama and Akashi??

I feel like that's a wild thing say, but it could explain two currently inexplicable pieces of information revealed by the plot: 1) basically everything about the Rush Rider; like Katayama said: "lately whenever she gets on her bike, her body feels hot and her head gets fuzzy. She admits she doesn’t even remember biking onto a train, like in the video on Magatsushin", and 2) why, in Wonder's vision, Akashi snaps and stabs Riko, when that's extremely out of character for him, and also wouldn't make sense for him to do if he just had no desires left.

As we know it from P5, Call of Chaos let Akechi drive people's Shadows berserk, leading to the breakdown incidents- incidents where people suddenly do reckless, usually violent things- which the victims then wouldn't really recall after the fact. That aligns suspiciously well with Katayama and Akashi's strange actions, and we've only seen the whale in their Palace. This whale was barely on my radar half an hour ago, but now that I've typed this whole response out, I'm totally convinced that this is the whale's doing, somehow. So, thanks for bringing it up!

Still no idea why it exists in the first place, or what it might mean if the whale will be roaming free in Mementos after the Palace is gone, though...

[misc-obeyme]

I had a random thought about our boy Barbatos because we know that Someone is becoming more and more demon I had a thought like... what if that's happened before. Barbatos has supposedly been around forever and Nightbringer was the first demon or something whatever but here was my thought

Barbatos going around and doing what he wants and not caring about the consequences is kinda fae behavior. what if he used to be fae? I mean, technically his power is pretty damn strong for a demon

my next point comes from the stuff about the fairy king being imprisoned or something like what if Barbs transformation happened originally way back then? what if Barbatos serves little Diavolo because Dias most likely to try and bring all the worlds together peacefully?

what if, and I know barb LOVES Dia so it's not like nefarious, but what if it's kind of some kind of plot. like barb does know enough of the future but (by love of Dia) has promised to stop messing with it and barb HAS found peace with that. but he also DOes know that dias gonna unite things so he will loyally serve Dia without questions and cos he can't look into the future he basically will follow every command, trusting dia

I also wonder if something barb did is what caused the demon lord to be sleeping under the castle (doesn't barb have a torture room under there) so

my wild imagination will be going forever on this until there are answers

- 🐌

You may end up speculating for the rest of eternity because my experience with this game has been that answer are few and far between. Or they create new questions that are even more baffling lol.

I have heard the fae Barb theory before, mostly because of the fairy king situation. Like in the game it says something about the fairy king being trapped by the first demon king so that the demons could take over their land and create the Devildom. Some speculate the fairy king is Nightbringer and that could be the case. But if Nightbringer is also the father of demons then that would at some point require some kind of transformation right? Nightbringer always says he's a demon, but is he??

Of course I think it's also possible that Nightbringer is NOT the fairy king, but Barb IS. Or was. Which would mean that Barb couldn't also be Nightbringer.

The thing is we don't have enough canon information on how such transformations work. At least in the case of angels, it makes sense for them to become demons upon falling or being cast out of the CR. But what would a fairy have to do to end up a demon? I have no idea. But since there's no canon saying this isn't possible, then it certainly still is!

Though I never considered that it was something Barb did that caused the demon king to go to sleep. The torture dungeon is a rumor, but there's definitely a dungeon down there. Henry 1.0 lives there after all and we've been there several times.

Personally I think all of those things are possibilities. And there are probably many more such possibilities we could speculate about, too. Because this game has been dragging out the Nightbringer answer and the Barb past explanation for SO LONG that anything could happen at this point.

It's both frustrating and fun. Because wow are we ever gonna get those answers? But also I like your ideas and they're probably better than whatever the game ends up giving us anyway lol.

[httpwintersoldier]

My HONEST Review of Captain America: Brave New World

[SPOILER FREE SECTION]

Overall score: 5/10

It's an okay movie. Captain America movies have always been political but this one had a dubious inclination (more on this under the cut). It falls back on a lot of stuff we've already seen (and something we've seen done in better ways) and feels quite repetitive on that end.

Overall they want you to be rooting for many characters that you don't know much about/don't have much of a connection to (aside from the Cap itself) which also makes the movie a bit stale - the stakes aren't high because you know they're not killing off Sam Wilson and if they kill or hurt anyone else you don't really care.

