#aka the only character I've been able to play as full on 'me me me me' because of my limited social interactions during elder scrolls lmao

[raayllum]

ALRIGHT, time to talk about the poster in lovely HD.

First things first, I want to talk about these two ladies (?). The upper one closer to the moon looks more like an elf, and is gazing down at the second, closer woman. I've seen people speculate Ziard due to the hair, but none of this usual clothing appendages are there, so I lean towards a new character, and possibly being the human Aaravos had a special connection to. We see what looks like the arches of the Moon Nexus framed behind them, which was the case both when Rayla went through the portal in TTM and when Lujanne used historia viventum to show Callum the way things looked before. Souls of hate and love, maybe?

We see other Moon symbols throughout the posture sure as archangel lunarises, which seek out Moon magic (1x01) and can be used in illusion spells (2x03, 3x09). We also see the enchanted lotuses from 3x03, though for what purpose is unclear (more on that later).

Moving down, we have a fully celestial, quite happy Aaravos. He's in full flourish and clearly using Moon magic for someone, as begetting the moon behind him, though whether he's constructing lotuses or channeling energy into his Key (perhaps making it able to sense Moon magic) is unknown. While the lotuses in 3x03 were occasionally different colours, the deep purple here makes me think of dark magic. If he is channeling his cube, perhaps he's taking moon energy from the lotuses (or moths) surrounding him to put inside.

I don't think I need to scream much further than I already have about the Moon rune glowing on his Key and having it displayed with his usual star symbol (rune cube foreshadowing symbolism my beloved). This bodes well for theories in which 1) Callum goes too far and does something knowingly risky to free the Moon fam for Rayla's sake or 2) does something risky to help Aaravos to protect Rayla's life, each subsequently to being possessed and/or playing into Aaravos' hands. Thank you goodnight.

Then we have the book, which is deeply fascinating. It seems like a very Moon book, the fragments framing it similar to the ones we see on the lotuses and possibly evoking one of the archangel lunaris' flying around. It wouldn't surprise me if the book contains a variant of Deep moon magic of some kind, whatever that would look like. The crescent curved moon is also similar to the symbol we see on Aaravos' poem page for the Midnight Star in show (2x08). I do wonder why each side of the book looks so different though, with no actual visible moon in sight besides the tiny gemstones and the crescent moon, the other side being entirely dark (which, to be fair, is pretty moon-y).

We also sort of but don't quite see Aaravos' famous chest piece, though it is a-glowing. Whether it glowed all the time pre-Fall we just don't know, as the only time we've seen it glow/be filled in is 2x09 when he's channeling magic through Viren, but who knows. It does mean that the cube is even older than his banishment and that if it does hold his chest piece, it was placed after (if it's tangible at all, which has always been one of the biggest questions).

This is perhaps the weirdest thing that I am the most interested in, as alongside his crown and bangles, this is the biggest design difference between Aaravos in-show and out. In show, both in his mirror and even 'pre-Fall' (aka the timeline for the 1x01 shot is probably a lie anyway), Aaravos' hip thingy is a lot more simplistic.

However, Aaravos does have all his flowery (and I mean that literally, it looks like petals) adornment in his concept art.

The fact they have a lotus flower flair to them always felt interesting but ultimately like a coincidence, but perhaps not. Either way as pictured below, it seems like he's either constructing or dismantling the lotuses, which is Eyes Emoji either way.

The most... surely metaphorical / abstract portion of the poster, though, is I'd imagine the very bottom. I hesitate to read into things too literally (one of the S5 posters had Finnegrin's ship being blasted with lightning and Domina watching the waves, and while she featured in the season and played a role in Finnegrin's aims, the scene itself as portrayed did not come fully to fruition) so I'm gonna go with a more symbolic read, just as as disclaimer.

Lastly we have these two figures. I'm assuming the one in white is an elf and betting on young Aaravos or Leola, though it could be someone else connected to the Moon arcanum (the elven daughter who vouched for exiling rather than eliminating humanity?). The red and black shadow figure feels far more sinister (blood and stardust, anyone) but if you lighten the shadows, you get something even more... interesting, shall we say.

Rather than standing up straight, this figure almost seems to swoop down with a draconic like claw and a face that reminds me the most of Sir Sparklepuff's features, honestly, perhaps boasting a similar kind of blood (Viren's) and star (Aaravos) and dark magic (the staff?). It is also clearly moving toward the more humanoid figure on the bottom right, which gives a "corruption is reaching / coming for / offering things to you" sort of vibe.

[adoroborosgoth]

Crowley dying in s3

I wasn't sure how to start this meta. I've had this theory with possible (big possible) evidence sitting around for ages and I just didn't know what to do with the information.

After I'd already had this information, I only seen a hand full of others talk about it, but none have touched on it in the same way as the things I've found in my research.

So let's get on with it. For reference I'm going to tag @nightingalecottage and their lovely post here. I really recommend reading it. This theory only saw the light of day because of their post and I told them I would tag them with my meta since it lends a lot to it. And I promised myself that I would finish this for them.

Now for the meat and potatoes. I'll break it all down about how I found this information and how it might lend some theory about possible plot to s3.

This got really long so I put a cut.

-Silly narrator voice-

The facts were these.

To start I was doing research for a fic I'm working on and the details don't matter much but I'd planned to make my 'human' crowley a barrister. I was googling famous barristers for inspiration.

This lead me to wikipedia naturally as you do. And as I was looking over the list I saw this.

After seeing this name on the list of barristers in popular culture I had a mini freakout. Mainly because two things NG is a huge fan of Charles Dickens and A Tale of Two Cities is on the bookclub reading list. And I kept thinking why did this seem familiar and this is why.

A Tale of Two Cities is on the list of books that they recommend we read or were found in s2. So after I stopped freaking out I immediately went to the wiki page for this character. I wasn't too familiar with this book so I wanted to know more. As I was now super invested and intrigued. And found this.

Sydney Carton

I couldn't help be blown away by the similarities here between Sydney Carton and a certain depressed snake demon from s2. Morosely asking Shax on a bench in the first episode "What's the point of it all?"

For some context, in the novel Sydney Carton and his later best friend Charles Darnay share a striking semblance and are easily mistaken for each other. This is how Sydney is then able to make the switch with Darnay in the end saving his life.

This brings to mind of the lore that we know that Crowley and Aziraphale were once long ago one character and split into two. Also with the ideal casting choice that Terry Pratchett wanted one actor to play both roles. That would have been really interesting and funny. Also this plays into our favorite duo MS and DT having not worked together before because they were up for the same roles.

Let's move on to

Charles Darnay

Darnay resents his uncle's views much how Aziraphale resents certain aspects of heaven, but is never able to act on very much.

The note about Darnay being tutor of French made me chuckle considering what we know about Aziraphale being terrible at French. With that whole scene centered around it in s2.

Ok so we all are well versed and familiar with the famous Bastille scene. We all know the one and its clear the inspiration here for it comes from A Tale of Two Cities possibly.

Side note Darnay and Carton are both in love with Lucie here, but I posit that in the case of Good omens, Aziraphale is possibly both Darnay and Lucie. Making him the best friend and love intrest.

Lucie Manette

And finally why does any of this matter and what does this have to do with Crowley maybe dying in s3 you ask?

The one important detail in all of this is that at the end of the novel Carton heroically sacrificed himself to save his best friend and for the women he loves. He feels it gave him purpose and felt as if his life finally had meaning.

Two things here. The scene in which Carton swaps places with Darnay being able to pass as him well enough to save his life. Is very reminiscent of our Body Swap from s1. As well as the idea that in s3 this could also happen, but in the sense that Crowley does it to save Aziraphale's life. I clearly have no idea how s3 will play out.

Now I'm not saying that s3 will be as dramatic as all of this. It is still a comedy at its core. As others have touched on in meta and in nightingalecottage's post there are many little hints that point to the similarities and the idea that Crowley maybe doomed by the narrative. In a way, I personally don't think that Crowley's hypothetical death will be permanent. I just do not see that happening at all. A temporary death I could definitely see and it could also serve to show how much Crowley truly means to Aziraphale. The shock of it would maybe be similar to how Crowley thought he lost Aziraphale in s1 and could be a parallel.

In the end this is all speculation and theory. Either way the idea of it all makes me vibrate and I needed to finally share this with someone else. They wouldn't have recommended this book if there wasn't some sort of meaning here right? And its entirely possible I'm looking in the wrong direction.

Overall there are many parallels and similarities here between A Tale of Two Cities and certain parts of Good Omens, I'm sure I may have missed some and I just wanted to end this now before it gets too long. If you made it this far and have any other theories or something you want to add on to this please feel free to tag me. I release this into the void.

[beloved-cat-gremlin]

Spoilers for the FF7 franchice and Dirge of Cerberus under the cut. This warning is mostly for my friend who's currently playing the original game.

Before I go on with my ramblings I wanna make clear that the only games/media in the FF7 franchise I've gotten through are the original FF7, Crisis Core/Crisis Core Reunion, Advent Children (complete), Dirge of Cerberus and bits and pieces of both Remake and Rebirth.

If some of my information seems faulty in my rant please don't be afraid to give me more details.

I'm planing on going through Before Crisis, Ever Crisis and three books which I know are important to some world and character building. If anyone knows more games or media I should go through to fully understand the FF7 lore and story, hit me with it.

With that out of the way.

Let's talk about Lucrecia Crescent shall we?

I've seen people completely hate on Lucrecia, blaming her for all the things that went wrong in the story.

I've seen people defend her as if she was an innocent angel who didn't do anything wrong.

And I've seen people claim she is an important character because she is a "bad person", saying that she went through all of her choices and actions with full confidence and full knowledge of the causes and consequences of her actions. And that it makes her a "good" character with story telling.

And I have to very respectfully disagree with all of those statements.

Do I think Lucrecia is at fault and to blame for everything? No.

Do I think Lucrecia did nothing wrong and she was only a victim in the story? No.

Do I think she was a genuinely bad person and did all of the things she did with full understanding of the situation? No.

I think that Lucrecia is a very deeply flawed character, who went through several hardships, made bad choices with the idea of achieving something good, only to realize the mistakes of her actions the moment everything crumbled around her.

First big topic on the whole thing.

"Did Lucrecia do the experiments on purpose?"

Short answer: yes. Long answer: She is a scientist who works for Shinra. Her main job is to conduct experiments and discover new things in her field. She clearly loved her job and loved doing things for it to further their research. Of course she would be open for certain experiments, even if it would put someone or even herself in danger. She deeply cared for her career and wanted to make a major breakthrough.

However that doesn't mean she did them out of ill intend. I'm pretty sure she went into these experiments believing that she was doing something good for her research and the company. I highly doubt she thought that things would turn out this bad.

And I think another reason for her continuation of these experiments must have been Grimoire's death. This was the first moment that got the snowball rolling.

Grimoire's death was devastating for her. She deeply cared for him and his death must have made her feel broken. She blamed herself for his death. But in reality it was no ones fault. It was a stupid accident leading to horrible consequences.

Which also leads into point two.

"Vincent's feelings for Lucrecia were unrequited."

This line alone is bullshit to me. "Unrequited" my ass. Lucrecia very clearly had feelings for Vincent. But there was two reasons to why she decided to choose Hojo over Vincent. The first being the aforementioned death of Grimoire, aka Vincent's father. Lucrecia blamed herself for his death and she was filled with such guilt that she thought she didn't deserve to be with Vincent.

