#and it's the most obvious plot point you could have with this kind of amnesia plot

[bluest-of-bells]

Even if nukes wasn't retconned, the reset was?? "They're clearly talking in-character about their lives", well yes, something they could not do in the canon ending because their world was reset and their memories were gone. The idea that after the reset the characters will one day remember their past came from the fandom and the creators do not know about it, therefore their conversation retcons the ending.

Not sure how to break it to you, but the idea that the memory wipe is permenant is also a fanon idea.

[sakura-otome]

Alright, since Utakata no Uchronia is finally being released and I'm gonna be picking up my reservation at Stella Worth tomorrow, let's go through the main and also side characters and talk about which ones I would totally smash

For those of you who don't know Broccoli, the company that produced Jack Jeanne, has come out with a new otome game as of 4/11.

The writing team is basically the exact same team as the one that worked on Piofiore, including the artist RiRi

I'm genuinely so hype for this game. I never ever ever reserve the special edition for a game, but I'm confident this will be a masterpiece like Piofiore. The character designs are all great, the voice actors are top notch A-listers, and they even used live 2D to animate all the sprites! Which has never been done in an otome game before.

This game also has a free trial, which let's you play through the common route, so I definitely encourage anyone who's interested and able to read Japanese to go ahead and play it.

Anyways, let's get to the main cast!

Okay first and foremost, our lovely protagonist ~ ❤️❤️

Her default name is Hinagiku, which is so darn cute!

I don't play games if I don't like the MC's design, but she passes with flying colors. I love white hair, her outfit is fantastic, and I don't find her personality grating. She's actually quite fun!

1000% SMASH

Next is Yashiro

VA: Kobayashi Chiaki

He's clearly the main hero. Putting aside plot stuff and other predictions, his big thing is being quite mysterious. Though he's very friendly, due to his amnesia at the story, we know basically nothing about him. From what I could glean from the info on the site and character PVs, I'm definitely sensing self hatred and angst, and also he's much bolder than I would have expected!

SMASH

Next is Tobari

VA: Okamoto Nobuhiko

So far, he's the one I'm most looking forward to. He's the face of the red light district, and is very dependable despite his age. I really adore the deep kindness that seems to underly his tough exterior, and the voice samples give me the picture of a someone who won't reach out to the MC because of his role, and what it would do to her if he were to take that chance. It doesn't matter if she wants it, it would lead to her unhappiness —

Listen I could go on. But to summarize.

Here's the thing about me. I'm always craving a specific kind of angst. I love when one party rejects the other, not because the feelings aren't mutual, but because they have to choose to live by their principles in some way. And I feel that Tobari is the most likely to scratch this itch.

1 MILLION PERCENT SMASH

Next up is Awayuki

VA: Saito Soma

He is basically the MC's personal butler/guardian. They've been by each other's sides since they were children, and he was one of the few that remained after the fire that destroyed her home and killed her parents when she was 8.

I certainly don't dislike this dynamic, but it's not necessarily my biggest thing. The notes said that the theme for his route was "attachment" or "obsession", from the both if them, which is intriguing to me because MC doesn't seem intense to me in that way, but we'll have to see!

SMASH

Next is Yori

VA: Eguchi Takuya

He's an officer in the militia Kurozuru, and is outright stated in his bio to have quite the nasty personality.

Tbh he pisses me off too much for me to make a fair assessment of him. He's perfectly physically attractive but I cant get past the urge to strangle him Homer Simpson style.

I'm looking forward to his route only insofar as I hope he gets put in his goddamn place.

PASS

Next up, Tsuyukusa

VA: Matsuoka Yoshitsugu

He's a skilled craftsman and a childhood friend to the MC.

He has the biggest, fattest, most obvious crush on the MC right out the gate, and it's honestly the cutest thing ever.

I'm honestly shocked this girl hasn't noticed, he barely hides it. Bitch is cute but hella dense.i honestly feel bad for him at this point.

He's really giving me cat energy. Real meow meow catboy energy if you will. Anyway

SMASH

Moving onto side characters! Woo!

Tsuwabuki

VA: Azakami Yōhei

So apparently he's Yori's older brother who also works in Kurozuru. From what I've seen of this guy, he's genuinely one of the nicest people ever, and I cannot believe he is related to Tori in any capacity. A mystery how he turned out so well-adjusted while Yori is an unapologetic dickhead. Would love to see a side story with him.

SMASH

This is Aijiro

VA: Toya Kikunosuke

Works for Yori. Hates his boss but is one of the few actually capable of working with him. Personally, not my type, design or personality wise.

PASS

Next up, Karatachi

VA: Fukuyama Jun

The head of Kurozuro. Is known to be quite eccentric and difficult to work with.

Listen, out of everyone in this game, he's the one I would personally jump in an alley. OBSESSED.

SMASH SMASH SMASH SMA–

Moving on, Shioji

VA: Yoshimura Kazuhiro

He's Tobari's right hand man, and also sort of "older brother". He's friendly and charming but I'm not particularly struck by him or his design.

PASS

[crusherthedoctor]

Can you list anything you unironically like in the games (and cartoons and comics) that you don't like?

I won't bother mentioning music, since that goes without saying and is to be expected for a Sonic game... unless you're Chronicles.

Sonic Adventure 2 (mixed gameplay-wise, annoying story-wise) - While I prefer Sonic's SA1 levels for a number of reasons, I still think his and Shadow's gameplay in SA2 is fun on its own merit. I also don't mind the treasure hunting gameplay returning or how big the levels are this time around, since Knuckles and Rouge are still fast and not '06 levels of slow. It's mainly the gimped radar that creates the unfortunate domino effect of making them a problem.

- Introduced Rouge, one of my favourite characters for how playful she is and how she's a lot more nuanced and intelligent than you'd expect.

- Some genuinely good scenes, like Eggman's trap on the A.R.K and Sonic escaping from the G.U.N. helicopter.

- Had some good ideas going for it, like the Pyramid Base and the Biolizard as a scientific monster instead of an ancient one.

- Despite my thoughts on the backstory itself (or rather, its execution), Shadow has enough depth and subtle qualities and occasional unintended hilarity to stand out from the typical dark rival characters you see in media.

- The Last Scene's music in particular is one of my favourite cutscene tracks in the series.

Sonic Heroes (mixed gameplay-wise, loathed story-wise) - The gameplay is fun when you're not being screwed over by repetitive combat, overly long levels and/or ice physics.

- Boasts some of the most consistently Genesis-worthy environments in the 3D games, up there with SA1's and Colours'.

- The in-game dialogue that isn't the same tutorial drivel repeated ad nauseam can be interesting, funny, etc.

- Reintroduced the Chaotix, which provided me with another character I quite like in the form of Vector.

- Bringing Metal Sonic back in full force and front and center in the plot after a long absence (not counting cameos and the like) is a perfectly fine idea. Just... not like this.

Sonic Battle (decent yet repetitive gameplay, mixed story-wise) - Emerl's arc is compelling, and it earns the emotional weight of having to put him down at the end.

- While some characters are iffy (read: Amy), other characters are extremely well-handled. Shadow is probably the prime example.

- Gamma's belly dance healing animation is fucking hilarious.

- When I was young, and the game was first announced, I was really excited about being able to play as Chaos. This proved to be my downfall when it turned out he was arguably one of the worst characters in the game due to being slower than me during the writing process, but I still recall that excitement fondly.

Shadow the Hedgehog (comedy classic) - The sheer amount of legendary stupidity this game has going for it makes it practically impossible to actually hate. It helps that it's not quite as white-knighted on the same level as '06... usually. You know you're in for a unique experience when you hear a gunshot every time you click something in the menu.

- By extension, Black Doom never gained an unironic fanbase like Mephiles/Scourge/Eggman Nega did, which means I'm a lot more willing to take Doom's dumbass brand of villainy in stride. He even has a unique design... a terrible one that rips off Wizeman granted, but alas, even that is a step-up from Fridge Shadow and Bumblebee Eggman.

- Despite being... well, Shadow the Hedgehog, some of the environments would fit right in with any other Sonic game, like with Circus Park, Lava Shelter, and Digital Circuit. Even the Black Comet levels look pretty cool.

- This game understands amnesia better than IDW does.

Sonic '06 (what do you think?) - The obvious one: Shadow's character was handled pretty well, even if it came at the cost of everyone else being a dummy and being forced to interact with Mephiles.

- Like SA2, there are some good moments, like the Last Story ending sequence with Sonic and Elise.

- In the greatest form of irony ever, I like Solaris as a concept and design(s), and its backstory has potential to serve as a parallel with Chaos without being a complete ripoff. Iblis sucks, Mephiles sucks, but I'm fine with Solaris.

- Introduced legendary characters like Sonic Man, Pele the Beloved Dog, Hatsun the Pigeon, and Pacha from The Emperor's New Groove.

The Rivals duology (apathetic outside of Nega-related grumbling) - There were some cool zone ideas in both games that were sadly let down by the restrictive and limiting gameplay. I particularly like Colosseum Highway for thus far being the only full-on Roman level in the series instead of merely having a couple minor hints of Roman, and Meteor Base for the unique scenario of the space station being built into an asteroid. These level concepts and others deserve a second chance IMO. (At least Frontier Canyon got a second chance in the form of Mirage Saloon, amirite?)

- Ifrit has a better design than Iblis. Not saying it's amazing, but the Firebird motif it has going on is a lot more interesting for a fire monster than the Not-Chaos schtick they had with Iblis.

Sonic and the Secret Rings (a very frustrating gaming experience) - Erazor Djinn, A.K.A. Qui-Gon Djinn, A.K.A. Dr. N. Djinn, A.K.A. I'll Take It On The Djinn, A.K.A. Not From The Hairs On My Djinny Djinn Djinn, is one of the best villains not associated with Eggman in the series. He's a Mephiles-type character done right, and there's actual weight and reason to his actions, however sinister or petty.

- I don't have strong opinions either way on Shahra as a character, but the Sonic/Shahra friendship is sweet and well-handled.

- The ending is one of Sonic's greatest moments. The sheer contrast between how ruthlessly he deals with Erazor and how comforting he is towards Shahra speaks volumes... Still gonna make fun of the mountain of handkerchiefs though. (Before anyone lectures me, I understand the significance of it and can even appreciate it from that angle... doesn't mean I'm not allowed to poke fun at it. :P)

- Another game with some redeeming environments. I love the aesthetic of Night Palace, and Sand Oasis looks gorgeous too.

Sonic Chronicles (my personal least favourite game in the series) - Uh...

- Um...

- Er...

- I like Shade's design?

Sonic Unleashed (overrated game and story IMO) - The obvious two: the opening sequence and the Egg Dragoon fight deserve all the praise they get.

- Seeing Eggmanland come to life was an impressive moment to be sure. While part of me does feel it didn't quite measure up to what I had in mind (ironically, the Interstellar Amusement Park ended up being closer to what I had in mind), it still looks badass and works well for what it is. I also don't mind the idea of it being a one-level gauntlet... key word being idea.

- Obviously, the game looks great. Not a fan of the real world focus (real world inspiration is fine, but copy-pasting the real world and shoving loops in it is just unimaginative), but it can't be denied that the environments look good.

- This game pulled off dialogue options a lot better than Chronicles did, since they didn't rely on making Sonic OoC.

Sonic and the Black Knight (just kind of boring all around) - Despite my gripes with the story (Merlina wasn't nearly as fleshed out as her unique anti-villain status deserved, which ends up severely undermining the ambition of the plot in more ways than one, and the other characters go from being useless yes men for King Arthur to being useless yes men for Sonic), I will admit it provides interesting insight into Sonic's character.

- Like '06 and Secret Rings, the ending is very nice... well, aside from Amy being an unreasonable bitch ala Sonic X at the very end.

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 (apathetic) - The admittedly few new concepts sprinkled within had promise. They may not have been as fleshed out as they could have been, but level concepts like Sylvania Castle and White Park, bosses like Egg Serpentleaf and the Egg Heart, and story beats like the Death Egg mk.II being powered by Little Planet, all could have been brilliant had they been better executed.

SatAM (apathetic outside of SatAM Robotnik-related grumbling) - I'm not a fan of the environments on the whole due to them looking too bland or samey, but there are some exceptions that look pleasant or interesting, like the Void.

Sonic Underground (apathetic) - The character designs make me feel better about myself.

- Does "large quantities of unintentional meme material" count as a positive?

Sonic X (mostly apathetic outside of Eggman's handling) - Helen was a better human character and audience surrogate in her one focus episode than Chris was throughout his entire runtime.

- Actually, most of the human characters not named Chris were legitimately likable. Including everyone in Chris' own family not named Chris. Hilarious.

- Despite arguably having the most Chris in it, I actually don't mind the first season that much, partly due to slight nostalgia from seeing it on TV when it was new, but mostly because Eggman actually acted like a villain for the most part, and certain other characters weren't quite as flanderized yet. It's season 2 and onwards where things started going off the rails IMO. (Incidentally, Helen's episode was part of season 1...)

The Boom franchise (apathetic) - Along with Chronicles, the games provide yet more proof that just because someone isn't SEGA/Sonic Team, that doesn't mean they're automatically more qualified to handle the series.

- The show had some good episodes here and there, and Tails' characterization was probably the most consistently on-point out of the cast.

- Despite not exactly being favourite portrayals for either character, even I'll admit that many of Knuckles and Eggman's lines in the show on their own were genuinely funny.

Archie Sonic (pre-reboot is mostly terrible, post-reboot is mostly... bland) - Whenever I doubt myself as a writer, I think back to Ken Penders, and suddenly I'm filled with a lot more confidence.

Sonic the Comic (apathetic) - Fleetway isn't a comic I tend to recall much of aside from how much of a loathesome cunt Sonic is, but IIRC, Robotnik's portrayal is pretty good. Different, but good.

IDW Sonic (stop pissing me off, comic) - Putting their handling aside (and being too obviously "inspired" by MGS in the latter's case), Tangle and Whisper are good characters IMO.

- Same goes for Starline, before he was killed off-screen and replaced with Toothpaste Snively.

- Execution aside (noticing a pattern?), the zombot virus was a fine concept on its own and an interesting new scheme for Eggman.

- I get to remind myself that I've never drawn scat edits and posted them publicly on Twitter.

[rallamajoop]

The Witcher: The Games vs The Books

Coming to the fandom this late, I can only assume the relationship between the Witcher games and the original novels has been long since talked to death by others. But I'm far too fascinated by the whole glorious mess that is this canon not to want to get down some of my own thoughts about how it all fits together.

See, on the one hand, the games (Witcher 3 especially) are arguably only too dependent on the novels to stand alone. They do a wonderful job of picking up a number of unresolved plot points the books left hanging, and a woeful job of explaining so much a player coming in cold would really like to know – Ciri's history with Geralt, Yennefer, her powers and the Wild Hunt itself just to begin with. This is an issue that only increases as the games go along: cliche as Geralt's amnesia may be, it's used to good effect to introduce the world to the player in the first game. By the third, Geralt has all his old memories back and two extra games worth of new experience, and good lord is it all alienating to the newcomer.

On the other hand, so much about the games (again, the third especially) contradicts the novels in painfully irreconcilable ways. That wouldn't necessarily bother me – adaptations are allowed to rework and reinvent, stories can and should evolve in the retelling – except, well, see point one above. So you're bound to come out of the games with a lot of unanswered questions if you haven't read the books, and just as many if you have.

Spoilers to follow, of course, for both the books and the games.

Here's one of the big ones: just how did the world – Ciri included – discover that one of her long-presumed-dead parents was actually alive and well and now ruling the entire empire of Nilfgaard? Fucked if I know. Neither the games or the novels have any explanation. In the novels, in fact, the world at large believes Ciri is married to the emperor of Nilfgaard. Naturally, this 'Cirilla' is a fake, but the scandal were the full truth ever revealed would redefine Emhyr's reign. Yet somehow, in the games, everyone seems to know he's Ciri's father, and that whole awkward incest angle is never mentioned. Continuity has been tweaked pretty significantly, and it's left to the player to guess how. If that wasn’t bad enough, the games apparently still included a Gwent card of the fake!Cirilla (artwork above) just to ensure maximum confusion.

Before I get too sidetracked with all that stuff that doesn’t add up though, there really is a lot to be said for what does work about how the games expand on the plot of the novels. The Wild Hunt itself is the big one. The spectral cavalcade appears several times through the novels and hunts Ciri across multiple worlds in the final book before apparently losing her trail and vanishing to make way for the 'real' big bad, never to be mentioned again. While TW3 left me pretty underwhelmed by the revelation that the spectral Wild Hunt were just a bunch of dark elves in skull armor, the books had introduced the Hunt and let us spend some time on the dark elves' world before we get the reveal that the two may be one and the same. So for all the ranting I could do about missed opportunities regarding the Wild Hunt, they're the natural candidate for the games to pick up on as their new big-bads.

