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stargleam-star · 20 days ago

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My thoughts on Star, and A Starless Clan as a whole:

Spoilers ahead for A Starless clan amd a bit of Ivypool's Heart if it wasn't obvious. Time for me to go on a rant! It's gonna feature me mostly gushing about Frostpaw because she's the only character with enough substance to talk in length about. But I've got other things to talk about too I guess. Lets get into it:

As usual, Frostpaw was the best character of the book and honestly the most relatable. She kept Going Through It until basically the very end and I felt so bad for her.

What I am glad about though is that she got the killing blow on Splashtail! Fuck yeah that's my baby girl <3

But he did get a hit in on her before the end and left her basically comatose which was tragic. Reading Frostpaw drift in and out of consciousness and what she saw while knocked out was really cool tho. I especially liked that she got to have deeper conversations with Curlfeather. She wanted so desperately for her mother to admit fault, to show some remose for her actions. Instead Curlfeather kept focusing on how Splashtail ruined her plans, and how he's to blame. All she wanted to do was protect Frostpaw and Riverclan. There wasn't the slightest bit of remorse at all. It was so tragic reading Frostpaw wishing her mother would hold herself accountable. It really hit home with me. In the end, Curlfeather couldn't face the truth and left Frostpaw behind to conclude her mother wasn't a good person and learn to accept that so she could move on. Heartwrenching stuff imo

I got really sad when Frostpaw started taking a turn for the worse and finally got to see Starclan. She got to meet her dad and was so happy, he made her realize that she needs to focus on herself and her happiness instead of worrying about everyone else's needs. Nobody understands how fucking Relatable that is to me. Nobody come near me rn.

Frostpaw wanted so badly to finally give up and be at peace. She wanted to be happy and relax, and to help in other ways. As much as that would have crushed me for her arc to conclude with her death, it really did feel like a good end for her. She would have done so well as a Starclan messenger. She deserves the rest. Sadly the narrative didn't want that to be the end of her, so she got to come back. Hooray /s

I like the medicine cat name she was given! Frostdawn is pretty (although I am lowkey disappointed she wasn't named Frostfeather, and that's not because I wanted her sharing a name with Curlfeather. I've got an oc named Frostfeather and it would have been amazing for a canon POV character to have that name too. Alas).

I'm also going crazy over the fact that her and Whistlepaw (now Whistlebreeze) got named together. I love these two lesbians so much its insane. The speech Frostpaw gave Whistlebreeze about being a good medicine cat and how grateful she was to have been saved by her? I'm planning their wedding as we speak

Frostdawn ended up choosing Icewing as Riverclan's leader, which was the obvious choice from the start imo. Also very predictable but what do I expect from a series written for 6th graders? I'm still salty as hell we got to see her leader ceremony but never Squirrelstar's.

I find it weird that Icewing was against Frostpaw in the beginning of Wind but then came around to "omg you were right" because Splashtail got mean. It was kind ooc for her, but then again she stopped having a bigger role during that book up until the end of Star.

Why tf was Icewing's voice the loudest that Frostpaw heard when cats started singing to bring her back to life? Also how tf were regular warriors able to sing to reach Frostpaw's spirit? I get that Tree was with them, and Icewing had spent a few days with The Sisters in Ivypool's super edition, but it doesn't explain how they were able to get that power. Also it was "all the she-cats that love [Frostpaw]" which included cats such as Duskfur and Mothwing who'd been mean to her throughout a good chunk of the arc... ok. Anyways.

All of A Starless Clan should have been soley in Frostdawn's point of view. Nightheart and Sunbeam barely brought anything to the table

Might as well talk about them. I like how Nightheart's character arc finished. He wasn't a jerk by the end and started being more respectful. His POV felt pointless most of the time, but I liked getting a glimpse of the inside of Riverclan during the height of Splashtail's reign (more on that soon)

Sunbeam's POV was completely unnecessary. While I liked that we got deeper thoughts on Berryheart as a result of Sunbeam, I don't think we really needed it for the story. I don't even think the way things wrapped up between them was good.

I'm gonna talk about Berryheart now because she's more interesting. I've come to the conclusion that the Erins dropped the ball with her as a villan. By the end, she was nothing more than a traitor in every single way. She was untrustworthy and I cheered when she died. She should have died 3 books ago if she wasn't gonna do anything worthwhile. No her trying to get Shadowclan on her side to let her be leader in the end qhike trying to convice them to rise up against Riverclan was not good. It was stupid as hell, almost as stupid as her joining Riverclan and becoming its deputy

I'm gonna talk about Splashtail but there's not a lot to say that I haven't already (but I will repeat myself). It felt like the Erins were trying to remake Tigerclawstar and his villan arc with Splashtail. Think about it. Ambitious, broad shouldered, dark brown tabby tom, who conspired with cats from another clan to kill their leader in order to gain power for themself? Check. A merger of Shadowclan and Riverclan? Check. Evil cat wanting to rule all the clans? Check. A deputy slain for having a different opinion? Check that off too.

As stated before the only differences between Tigerclawstar and Splashtail was that Splashtail was a lazy coward, Tigerstar actually belived in Starclan and its strength, and Splashtail had none of the charm or support that Tigerclawstar had. Also Splashtail had to resort to threatening the life of kits to get cats to do what he wanted, while Tigerclan followed Tigerclawstar's rule because he was formidable and had cats in it who truly believed in him and his vision for the future

Splashtail was written to be so cartoonishly evil and it was a sad thing to read. I'm glad Frostpaw got to kill him, and I loved how he was tormented until the end by Curlfeather's demon spirit.

I didn't like how they implied Splashtail might be the way he was due to mental illness though. I'm probably gonna get hate for saying that, lol. But in the last book they wrote him to seem like s psychopath, as well as implied him to be schizophrenic because he was talking to someone that wasn't visible (even though he was actually seeing a real dead person. But nobody but Splashtail and the audience got to know that). They literally called him crazy throughout the last book, the entire time. And idk it just felt like they were villifying mental illness a bit as a result. Again I'm probably reading into it too much, don't come at me please

The leaders were not as impactful in Star as I'd hoped. But at least they acted and fought together in the end. I loved that the leaders actually participated in the battles to liberated Riverclan instead of only sending warriors to do it. I love seeing leaders fighting for the good of their clan and putting their lives on the line (that's what their 9 lives are for. Looking at you Brambleclaw)

I didn't like that sone of Riverclan's cats were trying to join Thunderclan near the end of Star and I liked how Squirrelstar acknowledged that they had too many warriors as itwas, and how they had to expand the warrior's den in the past because of it. Wish the Erins would do something about all those cats

99% of Thunderclan was not mentioned at all this book, including the elders + Brambleclaw from what I read (I might've skimmed iver smth tho idk) but there was mention of cats like Myrtlebloom and fucking Eagletail for sone reason (is that their name? I can't remember). Tell me why any of these cats are alive if they're not worth mentioning while we have a camp scene? At least I got to see my girl Daisy <3

A Starless Clan had so much potential and the writing and mystery in the beginning were really good. I just wish they'd kept it up throughout.

Star felt like a flat finish and while I liked the way Frostpaw's chapters concluded and the whole main plot of Riverclan without a leader, I hate that the book ended on a Nightheart chapter and that the last like was about how he "could be brave and loyal no matter what his name was." Like that was a really dumb final chapter of the arc, a genuinely novice choice. It ruined the arc conclusion for me. Frostdawn's chapter should have been last

OverallI I will give Star a 3/10, and A Starless Clan 5/10 stars. It could have been great. But then, it wouldn't be Warriors would it?

#warrior cats #a starless clan spoilers #asc spoilers #star spoilers #Ivypool's heart spoilers #a Starless clan

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niko-aspin · 21 days ago

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We got some updates to Tales of Torment au! Especially the one responsible for the divine curse!

But it's mainly character relationships for this one!

For a start, Cruel King and Vona/player are allies with a shared goal also because Vona/player snapped CK out of the Ice dagger's hold and he wants to repay the kindess also because Vona, didn't kill a single knight.

Noobabor, Blue, and Red are friends after their second encounter on thy train. (They actually met when the 3 were on a mission to um oof someone but called it off after having a brief talk)

(I struggle with his name, correct me please if i spelled it wrong) Shelenski has been friends with Vona/player for some years way before the events of Block Tales. His goal is to break the divine curse!

Griefer is an uneasy ally... he kinda wittness the horrors of what Vona's Curse does and just immediately assumed the Venom Shank did the same.

• hooray a new information

#artist

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hellaverse-critical-confessions · 21 days ago

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WOAHH so I've received the Hazbin leaks (can send the link privately if anyone else wants to check them out, but I've gotten flack for sharing leaks in public posts before)

Let's talk about them (SPOILERS AHEAD):

ROSIE!!!! GIRLBOSS!!!!

She's the one Alastor's soul is bound to!! Slay madame slay. I've loved her in S1 and I love her even more now possibly (and whatever evil plans she might have, I support)

The Sera and bird angel song is honestly quite good. Is that... Heaven's equivalent of a Goetia? Don't the Goetia also originate from Heaven? Who knows

Human Pentious is... pretty cute? I mean he looks about how you'd imagine.

HAH. So Human Alastor (who had a much better hairdo in life) made a deal with Rosie. Interesting... that does raise the question of how sinner demons can communicate with the living? Unless she's not a sinner demon? Based on all this she must be more than she seems...

OOOOH. Vox will capture Alastor! And the LED mask gag has a frown projection to further disarm him, as his smile is his weapon and show of unwavering strength and confidence...

He looks extremely jarring but I guess that's the point

Vox my beloved. He's such a bastard I can't wait for more of him (I like his voice and mannerisms, bite me)

I'm also digging Lute's song. I'm wondering where she is (there seem to be a lot of big glass walls... windows?), and there's also her hallucinating Adam... oh boy. Lady you may be going slightly mad

(I'm guessing that the "Adam returns as a sinner" theory is a no-go, then?)

VoxTek has been spreading misinformation about the day of the battle, Killjoy is there... sounds like Brandon now... okay

So Pentious' sin was sloth. And... that's it. No unethical experiments or killing in the name of science, fucking things up with his inventions... nope. He just didn't act when he could've brought a murderer to justice. I mean that also does land you in Hell, I can see it, but considering he ended up endeavoring to cause mass destruction in turf wars and challenging overlords to usurp them (or something along those lines... it's been a while for me y'all), that is definitely underwhelming. Like he wasn't that bad. So how did he become a villain wannabe down there. Also that bird woman is apparently a representative of God; I am thankful that she isn't actually God herself. She's easily the kindest character we've met in Heaven, I like her. (Wonder where she was during S1...) Lute losing it and being demoted was also pretty cool to see, and uh... hi, Abel? Hope you don't get killed again by a bloodthirsty Lute so she can take back control...

Alastor is INJURED yes we love to see it. I'm cheering like Vox whenever that bastard is suffering. B-but where is his deer tail. He should have a tail

Lucifer doesn't even know anyone's names. Still don't like him either. WHY does Alastor swear so much.

(I just noticed Niffty showing "KYS" to Killjoy...)

He used to have a pencil moustache but of course. That is a universal staple of evil yet still dapper men. (Could've also used to have it in the afterlife... thinking of some redesigns I've seen now.) Rosie I still love you

Oh hooray there's Baxter. But why... do we have blush sheets. Should I be afraid

ANIME??????

Yep that's about it thank you all for coming. I only looked at the browser viewable ones, don't wanna download viruses ✌️

#not a confession #hazbin leaks #I am. NOT tagging with anything else #once again. you want the leaks. I can DM the link I got from Anon

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tobiasdrake · 6 months ago

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Digimon Adventure 01x02 - Explosive Evolution! Greymon! / The Birth of Greymon

Well, I want to be sleeping right now but Insomnia Night says no. So I guess it's time for the next episode.

Last time on Digimon Adventure, everybody was sent hurtling to their deaths by local wildlife. Hooray!

The newly Child-stage Digimon make an attempt to save their partners from falling to their doom, but they can't support an 11-year-old's body weight so this goes south immediately.

Notably, in the earlier fight with Kuwagamon, every Digimon got to show off their new Child-stage signature attack except Gomamon. This is because his move isn't usable when he's that far from a water source. He's kind of the Superfriends Aquaman of Digimon.

As the children plunge into the river, Gomamon gets to strut his signature attack: Marching Fishes.

Fun fact, Digimon call all of their attacks in English rather than Japanese because it's a cool, exotic language to scream attack names in, but one that everyone in Japan is familiar with.

Just as the kids think they're safe, Kuwagamon... uh... attacks?

For real, it honestly looks like they fell asleep standing up and then flopped over into the river. This looks much more like Kuwagamon falling than attacking, but it's played up like they're attacking. Both they and the rocks hit the water, sending up a massive tidal wave that gently carries the children to shore.

Haha. Hahaha. Hahahahaha. Sure, Yamato. Whatever helps you cope.

Gomamon takes a moment to explain that he controls fish at will. Dub Gomamon goes for a bit less mind-controlly explanation, saying he and those fish are pals and he asked them for a ride.