The villains were kind of weak (not in strength, but as characters overall) and as a whole the plot is solid but throughout the movie it seems scattered.

I didn't hate it, but I won't be watching it again.

[SPOILERS BELOW THE CUT]

I will now delve further and explain what I've said above.

I want to start off with the political comment. I find it weird that Captain America would team up with the government with such ease especially given the Avenger's and Sam's previous episodes with the government - eventually and very quickly there's a falling out though and I started thinking "ah, this is more like a Cap storyline, disagreeing with the government and all". But oh was I wrong. He then starts feeling for the President and saying "he's not that bad" when he locked up Isaiah and kept him there after knowing that the shooting was not his fault, and then tricked a man into doing work for him with the promise of letting him go and then kept him locked up still doing his dirty work. That is not a good man, Sam Wilson, what the fuck lol. He's definitely not the main villain, but damn he's sure as Hell not the hero either and I don't like how the movie paints him as a victim or whatever.

Moving on, the villain. HATED him. Absolutely despised him, he wasn't a good villain, he was so goofy. "My calculations...", "There was a percentage here...", "There was a percentage there...". We've had smart villains and heroes before, we've had literal machines villains and heroes, we've had He Who Remains which is quite literally omnipotent, if I'm not mistaken, there are good ways to make an incredibly intelligent villain, that was not one. He was just annoying.

As for the Red Hulk, I would've liked it if he was more animalistic, like the Hulk before Banner got him under control, especially because that was his first time being "out", and he behaved like a very strong and angry person instead of a wild animal, which kind of sucked to me.

The cherry blossom scene... Yikes, is all I have to say. Very greenscreen-ish, and the whole "this is where you wanted to come with your daughter" thing made it seem very "look at me!!! this isn't you!!!". I understand that at the end of the day Sam Wilson is just a guy, and so far we haven't had a lot of "just a guy" things in the MCU, but it has been done, the punisher is a great example of that. Giving Sam Wilson such a strong opponent as the Red Hulk wasn't a great idea, I don't think, because that made him seem weaker than he is. He won the fight by basically saying "this isn't you", which I thought was a terrible way to end it all, it felt like I was blue balled the whole movie and then it was an unsatisfying climax.

As for the paralels... Mind-controlling stuff? We've seen that at least in two other Cap movies. Flying guy very close to main character is hit in the sky and comes crashing down and is badly injured? Rhodey in Civil War. Them trying to be the good guys and then being taken away by government officials? Civil War. The "brooding spy girl that is badass", "Cap main character" and "funny sidekick" trio? Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The supersoldier that is very close to the main character is unjustly taken away by government? Captain America: Civil War.

I expected somethin new and instead they blended together what they already had and served it to us, it's like they said "let's do another Cap movie and change nothing even though the main character is different".

Bucky shows up and he's trying to become a government official?... I'm sorry?... That has to be the most random and senseless thing I have ever heard in my life, Marvel, have you kept up with his story recently? They keep giving Bucky these side missions and weird storylines.

Also, I love Giancarlo Esposito and I was excited to see him but his appearance seems random and it just seemed like they're just setting his character and organization up for stuff that happens later on.

POSITIVE POINTS:

You have an amazing cast, genius actors that all do a great job - the problem is the writing here, because all of them do really well.

BUCKYYY BUCKY BUCKYY!! HE SHOWS UP! I KNEW IT!

The red Hulk is nice, I like him.

I'm excited to see what the Serpent Society and Giancarlo's character will do.

I enjoyed that they brought in Sam's sister, I like her as a character.

Overall this movie just seemed like a set-up for all the things that will happen in the future, unfortunately. I saw a review that said "A movie for anyone who watched The Falcon and The Winter Soldier and thought, 'I wish this were longer, and worse and also somehow a direct sequel to The Incredible Hulk.'"

[vixendoesstuff]

I haven't completed any new art concepts for the Techno!Branch AU yet, but I got some notes on how Branch ended up with the Pop Trolls.

So as I've mentioned before, his egg is somehow found on the Troll Tree, even though there was no river or any water source for it to be washed up on.

