#and 1 of those is something I don't think I've ever actually seen in survival?

[jupiterswasphouse]

Unless the third mob ends up being an insect or arachnid I'm super excited for, if the crab loses the Minecraft mob vote I will sob and cry

[directdogman]

Hi, I hope you're having a decent day! I'm sorry if this is an invasive set of questions - feel free not to answer - but do you still actively like DSaF as your own creation, or is it more of a "it was fun while it lasted but i outgrew it and it's for the best to leave it behind" kind of project? Do you ever regret making the games? If you knew they would get so popular, is there anything you would have changed about them? Is there anywhere I could read more of your writing.

It fluctuates a bit. These last couple of years, I've really just been sorta nostalgic for it. I've seen a lot of people discuss those games being a source of comfort during bad times in their lives, people talking about how much the characters mean to them and it's hard not to smile when you see that.

It's a funny thing for close friends of yours to see people WITH fanmade DSaF merch out in the wild, or to watch a random youtube video and being hit with a DSaF reference outta nowhere. It happens from time to time, even today. On a few occasions, I've even had a person reference my work to me in real life and not realize who they were talking to, believe it or not. It's really fun to play dumb and get someone to explain your work to you like you don't know what it is.

I certainly didn't think any of that would happen when I first made the series, or even during development. I think the normal assumption would be to look at DSaF as it exists now and assume its release was a peak for it, but believe it or not, the official discord only had 30 people in it shortly before 3 dropped! The archive listing of the series (reposted to a single page after the series ended) is now sitting at over 1.1 MILLION downloads.

People kinda assume the true heyday of something is when it's new, when it's fresh and novel. For instance, some people look back at when FNaF itself was new and see that time as its peak because it had a lot of internet cultural relevance as big new indie thing on the block. But, raw numbers don't lie. The series has been continually growing since its conception and that growth has similarly bled over to its fan projects. This explains why DSaF, despite not having a new series release in almost 6 years, seems to be inexplicably growing.

Just recently, I saw someone post footage of a scene from DSaF 2 on Twitter, which got over 16k likes. People praised its writing and largely celebrated the scene. The ironic thing about that particular scene is that I remembered being unsure if it was good or not, so I showed it off in one of the FNaF community hubs. The response was broadly lukewarm to negative. Now, it's held up as one of the best scenes in those games. That's kind of the point I'm trying to make, my thoughts on the series have certainly changed with everyone's else with years of hindsight.

Heh. I'm not sure if I've talked about this in a long time, but y'know, the very first scene I implemented in-game was actually the very first Phone Guy scene in DSaF 1, more or less exactly how it appears in-game today. This was before I'd even written the bulk of the game. I was pretty unfamiliar with visual novels as a whole, pretty unsure if something like this would be palatable to a fandom that was really just used to sit 'n' survive stuff that were far more gameplay than text. I mean, there wasn't any FNaF fangames really LIKE DSaF before that point. Closest was FNaFb, a jokey turn based RPG made in the same engine.

The engine I made the game in is also not exactly fit for VNs out of the box either, and I wasn't 100% sure the idea would actually work. But, the very first time I added the image of the prize corner, Phone Guy, the audio of that iconic cheesy stock track and booted up a test screen, I had a little moment where I said "Oh. I think I'm onto something interesting here." I kinda remembering instantly realizing in that single moment how much potential the idea had. Over 8 years later, I still remember that moment like it was yesterday.

I think lately, that's the sort of stuff I think of when I see people coming to me and asking about the series. Yes, it's really rough around the edges, yes, there's jokes that've aged poorly. But, it is a source of comfort for people and entertains tens of thousands of people each month. And that's gotta count for something, right?

[moongothic]

Tbh I wanna see crocodile fight someone so we can see how strong he is because the last time he’s gotten in a real fight was in marineford. Does crocodile have haki? Does he need it at all to survive the new world? Like with most of the relevant pirates knowing haki, retroactively or otherwise, it’s kinda hard to gauge what he’s capable of

Anon I am so sorry I'm gonna go slightly off-topic/become deranged because I've been thinking about writing a whole ass post about this very subject and now you just gave me an excuse to word vomit incoherently instead. So I'm just gonna do that. I'm so sorry

(Hey won't you look at that I actually came back and edited this so it's vaguely legible and there's like a proper point to my thesis lmao)

Also I am. So sorry. For how obscenely long this got. Holy shit I have no idea how this happened I am so sorry

I can not put into words just how badly I want to see this man have an actual, proper 1-v-1 fight with someone. Oda, for the love of god let him fuck up someone, please, I c̵͍͛r̶̢͠a̴͕̾v̷̠͆ḛ̶̐ ̸̤͝t̷̟̋h̷̳̓ḙ̵̀ ̷̱͌b̶͓͑l̸̦̚ô̶̠ȯ̸͇d̴̲̕

No for real though, the one, true, proper 1v1 we ever saw Crocodile have WAS with fucking Luffy and like, to be fair they did fight three times, but still, during Summit War? Sure we see him exchange a few blows but it's never a proper 1v1 because we keep on cutting from one thing to another and the opponents keep on changing etc. So there was no time for a proper battle with anyone

So out of principle alone I want to see him have a proper fight with someone (who isn't a Strawhat preferably) at least once before the series ends (though honestly if we could have more than just one fight scene with Crocodile I would not complain at all, but I might be asking too much at that point)

But also yes. I want to know Croc's actual Power Level in the story right now (and I don't mean that in a powerscaling-kinda way, just in a "I want my husband to look cool because it's what he deserves" kinda way)

Like. The Crocodile we've seen in the past absolutely under no circumstances deserves the fucking unit of a bounty he has on his head right now. And I mean, to be fair Buggy doesn't deserve his gigantic bounty either, canonically the numbers don't matter or mean THAT MUCH-- They just reflect what the WG thinks a person is worth, not the true level of threat the person actually poses But also. Croc's bounty has literally gotten like 24 times bigger from his OG pre-Shichibukai era bounty. To be fair, according to trivia his OG bounty would've at least doubled had the WG known about Baroque Works, but his current bounty would still be like 12 times bigger than before. And god fucking knows Crocodile does not fucking deserve a bounty this fucking big if he hasn't gotten any more powerful since Alabasta. No amount of hanging around with Mihawk and running evil organizations should beef up his bounty that much

So surely, he must've gotten more powerful since we last saw him action, right? Surely? Somehow?

But indeed, how?

And that's where we kinda get to the interesting part, don't we? We have no idea what Croc's been up to for the past two years. Like whatever he's been doing, surely it's been better than spending a decade sitting on his ass and barely ever lifting a muscle when overpowering rando pirates attacking Alabasta with his Logia powers, right. Like surely being in the New World alone would be enough to make him break a sweat for a change

But then like, the only two times we have seen Croc post-timeskip (pre-Cross Guild) he has been just sitting around reading the news (to be fair, the scenes were also about him catching the news about Luffy, it's not like he can't do anything else outside of those scenes). So like. I feel kind of conflicted, like on one hand to get stronger then surely he must've been working out or something. But also I do kind of mentally associate Training Arcs with much younger characters, and Crocodile is quite middle aged, like is he even allowed to go through a training arc anymore?? Especially when he's like a such a Proper Gentleman, it's so hard to imagine him to go back to the basics or anything

But also?? How else would he get stronger?? Like?? Maybe there really was?? AN OLD MAN TRAINING ARC??

But also, to be fair

Crocodile did make a big point about how he "keeps on honing and developing his Devil Fruit skills instead of stagnating like some other losers" back when he and Luffy had their first match. So I really would love it if Oda kept that actually true for the character, I'd love to see him actually whip out some new tricks, techniques and attacks instead of us seeing Sables again for the 839423th time

And really he can't really whip out new attacks if he hasn't at least tried to come up with new tricks (and preferably tried them out)

But that was just the basics right, Croc's Devil Fruit capabilities

Then there's the whole mystery of Crocodile's Haki Status. A whooole different can of worms. Considdering how the only actual damage he seemed to take during the entirety of Summit War was because of Jozu's Haki, and the fact that even fucking Blackbeard can use Haki now, it'd feel deranged if he doesn't have any kind of Haki capabilities. Like everybody knows Haki is going to be Croc's persona kryptonite, including Croc himself! And Haki Mastery really is The Thing that decides whether a pirate crew can actually make it or not in the New World (Kaidou made a specific point about that too). So surely, considdering Croc's supposed to be A Smart Boy and all, he knows he'll need to actually figure out how to use Haki if he doesn't want to lose another limb, right. Like surely he's figured that shit out, right???

Now people have been speculating for years if both Crocodile AND Moria used to be Haki users who lost their Haki after getting their asses kicked in the New World. Which, in theory would make sense, since Haki is essentially just willpower, and getting crushed the way they did would give them good in-universe reasons to why they didn't use the ability, as their traumas could translate to them losing their wills. But also it is willpower, that's not really a tangible thing you can really lose, and the idea of "Haki loss" isn't actually canon (yet at least). So although it's great fanon, we can't assume it's true. Like just as an example, we know Hancock can supposedly use Conqueror's Haki but we've never actually seen her demonstrate the ability

And to be fair to Croc (and Moria), the concept of Haki didn't really start to get Truly Solidified in the story until post-War, so expecting Alabasta!Croc to use it a whole decade earlier in real world time would be ridiculous since Oda hadn't figured out the system yet.

And while that is 100% true and fair.

Thing is. Although extremely vague, I do think Oda had been slowly starting to build the IDEA of Haki already in Alabasta. Like we know the concept gets properly introduced during the Skypiea Saga where Blackbeard both namedrops it and we get to see Observation Haki in action, under the name Mantra. But already in Alabasta, when Zoro is trying to figure out how to cut steel (to defeat Daz), that whole "breath of things" and hyper-awareness he gains when near death... I'm not the first one to point out how much that sounds like rudamentary Haki. And like, yes, on paper the idea of the battle was that Zoro became strong enough to cut steel. But also, learning to use Haki would be what would allow anyone to cut through a Devi Fruit ability like that. The same applies to Luffy's final attack on Crocodile too, his punch destroying the sand blade that before would've sliced his entire hand in half before is poetic on its own, but makes even more in-universe sense if you considder the possilibity Luffy might have subconciously been using Haki at the very end, his sheer willpower allowing him to punch Croc.

