#also. me when the hive are mentioned: 👀👀👀👀

[girlbob-boypants]

Theres something about D2's story decisions that intrigue me even when i personally don't like them tbh. Idk how to explain it but, despite it being a Just Okay scifi fantasy story with an incredibly basic fundamental, I always like hearing what's going on with it and what the next reveals are.

It's oddly compelling.

[mitaukano]

OK you want asks about your OCs? Tell me about the two that are being introed so far this chapter, I'm especially 👀 the eyepatch one

Haha I had a feeling you might be interested in her!

Joan Brown - Age 40, occupation around humans, cleaning lady for the local police. It's a good job that gets her excellent intel, especially if she is asked to help clean up old crime scenes. Locally renowned in the area by the night time denizens for the last twenty five years, she's known for being quite fair in her dealings with non-garou. Speaking of garou, she's a Fianna, the Irish clan of werewolves and one of the more respected members of the local werewolf hub, which is called a Caern. Her Garou name is "Bright Eye". Under that eye patch is a bit of silver from Nuada infused with spiritual energy. She keeps it covered with that eyepatch as extended use of the eye drains her and tires her out. Very few know exactly what the eye does, but the stories of how she acquired it say that when she first changed into a werewolf a powerful dark spirit ripped out her eye as it had heard that the newest clan Fianna member would help to drive out the dark with just her eyes. This happened in 1974, and in 1976 she returned to the Dublin Caern with the new silver eye, her then pack backed up the story and from there she just grew into a bit of a local legend. She's very keen on keeping Werewolf/Changeling relations good in the area so she's almost always asked to look into disputes and issues that involve them. Rumors persist that she has fae ancestors, but that isn't too uncommon with the Fianna. She's had her eye on Joan since she joined the caern, and when she was approached by a priestess of the caern about the strange occurrences with the changeling court she picked her personally to be her assistant, a hunch or more accurately something that involves her arcane eye told her that Ilsa would be the only person in the caern able to help her with this investigation.

Ilsa Bierhals - Age 32, occupation around humans, bartender. She hears a lot of good gossip, and also learns a lot of the troubles of the local people this way. She's been at the Caern for three years after leaving the Central Park Caern, in New York. There was a rumor that four of her friends had made their way to Ireland and she desperately wanted to reconnect with them, especially one. Ilsa keeps to herself at the Caern, to the point most don't even know who she is or what her garou name is. That garou name happens to be "Silver-tongue", and her clan is Shadowlord, a group known for political machinations. This part of the story highlights the first time she has gone on a mission with another Garou since joining the Caern. There is a good reason as to why she keeps to herself, one that most garou know by looking at her. She's what they call a Crinos-born, a werewolf born of the forbidden relationship between two werewolves. Crinos-born are highly discriminated against in Garou society as it is considered an incestuous relationship. They sometimes have a host of physical, and neurological issues. Ilsa's issue is pretty straightforward, she has a third eye, which she conceals under her bandana. Strangely the eye is not a burden to her as it can pierce the veil between worlds and show her shadows of what the spirits and energies of the area are doing when she opens it. Her other issue is that friend I mentioned, in 1992 Ilsa was part of a pack where three of the eight members died destroying a wyrm hive. The other four were so grievously injured their tribes (Black Furies, and Bonegnawers) took them to a place of healing in Canada the only one left conscious at the time was Ilsa, causing rumors about what must have really happened. Ilsa was also injured during this mission, but people tend to gloss over that fact as she did not die from her injuries or require extreme care. She doesn't really talk about her missing friends, because she was in a relationship with one of them and as a Crinos-born, it would be something other garou would kill her for. A week previous to this story, she and her former lover finally reconnected but something felt off to Ilsa about the whole meeting. There were apologies, and um...more than apologies, and a lot of making up but the whole situation is bothering her for some reason. Can't quite put her finger on the reason though. Other Stuff - Fun fact I don't often talk about, these are all characters I used to play with my friends in Werewolf the Apocalypse, there are of course new characters and stuff I made up for the comics but a majority of the cast are people I played in games back in the 1990s, which is one of the reasons the setting and year is near Samhain 1999. And just for funsies, here is some EXTREMLY old artwork (2006) for the three werewolves in this story when they were much younger, and happier (except Aleksandra, she's always been the soft goth/punk sadgirl)

