#actually my original was something totally different but that i will post that later

[reallygroovyninja]

Part 1

Clarke turned off the main highway and onto the winding backroads that led to her inheritance - an old Victorian house that once belonged to her Great Aunt Becca. As she drove through the dense woods, the sun started to set, casting long shadows across the overgrown road. 

Up ahead, she spotted the battered mailbox with "Woodhaven Manor" painted across it in fading letters. She pulled into the long, gravel driveway that cut through the trees, branches scratching against the car windows as she slowly made her way towards the secluded home. 

In the dim light, Clarke could just make out the shape of the three-story mansion, with its peeling paint and creepers snaking up the walls. The place looked forgotten by time, exactly as her aunt had described years ago when telling young Clarke stories about her eccentric old home. 

Pulling up to the creaking front porch, Clarke put the car in park and took a deep breath. She had inherited this place after her aunt's recent passing, sight unseen. As she stepped out into the cool, evening air, she felt both excitement and apprehension about what awaited inside. 

The woods surrounding the old manor house took on an eerie vibe at night. Clarke grabbed her bags quickly and headed to the front door, ready to start unraveling the mysteries held within the walls of this secluded, vintage mansion left all to her. 

Stepping onto the creaking porch, Clarke fished the old bronze key out of her bag, the one the lawyer had given her. She slipped it into the rusty keyhole and turned it slowly. The front door let out a long groan as she pushed it open, revealing nothing but inky darkness within. 

Clarke pulled out her phone and turned on the flashlight, casting a dim glow over the entry hall inside. She could just make out the silhouettes of sheet-draped furniture, dusty floors, and a sweeping staircase. 

The lawyer had told her the power was still connected so she just needed to locate the light switch. Clarke waved her phone around, spotting cobwebs in the corners and peeling wallpaper. She found the switch, flicking it on with hope. 

The entry hall remained drowned in shadows. Just the faintest buzzing indicated the electricity was running, but the old bulbs had apparently burned out. Clarke sighed, using her phone to light the way as she gingerly stepped inside. 

Her footsteps echoed across the creaking floorboards as she explored the first room. Aside from her phone's beam, the house remained pitch black. She couldn't wait to get some lights on and really see what this timeworn manor held within its walls. 

Passing through an arched doorway, Clarke entered what appeared to be the living room. Her phone flashed over a vintage sofa and chairs, all covered in white sheets. Clarke noticed an old lamp sitting on a nearby table. She headed over, turning it on with hopes the wiring still worked. 

The lamp flickered to life, casting a warm glow over the room. Clarke could now make out more details - the intricate molding along the walls, the heavy drapes blocking the windows. Over the fireplace mantel hung a large, gilded frame. 

Stepping closer, Clarke illuminated the portrait within. It was of a beautiful young woman with long, chestnut brown hair, piercing green eyes, and a soft smile. Clarke knew this wasn't her Great Aunt Becca, who had blonde hair like Clarke. She wondered who the mysterious woman was. 

With the lamp now giving off some ambiance, Clarke spotted a light switch by the doorway and flipped it on. The antique chandelier overhead came to life, fully lighting up the spacious living room. 

Clarke gazed around, taking it all in. This room seemed rich with history and secrets waiting to be uncovered. She already felt herself growing curious about the house's past inhabitants, particularly the striking brunette immortalized in the mantel portrait. 

After checking out the living room, Clarke ventured up the creaking staircase, her phone lighting the way. She wished she had booked a room at the cozy inn right off the highway instead of staying in this dusty old house her first night. But it was too late now, so she'd have to make do. 

"You just had to try and save money by staying here, didn't you Clarke," she muttered to herself as she climbed the stairs. 

On the second floor, Clarke peeked into several bedrooms draped in sheets. One room looked more inviting than the rest, with a polished wood bedframe and floral wallpaper. Clarke entered and opened the curtains, moonlight streaming through the window's stained glass. 

"Well, at least this room doesn't look completely ancient," she said, running a finger over the furniture and examining the layer of dust. 

Searching the closets, she miraculously found clean linen that didn't smell too musty. Clarke made up the bed, coughing a bit as dust flew up from the nightstand when she spread the sheets. 

"Guess this will have to do for the night," she sighed. 

Too exhausted to explore further, Clarke set her bags down and changed into pajamas. As she climbed into the creaky bed, she heard the house settle and groan around her. 

"Please let me get some sleep and not run into any ghosts tonight," she whispered into the darkness. Despite her unease, Clarke's eyes soon closed, giving in to much-needed sleep. 

That night, Clarke drifted into a deep but fitful sleep. Strange dreams came to her in fragments - she was wandering the house's halls at night, hearing whispers around each corner. Shadowy figures flickered at the edge of her vision. She called out for them to show themselves but woke up before anything appeared. 

"That was strange..." she mumbled in her half-asleep state. 

Another dream found her standing in the overgrown garden outside. The brunette from the living room portrait walked by Clarke with a sad smile. Clarke tried to call out to her but couldn't make a sound. 

"Wait, come back!" Clarke wanted to say but the words wouldn't come. The mysterious woman disappeared into the hazy garden mist before Clarke could follow. 

Clarke stirred briefly from these unsettling dreams but exhaustion kept pulling her back under. When morning finally came, sunlight streamed through the bedroom window, rousing Clarke awake. 

She sat up in bed, momentarily disoriented by her surroundings. "Where...oh right, the house," she muttered, remembering the night before. 

Then the previous night came back - the long drive, arriving at the inherited mansion past dark, making a bed in this dusty room. 

Clarke rubbed her eyes and stretched. "At least I got some sleep in this old place." 

She felt well-rested in spite of the strange dreams. Ready to explore the house in daylight, she got up and changed into fresh clothes, eager to learn more about her new home and its history. 

After getting dressed, Clarke made her way back downstairs. Sunlight now streamed through the living room windows, giving her a clearer view of the space. She paused to examine the portrait above the mantel again. 

"Hmm, you look familiar," Clarke murmured, gazing at the painted woman. "Wait..." 

The young brunette woman gazed back at Clarke with her piercing green eyes. Something about her elegant features stirred a memory in Clarke's mind. Then she recalled glimpsing this woman in her dream last night, wandering through the misty garden. 

"That's so weird..." Clarke said out loud. She hadn't noticed the resemblance when first seeing the woman in her dream last night. She stared at the painting, trying to determine if she was imagining things. 

But the more she looked, the more the woman resembled the figure from her dream. Clarke shook her head, laughing softly at herself. "Get a grip Griffin, just a coincidence," she muttered. With a last lingering glance, she turned and continued exploring the first floor. 

Leaving the living room, Clarke wandered into what appeared to be a formal dining area. A long, polished wood table was surrounded by high-backed chairs upholstered in faded green fabric. A crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling, covered in a layer of dust. 

"Fancy," Clarke murmured, running her fingers over the intricate carvings in the chair backs. "I bet they hosted some elegant dinner parties in here." 

Moving through an arched doorway, she entered the kitchen. It looked straight out of the 1970s with its mustard yellow appliances and linoleum tile floors. The cabinets were made of a dark stained wood that matched the dining table. Avocado green countertops completed the retro look. 

"Hello 1975 called, they want their kitchen back," Clarke chuckled to herself as she opened the refrigerator. Not surprised to find it empty and switched off. 

She tried the faucet and was relieved when cool water sputtered out. "At least the plumbing works," she sighed. 

Clarke opened drawers and cabinets, mostly bare except for some faded cookware. "Sure wish these cabinets could talk," she mused. Clarke wondered if a family had once cooked meals and laughed around this kitchen.  

After exploring the main floors, Clarke's stomach started to growl. She realized she needed to go pick up some groceries and supplies. The lawyer had mentioned a small general store in the nearby town that would have basics. But for more options, there was a MegaValue and bigger stores about 20 minutes farther out. 

Clarke decided to try the general store first. She grabbed her purse and keys and headed out the front door. The fresh air felt nice after being inside the musty house. 

She drove down the long driveway until she reached the two-lane road. Following the lawyer's directions, she made her way toward the center of the small rural town. 

Pulling up to the general store, Clarke could see it looked like something straight from the 1950s. She went inside, greeted by creaky wood floors and floor-to-ceiling shelves stocked haphazardly with food and goods. 

Clarke grabbed a basket and started perusing the aisles. She picked up bread, peanut butter, cereal and other non-perishable items. At the back, she found the cleaning supplies and opted for natural cleaners to help freshen the house. 

Clarke brought her basket of items up to the antique register. An older woman with curly grey hair and kind eyes smiled at her. "Find everything ok, dear?" 

"Yes, thank you," Clarke replied. 

The woman rang up the items while making pleasant small talk. "Haven't seen you around before, just passing through?" 

Clarke explained, "Actually, I just inherited the Woodhaven Manor house from my Great Aunt Becca." 

"Old Becca!" the woman exclaimed. "Oh I knew her well. So sorry for your loss. That's quite an estate she's left you." Her expression grew serious. "But you know, some say that old place is haunted." 

Clarke's eyes widened. "Haunted?" 

"Rumor is there was a murder there long ago," the owner whispered. "Folks claim to see a ghostly young woman wandering the gardens at night. Beauty with long brown hair." She leaned in close. "But mind you, I don't believe in ghosts! Just bored townspeople letting their imaginations run wild cause it's an old creaky house." 

Clarke nodded politely, hiding her unease. She paid for her items and said goodbye, the owner's words lingering as she drove back to the manor. 

Back at the house, Clarke brought her supplies inside. "Okay, let's get to work," she said to herself. 

She put away the food and decided to start cleaning the bedroom she'd slept in last night first. 

Heading upstairs with some all-purpose cleaner and rags, Clarke pushed the furniture to the center of the room and began diligently dusting. "Geez, look at all this dust!" she coughed as she wiped down the surfaces. 

Once everything was dust-free, Clarke began scrubbing the wood floorboards to restore their shine. "These floors are so gorgeous under all this grime," she remarked as she scrubbed on her hands and knees. 

At the windows, she washed away years of dirt, letting sunlight stream in. "That's better," Clarke declared. The white lace curtains were dingy, so Clarke made a mental note to replace them. 

Stepping back to survey her work, Clarke smiled with satisfaction. "Much improved!" The room already looked one hundred times better. She felt motivated to tackle the rest of the bedrooms next. Breathing deeply, she caught a hint of lemon from her natural cleaner, a refreshing change from the previous mustiness. 

After spending the day cleaning, Clarke was exhausted. She tidied up the cleaning supplies and washed off the day's grime. 

Too tired to eat, she quickly changed into pajamas. As Clarke settled into the freshly made bed, she deeply breathed in its clean scent before instantly falling asleep. 

That night the dreams returned. Clarke found herself standing in the overgrown garden from before. She spotted the chestnut-haired woman from the living room portrait sitting on a stone bench reading a book, looking deeply sad. 

Clarke slowly approached, wanting to comfort her. But the woman suddenly glanced up, startling at the sight of Clarke. She quickly rose and hurried away, disappearing into the mist before Clarke could call out. 

"Wait, please!" Clarke tried to yell, but no sound came. She attempted to run after the fleeing woman but found herself moving in slow motion. 

Just before the mist enveloped her completely, the woman paused and glanced back at Clarke with mournful green eyes. Then the garden faded to black and Clarke woke with a gasp. 

Catching her breath, Clarke stared out the window at the moonlit yard. The dream had felt so vivid. She shook her head, trying to make sense of it all before exhaustion pulled her back into slumber. 

Clarke slept soundly the rest of the night, with no more dreams of the mysterious woman. When morning sunshine filtered into the bedroom, she awoke feeling rested. 

As Clarke got ready for the day, her thoughts returned to the strange dream from last night. 

"Who is that woman?" she wondered aloud. "And why do I keep seeing her in these dreams?" 

Clarke shook her head, confused by it all. She didn't put much stock in dreams usually.  

"Maybe I've looked at that portrait in the living room too many times and my mind is inserting her into dreams," Clarke mused and laughed softly to herself. She was probably making this into something bigger than it was. Still, the dreams left her feeling unsettled, like the woman was sad and needed help. 

"Get it together, Clarke," she muttered. "It was just a dream." She finished getting ready and headed downstairs, eager to explore more of the house. 

Over the next several days, Clarke worked to clean every inch of the old mansion. She scrubbed floors, washed walls, and cleared out cobwebs and dust. Slowly but surely, the beautiful home began to shine again. 

During her exploration, Clarke searched for more clues about the house's previous inhabitants but found very little. The identity of the woman in the portrait remained a mystery. 

Each night as Clarke slept, she would have the same dream again and again. She was in the misty garden, chasing after the fleeing brown-haired woman, calling for her to stop, but never able to reach her. 

Every morning Clarke awoke puzzled. She started to wonder if these dreams meant something more, rather than just being random figments of her imagination. 

The woman was clearly connected to this house in some way. Clarke wished she could communicate with her, help ease the sadness that seemed to linger around her. 

But each night the dream remained the same - the woman always staying tantalizingly out of reach. Clarke resolved to keep digging through the house's past, hoping to uncover the secret of the woman's identity and why she lingered here. 

After a long day of cleaning, Clarke's cell phone rang. She smiled when she saw it was her best friend Raven calling. 

"Hey Raven!" Clarke answered. 

"Clarke! How's the mansion life treating you?" Raven asked. 

"Oh, you know, lounging by the pool while my butler keeps my drink filled," Clarke joked. "But it's coming along well. I'm almost done with the main floors." 

"That's awesome," said Raven. "What's next on your list?" 

"The attic," Clarke replied. "From what I could see, it's totally jam-packed with furniture, trunks, boxes. I'm hoping I can find some valuable items from the previous occupants." 

"Ooh, mysterious," Raven said. "Found any ghosts up there yet?" 

Clarke hesitated. "Well, actually, I've been having these really vivid dreams about a woman here." She described the recurring dream of chasing the brown-haired woman through the misty garden. 

"Whoa," Raven reacted when Clarke finished. "Think it's the ghost of someone who used to live there?" 

"I don't know," Clarke admitted. "It feels so real when I'm dreaming it. I want to find out who she is. I'm hoping the attic might have some clues." 

Raven whistled through the phone. "Well now I'm thoroughly intrigued! You'll have to let me know if you uncover anything juicy." 

Clarke smiled. "Will do. Talk soon Raven!" They hung up and Clarke felt motivated to explore that attic first thing tomorrow. 

That night, for the first time in over a week, Clarke did not dream of the mysterious brown-haired woman. But when she awoke the next morning, she still felt oddly tired, as if she had slept at all. 

"Ugh, so sleepy," Clarke grumbled as she dragged herself out of bed. She shuffled to the kitchen and brewed a full pot of strong, black coffee. 

As she sipped, Clarke mentally prepared for the task ahead - tackling the attic. She was eager to uncover any treasures hidden up there, especially if they held clues about the woman's identity from the portrait in the living room. 

"Here goes nothing," Clarke said, finishing her coffee. She grabbed her flashlight and ascended the rickety attic stairs. Unlatching the door, it swung open with a loud creak, revealing a dark and dusty space crammed with trunks, furniture, boxes, and cobwebs. 

"Whoa, jackpot!" Clarke exclaimed, stepping inside. She opened a large trunk first, coughing as a plume of dust erupted. Inside were aged garments, hats, gloves, and shoes. 

"Fancy stuff," Clarke murmured, holding up a beaded flapper dress. She searched the trunk thoroughly but found no clues. 

Moving on, she pried open a cedar chest filled with vintage books. She flipped through them one-by-one, but they revealed no hidden notes or inscriptions. 

Several more trunks contained only moth-eaten linens and faded quilts. Clarke started to feel discouraged but pressed on, determined to leave no stone unturned in her search to uncover this house’s buried secrets. 

Clarke spent hours searching through the attic's dusty contents. As she opened each trunk and rummaged through the boxes, she discovered the attic was packed with antiques. 

There were ornate mirrors, carved bookshelves, embroidered footstools, globe stands, and many other vintage furnishings. She found a silver tea set that just needed some polish, along with framed paintings of landscapes ready to be hung. 

"Whoa, look at all this stuff," Clarke murmured in awe. The shelves contained rows of leather-bound books, many first editions. 