And according to this map, the nearest water source to Bergen Town is on the west, and the Techno Reef is on the north or northeast. So here's what I've come up with;

When Branch was still an egg, there was a massive storm on Techno Reef that caused the waves to go out of control. I'd wager it spread onto the other kingdoms nearby like Volcano Rock City, but it's not enough of a concern for them as it is for the Techno Trolls.

The currents underwater was going wild, and amidst the chaos, Branch's egg was somehow swept away. Whoever's in charge at the time probably wouldn't notice an egg going astray, too focused on getting the rest of the Trolls to safety from the storm.

Soon the egg was washed ashore on a random beach north to Bergen Town. How did it end up there?

I don't know, maybe it went through an adventure Disney's Dinosaurs style if any of y'all watched the movie (something like this : https://youtu.be/xeMV6gQto_s?si=kteSk28Q9lsG6ElS)

It's a kids series, anything can happen.

Anyway, the egg then ended up carried into Bergen Town, either by an unsuspecting Bergen just messing with a little ball thing he found on the edge of town and decide to throw it into the Troll Tree, or we can do a Cooper and have some bird drop it into the Tree.

Either way his egg ended up on the Tree regardless, nestled neatly on the base of the Tree, no crack in sight.

How that happened, I don't know, maybe Techno Troll eggs are resilient to attacks lol

The egg was then found by either John Dory or Grandma Rosiepuff (I'm betting on JD, though) and was brought back to their home 'cause maybe they thought it was a random Pop Troll egg that got lost and they didn't pay close attention to it.

It was only when the egg is in the house that they realized that this isn't a normal Troll egg.

Now I don't know for sure what Techno Troll eggs look like. The ones we've see onscreen are one for the Glitter Trolls (who are a part of Pop, so we can assume most Pop Troll eggs look like the ones shown), the Country Trolls, and the Funk Trolls. Best official reference I could find of the eggs is from this image; the one on the far left is, presumably, the Techno egg through its design alone.

If I didn't know any better, this is probably the official design for the Troll eggs. My initial headcanon is that Techno Troll eggs are more spherical in shape and has the same consistency of a goldfish egg.

But for the sake of simplicity, let's say the image above is the official egg design and leave it at that; the only thing important to note is that the eggs look different for each tribe.

Anyway, the bros realized the egg isn't normal, and it wasn't long until it started to shake, to their dawning horror.

The final eggshell fell off, and out came baby Branch in all his Techno glory.

And that's that! I'll be making more notes and headcanons in the future, but for now this is what I got so far.

[lost-in-reveriie]

*its pitch black* *suddenly a beam of light and i appear* TIS I HERE FOR YOUR FAVOURITE PART OF THE DAY *stage starts to glow*

Addy!!

How are you today? Its the weekend yay!!!

would you prefer to go frolicking in the fields with a picnic or have morning tea (is that a thing where you are?) in a cafe on a rainy day?

If you could have only three foods for the rest of your life what would they be? (idk if we've done this one lol)

ALSO im changing my theme soon any ideas on what i should do?

and im currently on the episode where ross and rachel take a break. AND ALL ROSS NEEDED TO DO WAS STAY IN THE FREAKING ROOM AND TALK TO RACHEL AHHHH

*smoke comes pouring in the room* *lights start flickering* *i appear on stage with you!!* *the audience goes wild* (this might be my fav intro so far, but the phoenix one was pretty funny) (waiiiitttt could i do tomorrows i have a good idea!)

Emma!!

im doing alright today!!! and yesssss weekend!!! i went skiing with my family earlier today but now im just watching friends :)) how are you?

oooohhhh hardest choice ever!!!! but i think i have to go with the first one cause it seems like a more unique experience? idk. (yeah id say its a thing? at least for some people, my sister is obsessed with tea and she has like 4 cups a day) which one would you choose??

heres a question for you: would you rather live in this cottage, or one of these windmills? (yes i put links 😭)

hmm probably pasta, subway sandwiches, and crepes!! (no i dont think we've done this one before!) what about you?

oohhh!!! okie!! honored you asked for my opinion! do you have any ideas in mind yet? with a quick look around my pin i can find a lot haha 😭 but you could do a reddish white one like this, or maybe that? and i could always look for some other ones too!!

random question, but what time is it where you are?

AHHH HES SO OBNOXIOUS!!! i just finished season 5!!