To my surprise, Geralt and Yennefer's "deaths" and subsequent recovery in pseudo-Avalon also comes straight from the novels. That everyone thinks Geralt dead at the start of the first game isn't, as I'd first assumed, a convenient excuse to have him reappear with amnesia, but simply how the novels end. Why Ciri leaves them and goes world-hopping isn't clear, but "because the Wild Hunt was after her again" is as good a theory as any. So, another point to the games there.

And there's so much more. The Catriona plague has only just appeared at the end of the novels, but we know it's posed for a major outbreak – one that’s in progress by the time of the games. The second game in particular does a terrific job of taking the ambitions of the expansionist Nilfgaardian Empire and the still-relatively-new Lodge of Sorceresses and building an entirely new conflict around them – even taking two of the least developed members of the Lodge (Sabrina Glevissig and Síle de Tansarville) and expanding them into major players. Dijkstra similarly ends the novels on the run from those in power, and having already taken the same assumed name 'Sigi Reuven' he's using in the games – while the books assure us that prince Radovid will grow up to pay back his father's assassins (ie. Phillipa) and become Radovid the Stern.

The twisted fairy tale origins of the novels are something the games actually seem to have gotten better at as they went on: the 'trail of treats' to the Crones is the great example, the monster-frog-prince and the land-of-a-thousand-fables of the expansions are two more, and many more are hidden in sidequests. And I'd be remiss not to mention that in again asking Geralt to pick a side in the conflict with the Scoia'tael, the first two games not only recreate a scenario Geralt repeatedly deals with in the books, but a major theme. It's interesting too how much the broad structure of the third game feels like an homage to the books, with Geralt searching for Ciri, interspersed with sections from her POV. You can nitpick the detail of any of these examples, but the intent is unmistakable, and a lot of credit is due for it in the execution too.

Some of the detail that's gone into translating the world of the Witcher books into the games is just insane – not just in the geography and history of the place, but right down to the names of the wine you can pick up. There's the fact the Cat potion makes Geralt see in black-and-white, or the fact the basilisk and cockatrice monsters are clearly based on the same model, but the basilisk is reptilian where as the cockatrice is more avian – which is exactly how Geralt describes the difference between them in The Lady of the Lake. There's a point where Book!Regis recounts a detailed list of all the lesser vampiric species, ending with the only two violent enough to tear apart their victims: almost all can be encountered in the games, and the last two (Fleders and Ekimma) are indeed the most animalistic. This kind of thing is everywhere.

My favourite examples tend to be those that blend into the background if you haven't read the books, but will get a grin from those who have, such as a peasant in Velen who will call out to Geralt (paraphrased from memory, alas) "Sir, sir! We be up to our ears in mamunes, imps, kobolds, hags, flying drakes... oh, and bats!" – which is a lovely little reference to a couple of conversations from Edge of the World wherein Geralt explains that most of the monsters the locals want him to take care of don't actually exist. Or all those soldiers chanting "Long live King Radovid!" – natural enough, but it takes on a whole new life if you've read the passage in Lady of the Lake where the young prince Radovid grumbles internally about having to sit and listen to the city chanting 'long live...' to every other notable figure present except him.

Really, it would be faster to list the things the games introduced that don't come from the original source material in any obvious form, because it's a struggle to come up with very many. The villainous Crones of Crookback Bog and Master Mirror of the Hearts of Stone expansion are the biggest ones that come to mind, along with a great deal of the vampire mythology from Blood and Wine. To the witchers themselves, they’ve added mostly game mechanics: the use of bombs and blade oils, the names of most of the potions, and three new witcher schools (all with their own specialised gear). There are a number of new creatures and monsters – Godlings, noon-and-night-wraiths, botchlings, shaelmaars and so on – and though trolls are mentioned in the books, the games take credit for giving them so much character. Obviously, there are new characters, like Thaller and Roche – but not technically Iorveth, because a Scoia'tael commander of that name is mentioned in the books, if only in passing. And already, short of just listing off every new character the games introduced, I’m running out of ideas. Credit where credit’s due on that front: most of the new characters and locations they’ve created feel authentic enough that Kalkstein or Thaller would be right at home in the novels’ world.

But for all their dedication to the detail, it's hard to feel like the games have really managed to capture the spirit of the books in their storytelling: the mundanely corrupt bureaucracy that does so much to bring the world to life, or their cheerfully cynical sense of humour, or the flamboyant wonder that is book!Dandelion, or their enthusiasm for putting women in positions of power, or the bigger themes about the differences between the story that gets sung by the bards and what really happened – or so much else from the novels that came as such a surprise to me when I started getting really sucked in.

And if we’re going to talk about all the little things they got right, it’s only fair to point out there are just as many little things they got wrong, and sometimes pretty glaringly at that. "I thought you bowed to no-one" says Emhyr to Geralt – almost as if book!Geralt doesn’t happily bow in most every situation where it would be polite or diplomatic to do so. "This would never have happened if the council was still around!" says Geralt upon finding a sorcerer's lab full of human experiments – as if none of his experiences with Vilgefortz or the wizards of Rissberg ever happened, back when the council was very much still around. In TW2, he mocks the idea of a woman like Saskia leading a rebellion – almost as if women like Falka and Aelirenn haven't led some of the most storied rebellions in history (and we can't even blame the amnesia, because Geralt himself mentions Aelirenn later – oh yeah, this one annoyed me particularly).

 Book!verse 'Lady of the Lake' is basically just Ciri being surprised while bathing

Yennefer's studious aethiesm and willingness to desecrate Freya's temple is entirely in character – but only if we forget that she had her own personal religious experience with the goddess Freya herself in Tower of the Swallow. And then there’s the fact the Lady of the Lake is now a literal lake nymph who distributes swords to the worthy, as if no-one writing for the games ever got past the title of that particular Witcher novel (let alone got the joke). And the list goes on. It's easy to get overly caught up in contradictions like this – it's hardly as if Sapkowski's novels don't contradict themselves in places, as almost any long-running series eventually will – but it's going to stick out to those who’ve read the novels nonetheless.

While we're talking about how the games pick up where the books left off though, the big contradiction that has to be touched on comes in bringing Geralt back at all, at least in any public capacity. There's plenty to suggest that Geralt survives the novels' end and even goes on to have further adventures, but it's also pretty explicit that the history books record his death in the Pogrom of Rivia as final. The last two novels by order of publication (Season of Storms and Lady of the Lake) go so far as to feature characters far in the future with an interest in Geralt's legacy, and they discuss the matter in some depth. As far as the world knows, Geralt is dead.

  Book!Geralt fanart by Diana Novich

But it's hard to blame the games for ignoring this – true, thanks to Geralt's longevity, they could have set their conflict many more years after those future scenes – maybe even used Ciri's established time-travel powers to let you pop quietly in and out of the past (and, okay, now I've thought through all that, I'm kind of sad they didn't). But there comes a point where that kind of slavish devotion to preserving the source material really doesn't do a story any favours, and I'm not sure I could name any other successful adaptation that's bothered.

Besides bringing Geralt back at all, most of the bigger changes pertain to Ciri. In fact, as much as I'm about to get deep into the nitpicks below, you can make a surprisingly good case that the games have made only one really big change, and that's in simplifying the prophesies surrounding her. See, in the novels, all those world-saving prophesies aren't technically about Ciri, they're about her as-yet-unborn child. Who gets to impregnate her is the big driving force behind most of the villains of the books – one that all the main contenders seem to see as more of an awkward necessity rather than the inspiration for violent lust, but even so. To Emhyr, having to marry his own daughter is a bug, not a feature – but he's willing to do it to become the father of the savior of the world. But if Ciri is capable of fulfilling those prophesies herself, then Emhyr is already the father of the savoir of the world, and the revisions to his relationship with Ciri start to make a lot more sense.

Ciri's history with the Aen Elle elves seems to have been similarly revised – if not quite so cleanly. Avallac’h and Eredin are, naturally, both book characters – in fact, a lot of personality has been left behind in the books, since Avallac’h originally had a rather camp flair, and Eredin is less the power-hungry kingslayer you might imagine. When Geralt meets Avallac’h in the books – which happens briefly in Toussaint, for one of those "everything you're doing is going to make everything worse because prophesy" conversations – he's busy decorating a cave with fake prehistoric paintings in the hope of confusing future explorers. (Surprisingly, there does seem to be official art of this moment on one of the gwent cards – see above – though the Avallac’h who jokes about adding erect phalluses to the picture and admits his vanity won’t allow him to resist signing it hasn’t entirely survived the transition to the new medium).

We also meet the former Alder King, Auberon, whose death we see in flashback in the game. (Fun fact: Auberon is actually blowing bubbles through a straw in a bowl of soapy water when we first meet him in the books, hence the straw in the illustration below. The books just have more whimsy than any of the games would know what to do with.)

Ciri spends some time in the final book as a prisoner on the world of the elves, who are as keen as everyone else for their king to father her unborn child. Avallac’h eventually convinces her that this is all for the greater good: her child will be able to open gates to allow the people of her world to escape when the apocalyptic White Frost arrives. But their king, like most older elves, is impotent, leading to multiple nights where Ciri allows him to take her to bed (in some of the frankly more disturbing scenes of the series) to no result. Eredin, moreover, doesn't appear to have intended to poison the king: the vial that kills him was supposed to contain some sort of fantasy viagra, and even Eredin seems genuinely shocked to learn its actual effects.

Regardless, Ciri eventually discovers that Avallac’h and the Aen Elle have deceived her, and intend to user her child's powers to invade her world, not save it. Neither world is threatened by the White Frost for at least several millennia, it's just a pretext to make her cooperate. And so she flees, and Eredin (already leading his Red Riders aka The Wild Hunt long before he was crowned king) pursues her.

With the books as context, why Ciri would ever trust Avallac’h is very hard to understand. It's a little easier if that whole awful episode with her and the former king is subtracted out – Ciri's child is no longer necessary for Eredin's goals. So it's odd that the game still references the deadly vial Eredin gave to the king. Are we to suppose the vial genuinely contained poison in this version of continuity? I'd rather it didn't – Avallach's ruse is far more interesting if he underwhelms Eredin's support by revealing a half-truth – but the games aren't telling us.

And then we have to factor in that one last detail I'd forgotten when I originally started playing with this theory: TW3 does contain one last, dangling reference to the time the old king spent trying to impregnate Ciri, when Ge'els very reasonably asks why on earth Ciri would ever trust Avallac’h now. It's a damn good question, and the game offers no real answers. So in Avallac’h, we're left with a character who is vital to the final chapters of the games, who comes out of nowhere without the books as context, but whose role makes no sense with that backstory in mind. Frankly, the writers would have been much better off avoiding the whole mess altogether and inventing some new character to take Avallac’h's place.

The treatment of the White Frost is even more confusing. The books are ultimately fairly explicit about just what the White Frost is: a ice age, most likely caused by the same mundane climactic factors that produced the real ice ages of our history. The only escape is intergalactic emigration, as Ciri (or her children) might some day enable.

In the games, the White Frost has instead become some sort of nebulous, free-floating apocalypse which will eventually reach all worlds, which is basically fine – up to a point. We briefly visit a dead world that the Frost has decimated, and even the Aen Elle are now supposedly planning to invade Ciri's world because it threatens theirs as well (I mean, apparently – their motivations are so underdeveloped you could miss them by accidently skipping just one or two lines of dialogue). When the Wild Hunt appears, it's always in a haze of cold. Their mages can invoke its power still more dramatically through portals which can freeze you in your tracks. So obviously, the Frost has already reached their world, and time is running out, right?

Well, no – you visit their world too (again, briefly – to meet a character who has never been mentioned before and won't be again, for reasons which have also never been mentioned before if you haven't read the books) – and there's no Frost in sight, apocalyptic or otherwise.

So why does the White Frost follow the Hunt around? No idea. It's never explained.

At the very end of the game, a second "Conjunction of the Spheres" occurs (possibly because of the Wild Hunt's appearance?), and the Frost begins to invade (or possibly Avallac’h summons it, so Ciri can go into it and destroy it?) It's all painfully unclear. The game is too busy pulling a bait-and-switch over whether Avallac’h's betrayed you to tell you what's actually going on instead.

But if Ciri could destroy the Frost completely (at great personal risk, but still) why is this not more clearly set up? Why did the Aen Elle think that escaping to another world (which will ALSO eventually be destroyed by the Frost) was a better solution than sending Ciri to face the Frost directly? For which matter, why do the Aen Elle need Ciri at all if sending enough ships to carry an army is no problem? Why does Ciri spend so much of the game questioning Avallac’h's true intentions, if they were ultimately so noble? When did he tell her the truth? If Avallac’h did summon the Frost, why did he pick that particular moment? And if he didn't, and it all just happened spontaneously, we're back to questioning why invading that world ever seemed like a good solution to Eredin – it all collapses in on itself.

None of these questions couldn't have been answered with a little creativity, but then the game would've had to dedicate some real time to explaining its backstory and developing its core conflict – something it's bizarrely reluctant to do. And if you think I may be drifting from the point a bit in the name of getting all my gripes about the ending down in one place, you're not wrong, but I feel Avallac’h and everything surrounding him is pretty much the ur-example of what doesn't work about the way The Witcher 3 depends on the novels: the backstory the writers are building on doesn't actually exist in any format available to the rest of us.

There are plenty of ways TW3 could have incorporated its backstory into its own narrative (yes, even excluding the method "by expecting people to read many many more pages of text from in-game documents", because that's bullshit and always will be). There are times it does this brilliantly, such as in the quest ‘The Last Wish’: everything you really need to know is covered in Yennefer and Geralt's conversation in the boat, and without ever making the dialogue sound unnatural. In fact, TW3 has even more options here than many works with the same problem, because Geralt is famous and people already think they know his story. You could have bards singing Dandelion's ballads, you could have characters confronting him with misunderstandings about his past to force him to correct them. You could also have Geralt visiting people and places he knows Ciri remembers fondly because of the time they spent there together, or include playable flashbacks similar to the time you spend playing as Ciri. You could stick chunks of backstory in optional sidequests or scenes old-school fans can skip through quickly. So many of my questions (how did Ciri get so close to Yennefer if they were never at Kaer Morhen together? Why has no-one tried training Ciri in her powers before? What does the Wild Hunt even do while it's not hunting Ciri? Why is Ciri princess of Cintra if her father is Emperor of another country altogether?) could have been answered so easily.

Seriously, summarising the Witcher books is not that hard. Lots of things happen, but only a fraction of it is really relevant in retrospect, and you could hit all the major plot beats in a handful of paragraphs. (Heck, I’d do it here if this post wasn’t already ridiculously over long.)

But then, TW3 has a bizarre problem with leaving so much of its best material off screen, even from its own story. It's criminal that we never get to see any of Geralt's time (or Yennefer's) with the Wild Hunt, even in flashback or dream sequence. This is material that directly sets up the relationship between the main hero and the main villain, and the most we ever hear about it is a few vague allusions to it being like a strange nightmare. Really? That's it? What was it like? Was Geralt in a trance, unable to control his own actions – was he brainwashed into believing he belonged there, or was he merely unable to escape? What atrocities might Eredin have forced him to commit? Did he visit other worlds? Was he paraded among the Aen Elle as a captive? There is no way this isn’t a part of the story worth talking about!

We never see the moment Ciri rescues Geralt from the Wild Hunt. We never see how Avallac’h convinces her to trust him, we never see the moment he was cursed, or any of her efforts to save him – all these big, story-defining moments are left off-screen, to be vaguely recounted to you later in dialogue. Then there's the entire political situation in Nilfgaard – you hear about it second-hand, and it's all resolved off screen. And the list goes on. Yet you and Ciri still have time to run around Novigrad so she can thank a bunch of throwaway characters you've never even heard of before, nor will again. The priorities on display here are baffling.

The Witcher 3 was such a wildly successful game that it’s obvious these sorts of issues didn’t seriously hold it back, and it’s such a big game that I could have sat down and written just as many words focusing only on the parts that do work without much difficulty. It boasts stunning visuals, addictive gameplay and some truly wonderful characters, and so many parts of the story work brilliantly in isolation that it’s strange to come out of it feeling that it ultimately adds up to so much less than the sum of its parts.

I’m glad TW3 exists – if it hadn’t been such a runaway success I doubt I’d ever have discovered Sapkowski’s universe at all, but for myself, TW3 will probably always be remembered as a somewhat-overlong introduction to the really good stuff, in the expansions and the original novels it came from. I looked up the novels after finishing TW3 in large part because I’d been left with so many unanswered questions – and I’m glad I did, but I’m honestly surprised more people weren’t turned off by TW3′s scattershot approach to its own narrative. You’re allowed to change and rework in moving to a new medium, but I can’t imagine it would’ve hurt games’ success to tell a complete story in the process.