Clarke realized she would need to call in an appraiser to get estimates. While she hadn't found any family heirlooms to keep personally, these antiques would surely bring in good money at auction. 

"I bet I could get the house renovated just by selling a fraction of this," Clarke thought excitedly. Still, she hoped to uncover objects with deeper meaning related to the house's history. 

For now, Clarke vowed to keep digging through the attic's treasures, imagining the fortunes it may hold. But first she had to clean off the layers of dust coating each antique item. "So much cleaning ahead," Clarke sighed. 

As Clarke searched the attic, she noticed an old trunk peeking out from under a rocking horse. Intrigued, she pulled it out and opened the lid. Inside were bundles of aged letters tied with ribbons, along with some charcoal drawings. 

Clarke carefully picked up one of the letters and examined the flowing script. It was dated 1871 and addressed to someone named Lexa. Clarke read on with excitement: 

My Dearest Lexa, 

My father insists I am to marry Bartholomew Smith. He is a 40-year-old widower with two children who owns a small farm. Father says it is a good match, but I confess I find nothing appealing in it. Bartholomew is so boring and stern, not at all like my beloved. I wish I could run away with you, my heart's desire. Please write and give me strength. 

Yours always, Costia 

"Hmm who is this Lexa that Costia wants to run away with?" Clarke murmured aloud. The letter suggested Lexa and Costia shared an intimate bond. Clarke’s mind spun with questions as she eagerly reached for more letters, hoping to uncover the true nature of Costia and Lexa's relationship. 

Clarke eagerly opened another letter from the trunk, this one dated a few months after the first. The flowing script read: 

Dearest Lexa, 

My misery deepens by the day. Bartholomew insists on visiting my chambers near every night, reeking of spirits and the farm. He wishes me to lay with him and provide an heir. I can barely stand when he paws at me with his grubby hands and fetid breath. 

My only hope is to quicken with child so he will no longer force his vile affections upon me. My heart recoils at his very touch. I often imagine I am in your tender embrace instead, the only one who stirs passion in my soul. Please write again soon, I cherish your words which give me strength. 

Ever Yours, Costia 

Clarke felt her heart ache for Costia as she described her appalling marriage. She longed to know if Costia had managed to find happiness, and what became of her relationship with the mysterious Lexa. More compelled than ever, Clarke returned to the trunk seeking the next letter. 

Clarke became so engrossed in reading the letters, she didn't notice the attic growing dark as the sun began to set. When she finally glanced up, she saw dust motes floating through the last rays of light streaming through the window. 

"Wow, I didn't realize how late it got," Clarke said aloud. She carefully stacked the aged letters she had read so far and stood up. 

Clarke stretched her stiff muscles after sitting hunched over for so long. She was eager to continue reading more but would need better light. Clarke carefully picked up the stack of letters, murmuring, "You're coming with me - I need to know your secrets." 

She left the attic, closing the door behind her. Clarke descended the stairs and headed to the cozy den, where she could curl up near the fireplace to read by lamp light. 

Settling into a leather armchair, Clarke placed the letters on the side table. She added some logs to the fireplace and lit a match, soon filling the den with flickering warmth. Clarke picked up the top letter, thirsty to uncover more clues about Costia and Lexa's tragic tale. 

Clarke unfolds another of Costia's letters, this one expressing despair that she has not yet conceived a child. 

My Dearest Lexa, 

My womb yet remains empty, though not for lack of my husband's efforts. Each night he insists on visiting my bedchamber to perform his conjugal duties, no matter how I wish to refuse him. His rough affections repulse me, but I endure them in hopes of conceiving the child that might grant me reprieve. 

My spirit grows wearier by the day under this barrage I cannot stop. I pray fervently that his labors soon take root so I may have respite from his unwanted touch. 

It shames me to confess these intimate troubles, but you alone understand the true nature of my heart. I cherish the love we shared, untainted by obligation or duty. Thoughts of you sustain me as I await the day I will be freed. Please write again soon, your words shine light into my darkness. 

Yours Most Faithfully, Costia 

Clarke's heart ached as she finished reading Costia's latest letter. "Oh Costia, I'm so sorry," she whispered sadly. 

She couldn't imagine the pain and humiliation Costia must have endured, trapped in a marriage to a man she didn't love. Forced to share his bed night after night. 

"You deserve so much better," Clarke said aloud. She got up and stoked the fire, as if wanting to bring light and warmth to Costia's long-ago suffering. 

Clarke thought back to the love and passion Costia had shared with Lexa. Their relationship seemed one of equals who cared deeply for each other. 

"At least you had your true love for a time," Clarke murmured. Though they were separated now, Lexa had given Costia comfort and strength when she needed it most. 

Clarke wished she could reach across time and give Costia a real friend to support her through the difficult trials of her marriage. But perhaps these letters had been Costia's lifeline to survive. 

Settling back into the leather armchair, Clarke opened the last letter from the stack she had brought down. Unfolding the worn paper, she quickly scanned the flowing script. 

Dearest Lexa, 

The day I have long prayed for is finally here - I am with child! My husband came to me one last time before propriety dictates we must refrain relations until the babe is born. 

While this child is his, you remain my one true love. The passion we shared lights my world in a way duty cannot. I cherish the memories of our time together and keep them close always. 

I confess I wish with all my being this babe had been created from our love, not obligation. But I will care for this innocent life fate has granted me. 

My only solace through the difficulties ahead is knowing our hearts remain entwined, no matter the distance between us. I eagerly await your reply, as your words are like water on a parched soul. 

The love we share keeps my spirit alive. Stay true to me, as I will to you, until the blessed day we meet again. 

Ever Yours, Costia 

Clarke slowly set down the final letter, leaning back to absorb everything she had read. Costia and Lexa had clearly shared a powerful, loving relationship. But then Costia was forced to marry Bartholomew against her wishes. 

"You two deserved so much better. At least you had each other for a time," Clarke said softly. She could tell Lexa had been Costia's lifeline. Their poetic, tragic tale had Clarke hooked. 

She wondered what ultimately became of Costia and Lexa. Did they reunite? Or were they forever kept apart by the circumstances of their time? 

Clarke hoped there were more letters tucked away in the trunk that could give her insight. "Please let there be more," she whispered, eager to learn the full story of the two star-crossed lovers. Their passion and perseverance deeply inspired Clarke. 

[robyn-goodfellowe]

okay im gonna be a little hater here. as much as i reblog those little girlblogger im delusional the world revolves around me posts (which i will continue to do if they’re funny enough) i also kind of really hate those posts. i contain multitudes

[puzzleglum]

Got more TGS thoughts to share! Now that my theory on Jekyll's plan has been proven right (holy heck??!!), I wanted to talk about Hyde being in trouble, for a bit. Once again, this was originally posted to the comments section of this week's new page. Enjoy!

*****

IT’S ANOTHER DAY! And I want to talk about something I don’t think anyone else pointed out yet (but correct me if I’m wrong): Remember this moment from the beginning of Chapter 9? Hyde threatened Jekyll with this whole plan to basically make him his mind slave. Just a mere puppet to be steered by the whims of Hyde:

So like…this happening, Jekyll going away for (seemingly) ever, is the most bitterly ironic thing to ever happen to Hyde, right? Technically, he “won!” Jekyll finally gave up! He said it himself!

Hyde doesn’t just NOT have to deal with Jekyll anymore, all his rules, fears, his “wretched respectability," now he doesn’t have to SHARE anymore. He’s got total control now of their life, their body!

He’s finally free from Jekyll!

And it’s the worst thing ever!!

Because, and Hyde hates to admit this, but he’s ALWAYS relied on Jekyll being there. He’s the bandit’s cavern, the perfect hiding place. He takes care of the repression side of things. Without ANY inhibitions at all, it’s just a matter of time before Hyde becomes a MESS of emotions, spiraling out of control!

Another irony? He rejects Jekyll’s offer of help. But Hyde DID seek Jekyll’s help, only a chapter ago from the time of that page:

This is also the very first time where we saw Hyde’s anxiety ridden thoughts emerge:

Later, after spiraling again during his talk with Lanyon, we see Hyde worry over this exact moment where he panicked earlier:

Hyde thought he could make it without Jekyll, but it got harder and harder, over time. He couldn’t control himself. Which circles RIGHT back to Jekyll’s warning that Hyde’s form is unstable. The reason Hyde never had to fight his emotions before is because he’d never been out for longer than a single evening!

Things are a bit different, now, of course. Back then, their body was also severely sleep deprived, thus the persistent nightmare creatures. But even if Hyde got a full night of sleep every day (and we don't even know if he's capable of falling asleep!), who KNOWS what being actually alone would do to Hyde, over the longterm?

My whole point is, Hyde needs Jekyll. Without him, well…let’s just say that I’m VERY WORRIED for our boy Edward here. D:

EDIT: Turns out Hyde can't sleep!! Oh no!! I wrote a tiny bit more about it here, and here is where Sage stated it in an old FAQ.

This is even worse than I initially worried. If Hyde can't find a way to get Jekyll back somehow, he's, to put it simply, a dead man walking. D:

[apple-salad]

Rose Ribbon Embroidery "Mini" Projects (for BABY NYFW) Part 2: Embroidered Bonnet

I decided semi-last minute to attend BABY's fashion show at NYFW!

BABY had mentioned in their NYFW brand description that their newest collection would be a return to their origins, as well as presenting archival items.

You have to dress to impress for NYFW, right? So of course, I had to pull out all the stops and wear my Rose Ribbon Embroidery.

Also at the last minute, I decided to make a few extra complementing items...

A matching RRE kumya JSK, and a bonnet.

What follows is more of a sew-along/journal rather than a tutorial or guide, mainly for my own memory's sake. But if you enjoy looking at my process (sometimes sloppy), I'm happy!

Also feel free to take a look at the more romantic process video I edited.

Part 1: Kumya JSK

Part 2: Bonnet (you are here)

This post will be my process pictures and notes for the bonnet, as well as a matching mask as a bonus.

I don't believe BABY released matching headwear for Rose Ribbon Embroidery, although I've seen an unknown velveteen headbow with rose lace sold with RRE before.

BABY usually coords RRE with the bunny ear bonnet since Ichigo wears it this way in Kamikaze Girls.

I do own this because I wanted to wear an Ichigo-like outfit at some point, but for this occasion I decided to do something different and make a "matching" embroidered bonnet.

I originally wanted to make a hard bonnet with a very defined brim that could show off the embroidery clearly as I don't really like soft bonnets, but when looking at existing BABY bonnets as a reference, it doesn't look like hard bonnets were a thing back in 2004 (and as it is, BABY rarely releases hard bonnets). So to keep with the oldschool theme, the bonnet is a soft one, although I later make some decisions to make it slightly more structured.

The next decision to make was full bonnet vs half bonnet. The bunny ear bonnet is a full bonnet and I think this is technically more "period accurate", but I am not a fan of how they look like a weird hood from the back so I opted for half (plus, that makes construction and patterning easier for me).

I still used my own bunny ear bonnet as a reference for approximate brim dimensions!

The kumya JSK was a little easier to carelessly sketch out and embroider since I was copying 1:1 from an existing design, but I felt I needed to do at least a bit more careful planning for the embroidery on this. I'm quite bad at creating embroidery designs from scratch, but with the mental image of the rose clusters and swags of vine, as well as referencing the embroidery from the film, I came up with this:

I wanted to emulate the embroidery style of the Momoko's (well, in reality likely the embroidery designer Onoe Megumi--unclear if she did the actual embroidery, but it's likely) embroidery, which I figured wouldn't be too difficult if I was also embroidering by hand.

For material, I am using the same velveteen I used for kumya's JSK. Not my first choice and I actually purchased some thicker looking 100% cotton velvet that I thought would be more similar to the original JSK material, but was worried it wouldn't arrive in time and wanted this project out of the way in case things went wrong/took longer than I expected (it did arrive about a week before the event, but it was totally wrong IRL so I'm glad I just went with this acceptable option). I also bought some more torchon lace, so I used that and another lace from my stash.

The colours of the embroidery in the film also seem to be quite different than BABY's dress. I'm not sure if the pink of the roses has faded over the years, but it has a slight salmon tone whereas the film's roses seem to be more of a pale cool/neutral pink (hard to tell with the yellow tint of the entire film) with some variegation. I love the colour scheme of the film's embroidery, but to keep things coordinated I try to opt for the same colours as the actual dress I have.

I only have white silk ribbon in the width I wanted, so I opted to attempt to dye it to match. Previously I have used alcohol markers to colour the embroidery afterwards, but I find the colour hard to control and it tends to bleed into the fabric. I've also tried colouring the ribbon with the marker before embroidering, but without heat setting the colour transfers onto the fabric as well (and it seems like trying to do so with the amount of ribbon I need would be a waste of ink).

I don't have a lot of experience with it, but since the ribbon is silk, acid dyeing seemed like the way to go.

Very interesting photo of ribbon in pot (the pink ribbon gets eaten up by pinwheel roses much faster than I expected so this is the second batch I had to dye--not ideal as they are definitely slightly different in colour but it's not too noticeable). In total, I think I had to dye 3 batches of ribbon and 4 for the pink ribbon as I just barely ran out near the end, and they are all slightly different colours. Thankfully the undertone is the same so it's difficult to tell unless you are really comparing up close.

I thought I would take this opportunity to use the "peach" acid dye that I bought years ago for another project, but this ended up being a mistake as the colour was totally off (maybe the red dye was too expired). I ended up using my regular fiber reactive procion dyes (with heat/acid), because I have many more colours I could mix together, and that was much better. I really should have done this from the start as I wasted perfectly good silk ribbon by making it too dark/off for my purposes (I ended up overdyeing it in pink so it's a usable colour now, but not for this project).

The silk seems to take on dye extremely fast--even just heating up the dyebath will colour it. In some cases I removed the ribbon before adding any acid at all because I felt the ribbon was already getting too dark.

I managed to get a fairly usable mossy green colour for the leaves and vines, however the pink still ended up being a little off/dark compared to whatever BABY used. It's not too bad here as one strand of ribbon, but when many layers are on top of each other in a rose it seems pretty dark. While not ideal, I think it's still okay, especially considering the embroidery colours used in kumya's JSK match nothing else (many pinks will be going on in this coord).

After dyeing and drying, the ribbon is super wrinkled so I ironed it and wound it on some spare card so it's ready to use.

And now I can start the arduous process of embroidery.

Like before, I mainly use a combination of ordinary ribbon stitches, pinwheel roses, and french knot roses. However, this time I try harder to duplicate, or at least evoke the appearance of the embroidery of the film.

It's interesting how plain and somewhat boring the roses look on their own, especially with this monotone colouring. The varied colours of the film's embroidered roses are lovely, but I decided against it here because the BABY dress has monotone ribbon roses.

The roses definitely seem to just be pinwheel style which is very easy and doable, however I am a bit more confused about the leaves. They look like a number of straight stitches in various lengths and directions that fill in a leaf-like shape. I have no idea if this technique has a name and if there is a proper method for it, because I am a silly beginner who is very uneducated in embroidery.

Anyway I do my best and hopefully I got close enough. Ribbon embroidery is really all about the texture, which is really lovely to look at. Except I have trouble looking at my own work for too long because I start nitpicking all the mistakes I made...

Adding the green and leaves really helps the embroidery come to life.

I took even fewer pictures of the embroidery process than kumya's JSK this time because it's not that interesting. I was definitely getting sick of doing the same pinwheel over and over...

I stupidly decided that aside from embroidering the front of the brim, I also wanted a little bit of embroidery on the back of the brim for interest, as well as on the side.

The designs I drafted out for these two pieces is much simpler, but still, more work....

Almost ready for construction! Hopefully a lot faster with the handwork out of the way.

I iron on some interfacing onto the back brim panel and the bonnet band for slight extra stiffness.

The bottom part of the brim is plain cotton sateen because I was worried that the part that touches the head would get dirtier more quickly it if was velveteen.

I wanted some lace gathered around the brim and an extra velveteen ruffle on the back of the band, so I prepare that now. The lace is gathered with a single gathering thread and sewn down before sandwiching between the two brim panels.

Brim sewn and topstitched (and band is ready for attachment).

The upper flowers ended up a little closer to the top of the band then I intended, but I think it's okay.