[tiltingheartand]

Hob gadling vs the wraith - do you have an idea of what shit is gonna go down once Dream figures out where Hob is 👀 because I feel like it would be glorious to see Dream coming down on these motherfuckers like a universe's worth of bricks, and maybe even Daniel going "OH so that's why you weren't really phased by. Anything!" if he witnesses it too

my initial thought was that he’s just going to show up in the cell where hob and daniel are, grab hob, start to leave, and then stop and grab daniel when hob protests. and then actually leave. and they just appear in the cheyenne mountain infirmary, because … hob needs. help. (and daniel says they have something that can help him there.)

but on the other hand, i’ve also been thinking … well, how likely is it that dream isn’t going to want revenge? and, secondly, how likely is it that there isn’t a rescue mission in progress?

so i think maybe dream will get hob and daniel out, and then (now he knows where the hell it is) go back to the hive ship. one, because daniel mentioned there might still be people he knows on the ship, and two, because … you know. revenge. and i feel like the wraith would have some pretty potent nightmares, the way their species works, which would make that interesting. although that means neither of the humans get to see dream at work.

as far as the “huh” moment goes, though, hob’s going to fess up around the second or third time he gets dumped back into the cell with daniel missing some or all of an organ, still perfectly functional and alive, if, you know. in excruciating pain. partially because daniel, who is a Smart Cookie, has been asking around the issue for a while now.

here, have another snippet or two:

one: “Although, you know, Rob,” says Daniel, tilting his head a bit to one side and narrowing his eyes ever so slightly. “I know part of it is that memories can be faulty, but … to tell the truth, I can’t honestly say you’ve aged at all.”

“I’m older than I look,” Hob says, shrugging. “Not all of us are only mild-mannered professors by day and planet-hopping martial archaeologists by other days. Haven’t had much need to be worried about my ability to defend myself lately, I’m very happy to be able to say.”

“... I will note that that is hardly an answer to my question, but I will also concede that I did not, technically, ask any questions there,” Daniel says, and sighs a little.

two:

“So, Rob,” Daniel says, and he’s probably shooting for nonchalant here but he’s absolutely falling short. Which doesn’t bode particularly well for Hob, now does it. “I couldn’t help but notice you don’t seem to have aged any, despite the fact that I can see a scar on the middle of your chest.”

“Oh, great, it scarred,” says Hob, pointlessly. “I think I heard one of them say something similar, although honestly they weren’t talking much. And what little they did say was kind of hard to process at the time.”

“They’re also telepathic.”

Hob refuses to dignify that with a response.

three:

“So does the fact that you’re still not dead have anything to do with the fact that I’m pretty sure I heard you mumbling in eighteenth-century French earlier?”

“Define earlier,” Hob says, because for some reason he’s still trying to avoid having this conversation.

“Something tells me you know exactly what I mean, but sure, okay, by earlier I mean, specifically, after your unconscious body got dragged back here but before you were entirely awake. It sounded like you were having a conversation with someone, actually,” Daniel finishes, looking expectant.

(ask me about any of my WIPs, if you’d like!)

[icebluecyanide]

rqg 214

NOBODY DIED!!! (that we know of) so I’m counting that as a win!

the energy in the intro is amazing, I love how weird they go when things get tense and it genuinely helped me destress a bit right at the start lol

the way all the blue veined people looked up was an excellent horror image, I loved getting to see some of that hive mind stuff in action, since it seemed more off screen in Svalbard

Also confirmation that the lieutenant-y type people weren’t just pre-blue veins showing up but actually outside the network which has me 👀👀 who are they?? (cult of mars???)

GUIVRES!!! Gosh I love dragons, and she is terrifying, I’m glad at least she’s also not very nimble so that gives them at least one thing they might be able to take advantage of

Alex taking Skraak away from Bryn/the party... i guess we have to respect his craft but gosh the rolls without context were very worrying

loved them realising they can pull up google maps for the larger scale battle map. I didn’t look up anything myself, but I have to admit that the quick drawing Bryn posted on discord with the rough paths everyone took did make things a bit clearer

‘can I have a strength roll for Skraak’ ‘absolutely not’ ahsdlfhs

Skraak please live!!! precious little lizard boy needs to make it out, I was so glad Helen mentioned he could wriggle out and Alex said he’d allow an escape artist check, although I’m not sure he made it all the same 😭😭