The second factor being, that she genuinely saw something in Hojo that attracted her to him. I don't think that the sole reason she chose Hojo over Vincent is her lingering guilt, but rather that Hojo did possess qualities that Lucrecia liked about him. They are both scientists. They both work in the same field. They both share interests and ideas. I think that Lucrecia did truly value someone who would be able to share her interests. And Hojo was just that.

(Not to mention that Hojo probably hid some of his true intentions and personality from Lucrecia in order to gain her trust for cooperation on the Jenova project. If Lucrecia would have seen what Hojo was truly like before finding Vincent shot, she would have chosen Vincent any day over Hojo.)

In short I believe the reason Lucrecia did end up with Hojo is just an unfortunate mix of guilt and yet still lingering admiration. She chose him out of her own free will, but also in combination that it might be a punishment for the things she had done to Vincent. Even if it wasn't her fault.

Which leads me to point three in all of this.

"Lucrecia chose to do the experiments fully knowing what would happen."

I do believe that she fully agreed to doing the Jenova experiment. This goes back to my first point that I made: that Lucrecia truly valued her work and the field she put her research in. So I believe that Lucrecia went through the experiment with Jenova cells thinking that she would achieve something that would benefit the company as a whole.

But do I believe that she also knew that her child would be taken from her and given to the company to be further experimented on and turned into a weapon for Shinra to use whenever they please? Fuck no!

If her cries to see Sephiroth just once aren't enough proof that she clearly wanted to be there for her child while the experiment would continue, then idk what else you need.

Lucrecia couldn't have known that they would take her child. That they would refuse to let her hold, let alone see her child. She could have never known that this would happen. She was aware that her child would be beneficial to the company, but she probably assumed that she could still care for her child.

Also let's take in consideration: We know what Jenova is. We know what her true intentions are and what she is able to do to people.

Let's see what the characters in the story think Jenova is at this very moment: They believe that Jenova was one of the Ancients. A race that once lived on the planet in peace and harmony with the lifestream. At this point in time none of the scientists knew what Jenova truly was.

Lucrecia probably assumed that once her child was born that it would still be a normal kid only with the abilities that the Ancients used to have in the past.

And yes. Lucrecia did get those flashes of the future later on. Partly seeing of what would become of Sephiroth and Jenova. But can we really assume that she knew that the man she saw in her visions was her own son? I doubt that. And again she only got these flashes of the future after she already agreed to the experiment. Prior to that she didn't know.

To summarize this part: Lucrecia did go through the experiment on her own will, but with different expectations to what would actually happen with her child and the unfortunate misunderstanding of what Jenova truly was. And even with the visions she still couldn't have fully understood what the consequences were.

And the final part to all of this which I've seen some people complain about.

"Lucrecia doing bad decisions on the account of having mental breakdowns is bad writing."

Lucrecia went through a lot of shit.

First she loses her work partner -who she deeply cared for- to an unfortunate accident that happens through dumb desicions and actions. Causing her to blame herself for his death.

Already she is grieving over the loss of someone important. Then said work partner's son is appointed to work with her, causing the guilt to grow stronger as she feels like she ruined Vincent's life. Not just that but Vincent alone reminds her of Grimoire. Causing her to never be able to truly let go of the mistakes of the past.

Then she finds herself conflicted with her feelings as she does feel something for both Vincent and Hojo. But her dedication to her job and the still lingering guilt cause her to choose Hojo over Vincent.

She then gets pregnant and agrees to go through an experiment that could be beneficial for the company while still being able to create a family of her own.

After that she gains strange visions of the future, causing Vincent to get suspicious about the whole thing and confronting Lucrecia about it. Lucrecia at this point was dealing with her pregnancy, the loss of her work partner, her still lingering feelings toward Vincent and the pressure of the experiment. Of course she would lash out at Vincent.

She then finds out that her husband had shot and killed her assigned bodyguard, who tried to intervene in the experiment for her own good after he witnessed how Lucrecia was only hurting herself with all this mental anguish.

Not only does she have to deal with the loss of someone she had feelings for, but she basically had to relieve Grimoire's death all over again. Only this time she also found out that her husband was crazy and decided to experiment on her bodyguard.

At this point I think I would also become more than desperate to try and bring back someone who I cared for. Even if it meant infusing them with something that I'm not sure will keep them alive or not.

Lucrecia's choice to put Chaos inside Vincent to try and save him makes sense in my eyes. Not just that but Hojo kept putting things in her head. Manipulating her thoughts on what he wants her to believe she was doing. Lucrecia was a broken person at the end.

And to top it all off at the very end she isn't even allowed to see her son. She had lost everything in the end. Her work partner, her feelings for Vincent, the husband she assumed would care for her, Vincent himself, her own will and actions and now even her own son. No wonder she wanted to end her own life.

Lucrecia isn't to blame for everything. She also isn't some innocent victim in all of this. And she especially isn't a bad person who went through all of these things knowing the following results and trying to play victim.

Lucrecia is someone who deeply values her work and the company she is placed under. She is someone who made mistakes at the wrong place at the wrong time and is grieving the loss of someone important.

She is someone who was conflicted with her feelings toward two people she had feelings for, choosing someone with the thought of having done the right thing.

She is someone who went through hardships and desicions that she assumed would lead to good outcomes, only to have once again been thrown under the bus by being tricked by someone she assumed loved her and through misunderstandings.

She is someone who was broken mentally through the wrong choices she made and in her panic only made things worse because she wasn't able to think clearly.

Lucrecia Crescent is a deeply flawed character who wanted to do things for the better only to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. And being guided by unfortunate events that lead her to doing even more unfortunate choices.

[punkeropercyjackson]

The entitlement Batfanon stans have towards Jason is legit the thing that angers me the most about his treatment.Girl,you do not get to speak on him when you know literally nothing about him except that you judged the book by it's cover like an elementary schooler who watches South Park-All you've ever done is ruin his character in the writing aspect and ruined him for other DC fans who used to like him or even couldn't get to give him a chance because you got to them first

If the only Jason content you'll consume is smut or woobification or bamfification,then guess what:That's not Jason.He's so unhorny he might be full-on asexual,hates being coddled because he's a grown ass man so he wants to be treated like it and does not give two shits about other characters powers.I discovered Jason's existense through Under The Red Hood playing on tv in 2019 and liked him enough from the bits i caught to watch it completely by pirating website.It completely unironically and wholeheartedly made me fall in love with him which lead to me discovered selfshipping properly and after a bit of settling into the fandom,i got to reading his comics as i needed more of him

Five years later,i've read every single issue he's ever appeared in and watched and played almost all his adaptions.I didn't intend to but with DC becoming my special interest and comfort franchise,i just did it all subcounciously and naturally i also branched out,although i focus on the Superfam as i selfship with them as strongly as i do him but familialy.And let me tell,it's awful and shocking to watch the below zero care y'all have for Jason.NO inclusion of his extremely good and refreshing personality and tragic yet touching pre-reboot history and mostly on-point designs and absolutely iconic relathionships in favor of turning him into the most boring,basic,unathentic,OFFENSIVE white cishet abled conventionally attractive man ever.Talia means nothing to you,neither does Duke,neither does Stephanie,neither do Catherine and Willis and Nocturna,neither do Rose and Artemis and Dana aka the three WOMEN OF COLOR Jason has been in love with and rejected white girls for and the only reason Damian and Dick get to mean something to him is that you can pretend they're white and even worse in Damian's case,GROWN so you can be a fucking pedophile as if Jason didn't kill a teacher for csa'ing one of his student's and is vocally anti-sa multiple times

Y'know what else he's expressed multiple times,nonstop actually?Being unhappy having Roy and Kory as his teammates as he finds them insuffarable,as he fuckin' should because he deserved an ACTUAL run,not Red Hood and The Caricatures by local bigot supreme Scott Lobdell.Jason openly shows distate at having to put up with the EXACT stereotypes y'all built Batfanon on yet you act like you're doing for his sake and that's just loser behavior.Loser behavior is also lying about him liking Tim and not Batcest,i mean neither of them could ever stand eachother's asses pre-N52 and we're lied to about their dynamic in it too seeing as we're never shown the so called closeness between them.What y'all want for Tim and Jason is what we HAVE for DUKE and Jason.I've seen more hate for Talia for That Lost Days scene that Morrison said was ooc to write than i have critisism for alarmingly high amount of Slade/Jason shipping aka white male privilege the DC ship.Stephanie is his bimbo sidekick or has some weirdass d.dlg shit with him depending on what kind of stan we're dealing with,you ADD ON the the classist propaganda in Los Todd's writing by making them abusive monsters when even canon didn't go that far,you don't even know Nocturna exists but make Jason Dent or whatever it's called aus and you without a hint of irony trash on Jayrose Jaytemis and Jaydana because ewww het!!! in the same breath you gush about how Jason is an afrolatino king to you

Y'all are sick for all this!!Like actually and the temper tantrums you throw when you're told by Jason fans who're rightfully upset at how badly you treat him are only convincing us further you don't deserve him.He deserves better than og Rhato and having his misfit traits taken away and not be truly potrayed as an afrolatino man when he'd make a perfect one.He deserves to be Jason Todd.He's not Jaybird or Stray or Wonder Boy or an orientalist excuse of an Al-Ghul/son of Lady Shiva or whatever corny ass mantles M.aribats and DPDC's popularized for him.He's Jason Todd,2nd Robin,Red Hood,Jaylad,Little Wing,Duke Thomas' Robin,Talia Al-Ghul's son,Stephanie Brown's boyloser older brother figure,Willis and Catherine Todd's son too and Rose Wilson's and Artemis Grace's and Dana Harlowe's boyfriend.I know him better than anyone else and i can walk the walk but y'all can't do anything but talk bullshit because you trippin' poser style

[goodenoughformeee]

A story for an aroace person aka me part 1 ( this is all rough draft kinda story) :p

you know as there is a lack of aroace characters/representation in many shows/ stories/mangas/manhwas/ etc.

So, my brain is like "if there is no representation, just make it yourself" XD

{ story summary: two best friends died and got reincarnated into the original mc and original villainess in an otome game }

So since I don't know how to start this story imma just wing it and see how it goes lol

Keep in mind I might change some of the plot in the future. Keep in mind this will be just a rough draft kinda story, I'm saying that cuz idk how to actually star the story TT

Our story starts with two best friends of whom I've yet to name so therefore will be known as A and B untill they get their reincarnated names :p

So the two best friends, around the age of 20 are returning home to their shared apartment from a bar.

As ti why they were at the bar?(Idk how a bar works, never been to one I think so bare with me here TT )It was because B broke up with her boyfriend ( this can change) so in order to cheer up B, A took her to the bar to drink her problems away. So the two friends chatted and drank and drank until around 1 pm when they both decided to go home.

So B is full on drunk and A being the one to support her, were crossing the road. It was then it happened, the accident. The truck hit them (classic reincarnation death of the mc lol) And then they you know...died :p

(the main character of the story is A btw)

Our main character A who you know just died, her conscious was like "damn so this is how I die?" and everything went black but that was not the end of her story.

Suddenly, A could hear voices of a person talking to themselves.

"who in theirs right mind would abandon a baby?"

A is of course confused as to what is happening as she just literally seconds ago died and came to know that she's in fact alive when she was able to open her eyes and sees the person who was carrying her.

"ayo did I ACTUALLY got reincarnated!? I know I said I wanted to get reincarnated but- you know what I'll take it, cause that truck really HIT like I'm pretty sure me and my bestie flew and died on impact or sth" was what A though upon realizing that she got reincarnated.