Gathering brim and attaching it to band. Because the velvet fabric is so thick, the usual "sew one line of stitching with a wide stitch length" not only made the fabric incredibly difficult to gather, but the thin polyester thread also continually broke when trying to do so. Therefore, I opted for an alternative method I think I'd remember seeing in my sewing machine manual of all things--a zigzag carefully stitched over a central gathering thread. This worked much better, although I probably should have used a thicker/extra strong thread as the central gathering thread because it did break the second time I had to gather the brim due to a mistake.

I also add a bit of lace to the inside of the brim. I think this adds some luxury and frilliness between the head and the bonnet's brim, so I wanted to add a small width. I probably could have used even more of the lace's width since it turned out very subtle when worn. But I still think it adds a small amount of interest to the innermost part of the brim and was worth adding.

Unfortunately here after sewing on both brim parts I realize that I gathered both using an incorrectly marked centre line, so I had to rip it out and do it again ;_;

Next, I can carefully align and pin the bottom of the brim to the bonnet and sew it down. I tack this down by hand because I'm not skilled/accurate enough with a sewing machine to topstitch both sides nicely at once (look closely, and my messy stitching is quite visible...)

I also fold in the raw edges and finish the sides of the brim by hand, leaving some openings for ribbon ties.

At this point I spray almost the whole bonnet with water to disperse and fade my markings. Unfortunately, some of the earlier batches of ribbon that I dyed (Can you tell the variance in the 3 dye batches I needed to do?) were probably not washed well after dying and seem to have bled into the fabric from the water...but hopefully it's not too noticeable.

Next I topstitched all around the brim and attached the ribbon ties.

I bought some double sided velvet ribbon in my last minute supplies shipment and made some bows from it. I think the material is a little thick and petersham would have worked alright as well, but the consistent velvet material feels more luxurious, doesn't it? I also think as an added benefit (?) the ribbon being plush and double sided made the bows more puffy looking.

I add some clips to the sides and a toupee clip to the top for security. I opted for a toupee clips because I think it's really the way to go if you don't want the head item to move at all, no matter how thin or slippery your hair.

Finished.

Bonus 1: rose accent pin

I was in a bit of a rush at this point as it was near the end of the week coming up to the show, so I didn't take any photos of the process here but the technique and templates I used were identical to my handmade faux rose rosettes I made for UM (and the bonus corsages). I have a post with all the details of this sitting in my drafts that I will post eventually, and I will update this post when that happens.

The brooch was just meant to add a bit of 3D faux flower accent to the bonnet, bringing in the rose motif even more. Partially inspired by the faux flowers BABY adds to their bonnets sometimes, like on Milk Tea Doll.

The fabric was "custom dyed" with the same fiber reactive dye I used for the silk. The fabric was further starched, cut out by hand, and shaped with flower iron tools before gluing together.

Bonus 2: matching embroidered mask

I wasn't sure about whether or not I wanted to wear a matching mask, but decided to do so for situations when I would want my face at least half-covered in public. I didn't really expect to be visible in fashion show pictures as someone in the back, but just in case. (I think this decision was worth it, although my makeup transferred all over the thing and in most pictures my face was even more unflattering. eh well)

I forgot to take a lot of pictures of my process for this, but it's very uninteresting and not dissimilar from every other mask sewalong from 2020. I draft out a design similar to the bonnet motifs on both of my mask panels (cotton sateen), and embroider.

I should have embroidered closer to the centre of the mask because when worn the embroidery is not very visible/covered by my hair at the sides. What can I do since the panels were already cut though...oh well!

The lining material is some Japanese CLEANSE Ex fabric I had bought previously to make masks during the pandemic. It's supposed to be antibacterial and antiviral, as well as washable, but I have no idea how well supported those claims are.

Sew together normally on both upper and lower sides, turn inside out, add a channel for nose wire and side channels for elastic.

I also have some mask elastic on hand so I use that.

And the finished outfit again with all my items~

Thank you for reading! If you ever feel inspired to take up a similar project, such as the kumya JSK, I'd love to see it!

[mcbride]

Daryl Dixon Rewatch S1E06 - Coming Home

it's the first ep with an English title and the last of the season. overall, i wanna say i was actually surprised how much i did enjoy watching. the complete focus on Daryl without all the background noise/storylines/characters, the way he still means what he says, but he's actually using his words and lots of sass instead of the typical nodding and grunting. good job!

but i gotta confess that if i hadn't known beforehand that Carol was going to be a part of this show, i probably wouldn't have bothered 🤷‍♀️. the fact Carol's not only back on screen, but she is such a great part of the whole vibe of the show, was actually unexpected. this show is straight up showing us Carol is the driving force in Daryl's relentless journey to get back home.

whoever tries to convince you Daryl is conflicted about where he belongs and where he wants to be is lying to you (pointing at you, Z!!). he literally spends 6 whole episodes reminding everybody he's got a home, people who love him waiting, a promise to keep, and a need to get back asap.

it doesn't mean Daryl does not form connections while on that journey. because he does - the strongest with Laurent, obviously, however, none strong enough to hold him back from his ultimate goal, which is going home to keep his promise to CAROL!

anyways, let's get to the season 1 finale:

the super!walkers fighting scene in the arena is pretty epic: from Daryl's super cool kill with the French flag to that Daryl/Quinn team up! the cherry on top being Daryl throwing that walker head at Genet. Loved IT!

Quinn eventually does help Daryl escape, and later, unfortunately, almost kills Isa, who is once again totally helpless against any kind of threat (killer nun, my ass!). in a scene eerie similar to the one in Daryl's underwater premonition a couple of eps ago, Daryl prompts Laurent to kill walker!Quinn with a "God will forgive you."

Laurent says something that sounds like it will be the whole point of Caryl's French adventure. "Sometimes you have to do horrible things, and no matter how bad you feel, if there is no other choice, God will forgive you." this feels like the key to breaking out of the cycle Carol has been stuck to since she was banished by Rick. (i'll probably post my s2 spec and theories next week!)

next, we see Daryl watching lovebirds Sylvie and Emile saying goodbye, they have to separate (i see what you did there, Z!), and reassures Sylvie that Emile will be alright before she asks him if he's ever been in love. BOY, has he ever!! Daryl's non response is quite telling. he knows what it feels like to say goodbye to the one you love without knowing if you'll ever see them again. and he's not alright, he's all the way in a whole different continent, separated by the Atlantic ffs.

we get some new insight into Daryl's origins when he and Isa share stories about their fathers. Daryl believes that his grandpa never returning home from war ruined their family for future generations and worries the cycle might repeat itself. has Daryl been reading about generational trauma? sharing this with her will bite him in the ass, later!

Isa's confession of her lie about the drawing gets absolutely no reaction from Daryl because it had zero influence on what happened next. Daryl didn't stay cause he believed in a new Messiah, he stayed because the kid was about to get in trouble, when Codron attacked his home; he stayed because it was a way of finding help getting him closer to a radio or boat to actually get him home; he stayed so he could take the kid to a place where he would be safe, and Daryl could finally leave without feeling guilty.

the great Daryl and Isa exchange looks compilation is trying too hard to show us, yes, Daryl has made a connection to these people, and is fairly content at the Nest with Laurent and the most mundane activities like peeling potatoes. they are showing us Daryl could stay here, make this his new home. why not? HE MADE A PROMISE! no matter what he could never be happy here, this is not his HOME.

Losang gives him a way out, but also tries to convince him to stay. "Sometimes, when a person leaves home, he comes to find he belongs someplace else." and it's true, if Daryl didn't know where, with whom he belonged. and it's not with Laurent and Isa.

it's really embarrassing how Isa tries to manipulate and guilt trip Daryl into staying with them using Laurent and Daryl's history. it has been like 2 months tops, and they acting like Daryl himself gave birth to Laurent, and wants to abandon his kid. bitch please, he has kids he actually raised and a wife back home!!

Daryl resents his grandpa for abandoning the family to fight in someone else’s war, and that's exactly what he would be doing if he chose to stay in France. that's what Isa will never understand - he had a whole full life with people who looked up to him, relied on him, loved him, before he even met her and Laurent. he wasn't lost. the connection he found with the people there isn't new to him, he has Judith and RJ, he has Connie and Zeke. but most importantly, he has a HOME (Carol!!!).

there's this beautiful emotional moment of Daryl quietly saying goodbye to a sleeping Laurent, and it's clear this kid means a lot to him. however, not nearly enough to make him stay. he still chooses to LEAVE. so many people trying to convince him he belongs with them, and he is still 10000000% sure he has to go back. there truly is ZERO hesitation.

i lost count how many times Daryl actually tried to leave, but it was always the kid's safety that kept him around again and again. he is so close to getting on that boat, literally fiercely fighting walkers to get to the beach, to get closer to HOME, and the same happens AGAIN. biggest FML moment for Daryl. Laurent, who is surrounded by walkers, is calling his name! FUCK ME!

and finally, we get to the highlight of this finale, Carol's badass entry. the way she's so absolutely calm with a big dude pointing a gun at her, PLEASE. she knows he's fucked around and is about to find out. no one takes Daryl's belongings and gets away with it.

"if you're lying, i won't be back." and she rides off on Daryl's bike. ICONIC. LEGENDARY. EPIC.

21 days left until the premiere of THE BOOK OF CAROL!!!!!

[felassan]

remember that wild Dragon Age theme park ride (Dragon Age: Flight of the Wardens), originally located in Dubai until it randomly turned up years later (now also oddly-rebranded as "[Not Dragon Age We Swears It]: The Guardian") in, of all places, Skegness England? well, I had to satisfy my curiosity and obsession with obscure pieces of Dragon Age media & archival thereof. and so - actually quite some time ago now - I finally got around to going on a pilgrimage there (which was this whole, like.. heinous harrowing in and of itself, that I will not go into), and I rode it

and to my surprise the original Dragon Age in-ride movie is still part of the ride experience! - complete with references to darkspawn, a Pride demon, dragons, green "rifts", Discount Anders (a Grey Warden[?] mage called 'Eldron'), Discount Yavanna (a Witch of the Wilds called 'Alexia') and Dragon Age: Inquisition soundtrack music. there is also now a new pre-ride movie which replaces the old Dragon Age pre-ride movie as part of the ride's rebranding, and i simply ?¿?

there are also still quite a lot of identifiable Dragon Age props in the fantasy-themed queue-area of the ride (so these must have been part of the whole purchase between parks), including multiple iconic Inquisitor helmets, Grey Warden shields, a Dragon Age dragon (now with DA-dragon identifiable horns.. sawn off??), and several Dragon Age banners, including the Inquisition hairy eyeball, the templar symbol and the Circle symbol. here's some pictures.

[^this image is taken from the video linked below]

I also captured the new pre-ride movie, and you can see it along with the Dragon Age in-ride movie here ⬇️. and so now, with this epilogue to the.. most odyssey of all time, more than two years after the first message about the ride was ever sent to Ghil Dirthalen, this adventure in obscurity and the strange fever-dream meta story of the Dragon Age: Flight of the Wardens era in Dragon Age history is finally complete.

Ghil Dirthalen: The Guardian??? {Overview. - Spoilers All}

[video source & link: Ghil Dirthalen, posted here w/ permission]

some further notes, thoughts and commentary under the cut -

there's a few seconds missing from this capture of the in-ride movie. for the sake of the curious and completion: in them, you're still in the fort and you see lots of 'Wardens' walking and milling around.

a camera in the ride takes two photos of the riders during the ride, which are displayed on a screen on the way out. you can choose to buy these from the Fantasy Island merchandise store. you know those photos of people on log flume rides? it's like those, only of the four riders in a row in the seats. the photos have Fantasy Island branding on them and fire along the bottom, then in two corners there's a bit of a dragon's head and that's about it. the ride photo is the only Guardian-specific merch available at the park.

some of the queue area props appear to be from random other places. like there was a barrel which had something like "1850 distillery" written on it, which is obviously temporally/thematically and universe-ly out of place (not that that's at all unreasonable given the rest of the rideworld lore, there's totally a way it could have gotten there easily hh, see below), and I guess it's a spare or leftover prop from a Western-themed ride or something? others were generic sword'n'sorcery fantasy props (some of these are from the ride's previous life in Dubai though). there are also some pretty random props, like a dead stuffed roe deer's head on the wall and a.. comically large spoon.

there's music playing in the queue area, but it's not DA music, it's generic ye olde fantasy world music.

some folks there mistakenly thought that the long themed lead-up (it was pretty darn long) queue area with the props was the entrance to or start of something completely different, like a haunted house or maze type thing, or was the ride 'experience' in and of itself.

the ride attendant gives you the option of watching the new pre-ride movie or not. I guess they get sick of putting it on and listening to it 9000 times a day (valid), and also cutting it out reduces queue times as it's about five minutes long. it's screened in a little enclosed room at the end of the queue area. you go in and sit down, they show it to you, then you go through another door to the chair machine.

the in-ride movie is blurry and poor quality. I heard someone else who rode it say that it was so blurry that they had no idea what was going on hhh

Now about the new pre-ride movie. first of all, here's the transcript.

Pre-ride movie transcript "Welcome, my friends, to the gates of our kingdom, and the start of your adventure. I know your journey has been a long and arduous climb to get here, but we are grateful that you are the ones that have stepped forward to help us in our quest. I should probably start at the beginning. My name is King Aethelswyth [sp?] and I am the ruler of Elvia [sp?] - at least, what's left of it. You see, six months ago, our world was invaded by giant demons and creatures from another dimension, which now plunder our lands, and continue to destroy our kingdom piece by piece. They came, through a time-rift, from another world, leaving much destruction in their wake. Ever since they came, our people have defended as best they are able, but, we were once a peaceful race, and sadly no match for the giant demons and dragons. Luckily, a few days ago, help arrived. They came through the rift, human in form but with incredible powers, and the ability to not only fly but transform into dragon-like creatures. That's where you all come in. You see, not only have they brought hope to our lands, but also gifted us with technology, the likes of which we have never seen before. This communication device for example - it enables us to talk to each other from great distances without being in the same room. And there is something else, and the reason why you are here. They provided us with plans to create our own machine, which as we speak is being prepared for your mission. I should explain. The machine, although made of metal and advanced technologies we can't even begin to understand, requires biological matter to function; a very specific amount of oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and calcium, all of which you are made from my friends. Once you are connected to the machine, you will be lifted into the portal and instantly dropped into the outer world. You'll be able to fight alongside the guardians and help close the rift once and for all. I won't lie. The mission will be dangerous, but with your help, we can defeat the giant demons, close the rift and save the kingdom. Hahahaha! [dragon roars] Ah, do not be afraid! This is Mia [sp?], one of the dragon guardians. She will help you on your quest and guide you to the rift. There it will be up to you to find a way to close it. My friends, it is almost time for you to enter the machine, and become the guardians! [inaudible] a safe journey. Save Elvia, become the heroes you're destined to be! The gates will open momentarily, as soon as the machine is ready for you. Good luck my friends, and I'll see you on the other side!"

in the linked video, the start of the new pre-ride movie isn't included in full at normal speed as it seemed to be a compilation of whatever random fantasy-themed stock footage the video creator could find, stitched together. but again for the curious and the sake of completion: it starts out panning randomly around SPACE, like at the solar system and of planets and at the Milky Way. for a sec I wondered if it was made up of random old Mass Effect assets. then it shows dragons (FROM SPACE) invading an Earth-like planet where I suppose the Ferelden-y kindgom (formerly called "Noathen", now called "Elvia" or something) setting in the rideworld is now supposed to be set. these invading dragons invade either from space or.. another dimension?? or maybe from the future or both?? [see below], entering through a big green rift. (and they still have the green coloring for the rifts and call it/them "rifts" like in DA, which was honestly so funny to me for some reason). the whole panning in from space start to the movie reminded me a lot of the Easter eggs in the DA and ME games that, while they're just Easter eggs for fun and I don't subscribe to this theory myself (as DA is its own great, self-contained thing), could light-heartedly imply that the planet with Thedas on it is a planet in the MEverse (like the krogan head in the Winter Palace in DAI or the ogre in that ME dlc).

in the pre-ride movie, the kingdom of "Elvia" might have actually been called "Albion", which is the earliest-known name for the island of Britain. (it was hard to make out exactly what the king was saying there) the new pre-ride movie seems like it was made in England and ofc thats a common fantasy setting, so I could see it, especially since the king character's name was something like Aethylswyth, which sounded very "Old English". for me personally, if it was "Albion", it adds fuel to the fire of Caitie's cracktheory/"trying to make this fit"-headcanon for the ride story/lore (see Caitie's original video on the ride's previous life for this), that it's set somewhere obscure and backwatery in Ferelden, which is kinda England- or Britain-inspired. (dont take these thoughts or other thoughts in this post about the lore/canon etc too srsly pls hh, it's just crack for fun and I know tis just an off-brand themepark ride)

on the whole the new pre-ride movie is pretty random. there's a giant in it, but it doesn't look like a DAI giant. (is it his big spoon??) it shows a fortress in part of it which looks a bit like Skyhold if you squint, with the long bridge approaching it as the entrance. at one point one of the dragons that pops up is a dragon designed more in the style of a dragon as they are sometimes depicted in, for example, Chinese mythology and folklore. the "communication device" the king described had me rolling, it's exactly like a Dragon Age Skype Crystal or a working set of eluvians from Thedas.. I wondered if the video creator was inspired some by DAI promo images and took cues from the Inquisitor's green hand/the Anchor, since the king has a green glowing thing on (or in?) his chest. and when the king started listing the elements humans are made of, I was reminded of Fullmetal Alchemist.

also, "through a time rift".. I mean technically Dorian's involvement in DAI DOES show green space-time magic right? Where is this other dimension? ofc I know it's not literally Dragon Age, but it's funny to think about and to try and make it "fit" skhskdhfjhe. is it the Fade? the Void? from somewhere in-between like Tevinter Nights implies exists? or is it the dimension which has Thedas's mundane world itself in it - like maybe the dragons are invading this poor guy's kingdom dimension from Thedas? if so what tf is going on in Thedas?? did Solas' explosion at the Conclave ripple through spacetime and rip holes in the fabrics of other worlds as well - like is Solas out here accidentally causing interdimensional Space Dragon invasions? like, theoretically.. the new pre-ride move does reference the in-ride movie, and in turn the in-ride movie is still Dragon Age (!), so technically the new pre-ride movie IS.. kind of.. weirdly.. canon.