[jason-pipers]

the jason/piper breakup and jason’s subsequent death

it is a long and angry post so you have been warned 

 I’m really sick of seeing Jason Grace/Piper McLean slander in their own tag, and I’m really, really sick of seeing people justify their breakup/his death as good writing. 

As I’ve been studying literature and text for the past four years at Uni- I can say with absolute confidence that The Burning Maze utilizing Jason and Piper was horrible. Like a bag of shit mixed together then smeared on paper and published kind of horrible. Actually, you don’t even really need a degree to be able to point out the very basic absurdity of them appearing in TBM. So even though I have a paper due on a completely unrelated topic and a lot of homework, I naturally decided this was a much better thing to write about: 

 Maybe in another world, Rick’s ghostwriters will be better at writing his books. The reason why the Jason/Piper breakup was extremely confusing and done very poorly in the sense of their character arcs was that there was no buildup to the breakup. In fact, I think these two got together off-screen and broke up off-screen. Yet, I’m sure Riordan sat at his desk thinking “now why don’t people just like Jason and Piper?? I give them so much!” Actually, you gave them nothing. It’s also considerably easy to disguise their breakup as logical when it isn’t. Now, people will argue that the basic foundation of the relationship was poorly made because of Hera’s meddling and that’s why they broke up. This is a lazy way to think about it because it’s obvious you don’t care about the characters so you should just say that and go. Hera’s meddling (putting false memories of Jason in Piper’s head and wiping Jason’s brain) really only gave Piper a vague notion of Jason (based on real attributes the Mist pulls) and also gave PERCY and Jason multiple relationships after the switcheroo. But Piper actually meets Jason and then has a subsequent breakdown that maybe he’s not her boyfriend. However, once she gets to know the real Jason (very accurate to the one she knew in her memories because Aphrodite said she could sense real possibilities hinting at their romance), she is still developing romantic feelings for him. It’s implied that the reason why Piper is falling so fast is because the memories she has of Jason are based on the real Jason. It’s easy to establish that Piper has real romantic feelings for Jason, not the made up Jason because the majority of TLH is them getting to know each other. If she felt like there was some confusion on her part about developing feelings for him because of Hera switching Percy and Jason- why did it not come up EVER? The months where Jason and Piper started dating. How about that long ass quest on the Argo? It could have been a valid plot line but it never came up. If it had come up near the end of the series or maybe even if it was a small subplot in the series, it would make the breakup logical, at least narratively. But no, we end Blood of Olympus with Jason and Piper coming full circle with the moment in the stars. Flash forward three years later to TBM where everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) about Piper and Jason are thrown into the trash. They’re broken up due to the false memories and overall I guess it’s implied Piper doesn’t have feelings for him anymore or something? Or the trauma of being in something like that prophecy was a lot for her to handle and she needed some time to figure things out? Yeah of course! Just like when she will go through another trauma (Jason dying for her) and start dating someone new right after. This would be so much easier to read and digest if these things are shown- in their own series and maybe not as a side thing to Apollo’s series. Reading it in TOA was completely out of left field. I know SO MANY PEOPLE were like that makes so much sense! Good for you Piper! But I was like girl, who are you? I feel like I have not spent any time with you and none of what you’re saying is connecting to anything you were like before. Which leads me to believe people just did not like Piper in HOO but just say that and go. HOO Piper is not TBM/TOA Piper. RR doesn’t know how to characterize his own goddamn characters. Furthermore, everything in canon up until TBM implies and directly states that Jason and Piper are endgame. It’s not to say they didn’t have problems that were resolved or that the way they got together was conventional. There was not even a smidge bit of reluctance to admit they were canon endgame- I think RR even had Cupid involved. There was no prediction or even hint of what would happen in TBM in HOO, which is a very big narrative problem. Jason, always isolated by loved ones and quite frankly always shouldering way more than a human can handle dies exactly the way he suffers. There is no growth or even a small lovely moment where we can see Jason. 

This brings me to the most unnecessary death I’ve ever read in my life. I know RR’s ego hurt from the complaints about Jason/Piper/Frank/Hazel/Leo (basically a non-Percabeth character) being underdeveloped. I know his ego was fucked when he “killed” Leo but didn’t really kill Leo so everyone was like what the fuck. I know he wanted to prove he is a good writer but like any other bad writer, he decided to jump the shark. And I know he wanted Jason and Piper to be more likable but the fandom really wanted a Leo-esque character. The breakup really happened because he wanted to demonstrate to critics that he could live with couples not being endgame and knew Jasiper was relatively unpopular compared to Percabeth/Caleo/etc. He wasn’t thinking in terms of ‘does this fit what I’ve created’ but in terms of ‘people might be like oh shit this is violent and they’re finally gone!’. I don’t know what idiotic thought process made him reach the point of killing one of them but he obviously got there. See, there is no difference between Jason or Piper dying in TBM. It could’ve easily been Piper who was impaled by Caligula and reminded Apollo “what it’s like to be human”. They were made *that* insignificant in TBM. Pretty much fucking interchangeable. IN DEATH. It also could’ve been anybody else in the world. It could’ve been that cheerleader from The Battle of the Labyrinth. It could’ve been Piper’s dad. It could have been Sally Jackson. Not a single part of Jason’s death was really related to Jason or his growth. Jason was the main/lead from HOO and if he was destined to die (which he wasn’t because RR doesn’t think anything through anymore), he should have died in his own series. That would make his sacrifice more compelling and important, but dying in TOA is just a big fuck you to his character. I think the only equivalent I can think of is if HOO had solely been Jason’s series but RR pulled up Percy to simply kill him and then just kept writing. What the fuck does TOA have anything to do with Jason or Piper? Or even Leo? I usually love when characters make cameo appearances to remind us of the past we loved them in. Kind of like when Lynda Carter appeared as Asteria in WW1984. Conversely, involving them in the plot and then using them as a plot device for the main character- AKA USING YOUR MAIN CHARACTER AS A PLOT DEVICE FOR ANOTHER MAIN CHARACTER IN A SEPARATE SERIES- is not only dumb but it truly makes everything else you’ve written for the first main character devoid of any real significance. Jason was never a fully fleshed-out character, the way he deserved to be written, because RR couldn’t world build as well as he thought and that ‘every single character gets a POV’ didn’t do the legendary thing he thought it did. However, anything that mattered about Jason was pretty much killed in TBM because he was easily killed by a villain that was not even remotely interested in Jason or aware of his existence. What does FUCK does Caligula mean to Jason? Nothing. Did the final battle create a full circle for Jason other than the line “remember?” which is not really related to his amnesia- no. His character arc was about an identity crisis- being pushed and pulled in two directions. Jason barely means anything to Apollo so RR using Jason as a convenient kill to send home a message is also shitty for Apollo. Lead hero characters can die- they sometimes just have to. Marissa Cooper’s death in the OC narratively makes sense due to the nature of the character being a damsel in distress from the very beginning- a foil to her counterpart, Ryan Atwood. But in this case, RR knew he had to shock people to keep getting $$$. I never got the impression RR cared about Jason or Piper, especially since he was incredibly disrespectful and lazy when writing about Piper. (For that- I can link really detailed posts explaining his racism). The truth is Riordan cannot live without putting his characters in relationships- Frazel, Caleo, Tyson/Ella (?), Hedge/Mellie- but he wanted to prove that he could which is why Jasiper broke up.

Piper’s girlfriend in TON- I didn’t read TON for the reasons above and I don’t think I’ll ever read a Riordan book again: I did find out that Piper gets a GF in TON which at first I thought was incredibly neat but then later became angry when I learned it was only months after Jason’s death? I have always wanted Piper to explore her sexuality but RR has this case of never giving important things the development it deserves. He’s incredibly messy and inconsistent when he creates lgbtqia+ characters, usually only including them so he can get credit for including them. He’s never actually explored Piper’s sexuality fully in the series, but he threw her in yet another relationship we didn’t get to read about right after she was almost beaten to death and then witnessed the murder of her ex-boyfriend. If you think that is representation, please rethink that. We don’t get to hear her talk about anything at all, except maybe mentioning the girl’s name. A subtle hint. Just representation is not good representation and it is right that we demand better representation. Don’t settle for less. For fuck’s sake, Riverdale is only really good at queerbaiting but they get so much praise. (Do they? At this point I can’t tell). If we wanted to explore Piper’s sexuality, it could have been done while she was with Jason or even broken up with him in her own series- why didn’t RR explore the nature of being lgbtqia+ in an Indigenous family? He had the chance to demonstrate an awareness of intersectionality through Piper but he fucked up. He had so much to write about. So, people who are yelling happily about that Piper appearance in TON-??? 

 This was long and frustrating to write. But I had feelings.

[redantsunderneath]

DC COMICS: Incoherence as Not-a-Bug-but-a-Feature (Spoilers for Batman 89-100)

Due to the emergence of the new Batman villain character Punchline, I wound up buying the last 12 issues of Batman and reading them in a single sitting. I’ve had trouble following DC comics for a while, constantly feeling that they were in trouble since back in the mid 2000s (with a glimmer of hope here and there). The act of reading DC comics has been a frustrating experience, where individual good stories and runs were laying around in the context of a lot of things that didn’t make sense while the company’s thrust felt chaotic and ideas not well blended. Every status quo change seemed hard to figure out the rules of enough to parse the context.  We’ll get into the background of this, but my reading today of this extended stretch of comics that keeps losing the plot in favor of a fever dream of what’s happening at the moment with specific characters that refuse to cohere, it became obvious that what I had been looking at as subtext or critique was actually the text. I could see the messed up trees but was missing the the forest the universe was trying to describe.

What happens in these issues (Batman current series 89-100, I missed the beginning of the first of 2 arcs) is rolling war between the major Batman villains and the heroes (plus Harley Quinn and Catwoman), which shifts into a Joker and Joker adjacent vs. all as the Joker double crosses everyone then manages to steal Bruce Wayne’s fortune.  We meet 3 new baddies – Underbroker, whose schtick is putting ill-gotten gains beyond the reach of the legal system (with an explicit line to rich globalists drawn), the Designer, who back in the day offered the four A list Batman villains plans to achieve what they most wanted, and Punchline, who is your toxic ex’s new millennial GF who really has it in for you (there is also a new good guy Clownhunter, which is a whole different thing, and a new costumed detective that predates Batman).  This doesn’t convey the chaotic nature of what is happening issue to issue, but there’s more than one Batman hallucinogenic spirit quest, dead characters ostensibly walking around, a plan revolving around the Bat’s origin story that tells some version of it several times, and a no-nonsense declaration that the Joker, as the Devil of the Batman spiritual system, cannot die.   The whole thing has the effect of convincing you there is no definitive sequence of events, only versions.

Alan Moore’s Killing Joke is not a favorite of mine, for a number of reasons.  But the ending holds up.  The Joker has done terrible things there is no antecedent for, and Batman wonders aloud if this never-ending dance they do ends in anything but both of their deaths; can they uncouple from the unhealthy duality the cycle of which simply repeats.  The Joker responds, well, with a joke about two lunatics trying to escape an asylum.  One jumps the roof to the next building, while the other is too scared to try.  The escapee offers to hold a light while the other crosses on a beam but he says no, no you’ll just cut the light while I’m half way across.  This not very funny joke nonetheless has a bunch of resonances – BM and Joker as conspiring co inmates, BM wanting to break out, a commentary about their natures (almost a reversal of the frog and scorpion story where the scorpion won’t go because he knows how this ends), but mostly it implicates BM as the one who is enabling the cycle, the reason why it won’t end.  They both laugh uproariously, and the ambiguous final panels can be read as the fundamental realization of his complicity causing BM to kill J.  A lethal joke indeed… except, next month, we see the both of them again.  In broader context, the ceaseless cycle of the diad is reaffirmed.  This has been hellaciously sticky as an idea in the Batmen universe.

My realization of what DC has been doing is pretty banal in its pieces. Marvel has “ground level” heroes while DC has a mythos, a pantheon.  Their archetypal makeup is strong, the seven JLA members lining up with the pantheon of Greek gods and the Chakras weirdly closely.  DC has big characters that are somewhat flat which they can use tell big bold individual stories that are cool the way legends and fables are cool. But these stories require bold strokes that a bit incompatible with each other. People get attached to these iterations. Meanwhile, Marvel trucks in soap operas where the characters give you an empathetic stand in and are narratively flexible. Marvel events are usually about the writer vs. the company, asking you to sympathize or deconstruct the creative impulse amid efforts to impose control or order.  DC’s events are about editorial vs. the audience, the shapers vs. the forces of the world.  It may seem obvious, given this description, that DC’s focus is on an archetypal tableau though it may be less obvious that this tableau is under extreme pressure from expectations when trying to tell ongoing tales month in, month out (or semi-monthly in some cases). The stories are constantly compared against the big stories that have gone before, and the audience’s ideas of the characters exert pressure to push them in directions that capture “the” version they believe in.  This circle is not possible to square.

DC and Marvel both have a multiverse of sorts.  DC used to tell “Elseworlds” stories which were later tucked into pocket universes.  DC invented crossing over between “realities.”  DC’s continuity is heavy baggage and they began to have “Crises” to resolve the narrative incompatibilities.  These only made things worse as you can’t get rid of the past people have a relationship with – it will come back.  Now you have to explain that away too.  Marvel just lets it lay – forget about the iffy stories, they count, sure, just no one is ever going to talk about them unless they have an angle.  Marvel continuity is all angles and amnesia. This is just easier to do with dating and rent and your ancient aunt’s medical bills than with Gods. Marvel’s multiverse is about sandboxes that you can always dump into the mainframe if they work (and never really mention the sandbox again).

There is a shift that occurred in the industry in the 2004 to 2005 era that is less remarked upon than many upheavals in comic’s history. Marvel had gone through a period of incredible new idea generation in the early 2000s after a late 90s creative cratering but had just fired the pro wrestling inflected soul of that moment (Bill Jemas).  DC was coming off of a period of trying to do moderately updated versions of what they basically been doing all along. The attitude was “yeah we’re under stress from the combined history of these characters, but we got to keep telling the stories.” Geoff Johns was one voice of DC over the 99-04 period that showed potential - he seemed to get how to find the core of characters and push them into a new in sync directions if they over the years have lost a clear identity.  But mostly he had internalized a basic schism between something mean that the audience wanted, and something good and wholesome about the characters themselves, and figured out how to mess around with this in a equilibrating fashion.

Interestingly, the ignition point of the main forces that were going to blow DC over the next decade and a half was a comic that had virtually nothing to do with any of those main forces. Brad Meltzer, a novelist, was hired to do a comic called Infinity Crisis, which sold extremely well and was, justifiably or not, recognized as an event.  At the same time, everyone also kind of hated it because the dark desires of some DC fans were pushed forward just a bit too much for comfort and for a comic with Crisis in the name it didn’t do a whole lot other than “darken” things.  Nonetheless, this lit an “event” fire at both companies.  Marvel chose a shake up the status quo for a year, then do it again, pattern and was off to the races (I have written about this, and more, here) while continuing its Randian framing of beleaguered do-gooders opposed by rule making freedom haters.

As this was playing out, Dan Didio quietly took power in DC Editorial.  His outlook was more Bloomian – he seemed to spark off of writers who exhibited anxiety of influence. He recognized Johns was the one person they had could be promoted into something of a universe architect, starting work on two key projects from which the rest would evolve. The first, was bringing back Hal Jordan as Green Lantern and diffracting the GL universe into its own symbolic system, with parts frisson-ing other parts, and almost a Magic the Gathering color scheme of ideas. The other was to build up to Infinite Crisis, which would become the model for most of their universe changing events until the present day.

The basic frame is this: DC heroes want to be good (in a sense of their inherent nature) but forces outside form a context that makes them fall.  It’s a very gnostic universe, DC.  They  examine reflections of the concepts, invent scapegoats for certain tendencies (see Superboy Prime as entitled fanboy, Dr. Manhattan as editors that try and fail to mend things, etc), make characters violate principles, rehabilitate them, then show that the world if anything is more broken than before.  This is kind of Johns’ thing and it fits Didio’s narrative as historicval tension fetish.  But then came Scott Snyder (not to be confused with Zack) who began to work on Batman in 2011.  Since then, as much as Justice League is pushed as the central title and Lex Luthor has been pimped, Batman has been the core of the universe and the Joker the core villain.

Snyder had the same continuity conflict wavelength but was significantly more meta and able to contain multitudes than Johns.  He was the first to make an explicit mystery of how there could be several Jokers around at one time (who are the same but not, he posited 3 – man, Christians!) that seems prescient given the near future coexistence of filmic Jokers that are not able to be resolved.  I believe he was the first to begin to tease out an idea – that different versions of things in comics are not a diffraction or filter effect, a using the set of things that work best for that story and leaving the rest, but are a matter of the archetypal system of the audience coming apart. From an in story perspective what appears to happen is that multiple versions of incompatible things exist in the collective unconscious of the continuing narrative, and this is something that the characters may become conscious of.  