Fast forward

A is now 3 years old and during the 3 years she got a new name "xia". She has been observing her surrounding and also is trying to figure out where she reincarnated into. As she had read and watched a bunch of anime and manga/manhwas and also talked to her friends and with B about it.

So she assumes that she's most likely is in a game or anime or novel or manga. The only problem was that she could not figure out where she got reincarnated into, was this world an anime or a novel or a manga/manhwas or was it a game?

A being confused "ugh! How the hell am I supposed to find out what anime or a novel or a manga/manhwas or game this world is!? I read 4-6 mangas/ manhwas which usually aren't completed a day or go through 2-3 anime or play a game or two.

And then go WEEKS upon weeks without so much so as not even TOUCHING an anime or manga. I relay on my tabs and search history to guide me back to where I last watched or read.

I don't even usually REMEMBER the characters and refer to them by their hair colour or the plot"

So Xia (A) puts a hold to that and continues observing and interacting with her surrounding. She find out that the area she's currently in is an orphanage and is in a rural and neutral area so far.

There were kids from various age groups, from babies to young teenagers with all kinda of hair and eye colours.

(that's it for now, hope you enjoyed the story so far and if you have any questions feel feel to ask. I'll reply when I got the time since it's night time where I am so I'm going to sleep :D

Hope you liked the story and have a good day or night! <3

[magpies-gold]

Back From Mysterium

I did a very small couple of posts before this, but Saturday at Mysterium blew my expectations out of the water, and so I decided I needed to circle back around and try again as a much bigger post.

First, foremost, and coolest - yes! I got to meet Rand Miller (bonus infamous RAWA just to the left as well)! Even better, for once in my life my social anxiety didn't turn me into a non-verbal lump and I was able to say a grand total of two full sentences and a greeting. If you know me at all, then you know that that's quite the accomplishment. Usually @timmcosplay has to do the talking for me when I inevitably choke on my own tongue, but by a quirk of fate we got separated (he wanted to get our Book of Ti'ana signed and got yoinked into a different line up from me, who wanted photo evidence) and I had no choice but to attempt to be a functional human. My theory is that I've talked to Rand's face so many times during the intro to Riven (I always talk back) that it was just second nature to say hello the second he looked at me. Genuinely, though, he's so kind and so patient and I'm stoked that he made time to meet all of us and then spend a couple hours even after that being a presenter and answering heaps of questions.

Tim may have not been with me directly, but he was still creeping in the sidelines getting photos of me getting photo'd and briefly chatting. ;)

Ultimately, we were split into three groups and everyone ran through the events of the day in a different order.

Tim and I were on Team Ytram (or Team Forg as I insisted on calling it) and had little Rivenese froggos on our badges.

After the meet and greet, we got lunch. It was simplistic fare, but the fact that we got hot dogs and Cool Ranch Doritos out back of the Cyan HQ means that they were very special hot dogs and Cool Ranch Doritos. Legendary!

And then... they actually allowed my wee goblin self and Tim to go through the iconic archway entrance and to scramble around their actual studio. I've seen pictures of the place on the internet before and knew how neat it would be to some degree, but now I know where everything is!

In no particular order....

Iconic signage and that giant honkin' Moiety dagger that Adam Savage apparently worked on?? It is truly large in person!

Costumes from Riven! Including Catherine's dress, which I remember my mom was always cooing over when I was playing the game on my clonky PC in the late 90's, and Gehn's costume, with Tim posing (and having not totally slightly held up the rest of the group by getting detail shots for cosplay purposes, no, no, he wouldn't do that....)

Art! Design sketches and THE MAP.

The infamous elevator wherein you'd better know your D'ni numbers if you want to get anywhere (I would get stuck).

And then... artifacts!

They had THE LEVER from the beginning of Riven. Did it never occur to me that the lever was a real lever? THE LEVER IS A REAL LEVER.

Plus there were goggles and books and Gehn's gun (AKA the only Game Over inducing object in Riven) and more character design sketches with actual costume fabric swatches! That last bit made Tim make high pitched glee noises, as someone who both designs and makes costumes himself.

There were presentations after all of that. Trailers, talks, a non-profit project to digitize over a hundred hours of behind the scenes footage from the making of Uru and Riven and other things, which we got a sneak peek of. They showed off a snippet of the remake of Riven. There was just so much. It was hours and hours and I was practically vi-bra-ting by the time we finally were ushered back to the bus and back to Spokane.

I will never entirely get over the fact that I was able to go see all that with my own two eyeballs. As someone who's been enamoured with the universe surrounding Myst island for the full 30 years of its existence, ever since I was 8 years old, who used to make big calligraphy posters of passages from The Book of Atrus and The Book of Ti'ana and tape them up all over Thorhild Central School whether my fellow students and teachers wanted me to or not, and who was so solidly influenced by the idea of books as literal doors to other worlds that it became a foundation for how I view my own characters and stories (namely that I'm no god, and they do have a life all their own), this is a treasured memory.

[serpensortiamaxima]

Nevemind, I need to get this out. So I've been thinking about the game and its mechanics and it led me down the rabbit hole of what I would have liked to see and how pre-existing features could have been integrated to make them work.

A lot of these ideas revolve around the development of a proper skill tree and of a relationship mechanic. In no particular order:

Crossed-Wands Duelling Club

This could have been a replayable feature integrated in a skill building system. In the Harry Potter universe, spells take practice not only to learn, but to master. Having the duelling club be a feature to increase mastery of spells based on the pre-existing categories (force, control, damage) would have made learning spells a process instead of only learning them once and then you're good to go. The existence of these categories could have served as the foundation to develop different duelling styles that the player could have chosen to invest in through practicing in Crossed Wands. Improving your skills could have unlocked perks, boosts and be integrated in the combat challenge system that already exists or/and with the talent system. So instead of just purchasing talents once you reach a certain level, it'd need to be unlocked once you've practiced the spell enough.

Summoner's Court

Like the duelling club, I feel like this should have been replayable and available in between the questline as a mini-game to play with a NPC of the player's choice. I'm not sure including it in a mechanic would have made much sense, but having it as an extra to do for relationship-building would have been grand already.

Study Group and library overhaul

This idea came from the fact that I find the library to be underused. Aside from the Restricted Section, nothing really happens there outside of personal roleplaying choices. Because the game focuses on the 5th year aka OWL test year, it would have made sense to take full advantage of this choice to study, instead of just attending classes.

This idea relies on the introduction of a relationship system where the player could have chosen who to study with within the group of available NPCs. Doing so could contribute to building relationship with the chosen character, and that character can be switched, so you could study with Natty one day and Sebastian the next, for example.

Now, in term of game mechanics, this could have been a good opportunity to be complimentary with the duelling club where spell categories that duelling doesn't help with could be improved there. It could have contributed to a system where the skill level you build also contributes to how well you do with your OWLs. The stakes are supposed to be high with this test, and apparently students started studying for it in 4th year already, and the game doesn't reflect that.

Similarly, we have NPCs that we know excel in specific topics, but in the game's current form, Sebastian is the only one who teaches MC new spells (the Unforgivable). The study group could have included a mentorship mechanic where the NPC you choose to study with gives you a boost in the topic they prefer (eg. studying with Poppy would make you gain skill in Beast care faster; Amit would do the same with Astronomy etc.), since MC is supposed to be a fresh 5th year and should need all the help they can get.

And then there's the library itself. I wish we could have seen something similar to the Elder Scrolls approach where books are readable. Not all of them, but I feel like the player should be able to stroll through the library and find books of interest. This could have been integrated both in the study group mechanic *and* the field guide pages mechanic where stumbling upon specific books and snippets of information would allow you to discover field guide pages.

This is getting long so I'll keep it short but there's just so much that was already there that could have been used for more. Like, the music room? Extracurricular activities you can choose from that lead to new characters and unique small quests? This game could have been so much more than it was.

[briebysabs]

Romeo & Juliet in VnC

~Act I~

This is my crazed breakdown of the similarities, comparisons, and possible inspiration VnC has taken from Romeo & Juliet.

Keep in mind this is all for fun, my word is not the gospel truth, but maybe I've cracked a code.

First and foremost, let's get the obvious observations out of the way.

Two families that has been feuding for many years=humans and vampires

Typically in plays, Montagues wear contrasting clothes to the Juliets. Usually red vs. blue. Gee, that sounds familiar.

* The feuding families can also be crimson vampires vs. the blue moon vampires/clan whatever but I'm mostly keeping it broad to include humans. I will be mentioning Luna in later threads though so keep that in mind.

Vanitas and Noe refuse to pick a particular side. Now granted Vanitas is much pessimistic but the point still stands. And their refusal to choose a side has earned them trouble from both parties.

So let's begin.

-Prologue-

Prepares the viewer for this tragic tale, narrating how their love/relationship was doomed from the start. Wow, it's almost like Noe has been doing since the beginning. It also goes into how their deaths will end the feuding of their families. More on that in Act 5 but if we are going full Romeo and Juliet, I have a theory that Noe will die after writing the memoirs, but I'll explain that when we get there. Also, any translations I provide for quotes are from LitCharts (thank you cuz this old-timey language...)

Things to establish:

Romeo=Vanitas

Juliet= Noe

That's sounds crazy outta context but trust the process. And there are scenes where I don't literally mean this character will do so and so, but rather this incident or situation will be shown in the series.

-Act 1 Scene 1-

Fight between the Montagues and Capulets occurs. Prince breaks it off. Romeo shows his despair about love once he finds out that the woman he desires has chosen to be a nun. This could be Vanitas' mixed feelings on love. Thus, why he isolates himself and refuses to open up his heart. To Vanitas, love is unattainable (like a nun for instance).

“Alas, that love, whose view is muffled still,

Should, without eyes, see pathways to his will!”

→ How can love, meant to be blind, force you to be able to do what it wants!

“Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire......

that is not what it is!

This love feel I, that feel no love in this.”

→ Love is like heavy feathers, bright smoke, cold fire……the opposite of what it is! That is the love I feel, since no one loves me in return.

-Act 1 Scene 2-

Not much to delve into other than the introduction of Paris. We've been shown Lady Archiviste and a possible direction we could go if she isn't Noe's mother or sister, is her or any other Archiviste we meet down the line. Marrying Noe to preserve the Archiviste bloodline. Here the little worm in my ear comes with the “if Noe loves Vanitas aka a man when he’s called to marry a woman, isn’t that forbidden lo-” I smack it across the wall I am not here to talk about that! I could rant about how queerness, especially in the 1800s, relates to forbidden love in general. I could also go on with how Shakespeare, the playwright of R & J which popularized this trope, was queer himself but more into that when I do Hamlet. It's an interesting train of thought but my brain must put it aside.

-Act 1 Scene 4-

We meet Mercutio.

Dante is Mercutio.

It's perfect, look at him and tell me he isn't. Plus, Mercutio isn’t like Benvolio who is Romeo’s cousin. He isn’t a Montague or a Capulet. His association is made to Romeo only. Dante is not a human or vampire; his association is to Vanitas only as an information broker. And from this scene alone, we see the person Mercutio is as he acts somewhat as a guide for Romeo. He isn't hesitant to rebuke Romeo and goes on tangents repeatedly.

Idk this quote feels so Dante to me.

“If love be rough with you, be rough with love.

Prick love for pricking, and you beat love down.—Give me a case to put my visage in!

A visor for a visor. —What care I

What curious eye doth cote deformities?”

→ If love is rough with you, be rough with love. Prick love when it pricks you, and you’ll beat love down. Give me a mask to put over my face. A mask to cover the mask I call my face. Why do I care if someone sees my flaws?