((the pre-ride movie references an "outerworld", implying that even in THAT dimension there's an outer world and an inner world, definitely more than one at least. and back on the dimensions thing, I'm not clear - are the dragons coming from Thedas dimension? or are they coming to Thedas dimension? "they came through the rift, human in form but with powers, the ability to fly [that's Eldron] and the ability to transform into dragon-like creatures [that's Alexia]" implies that the dimension on the other side of the rift - if the helpers came through the same rift as the invading dragons - is Thedas, because that's Eldron and Alexia from the Dragon Age in-ride movie being referred to, and Noathen where they're from is in Thedas somewhere. so some Thedosians have travelled to another world to save it?? Dragons are escaping out of Thedas? but.. from space? but also - the narration is telling us that Eldron and Alexia and the other Guardians brought with them from where they came from, as a gift, incredible advanced technology that the people of Elvia have never seen before. he then gives the example of "this communication device" which could be read meta-ly as meaning the television screen, and of plans to build a machine made of metal and advanced technology (meaning the ride machine you go sit on, which is a themepark machine irl obviously and in the 'world' of the ride, some kind of flying machine). so like.. are Eldron and Alexia from Future Thedas (think Avatar Aang/Korra, when by Korra's time there's like lots more machinery and a more modern feel), a Thedas which has advanced complex machines like idk, AEROPLANES? is that what they mean by "time-rift"? because they specifically did say "time". is that to try and explain the modern machinery? does that mean the invading dragons also came from the future, not just from space or another dimension? the other option: Eldron and Alexia came from alternate universe Thedas, which has more modern technology in it. but Thedosians Time-Travelling From The Future And Also Space And Another Dimension is so funny to me so lets go with that. my headcanon is that on the way to Elvia they also timetravelled through a Westernthemed time period and thats why theres a recent-modern period whisky barrel)).

in the ride's previous life, the explanatory hook was that Eldron made you a special harness or saddle thing with which to ride a dragon, which was what the ride machine was simulating. however now, the hook to explain the machine is that it's a gift of advanced technology powered by carbon, hydrogen, organic matter (Big Oil lmao?) etc. (I enjoyed that this explanatory hook got wackier between eras of the ride's life, much like the whole meta story of this piece of media itself. it was already weird because riding dragons isn't really part of DA. though I don't understand meta-ly speaking this convoluted explanation for the machine. dragon-riding isn't an identifiable or key part of the Dragon Age franchise, so they could have kept the idea that you're sitting on a dragon's back and flying around on that in instead of having this wacky explanation about a flying machine gifted from magical strangers from Back To The Future and it would have been fine. I love it though bc its so absurd)

And Tiny Dragon Alexia from the original ride experience is kinda referenced (unintentionally?) when the king introduces the dragon "Guardian" "Mia", as when she comes on-screen her size or scaling looks small/kinda off, so maybe Tiny Dragon lives on. so now we have Tiny Dragon Alexia, Tiny Dragon Mia, and Tiny Dragon queue prop. it's a Tiny Dragon Conference.

and like I just have so many questions. in her original video on the ride, Ghil Dirthalen wondered at length where in Ferelden/Thedas Noathen could be. where is Elvia? why does the pov of the pre-ride movie proceed downstairs into the room where the king is - like why does the king have his throne in a basement? is he in an underground bunker for safety because of the Space Dragon invasion? why does he say we "climbed" up when we have just gone down into his dungeon? why is the tiny dragon introduced as "Mia" when the tiny dragon witch lady in the in-ride movie is called "Alexia"? does the king's green glowing chest thing work like the Anchor - does he have a chest Anchor.. a Chanchor? where did they get Discount Gandalf from the queue area and why is he exactly like the Ghil Dirthalen Stock Theatre Wizards in her original video? why did they change the kingdom's name from "Noathen" to "Elvia" in the pre-ride movie when "Noathen" was already non-existent in Dragon Age lore? why did they scrub Dragon Age from or avoid Dragon Age in the pre-ride movie but leave the whole Dragon Age in-ride movie intact? are the "Guardians" Discount Grey Wardens? is the king's whole schpeel secretly an evil plot so he that can use our bodies for like necromancy-alchemy? why does the ride run on your flesh and are we about to be sacrificed in a blood magic ritual? do we end up like the husks in Mass Effect after our organic forms are broken down into compounds to fuel the King of Elvia's flying anti-dragon defense tank? is the actor of the king a park staffer who is into larping, or someone's fun nerd uncle who likes DnD? does Caitie not in fact agree that I am very handsome and smart, indeed the World's Most Interesting Guy? 😤 why go to the trouble of sawing off the dragon's DA-dragon horns when the in-ride movie is still Dragon Age?? why are the dragons invading from space anyway like what do they want??? how can I obtain the king actor guy's autograph? where are EA's lawyers? and why is there a giant spoon?

[bemusedlybespectacled]

I volunteer with an organization of very high needs disabled people and I have to say, they delight in using AI to put stories together. It even inspires them to make their own edits and additions, though many struggle with typing or verbal skills. I don't want to tell anyone how to feel but it seems like weird ideological purity policing to exclude them from a social event where they might connect to people and find community.

So my first question is: why AI specifically? Why not literally any other method of writing? If they're capable of doing edits/additions, then why can't they first write the story out using speech-to-text, or an AAC device, or dictate it to someone else, and then edit/add to it later?

Coming up with ideas/a plot is creative and requires skill, but it's a different kind of creativity and skill than actually writing it down/connecting those dots. Like, James Patterson doesn't write most of his books; he writes out long outlines for a ghostwriter to work off of, then makes notes or changes to the draft before sending it back to the ghostwriter. It would be unfair to say that he doesn't have any skills at all, but it would also be unfair to say that he wrote all of his books himself when they were actually mostly written by someone else. A lot of the time, movies will have separate credits for the person who came up with the idea and the person who actually wrote the screenplay, because they are separate things requiring different skills.

NaNoWriMo, as a concept, is about practicing the latter skill. You're presumed to have already learned how to come up with ideas – otherwise, what would you work on for a month? The actual work of crafting enough sentences that your story becomes a full text and not an outline is really fucking hard, and that's why so many writers get stalled at the ideas stage and never actually write anything. If you don't have those skills to start, that's okay, because most people don't! The whole point is to practice them over the month! And even if you never hit 50k (I haven't!), you can at least say that you practiced that skill. Even if you only wrote ten words a day because that's literally the most you can do, writing ten words every day for thirty days is still a huge accomplishment!

To use the marathon metaphor from the originating post: both driving a car and running a marathon are skills, but they are not the same skill. If you can't run a marathon – if you are just trying to get to the point where you can walk briskly for five miles without tasting blood when you breathe – reaching that goal is still an accomplishment, even if you're not full on running a marathon. If you are just starting to learn how to drive without having a panic attack, being able to do that is also an accomplishment, even if it's not the same thing as winning the Indy500. Modest goals are still goals and achieving them is a thing to be celebrated.

But I don't think it's ideological purity to say that there's a difference between achieving a very modest goal because the "full thing" is just not feasible for whatever reason, and achieving a totally different goal entirely. "I finally drove to the store and back all by myself!" is genuinely great, but not something you'd necessarily work on in your running group.

[angel-shaw]

OK! TMA child AU! Cuz some people showed interest!!

Ok so the basic idea is that a bunch of the TMA crew are kids under Elias and Gertrudes care.

In order of adoption we have

-Michael Shelly. Gertrude adopted him at a very young age and he has no memory of his birth parents or how exactly Gertrude found him

-Gerry, Gerry is an slightly older teen who still technically lives with his mom but he spends most of his time at the manor (the manor is basically just a big house idk). Gertrude knew Mary but lowkey hated that bitch so she stole her kid.

-Jon. Again Gertrude knew Jon’s grandma so when she couldn’t, or didn’t want to, take care of Jon she took him in. He still visits her.

-Martin, Gertrude was very close to Martins mom so she already knew Martin, when his mom got hospitalized she agreed to look after him. He vists as oftan as he can, even some of the other kids do.(his moms not a total bitch in this btw…yet)

-Sasha, she lived on the streets and tried to mug Elias. She did fail but only cuz Elias is who he is. He thought she was adorable and was tired of the other kids he needed to care for so he brought her home and legally adopted her.

-Tim + Michal(distortion). Tim and Michal were found together. They both were found by Gerry after excapeing their situation. At first they were very hesitant but recognized Sasha from her time on the street so they agreed to stay there. They are very close to each other and don’t trust easily (well Tim doesn’t, Michal has no sense of danger)

-Jane, Martin found her under a bridge wejile playing with bugs one day, she looked cold so he brought her back to the house. Gertrude helped clean her up, she had extremely matted hair and a lot of bugs attached to her. She wouldn’t let go of Martin until hours later.

-Melony, idk when she showed up or how or what her family situation is, she is here tho and I love her.

-Georgie is friends with Jon but doesn’t live with them, she has parents and house. She does come over often tho because Elias is rich.

-Basira also doesn’t live there, but no one except Daisy knows where she lives. She’s really only over if Daisy is.

-Daisys dad is a cop who works by the manor, she goes with him to work and wonders as she likes. She ends up at the house a lot because there’s always something interesting going on.

Then there’s Michael Crew who’s dateing Gerry. (I saw a tictok and I love them together now, leave me alone)

-Not Sasha is also here btw, the kids say her name in a very heavy American accent and that’s how they differ the names between Sasha and her, I will just say it’s not Sasha cuz idk how to show it’s different 💀. I don’t have a very solid idea for how she got picked up but I think she would be trying to impersonate Sasha in someway, maybe online or something and somehow just ended up moving in

Elias is dateing/married to Peter. He’s around sometimes

There is everyone who is included this far!

I do have a separate house that is run by The Angler fish (in a human form obviously) and he cares for kids as well, like the med students, Nicola, N!Sasha (kinda), Jane(eventually she walks between the two places to just hang out so he cares for her when she’s with them), and one suprise kid! :D (Guess who!)

I haven’t actually written anything but I have a lot of story and head canons:) but I don’t wanna make this to long so if y’all like this I’ll post more!!

Tag list for those who responded to my original post so y’all can see this!!! :D

@frontflip-somersault-express @jubjubbird @thehistoryone @aboxisonmyhead @nonbinarytoast @moonvalley94 @pigeons-with-jello @riddle-on-the-milk-carton

I hope I got y’all’s tags right!!! Please leave comments and suggestions!!! I love reading and hearing input!!! Plus if you wanna ask questions about the AU that will help give me something the jump off on!

[kasarasun]

Hi! I loved your Illustrator Shen Yuan au and wanted to know if you had more ideas for it? I feel it makes a lot of sense especially with SY’s ability to recognize literally every plant, animal, and character that showed up in the novel instantly and Qing Jing being the peak of the four arts. Also, if he played a major role in editing the wiki, do you think any of his written headcannons or speculations may have come true? Do you think he and airplane ever just use his art style to distinguish cannon fodder from the rest or do they still follow the rules of his art style despite him having never drawn them? If the first then him meeting Tianlang-jun and ZZL would be hilarious cuz he may just brush them off. Also, how does this go with Liu Qingge’s character design being different than imagined (pretty instead of burly)? How do you think this would play into a post cannon reveal? Are there any other common or uncommon hc’s in the fandom that you would combine with this?

Thanks!

going backwards with your questions: (this will be long, forgive spelling, etc, errors)

Headcanons: this is already the product of multiple headcanons! For one, SQH is solidified as the author instead of a prophet, because SY as the artist means that the world is malleable, to a degree. Also I believe in black-haired Mobei-Jun (irrelevant haha). I also would say the hc where if Shang Qinghua 'writes' something with enough intent, it might just happen.

Also, the 'world' being made of paper and so is from someone/somewhere but i forgot. Sorry ahahaha

I think this makes SY and SQH both paper/creation gods. (Discussed further later on in this mess.)

Tianlang-Jun, Zhuzhi-Lang, and Liu Qingge: The thing is, the 'design' applies to mobei Jun because SY has explicitly drawn him. Binghe's 'design' is same the PIDW official art's because this is only physically, (the contours of a creature's skull rather than binghe's nail polish) because they're real people and persons, which is an important theme that breaks character designs that include distinctive clothing. Also because of this realized state, nothing can be more real than anything else. Through the lens of a reader, we might imagine the 'world' being this collage of the artist, but this isn't the case.

That brings me to my next point: what of the world that hasn't been 'illustrated'? Of course, we can have a creation myth instead of an actual explanation:

The God who brings ascension from nothingness carves the mountains, shapes the moon, culls the suns, and folds the paper beasts, men, and flowers. The God whose palms raise all things into the light so creates the three realms. The God creates and creates and creates.

The God who witnesses watches the creations grow simpler, watches creases deteriorate, watches rushed work. The God who witnesses sees the God who arises with the world in hand grow tired. The God who witnesses paints the paper cranes, refolds the rushed creations, and refines the creases. (The God who watches paints over a tear in a silver leaf. The God leaves the gold leaf be.)

The God who paints the birds and beasts never folds the fresh paper. So concludes the creation of all and every.

(Where the silver leaf of paper is mobei-jun and the golden one is binghe.)

Shen Yuan's headcanons: of course, Airplane is the writer. He takes precedence. His headcanons only applied to his 'domain', and his 'power' only exists in the origin world (though this may change as the idea develops), and draws power from Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky's work. His role is lessening the burden, but the work has already been done.

On postcanon reveals: Shang Qinghua totally gets caught first. Actually, it's the airplane extra with the 'daddy admires you' scenes! He is forces to explain, and along the way he kicks SQQ under the bus. I won't say too much on how this spreads, but probably Mobei saying something to someone. Maybe he calls Qinghua the heavenly emperor/ the ascender in front of all the peaklords. An Ding probably already knows.

why the ascender? Airplane translates literally into flying machine. So, warp that into ascension and omnipresence. Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky ascends reality from nothing (darkness) to something (sunlight). This applies to everything, so it is comparable to a system or machine. Behold, the really irrelevant, misplaced, and overly subtle Rain World reference.