The reason I'm pointing all that out is that I kinda wonder if we might've gotten hints at Crocodile having not just Haki, but fucking Conqueror's Haki in Alabasta

This is based on two things:

First, Crocodile's pet bananawani. Yes, he could just be Really Good with animals and that would be adorable on its own. But we know Conqueror's can be used to intimidate and tame animals, including really fierce beasts. Keeping in mind that bananawani are meant to be one of the few species of animals that prey on Sea Kings, IDK, if you told me the reason Crocodile was able to tame them and keep them as pets thanks to Conqueror's, I would believe you. It's nothing solid, there's no proof one way or another, but it would make sense in-universe, it is plausible.

Second, this scene.

Does that blast of Ominous Air/Energy on the third page not remind you of one of those Conqueror's Haki shockwaves?

Of course, considdering Luffy was able to knock out Bon-chan with his untrained, uncontrolled Conqueror's in Impel Down (though to be fair, in the Impel Down scene Bon-chan was in rough condition anyways), if Crocodile was displaying his Haki here, either

A) Shit's real fucking weak or

B) He must've intentionally "kept it down" in this scene just to make sure his agents didn't actually pass out on the spot

But of course, if Croc had fullblown Conqueror's that he was able to control that well, you'd think he might've actually used it to subdue weaker enemies at some point or something (though, again, Hancock also supposedly has it and we haven't seen her use it, and if we had seen him use it on Luffy or something then the story really would've ended in Alabasta). So if that really was Conqueror's, I'd personally maybe rather lean on it being weak as hell (especially if Haki Loss was canon) over him having perfect control over it

Of course, just because that ominous blast of air in hindsight might resemble a weak ass Conqueror's Haki Blast, it doesn't mean that's what it was. Just like with the Bananawani example, there's nothing solid here to go off of, it's just plausible

(Also just for clarity's sake, Crocodile doesn't need Conqueror's Haki. I just think there could be evidence to suggest it if you overthink it just right)

All of this to say

Regardless of what Croc's Haki Status was during Alabasta and Summit War, the fact is that the dude really does kind of need Haki just to survive in the current storyline. So if he can't use ANY KIND OF HAKI, I'm just gonna be speechless. Like Luffy could kill him by just farting on him at that point Not to mention I'd actually love to see the Haki Loss-concept explored in the canon. Like either have it debunked, or somehow confirm it's a thing and show off what a horrifying threat Crocodile can be when he's actually putting his everything into a fight (same for Moria btw, if all he has to protect rn is Perona I'd love to see him go apeship and use Haki to protect her)

BUT THEN THERE'S A WHOLE DIFFERENT DIRECTION WE COULD GO WITH CROCODILE'S POWER LEVEL

OH DID YOU THINK I WAS FUCKING DONE WITH THIS POST? NO, WE'RE STILL FUCKING GOING MAN

So I've seen a lot people speculate about Logia Awakenings and what they could be like. Most people seem to agree on the theory that Punk Hazard being the way it is could be a result of two awakened Logias (namely Akainu and Aokiji) clashing. Similarly that Enies Lobby could be where an Awakened Light Fruit did a thing in the distant past, causing the eternal daytime on the island

I'm not sure I'm entirely convinced that's what Logia Awakenings will be like (some people have also suggested Enel's Final Form was a Logia Awakening, which I kinda doubt but okay), it's a neat idea in any case, we'll just have to wait and see what Oda has cooking for us

Regardless. On a mere narrative level, if they're even possible then I think it'd be cool as hell if Crocodile could act as an introduction to Logia Awakenings and what they're actually like. Because, depending on the role the bastard is going to take going forward, it could prepare us and Luffy for what's to come with Akainu (the real threat)

And again, depending on his role in the story, I think he could be an actual candidate for someone who could deserve to be Awakened-- like the whole Awakening State is sliiightly OP, and Logias are also kind of OP by default. So between OG Croc being kinda weak as hell (by current standards), but also him being an experienced pirate who's known his abilities for god knows how many decades... IDK I think he could deserve The Honors, y'know?

Like compare him to someone like Sabo or Blackbeard who got their Logias only recently and are still learning to use their abilities (more or less). If either of those fuckers somehow Awakened their Logias before Sir Fucking Crocodile I'd be kinda pissed off y'know?

The Admirals are kinda OP to begin with anyways too, I kinda just don't want Smoker to get The Honor of being the first on-screen Awakened Logia either, and really that would leave us with like... Ceasar and Enel as our only remaining options

And Dragon, if he does have a Wind Logia (which remains to be seen)

So. Yeah. If Logia Awakenings can be a thing, I think Crocodile could be the perfect guy to actually introduce them in the story (depending what his role will be).

All of this nonsense to say

Mr Oda, please, I would like to see Sir Crocodile in action pwease

And I want to know what the hell that weird spike thing was

Mr Oda please, I wish to see the Husband and see what kind of tricks he can do now after all these years, please allow him to commit a murder or two or three

[jester-dragons-aus]

Ah fuck I've done it again

Amalgam AI AU

I've seen some AUs about the humans being AI instead of Caine and I thought that might be the simplest way to get this monstrosity to happen with a massive glitch without abstraction playing a part.

I think I just really like horror AUs and doing stuff like that is just so fun so I made another one with a better title than "Horror House" cuz c'mon what the hell does that mean lol

The only characters I don't have designed currently are Zooble, Caine, and Bubble but I'll add them soon. Caine will be a human, Bubble could be something to help him out and what not.

Inspired by AUs like Sm-baby's and The Horror Circus AU, but like, different ofc.

Think this: the game wasn't originally supposed to be a horror game, just a game you go through for fun. Like Undertale, I guess? But not quite

[WARNINGS: LOTS OF EYES/ARACHNID IMAGERY, BODY HORROR, EYESTRAIN]

So first and foremost, I think people would wanna see Pomni, though Jax was the first to be designed.

Pomni is supposed to be some sort of anti-virus or some sort of protecting thing. Supposed to fix bugs and glitches and prevent viruses from getting into the game. Like a firewall, I guess? I tried to make her look like "right/wrong" esc thing. She was the last to be designed and it was like 1 am when I designed her. I had no clue what to do with her, I'll be completely honest.

Story wise, she'd be trying to find a way to undo this massive glitch and get the game back to normal before she can even rest. Once Caine pops up to try and fix the game from inside, as a dev himself, she does her best to protect him and help him fix the game.

No there is no shipping in this AU, they're just helping each other basically survive. They might become friends over time but nothing more. :V

Next up: Ragatha and Gangle! I actually really like Gangle's design but Ragatha definitely needs a few tweaks I think.

Ragatha, before this massive glitch, would have been an NPC that would help a player out at the start but end up getting lost after a certain point, like a tutorial. She was the most caring character in the game before everything went down.

Gangle used to be someone who ran a little theatre thing in the game, as I've seen from other AUs and took inspiration from, but she's usually nice no matter what mask she has on. More arms means she can help more people at once, right? Game mechanics wise she was like a little shop keeper for costumes if they're needed and she can help with newer mechanics on stage if something new is added. Friendly NPC, you know? Love her design, too!

Now for the first two to be designed, Jax and Kinger!!

So Jax was like a reoccurring villain, I guess. Always trying to make the player quit the game or just scare the shit out of them, despite him not being very scary himself. He's more played off to be a joke character, if I'm honest, always failing with his antics and what not. It's part of the code! I actually like his design, small lil paws and just so shapey over all.

Kinger was like a final boss, I guess? The scariest of all of them at that time. He was a king, ruling over his pawns and such, all of which were also bug themed! I love making Kinger bug related it's so fun. He's a big softie in reality but hits like a train if you ever went against him. He had terrible vision despite all of his eyes and was very slow despite the amount of legs.

Now for what everyone has been waiting for.

The reason for the AU title.

The MASSIVE glitch that caused everything to go downhill.

The Amalgam.

I still think it needs a few tweaks here and there but this is one of four concepts I've had for it.

One time all four of these characters were together, which was relatively rare but possible, a glitch happened in the game. Pomni doesn't know where it started from and none of the game devs understand how it happened, but it did. Some devs think there's a hacker. A massive glitch pulled those four characters together into one terrifying being, always hostile and destructive. All the code of the characters were merged into this thing and somewhat scrambled. The game has now been broken to where once you're in, you can't escape until it's fixed, yet no one knows it, which is why Caine went in.

So much has happened and it's still being fixed, but a hostile blob of characters constantly attacking whenever it's near? It will be hard to fix.

It seems to be guarding something.

Concepts for the amalgam:

You can see in the first one I was going to put Zooble there but I still need a good design for Zooble. Let's see what they'll be.

[suguwuus]

2. PYJAMA PANTS

hey hi :D oneshots for the white boy that has had me in a chokehold since 2019. these are also available on wattpad but pls. i was 12. stay here, it's better if you don't see what i've done in the past JOKE but i was crazy fr. im matured now promise. speaking of wattpad i'm rewriting all of these so it'll be a while until this is complete

note: all of these from no. 1-12 are fem!reader

TRACKLIST.

1. study session - (hogwarts!au) you have a bitter history with a certain slytherin, the same one professor potter assigns you to tutor!

2. pretty impressive, huh? - (peculiar!au) set during the events of a map of days/desolation of devil's acre. contains minor spoilers for the latter. connor protects his favorite seedsprout when caul's buddies appear knocking on their door.

3. only you - a new girl is sent to camp half-blood by her demigod parents in new rome. how cool! you know who else thinks she's cool? connor. ooh, she sees to have him whipped. what do you think about this?