Wilde doing illusions please!!! roll well for him Alex and then badly for all enemy NPCs thank you

Zolf blocking up the stairwell might help at least a bit, but it sounded like the clickers or whatever they were called might also be able to move through stone/cracks and probably up the walls so they’ll likely still be surrounded by enemies VERY soon

‘she’s about to notice the halfling’ HAMID MAXIMISED FIREBALL YESSSS \o/ I have missed Bryn asking leading questions about enemies being clustered together

also i’m sort of amused they brushed over the damage to the lieutenants completely to focus on the plant which, fair I guess, but I am also over here worrying they may be magic users and may have made their reflex saves and might now fire stuff at Hamid too

creepy scream got to Cel :((( don’t like that they have negative effects on attack rolls and stuff now even if it might even out with all the other buffs. they need all those buffs against the big DRAGON

speaking of: Guivres making direct eye contact with a now no longer invisible Hamid OH DEAR

[stuffandwonder]

It makes me sad that I have seen over the course of the last week or so people getting mad or upset with Rhett for having a solo project and essentially saying he's a horrible person for going off and doing something without Link

Hes his own person, he's allowed his own hobbies and interests, they both are, and it's perfectly normal and healthy to do things for yourself that aren't always WITH someone, be that a friend or romantic partner or whatever.

I even saw someone accusing him of 'scheming' behind Links back and saying he's a horrible person for keeping it secret .. like 5 mins in to this week's eb Rhett says this isn't something he's been thinking or scheming about strategically, it's just an organic thing that happened and progressed. He says multiple times he wasn't sitting there writing with the thought of this being a business decision or for a specific creative purpose, they just.... came out of him.

Hearing him talk about how writing the songs allowed him to process emotional, relational stuff like deconstructing from a faith your parents gave you and still have, or dedicating your children to God, when they were born, and then no longer believing in that God but still wanting the best for them, it seems so cynical to think he went into this from the first thinking he wanted to create a seperate thing from Mythical and Link. He admits he's performance minded and he started to be aware of and feel like he was making something. But he specifically started thinking of how it would be relatable and helpful for people coming from a similar deconstruction experience. That's not selfish, that's... kinda the opposite of selfish.

And it clearly wasn't a secret from Link?! Link says he knew the producer, Derek, would do something great with it, which means he at least knew from that point, which is the first point it really seriously became a thing anyway. And Link mentions Rhett talking about the plans for the EP. Like did those people complaining Rhett kept it a secret even listen to eb before they threw that accusation around?!

Okay sure, they didn't have a big in-depth conversation about it, and maybe Link would of preferred that, but conversely Rhett had reasons for not wanting a big involved convo early on, and not talking about something as much as you could or maybe even should have, depending on how you feel, is absolutely not the same as 'going behind someone's back' or purposefully keeping something a secret. Wildly different degrees of problem there.

Lot of respect for Link being honest and saying he had some initial concerns about Rhett doing some solo stuff but also realising some of that is due to his personality and how he thinks.

And thats probably why they didn't have that big conversation, because Rhett doesn't think like that. And its great if all this and the other things Link mentions like the podcast with his dad make him feel like he can hive himself more permission to go chase his own passions/projects! Ultimately that just felt like it became a really healthy thought process for Link and what with that and Link saying he loves the single and that if he heard it as a random song he would send it to Rhett to be like 'listen to this!' (so friggin cute!!) how can you listen to this and come away from it with the sense Link feels wronged in someway? And as long as he doesn't feel wronged... what's the problem?

Okay. Rant over. Just had to get that out having listened to eb and seeing some of that talk before hand

*****

Some other fave non-rant related bits:

"Me and you singing together is a very specific, great and beautiful thing" awwwww ❤❤

"I am going to have some James and the Shame merch" "nipple clamps? G-strings?" Lolol what. Link.... why were THOSE your first suggestions? 👀 Huh?!