The God who Paints the birds and Beasts from Drawing the Beast's Ire warps the Ire into attention, and then Airplane's protagonist and his cool monsters drew his attention, then the poor writing his ire.

Meanwhile, Shen Qingqiu is only minorly accosted by peak lords. The problem is binghe, upset that Shizun was drawing other people. Drawing the Beast's Ire drew like 2 other characters. One is Mobei-Jun. The other is a modern-clothing binghe. He's also upset that Shang-shishu and Shizun share something as grand as the creation of the world together, and the fact that SQQ is the lesser. Additionally, unlike Mobei-Jun, he wasn't made specifically to please his God! Unfair!

Of course, binghe is very happy about this as well. He's Shizun's favorite character!

This might be high time to mention more headcanons: there are temples and shrines dedicated to airplane and occasionally the witness/the painter in the endless Abyss. This is due to the first heavenly demons, probably. How else did Xin Mo get there?

Anyway, they'd be like airplane folding paper front and center and then the painter doing his thing off to the side. Of course, there are a decent amount dedicated only to the painter.

On additional creations: Maybe Shen Qingqiu/Yuan and Shang Qinghua get together and make OC animals. They're all entirely harmless. Shang Qinghua writes their names, their abilities, and a nice good description while Shen Qingqiu/Yuan paints. Maybe it doesn't do anything. Maybe it does. It's a change of pace either way.

[viktheviking1]

The scariest people are never the ones who immediately creep you out. They are the ones who are expert at seeming trustworthy. You may already know someone like this, and not realize it yet.

Be it on the Internet or in real life, it is important to be cautious around anyone who starts suggesting things you aren't comfortable with or asking for information that is none of their business.

Things no one taught you about the Internet!

Starting with minors (17 and under in the US)

DON'T POST YOUR AGE! Or age rage. Or birth year. Do not write 'minor' in your bio. This is probably the most common and most dangerous mistake! You will be actively targeted.

Don't pretend you're an adult!!! If a creep sees that you wrote 18 or older but act like a minor, they will do all the same tricks to become your friend, and know they have a legal loophole because they can always claim they didn't know! This is almost more dangerous than just saying "I'm a kid, come hurt me"

Instead just don't say anything! Don't post it anywhere, and don't add it to your bio. If someone asks you for your age, just block them.

Don't share your name or nickname! Even if you don't share your last name, they can pick up enough details about you over time that even a first name is enough to find you.

Instead, use a totally different name! Something like Eli_Bloodsucker is way more fun, just don't use it if your real name or even a real life nickname is Eli, Eliza, Ellie, or anything else even remotely similar!

Don't talk to anyone directly! Be it in comments or asks or in direct messages, they're all dangerous. It doesn't matter if they say they are a minor or an adult. If you can't see their face, don't talk to them. If you find a real life friend you didn't know had an account, don't talk to them. That might not be your friend. You can text your friend directly or talk to them in real life about it later.

Instead, just spread positivity purely form likes and reblogs. Pretend the comment and chat buttons are lava or acid or something. Don't touch them.

Don't share ANYTHING about where you live. Not even country. Don't tell someone about how it's always humid where you live or that there's a storm where you are.

Instead, you can share about weather vaguely later. For example, "a few months ago it snowed and I slipped on ice."

Don't, talk about an activity that would even hint that you are a minor. Don't talk about school, don't talk about piano lessons, don't talk about martial arts class, or football practice. Don't mention growing out of your clothes. Don't mention how your mom grounded you. Don't talk about your little brother barging into your room.

Instead, before posting any stories from your real life, ask yourself if this could also easily apply to someone in their 20s living with roommates instead of family members and working a full-time job. If the answer is yes, then post it, if not, don't. (Good example: I burnt my eggs but I didn't want to waste it so I still ate it. Bad example: My dad made me eggs this morning even though I hate them, and made me eat them.)

Don't post or share pictures or videos of yourself online. Someone can either use it to find you or steal them to lure your friends or other people your age into trusting them.

Instead, find a picture of a duck with a mustache online, and make that you're profile picture. Find a map of Australia and post that as your "outfit check". Way more fun.

Do not trust the person who reblogged this. Do not trust the original poster. Creeps will sometimes post about Internet safety as part of their plan to make you trust them.

So how can you tell who to trust, and who not to? You can't! That's the Internet. Better to play it safe than to risk your actual life over a post or a trend

Adult Internet safety:

Idk, it's your life. You know the consequences you might face. Make your own damn decisions. If your dad can't tell you what to do, then I sure can't.

Oh, and don't interact with people you know, or think, are kids. There is help available for those who are tempted to do this. Don't go down that path. There are resources, there are other ways. Having thoughts isn't a crime, acting on them is. PLEASE talk to a licensed professional.

[hroscek]

✎📃Dottore studying headcanons📚

Back again with more Dottore content. This is a bit of a mix between a modern au but still somehow compliant with Genshin? Idk I just wanted to write ab him studying and projecting finding inspiration in my own life without having to explain how he has access to YouTube in his akademiya days okay? Anyways enjoy and make sure to study if you happen to be procrastinating at the moment (I will know)!

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Dottore study headcanons

Probably the type that ultra-focuses on the material in front of him leading to generally neglecting any and all other needs until he physically can't anymore (nearly burnt down his dorm via hair catching fire from a candle when he fell asleep at the desk)

Thinks he's above attending lectures so he'd definitely be that one student that never shows up but still ends up acing the exams.

Fully believes that he must achieve a state of total focus to optimize his brain. This starts as threatening the other students into leaving him alone as he studies, drawing the curtains and shutting out all other distractions. Probably spent too much on finding a good noise-cancelling headset.

After getting kicked out gracefully parting ways with the akademiya he devoted some time to trying to find ways to improve his focus even more. I'm talking full blown rounds of experimentation with different methods such as binaural beats (actually works tbh), sensory deprivation tanks etc. Sort of how greater lord rukkhadevata would shut herself away to meditate, but he would never admit how similar their methods are.

Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if the original Dottore is just floating in a state of meditation rn trying to achieve max brain power (legit a headcanon for me now lmao).

Seeing as he probably doesn't sleep much, especially when in the thick of experiments he tries his best to compensate in other ways. He drank an inhuman amount of coffee or energy drinks (or both at the same time tbh) until he grew a tolerance to all forms of caffeine and is now forced to actually sleep once in a while.

He is intimately familiar with is work area and instantly knows where everything is. To outsiders it looks like a mess of various documents, piles of paper, supplies and mechanical parts. Often he asks a new intern to fetch him a sheet or something and they'll spend hours looking for it in the raven's nest that man calls an office. Then he'll show up pissed as hell like "It was under the desk next to the 3rd used energy core. Are you really that stupid?".

When he's in the zone he's deathly silent, his eyes laser focused on whatever page or machine he's trying to figure out. An observer might be afraid he'll burn a hole trough the object with his eyes. This is probably the only time he doesn't wear his mask as he doesn't want anything to obstruct him. Archons couldn't help the unfortunate soul who dares to interrupt him in this state. Instant volunteer for his next experiment.

Pantalone once decided to gift him with an expensive stationery set in a desperate attempt to get him to organize his study. It included quills, ink, various highlighters and organizers all in pastels with cute motifs. "To bring some positivity to the gloomy atmosphere around you!". Dottore claimed to hate it but was seen months later using a kitten-themed notepad at one of his labs.

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Another post, another slay (probs a flop). I'm currently taking a half-voluntary gap year because I decided to switch universities a little too late in the year oops. And honestly in this time I've realized how much I thrive in the academic environment and I miss studying so much! Idk might sound a bit too optimistic coming from someone who's currently not under any pressing deadlines or tests but I really do miss it. As much as I hated crunching the night before a test and stressed about the material I believe it's an environment I truly thrive in. I really do find such comfort in being able to take notes, discuss with classmates and professors. It's probably one of the many reasons I find Dottore relatable. We both share such a thirst for knowledge and focus way too much on our favorite subjects. I'm rambling, sorry. Thank you so much for reading and please don't be shy to send me asks or comments with ideas you'd like me to expand upon. I'm still pretty new to writing in fandom space so I'd really be grateful to get feedback and see what the community wants lol.

Have a good day! ❀

[transformers-mosaic]

Beast Wars: Second Chances - The Covers

Originally posted on February 2nd, 2011

Cover A - Daniel Olsén Covers B & C - Seb Quickstrike - Ed Pirrie Depth Charge - Loke Mei Yin Snarl vs Terrorsaur - James Ferrand Waspinator - Jeremy Tiongson Dinobot sketch - Matt Frank

deviantART

wada sez: Okay, this one was as much a surprise to me as it is to you. Prolific Mosaic contributor Mike Priest asked me if I had any plans to archive Beast Wars: Second Chances, a full-length comic he originally pitched in a similar vein to War Journal and Spotlight: Stunticons. As nearly all the writers and artists who worked on this one were also Mosaic contributors, and I’ve always felt like there weren’t enough Beast Wars strips in Mosaic, and because Mike asked nicely, I couldn’t say no! Thanks to Mike’s involvement, I’ve got the original scripts and his original story treatment, titled Beast Wars: Beyond, which you can read below—although the final story ended up wildly different, if you want to read along without any spoilers whatsoever, I’d recommend coming back to this post later! It seems that Matt Frank was originally tapped for the project, as he produced a sketch of Dinobot which you can see below, but no further contributions from him ever surfaced.

Okay, this is my initial rough pitch for the story.

Again, anything and everything here is mutable and subject to tweaking and whatever, or downright ignoring and trashing.  I won’t cry.

We start roughly a month or two Earth-time after Primal’s crew left.  The first page should explain this and whatever, and then something akin to “BUT SOMETHING STILL STIRS on this planet!”  Cut to Depthcharge dragging himself out of the surf.

(I’m trying to work AROUND the Mosaic “Eternal”, making it more retroactively tied-in.)

We establish Waspinator as leader of the proto-human tribe, out on a hunt or something with some other humans.  Perhaps some brief proto-human comedy before we hit the nitty-gritty.

We establish Depthcharge wandering around, arguing with himself, totally nuts, screaming at no one in-particular (He’s arguing with Rampage, who only responds through text boxes, so to anyone else, DC looks like a nut).

Waspinator encounters Depthcharge, is initially scared and confused, but decides, what the hey, see what’s up with fishie-bot.  Waspinator honestly is curious/wants to help.

Depthcharge, in a confused, blind rage, grabs Waspinator and viciously beats him near to death.  And not in a funny, usual-Waspinator way.  He’s pleading, BEGGING for Depthcharge to stop.  I’m talking the reader needs to actually feel really bad for Waspinator; he is an endearing character and kind of our “hero” for this story.

Only when some of Waspinator’s human tribe start hitting Depthcharge with rocks and spears does he snap out of it, and is literally horrified at what’s he done to poor Waspinator. (Rampage is in ecstasy though; this is exactly what he wants to turn Depthcharge into; a killer like Rampage himself).

Depthcharge retreats, transforms to jet mode and flies off, horrified at what he’s become.

The proto-humans can’t do anything to help the dying, whimpering Waspinator.  So they make a stretcher and begin carrying him home.

Only they don’t make it.  Something attacks and kills them; Waspinator is too weak to help them.  And it takes Waspinator’s remains.  (Hints of a giant metal spider, perhaps in this sequence)

We establish Tarantulas.  Or rather an AI program that approximates Tarantulas’ personality and goals.  It is housed in a sub-level of Tarantulas’ former lair.  He “lives” through his Steel Tech proxy body, the (black and grey Transmetal Tarantulas), but he cannot particularly control it too well/or it really is just a poor substitute for a sparked body.

Tarantulas has a blank stasis pod that was affected by the Quantum Surge.  He plugs Waspinator’s spark into it.  And Transmetal Waspinator is born.  Waspinator comes back online strapped to a table, with the Steel Tech drone working on him (And Tarantulas’ face on a computer screen, establishing that he really is housed in his lair’s “hard drive”)

Tarantulas explains that he still has to accomplish the Tripredacus Council’s goals, even after death, and Waspinator is one of his new tools.

Faux-Tarantulas ALSO reveals that he has the bodies of Scorponok and Terrorsaur (both Transmetalized), which he recovered from the lava pit.  (TM Terrorsaur’s fine, but a new design for Transmetal Scorponok is essential.  NOT the McDonald’s toy design.  Make him larger and bulkier and his third mode should have flight capability- this is important for later)  

Fitting all three with “neural implants” that ensure obedience, Tarantulas explains he will use them to breach the Ark and carry out its destruction (His Steel Tech drone isn’t dexterous or durable enough to fight through the Ark’s automated defenses).

And Waspinator is a test subject.  Tarantulas releases him from his bonds and orders him to obey.  The neural implant holds, and Tarantulas decides to send Waspinator for a test-drive.  Waspinator speeds out of the lair in his new jet mode.

As he travels over the landscape, he is watched by someone new on the ground.  We don’t find out who it is YET.  Just a close up of a wide, toothy grin and an “Interesting”.

Meanwhile Depthcharge is having a nervous breakdown.  Rampage is slowly driving him insane, and Depthcharge starts repeatedly trying to kill himself.  It is MESSED UP, including Depthcharge throwing himself on his own sword, tearing bits off, and such.  But all the damage heals.  Exhausted and pained, Depthcharge suddenly becomes aware of a visitor watching him.

Cue DINOBOT II, standing arrogantly and grinning down on Depthcharge, telling him it won’t work.

Both Depthcharge and Rampage are surprised to see him.  Rampage particularly.

Meanwhile, Waspinator’s test-drive includes going back to his proto-human village and is ordered to raze it to the ground by Tarantulas.  But Waspy surprises Tarantulas (and the audience) by fighting the neural implant and eventually succeeding in burning it out, overcoming Tarantulas’ will by plumbing that can-do never-give-up Waspinator spirit and his genuine affection for the proto-humans.   Tarantulas is surprised by this, but notes he has back-ups anyway, activating Scorponok and Terrorsaur.

Back with Depthcharge and Dinobot, who, of note, acts somewhat uncharacteristically, giving half-answers and grinning a lot.  Rampage begins to suspect something is different or wrong with Dinobot.

Meanwhile, Scorponok and Terrorsaur are both activated and forced into line by the neural implants.  Terrorsaur is still his arrogant self, but Scorponok is more quiet and almost more professional (It’ll be seen/developed that he’s a bit disillusioned that Megatron never saw fit to recover him from the lava pit).  Anyway, as neither of them have any particular strong will to oppose the neural implant, they go to carry out Tarantulas’ orders to attack the Ark.

We establish the VOK, who realize the danger to the time stream is not yet over.  The two that “killed” Tarantulas decide to intervene.  They go to where Tigerhawk died and begin pulling his shattered pieces together with their powers.  (Tigerhawk would be dead, just a zombie shell animated by these Vok and while his body is whole, it is in horrendous shape, missing an optic, generally looking like a terrifying zombie).

Meanwhile Waspinator is speeding along, knowing somehow he has to go back and stop Tarantulas, when he sees Scorponok and Terrorsaur in their new Transmetal vehicle modes, headed in the Ark’s direction, along with Tarantulas‘ Steel Tech proxy body.  Waspinator isn’t particularly positive he can take both of them, even with his new body, so he decides to go look for “crazy fishie-bot” and hopes Depthcharge is somewhat more lucid now.

Back with Depthcharge and Dinobot, Rampage suddenly senses a familiarity between his own spark and Dinobot and realizes Dinobot’s shell is now possessed by STARSCREAM!

Guilty as charged, Dino-Scream shrugs.  He’s been stuck in this time zone for a while and returned to the planet, but everyone’s left now.  So he looked for the Nemesis (Hoping to find something there he can possess without damaging history) and found Dinobot II’s ravaged, sparkless shell.  Possessing that and healing its injuries, Starscream set out for the Ark next.

Before anything can be done, Waspinator finds them, telling them (as best as he can) about Tarantulas’ plan to destroy the Ark and what not.

Depthcharge and Starscream don’t want to be erased from history, so they agree to help (Rampage even finds it interesting).

Faux-Tarantulas, Scorponok and Terrorsaur arrive at the Ark, and the latter two fight their way through Teletraan-1’s automated defenses (which come out of “sleep mode”).  Faux-Tarantulas hangs back.