4. light in the dark - you're off on a quest with a blond and a brunette. and judging by how the train shudders, something scaly has joined your trio.

5. reassurance - the second titan war has everyone on edge, including you. what better way to be comforted by your close friend, connor?

6. cliché - caught up in a puppy crush on your cousin's friend, you find yourself daydreaming and smiling giddily over what could be.

7. lifetime - hours before the wedding, you look back on what could have been.

8. little games - little games your boyfriend lies to play with you, to see that smile he adores.

9. take my place - a hopeless romantic, fervently reading each word, turning each page with their fingertips on fire. it does feel much better when they're actually in your arms, though.

10. homecoming - connor promises to tell you something if you both survive the war. what a silly promise to keep. it's as if you're not going to battle age-old greek monsters, instead you're mortal kids doing mortal kid things. pfft. as if you'll ever get a taste of that.

11. undercover - connor bumps into a familiar face, a child of nike to be specific. he patches her up whilst reminiscing on a shared memory of theirs. maybe there's something behind those stolen glances and nervous chuckles.

12. nice - a daughter of athena has no idea what to do with connor's mixed signals. the hell you mean, i'm "not the ugliest thing" you've seen?

submit requests here!

[delta-orionis]

12 and 14 for the iterator ask game? (if i can ask more than 1) the height one seems interesting since they specialize in astronomy

(this ask has been sitting in my inbox for a while because I was thinking about the answers, sorry)

12. How tall is your iterator? Is this an average height for a standard iterator?

Three Stars Above Clouds' actual can (the box part) is the same size as other standard iterators, but their legs are longer, and they're not all the same length. TSAC is located in the mountains and stands on uneven ground, so their legs are different lengths to compensate. They also have additional struts anchoring their legs to the mountainside for stability, because avalanches are very common in the region. I guess that means they're slightly taller than average, just considering their actual superstructure.

As for their altitude, their can is located on a mountain summit above the cloud layer. TSAC is heavily based on the Vera Rubin Observatory, which will be located in the mountains of the Atacama Desert in Chile, about 2.6 km above sea level. I also took inspiration from the observatories on top of Mauna Kea in Hawaii, which is about 4.5 km above sea level.

In this post I did a rough calculation of how big I think iterators are, and they came out to about 2.24 km in height... I don't want TSAC to be nearly as tall as the mountain they stand on, so I'll say their mountains are about 4-5 km tall.

TSAC's city also has a very tall spire with an observatory on top, to get an even better view. (Generally you get clearer views the higher you go.) The spire is about 1 km tall.

Taking all of that together, that makes the altitude of TSAC's highest point a little over 7 km above sea level. (As a point of reference, Mount Everest is 8.8 km tall.)

I edited the height diagram from the aforementioned post to show how TSAC compares to other typical iterators altitude-wise.

I've seen some people theorize that the masks the Ancients wear could double as respirators, because oxygen might become a concern atop iterator cities. Given the height of TSAC's city, either those respirators are mandatory, or the citizens have bioengineered themselves to survive in the low-oxygen environment. Visitors coming into TSAC's city from other iterator cities would very likely suffer some form of altitude sickness while their bodies adjusted to the oxygen levels.

14. Has your iterator ever modified any part of their body (puppet, city, structure components, things that make up the structure like neurons, inspectors, etc.)?

Three Stars Above Clouds' structure is largely the same as it was when they were first built. However, as the amount of data they archived grew, storage became a concern, so they asked their engineers to modify their Memory Conflux to accommodate. TSAC has a large room in their memory conflux dedicated just to archiving data pearls.

In this post I detailed a purposed organism called a Courier whose job is to transport pearls around an iterator superstructure. I'm not sure if this is something all iterators have, or if Couriers were created specifically for TSAC to help them handle their high volume of pearls. But TSAC definitely has lots of them.

After mass ascension, TSAC was hesitant to make any changes to their body, because their engineers were no longer around to fix any issues. However as their equipment ages, they're willing to give it a try out of necessity.

They did make a major change to their city and walls, by encouraging vultures to roost there. They accomplished this through a combination of luring vultures with the lasers in their observatories, and encouraging the growth of vulture grubs (I'm not sure how they accomplished this, they probably dipped into bioengineering a little to grow vulture grubs and then modified the chemical balance in their city to encourage them to grow).

TSAC also probably used their limited manufacturing power to create the raw material vultures use for their masks (iirc Moon mentions it's a combination of bone and synthetic material). As a result, TSAC's city and the upper part of their walls are a mess of vulture nests. In TSAC's version of The Exterior, their equivalent subregion to The Wall is even called The Roost because there's so many vultures. TSAC is fine with it if it means the vultures will help keep scavengers away.

TSAC tends to be very single-minded about their research and dedicates their attention to little else, but I imagine tending to the vultures on their structure would be a nice pastime if they ever somehow got bored.

(Original ask game here)

[dontbotherwiththepronunciation]

I fantasise about Ramsay's death a lot

I think Ramsay will be killed at some point during ASOIAF but I've been wondering how and what exactly we could get for the narrative of certain characters depending on the different outcomes and I am insomniac so I want to write something more or less useful so I can sleep or at least avoid intrusive thoughts.

So, here is a poll with possible outcomes for Ramsay's death, some of them I've read in meta posts, others are simply stuff I thought could be thematically coherent. Under the read more I added my own preferences because I'm feeling bold. You don't have to read those, but I would love it if you tell me some of yours. And you can tell me all you want about that? Is your answer motivated simply for shipping reasons? Simply for revenge? Do you think it will actually happen? I just like reading other people's thoughts.

My Preferences:

1. Killed off-screen by an unnamed lowborn

My personal favourite. I don't think Ramsay will get an off-screen death scene with an "irrelevant" character and I understand why but until it happens I get to fantasise and while I think for many this would be considered unsatisfying or anti-climactic, to me it would feel thematically coherent and beautiful.

Ramsay Bolton, the living nightmare, a monster from hell, killed by some rando. Someone who wouldn't make it down in history, someone who would be forgotten, someone who would be seen as disposable and irrelevant.

Through this we could have what is, in my opinion, the biggest offence ever directed at Ramsay AND a really sad and harrowing exploration of Theon and Jeyne's feelings on the matter.

Surprisingly, I was never feeling frightened by Euron as I read AFFC, the fear only settled when I read Aeron's preview chapter for TWOW. I was terrified (/pos) how could I not be? The eyes through which I witness all are tainted by terror during that chapter.

With Ramsay the more you think about how our perception of him is one conditioned by Theon's powerlessness, the less mighty he actually becomes. He is not a monster, he is a human like everyone else, he can be killed like everyone else and the concept of knocking him down from this idea he has built around himself, as a creature one should be frightened of, to have him become so irrelevant to the text that we don't even get to witness his death nor know anything about the killer because there is nothing that could be interesting or worthy of mention about that killer is wonderful to me. It makes Ramsay irrelevant and unworthy of mention.

And yet, I also think it would be very tragic for Theon without inflicting any sort of pain on him. Through ADWD he keeps fantasising about killing Ramsay and every single time he keeps himself from actually doing it because at this point Ramsay isn't a person for Theon, he is an omnipotent entity that builds and destroys. So, if he were to find out that Ramsay was easily subdued by someone with no name, no house, no military power, a no one, that could destroy his self esteem. It could lead into even more feelings of guilt and shame while ultimately proving that Ramsay isn't really all that.

I think people (me) often believe in what they like to believe and I would like to believe this is an actual possibility even if the more conscious side of my brain is thinking "Wtf are you on? GRRM is not gonna do that. Do you think he is stupid enough to be this anti-climactic about something everyone is eagerly waiting for since a decade? You think he wants to have people saying show!Ramsay's death was better than book!Ramsay's?" So, yeah I don't believe this will actually happen, I would love it if it did, it would be very meaningful to me, but I have no expectations and I understand how this is probably not something most people would enjoy.

2. Fed to his dogs by Barbrey

All the reasons I want him to be eaten by his gos (listed down in 4.) + my anti-vaxxer, conspiracy theorist, Karen Queen Barbrey Dustin.

I have a horribly unpopular opinion about Ramsay's dogs that would get me cancelled for animal cruelty (/hj) and I have a lot of very personal feelings about this woman.

If she is supposed to be a woman who knows how to nurse a grievance (hot) then why would she be alright with letting the boy she thinks killed her surrogate son become Lord of Winterfell or even King in the North? She openly spits on Ramsay (hot) and even defies him through her conversations with Theon. The idea of her being a conspirator among the Manderlys and the Glovers isn't something I've been bought into yet because I still believe in her distaste for the Starks™ being real (hot), but I can't imagine she would feel any more tranquility at the idea of Ramsay turning into her liege lord, if anything I think she would be terrified because HAVE YOU NOT HEARD OF WHAT HAPPENED TO THE LAST NORTHERN AGEING WIDOW WHO RULED ON HER OWN WITH LANDS TO HER CLAIM AND NO APPARENT HEIRS????

"Me," said Ramsay. "Ramsay of House Bolton, Lord of the Hornwood, heir to the Dreadfort.

To me, that sounds like the vague reminder of a threat.

We have also seen a few moments in which she not only makes her disdain for him public, but also defies him! Prohibiting him from entering into Barrow Hall, treating Theon with something similar to dignity (I know it's only mildly implied but if we ever get confirmation on her being the one who gave him the cloak he wears during A Ghost in Winterfell I will scream and cry ) and she also constantly refers to him as "Bastard" although he has been legitimised)

Also, while I believe she probably knows "Arya Bolton née Stark" is a fake, I doubt she knows it's Jeyne Poole and I also doubt she didn't feel at least some guilt over handing her to Ramsay.

When Jeyne is asking Theon to escape with her she mentions "They said he hurt you." Who said that? Who is they? Could Barb be one of them? Was she warning her? I think it's possible, but I know this is only me assuming things. I have no evidence for anything.