The run I just read is written by James Tynion IV building on the above trends.  The trick seems to be going all in on the Jungian aspect (at Jung’s most religiously epiphanic).  The Designer was a progenitor and adversary to Batman’s predecessor and his intellectual approach eventually defeated the detective… broke him.  At some point in early Batman history, the Designer brought the top four Bat-baddies together and offered each, in turn, a plan to achieve what they most desired: the Riddler, a way to achieve an empire of the mind; the Penguin, power; and Catwoman, money.  They are all elated as they await the Joker to come out.  The Joker emerges with a furious Designer on his heals and promptly shoots him dead.  He explains that he didn’t like his joke in the form of a fable – the devil offered four people the path to their greatest desire: the three chose earthly things, but the Joker’s wish was to be him, to become the devil.  The story proceeds to suggest that the Joker just exists, he is present as a necessary component in the system.   You can kill him, yet he is alive.

DC has been using physics metaphors for the nature of their reality since Flash of Two Worlds in 1963.  The multiverse as a continuity concept was their idea and the holographic universe of the hypertime was a thing.  It seems like since Dan Didio took over, they’ve been heading towards a concept of broad superimposition, of measurement effect being weak, of the universe being like a quantum computer with all possibilities coexisting and the story instantiating not one reality but a path through all the possible ones.  By making Batman trip balls through quite a few issues and relive his origin from different angles, the story is one of its own instability and the heroic task that confronts our hero is attempting to actualize the world.  The Joker is the Devil in the sense of lack of fixed meaning, of relativistic chaos, of the world not making sense because it’s unmoored nature with ultimately no knowability.  Batman, in this story, functions as a postmodern knight crusading against the impossibility of epistemological grounding.

There’s more going on, sure.  One plot is, literally, defund Batman.  There is rioting, people brainwashed by being exposed to toxic ether, people paid to go to theaters even though they will die as a result, and questions about neoliberalism similar to that one Joker movie. Punchline has no personality yet (Tynion’s not the best at that) but she serves well as a generational foil for Harley – a rudderless ideological vacuum susceptible to Joker-as-idea-virus rather than an unfulfilled MD who felt alienated due to the structures of her life and was seeking escape into structureless possibility.  The Designer stuff is both continuity play (See why they changed from goofy villains to more “realistic” ones! Look how pulp heroes informed superheroes!), a comment on the nature of a longstanding narrative (strong intentions die out as Brownian motion overwhelms momentum), and a lawful evil/chaotic evil setup of the dualism of apocalypses (overdetermined authoritarian vs. center does not hold barbarism).  But the thing that ties this to the past decade and a half of DC is the sense that the reality is fluid and susceptible to change or outright s’cool incompatibility.

This is different than other flavors of meta in superhero comics.  Grant Morrison believes the archetypes are stronger than the forces that seek to bend them.  Alan Moore wants you to deconstruct your sacred cows and probably hates you personally.  Marvel might play with self-awareness, but effortlessly resolves inconsistencies after it’s finished playing.  DC, at this point, allows you to watch the waves solidfy into symbols and dissolve, and the constant confusion and lack of grounding is more of a choice then I thought this time yesterday.  The conflict theory of DC reality has been in full swing but this looks to be turning towards a kind of Zen historicism, holding contradictory things in your mind at once. Warren Ellis’ JLA/Authority book is the nearest comparable text I can think of. I need to call this, but I didn’t even talk about Death Metal, DC character multiplicity as meta-psychosis event extraordinaire.  Comics just keep getting weirder.

[scarlettaagni]

I cannot accept Scar the Predator’s facehugging and subsequent death + chestbursting on multiple levels but somehow it’s more plausible than Ripley’s infection in Alien 3

the movie literally JUST established to us that Scar is a Predator who notices things his brothers don’t. He found that guy they threw down the tunnel while his brothers passed him by, and literally right before that shot of the second facehugger attacking while Scar is unmasked, without even looking, he partially decapitates a Xenomorph while Chopper explicitly fails the exact same kind of attack. Scar is attentive and that’s why he’s the Predator who makes it to the end of the movie instead of dying halfway through like Celtic and Chopper.

Basically the movie showed us the thing about this character that enables him to survive the halfway mark and immediately subverted it.

I’m no cinematography expert but do you realize how poorly it’s shot? The facehugger jumps while Scar is kneeling, maskless, seeming inattentive just like the scene one minute prior when he caught that Xenomorph, and it cuts away. Next time we see him, he’s calmly putting his mask back on. So, we are shown a scene of something happening for a second time and I’m sure it’s meant to be a twist at the end which makes you realize that “no, the second time he got ambushed, he really did lose”, and once we tune back in, nothing seems to be wrong. But that second time/different outcome definitely wasn’t the conclusion I was led to. I’ve seen this movie like 4 times and the first three, I assumed him being stabbed by the Alien Queen was what gave him a chestburster. Didn’t help that in Requiem, that exact same Predalien has the ability to make more xenomorphs. That solidified my apparently? incorrect maybe? theory that it was a Queen chestburster. Technically that’s the fault of the sequel but it reinforced my confusion anyways.

plus, this is a me thing, but there are lots of in-universe theories about why Yautja faces are like that, and specifically I’m particularly partial to the “their faces evolved that way to explicitly keep facehuggers off of them” so call me biased

and this point can be easily countered by “he wanted to go out fighting instead” but I feel like if Scar really did get facehugged somehow, he’d just fucking kill himself right there and then with the wrist nuke, annihilating the Xenomorph nest just as he does in the actual movie. Plotwise, he couldn’t because that would wipe out our still-living human main characters cause they wouldn’t know or have enough time to escape and that’d be a short and boring movie, but it is what should happen (I’d argue that’s what happens in Requiem, almost) Getting facehugged may cause some amnesia/a slight memory blackout but if a Yautja wakes up next to a dead facehugger, somehow having been asleep during his first Xenomorph hunt, it should be glaringly obvious to him that he’s been infected. Sure, they like to go out fighting but honorable suicide is a thing.

tangentially related, someone on AVP’s writing team noticed what a plot hole it would be if the Yautja who come to claim Scar’s infected corpse had their helmets on (potentially seeing the issue and not destroying the body or removing the chestburster, etc) so every single one of them have no masks/have them tucked in their arm and don’t put them on while viewing the body.

If I could rewrite the movie, I would sacrifice the sweet duo-fighting with Scar and Lex at the end for a more logical/in-character earlier conclusion:

Scar is aware he is infected, but knows he has time and needs to find the sacrifice room, now the heart of the Xenomorph nest infesting the temple to ensure its destruction.

When Lex gives the plasmacaster back to him and she kills a Xenomorph with his combistick, he bloods her right there and then. Movie continues as normal, with added conflict from assailing Xenomorphs so Scar and Lex can have some scenes of fighting alongside one another because I am a simple bitch.

As they run to that pulley sled at the foot of the tunnel, Scar stops, aware this is the end of the line for him. He’s stabbed through the shoulder by a Xenomorph and Lex shoots it off of him, trying to get him to follow.

Scar explicitly refuses as she attempts to pull him to the sled before it leaves without them, he points to his chest and even puts her hand to it.

Whether she gets it instantly or later (most likely instantly because AVP is the “Lex Is Always Smart and Right” movie), she sees he won’t budge as he turns to keep Xenomorphs away from her and the sled.

He gives her his mask, perhaps some weapons before she goes up the tunnel without him. I think it’d be a neat subversion if he gave the plasmacaster back to her, since she is now Blooded like him and she’ll be needing it.

The blast wipes out all the standard Xenomorphs plus the eggs as they do in the movie, along with Scar. It’s a suicide but also it’ll be during his attempts to keep the Xenomorphs from following Lex and within the immediate blast range. He dies fighting.

The movie concludes with a 1v1 fight between Lex and the Alien Queen.

After she drowns the Queen and is confronted by Scar’s clan, and without a body for them to recover, she gives them his mask and anything else he handed to her.

Movie proceeds as normal, his clan isn’t hostile due to her blooded mark, the Elder gives her his combistick, and she heads toward the snowcat while the Yautja ship leaves.

Completely circumvents that plot hole about the masks I mentioned.

Sure, this annihilates the premise of the sequel and the gnarly Predalien design but I couldn’t see anything in that movie anyways.

[lizacstuff]

Speculation asks (2nd Fragman, ep 38)

(asks under the cut)

Anonymous said: I'm actually very surprised we had 2 happy fragmans.. I've been conditioned to always except the other shoe to drop after 1 good fragman lol.. I mean suuuuure Serkan is most likely sick, but we all know he'll be fine in the end, so while the angst is gonna be there, it's more like the good kinda angst. I'm all for angst in which Edser are together through it and there's no involvement of third parties involved.. (thank god the Selin arc is FINALLY over)

Yes, yes! All of this. How funny that we’re all like, “Brain tumor? Happy days!!!” LMAO. But after what they’ve put us through with us constantly being hit in the face with Selin and Deniz for 7 episodes, this feels like the good kind of angst. Anything where Eda and Serkan are dealing with the adversity that comes their way together, feels like a breath of fresh air. 

We know that they’ll get through whatever this is and it’s obvious from the fragman that they’re taking a carpe diem sort of approach and we’re getting Serkan trying to live life to the fullest which should be fun to watch. 

Anonymous said: Since edas in the airport outfit I’m guessing the Selin Deniz drama will be solved pretty quick cause she’ll overhear Selin on the phone. And then edser will get tattoos etc. and the new drama is serkans (benign probably) tumor? He thinks he’s going to die and reflects on life/thinks about his brother and explains the bucket list to eda. So the crime solving thing is like a game set up? Like not an actual murder but kind of like escape rooms? What do u think??

I think you’re very good at speculating, this all makes sense to me.  I’m trying to temper my expectations with the Selin scene because it seems obvious that they are disposing of the story as quickly as possible and she may not get the comeuppance I desire. But as long as Serkan and Eda know her game and are not falling for her tricks anymore, I’ll take it. I just want her out of their lives and off the canvas of this show!!!!!

So they must go to the hospital to get Serkan checked out after he passed out at the airport and that’s when Eda stumbles across Selin and overhears that Deniz is the father. I’m guessing it’s all done and dusted in the first 10 minutes of the episode.  It’s about time that luck fell Eda or Serkan’s way when it comes to Selin and Deniz’s machinations.  Overhearing her confessing is pretty convenient, but since they should have unmasked them about a half dozen times by now, we’ll take the convenience of this. 

As far as the murder thing, it must be some sort of murder-mystery party. The whole gang is there and Eda and Serkan look to be roll-playing, I bet those scenes will be fun.

We’ll have to see what’s up with the tumor, but I can not wait to see how the tattoos come about. I’m just enamored with them. 

Anonymous said: I saw online someone mention that it is possible the murder mystery may be an escape room. I don't see why you would need a wig for an escape room but the new episode looks like it's gonna be a rom com episode. I think the Selin issue will be resolved very quickly at the beginning of the epi. Eda is wearing the same clothes she wore to the airport when she hears Selin. And they can't show Deniz because of the actor's Covid diagnosis. There will be some sadness because of the tumour plot

You need a wig for a murder-mystery party and/or escape room if you’re really into it and having fun!  Or if you’re trying to do something fun and sexy for your boyfriend who thinks he’s dying...

Anonymous said: I love how everyone at Artlife comes on board for whatever they decide. If they are solving an actual murder, I can't believe they all agreed! I saw online someone say that's true ride or die! Lol! I love these characters! They can test my patience sometimes but sometimes I'm just in awe of them and their relationships!

Yes, the rest of the characters are usually seem game for anything. I like it like this, when they’re good, supportive friends (unlike the shitstains some of them were during amnesia, Piril and Ceren, looking at you).  Now... when is a love interest arriving for Melo?

Anonymous said: They could stretch this plot out 2-3 episodes depending on how many items Serkan has on his bucket list. I think this could give us the rom com we love so much but obviously with the background of his tumour. I'm actually excited. If they plan to have Kemal be Serkan's dad then it may stretch even longer and I'm okay with that. I just wanted Selin and Deniz gone and Edser to be together. We are getting that

I pretty much agree with this. I actually don’t mind the health-scare plot stretching out a bit if it gives us some good angst and some introspective Serkan and Eda standing by her man, and them confronting everything together and trying to live life to the fullest.  I wish we could get them to Paris for this bucketlist! Damn you, COVID! 

Some speculation I read pointed out that perhaps the tumor is a way for the new writers to explain some of Serkan’s out-of-character behavior under the last set of writers. That would be a good thing, it would allow the audience and Eda to forgive his lapses while having amnesia. It will be interesting if it’s mentioned that behavioral changes are a symptom.  

There’s also the speculation that the story could serve to reveal Kemal as Serkan’s father.  Frankly, I hope so.  I really like the idea of Serkan having a bit of an identity crisis and also confronting his anger at his parents and what it would mean to let someone into his life that might actually love him as a father. Let’s be real, Alptekin was a failure as a father to Serkan.  And he was such a failure, and with a son who really did nothing but give him reasons to be proud, that it all comes together and makes me think he always knew he wasn’t Serkan’s biological father.  I mean that jackass refused to come to his son’s engagement party, or meet his fiancé, and he was there at the house. That’s a certain kind of loathing. 

Anonymous said: It seems like the next episode will be one emotional hit after another. And just when you think everything is going to be okay then something else will happen. Like Eda deciding she will fully commit to being with Serkan and helping him raise his child with Selin only to right afterwards hear Selin on the phone with Deniz. Serkan & Eda will rejoice and then comes the news of Serkan’s health issues. He either withholds the news for a bit or they have another very emotional scene reaffirming their commitment to each other and getting through this before working on his bucket list. Seems like the truth about Kemel & Aydan’s past relationship might come to light as well. I am so darn happy that Selin is leaving the show for good by the end of the episode & hope Eda chews her out after hearing her on the phone. Totally fine if Serkan & Selin have zero scenes together and their goodbye/chew out is handled on the phone. And if Deniz was going along with Selin’s plan then he needs to be chewed out as well. That poor baby though.

I’m not sure how much chewing out of Selin and Deniz we’re going to see. For sure Eda is going to have some choice words for Selin after what she overheard, but who knows if we’re going to get the satisfying Serkan smackdown we all want. The audience deserves to have them humiliated and punished, but with all the circumstances (Bige having less availability to work due to her father’s death, Sarp Can having COVID, and new writers just wanting to dispose of the storyline as soon as possible) who knows. 

However, I’ll rejoice that they’re gone and not worry too much about it. 

[scripttorture]

I have a few questions. First, What longterm effects would having ones shoulders dislocated for an extended time (hours, days, etc) have? Second, my MC has really vague, choppy memory of their time in captivity. Blurry, foggy images with little context flash in their mind, usually in dreams or when exposed to certain stimuli, ie, they get vague recollections of metal bars when it's too hot or feel claustrophobic if water is in their face. Is this type of sporadic memory realistic?

I’m not 100% sure what you mean, so I’m going to start by describing how I’m interpreting the memory problems you’re describing.

 What I’m getting is an idea that this character doesn’t actually have any real, conscious memories of captivity. Instead they have little fever-dream type snatches of images, feelings or possible sensations that might be related to their captivity but they can’t even be sure of that.

 It’s a pattern that I’ve seen a few times in fiction and generally it doesn’t line up with how memory problems in survivors work. Typical memory problems are less obvious and more insidious. They also tend to have greater lasting effects on the survivor’s life.

 That said, I think it might be possible in very particular circumstances. Something else would need to be going on that effected the survivor’s mental state at the time.

 Sleep deprivation can result in a lot of memory problems. But it’s more common for survivors to have gaps in their memories or small inaccuracies unless they’re sleep deprived to the point where they’re basically psychotic.

 I mean that in the sense of hallucinating, paranoid and disconnected from reality, not the colloquial sense.

 Even then sleep deprivation doesn’t usually mean no memory without stimulation. It means things like… ‘Oh yeah I remember I was held in this cell with metal bars and then the bars started bending and bugs stepped out of the shadows.’ Memories that are wrapped up in paranoid hallucinations that the survivor knows aren’t real.

 Fever can result in the sort of choppy memories I think you’re describing.

 Some drugs can also produce this sort of effect. I can’t really tell you much about that though because in the industry we see it as an unwanted side effect to eliminate rather then something to wilfully induce. Which means that if someone starts getting those side effects they get put on a different drug quick.

 Some of the so-called ‘truth drugs’ do have something close to this effect on memory, though they don’t make it more likely that people will tell the truth.

 And more often what survivors (or patients) who’ve been given these drugs describe is straight up gaps in their memory for the period they were under the influence of the drug.