And remember, Dante had come with Vanitas when he met Noe in the La Baleline. Just like Mercutio had arrived with Romeo when he met Juliet at the Capulet's banquet.

-Act 1 Scene 5-

The party. Romeo and Juliet meet. There wasn’t much to pull from the encounter, but when Romeo began the small talk/flirting of saints, pilgrims, and prayer, it made me think of the church that vanoe fall into in chapter 1. How Romeo describes himself as being one with sin, Vanitas' low sense of worth, idk this is kind of a stretch but then again why are y’all reading this? Tybalt’s outrage that Romeo was present at the party reminded me of Ruthven when finding Vanitas at the ball. And it’s a member of the Capulet family, who prevents Tybalt, who is a relative, from drawing his sword. Noe convinced Ruthven to spare Vanitas.

With that, Act I is concluded!! I will be bringing in Act II on Monday and it gets a little crazy.

[hymns-across-the-stars]

alt! ! !

Send me "alt!" and I'll introduce you to a character...

---

9S (Nier Automata)!

// oh here, have something from an ancient rp (aka 2021)

---

Maybe, if he were a bit more naive- or perhaps if the connection wasn't so terrible (it shouldn't ever be this terrible, even in the worst of surface conditions)- 9S would have been able to dismiss this area as a particularly well-preserved area of ancient human activity or something of that sort, one that he wasn't familiar with. Unfortunately, with every bit of information he's gathered, that's definitely not the case. And given this information, maybe- just maybe, mind you- straying from 2B's side was a questionable decision.

Then again, while he's not made for combat, it's not like he's completely helpless, and 2B can more than handle herself. They can somewhat contact each other, too. And besides- spreading out to get a better assessment of the terrain is potentially useful.

Or maybe he just wants to take the time to look at things, and investigate them, and gather all the data he can on whatever seems interesting without looking like he's slacking off.

Either way, though, 9S's little expedition leads him to the docks. The river here's very large, he notes, vaguely wondering if there's any fish in there. Maybe 2B'd like to give that a look. But he wanders along, the final notes of what he can only assume to be a song catches his attention.

He knows what music is. There is some music in the database, and even if they hadn't existed, he's seen birds. He's even met machines who may have been singing. But that's a weird ground, given their tinny, often monotone voices.

Still, this- this is different. Those few notes feel… fluid. Soothing, maybe, even though he hadn't heard the full performance. It's more than enough to whet his curiosity, of course, and after making an assessment of where the sound came from, he cautiously crept towards the location of the source. And soon enough, he's greeted by the sight of… um… someone. Whoever this is doesn't appear to be armed, though that's not necessarily an indication of strength if it does blow up into a fight. He's not here to land the first hit, though, so hopefully, it won't come to that.

Besides- this could be an opportunity to learn something. He's not sure what yet, but it may very well be.

"Hey," 9S says, waiting for the other's response before making any final decisions.

---

// oh, near a tomato... i was still fresh to the whole college thing, a person i kinda-sorta liked at the time had recced it a few months prior.... and it was on sale on the xbox. that was actually the breaking point. anyone who knows me and my tastes may have also wondered how 2B wasn't the one to get me to jump straight into playing.

to which: idk man. might've been because ending a spoilers were my first (knowing) exposure to the game. i had actually seen another nier automata clip before this on tumblr, but i didn't know that at the time. but anyway, it threw me so off kilter i was like. um. okay, wild, i do not know what just happened and i'm not sure i ever spend $40 to understand.

but sales really change my tune lol. but also weirdly it still wasn't 2B who got my attention! don't get me wrong; i loved her! a lot!! maybe a little too much!!!! but it was her silly sidekick 9S, who. i've been accused of kinning. lol.

anyway it didn't help the accusations that i ended up writing him. you can tell some things haven't changed about how i write. look at all that yapping narration

[tsuki-here]

Okay so @maja-cherub made some Beast Machine Rattrap posts, and I've also been wanting to write a proper essay about the episode "The Weak Component" for a while now [and recently was ranting to a mutual about it like a week ago, so it's still fresh in my mind. So yeah, shout out to @j-starchaser for letting me rant about it and also for being the beta reader/editor for this essay], so here we are. Long text post beneath the cut, and of course Beast Machine spoilers-

To begin with, I enjoyed watching Beast Machines, despite the fact that yes, it has its share of flaws. Also, Rattrap is my favorite character in both Beast Wars and Beast Machines, so some bias might come through. But I've watched some YouTube essays talking about the full Beast Machines series, as well as text posts/comments by others that say they feel The Weak Component is the worst or one of the worst episodes of the series because of the way Rattrap acts/the actions he takes throughout the episode. [AKA, he's out of character]. So I just wanted to give my view on that and the episode in general.

For me personally, The Weak Component is one of, if not, my favorite episode of Beast Machines. I've only watched the series from start to finish once, but have gone back to watch that episode somewhere around 5-10 times, including once again to refresh my memory on some dialogue for this analysis. Of course, this is a matter of personal preference, and everyone is entitled to their own likes and dislikes. A large portion of why I like the episode so much is because of the amount of Rattrap screen time and focus. So, there's some of the bias I mentioned haha.

As for the argument that Rattrap is out of character, I both agree and disagree to an extent. Yes, in this episode Rattrap does things that he never did or would have done in Beast Wars. However, this is a situation that never happened in Beast Wars. The events and situations in this episode are not something we've seen Rattrap deal with before, and are clearly shown to be very stressful, as well as mentally and emotionally taxing for him. I'll go through the episode, breaking down the individual stress factors and his reactions to them.

To begin with a base line: Before this episode even takes place, there's already a number of stress-inducing factors at play. The Maximals’ entire situation seems completely hopeless. The little group of Optimus, Cheetor, Blackarachnia, Nightscream, and Rattrap against Megatron, his three vehicon generals, and the entire population of Cybertron (the latter made into mindless drones to obey Megatron). They're in an extremely unfair, dangerous, and practically hopeless fight with the entire fate of their home on their shoulders. On top of that, Rattrap can't transform. In beast mode, he has no real weapons to fight with, and has to make do with what his animal form is capable of. Meanwhile, everyone else can transform and has weapons/powers. We know from both Beast Wars and The Weak Component that protecting his friends is something extremely important to Rattrap. So, to be in such an outnumbered and dangerous predicament, to be unable to fight alongside the other Maximals and help them in the way he wants to, and had been capable of before, is immensely frustrating and upsetting to him. He went so far as to take 'transformation enhancers' to try and force his body into doing what he desperately wanted it to be able to do. Furthermore, they still haven't even figured out what's happened to Rhinox or Silverbolt, and Rhinox especially was clearly important to Rattrap, so him still being missing is likely also weighing on him.

Now, episode 6 happens. Rattrap is out on a mission with Cheetor and Nightscream. They didn't seem to want to bring Rattrap with them to begin with since they thought he was likely to just get in the way. And each time Rattrap tries to help or contribute in some way, he's scolded and told to knock it off. The other two even come up with a plan together that they completely leave Rattrap out of the loop on, and then are angry with him when he interferes under the belief that Cheetor was in danger, which ruins the plan, and gets Cheetor hurt by accident. Worse, after messing up the plan he hadn't been informed of in the first place, he finds out that his transformed mode has no weaponry, so he can't even clean up the unintentional mess.

When returning to the base, Cheetor and Nightscream talk down to Rattrap the whole time, and don't seem to care about his attempts at explaining himself. It had been an important moment to him, as it was the first time he had managed to transform to robot mode at will, and it was because he saw Cheetor in what he perceived as danger. The strong desire he felt to protect those dear to him was the motivation he'd been missing. Before, he'd been selfishly concerned about not transforming for his own wants, but he put that aside and was fully focused on only wanting to save Cheetor.

But neither of the other two really try to understand him, and harshly tell him that he shouldn't have bothered helping, since he made things worse. He's crushed that his friends aren't happy for him being able to transform at last, and aren't appreciative of how his only desire and intention had been to help.

He's then seen talking to the unconscious Optimus about how useless he feels, describing himself as a lemon. Though he doesn't seem angry with Optimus, knowing that there was no intention on his end for things to turn out the way they had, but he still blames him to an extent for being the one to convince them all to let the Oracle upgrade their bodies, only to feel that he's been remade broken and much weaker than he'd been before.

In his talking to himself, he transforms, as if to show what he's been turned into. At that exact moment Cheetor, Nightscream, and Blackarachnia walk in and immediately start snapping at him for potentially giving Megatron the chance to lock on to his signal and track them to their base. Cheetor even goes as far as physically tackling him to the ground and yelling at him. Though this does give Rattrap the chance to realize that he had accidentally downloaded Megatron's vital stats during the mission, and that he is very vulnerable and weakened at the moment. He suggests that now is the time to attack, but is quickly told “no” by Cheetor, who insists that they must remain at the base to protect Optimus until he's recovered.

Then they leave Rattrap, only to go to a different room to talk about him behind his back. He listens in on the conversation, hearing how they all think that he's not contributing anything and needs to be looked after. Nightscream even goes as far as suggesting they 'cut him loose'. Considering the position they're in, with Megatron having an entire army searching for them at all times, and all of them knowing that Rattrap cannot defend himself, this is essentially Nightscream suggesting that they should exile Rattrap and leave him to die. [To which thankfully Cheetor at least has the sense to get angry and reject that idea immediately.] Tired of the treatment he's getting and of being seen as a dead weight to the team, Rattrap leaves to try and resolve the problem by himself.

During this time, he's being subjected to even more new stresses piling on top of each other. Now he's able to transform, only to find out that all his struggles were seemingly for nothing. He thinks he's no more capable of helping than when he was stuck as a rat. All of his friends are treating him awfully and being completely unsupportive of the issues he's going through. They’re talking behind his back, have no faith in him, and one of them is even advocating for kicking him out entirely.

Rattrap then comes up with a plan to solve the issue himself. He goes to Megatron with a deal: give me weapons and in exchange, I'll protect you until morning while you recover. When Megatron then points out that he can just kill Rattrap while he's there alone, Rattrap counters that he will just send a distress signal to the other Maximals. But Megatron calls the bluff, and says he knows he wouldn't have come to him if he had anywhere else to turn to, and Rattrap does genuinely feel that way. He doesn't feel that he can rely on the other Maximals to help him, and has no choice but to turn to Megatron instead. He is so disillusioned with the other Maximals, that he throws away the device that would have sent the distress signal, believing that it won't be of any use to him. He feels so uncared for that he doesn't think the others would bother coming to help him if he called.

And Megatron tries to take advantage of this, by offering Rattrap to work with him instead, as a vehicon. Of course, Rattrap declines, but Megatron pushes it. He gives Rattrap a powerful weapon suit, and tells him how he would make such a good ally on his side, while the Maximals clearly don't want him anymore.

Rattrap had no intention of betraying the Maximals with this deal. He only said that he'd protect him because he was certain that no one was going to leave the base anyway. Rattrap was promising to protect Megatron from a threat he knew wasn't coming, certain that he wouldn't have to fight the others.

However, Megatron's blatant emotional manipulation does seem to cause Rattrap even more doubts. He's successfully calling out all of Rattrap's insecurities, telling him all of the things he knows he’s already thinking in his vulnerable state. He tells him how the other Maximals don't care or appreciate him, or how Optimus has fed him nothing but lies and false promises of power that he could never deliver on when he convinced them to have their bodies reformatted.

Then things only spiral further out of control when Cheetor, Nightscream, and Blackarachnia show up under the belief Megatron is holding Rattrap against his will and he needs saving. Rattrap is clearly upset and anxious about them being there, as he's now placed into a horrible lose/lose situation.