There would also be a lot of irony built around that considering Ramsay's comment on Reek |||:

"If I cut off her teats and feed them to my girls, will she abide me then?"

In a sense I also really love the idea of Ramsay's bones finding themselves in kennels (something Barb is already planning on doing to Ned's (hot)). If both of them find their resting place among the dogs, oh I would feel so much.

Before anyone starts believing I think Ned is as horrible as Ramsay, no I don't. Ned is honourable and just at his best and hypocritical and self-righteous at his worst. Ramsay is himself at his worst and Reek at his best.

The reason I would enjoy this wouldn't be out of thinking that Ned "deserves" that, it would be because Ned and Ramsay are the two people who have hurt this woman the most and also the two people who have deprived Theon of his designated life the most.

3. Public execution by a non-Northerner leader

This is the one I find the most probable to be honest.

Westeros' feudalism seems to be better for the common folk after the Targaryen conquest than they were prior to it. I really doubt GRRM will be willing to dissolve them and send them even further back into an even more inequalitarian feudalism. By having an outsider bring the Northerners their "justice" it would be easier to get them to wilfully decide to reintegrate themselves into the Seven Kingdoms, which is where the Davos-Rickon-Stannis plot will apparently go.

Stannis is already waiting for the battle of Winterfell and I have no idea whether he will win or not, but I think as of now killing the bastard is on his priority list. There is a possibility that he might not kill him immediately but just keeps him captive, and that could be very very fun. While I wouldn't want Theon & Ramsay to have to interact again, I understand how appealing this could be for so many of us. I don't really have anything against this, I just like the other two options mentioned above more.

Asha would be the only case I can think of in this option that could be motivated by more than political plotting or a sense of justice, but also because of personal feelings regarding Theon's trauma. If it were to happen, I doubt it would be a proper execution though, I can see this happening more on the battlefield. I think there could be some beauty in Ramsay "I-rape-girls-for-fun" Snow to find his demise at Asha and her suckling babe, a warrior woman who is also the sister of the man he has been humiliating (to say the least) for the past year. There could be some poetic justice in that. Politically it could also be fun to see the Northerners being confronted by having the Ironborn retaking Winterfell for them and the way their perception of the Iron Islanders could change because of it could be fun and maybe serve as a mirror to the way Asha & Aly have been developing mutual respect for each other. Anyway, here you can find art depicting her & Ramsay as David & Goliath and I love it.

Thematically I would love it if Daenerys would somehow manage to teleport to Winterfell and kill him and be confronted by two uncommon characters that share some similitudes to her past as a child of war & child bride and her actual cause (you can read about those similitudes in this post and this post), but I'm not delusional and I doubt Daenerys will reach the North before Ramsay has been killed so I don't believe it's very probable for them to meet. This is just me being self-indulgent because of the childish wish of wanting my favourite POV characters to interact.

4. Eaten by his dogs our of their own will

As said, I have that one opinion about his dogs and this could go well with it. A taste of his own medicine. Revenge from the deceased. Dog eats dog. Poetic in a sense; The spirits of the women he has raped and hunted and made to be reborn in the bodies of the weapons used against them to take part in the process of making other innocent women join them, finally break free and take revenge against their murderer.

Pretty much the same reasons as to why I like Barbrey feeding him to his dogs, but now there is something more mystique about it. Theon often refers to them as good dogs and it seems like their kennel master Ben Bones also feels fondness for them. Both of them consider the master to be the true monster there, and yet these are still no gentle creatures.

5. Killed by Theon

I feel very ambivalent on this one and most of my reluctance comes from not trusting GRRM's writing abilities to depict it in a way that I find compelling. I love revenge stories, but I rarely like their endings. I love revenge stories, I just rarely like the way they end. "When you go on a journey for revenge you dig two graves instead of one" Sometimes. Sometimes you also dig just one grave but have to spend the rest of your day laying next to the corpse of your never-ending anger and rage. I don't enjoy it a lot when achieving justice or revenge is portrayed in a purely happy light. It doesn't erase everything that has ever happened, it makes you feel unhappy because you know that no suffering inflicted on your abuser could possibly be enough to fulfil the void inside you. It isn't something, it is devastating. Good, now Theon killed him, he is gone, he will never hurt him again, now what? Now what? Is that supposed to be liberating? He is still perpetually changed and now he doesn't even have a target for all that pent-up rage and frustration to be directed at and (Can you tell I'm part of the minority that liked TLOU2 even more than TLOU? ), to me, the concept of adding Ramsay to the long lists of ghosts haunting Theon feels so harsh. I could enjoy it a lot!!! It's just that I doubt it would be written that way and the options mentioned above are more to my taste. I think that if Theon is the one that gets to kill Ramsay it will probably be portrayed in a more triumphant manner, maybe trying to convey Theon's complete rebirth and the deaths of Reek the Second (Ramsay) and Reek the Third (Theon at the Dreadfort) and, even though "Dead is dead. Better dead than Reek" is one of my favourite Theon moments ever, I don't really believe he should completely cast it aside.

"Reek, reek it rhymes with freak/weak/meek/etc." Sure! But also, were it not for Reek he'd probably not be alive. I don't know. I don't like the idea of him reappropriating that name like a minority would reappropriate a slur, but I don't think he should fully reject it either. In a sense, I believe the Reek persona allowed him to find some strange type of mental freedom in regards to "Theon" as a political pawn. Many of the conflicts he had to deal with during ACOK involving his cultural duality and his political standing disappear once he is conditioned into Reek (granted not in a healthy way) and I think that allowed him to develop into his own self more. I don't know If what I'm saying makes any sense. Not a favourite, but still something I could like. Personally, I would like it more if their last conversation was something completely mundane since I think that is very insulting to Ramsay, but it could be cool to have a final scene of them interacting in which Theon openly defies him and Ramsay is perplexed by realising he has been beaten by a creature "lower than a worm in human skin." Ramsay probably hasn't read his Shakespeare, GRRM has. Even a worm will turn.

Here, is the idea someone wrote for a scene emulating the confrontation between a slasher and the final girl and it was fun to read it.

6. Killed by Theon & Jeyne

I dislike it for similar reasons as to why I dislike Theon killing him, and I really don't like the idea of Jeyne being part of it, but I think there would be a lot of value in abuse victims coming together against their abuser and perhaps it would make their bond even stronger which would always be a perk to me because they are the relationship I care about the most in here and I just want them to be a supportive presence in each other's life. As said, I just like the idea of Theon/Jeyne never having to see Ramsay again. I think that is a slight to Ramsay.

7. Public execution by a Stark or a Stark loyalist

Depending on the Starkling doing the execution we could get a glimpse of affection for Theon and Jeyne, which I wouldn't like. Mostly because of personal issues with how the "friendships" between Theon-Jeyne and their respective Stark BFFs are something I interpret very differently to the fandom's common perception.

I also really want Theon to liberate himself from the "The Starks™ were your true family" motto, and the narrative portraying them through a purely heroic and victorious light would annoy me (I like all of the Stark kids as individuals, I just don't like the Starks™). Especially in Ramsay's case, I think it could easily be interpreted as the Starks™ being Theon & Jeyne's saviours.

I do understand how Ramsay, as part of House Bolton and the current Lord of Winterfell, isn't a villain designated to be solely attached to Theon & Jeyne. Politically he and Roose are the Starks' biggest opponents and threats, so I would understand it if GRRM still chooses to take this route (preferably through Jon or Arya) and could hopefully still find some enjoyment in it.

Something I think could be interesting but, similarly to the Daenerys example, is very far-fetched from actually happening, is if one of Lady Stoneheart's companions would be the one. Maybe Harwin. It could mix well with my favourite possibility.

8. Killed by supernatural force

My personal exception would maybe be one involving Bran. Out of the Starks and semi-Starks (Catelyn, Jon), his and Theon's relationship is the one I find the most interesting and it could be very emotional to see this little boy who was a victim of Theon's actions during ACOK be the one to smite Theon's tormentor. Years ago I saw this art depicting Bran and the Children of the forest warging into Ramsay's dogs and killing him while defending Theon & Jeyne and I still like the idea. The only real thing that would bother me in Ramsay dying at the hands of a supernatural force is that it acts as an opposite to my favourite option. If he is killed by someone inhumanely powerful, what does that say about him and his strength? Does that mean Theon's view of him as an all-seeing, all-hearing, all-knowing entity is not based on his own fear? Is Ramsay really such a monster he can only be brought down by another monster?

9. Killed by Jeyne

This one seems to be a fairly popular option, especially loved by Sansa fans and I understand why. There is a surprisingly big amour of art and memes and I can see the appeal but to me, it would feel very tragic which is why I like it the least. Jeyne is a character who has suffered so much while having very little involvement in the events that lead to that suffering. We only have limited information on Jeyne as a person and her role in the narrative is that of a vessel for other people's feelings (which is alright, we need secondary characters) and considering how she has been canonically appalled and repulsed by violence even before she was subjected to horrible acts of violence (being frantic about the Hound killing Mycah, having a meltdown at the tourney, being extremely distressed by the massacre at King's Landing), it would be very sad to witness her becoming a perpetrator of violence even if it would be justified. To me, it would feel like she has lost another part of herself to the trauma inflicted upon her by Ramsay. She has bled too much, I don't want her to have to stain herself in other's blood either.

I have come across other theories, but those are the ones (that I can group) that feel the most plausible to me. Roose or Mance killing Ramsay still deserve mentions of honour, but I don't have too many feelings about those. With Mance it could help bring Wildling and Northerners together and if it were Roose that would probably mean that Walda is withchild and that the Northern plot line might take longer than we all thought it would.

I don't fully oppose any of these options though! And I think there could be narrative value to all of them. As said, these are just personal opinions.

Anyway, I'm gonna go listen to Bob Dylan's Masters of War and mentally envision an amv feat. Theon and Catelyn.