From there it's reintroductions to the new Child-stage Digimon, as well as explaining how evolution works. The dub splices in stock footage from the evolutions in the previous episode, just to make sure you got it.

This is where a really interesting shift in translation occurs. Where Koushiro focuses in on evolution as a concept and Tentomon confirms they're talking about similar things, Izzy instead describes it like this: "So Digivolving is what happens when they advance to the next level and become more powerful than before." The dub's emphasis is on increasing their battle strength.

We see something similar in how the stages are even referred to. In Japanese, we know these as Baby, Child, and Adult stages; in English, they're In-Training, Rookie, and Champion. The Japanese names reference life cycles, while the American ones are more evocative of developing warriors.

Agumon further explains that he hadn't been able to evolve by himself before. He speculates that evolving earlier had something to do with meeting Taichi, and the other Digimon corroborate that speculation with their own feelings towards their Partners. They don't really understand how it works; However, they all agree that the kids have something to do with it.

The dub tonally shifts this to Agumon explaining in totally certain terms that they were able to Digivolve by "sharing [the kids'] energy". It's not explained super clearly what that means and Izzy's left with questions for how the energy's harvested, which go unanswered.

Dub Joe is also inexplicably hostile about the whole thing. Jou expresses that this whole thing doesn't make sense to him, with Gomamon agreeing that he's confused too. Dub Joe instead snipes, "My folks warned me about strangers!" out of absolutely nowhere.

Once all that's settled, it's time to move on to next steps. There's a lot of changes happening in this scene.

Jou wants to go back up to where Kuwagamon was hunting them because they're supposed to stay put and wait for adults to come and get them. However, the group quickly agrees that climbing back up that cliff is an unreasonable plan.

The dub seems to really not like Jou's deference to general adult supervision because once again they scrub it out. Joe instead wants to find a pay phone to call the police, fire department, and his mom. Still adults and authority figures, to be fair, but not exactly the same vibe as "Let's stay where we are and wait for the adults to come get us." Rather, this is foreshadowing for later in the episode.

Jou is the group's senpai; He's responsible for their wellbeing but he has no idea how to be responsible for them. This is part of his character journey.

Yamato points out that this place doesn't look anything like the camp site they were at; Koushiro agrees, speculating based on local vegetation that they're somewhere in the subtropics. Matt wants to find a road leading to safety, but Izzy points out that navigation without a compass is hard.

Jou suggests they can find a road that might take them back up to where they arrived, still on that "Wait for adults to come get us" thing. Joe whines that his pants aren't good for hiking.

Sora then suggests that if they do go back up the cliff, they might find clues to how they got here; However, Mimi fears further attacks from creatures like Kuwagamon. The dub translates this part faithfully.

Taichi asks if there are any other humans around, but Agumon confirms that they're alone here. It's only DIgimon. This also gets translated faithfully.

From there, the group discusses File Island for a moment. Nobody has any idea where this place is, with Jou suggesting they might not even be in Japan anymore. The dub already blew the big reveal by saying "Digi-World" instead of "File Island" so their kids instead briefly question whether or not nighttime exists in this place. Izzy finds the topic ridiculous since it would be "unnatural" for nighttime not to exist, prompting Joe to ask what part of this is natural. Valid counterpoint.

Once all that's settled, Taichi takes charge and gets us moving. He saw the ocean when he was scouting before Kuwagamon's attack so we're heading that way. Though Jou takes one last chance to insist on his preferred course of action: We need to stay put and wait for adults to find us.

So the rest of the group just starts walking and tries to leave his ass here, with Gomamon calling out to get him moving too. XD

This joke does get somewhat faithfully translated. Joe wants to find a cave and hide, but "We keep our eyes open and when a camp counselor comes--" which is when Gomamon calls out to him.

It still works, but doesn't hit quite the same tone as when this is like his fifth time interjecting with this.

Once the group gets walking, they take another assessment of their surroundings. Koushiro revises his assessment of the flora being subtropical. Jou repeats that they're probably not in Japan. Then Yamato points out that the Digimon seem like a pretty big tipoff that something's weird about this place.

The dub gets as far as Izzy saying he thought the plants were subtropical, but they don't want to talk about being in Japan for localization reasons. So Joe instead derails the conversation to complain about his hay fever being aggravated, before Matt groans, "Is there anything you don't complain about!?"

As they make their way to the ocean, the kids take some time to get to know their partners. Patamon and Piyomon demonstrate that they can both fly, but not well. Then this hilarious bit happens.

Mimi: Palmon, you look kind of like a plant. Palmon: I am! I can even conduct photosynthesis. Mimi: That's so cool! Do it! Do it! Palmon: ...Mimi, do you know what photosynthesis is? Mimi: No, not really. What is it? Palmon: ...well, I don't really know either....

The dub wipes out this entire exchange and instead has Mimi inexplicably gush about Palmon's "hair". She wants to try and do Palmon's hair herself, to which Palmon accuses her of caring too much about appearances before rejecting her offer. For a second time, the dub is weirdly mean to Mimi for no apparent reason. She has done nothing but be nearby dressed in pink!

Once they arrive at the beach, they come upon a most unexpected sight.

Hey look, it's those pay phones that Dub Joe wanted! Joe is naturally ecstatic about this discovery.

The Japanese group takes a moment to agree among themselves that these are definitely pay phones, just like the ones you see around town. Jou takes this as confirmation that they're still in Japan, only to have his hopes utterly destroyed when Gomamon asks what this Japan thing he keeps talking about is.

In English, Izzy wildly speculates that aliens put these phones here as a trap. Matt wants to order a pizza; Mimi demands no anchovies. Again trying to avoid Japan as a topic, Joe instead suggests these phones are for calling your parents for a ride, at which point Gomamon asks what parents are.

Taichi gets impatient with standing around contemplating the mystery phones and decides to use them instead. As soon as he bites that bullet, the rest of the group flood into the phone booths to do the same.

As Koushiro hands his phone card over to Taichi, dub Izzy says, "Use my phone card; The aliens can bill me." Goddammit, XD.

It does not go well. On the other end of the phone, all they can get are seemingly prerecorded messages replying with absolute gibberish.

"The time is now 38:82:90 AM." "Tomorrow's weather will be sunny with occasional ice cream." "This phone is currently outside all service areas."

The dub fully understood the assignment on this one and even spices up a couple of them. Instead of 39 o'clock, the time is now 45 MPH... and 90 seconds. My favorite bad phone message is the dub's "To leave a message, press 1 now. To leave a fingerprint, press 2 now!"

As it becomes apparent that these phones aren't their salvation, Taichi and Yamato break into an argument over next steps. Taichi wants to give up on the phones and leave, but Yamato steamrolls him with logic.

1 - The phones were ringing earlier. Even if we can't call out, if we hang out here, someone might call us. 2 - Not to mention, the whole group is too tired to start marching again.

With Koushiro backing him up and pointing out that everyone's getting hungry, Taichi relents. We'll stay here and take a break.

Discussing food options, the group inspect their belongings and rediscover their Digivices. They'd completely forgotten about those things. Cool, but not edible so. Y'know. Questions for later.

Setting those aside for now, the group goes over what they have on them to see who's got something to eat.

Sora: First aid kit. Koushiro: Laptop, digital camera, and cell phone. All non-functional since arriving on File Island. Taichi: Mini telescope.

Takeru: JACKPOT

I mean, it's all sweets so it's not very nutritional. But you know what it's not? It's not starving to death on the beach of a deserted island.

Mimi, meanwhile, is decked out for wilderness survival. She was nervous about the camping trip so she plundered her dad's stuff without his knowledge - A decision that, the group agrees, may be what keeps them alive in this place.

The dub once again takes this opportunity to be mean to Mimi. She describes the Swiss Army Knife as "one of those knives with all the things", which I actually like. She's like 10, that's a fair description for a 10-year-old who doesn't go camping.

But then they cut out her explanation of why she has all this stuff. Instead, Matt brings up earlier in the dub when Izzy mentioned they don't have a compass and snaps at MImi for not telling them she had one; Mimi defends herself by saying she thought it'd be fun to see how far they can get without it.

Y'all, they seriously changed a line earlier so they'd have something to yell at Mimi for later. The dub is so mean to Mimi.

Fortunately Jou, who's been busy trying to get the phones to work and hasn't followed the conversation, has the solution to our food problem: A bag of emergency rations he's been trying to pass off to Mimi.

As the group begins divvying upon the food, Jou crunches the numbers. It's supposed to be enough food for three days, but Takeru wasn't supposed to be on this camping trip; He snuck in to spend time with Yamato. So that's an extra mouth. Furthermore, the Digimon are going to double their food consumption.

The Digimon chime in to say they can forage just fine. They've been fending for themselves in the wilderness all their lives; They don't need to eat the emergency rations. That will help extend their time.

The dub simplifies the math a bit by counting T.K. as having officially been part of the trip, so there's an even share of food for him already accounted for.

However, while this conversation is happening, Taichi and Agumon are already digging into the rations. Whoops.

Before anyone else has a chance to eat, the kids are under attack once more. A subterranean assailant destroys the phone booths and their reason for lingering on this beach.

This is the Adult-stage Shellmon. His name is in English so it's pretty easy to tell what it's supposed to reference. The Digimon try their best to defend the kids from Shellmon, but only one of them has any energy to fight.

Agumon's signature move is called Baby Flame 'cause he's just a little guy. The dub changes it to Pepper Breath, which admittedly sounds cool as heck.

It quickly becomes apparent that he's the only one with stamina to fight. That's. Uh. That's a problem because Shellmon is Adult-stage like Kuwagamon. It took the entire group to fight Kuwagamon. And they lost.

So. Y'know. Agumon doesn't have a snowball's chance in Hell of holding this line. But he's gonna have to.

Demonstrating the courage that will become such a defining aspect of his character, Taichi throws himself into the fray. He leaps into action to distract Shellmon and open him up to flanking shots from Agumon. He also tries to fight more directly.

It does not go well. Taichi has zero chance of winning a fistfight with a kaiju shellfish. However, his courage and boldness sparks the next stage of Agumon's evolution.

With the theme song roaring up again, Agumon SHINKAAAAAA!

Agumon's Adult stage is Greymon. A bit of an odd name for such a colorful creature. I'm of the understanding that it's based on a form of grey that means "ancient", because he's clearly a dinosaur. That, however, is not a usage of the word that I'm familiar with.

Greymon's evolution is slightly different between versions. Just before Agumon evolves, in Japanese, he screams Taichi's name out of desperation. "TAICHI!!!" he cries out, before suddenly evolving into Greymon and gaining the power to fight back.

In English, he instead shouts "Digivolve!" like a battle cry, making it seem a little more like he's in control and doing this on purpose.

Taking control of this situation, Greymon hurls Shellmon into the air and unveils his new attack: Mega Flame, the vastly more powerful counterpart to Baby Flame. The dub calls it Digi-Nova Blast.

Mega Flame launches Shellmon into the distance and sends him crashing into the ocean offshore from File Island. A much more decisive victory than their previous encounter with Kuwagamon, though Shellmon likely is still alive out there.

Given what just happened, the group decides to keep their Digimon well-fed rather than trying to preserve the rations. Also, to get the hell out of here as quickly as possible. There's no reason to stay since the phones have been destroyed, and Shellmon could return at any moment.

Jou takes this opportunity to once more pitch returning to the woods they originally landed in, but he gets thoroughly outvoted. It's up a cliff, it's far away, no more Kuwagamon. Legit, in the dub, Mimi just frets about running into Kuwagamon again, but Japanese Mimi shrieks at Jou, "NO MORE KUWAGAMON!!!" XD I love that delivery.

Koushiro has a better plan: Phones imply the existence of people who installed them, so let's be proactive and go look for those people. Jou is once more outvoted.

With that settled, we have a little bit of food, we have a plan, and the group sets off to pursue this thin thread of hope that they've found.