 I won’t say that you ‘can’t��� or ‘shouldn’t’ use this sort of memory problem in your story. But if you’re dead set on it I’d strongly encourage you to come up with a reason why.

 Stress, captivity and torture would not produce this sort of effect unless there’s something else going on. But if your character was drugged throughout, or unlucky enough to be kidnapped while coming down with a nasty fever, then it might be possible.

 An unmedicated mental health problem could also produce this (ie character has a pre-existing disorder, is kidnapped and has no access to medication), but I’d suggest looking that up elsewhere because I’m not an expert on psychotic disorders. And as I understand it psychosis doesn’t produce memory problems; it distorts someone’s view of reality not their ability to remember those distortions.

 I will say that I think it’s usually better to stick with more typical memory problems. It’s more representative of the typical survivor experience and frankly there are a lot of poorly done amnesia/memory loss stories in the world already.

 You can read more about what the typical memory problems look like over here.

 Unless there’s something else going on survivors don’t commonly forget that they were abused or the broad strokes of what happened. It’s much more common for survivors to experience intense intrusive memories of a traumatic event then it is for them to forget a traumatic event*.

 Traumatic memories can be inaccurate but these inaccuracies don’t tend to be things like whether the abuse happened or not and survivors do tend to get broad details correct. It can interfere with a survivor’s ability to identify an attacker they didn’t know previously. It can also effect things like their perception of timing, details of where the attack took place and the events leading up to and after the attack.

 Survivors can also forget a lot of things that happened shortly before and shortly after an attack. They might lose memories of what they did the day before instance, or only have a blurry recollection of the week after.

 They can also have general problems forming new memories that persist at a constant level for life. This can make it difficult to keep appointments, study for an exam and continue with household chores.

 If you want to switch to more… Usually I say ‘realistic’ but in this case I think it’s ‘more common’, memory problems then here’s what I’d suggest to get something close to the disorientation you’ve got in the original idea.

 I’d use memory loss to an extent where the character has only very vague recollections of what happened the week before and after they were snatched. I’d then combine that with intrusive memories and inaccurate memories.

 I would set up the scenario in such a way that the character is aware some of their memories are inaccurate. For instance I might have them write down some thoughts and memories soon after they were rescued/escaped. Then go back to that in two weeks and find that it is really different to what they now remember.

 I’ve also established inaccurate memories by using multiple points of view or having multiple character present at particular points. Having contrasting points of view can show that the memories are inaccurate.

 You can also straight up describe what happens in the story, from the point of view of the character it happens to. Then later have them think or talk about it and show something different. Hell you can show the memory changing every time they think about it, without the character necessarily being aware it’s changing. That does happen.

 Intrusive memories are not necessarily accurate either. And they can be triggered in ways that are hard to interpret or understand.

 That mix of memory problems; loss of memories, inaccurate memories (both that the character is aware of and ones they’re not) with intrusive memories that seem to be set off by disconnected things- it can really make someone doubt themselves and doubt what’s real.

 Which isn’t quite the same as giving them these blurry, fever-dream memories but it can have the same narrative effect. They’re not sure what really happened. They doubt themselves.

 And there can be real fear and anger bound up in those things. Fear because not knowing and sitting with those doubts is scary. Anger because knowing you’re an unreliable witness makes any kind of justice or change next to impossible is… a lot to deal with.

 Those are the best things I can think of to get close to what you want from the story.

 I’d also encourage you to think about what this kind of ‘sporadic’ memory is adding to the story. I’ve written enough that I have no doubts it’s adding a lot, it’s an interesting idea to be working with. But it might help you to break it down and define exactly what it’s bringing to the plot and characters before you decide what to do. Having that list in front of you can make it easier to see other options and ways to include all the elements you want.

 As for dislocated shoulders- I’m no medic.

 Scriptmedic, the original Script blog, has a post on dislocations here. There’s also a handy NHS guide to dislocated shoulders over here.

 Most modern torture doesn’t involve deliberately dislocating the shoulders. Because that’s an obvious injury and obvious injuries are evidence of a crime.

 A lot of historical torture did involve deliberately dislocating the shoulders. But historical medical practice was not… shall we say ‘good’. The record keeping historically was also less then stellar and the result is that I don’t necessarily have access to the best sources here.

 My instinct is the effects would be pain and increased damage to the soft tissue around the shoulder joint. This can cause long term mobility issues, though generally not to an extent where people can’t get through their day to day life (they might adjust to do things differently putting less stress on the shoulders).

 I am pretty sure there’d be a higher chance of chronic pain afterwards.

 And that’s really the extent of my medical knowledge there but I hope you can find useful info on the NHS website and Aunty Scripty’s archives.

 I hope that helps. :)

Available on Wordpress.

Disclaimer

*Once again I don’t know much about childhood development and I don’t read much about child abuse. Anecdotally I have noticed a pattern where more survivors of abuse in early childhood report that they forgot about it. This may be because there’s extensive restructuring of the brain and neural ‘pruning’ that happens naturally as children grow. They still experienced lasting trauma symptoms.

[savvyblunders]

Personal Post: Imposter Syndrome, Reading Traditional Books, and thoughts about my own writing

{Just rambles regarding books, fanfiction and some of my thoughts therein.}

It’s been a terribly long time since I read any published books--aside from those written by fellow fanfiction authors. It has reached the point that I find them entirely too cringey. The plots are tame, the characters stiff, the language rote. I especially have a hard time caring if there is a supposed ‘romance’ involved. Forget about het romances, they’re so formulaic that they leave me cold. It isn’t that I have no interest in the portrayal of a relationship between a woman and man, it’s that by and large they might as well have been churned off of a factory production line. 

Part of my objection is to the tired old tropes and gender roles which authors (and readers) don’t seem to realize they’re not only falling prey to, but encouraging with their work. The world doesn’t have to be turned on its head to be interesting, but you shouldn’t know from the first few scenes between characters how it will play out--and further more, not care.

I did read a rather good psychological mystery a few days ago, however. I think perhaps it was successful in part because it was so different from the usual run of stories that people publish, but also because there wasn’t a romance shoe-horned into the storyline. The narrator wasn’t particularly sympathetic, but nor were they entirely unredeemed. I don’t want to give too much away, but it explored the themes of bullying, memory, redemption and revenge, with an enjoyable twist that I didn’t see coming--I was successfully led astray by red herrings, which isn’t always the case when I’m reading mysteries. The book, should anyone be interested, was Girl Gone Mad by Avery Bishop.

{I keep on rambling after the break ;)}

I also read another which was such a stinker I deleted it from my Kindle history and couldn’t tell you the title or author. This beauty had a somewhat interesting premise of a woman who wakes from a six month coma with full amnesia and throughout the book has to struggle with not remembering anything and depending on her husband, children and neighbors for the details of her life. Frustratingly, she finds parts of her personality and tastes have changed--at least as far as they all tell her. She begins to doubt that she is who they say--an issue further compounded when certain facets of her life pre-coma are revealed. Then when the ending arrives, there is a twist and a reveal which could have been pretty neat, only it arrived at the end of such a rote story, with such clunky storytelling and unimaginative language that I kind of didn’t care. It was clear, I might add, that the female protagonist was written by a man. Although blessedly he didn’t go into raptures over her perky breasts, long hair, or other physical attributes [insert vomiting]

My reading resulted in a two-fold feeling. One, traditionally published books are by and large crap. A few months ago I tried reading a book from a famous author whom I used to be quite a fan of. It was part of a series with which I used to be enamored. I settled in, expecting a very enjoyable read. After slogging through three chapters I gave it up. The writing was generic, the characters shallow and the ‘bad guy’ was so sketchily written as to be bewildering, not mysterious. 

That book left me frustrated and annoyed. But it also revealed something to me which I had somewhat accepted and understood prior to that, but not entirely absorbed. Just because a book is traditionally published doesn’t mean it’s any good. Just because an author is well known--or even on the best seller list--doesn’t mean they can write. There are more places to find interesting, funny, heartbreaking, sexy, fun, amazingly written, daring and wonderful stories than at a bookstore or through Kindle. 

The second part of my two-fold feeling was that while, as a writer, I may have much room to grow, I still have valuable skills to offer. My four years of writing fanfiction have honed my talent, refined my style, and influenced my voice, perspective and ability. A good beta, or editor, is invaluable. While I used to write solo and not show it to anyone, simply edit and post, I’ve come to understand the inherent value of feedback. It can be a tricky road, as you might find yourself influenced too much by a reader into trying to suit their tastes rather than your own, but a good beta (eternal thanks to @paialovespie & @hoomhum)--that is to say, a great beta, will not only see the nuts and bolts which might need tightening, but will offer insights which blow your story from ordinary to inspired. The same goes for a ‘personal cheerleader’ (the highest of praise to @mottlemoth) or someone who reminds you at your dark times that you are capable of far more than you can conceive of in that moment. Forget nasty comments online, most of us are our own worst enemies--after all, we know our weakest spots and can zero in on them mercilessly.

Even without a beta, I believe in myself as a writer enough these days (most days) to hope that one day, with hard work, skill, great editing, and some luck, I too could be published. Not a NYT best seller, perhaps, but then, I’m not entirely certain I’d like that. I don’t say this out of any sort of pretentiousness, but because, in essence, these days, I want to write the kind of things that appeal to a more niche audience. I’d like to point with pride at my small book, nestled there on a bookshelf, or available with one click of a button, as something that helps give a voice to a community which has, and still continues to be, marginalized, ignored, fetishized and pandered to, in equal measure. Perhaps it would be for the best if what I wrote wasn’t palatable to the greater reading public.

Of course, those days when I’m full of zest and confidence don’t always last. Like any creator, I fall prey to Imposter Syndrome. Lord, I can’t believe that a time used to exist when I didn’t know what that was! I knew the feeling (oh, how I did), but had no clue that a term existed to encapsulate it. The concept that I wasn’t alone in having days (weeks, months, years) of being cast into doubt that I had anything worth saying--a voice worth listening to--isn’t a new one, but to find out that I’m not alone was unutterably comforting. 

Since, like so many people, I’ve been suffering from a lack of ambition and ability to focus during this global pandemic, I haven’t written much at all, that inner voice rang loud and clear. I’m a fraud, a fake. Any ability I had was used up, clearly as shallow as a mud puddle if a little adversity was enough to dry it out. The struggle to get myself past that was, and is, one that swings from good to bad almost day by day. I had to finally give myself permission to be sad, scared, worried, tired, uninspired. Eventually I decided it was enough that I could find comfort and solace in other’s writing. And oh, how I have! Even though days and days would pass when I couldn’t even muster the interest to read, other times I would consume fanfiction fervently, feverishly. 

And there was so much out there! Adventure, sex, romance, comedy, crack, fluff, hurt/comfort. It seems funny that I can rail against the ‘formulaic’ writing of published books and then turn to ‘tags’ and ‘tropes’ for comfort. But I think the difference lies in the heart that is written into those fanfiction stories. Most of us, while being somewhat influenced by friends, mutuals and fans into writing for a hungry public, are, by and large, writing for ourselves. The old tried and true ‘write what you know’ advice seemed empty and meaningless to me for years. If we only ever write what we know, then how do sci-fi, fantasy, adventure, etc., get written? My brain went to the obvious and ignored the heart of the matter--it isn’t so much what you ‘know’ as writing what you need. What makes you passionate. Even if you’ve never been on a space ship, or been part of a polyamorous, platonic communal family group, if you write it with that yearning and spirit in your heart, it will reach out to someone else.

Fanfiction, at it’s core, is self-comfort.

In my estimation, looking at traditionally published books, it seems that what most of them lack is that heart. The writers aren’t writing because they need the story, or because they are compelled to tell it. It isn’t that they had a hell of a good time writing it, or that they made themselves laugh while doing so. They had a publishing deal to fulfil, a publisher to make happy, a reading public who had certain expectations. There’s nothing wrong with that of course, but if it’s your only motivation...then the writing suffers the neglect and a percerptive reader will note the difference. 

By and large, the fandom, the ship, even the trope, aren’t what captivates me most. I’m a pretty eclectic reader. I enjoy a good story more than I do the fact that it is a particular pairing. The draw is how well it is written, any chances the author took, the indulgence into style, formatting, etc. that they allowed themselves. So why should published books be any different? I’ve heard (non-fandom) people dismiss fanfiction as niche. Perhaps it is. But it is also broad, vast, uncharted territory where we’re all having a lot of fun and enjoying the hell out of ourselves.

Maybe those published authors need to spend a little time with us. 

[prongsmydeer]

Ayesha Liveblogs Oh My Ghost (2018) Ep. 9-16

Part 2 of this post because tumblr would not let me save anymore either because of the numerous images I’m commenting on or because of how many times I use the word H*rny 

Kaopoon is frustrated bc Real Jiw is now vibing with her new BF Sun while she is sitting sadly on a swing set [Alexa play Sadness and Sorrow]

Backtracking to the other kind of drama: Lieutenant Murder is finally going to murder someone on screen (specifically his fellow police officer) because Lieutenant Murder jumped him for getting too close to solving Nammoon's hit-and-run case, which is at this point obvious he committed)

I love when Sun and Jiw flirt through their apartment wall

Jiw and Sun are dating now but the remaining point of contention is how much Horny Ghost just wants them to sleep together instead of getting to know each other to which Sun thinks “Jiw do u only want me for my body 😔?”

I can't believe that Lieutenant Murder's tragic backstory is that he was an orphan oh my god. Adoption is normal!! Murder is not!!

Lieutenant Murder was possessed by an evil spirit????? (After the first time he tried to murder????) WHAT WHAT WHAT

Sous Chef Rain is yelling at the restaurant staff bc of forgetting his birthday, bc he is, truly, a perennial pain in the ass

They are all out for Rain's birthday except for Sun bc of his and Jiw (Kaopoon)'s sex fight and so he is very anxious about his girlfriend being out with The Guys without him

Also Study-Abroad Win is handsome to the point of distraction AND nice  where is his romance? Where is the justice for the male models of the world

Sun's Mom does not know he is Dating and Housing his employee possessed by a Horny Ghost He Thinks is One Facet of Her Personality

Presented without commentary:

Win has been politely pretending not to notice that Sun and Jiw are in a relationship and now I'm thinking he will get a romance and it will be Ida, to wrap up most of the loose ends of this relationship pentagon. Based on no other reason than that they are both single

Dkjhgkjgh lmao @ Sun going to his whole staff: “WHO WANTS TO GO TO THE MARKET?” and then saying no to everyone one by one except his girlfriend

Kaopoon is making Sun help her dad install a restaurant hose in the middle of their work day hahaha

FINALLY PROOF THAT LIEUTENANT MURDER IS A MURDERER. Warning for murder related description, there was a flashback where it showed a still body (face obscured) wearing Kaopoon's outfit on his bathroom floor

They really hammered home the ‘he is a murderer’ thing, he has a bag full of evidence of his crime

In more lighthearted news, Sun's rice intolerance is psychosomatic bc his mum never cooked rice for him and it's Sad Boy Hours

Sun and Kaopoon!Jiw seem like they're finally ready to have sex (they've talked out their feelings and are going away together) but there are FIVE MORE EPS and the murder stuff still lingers so I wonder what other madness this show will unleash on me

Actually, six more eps!! Ahhhh that's so much time

Oh how the tables have turned now Kaopoon is the one too in love with Sun too have sex (bc she will go to the afterlife if she does -- But if she doesn't she'll be an evil spirit so... stuck between a rock and hard-on) 

I have been suspecting for a while tho that the sex will not change anything. She will probably have to solve her murder to pass on

You know what that is? Growth!!

Now they are back to the weird energy of Sun going “Now that we are in love I would like to have sex,” and Kaopoon!Jiw going “Sex????? Never heard of it!!”

Against Kaopoon's credit, she has not informed Jiw that their relationship has progressed this much. She's just like "yeah things are normal" bc she wants to spend as much time with Sun while she has the chance

Win and Kaopoon!Jiw are just being good bros and Sun, in tandem with the sex-back-and-forth, is jealous of their dynamic

Kaopoon has begun to solve her own murder!!! Unfortunately the first thing she did was point out inconsistent evidence to Lieutenant Parin, who extremely Murdered Her

I feel so happy for Jiw when she gets to experience normal boyfriend moments with Sun like these cheesy matching necklaces. <3 Why does Jiw's life have to be so complicated?

Kaopoon is... spiritually breaking up with Jiw, so she can end the messiness of her involvement with Sun

Ehkjehrrk Jiw is back to living her own life and a spirit just tried to grab at her and she just whacked their hand off and said, "Don't bother me now!" so she could keep cooking, love that for her

The employee-boss affair's out of the bag!!