[thatdisasterauthor]

Are you willing to share your thoughts on the TV show Yellowjackets? I was into it for a bit, but haven't kept up and I love analysis, especially critical kinds because they're often the most interesting and I feel with your experiences you'll have some really cool angles on it. No pressure to answer if you'd rather not!

Sure! But with the caveat that I've only seen season 1, and it has been awhile. Also, I'm going to stick this under my "Disasters in Film" tag because, well, it's on theme even if we haven't specifically discussed Yellowjackets in class.

Now then!

I love the core concept of Yellowjackets. Girls' sports team has their plane crash in the woods and no one comes to get them, and it all goes sideways and falls into the horror genre more than just pure survival? A+ concept right there.

But I don't think a single writer on that show has ever been outside a single day in their lives.

It's just a suspension of disbelief issue for me. You've only got so many SoD points you can spend when you create something, and Yellowjackets is deep into the red. Hollywood has made it pretty easy to SoD things like everyone turning on one another, random murder, people being vicious to one another, etc. etc. even though studies have proven over and over and over again that people really don't behave like that in disasters. But you've still gotta spend some points on those things anyways, because deep down people DO know they're lies even if Hollywood likes to use them all the time.

So your core premise has already cost you some SoD points, but that's fine! You still have some to spend. But that number isn't infinite, and the more outlandish your details, the more points you're going to have to spend to pull them off. Yellowjackets just spent way too many. (A wolf ripping someone's face off and she's fine with zero actual medical care? Really?)

Now part of this, too, is the structure of Yellowjackets. It is a story told by jumping between timelines/flashbacks. It plays keep away with its audience. That is a structure you have to be VERY careful with or your audience is going to get annoyed with you and tune out. It can work when done right, but if you try and do it when you've already overspent your SoD points? You're gonna run into trouble. Plus, if you don't have a strong, solid plan for the whole timeline of your show across multiple seasons--a plan you will not change--it can fall apart in a heartbeat. It is not a structure that works for open ended projects of an unknown length.

A girls' sports team having their plane crash in the wilderness and getting stuck there IS conceivable--it's literally happened in real life with that soccer team. The girls struggling to survive and some of them dying IS conceivable--again, it has happened in real life. The girls growing up into adults that struggle with the aftereffects of that crash IS conceivable. The girls starting a weird little cult is starting to tread into the realm of "eh, maybe, but it does make for a great story so it's fine." Same for them finding a very helpful little cabin full of stuff. Could happen, but less likely. Then you get into the "wait, I don't think that would EVER happen?" stuff. Would a bear really just walk up, roar at you, and then you kill it with basically no real weapon? (Do you know how hard bears are to kill? Their skin is WEIRD.) Wolves ripping people's faces off. A convenient plane that later explodes.

At the end of the day, I think the show tried to do too much in too short of an amount of time to build up the believablity for the more outlandish things, and I think it's structure--and the fact that it doesn't seem to have a solid plan all the way through for its story--just made those things worse.

Now, not all of that is the show's fault! The way TV works these days--with shorter seasons and precarious chances of renewal--played a big role. I think Yellowjackets could've been a great 3 season show with each season getting 20-22 episodes. There would've been a lot more breathing room for the character arcs, especially given how many characters there are (and some of them are doubled given they survive to grow up and be adults). I think it also could've been helped a lot if they had some outdoors/survival consultants involved. The more realistic they made the survival elements, the more they could've gotten away with the weird horror elements because they wouldn't have wasted so many SoD points on things they didn't need to waste them on. Having a more realistic wolf attack (or, even better, a cougar attack) would not have changed the overall story. Having a more realistic struggle to find food would not have changed the overall story. Having a more realistic changing of the seasons would not have changed the overall story. Etc. Etc. Etc.

So yeah. Those are my thoughts on Yellowjackets! Coulda been great, but it got kneecapped in about five different ways.

[retropobor]

Screw it, I'm an art blog now, have some more art (UTY pacifist Route Spoilers for part of it, also there's a lot of text you have to read in order to have this thing make sense)

This is my most recent work, made just last night. It's not perfect, but I'm proud of how it turned out, Although I feel as though pretty much everything needs an explanation here, especially if you feel like you recognize someone here.

For those of you who don't know (AKA pretty much every one of you other than maybe @yaboi88900) I run a DnD campaign. A very very poorly balanced DnD campaign. With a mix of heavy amounts of homebrew, and an inability to get anything playtested, I have my fair share of monsters who have almost resulted in a TPK, so I decided to put them all in an artwork to memorialize them.

Left and right: Blood elementals

A while back I was watching a a dungeon dad video about a creature known a blood elemental, and I thought they were cool, so I added a combat encounter against them. I was expecting quite a few people, so I thought 1 per person in the 4 person party worked out, and made a combat encounter against 4 of them... 2 people showed up, and as it turns out a CR 5 Blood elemental is actually pretty dangerous against a level 5 player, so even after killing 2 off, it was still a brutal combat session. There wasn't much else to say about it though. In my opinion, it was rather forgettable.

Middle (Bottom): The Cabinet Man

Ironically the blood elementals weren't the worst encounter of the storyline. Again 2 people showed up for the session, because during this time, we were struggling on player count. Basically everything after the blood elementals was this whole Lemon Demon based plotline with the BBEG being the main character from No Eyed Girl/When He Died, and the quest giver being the main character from Touch Tone Telephone (I can go more in depth in another post if y'all want to know more about it). As you are probably beginning to realize that fine figure in the center is based on Cabinet Man. He's one of if not the first stat block I ever made, which means he's not balanced in the slightest. I'll save the details of what this Cabinet Man can do for a different post because there's a lot on him, but for now know that he's never met a foe he couldn't kill before his second phase. Also he gave my players a crippling fear of arcade cabinets.

Background: The Demon Core Golem

I never actually ran this one because it's too late game for any campaign I've ever ran, but even without running it, just about everyone who's seen the stats has an innate fear for this thing and for good reason, because this thing is strong. It only has a few attacks, but all of them deal a lot of damage, and as expected for something named after the demon core, this thing is highly radioactive, meaning it deals massive amounts of unblockable poison damage if you get near it, and it can give out radiation sickness (CDC accurate radiation sickness at that). Survive all of that, and it does the job its father could only dream of, and becomes a literal nuclear bomb, at which point pretty much all you can do is run. Yes it is as powerful as it sounds. No I don't know what I was thinking when I made this.

Middle (Top): Ceroba Ketsukane, Defiler of Pacifism

This one's the most recent of the lethal encounters, having the related plotline finished tuesday. So Undertale Yellow came out, and I absolutely loved it (if you couldn't tell already), so I decided to adapt bits of the game into a plotline in the campaign (albeit with some lore and plot edits to fit the world, and because total plagiarism just ain't my style). Well if you know anything about the pacifist route, the final boss is Ceroba who dons a mask and becomes incredibly powerful* The party was sweeping through Ceroba's first second phases, and most of the third phase with ease, so I decided to quit sugar coating it for the second half of the third phase. When I was making the stat block for Ceroba I gave her an aoe attack, and perfect for her, all the players were grouped together in one place, so I decided to use that AOE attack, and in one round, I accidentally reduced the entire party other than the sorcerer in the backlines to hit point levels ranging from death saving throws to 4 at the best. Safe to say I re sugar coated it after that. And for anyone wondering, Ceroba was spared, and is now safe and sound in Ketsukane mansion, and she may or may not become a quest giver for some more side quests, Idk yet.

[shieldmaiden-tabris]

You wanna know what really kills me?

Heaven was never going to leave Aziraphale and Crowley alone. After what they did, there's no way they could. Crowley and Aziraphale didn't just go rogue. They openly defied Heaven and Hell, gave middle fingers to the Great Plan, and walked away with no consequences. They showed that Heaven doesn't have as much control as they claim. Their continued existence threatens the fragile status quo that Heaven has painstakingly worked to maintain over 6,000 years. If Heaven is to salvage what remains of the Great Plan as they see it, their next plan cannot have any uncontrolled variables, and Crowley and Aziraphale are as uncontrollable as it gets.

Heaven needed to find a way to eliminate Crowley and Aziraphale to prevent them from ever interfering with their plans again. However, it can't be as simple as just killing them.

When Aziraphale and Crowley survived their attempted executions, they became an even bigger problem. Hell made a huge mistake in choosing to make Crowley's trial a spectacle. While "Crowley" splashed around in Holy Water in front of a demonic audience, Beelzebub immediately went into damage control mode so riots wouldn't break out, but by then, it was too late. Too many demons saw that Hell had lost control of one of their own and any remaining power Hell had over Crowley vanished. Crowley absolutely knows this. Look at the way he responds when directly threatened in season 2. When Beelzebub threatens Crowley in episode 1, he doesn't react at all, it's like he doesn't even hear it. When Shax says that he'll be, "hunted and eliminated by Hell," in episode 2, Crowley gives such a nonreaction that Shax even says, "So you understand that I'm threatening you?" Even then, he just revs the engine until she leaves. The threats are empty.

Heaven's saving grace was that only the Archangels were present during Aziraphale's attempted execution. Only they, the angels in power, know that the Hellfire didn't work and they aim to keep it that way. If on the off chance anyone asks why Aziraphale went unpunished for his role in stopping Armageddon, all they need to say is that, "oh, he's been forgiven by God, who has decided to be merciful and x, y, z, so on and soforth," or something along those lines that supports the idea that Heaven is still Good and nothing is wrong and do not look at the man behind the curtain, so to speak.

Neither Heaven nor Hell have reason to suspect Crowley and Aziraphale switched bodies, so I highly doubt they would risk trying the same methods again unless they're entirely certain it would succeed. (Yes, Crowley spilled the secret to Gabriel while drunk, which I do think is going to come into play in season 3, but given that Gabriel never had the chance to tell Heaven and is now off somewhere with Beelzebub, as of the season 2 finale, the other angels and demons still don't know.)