#digimon #digimon adventure #revisiting digimon #revisiting digimon adventure

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kelperings · 2 months ago

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KELPER . the future foundation file thing. GRAGHH you can’t DO that to me ???? you can’t.

because like. okay somehow komahina have to do the final dead room together. maybe chiaki isn’t there to stop hajime when he gets delirious and thinks the exit is in there (don’t worry abt what this could mean for chapter 5 trial stuff it’s Fine several parts of this AU would have a butterfly effect on chapter 5 anyways) so hajime enters and he gets trapped in there until the murder bc he’s too Out Of It to solve the puzzle on his own. nagito enters at the same time he normally does and they solve it together

then there’s the final challenge. i imagine instead of each of them doing russian roulette separately komaeda just loads 4 bullets into the chamber instead of 5 and relies on his luck again. could have a REALLY good moment here where nagito loads the gun, spins the chamber, and points it at hajime, and hajime starts freaking out ofc bc dude don’t point a loaded gun at me ???? and komaeda’s all “aha, hajime, have a little faith! i do have a talent, regardless of how useless it may be in comparison to everyone else’s ^-^ look, i’m even letting you go first!” anyways he pulls the trigger and -click- hajime is safe. hajime barely has the time to breathe out a sigh of relief before komaeda’s aiming the gun at himself now and before hajime can protest -click- komaeda is also safe. hooray for ultimate luck!

and then they make it to the octagon and A Monokuma Appear and he’s like “well that’s the hardest difficulty you would have been able to play on with two people so. here share this file with information on everyone :)” and he hands it to them. and they open it together like “holy shit am i finally gonna learn my/hajime’s talent” and then they’re just. CRUSHED by the weight of “oh my god not only is hajime talentless but also we are all fucking terrorists???? hello???” like it’s BAD. it’s ROUGH

komaeda doesn’t have the luxury of solitude to process this so i imagine he’s MUCH worse at masking the pain he’s in upon learning all of this bc like. fuckkk. like he Knew something bad was going to happen (his luck had spared both his life and hajime’s) but he didn’t realize it would be this bad (instead of killing hajime directly his luck has instead made him Dead To Him. also they’re all terrorists in the name of despair???) like it fucks him UPPP. he starts to shake, he feels dizzy, like he might throw up, and then his legs give out.

hajime- with sharp reflexes- catches him, starts trying to console him and explain this away— “it’s okay, komaeda, none of this can be real, there’s no way— i mean, terrorists? ultimate despair? it can’t be true, it’s not— why would i even be here if i wasn’t—“ and komaeda interrupts him. he lifts his head to glare directly at hajime, says “Don’t touch me.” in the most venomous, angry, betrayed tone he’s ever spoken with, and shoves himself away. he lands on the floor of the octagon and scoots backwards until he hits a wall, curling in on himself and going a bit vacant.

hajime looks at komaeda, down at the file in his hands, back up at komaeda. he’s hurt. he’s hurt that komaeda would believe this (deep down, hajime believes it too. he’s been afraid that he was talentless this whole time, and seeing this file confirms it, even if the rest feels outlandish), he’s upset at the idea that any of them could possibly be responsible for “ending the world,” he doesn’t believe it (he does). he can’t. but hajime doesn’t have time to be hurt. someone’s been murdered, they have a trial to get through.

hajime explores the octagon, hajime realizes what the ultimate weapon is and discovers the trap door that links strawberry and grape house. depending on how drastically chapter 5 is changed by this we could say nagito takes the bombs and poison in this time frame, maybe while hajime isn’t looking or something.

instead of direct animosity hajime and komaeda’s dynamic for this trial and investigation is tense. there’s a deep undercurrent of hurt to it, anger, even, but it’s mostly tension. nagito barely says a word, refusing to speak more than is absolutely necessary. hajime can’t bring himself to point it out. they Don’t Talk About It.

AAAAAGHHH LOOK AT WHAT YOU’VE DONE TO ME. GONNA BE THINKING ABOUT THIS FOREVER . WHAT DO YOU MEANNN. also i Do Not Remember if the file is implied to have information on kamukura or not so i went forward assuming it doesn’t but if it DOES that’s even crazier. like. GRAGGHHH

GAHHHWHHWHHH GHHHHHWGG NNNWNWO NOOOOONNWNWNWHHHHHGGHHH. TEARS AT THE WALLSHHGWVV.

surprise surprise guys spoilers under the cut smhHELWLAHAH

TJIS IS TEARING ME FRRROM THE INSIDEOUUTTTT.

fifrstly, i reckon theres two ways this can go and in a perfect perfect world where i can be slightly okay with the prospect that nagito just saw this fucking file with hajime was if he clocked that hajime is in just as much distress as he is and went a little easier on him for that fact. like he backs away completely, moving himself away from hajime to reel in this information. i mean, it’s obviously not fucking easy to cope with that. he just learnt the world isnt real, they’re in a simulation, theyre all traitors and all the grief theyve been through on tjis island means nothing snd IS nothing compared to what theyve caused to the world. but then, to sit back up to wrap his arms arojnd his stomach (dawgs gon be sick fr fr), he’s actually able to pull himself out of hysteria for just a moment to see hajime face to face. and hajimes distraught. hes staring at the file in hand, practically SHAKING, close to dropping the fucking thing. his eyes trace over the same sentenced over and over again as if they were going to change and go “just kidding!!!” his leg look like they could give way, and he simply CANOT believe that not only was he some fucking reserve course this whole time he thought he must be an ultimate, but he donated his body tl science and basically got a lobotomy and then lobotomy core hajime (izuru) became a fuckinh terrorist. HE LEARNS. HOPES PEAK. WAS WXPERIMENTING ON CHILDREN (the children being HIM mind you). FOR NO PURPOSE OTHER THAN TO STUDY TALENT. this place he looked up to??? hello????????

and maybe. in a perfect world. nagito would see that and understand that it’s affecting hajime probabyjust as much as its affecting him. is this my excuse for hurt/comfort YES. YES IT IS AND IM NOR ASHAMED TO ADMIT IT. IM A PUSSY OKAY MY AHH COULD BEARLY HANDLE THE ORIGINAL PLOTLINE. now. would tjat all actually happen? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA 😐. knowing the luck of nagito komaeda, no. so we’re back to square one, but its a nice idea to think of what couldve happened if nagito saw that and perhaps took it with more sympathy.

BUTGGHWHWHHHH UHHHWHHH UGHHHHHHH IM GONNA GRY AND SOB AND IUGHHHHWHWHH.

the idea of nagito just fucking SPINNING TJE GUN IN SOSFUCKCKCING FUNNY BRO SPINS IT AND POINTS IT AT HAJIME AND IS LIKE “okay stay still bro i got this.”HELWJSHAHA IMAGINE HAJIME..? THIS SKITTISH CAT OF A MAN???? i just like to imagine it turns into a cacophony of fear and arguing like:

“DUDE WHATTHE FUCK STOP POINTING A GUN AT ME”

“stay still!!! my luck wont let you die.”

“IDIDODONT GIVE NO FUCKS ABOUT YOUR LUCK RN WHY ARE YOU POINTING A FUCKING GUN AT ME STOP.”

“STAY STILL.”

“NO???”

“STAY. STILL.”

oh my god mars. mars..? he TAKES THE POISON AND SHIT WHILE HAJIME ISNT FUCKING LOOKING..? WHILE HES FIGURING OUT THAT THE DOOR LEADS TO THE GRAPE HOUSE.?? can you IMAGINE the shame and guilt and hurt hajime would feel, come chapter fucking 5 where he realises if he “just paid more attention” he couldve stopped it from happening. do you realido you realise you do youddhdhhhwhwhhhhhhwh. OH MY GOD IM LOSINH MY MIND IM LOSING MY MIND WDYMMMM WDYM. ghhhwh they dont talk about it they dont talk about it. imagine how them talkinh once gettung out of the coma would be dawg. like they talk to be like “okay let’s actually talk and discuss whatever the FUCK went down in there u and me bro” because i assume theyd have to at some point because bro WHAT. and they reach that point. and it just. ghhhwhwhh. NO. THIS SIS AWFUFL WE ATE EVIL PEOPLE.

i THINK izuru is implied in the file?????? i think so????????? might be wrong

mars ilysm.

#kelper yaps #mars #🍊🍀#<3

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pavedinashes-if · 7 days ago

Note

Hi again, if the MC can have tattoos would having a tattoo related to F be an option? Like something related to them, or their name or initials? I’ve been meaning to ask about this but I forgot 😭. Even if it’s only hypothetical and not in the game, which ROs would get jealous about the MC having a tat like that?

Hey, I checked the archive, cause there were some Tattoo related asks before... (links and response below the cut for spoiler reasons). In short:

You will def⚠️ get the chance! Cause 💁🏻‍♀️

Who would get jealous / is jealous?

Noah / Naomi

Who has their very own thoughts but I'll def not share them here and now hehe?

Dima / Dalia

Who will comment about it / ask about it?

Sparks, Sam, Michael / Michaela, Alex, Felix / Felicia (if you got it AFTER THE BREAKUP! & flavour text if you have it removed or not)

Here are all Tattoo related asks (hooray to archive on pc):

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17-noodlebird · 4 months ago

Text

World Three = The Fair Land Of Medievia

🏰👑👸🦄💂🐸🧜‍♀️🧚🧞‍♂️

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Jewel: Rhodochrosite

Power: Crystals

Color: Mauve

Theme: Fairytale Princesses & The Middle Ages

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Objective:

Go on a quest to save the fair Princess of Medievia from an evil dragon and bring her to her Prince Charming.

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Chapter III: Your Princess Is In Another Castle

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The third episode/chapter pays homage to the “Shrek” franchise from DreamWorks, the Disney Renaissance movies of the 1990’s, the classic fairytale tropes, fables, and nursery rhymes of your childhood, the medieval era kingdoms of the past, and the “bedtime story” movie plot from your favorite movies.

The episode begins on an unconventional note, where the first scene is that of a live action mom and her daughter getting ready for bed, while pop music plays in the background. The two talk about what a wonderful day it has been, as the daughter asks her mom to read her a bedtime story. As the mom rummages through some classic fairy-tales, she stumbles upon a mauve-colored storybook, of which she never read to her daughter before, and asks if she would like for her to tell the story of “The Kinger & His Knight”. Upon questioning about the alleged misspelling of the word “King”, the mom shrugs it off, saying she herself has never read it either and that she found it at a flea market one day. The mom decides to read the story to her daughter, starting with the iconic words: “Once upon a time…”

The camera zooms in to the interior of the book, where from here on out, the mom becomes this episode’s narrator as we meet Team Circus yet again in the Magical Digital Van, all while Pomni and Kinger sing along to “All Star” by Smash Mouth, with Caine behind the wheel, as usual. When Pomni excitedly asks to play the song again, Bubble, who is feeling anxious right now, says that she and Kinger have played that song six times already, with Jax replying that enough might be enough for them all. None of that matters now as Valerie (who had been on a phone call with Caine via one of the Communicator Bracelets) tells them that they have arrived at their next destination, The Fair Land Of Medievia.

Medievia looks just like a kingdom from the Middle Ages, with a beautiful castle, a medieval town, commoners walking amongst the beautifully-dressed aristocrats, all while sharing the same theme of the medieval era, with knights, princes, princesses, and bards. As Team Circus looks around in awe over how well-detailed this town is (the animation style of this place is reminiscent to that of the classic Disney movies), Caine and Bubble try to find a place where they can stay, using some of the money left over from the previous episode, and it's there that we are greeted by a traveling bard by the name of Stumpulot, a flutist who is in search of a permanent residence as well as a well-paying job, whom Pomni immediately befriends after sharing that the she and her friends also need a place to stay since they're tourists from a different area. The two proceed to sing about their new friendship and the things they share in common. (How exactly would that work? I don't suppose anyone would want to hear a Lizzie Freeman and Patrick Stump duet, do they?)

We cut back to the live-action daughter asking why this bedtime story is a musical all of a sudden, before the mom answers that it just is, before showing her the lyrics and music sheet of the song that Pomni and Stumpulot just sang. The daughter's only reply is a flat “Oh.”

We cut back AGAIN to Team Circus, who are having a lunch break in a tavern called “The Triskelion”, where Pomni and Stumpulot storm into the tavern, and they beg like little kids if he can join them on their adventure, puppy dog eyes and all. At first Caine refuses, voicing his skepticism from the last time they trusted someone, but after Ragatha and Jax of all people join in on the cutesy pleading, he gives in, and allows the bard to join them. Hooray!! Through Zooble's assistance, they were able to find a nice cozy area where they can stay for the night, called the Fox Inn. As Team Circus settles into their room for the night, Kinger puts on a movie via Bubble's communicator bracelet, and he chooses Shrek 2. Stumpulot comments that Medievia used to have such whimsical characters (i.e., the fairytale characters everyone knows and loves) back in the day before the King decided that they were simply too much and relocated them somewhere else in the kingdom. While Pomni tries to enjoy the movie, she can't help but think to herself what might have happened to these characters.

The next morning, at like 4:45 AM, the room service lady, named Janiss, wakes the still sleeping group to inform them that everyone in the kingdom (yes, even the visitors) are invited to the King's Grand gala to celebrate his daughter's Sweet 16 — already, they can tell just how unapologetically self-indulgent the guy is. Kinger is, for some reason, the only one excited because of his belief that he himself is royalty (as seen in the canon pilot), so this is his chance to actually impress someone like him, much to Caine's concerns. The two have a conversation as the others get dressed for the gala (eat up Royalteeth shippers!), with Kinger musing how much Queenie would have loved to attend an actual party hosted by a member of royalty, and Caine just praying that everything will work out in the end, as so far, nothing has gone wrong, which only fills the ringmaster with so much dread. Kinger remarks that this is the first time the two have actually talked like actual close friends since Queenie's abstraction and yet, there's still a rift between the two of them. The chess piece asks if everything is okay, to which Caine just responds with the usual “I'm fine”. Like he had been for years now. “Well, if you need anything, you can always come talk to me. I miss having you with me all the time.” Kinger replies.