[etherealnoir]

Depending on the finale and how season two turns out I’m debating dropping it too. The kidnapped turned kidnapper only works if they get wild with it and so far they’ve been doing playground shit. The most intriguing parts are the flashbacks and the few times Gabi loses it on Sir and they have a nasty little back and forth lol. I read an interview where MPG says the choice not to age him up was on purpose because of time constraints? didn’t really make sense 2 me and he plays it like Sir is completely (non sexually) obsessed and taken with Gabi and wants to nurture her brilliance but doesn’t know how Shanola plays it which seems weird to me because aren’t y’all supposed to bounce off each other? But yeah that obsession it comes off on his end and the hate comes off hers so it works. They just need to make it more crazy. Hopefully the finale kicks things into action.

I read an interview where MPG says the choice not to age him up was on purpose because of time constraints? didn’t really make sense 2 me

I looked up that interview you're referring to, and they meant that they didn't have time to give him age makeup. Which I totally understand. Honestly, MPG looks GOOD for 50, so I don't blame them. But since they wanted to keep him at his actual age, they should've aged Gabi up. Because he doesn't look 15 years older than Shanola lol

I guess, by the time casting rolled around, it was too late to change that part of the storyline so they just rolled with it and hoped everyone would look the other way lol

Shanola and MPG do play their respective characters off of each other weirdly, sometimes. Gabi treats him like he's this annoying burden she has to deal with (which I suppose is true to some extent), and not a guy she WILLINGLY kidnapped. He's pretty consistent with how he plays off of her, but she's sometimes hot and cold. Which, again, makes sense with the character. It's just sometimes jarring when he's playing something super intensely and she's like ":/ ugh."

Which is wild because I KNOW Shanola can play intense. We've seen her do it. But every scene with him reads like annoyance rather than internal (or external) turmoil lol

I don't want to see my babygirl get upstaged on her own show! They need to fix the writing for her. Let her express some more vulnerability sometimes!

[gaykey]

Kibum has always been my gay icon but if someone would have told me in 2011 that in a decade or so he would be covering Lizzo on TV and releasing literally dozens of gay club bangers I would NOT have believed it and not only because solo projects were basically unheard of. Legends only.

no for real like, looking back, we've come so far.

i mean, back in 2011, i was getting anon hate for even suggesting that kibum might not be straight.

now, the very idea that he is, is so wild to people lol

i know we were saying this yesterday, but, he is so brave. and i think we underestimate just how much sometimes?

i am so proud of him.

[ballonleaparadise]

A Review of Pokemon Horizons Ep. 1-12

We are (as I'm writing this) a dozen episodes into the new pokemon anime, so I thought it would be a good time to make a review. When it was first announced that Ash was being retired as the main character, I was unsure how the anime would continue. After 25 years of Ash Ketchum, it must have been a difficult decision for the writers to replace him. However, Pokemon Horizons has proven to be a breath of fresh air, and I'm loving it so far. *Major spoilers ahead for eps 1-12*

I'm going to start with Liko. Firstly, I'm glad that the writers did not make her a clone of Ash. On the contrary, she has a personality that is very distinct from Ash's daring and bold character. She is shy, and finds it difficult to approach others. It's refreshing to watch pokemon from the perspective of a more introspective character. However, the main reason why I like Liko is due to the way in which she has been handled. She fills in for the narrator, which gives us a glimpse into her inner thoughts and feelings. This makes her relatable, as it shows us as an audience what Liko thinks versus what she says out loud. Finally, Sprigatito is the perfect partner pokemon for Liko. They are both reserved, wary and a little reckless. While anipoke feels weird without Ash, I think Liko has a lot of potential, and I'm looking forward to seeing how she develops.

Moving on to Roy, I also really like his characterisation. He's more similar to Ash in terms of his enthusiasm, and his compassion for pokemon. However, he has his own unique traits, including his curiosity about the ancient explorer and his friendship with Fuecoco. Speaking of Fuecoco, I love this little guy and his comedic moments. All of the pokemon in the main cast have individual personalities, and I'm here for it. In addition, I really like Roy's relationship with his grandfather, who appears to have had a significant influence on both him and Friede. In terms of Roy's goal, I'm excited to see where his pursuit of Rayquaza goes. The latest episode gave us more information about the ancient explorer, so it'll be interesting how the story progresses.