If Crowley and Aziraphale can't be destroyed, then Heaven's only alternative is to separate them somehow. Physically forcing them apart would have been out of the question from the start. Crowley and Aziraphale displayed pretty impressive power performing that miracle on Gabriel, and when you couple that with the idea that they can't be destroyed by Holy Water or Hellfire, that's more than a little threatening. If they were forced apart, I can guarantee there is nothing in Heaven or Hell that could keep them separate.

So mutual separation it is. But how?

Enter, the Metatron.

I've seen a few posts pointing out that Crowley was the only one who recognized the Metatron in the bookshop and how such familiarity is possibly a hint to his former rank in Heaven. But what if Crowley knows the Metatron for another reason? I keep thinking back to the scene with Crowley and Aziraphale on the mountain, watching as Job talks directly to God. While Aziraphale looks on in awe, Crowley looks confused, maybe even envious and a little hurt. Consider the next few lines of dialogue:

Crowley: "Is God actually..." Aziraphale: "I think so." Crowley: "...talking to him?" Aziraphale: "I don't suppose he's getting any answers." Crowley: "No. But just to be able to ask the question..."

We know Crowley Fell for asking questions, but what if he never talked directly to God? What if he asked those questions to the voice of God, the Metatron? And what if the Metatron was one of the last faces he saw before he Fell? That would certainly leave an impression, no doubt.

I think the Metatron already knew Crowley wouldn't accept Heaven's offer because he knows what questions Crowley asked. He knows Crowley has never been one to blindly follow orders like Heaven demands. Crowley doesn't want to be a pawn anymore, he's never wanted to be a pawn in the first place. He's left Heaven and Hell behind to stand firmly on his own side and make his own decisions. Aziraphale on the other hand, still believes in Heaven's goodness. He thinks the rest of the Heavenly Host has just lost their way and longs to change the system from the inside. The Metatron is now using that faith to get him away from Crowley and back under Heaven's thumb by offering him a chance to change things in Heaven.

First, he defended Aziraphale when the Archangels were being bullies in the bookshop. Then, he offered Aziraphale coffee.

Oh, my god, the coffee... As soon as I saw it, I knew exactly what he was doing.

The coffee was a manipulation tactic to establish a commonality between himself and Aziraphale and distinguish the Metatron from the other angels by saying, "see? I'm like you." The use of drinks this season has been SUPER interesting to observe. When Gabriel appears at the bookshop, Aziraphale offers him hot chocolate. Before losing his memory, Gabriel wouldn't have touched the stuff. Later, Aziraphale offers Muriel a cup of tea and Muriel has no idea what to do with it. The Metatron's offering of coffee is the first time another angel has offered Aziraphale a drink. An offering of sorts.

The next thing the Metatron did was to physically separate Aziraphale from Crowley. And the look, the LOOK the Metatron gave Crowley when Aziraphale walked ahead... The moment the Metatron was able to get Aziraphale alone, he knew he'd got him. He took Aziraphale away from his support and then offered him a chance to make a difference.

"So predictable," the Metatron says to Nina in the coffee shop.

And he was right. He knew Aziraphale would accept his offer, just like he knew Crowley would refuse.

Heaven got their wish. Crowley and Aziraphale are separated. It took the Voice of God coming down from Heaven to do it, but it happened.

I don't know what Heaven has planned for Aziraphale. Maybe they plan to attempt to indoctrinate him again, or maybe they plan to keep him so busy with tedious tasks so he's out of the way of the real work they're doing. We'll just have to wait and see.

I do know one thing. Aziraphale will come back to Crowley. They won't be apart for too long. They will be on their own side, together at last, the two of them against Heaven and Hell at the end of all things and after. Of that, I'm certain.

[bcatdfox]

The Road to 'Road to Kingdom 2: Electric Boogaloo' [RTK2 #1]

The time has come, my friends. 'Road to Kingdom 2' is coming, set to start airing in September (as far as I know, there's no specific date yet). At this point in time, I'm planning on watching the entire series and, after running a poll on my twitter, I will be (attempting) both livetweeting my reactions to the episodes, as well as posting full recaps and thought posts here on tumblr.

Why, you may ask? Well, first of all, I'm an absolute survival show junkie. I don't necessarily watch all of them (because there are so very many of them) but I try to watch as many as I can. Secondly, I am actively part of the performing arts community, from musical theatre to concert band to choir to dance to drama - and I enjoy engaging with things in that area. And thirdly, I'm very opinionated and I enjoy hearing myself talk, lol. So instead of terrorising my various group chats, I'm just going to get all my thoughts out there into the void.

Anyway, with that out of the way, here's what we know so far. Taemin is going to be the MC (so fun), and the official lineup of participating groups is Oneus, Cravity, Tempest, Younite, The New Six, 8TURN, and The CrewOne. Mnet have already announced that, unlike the first season of RTK, this season is no longer for smaller/unknown groups with no music show wins and will not be a precursor to 'Kingdom' proper; the prize for the winning group does not include a spot on that show, apparently. This show is effectively going to be a whole different show from the original RTK, just using the same name, which... why bother? Just give it a new name, then, instead of piggybacking off one of your existing IPs, Mnet. Removing the ticket onto Kingdom element thoroughly defeats the purpose of the show, in my opinion, but hey, since when has Mnet ever cared about doing stuff logically. I could say something about 'Build Up' and how that was handled both during and after the show, but I digress.

Due to it not being the same show as the original season, there's not a lot that can currently be predicted about how it might run, what sort of challenges the groups will face, or how any of the rounds will be conducted. The only thought I currently have is that an uneven number of groups (to me) is implying potential eliminations, which I'm not thrilled about. I'm still traumatised by Golden Child's elimination on the original season, and I'm not likely to be getting over that any time soon.

Now, onto the actual groups. I'm actively a fan of two of the groups (Cravity and Oneus), a casual listener of one other (Tempest), and am only tangentially aware of the other four groups. So, leading up to the start of the show, I'll be making a few intro posts to the groups with my first impressions and thoughts on them as they stand, to see if the competition affects those impressions (I could come out of this with a new stanlist...). If anyone has any MV recommendations for 8TURN, TNX, ATBO/Justb (The CrewOne), or Younite, please feel free to drop them here or reply to me on twitter or whatever.

Pre-voting opened today (July 22) and will run until 12:00pm KST on July 26. As far as we know, the group that wins the most votes during this time will receive some sort of benefit when the show starts. The groups also seem to have started preparing for the first round (most likely will be some sort of introductory performance) if the posts I've seen on SNS are anything to go by. If you want to join in the voting, you just need to download the Mnet Plus app and create an account.

I think that's all I have to say, I'll be back over the next few days as I get to know the rest of the groups on the show. For now, happy voting, and I'll see you all in September for the airing of the first episode!

[beauzos]

Books I read this July

Something I've been wanting to do but kept forgetting so here we are!! An overview of all the books I've read this month!! I don't know if anyone really cares but I love talking about books, so here we are. We have a couple more days of July, but I just started an 800 page book so no shot it gets done this month. I read 10 books this month, and I'm rather pleased about that.

The Wide Wide Sea by Hampton Sides | 4.5/5 stars

I started this in June but finished in July so I'm counting it. One of my favorites this month. I could conceive of it being slightly better or detailed at some parts, so it's not a 5/5, but it's damn close. Sides has a great and engaging nonfiction style that this makes book incredibly approachable for anybody. It's very well-researched and does a great job unveiling the final journey that Captain Cook took before his death in Hawaii.

I loved this book because it clarified a lot of things about Cook. Something I thought was interesting was how rarely he ever judged the Native peoples he came into contact with. Because of that, you actually get such an intimate feel for who these people actually were at the time because he just accepted their practices, religion, and so on. He's still a colonizer, don't get me or this book wrong, but I've never really seen a book about someone like Cook where they didn't immediately hate the people they encountered or tried to "fix" or proselytize to them. I found that to be a very interesting dynamic.

It was such a unique historical experience reading this book because he just observed and impartially participated in their goings-on. I've never quite seen anything like it.

I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Two Old Women by Velma Wallis | 5/5 stars

This one I loved. This is a telling of an Alaskan Native legend about two old women who were abandoned by their tribe in the winter due to famine, and how they fought to survive, eventually returning to their tribe and helping them survive in return.

Really short, very simple. I don't have a lot to say, I just thought the story was great and had really solid emotional impact for its length. Easy to breeze through, can read this in an hour or so. Definitely recommend checking out.

Antelope Woman by Louise Erdrich | 3.5/5 stars

I read this one after my best friend told me Stephen Graham Jones took inspiration from it for The Only Good Indians. I only read Tracks by Erdrich and that was back in 2017 and I did not love it, but I liked her style. I think this one is better. Something about it doesn't fully work, and I wish honestly the book had been about the family story that gets rushed through in chapter 1, but the premise is super interesting and Erdrich's style is incredible.

She writes in a way that makes everything feel incredibly mythic. The characters are interesting and the story is pretty good. I love Sweetheart Calico as a character and I see how she could've inspired Jones for Elk Head Woman in TOGI.

The amount of incest was a bit strange though.

Close Range: Wyoming Stories by Annie Proulx | 3/5 stars

This one I have mixed feelings on. Annie Proulx has a great style but I had trouble getting into a lot of the stories. A lot of the stories feel kinda samey with all the cheating, rape, and sexual harrassment. The best of those stories is the one about the rodeo bull rider, that was legitimately a great story. My favorite of the set overall is Brokeback Mountain. It stands miles above the other ones and is what makes the book 3 stars instead of 2. It by itself is a solid 5/5.

I would revisit some of these stories but I just struggled to get into the book overall. Not bad though.

The Heart in Winter by Kevin Barry | 2.5/5 stars

Oh, brother. This one. I was really excited for this one because it's a new Western that's been getting a lot of buzz and then it was nottt good. Extremely rushed pacing early on, insta-love romance, terribly developed romance. Why would I even care about these two-levels of bad development.