But by the time they make it through, Waspinator, Dino-Scream, and Depthcharge/Rampage arrive.

We have a three-on-three battle.  Scorponok fights Depthcharge/Rampage (Scorpy’s new Transmetal body is bigger than his old one and almost a match for Depthcharge, even with the new ferocity that Rampage’s presence in his mind gives him).  Scorponok angsts over his abandonment by Megatron while they fight.  Terrorsaur fights the groundbound Starscream/Dinobot II (Starscream grumbles that this body sucks cuz it can’t fly) and manages to actually hold it off, as Starscream is unaccustomed to fighting like this.

Waspinator faces off against the Steel Tech Drone, and despite some initial trepidation, realizes he’s far more powerful now than any drone and takes the faux-Tarantulas down easily once his confidence is up.

Meanwhile, the zombie Vok-possessed Tigerhawk arrives at Tarantulas’s lair, runs roughshod over the meager defenses, and destroys the Tarantulas’ hard drive/AI for good.

This causes the neural implants in Scorponok and Terrorsaur to fail, and they stop fighting now that they are no longer under Tarantulas’ will.

Confused at what is going on, everyone leaves the Ark.  The Vok-possessed zombie Tigerhawk arrives.

First order of business is noticing Dinobot II.  The Vok declare (The Transmetal II clone body) an “abomination” and perversion of their technology. (Starscream’s like “Whoa, wait a minute!”)

The Vok incinerate Dinobot II’s shell in a blast of lightning from Tigerhawk.  We don’t see what happens to Starscream’s spark.

The Vok explain that the constant interference with the timeline has TO STOP, and tells everyone to get the hell off the planet.

Of course, everyone is like “uh, HOW?”

The Vok tells everyone to go into Earth orbit.  They will self-destruct Tigerhawk’s remains, with the release of alien energies ripping a Transwarp wormhole that’ll send everyone back to the right era.

Everyone of course is like “But…how do we get home from the middle of space?”

And the Vok of course are like “We don’t care, you’re going back to your rightful place in history or we’ll just kill you here and dump you there”

So everyone engages flight modes and follows Zombie-Tigerhawk up into space.  They stand back and the Vok do as they promised, detonating Tigerhawk’s shell and making a wormhole.  Everyone flies through in a flash, the Vok take their leave with some end dialogue about cleaning up some more small glitches or whatever.

Everyone arrives in the middle of space, nowheresville.  Depthcharge isn’t hanging with these “Preds” anymore and “Besides, I’ve got enough company as it is”.  He flies off into the nothingness of space, deciding to either find a way to deal with living with Rampage…or destroying them both.

Waspinator and Scorponok get into an argument about which direction Cybertron is, which ends in Waspinator engaging his jet mode and flying off alone.  Scorponok sighs and goes in the opposite direction, asking if Terrorsaur is coming.

Terrorsaur (who hasn’t said a word since they left Earth) just widely grins and unseen to Scorponok, we see the ghost of Starscream possessing Terrorsaur’s frame.  “Sure thing, pal.”  He follows Scorponok.

END.

Notes-

*Inferno and Quickstrike…well, seeing as Quickstrike’s head was hollowed out and made into a mask, I think they’re a little harder to swallow as still alive.

*I kinda tried to do the exact opposite of what the Botcon comics did…bring Tigerhawk back (albeit a Vok-possessed zombie) instead of Tigatron and Airazor.

*When the zombie Tigerhawk destroys the Tarantulas AI core, depending on preference, we can have him say “You last bit of Unicron” or some such, depending if everyone agrees on Tarantulas’s origins.

*I have Starscream possessing Dinobot’s shell and later Terrorsaur, trying to avoid the clichéd possessing of Transmetal Waspinator.

[avelera]

So now that I'm caught up on Interview with the Vampire (as of ep 2.5) I want to say a few words about the appearance of Raglan James, aka the antagonist in "The Tale of the Body Thief".

First, and on the most basic level, I lost my fucking mind when he showed up. Body Thief is perhaps a controversial installment of the Vampire Chronicles but it's actually one of my favorites (and I could write essays on why).

Once I was done screaming in delight at his appearance, I went looking to see the reaction of other book fans and here I must admit I am puzzled.

Many book fans here seem to think that Raglan James isn't what he appears. That he's Marius, or David Talbot, or Aaron Lightner, or some other book character in disguise.

I vehemently disagree with this both for Watsonian (in-universe) and Doylist (out-of-universe, practical) reasons.

Raglan James is Raglan James, the Body Thief, and I'm going to reiterate this a few times in explaining why I hold this view.

Now, to get into why I think the show is just giving us pre-canon Raglan James right now, and not already playing with his body jumping abilities by having him be someone like Marius:

When introducing a character who is effectively a shapeshifter, in this case the Body Thief himself, Raglan James, you actually do need to show him in his "normal" state first because not everyone in the audience is familiar with his ability because of the books. You have to introduce and build up this ability gradually because it's a very confusing ability for a visual medium to have a different actor playing the same character (and if you don't believe me, go check out some other famous shapeshifter characters like Mystique or The Doctor and see how carefully the narrative introduces and builds up how their power works, almost always starting by showing them in a normal "original" state as a baseline).

Showing him for the first time in another guise would only create confusion. We need to know who he is on his own before we can begin to play with the narrative. At most, I think his current form might be the body of his first "jump" into the body of his fellow inmate, but even then, I think that's something you save for later, when you introduce the ability he has. I really think we're actually seeing early or pre-canon, real Raglan (the one who had cancer) right now in his first original body. Honestly, I wouldn't even be surprised if Raglan doesn't have the ability yet and is building up towards achieving it. I think right now, he's just a normal, scummy, kleptomaniac Talamasca member.

Is "Raglan" his real name? Perhaps not, the man is an infamous con artist. But I took Daniel's skepticism to be more in line with "You made up a silly sounding name because you're a drama queen and great believer in your own legend. Your real name is probably something normal like "Bob', Raglan," rather than an invitation by the audience to assume that Raglan is, for example, Marius or another vampire in disguise.

My sense is that we're setting up Raglan to be the post-Queen of the Damned antagonist, just like he was in the books. But in order to introduce him to best effect then, instead of a totally confusing appearance out of left field (like he is in the book, tbh), it's actually very clever to introduce him now, early on, as a Talamasca member (or recently kicked out of it) before introducing him as the Body Thief. They're making him a normal, known member of the cast before they toss him out there as one of the most bizarre antagonists of the entire book series.

Personally, I think that Raglan is being introduced now as our first introduction to the Talamasca. The Talamasca is a very questionable organization on many levels, we are often meant to distrust them or view them with the same distrust as the supernatural creatures do who encounter them, despite the fact they're actually mostly benevolent in the books so the suspicion supernatural characters view with them often feels a bit excessive. So it makes sense that our first introduction to it is with a somewhat shady character, in order to justify the book levels of suspicion vampires and witches feel towards the Talamasca, because the first one of their members we meet is a con artist and a villain, even if later ones are mostly good guys.

Basically, I think instead of just introducing Raglan out of the blue after he's jumped bodies a couple times. Instead, we're going "back in time" so to speak, showing the prologue of his backstory and intertwining it with the main story so it's not so shocking when he shows up later as an antagonist.

For my money, Raglan hasn't been kicked out of the Talamasca yet or he has very recently been kicked out and is now hunting down Daniel on his own in order to get closer to his real targets, powerful vampires like Lestat or Armand. He's going to be a regular for a bit, a shadowy figure at the edges, perhaps drop away for a bit during the events of Queen of the Damned, and then come back as the main antagonist, with all the familiarity we have with him, after those events as the new antagonist.

And as for Marius... along similar lines of, "you have to show how something works before you break it / you have to show who a character is before you disguise them with a shapeshifter's abilities" IMO, when we see Marius, we're going to see Marius. We're going to see Armand's master in his original form. We're probably going to see him the way we first do in Queen of the Damned, busy tending the shrine of Those Who Must Be Kept.

I don't, for my money, think we're going to deviate so much that Marius is going to show up (except in flashbacks) just because the characters are talking about him.

The whole point of Lestat becoming a rock star, the whole justification for it in Queen of the Damned and the Vampire Lestat was to draw out all the vampires in his life, vampires he's missed like Louis and Armand and Marius. The whole point was to bring them to him.

Having Marius just randomly pick up that Louis and Armand are talking about him and then show up smacks of television coincidence. But the show's narrative is too carefully crafted for that.

So, in my opinion, Marius will be held in reserve. We will only see him in flashbacks at first, probably not until Season 3 so they can cast his actor for the whole season (nice thing about Raglan James, since he is a shapeshifter/body thief you can always recast him later once his plotline kicks off). Marius will emerge for the same reasons he did in the books, because that lends weight to Lestat's otherwise batshit insane plan to become a rockstar, because it might be crazy but it works.

Marius has no need to appear in the body of a human before that. It makes no sense from a television angle (where it only causes confusion) or from a story angle, because he'd have no reason to show up in Armand's life now when he hasn't done so before except that we've first learned about him in the show.

Obviously I could be completely wrong! It would be amusing to eat my words and it has admittedly been a very long time since I read all the books (though I read them over and over back when I did). But these are my lengthy two cents on the matter.

[plutoccult]

HAIKYUU X THE OFFICE AU — EPISODE FIVE: BOOZE CRUISE

pairing: sugawara koushi x female reader

description: ukai attempts to help the office bond more by booking a booze cruise for his employees… in the middle of winter. meanwhile, tanaka miserably tries to set suga up with his older sister per kiyoko’s suggestion.

word count: 6.5k

also available to read on my ao3 here

author’s note: hey, i changed my user! i was @310802 before, now i’m @plutoccult! i also had to repost this because the original post wasn’t showing up in ANY tags, so i’m sorry if you already read it before i did this! moving on, i was SO EXCITED to write this episode. i know i neglected the katy storyline from the show, so i decided to take the opportunity to somewhat use that for this episode as a little one-off. i think i was clever with its use too… i’m trying to balance the amount of “screen”time between the reader and suga, but some episodes may just end up needing more focus on suga for the sake of the storyline. anyway, the next few weeks is gonna be updates galore, so you’re all gonna be FED. btw, thank you to @dragon-slayer5 for beta reading this! enjoy!

tags: @toorubobatea @intorder @dragon-slayer5 @femme-lune @jeanboyjean @cowgirlikets @imissyuuji @darthferbert @kazuchaos @bakagun1312 @beingbrokenfitsus @mumblepingu @daedaep69 @intheewrld @msbyomimi @sukxma @akari-fujikawa @milkteeboba

taglist form here

suga considered lunchtime to be the only time of day where he could actually catch a break. he seemed to have a hard time catching any sort of breaks lately, especially when it came to his miserable love life. as much as he wanted things to change, today would certainly be no different.

since suga entered the office building this morning, tanaka had his eyes on him like an hawk. it was creepy how every time suga looked away from his computer, tanaka was staring right at him. but why? did he have something on his face? was his hair actually looking gray? no, that would be terrible. there can’t be anything than that.

to hopefully get tanaka’s eyes off him for once, suga got up and headed down to the hallway where the vending machines were. maybe a little snack would ease the unnerving feeling in his stomach. unfortunately, tanaka was already on his way to follow.

suga pondered over his choices, and before he knew it, tanaka’s reflection was seen in the glass of the vending machine. it was like a scene straight out of a horror movie, but suga decided to ignore him and pray he would go away, then continued to ponder over what to pick.

“a little birdie told me something.” tanaka spoke up.

oh no. “what?”

“nothing.” he smirked.

you enter, also looking to use the vending machine. great, just what this moment needed, suga thought.

“hey, guys.” you greet the two men, no clue about what’s going on. it was better if you didn’t know.

“oh, hi, y/n.” suga slightly blushed.

a smirk crept up on tanaka’s face. suga began to wonder about tanaka’s motives even more, but shook it off and picked a bag of sour cream and onion chips before walking back to his desk. tanaka quickly followed behind, which you found weird considering you assumed he was waiting for his turn to use the vending machine. you figured “oh well”, got your snack, and went back to your desk.

you sit down and meet eyes with suga who’s about pop a chip into his mouth. you quickly open up your bag and pull out a chip, doing a little “clink” with your chips from across the room, which suga immediately thought to reciprocate. it was good to know you two were still in sync.

a few minutes later, ukai returned from eating out for lunch, which he typically did almost every day. oh, how you wished you could afford ordering food for lunch all the time like your boss, but alas, you were just the receptionist.

“hello, everyone.” ukai said as he hung up his coat.

“welcome back, ukai.” tanaka replied before loudly whispering in suga’s ear. “i know your secret…”

my god. as much as suga was totally freaked out right now, ukai thought tanaka’s menacing words were directed towards him instead. “what?! i don’t have any secrets!”

suga and tanaka both look into the camera with furrowed eyebrows.

•••

the crew loved putting you and suga together for interviews. and given the drama that’s soon to come, they had to use every opportunity possible.

“so, ukai sent everyone a very interesting email last week.” you say the camera.

“yeah, it was, um… quite the thinker.” suga chuckled.

“mhm. it said, “it's time for our first quarter camaraderie event, so pack a swimsuit, a toothbrush, rubber-soled shoes, and a ski mask.” you read out the email from your phone. “i’m not really sure what that exactly equates to…”

“clearly, he wants to us to rob a bank and escape through the sewers afterwards.” suga shrugged. that was totally the obvious conclusion.

“then brush our teeth after a hard time committing crimes?” you jokingly question.

“yeah, exactly.” suga smiled at you, making you blush. you quickly turn to the crew and wonder if they noticed that, but it was obvious they did. the cameras catch everything.

•••

now the question that remained rent-free in everyone’s minds was what the hell ukai could possibly be planning this year. he was never up to any good, always doing something completely out of the box. he was simply incapable of doing anything normal. it made work interesting, but sometimes you all wished ukai take a chill pill for once.

at the most random time, ukai emerged from his office with an announcement. why he always did this, you couldn’t help but wonder, yet you didn’t hesitate to look away from your computer to hear what he had to say this time around.

“everyone, it appears some of you have figured me out.” ukai said to grab everyone’s attention. “so, it is now time to unveil the destination of this year's retreat. drumroll, please.”

no one provides a drumroll, much to ukai’s disappointment. “really? no drumroll? not even you, tanaka?”

“just spit it out already.” tanaka groaned.

“okay, fine.” he sighed before announcing the big news. “i got us a riverboat cruise on the abukuma river! it’s gonna be a booze cruise!”

a booze cruise? god, for a paper company, you guys sure consumed a lot of alcohol. plus, the combination of ukai and a cruise ship already seemed like a total disaster. when you add booze into the mix, it was almost comparable to the end of the world.

ukai received practically cricket noises from his employees, daichi being the one to express what was on everyone’s minds. “ukai, it’s january.”

“so? it was cheaper.” ukai shrugged. if it were any other month, like—hm, who knows—any month in the summer, maybe they’d show a little more excitement.

“and what is up with you and booze?” daichi asked. again, something you’ve all thought about at least once. “this is like when hinata was addicted to mixing buzzballz with every soda known to man.”

“pepsi with the cranberry flavor was the best…” hinata randomly spoke up, remembering that month-long phase last year. it wasn’t pretty, to say the least.

“gross…” kageyama shook his head in disgust.

“you don’t get it like i do, kageyama.” hinata protested.

“what is that supposed to mean?” kageyama raised an eyebrow, ready to start up an argument with his desk neighbor at any given second. typical, of course. you wondered when it would ever get old.

“okay, shut up before you two start making out!” ukai interrupted them before another hr fiasco occurred. again.

“what?!” the two gawked in unison. did they really give off that vibe?

“anyway!” ukai forced a laugh and switched the subject back to the cruise. “just hear me out guys, okay? let me cook. i’m combining fun with education! it’s gonna be mind-blowing.”

“sounds like you just want another excuse to party.”