Next, I have to touch on the other crew members of the Rising Volt Tacklers. Friede is a loveable dork who just happens to be a professor. Orla is best girl and I can't wait to see more of her. Murdock, Mollie, Ludlow and Dot are also interesting characters. Dot is slowly warming to Liko and Roy, which is nice to see. To add, I have to mention Mollie's backstory in episode 11. Although I thought there was something to the nurse Joy theory, I never expected it to be confirmed true- so this episode proved me wrong lol. I like how Mollie subverts the traditional role of working in a pokemon centre by helping injured pokemon in the wild. It shows how caring she is, and I hope her backstory is expanded on later in the series.

Another thing that Horizons has done well so far, is depicting the Paldea region. The very first episodes set up the main story, with Liko and Roy joining the RVTs and the Explorers chasing Liko's pendant. However, the last four episodes have slowly introduced Paldea. We've already had appearances from Nemona and Brassius. On top of this, we will be seeing Iono in the coming weeks. It's a relief that the new region is getting the attention that it deserves.

I don't have any huge complaints about Horizons so far. Generally, I'm really enjoying the show. One problem I will mention is that the pacing is very slow at times. However, I think that this will pay off later in the series. The writers are taking time to establish and develop all of the new characters, which will make the overall story more engaging.

On a side note, I appreciate the variety of adult characters in Pokemon Horizons. Of course, Liko and Roy are the protagonists, which makes sense for a kid's show. However, the dynamics between the older members of the cast make it more watcheable for adults, imo. For example, moments such as the convo between Friede, Orla and Murdock in episode 11 create a more mature tone, even if it's only to a small extent. Also, as an adult fan, it feels as if the anime has suddenly grown up with us. Friede resembles an older Ash, while Orla and Mollie are like grown up female companions. The show really mixes the familiar with the unfamiliar, which is a great approach to the first series without Ash.

Overall, I'm thoroughly enjoying Pokemon Horizons. Until July 14th, the pokemon anime will be on a hiatus. However, the show has done an amazing job so far of introducing the characters and plot. We're only 12 episodes in, but I have high hopes for the series going forward.

[kuramirocket]

I'm on book 2 of Warriors, Fire and Ice, left off on ch. 18.

The brief moments we've gotten of Fireheart meeting his sister, Princess again and sneaking off to visit her; Sharing memories of her when they were kits and washing off her scent when he returns to Thunderclan. Thinking of how these are such happy moments for him, so much so that he feels confused and almost torn in his duties and loyalties to Thunderclan. Coupled with the resentment, bitterness and anger towards some of the cats within the clan who view him as beneath them for having been born a "kittypet."

And I just. Okay, where are my shipcest shippers at!! I haven't really been active in the fandom yet because I want to avoid spoilers (though I do more or less know what happens between them later. Lol).

And anyways, does this ship have a name? I tried looking it up, but didn't really find anything. If it does not have a ship name, how about Fireprincess? I think it sounds cute and is perfect because if I'm not mistaken Fireheart's name changes again later on to Firestar.

Anyways, Greystripe has the storyline I would have loved to see for Fireheart and Princess. LOL. I want to see the drama and more confusion of Fireheart having to be angry and defend himself seeing his sister who is a non clan member and worse for Thunderclan a "kittypet." I want more drama and angst of Fireheart having to choose where he would rather be - Thunderclan who accepted him, despite some of the cats attitudes and those he has come to care for or his sister who he just found and connected to again. Princess who is so kind and gentle and loves him for who he is. Warrior, Kittypet, it doesn't matter.

I don't know how it would work with the current storyline though - Bluestar being on her last life, Fireheart's apprentice in bad shape, Tigerclaw's shady character, Shadowclan and Riverclan's plots, Greystrip seeing a riverclan warrior. So much stuff happening. Lol.

I just want to see a fic that just focuses on that drama I mentioned regarding Fireheart and Princess. As for the actual shipcest. I'm not far enough into the series so I also don't know how the clans and kittypets would view a brother/sister relationship that is more than just sibling love. But for, sure I am all for the forbidden romance trope it could bring! Adds to the drama and angst!