The prose is fine. Very casual, kinda reminds me of a mix of Annie Proulx and Cormac McCarthy. It carries the book because there isn't much to get attached to otherwise. The ending renders the entire book pointless. If I care about their relationship then maybe it'd mean something.

Mid as fuck. Beginning is the worst bit but if the ending had stuck the landing it could have been 3 stars.

The Art Thief by Michael Finkel | 3/5 stars

This was the non-fiction pick at Barnes & Noble for July. I picked it up because this is new in paperback, and it came with sprayed edges, yellow with bats printed on the side. I read it, and it was fine. That's about all I can really say. There's something missing from this book, but as to what it is, I have no idea. It's readable and the story is interesting enough, but I guess I'm just more interested in hardcore history non-fiction books.

But I'd never heard of this guy before; he stole over 200 pieces of art from museums across Europe with his girlfriend and kept them all in his bedroom. The ease in which they managed to steal these artworks is incredible.

It's not my usual kind of non-fiction read. But it wasn't bad. It's interesting, it's a wild story, and it was fine.

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton | 3/5 stars

This one turned out better than I expected. I read it because I had a weird dream about being super moved by Edith Wharton's writing and then found out she did a novel on Gilded Age New York so couldn't pass it up. First half of the book is painfully boring. I don't like Edith Wharton's style of narration, but eventually, the characters start to carry it and you get invested in this stupid rich white people drama. I kinda loved the ending, though it also disappointed me-- but I think it was brilliantly done and I couldn't ask for it to be changed.

Newland Archer is so despicable at points yet terribly sympathetic as a protagonist, I find him SO interesting because of that. I really loved Ellen Olenska and Catherine Mingott too. The cast was honestly pretty solid. I'm glad I didn't give up on it, but it didn't wow me.

But it was enlightening to see the culture of the NYC elite during the Gilded Age. it's what I was there for. It's white people drama, and that's all, really, but it's good stuff.

West by Carys Davies | 2/5 stars

I found out about this one after seeing a customer come up with it in my line a while back. Found out it was a Western and ordered it for myself. Real itty bitty book, only 150 pages, and honestly, I think the book would be improved by being a full-length novel-- or, that it is to say, about double the pages, at least.

I thought the premise was interesting but it doesn't really go anywhere. The father goes West to find proof that giant beasts exist after dinosaur bones are discovered in Kentucky, searches fruitlessly for a year, then dies, and that's it. I wanted an actual journey, I suppose.

The way the daughter's half of the story veers into multiple pedophiles preying on her was weird as hell and I'm not sure it contributed very much beyond the ending. I think the inclusion is fine, it just feels super underbaked in a short novella like this and needs some tweaking.

It just kind of ends with a whimper and that's that. Woefully underdeveloped, but I didn't hate it. I just finished it and went "huh." and that was it.

Navola by Paolo Bacigalupi | 2.5/5 stars

Man what the fuck.

The book is both really bad and really good. Really boring, hard to get into, pseudo incest subplot making me want to DNF after the story started getting through. But I'd already read 300 pages, so I forged on and finished it. The book gets really good at the end, but at what cost to my sanity?

I did a whole review of this before. Look at it here. I don't feel like repeating myself. The book would be 3 or even 4 stars without the pseudo incest or the boring start.

President Garfield by C. W. Goodyear | 3.5/5 stars

This one took me a while to get through because I got sick in the middle of it. It was a bit dry, but not dense, but still took me over a week. I thought it was very interesting and informative-- Garfield's era reminds me, in some ways, of our current situation, so it's always neat to compare. He was a very interesting man, and I wonder what could've been had he been able to carry out his presidency; he died only six months into his term. Pretty good. Close to four stars but not quite. I felt some things could've been elaborated on more, but overall, it was well written.

The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris | tba

I have no shot at finishing this by the end of July, the fucker is 800 pages. But Teddy Roosevelt is one of the most interesting people to ever become president, so I look forward to learning more about him.

[thebreakfastgenie]

1, 3, 8, 12, 13

And i may come back later to hand you an even bigger spoon with which to stir the pot

1. the character everyone gets wrong

Trapper John McIntyre is not a himbo. Yes he's bad at card games up to and including solitaire. But he's an extremely talented surgeon (there are more episodes that say "those two are the best" about Hawkeye and Trapper than Hawkeye and BJ) and episodes like the one where he writes his daughter or Ceasefire show him as a thoughtful, reflective person.

I'm giving this one a double because also, Henry Blake. When people say "how did they survive Henry being in command?" it upsets me. Henry's incompetence is deliberate and occasionally implied to be deliberate in-universe. It's an act of rebellion from a guy who doesn't belong in the army and doesn't want to be there. His laziness is the same. He's also not a bad leader. Henry is there for Hawkeye in both Sticky Wicket and Sometimes You Hear the Bullet. He admits that he's not comfortable with the kind of command decisions he's expected to make. And the thing is, most of the time he doesn't have to. The unit does a pretty good job of running itself, because everyone cares about doing the medical stuff right, Radar handles the paperwork, and no (except Frank and Margaret) cares about the military stuff anyway. The 4077th achieves its high efficiency rating under Henry Blake's command.

3. screenshot or description of the worst take you've seen on tumblr

There are so many contenders for this but honestly I think the worst take I've seen is the variations on the thing BJ loses in GFA being Hawkeye, or Hawkeye and BJ losing each other. The actual worst one was the one in a ten minute tiktok that said "the thing Hawkeye loses is the war" and then also said if you see him as a queer man, he's leaving a "safe space" (??????)? in "the middle of the lavender scare." But I've seen so many versions of it on tumblr, too.

It's so wildly against the point of GFA it makes me wonder if the people saying it watched the episode at all. I think fandom takes "everyone loses something" way too literally; I don't think it was ever intended as listing some tangible thing each of them lost, which is why no one from the show ever does that. Alan Alda also frequently describes it as "everyone is changed in some way" which is a lot less rigid and fits the story a lot better. 

Hawkeye and BJ only have each other because of the war and the idea that none of these relationships, including that one, can survive outside the war is also brought up. But the things everyone loses, the ways everyone is changed, are not things they only gained because of the war. If they were, it wouldn't work. The only exception is Potter and Sophie and I think there's a bit of symbolism there that makes it work when you consider Potter's backstory of getting into the army as an idealistic kid in the cavalry. Mulcahy's hearing, Charles's love of music, Margaret's unwavering faith in the army/her father (which are the same to her), Klinger's home, these are all things these characters came with. 

Hawkeye's loss, too, which Mike Farrell kindly summarized for us as Hawkeye loses his sanity." Hawkeye also arguably lost surgery, or at least his love for it. BJ's loss, of course, is the thing he spends the entire episode obsessing over: his daughter. There's a reason there is so much focus on her birthday. He left shortly after she was born; her second birthday means he's missed two full years of her life. Like Charles's music, Margaret's belief in the army, Hawkeye's love for his work, Mulcahy's hearing as a part of his work, Klinger's hometown... being a father is foundational to BJ. 

I don't care if a take is shippy or not, if it says Hawkeye and BJ's loss is each other, it fundamentally misunderstands GFA and it's not worth anything to me. 

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

Basically everything as far as BJ Hunnicutt is concerned. He doesn't have layers. Every "layer" is just headcanon and headcanons are fine, but they're not layers that are in the show. BJ in the show is a straightforward family man who loves his wife and child and can't wait to go home to them. That's how he's written and that's how he's played. That's his character's one big thing to the point of him getting boring sometimes. The writers struggled with him; this is confirmed. He's also not a liar; there is no evidence of him telling lies the way fandom describes. He's not particularly manipulative, either. He has his day in the sun in practical joke episodes, as does nearly every character (Hawkeye and Trapper in A Smattering of Intelligence, Charles in a Eye for a Tooth, Potter in April Fools...). To suggest this is a BJ trait is incorrect. BJ is also not an unusually jealous person and he doesn't have any issues with Trapper. The idea that BJ is "putting up a front"... sorry, but that's just who he is. MASH isn't an especially subtle show; when a character is putting up a front (e.g. Frank talking a big game while being a dirty coward) this is made obvious to even the most casual viewer.

12. the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them

I don't know if he's unpopular but Luther Rizzo has haters and I can't understand why! He's lazy and likes making the army pay him for sleeping on the clock. Iconic! He's also one of the most loving and dedicated family men we meet. We never see him with or even talking about another woman and he seems to genuinely love Zola and their son Billy Bubba. He never does anything offensive. I don't understand it! He's great and I want to read more backstory about him.

13. worst blorboficiation

Hawkeye for sure. I love to blorbofy Hawkeye, but it gets taken way too far. Hawkeye pre-war was a successful surgeon living on his own and I think people forget that. I think a lot of people project their own issues onto Hawkeye which is fine if you know that's what you're doing, but the line gets blurred a lot. Just look at his TVTropes page (don't). There is no canon evidence that Hawkeye has a lot of the issues that are popular to give him. I also think this ties in with the mischaracterization of him as a sad sack love martyr who waits around to be swept off his feet. That isn't Hawkeye. I also think people really like to project their own politics onto him. Hawkeye is progressive, yes, but he doesn't talk like a tumblr post. He doesn't agree with your exact politics.

[aimmyarrowshigh]

I know this is a super broad question, but; I'm in Chicago this weekend for MPCA/ACA and was wondering if you have any recommendations on what I could do in my freetime? Any smaller/niche museums or bookstores or whatever. Anything you think is interesting/nerdy. And food, of course! Food recommendations are always good :)

Oh man, I wish I had less touristy answers to give you, but I live just enough outside of the city that I mostly do touristy kinds of things when I go down there, and I've only been once since the 2020, so a lot of my answers aren't open anymore/didn't survive the pandemic.