They also keep cutting to Lieutenant Murder with his knife ready to go after Jiw for Knowing Too Much kjhgkhgjh so I guess the last four-and-a-half eps will dedicated to crime-fighting

Auntie Pu is kind of my favourite character on this show bc she goes from Ghost Nemesis to Ghost Mom all while having Sun's mom as her BFF and Sugar Mama

Hahahaha all the other restaurant staff (minus Win, who is chill) are sucking up to Jiw now bc she's dating Sun

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Jiw felt guilty about dating Sun when half the things he loves are things that Kaopoon did and now the Horny Ghost is out of the bag

I can only assume, bc he thinks she's bipolar, he will assume this is product of a hallucination

Reservations on the commentary on bipolar disorder aside, what DO u do when the person you love tells you that they can see ghosts and key relationship moments you had together were the product of them being possessed by a ghost

Sun now believes in ghosts but he's very upset about the romantic implications of this knowledge

“I think the reason I haven’t been reincarnated... isn’t the fact I’ve never slept with a man after all” HORNY GHOST CONFIRMED FOR DETECTIVE GHOST. VINNNNNDICATION!!!!!

Awww the restaurant staff are all surrounding Chef with support in his time of romantic woe

“But I want the two people I care about the most to be happy” I want Win to date Sun AND Jiw he's so good to them

AYYYYYYY Sun found out that Jiw made the recipes for the blog he liked (and called his soulmate) and now he's visiting her grandma bc he truly is in love with both Jiw AND Kaopoon

Sun said, “I acknowledge this is a complicated situation but I'm willing to work through the ghost thing and figure out how we feel about each other”

Cutting back to Lieutenant Murder, he has just meowed at his coworker threateningly in response to being investigated (for attacking that same coworker!!)

Lieutenant Murder wears this same stupid outfit every time he's gonna do a crime recently and can I just say: I hate it

WHAT'S HE GONNA DO, KILL EVERYONE WHO KNOWS SOMETHING ABOUT ONE OF HIS MANY CRIMES?? THAT'S A LOT OF PEOPLE! AUNTIE PU! JIW! THE FORESENICS ANALYST! ALMOST-SUN? HE CAN'T EVEN KILL KAOPOON BC HE ALREADY KILLED HER AND SHE'S A GHOST!!!!!!!!!!!

“Chef, is something wrong?” Jiw asked, after telling Sun that his brother-in-law is a murderer who also probably hit his sister with a car

Sun said, “Pls don't be a murderer I love u bro” and Parin said “My life of crime is very important to me”

This is Kaopoon possessing Auntie Pu so that Kaopoon, Jiw and Sun can be a crime-fighting trio, love that for them

There are SO MANY crimes going on right now I cannot even begin to describe but just know Lieutenant Murder is responsible for all of them

So Jiw has been kidnapped (GUESS WHO) and Sun is investigating every school in the area and Kaopoon has a network of ghosts looking for her while Jiw tries to find a way to communicate her location. The Crime-Fighting Trio Continues!!!

You'd think more people would notice  what a creep this guy is considering that he is literally DIGGING A GRAVE for the woman trapped in his cupboard!!

Poor Nammoon she has no idea her husband is possessed by a murderous ghost. Which like, to be clear, he did try to murder before the ghost possessed him sooooooooooooo

“You're a good person,” said Nammoon, to a man who has committed at least three murders with a fourth on the go

Sun rescued Jiw via high speed car chase and now Auntie Pu and Kaopoon have taken Sun's car to chase Parin and GET HIS ASS

Also Jiw got 2 attack Parin which I think she deserved to get to do

Oh yikes it's possible she fatally injured him which doesn't bode well for the psychological implications of this whole ordeal

Nope I was wrong the ghost-busting continues

Well I don't know what's more perturbing, the resolution of that fight or the fact that there is still one more episode of 1 HOUR left jhfkjhkfjh this better be a happy filler ep where Jiw and Sun get married omg

HORNY GHOST SHOW REALLY MAKING ME TEARY-EYED ON THE LAST EP

The entire restaurant staff is a collective of morons who love Jiw for who she is  

Jiw won a cooking scholarship and gets to study abroad in Europe for two years so it's Sad Boy Hours with Sun again

THEY GOT A SECOND DOG THIS IS THE BEST THING THAT'S HAPPENED ON THIS SHOW

SCREAM NOW AUNTIE PU IS A RICH AND FAMOUS GHOSTBUSTER MEDIUM

Sun has expanded his restaurant business, leaving Rain in charge, and so they have been sent a new employee Summer, who I guess is everyone's new Pain in the Ass just for fun kgjhkjhkgh

He was merely a plot device to prove the Chef Boys are Bros 4 lyf

In a weird turn of events Parin is still alive with amnesia???? Even if all of what he did as an adult was ghost possession stuff.... he did still try to attack a baby as a teen. That's a thing he did! Are we forgetting this????? I guess!!!

GET SOME THERAPY NAMMOON!!

BACK TO THE DOGS:

Sun is strumming a guitar woefully because he misses Jiw:

SHE'S BACK AND THE JIW SUPPORT SQUAD IS THRIVING:

Sun is presumably somewhere sadly shaking a tambourine

IT'S FINALLY HAPPY BOY HOURS

[askaceattorney]

Dear askrikkaiandhyotei,

The...entire cast!?

Well, Turnabout Time Traveler happens to be favorite case anyway, so why not?

Our first guest is the crooked head servant, Mr. Dumas Gloomsbury.  (Might as well get him out of the way first.)

Of course he isn’t.  He’s just a disgruntled servant of the Sprocket family who secretly hates them all for what they’ve done to his reputation, even to the point of being willing to murder someone who would become the newest addition to the family, as well as destroying a prized possession designed by her groom-to-be.

So..........yeah.  Very likable guy.  Thankfully, he’s only on the scene for a brief moment before the titular “time travel” occurs.

That brings us to our next guest, Ms. Ellen Wyatt, soon to be Mrs. Ellen Sprocket, except for the fact that she’s been accused of murder.  Like most defendants, she doesn’t seem like the type to kill someone -- she’s calm, mild-mannered, and well put together.  Well...usually.

You didn’t expect 100% normalcy in a new character, did you?  Heck, we’re lucky to get 50% in this series.  Thankfully, the emotional Ms. Wyatt knows how to pull herself together in an instant.

Quite the enviable skill to have, isn’t it?

This beautiful bride-to-be wants nothing more than to be proven innocent so that she can be married to the one and only Sorin Sprocket of Sprocket Aviation.  Instead of seeking help from the Wright Anything Agency on her own, however, she’s brought to them by someone else.

That brings us to an unexpected guest from yesteryear (and an uninvited one):

Before getting to know Ellen, we’re abruptly introduced to a brand new Larry Butz with a brand new look!  ...And the same old smell, unfortunately.

He introduces “Elly” as his brand new fiance, much to Phoenix’s surprise (and everyone in the known universe’s), but it turns out to be another one of his usual romantic escapades.  What is true is that he helped his beloved Elly escape the room she was confined in, and even shook off the police for her.  Some might call this heroic...if they don’t know the Butz.  As someone who does know him, Phoenix delivers a line from his former mentor:

On the plus side, Larry’s been doing more than chasing women since we last saw him -- he held onto the name he borrowed from his late mentor and became a picture book author.

Not exactly what I’d expect someone in that field to look like, but progress is progress, I guess.

Moving back to “Elly,” she claims to be as clean and pure as her pure-white dress, as well as something else -- something that’s a bit harder to believe.

Like I said, normalcy doesn’t seem to come naturally to new Ace Attorney characters, but her explanation of how she was almost killed, traveled back in time, and saw history rewritten takes the abnormal cake, especially coming from someone as sound-minded as Ellen.  Or is she really as sound-minded as she looks?

We can only hope.

I love how she keeps everything she needs for housekeeping in one place, by the way, almost Mary Poppins-style.

Fast forwarding (no pun intended) through some re-introductions to Maya as our co-council and Edgeworth as the case’s prosecutor (something us long-time Ace Attorney fans can’t help but love), we’re eventually introduced to the master himself, Mr. Sorin Sprocket, who has his own personality quirks...or rather, a severe lack of personality.

Like many genius inventors, he isn’t very social (his preferred method of communication being the paper airplane message), and always seems to be lost in his thoughts until someone pulls him back into reality.  Even stranger than that, he doesn’t seem the least bit worried about his fiance’s trial.  In Phoenix’s his words, he isn’t the easiest guy to wrap your head around.

On top of that, he has his own thing to say about time travel:

He and Ellen apparently both believe in time travel, but apart from that, they don’t seem to have much in common.  In fact, having met the two of them, one might think they’re polar opposites of each other, and...well, they’d be right, but as we learn later on, there’s more to Sorin’s silence than just an obsession with his work.

And speaking of obsession...

Our next guest, while also quite abnormal, is a bit more level-headed than the previous new characters.  He’s well-mannered, detail-oriented, shrewd, and takes the utmost care of Sorin.  Not to mention he's tech-savvy enough to fix a broken radio in a matter of seconds.

I’m surprised Phoenix and Maya didn’t consider the possibility of him being a machine himself, like they did with Lisa Basil.

He happens to have one of my favorite pun names, by the way.  Besides being clever and describing him perfectly, it almost sounds like it could be a real person’s name.

While Mr. Nichody does a good job of being the least interesting character thus far, it turns out that he and his “expensive good luck charm” play one of the most important roles in this case.  Not to mention he gives the biggest piece of foreshadowing in the episode:

Funny he should say that when there’s a spirit medium right in front of him, but I guess he doesn’t have time for unimportant details like that.

As the story goes on and the revelations start pouring in, we learn about Sorin’s older sister Selena, who was originally going to be the next president of Sprocket Aviation.  This, unfortunately, was not to be...

The sudden loss of his sister provides an explanation for his closed-off attitude and interest in time machines, but the mysteries surrounding that tragic day are only beginning.

We also learn that Mr. Nichody believes Ellen is guilty of her alleged crime, and for that reason, he’s strongly opposed to letting her marry Sorin.  Could he be right in doubting her, or is there something else behind is disapproval?  Ellen doesn’t seem that bad, after all.  Just a little...what’s the term?

There you go.

Then comes one of the bigger twists -- it turns out Sorin and his in-laws were responsible for Ellen’s supposed trip through time, which turned out to be an elaborate scheme to make her believe her near-death experience with Gloomsbury was only a dream.  Or so says Nichody, at least.

But once again, this is only the beginning.

Even with the possibility of time travel ruled out, Ellen’s guilt hasn’t been disproved just yet.  The only hope Phoenix has is the person she claims she saw attacking Gloombury before losing consciousness.  Unfortunately, the only suspect he can come up with so far is her fiance, thus introducing the possibility of him having to take her place in prison.

Considering every case up until now has had some form of happy ending, it’d be quite the unusual turn of events for this happy couple to have to be separated whether we win or lose the case...but is it impossible?

As tragic as that possibility might be, it sets up a scene that happens to be one of my favorite kinds -- one where someone is compelled to give up something, even if it’s his or her own life, purely out of love for someone else.

Her words are touching, but soon after saying them, she’s forced to prove just how steadfast her love is for Sorin, even in a cruel twist of fate -- namely, his pointing the blame for Gloomsbury’s death in her direction.

That face alone is enough to break anyone’s heart, but thankfully, that’s where the plot twists just begin.  The first one reveals that Sorin went to rescue his bride-to-be in the most bizarre way possible.

Then it turns out he really didn’t, or so he says.  Then it turns out he was attacked by Gloomsbury along with Ellen.  Then comes one that turns everything he’s said so far upside-down:

It turns out time travel is possible, but not in the way everyone was hoping, or in a way anyone would want -- due to his anterograde amnesia, Sorin “goes back in time” whenever he goes to sleep.  This revelation sheds a lot of light on his personality, his compulsive note-taking, and his feelings toward Ellen.  Not to mention, it turns out (sheesh, I keep saying that) he was responsible for the car crash that took his sister’s life.  But luckily, that's not all his condition reveals.

Someone decided to take advantage of Sorin’s memory being dependent on what he writes in his notebook in order to paint him as Gloomsbury’s murder.  Who might that someone be?  Well, for anyone who’s read the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (or enough murder mysteries involving rich families), it should be pretty obvious -- the butler did it!

But what motive could a close friend and servant have for manipulating Sorin’s memories?  Well, like many an Ace Attorney culprit, he’s not as level-headed as he appears to be.

The rogue butler in this case turns out to be the once-fiance of Sorin’s sister, as well as the one who operated on her after the car accident occurred...or, rather, who almost did.

After some impromptu x-rays and the testimony that wasn’t there, we finally learn the whole truth about Nichody, Gloomsbury, and the plot to exact their revenge on Sorin and his bride.  It turns out Sorin wasn’t the only one stuck in the past.

In a beautiful yet tragic symbolism, Selena’s pocket watch stopped ticking on the same day her heart stopped beating, which, for Nichody, was the day time stopped.

This brings us to our final guest, one who could only be here in spirit -- Ms. Selena Sprocket.  In Ellen’s words, Selena would’ve said, “Leave this ill will behind.  Your time is yours to live.”  To an inconsolable time traveler, these words hold no meaning, but just then...

Whether it’s a coincidence or a message from Selena from beyond (which might actually be believable in the Ace Attorney universe), Pierce is reminded that, sooner or later, time moves on.

And on that note, Ellen and Sorin are finally able to move on from this rough patch in their lives and experience their “First Startup of Love.”

Speaking of the happy couple, the one thing that stuck with me about this episode more than Nichody’s epiphany is how devoted Ellen is to Sorin from beginning to end.

With the knowledge that he might forget everything about her, himself, their wedding, and any other experiences they might share together, her devotion to him is ultimately proven to be the real deal.  His willingness to risk his life for her also proves that this devotion goes both ways.  In the end, there’s nothing, past, present, or future, that can keep them apart.  Why, you ask?

And hey, even Larry found it in himself to move on!  How about that?

Thus ends a beautiful story, a beautiful reunion of the original characters, and a beautiful finale(?) to the Ace Attorney series.  Sure, there was tragedy along the way, but after an ending like that, I’d like to see each of these characters, new and old, take a bow.

Just...don’t throw them any flowers.

-The Co-Mod

[curestardust]

if you want: mecha (not good fight scenes tho for mecha standards) / something really fucking weird / kind of abstract and meta story(?) / missed potential imo

Listeners is.. something. 

Now, first I’d like to address the score on MAL. The anime is actually not that bad. I think the problem is how the summary mentions that “music has disappeared” in the world of “Listeners” when that is really not the focal point of the anime, maybe in a more abstract and meta way but I specifically only remember 3 very short scenes where music is brought up. Apparently, a lot of the lines in the anime are song lyrics from iconic rock songs but besides the fact that lyrics is really not my forté, I also don’t know anything about the artists and songs its referencing as I only have very little knowledge of them (besides listening to them on GTA 4 Liberty Rock Radio probably).

So with that out of the way, first I really wanna praise the OPs art. It’s only like 3-5 second long little scenes with the credits inbetween but they are so dynamic, fluid and pack a punch that if the anime was a 10 minute short film done with this animation I would’ve been in love. 

I hope no one kills me for this comparison but “Listeners” immediately reminded me of “Eureka Seven” with not only its plot but the characters as well. The difference of course is that “Eureka Seven” 50 episodes to work with while “Listeners” only had 12. We have a kid working in the garbage dumps of Liverchester collecting scrap and such for pay. His name is Echo and he tries to reassure himself that this is great and fine and dandy until he comes across a girl who’s been dumped with the garbage, Mu.

Mu has amnesia and doesn’t even remember her name. However, she has a “core part” hanging from her necklace with the text μ (read as Mu) so that’s what Echo decides to call him. We dwelve into the strange world of “Listeners” a bit and find out that there are “Players” out there who have audio headphone jacks on their bodies and can connect “plug into” amplifiers which for whatever reason turn into giant mechs. THIS is the core of the anime for the first half. Echo has been working on an “Equipment” aka amplifier mecha from the stuff he got from the garbage site and using Mu’s core part the thing turns into a mech powered by Mu after she connects to it. However, Players attract strange shadowy creatures called the “Earless” who need to be taken care of by the Players or they’ll wreck havoc and kill people. Liverchester in the past was the place of a great tragedy supposedly because of a Player called Jimi Stonefree so after all is said and done, both Mu and Echo decide to go on an adventure to find out who Mu really is.

The “directionless but really talented in one thing” main boy character and the “has amnesia but is super strong” main female character duo is for some reason really popular, huh. 

Anyway, the lack of an explanation for most of the things going on in the first half of the anime could be called bad writing but it was so abstract and... intriguing somehow that I didn’t care about the fine details. A world where not everything needs to be explained is something that can work as long as there are still rules set for the universe that are consistent. The duo travels around to meet with various side characters, all of whom give little breadcrumbs for the viewer and the characters to Mu and Liverchester’s past. 