“it’s not a party, it’s a bonding exercise.” ukai corrected him. “i’m helping us bond. people find lifelong friends in the workplace. others may find the love of their lives.”

ukai was right, shockingly. people do find lifelong friends. suga knew he would always stay friends with daichi for life, and even if tsukishima got on his nerves sometimes, he wasn’t the worst person in the world to be around. there would always be a bond between your coworkers. maybe you were all trauma bonded from dealing with ukai for all these years, but it was an unforgettable bond nonetheless.

suga blushed out of embarrassment from that last statement. some do find the love of their lives. he liked to believe you were the love of his life, swearing he found such a thing his first day at the office. the second he walked through that door and was met with your face, the words “japan pulp and paper, this is y/n. please hold.” coming out of your mouth as you spoke on the phone before setting it down to ask him what he needed. suga knew, right then and there, that he had found his future wife, but oh how he wished he knew back then what he would be in for years later.

even if ukai was oddly onto something for once, not everyone was interested. asahi, who had yet to survive a full year at the office, raised his hand and attempted to opt out of the event. “can i sit this one out? i have… a thing… later…”

“nice try, asahi.” ukai rolled his eyes. “this is mandatory. i better see your beefy ass on that dock tonight.”

“i’m not that beefy…” asahi said with a tinge of red on his cheeks.

“you so are, bro. those glutes go crazy.” nishinoya said confidently.

asahi wasn’t sure why nishinoya was paying attention to that area of his body, but he took the compliment anyway, although continuing to question it. “thank you?”

“glad we got that covered.” ukai said. “now, before we go on this cruise later, we have to talk about safety.”

“you’re literally the most unsafe person here, ukai.” you speak up. if anyone knew ukai best, it would very well be you, always there to deal with his antics and sometimes assist in them. the time you helped ukai hack into a higher up’s email account to prevent a picture of his ass that he accidentally sent being seen would go down in office history. you saved his ass, quite literally.

“ugh, come on!” ukai huffed. “i saw titantic a million times and i refuse to let us all die like leonardo dicaprio!”

•••

“do you think you could save one of your employees in the face of danger?”

“um, hello? i took a swimming class once. of course, i could save one of them.” ukai sassily replied to the documentary crew. “besides, we all know jack and rose could’ve both fit on that door at the end of titanic. james cameron is such a liar.”

•••

later on, suga went to go grab a cup of coffee in the break room. before he knew it, he was being cornered by tanaka, the sound of his name being called practically scaring him shitless. “sugawara koushi.”

“jesus christ.” suga jumped, putting his hand over his chest to feel his heartbeat. “do not use my full name like that ever again.”

“shut up.” tanaka shushed him and pressed his index finger over suga’s mouth to further silence him. “how would you… like to… take my sister as your date for the booze cruise tonight?”

there was no way this could be real life right now, suga thought. being in this position with tanaka was weird enough, but taking his sister as his date? he wasn’t even aware people were taking dates for this. it was no contest who suga truly wanted to take as a date, but of course it wasn’t an option, and he didn’t want to settle.

“your… sister? uh, no thanks.” suga turned the idea down without hesitation. however, tanaka was feeling devious.

“really?” he moved his finger away and crossed his arms with a smirk on his face. “kiyoko told me everything, suga. i know you have feelings for—”

oh no. not again.

“oh my god, shut your fucking mouth!” suga exclaimed with wide eyes, slapping his hands over tanaka’s mouth so he’d be quiet. to hell with censorship, this was critical. at this rate, the whole damn office was going to find out about suga’s pathetic feelings. he was going to end up broke by the time he bribed everyone to keep their mouths shut. his poor wallet and heartstrings can’t suffer any longer.

“woah, woah, woah!” tanaka laughed awkwardly, actually kind of scared over suga’s newfound rage. “language, my man!”

“whatever!” suga yelled “why the hell did she tell you?!”

“well, it was her idea to set you up with my sister, and i wanted to know why, so…” tanaka replied timidly, hoping kiyoko wouldn’t kill him later for pinning part of the blame onto her. well, unless suga didn’t get to her first.

“god fucking dammit.” suga cursed as he walked away from this monstrosity of a conversation. now, where was he off to? to confront kiyoko about the mess she’s made, of course.

“well? are you taking her out or not?!” tanaka yelled out to suga on his way out, receiving a middle finger in response, which will undoubtedly be blurred out in post production. the editing team had a lot of work cut out for them, that’s for sure.

on a mission like his life—and certainly dignity—depended on it, suga stormed up to kiyoko’s desk, where tsukishima and yamaguchi sat across from one another.

“kiyoko.” he towered over her as she sat in her chair, completely unbothered by him. “you were sworn to secrecy.”

“actually, only tsukishima was because you gave him twenty bucks.” kiyoko said. “you didn’t buy my silence.”

well, no wonder she spilled the beans. tsukishima got money, she didn’t. it’s not like kiyoko had asked that day at the christmas party, but suga certainly should have known better than to not doubt her. yamaguchi, however, was one big ol’ question mark. “yamaguchi? what about your silence?”

“i don’t like taking advantage of those less fortunate than me.” yamaguchi replied to him, those savage words coming out so innocent from his voice.

“less fortunate?!” suga gasped. it was beyond insulting, but he couldn’t even be that mad hearing it come from yamaguchi. now, if it were tsukishima talking, he’d insult him right back.

“suga, you need to have eyes on other women.” kiyoko lectured him. it’s not like she was wrong, obviously suga knew that, but the heart wants what it wants, and no matter what, his heart wanted you.

“but did you really have to tell tanaka about it?” suga whined.

tsukishima almost choked on his drink. “you told—”

“quiet.” kiyoko shushed tsukishima. “listen, suga. i’m doing you a favor, okay? just… take saeko out. just once. maybe it could take your mind off you know who for a little while?”

suga didn’t really have much choice, did he? maybe being seen with another woman will throw away any suspicion his coworkers may potentially have. it definitely won’t take his mind off of you, but at the very least, suga could have some sort of benefit from this whole ordeal.

“and will you keep your mouth shut if i do?” he asked, the most important question of all.

“accompanied by some cash, yes.” kiyoko said. why, of course.

giving in, suga let out a sigh as he whipped out his wallet and handed kiyoko money. she took the bill with a smile on her face, slyly putting in it her pocket.

“what about me—” yamaguchi began to say before suga cut him off.

“i’m less fortunate, remember?” he replied sassily, a nod to what yamaguchi said earlier. suga then finally went back to his desk, muttering curses to himself. “assholes.”

•••

“i’m gonna end up killing someone.” suga said to the camera with an unsettling smile, which quickly faded when he realized he couldn’t actually commit murder like he desired in the moment. “actually, i can’t do that. i’m still waiting for gta 6 to come out.”

“what?”

“none of you guys are waiting for gta 6?” he furrowed his eyebrows before pouting when the crew shook their heads no. “aw, come on…”

•••

once the sun set for the night, the employees of japan pulp and paper all met up at the dock for tonight’s booze cruise. ukai, who arrived far too early, waved his arms in the air for his employees, motioning them to board the boat, acting as if he were the captain of it.

“all aboard!”

“isn’t that what people say on trains?” you ask as you arrive with ryo, shocked he’s not totally against coming here tonight. it was safe to assume it’s because of the open bar, when you really thought it through.

“that’s such a stupid question.” ryo scoffed. of course, a part of him hated being around your obnoxious coworkers. that was no surprise, unfortunately.

“whatever.” you sigh. “sorry i asked, i guess…”

meanwhile, suga parked his car in the parking, just now arriving. he hoped he wasn’t late as he really didn’t need to feel tanaka’s and/or kiyoko’s wrath. he may as well feel it regardless of his time of arrival. suga didn’t want this date tonight. that too was no surprise.

as he got out of his car, suga’s eyes landed on the coolest motorcycle he had ever seen. whoever owned it must take really good care of it, like it was their child or something, he thought to himself. suga didn’t think of the motorcycle much further as he heard a car door slam from far away. he turned around, hoping it was you, but it turned out to kiyoko and yachi rushing towards him.

“sugawara!” they yell out.

suga put his hands out in front of him, hoping to shield the two girls away. “oh god, am i being ambushed?”

“no.” kiyoko replied to his question out of breath. she knew quitting track in high school was a terrible idea. “we were waiting for you to arrive.”

“why..?” suga furrowed his eyebrows.

“to make sure you’re ready for tonight.” yachi said on kiyoko’s behalf.

what did he exactly to be ready for? a date he was forced into with a woman he’s never met? frankly, suga he didn’t really want to meet tanaka’s sister. it was nothing against her personally, she just wasn’t you.

“do i need to give you money too, yachi?” he groaned.

“that’s like taking money from charity.” she replied. man, yachi was just as savage as yamaguchi. they’re truly made for each other.

“wow, just wow.” suga said in disbelief. “look, i’m here, isn’t that good enough?”

“no.” kiyoko deadpanned.

he didn’t have time for this bullshit. suga was just going that stupid dock. “i’m walking away.”

“but—” kiyoko and yachi go after him, but can’t seem to keep up.

suga didn’t really think this through. he was just so irritated that he had to get away from kiyoko and yachi. suga didn’t think about where his feet were going, but before he knew it, he was right at the dock, freezing when you saw you with your fiancé. god, he really regretted his life choices right now.

“suga, come here, pretty boy!” he’s snapped back to reality thanks to tanaka calling out his name. without any chance to take a step, kiyoko and yachi creep up behind him and push him to move. you watch the events unravel, wondering what’s going on, but shake it off bring your back to ryo.

suga stumbled to tanaka and an unfamiliar woman. he met eyes with her, a look of shock evidently present on his face. how can someone related to a bozo like tanaka be so… attractive? no. suga couldn’t think like that. she was tanaka’s sister.

“this is my sister, saeko.” tanaka said, waiting for one of them to say something.

“hiya, suga.” saeko extended her hand out for a handshake. “nice to meet you.”

“hello.” suga replied awkwardly, reciprocating the handshake. thank god it was winter. otherwise, they wouldn’t be wearing gloves.

“have her home by midnight.” tanaka joked. “i’m just kidding, she rode herself here.”

“huh?” suga questioned.

“oh, she’s a biker. have fun!” tanaka then walked away to follow kiyoko, who was boarding the ship with yachi. at least suga knew where that awesome motorcycle belonged to.

now alone with saeko, suga turned his head and watched you board the ship with ryo. he looked back to saeko and examined her face for a second before deciding his next action. she was a very pretty woman, but that simply couldn’t fill the void in suga’s heart. he had to be honest while he had the chance. it was only fair.

“listen, saeko… you seem like a really nice girl, but tanaka is only doing this because i’m in love with a girl that works here and wants to help me get over her.” he admitted, a weight lifted off his shoulders after revealing the truth. “i just think i should be honest.”

“oh, i know.” saeko replied bluntly. “he told me all about that.”

suga blinked a couple times and tried to make sure he heard that correctly. “he did?”

“yeah, i’m just doing this because i owe him one.” she shrugged. “besides, i don’t really date older guys.”

“older?” right. the hair. of course.

“i can play wingwoman for ya! don’t worry, pops.” saeko lightly punched him in the arm, followed by an obnoxiously loud laugh. suga looked to the cameras for help, but the crew just stood in their place.

•••

“tanaka…” suga let out a long sigh. “what the hell have you gotten me into?”

•••

after going through all of the safety measures for the cruise, the office were finally allowed to have their fun. it seemed that telling saeko the truth was the best idea suga ever had as she wanted to help him out by trying to make you jealous. well, if that’s even possible, but who knows? it was worth a shot.

suga and saeko walked to you and ryo as you sat together at one of the many tables. their arms were interlinked, surely making some sort of statement.

“y/n, ryo.” suga said to catch your attention, although he ended up catching ryo’s attention more than yours thanks to saeko.

“well, well, well. who’s the pretty lady you brought with you tonight, suga?” ryo asked with a smirk.

you weren’t all that phased until ryo spoke up. saeko wasn’t just pretty to you, she was beautiful, far more than you ever thought of yourself. you can’t remember the last time ryo ever gave you eyes like the ones he was giving saeko now. you weren’t sure who or what you were jealous of right now. the fact that suga was on a date, your fiancé ogling at said date, or that she was so much prettier than you. you cursed yourself in your head for those thought. you didn’t have a right to be jealous of suga. he had every right to date, he was single, you were not.

now that you thought about it, suga never really dated anyone since he started at the office. as far as you knew, at least. you wondered why that was, but it was impossible to pinpoint it down to one reason. you were so painfully blind to the truth.

“uh, this is—” suga began to introduce saeko until she interrupted him.

“saeko. nice to meet you.” she said with a smile.

“she’s tanaka’s sister.” suga added for a little salt in the wound.

“oh…” your eyes widened. you look to ryo and see as he gave suga a high five, telling him he hit the jackpot. you felt sick, and it definitely had nothing to do with the sea.

suga sat next to you, making you in between him and ryo. saeko sat on the end with suga, showing her excitement about the booze cruise. “i feel like we're in high school and we're sitting at the cool table. how fun.”

“yeah.” you reply, trying to remain as chill as possible. you had to keep telling yourself that she wasn’t a villain, she was just a really nice girl who got lucky to be with suga tonight.

“y/n, what were you like in high school?” saeko asked you.

ryo, however, answered the question for you, letting out a cackle as he practically insulted you in front of the whole table. “oh, she was a total, total dork. it took her getting pretty in college for me to notice her.”

“ha! that’s hilarious!” saeko giggled, nudging suga to laugh as she thought this would work with their plan, but he didn’t find it funny whatsoever. it was completely insulting to you.

“it’s really not…” suga muttered to himself.

“where did you go to school?” ryo asked saeko.

“karasuno.” she replied instantly.

“woah… you guys had the tiny giant, didn’t you?” ryo gasped, referring to a well known former high school volleyball player. despite being at his peak, he retired after graduating high school, never once playing professionally. everyone always wondered about what could’ve been, including ryo, who was one of the many people that heard the tale of the tiny giant.

“yeah, i went to school with him.” saeko bragged. it was far from a humble brag, it was awesome.

“woah! what was he like?” ryo questioned in amazement.

“uh… tiny, i guess?” saeko shrugged. she wasn’t quite sure how to answer that question as she never knew the guy personally, just passed him in the hallways on occasion.

suddenly, the cupid shuffle blared through the speakers. nishinoya had taken over the music and started to play his own playlist, claiming the dj “sucked ass” and decided to take matters into his own hands. there wasn’t much protest as everyone began dancing together, including saeko and ryo who get up from the table and decide to join in on the dance.

suga watched the sight, glad to finally have a moment just with you, but when he turned his head to say something to you, it seemed as if you disappeared. of course, he wondered where you went off to, and decided to find you.

you stood alone, leaning your back against the railing of the boat and rubbing your hands together for warmth. it all became overwhelming for you too quickly, and you figured ryo wouldn’t notice you leaving anyway. even so, it still shocked you when suga noticed, finding you in your lonely spot.

“getting too rowdy?” he asked you.

“mhm…” you nod as you shiver a little.

“yeah, i’m not really a fan of making my ears bleed.” suga said to lighten things up. he wondered if this was a good time to admit the truth about the whole saeko thing, that it was all a set up to get your attention because he was in love with you, but before he had the chance, you blurted out something he didn’t expect out of you.

“sometimes i just don't get ryo.”

suga gulped as his eyes widened for a brief second. “oh…”

“i mean, i don't know. it’s whatever.” you shake the feeling off. why were you saying this to suga anyway? it wasn’t his burden to carry. “so... what's it like going out with tanaka’s sister?”

“oh, um...” suga struggled to answer the question. a long silence followed, making you both feel awkward. there was so many things the two of you could say to each other right now.

“i'm cold.” you say with a faint laugh before heading back to your coworkers, suga following not long after. it was easy just to ignore the unspoken tension.

•••

“how’s the booze cruise going so far?”

“kind of wish things were different right about now.” suga forced a laugh. it was clear he was in pure misery. “haha… i need a drink.”

•••

you return to the group, scanning the area. ryo was chatting it up with one of his coworkers from the warehouse, chugging drinks together and sharing a laugh. you then see kiyoko and yachi pull suga by his arm, seemingly yelling at him for reasons you weren’t sure of whatsoever. your choices of where to go were limited, so you return to your table and see saeko sitting alone with a beer. it seemed like a good idea to have a friendly chat with her.

“hey.” you sit down next to her.

“hey.” she greeted you, taking a swig of her beer bottle.

“i never really liked beer.” you say, trying to start up a conversation. whatever topic worked, you were fine with. as adults, talking about alcohol seemed like the best bet.