Team Circus, now fully dressed like medieval characters at a ball, head towards the castle on foot, with Pomni remarking to Ragatha that Kinger hasn't acted like his kooky self since they got to Medievia, no dissociating, no easily being startled, and no short term memory loss. Perhaps it would be because this place makes him feel right at home, but she can't be too sure. Ragatha comments that while she isn't completely in the know, she has heard stories that Kinger used to be this grandfatherly figure that everyone looked up to, even Caine for some reason. The ragdoll can only hope that side of him will come back to him eventually.

With this, they arrive at the castle gates, to be greeted by a plump, Santa Claus-esque man dressed in silver, pale blue, and periwinkle, all while wearing a golden crown, who introduces himself as King Cloudbeard, through excited handshakes for each of the members of Team Circus. As they walk inside the castle's throne room itself, they are greeted to a large crowd of equally dressed guests of the kingdom, from other royals, to nobility, the working class, the commoners, and even the most destitute of peasants, all with varying degrees of color and flamboyance. The throne room is decorated with a sparkling gold and diamond-encrusted chandelier, with at least four tables of different gourmet snacks to try out, with an empty giant plate being reserved for the princess’s birthday cake for later. Speaking of the princess, King Cloudbeard’s daughter, Princess Purity, is listlessly listening to the cacophony of the party, wearing that cliché Disney Princess face of “wanting more out of life than her privileged upbringing” on her designated throne next to her father's. King Cloudbeard is happily asking how Lord Spaniel and Lady Fowl, two nobles of Medievia, are enjoying the party, which only gets eyerolls from the lord and lady, making the King's face droop with sadness.

An hour and 45 minutes pass, and Team Circus is most enjoying themselves, with the occasional influx of new guests arriving, the sound of minstrels playing different songs on their flutes, fiddles, lutes, and drums, thousands of conversations, debates, and arguments filling the air, and the damn chandelier blinding those who look at the lights for too long.

Stumpulot and Pomni take a look around the throne room and find themselves enamored with the food in the table, which consist of sliders, green bean casseroles, slices of honey glazed ham, brownies, cookies, raspberries, blackberries, cherries, thousands of plates, forks, spoon, knives, sporks, and cups, in one section of one of the four tables, and four punch bowls consisting of pink lemonade, regular lemonade, Dr. Pepper, and grape juice each, among others (to which diplomat Rionna curtly retorts that all that good food is making her hungry). When Pomni finds the King sulking near one of the food tables, she asks what's wrong, to which he replies that none of the people he wants to impress is actually enjoying the party; not even his daughter is in the spirits. Stumpulot then asks what's the giant plate for, to which the King answers it's for the birthday cake that's being presented very soon. Stumpulot and the King hit it off with each of them explaining their backstories to each other (the King's wife died recently while Stumpulot is homeless and in need of a place where he can belong) and sharing things they have in common, like wanting to make people happy. Pomni is just munching on the sliders as she watches.

Kinger takes a moment to admire the scenery, when he stumbles upon the lord and lady King Cloudbeard had just talked to. Kinger attempts to make small talk with the two, only getting snide insults from Lady Fowl as Lord Spaniel just waves his fan like a stuck-up prick. Another song ensues from the two, and it's treated like a diss track of some sorts. Gangle and Zooble are just hanging out with each other, as well as Ragatha and Jax, while Caine just stands amongst the crowd, trying to find something to do amongst the environment of bright lights, loud noises, and unfamiliar surroundings. Pomni finds her best friend Caine being idle and offers him a slider, which he politely declines. She asks what's wrong, though he tries to reassure her that he's okay, despite looking like he wants to get the hell out of here. The two have a heartfelt conversation, with Caine revealing why he doesn't know why he feels like this, or why he feels like he's always been this way, with Pomni trying to reassure him that he's not alone.

At last the birthday cake arrives and the whole crowd goes silent, with Princess Purity looking like she just witnessed a murder or something. Stumpulot catches up to Pomni and Caine as the royal chef prepares all sixteen candles (it's actually eighteen candles; the extra two are the 1 and 6 candles respectively), while King Cloudbeard makes a speech about how his daughter is finally growing up into the woman he knows she can be, mentioning how he wished his wife could be there for this momentous occasion, as he declares the whole reason why he invited everyone to the gala was so he can choose a proper suitor to marry off to the princess so she can rule Medievia one day, shocking, dismaying, and even disappointing the crowd that they had been lied to. Team Circus is noticeably not amused by this notion, with Ragatha declaring skepticism over the whole situation, only for him to justify that he had been betrothed to his wife at the age of 16, and his father before him, and his grandmother before him, and so on and so forth; it's an unyielding tradition that has been held up for generations. Princess Purity, enraged that her life is being decided for her, calls out King Cloudbeard for not even allowing the freedom she deserves, which he again tries to justify that he only wants to protect the only remaining remnant of his deceased wife. The crowd is now murmuring amongst themselves, with Lord Spaniel and Lady Fowl looking at the King in venomous disapproval, much to the latter's horror on his face as he still tries to double down on his beliefs. Furthermore, it's revealed by King Cloudbeard in the increasingly heated verbal fight that the reason why the fairytale-esque characters are no longer in Medievia was because the Queen was killed by one when the Princess was just 14, much to the shock of everyone. Stumpulot gestures to Team Circus that they should leave as things have already gotten awkward enough. The party continues on without them, although the atmosphere is a lot more tense and somber with Princess Purity looking defeated.

Two more hours pass, and we are greeted to a scene with the princess, who is looking at the golden afternoon sky as she holds a goblet of grape juice in her hands, pensive about her outburst. Wanting to apologize for stepping out of line, she attempted to go back to the party, only to bump into a distinguished and handsome gentleman, a member of royalty by the name of Prince Steele. Noticing she just ruined his suit, Purity apologizes profusely, only to tell her that it's okay and that it was an accident. When he asks what's wrong, she tells him that she feels really bad for letting the secret out about her mother’s death and the resulting persecution of all whimsical characters in the aftermath, something she feels incredibly guilty over. He tells her that it's not her fault that her dad decided to be rash about certain things, only for her to tell her that he had always been this way, even before the Queen’s untimely murder, but tries to excuse it as the King just wanting to protect his daughter. The conversation continues with Steele revealing that he also has a harsh but loving mother that he wishes would understand things the way he does, leading to the two having their romantic “I Want” duet, waltzing and all. The song ends with a tiny hint that the two may have fallen in love with each other as they say their goodbyes, with Purity and Steele heading off in separate directions.

Immediately after, the screen fade transitions to Team Circus finally arriving back at the Fox Inn. Stumpulot apologizes for the botched party visit, which Pomni brushes off as a minor inconvenience (after all, she's experienced much worse back at the Amazing Digital Circus). Caine, who has remained silent throughout the whole journey back, just plops onto one of the beds and shuts off for the night. As Stumpulot and Pomni converse with each other, he reveals that he was originally born in the same place where the fairytale characters were relocated/exiled to, and has heard the story of how the Queen was murdered:

When the King and Queen took their daughter to see a play in the nursery rhyme district of Medievia, they were ambushed by feline crooks, similar to Puss in Boots, had all their possessions stolen, with Princess Purity and her mom, the Queen, being held hostage by the leader of the crooks. King Cloudbeard fought them off as best as he could, but in doing so, he watched the carriage he, his wife, and his daughter were in, get engulfed by flames. We are treated to a scene of the Queen shielding her daughter from the flames as she screams in agony, with King Cloudbeard wailing in grief. Shortly thereafter, the King signs a paper that declares that every last fairytale creature be relocated so that he'd never have to be reminded of what he had lost again. Pomni is horrified by the story (and even shedding tears), but still reminds herself that it doesn't excuse his harsh treatment of the fairytale characters. Stumpulot can only hope that the King changes his mind and apologizes for his mistakes, as everyone else goes to sleep for the night.

We cut back to Princess Purity, who is in her room eating a slice of her birthday cake, when she happily declares to herself that she's finally made her first friend after being isolated from everyone else her whole life. We then get a POV shot to a first person view of a mysterious thug, who knocks down her room’s door, approaches the princess as she frightenedly asks who they are, and the screen fades to black as she screams in terror.

The next morning, as Team Circus sulks throughout the Medievian village, tired from yesterday's events, they are all greeted by King Cloudbeard and Prince Steele (the latter of whom they have not met before), who have run on foot to ask for help. Understandably, Team Circus refuses to buy into their claims, citing that it was his fault for the birthday party gone wrong with his incessant insisting on his warped ideas of love, until they are introduced to Prince Steele, of whom the Princess had already chosen as her suitor, immediately subverting expectations much to Team Circus's disappointment, thinking that the King got to her head. Steele, after hastily introducing himself to the others, tells that the Princess was kidnapped by some unknown thugs. Thinking it might be those “pesky fairytale hooligans” again (which Stumpulot takes great offense to), he asks them, or rather demands them, to go to the Fairytale lands where the Princess might possibly be. It's a dangerous and arduous journey, with dark forests filled with creepy crawlies, temptations galore, and above all, villains lurking in every corner. As a result of Steele’s pleas and begging, all eight members of Team Circus receive a notification for their third objective on their communicator bracelets, meaning that they can no longer refuse the offer to help. Having been through a lot worse, Team Circus happily obliges, since that also means the possibility of finding the third jewel on their journey.

And so, the set off into the fairytale lands, such as the hill with a watering well (Jack and Jill), a gingerbread house (Hansel & Gretel), a mansion made out of straw, twigs, and bricks (Three Little Pigs), and even an ice castle (The Snow Queen), all while “Holding Out For A Hero” by Bonnie Tyler plays. The music only stops via a record needle scratch once Kinger declares that they've been going in circles the whole damn time after experiencing deja vu with some of the locations, most specifically the gingerbread house that caught Pomni’s eye. Understandably, Caine is ticked off, screaming into the sky in frustration, alerting a group of fairytale characters lead by a large troll with an apparent Scottish accent, a girl wearing a red hood, and a beast wearing a golden crown and a tattered suit, who is carrying a jewelry box with him. The red hooded lady asks if there seems to be a problem, to which Prince Steele replies yes in a quick manner, hyperventilating about the missing princess.

The trio are not happy because of their disdain for royalty after they somehow got banished for no apparent reason, as the bridge troll exclaims. The beast prince reveals that he had tried to rescue a princess once, but doesn't specify further details even when Pomni asks. When Jax frets over getting lost again (out of mostly exasperation, of course), diplomat Pamela teleports a map of the fairy-tale lands, where supposedly they'll be able to rescue the princess, and hopefully not get lost. “You mean to tell me this whole time you HAD A MAP!??!?” Caine yells out.

But before the overwhelmed ringmaster could get mad further, the map projects the locations in which they'll need to cross in order to rescue Princess Purity: The Blackberry Forest, Wonderland Lane, The Cave Of Covetousness, Mermaid Lake, and lastly, The Princess Tower (convenient naming there, eh?). The others are understandably frustrated by the cliche naming of where the princess could be held hostage. Before they could start their journey, Stumpulot introduces Team Circus to the new trio as Lynnard the Bridge Troll, Red Riding Hood, Prince Draught, and lastly, the Genie Of The Box, who is currently taking a nap in their cozy safe space that beast prince is carrying with him. Without further hesitation, Team Circus, Stumpulot, Prince Steele, and their new allies set a course for the Princess Tower, where Steele’s newfound love will be rescued.

As Team Circus heads off to their first location, each of the new allies have a pleasant conversation with the members of Team Circus, who all explain their own backstories to the fairytale friends, who in turn explain their backstories to the others, as well as Steele and Draught getting along splendidly. Kinger and Caine are also having a personal conversation of their own, having overheard Steele’s love story to Draught in the commotion, and the latter expressing suspicions to Prince Steele as he's not entirely too keen on the idea of love at first sight, despite Bubble’s interjection of the contrary (the sentiment antivirus software had indeed fallen in love at first sight himself), claiming that just because Caine doesn't believe in love at first sight, that doesn't no one else should believe it either. Before the conversation can progress further, they arrive at their first hurdle: The Blackberry Forest.

Yup. The Blackberry Forest is your typical scary dark forest seen in fairytales! It's pitch black in there, if it weren't for the flashlight feature on Pomni's communicator bracelet. Stumpulot warns the others of man-eating creatures known as Deermen and that any sudden noise could alert them to any “fresh meat”, recalling a time when he and his unnamed brother were playing around in the forest, only to get almost killed by one of the Deermen after they were being too loud that day. At first, they all try to remain as quiet as possible, with the occasional stepping on a twig, tiny yelps in fear, or even a simple gust of wind, until Prince Draught trips on a tree root, yelps out over dropping the jewelry box, alerting a Deerman of the group's whereabouts. As Prince Draught tries to find the jewelry box in complete darkness, Team Circus, Stumpulot, Red Riding Hood, and Lynnard, try to dodge the Deerman’s attacks, before Prince Draught decides to use his beast form to defeat it and protect his buddies, all while everyone tries to escape the forest. Ragatha finds the jewelry box while Jax finds a small ray of light, which leads out of the forest. As everyone else escapes, Prince Draught is seemingly lost to the Deerman. However, they have no time to grieve before they venture off to Wonderland Lane, albeit still in shock over the ordeal.