The second half of the anime is where my enjoyment started to plummet. Characters with really vague plans and goals, the side characters assembling treated like they’re the avengers or something when they only appeared for one episode, Echo having a schroom trip or something, and the already pretty obvious “discrimination” aspect being amplified (hah) by 100 where it felt incredibly forced. The ending didn’t make much sense either. As much as I barely have any idea what the fuck was going on for most of the anime, I was fine with it because of what I said above but the ending was really... a tiny bit much even for me.

LISTEN, “Listeners” is something really strange, with pleasing visuals (except the mechs) and colours, pretty nice music and a kind of “just accept what’s happening” kind of story where the viewer can make their own conclusions as they please. If this had more time to flesh out the characters, *maybe*, it’d be something I’d recommend. But it didn’t. And we’re left with a really weird show with layers to it but no time to really dwelve into it all.

[6/10] (x)

Recommend: HELL Yeah! | Yes | Eh??? | Nope | There was actual money spent on this

[sepublic]

Recently someone leaked two episode titles for Season 1B of The Owl House, originally in Russian, and translated them as follows;

Senses and Insensitivity

Mini-Problems

As a disclaimer, I should warn that not all leaks can be trusted, and sometimes things can change between leaks and official releases! Likewise, translation from one language to another can be a finnicky thing, what with there being a wide variety of synonyms to choose from. It’s even trickier when one considers that the Episode titles are clearly spelling out a message- Which, this leaker may or may not know what said message is, which can contribute to the inaccuracy of these episode titles and the letters they contribute to the anagram! For all we know, Mini-Problems is actually supposed to translate to Tiny Problems, or something like that!

But for now... let’s just work with what we have and speculate!

We know there’s an A from Adventures in the Elements, and given how the titles spell out “A witch lose” so far, it wouldn’t make sense for AitE to be the eleventh episode. I’ve tried looking at it from various perspectives, but I can’t see any potential messages that start with “A witch lose a” that make grammatical sense. Coming from someone who’s gotten pretty good grades in English, I think it’s safe to say that AitE is NOT Episode 11!

Again, if we go by grammar rules, it seems almost certain that the true Episode 11 will start with an S! Lo and behold, Senses and Insensitivity fits like a glove!

I’ve speculated before that there will be nineteen episodes total in Season 1. Information from another source, I forgot where, confirmed this, and it seems to line up with the number of quests in the Witch’s Apprentice game on the DisneyNOW app!

That means that so far, we know the title spells out, “A witch loses,” that there’s an A somewhere in the mix (presumably early but we can’t be too sure), and possibly an M added in there as well! Not only that, but we have eight letters unaccounted for in this message, one of which is definitely an A, the other which might be an M.

So, let’s go over our possibilities, shall we?

If we go by the assumption that AitE follows SaI, and then comes Mini-Problems, then this means the message could spell out, “A witch loses a m------”, or even, “A witch loses Am------”!

For eight-letter words starting with Am that seem topical to the show’s mysteries, I’ve compiled a few possibilities, but these don’t account for all of them;

Ambition, Amnesiac, Amnesias, Amethyst, Amateurs, Amphibia

Obviously some of these are less credible than the rest, and I only included Amphibia just because I thought it’d be funny given that’s the name of another show involving a PoC girl transported to another world that was announced alongside TOH and was created by a Gravity Falls alumnus.

Regardless! Each of the words I’ve discussed could have potential meaning. Ambition could relate to Eda’s former dreams of being in the Emperor’s Coven- For all we know, the message might even refer to another Witch entirely! It could relate to Luz, who has ambitions to be a witch, to Amity, who has ambitions to be in the Emperor’s Coven, or Lilith, who has ambitions to keep doing well and also save her sister! This possibility alludes to a major change in character drive and motive!

Amnesiac/Amnesias could also refer to Eda, who doesn’t remember how she got cursed- This possibility could mean that we learn who cursed her at the end of Season 1! Bear in mind the words I’ve offered don’t feel the most grammatically correct and come across as a bit awkward, however.

Going into stretch-territory, we have Amethyst, which might refer to the gems that Eda and Lilith have on their chests, especially since the code riddle in the show alludes to ‘Hearts of Stone’ shared amongst ‘Two witches torn apart’ (Also it might be a neat reference to Amethyst from Steven Universe, who has a chest gem). And then there’s Amateurs, which I HIGHLY doubt but I also thought it’d be funny, and that could refer to Luz and King- no offense. Maybe the group gets separated from Eda, who knows? Just don’t take this suggestion seriously...

I’ve ALSO considered, mostly on a whim, that the message could spell out, “A witch loses Amity---”, with ‘Am’ being the precursor to a name, not a word. However, this doesn’t really make any sense, because there’s still three letters unaccounted for, and even if you went with “A witch loses Amity’s” that still leaves a two-letter word and I don’t think there’s anything that’s a sufficient possibility from there. So, it COULD be a name starting with Am, just not Amity, meaning the titles don’t refer to Luz or Lilith.

If we also go by the idea that Mini-Problems is mistranslated, then the titles might actually be spelling out, “A witch loses a-------”, meaning either it’s “A witch loses a -------”, or “A witch loses A-------”.

Regarding the former option, I have considered words such as Teacher or Student, which both fit and are topical to our cast. This could mean that Eda and Luz get separated (or even Lilith and Amity)! There are so many seven-letter words to choose from that I can’t adequately cover EVERY possibility, unfortunately.

As for the latter option, there are A LOT of A-words with eight letters in them, so I kind of gave up on considering my options when I found 20+ pages of them after searching online, and that’s not even taking into account names, conventional or made-up! Suggestions are both welcomed and encouraged!

Continuing onwards, there’s the possibility of, “A witch loses a M------”, and I’ve come up with two options that could fit; Monster and Mystery. “A witch loses a mystery” is obvious, it means we get major plot revelations, probably in regards to who cursed Eda. “A witch loses a monster” could also imply that Eda gets cured of her curse... THAT, or she loses King, who is a ‘monster’- This possibility could even apply to Lilith, who might lose Eda, who is a ‘monster’ in her own way!

Nearing the end, there’s the possibility that Mini-Problems comes before AitE! The message could be “A witch loses ma------”! There were way too many possibilities for me to review all of them, but I found words such as Mainland, Manacles, and Mandrake! Mainland could refer to the Boiling Isles, Manacles could be a symbolic gesture of becoming free, and Mandrakes are plants used in magical rituals! So maybe they’re a vital ingredient to Eda’s elixir that she loses, who knows? Some of these are stretches and don’t quite grammatically fit, however. And there ARE names, fictional or real!

And finally, there’s the possibility that SaI, AitE, AND Mini-Problems are all out-of-order, meaning we have nine letters unaccounted for, the next of which is definitely S, another of which is definitely an A, and then maybe an M! For all we know there are even two S’s, with SaI being the second one! It could be “A witch loses (eight-letter word with some combination of M, A, S)” or “A witch loses (eight-letter word with only an A confirmed)”! The possibilities are endless and at this point I don’t think I could adequately cover them all.

TL;DR We have a few options;

A witch loses A-------

A witch loses a -------

A witch loses Am------

A witch loses a m------

A witch loses ma------

A witch loses -------- (with A somewhere there, and maybe an M and another S)

So that’s my overview of the possibilities we could have for the Episode Title Anagram! It’s not a perfect analysis and flawed in many respects, so I welcome and encourage any feedback and contributions! Given how the Season 1B titles could be spoiler-y, I’m starting to wonder if unlike Season 1A, the episode titles won’t be immediately revealed all at once?

[thesunnyshow]

Name: Megan

Writing Blog URL(s): @yunocity​

What fandom(s) do you write for? NCT (127, Dream, Wayv, U)

Age: 20

Nationality: Asian American

Languages: English, Hmong with limited knowledge in Chinese and Korean

Star Sign: Sun: Scorpio, Moon: Taurus, Rising: Aquarius 

MBTI: ESTJ-A

Favorite color: Black, red, white

Favorite food: Spring rolls

Favorite movie: Miracles in Cell No.7, Love Rosie

Favorite ice cream flavor: Mango

Favorite animal: Baby pandas

Coffee or tea? What are you ordering?: Tea!

Dream job (whether you have a job or not): Marketer for a luxury fashion company or a high-end makeup brand

Go-to karaoke song: Video Games- Lana Del Ray

If you could have one superpower, what would you choose?: Mind Reading!

If you could visit a historical era, which would you choose?: Roaring 20s

If you could restart your life, knowing what you do now, would you?: No, I think the way my life is laid out is how it’s supposed to be. I’ve made mistakes and I’ve learned from them. I think if I were to restart my life, I’d not be who I am at this moment and I like who I am right now, I like who I’ve grown to be! 

Would you rather fight 100 chicken-sized horses or one horse-sized chicken?: 100 chicken-sized horses 

If you were a trope in a teen high school movie, what would you have been?: The dancers/athletes!

Do you believe in aliens/supernatural creatures?: I’m skeptical about them so yes 

Fun fact about yourself that not everyone would know?: If you look closely, my eyes are different shades of brown!

When did you post your first piece?: May 11, 2020

Why did you decide to write for Tumblr?: I’ve been on Tumblr for a long time, but I’ve only gotten into reading other accounts’ works 2-3 years ago. Eventually, they inspired me into wanting to make my own writing account and share my stories and ideas!

Are there any times when you regret joining Tumblr?: Nope!

What inspires you to write?: My emotions and ideas. Also reading old texts from people I love or used to be in my life, tv shows/movies/kdramas, vision boards, and aesthetics of different countries around the world. Most of the time, my mind just comes up with wild random scenarios.

What do you do when you hit a rough spot creatively?: I take a break! I’d close my laptop and usually go dance (it’s a way for myself to take a break, yet still feel physically inspired), spend time with family, grab a snack, do some digital art, or research a conspiracy theory!

Do you write fluff/angst/crack/general/smut, combo, etc? Why?: Yes, I write smut (legal members only ofc), angst, and general. I write those kinds of genres because those are the most common and there’s so much that you can do with them! You can write them however you want and write whatever kind of plot you see fit, there’s so much flexibility.

Do you write OCs, X Readers, Ships...etc?: As of right now, I have been writing for “X Readers” because I want to be really inclusive of everyone! I don’t think I’ll go into OCs or ships (assuming idol and another idol?) because I don’t see that as inclusive. I most likely will stick to “X Readers”.

Who is your favorite person to write about?: Jaehyun from NCT

What genres/AUs do you enjoy writing the most?: I’ve only gotten to post one kind of au (arranged marriage au), but some that I have in my drafts that I absolutely enjoy are idol au, friends to lovers au, enemies to lovers au, mafia au, fwb au, and mythology au. A genre I also love writing is angst!

What is your writing process like?: I usually write at night after I shower and do my night routine. I plug in some headphones, play some music that fits the mood of the story presently, and start writing! If I have writer’s block, I’ll usually watch some old mvs that bring back old memories!

What is your favorite work and why? Your most successful?: I haven’t published it yet, because it’s still under the wraps and I want to post about other members too, but I have a mythology au with Jaehyun and it’s my absolute favorite right now! I can’t wait to post it!!

Do you think there’s a difference between writing fanfiction vs. completely original prose?: Yes and no! Yes, because whenever I think of (original) prose I think of a technique of writing that flows naturally with speech and has grammatical structure, so as long as stories have those skills, I would consider them as so. We as humans actually speak, write, and think in prose because it’s seen as a straightforward language and conversational speech. No, because at the same time prose consists of many things. There are several types of prose (non-fictional, fictional, heroic, poetic), so if a story states that it is a specific prose, I would say there is a difference!

What do you think makes a good story?: Emotion 100%. The ability to write with emotions without straightforwardly telling the readers what kind of emotion is felt within a character. Also description of an environment, again, having the ability to describe a moment without stating it like it’s supposed to be obvious. 

What do you hope your readers take away from your work?: The emotion that my writing invokes from them. I want them to read my work and feel the emotion that I’m trying to provoke! Also the fact that I work hard and put a lot of thought while being realistic as I can with the plot! 

Would you ever repurpose a fic into a completely original story?: Not yet!

What tropes do you love, and what tropes can’t you stand?: Ones that I love are enemies to lovers, friends with benefits to lovers, friends to lovers, different worlds (metaphorically), and I have some more that I can’t think of! Ones that I cannot stand are, stuck together to lovers, secret billionaire, childhood marriage promises, amnesia, and “If i can’t have you, no one will!!” 

What has been one of the biggest factors of your success (of any size)?: Definitely my process/planning; on how I think of a story and plan it out on my iPad with a bunch of side notes and idea webs.

How much would you say audience feedback/engagement means to you?: Oh, it means so much, I can’t even explain. I love it when I get asks that tell me about how mad they are, how much they cried, or how happy they are about something that happened in the story. It means a lot because it means that they actually read through my work and enjoyed it. I love it when my followers and anons talk to me in general!

Do you think fanfic writers get unfairly judged?: Yes, I definitely think that we get judged for being too much in our head or having too many unrealistic fantasies. Fanfic writing is just another way of expressing our ideas simply with the person we adore from a group, it doesn’t necessarily mean we fantasize it to happen. 

Do you think art can be a medium for change?: Yes! I think that any idea from the mind that expresses emotion and inspiration visually or not, is considered an art. There’s a lot that goes into writing than what people think! Such as finding the creativity for metaphors in a story that will not only bring out emotion from the character and reader, but also a visual representation to symbolize the emotion. 

Do you ever feel there are times when you’re writing for others, rather than yourself?: Yes, I always get asks asking me when I’ll update, but it’s not too much of a bother because I know they’re just really excited for the next part or another set of work. 

Do you ever feel like people have misunderstood you or your writing at times?: Not at all, I think I do a fairly good job at writing to the point where there’d be no misunderstandings. 

Do your offline friends/loved ones know you write for Tumblr?: No, I like to keep it private because I’d rather have them not tease or make fun of me for what I genuinely like to do. 

What is one thing you wish you could tell your followers?: That I literally love them all so much and I appreciate each and every one of them. I mean it from the bottom of my heart, they’re all so nice, welcoming, and supportive. It encourages me to write more! 

Do you have any advice for aspiring writers who might be too scared to put themselves out there?: Definitely go for it! You’ll never know until you try! There will be people who don’t like it, but those who truly love your writing will support you forever, will stick around, encourage you, and lift you up. Be confident in your writing, be confident that your brain came up with such an amazing plot/story and has woven so many things together to create it!

Do you have any mutuals who have been particularly formative/supportive in your Tumblr journey?: I do have a few mutuals that I talk to. One of them has read my story and given such good feedback, which I loved because I’m always looking for opportunities to grow as a writer. 

Pick a quote to end your interview with: “Throughout life people will make you mad, disrespect you and treat you bad. Let God deal with the things they do, cause hate in your heart will consume you too.” -Will Smith

BONUS K-POP CONFIDENTIAL

Interested in your very own episode of The Sunny Show? Find out how to apply HERE.

[tvdversefanfiction]

Origins of Magic

Warnings: I do not own the rights to the television series "The Originals", "Vampire Diaries", or "Legacies" and do not own any of the characters within the TVD universe, I am making no profit from this and have no intention for this fanfiction series except for readers to enjoy.

15+ Mild to Strong Violence, Strong Language, Witchcraft, sexual scenes, and sexual references.

F/F, F/M, M/M, Other.