“oh, you don’t?” saeko questioned. “you just have to find the right brand, honestly. some taste like shit.”

“ha, yeah.” you quietly laugh and rest your face in your hand. saeko immediately noticed the ring on your finger, even if it’s lost its sparkle as the years have gone by.

“woah, nice ring.” she said in amazement.

you look at your ring, shocked by the compliment. it wasn’t anything special, but you appreciated it anyway. “oh, thank you.”

“i'd like to be engaged.” saeko sighed. “how did you manage to pull that off?”

“uh, i've been engaged for three years, and there's no end in sight, so... you don't wanna ask me for any advice.” you force a laugh. god, you‘d kill for the waiting game to finally end.

unbeknownst to you, ryo overheard what you said, and he decided that tonight was the best night to finally take some action when you least expected it.

•••

“what do you think of saeko?”

such an awkward question for the crew to ask you, don’t you think? even so, you had to answer it without making a complete fool of yourself.

“she’s nice.” you shrug. it technically wasn’t a lie, but you sure quickly pulled it out of your ass. “really pretty too. crazy to think she’s related to tanaka…”

“but what about suga taking her as his date tonight?” and there’s the stinger. you didn’t have a right to be jealous, did you?

“uh… doesn’t really matter what i think, i’d say.” you say timidly and look away from the camera.

•••

out of nowhere, ryo got ahold of the dj’s microphone, seemingly about to make an announcement. what the announcement was, you didn’t know, but you sure as hell were scared to know what it would be.

“everybody, could i have your attention for just a second? could you guys listen to me for a second?” he said into the microphone.

everyone stopped what they were doing to look at ryo. suga had a terrible feeling this wasn’t going to be any good, at least not for him.

“i was just, um…” ryo paused before he dropped the ultimate bomb in front of everyone. “y/n, i think enough is enough. i think we should set a date for our wedding. how about june tenth?”

your eyes widen in shock and you find everyone’s eyes are on you. suga swore he felt his heart drop, desperately waiting for your answer like everybody else. wasn’t this what you wanted? to finally get married? it was hard to think that this was real life. you almost wished time would just stop for a second, but the time kept ticking as you had yet to say a thing.

“well, what do you say?” ryo asked.

before you said anything, you immediately look for suga. he was supposed to be your knight in shining armor, you thought, but now when you desperately needed his saving, he was nowhere to be found. maybe this was a sign that you should say yes. after all, you said yes the first time, right?

“okay..?” you answer.

the room felt silent before everyone erupted into cheers, you the least excited person present. “she said okay!”

you’re ushered to get up and head to ryo. he wrapped an arm around your shoulder and planted a big kiss on your temple. it might as well be the most affectionate he’s been towards you in a very long time, but of course, it was when he had a large group of eyes all on him. while part of you was happy you finally began to see a light at the end of the tunnel, the other part of you felt that this was all just for show. but maybe things will be different. you always think that, but you wanted to think that it would really be different this time.

ukai hopped to you and ryo, quickly hugging you and sharing his excitement for you two. “woah, congratulations, you guys! i knew it would happen eventually!”

“did you?” you raise an eyebrow, looking back on all those past jokes about your engagement.

“uh, yes, y/n. of course, i did.” ukai replied sarcastically. he actually didn’t see this coming, but he wanted in on the attention. “now you have to let me give you away!”

“uh, no thank you.” you quickly shut the idea down. even when all the attention was on you (and your fiancé), your mind still went back to suga. he should be here celebrating with you. you wanted him here. he was your best friend, after all. “um, where’s suga?”

“i don’t know, i thought he was right—“ ukai looked around and saw he was nowhere in sight. “oh, seems he vanished.”

“i should—“ you began to say before ukai cut you off.

“no, no. i’ll go find him.” he insisted. “go celebrate!”

“yeah, okay…” you frown as you watch ukai walk away to find suga.

ukai searched around for suga for quite a bit. when he disappeared, he really took it seriously. it was like he vanished out of thin air. ukai hoped he didn’t jump off the ship or something, and luckily before he could cause a scene over a potentially missing employee, suga was found.

“hey, suga.” he said to him. “you, uh, disappeared, man. did you hear the news?”

“uh-huh. i sure did.” suga said, looking down at the deep, dark ocean, almost as dark as his heart had become after what just happened. you finally set a wedding date. it was a day suga dreaded for god knows how long. he always went back and forth wondering whether the day would actually come, but now that’s it’s here, it was a nightmare turned brutal reality.

“something wrong?” ukai asked suga.

“i just…” he paused, tempted to speak up about how he felt, but kept it to himself. “mmm, nope. it’s stupid.”

“i’m the master of stupid things. you can tell me.” ukai said.

it was just the two of them. for some reason, suga felt like he could actually confide in his boss right now. maybe telling him what was wrong wouldn’t be such a bad idea. “i just… i didn’t think they’d ever actually plan to get married.”

“who? y/n and ryo?” ukai questioned. “what, do you like her or something?”

the look on suga’s face said it all. it showed a man who was desperately in love with a woman that simply wasn’t his. it was all so clear now.

“oh my god, you like y/n.” he said, followed by a faint gasp.

suga let out a sigh. he didn’t need to say a thing, ukai just knew. it was a shock he never figured it out before, really. everyone else seemed to find out easily once suga started to slip up in his facade.

“i can’t believe i never noticed before!” ukai exclaimed. “you two are always smiling and giggling with each other, how could i be so blind? holy cow.”

“tsukishima figured it out at the christmas party.” suga said with a frown. “it’s only a matter of time before she figures it out too.”

“and is that so bad?” ukai asked. it seemed like such a simple yes or no question, but the only way suga knew how to answer it was by pouring his heart out, spewing all the things he kept shoved down his throat for the longest time. it was always bound to come up one way or another.

“ukai, it’s not that i just like her… i love her. i’m in love with everything about her. i adore her. she’s sweet, funny, and she just has this aura… i can’t describe it.” he spoke from the heart, the only way he knew how when it came to you. “she’s beautiful inside and out. i would do anything to give her the world. i worship the rain that waters the grass that grows on the ground she walks on. my heart beats louder for her than it ever has for anyone else, and…”

“and… what?” ukai questioned.

“i don’t want her to marry him. i want her to be with me.” suga cried out, covering his face with his hands out of embarrassment. how could he say something so selfish out loud? the thought felt safer in his head, but even so, he would have burst if he kept it in any longer. “god, it’s so fucking stupid. i’m such an idiot.”

suga had been suffering in silence for too long, and ukai could clearly see that. it pained him to see one of his best employees in this state of despair. “suga, if that’s how you truly feel… then don’t give up. tell her how you feel.”

“she’s engaged, ukai. i can’t.” suga shook his head no. such a prosperous thing to suggest now. it was easy to think he could reveal his feelings when he knew there wasn’t a wedding date in sight, but wouldn’t it be so silly now to beg you to cancel the wedding? he felt like a tall child with all these thoughts eating him up.

“so? engaged ain’t married.” ukai shrugged. “besides, you’re way better than ryo.”

it was weird to have ukai on his side. was he not just celebrating with you? maybe suga’s heartfelt speech gave him a change of heart, or maybe he always saw something there without truly realizing what that something was. maybe ukai always knew you deserved better than a lowlife like ryo.

“why are you saying this?” suga questioned ukai. “i thought you’d be excited about the world’s longest engagement finally reaching its end.”

“i don’t know. i just… when i look at her with ryo versus with you, i think there’s a clear winner. you two have something special, and i wouldn’t give up hope, suga.” he replied. “maybe one day you should just… take a chance and see what she says. you never know what’s going on in that mind of hers.”

“you think so?” suga asked.

ukai nodded without hesitation. “never, ever give up.”

overcome with emotion, suga suddenly decided to wrap his arms around ukai. what’s crazy was that it didn’t even feel weird. ukai may be the most insane boss ever, but no matter what, he always had his way of showing he had his employees backs. when suga needed him most, ukai was right there, telling him words he didn’t know he needed to hear, and turned out to be what he needed the most.

“okay.” suga sniffled into ukai’s shoulder, holding him tighter than before. “i won’t.”

ukai really didn’t want to ruin such a heartfelt moment, but he felt like the life was being sucked out of him. “suga, you… you’re suffocating me.”

“oh.” suga quickly let go of him. “sorry.”

“it’s okay, but don’t forget what i told you.” ukai said, gently poking where suga’s heart was. “that’s an order from your boss.”

suga thought that tonight was the end of the world, but it turned out that he still had reason to have hope. maybe ukai was just feeding his delusions, but it sure felt nice knowing someone had his back and believed in him, that his feelings weren’t foolish. besides, a lot can happen between now and june, right?

© plutoccult / 310802. please do not copy, repost, modify, or translate any of my content in or outside of tumblr. reblogs are appreciated <3

[meloartist]

my sandman fic masterlist

hello yeah so basically everything i write and draw about sandman takes place in this AU that's been continually developed since, like, 2018. only a small fraction of said AU is actually written down, but it's still a lot of fics, so i wanted to make one big navigational post

this post will be updated as i write more, so if you rb this for later, pls check back on this original post! i might totally reorganize this lol

the series mainly focuses on lucifer, dream, and mazikeen throughout sandman (1989), lucifer (2000), and lucifer (2016) comic series, occasionally snagging parts from hellblazer, sandman tv, and other stuff.

want just one link to the whole AU? please enjoy the full series on AO3!

for completeness, i've tagged fics until multiple headings if relevant to multiple relationships.

dream / lucifer

during/after season of mists (#23)

escape velocity (16k+) main storyline of my sandman AU, early-mid sandman. lucifer passes out in season of mists instead of walking away.

collision course (16,026+) [NSFW] main storyline of my sandman AU, early-mid sandman. lucifer and dream start to establish a relationship.

care (1605) takes place during escape velocity. lucifer has feelings about his life.

post-sandman (major spoilers)

not bad, just weird (4169) [most popular of all my fics!] the fic that originally kicked it all off! summarizes dream and lucifer's relationship. written much earlier than everything else, so there are some details that are a bit different in later pieces

post-sandman, lucifer (2000), and lucifer (2016) (major spoilers)

privilege of wings (4579) [NSFW] [personal fav] sort of a study on dream's interactions with lucifer's wings

arms unfolding (5507) [personal fav] montage of how dream sees the events of lucifer (2000), and them renegotiating their relationship after lucifer (2016)

promises (2236) how dream reacts to the end of lucifer (2000), more in-depth

nonlinear (521) recovery isn't linear, lucifer. but that's okay.

shared dreams (1394) exploring lucifer's dreams with other characters

rematch (551) lucifer and dream have a sweet moment replaying the oldest game

idiot jar (237) "i'm starting an idiot jar" prompt

wake-up call (502) lucifer wakes up and makes it everyone else's problem. dream/maze/lucifer

mazikeen / lucifer

during sandman

pavor nocturnus (3735) lucifer has nightmares while dream is imprisoned.

post-sandman, post-lucifer (2000), during/after lucifer (2016)

fragile feathers, bring me home (1689) [personal fav] lucifer's wings need grooming. relationship study that's also about mazikeen's anger at lucifer during the 2016 series.

what do you want? (1450) relationship study: mazikeen convinces lucifer she loves him

shared dreams (1394) exploring lucifer's dreams with other characters

never again (466) lucifer is traumatized about hell actually

edelweiss (384) mazikeen asks lucifer to call her something nice.

desecration (444) the lilim have interesting marriage rituals

in nox (487) mazikeen has a bar, after the end of lucifer (2016). this is hilarious actually

wake-up call (502) feat. dream lucifer wakes up and makes it everyone else's problem. dream/maze/lucifer

john constantine / lucifer

what hath night to do with sleep? (509) lucifer has nightmares. john understands.

the tender type (425) just a short fic about john and lucifer's relationship and how they treat each other

shared dreams (1394) exploring lucifer's dreams with other characters

michael & lucifer

awake, arise, or be for ever fall'n (1039) the first time michael sees lucifer in ten billion years, it is at the wake.

mutual annihilation (100) drabble about yggdrasil

shared dreams (1394) exploring lucifer's dreams with other characters

[mayapapaya33]

This is dangerous to write because I'm a bit behind in C3 but I feel relatively safe that The Chained Oblivion isn't a major player in C3. I don't think they're secretly Predathos or the Luxon. (haha watch me be completely wrong lol. If the answer is revealed post C3 ep 86 shhhhh! No spoilers in general, don't be a dick.)

Ok so we know The Chained Oblivion is bound at the bottom of the Abyss by 6 shackles tethered to various points in Exandria. Their locations are a closely guarded internal secret of clergy of the Dawnfather and the Knowing Mistress. We know the location of one in Rexxentrum from C2. My question is, how much do you want to bet one of the shackle's fanes is in Whitestone? lol.

In C1 Matt used to tease them, and us by extension, with the Sun Tree by saying that the Sun Tree may know a LOT of information, but they were asking the wrong questions. That's been in my mind this whole time. What does Matthew McConatree know?!?! Well, the Sun Tree is a tree sacred to The Dawnfather, and rests at the intersection of powerful Ley Lines. The tree was there before the city, in fact, they built the city around the tree. The tree was planted during the Calamity directly over The Knowing Mistresses' Ziggurat temple, and the location of her wounding. We never fully got an answer as to WHY the Sun Tree is there! Is the Sun Tree just watching over the scene of the final battle or is it something more? In fact in C1 ep 70 at (3:10:35) Matt says that Keyleth senses the Ley Lines shoot off in SIX different directions! SIX! The Chained Oblivion is held by SIX chains!!!!!! COINCIDENCE?!?! I THINK NOT!!!! (Ok maybe it is, but still, Matt is ridiculously detailed in his world building, I wouldn't put it past him!)

Whitestone is so fucking cursed. It was messed up long before the Briarwoods got there, they just made it worse. It's where the final battle between The Chained Oblivion, The Knowing Mistress, And The Dawnfather started, The Ziggurat was her temple before it was corrupted, it's where she was wounded (I saw a theory somewhere that the raw essence in Whitestone's rock that can be refined into residuum is actually The Knowing Mistress' blood, which is genius, whoever came up with that, I think you are absolutely correct! That's so damn cool! It has SOMETHING to do with their battle, that much is for sure, what else could it be from?)

The battle ended in Gatshadow, so that's another candidate. Gatshadow is cool, and another important place from C1, but if I had to put money on it, I feel like Whitestone is just one of those places that never catches a break lol. Also Percy's family were originally followers of the Dawnfather (if I remember correctly). The city is a Dawnfather leaning city, Vex is a/the champion of the Dawnfather, which I hope C3 subtly develops further if only in the background. I feel like, of those who were war time converts to fight Vecna, Vex would probably take her duties as Champion most seriously especially considering her position in Whitestone and its relation to the Dawnfather. I'd love to see some Champion of the Dawnfather Vex'ahlia in later C3. (Again don't tell me if it happens).

If Gatshadow was super important strategically, you'd think The Dawnfather would have left a Sun Tree there to keep watch. Maybe he did and we just haven't run across it yet? Seems like we would have seen it on our way to fight Umbrasyl but you never know. They should check the Cobalt Soul library and see if there are any other Sun Trees in Exandria or if Whitestone is it. (The Cobalt Soul, who's favored deity is the Knowing Mistress, someone high up there definitely knows where the chain fanes are!) On second though that's probably way too obvious, having a Sun Tree in each location. They should figure out what other powerful symbols/ followers/ creations of The Dawnfather and The Knowing Mistress there are and look for those! Sphinx's and Sun Trees are only the start. This'll totally be important in Campaign 4 or 5 or 27! Matt plays the long game! He's mentioned The Chained Oblivion too many times for it to not come up again eventually. After the shenanigans around the Angel of Iron's cult and Obaan, and Aeor, Cognoza, the Somnovum, The Eyes of Nine, all that Jazz.

With nothing preventing it from influencing people even from the bottom of the Abyss, it'll happen again. So even if it's just an eternal game of whack-a-mole we'll be seeing their influence somewhere, somehow, at some point lol. "No! Bad! Quit influencing mortals from your prison in the Abyss! Bad Eldritch Abomination, the form of which, were I to look upon it, my sanity would melt into a gibbering puddle of goo! Stop That! Stay!