Wonderland Lane is, for lack of a better term, brain aneurysm-inducing, as its confusing twists and turns lead them to different areas of Wonderland Lane, from a mad hatter’s tea party, to a white rabbit’s house, to singing and talking flowers, and ultimately a rosebush that's been painted red. Pomni has already been accustomed to getting lost in liminal spaces, and thus is good at finding a way out of particular mazes, especially the whacky and colorful ones like this, for example. Caine, Kinger, and Bubble are struggling to get through the painted rose bushes, Jax and Ragatha are forced to participate in a tea party of craziness, hosted by the Mad Hatter and a talking hummingbird (instilling deja vu from Jax and Ragatha), Gangle and Zooble are navigating their way through a multicolored dog park (Gangle gets distracted by the cute puppies as a result), Pomni and Stumpulot are forced to escape a corridor of doors with doors (doorception) after attempting to ask for directions from a white hare, and Lynnard, Prince Steele, and Red are dragged into a flower concert, where it turns out the flowers are tone deaf. This is all while “One Little Slip” by Barenaked Ladies from Disney’s Chicken Little plays. But eventually, they all reunite, but not without falling into what appears to be a similar-looking rabbit hole from the Alice in Wonderland story they just witnessed, where it promptly leads to them getting trapped to their next location, the Cove of Covetousness.

Bubble complains exasperatedly that the map is stupid, just as everyone realizes that they lost the jewelry box. Once Caine and Pomni find the box, it's slightly damaged with the encrusted gems having fallen off and being covered in mud from the ordeal. Lynnard tries in vain to warn the two not to rub the box, but it's too late; after Caine cleans off the mud, the box opens to reveal the aforementioned Genie Of The Box, saying this introductory line: “Good morning, Vietnam! …Wait, this isn't Vietnam.”

Yeah. It turns out that the reason why the Genie was kept in stasis was because of how annoying she is. And this goes on for a long time, with the Genie chatting up a storm, as everyone else tries to find a way out of the cave. Arguments ensue from this. But before any of this escalates, the Genie points towards a door that leads them out of the treasure portion of the cave, leading everyone to stop what they're doing and realize that they were being stupid. The typical “easy solution is eventually found for comedic effect” schtick. As they walk the temple-like halls, the Genie and Stumpulot have a heart-to-heart, with the Genie's origins finally being explained to the audience as everyone else has their own conversations in the background. The cave of the Cove of Covetousness leads to an underwater section of the area that is Mermaid Lake, where, thanks to the Genie's underwater breathing bubbles that serve as helmets to everyone, they swim up to the surface and find the Princess Tower from afar, along with what appears to be a dragon.

The Genie conjures up a boat after Pomni accidentally wishes for one, before stating she has 22 wishes left. When Kinger asks why 23 wishes, Red answers that as annoying as the Genie is, she's fairly generous. Stumpulot, wanting to save what sanity is left for everyone, shuts the box, promptly putting the Genie back into stasis mode. They finally arrive at the location of the Princess Tower where Prince Steele eagerly gushes over Princess Purity's rescue. Stumpulot wonders how they'll be able to get past the dragon, but Steele recognizes the dragon as an old friend of his named Vermilla in his childhood days and the two catch up on the latest events, (much to everyone's confusion, anger, and shock as this was information that was never before revealed to them), and decides to talk to dragon, all while everyone tries and finds a secret entrance to the tower. Kinger briefly glances from behind what seems like a sinister grin, but brushes it off as yet another digital hallucination.

As the others trek their way through a cave-like corridor in the tower, they find another character who appears to be trapped in a dungeon-esque chamber. This character also appears to be of royalty, but looks strangely beaten and tattered, with a look of trauma on his face. He desperately warns them to turn back, and while Kinger, Stumpulot, Lynnard, and Red all look horrified and are convinced to leave at once, Pomni insists on continuing as they have a mission to complete. They all have completely forgotten the objective as a result of everything that went on beforehand, and as Jax tries to find a way to bail out the new character with his arsenal of keys, they find a spiral staircase that would supposedly lead to the rescue of the Princess…

…Instead it would lead them to a trap. Goddamnit. Welp, you know what they say, fool me once, shame on you. But fool me twice… damn. It's revealed that Princess Purity was never kidnapped and trapped in the tower at all and that it was all a set-up for what the princess and King were about to do. You see, when the princess was “kidnapped” the kidnapper turned out to be Prince Steele himself. Rather than getting mad, she found it rather hot that Steele would go all this way to scoop her up in his arms, take her away from her boring comfy life, and let her live a simple life away from the palace. She's essentially a careless prick who doesn't care about what's best for her people, and only cares about herself, a typical poorly written Disney princess move. Meanwhile, Prince Steele, after marrying Princess Purity, will become the next King of Medievia after King Cloudbeard enacts his genocide on all the fairytale characters. The fairytale characters were already suffering from bigotry and discrimination long before Medievia existed, and was essentially conquered land that had rightfully belonged to the fairytale characters before being taken away from them. The Queen had objected to the genocide, which angered King Cloudbeard, so he staged the hostage situation in the hopes of getting rid of the Queen, which he successfully did, knowing fully she'd protect his other expendable asset (his daughter, the Princess) so he can finally get some use out of her and enact his grand plan to make Medievia pure. And Purity was okay with all of this, because she cares about absolutely no one but herself, and had always been a spoiled brat that not even her own mom could tame. Plus, she loved her dad more, Purity claims.

And that's when King Cloudbeard emerges from the shadows, still putting on his faux happy persona, although in a much more condescending tone than anything. It turns out he had been following them from the start, using an invisibility spell on one of his signature crowns. We're treated to another flashback Prince Steele meeting King Cloudbeard for the first time, where he reveals his genocide plans to him alongside Lord Spaniel and Lady Fowl, who are actually war generals outside of public knowledge, and Prince Steele reveals that he's third in line to the throne of his own home kingdom, thus having virtually nothing of value, and has been desperately seeking a royal's hand in marriage so he can rule over his people someday. Steele had noticed moments earlier after their little duet that Purity had fallen in love with Steele and asks for the King's blessing, to which the King agrees, as he's in dire need of a public figure to turn the public's attention away from the fairytale “cleansing”.

Jax manages to finally find a key close enough to break the new character out of his cell, just in time to catch up to the others, only to find out it was all a scummy lie, when Cloudbeard, Purity, and Steele continue their villain monologue. Stumpulot, not believing for a sec who he's seeing in front of him and with tears in his eyes, attempts to rush towards Dice for unknown reasons before being stopped by Steele. Cloudbeard introduces Team Circus and the side characters to Prince Dice, twin brother of Prince Draught, with Draught having been turned into a beast after his kingdom was annexed by Medievia and his brother Dice being imprisoned in an abandoned tower ever since, to be guarded for all time by a chatty dragon named Vermilla. Another flashback shows how Prince Draught said he tried to rescue a princess once. Said princess turned out to be his older sister, Princess Purity's mom, the Queen of Medievia, who was forced into marriage by King Cloudbeard after her homeland was conquered by his Medievian army, including images of Lord Spaniel and Lady Fowl holding her hostage. This meant that Draught and Dice are Purity’s uncles, something that she herself knew since she was 12 years old, but the others didn't, mainly because of the minimal foreshadowing.

The wedding will be happening tomorrow night, Cloudbeard declares. Kinger asks angrily why they chose them of all people, to which Cloudbeard responds that they reminded him so much of those “disgusting abstracted lowlives'' that plagued his beautiful kingdom, and wanted to give them a first row seat to his conquest, out of sheer sadism and to send a warning to everyone to never cross the King. The word “abstracted” strikes a chord for all eight members of Team Circus, with them freezing up in disturbed horror and fear for their survival. When Lord Spaniel and Lady Fowl also emerge from the shadows to take the others out of the towers and throw them into the dungeon cart that Cloudbeard had drove in, Stumpulot snarls that they won't get away with this, to which Steele retorts back that they already have. As Team Circus and all the others are locked up in the cart, Pomni glimpses at Vermilla, who looks like she had no idea that any of this would happen and looks remorseful. We don't see her again until the climax.

Everyone looks forlorn and defeated, except our beloved jester herself, who is quick to point out that the Genie can get them out of there and stop the marriage, but no one responds. Pomni rubs the box again, and we are treated to the Genie saying her catchphrase for the second time: “Good morning, Vietnam!!! …Nope, still not Vietnam.”

Pomni pleads/wishes for the Genie to let them out of the cart, but when she tries, she finds that it's magic-proof. Jax tries to find a key that'll unlock the cage, to no avail. Not even Ragatha’s hairpins can unlock them. Zooble tries to use all of their strength to bend the metal bars, (only to fall apart within seconds), Gangle uses her ribbons to break them apart, and Bubble tries prying them off the cart with his teeth.

While everyone else is trying to open the cage in their own manner, Stumpulot and Prince Dice have a heartfelt talk, saying how much they missed each other, even though they’re sorry that they had to reunite like this. They reveal some minor info about each other, including the memories they used to have when they were younger, including a sweet reprise of the first song in the episode, which culminates to this…

Stumpulot reveals to everyone actually used to be a jester for the twin princes before their kingdom was conquered by Cloudbeard. This causes everyone to stop in their tracks to listen. Stumpulot says that he's the great grandson of the Pied Piper, hence why he has connections to the fairytale characters, and that the conquered kingdom in question is the fairytale lands, specifically where Wonderland Lane currently is in question. Stumpulot was there to witness the entire invasion, the capturing of Prince Draught and Prince Dice’s sister, Princess Checkers, the ensuing war, and the death of his family and even the Prince’s mom and dad. His only remnant of his family was the pipe flute his great grandpa had amongst the ruins of what used to be his home. So he ventured near and far to try to find a new one, not realizing until just now that he had wandered into the kingdom that took everything away from him, except he doesn't have the energy to be angry anymore because of what's about to happen tomorrow morning. Everyone shows sympathy for the two of them, even the menace-to-society Genie can't help but feel awful. The atmosphere becomes solemn and quiet as they can only pray for a miracle to happen.

At sunrise the next morning, we see Prince Draught, who looks like he's seen better days, having already tamed a Deerman, and trying to find his way back to the group, only for him to realize that they unintentionally left him behind thinking he was dead, although none of that matters now as he spots a dungeon cart, carrying with him his allies… and his long lost brother. He looks on in horror as his keen hearing brought to him by his beast form allows him to overhear a conversation about how King Cloudbeard’s plan to kill off all the fairytale characters is going according to plan. It's disguised as a heartwarming scene where Purity reveals that she didn't like the idea of marrying at 16 because of how young it was, but after finally finding her hero, her Prince, she can safely say that she was wrong about the whole youthful arranged marriage thing being bad because it means she gets to spend the rest of her life with Steele, and live a prosperous life without the “subhuman caricatures'' that keep getting in the way of Purity’s selfish desire for a simple life and Steele's desire for a throne to sit on.

Draught sets off back to the fairytale lands to warn them about their impending fates.

At an almost-in-ruins fairytale village Prince Draught tries to gather up as much fairytale characters as he can to rescue his allies and stop the genocide of their people. They're all angry that their suspicions have been confirmed and all set up to revolt against the King and maybe stop the wedding in the meantime. They all sing a song about how they knew it all along and how they won't let them take away what little they have left to call home. Characters include Henny Penny, Big Bad Wolf, the Three Little Pigs, Hansel and Gretel, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Puss in Boots, Pinocchio, The Ant Queen and The Grasshopper King, Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, even the Mad Hatter and his hummingbird assistant, the White Hare, the Queen Of Hearts and her card bodyguards, and many, many others. Prince Draught has officially rallied up an army to revolt against the system.

Meanwhile, as the rally song continues to play, after King Cloudbeard announces from his balcony to his subjects that the princess has finally chosen her suitor and that the wedding is in 15 minutes, Purity gets dressed for her big day and in a wholesome (but still evil) moment where she hugs her dad and tells him she loves him, as he walks her down the aisle, to the altar where Prince Steele is, as well as Archdeacon Bishop, who is marrying the two off for the wedding. Thousands of other Medievian citizens are seated at the wedding church benches, along with a battalion of guards to make sure nothing goes wrong, the tied up members of Team Circus, Stumpulot, Lynnard, and Red, although for some reason, the jewelry box the Genie Of The Box is sleeping in isn't even remotely secured, which Red takes notice of very well and tries to discreetly knock off the seating without anyone noticing.

Just as the song ends, Prince Draught boldly shouts that King Cloudbeard's reign of terror ends here, to which the latter responds calmly and ominously that he had expected something like this, which was why he brought company, revealing a hundred more guards from behind the altar. After an action packed scene of the fairytale characters being badass (both individually and in groups), Red finally knocks the box down, breaking it for good, prompting the Genie Of The Box to say her catchphrase one last time: “Good morning Vietn— holy moly, that's one way to crash a wedding…” Ultimately, the Genie gets the tied up folks out with her magic after Red wishes for their escape, which she happily obliges.