CHAPTER TWELVE HERE

Chapter 13 - The Fall of The Supreme

Long, long, long ago…four beings of pure magic were born into this world, and as the years passed, all four of these magical beings managed to find each other with the aim to make the world a better and more magical place to which they did with great success as they shared their powers with others creating the first witches in history, as these four beings found themselves considered gods by their kind. However, not all the original witches were as grateful as they should be for their newfound gifts, desiring the power and infamy that these gods of magic had found so easily, the witches in question being lovers Sapphire and Auxentios, together they plotted to conquer their powers for themselves, to which they succeeded in doing by removing parts of the gods, rendering then human like them before casting a spell to erase, change, and mold Annabella, Magnus, Kayne, and Primrose’s minds to better control the gods. Sapphire quickly betrayed her lover Auxentios by making the gods believe she was their mother, making them believe they were siblings in the process, splitting the world’s first coven in two and beginning a feud between her former love, a feud which would last for the ages…and that is the origins of the witches, the world’s first covens and a glimpse into the so-called gods’ beginning, however, that is enough digging into the past for now…

Kayne Black had lived many lifetimes, one lifetime known as a prince to the witch kingdom, then a traitor to witches for killing his brother, then centuries he lived as a nobody with his siblings as castle and for a brief time he was Kagién Black the husband of the now deceased Estevan and for even shorter time he lived in the body of Auxentios, but one lifetime he never remembered until now…was his first. “I still do not bloody understand why the hell we have ditched the others when it’s clear as anything we may need the extra witch power.” Klaus argued from the behind the wheel of his car, driving on an empty road in the middle of the day, with Kayne sitting in the passenger seat of the car. “I mean she’s already killed you once.” “For your information it was my brother who burned me alive and now the memories are returning to my mind I’m beginning to realize just how powerful I really am.” Kayne replied to the original hybrid. “There’s still so much I do not get like what the hell was the point of the bone blade, why you thought it was something completely different and how the hell you’ve spent centuries after centuries with no clue who you are.” Klaus continued to argue with the man he once believed was a witch. “And if you’re not some bloody witch, what the hell are you?” “Sapphire and Auxentios made us all believe that if we ever found our parts that they were weapons, ones that could kill us which is a pretty genius way of making sure we never looked for it and if Sapphire did not come back from the dead then I’d have never found the part she stolen from me…they only mention the one blade though, so god knows what or where the stolen parts of my siblings really are.” Kayne attempted to explain to Klaus, realizing Klaus was only getting more confused. “So, are you even Kayne Black?” Klaus wondered, as he continued driving. “I’ve been him longer than I ever was what I was before, as much sense as that makes.” Kayne replied with a laugh, finding his recent attempt at explaining rather funny. “None of this is funny! My siblings are being held captive by a witch who spelled you into calling her mummy and apparently this bitch is strong enough to take us all down which is why I went to bloody Greece in the first place and now suddenly, you a witch with the longest case of amnesia ever is the key to killing my family’s most recent tormented.” Klaus snapped, clearly frustrated and worried over his family’s fate, a state Kayne had never witnessed from his former lover before. “This progressed version of the you, the one whose shows fear for his family instead of loathing and suspicion is highly refreshing Niklaus.” Kayne genuinely admitted with a soft smile, as Klaus kept his eyes on the road, Kayne not noticing Klaus’ sly smile caused by Kayne’s compliment. “I just wish you cared for me in this way so many years ago…but take note in case things do not go to plan…in all my lifetimes I only ever loved you!” “Why are you telling me this now?” Klaus asked him. “This conversation is surely one that can wait till after we murder your fake mother!” “Because one way or another everything changes today, and I just wanted to let you even though you never loved me like I wanted you too I did love you and I do care for your family too.” Kayne said exposing his truth without fear of rejection. “It is because of that fondness I will make sure your siblings make it out alive today…as long as you stay the hell away from mine!” Klaus wanted to admit his own truth, that he did love Kayne all those centuries ago and that perhaps he still loved him now but instead he stayed silent, knowing his whole focus had to go into killing his latest enemy, focusing purely of the fall of the supreme witch Sapphire Black.

“Please remind me again why you only managed to prison break me and not Kol or Elijah?” Rebekah asked furiously, clearly unamused with the fact that her and Rose were alone together, standing within a motel room, located somewhere in New Orleans. “Trust me if I could pick which Mikaelson I could babysit then break free I sure as hell would not pick you but Bella breaking you out would clearly be too obvious to our dear mother hence me being stuck as your prison guard and her getting stuck with Kol.” Rose replied to the original vampire, making it clear she was as unamused by their union as Rebekah was. “Which means Magnus has Elijah so please tell me he’s your favorite brother, so I get to kill my brother as our next move as the dynamic duo.” “I get your well-earned hatred for your mother and I most certainly get the need to kill one’s treacherous brother but why the bloody hell did you break me out instead of just doing the job yourself?” Rebekah continued to question her new ally. “I may a crazy psychotic bitch like yourself which is why I think we’ve always loathed each other so much but if I was going into a suicidal mission with any Mikaelson I’d choose you…mainly because two of me is better than one.” Rose answered her with a smile, knowing with certainty her words both wounded and complimented her frenemy. “Oh god I really hope the both of us do not die because I would hate for the last words, we ever shared to be even remotely considered kind.” Rebekah responded with some sarcasm, and some honesty. “Sounds good to me…if I have to think with my master bitch brain instead of my vengeance bitch brain then I suggest we get to Kol first, then we’d me one Mikaelson and one Black up from this terrible twosome.” Rose suggested to the original female vampire. “Bella should be easy I mean screwing over family is her thing, besides, she’d do anything you tell her considering she never really got over you.” Rebekah always thought her, and Rose would never be on the same page but somehow on this day they were, much to both of their horror, and yet somehow, she seemed easily calmed by this union, probably too worried about the witch who can randomly grow white oak trees and her sibling’s fates to worry about Rose or consider the idea that her former love Bella was in fact still in love with her.

Magnus Black was furious with his siblings and believed he had every right to be, and as he stood outside the gates of Lafayette Cemetery watching Elijah vamp speeding through the cemetery repeatedly looking for a new way out, he could not help but begin to find himself relating to the Mikaelson sibling, comparing Elijah’s undying will to escape the cemetery and save his siblings similar, believe it or not, to how he used to be. “There is no need to keep looking for a way-out Elijah for you are bound here for as long as it takes for the rest of your family to try and fail to save you!” Magnus warned the noble original, as Elijah now stood still on the other side of the gates. “My family and I have a vast experience in killing witches and I am sure once we kill your mother, we may not even get the chance to kill you because your sisters will do that for us especially after what you did to Kayne!” Elijah replied with a warning of his own. “Kayne betrayed me like my sisters the only regret I have about killing that fool is the fact that I did not then get to get Rose and Bella straight afterwards.” Magnus told him. “I was once as loyal to my siblings as you are to yours…until it got me killed but hey at least I learned after one death haven’t you died like twice for them now?” “Because dear brother he knows what family truly means whereas you, well your mother’s little bitch!” Kayne stated after appearing behind his brother, as if out of nowhere, delighting Elijah with his presence, who was instantly glad to see a man he once believed to be dead, alive. “The irony of which is wasted on you for now.” “You know I had a feeling you would be back but hey it just means I get to kill you again.” Magnus replied as he turned to face his brother. “This time around I have the upper hand.” Kayne boasted before waving his hand and going on to say. “Chronos éxo.” With those words Magnus eyes instantly closed as he fell to the ground with force, completely unconscious without any fight, proving to his elder brother that in that moment his power was far greater. Kayne wasted no time in reveling in defeating the brother who was burned him alive, before moving his right hand in the direction of the gates in front of him with an effortless glide, forcing the gates open with his magic, destroying his brother’s spell in the process much to Elijah’s delight. “How are you…” Elijah asked the newly resurrected witch, as he walked out of the cemetery. “You’re meant to be…” But before Elijah could string a single sentence together to quiz Kayne’s miraculous ressurection, Klaus had vamp sped his way to now be standing next to Kayne. “It’s a long story brother how about we talk it all out around a nice fire fueled by the body of this supreme witch?” Klaus interjected, with his devilish grin, eager as always to get to the killing.

“Are you really keeping an original vampire in the backroom of a bar?” Rose asked as she walked into Rosseau’s to find Bella stood behind the bar counter, looking less than pleased to see her sister. “I hope you have at least given Kol a bottle because if not then that is truly wicked even by my standards.” “Rose you should not leave Rebekah unguarded if our mother finds out…” Bella began to say, only for her younger sister to interrupt her. “Yeah, I do not give a damn and I really do not understand why you suddenly give a damn.” Rose snapped at her, as she continued to walk closer towards the bar counter. “Because Kayne is gone, and our mother has the means to bring him back.” Bella argued with her, clearly fearing never seeing her younger brother ever again. “We can bring him back!” Rose shouted, refusing to see Bella’s side. “You’ve taken them both down before and you can do it again.” “No, I cannot!” Bella replied with a sense of defeat. “I had Magnus to help me with mother and then you and Kayne to help me with Magnus…in case you have not noticed we’re missing a sibling.” “Of course, I have noticed, which is why I’m taking some investment in all of this instead of running for the hills which would be the wiser move.” Rose admitted to her. “Instead, I’m going to set Kol free not just because he’s the most tolerable Mikaelson but because I will not allow some bitch, use our brother’s death as a pawn to control us!” “If you make a move for the backroom Rose, I will put you down and in case you do not remember I am the stronger sibling.” Bella warned her youngest sibling, making it clear she would stop her if she needed to, not expecting her words to be followed by Rebekah vamp speeding her way into the bar. “Well, I never thought I’d see the day where I would be standing by your sister’s side Annabella and that you were the one whose neck, I would have to break in order to get to my brother Kol.” Rebekah said to the woman she used to love. “Not that I want to but there is nothing I will not do for my brothers no matter how annoying they may be.” “Rebekah, I do not want to hurt you…” Bella began to say to the original female vampire. “Neither do I you, but I will.” Rebekah replied, making it clear where they both stood. Rebekah and Rose were more than ready to take on Bella if they had to, hoping their newfound kinship was enough to take down Annabella and get to Kol while Bella prepared to fight her only sister and a vampire whom she had loved for many centuries, each believing they were doing best for their family. “As much as I do love all the angst and drama here, I do believe a mere hello from myself would get you girls all on one side…my side.” Kayne said as he walked in through the front door of Rosseau’s, much to Rebekah, Bella, and Rose’s surprise, as until that moment they had believed he was dead. “Well, I knew you were as conniving as me when you needed to be brother but coming back this quickly after death is a whole other level.” Rose joked as she ran over to her brother and hugged him tightly, all three of the women happy to see him alive again, as Bella and Rebekah both smiled at each other, relieved to not have to fight and deliriously happy that Kayne was back. “I cannot take any of the praise for my return from the grave,” Kayne admitted as he broke off his hug with his sister Rose and turned his attention to Rebekah. “Your brother Klaus and your sister-in-law Davina led that mission but now that I am back it’s time for these two warring families to stop with the feuding and tell me where Sapphire is so I can kill her.” “Kayne I happy your back believe me I am but you stand no chance against our mother!” Bella warned him, not wanting to lose her brother all over again. “She’d kill you in a second without giving a damn!” “The Kayne you knew stood no chance against our mother yes, but here is the thing, I am not the Kayne you know neither or at least just not him and Sapphire well she is not anyone’s mother.” Kayne announced to them all, confusing them with his words at first, but more than ready to explain it all to them…after he dealt with the self-proclaimed supreme who had masqueraded as his mother for far too long and now it was time for her to pay for that, and many other, of her crimes.

Sapphire Black was not born with magic nor was she the first to possess it but thanks to her constantly conniving ways she had become known as the queen of magic following years of plotting with and against her fellow original witches but despite her multiple manipulations, lies, and betrayals, there is one thing she never quite understood and that was loyalty, which led to her first down fall, and then her finale fall. “Should have guessed that you’d be hold up in the compound all this time I mean you always did have a thing for stealing what was not yours now didn’t you.” Kayne stated as he walked into the compound to find Sapphire stood next to the fountain in contemplation. “Out of all of my children I underestimated you most of all so to see you back from the dead and with barely a week since your death I cannot help but admit I was wrong about you; in fact, you keep this up and you may just become my favorite child.” Sapphire replied, not knowing all her lies had already been exposed. “I am not your son, neither am I exactly Kayne but you already knew all of this.” Kayne responded as he began walking towards Sapphire, instantly striking fear in the supreme as she began to put the truth together. “I told Magnus making you his favorite would only lead to a self-gratuitous spoiled little bitch brat!” Sapphire attempted to act quickly as she held up her hand but before she could even make a move on the newly revived Kayne, Kayne ushered the word “eksplodirati” forcing the supreme witch to fall to her knees before beginning to cough up her own blood for what seemed like several moments until she let out an inhumanely high pitched scream as her body began to tear apart before briefly catching on flames, burning for mere seconds before her body completely exploded in a violent combustion of blood and guts, splattering all over the compound grounds, as Kayne smiled in delight to have finally defeated the villain in his story, before he began to work on healing what he and his sisters broke about the afterlife in order to ensure Sapphire and everyone else who was dead stayed dead.

Kayne went on to inform both his sisters Annabella and Primrose the truth about their true origins and the lies their so-called mother had made them believe, telling them both how out there in the world somewhere there were parts of them that would not only finally make them feel complete but would restore them to their former glory like it had done for him, setting their sisters off on paths that led them away from New Orleans, and the Mikaelson’s. However, as time came to tell his brother Magnus the truth, to say Magnus was hesitant to trust him was a severe understatement, forcing them both to a stand still to which Kayne believed he could fix, mostly because after everything that had transpired, there was nothing he wanted more than to restore his family, even if they were not family by blood, now more than ever, he knew family was the most important thing to him. “Must we keep repeating our own history Magnus? Sure, I helped kill you, but you single handily kill me while letting our sisters off with nothing more than a simple telling off even though you and I both know Annabella was the mastermind behind that murder.” Kayne argued with his elder brother Magnus, as the two of them stood within the Lafayette Cemetery. “I trusted you! Above all of them, you were meant to be the purest of all us all and you betrayed me like it was nothing.” Magnus continued the argument. “For the last time most of our memories were a lie crafted by that bitch, which not to point figures once again but you’re the idiot who chose her to be a witch in the first place!” Kayne pointed out. “I am talking of the memories after we killed her when she was too dead to manipulate any memories, when all of us were together until you all decided I was not worthy of being one of you.” Magnus argued, making it clear his hatred for his brother had not wavered. “If I say I’m sorry would that even mean anything? If I say sorry will you at least come with me to restore yourself so you can finally find the truth for yourself? Or to hell with it would you just come with your brother so if you wanted to take me down again you would actually stand a chance?” Kayne pleaded with him, giving his brother several options, determined to reconcile with Magnus, one way or another. “Why would you leave Mystic Falls when you are so close to getting the happy ending with Klaus? The one you have dreamed about ever since that day in the castle when you first met?” Magnus asked, making it clear that although he was dead, he may have checked in on his siblings once or twice. “Yes, because the four of us were born into this world, we found each other, all for a reason and clearly we did not get that right the first time around…so I say with newfound knowledge and a history of mistakes behind us it is about time we start making things right again.” Kayne admitted to his brother. “Besides the possibility of that particular happy ending died a death even I cannot resurrect.” “Okay…I am down for one brotherly road trip but whether your newly empowered now or not if you cross me again, I’ll put you down for a second time with no hesitation whatsoever…in fact I reckon I’ll get a kick out of killing you all over again.” Magnus gave in, promising his brother if this were a trick, then it would be a trick he would quickly regret. “Your looking good for a thousand years old, give or take,” Rose Black stated as she met Kol Mikaelson down by the docks of New Orleans. “Any chance you’d be up for one hell of a fun road trip murdering the many in search of finding whatever it is that is going to restore me to some kind of god glory?” “Oh, I would love nothing more than to help a dear friend become even more powerful and more of a threat to my paranoid brother Niklaus, but I have a wife and children to go home to now and I have already been away from them for far too long.” Kol replied to his dear friend. “I know how disappointed you must be in me to see how I have ended up so domesticated.” “No, do not get me wrong I much prefer the ruthless psychopath who made one hell of a wingman, but I am glad that despite an eternity of betrayals, madness, and complete and utter misery, that through all of that, you found happiness…gives a girl some hope.” Rose admitted to him. “If I do not let the newfound god status go to my head, I may come visit you and the wife afterwards, Kayne told me she’s quite the witch, and quite the beauty…” “I would like nothing more than to have you in my home.” Kol said with a smile as he walked over to his friend and gave her a hug. “But if you try to steal my wife, I will rip your head off myself!” “Do not worry I tend to not get too close with witches these days, not after the one in Venice.” Rose replied as she broke off their hug, reminiscing over a history only her and Kol. “Although he was delicious.” “Oh yes, that he was!” Kol responded with a sense of fondness. Rose and Kol had more of a history than anyone knew, after all they were both centuries old and prone to never sticking to their family’s rules, so just because the rest of their families kept away from each other, did not mean these two friends ever followed those rules, sharing many secrets between each other, secrets that neither of their families had any idea about.

“Let me come with you!” Rebekah Mikaelson pleaded with Bella Black as the two stood next to each other in Rosseau’s. “I cannot promise happy endings because my life does not have an ending for now nor can I promise you happiness, but I can promise you love for however long it lasts…” “Are you not still married to Marcel?” Bella asked the female original. “Seems to me like you should be making that kind of speech to him, not me.” “Marcel and I…” Rebekah began to say. “Never worked out so here you are looking at the past…Rose was wrong, yes, I loved you, and yes there’s a part of me that still does but I can’t do anything until I am fully restored…until I know who I really am and if that person even wants to be with you.” Bella answered her. “For the first time in forever I am putting myself first!” Rebekah could not deny her hurt over Bella’s rejection but she could understand it now more than ever, she had to let her go once again, this time allowing Bella the choice this time around, knowing it could be a long time before she would see her again, hoping she would one day see her again whether it be in her remaining years as a vampire or as a human courtesy of the cure following Damon’s eventual death. However sad Rebekah or Kol may have felt to say their goodbyes to the Black siblings at least they were given chances for their goodbyes, as neither Elijah nor Klaus saw any of them following the fall of the supreme witch, but all the originals were together wondering the same thing, will they ever see any of the witches again?