He can break his deal with Megatron, and they will be attacked and not permitted to leave unharmed. They are in Megatron's headquarters, without a plan, and without Optimus. They can be easily overrun by vehicons if they try to fight there. And if they just try to run, Rattrap would be forfeiting the weapon suit, and would be going back to just being a dead weight again who can't contribute and needs constant protection.

Or if he keeps his word and protects Megatron, especially with him guilt tripping Rattrap that it's morally wrong to attack an injured and defenseless opponent, Rattrap will be betraying his friends. Even if he tries to explain his reasoning afterwards, there's a good chance they'll exile him anyways and won’t give him any chance to explain himself.

Then the Maximals also start accusing him of being a traitor, saying how they never should have trusted him, and that he's sold them out for weapons. He doesn't want to openly admit in front of Megatron that the deal had been intended as a scam, and tries to subtly tell them that they need to leave.

But Nightscream disregards everything, and tries to attack Megatron anyways. Rattrap has no time to think of what to do, so in his panic and confusion, he fires at Nightscream. This only escalates the situation, with the Maximals attacking him more, and him defending himself as well as trying to drive them away. Rattrap is also clearly reaching his mental breaking point. He starts accusing them back of never believing in him, that Nightscream advocated for cutting him loose, how they were now the ones ruining his plan. But despite how angry and hurt he is, after all of the things that had been said, he gives them a heartbroken look and pleads 'don't make me do this'. After all, he still does see them as his friends, or at least he really wants to believe that they are still friends. He desperately wants them to trust his word and walk away so he wouldn’t have to hurt them. 

They ignore his warning though, and Cheetor attacks him again, further proving their lack of trust and faith. Megatron uses this as an opportunity to continue pointing out how they hate and pity Rattrap, how they don't want him around anymore and how Optimus lied to him. He also repeats how, unlike Optimus, he himself has delivered the power that he had promised to Rattrap, manipulating him into trying to think that he can only trust and rely on Megatron now. And it almost works, until Optimus arrives and finally shows Rattrap real support and faith, shaming the others for their lack of belief in their friend. Unfortunately, none of them can be bothered to apologize for their treatment of Rattrap. [I’d like to hope that they apologized off screen, but it would have been nice to actually see it.]

The Weak Component is an episode about Rattrap going through severe self esteem issues, only to receive no support from his supposed friends, and then being pushed into a rapid downward spiral by the compounding stress and pain until he's forced into a corner and reaches his breaking point.

One can argue that he's out of character, sure. I can understand why some people might view it that way. But as I stated at the beginning, we don't see Rattrap go through any of these issues in Beast Wars. He doesn't go through a long period of feeling useless to the team, he doesn't lose faith in his friends, he never feels the need to make a deal with Megatron. The closest we get is the episode where he pretends to be a traitor and to become a Predacon, but he and Optimus were both in on it. They had to make it believable to the others to ensure it worked, and Rattrap knew Optimus had his back to explain things afterwards. He never had to actually hurt his friends for any reason. 

The argument I do most agree with is that Rattrap could have just killed Megatron the instant he got the mech suit. He could have solved things then, sure, but by that point Megatron was already actively manipulating him and guilt tripping him with the whole 'you can't kill me while I'm too weak to defend myself' thing. Sure, maybe Beast Wars Rattrap would have just shot him anyways, but there's still the manipulation to account for, and possibly the fear that the rest of Megatron's vehicons would have shown up and overwhelmed him while he was there alone. And of course Megatron also convinced him that calling his friends would be useless.

And even if he can be considered out of character in this episode, sometimes stress does that to people. I can personally attest that I'm usually a very calm, reasonable person, and I have a very long fuse. I don't get angered easily by things, and even if I do get angry, I can keep myself from snapping at people. But when I get stressed, anxious, and overwhelmed, I have less control over my temper, and might get upset or angry over seemingly small things because it was just the final straw. I think that's the case for most people; everyone has their mental limits. In Rattrap's case, he has a bunch of highly stressful and hurtful things happening to him, and he finally lashes out. Honestly with the temper he's been shown to have at times, I'm surprised it took so long for him to lash out verbally.

The same argument can be made aboutCheetor. That his treatment of Rattrap was out of character, especially after everything they had been through together. But Cheetor was also acting out of stress because of the situation as a whole and the additional pressure of leadership while Optimus was out of commission.

To conclude this whole thing, I'd just like to say that yes, I enjoy the episode and think there are valid reasons behind the choices Rattrap makes, and that it actually fits his character if you take everything he's going through into consideration. It’s very difficult for him to think clearly, or make the choices he would have made under normal circumstances. I also really enjoy episodes/arcs that force my favorite fictional guys into brand new situations that push them to their limits and even to their breaking point. I don't think his arc was resolved in the greatest fashion though, considering no one apologizes at the end of the episode, no one brings up the things that were said to each other. And, as far as I remember, Rattrap never shows any further struggles adjusting to his new body or role. Optimus just gives him a pep talk at the end of the episode and all his grievances, self esteem issues, etc. are all just solved I guess. There's things that definitely could be done better and I would have done differently personally, but I still like the episode for what it is.

[Also side note! I just also wanted to say that I love the visual direction of the episode with the intense red and black color scheme throughout the whole confrontation scene. You'll see more of my appreciation for it below. And also Scott McNeil's voice acting for the episode is so good! Rattrap is often treated as a comedic character, so I really appreciate the darker tone of Beast Machines. Rattrap gets some very serious and emotional line delivery, especially in this episode. When he said the lines "I ain't nobody’s charity case" and "I ain't afraid of nothing", I got goosebumps. It’s really emotional, and his anger and pain really hit you. Scott's performance really enhances the whole episode for me.]

So yeah, I've been wanting to break this whole thing down for a while because Rattrap has been consuming my brain for months, and I also think about The Weak Component a lot. So much so I started an animatic like 5 months or so ago about the episode [though completely contrary to my point that Rattrap never wanted to hurt or betray them, it's an au of what if he joined Megatron's side], so I'm hoping finally getting to talk about this more will be the motivation I need to finish it. Anyways, here's a couple frames I had on hand that are part of it, and I also posted a short video a while back showing a run animation for it. So yeah, enjoy these in the meantime until I can make myself finish the full video. ^-^

[fandom-trash-xl]

Mini AU: Universe 6 Spiderverse AU

((To celebrate Across the Spiderverse releasing on Blu-Ray- and me patiently awaiting my copy in the mail- I've decided to finally pop out the notes for a mini Dragon Ball/Spiderverse cross AU that I've been jotting down over time between projects since I saw it in the theater!))

SETTING/WORLD-BUILDING

Also known as Dimension DBU6 in multiverse codes. The AU is set in a more New York-esque, in true Spiderverse fashion, Planet Sadala in an equivalent Manhattan, "Sadalhattan" if you will. While the planet's population is not 100% Saiyan, a few species immigrating there, the Saiyans are still the original inhabitants and dominant demographic. Numbers wise, the population comes closer to a highly populous state versus a full-scale Earth's worth.

Ki is either non-existent or a rare and discreet skill, so there's less focus on it. The Sadalan Defense Force becomes more traditional soldier combat focused similarly to the real world rather than a pure ki-CQC combination. They recruit similarly to the army/marines at about 18.

Bonus note: Dimension DBU6 has an equivalent Dimension DBU7 in which Goku receives the radioactive spider bite, taking on the Spider-Man name due to not yet knowing his heritage.

CHARACTERS:

THE HERO Cabba aka Spider-Saiyan

"My name is Cabba. I was bitten by a radioactive spider and for the past (x amount of time), I've been Planet Sadala's one and only Spider-Saiyan."

Rather than being the Sadalan Defense Force's prodigy fighter, Cabba lives a more domestic lifestyle as a high school student, planning to enlist in the SSDF post-graduation or at least pursue criminal justice- at least until the spider event occurs. Cabba is the type to go into hyper-anxiety, so he's desperately trying to disinfect and treat the spider bite, all while Googling his symptoms and being none the wiser on the "radioactive" part.

He's trained in jiujitsu and is very limber and agility-focused. He also has an interest in tactile and textile skills, so his Spidey-Suit is handmade.

Design: Similarly to AtSV's Pavitr Prabhakar, his iconic Saiyan spikes stick out of the top of the spider cowl. While the peaks end up slicked down into a waved side part, his front bang remains distinctive. In terms of the coloration, the suit's color scheme reverses the color distributions in the palette, prioritizing shades of blue over reds, and adds some gold accents, particularly on the spider symbol. There is a red headband pattern along the brow resembling Bardock's bandanna. Additions to the design incorporate elements from the main canon's SSDF uniform, including a reddish x-crossed double belt, the four lavender skirt tails (unintentionally completing the "eight legs" spider theme), and ankle boots in black rather than purple.

THE GAL PALS Caulifla and Kale

Caulifla and Kale serves as this AU's equivalents to Gwen Stacy and Mary Jane Watson respectively. Close to Cabba's age and grade in high school if not in the same year. Since Cauli is the Gwen Stacy equivalent, there is an alternate DBU6B where she receives the spider bite instead of Cabba.

Having this pair in play explores the fun what-if of Gwen and MJ getting together in the end. As a result, this means that Cabba doesn't get either end-game gal and he doesn't have a problem with that- love is love.

It's debatable whether Cauli will suffer the same fate as your average Gwen Stacy- she seems the type to be able to take care of herself.

THE POLICE CAPTAIN Captain Renso

"Sadalhattan"'s resident police chief and Caulifla's older brother and caretaker due to their absentee parents. Unfortunately, if you've been picking up on the Spiderverse patterns, he ends up being Spider-Saiyan's canon event and loses his life.

Caulifla, who is normally apathetic about her brother, starts to become even more hostile and spiteful against the world. She acts particularly distrusting and vengeful towards Spider-Saiyan, putting him to blame and believing it was negligence on his part that got her brother killed.

If she's not gone completely moodily silent, Cauli will rant on and on to Cabba and Kale about her plans to bring Spider-Saiyan to justice- and Cabba just has to nod along.

Spider-Saiyan is bound to encounter typical street thugs, generic evildoers, villains of the week but...

THIS ONE The Lizard

Villains of the week and your standard commonplace criminals come to pass but Cabba's recurring villain by moonlight manifests in the form of a scaly creature known simply as The Lizard. It only appears at night and resembles a draconic reptilian with sharp horns yet is oddly humanoid in build. It's colored in shades of blue, dons a mask over its mouth, and has piercing red eyes that glow in the dark. It communicates in mainly hisses and grumbles and is rarely verbal.

The Lizard always manages to elude capture and vanishes into the night.

Who knows where this creature disappears to once morning breaks? Perhaps there is another side to the beast.

THE CLOSEST COMPANION Frost

In this AU, Frost has a more humanoid appearance, practically a human AU design. He has blue hair and pronouns tied up in a messy bun and green and hazel heterochromatic eyes, though there's reason to suspect they're contacts.

He's not a Saiyan, obviously, but he's from an immigrant species family, somewhat of an Ellis Island type situation, about second or third generation. His family lives in an area of the city similar to Chinatown.

Frost has been described as "cool as cucumbers and gay as sunshine". He's one of Cabba's closest friends and they share a high level of trust. They occasionally have talks after school, usually while Frost is working part time in his family's small-business cafe.

"Do you think if you ever had to keep a secret... about who you are... you'd ever just want to tell someone just to ease a bit of weight from your shoulder?" Cabba's hand tenses on the strap of his bag, lightweight and flowy yet heavy with problems, fingers self conscious about whether the zipper is shut to hide the Spider-Suit he quickly stashed inside.