It could make it even more better if imagine an au, where for his sister, Fireheart decides to leave Thunderclan no matter how grateful and how much he has come to love some of its members. I can see Bluestar respecting his wishes because she's a very wise and patient leader. Idk how Greystripe would react, guess it depends if his own love plot is still in this au. Lol.

But anyways, Fireheart decides to leave and imagine him starting his own clan made solely of kittypets. The ones he grew up with. Maybe like a best of both worlds scenarios. The kittypets can still live with and enjoy their two legs, but also have their own territory close to the two legs they guard and patrol. So they can be somewhat wild, but still have the comforts of a kittypet life. Idk how feasible this scenario would be, but I just think it's fun to think about. Especially, if Fireheart and Princess are sort of the "queen" and "king" of the clan and can eventually and finally be free to fully love each other and share a life together.

Idk what any of this is. I have lot of thoughts. Lol. I would love to hear everyone else's thoughts. Though, I would be thankful if spoilers could be kept to a minimum if possible cause I want to try and avoid spoilers as much as possible! I just had to make this post cause Fireheart x Princess (FirePrincess if it truly has no ship name) sounds like a cute ship xD

[sushisocks]

11 for the ask thing ^_^

Eeeheheheh!!!

From the Get to know your fic writer list!

11. Link your three favorite fics right now

Ohkay, oh my god, I'm gonna go out on a limb and assume these aren't my own fics bcz besides the ones I wrote back in like 2018, I only have 3 out, and one isn't even finished jnbhvghbjbh

I'm also gonna limit myself to RDR2 ones bcz how many of yall are here for Drarry and Klance fic recs these days anyway?? I thought so, lmao, SO

1) OBVIOUSLY I have to start out with Faithless, by my dear friend Necromantic AKA @absolutedisaster69 !!! RDR2, Charthur, Unreliable Narrator, still ongoing, and REALLY FUCKED UP SO FAR, I am simply in LOVE with it okay. If you're looking for a completely different take on Charthur, and the VDL gang as a whole, this is IT!! AND, lol, if you look through the comment section of that fic you WILL find me in there analysing the shit out of nearly every chapter, it's WILD and I'm WILDIN'!!

2) Is one I genuinely think needs more attention -- Burn Like Whiskey Flames by Lysandra_Lewis AKA @ithinkthiswasabadidea is still my FAVORITE MacSummers fic to date. Imagine me, STARVED for content, going into the Sean/Lenny tag only to find this TREASURE of a fic buried among fics that only really list them as a sidepair. It is funny, and wholesome, and so sweet it will rot your TEETH out. It's Francesca's only RDR2 fic and it is a GIFT to the fandom, okay, and thusly SEVERELY underappreciated. When Sean comes into the lodge and starts "wooing" Lenny? Bro I've read this fic so many times and I am STILL giggling and blushing EVERY TIME!!!! They are SO dumb, and I'm genuinely obsessed with them and this fic okay!!!!

3) I mean, come on, we've all read Lost Country by iridian(ryehouses here on tumblr), right? If you haven't, it's Charthur, and don't be fooled by the coffee shop au tag because there is SO much more to this fic. It's been a while since my last readthrough of it, and I'm nearing a point where I'll want to reread again for sure, but I'll leave you with my bookmark comment to give you an idea of how I feel about this fic: "this fic changed me irrevocably. i was and am obsessed with everything about this fic. i listened to the playlist for months. certain songs still make me go feral. ill never forget how this fic made me feel." DEFINITE recommend, always!!

(Honorary mention to Strange Visitor by Necro, which I was very autistic about in its final months of posting, and is where I decided I wanted to be his friend!! One year later and I am a pest in his DMs all the time <3)

I know this just said to list them, but who in their right mind doesn't GRAB at the chance to gush about their favorite fics whenever they can? Give me a break, and go read these fantastic fics if you haven't already!!!

[dumpster-fire-deluxe]

How’s your novel coming along?

The thriller novel is currently at its third draft and the editing process looks like this lol

It's going to need a 4th draft after this and then it'll probably be ready for beta readers. I'm hoping that after the 6th draft it'll be ready to be sent to publishers (hopefully this summer)

The 1st draft of my fantasy novel is on hold until this round of edits on the thriller is done, but that is a wild project too. Revenge of the Sith vibes but queer and fueled by autistic rage. A burned-out gifted kid gets tempted by dark magic in a desperate attempt to keep living up to expectations. It's intense lol

Then there's the kidlit manuscript that's currently on submission. We don't talk about that one. It's the reason I refresh my inbox 10x per hour. I will not know peace because of it. I got an email the other day saying "We've received your manuscript, we're going to look at it👍" and I was like stay calm. CALM. I've received 3 rejections so far and I'm waiting for 11 more responses. It's madness. My excel sheet is the only thing holding the chaos together.