BUT: I do have one that's not touristy! If you're into crafting or found objects at all, there's a secondhand crafts supply store called The WasteShed on Kimball Ave. that's very cool. My favorite thing there are the collections of donated old family photos and slides that people just sort of... give away, when someone in their family dies and they don't want to keep the personal effects(?????). I found an amazing pair of gorgeous family portraits from 1928 in Tokyo last time I was there. The family's names, ages, and the date are all written on the back in both Japanese and English. I'm glad those portraits didn't go into the landfill. But I'm a Small History person who loves things like ephemera. They also have tons of stuff for every type of art or craft imaginable!

Greektown also used to be super cool, but I don't know whether it still is. AFAIK the big tentpoles all didn't survive the pandemic, so don't quote me on that one.

I'm also always going to hype the fairy castle at the Museum of Science & Industry. It was created by and for Colleen Moore, the flapper and silent film star, and she used to tour the country with it to show at children's hospitals. It's fucking amazing. There's a 1" actual Guttenberg bible in there. There's a polar bear rug made of mink and mouse teeth. There's mother-of-pearl chairs made from her earrings from the set of a movie. There used to be running water on the Weeping Willow, but they had to turn off the water in the '90s because it was eating through the materials after 70 years. It's truly my favorite dollhouse, and I've seen the Nutshell Studies.

...I also love American Girl Place but that's literally just a me thing. I also sort of hate-love it, because they have Lost Their Way Severely.

I also am a big fan of the Field Museum -- I know, I know, museums evil, but it does genuinely seem like they're trying to course-correct and make amends -- and the Shedd Aquarium (same). You can touch a manta ray. You can see otters. You can smell penguins. I mean, you can also see them, but boy can you smell them. And Sue (the t-rex at the Field) is an unofficial Chicago mascot.

This is a good list of cool bookstores in the city, which I have to say I haven't explored as much as I should. I've been to a ton of cool bookstores in the Twin Cities, New York, and Staten Island, and some in the SF area and Seattle, but I haven't really explored the ones in Chicago too much because there used to be THE BEST children's/YA bookstore in my suburb and it was where I spent my entire life. This list looks like it has good options for many neighborhoods in the city, though, so wherever you're staying there should be something near-ish to you.

Which is kind of the other reason I haven't explored Chicago as much as other cities in which I've lived, despite living here the longest: public transit here FUCKING SUCKS and I hate city driving more than anything in the world. Maybe you'll have a better experience with the L than I ever do, though, so don't let me being terrible at the L put you off trying it out. I just am not good at it. I can do the subway! I can do trams and the Skyway! I can do street maps okay! I cannot do the L. Somehow every single time I try, I miss a stop and have to circle all the way around again.

Ooh, one other fun thing I did in like 2019 in the city was go ax-throwing, so if you want to try that, they have that right near the symphony building. That's surprisingly fun and not scary.

Food-wise, Chicago is full of good food. Pretty much everything I've ever eaten in the city was great, from the popcorn at Union Station (YOU MUST GET THE CHEDDAR AND CARAMEL MIX AT UNION STATION. IT IS THE BEST POPCORN.) to the $600+ per plate price fixe at Alinea (the only good thing I ever got from an ex). I feel like Sam @copperbadge has a more "a la minute" (hyuk hyuk) set of opinions about Chicago dining than I do -- like I said, a lot of the places that I really liked didn't survive the pandemic or they're outside of the city itself.

Oh! And it is sort of touristy but also very nerdy: the International Museum of Surgical Science. There's an exhibit right now about Frankenstein!

Honestly, looking at the MPCA/ACA website, I'm just jealous you get to be doing/seeing that all weekend. I feel like that's the nerdiest and most fun-seeming ticket in town. What are you there to present or see specifically?? I'm so intrigued!

[quillpokebiology]

What is your least favorite Pokemon that's annoying or something that triggers you?

Squawkabilly

Look. I try to have an open mind when researching pokemon. I don't necessarily hate them, but if I didn't have to care for any, I wouldn't complain. And here are my reasons for heavily disliking them!

1. They poop everywhere

Flying-type pokemon poop a lot more than regular pokemon, and that's fine! It lightens the weight to help them fly, and they have a fast metabolism. It's healthy for you flying-type pokemon to poop a lot!

But squawkabilly do it so freaking much! You move them? They shit! You pat them? They shit! You feed them? They shit while eating@ and it smells so bad and it's so annoying to clean up!

2. They're loud

Do you know how annoying it is to be woken up at 4 in the goddamn morning because squawkabilly don't know how shut the f*ck up? Every morning, I have to deal with these shitstains screaming their asses off with their ugly voices. I don't even use a fucking alarm clock! They're my alarm clock!

3. They're ugly

I don't mind traditionally ugly pokemon, and I actually don't think many pokemon are ugly! But squawkabilly have the worst pompadour I've ever seen, and it's just an ugly grey color as well! At least the shines have pink ones. Those are interesting.

4. They're racist

They form flocks based on their colors 🤨

(In all honesty ik there's survival reasons for that and all, but still)

5. THE GREEN ONES SCREECH IN THE EVENINGS AND MORNINGS

Right when we're trying to relax! Both times! At hours when people are f*cking sleeping@

6. A flock of them stole my f*cking sandwich

It was my grilled cheese sandwich. I miss it. I spent a good 10 minutes making it. And the yellow ones attacked me and stole my sandwich.

7. I theorized that they're an invasive species from Alola or another island region

They're suited to fit tropical and rainforest climates. They're are no rainforests in Paldea. And they haven't been here for long. Invasive species are bad.

(ooc: the game hinted at an Australian pokemon region, and I think squakabilly came from there bcuz they remind me of cockstoos)

[adribelladonna]

The fairy biology post reminded me of some questions I have had:

If fairies can be drunk and they can be poisoned (apparently), then, presumably, anesthesia and aderall should work

Since it seems the detached wing remains somewhat alive, how improbable would it be to eventualy invent a way to reattach it with surgery and magic and loads of painkillers.

If fairies cannot taste, it means they may have even less way of telling if they were poisoned or drugged than humans (who can sometimes smell or taste something off) until it is too late

How important is quality of food to fairies and does the food need to actually be fresh. Did Shall starve a lot? Can someone put some meat on his bones?

How long will a fairy survive if their remaining wing is not torn off but rather has a tear? Can any damage to wings ever recover?

If a fairy's durability is defined by the qualities of the origin material, couldn't the Fairy king found some... less brittle stones for his kids to be born from? The only one who rolled something more or less decent in terms of durability is the babiest brother. Or is that durability isn't as directly influenced by the origin material as we think? Or maybe the Fairy King simply thought that whatever other traits the opal and the obsidian could offer were worth the trade-offs (makes me think, if he anticipated that the opal fairy would come out as potentially very cunning and crafty and obsidian fairy as rather stoical and pragmatic for example, do not know enough about the diamond fairy).

While fairy names are just names and all, the consistency of Fen seems to indicate that sibling fairies at least may share a naming pattern. Do these patterns differ between different sets of siblings or not.

Did Rafalle try to deliberately teach his diamond baby brother things before he was born by constantly talking to his "unhatched" stone, I need to know this. Just how much knowledge do fairies retain from their origin and why if Lusul knew nothing, she could still talk dammit. Are they suggesting the entirety of nature is actually capable of thought and speech and it is just that no living creature is able to normally hear that.

I'll try to answer those with to the best of my ability (and my knowledge) from the various novel titbits that I've gathered!

1. Probably? It would make sense I guess, but then again, no one's seemed to bother to try to give meds to fairies. We know that aphrodisiacs would work on them (it was explicidly mentioned by Mythrill. The best wingman out there was trying to drug Challe with "special tea" at one point. I swear Mythrill is unhinged. If you see him -- run!)

2. It is unclear if the detached wing is still alive or not. It loses it's warmth and colour so it's safe to assume that it's a dead limb... but twisting it still brings pain to the fairy and tearing it still kills them so... not so dead???

3. Haha I was thinking about it for a lot for various reasons. They can still smell things, but what if a poison is colourless and odourless?

4. And can they "eat" something that is not food? Questions without answers maaaan

4.1 I swear both Challe and Anne need to put some meat on their bones. Have you seen them? They both look like twigs, pls.

5. It seems they just can't. If a wing is torn the fairy dies. Don't tear your wings, kids, it might be lethal (probably it IS).

6. The Fairy King was a Ruby, we do know that. He didn't need a weapon since he could just make one like Challe and Lafalle (and Ellile, the diamond fairy for that matter) can. He's crafted a sword for himself specifically so that he could encrust it with an opal, an obsidian and a diamond. Why he'd go with these three stones in particular is a mystery.

7. I've said it before and I'll repeat my joke again:

"We fairies do not have last names," -- said Challe Fen Challe, the brother of Lafaell Fen Lafaell and Elille Fen Elille.

The other sibling-fairies that we know of are Daan and Hala and, unfortunately, I believe that it's their human names, so we don't know their original names.

8. Elille was born from Lafalle's gaze. He was a little cocomelon ever since his birth damn it. For now we only know that Elille is incredivally attached to Lafalle and that is all. It's a mystery how much of Lafalle's "teachings" he retained after his birth. And I don't really think it matters all that much since Lafalle was there with his diamond baby brother from the very beginning. He'd get tainted by Lafalle's ideas either way.

As for the whole "just how much knowledge do fairies retain after their birth" thing, I think it's just an author's tool to use at her own convinience. Magical realism bullshit at play. Of course fairies are born knowing how to speak, no one has time to teach them that, it's not relevant to the plot. What if I tell you Challe was born already knowing some basic sewing skills? What are you gonna do about it? Flip out just like I did? Honestly, good. Glad to know we're both sane.

(I kid you not when I'm saying this btw, the first thing he did after he was born was (aside from scoffing at Liz) pilfering clothes from baby Liz, making a whole scene about how human clothes constrict his wings and how uncomfy it is, pilfering a sewing kit from Liz and resewing shirts to better fit him. I kid you not. I could not make this up. Just... Mikawa-sensei, why?)