The civilians are unfortunately caught in the crossfire, even those who secretly opposed the King’s rules. Team Circus, Stumpulot, and the fairytale allies all try to bail out the civilians to safety, while Prince Dice confronts the King himself, which results in a dual battle while the commotion continues in the background. Meanwhile, Purity, Steele, Spaniel, and Fowl find Team Circus and promptly try to stop them, only for the fairytale allies to retaliate by brute force, eventually getting Kinger, Jax, and even Ragatha to join the fight.

Eventually, the battle ceases with a victory from the fairytale characters by a landslide, the soldiers either being injured or killed, and Dice and Draught finally reunite, with the King refusing to accept defeat as he declares that as long as he continues to sit on the throne, he will always win in the end… that is until Vermilla the Dragon breaks into the wedding altar where the King is standing, and unceremoniously eats King Cloudbeard, ensuring his permanent loss once and for all.

It's a scene reminiscent of when Sir Pentious from Hazbin Hotel was killed in an anticlimactic fashion by Adam, and Charlie awakens her ultimate form from grief as a result. Here, though, it's a parody of that, with Princess Purity running towards where her father used to be and weeping just like a Disney princess, Steele goes on to comfort Purity, with Lord Spaniel and Lady Fowl expressing sorrow for the King's death, in a saccharine parody of those sad Disney death scenes.

But just as Steele and Purity are about to sing a reprise of their “I Want” duet from earlier, Vermilla the Dragon, sick of their bullshit, just straight up eats all four of them too. At least Purity went out like a true princess. This causes Zooble and Jax to erupt into laughter from the sheer absurdity and anticlimactic manner of the whole thing, while everyone else just stares in confusion and shock.

Afterwards, Team Circus rejoices in Prince Draught’s survival after catching a glimpse of him alongside Dice, with Red, Lynnard, the Genie, and Stumpulot all having a bittersweet reunion with the long-thought-to-be-lost Prince Dice. Team Circus joins in on the reunion as they all catch up with each other as they, the celebrating fairytale characters, and the Medievian civilians walk out of the church and celebrate the end of King Cloudbeard's tyranny.

Later that evening, a wild celebration outside with fireworks ensues, with Team Circus, Stumpulot, their newfound allies, and all the other fairytale characters enjoying their newfound liberation when a faint desaturated pink glow can be found within a tree hollow behind them, which Pomni notices. She finds the source of the light and finds their next jewel, prompting all eight members of Team Circus to receive this pop-up notification:

~JEWEL OBTAINED!~

2 out of 26

Only 24 remain

The jewel is a beautiful mauve-colored Rhodochrosite.

This unfortunately means that it's time for them to leave. When Lynnard asks, “Can't they stay?”, Stumpulot replies that they're not from here and have a home to go back to. Team Circus share a heartfelt farewell with their new fairytale friends as they all get back to the Magical Digital Van, content and a little amazed with having just saved an entire nation from a tyrannical ruler — though that wouldn't have been the first time they've done so, Jax claims.

The whole journey, the mom narrator has been reading out the entire episode like a fanfic of some sorts, and as the Van drives off into the starry night, the camera zooms back out of the storybook as the mom finishes with “...and the newly freed dwellers of Medievia all lived happily ever after. The end.” The daughter exclaims how awesome the story was, which the mom agrees. The mom tucks her daughter into bed and kisses her forehead, with them both saying goodnight to each other before the mom walks out the door and turns off the lights.

When the coast is clear, the daughter promptly grabs back the book that was put away moments ago, grabs a flashlight, and rereads the book under the blanket covers, as Smash Mouth’s “All Star” replays for a second time while the credits begin rolling.

The episode ends with this In Memoriam dedication:

In loving memory of our all star

Steve Harwell

1967-2023

~~~~

Current Status:

2 Jewels have been collected

24 remain

🏰👑👸🦄💂🐸🧜‍♀️🧚🧞‍♂️

~~~~

• OG Cast

Lizzie Freeman as Pomni

Amanda Hufford as Ragatha

Michael Kovach as Jax

Sean Chiplock as Kinger

Marissa Lenti as Gangle

Ashley Nichols as Zooble

Gooseworx as Bubble

Alex Rochon as Caine

~~~~

• Audience Surrogate Cast/Diplomats

Hynden Walch as Valerie

Susan Egan as Pamela

Amy Winfrey as Garcia

Mandy Moore as Lulu

Nevaeh Hamilton (me) as Bethany

~~~~

• Background Diplomats

Andrea Libman as Winona

Cristina Vee as Patricia

E.G. Daily as Rionna

Stephanie Sheh as Olivia

Debi Derryberry as Yolanda

Cree Summer as Gemma

Ashleigh Ball as Cécelia

Erica Luttrell as Belle

Ashly Burch as Imera

Kimberly Brooks as Bailey

~~~~

• Episode’s Antagonists

Jim Cummings as King Cloudbeard

Jodi Benson as Princess Purity

Paige O’Hara as Lady Fowl

Michael Jelenic as Lord Spaniel

Aaron Horvath as Archdeacon Bishop

Ed Sheeran as Prince Steele

~~~~

• Secondary Characters Introduced

Angelina Jolie as Mother/Narrator

Vivien Lyra Blair as Daughter

Mike Meyers as Lynnard the Bridge Troll

Chloë Grace Mortez as Red Riding Hood

Nevaeh Hamilton (me) as Genie Of The Box

Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson as The Beast/Prince Draught