My brain has not yet combusted so that's good at least 😂

[fruit-sy]

Hello hello, it's the fellow Sampo's anon person again. I've literally just logged in and saw you answered my shapeshifting delusion/theory

Regarding the cat thing, well its like multiple theories connected into one so i will try my best to explain it. Firstly, there are folks that think Sampo could be a member of the Masked Fools OR Stellaron Hunters(or both even but I don't want to make this even more complicated). The highest evidence towards the Stellaron Hunter Sampo theory is that besides the three members we've seen in the game aka Kafka, Blade and Silver Wolf, there's two more confirmed ones. Firstly, there's Elio and then there's Sam. And I've seen people speculate that Sampo could be Sam because of the name similarities, (Although apparently they use different letters/symbols in Chinese version for writing those names so that's important to note) but also some folks think he might straight up be Elio because of 4th wall breaking stuff and Elio knowing everything basically.

Now on top of those speculations, there are theories that the cat in Kafka's art could be again, either Elio or Sam and therefore, maybe they are Shapeshifters. (Or maybe they're just a cat. Imagine having a playable cat. That would be wild)

So basically, because some people think that Sampo could be Sam or Elio (Sam I think is definitely more popular opinion in the Stellaron Hunter theory), and other people think that Sam or Elio could have been a cat, then, following this logic:Sampo=cat.

...gosh i sound so insane huh. I'm really sorry for this but I've dug so deep into so many different theories that people might have about this guy, that now if i get any opportunity to share a bit of the craziness I've seen, I'm taking it.

Coming really quickly back to Qingzu, you're making some great points there, I literally have no idea if he was possibly pretending to be Qingzu since we arrived in Luofu or what I-

There's so many questions but not a lot of answers.

I'm sorry

(Sorry for the late reply!)

Ahh, if the chinese characters for Sampo and Sam are different, that kinda settles it for me already. Also in Silverwolf's story IV there's a metal humanoid that follows Blade, Kafka and maybe Elio?

Either the metal humanoid is Elio, or it's Sam. Or it could be someone completely different lol

Hmm, as for Sampo = Elio, I personality don't see it. Elio so far has only been revealed to see various different futures and not outright know they're in a game.

Going to the stretch-zone for this;; But I think his fourth-wall-breaking fits more with him being tied to Elation than with the Stellaron Hunters, just bc we have more evidence that he's linked to Elation than the SH for now.

Some people speculate that because he can break the fourth wall, Elation members might also be able to break the fourth wall. With this in mind, some people speculate that part of the reason why Elation thinks existence is a joke is because they know they're in a video game. The simulated Aha in SU immediately knew they were just an equation in a computer, which leads me to believe the real Aha is equally, or possibly even more self aware, which might apply to their followers as well.

... Though, I will acknowledge that Silver Wolf is able to break the fourth wall. But I'm not sure why exactly she can ^^;

As for the cat -- as much as I'd LOVE to see a playable cat, like not a cat girl, just a walking-on-four-legs-real-ass cat -- I think this is a bit of a stretch. We barely know what Sam and Elio look like, let alone the scope of their abilities. All we know about Sam is that he takes his job very seriously

As for Qingzu, I tried to think if she was in on the plan. As in, if she was a Masked Fool as well. But I really think this is a stretch. I'm not sure how tightly government officials in the Xianzhou hold on to the beliefs of Hunt, but I just can't imagine her also being in cahoots with Elation.

If not that, then maybe it's a tavern buddy of Sampo's.

Anyways, its okay!! We are still early into the story, so it's natural that there are more questions than answers. But while we wait, it won't hurt to speculate! 👀 so lets be crazy together hahahahshajk 🤪🤪💫😜🤪💫

I've dug way too deep into this rabbit hole as well, like Sampo is so sus, there's NO WAY he's not appearing again in the story.