"An oddly specific hypothetical, my dear Cabba," Frost simply chuckles a bit, yet there's an odd twinge in his throat. "Even so, there is quite the risk in doing so... could you even do it without causing yourself more stress? Putting yourself in more danger?" There's a beat of silence, Frost still smirking but the corner of his lip still twitching. "But I digress, drink that tea you ordered before it gets cold~"

However...

Due to a mysterious experimental contamination, Frost experiences almost werewolf-like transformations into The Lizard by night- though these occurrences seem to worsen as of late, triggering more frequently and at less convenient times, making it harder to track the timing. It's a wonder it hasn't happened earlier in the day- or worst of all, in public or at school. His memory of what he does as The Lizard has grown less and less hazy of late.

Frost hasn't been up for sleepovers in ages, and adverse after effects lead people to believe this kid needs serious amounts of lotion on his hands.

Further down the road, these two discover each other's identities in the least pleasant of circumstances- with events leading to Cabba catching his friend with his face half-shapeshifted...

[aces-and-angels]

i understand this would take a lot of time so this is not a request and rather just a query, but would you consider doing character analysis for the relationships but with all 3 routes (blood/merge/shadow) ? 🙂

Thanks for the message anon! To answer your question: I have and haven't done what you're asking lmaoo- lemmie explain (adding a read more bc tis long and I am incapable of simple saying yes or no, I gotta get into it lol)

---

My methodology when developing my 'final thoughts' posts is fairly simple:

Use my main route save as a reference

Use Rowan's greatest desire seen in the Power realm to determine their ending (blood/mixed/shadow)

See where that takes me lol

I have the ability to see how each route (blood/mixed/shadow) can end with each of the characters. In fact, I have played through each of them with Abel, Amalia, and Matthias. Looking at the other variants was mainly a tool for me to help strengthen my talking points for my canon endings (and to see what could happen, obviously lol) For example: I used MC losing all their nerve if they chose to merge with their Power-half to add to my discussion on why they ultimately become human in Amalia's route.

For Matthias- I responded to a very sweet message (which may or may not be you as well 👀) which you can read here; it goes into Ro's shadow ending with him if they split the Power between themselves aka the 'Power Couple' ending. Highly encourage peeps to stick around till the end of that post bc there's a bonus question that I'd like answered ♥

Since I have seen every variation for his end routes I'll fulfill your request for Matty right here, right now ☺

As for a mixed!route with him- to the best of my knowledge- there isn't a way for your MC to stay with Matthias without merging with the Power. If there is, it really puts a damper on my whole Matthias is only loyal to the Power rhetoric I've been harping on about lol. I think my statement here pretty much covers my thoughts across the endings he can have w/ Ro: humanity and Matthias do not mix. Period. If MC is rocking with Matthias in any way, it points to a very deep character flaw (or slay if you wanna think of it that way lol). They mirror Matthias' insecurities, ambitions, and drive. They both believe that as they are before the conclusion of the series, they are not enough. Utterly desperate and ruthless in their quest to make their desires a reality.

Ro's choice to side w/ Matthias and then betray him as well is a very good twist on a similar thought I had with Abel x MC mixed ending. With the end of their route, I see Abel and MC as a couple proving their words ("But if we truly love each other, we won’t hold each other back.”) with the progression of their relationship post-finale. Whatever transpires between them, it happens with the intent of seeing each other achieve their greatest potential. The double-cross ending is the ultimate I am choosing ME story. Ro chooses themselves over Matthias. Over their 'true purpose' made by Loha. Over the bonds they may have formed between the members of the ILW crew. All of that is cast aside in favor of possessing an unimaginable amount of power. To someone who believes they've never been granted the opportunity to forge their own path, receiving this level of autonomy is gratifying. Absolutely nothing holds Ro back from getting what they want. And nothing ever will again.

---

Luckily for me, I was able to unlock all three endings (blood/shadow/mixed) amongst all the LIs with my main saves.

Abel: mixed

Amalia, Lincoln, Matthias: blood

Jocelyn: shadow

The plan I have right now is to write out my full thoughts on Jocelyn's route first because I have yet to analyze a shadow ending that doesn't end with Rowan and Matty burning the world to the ground lol.

My approach with Lincoln will be slightly different.

By the time I get to writing his post, I will have shared thoughts on all of the possible endings at least once. My main save with Linc allows Ro to successfully achieve each end without losing too much nerve that they need to be revived/killed. Because of this, I decided that I will choose the ending, and not solely base my choice on what is seen in the Power dimension.

---

So after a very lengthy how-to, where does that leave this anon's query? I think I will have a better understanding on what I want to say about each of the routes (blood/mixed/shadow) in regards to each character when I've completed going through all my save files. For now, here are my initial thoughts on alt. routes for the LIs. I will make additional posts if I come up with anything substantial worth mentioning in regards to a specific LI ♥

A mixed ending with Joss as an LI has the highest probability of lasting out of the mixed endings with the other LIs. Disclaimer: I have yet to see Jocelyn's route, but I do know that she is the only one who chooses to stay and help hunt horrors. The others express their desire to leave those days in the past.

The shadow route just hurts- I can understand why it's difficult for players to want to end their journey like that and why it's slipping in the polls LMAO fr tho yall need to give shadow route more dang love its achingly wonderful

But seriously, it's altruism to the extreme. This is a stark contrast to Rowan's reasoning to claim the Power as their sole form in Matthias' route; Them severing all ties to their humanity for the sake of saving the rest of the world is the ultimate sacrifice. What's even more heartbreaking is that the majority of the world will never know of it.

The ones that do (the LIs) hold the heavy burden of trying to honor that sacrifice by enjoying the healed world around them while simultaneously grieving the loss of what they considered to be their world: Rowan. It's a love story that transcends realms- expressed not with soft caresses- but in the soft breeze in the air, the gentle warmth from the sun that hits their skin, the stars that shine brightly in the sky. A physical representation of the peace that was restored by paying the ultimate price.

Blood route: As of 3-9-23, this route is leading the polls as players chosen ending. I've said before that I connect most with a mixed ending. So it is a bit more difficult for me to frame Ro as solely human by the end of the series. If I'm strictly just answering the question of 'will they last?' the Blood route offers the highest potential of achieving a long lasting, established relationship for Ro x their LI simply because the majority of the LIs are ready to move on from their involvement with the Power. Makes sense. They are, in fact, human lmaoo. The drawback with this route is Rowan's guilt for leaving the Power behind. A somewhat selfish, albeit less extreme version of the double-crossing option, choice to put themselves over others in order to achieve their version of happiness.

Overall, each of the LIs will help Ro through this grief. Their approach may differ slightly, but the goal is the same. My main talking point that I think is worth mentioning is how Ro's guilt will manifest post-finale/the consequences of that.

The end scene right before credits roll is Rowan suffering from another nightmare- an indicator of their survivor's guilt. Their ability to move past that guilt is determinant on a player's interpretation

My take: To be connected to the Power for that long, to have it be an integral part of your identity- I cannot see Rowan not getting back into the fold in all things Power-related. Maybe it's my personal bias of wanting a mixed route, but I truly feel that Ro pushing themselves towards 'normalcy' by going full domestic isn't the answer to them overcoming their guilt (except maybe in Amalia's story, since I played the ultimate bff to lovers story) This might not be the case with other MCs. If you played as someone who yearned for that lifestyle, I think your MC will have an easier time coming to terms with their life as a human. How I view MC in the majority of my routes however, makes me think otherwise.

I'll refer to this line from Devon to Rowan to frame my stance:

Devon: Think we can count on you to help us out with that? Rowan: Me? But I'm just a full human now. Devon: So? Most people are just regular humans. I might not be anymore, I guess, but all of our other friends are. Rowan: I... I'll think about it.

This moment alone gives enough opportunity to speculate the POSSIBILITY of Rowan turning back to the life of the Power. To what degree? I can't say, but I play Rowan as someone who has deep ties to their connection to the Power, even if by the end of the Blood route, they have no physical ties to it.

Whew. That was a lot. If you made it this far- CONGRATS! Here's another secret poll so I can see how many people made it to the end 😊

[callofdooty]

5-4-3-2-1 Tag Game!!

Tagged by @alidravana ! Thank you so much for the tag! :D

top 5 works i’m proudest of (not in any particular order):

Since I only have two actual works, I'll just put them both LOL:

Just Us - Keegan and Merrick havea moment after the events of the game

My Bed Is A Pool And The Walls Are On Fire - Keegan being delirious for 1000 Words

top 4 current wips i’m excited about:

Mostly all Whumpuary works since they've got my full attention rn LOL

Woken Up Like An Animal - Fill for the prompt Nightmares. Logan makes friends with Mouse after he accidentally kicks her across a room. Title is a line from Human by Daughter (aka one of the best Logan songs to exist LOL)

Keegan's Hypothermia fic - Prompt fill for Hypothermia and "Stay With Me" - Trying to play into the found family as much as I can because I am a SUCKER for it) Pending title ^^

My Heroes Are Dead (They Died In My Head) - Prompt fill for Betrayal. Bitter stream of consciousness, takes place after Struck Down, from Keegan's perspective (but Ajax's fate will be left ambiguous so he might be dead, might be canon divergence that lets him live) Title is a line from Diluted by Slipknot

I Won't Give Up On You (So Don't Give Up On Me) - Prompt fill for "Don't Do This" and Blurry Vision. Not entirely sure what this will entail but it will probably center around Hesh and Logan :) I love :) Angst :) I'm just hella into the title and the prompts as a combination. Title is a line from The Sadness Will Never End by Bring Me The Horizon

top 3 improvements in my writing:

Actually rewriting drafts. A lot of the time, I don't typically rewrite drafts, but for some of the Ghosts ficxs, I've actually got multiple different versions of fics LOL

Uhh I'd say I've definitely developed a stylised way of writing? Which, is actually pretty much just the way I write normally AHA - a lot pauses in strange places, and of course the angsty internal monologuing. I also like messing with structure when I can (Unfortunate House of Leaves simp over here)

Catching when my tenses slip. I don't know why, it might be due to roleplaying, but I find that I often flip between past and present tense in the middle of writing (where it wouldn't make sense to) But I've been able to catch it, lately. Makes editing fics a bitch LOL

top 2 writing resolutions:

Just posting more honestly. Last fandom I wrote fics for got a grand total of three fics because I didn't get to finish the others LOL, and then I kind of drifted off to other things (it's still some of my best angst work, so hopefully I can bring that energy to the Ghosts. The character I fixated on actually might have some similarities to Logan ssooo 👁 👁)

Maybe trying to branch out more? My two modes of writing are Hurt/No Comfort (hilarious, because I hate reading Hurt/No Comfort) and Whump so maybe I can try smth else? Maybe romance? Definitely not something I'm familiar with writing, but it feels like something I could try. (The real issue is finding ships I wanna write about /hj)

number 1 favourite line:

Hmm, this is hard, so I'm going to make up for all the other ones I can't fill by giving a few LOL

From Just Us, I'm quite fond of this line:

Shame stirs in his stomach, making him nauseous before working its way up, gripping his heart and then balling up to cause a lump in his throat that he tries his best to swallow around. "I miss him." The shame ignites like a gasoline trail, flaring quickly into anger (whether it's at himself or Rorke... it's hard to tell with all the smoke) that only makes him feel more sick. "God damn it, I miss that piece of shit."