Patrick Stump as Stumpulot the Bard

Adam “SomethingElseYT” Ortiz Jr. as Prince Dice

Alan Tudyk as Mad Hatter

Melissa Fahn as Hummingbird

Rob Paulsen as White Hare

Tiffany Haddish as Vermilla the Dragon

Alex Borstein as Janiss the Room Service Lady

~~~~

#the amazing digital circus #tadc #the amazing digital road trip #tadrt au #tadc road trip #tadc au #tadc pomni #tadc jax #tadc ragatha #tadc kinger #tadc gangle #tadc zooble #tadc caine #tadc bubble

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mckitterick · 1 year ago

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Bots-B-Gone

(AKA How to Tumblr)

Hey, I get it. Xitter is xitting on its users, same for Reddit and Facebook and so many others, and you migrated here because it's not been so badly enshittified. Hooray! Welcome!

So that means those of us who've lived here in [tumblr] land have been getting lots of new followers lately, many of whom are just lurking until you've figured out how to use this place. That's cool.

~ however ~

If you recently started following me and you're legitimately a human being, take note:

I'll soon resume blocking (and, when appropriate, reporting) all followers who don't do the bare minimum of appearing human - that is, one or more of these:

create a user icon. pick some image you like and use it rather than the default icon. doesn't need to be fancy, just try not to look like a bot dumped into our social ecosystem to farm human creativity

like stuff. that's kinda the point of following people, right? because you like it? so let us know, which also shows us there's a human mind behind the blog

reblog stuff. you don't need to add anything, you don't even need to tag your reblogs. here's the heart of what makes [tumblr] original. it's also why this place is so much more fun than most social platforms

reblog with interesting or fun additions. got something to add that'll elevate a post? awesome! some folks put their thoughts into the tags instead of in the post (maybe they're shy, maybe they don't want their blog to get new followers, or whatever. it's fine, and fun for the original poster to see in their notes)

drop me a note or tag me on a post, or send me an ask or message. I check my activity pretty much every day, so I'll see if someone wants to interact. I love that stuff

make original posts of your own! got a cute cat? show us! enjoy taking photos of wildflowers? fabulous! like sharing quotes from books you're reading? we love that! doesn't need to be a big deal, just hint at the human mind behind the blog name

I hate blocking blogs, because what if that's a shy human I'm blocking? But gaining a few dozen new followers in the past week whose blogs are blank means it's time to cull again.

So if you want to keep following me (and probably the same for most other Tumblr users), please show me you're a real human some time in the next week (I'll start culling on August 24, 2023).

#welcome to tumblr #how to tumblr #social media #purge the bots

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mobblespsycho100 · 6 months ago

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🍳 give me your opinions o great sash

I think people should be nice to Laios more but I also think that they're not wrong for being mean to him because he says stuff sometimes that just sounds Awful out of context like the whole thing where he was like "I hate to say it guys but if Falin didn't get eaten by the dragon we wouldn't be here rn eating monsters so I'm kinda happy" LIKE. when he said that I agreed with him maybe because we share a freak bond (autism) but also like It's not the greatest wording, I know, but like, he's not wrong 😭😭 he still cares about Falin a lot obviously thats his little sister ... he loves her sm. He's just WEIRD (i say this with love in my heart)

like , I think the reason why he hates his dad so much is because he sees himself in him at a subconscious level, and also he hates being compared to him because he thinks that his dad is like him if he was worse and an adult. He thinks his dad should have it all figured out, why was he so mean to Falin? Why was he so quiet all the time, so closed off, did he even care at all about us? (he did)

And that's why I think that Laios honestly is like... hes got a whole lot of baggage. Leaving Falin in the village a year(?) before she went to the Mage Academy as a way to like escape the awful environment of his home life and in a way show "solidarity" with Falin. Hes like "IMMA PACK IT UP!!! BECAUSE THEYRE KICKING YOU OUT!!!" and he doesn't realize how that would've affected Falin who actually wanted to spend more time with him before she went. That's why when he realizes it like... in hindsight/afterwards, and he never wants to leave her side again because he feels really guilty about it.

And I think... thats really beautiful man. The touden siblings have such a strong bond and it crushes me that they've both faced alienation and like dealt with it in different ways because it's really realistic to the autism sibling experience I think. Like. Laios' self-centred nature and like his lack of awareness regarding how his actions might affect others... his like self-loathing/blaming himself tendencies...

He's self aware. He knows what he did. And he thinks that he's inferior to his sister in a way, which fuels his desire to protect her and save her and always be there for her when she needs him (he wants to be needed. he wants her to always be his little sister who looks up to him. the little sister who is so much more talented but still cries and loses at dog naming wrestles. the little sister who stands behind him so he can protect her protect her be there for her be better in this one way just in this little tiny thing. hooray for codependency ... )

But I think he forgets a lot that he's a person. He remembers that hes human (because he hates being human and wants to be a monster because of well again the alienation reasons . lol) but he forgets that he's a /person/ who people Care about. He can acknowledge others' strengths and weaknesses, he admires when they do as well, he's aware of his limitations. And he hyperfixates on them (low self-esteem moment). He beats himself up over them. And he grows over the course of this story... he learns that he is loved. He learns that he is a person deserving and worthy of love despite being different. He's worthy of life, of eating, the privilege of the living. Of sharing that meal. Living with others, amongst them, and not from the outside looking in.

And I think. Thats beautiful

#asks #SORRY FOR HOW LONG THIS IS. LAIOS IS. SUCH A GOOD AUTISTIC CHARACTER. AND I LOVE HIM.#i could talk abt laios dunmeshi and mob mp100 for hours on end #because hes so relatable to me even though im more of a falin kinnie. lmaoo #laios touden my beloveddd #dungeon meshi spoilers #hot take ask game #joe 🐱🦠 !#this got very rambly. hes so personal to me . God.#other ppl have worded this way better than I have . But I just wanted to give my two cents

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cherry-flavored-sigh · 4 months ago

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i got to see cinderella's castle on friday night! so i looked back at this post by @cindytoast404 and decided to fill out the bingo card! let's see if we get a bingo, shall we?

SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT!!!!!!! DO NOT LOOK IF YOU DO NOT WANT SPOILERS FOR CINDERELLA'S CASTLE!

we DO have a bingo! hooray! (assuming the middle is the usual Free Space)

let's go through it square by square:

`1. the prince is absolutely the horniest person in the show. putrice gets sort of close, but she's really the only one in my opinion who does.

2. sir hop a lot does NOT die, but there is a point where he transforms back into a regular frog and putrice eats him. he later becomes a knight again once the magic is restored and escapes her stomach.

3. the prince is hot but he is just too stupid for ella to actually be attracted to. sorry! she needs a man who thinks about more than cunny all day!

4. no arson... unless you count the metaphorical "burning" of the ashmore family's legacy

5. the Narrator chided us a bit because when ella came on stage, we cheered for her, and he snapped and said "you don't even know anything about her yet!" so kind of? he also has help from ragweed (i believe that was the old man puppet's name), who comments on how the story progresses and argues that he doesn't like the results at one point. so there's a decent amount of acknowledging that a fairy tale is being told to an audience.

6. i would say rancilda is semi-redeemed because she defies her mother's wishes and wants to follow her own dreams that don't necessarily involving killing and eating people

7. ella does not kill a man, sadly :( but her loyal knight whoops some corrupt guards' asses!

8. as one would expect from a fairy tale, there is a lot of emphasis on wishes, desires, and happy endings. ella reflects on what she truly wants beyond revenge

9. sort of? the ball is the prince's way of choosing a bride. he clicks with rancilda at first (shared love of perverted jokes), then ella appears and steals his heart... then ella almost gets murdered by guards that the stepmother coerced into assassinating her and runs away, accidentally losing her magic in the process. so the prince does not end up with a bride that night and instead starts the search for the girl whose foot fits the glass slipper left behind.

10. if we assume sir hop-a-lot did not go off and chase her and kill her, then yes, rancilda does get to go live under a bridge and tell riddles for a living, just like she always dreamed. good for her!

11. the songs for the troll stepmother and sisters are BANGERS. they are evil, disgusting, and absolutely LOVING IT. hot troll girl summer is here, folks

12. the queen is pretty spooky and ethereal. her presence is far from "comforting fairy godmother" and more like "LET ME GIVE YOU THE POWER TO SMITE YOUR ENEMIES"

13. there is a skinning! two, actually! we meet two lovely girls that come to stay at the house and are set up to be ella's saviors... who are then promptly murdered by crossbow and then skinned to provide "outfits" for the troll stepsisters for the prince's ball (their whole picnic scene with ella gave huge "I love being alive!" vibes)

14. honestly, i can't recall any gay people. unless you count the Narrator, cuz he's a bit fruity, but he gives off big flamboyant fae vibes, which one could argue is just how fae are. you could sort of argue about the prince being a little gay with tadius (see the later square about homoeroticism), but no one seems to be explicitly referred to as homosexual. :(

15. everything is magic! ella's mother was burned for being a witch! the trolls use magic to stitch together their skin suits! the fairy queen of sweet dreams grants ella "starlight" to help her seek revenge. magic is what brings sir hop-a-lot and crumb to life as speaking creatures.

16. this one is debatable. the prince does not turn into a human (though if you want a humanized version of him, you can just look at jon's silly outfit while using the puppet lol). but he DOES sort of become a prince, because after the kingdom is saved, ella grants him a huge amount of land and tells him to sire many generations of tadpoles. so... close enough? he is not ella's prince, but he could be considered a prince now that he owns land, i guess?

17. again, the Narrator gets snippy when we cheer for ella without knowing who she is yet

18. almost! the evil stepmother threatens to begin a war with the trolls coming back to take over the kingdom once she steals the throne. thankfully, that doesn't come to pass

19. there sure is a castle. on a hill. as the story goes.

20. tadius quite literally has to wipe the prince's ass for him. and he also prepares "the wank couch" after the prince obtains ella's abandoned slipper.

21. ella ends up with tadius. he's the only man who can match her wits (and is human). though it would have been cute for sir hop-a-lot to become her human prince, i think that ella and tadius make a good couple. together, they have the smarts to properly rule the kingdom.

22. the prince does get murdered. tadius doesn't do it (though he really REALLY wants to), but instead, putrice gets a bit too rowdy after her wedding vows and rips the prince's head off. tadius runs away screaming in horror.

23. because putrice married the prince before she died (exploded by sir hop-a-lot when he became a knight again and busted out of her body) and the prince and king die/get killed (maybe the king smothered himself, who knows? tadius wasn't there), the crown goes to the next living ashmore... which is ella! yay!

24. ella does not get her own sword. sir hop-a-lot considered himself her sword since he is her protector and knight. but ella DOES get magical trappings made of pure starlight, so i honestly think that's a lot cooler.

aaaaaaaand that's that! feel free to argue with me if you've seen the show, too (or once you see the digital ticket version), cuz some of these are based more on opinion. i'd love to hear everyone's thoughts! just be kind and tag your spoilers! <3

#starkid #team starkid #cinderella's castle #cinderella's castle spoilers #spoilers #starkid spoilers #bingo #long post

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squishmallow36 · 11 months ago

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It's Getting Dicey

Summary: It's the secret santa fic...Happy New Year @ultralazycreatorfan! I know I told @song-tam that it'd be here on the 30th and then that didn't happen and then I said it'd be here on the 31st and then I was struck down by a headache. Hooray. Anyway. Dex, Lovise, Sophie, and Keefe get together to play some bunco. "What's bunco?" you ask. A game that involves rolling dice. And swearing at dice. A lot of swearing at dice. Xe/xem Dex, it/its Keefe, he/him Sophie. You know how it is. Enjoy!

Word Count: 4398

TW: swearing, at least two (2) lewd jokes

Taglist (lmk if you want to be added/removed!): @stellar-lune @faggot-friday @kamikothe1and0nly @nyxpixels @florida-preposterously @poppinspop @uni-seahorse-572 @solreefs @i-loved-while-i-lied @rusted-phone-calls @when-wax-wings-melt @good-old-fashioned-lover-boy7 @dexter-dizzknees @abubble125 @hi-imgrapes @callum-hunt-is-bisexual @xanadaus @callas-pancake-tree @hi-my-name-is-awesome @katniss-elizabeth-chase @arson-anarchy-death @dizzeners @thefoxysnake @olivedumdum @loveution

On Ao3 or below the cut!

It’s always a fun day when Dex finds xemself a new project. It’s an even more fun day when xe decides to rope other people into that project without telling them what they’re getting roped into.

Lovise is currently living in fear of what Dex has found this time. Xe’s not maniacally supervillain laughing quite yet, so that’s a good sign, though it’s certainly not removed from the realm of possibilities.

All xe’s done is drag Sophie and Keefe, presumably kicking and screaming, to Rimeshire. These three definitely can’t cause massive amounts of chaos. To be fair, with a Sophie comes a Sandor, so it can’t be all bad, but it’s still quite unsafe. Ro’s still off somewhere chasing down Cad, so she’s, thankfully, not a concern either.

“Hello, everyone. I thank you all for meeting with me on this fine evening against your better judgements—,” Dex begins.

Keefe interrupts, “That’s an understatement,” a smirk playing on its lips.

Dex gives it a look, a hard edge creeping into xor voice. “--The reason we are gathered here today is because I was recently informed about a human game by the name of bunco. I was also told that I would need to gather multiple willing victims in order to play. I think Sophie was simply trying to avoid me, but here we are anyway, so if you would please explain to us the rules.”

“I should just jump out your window,” Sophie grumbles.

“With or without teleporting before hitting the ground?” asks Keefe.

Sophie considers its question for a moment. “I haven’t decided yet. I guess we’ll see if I go splat.”

Lovise flinches as Sandor pinches the bridge of his nose. “Today’s objective is that we’re trying to avoid an Elwin call.”

“He’ll be so splat, there won’t be any need,” Keefe says, flipping its hair out of its eyes.

That really does not improve the situation by any meaningful metric.

Dex glances back and forth in the silence between Sophie and Keefe several times before asking, “The rules, please?”

Sophie leans forward and clasps his hands together. “Well, we aren't going to get very far unless you have six sided dice.”

Xe leans back, and without even looking, pulls out a clear box of more dice than xe should be trusted to have. And cards. And twenty-sided dice. And flat circles that probably have some purpose. Where xe got all this, Lovise doesn’t know. She doesn’t ask.

“How many do we need?” Dex asks, the dice clinking around in the hard plastic shell as xe digs them out of their prison.

“If we want to be nice and share, then three. If not, then we’re gonna need three per person.”

“Keep your grubby little hands off my fucking dice. Give me some d20s, baby.”

Dex blushes to xor ears as he hands out dice to everybody. Keefe pouts when it’s given d6s instead of the d20s like it wanted.

Sophie leans back to look at Sandor. “Are you sure you don’t wanna play?”

Lovise then takes that opportunity to make the very bad life choice of kneeling down to join their little circle. What’s the worst that can happen? They throw dice at me? I think that’s gonna happen either way.

Two matching dice and one mismatched die, all in shades of green, roll their way towards her and settle just shy of being in her lap. A slight twinge of disappointment flickers in her chest that she doesn’t get Dex’s gold-plated plastic one, but that’s probably lost under xor bed or something.

Sophie stares at Sandor for another long second before jumping into an explanation of how to play. “Bunco has six rounds—round one you’re rolling for ones, round two you’re rolling for twos, so on and so forth. So, uh, Dex, if you would roll your dice for us, please.”

Dex rolls xor metallic red Clan Sea Fox dice from xor adventures playing Battletech to get a 1, 3, and a 4.

“Very nice. I guess we should probably nominate a scorekeeper—”

Sophie is interrupted by the crashing sounds of Dex rummaging through the shit in xor room. Xe claims there’s a system. There’s no system. Miraculously, xe finds both a piece of paper that’s only used on one side and looks like it’s only been through a few avalanches, as well as a pen whose ink is almost guaranteed to be drier than ogre skin.

These get shuffled into Lovise’s responsibility because she seems “trustworthy.” Considering she’s thrown more games of Catan than one would think in order to make sure Dex doesn’t pout, that’s probably not ideal for integrity’s sake.