[moondal514]

Riko:

Here’s the warning for discussion of Riko and everything that applies to him

Reading Nora talk about her very early original drafts of AFTG is so funny cuz originally his role was no mafia/torture bs, it was just relationship drama lol (case in point: Riko wasn’t originally a real antagonist, he was just Kevin’s ex that cheated on him with Jean and Kevin’s hand was accidentally hurt in a fight he got in with Jean over this. Kevin’s transfer to the Foxes was originally just protest over this whole situation and Riko’s role was just him trying to win Kevin back before Kevin fell in love with Neil lol. Idk why this is so funny to me)

Yooo Riko’s mom was killed for having Riko???? What the fuck

So that guy Neil watched his dad kill with Riko and Kevin at Evermore was someone who’d been sent to assassinate baby Riko huh. Interesting

“Riko was too young to understand any of it, but he could connect the dots on at least some level that Kevin being at the Nest = Tetsuji would actually look at him instead of just walk past him without slowing” jfc

“Tetsuji was still responsible for Kayleigh’s death, in a roundabout way, because he opened his mouth about her to Kengo. He wanted more of his brother’s money so he could invest in a new program for the Ravens, and he told Kengo his plans for Riko. He also told him about Kevin. Two days later Kayleigh was dead, and Tetsuji had both his money and his second pet project” JFC

“Because Riko knew nothing but Exy, he didn’t know how to want anything but Exy. He didn’t resent his lot in life because as far as he was aware nothing else existed” I mean I knew Riko’s childhood had to be bad for Riko to come out the way he did but jfc

“Tetsuji said the only thing Kengo cared about was Riko living up to Tetsuji’s promises on the court. Riko took that to mean that he could win his father’s respect by being the best player in the world; he didn’t understand at the time that Kengo only cared about the money” like ?????

“Riko’s life feels like a series of near-misses” yeah that about sums it up I think

What I’m getting is that Riko’s story is a lesson in 1) actually paying attention to your children and 2) not raising kids in cults

Nora on her initial Kandreil plans: “N&A had more chemistry and screen time, K&A were far more dedicated to each other and were the source of a lot of insecurity on Neil’s part. Kevin & Neil got into several arguments over whether or not Neil was just a replacement for the boy who refused to give Kevin the time of day” (here’s an angsty prompt for y’all who like Kandreil lol)

(Semi-related note but there is nowhere near enough jealous!Neil content in this fandom. One of my main observations when I reread TFC is that Neil is honestly kind of a jealous person, like he literally spends up until the Kathy interview being really resentful and jealous af of Kevin. Jealous!Andrew is plentiful in this fandom (for some weird reason) but jealous!Neil is hardly ever there and we as a fandom need to step it up. Anyways back to Riko lol)

“To say Riko & Kevin were friends seems a lie, but to say they weren’t is a worse one. Riko & Kevin couldn’t be friends because the master-pet mindset was something Riko drilled into Kevin over and over, but they achieved an understanding and balance they shouldn’t have otherwise. In short, Riko & Kevin were the end-all be-all of each other’s existence. It was what saved Kevin from the majority of Riko’s cruelty, but Riko would have hurt Kevin tremendously if he thought Kevin forgot his place” wow that’s quite the mess

“Thea was the first to mention it, the first to ask Kevin does he know you’re better than he is?” 👀

“I feel like Tetsuji had to be an otaku growing up, into those super high-strung sports manga & anime where even Go is INTENSE!!!!!! with DRAMATIC MUSICS and EXAGGERATED SLOW-MOTION FLOURISHED. There’s really no other excuse for what he put his Ravens through. He created a hive mind and fed them this—this hyperactive, delusional, over-the-top view of the world” so Nora said Tetsuji is what happens when an otaku comes from a rich mafia family. In other words, some fans shouldn’t be allowed the resources to make their wildest fannish dreams come true

“Imagine living underground with a violent hivemind that has put you on a pedestal, with a god that comes and goes with cutting words and a hefty stick. Imagine 16hr days, the occasional roadtrip to faraway stadiums, the flash of cameras and the awed speculation” jfc

Wow Kevin was really emotionally (and sometimes physically abused) by both Riko and Tetsuji since his mom died. My guy. He needs a hug. I’m gonna go looking that one scene in AFTG where Kevin hugs Abby for comfort now

…I’m just gonna skip over the Riko and Jean part cuz yeah I can’t read that right now

Finally reading the Extra Content (taken from this link wonderfully provided by @peggyrose19) cuz a blessed soul has converted it into a form I’ll actually read. I’m posting my reactions here for posterity as I get through each part.

Warning for spoilers for the Extra Content, all the typical AFTG trigger warnings, many unsolicited opinions, and USC bashing lol