From the Nightmares fic I'm working on (almost done with it!):

Her eyes did more than enough talking on that front, strangely expressive for how closed off she otherwise seemed. They told a thousand stories; all indecipherable, written in a language that no one could speak of, but could understand all the same. The mind's exact tales of suffering were locked away, hidden, but their effect still seemed to shine from the soul's very own fractured looking glass. A hint of resignation acted as dust upon the reflection's surface; a house haunted by time more than any other phantom.

and then this giant excerpt from a WIP abt Hesh :)

Occasionally, a glimpse will come to Hesh’s mind. Sometimes it’s intrusive, lightning flashing against a canopy of dark clouds, shaking the foundations of his mind with a deafening roar. Sudden, brief and violent in nature. Other times it’s… slow. Easy and gentle, like ocean waves crawling their way up the beach; soft, hushed. Almost comforting, if not for the deep grief that the tide often brought with it, the wind brushing by carrying the faint echoes of laughter and excited voices.

On days like this, the wind only seems to carry his own distant screams. The tide now feels lonelier than it ever did. That one set of footprints trailing in the sand was just that; a single set. The second set of imprints settled in his own stride now gone. 

Instead, the ghost of his shadow is embedded yards away, a trench dug out by desperately grasping hands, reaching for anything. Reaching for him.  

It’s still the gentle ease of a memory washing over him, sea foam gathering, swaying and receding slowly, but that’s perhaps what makes it worse. The slowness. The time he has to sit there and dismantle himself from the inside out, while his own head taunts him with things he no longer has, can no longer reach out for. Even the ebb and flow of water can wear down cliffs with enough time, steady and persistent in its movements. 

Imagery galore! LOL

tagging... @bubble-dream-inc , @goorehound and @neon-amnesia (If y'all want to, don't feel pressured to! ^^)

Basic Template:

top 5 works i’m proudest of (not in any particular order):

top 4 current wips i’m excited about:

top 3 improvements in my writing:

top 2 writing resolutions:

number 1 favourite line:

[radwolf76]

My Hero Forge 2.0 Creations — Inspired by Warhammer 40,000 10th Edition ... Edition

So, I'm only on the edges of Warhammer 40,000 as a hobby. The last time I actually played, was an era when you might have to break out a foot-shaped cardboard template to see who got stepped on. I have a small collection of the minis, nearly all of them unpainted (and the ones that aren't haven't gotten past the primer stage). Still, I'm a fan of the lore, and have been refining details on my own homebrew Space Marine Chapter since, oh say, the Clinton Administration.

One detail about the Chapter I've created, the Stormwolves, is that they're often deployed alongside various other Imperial Agents, and WH40K's newest edition's relaxed rules for Army Building make this a lot easier than it has been in the past. This prompted me to turn to Hero Forge to see if I couldn't make some custom miniatures that'd really fit the backstory I've come up with over the decades.

So I started with a unit of Imperial Navy Breachers, lead by a Sergeant-at-Arms with a Bolt Pistol and Power Sword:

The rest is going under a "Keep Reading", because this'll be a long post.

The bulk of the squad are armed with Shotguns:

This one will probably get her Shotgun swapped out for a Meltagun as a post-printing conversion, as Hero Forge doesn't have anything that comes close:

One Breacher has been upgraded with a Demolition Charge and Grenade Belt (I also put extra armor on the shoulders and reinforced her helmet):

This one gets to wield an Auto-Pistol and Power Axe (there's also an option for Auto-Pistol & Chainfist, but that would have to be another conversion opportunity):

And finishing out the Unit is a Breacher with a Heavy Shotgun and Shield:

These Breachers are actually the Bodyguard unit for some characters who figure prominently in the backstory I've made for my Space Marines, a Rogue Trader, and a Mechanicus Tech Priest Genator. I've posted an earlier iteration of my Rogue Trader mini in the past, but I've been able to make improvements as Hero Forge adds new options and I learn new tricks:

In past editions, there's been rules for taking a Rogue Trader and Rejuvent Adept together as a single slot on the Force Organization Chart, so I would just have the Rejuvent Adept "count as" the Tech Priest, who instead of doing in Hero Forge, I had decided to use a mini of Kristiana from the Warforge Miniatures line (mine isn't painted yet, but she looks like this):

However while 40K 10E has done away with the Force Organization Chart entirely, they also made it that if you want to field a Rogue Trader in your Army List, you're stuck with the full entourage of specialists that were boxed with the Rogue Trader in the Kill Team release, you could no longer pick and choose which ones you wanted. So I turned to Hero Forge to round out the retinue. I took an existing mini I had and modified it to fit the role of Lectro-Maester armed with Voltaic Pistol. As for her Close Combat Weapon, I may have gone a little fancy, giving her a knife made from what I'm calling "Nebula Obsidian":

… But it's not nearly as much Obsidian as on the other character I had to make, a Death Cult Assassin. Starting with a pose resource for a Macuahuitl that was made by redditor /u/Obvious-Gate9046 aka Windthin to represent the Death Cult Power Blade, I then came up with my own interpretation of this character's other weapon from their statline, a Dartmask. And because the backstory of my Marine Chapter already included gene-engineered abhumans as a plot element, this Death Cultist is also an anthro bunny:

Some day I might get around to having all these designs printed (although 3D Printing might just be more expensive than WH40K itself). One that I've already had printed was my Chapter's other associated character, a Ordo Sicarius Inquisitor embedded in the Officio Assassinorum's Vanus Temple as a Deep Cover Operative. For Army List building purposes, I just use the vanilla Inquisitor unit with bolt pistol and Inquisitorial Melee Weapon. I don't have any good photos of the printed mini, so here's the Hero Forge Render:

[ivorydice]

( beginning of the year writer asks ) 8 , 10 , 12 , & 17 ?

8. Is there any projects you're starting this year?

I hope many successful projects lol! That is the dream! I think most of the stuff I'm planning to work on aren't new things, aka they're stuff that needs to be reworked or hit the second draft phase or continued from where it's left off, etc, so I don't know if they count lol. If they do count then definitely starting the second draft of my whumpy angsty FFXV fic in which Gladio and Noct get booted down a mine shaft and they suffer for it.

A new project I definitely want to start this year is my Merlin/Mordred s5 au enemies-to-secret lovers longfic, because I can't handle just daydreaming about it anymore, but I'm not sure if that should count since it's a super self-indulgent fic project lol and I'm not sure if it'll even get shared or not XD

I've also been considering getting a Bad Things Happen Bingo card, so that might be like a whole project in itself XDD

I don't want to overwhelm myself though. I'm just gonna go where the inspiration takes me lol.

10. Do you have a goal for this year for your writing? Any word count? A genre you want to mark off?

I'm still trying not to put too much pressure on myself, so no set word count, but I do want to try and make writing more of a habit this year. I'm going to try and write nearly every day if not every day. 400 words a day shouldn't be too hard right? Right??? I'd like to increase my productivity and speed, really, since I'm currently too slow lmao.

Another goal is to just finally get my fic Nemo finished!! It's a FFXV fic about Noct being kidnapped by the empire and turned into a weapon for Niflheim, and I love that fic and I want to see it done already!

12. If you haven't created any, will you create any OCs? Will you create more OCs?

For fanfiction stuff, the only OCs I tend to create are side characters to help drive the plot along in the stories, I don't really make OCs that are intended to be main characters or have any sort of big focus on them.

I do have an OC that was inspired by Legend of Zelda and Pokémon, she was made to be able to be inserted into the likes of Ocarina of Time or Pokémon or even FFXV at a push, so I might develop her more this year and see if I can make a project out of her.

17. Any AUs you want to try this year?

I'm not really big on writing full AUs (though I don't mind reading them!), I like to write AUs that play around with canon things. I'm not sure really, maybe some AUs with good uncle!Ardyn, I never get tired of exploring what could have been with him :D Or maybe some AU where Noct gets to be a badass in front of the kingsglaive and gets to lead them in war.

Thanks so much for the ask!! :DDD

Beginning of the Year Writer Asks

[lockedtowers]

OUAT VERSE WRITE UP

remember: all references to canon characters, i am PURELY referring to an NPC version OR my own version, available at @familiarache, i would NEVER force ANYTHING written here on your muse. if u wanna play around w that, lmk, otherwise, i'm not basing anything off what have listed here that may mention my char w yours. thx.

There's THREE sections here. to make it easier on everyone, this is the BULLET POINT version, aka main information necessary for plot purposes, not the full write up of everything upon everything that happens.

Feel free to jump to whatever sector you want. The three forms are WONDERLAND, MISTHAVEN, and STORYBROOKE.

I do not follow the wonderland shown in the spin off show. I do not know everything about everything involving ouat (I've seen like half seasons at a time, all of s1, all of Jefferson's episodes, and like, half of s2 beyond jefferson. This is primarily been pre plotted info with my bestie Tinker, who has watched this show in its entirety, she's not on tumbs rn but anyways. I know it's canon divergent to a lot of pre est canon in concerns to wonderland. That's like, a lot of the point lol.) (this is also like the one verse where cassie was actually raised by her parents and that clearly did not help her in any way.)

I do also do base versions with zero backstory for ppl if they want, okay, i care more about your comfort than mine. pls dont hate me.

WONDERLAND

Princess of Spades, Cheshire Cat. Her twin brother is the Dormouse. The actual Hatter is Thomas Madigan, the father of Maddox, Jefferson, and Reve (as well as a daughter i havent settled on a name yet, bc she's a crossover in the plot w tinker, but for rp reasons i have to actually make her a character lol). A man obsessed with time, has perfectly timed all of his childrens births so they're separated by exactly 3 years (give or take a few months obvi.) (Also important to note; my jefferson at least, again, found on my sideblog, was parentified. technically thomas tried to make maddox parent his brothers, but maddox was too self possessed to do that. jefferson raised reve. also yes im saying jefferson is the middle child he radiates middle child energy.)

her mother is the queen of spades, and her 'father' is the red king. he is not her biological father, and he is aware of that. it was his idea. she is unaware. her biological father is the white knight, vas moraj. he was responsible for the first destruction that put the Reds in power in the first place, as he's the Jabberwock. He's also one of the last of the Wonderland Fae, which follow a different set of rules to the misthaven fae. bc logically why would creatures of entirely separate realms all follow the same guidelines i just want to have a talk w them but lbr they couldnt maintain characterization between episodes so

wonderland is a matriarchal society. Aleksander was the only born son of the Red Queen. They had to find another female royal to take over, and Feina agreed to marry him so he could at least maintain his home. she had no interest. he was only ever able to produce one child with her, and it was a boy, Lucien. Men cannot inherit in Wonderland, and since he couldn't produce another heir, he suggested Vas.

vas is the white knight, and in charge of the court. and was clearly overly protective of the twins when they were born, but cassandra more so. he had his own internal reasoning for agreeing. he's not great either but he's better than some people.

whilst royals in wonderland are known to have a lot more free will than other lands (the land is considered upside-down to others), feina never let cassandra leave the castle. feina's own ulterior motives required completely breaking down cassandras psyche, but whilst she never taught cassandra transfiguration, the fae alignment led her to learn she could turn into a cat, thus she started sneaking out.

her 'friend' is the duchess, who would let her hide away in her home as her 'pet cat'. cassandra would oft sneak into the woods for fun.

maddox was in the process of getting knighted. he became obsessed with the idea of being the next knight, as well as marrying the princess, an idea thomas put into his head. jefferson thought it was hilarious.

when their sister tasked jefferson with help to sneak off during a ball, jefferson saw cassandra for the first time, and was naturally curious abt why tf his brother was obsessed w her.