“So this is round one, so just kind of make a table tracking our point values with tally marks or some similar system if you guys don’t have that. The column headers can just be our initials or something. Be lazy. Just give Dex one point for that one xe rolled.” Sophie turns back to Dex. “You may roll again. And, yes, that does mean all the dice. We’re not playing Yahtzee, Keefe.”

Dex rolls again. 3,5,5.

“Because you didn’t get a one, the turn moves to the next victim. Do we wanna go clockwise or counterclockwise? Or are analog clocks not something that exist around here?”

Before this devolves into a shouting match, Lovise suggests, “You go next so then I’ll go last.”

Sophie picks up his dice and begins shaking them. “In case I forget to mention it, three of any number that isn’t the round number—say I roll 3 fours right now—that’s worth five points. Rolling three of the target number is 21 points and is called a bunco. And we’re going to keep rolling until someone hits 21 points, and then we go to the next round rolling for twos, et cetera.”

He lets the marbled, matching blue dice go. 2,5,6.

“Damn it. You gave me the cursed dice, didn’t you? Whatever. Keefe, it’s your turn.”

“You better have given me the good dice.” Its dice don’t match by any means—one black and blue, one marbled brown, and one beige—but they’re all stolen from Munchkin, made obvious by the helmet representing the number one. 1,4,5.

“Lovise, please mark down a point and Keefe, you go again.”

1,2,4.

“One more point. Roll again.”

“Again? Exile.” 2,2,3.

“Holy fuck, I just thought you got five points. Don’t do that again. Lovise, it’s your turn whenever you’re ready.”

The unfamiliar plastic dice are awkwardly light in her palm as she rolls. 1,2,4. “Can someone count how many I’m going to have to add so I don’t have to keep pausing?”

Dex nods and puts a finger up—thankfully not that finger—as Lovise scoops the dice up again.

1,1,2.

Sophie leans forward, his head in his hands. “If you had just gotten a bunco, I would have jumped out the window.”

“Is that worth one point per one rolled, or some other weird stacking rule like rolling three?”

“It’s one point per one rolled. So in total, she’s gotten three points this turn. One-seventh of the way to the end.”

“One-seventh of the way to one-sixth of the way to the end,” Keefe corrects.

“I’ll do my best,” Lovise says as she scoops the dice up again, only to roll a 3,5, and 6. She marks down her three points. “To be fair, I did try.”

“That you did. Just not enough,” Dex says. Xe rolls a 1,1, and 2, prompting another Sophie-stroke. On the reroll, xe gets a 1,6,6. On the next reroll, xe gets a 3,5,6. Lovise writes all this down, bringing xor total up to 4.

Sophie’s turn again. 2,2,5. “This shit is so fucking rigged.”

“No, that’s just how probabilities work sometimes,” Dex says as Keefe rolls. 1,4,6.

Sophie counts on his fingers as Keefe’s streak continues with a 1,5,5.

1,1,5.

2,2,4 and it all comes crashing down. Those four points bring its total up to six.

The turn comes back to Lovise, who rolls a 2,4,5, leaving as quickly as it arrived.

Dex seizes the opportunity to get a 1,4,5, followed closely by a 4,5,5. Sophie is blessed with a gorgeously useless 3,4,4, paralleled by Keefe’s 2,5,6.

Lovise follows that up with a 1,2,6, forgetting to ask someone to count and instead pausing to write it down on the scorecard. The next roll is a 1,4,5, which doesn’t get written down, and then 3,3,4, which has no reason to be marked. This brings her up to tie with Dex, though the both of them are still trailing behind Keefe.

Dex fumbles this opportunity to take the lead with a 2,5,6.

Sophie, on the other hand, is sulking something fierce when the turn comes back to him, convinced the ones on the dice are never going to appear. It turns out, with a roll of 1,1,5, they do, in fact, have ones on them, and those are his first two points on the board. They’re also his only two points on the board as his next roll is a 3,5,6.

Keefe and Lovise get a grand total of zero points during their turns with a 2,3,4 and a 3,4,6, respectively.

They do, however, learn that having a straight of numbers like Keefe’s does not count for any points. This is bullshit and should be amended to make this a more enjoyable experience for everyone involved.

And that’s when Dex decides to show off. Xor first roll is 1,3,4. Standard. Normal. Trustworthy. The next is 1,3,5. Like. Okay. You’re being a little extra there but go off I guess. And then the third roll. 1,3,6.

Stringing together three points in three separate rolls is a little absurd, which is why it gets nuked by a 3,3,5 moments later. This one turn didn’t net that many points in the grand scheme of things, but it does bring xem ahead to eight. More than a third of the way to the end goal.

The ones fall off the dice for an entire cycle, rotating around the entire group until Sophie’s next turn before any more points make their way onto the board. He does get a 1,1,4 so it’s not nothing, but the excitement quickly fades as the reroll of 2,3,6 materializes.

This brings him to four, narrowing the gap between first and last place without changing any placements.

The ones don’t appear again until his next turn, revealing themselves with a roll of 1,2,4. The reroll is a 5,5,6.

“Damn it. I really thought that was gave me five points.”

Keefe tilts its head. “I guess you just can’t count.”

“You’re right. Dex, do you have any integer dice?”

“No changing dice in the middle of the game. What happened to last time when you cried for the blue ones?”

“You’ve cursed the blue ones since the last time we played Munchkin!”

“Or maybe I just wanted to make sure that you could successfully run away instead of getting violated by a tongue demon next time!”

“That’s just because you transed my gender and the fucking tongue demon got rid of my cheese grater of peace!”

Munchkin is an…interesting game, Lovise will give it that.

“I was just being accurate to the real world!” Dex argues.

“The real world hadn’t figured that out yet! You just wanted the -5 modifier during my next combat phase.”

“Maybe I have a new ability that’s predicting the future. Did you ever think about that, Mr. I-have-five-abilities?”

Sophie looks at Keefe, who shrugs. “I can’t tell what people’s abilities are, dude. After they’ve manifested, fucking forget it.”

“Oh, please. Like you two haven’t had your hands all over each other since we were staying at Alluveterre.”

“Yeah, but my ability’s on the newer side, so there’s not a whole lot I can do. Now, can it be my fucking turn, please? I need to show all of you how you roll dice.”

Sophie huffs. “Sure, whatever.”

Keefe gives him a bright false smile as it rolls. 1,6,6. “Lovise, if you would mark that down, I’d appreciate it greatly.”

She had already written it down and is waiting for it to roll again. 1,3,3.

Keefe’s confidence hits the rafters as it scoops up the dice again, only to have it come fluttering down in tatters with a 3,5,6. It’s currently tied with Dex for first place.

It passes the turn to Lovise with a not-insignificant amount of grumbling. She gets a point with a roll of 1,3,4, but doesn’t have the necessary luck to get a string of rolls as her turn dies with a reroll of 2,2,4.

She’s up to six points, and at this rate, the gnomes are going to get Ravagog back before the first round is over.

Dex doesn’t choose to help this problem with xor roll of 3,5,5. It was so close to being promising.

Sophie and Keefe each pick up a point on their next turns. Keefe’s currently working on getting three dice to show the same face and it isn’t working quite yet, with two doubles in a row. (The first roll was a 1,3,3 and the second was 4,5,5.)

It’s a whole cycle through their turns—Lovise 2,3,4; Dex 2,4,5; Sophie 3,3,6; Keefe 3,5,6—before Keefe officially declares, “The ones have fallen off the dice.”

Lovise proves that to be not quite accurate by finding a 1,4,4 somewhere in there. Then, just to make sure, she finds a 1,1,3. That’s the last of the ones on her dice for now, however, ending her turn with a 3,4,6.

That brings her up to 9 points and into the lead, though not by much.

Dex rolls a gorgeous, worthless 2,3,4 on xor next turn, and Sophie follows that up with an equally beautiful 3,5,6.

Keefe can’t let this stand any longer with a turn composed of rolls of 1,3,6; 1,5,6; and 2,6,6. Its total comes to 11 and they’re nearing the halfway point. Though, dice will be thrown if Keefe wins, so trying to lengthen the game any way possible is advantageous.

That’s Lovise strategy as she rolls a nice, normal 1,4,4 and scratches it onto the scoreboard. She picks the dice back up to get a 4,5,6.

Straights really should count for points, but when you’re playing with a bunch of gays, they don’t. Also that’s what Sophie says the rules are, but that’s the better reason.

This turn brings her to a total of ten points. A nice, round number.

Dex, on the other hand, has other plans. Xor starts off by rolling a 1,4,6. As one does. Xe continues by rolling a 1,3,5. As one also does.

And that’s when shit gets tense. Xe rolls again, but doesn’t get a one. Xe does, however, get a 2,2,2.

Five points.

Keefe’s bloodthirst is gleaming in its eyes as Dex picks up the dice again. Thankfully, Lovise doesn’t have to hold it back as xe rolls a 2,3,5, killing xor streak.

That doesn’t reverse the past. The damage is done. Xe’s at fifteen points after pulling off that move.

“Always keep in mind that anyone can get a bunco at any time. Three ones and this is all over.” Sophie then takes his own advice and tries his best to make that happen. He’s actually fairly close with a 1,1,6 and an aneurysm from Keefe. His second attempt, a 3,5,6, is notably less successful but still brings him to eight points.

Keefe is not successful in its own 4,6,6 attempt. The grumbles that the dice are cursed have begun once again in greater force this time.

Lovise and Dex both pick up a point on their next turns and then the ones fall off the dice for two entire cycles. As in, it goes through Sophie, Keefe, Lovise, Dex, Sophie, Keefe, Lovise, and Dex before another point is on the board.

Where do the ones go? Nobody knows. They’re definitely still on the dice—Keefe checked. Loudly. They just don’t appear. For eight rolls in a row.

Sophie interrupts this spiraling trend with a 1,2,3 like a light in the darkness. Then, he gets a 1,3,6 with significantly less symbolic meaning behind it. He follows this up with a 2,3,5 that makes the veil of inky blackness fall over them once again. He’s up to ten points, so he’s still in last place, but less firmly so than before this last turn.

It’s Sophie’s next turn before the dice bless the group with a holy one in a roll of 1,3,6. It’s strangely fitting how the forgotten middle child of his previous round is now the roll that slows the encroaching emptiness.

Its luminescence is snuffed out almost as soon as it began like a candle on a windy night with a 2,4,5.

“Come on, you worthless sons of bitches,” Keefe mutters as it shakes the dice. 1,3,4. “Ooh, swearing at the dice is the answer? You should’ve told me this earlier. You pieces of shit better give me a one.” 1,3,4.

“To be fair, I’m kind of surprised it took you this long to figure out that secret,” Dex says.

Keefe ignores xem. “Please, motherfuckers.” 2,4,5.

Unfortunately, Lovise doesn’t get to learn new swear words from Keefe’s newfound Polyglot ability with the end of that streak that took it to thirteen points.

It’s said that some humans find thirteen to be an unlucky number. It’ll be interesting to see if the dice agree with this superstition by grinding Keefe’s point gains to a halt.

Lovise rolls on her next turn—2,2,4. It’s getting real fucking old rolling and rolling and having nothing new to show for it.

Dex’s turn is filled with as much excitement as Lovise’s just was. Which is to say, none. Xe rolls a 4,6,6. Lovise thought xe got three 6s, but no. If xe had, the round would be over and Dex would be inventing a new victory dance.

Sophie, however, doesn’t let that stop him. 1,6,6. 1,4,6. 1,2,6. The dice seem rigged—almost like he isn’t even rolling them, but different ones are ending up as the ones and sixes. The only reason Lovise even bothered to notice was that she doesn’t trust any of her company that much.

Then Sophie decides to roll a 2,6,6, proving that all of this was meaningless speculation. But he is up to thirteen—tied with Keefe—so that’s nice for everyone except for Lovise in last place.

It takes a whole cycle of grumbling, swearing at dice, and definitely not purposely rolling them at others before Keefe gets another point. Actually, two points. 1,1,4. It ends up only being those two points, as its next roll is 2,3,3 and a couple of tears that it wasn’t worth five points. That brings it up to fifteen, gnawing at the back of Dex’s heels for the honor of being in the lead.

The dice giveth and they taketh away.

They taketh away Lovise’s, Dex’s, Sophie’s, and Keefe’s next attempt to get points.

“Bless me with your golden glory,” Lovise whispers, eyes skyward as she shakes the dice. 1,2,6.

She scratches her twelfth point into the paper before returning to the translucent cubes taunting her. She rolls again. 2,4,6.

Then it’s Dex’s turn once more—3,4,5. A roll that has absolutely nothing.

Then it’s Sophie’s turn once more—3,3,6. If only four threes would count for something. Saw the dice apart. Do whatever it takes.

Then it’s Keefe’s turn once more—2,4,4. It’s a sharpie away from drawing extra dots. If every side has six dots, every roll is five points.

Then it’s Lovise’s turn once more—4,5,6. Straights still don’t count for points. With the way this game is going, it seems like the gays don’t either.

When the turn returns to Dex, expectations are on the floor. Then xe rolls a 1,5,6. That’s xor seventeenth point. Four more and this is over. Four more and two becomes the magic number.

Xe rolls again.

2,2,2.

Lovise’s breath catches in her throat. Five points. Bringing Dex to 22 and the round to proceed forward.

It’s almost poetic how the first round ends with the next magic number, come to bestow them with its splendor before it disappears from the dice forever.

Sophie, a smirk playing on his lips, taps on his Imparter in what looks like a very controlled fashion until an ear-splitting bell noise echoes through Dex’s room.

The only reason Dex merely flinches away and doesn’t banish him immediately from the premises for all eternity is presumably because rolling dice game fun when you win.

“My family’s bunco game has a bell that comes with it. That’s the closest I can do. Technically, I think the rules say you’re supposed to ring it only when you get a bunco. But we used to ring it at every available opportunity.” He turns to Keefe. “Which is why it’s as far from you as I can possibly get.”

Keefe pouts overdramatically, a feat considering it was already doing that at Dex’s accomplishment.

But Dex’s accomplishment means nothing. There’s five more rounds before Dex starts arguing that they should play the extended edition with the d100s xe inevitably has stored somewhere.

The following rounds feel as though they race by.

The twos round, Dex wins once more by rolling a triplet of 2s, except this time it’s worth a full 21 points. Keefe made it to 20 before Dex pulled that one out of xor ass, which is highly suspicious, so a dice trade is initiated. A diagonal cross results in Lovise getting Sophie’s blue dice and vice versa with Lovise’s green ones.

The threes round, against all odds, Dex wins again. If xe isn’t cheating, that’s one Exile of an accomplishment, and if xe is, xe’s not doing a very good job at hiding it. Dice are traded again, and Lovise ends up with Dex’s metal Battletech ones.

The antepenultimate fours round, Dex takes it upon xemself to win again. Xe has the audacity to get a triplet of 1s and 3s in the same roll streak. The fact that xe hasn’t been burned at the stake like the witch xe is is a fucking miracle.

Lovise having to fight off a feral Sophie and Keefe is not a fight that’s going to be pleasant. Don’t get her wrong, she’d still win, but she might get a couple of bite marks.

They switch the dice again, and Lovise ends up with her original green dice, traitorous in their assistance of Sophie and Keefe over the past two rounds but magnificent in their return.

The penultimate fives round, Keefe finally gets to stop the waterfall of crocodile tears and replace them with actual tears as the dice finally decree that it’s worthy of winning. Dex has already won the game beyond defeat but it’s not about winning anymore. It’s about not losing and second place is still better than last place.

Now, to be fair, second place is the first place of losers, so maybe it’s just trying to say that it’s the top loser in the world. That would make a lot of sense.

Dex is also, notably, allowed to keep xor dice. All of the useful rolls were used up and xor seven points at the end of the round didn’t seem like enough of a threat.

And it is finally time for the grand finale. The ultimate challenge of dice throwing. The sixes round.

Lovise gets so, so close to winning. She has twenty whole fucking points. Yes, all of the points are fucking.

And then Sophie just decides, “oh, yeah, I’ll get a bunco. No big deal” as the dice settle into a 6,6,6.

It is, in fact, a big deal.

Sandor will be hearing about this moment for all eternity. Lovise will make him suffer. He deserves it for his charge’s utter impunity.

It may or may not have been Lovise’s mostly-unintentional death glare that caused Sophie and Keefe to fabricate reasons to not be at Rimeshire anymore as they light leap away.

Dex begins stuffing the dice back into the box, clinking as they slide down unwillingly, forming a lopsided hot mess.

As soon as she’s certain Sophie and Keefe have vacated the premises, Lovise turns to xem and asks “How’d you cheat?”

Xor hands fly up, framing xor face with xor palms out. “To be completely fair, I only cheated in the second round.”

“I didn’t ask ‘did you cheat?’ I asked ‘how did you cheat?’”

Dex digs out the Battletech dice xe was using in the first two rounds and rolls them around in xor hand. “It’s really easy to load metal dice, especially when you’ve got magnets to turn it off when someone wants to check if they’re loaded. I haven’t figured out how to load high numbers with it yet. And, besides, I forgot to do it in the first round and it only shifts the probabilities a little bit. It’s not cheating that much.”

“Yes it is.” Lovise pauses for dramatic effect. “Next time, if you have loaded dice, I expect some too.”

Dex throws xor head back, laughing. “I’ll make sure to get around to that as soon as possible, but first: I gotta go get some snackies from downstairs.”

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