around the time he knew his sister would return, he saw his sister, cassandra, and duchess returning. he saw a cat climb up the tower, and a girl enter it.

jefferson, being extra as shit and a massive red flag, used one of his old enchanted hats to sneak up into her window and meet her. cassie, who decided in that moment that flag was her favorite shade of red, thought it was cute. someone help her.

they became friends. he'd sneak in to visit her constantly.

at some point, her mother finds out she's been sneaking out, and her her guard, illosovic stayne, essentially uhhh break her body to bits for it. that's what causes the scar on her eye, which is the main wound that vas wasn't able to fix. he noticed something amiss with aleksander, and found her tied up, stayne essentially trying to kill her, and he brought her away while aleksander had stayne arrested.

that was her first tryst with human blood, btw, great healant for fae, fixes almost everything, she already had heterochromia but her right eye was now a silvery icy blue instead of just a completely different shade of blue.

vas had a thing and the madigans were invited. he had cassie 'make an example' out of stayne, and she was wearing a dress jefferson made for her. cassie took staynes eyeball, which she preserved and turned into a necklace, bc she's not normal, but she didn't kill him. she debated it, as vas left it up to her, but she decided living in exile would be worse for him. vas named maddox as stayne's replacement.

feina was NOT happy to be undermined mind you.

jefferson, at some point, bc a lot of the normal plot i made w tinker i'm not putting into the rp verse, for 'theres a lot of ship stuff' reasons, and even tho its my own version of jeffy i wanna leave openings yknow-- anyways, he leaves wonderland. cassie ofc is heartbroken cause since that thing, her friends wont talk to her, they're a little bit scared of her.

she also started training bc vas did not want her to be at risk of harm again.

maddox obsessions became worse. he took full advantage of her sadness re jefferson leaving (without her, because he said he'd take her with him, then didn't, because of Maddox) to get her interested in him. but the more obsessive he got over her, the more she started to push him away because it freaked her out.

jack, who i am keeping this bit here bc i can, is regina's half-brother, and came to wonderland. as far as either is aware he's her full brother but that boy is white, that aint your full brother regina. he, in some way, knew that this is where his mother would end up eventually. he looked enough like the original prince of hearts that he killed him and took his place.

he met maddox, actually before jefferson left that was a thing, saw an opportunity, and wrecked maddox's mental state further to make him his spy. he also had maddox murder his own father (and, seemingly, younger brother) which maddox doesnt even remember doing for the most part until he tries to sleep at night and the visions haunt him. that's pmuch what makes jefferson leave btw

eventually, seemingly the entirety of the kingdom was slaughtered. maddox 'gets cassie out', and she sees what she thinks are the real bodies of her family members as she's taken out to the tulgey wood. maddox questions her about something, and she's too busy freaking out to actually know what he's saying or respond to him in any coherent way. she starts panicking and fighting back when he grabs her and starts dragging her off, and when she pushes him away he asks her if she loves him. she does NOT have an answer for that, and Jack appears, talking to her, and with one command, Maddox's resolve breaks and he cuts her neck open.

Jack has already made a deal with Feina, he knows she wont stay dead. Jack has her locked in a room in the castle, and keeps her prisoner there with the intention of marrying her to further secure his position in the court. The Hearts had been taken over, and Cora was now the Queen of Hearts. She did NOT get jack's obsession, but didn't really question it either. It kept him busy and out of her way.

Jefferson came back to wonderland, now as a portal jumper, to steal something from her mom. he found out what happened, and promised to get her out.

this time he actually followed through on that, good job, jeffy.

MISTHAVEN

jack had these iron cuffs on her that kept her powers at bay and made her extremely weak, so yeah first things first was jefferson bringing her to rumple to get those off, bc enchanted. he couldnt pick a lock. there was no lock.

i.................... hated jeffersons prequel comic, tbh, you can't convince me that man knows what renting is i'm sorry. that cottage of his has always been his. he did bring cassie to live with him, tho.

and she was n o t in good shape at all, so when graham would walk past that cottage on the daily and occasionally see her staring out the window, like he thought the worst. rightfully so. sorry jeffy.

eventually she did start leaving the cottage, and actually did meet and talk to graham from then on. he thought she was weird, but her weirdness was endearing.

f r i e n d s

he brought her to The Vale Tavern in town, where she met Lavinia, local witch, and Luke, a werewolf from the den Graham was raised in, who also left. Lavinia's magic is what kept his transformations at bay.

Further proof that cassie is surprisingly endearing, bc they both got attached to her too.

also jefferson was not and never was happy that she befriended graham, but that's because jeffy is jeffy. you just have to feel bad for the ppl he annoys a lot. like rumple probably had to listen to so much complaining everytime he hired him to collect shit. smh

lavinia and luke plotted together to get cassie away from jefferson, bc funnily enough not a lot of people actually like him. lavinia figured out the faerie genes and decided to teach cassie how to use witch glamour, in hopes cassie would figure out fae glamour. she did.. mostly, and the vale tavern's owner essentially gave the business to her.

jefferson did agree and encourage her to move into the apartment above the tavern, and she didn't understand why he would say that. jealousy, mostly, he was still mad about graham, and they were literally just friends like boy calm down the world doesn't revolve around you.

jefferson met (tinkers) alice. grace was 100% an accident. also important to note, cassie was massively in love with alice, and she was not happy. like she's in love w jeffy too dont get me wrong, but she was p i s s e d when he started going out w alice.

(Again, this is is all my versions of these characters, i'm not forcing anything on yall, if you like it tho, lmk)

she was way too hurt by jeffy/alice, but also knew jeffersons a littleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee reckless. so she put lavinia in charge of the tavern, stole his hat, and took over the portal jumping-- on account of all money earned going to... alice, technically. lol.

also, she was a lot worse during this time. girlie did not care at ALL. got really good at murder, actually. kinda hot, ngl

one of the hits, they had iron weapons, and conveniently (someone sent him) jefferson got there and brought her home. he knew human blood would heal her, but when he tried to feed her his blood, it didn't work. alice took over and gave her hers.

jefferson got cassie out of her deal, and she wasn't happy about it.

jefferson was running out of money quickly since he wasnt portal jumping anymore, and got the brilliant idea to go steal a magical artifact from wonderland. because knowing the land was ravaged by a murderous queen and your older brother is a great reason to go back to it.

obviously, that idiot got himself kidnapped by his brother, and locked in the 'eternal teaparty'

alice noticed he wasnt back, and had cassie watch baby grace when she went to go find him.

alice gets jefferson out-- and maddox stabs her in the abdomen for it. cassie was taking care of grace at the time (with graham, in some versions) and suddenly collapsed at the same time, her own blood spilling in the same area alice's was. Alice shoved Jefferson into the portal so he could get back to Grace.

yeah jeffersons mental state wasnt great after that. cassie was NOT letting him take care of grace for awhile. It did drive a wedge between her and graham, especially, because he was trying to help her and she was getting too bitey over it. kind of how graham ends up leaving the area altogether. thanks jefferson.

grace gets older, jefferson delves headfirst into being best dad, thank GOD, cassie keeps helping him out w funds and stuff. and grace. mostly grace.

bs w regina happens finally, jefferson gets trapped in wonderland. again.

cassie came to the cottage to find grace wasnt there, found her with the neighbors and took her. when grace told her everything, cassie was instantly suspicious.

all that time passed. the wiki claims it was two years, i tried to figure out the whole timeline of season ones antics and i did not get two years, but the wiki is more official than i am, so. idk how thats two years, but grace did not age by two years in that time i dont think abc knows how quickly kids age. anyways, however fucking long passes, and cassie only didnt go looking for him bc grace would freak out abt being left again.

cassie finally convinced grace to go stay w the neighbors again, and she'd figure it out. she wouldn't abandon her, and if she didn't come back quickly, she still would always come back.

this is like, just before regina essentially lets charming and snow win, fyi

cassie got a meeting w regina, still was sus about it all, and got the BRIGHT idea to threaten her. When she went to leave, she saw graham.

she snuck back in later after being kicked out in 'warning'. she found graham, tried to figure out wtf happened, and promised she'd get him out. he tells her about his heart, and she decides to go looking for it.

she DOES find it, again, conveniently. for a reason.

she hands it to graham, telling him they need to get out. she'd have time to find jefferson, she was running out of time to help him, and right now, he was first.

got ambushed. she did stun and/or kill most of the guards trying to stop them, mostly killed the ones trying to kill graham, to be fair.

one 'guard' did get her, in the same spot as alice. with an iron blade. yes, it was maddox. jack came in with regina, delighted at the turn of events.

jack took cassie, reminding regina of the deal they made when she did cast her curse, and took cassie with him. she was kept locked up well until the curse hit.

STORYBROOKE

yeah that entire 28 years emma wasn't there, she was in the 'lower hospital' area. maddox is regina's personal guard, and jack is.. i think councilman is the right term, idk, i'll check later. i have it in my doc for this verse lol.

jefferson, ofc, is free now. has everything but his family. he honestly didn't know where cassie was at first until he started sneaking around the town, trying to figure out if anyone else had both lives stuck in their head.

also i feel like they missed an opportunity for him to be plotting with rumple but thats not for this blog that'd be for the sideblog where jefferson actually is.

anyways, he did discover cassie was down there. he also discovered pretty quickly, upon watching all the tapes jack had made of her 'therapy sessions', that she remembered everything, too.

she didn't talk for years. She had a complete shut down while in there. Jack would see her constantly to taunt her. she just shut down.

despite everything, graham, while in his cursed head, still visited her every single week. though he believed she was his high school friend, Chelsea Contarini, who got put in the hospital after her parents died when she was 17.

when Emma made time start moving again, and actually right around the time graham almost died (bc i circumvent his death for my graham, u did enough to him abc) jefferson decided that was the BEST time to just... let cassie out.

which, ofc, didn't turn out well, and Graham had to arrest her, bc great job jefferson just let her out and tell her where to go that'll get her sO FAR.

this means graham had to convince emma to help him get cassie out of the hospital, meaning collecting all of the documents that were created for this world.

one Emma paid especial mind to was that the hospital paperwork claimed, after her parents died at 17, Jack was supposed to marry her, she tried to kill him, and they put her in there. And that she'd been in there for ten years. Jack was NOT aware that that was the age Regina had put down. But as far as Emma saw it, Graham's friend had been locked up since she was in high school, he had barely graduated a few years earlier, and evil wicked regina had an evil wicked brother who also stole the youth of another girl. cassie didn't understand jack shit of what was happening, but later on when graham explained it to her, she did decide regina also must hate jack to do that to him.

she wasn't entirely wrong tbf, regina chose violence in that instance, she knew jack would have betrayed her if given the chance, he's allergic to loyalty

also the fact cassie is a fuck lot older than that (wonderlander lol) like she didnt get the age thing at all. but she wasn't sure if she could lie since all the magic was gone in that world, and didn't want to risk it, so she just kept quiet.

also that file claimed the eye injury was a fight in high school, and her neck injury was from surgery. like jacks a piece of garbage.

graham had to go find jefferson and bring him to her in order to get her to start talking again, bc she was not talking when emma tried to talk to her, or anyone, really. she did NOT want that used against her. Jefferson had to give her pointers on how she could talk and what to say to twist the truth just enough to get out.

after the trial and everything, cassie gets out. she goes off to live with jefferson, because of course she went w the guy who did almost nothing. but she hands around graham a lot. much to jeffersons chagrin.

also she refuses to go by chelsea, but the only way she was able to go by anything else was to say "C.C.' because it technically could be her storybrooke intials, but it's also the initials of 'cheshire cat'.